Now that we have set out on this mission of eating “cleaner” {and I say cleaner because I, by no means, am vowing to eat completely clean}, the kids have been doing much better than I expected.
Of course, we haven’t completely changed their diets. I did have to get them ice cream and french fries on Monday in form of bribery during a dental exam. I tried to bribe organic fruit snacks, but they weren’t having it. And if you could have seen the way Bents was bossing around the dental hygienst…
“You better let puppies drink ‘Mr. Thirsty’ lady or else I will tantrum right here right now in front of all your dental friends.”
…then you would have been bribing french fries and ice cream too. Trust me.
We’ve really just been making small changes, which was great advice from all of you. Thank you for that!
I cleared out the bottom shelf of the pantry that use to house the junk food. I am pretty sure Bents is wondering where the heck his snacks went.
At one point yesterday he had his 3 puppies, monkey blanket, 2 baby blankets, and a down comforter up on the shelf with him. I tried to explain to him that we didn’t clear it out so that we could sleep there. Ahem.
For breakfast I have replaced my 32 ounce fountain coke and bacon, egg, & cheese biscuit with a protein shake. I know….GASP!
Let me just say this…I absolutely can not stand protein shakes. I have hated them my whole life. But, to please the husband, I agreed to try this EAS chocolate shake.
And surprise surprise, I didn’t hate it. It’s actually kind of good.
I swear I never thought I would say that about a protein shake.
Don’t be fooled though, I still have a 32 ounce fountain coke for lunch. We said baby steps, right?!
I’ve also started shopping at our local Neighborhood Co-Op Grocery!
Holy price gauging batman. I can’t buy much there or I’d have to give up my love for designer purses because DANG it’s pricey.
A 6-pack box of organic fruit snacks? $5.69 plus tax. What? Bents had those gone in 1.5 days.
I’m gonna have to find the healthy food they sell at Sam’s. That’s more my price range.
Taking the boys along to pick out “healthy” food is another thing we have tried to do so that they can be included in the healthy buying decisions.
But y’all know how I feel about grocery stores and kids so we’ll see how many more times that goes down before I nix it.
[ois skin=”Home Tour 2″]
Ok, so protein shakes and healthy snack choices are just two of the small changes we have made this week. What do you think, am I doing ok so far? What should I tackle next….dinner choices?
Do you have Costco or Target with groceries? They both have great prices on healthy kid snacks. Target sells all the Annie’s organic kids products (fruit snacks, etc). Freeze-dried fruit is a healthy snack my toddlers love. Costco sells it in the Kirkland brand and Target sells it in the Archer farms section. Costco also sells the squeeze pouches of applesauce super cheap plus we buy string cheese, kids Clif bars, trail mix and bagged Annie’s crackers there. We also buy Chobani kids greek yogurts (lots of protein) and mini boxes of raisins at Target.
Love the protein shake too !!! Good for you all for sticking with the eating healthy routine ! Cute photo of your little guy in the pantry:)
Ahhh…we are also starting to eat “cleaner.” Not fun! Haha…have you heard of Arbonne? We are using their protein powder, and fizz tabs (instead of soda) – no gluten, soy, whey…totally vegan and SO GOOD. Seriously. I do sell Arbonne, but I promise I am not trying to sell it to you…just letting you know! It’s SO HARD to find a good tasting protein shake. Dinner has been our hardest to tackle because at the end of the day, I just want (a big glass of wine) something hearty and chicken and veggies just don’t cut it for me!! 🙂
I love that you are being honest about the eating in your house! It makes the rest of us feel less like failures when we gave our kid a happy meal last night. :-/ I’m so in love with your blog, you are truley an amazing person!
Also, I think baby steps is the way to go. Going cold turkey never works. Good for you all! 🙂
I think what you’re doing is exactly right. Baby steps are always good.
It’s more trouble, but if you make your own shakes, they taste so much better than the pre-made ones I think. I use a vanilla protein powder, whatever kind of fruit I want (or even a banana with some Nutella 🙂 ), and some milk and they’re great!
Baby steps is the best way! You can’t change overnight. Definitely try Target for good organic snacks for kids, that is where we get ours! Also, try fruit cups. They aren’t as healthy as fresh fruit because of the added sugar but they are better than many other choices out there for snacks!
Sounds like your on your way. We made changes in our diet about 1 1/2 yrs. ago do to the development of food sensitivites. Changed our lives forever! First our then 1 yr old developed them, then 1 yr later I myself developed them. I was heart broken over food, thinking how on earth am I going to give up anything with wheat, dairy, and eggs! It truly has been a blessing in disguise from God! We have been eating much cleaner things and eat way more fruits and veggies. My advice to you is baby steps and clear that junk out of the house eventually. You have to know also that it’s ok to cheat here and there, but by no means make it the norm. You will see to that your body will eventually start craving the good stuff, instead of the bad stuff. I’m to the point now that if my kids want a snack it’s either fresh fruit or veggies and dip. If the choose to not eat a snack then they have to wait until dinner. There is one thing that has been heard to do and for me it’s my love for Mountain Dew!!! I hardly ever drank more than 1 a day, but most days I had 1. I been really working on just having 1 or 2 a week and have actually went several weeks without any. But like I said early, it’s baby steps. I commend you and your husband for striving to eat better! It’s a challenge in today’s world, but you will be so thankful!
God Bless,
Valerie
Baby steps are perfect, I would say if you want to try something new maybe focus on one or two ‘clean’ dinners a week. Don’t get freaked out over ingredients or anything complicated, just start with veggies and grass fed beef or free range chicken and build from there 🙂
Hang in there with the EAS shakes!! I’m not a huge fan of protein shakes either and have tried many and have even tried making my own but just didn’t like any of them. I’ve been doing the EAS shakes for breakfast for about 6 weeks now and I totally love them. 🙂
Do you like smoothies? I don’t eat a lot of greens (okay I don’t eat any greens!) So I make a smoothie with a handful of spinach and kale, a handful of blueberries and strawberries, half a banana and almond milk. Sometimes I add greek yogurt to it for added protein. You don’t taste the green stuff AT ALL and it gives you a boost of energy! My daughter, Gentry who is 3 loves it too!
A good store bought smoothie are the Naked brand. They have a green machine one that looks gross but it is SOOO good!
Yay! Glad you guys are having a good eating week too!! Small changes is where it’s at. We caved here and there too…but I am looking at it as a work in progress. And yes, Organic food is OUTRAGEOUS!!!!! I will have to get a second job 🙂 Thanks for linking up again girlfriend!! xoxo
Kroger and Scnucks have pretty good organic snack selections, they’re much cheaper than the co-op. Annie’s is a great brand to look out for!
I think you are doing well. I mainly shop the perimeter of the grocery store. 🙂 I avoid the middle aisle with the exception of brown rice, couscous, tortillas, flour, sugar, and baking goods…..you know baking is my therapy…..OH and wine. I also offer fresh fruit and veggies or string cheese as a snack and with meals. Breakfast generally consist of canadian bacon, breakfast ham, turkey, milk and fruit of his choice. I let Alex pick one or two fruits for the week and he choses a meal every week. He picked salmon and mussels for the coming week. Last week he chose turkey breast, rolls, and something else…..I can not remember. Anywho we also do quite a bit of salad with most meals especially if the starch or veggie isn’t a true crowd pleaser.
I know you have a love for reeses pb cups, I like to take my chocolate MRM protien powder with PB2(powdered peanut butter)—its like a liquid reeses!!!
My husband and I decided to go mostly organic on a super tight budget. We shop mostly at Kroger and only buy things on sale. They have really good sales on organic cereal and granola bars a lot. Also, some of their organic fruit and veggies can be the same price as the regular stuff or slightly more expensive. The bulk bins at the co-op is a great place to start too! Good luck!