*I wrote this post over a week ago in case you are confused on the dates of the text messages. Haha!
On our way to church on Sunday my husband said to me, “I really think we need to eat healthier as a family.”
It was one of those light bulb moments. Not because I hadn’t already thought of it. Trust me, I think about it quite frequently. But do you ever have areas of your life that you know you want to change, yet you do nothing? Well, this is one of those areas for me.
I like my bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits for breakfast and french fries twice a week {sometimes even more for the kids}. I know, don’t judge.
But I so deseparately want my kids to eat better. To be healthy. I wish I was that mom that made all my own baby food when they were younger and that forbid McDonald’s from birth. But if I am being honest, I’m not her. That mom. The health conscious mom.
I’m the busy mom that’s always on the go. The one that let’s her children’s diets lack because she’s lazy. Too lazy to research what I need to cook {I hate cooking by the way}. Too lazy to figure it out. That’s me. It’s not who I want to be, but it’s me.
Something about my husband bringing it up the other day just really made me ponder the lifestyle that I am passing on to my kids. Their eating behaviors are terrible. Snacks, snacks, and more snacks. And when you don’t like dinner….just get more snacks. UGH!
I constantly make excuses like: “Oh, my kids are picky.” or “They have texture issues.” or better yet “They will starve if I don’t let them eat those french fries.”
Can someone slap me, please?
I need to wake the heck up and remember that I am the parent. I am the one teaching my children what it means to be healthy. So I am ready to make a change.
Usually what that means is I go “all in”. I don’t commit to things unless I know I can be 100% on board {probably the sole reason I didn’t commit to the Nester’s 31 Days series}. I knew I would flunk that before it started.
Anywho, I spent 3 hours cleaning out the pantry on Sunday afternoon. I cleared the “junk”. The unhealthy snacks that my kids always choose.
Trashed it all, except I may have hid a Reese’s that I can’t stop thinking about as I type this. I ate salmon, squash, and quinoa for dinner and I want that dang Reese’s so bad it’s stupid.
In case you think I am kidding, let me just reveal a text convo between the hubby and I from last night {as I am laying in bed with our oldest and he’s texting me from the pantry}…
That is how bad we both wanted that Reese’s. Talk about pathetic.
But I do want to document…I won. Ahem. My booty is not thanking me, but MAN it was good. I didn’t even share.
Ok, back to eating healthy….
Below is what I posted on Facebook right before I went in to church:
I was overwhelmed by the awesome response! Thank goodness so many of you are smart eaters. I need all the tips and tricks I can get.
For now, my strategy is to keep the unhealthy things out of the house. If my kids “see” the unhealthy choices then they will never want to choose the healthy ones. I plan to start cooking healthier AND cooking more. We eat out way way way too often.
Have you ever done a family diet overhaul? If so, I would love to hear what worked for you. This is going to be a work-in-progress and I plan to share how it goes along the way.
[ois skin=”Home Tour 2″]
Linking up with my friend Jen from A Daily Dose of Davis.
In terms of your kids and “picky” eating or “texture” issues, I highly highly highly recommend the book “French Kids Eat Everything” I read this with a women’s book club that I belong to (all with young kids around the age of 2) and it totally changed how I view eating and food. The French have a lot to teach when it comes to food. It’s a culture, a way of life for them and instilling eating and food habits from birth is amazing! Goodluck!
We are in the middle of it now! I started out swapping out products for better ones, like no-fruc-syrup ketchup, etc. I started making my own bread, picked a healther potato chip. Then I read about the Feingold diet which is supposed to help kids with behavior and attention issues. I started reading about it and eliminating the artificial flavors, colorings, etc. I talked to my children about the “junk” in food, showed them labels (5 and 7 yo boys) and how we dont even know what some of the junk is. We cleaned out the pantry and went shopping together. Some of the things they REALLY wanted, we came home and looked up recipes for. My 7yo wanted granola bars and my 5yo wanted Swiss Rolls. Things are going great! We are not 100%, but we are MUCH MUCH better and I have noticed my 5yo being able to sit still better, use a quieter voice and pay better attention for his homework. Hubby the connoisseur of all things processed has even admitted that he feels better!
I’ve had much success with the ‘Deceptively Delicious’ cookbook. It provides great recipes on how to add vegetables in to ‘kid-friendly’ food like chicken nuggets, etc. I myself was an extremely picky eater from a young age in to my 20’s and this helped me transition from eating next to no vegetables to now actually enjoying eating them! The recipes are definitely kid-approved by any kids that I’ve served them to 🙂 Good luck!
Pretty sure you just described me exactly in this post. I am the same mom as you. I have 2 boys and I just said to my lunch ladies the other day at work that I need to learn to cook or learn to like it for my boys. These boys need to eat better. Honestly, so do I. I have gained 20 lbs since I got married last Oct. Due to the fact that theres just a lot going on right now for our family and taking care of me just hasn’t been a priority. I did sign myself up for weight watchers and they have some recipes online that I want to try to tackle. Not only for myself but for my boys as well. I am going to follow in your footsteps and do an overhaul of the food in our home. My boys snack, snack, snack as well and it’s not on fruit or veggies either. I’m excited to follow your progress. Sometimes it’s nice to hear that you’re not alone. Thanks for sharing!!
Wow. You are speaking my love language. Everything you just said? That is me! I am the mom who wants to do something about our awful diet but instead I’m just lazy. I’m a working mom and I just can’t get it right. I eat french fries a lot too 😉
I have heard of all the diet fads and we’re on such a strict food budget that I’m not sure we can pull it off. We shop at Aldi and there aren’t that many healthy choices besides the produce. My kids WILL eat healthy but it’s just a matter of getting it on the table.
I’ll be interested to see how you do this!
I going to first admit that I am writing this after I just ate Burger King and am drinking a Dr Pepper as I type….so not cool! But, I am pregnant so I am going to go ahead and say that I get a free pass haha
Anyways, what has really worked for my family and I is meal planning. I used to walk through the grocery store aimlessly when our pantry and refrigerator looked bare and what I came home with was always unhealthy and half put together; not to mention always $500 or more. Now, each week I sit down and make a meal plan for the week and a grocery list. I stick to buying what I need for the meals and what is on my list and that is it. Granted, sometimes I do get a little off track when I see a sale or my preggo brain tells me I “need” something but for the most part I stick with the list and it really helps. I have my meal list on my refrigerator and when I cook something I just cross it off (rather than saying Monday I will cook this and Tuesday I will cook this). My grocery bill thanks me for this as well!
We LOVE to eat out and are guilty of eating out way to much as well especially now that I am pregnant. Pregnancy has equaled laziness on days where I really don’t feel well. We started a long time ago only eating out once a week (usually on Friday or Saturday) as our family “treat”. There are days where I am lazy or when we have baseball practice/game that runs late or is late period and we will grab fast food and I always regret it afterwards!
For snacks try keeping yogurt, cheese sticks, fresh fruit and veggies, crackers, etc. handing because snacking is going to happen and its okay! I swapped out regular chips for baked chips and instead of buying cookies, cakes etc I will either bake them (because it limits the amount) or I will buy the 100 calorie pack snacks so that the craving is satisfied but under control.
Last tip because this comment is becoming way too long….for someone who is on the go and for someone who doesn’t like to cook—the crockpot can be your best friend. Its so simple and fast, can make really healthy meals and requires no cooking–just put everything into the crockpot in the morning and you have dinner ready hours later. There are tons and tons of crockpot recipes!!
Sorry so long but I hope this helps!
I love this! I made Chase’s baby food and he’s never been to a McDonald’s even though my aunt and uncle own a couple. So that makes me a healthy mom right? I might be wishing I had brought the chocolate chips downstairs with me so I could be eating them right now, but we try to set a good example for Chase. I might also be trying to eat as much junk as I can now before he catches on even more!
I have to also add that I love this because I have my theory that none of the moms that I asked to do the super mom posts will have it all together which I think will make other moms feel better.
So, on to my advice. Now, he’s only 18 months so I don’t know if it gets more difficult after this but so far he is a pretty good eater. When researching feeding your kids you have to start with Ellyn Satter http://www.ellynsatter.com/. She is all about family dinners and not becoming a short order cook. I was just thinking to myself at lunch today how crazy it is that your kids just want to eat what you are eating.
My other favorite website with healthy eating ideas is http://www.raisehealthyeaters.com/ you can follow her on facebook and twitter I think and Ellyn is on facebook too and they give great advice! Good luck!
I know 2 things….when we eat out we spend way to much money and it is always on junk food!! I am trying (and am being pretty successful..for now) at cooking more and eating out less. I have found several good recipes on Pinterest and my hubby and teenager have liked them all so far. So, we are now eating healthier than we were a few months ago and saving money!!
P.S. I love my crockpot!! It is my new best friend!!
We like to pick our favorite foods and find recipes to make them from scratch. That way you eliminate all of the chemicals and additives that comes with processed food. We also try to avoid chain restaurants at all cost. The food just is NOT good, not good for you and way more expensive than a home cooked meal.
Now my children definitely know what McDonald’s is, but they also know it’s a “special” treat. They also only receive “sweet treats” Friday – Sunday after they eat good meals.
Finally, we make one dinner at our house and that’s what the kids get to eat. I refuse to make special meals, unless the food is so inedible that I wouldn’t eat it myself 🙂
Try smitten kitchen roasted buttermilk chicken or mushroom bourguignon
Good luck!
I love your blog! I also have 3 boys 5 1/2, 2 1/2, and 18m. I love your home and everything you do with it
Emily
OMG I am DYING at the texts between you and your hubby because this is totally me and my hubby!
I recently tried to switch to preservative free foods in our house. Ultimately, it requires making a lot of stuff from scratch. It went on for about 2 weeks and then I just got tired of being in the kitchen so I gave up. I do, however, still make homemade instant oatmeal and granola bars. The hubs liked both better than the packaged stuff so I’ll keep making it for him….as long as he doesn’t eat my Reece’s! 😉
Your text messages made me laugh! It does seem overwhelming…I am trying to make one change at a time. I got tired of seeing my teenagers chug pop all the time, so I gave it up myself and quit buying it. They protested for awhile, but we all got used to it. Someone may have already suggested this, but try skinnytaste.com for easy healthy recipes. Good luck! 🙂
As you know, we are in total overhaul mode too. I can tell its going to be a slow process because Eric and the kids are VERY resistant to this change. But Eric and I did sit down last week to talk about some of the changes he is on board with. For example, we are now buying all of our meat from a butcher, we are going fresh on ALL veggies (I used to be the queen of instant mashed potatoes. Ha!) and we are ridding the house of fruit snacks, candy and other crap the kids cry for on a daily basis. I know we won’t take those things away completely, because a special treat is something we all look forward to in this house, but at least if they aren’t an option most days, I can get the kids to eat other things. I’m lucky that they both love fruit…but we really have to work on the veggie department 🙂 thanks for linking up!! It was great reading all the comments you got today too!
Me and Hubby are trying to eat better and lose some weight as well. I cook 95% of all the meals we eat so… I am totally the one at fault for gaining *gasp!* 25lbs since we met… he is somewhere in that range as well. So, a few weeks ago we finally got really serious about it. I have mainly cut back portions by at least 1/3 at every meal. It was horrible at first but my tummy (I don’t know about his!) got used to it. And, I know you’re not looking to lose weight, I’m getting to the more healthy stuff! I had to tweak my recipes… instead of making my pan-seared brussel sprouts with 2 slices of bacon, all the glorious bacon fat and EXTRA butter I’ve been roasting instead, just a touch of oil. And they still taste great! Things like that really add up, I’ve lost 10 lbs already and feel so much better! Hope this helped!
I feel like I am in the same position! Sometimes I can have great intentions of making a change, and as soon as my husband voices his support, it gives me all I need to go on and do it!
I also am a busy mom and need to eat better for myself and as a family! Thanks for a great post!
You know I have done it. 🙂 I made small changes. I try to live by the motto of ” does it rot?” LOL!! I am weak for diet coke ….you know that. ANYWHO I try to make most of our meals and I do not believe that bacon or biscuits are bad….in moderation. I offer fruit and if we eat cookies or cakes or anything like that I make them. I think you will find it much easier after 30 days BUT man….you chose to start this right before the holidays AND when I have two packs of Oreos I was planning on giving you this week to get them out my pantry!!!
Oh and meal planning is my ONLY salvation. period.
You should check out the http://www.100daysofrealfood.com That is how I got my family to start eating healthy. Small steps. LOVE your boxer. I have three 🙂