Tips for Halloween

Snap Chat Halloween filters are too much fun ;)
 

 

Today is the day.... Halloween.

 

  A day completely devoted and focused around SUGAR and candy and chocolate, and kids in cute little costumes.

 

If you've been focusing a lot on healthy meals and feeding your body with nutritious foods, today can be a little... tricky and frustrating right?

So I did some research to maybe help you out a bit.  If you are truly wanting to stay on track I have a few tips for you and some things to think about before you dive into that bowl of candy.  Because remember, today will become a yesterday and just ask yourself, how do I want to feel tomorrow?

 

Okay so here's some tips that I have found that might be helpful if you want to stay on track and not do too much damage in one day.  What to splurge on, what to avoid and some tricks to prevent turning today into a full on Sugar Fest.

 

• Buy your candy at the very last moment - When you need it.  I just bought mine yesterday, but what I used to do was buy it a week before.  That candy would be in my house and we would totally have that bag or box broken into and eaten by the end of the week.  Do yourself a favour and avoid the temptation all week by shopping for candy at the last minute.  Hey, you may even end up with a discount!
• Choose a nut-filled piece of candy over gummy bears or licorice.  The later is made up of just straight sugar.  At least with the nut stuff, it feels more substantial and you've got some fat and protein in there.  When eating just sugared candy, there's no fat or protein so when your blood sugar drops back into the normal range, you're going to feel more tired and sluggish and will feel like you need MORE sugar to get a boost.  The cycle continues
• Eat dinner first.  This might be obvious but it's true.  Make sure you've got a healthy dinner in you before reaching for candy.  If you're starving and the first thing you're eating is candy, you are going to over indulge.  After dinner pick your top two favourite pieces from the bowl and eat them SLOWLY.  Savour each bite. 
• Stick everyone's candy in the freezer.  After the kids bring home treats there's excessive amounts of candy in your home.  Sometimes it helps if it's just completely out of sight and not convenient to get at.  This week we will allow our kids a couple pieces a day, and then it will go into the freezer for next week.  After after 2 weeks, we dump it.  Just because we have it, doesn't mean we need to consume it all, the fun was in the actual event of going out there in costume and getting it.  The kids will have picked their favourite things over the next two weeks and then it can get out of the house.  Lets be honest too, our kids don't need to have daily doses of sugar either right.  They have growing bodies that need NUTRITION.  With it being away and in the freezer, out of sight, we can forget about it.  When it's out on the counter day after day, week after week, right in your sight, you're going to eat it. 

 

Thought I would share our little munchkins pumpkin carvings this year.
Minion, Spiderman, Kitty <3

The biggest trick of all? “Fun-sized” candies. They might seem innocent – after all, you can devour them in a single bite! But that makes them devilishly easy to consume in mass quantities, and before you know it, you’ve eaten two king-sized bars worth of chocolate.

 

I don't want to put a downer on things but I do want you to know the facts. 

 

Keep yourself in check this Halloween by putting candy into perspective with how much exercise it takes to burn it off. Although exercising doesn’t eliminate some of the issues that come with eating mass quantities of refined sugar, it can help you better visualize what you’re eating.

Don’t be frightened – take a look!

 

 

Tips for a Picky Eater

Picky eaters.... don't' you love it --> is it a battle at your dinner table?  Does your child's face look like the one above?

This is what was going on in our house too a couple short years ago.  My husband and I were starting to be more conscious about what we were eating and so naturally, our meals and snacks were starting to change too.  We wanted this change to be a lifestyle change for our whole family.  The two of us were eating better and feeling much better because of it, so why wouldn't we want that for our kids too?  It was almost more important for them to be learning healthy habits that would set them up well for life and they also had growing bodies so it was even MORE important to get some great nutrition into their bodies!

So imagine, I was finding new recipes to try, getting all excited to cook clean and healthy food and gearing up to preparing new and healthy dinners for my family that they would love (or that's what I thought anyways)

What really happened at dinner? 
The complaints start to roll in....

"EEwwww" 
"Mom that looks gross!!" 
"I'm not eating that" 
"That's so soooo yucky "
"What's really for dinner?"
 
And so, the beautiful healthy dinner time you imagined goes down the gutter because of the little picky eaters. 
Dang, not as easy as you thought right? 

I encourage you not to lose hope on your new healthy path with involving your whole family. 
Give it some time, and be persistent, just like you've been with yourself.
 
To kids -  the food looks new and different and it's not their typical dinner.  It's NEW.  You may have some tears and/or food battles but stick this out because you CAN win the picky eating battle.  And lets be honest, you want this for your kids too right?  You want them to grow up healthy, with a healthy relationship to food, and the knowledge of why food is so important to our bodies. 

So, how can you start opening your kids minds to trying new things?
 

For us, just like I did on my weight loss journey, I starting by educating them about food. 

Food is not something we just consume to fill our stomachs. 

Food is fuel. 
Food rebuilds our body cells. 
Food gives us energy and food keeps us healthy. 

My husband and I started off with educating our kids.  We explained to our kids why they needed to eat their veggies.  We talked to our kids about how different foods can make your body feel and we get them to recognize that on occasion. 

(The older kids WILL start to recognize how different meals make them feel) 

Our 7 year old notices.  When he eats greasy meal as opposed to a nice sub sandwich meal, he will tell me how his belly feels after.  I truly believe teaching kids to notice how different foods make them feel will establish a great healthy food relationship throughout their life.  A little knowledge goes a long way.  Kids don't understand the importance of good food unless we teach them. 

Remember, all they see is "yucky stuff"  on their plate.  So the more we teach kids about food, the better choices they can make and they will grow up with this knowledge for LIFE!

Here are a list of books that can be helpful in teaching kids more about food so you can fill them up with knowledge:

D.W the picky Eater - Marc Brown

Eating the Alphabet - Lois Ehlert

The Berenstain Bears and too much junk food

From Seed to Plant - Gail Gibbons

Secrets of the Garden - Kathleen Weidner

The Milk Makers - Gail Gibbons

To Market, To Market - Nikki McClure

The Vegetables we Eat - Gail Gibbons

Blueberries for Sale - Robert McCloskey

Good Enough To eat - Lizzy Rockwell

After you talk about food a little bit more, it becomes more important to them and they become a little bit more aware.  This will take time, so just be consistent about it, just like you are learning through your own journey.

Another thing we have always done is that what I made for dinner is what's for dinner.  I have never made separate meals for my kids. 

What my hubby and I eat on our nutrition programs is what our kids are eating.  I do not make separate meals, and they kids are encouraged to try a bit of everything on their plates. We have one child that is very adventurous, who will try any and everything.  One that can be willing to try foods when encouraged, and one child that would live off French fries.  So we know it can be easier with some kids than others, but keep encouraging them to try each thing on their plate. 

Lets be real too, my husband and I are not strict all the time! We let them be kids and have treats, we make cookies and go out for ice cream during the summer etc.  But we do sit down for family meals and they are eating the dinners that my husband and I eat.  Over time, they have learned to try different foods at least once, and are eating a little bit of everything on their plate.  Some nights are harder than others, just stick with it  

Here are some other tips I have gathered to help ease this transition and help them with trying new foods and eating their veggies:

Muffin Trays - This works really well with toddlers.  Put small portions of foods you've got in the fridge in the muffin holes so they can pick and choose their mini servings of foods.  Make sure you don't put their treat in there until they have finished at least X number of cups. Make this personal for them and get a small one from the $ store, just for their meals

Make things mini -- some kids get really overwhelmed with the amount that is on their plate, or the big hot dog. etc.  Make them mini.  Mini hot dogs, mini pancakes, mini muffins, mini servings on their plate

Use Toothpicks -- sometimes when you've got a fun toothpick, kids will have fun with their food and get more into their mouths

Make pictures with food -  Hey.... if all else fails right?  Get creative!  There's so much on Pinterest for getting great ideas of pictures you can create with food.  Yes, this takes a bit of creativity and a bit more time, but you won't be making beautiful scenes on plates forever.   You can also describe foods like "Superhero Vision Carrots' or "Ninja Sword Zucchini" to make food fun for them

Cookie Cutters - when making a ham or turkey sandwich, use cookie cutters to make fun shapes out of their sandwiches.  Pumpkin for fall, Christmas tree for the holidays, heart for valentines day.  If you get one big enough, less wasted crusts ;)

 

Space meals out 2.5 - 3 hours apart - and nothing but water in between to encourage them to fill up their bellies with the good food at meals.  Make sure they are truly hungry at mealtime.  If I give my kids a snack 1 hour before suppertime, then they are not going to want to eat veggies at dinner time because they aren't all that hungry to fill their bellies. 

Seasoning goes a long way!! -- Don't be afraid to use butter or salt to make veggies more tasty!
Yes, you are making them slightly less healthy by adding these things, but at least they are getting it in them.  And as you go along, you can slowly cut back on the butter and salt. 

Dips!!  -  I find that when I have an open tray of veggies on the table with dip for the kids for a snack, they are all over it cause it feels like a munchie snack.  For meals like dinner,  our kids LOVE ketchup!  So if letting them use dips gets the food in their belly, use em!
Ranch, mustard, Caesar, cheese or bbq sauce etc,  Try to go without it at first but be willing to use dips when they ask. 

Dinner times HAVE gotten easier over time. 

A few Extra tips that may help:
 

• Model the behaviour you want from your kids.  Eat vegetables in front of your kids, they'll learn to eat them too. 
• Change how you prepare the same foods, ex. steaming, roasting, mashed etc.
• Teach kids how to read food labels, again, the more knowledge they have about food, the better
• Do a garden with your kids in the spring time so they can see how food is grown and where it comes from.  They'll be proud they grew it
• If giving a plate of food to your kids isn't working, let them serve themselves.  Provide different sized spoons with the serving dish and let them choose how much they want to eat with whatever sized spoon to serve themselves with.
• Place healthy snacks on the lower shelves to make it easy for them to see and choose
• Have precut veggies in the fridge for them to grab too
• Offer fruits and veggies as snacks other than just at meal time so they are exposed to veggies more than one time of the day (dinner)
• Pick a fav - Serve on food that is preferred at each meal so they will have that food, and encourage to try others on their plate
• Expose them regularly to new or refused foods in the past.   - you never know, taste buds change and they may be more open to trying again
• Keep it positive - and upbeat.  Your kids will pick up on the fact that you personally can't stand a particular veggie.  Choose and serve the ones you enjoy as well and keep it positive.  Maybe talk about when the veggie is grown and give them some facts about it to make it a learning experience
• Give them a choice - kids like to have a bit of control over what they eat, just like we do.  So give them a choice between green beans or broccoli as a side.  This also gives them a heads up if you can hold up two vegetables and ask them which one they would like to eat tonight, and which one for tomorrow.
• Serve veggies first -- I have not tried this trick but a friend told me this one.  She serves her veggies first at the beginning of the meal with the expectation that everyone will eat some before the main coarse is served. 
• Keep it real -- Especially for the older kids.  My 7 year old will say he doesn't like a particular food, but then I explain to him that sometimes I eat food that isn't my favourite, but it's good for me and that's why I make sure I eat it to take care of my body. I tell him that not everything you eat all the time needs to be your favourite.  You can also tell them about how you didn't like a certain veggie when you were younger, but once you kept trying it, you soon began to like it and it gave me super brain power, ;) ;)

Do you guys have other food tips for kids? 
Any other picky eater tips you've got?
Share below !

When you want something different, you''ve got to do something different....

 

 

 

 

Lifestyle. What does that mean when someone says "we changed our lifestyle"

Lifestyle is defined as a way a person lives. It is how we spend our time and it's made up of our priorities each day.

In the first photo here's what our life was like :...
🔸We ate out at least twice a week. Pasta pasta pasta
🔸We would sit down on a Friday night and eat a whole pizza, one for each of us. And then do to DQ on top of that
🔸In the evenings we would just sit, and watch TV, we were very inactive
🔸We were both happy, but very tired
🔸I felt self conscious and was pushing size 15/16
🔸I never ate vegetables. I'm serious. I would go DAYS without a single one
🔸Our meals consisted of cheap, fast, convenient foods.

 

 

Now, fast forward to now. This is what our lifestyle looks like:
🔹We eat 95% of our meals at home, and when we go go out, it's not for pasta
🔹In the evenings, we usually go for a walk or bike ride with our kids
🔹We get in at least 30 minutes of exercise each day. Hubby works out at night after kids are in bed, and I wake up in the morning
🔹I finally feel comfortable in my own skin. I never knew I could feel this much better.
🔹I am full of way more energy and don't feel lifeless
🔹Now a size 6/7
🔹I have completely turned my eating around and look at food completely differently. Not something to fill up on to make that rumble in my stomach go away, but to make sure I'm getting all my food groups in each day so I FEEL my best. Food isn't a filler for me anymore, it's for nutrition


We went from a seditary lifestyle, to one that is active, and now we have more energy. We also went from quick, fast, fake and convenient foods to meals that are full of nutrition, clean and close to its natural source and now we are healthy.

We were willing to give up a lot of unhealthy habits in order to gain a new healthy way of living and I'm so glad we did. I never thought we could feel so great. In order to GET something different we needed to DO something different, and we did just that
Are you ready? What are you willing to trade ? What will your action of something different be?

New Challenge group gearing up next week are you ready? Watch out for the announcement and application soon!

Crock Pot Chicken Burrito Bowl

 

Crock Pot Chicken Burrito Bowl

            

Ingredients

                       

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 large breasts)

2 tablespoons of olive oil

3 teaspoons of onion powder

2 teaspoons of garlic powder

3 teaspoons of chili powder

2 teaspoons of cumin

1 teaspoon of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

3 cups of low-sodium chicken broth

1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained

1 14 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed

2 3/4 cups of instant whole grain brown rice 1⁄2 cup shredded colby jack cheese (optional)

                       

Directions

                       

1. Place chicken breasts in slow cooker.
2. Pour chicken broth over chicken breasts and stir in canned tomatoes, olive oil, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper.
3. Cook on low for about 4 hours.
4. Remove chicken breasts from slow cooker.
5. Turn slow cooker to high and stir in instant rice and black beans.
6. Let cook 30-45 minutes on high, or until rice is tender.
7. Add chicken back in, cook for 20 minutes on high, or until chicken is warm.
8. Serve with fresh diced tomatoes, sour cream, green onions, avocados or guacamole, top with cheese                           

                                               

Serving Size: 1 Cup

21 Day Fix Container Equivalents (per serving) 21 Day Fix:

1 Yellow, 1/2 Red, 1/2 Green

 

Hearty Beef Stew

 

 

Hearty Beef Stew from Beachbody

Total Time: 1 hr. 15 min. Prep Time: 15 min. Cooking Time: 4-6 hr. Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

11⁄2 lb. raw lean beef stew meat, boneless

11⁄2 medium onions, chopped

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1⁄4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 Tbsp. hot pepper sauce (like Tabasco)

1⁄2 to 1 cup low-sodium organic beef broth (or vegetable broth)

1 bay leaf

1⁄2 medium green bell pepper, chopped

1⁄2 medium red bell pepper, chopped

2 medium carrots, sliced

2 medium potatoes, cubed

3 cups cooked quinoa, hot

Preparation:

1. Place beef, onions, tomatoes, soy sauce, hot sauce, 1/2 cup broth, and bay leaf in large crockpot.

2. Serve with quinoa.

Vegan Variation: Substitute beef with same amount of tempeh. Use only 1⁄2 cup vegetable broth instead of beef broth. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Add vegetables and cook for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.

Crock Pot Variation: Toss all ingredients in (except for quinoa) and cook on low for 6 hours

21 Day Fix Container Equivalents (per serving)

1 1⁄2 Green 1 1⁄2 yellow 1 Red

Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas

Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas from Beachbody.com

Total Time: 6 hrs. 22 min. Prep Time: 20 min.

Cooking Time: 6 hrs. 2 min. Yield: 4 servings, 2 fajitas each

Ingredients:

1 (14.5-oz.) can diced tomatoes, drained (or diced tomatoes with green chiles), no salt added

1 medium onion, cut into quarters, sliced

1 medium red bell pepper, cut into strips

1 medium orange bell pepper, cut into strips

2 tsp. ground chile powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

1⁄2 tsp. ground black pepper

2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

1 lb. raw chicken breast, boneless, skinless, sliced

8 6-inch whole wheat flour tortillas, warm

1⁄2 cup fresh tomato salsa

8 tsp. low-fat (1%) plain Greek yogurt

1⁄2 medium avocado, sliced

Finely chopped cilantro

Preparation:

1. Place tomatoes, onion, bell peppers, chile powder, cumin, pepper, and lime juice in a 3-quart slow cooker; mix well.

2. Add chicken; cook, covered, on low temperature for 4 to 5 hours (or on high or 2 to 3 hours), stirring once or twice, until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender.

3. Evenly divide mixture between tortillas. Top evenly with salsa, yogurt, avocado, and cilantro.

21 Day Fix Container Equivalents (per serving):

2 Green, 1 Red, 1 1⁄2 Yellow, 1⁄2 Blue