September 30, 2012

Meals on the Go

People have asked me, where do u get your ideas for your blog?  They come from a variety of places, a response to a previous blog, an article I read, an event that occurred, something from my nutrition classes, but this week the idea came at my sons baseball game.  I happened to get there early and watch all of the kids rushing to get to practice before the game.  Many of them running with some type of fast food item being shoved down their throats french fries, burger, nuggets and some sort of sugary drink, so that they had something to eat before the game.

While I totally understand squeezing in a meal to ensure our kids eat, it is really not the best choice to feed them all that processed food before a game.  A friend of mine is a volleyball coach and she said that she has had to pull parents aside and encourage them to not have their child fill up on fast food, a slushie or a big gulp before a game. The kids do not have the energy they need to function during the game.  It is not only not good for them, but it impacts the team when a player is not at their best.

I will admit, I have been that mom before just trying to get by.  With four very active kids, I used to drive thru somewhere all the time.  Why not? I thought, it’s an easy way to get them food and they won’t complain about eating it.  Well I have learned my lesson the hard way and now try to limit the amount of drive thru runs by planning ahead.  For those of you whose children are smaller, it is much easier to start out developing healthy habits than it is to change bad ones.

In this situation it would be better to give your child an apple, a banana,  some type of protein bar or shake, or some nuts ( if they can have them)  to give them fuel before the game.    Remember, food is fuel, and if we don’t put in the right type of fuel, our bodies wont function properly and our kids won’t be at their best.   Most food portions are way out of control as it is and while these options are not a full meal, it will give them the energy needed to sustain them and be a healthier choice.

Last week my son had his first hockey game for his AA travel hockey team.  We said we were going to go out for lunch to celebrate my other sons 13 birthday.  Danny said, “I can’t go mommy.  I need to make sure I eat healthy before the game.  I can’t eat junk.” I told him that we would go to a sit down restaurant (not fast food) where I would help him make a healthier choice.  He and I shared a salad with grilled chicken. He ended up playing a great game and scored 4 goals that evening.  He was proud of himself and knew that making a healthier choice before the game made a difference in his performance.

I have to admit it is moments like this when the boys realize themselves how food actually makes them feel, that it makes it worth all of the pain and heartache of changing their diets around to focus on the healther choices, which in today’s society is NOT always easy to do.

The next time you are running late or are trying to squeeze in some fuel before an event; For Meals on the Run, think about keeping one these on hand and ready to go – a piece of fruit – a granola bar or zbar – a bag of nuts – better yet a home made Protein bar

– 1 cup of Peanut Butter OR Sun Butter
– 1 cup oatmeal
– 1 cup protein powder (We use Shaklee or Melaleuca Protein Powder)
– 1/2 cup raw natural honey
– depending on the type of butter you may need to add a tsp of water if its too dry

No baking necessary. You can roll them into balls, or shape into bars and put in the frig. They look like raw cookie dough balls, but much healthier.  For an added treat, you could dip them in chocolate, coconut or crushed nuts and ENJOY!

 

September 26, 2012

Are We Being Overfed and Undernourished?

A picture says a thousand words, but in this case, it was a video with no sound that was very intriguing to everyone.  I wanted to start out with the link to the first video which can be found on utube.  It is in regards to the lack of nutritional content in our foods today and the impacts to our bodies of being overfed and undernourished.  I will fully admit I was very intersted in this video myself, as I came across this at the time I was starting to focus on nutrition for my kids.  I always knew my kids didn’t eat the best, but this was one of those aha moments.  It was like a sign from God saying, listen to your gut, you are going in the right direction.  Sometimes we need those little reminders and some sort of affirmation to know that what we think and feel is the right way to go.  This video was one of those moments for me.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2OOHzJyIAQ

Each person and family is at a diffferent place in their lives when it comes to their health.  Most of the information I will share in my blogs will be beneficial to each and every one of you in your own time.  Maybe you are not ready to focus on an area like cutting down on processed foods, it is important to know that it is OK to be right where you are in your journey.  There is no right or wrong place to be and you will know when it is right to dig deeper into a particular area.  Trust your gut, if you have a feeling or idea that comes to your head, there is a reason for it.  There is no quick fix or miracle answer, but if you focus on taking action one simple step at a time, you will be truly amazed at the positive difference you can make in your family.

Feel free to use this blog as a resource for you and your family.  I will try to provide a variety of different experiences, perspectives, opinions, topics, tough decisions, aha moments etc… to create a community of support for each other on our journeys. Please feel free to share the presentation and any info in the blog with anyone you feel would benefit from this information.  If you ever have a topic you would like to hear more about, please share it with me and I will feature it as a future blog topic.

Here is to the first of many powerful steps we can take to transform our families to good health.

September 21, 2012

A Good or Bad Choice?!?

So this week I have to confess, while I try to focus and offer my kids healthy choices, my family is not perfect and we sometimes stray away from making the best choices. However, I felt the need to share a story of something that happened with my son.

Having 4 boys, I am usually at some sort of baseball field, basketball court or hockey rink, where or course they always sell “the bad stuff”. I am continuously trying to get my kids to NOT buy food or drinks out of the vending machines. First of all, its more expensive and second, the options are usually not healthy ones.

My son Danny always asks for a Gatorade at most events and I continue to encourage him to stay away from them. Sports Drinks are one of those items that have alot of added sugar and foods dyes in them, which negatively impact the kids behaviours. Of course they don’t care if they are bouncing off the walls, they just like the taste. At home I encourage the kids to drink alot more water and stay away from all of the sugary substitutes. We try to pack a water bottle or an all natural sports hydration drink. But this particular day I didn’t plan ahead and I decided to give in and allow him to pick a drink from the vending machine. He knows my preference of choices, so he decided that rather than choosing a Cola “Caffeinated Product” or Gatorade “A Food Dye Product”, that he would make a better choice, a lighter colored soda product like 7Up. There is no caffeine, but still sugar. I relunctantly agreed.

I started the drive home and my son said ” Mommy is 78 grams of sugar bad?”. I almost slammed on my breaks and said what?! What I didn’t realize was that my son bought a “Mellow Yellow”. My response was “Honey, you know how mommy doesn’t let you drink Mountain Dew? This is the “Coke” version of it. If I would have known I wouldn’t have let you buy it. It has way too much sugar and caffeine in it.” In that moment, I had to make a decision, do I let him drink this overly caffeinated sugary drink, or do I say NO you can’t have it.

My son’s response was “Oh, how about I only drink half of it and then give the rest to you.” I reluctantly agreed. To be honest I was completely surprised by his next action. Now, this is the child who will do something just to annoy you and push the limits, but in this instance, he surprised me. My son drank only about 1/3 of the bottle and gave the rest to me without complaint. He didn’t ask about it again.

While in this case, my son made a bad choice on the product he bought, however he made a good choice by learning to look at the label, educated himself and made the decision on how he would handle this new knowledge. While I would have preferred he not drink any at all, if I would have told him no, I think I would have seen an entirely different scenario play out.

Let’s face it, our kids won’t always make the best choices even if they do know what the right answer is. I can’t force them to eat all good healthy foods and I won’t always be there when they begin to make choices on their own. What I can do is put my best foot forward and hope that my leading by example will help teach them to make better choices as they get older. In this case, what started out as a “bad choice” became a good life lesson.