Hi Folks,
It's the day after Halloween and I have all of this left over candy in my house just tempting me to indulge another day. After having a few small pieces on Halloween night, I decided today I would work on giving away most of it or donating it to a good cause, when low and behold the UPS driver rings the doorbell with a medium size box that said Phillips candy house! My generous father in law sent MORE candy the day after Halloween. Oh great I thought! NO..I thought what am I going to do with this?? After pondering and getting a tad bit upset I packaged it all up in the box and sent it out to the garage. I plan on keeping a few and handing the rest off to neighbors and friends who want a treat.
Having candy in the house post Halloween is only setting yourself up for many days of lots of extra sugar and calories that the body does not need. I have learned that if I let myself indulge just a little like a few pieces on the actually holiday then I am able to not feel deprived or feel like I am missing out. I could easily keep going if the candy was here to tempt me day after day for sure, it's all about finding healthy ways to still indulge a little but not keeping it in the house to have everyday.
My suggestion is to just donate it, give it away,or save a few pieces in the freezer so they are not readily available. This allows you to have to think about if you really want it while it takes time to defrost! By that time, you may have already forgotten that you wanted it in the first place. :)
Going forward, this is a very busy time of year coming up. People tend to get busy with their families, parties, shopping, and forget to take time to fit fitness into their schedules. This year I vow to make fitness come first along with cooking healthy meals during the season. Fitness first, shopping second is my motto for this holiday season.
One last thing to think about as we approach a new year in the coming months is to start now with your healthy lifestyle. Doing this, you will be ahead of the game by 2 months and by starting sooner rather than later, you can be in the mindset before all of the holiday busyness starts. That is, you will be working out, making healthy food choices at home, at the grocery store, at parties. If you wait until January to start its just postponing what you can start today, you'll be amazed how much change can take place in just two months.
We all need to nurture our bodies, not just during the stressful holiday season but everyday!
One small workout daily will help you combat the stress throughout the holiday season. I know when I do not do something physically active to get my engine pumping in the morning, I am sluggish throughout the day.
Hop on board! Make this the year that you put YOU first. You are all worth it!
Brenda
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
kiddie cone controversy
This past weekend I had an opportunity to take my kids to a local farm for some end of the summer fun. The trip ended with the kids asking for an ice cream cone so I agreed to it, but only a kiddie size. When the order came to the window I was shocked, I said to the man "oh there must be a mistake I ordered kiddie cones" and he said these are kiddie cones. There had to be at least 5 servings of ice cream in this one cone that I was about to hand each one of my kids, which I did it reluctantly, because this portion distortion that I just experienced had really struck a chord with me. Here, I was trying to enjoy a little end of summer fun and the ice cream we ordered made me angry (lol). This got me thinking and more and more thoughts just kept coming to me about where we need to make changes in this country. There is so much obesity in our country not only in adults, but now in children. I am very passionate about the health of not only own family and children, but I want to help others realize that we have options. We can choose to take a stance on this epidemic and do something about it. Our kids are precious. They deserve to be fed healthy foods every day of the week from what they get at home to what they eat in schools. We have to be aware of the choices that are in front of them and how these choices will shape who they become in the future.
We, as parents, have to stop making excuses as to why it is too hard for us to provide healthy foods for our kids, and why they won’t eat it. The list of excuses is long. Whether it is because we are busy, we work, we don't have time to cook healthy dinners for them, or my favorite is; it's too expensive to eat healthy.
I will be demonstrating ways to make food shopping affordable. Believe me, I always am looking for ways to cut the grocery bill for a family of five.
My first suggestion and what I learned through my own first-hand experience is: To pre-plan your week meals and shopping trips. Everyone already makes routine trips to the grocery store each week. Why not make it into a new adventure? A new perspective on how we are feeding our children. I challenge anyone with children to make the grocery store fun. How you may ask? By getting your kids involved in the shopping experience! Ask them to pick one new fruit to try this week or one new vegetable. If you find yourself saying “My child will never eat veggies,” I suggest you present the foods in new, FUN ways. If they don't like cooked veggies offer it up raw with some yogurt dip dressing. You can find this at any grocery store. Or play with dipping cut vegetables into hummus or even serving up plain. By making healthy food fun, like “Ant’s on a Log”, which is a celery stick filled with a serving of almond butter and topped with raisins kids love it! Kids (and adults alike) are visual. If the food looks boring and dull – they will not be as excited about tasting it. By involving your children in the process of making healthy food fun, they will look forward to spending time with you and fueling their bodies better.
I have lots of tips on these kinds of things, for now I just want to get it out there. If they ask for the fruity pebble cereal consider saying, “Well let’s see what the sugar content is in that cereal.” By showing your children the nutritional labels, and actively involving and educating them about the information on labels, you are making the process interactive so they absorb some of the information. Parents must recognize that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast is the meal that jump-starts our kids when heading off to school to learn in the classroom. We must identify ourselves which choices will provide our kids and ourselves with the energy and nutrition we need to thrive. Learning which breakfast foods have too much sugar and which ones will cause our kids will crash and burn within an hour or so of arriving to the classroom is a critical decision.
We need our kids to be educated on health. Be doing so they will have more energy and confidence in themselves. WE as parents MUST take action to educate them. It cannot be left up to the schools or the government alone, as a parent - this is OUR job!
I LOVE children. I love being a role model to them and making good choices on my own. I do this by teaching them and other parents what I have learned from the trial and errors of my own parenting experiences. Kids love to see their parents making good choices. They are so proud of their mom or dad's new exercise regimen or seeing a parent sign up for a road race or just cooking differently than usual. Kids look up to you when you do things like this.
I do not want to sound like a goodie-goodie parent here because I am far from that. I would be lying if I told you I do not like the occasional treat or I don't allow my kids to eat them once in a while because I do.
My goal is to get the message out there that just because they are kids does not give us as parents any type of license to just go and eat a bunch of processed junk food. We all are aware that our eating habits are stemmed from what we were served as children. It is evident many parents are feeding their children foods they want to eat themselves – playing the role of an enabler. Let's give our kids the BEST we can and BE the best parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents we can for them by being good role models. Let them see us being active and making healthy lifestyle choices, so that they, in turn, will do so and can pass those habits on to their kids and grand kids.
Let's get back to basics here everyone. I am on your side. I am here and I want hear what you have to say, both good and bad. What are some of the struggles you may face trying to make it happen? I am here for you. I want to hear from you. Let's work to get our kids on the health kick. We can do this. This does not have to be complicated, small changes each week to get your kids, family, and the country on the right track.
I want to leave you with a “food for thought” concept today. Something I have observed. I have visited Italy several times to see my grandmother in a small mountain town just North of Rome. I found myself in awe of this country, even at the ripe young age of 19 my first trip. I actually lost weight in my weeks spent there each time. You might be wondering why, well - there was never an opportunity to eat junk food or to even find it at a grocery store. The people of this area rely on whole foods, fruits & veggies and yes, even some white pasta. It is that portion of pasta that is different than what we as Americans may consider being a “portion”. The pasta they ate was served A) at lunch time only B) it was only about a cup or less and C) they are a very active country that walks everywhere. It is a country where I could not find too many overweight children if I tried. They were out in the fields or yards running and playing. They sat together to eat their meals, they even enjoy a taste of red wine with their meals. There is something to take from all of this. They are clearly are doing something right. They even take an evening stroll to the local gelateria and enjoy a small gelato (ice cream) but when they say small they mean small.
Our eateries in this country need to get real about the portions they are serving up to us and our kids. We need to get real about realizing where “value” lies in supersizing and family-portion dinners. Are we getting your monies worth, or just getting fat? This is contributing to the population packing on the pounds, and we as a nation need to get mad about this. It's not only portion size causing this issue but the choices that we are presented with at our local grocery stores. Should there be a tax on junk-food? Probably. Should there be something done about the sugar in sodas? Yup. Should there be more nutrition regulations in restaurants and fast-food shops? Yes. However, we cannot wait for the government to make changes here we have to make those changes right in our own home and the time is NOW! Take a stance just because what is strategically placed in isle 5, on shelf 3 at the market is enticing you or your kid with a treat does not mean we have to stand for it. Let’s show them, that we are not choosing their bag of Doritos but a healthier option.
I could write so much more on this subject. I hope we can start a discussion on this critical childhood obesity subject matter and work on educating our youth of today on its importance.
I promise you do not have to feel like this will be too much deprivation for you or the children just small baby steps towards making a change that will make a big difference. Take it one day at a time as I have learned at Cutting Edge Fitness.
To be continued..................
Brenda
We, as parents, have to stop making excuses as to why it is too hard for us to provide healthy foods for our kids, and why they won’t eat it. The list of excuses is long. Whether it is because we are busy, we work, we don't have time to cook healthy dinners for them, or my favorite is; it's too expensive to eat healthy.
I will be demonstrating ways to make food shopping affordable. Believe me, I always am looking for ways to cut the grocery bill for a family of five.
My first suggestion and what I learned through my own first-hand experience is: To pre-plan your week meals and shopping trips. Everyone already makes routine trips to the grocery store each week. Why not make it into a new adventure? A new perspective on how we are feeding our children. I challenge anyone with children to make the grocery store fun. How you may ask? By getting your kids involved in the shopping experience! Ask them to pick one new fruit to try this week or one new vegetable. If you find yourself saying “My child will never eat veggies,” I suggest you present the foods in new, FUN ways. If they don't like cooked veggies offer it up raw with some yogurt dip dressing. You can find this at any grocery store. Or play with dipping cut vegetables into hummus or even serving up plain. By making healthy food fun, like “Ant’s on a Log”, which is a celery stick filled with a serving of almond butter and topped with raisins kids love it! Kids (and adults alike) are visual. If the food looks boring and dull – they will not be as excited about tasting it. By involving your children in the process of making healthy food fun, they will look forward to spending time with you and fueling their bodies better.
I have lots of tips on these kinds of things, for now I just want to get it out there. If they ask for the fruity pebble cereal consider saying, “Well let’s see what the sugar content is in that cereal.” By showing your children the nutritional labels, and actively involving and educating them about the information on labels, you are making the process interactive so they absorb some of the information. Parents must recognize that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast is the meal that jump-starts our kids when heading off to school to learn in the classroom. We must identify ourselves which choices will provide our kids and ourselves with the energy and nutrition we need to thrive. Learning which breakfast foods have too much sugar and which ones will cause our kids will crash and burn within an hour or so of arriving to the classroom is a critical decision.
We need our kids to be educated on health. Be doing so they will have more energy and confidence in themselves. WE as parents MUST take action to educate them. It cannot be left up to the schools or the government alone, as a parent - this is OUR job!
I LOVE children. I love being a role model to them and making good choices on my own. I do this by teaching them and other parents what I have learned from the trial and errors of my own parenting experiences. Kids love to see their parents making good choices. They are so proud of their mom or dad's new exercise regimen or seeing a parent sign up for a road race or just cooking differently than usual. Kids look up to you when you do things like this.
I do not want to sound like a goodie-goodie parent here because I am far from that. I would be lying if I told you I do not like the occasional treat or I don't allow my kids to eat them once in a while because I do.
My goal is to get the message out there that just because they are kids does not give us as parents any type of license to just go and eat a bunch of processed junk food. We all are aware that our eating habits are stemmed from what we were served as children. It is evident many parents are feeding their children foods they want to eat themselves – playing the role of an enabler. Let's give our kids the BEST we can and BE the best parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents we can for them by being good role models. Let them see us being active and making healthy lifestyle choices, so that they, in turn, will do so and can pass those habits on to their kids and grand kids.
Let's get back to basics here everyone. I am on your side. I am here and I want hear what you have to say, both good and bad. What are some of the struggles you may face trying to make it happen? I am here for you. I want to hear from you. Let's work to get our kids on the health kick. We can do this. This does not have to be complicated, small changes each week to get your kids, family, and the country on the right track.
I want to leave you with a “food for thought” concept today. Something I have observed. I have visited Italy several times to see my grandmother in a small mountain town just North of Rome. I found myself in awe of this country, even at the ripe young age of 19 my first trip. I actually lost weight in my weeks spent there each time. You might be wondering why, well - there was never an opportunity to eat junk food or to even find it at a grocery store. The people of this area rely on whole foods, fruits & veggies and yes, even some white pasta. It is that portion of pasta that is different than what we as Americans may consider being a “portion”. The pasta they ate was served A) at lunch time only B) it was only about a cup or less and C) they are a very active country that walks everywhere. It is a country where I could not find too many overweight children if I tried. They were out in the fields or yards running and playing. They sat together to eat their meals, they even enjoy a taste of red wine with their meals. There is something to take from all of this. They are clearly are doing something right. They even take an evening stroll to the local gelateria and enjoy a small gelato (ice cream) but when they say small they mean small.
Our eateries in this country need to get real about the portions they are serving up to us and our kids. We need to get real about realizing where “value” lies in supersizing and family-portion dinners. Are we getting your monies worth, or just getting fat? This is contributing to the population packing on the pounds, and we as a nation need to get mad about this. It's not only portion size causing this issue but the choices that we are presented with at our local grocery stores. Should there be a tax on junk-food? Probably. Should there be something done about the sugar in sodas? Yup. Should there be more nutrition regulations in restaurants and fast-food shops? Yes. However, we cannot wait for the government to make changes here we have to make those changes right in our own home and the time is NOW! Take a stance just because what is strategically placed in isle 5, on shelf 3 at the market is enticing you or your kid with a treat does not mean we have to stand for it. Let’s show them, that we are not choosing their bag of Doritos but a healthier option.
I could write so much more on this subject. I hope we can start a discussion on this critical childhood obesity subject matter and work on educating our youth of today on its importance.
I promise you do not have to feel like this will be too much deprivation for you or the children just small baby steps towards making a change that will make a big difference. Take it one day at a time as I have learned at Cutting Edge Fitness.
To be continued..................
Brenda
Special Guest Blogger: Brenda
Hi!
We'll be using this Blog to host "Featured Guest Bloggers of Cutting Edge Fitness".
This has been an idea of Cutting Edge for a while now, and most recently Inspiration struck.
As I (Ann Marie) was conversing with a client about fitness and nutrition trends, as we usually do - amongst discussing goal-setting, weight-training, cardio, stretching, proper food-choices and meal planning, the challenges we face as a nation and childhood obesity, not to mention the latest in workout gear and hot-spots of Newton, it has occurred to both of us, Brenda, who is a wife and mother of 3 (ages 10, 8, and 4), has a passion for the future and health of our children!
Her topics are very interesting - and ones I firmly believe should be heard. Whether is stirs up conversation or controversy - ...I might be dating myself here, but like Tom Bergeron said "People Are Talking".
Brenda has a Voice - for Mother's everywhere...and those who are not mothers, who came from a mother, who one day may be a mother, and anyone who may know a mother ...heck - for all fathers and bachelors and men of the world too - Listen Up.
To spark her first blog entry...we were faced with the challenge of NAMING it!
We debated over "Kids Can Eat Healthy Blog", "Taking Matters Into Your Own Hands Blog", "Back to Basics Blog", "Personal Accountability Blog", "Not Going To Keep Quiet Anymore, Kids are Worth It Blog", "The Are of Saying NO to Sugary Processed Snacks & Creative Ways To Get Your Kids to Make Healthy Choices"....
.....after reading them all, getting in a good chuckle over how pissed off some of us - including myself - have really become over this topic of debate (yoga, anyone?)...
I think it's quite appropriate to title the first Blog Entry after the event that caused the last bendy soda-straw which broke the my-little-pony's back...introducing the Segue into Cutting Edge Fitness's National Social MOVEMENT - which starts IN YOUR OWN HOME!
"Kiddie Cone Controversy"
We'll be using this Blog to host "Featured Guest Bloggers of Cutting Edge Fitness".
This has been an idea of Cutting Edge for a while now, and most recently Inspiration struck.
As I (Ann Marie) was conversing with a client about fitness and nutrition trends, as we usually do - amongst discussing goal-setting, weight-training, cardio, stretching, proper food-choices and meal planning, the challenges we face as a nation and childhood obesity, not to mention the latest in workout gear and hot-spots of Newton, it has occurred to both of us, Brenda, who is a wife and mother of 3 (ages 10, 8, and 4), has a passion for the future and health of our children!
Her topics are very interesting - and ones I firmly believe should be heard. Whether is stirs up conversation or controversy - ...I might be dating myself here, but like Tom Bergeron said "People Are Talking".
Brenda has a Voice - for Mother's everywhere...and those who are not mothers, who came from a mother, who one day may be a mother, and anyone who may know a mother ...heck - for all fathers and bachelors and men of the world too - Listen Up.
To spark her first blog entry...we were faced with the challenge of NAMING it!
We debated over "Kids Can Eat Healthy Blog", "Taking Matters Into Your Own Hands Blog", "Back to Basics Blog", "Personal Accountability Blog", "Not Going To Keep Quiet Anymore, Kids are Worth It Blog", "The Are of Saying NO to Sugary Processed Snacks & Creative Ways To Get Your Kids to Make Healthy Choices"....
.....after reading them all, getting in a good chuckle over how pissed off some of us - including myself - have really become over this topic of debate (yoga, anyone?)...
I think it's quite appropriate to title the first Blog Entry after the event that caused the last bendy soda-straw which broke the my-little-pony's back...introducing the Segue into Cutting Edge Fitness's National Social MOVEMENT - which starts IN YOUR OWN HOME!
"Kiddie Cone Controversy"
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)