Healthy mindset, food rewarding...What's a parent to do?!

So my kindergartner came home yesterday and said they got candy at school for listening to something and missing recess...

Her: "don't they know I have candy from the other days I already don't eat because I have too much? They give too much candy."
          *thoughtful pause*
"They should give homework instead of candy, that'd be better!"
I definitely laughed because it's kind of ridiculous😅.....

I doubt many would agree with her...but I bet a sticker would make her happy! My kiddo loves sugar like normal kids but apparently she knows her self-imposed limits...PLUS they get other treats and ice cream WEEKLY...yep, weekly #brainfood?? I in no way blame the teachers....My family is full of educators, I put no blame on other for what happens in my life, it's up to us to mold our children's choices and life skills.

🍦 I'm not worried about obesity or childhood health issues because we eat well rounded meals and move, run, jump and play sports. I hope other families do too......but I worry about 2 worse consequences:
1) the sugar crash and subsequent bad attitude at home! I'm thankful I don't worry about childhood obesity, I hope we all learn to make our kids move and feed them right so you don't worry either. And those sugar attitudes?! We all need help with those....

But my other worry:




🍦 🍦 What about teaching a healthy reward system, both internal and external?! Reward good behavior with sugary food and they'll grow up feeling like food is a reward. Food is delicious and fun but should we start thinking of it as a reward or punishment then it takes a different meaning as a young adult or grown woman, especially one who struggles with food/ weight issues.... it starts young. Reward a kid for having a good naptime with candy (yep, it happend) and when she grows up she may feel it's a great reward to have pie every night because she had a great day at work (her edible smile or tasty pat-on-the-back). But then if she has weight issues she may need to cut back a bit... but how can she feel the success if that was her "good day" edible pat-on-the-back?!
(not an end of the month "I smashed my work goals" treat...as those can be rewarded because it should be 👊)

We can FEEL greatness without having to feed it. Each day should be celebrated but, in my opinion, save the treats for the big times.

📍 It starts young. Habits are too hard to break, set good ones first.

This treat below was frozen fruit with a stick jammed in it. 

They handed them out around our pool to the kids free during the day and the smiles and cheers were to DIE FOR. They get happy over the simplest things! Let's teach them what's good brain food from the beginning. It really does start at home. Be their leader, teacher and example.

Slow and steady or Easy off, Easy on?

Which one are you looking for?

Here's the deal, "slow and steady wins the race" isn't something that someone just came up with to sound cute. It's actually true in many aspects of life...(and not true in others, I know.). But for fat loss we can't expect to win the race of life with a 5 day cleanse, a 7 day or even a 25 day period of time.  Life is much longer than that and it takes many months (even years) of making good choices to really turn your health, your habits and your life around. You may lose fat or inches in a short amount of time but the faster it comes of, the faster it can come right back on!

I just don't like when trainers or "coaches" feel the need to push these marketing brands that sell quick weight loss bars, shakes or meal replacements (frankly, I don't want my meals replaced!) Do they not TRUST their instincts and education or their own ability to teach people the right way (not the easy way)?  

Getting a "jump start" is certainly good but learning how to do it so you're happy and not craving things should be the way to do it not craving and waiting for the ## days to be over till you can eat *insert favorite food here*. You want something that you don't need to keep taking just to maintain you weight loss. Or something that will lead you to believe that fat loss is in a bottle or package and it's easy. It's not.  So do your research, start eating right, start moving more and find your patience! Fill your plate with veggies and protein, do it right and you will be happier with the end result! But if these products help you get your mind right, get you on track and going towards a lifestyle...then great. But it's not often it ends up that way.

Supplements are fine (I take things to boost my health, multivitamin, protein powder, fish oil, iron, vitamin d)  and they help for things that you may be lacking but "tricks" like pills and shakes aren't for everyone and shouldn't be relied on. Rely on hard work and healthy lifestyle. 

Why not learn it the right way and make it a lifestyle rather than a period of time. Don't look back, change your ways and you won't need tricks, you'll eat yummy food and stay fit and healthy.

Want to make it a lifestyle? chose things that fit in with your life...for example. I signed up for a virtual 5k because I was never available for the ones around town. But these type of events got us out and going. So this time around I chose one I can do with myself or with friends on my own time. I didn't want to...because you all know I'm not a runner! But It was something I paid for and committed to...so I did it. You need to find something that gets you going, gets you committed and gets you do do it. Garden, walk, fun, hike, swim...whatever, but make it part of your day. Lunch breaks, cancelled appointments (that's when I did mine!), random free hour. Just make it fit. You can do it, I know you can!

Side-note: I fell in love with the top picture that I got from FitNix on Instagram, I was having a conversation about this topic when I scrolled right over this pic...couldn't have been a coincidence... she's also on facebook She is a good source of info too. (I don't know her...just met her at the Arnold one time...but I love see her posts :) )

Cookies?! mmmmm

A "cookie" recipe!

Happy "Spring"...but I feel wierd saying that. Here's a tip to brighten up your day maybe!
Now, I've never claimed to be a master chef or an amazing baker but I like to eat, I like simple and I like to make things healthier than they started. Every chance I get I will try something I find on Pinterest or some other blog. This one I tried 5 minutes after seeing, I wanted a cookie that bad.  For this one, I had to put "cookie" in quotes because I just can't call it a cookie...but it was so good they disappeared from the plate faster than I could grab another.  

You'll need a food scale for this...You should probably go ahead and get one anyways....but this was posted by Lean Bodies Consulting on their Facebook page .They always post things that would be "on plan" for nutrition clients and weighing is always the best form of measurement. But I've added what they would roughly translate too. These are 'carbalicious' so would be a great post workout snack! 

Sweet potato Cookie:

200g sweet potatoes (cooked and cooled) (about 3 small)
2 whole eggs
30g almond butter (about 1 tbsp)
1 tbsp of cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350, combine all ingredients until the batter is thick and smooth. Drop small balls of the batter onto a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes and then FLIP the cookies and bake for an additional 5 minutes (very important). Cool on a cooling rack.

**The cooling rack is an important step because of the moisture in the sweet potatoes so let them cool before you eat them.
Mine:

Theirs:

Nutrition facts (as determined by myfitness pal):

4 cookies= 115 calories

                     11g carbs
                      6g fat
                       5 g protein
                      2 g fiber

New Year, New food mmmm...

So January is over and I am now asking about the resolutions you've made for 2014....why now? Because it's about now that you are probably moving on from them :)  Resolutions, goals, personal fixes, do-overs,...whatever you call them I want you to think about them as Superbowl Sunday approaches us this weekend!

One of my many goals I set for myself was to add more recipes. I used to do it a lot so I'm going to post more recipes and workouts per blog. The recipes will be gluten free and mostly dairy free so I hope I can help those of you who are just finding out you need to be either one, or both, of those. It's rough when trying to change how you eat/cook so if I can help I will certainly try. Eating healthy is pretty much the only way we eat in our house, not because we try so hard but mostly because that's the stuff I like, and I cook so it ends up that way. We do like to splurge but our splurges tend to be Thai or sushi which are not the worst we could choose.

Here's the deal though. I'm not a chef, not even a wonderful cook. But I love to eat and I hate to shop soooo that means that I've become really good at figuring out how to put together meals with whatever is in the cabinet and they usually end up tasty, if I do say so myself.  I also have a few rules when it comes to recipes that I use. Due to my laziness most recipes will have 6 ingredients or less and about 5 steps or less (most will include one step that says "put all ingredients in a bowl and stir" :) ) So if you want easy and fast...I'm your girl...wait, I mean...you'll like my food suggestions.

Here's a great one for the Superbowl:

Peanut butter balls...

we did this regularly as a kid, it may even be the first recipe i memorized. It is great for the sweet tooth but will fill you up.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup peanut butter (an all natural PB is recommended — the only ingredient necessary is crushed peanuts)
1 cup honey
3 cups rolled oats (oatmeal)
1 cup dried fruit (we like crasins in our house but mini dark chocolate or rasins would do)
unsweetened coconut

DIRECTIONS

Mix the first four ingredients together thoroughly. Form them into balls (makes about 10-12 depending on size) then roll them in the crushed nuts, granola cereal, or unsweetened coconut. Serve or refrigerate.

Nutrition Info:

Recipe yields four dozen quarter-sized balls.

Nutritional information per serving: 100 calories; 5 g fat; 0 mg cholesterol; 12.2 g carbohydrates; 2.8 g protein; 4.4 mg sodium; 1.5 g fiber; 7.1 g sugar

Super Workout:
10 "field goal" Crunch- Lay on back with arms and legs stretched out and raise shoulders up while lifting legs and hold for 2 counts.
10 supermans- (reverse of elongated crunch) Lay on belly and raise legs and arms, hold for 2 count and lower
10 out and in ab crunches
20 touchdowns- stand with feet apart take left hand and as you side step to the right you touch left hand to the right foot. Then side jump/step to the left and bend to touch right hand to left foot. Alternating sides.
10 Squat sidekicks each leg - squat and then kick leg to the side kind of like a roundhouse kick.
10 Switch lunge jumps
15 Single leg squat each side
10 run-downs...20 high knee run in place and drop down for a pushup then repeat
15 tricep dips.

Repeat this 1 to 5 times before the game starts then at least once at the end....so you don't snack too much!