I’ve asked Joshua to come and share his thoughts on our first week of Healthy Living. Please give Joshua, age 13 and oldest of our five children, a big welcome.
Our guest blogger.
Water - Easy, I drink that much water anyway (1 points for 16 oz, 3 pts max)
Fruit - Trickier than I thought. It turns out I don’t eat that much fruit. Tonight, for example, I was determined to get all 50 points but I hadn’t eaten any fruit. It killed me to think I would only get 48 points. Mom said a bowl of applesauce (a generous bowl) could count as two fruits. Whew. 50 points! (2 points for 2 fruits)
Veggies - An annoyance. I just shovel in the salad. I usually have at least three servings of salad a day. I tend to eat a good helping at lunch (or else you get behind in vegetables). I don’t really like cooked vegetables. Rachel and I disagree strongly on how broccoli should be prepared. I say crispy, stir-fried. Naturally, as everyone would agree, crunchy and close to raw is the only way to enjoy broccoli. Rachel and Daddy, in their confused state of being, like them mushy. Yuck. (Veggies bring in a lot of points as they are rated on a graduated scale; 1st serving = 1 point, 2nd serving = 2 points, and so on up to 5).
Measuring - Another annoyance. Worse than the vegetable requirement. Measuring implies NOT eating, at least the vegetable one lets you EAT. I disapprove of programs that want to restrict that glorious activity known as eating. I am growing 13 year old, after all. It’s especially sad on weekends. I don’t like having to limit my bowls of cereal on Saturday; since that’s when we are allowed sweet cereals. (4 points per meal for measuring, ie limiting quantities).
Desserts - This one is not too difficult although it is a bit worse on weekends. One sweet treat a day is fine during the week. On Sundays, there are delicious goodies after Sunday School as well as treats at Bible study. How am I supposed to limit himself to just one dessert, may I ask? This week they served ice cream cake, Hostess fruit pies (which Mom absolutely forbids/detests), and chocolate cake. All at the same party. Torturous. (1 free treat a day, -2 points for additional desserts).
Joshua enjoys his bowl of applesauce.
Exercise - I’m spending a lot of time running on the treadmill at home. I think the treadmill will be very happy when we finish this little month long plan. Since we’ve started, I find my endurance is improving. The laps we run at the YMCA aren’t as difficult. We are granted 10 points for our time at homeschooling PE. I have a new appreciation for the PE program. (5 points for 30 minutes cardio, up to 1 hour).
Weight Training – Push ups and sit ups are both getting easier, though I still don’t like doing them much. I feel stronger which, I guess, is part of Mom’s devious plan. I’m already working up to the heavier weights in my weight training. (4 points for 15 minutes wt training or 50 push ups and 50 sit upts, up to 8 points).
I like this method of doing things. Not forcing or compelling us to work out or eat healty but setting goals and let us meet them (or not). I like the challenge of trying to get all 50 points a day. 50 points = 1 chip and 1 chip = $1.
There you have it. Words of reflection from Joshua. No doubt he wants to earn money because my birthday is just around the corner. He’s a very generous son. 
I’ll see if some of the other children care to be guest bloggers and join us next time.
Kathy
To make excercise easier try moving to Norway and doing a 30 minute walk at 7:30 in the morning when it is 3 degrees celcius and pouring rain, that should have your attitude towards weight training hightened.
How cute! Okay, I think he has a bit of Edgren in him – ha! It’s that very dry sense of humor…..Enjoyed reading the blog and admire your point system!!! Healthy eating is always such a challenge isn’t it? What a great way to motivate the kids.
Joshua has obviously inherited the writing talent from both Tim and Katherine. Way to go, Joshua. Thanks for being a guest blogger. Do it again sometime, please.
P.S. I would be one like you who wanted to get the 50 points every day. Go Joshua!!!
Malta
Clap, clap, clap….yay, Joshua!
You are all going to be so healthy, good job Kathy!
Broccoli mushed is the ONLY way to eat it. And I am telling Daddy that you called him (and me) in a cofused state of mind. Unfortunately Mom also likes eww… chrispy yuck…. broccoli. So she makes the meal, she decides how the broccoli is cooked. Any way, maybe I will be the next guest blogger.
all for now.
The only way to use broccoli is tossing into the trash. Besides broccoli is only rotten lettuce that has been re-shaped, and you make it even worse by having it stir-fried or by mixing it. Plus I probably could beat a bunch of you and do a great deal of exercise.
I’m with Kathy and Joshua-broccoli has got to be on the crunchy side!
My favorite exercise secret is this: When you do your cardio work out do 10 minutes of warm-up then every one or two minutes stop and do your situps then back to cardio for one or two minutes then stop and do push ups. If you alternate cardio and weights every couple minutes you will maximize the calorie burning and the aerobic aspect of your workout by getting all of your muscles working at the same time. This will cause your body to work more efficiently and build muscle strength without taking more time to do a separate weight routine. PLUS, it gives you small goals every few minutes and, also variety which makes the time go by more quickly!
Hope this is the beginning of a life-long habit for all of you. Beth
I like my broccoli more towards mushy than towards crispy. I love broccoli. Are there 2 l’s??
What an incredible week you have had, Joshua. Good for you. I love that you are having an awareness of the benefits of your exercise. Not from being told ‘it’s good for you’, but discovering it!! Way to go!!
Come to Christmas Lake and walk around the lake. Not in 3 degree weather- as in Norway, tho.
Love you all. AK
Oh YUCK mushy broccoli!! I really enjoyed reading your thoughts Joshua.
Joshua,
One of our favorite fruits here is available in the states too I think. It would be called pomelo there. Most of us really like it. I have to watch Greg or he will eat the whole tray by himself! Leah does not like many fruits either, which is something we are working on. You may want to give pomelo a try.
No, No, No. Not the American(how do you spell the American form of temperature?) way of temperature measure but CELSIUS, the European way. But still 37 degrees for you. Oh, and VIVA LA NO BROCCOLI!
This is Joshua,
Well, Mom told me that there were a lot of comments. I guess she wasn’t kidding. For reasons unknown to me, my mother requested/ordered me to respond to all of them. So here goes.
I would just like to thank and commend all the people who support the correct way to eat broccoli. There seem to be a lot of you, and I don’t know several of you. So I’m speaking generally.
Secondly I would like to express great pity for the people (in their confused state of being) who’s stomach’s cannot handle broccoli in its true form. And, therefore, insist on resorting to the perverted form of broccoli. Again there are several of you I don’t know.
Samuel –
First of all, I think you are going to need to rethink your philosophy about broccoli. I know for a fact that broccoli is NOT reshaped rotten lettuce. And I also think that a week or so on this plan would knock out any hard feelings you ever had for broccoli. You see according to Mom, potatos and corn don’t count, and there is only so much salad that a person can eat.
Secondly, much as I would like to come to Norway, I can’t. So why bother taunting me?
Oh and another thing, doubtless you could probably “beat a bunch of us and do a great deal of exercise too” but I would like to see, even you, keep it up for a week. You know the saying, “people who live in igloos shouldn’t throw stones” (or something like that).
Does Cream of Broccoli soup count for anything (LOL)! Actually we really like broccoli around our house… either way… mushy or crunchy.
I love this idea. In fact, for several days after reading this post, I considered how I might make it work for my family. But I’ve decided *I’m* too lazy right now to pull it off. (Is that bad?)