Okay, you all are amazing. Friends, family and total strangers chimed in on yesterday’s blog to suggest great ways to transform our family’s eating from junk food happy to healthy, fit and vibrant.
Instead of sticking with snacks like these:
Austin (my sweet friend, Jodi’s, son) checks out some serious candy options in downtown Williamsburg.
…instead I guess we have to bring these kind of “treats” into the home:
Fruit, veggies and more.
I was so encouraged by all the helpful comments. A hearty thank you to everyone who responded. This morning Sarah and I went to the store and I made sure to fill up my grocery cart with plenty of fruits and vegetables. The kids gobbled down the apples and oranges like starving urchins and everyone enjoyed a big salad this evening.
I think I forgot that a healthy lifestyle requires continue work. I don’t know why it should be so surprising, the laundry doesn’t ever end (Hooray, I did 6 loads of laundry, now I’m done for the month. Ha! Right.) and housework is a constant responsibility, working out effectively means regular, consistent time set aside for exercise, and the spiritual disciplines are life long pursuits.
I bought two bags of apples, a bunch of bananas, a container of cherry tomatoes, some lettuce, carrots, and a big bag of oranges. These will last just days at our house. Seven people can go through a LOT of produce. However, I really appreciate all the supportive words about the importance of feeding my family healthy, nutritious food.
You all are the BEST!!
Dinner with the Daniels
This picture has nothing to do with today’s post but it does center around food so I figure I can sneak it in. When Tim and I were in Virginia, we had the opportunity to spend some time with my aunt, uncle and two cousins. They fed us an amazing dinner. It was so delicious my mouth is literally watering over the memories.
When Tim and I were going to school in VA, and later when we lived in Connecticut, we would occasionally drop by (unannounced, of course) on my dad’s sister and her family. Inevitably, they would be hosting some sort of party or gathering. As poor college students and then poorer newlyweds, Tim and I quickly realized this was a GREAT way to get a hearty (FREE) meal. We somehow managed to “stop over” for Christmas parties, barbeques and high school reunions.
No longer impulsive college students, this time we planned far in advance. I called Saturday to see if we could come over Sunday. It’s astounding how much a person can grow and mature over the years. Ever the gracious hosts, Aunt Lee Lee and Uncle Jack put together a beautiful dinner just for us.
We managed to convince my cousin, Sye, and his wife to join us for a picture.
In honor of this topic of healthy eating, I should remark that Aunt Lee Lee served a huge fruit salad, a fresh green salad, broccoli casserole and baked sweet potatoes not to mention several other dishes. Please excuse my growling stomach, I don’t think I’ve eaten that well since we left Virginia.
If you read through the comments and think of something brilliant that was neglected, please don’t delay, get typing and pass along your Fruit and Veggie Wisdom.
Kathy
Darling picture of you and Tim with Sye and wife. I wish you had a picture of Beth. Oops, I see her in the picture above. You look so gorgeous, Katherine. What is that shiny blue thing at your hip?
One of my TOPS friends spoke at class on being careful NOT to be fooled by organic foods and all the labels of ‘natural’ etc. It was interesting and made me less compulsive about that. But your other bloggers are more informed than I am.
Uncle Jerry loves veggies and wishes I’d serve more. He’s a huge fruit eater and wishes I’d serve more. Ha. The kids are grown!! We still need to de-sugar our house but we’re getting closer to it. Also to get rid of quick foods- which I like, as I’m not interested in cooking. We’re working on it and are getting better!! (after 42 yrs. of marriage)
Love you lots, AK
So, I wonder what your opinion is of milk. That’s my one nutrition stickler. I like my kids to get lots of milk. But I know that’s very out-of-vogue these days. And most of my kids had milk allergies as tots, so I had to wait a bit and I still don’t push it on Andy. But otherwise, I like them to get 2-3 cups a day. Somehow, I think they’ll get some nutrition in them if the one bite of carrot or broccoli isn’t enough.
Oh, and you do look beautiful above. I’m sorry, too, that we missed the Candy Shoppe run in Williamsburg. Just too much to do.
Good job on the start to healthier eating!
It’s a huge step, of course, simply to remove the sugary candy stuff.
If they see CANDY and veggies, of course they’d desire candy more.
However, if their choices for snacking are limited to a veggie and a different kind of veggie, they may start developing a hankering for a veggie some day…
Or they may just hate you.
It also helps to clean and prepare any fruits and vegetables in advance so they’re ready to eat. Nothing makes me want to pass on a fruit/vegetable more than knowing I’ll have to clean or cut it when I’m hungry NOW.
Also, I’ve said before that Velveeta makes every vegetable better and can help in the weaning process.
(note: by weaning, I mean “moving kids from unhealthy foods to vegetables.” If anyone misunderstands, slathers Velveeta on their breasts and blames it on me, I will not take responsibility for the infant’s subsequent cheese addiction and/or Wisconsin accent.)
Kathy – a bit more encouragement?
First, I agree 100% with Aunt Kate above. As you know we didn’t set out to be organic but to be sure that we were not eating a lot of “fake food”. With the organic market booming and big names entering it there have been more and more items that I find labeled ORGANIC that are really NOT good for you at all. Like the “organic lemonade” I bought while we were traveling which turned out to be “lemonade flavored” and colored. Reading ingredients is proving much more beneficial for us than looking for the green/white organic lable. OFTEN the TRUSTED names in the business will have the convenience foods we want without the junk….but you do have to be careful.
Second, I discovered just last night that carrots and Sweet Potatoes are SWEET – your taste buds do adapt.
Third, here are a few of our favorite snacks – smoothies frozen in the tupperware popsicle thing, nuts, apples dipped in peanut butter, carrot sticks, cheese, crackers/almond butter/cheese, cucmbers (why?), POPCORN (real popcorn – air popped), my fiddle faddle made with honey, cookies, brownies, fruit of all kinds and once a week we have homemade ice cream. We do limit the really concentrated sweets but when we make them they are for a treat (cookies, brownies, ice cream) and we make them with honey and figure “it’s not an every day thing”.
Just a few more snack ideas.
Really good and really interesting post. I expect (and other readers maybe :)) new useful posts from you!
Good luck and successes in blogging!