Okay friends, I have had several conversations with other moms recently who want to know some healthy lifestyle tips. Now, everyone’s family is different and so are your kids so I can’t guarantee that any of my recipes or suggestions will work but I want to tell you a few of the strategies I use.
The 80/20 Rule
Ah, the 80/20 rule. Good for so many things. In this case, the message is “You don’t have to be perfect all the time to get good results.” In fact, if you eat well 80% of the time, you can fudge a bit the remaining 20%. Eating healthy isn’t about making yourself miserable and beating up on yourself for slipping up. I’ll be honest with you, I have a powerful sweet tooth. Like, I just ate a Ghiradelli milk chocolate and caramel square about ten minutes ago. But that’s okay, because I don’t have to be perfect. Putting too much pressure on yourself to be perfect can backfire in two ways (actually, way more than that but I’m just going to list two). 1: Increases your stress level which increases cortisol (the stress hormone) which will actually cause your body to put on more fat and 2: Self control is a limited resource. If you exhaust it by being too stringent with your eating you will find yourself in the pantry shoving handfuls of your kids Fruity Pebbles straight into your mouth. In a later post, I’ll give some tips on what to do when you start feeling a sugar craving hitting but for now, don’t beat yourself up about it.
Whole Foods
If I could attribute my low body fat percentage to anything, it’s that I make as many things from scratch that I can. For instance, tonight’s dinner is chicken tacos. I made the pinto beans (super easy to do btw), I used my own seasonings for the chicken, and I’m going to be whipping up some tortillas here in a few minutes, too. Make as much as you can from scratch. Stay away from canned or boxed foods. Frozen foods too, for the most part, unless you can read the ingredients list and know everything on it. Again, the 80/20 rule applies. I tried making enchilada sauce once and not only was it incredibly work intensive it didn’t even turn out well. Major bust. So I use canned enchilada sauce. But for everything where it is reasonable and tastes better to make myself, I do it.
Keep It Natural
To piggy back off the previous point, keep it as natural as possible. Organic, grass-fed, free range, these are all expensive options but they are also healthy for you. If you can swing it, go for the organic options. If it isn’t in your budget, buy the healthiest option you can. Make sure to rinse your produce well before eating. I recommend checking out the produce dirty dozen and try to buy those organic if and when you can. When in doubt, keep it natural. Our bodies are meant to digest natural products. All the chemicals, preservatives, food dyes, those mess our systems up, over tax our livers, and cause widespread and various illnesses. Our bodies just weren’t made to process as much of them as we are eating these days. But natural foods will leave you feeling healthy, energized, and thinking with a clear mind.
Water, All the Time
But what about my coffee? That’s fine. In fact, coffee isn’t even diuretic like I once thought. Tea? Also fine. Soda? Not fine. Fruit juices? Not fine. Fruit juice has tons of natural and added sugars that do not make it a good regular drink of choice (80/20 rule applies here. You can have it occasionally, but not daily). Here’s what I try to do. I downloaded an app to track my water intake and I aim to hit my daily water goals. I don’t count the coffee I drink because I add too much creamer and collagen powder for it to be considered water anymore and I don’t count my protein shakes, but I do count my morning and evening tea. As long as I hit my water goals every day, I call it a win. For my kids, we only give them water. Occasionally, we will give them an electrolyte drink for various reasons, but their day to day drink is water.
Take Favorite Recipes and Make Them Healthier Over Time
My family loves Mexican food. Of course we do, my husband’s hispanic. Burritos is a weekly staple for us. Now, when I was growing up, burritos was not known as a health food. Honestly, it still isn’t but I have made it into a reasonably healthy meal for my family. How? By making healthier choices with each of the ingredients.
What started as store bought tortillas, canned beans, whatever ground meat I found, and maybe some lettuce has changed over time. Instead of store bought I started making my own tortillas. Then I started grinding my own wheat (I’ll do a post about this later) to make whole wheat tortillas, a much healthier option than the original store bought tortillas. We went from canned beans to homemade pinto beans. From run of the mill ground beef to grass-fed/finished ground beef. Then I even started sneaking diced radishes and avocado into the boys burritos on top of the beans before smothering it in cheese.
I did not do this overnight. These were small adjustments I made over the course of years to steadily make our diets healthier and you can do that with your favorite recipes too.
Getting Adequate, High Quality Sleep
I will do a whole post about this later because it is such an important topic, but for now I highly recommend you read Sleep Smarter: 21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to a Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success.
This book changed my life. I thought I was a good sleeper before but I was so wrong. With better quality sleep you will have more energy, your sugar cravings will drop, and your body will have less inflammation and weight retention.
For any mommas out there with young kids, be aware that 3-5 year olds need 10-13 hours of sleep a day and 6-13 year olds need 9-12 hours. If they don’t get adequate sleep, they won’t be able to focus during school and their academic performance and discipline will struggle.
The Most Important Thing
The most important thing you can do is try. Each day try to be a little healthier. Learn something new. Try a new recipe. Challenge yourself to add vegetables in your meals. The progress you make doesn’t have to be big or fast. You eat every day of your life. Start making smarter choices and over the course of years you will be amazed at how those small changes start adding up!
Your kids are learning their attitudes towards health and food from you. No pressure, right? But this is also a great opportunity to teach them the lessons you wish you had learned as a child. Normalize vegetables, not as the yucky things you have to eat but as a normal part of meals. Show them that you are also trying new things and learning every day. Let them know that their relationship toward food isn’t a fixed thing, it is dynamic. It changes and evolves through their lives. Help them to learn the different parts of nutrition like protein, fats, and carbs and the role they each have in our physical wellbeing.
The best thing you can do for your kid, in my opinion, is to foster a healthy, well-informed relationship with food. Sugar every once in a while is okay, but tell that what too much sugar will do to them. Give them the information to make good choices for themselves.
There are tons of resources on adopting a healthier lifestyle. Pick one and start learning. You’ll be so happy you did.
Much love,
Diana James
Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist or a health professional. I am a mom who is passionate about improving my health and the health of my family. I highly encourage everyone to do their own research and most of all, experiment with different things to find what works for your family.
