Nature Boy enjoys the magic of a healthy snack with his buddy

 even found myself watching the Disney channel long after the kids have moved on to another activity.  So it’s not surprising that I’m very aware of their recent emphasis on healthy living and I’m not the only one who’s noticed. 

The boys have asked me questions about projects they’ve seen on the Disney Friends for Change commercials, they compare our local farmer’s market to the ones they’ve visited virtually with the various Disney stars, and just last week they whipped up a recipe for a healthy trailmix after watching Zefronk, who has inspired my oldest to be a future “cooker”. 

I’m thankful that the programming on Disney is reinforcing the messages I’m already working to instill in the boys about making healthy lifestyle choices for themselves and the environment.  Maybe in a few years, we can enter the “Magic of Healthy Living” Contest.  I know the boys would love the opportunity to celebrate the spirit of living well with their favorite Disney characters and kids from across the country. 

If you haven’t heard of this new contest you should check it out.  The winners have already been selected for 2010 and are preparing for their Magic of Health Living Weekend at Epcot this month.  But the 2011 contest will be here soon and Disney will be accepting essays, videos and multimedia submissions from kids, families, schools and communities on discovering the true magic of healthy living. 

Are you starting a school, community or family garden?  Why not video journal the experience for your submission.  Has your family committed to trying new foods in 2011.  Take photos and write about what you learn to share in your submission.  Maybe you love to cook.  Why not work as a team and build a family cookbook of your favorite recipes that incorporate fruits and vegetables.  That sounds like a winning submission to me. 

Whether you do if for the chance to win a trip to Epcot or simply to enjoy the “magic of healthy living” – do it and share your story!  I know I’d love to hear about it!

NUTRITION:
Preparing nutritious meals is great when you have a lot of time to plan and cook, but what about the days when all you have time for is a quick pot of spaghetti? What if you’re on the go and don’t have time to eat? I’ve learned that by spending an extra 15-20 minutes on my grocery shopping day I can save myself tons of time during the week and ensure we are eating healthy meals and snacks. Here are my tips and grocery staples:

1. Rotisserie chicken – I buy a rotisserie chicken almost every week. Peel off the skin, break it up and store it in the fridge ready to eat. I like to throw it on salads or mix it into pasta for a quick and easy meal that’s more satisfying than salad or pasta might be on their own. I also pack it in the boys’ lunches or dip it in hummus for a quick snack when I’m running out the door.
2. Frozen baby food – My kids haven’t needed baby food for over a year, but I still buy purred frozen veggies. I mix them into spaghetti sauce, macaroni and cheese, and smoothies. It’s a really fast and easy way to add an extra serving of veggies to a meal. The variety that Happy Baby offers helps me get creative. I just match the flavors and colors.
3. Buy lots of seasonal fruit – I put half of it in a bowl out on the counter to grab for quick snacks walking out the door. The rest I immediately cut up into a fruit salad and put in the fridge with a spoon. I try to serve a few scoops of fruit salad with every meal. It’s also great for a fast snack the kids can dish up themselves.
4. Keep straws on hand - I found that it was taking me all afternoon to finish a glass of water. I heard that when you use a straw you drink significantly more so I tried it and it’s true. Think about your water consumption at a restaurant. Don’t’ you drink more when you have a straw? I don’t know why, but it works.

FITNESS:
The thing I am constantly reminding myself is that I don’t have to take a 60 minute class to get a good workout. If I squeeze in 30 minutes throughout the course of the day that’s just as good going for a run or taking a class – especially when I’m pressed for time. I tend to get discouraged when I can’t get my workouts in because they clear my head and make me feel good. So committing to exercising whenever I have time – for as long as I can – has really helped me. Here are a few things that seem to work on even the busiest days.

1. Stock up on a few short but effective workout DVDs – I like The Shred with Jillian Michaels because it’s only 20 minutes, but you get intense cardio and toning. I’m always sore no matter how many times I do it. I also like the 10 Minute Solutions series, especially Pilates Perfect Body with Suzanne Bowen. It’s divided into 10 minute segments focusing on different body parts so it easily adjusts to my schedule. I can do 10 minutes of arms or 50 minutes and get my whole body.
2. iPhone Apps – These are so great for squeezing in a few exercises at home or on the go. They require limited equipment and I can do as many exercises as I have time for. One of my favorites is the Women’s Health Workout. I get to choose exercises by body part or by workout – cardio, toning, stretching, etc. If you don’t have an iPhone keeping a few workout magazines on hand is a great idea.
3. Combine healthy activity with quality time with the family – I love that I don’t have to choose between working out and spending time with my family. I can combine the two. Lately, we’ve had so much fun coming up with indoor relay races, building mazes out of chairs and furniture and army crawling through them, or just turning on some music and dancing. It’s great because we’re having fun together and everyone is getting a little exercise.
4. Keep a resistance band next to the TV – If I haven’t had time to work out, but I’m sitting down to watch a favorite show I’ll grab my resistance band and squeeze in a few exercises or jumping jacks during the commercials.
5. Kiss your spouse – When the day has just been too busy and I haven’t stuck to my healthy habits I can fall back on this. Kissing burns 2 calories a minute and reduces stress. Make this your fall back plan. It’s good for you and your relationship!

When I’m busy it’s easy to let my healthy habits fall by the wayside. I’m focusing on reminding myself that I don’t have to be perfect. I don’t need to beat myself up when we run through a drive through or skip a day or two of exercise. But focusing on theses small ideas makes it all more manageable – even on the busiest days.

How do you make time for healthy meals and activity on your busy days?

My husband’s schedule presents the biggest dinner conflict.  His commute can be as unpredictable as his hours.  Usually, we can count on him to be home by 6 or 6:30, but the boys start corralling at the pantry door around 4:30.  Below are a few tips I’ve found helpful in increasing the number of family meals we have each week despite our crazy and somewhat unpredictable schedules. I’ve also included links to websites that offer information on the health benefits of family dinners and additional ideas, recipes and conversation starters.  Conversation isn’t really a challenge for us right now.  With two boys under 5 our challenge is getting them to close their mouths long enough to chew, but the ideas are fun and might be more helpful for families with older children.

• Dont’ reserve family meals for dinner – The end of the day is the most unpredictable so we make a habit of eating breakfast together every morning.  It means we have to get up and get moving, but it’s worth the effort.  I really enjoy starting our day together and boys love that extra time with their daddy before he heads off to work for the day.
• Use a meal plan - At first, I thought making a meal plan was such a pain, but now that I’m used to it can’t imagine getting along without it.  Having a plan makes grocery shopping faster and easier, helps us save money and ensures that I’m not scrambling around at 5:00 trying to figure out what to make for dinner, which used to end with a call to Dominos.  It’s also a great tool for adding variety to our diets and keeping us on track with our healthy choices.
• Keep healthy snacks on hand – the boys are always so hungry right before any meal.  They start digging through the pantry looking for snacks.  I’ve learned to offer them fruits and vegetables while I’m preparing any meal.  They’re hungry enough to eat them and it’s just enough to hold them off without filling them up. 
• Let the kids help - my oldest loves to help with dinner and recently our youngest (20 months old) has started pulling up his stool and lending a hand.  When the boys help it distracts them from their snack requests, gets them excited about what they’re eating making them more likely to try it, and it’s a fun activity for us to do together. 

 Here are a few sites with more great ideas to help bring your family to the table together.  If you can accomplish this monumental feat, you’ll likely find that you and your family will eat more nutritious meals, your kids will do better in school and will be less likely to take drugs (that’s a positive, but unexpected benefit), your children will develop stronger language skills, and your family will hopefully experience more cohesion.

Keeping Youth Mentally Healthy and Drug Free

The Family Dinner Deconstructed – NPR story

The Benefits of Eating Together – Spark People

Family Dinner Games – from Tyson

So a few months back  when we started our healthier nutrition plan, I threw away all of my vegetable oil, canola oil, etc.  I cook exclusively with coconut oil and flavor my food (including my salads) with olive oil.  That’s it.  So when I was having a big dinner party for a Girls Night In I decided to look for an oil and vinegar salad dressing I could put out instead of trying to make a triple batch of my own version.  I thought I found it.  It was Newman’s Own All Natural Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing.  I grabbed two bottles and everyone enjoyed it including me.  I continued to buy it and was loving it.  The bottled dressing was much faster than mixing my own and it tasted just as good.  Then one night, I hosted a Health Party with Dr. Jana (I’ll write about that sometime…it was fascinating)  I asked Dr. Jana if she had tried the dressing and she suggested I read the ingredients.  When I did I was disappointed, but not shocked, to find the second ingredient was canola oil.   So I hadn’t found olive oil and vinegar dressing.  I had found, olive oil, canola oil and vinegar dressing.  Bummer…it was back to my big bottle of oil and vinegar and mixing to taste.  But it reminded me that you can never trust the marketing on the package.  If you want to know what you’re eating you have to read the ingredients.  

I challenge you to pull one thing from your pantry that you buy because you think it’s healthy and read the ingredients.  Hopefully you’ll find that you were right.  But I’m guessing a lot of you will find ingredients like refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils,  white or bleached flour or a host of long words you can’t pronounce, which basically means it’s probably not as good as the marketing on the box says it is. 

I’ll leave you with a quote (edited to keep this PG) from a book I’m really enjoying right now…Skinny (rhymes with witch).  Authors Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin write, “It doesn’t matter how many calories or fat grams something has….You don’t need the government’s recommended daily allowances to tell you how to eat.  Just read the ingredients.  If they are healthy, wholesome, and pure – dive in.  If there is refined sugar, white or bleached flour, hydrogenated oils, any animal products, artifical anything, or some scary-lookig word that you don’t know – don’t eat it.  We can’t make it any simpler.  Just read the ingredients and completely ignore all the other gibber jabber…”

Olive Oil, Canola Oil and Vinegar

Yogurt Parfait- This takes 3 minutes to put together and about the same amount of time to eat.  (It’s adapted from a recipe in Dr. Jana’s cookbook.  See the link to her website on my blogroll.)   I think we can all find 6 minutes to start our day with a healthy breakfast.  You can also make it the night before and just grab it out of the fridge in the morning.

Layer the following ingredients:

• Organic whole milk yogurt (plain or vanilla) – you can also use goat’s yogurt if you don’t eat dairy
• Fresh fruit
• Sunbutter or peanut butter
• Optional: cinnamon, honey, agave to taste.  You can also add granola from the homemade recipe below
• Repeat until your cup is full and enjoy

 Homemade Granola – This recipe is adapted from one found at http://healthyhabitscoach.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/healthy-granola-recipe/.

Dry Ingredients:
5 cups rolled oats
2-3 cups of raw almonds or pecan halves or other nuts.  (I left the nuts out since my kids are too young for nuts.)
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds (or sunflower seeds)
¾ cup sesame seeds
½ cup ground flax seed.
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
½ cup dried fruit (add after cooked) – I used a mixture of dried blueberries, cranberries and raisins.

Wet Ingredients:
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup agave nectar (I used pure maple syrup and it was really good)
2 Tbsp butter (you can also use coconut oil)

Preheat the oven to 300°F.  Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix the wet ingredients together, and then stir into dry ingredients.  Stir well to mix thoroughly.  Spread the mixture into two baking dishes. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until evenly golden brown.  Stir every 10 minutes to ensure even browning.  Stir again when removed from oven to keep it from cooling into a solid mass.  The granola will crisp as it cools.  If you use fruit, stir once it is cooled.  Store in the refrigerator in a large zip lock bag or other airtight container.  Makes about 10 cups.

Granola uses – add milk directly to the granola and eat as cereal in the morning.  Try mixing it in your yogurt parfait.  Or shape teaspoons of sunbutter into bite size balls and roll in the granola mixture.  Store in the fridge to keep the sunbutter solid and the granola fresh.  I give these to my kids as “cookies” and grab them on the go when I’m in a hurry, but need something to hold me over for awhile. 

Send us your fast, healthy snack ideas.  We’ll try them out and post our favorites.

Fueling Up Like Race Cars – The boys are really into all things cars, especially the characters from the Cars movie.  One day we were running around pretending to be race cars.  The boys were Lightening McQueen and I was wearing a green shirt so they made me Chick.  After racing around the house for awhile they decided they were hungry.  I put together a tray of fresh fruit and told them it was gas for their cars.  We ran several laps and then everyone had to make a pit stop to check their tires and fill up on gas.  Suddenly, they weren’t thinking about what was on the tray at all.  They were just eating it and having a great time.  When the game was over, all the fruit was gone and they were tired from all the activity.  Since then, we’ve discovered a lot of twists on the original idea.  You can modify this idea to fit a play-date with lots of kids or even for a birthday party.  Have every child wear a shirt that matches the color of their favorite character.  You can add race numbers to the back with duct tape.  Map out a course based on their skill level.  You can do this in the backyard or even at the park.  Add obstacles if the kids are older and you want to make it more challenging and include a finish line they can break through to make it more exciting.  Give the kids instructions to make a pit stop every 2 or 3 laps to fuel up.  To really encourage them to try new foods you can match the food color to the color of their car.  The red car might fuel up on strawberries, the green car on grapes and the orange car on cantaloupe.  Hand out prizes or medals and even designate an adult to ”call” the race as the announcer.  The kids will have so much fun they won’t even realize they are getting exercise and eating healthy.

Taste The Rainbow – Steal a line from the Skittles ads and have your kids ”taste the rainbow.”   Start the day by drawing a rainbow on a piece of paper.  Hang it where the kids can see it and encourage them to pick foods that make up the colors of the rainbow.  Every time they eat a new color they get to fill in that piece of the rainbow.  If your kids are older you can have them cut the colors out of construction paper and glue them on.  Use your imagination and have fun with it and they will too.

Hide-n-Go Seek – When all else fails.  hide the fruits and vegetables in the foods they like.  Some days they just aren’t into their fruits and vegetables and I don’t have the energy to argue with them.  On these days, I have a stash of Happy Baby fresh, frozen organic fruit and vegetable cubes in the freezer.  I drop them into whatever I’m cooking and know the kids (and my picky husband) are getting some extra vitamins and nutrients.  If I’m making spaghetti sauce, I might drop in a few spinach cubes or sweet potato cubes.  If I make homemade mac-n-cheese I drop in squash or cauliflower.  You get the idea. 

These are a few of my ideas.  How do you get your family to eat their fruits and vegetables and try new things?