Getting Started 
Posted in Becoming A Healthy Mom
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 You know, I've been whining and complaining for SO long about how much extra weight I have to lose and how miserable I am and how I don't have any clothes that fit and how depressed it makes me to just look in the mirror. Sheesh! I'm tired of hearing myself. I can't imagine how my family must feel.
But I had a huge slap-in-the-face when we bought pedometers for each of us in order to do our virtual walk across America with a bunch of other Five In A Row families. I read that to maintain health you need to be getting in at least 10,000 steps a day and if you are trying to lose weight that you need to aim for at least 15,000 per day.
WELL! Let's just say that I sure ain't gonna be losing any pounds with the numbers my pedometer was registering. Darn thing. Surely mine was broken. But, much to my dismay, it was working just fine because on the days that I actually got up and done some work out in the yard with my hubby, I got a whole lotta steps in. Soooo... I got a good look at just how lazy I am. Some days I didn't even reach 5,000 steps! ACK! Now granted, our house isn't very big and I do stay inside most of the time, but come on!
So, I've decided to get up off my fanny and get to movin'. I put it on first thing when I get up in the morning and wear it all day long. Today the kids and I did a Leslie Sansone walking video as well as 20 minutes of Winsor Pilates (well, I did Pilates while my 10 year old daughter complained the whole time... guess what she'll be doing each day with me now?) and even before 10 a.m. I had 5000 steps in! Yay me! Later this afternoon we plan on going outside in the beautiful sunshine and playing and riding bikes!
So, this is to encourage you to make a small investment in a pedometer (ours were only $3.88 at Wal-Mart) but a huge investment in your health and the health of your family. When my kids have their pedometers on they are so much more active, even running in place, just to get the most steps in each day that they can. And getting up off our fanny's and getting active is a good thing for all of us.
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Posted in Becoming A Healthy Mom
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As I told you before, I am on a quest to find a more healthy way to feed my family. But what exactly IS 'healthy'?
I've been watching a new show on TLC called 'Honey We're Killing The Kids' and it has been a real wake up call for me. Since I was already on this path to finding a more healthy way of eating, seeing this show really gave me the kick I needed to move forward. On this show, they take the family's children and do an age progression of them based on continuing to eat the way the are eating right now. Talk about a scary sight! Then, after 3 weeks of intense changes, they do another age progression based on if they continue living this new healthy lifestyle. The difference is AMAZING! Their skin and hair are so pretty. Their weight is normal. Their teeth are such a beautiful pearly white!
But the route they make these families take is an extreme one. They have to throw out ALL canned or boxed processed food and EVERYTHING with sugar in it. That wouldn't go around here, I can just tell you that. I want my man to be healthy, but I also want him to come home every night! LOL! And besides, what are the chances that these families are really going to stick with this drastic change over the long-run?
So again, I'm back to my original question. What exactly IS 'healthy'? Well, there are some things I know it is NOT, despite what we we're told. Low-fat and fat-free foods scare me now. What exactly do they DO to these foods to make them low-or-no fat but still taste good? Hmmm... makes you wonder, huh? Added artificial colors and flavoring? I don't think so. Just WHERE do those 'added' things come from?
So, in looking over all the different thoughts on the subject and considering the particular needs and temperments of my family, I have decided to just simply do the very best I can and leave the rest up to the Lord. What a concept, huh?
I have been very intrigued by the Feingold program for several years and have obtained one of their 2003 food guides to look over. The quick, basic explanation of foods that are 'Feingold approved' is that they are free of added 'junk'. For example, instead of buying Wal-Mart orange juice we will be drinking Tropicana Pure Premium O.J. and for snacks we will be munching on Cracker Jacks, Stauffer's animal crackers, or Del Monte fruit cups, along with a whole list of other 'healthier' snacks that are free of added flavors and colors. Obviously there's a lot more to Feingold than just this, and I HIGHLY recommend you at least look over the website no matter if you are attempting to feed your family healthier or not. It's important information for EVERYONE. But I am simply going to use the Feingold program as a guide for how I shop and cook from now on.
I will be buying organic as much as I possibly can, and for those things that aren't available organically, I will go by the Feingold foodlist to choose those items that are free of added colors and flavoring. This will allow me to still provide a much healthier menu for my family while not being too overwhelming of a change.
For you see, as a homeschooling mother of 4 children, I don't have the time to spend hours upon hours in the kitchen preparing every single thing we eat from scratch. Sometimes we have to head out quickly and I need to grab some snacks to take for the kids. I don't have time to stop and toast pumpkin seeds or bake homemade oatmeal raisin cookies or any number of other totally-made-from-scratch healthy snacks.
So, as for me and my house, we will eat organic/Feingold style.
Here is a helpful website to help you plan some healthier meals...
And from this site you can download this free unit study (Know Your Gene- they offer a new free one each week, I think) and you will be given a $5.00 credit. With my $5.00 I purchased this All Natural Cook Book, which has a lot of helpful tips and advice, along with lots of recipes!
So, here's to a whole new path on the journey of life! May it be a healthy and happy one!
I'll leave you with this recipe I just received from The Biggest Loser club...
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Blueberry Bran Breakfast Treats
Dig into mini muffins with maxi fruit taste! Yes, you can still have a muffin for breakfast--a sweet, delicious, real muffin, not an over-sugared cake in disguise. These mini treats pack in the flavor of fresh blueberries and are loaded with fiber, which adds up to satisfying start to the day. Ingredients: Prep Tip: Color, not size, tells you which blueberries are the ripest. Look for berries that are deep purple to blue-black. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly coat 24 nonstick miniature muffin cups with cooking oil spray. In a medium bowl, combine bran, flour, flaxseed, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside. In another medium bowl or in a blender, combine the milk, honey, banana, egg, olive oil, and vanilla extract until smooth. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, then pour in one-third of the liquid mixture. Stir until smooth. Add remaining liquid mixture and stir just until combined. Add blueberries and stir again, but do not over mix. Spoon 2 tablespoons of batter into each muffin cup. Bake about 8 minutes, or until the tops spring back when pressed gently. Do not overbake. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from the cups. Yield: 24 miniature muffins Serving Tip: Spread the warm halves of each muffin with a little mashed, ripe banana instead of butter. Nutritional Values: Fat: 2 g, Carbohydrates: 11 g, Protein: 2 g, Calories: 63 kcal |
Posted in Becoming A Healthy Mom
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There's so much talk about becoming more healthy. But what exactly does 'being healthy' mean?
For the past several years, being healthy to me meant losing the extra weight I've been carrying around. But the older I get and the more I think about things I find myself researching and changing my thinking on so many different things I never even gave thought to before.
Yes, I do need to get rid of this extra weight. But before now I've been willing to take different things in order to help me get thin faster. Now, I'm not too keen on that idea. Who really knows what that stuff does to a person's body. If you are putting something in your body to change how it works (when there really isn't a sickness present) simply because you're impatient and not willing to put in the effort to change your eating habits and get in some daily exercise, then in the end you are no healthier than when you started.
But aside from me needing to lose weight, my husband is a very high candidate for heart disease. Both sides of his family have had significant heart issues and, like me, he also has some extra weight to get rid of. But besides getting in better shape, what else can we be doing to help ensure his heart stays healthy?
What is going to help our bodies function the way God intended them? What's going to help keep our minds sharp and our immune systems working strong? What's going to help ward off many of the diseases and health problems that are so common today?
I know that our lives are in God's hands and that ultimately only He knows when our time to die will come. But I also believe He gave us a brain and common sense to take care of ourselves and those we love. I feel it is my duty and responsibility to do what I can to find what is best for the health of my family.
So as I research and learn new things, I will post them here under the catagory 'Becoming A Healthy Mommy' so you can also learn how to best take care of yourself and your family. I don't claim that everything I find will be the gospel truth, but things that I think are worth looking into, I will share.
And if you're wondering where this thinking has come from all of a sudden, we have a friend who is a very young mother of a 7-year-old and 10-month-old who was just diagnosed out of the blue with stage IV melanoma cancer and given only 4-9 months to live. I had been looking into some things before, but now I am even more determined than ever to learn about what's best and healthiest for our bodies. |
Posted in Becoming A Healthy Mom
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Two weeks ago I started attending Weight Watchers again. Back in 1997 I lost all of my extra weight (36 pounds) and was back to the weight I was all through high school and when I got married. However, soon after that I became pregnant with baby #2. Then baby #3. Then baby #4. Are you seeing a pattern here? If you want to get pregnant, go to Weight Watchers!
Anyway, our 'baby' is now almost 4 1/2 and I'm finding that I just simply can not use the excuse, 'I just had a baby' anymore. After reaching my highest weight ever, I knew that I had to go back to the only thing that has ever worked for me. I've tried it all... low-carb, different diet pills, etc. But until I make up my mind that I'm going to change how I live my life, none of it's going to work.
That's what is so wonderful about Weight Watchers. It's not a diet. It's a way of life. They teach and stress portion control and daily exercise. What a concept! If you don't change the way you're living your daily life, no matter what you do to lose weight, you're not going to be successful.
Some people can follow the WW plan at home without ever having to go to a meeting. Some use the WW e-tools and find great success with that. I, however, have never been able to be successful for any amount of time without going to the weekly meetings. I guess the support and encouragement, along with recipe ideas and other ideas, is what really motivates me to keep going on this journey. The group I am now a part of even has their own email loop going so we can support and encourage each other all through the week too! That has been a tremendous help.
Anyway, I know there are so many of us that need to 'remove' extra weight. I say 'remove' because if you 'lose' something you usually re-find it at some point. I do NOT want to re-find this weight again! I want it GONE FOR GOOD, so, I am 'removing' it.
Each week I will blog about some things I am learning through WW and about recipes or good finds that will assist us on this journey. I hope this will help many of us who are working at being healthy, strong momma's. Remember, our children will do what they see us do, and they will fight some of the same battles we fight if we don't get victory over them. This is one battle I hope my children never have to fight.
So, real quick, what's in season right now? What does the changing season bring us? Fresh fruits and veggies? Grilling? Ice cream? Swimsuits and less bulky clothes? Sometimes summer means we are less likely to take the time to plan our days and our meals. There are a lot of gatherings with family and friends, vacations, and summer-time treats that can sabotage our weight-loss efforts. But if we are not careful, we will enter the fall season in even worse shape than we are right now.
Summer is the perfect time to boost our weight loss efforts. There are all kinds of oppotunities to get outside and walk, work in gardens, play with our children, ride bikes, hike, swim, and so many, many other things. Exercise doesn't have to be a chore. Make it fun! Do something you really enjoy doing.
Also, there are so many delicious fruits and vegetables we can choose from during the summer. Grilling doesn't have to hinder us. Instead of grilling greasy burgers, how about chicken or corn on the cob or even potatoes. There are so many options.
So, we can either look at summer and think, 'Oh no', or we can think of all the advantages summer brings us and really make the most of it! |