What You Should Teach Your Kids About Nutrition
Anyone that’s struggled with extra pounds often found out the problem came from poor eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle. As a mom, I want my children to get the best start in life that’s possible and I know most of my clients that are mothers feel the same. Knowing what to teach your kids about nutrition is often one of the problems parents face. But it’s one that’s easily solved.
Set a good example for the kids.
Kids learn to eat by what they’re served at home. Sure you’ve always got the picky eater who won’t touch the broccoli and tries to feed his or her Brussels sprouts to the dog, but with so many healthy recipes and healthy choices, you’re bound to find something that fits their palate as well as yours and is low in calories and high in nutrition. We tend to eat what we know, so make sure all snacks and meals are healthy and they’ll not only get a healthy start, it will probably continue the rest of their life.
Make it a rainbow and unicorn meal.
Okay, maybe unicorns aren’t part of the meal—especially not the meat part! The plates can be filled with a rainbow of color that will provide a wealth of nutrition. Choosing a fruits and vegetables in a wide variety of colors is a simple way to not only create a great looking plate of food, but one that’s packed with loads of different vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients.
Make eating healthy a game.
You can make it like a scavenger hunt, collecting and eating different vegetables and fruit. Keep a scoreboard listing the different vegetables each child that ate during the week and/or day. Creating fun displays like a whale from a watermelon stuffed with a mix of watermelon and other fresh fruit in its mouth. A pineapple porcupine and vegetable flowers make eating healthy more fun.
Have healthy snacks ready and in the refrigerator. It’s easier to eat healthy when there’s no effort involved. If it’s all ready to eat, the kids will help themselves.
Have them help you cook and make healthy meals. There are some simple tasks that don’t require knives or have anything to do with fire that young children can do. Older children can even find recipes and help create new delights for the meal.
Grow a garden. Even if you don’t have yard space, many vegetables can be grown in pots. Those will be more desirable to eat than store bought food. Find a U-pick and take the kids along if you’re just getting started and a garden is out of the question.
Take the kids to the grocery to help you shop. Show them how to pick healthy food. Teach them to read labels for ingredients and if they can’t pronounce the words or it sounds like a bad science experiment, it’s time to find something else to eat.
Fruits That Are A Sweet Treat
Once you develop the habit of eating healthy, you’ll look forward to fruits that are a sweet treat, rather than the baked goods composed mostly of sugar and lard. They leave you more refreshed and actually have flavor, unlike some of the cardboard tasting treats you were used to eating. When you need a boost in the afternoon and a sweet snack sounds like it would hit the spot, try a medjool date stuffed with a teaspoon of organic unsalted almond butter. Medjool dates are large and super sweet. The combination will boost your energy level without spiking it, then suddenly dropping.
Get a cool summer frozen treat that’s both healthy and yummy.
How does a frozen chocolate banana sound? Pretty delicious, but also pretty fattening. Don’t worry these are made with dark chocolate, and each one is less than 100 calories. These are the perfect summer snack and made by cutting a banana in half. On the cut side, slip a Popsicle stick into the center to create your banana pop and freeze. When it’s frozen, it’s time to melt mini dark chocolate chips. Hold the banana over the bowl and spoon two teaspoons on each banana half. It should harden immediately and create this delicious treat you’ll want to have ready when hunger hits.
Fruit is getting a bad rap.
You hear lots of celebrities talk about cutting out the fruit from their diet because of the sugar, but it’s still a great diet choice in my book. You’ll be more apt to eat an apple rather than celery if you’re hungry for a candy bar and find it fills the bill. A sugary sweet slice of watermelon will keep your sweet tooth satisfied. While it’s true, there’s sugar in fruit, it comes in a package that contains other benefits, such as fiber, antioxidants and other nutrients. Blueberries contain anthocyanins to help prevent colon cancer and mangoes have a substance that prevents, slows and stops the growth of both breast and colon cancer cells.
Fruit is great for a snack before working out.
You’ll get plenty of fuel and energize your body when you have a fruit snack before you exercise. A study that compared sports drinks to eating a banana before cycling at top speed, found the banana superior in several ways. It triggered the release of dopamine faster and provided far more nutrition than the sports drink. Raisins, the grandmother of grapes—actually, it’s more like the reverse, but grapes are so shriveled!—did just as well as bananas, but had even more minerals and the prebiotic inulin.
Just because fruit is good for you, it doesn’t mean you can go overboard. Try to stick with just two servings a day, but when you have a huge work load that requires a little more energy, one more piece of won’t hurt and may really help.
You’ll get antioxidants from fruit that can keep your skin looking younger and keep you healthier by protecting the cells from damage, including sun exposure and pollution.
If you’re counting carbs, the number vary from fruit to fruit. Bananas and grapes are on the high end with cantaloupe and berries on the low side.
The best way to have fruit is whole fruit. Juice doesn’t fill you as much and has less fiber. A cup of juice has far more calories than a cup of the fruit it came from.
It Will Be Worth It Tomorrow
No matter how tired I get during a workout, I keep one thought in mind, “It will be worth it tomorrow!” In today’s world where everyone wants instant results, it’s hard to keep going when something takes more perseverance and dedication. Getting fit isn’t a one time shot or even an easy goal to accomplish. It takes dedication and continual striving to reach a goal. That isn’t to say you won’t see results within a few weeks, because you will. Just not the final goal or results you want…but it will be good indication of what is coming.
When you’re ready to quit before you’ve finished a workout or skip the workout entirely, keep tomorrow in mind.
You’re never going to have this day again, so make it count. Push yourself to accomplish what you wanted from this day, whether it’s working out in the gym or cleaning out a closet, and tomorrow you’ll be happy you did. Goals are accomplished one day at a time and unfortunately if you skip one day, it often becomes too easy to skip another and then another. Before you know it, that beautiful goal you created is no longer.
Do something toward your goals each day.
Each goal deserves some attention every day. If you want to lose weight, exercise, shop for healthy foods, remove unhealthy foods from your home and get moving. Even if it isn’t a day for the gym, turn on some music and dance through the house to burn a few extra calories. This is true for all goals, not just fitness. If a clean closet is the goal and you don’t have a lot of time, find one or two outfits that you no longer want or do one other small job that takes only a few minutes and before you know it, that huge job will be a lot easier.
Learn to appreciate everything you do to reach the goals.
Sometimes our goals are huge and it seems like we’ll never hit them. When I run up against that, I create smaller mini-goals that stair-step me to larger ones. I’ve learned to appreciate both the larger and smaller steps that take me where I ultimately want to be. While you need to remember how much you’ll appreciate your actions tomorrow, sometimes, you also need to appreciate what you did today.
When you need a little motivation, reach deeply for more resolve. If that doesn’t work, we’re always here for you to believe in you until you can believe in yourself.
Before you order that burger and fries, think about all the hard work you’ve already done. Wait and get a healthier meal or better yet, have healthy snacks and meals ready so you won’t be tempted.
You won’t fall off the wagon forever. One indiscretion does not negate all the hard work you’ve put into getting fit. If you’ve missed a workout or ate far more junk food than you should, it shouldn’t end everything. Get right back to work on your road to fitness the next day.
Have fun with your workout and support those around you. That comradery adds to your resolve to succeed. Getting fit may be hard, but it still can be fun.
How to Strengthen Your Will-Power
Wilting Will-power? Strengthen That Muscle!
Has your will-power muscle been getting a worXout? Had this conversation with a client and thought I’d share…
Have you been neglecting your will-power muscle without realizing it? What do I mean by that? Well, your will-power is just like a muscle. You have to put it to work in order to strengthen it but not too often because it does need to recover.
If you’ve been letting your will-power take a rest too often lately, saying yes to ice cream more nights than you should or yes to that extra drink, too many chips or bread before dinner…
If you don’t have that uncomfortable feeling of saying “No Thank You” on a regular basis and training yourself to get comfortable being uncomfortable (and you aren’t where you want to be physically yet!) then think about this…
• Every time you say no thank you when you really want to indulge in eating or drinking something you are strengthening your will-power muscle.
• Every time you show up for your worXout even when you are tired and don’t feel like it you are strengthening your will-power muscle.
• Realize you may have had to use your will-power muscle throughout your day and by the end of the day your will power muscle is sapped. Which makes sense why you are more likely to blow off your workout at the end of the day and indulge in something you hadn’t planned.
The key to building up your will-power muscle is to do it gradually just like any other muscle. You wouldn’t just start with lifting 300lbs. You start with 5-10lbs, then 20lbs, etc. progressing slowly over time.
As you go through your day today think about what kind of worXout your will- power muscle is getting and then exercise it at some point to say no thank you to something you normally would have said yes to…have one less drink or only 2 cookies or go for a walk or do something active when you least feel like it. You can do it!
When your friends say- “Stay for one more drink!” and you say “No Thank you not tonight” or you sit at dinner with the bread basket or chip basket in front of you untouched you can rest assured knowing I’m giving my will-power a worXout!
Gradually as you start to exercise your will-power muscle you’ll find that it’ll get stronger and easier to use more often rather than having to grit your way through the day. You got this!
If you’re serious about giving your will-power a good workout and really strengthen it and you are ready to build long term habits, join us at The WorX By Maia for a FREE week!
If you’ve been stuck in a rut, let us help you break out of it! Questions? Give us a call at 540-421-8527 or email info@theworxbymaia.com
Define Yourself
If someone asks you to define yourself, they might want a more explicit definition of what you’re saying or are asking you to tell them more about who you really are inside and what you think is important. In the gym, when we say “define yourself,” it can mean workout to add definition to your muscles and give them that rippled six pack look. It also means identify the type of person you are and prove your dedication to making your life better by accomplishing your fitness goals and encouraging others to do the same.
Actions speak louder than words.
If you really want to get fitter, taking action is the most important step. No matter how much you talk about getting fit and how many videos or books you read on the subject, nothing happens until you start working out and eating healthier. What you do to accomplish goals also affects all areas of your life. I like to think that the work we do at the Worx helps keep people motivated to do their best and accomplish those goals. Not only does the staff help encourage others, encouragement comes from other members of the team working toward their goals. Starting is the most important action you can take.
You’ll define yourself and become the person you want to be when you stick to your dream with persistence.
I don’t take a commitment lightly. When I make one, whether to another person or to myself. I do everything possible to stick to it. I believe that it’s what defines me as a person. While keeping a commitment to another is important, keeping a commitment to yourself is just as important. If you’ve made a commitment to fitness, I’ll back you a 100% to ensure that you can succeed. That’s my commitment to you. As you persevere each day, it builds the mental toughness to insure not only this goal and promise to yourself is accomplished, but also new goals down the road are reached.
You’ll define every muscle in your body on your path to reach your ultimate fitness goal.
There’s nothing more attractive than the sculptured lines of a healthy body, whether it’s on a man or woman. While women don’t bulk up like men do, they still build the sinewy muscles that toned and strong, while shedding extra pounds that hide that progress. When you define yourself mentally and take on the challenge of getting into shape, you’ll develop definition and strength in your muscles.
Take care of yourself. You define who you are by the way you care for yourself. Self neglect isn’t noble. In fact, it’s far from it. When you’re healthy and in good shape you have the strength to take care of others. When you’re not healthy, they have to take care of you.
You are what you eat. Of course, that’s figuratively said, but true. When you eat healthy, you are healthy. Choosing to say “no” to unhealthy food, defines you.
The body is about 50 to 75% water. When you workout, don’t forget to replenish your supply.
We believe in you and your ability to achieve anything. Let us help you make your dream come true.
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