Happy Monday morning! A while back I proposed the question to my subscribers in a survey, “If you could sit down with me for 1 hour and ask me anything, what would it be?” Well I’m here to give back to you my answers on each and every question you asked. Don’t worry, I’m not writing a book. Throughout February (and possible into March) I am going to pick a few questions to answer each week. Today we’ll start out with the basics like how I got started blogging and get a little deeper as we talk through how to eat out with kids, my thoughts on It Works and more. So sit back, relax and eat that heaping bowl of fried plantains I know you want to!
Q. How did you get started doing this?
A. I’ve actually been blogging for a couple of years. Not under the same domain but on a different account. However, I must say that I didn’t start taking this blog thing seriously until right about a year ago. Yes, I think a year ago last week. Did we forget to celebrate the one year anniversary of the blog? Bah! I’ll have to make my healthy caramel brownies I’ve been dreaming up for my one year. Sound like a plan? Oh where were we? I use this platform to spread reliable and realistic nutrition knowledge. It is meant to encourage and motivate you to make small changes in your life to achieve big results. I have a passion for creating new recipes that are delicious. Because healthy food is meant to taste good and the better it tastes the more likely we are to stick with it. So this blogging adventure came about to share my love for food and my passion of nutrition. Before I started blogging, well seriously that is, I owned a gym in our local town. That was fantastic and a great learning experience as I entered into the ‘real world’ after college. But with a degree in nutrition my passion was just that and there was something at the gym that wasn’t satisfying my inner hunger (no pun intended) so I sold it, branched out and took a big giant leap of faith and here we are today, nearly one year later a lot of recipes down with a lot more to go. And it is all thanks to you, my readers! I have a passion for helping you to live healthier and happier lives. So please, keep the questions and ideas coming. I hope you find this site a valuable resource on your journey to health.
Q. How do I handle being away from home at mealtime with the kids?
A. Funny you ask this. I am excited that I will be writing a entire series on raising healthy eaters in a print magazine coming up soon. I don’t know if I can post details yet but know I will go much more in depth in that article. For now I will give you the short answer. I control what I can control (home life) and I don’t let other times stress me out. I’m actually pretty laid back when it comes to feeding my kids. Now with that said, it definitely isn’t a free-for all. My mission or my overall goal is to keep my children focused on how food is making their bodies feel. Opening their eyes to the fact that their own body knows best and listening to that. So we talk about things ahead of time and after the meal. I’m always keeping a watchful eye on their behavior and helping them to understand when I see a change via food. The reality is that we have to let them be their own eaters, to maintain independence in this area. As much as I don’t want them to eat certain things, the more I tell them they can’t, the more they want it. So instead I take the approach of you can eat it, but remember it might make your tummy hurt or remember when it made you really sleepy. Trying to help them understand that food has an effect on their body. If I told them no all day long, you can bet that they would be consumed in it and end up eating it all. I have found that this method works pretty well for my kids. I count it a success when they get a scoop of ice cream take two bites and then walk away without thinking twice. So I would say it is about finding the happy medium, letting them be kids and learn from the food they eat rather than control everything that is in their mouth. The best thing you can do for your kids is be an example. More times than not they want what I am eating so usually that is what they get. So the short answer is control your home life and let them have some food independence. Teach them to listen to their body and foster the natural intuitive eating skills of a child.
Q. How can I encourage my spouse to eat healthy with me?
A. I wish I could wave a magic wand and get all of your families to join you in this journey, but the reality is we can’t make anyone live a healthy life. It is a stress we shouldn’t even stress about because there is nothing we can do to change it other than lead by example. I would say the most encouraging thing to do is to cook healthy food but “normal” healthy food. Start with the safe things, the things they already kind of like and healthify them. Most importantly make food delicious. So delicious they almost don’t want to admit it. Show them how good you feel and stay focused on yourself. The only way someone will change is if they make their own personal decision and do it for themselves. You can’t change anyone, as frustrating as that is.
Q. Have I heard of It Works? Thoughts?
A. I have heard of It Works although I haven’t dug deep into it. What I do know is that there are thousands of diet gimmicks on the market all claiming to be the next best thing. Unfortunately there are no one-stop fix-its. There isn’t one pill, one way of life or one anything that makes us slim. If there were we would be a nation of thin people. But that’s just it, being thin doesn’t necessarily mean you are healthy. So if you lose weight on a diet, off a pill or doing something else claiming to be the next best thing, you get thin or to your goal weight it still doesn’t mean you are healthy. The only way to achieve true health is to get to the root of the issue and this is different for everyone. Remember, the foundation of life still lies on real wholesome food grown from the Earth. Unfortunately this isn’t a quick fix, what most people are looking for. But the reality is a quick fix is just that a quick fix, it comes on fast and leaves just a quickly. If you desire lasting weight loss and more importantly lasting health, stop slapping a band-aid on your problem. Make a vow to get to the root of the issue, figure out what the problem is and fix it. Most likely this means a clean diet and clean life. If nothing else I hope that this blog sheds light into the truth, that the only way to gain optimal health is through a diet and lifestyle of health. But ultimately you must make your own decisions, you know what is best for your own life, for your own body.
Got a question? Keep them coming and I will keep on answering!
Happy Monday!
