2014 Year in Review

Sharing personal information is still a little uncomfortable for me, but I feel like I need to record this year for posterity. It has probably been the craziest year of my life (just sliding past the year I graduated college, officially left home, got married, changed my name and started my first job).

We've had good times and bad. Triumphs and emotional breakdowns. Every member of the family has had new experiences, and, although things weren't always easy, I feel like we have grown so much.

The Summary
My husband walked out on his job and started a contract job 3,000 miles away. My oldest started kindergarten and my youngest started preschool. I began seeking out new freelance writing clients and have begun building a sustainable writing business.

As most of you know, in the middle of the year my dad passed away. That has been extremely difficult, and I still miss him every day as I try to include some of the silly things he used to do with me with my kids.

The good, bad, unbelievable, and exciting

• My youngest walked solo
  
• Daughter built first snow fort
• Husband quit his job
• First time being unemployed since he was 15 years old
• Preschool graduation
• Said goodbye to Buddy, our cat of 13 years
• First kayak ride for the kids
• First carousel ride for my oldest (5 might be a little late for this, but she's cautious)
• Husband took his first contract job
• Our first time living 3,000 miles apart
• Put our first house on the market (I guess selling will have to wait til 2015)
• Son started speaking in sentences
• Daughter started kindergarten
• Son started preschool
• Oldest turned 6
• First and second pet fishes for the kids and me
• First Ferris Wheel ride for the kids
• First time on an airplane for both kids
• First time for kids seeing and dipping feet in the Pacific Ocean
• First trip to LA
• Daughter got her ears pierced
• Son turned 2 and had a birthday party for the first time
• Record for most illnesses in one season
• Husband finally got that 1/2 sleeve tattoo 

Thank you to everyone who has helped us out so much this year. It has meant a lot, and we love you all.

Here's to 2014 and all the uncertainties ahead in 2015.

Should You Give Your Kids Vitamins?

The answer to that question is not a clear yes or no. It all depends on your kids' needs, lifestyle and willingness to eat certain foods. My answer is yes, occasionally.

I've always debated whether my kids need vitamins, and I often feel like we fall short with food. But the general consensus seems to be that for normal, healthy kids with no dietary restrictions, multivitamins are not necessary. If your child follows a restricted diet (i.e., vegan, vegetarian, no dairy), you may want to talk to their doctor about what nutrients could be missing and take individual supplements.

When to give vitamins 
Most research shows that young kids particularly get what they need from diet alone. In one study, children were not getting adequate calcium and vitamin D regardless of supplement use. And some kids taking supplements were getting too much iron, vitamin A, zinc and folate.  

Sometimes our kids may be especially active or we've just had a busy week and haven't been making great food choices. Those times and during cold and flu season are when I tend to give my kids vitamins. I usually do half the dose to avoid overdosing them on certain vitamins such as Vitamin A, zinc and niacin.

Types of vitamins

To get the best vitamins, sometimes you may feel like you have to go out and spend a lot of money, but it's likely not worth it. Our body's absorption of vitamins and minerals is complex, and nobody really knows how much of a multivitamin gets absorbed. Naturally derived vitamins are likely to work with your body better than synthetic vitamins, so they are probably worth a little extra money.



For more reading, here's what webMD has to say about kids and vitamins.

Do you give your kids vitamins or other supplements? What do you use?

Tips to Hide the Healthy from Your Kids

Before going too far into this post, let me just say that it's best to continue to introduce your kids to fruits and vegetables with the hope that one day they will like at least some of them. But sometimes you just get tired fighting, and you need them to get the nutrients.

Mac & cheese with carrots, celery,
onion, nutritional yeast hidden
;

Smoothies are probably the easiest way to hide vegetables and extra fruits, but you have many more options.

Cooking at home is the best way to ensure your kids get a balanced diet, and it's much easier to hide healthy foods inside home-cooked meals rather than packaged meals. Everything listed here is quick and easy to make. Things like macaroni and cheese, applesauce, chili, even burgers and meatloaf, you can make in large batches and freeze for later. All you really need is a blender or small food processor.

Tips to Hide Veggies 

Meal/Food	Veggies	Tips
Ground beef meals (meatloaf, burgers, chili, sloppy joes, meatballs)	Carrots, celery, squash, mushrooms, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, your favorites	Saute and dice or puree the veggies. Mix them in before you pat out the loaf or patties
Mac and cheese	Carrots, onions, celery Spinach (if your kids don’t care about color)	Stick to sweet vegetables with little color or add a dash of paprika and turmeric to turn everything a cheesy looking orange. Saute, puree, and add to homemade cheese sauce.
Spaghetti	Spinach, onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, olives, and more	Saute and puree to hide the best and mix in with homemade or premade sauce
Brownies	Avocado, pumpkin, sweet potato	Replace egg and oil with 2/3 cup pureed avocado and 1/3 cup water.
Scrambled eggs	Cauliflower Carrots, spinach, mushrooms	Puree the cauliflower and blend in to hide. Add other cooked, chopped veggies if your child doesn’t mind.
Grilled cheese & quesadillas	Carrots, squash, sweet potato, pumpkin	Puree and add to grated cheese, then melt.
Baked goods	Zucchini, carrots, avocado	Mash, chop or puree and add to batter.
Applesauce	Carrots, berries	Cook and puree

 

Want more ideas? Check out these chefs:

The Sneaky Chef
Deceptively Delicious

What else can you add to this list?  

Facing Obstacles

I was originally going to give this post a title about organizing my thoughts or something, but I've started listening to some motivational content at night, and tonight's was about overcoming obstacles. That's when I realized that that's what I really should be focused on.

A quote from tonight was "look at your obstacle and give it the appropriate value, enough to make you productive." That may not make sense without context, but it basically means not letting your obstacles overwhelm you and stop you.

To be honest, I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed lately, which makes it hard for me to get focused on any one thing. I'm also very introverted, and I pull back inside my shell when I feel like this. So, in facing up to the feeling of being overwhelmed, I am blogging about it so as not to hide from the world.

My Plate Is Full
I wrote previously about all the changes happening. I've now got to handle all the housework and maintenance inside and out, which is a lot. I also have two freelance businesses -- one as a writer and one as a Beachbody coach -- that I have to figure out how to manage my time between. I'm also anxious (nervous? sad? excited?) about sending my first child to kindergarten and my youngest to preschool in the coming weeks. I hope to increase my freelance writing business, and I even have a phone interview for a job tomorrow, and I'm incredibly nervous.

The kids are not helping, either. Although individually they are sweet, loving, playful, funny little people, together they are loud, screaming, fighting little monsters. They are also confused and anxious about all the changes going on. My daughter has said repeatedly that she doesn't want to sell the house, and I have to reassure her again and again that all our stuff will go with us, that it doesn't matter where we live or what we have as long as we're all together.

After tonight's audio about overcoming obstacles, I realize that none of the things going on is a bad thing. I'm lucky to have the family I've got. I love them all dearly on their wonderful days and in the midst of their dysfunction. Yes, there's a lot going on, and it's overwhelming. It's also a good time for me to get scheduled and organized. With a daily routine and building up better, more productive habits, I can more easily see where and when I need to ask for help.

What do you do to get centered and maintain a positive focus when life gets overwhelming?

Starting a Family Budget - Tracking

Now that my husband is working again, we are looking for ways to save money. It's tough for everybody to find that extra little bit every month to put into different accounts. With both of us being 1099 employees, my husband and I have to also manage our own healthcare savings and retirement savings as well as emergency savings and college funds for the kids. Contract work varies, so you have to have a long view of income. One month may be great, and the next may be nothing, so saving becomes extremely important to cover the months off.

I read articles all the time about ways to save money, and most of them we already do. Starbucks is a problem for us, but we're working on it. Other than that, we don't buy a lot of extras when we go out. We eat probably 90% of our meals at home. So where do you find money to save when you're already following the financial gurus' advice?

Goals
I would love to answer that here, and I hope to be able to offer some advice in the coming months. For now, I'm setting goals for how we want to live and where we want to put our money. We've talked a lot about traveling and exposing the kids to different cultures. But I don't want to get into the trap of constantly chasing more money to be able to do that. Instead, I realize that we have more stuff than we need, and we don't need all these cheap, disposable things that are advertised to us. It's just a matter of limiting those impulse buys and conveniences that add to every grocery store or Target bill (or, this week, Ikea. Oops. The kids department is so hard to resist!).

To begin our journey to better household budgeting, I've set goals for where we want to dedicate any extra we can create:


1. Replenish our savings from the time out of work.
2. Start saving in an HSA.
3. Make regular contributions to retirement accounts.

Creating a budget
In the past, I've added up what we've spent at the end of every month to see where all our money is going. I've reduced every bill I possibly can over the past few years, so there's not much more we can do with fixed expenses.

With my husband just having started his job and having a lot of new expenses, I've got a few preliminary steps to do before I feel like I can set a true budget.

1. Track all expenses from August to determine our current spending.
2. Keep all receipts and add up impulse buys, unnecessary purchases, and one-time expenses (i.e., school supplies).
3. Develop realistic numbers to fill in spreadsheet.  

Because we're not together and, in essence, supporting two households during this contract period, we're sharing a spreadsheet that we both update. It is very detailed because the highly variable and semi-variable costs are the primary places we need to look to find extra money. That's also where most people don't realize how much they spend (according to advice I've read online).

Yes, this is detailed. My husband is an engineer and a whiz with Excel. We have many spreadsheets like this.

I'm hoping to be able to get a positive number in that bottom row that can then be applied toward my goals.

What do you do to budget? Where do you find the best ways to cut costs?

Major Life Changes

My husband left his job back in the first week of March with no other job lined up. The situation and travel had gotten unbearable, and it was best for everyone that he leave. We had been talking for a while about how to make a less stressful life, how we could find more balance. We had a lot of idealism and didn't expect his unemployment to go on for 5 months. Some of that idealism did start to fade, but not the push to change up our lifestyle and priorities.

Blanket fort!

He has a job now. It's a 6-month contract, and we are trying something new just like we said. We have many new challenges ahead of us. He's has left the permanent employment world for contracting (at least for 6 months), we're spending a lot of time apart, our house is up for sale, and my daughter starts kindergarten in 3 weeks. Sometimes it's pretty overwhelming to think about these things.

My favorite upgrade: this sink

Our house going up for sale is one of the bigger changes. We have no idea where we'll go next. It's a large house with plenty of space for everything we could ever need, but in an effort to change our lifestyle, we're looking to downsize by two bedrooms and at least 1,000 square feet.

It's a little sad to think of letting go of our home. It's where my husband and I really built our life together and started our family. We've put a lot of work into the home itself and created so many memories with the kids. I know my daughter's nervous about leaving the house, too.

We are hoping for the chance to find some balance and ways to put more of our money into doing things rather than having things. At least we have some stability for the next 6 months, and we are open to what life has in store for us next. 

Rethinking Saturated Fat

Poll 10 people and the majority of them will likely tell you that eating a lot of fat is bad for you. However, most research has proven that fat, specifically saturated fat, has no significant correlation to heart disease. Yet, people with high cholesterol continue to be told to consume a low-fat diet and get on medication.

Fat is not the enemy it's been made out to be -- as long as you're not consuming trans fats, which mostly come from hydrogenated oils. And it's effect on cholesterol is not what you think.

What does cholesterol do for you?
Despite guidelines that keep lowering the recommended cholesterol level, currently at 100 mg/dL, cholesterol is necessary to our bodies. That's why our bodies make more cholesterol than what we take in from food.

Cholesterol helps make the outer coating of cells, makes up the bile acids that digest food, and allows the body to make vitamin D and hormones. Some research has suggested that higher levels of cholesterol in the blood can promote muscle building as well.

Types of cholesterol
Typically when you get your cholesterol checked, you're told your HDL, LDL and triglycerides. LDL carries the cholesterol through your bloodstream to the areas of the body that need it. But, when you have too much, it deposits those proteins in the arteries, leading to plaque build up, which is why it is generally called bad cholesterol. HDL, or good cholesterol, picks up the excess cholesterol and takes it back to the liver. Triglycerides are a type of fat and are needed for energy, but too much can cause harm.

Fat and cholesterol
You've probably heard that saturated fat raises your cholesterol. This is true, but it's not an automatic reason to give up bacon forever. Keep in mind that saturated fat raises your HDL along with your LDL.

We'll focus on the "bad" cholesterol for a minute. Within your LDL, there are two types of particles: large, fluffy particles and small, dense particles. Large, fluffy particles weigh more and, therefore, tend to raise your cholesterol numbers. However, those particles are generally harmless. Those small particles are more likely to stick to your arteries. Guess what type of particles saturated fat increases? Yep, the big, harmless particles.

Refined carbohydrates and sugars increase the small, dense particles, but may not cause a large increase in your overall LDL because those particles weigh less. Carbs and sugar will also raise your triglycerides, creating more risk for heart disease. Unfortunately, when told to go on a low-fat diet, many people replace fats with carbs, thereby worsening their risk profile.

What to eat
As with anything else relating to your health, balance and moderation is key. Research still seems to point to eating foods high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats such as nuts, seeds, oils and fish. Keeping these foods, along with fresh fruits and vegetables, central to your diet is likely your best bet for keeping your heart healthy. You can still enjoy the bacon, steak and eggs, but limit the cookies for dessert.

Sources

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/06/28/cereal-killers-movie.aspx

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/fats-full-story/

http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Understanding_Cholesterol.htm

Postpartum Fitness Series - Love Your Body

It's been a while, but here's the final part of a four-part series on getting fit after pregnancy. If you missed the first three they were:

• Setting a goal
• Getting started
• Eating

This part is about loving your post-baby body. Having kids changes your body, and although you may be able to get back to your pre-pregnancy weight, everything is not in the same place it once was. You now have stretch marks or other scars. And that's OK. You earned every mark and those squishy spots and love handles, too.

Be confident

That's a lot of stretching going on!

What I hope you take from this series is not to focus on losing weight and trying to attain some ideal body image based on what you looked like before having kids. Rather, focus on being healthy, being an example for your kids and feeling good about yourself.

Having kids is rough, and it's easy to feel like you're constantly doing things wrong, and then you look in the mirror and all you see is that 20 pounds you're still carrying around even though it's been 2 years since your last child was born. Just remember that you're awesome. You're raising your kids, taking care of your family, going to work, maybe taking care of your parents as well. It's a tough job, but you're doing it. 

Take time for yourself
You devote so much to your kids and family, but don't forget about yourself. Managing your health and well being helps you take care of your family as well. Having confidence in yourself sets a great example for your kids.

So if you want to lose those last few pounds, go for it! If you just want to eat better, do it! Want to tone up the looseness that's still around? Let's do it! I've got a Facebook support group starting up June 23 for moms who want motivation, support and recipes. Get started, commiserate with other moms in a comfortable environment. Comment here or email me at prcfreelancing@gmail.com to join.

Moving On

I have been wanting to write a blog post for a good week now, but I can't seem to get my thoughts to still enough to do it. I am going to try anyway tonight. After my last blog post, I'm just not sure what to follow up with. It doesn't feel right to jump right back into the health talk, so I will speak personally one more time.

Friday was my dad's memorial service. I had a tough time leading up to it. He died two weeks ago. The first week all I wanted to do was sleep. The second week, I had two jobs to help out with the service: make a video of photos and make the program. Going through pictures was freakin' hard. On the days I spent time looking through pictures I found myself flipping out about some small annoyance later in the day and bursting into tears. That was a lot of fun for everybody else in the house. My husband does all the video making, so eventually I had to just hand it over to him.

The hardest part about the photos for me was seeing the change. There were pictures of my dad when he was young and reckless, leading up to him settling down and being a family man, to him getting older, and then a sudden shift to after his stroke. That shift was the hardest to see. You could see it coming in some ways in the photos, just that his health was fading. He had diabetes and high blood pressure that were poorly managed. But nothing prepares you for a stroke. You never know what the result will be. For those who don't know, my dad ended up paralyzed on his left side and in a wheelchair. He had a lot of ups and downs, battling multiple illnesses and infections along with his loss of function.

Back to the memorial service. It was very nice, and a lot of people came and paid their respects. I thought having it would give some kind of closure, but I don't know if you can really get closure on losing your dad. I am trying to take the event as a point in time to say that it's time to keep moving forward. My husband has a lot of interviews this week, and I was bumped up to the next rank in my health and fitness business. So we're keeping busy and looking forward to having new opportunities. But in the quiet moments, I still sit back and just remember.

Ups, Downs and Uncertainties

Sometimes life is smooth sailing, and sometimes it slams into you in waves.

Remember a couple months ago when I started this blog and I said things were calming down and life felt stable? That little interlude is over.

Some things are okay, and maybe a blessing in disguise, but life is full of uncertainties right now. My husband has been out of work for about 2.5 months now. It is stressful and hard not to worry about finances, but leaving that job was the right choice, regardless of what comes. The job search has taken longer than we thought, but that may be for the best because I have needed him with me lately.

Related to the job search, we have decided to sell our home. We've talked about it off and on for a couple years now, and this seems like a good time to go ahead and do it. But the whole process of getting your house ready, selling it and moving sucks and just adds one more layer of uncertainty.

Thanksgiving 2013

The most momentous event, and the hardest to talk about, happened this week. My dad passed away on Monday, May 19 at the age of 60. As many of you know, my dad had a stroke about 2 years ago. It has been a roller coaster for the whole family since then, with his health going up and down. There were a few times we thought we were going to lose him.

The stroke left him paralyzed on his left side and needing help with most daily functions. Seeing my dad go from the one who's always fixing everything to needing help with basic activities of daily living has been really hard. He also had trouble adjusting to such a drastic change. My mom has done an amazing job, being by his side every step and taking care of him at home. I'm grateful to her for this because it allowed not only me, but also my kids to spend more quality time with him.

Last week, he went to the hospital because of complications related to an infection. He was unresponsive and moved to hospice on Friday, where we knew he only had days left. I visited him Friday and Saturday and said my goodbyes before coming home.

My dad was always there to jump in and help me or anyone else. He supported me and was always in my corner, even when I was a brat. As I got older, he told me he was proud of who I became. I am glad he is not suffering anymore, but I am not at a point yet where I can imagine my world without him in it.

1983

Postpartum Series - Nutrition

This is the third part of a four-part series about getting fit after having a baby (or two or three). In case you missed them, the first part was about setting a goal and the second about getting your fitness started.

Now, we focus on the most important piece to any fitness plan -- your nutrition. You can work out all day long, but if you consistently follow it up with milkshakes, McDonald's or Bojangles, you will not see the results you want.

However, postpartum mommas have a couple of concerns that aren't covered in most diet books, primarily if you're breastfeeding.

Nutrition for breastfeeding moms
We'll talk about breastfeeding first. Nursing is the best way to lose the baby weight fast. As you go along, those pounds will drop away, but that doesn't mean the muscles underneath are strong. That's where the exercise comes in. But when you exercise, you get hungry, and when you're nursing, you're always starving.

I remember being near tears many times while nursing because it had been 3 or 4 hours since I last ate, and I felt like I was going to pass out (or kill someone) if I didn't get food soon. My best advice here is although we all want to get our pre-pregnancy bodies back, properly nourishing your body is far more important than losing weight.

If you're hungry, then EAT! And eat until you feel full. The normal recommendation is an additional 500 calories while nursing. If you're doing a moderate intensity workout, you should be adding about 300 calories. This is probably not a good time to incorporate a calorie deficit.

Shakes are a mom's best friend
Shakes make life so much easier for moms. You can use protein powder, supplements, a meal replacement shake like Shakeology or just blend up whatever fruits and veggies you have at home.

A good formula for making a smoothie is fruit, veggies, creamy fruit (avocado or banana), liquid (water or unsweetened milk), protein (powder, Greek yogurt, nut butter), and any extra supplements or flavors you'd like to add (honey, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, spices, etc). Make a huge batch and drink on it for a few days. If you have older kids, you can share with them. That way everybody is getting the nutrition they need, and you don't have to cook. 

Drink water
As with any diet, cutting out sodas, lattes, flavored milk, juices and other empty-calorie drinks is just good nutrition. Nursing moms need a ton of water. Plus, water gives your body energy to get you through that new fitness plan you just committed to.


Keep a water bottle with you all the time, and drink it throughout the day. Squeeze in a little lemon juice or lime juice, or toss in a slice of cucumber for flavor.

Cheating
Cheating is OK in moderation. The goal is to eat healthy, not diet, not starve yourself. If you want a piece of chocolate or a cookie, go for it. But stick to one piece of chocolate or one small cookie, and then get right back to your healthy eating. One little splurge isn't going to undo everything when your overall diet is good.

If you want help getting started with a nutrition plan or want to give a shake or supplement a try, let me know. I have many options and many, many meal plans to share. Just use the contact form to the right on this page.

Postpartum Fitness Series - Getting Started

Now you've set your goal, and you have it written down somewhere that you'll see every day. So how do you get started?

Choose an Exercise

My starting point.

No matter what you were doing before pregnancy, you probably need to start off a little slower than where you were and work up. If you weren't exercising at all before having a baby, choose a low-intensity exercise or exercise program.

It's always easiest to stick to something you like doing. If you hate running, don't make the treadmill part of your exercise plan. Do something that works with your current limitations, allowing you to modify as you get stronger. This is probably not the time to start a heavy weight-lifting regimen.

Usually having some balance between working out at home and outside or at a gym works best for moms. The baby may get sick, or it's flu season and you don't want to leave him in child care. Maybe your favorite class is only offered during naptime. Gyms are great to get a break, but having an at-home option is an excellent back-up, and increases your chances of meeting your goal because it leaves you with no excuses. 

Invest in Yourself
You deserve to invest in yourself and your health, so don't be afraid to put some money toward meeting your goal. Buy a quality fitness program (of course I have suggestions), buy equipment such as light weights or a Pilates ball, get a gym membership, even hire a trainer for a short time, or some combination. Spending even a little money shores up your commitment to achieving your goal and gives you some incentive for using your DVDs or your membership.

Plus, you're worth every penny.

Make a Schedule
Now that you know what exercises you want to and have your equipment or membership, make a schedule. Are you going to work out 3 days a week for 45 minutes? Or maybe go for 5 days a week for 30 minutes? Whatever it is, write it down.

Find Support
Being a new mom, especially if you choose not to return to work, can make you feel isolated at times. Having support, whether from family, friends, an online group, a group at the gym, makes a huge difference. Make sure you share your goal with your family and your plan, so they can help you find the time or encourage you to do your workout when you really want to take a nap.

We all need support, especially now, so seek out others who will encourage you and inspire you to keep going. If you need some advice or want to get connected to a group, email me or find me on Facebook. I'll help get you connected with others on a similar journey.

Next time we'll talk about getting your nutrition in line with your plan.

Postpartum Fitness Series - Setting a Goal

You've just had a baby and gained a ton of weight, or maybe not. Either way, most of us are ready within a few months to work on getting at least some of our pre-baby body back. This is the first part in a series about how to get fit after having a baby.

Set a Goal
It's hard to get anywhere if you don't know where it is you want to end up. Setting a goal is more than just saying, "I want to lose 10 pounds" or "I want to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight."

You want to make SMART goals, but first you need to do a little personal assessment. Realize that post-pregnancy workouts for most normal people who don't have all day to exercise are a phased process. Here are a few steps to get you started making a goal that you can achieve:

Think about any current limitations
Physically, how are you feeling? Have you healed? What limitations do you have right now that you need to consider when beginning an exercise program? Are you nursing? Have your ab muscles grown back together?

Set a short-term and long-term goal
Your body is constantly changing, and your hormones are shifting. You will steadily be losing weight, healing and getting stronger. Start with a short-term goal of maybe 30 or 60 days, along with a longer goal, looking toward where you want to be 9 months to a year from now.

Be Reasonable
It takes everybody different lengths of time to lost the pregnancy weight. Some of us never lost it all, and that's okay. For me, the weight always came off slowly. I gained 55 pounds with each child, and about 6 months out, I usually still carried a good 15 to 20 pounds of that weight. By a year, with moderate exercise, I was able to lose it all. 

Because nursing and hormonal shifts affect our weight, and it can vary a lot from day to day depending on how much water you're holding. Your short-term goal may not need to be weight-based. Maybe it could be to ditch the maternity clothes or to be able to do a certain number of sit-ups or push-ups.

Be consistent
No matter you're goal, make sure it's something you can be consistent with. For most moms, yes, we want to look good, but more than that, we want to be healthy and be role models for our kids. We can achieve that even while carrying some leftover baby weight.

Write it down!!

Accomplishing Your Goal
Now that you have your goal written down, you're ready to get started. We'll talk about that in the next part of this series.

The Perks of Being a Locavore

I love Spring! The opening of farmers markets is like Christmas for me. This morning, I visited the smaller weekday, downtown Farmers Market we have in town. For just $12, I came home with these great goodies.

Eggs are on of the main reasons I love when the market opens. I can occasionally find some around town in the winter, but it's not that often.

This afternoon my CSA box comes with kale, vitamin greens, collards, asparagus and strawberries. CSA is community-supported agriculture. For the one I am part of, I get a box of fruits and vegetables from a nearby organic farm delivered to a drop-off point in town. Sometimes, the farm will supplement with foods from other local farms who use sustainable farming practices.

With a CSA membership, you get whatever is being grown on the farm that week. I get notified on Saturday what's coming in my box on Wednesday. This time of year it's a lot of greens. They aren't my favorite, but I know I need to eat them. So this week I plan on feeding the family a lot of green smoothies.

In addition to buying produce local, I also get my meat from a local butcher. I ask about where the animals lived, what they ate, and what, if any, medications they were given. Plus, the meat I buy is always fresh. The butcher cuts up my meat when I call to place the order. There's no water or preservatives added, and it's never frozen. 

Why eat local?
I know you go to the grocery store and see all these inspections and seals of approval. Your local crops don't have that, but those seals really aren't protecting you that much (we won't go into that today). There are so many reasons to buy local. Here's a few.

You get to talk to the farmer. Do you want to know what's been sprayed on your strawberries? Or where the chickens that laid these eggs live? All you have to do is ask. Most farmers love talking about what they do. Getting that connection with where my food comes from is one of my favorite things about buying local, and it's a great lesson for the kids.

Fresh tastes better. The food you get was recently picked, which just tastes better than food that has been placed in cold storage and trucked from Argentina. Plus, with less time from farm to table, the food likely  has more nutrients.

Your food is likely less contaminated. OK, this point can definitely be argued. But, at the most basic level, the less time it takes to get from farm to table, the less needs to be done to your food. Your local farmer may still be using herbicides and pesticides and keeping animals in poor conditions. But your food isn't entering the large food distribution chain, where it can pass through many hands, opening up many opportunities for contamination.

You're helping your local economy and environment. Farming is becoming more difficult in the United States, but it's a vital service to keeping a healthy food supply. Farmers markets and CSAs help your local farmers stay in business. By keeping them in business, you're keeping that farmland in the hands of its owner and away from commercial development.

Ideally, you'd want to look for local growers that use organic or sustainable farming practices. That's where you get the healthiest foods and the best environmental impact.

Do you shop local? Are you excited about what's coming for spring?

A Favorite: Pumpkin Seeds

"Superfoods" are all over the place these days, making you feel like you should develop superpowers if you eat these foods. Today's post is dedicated to one food that I recently started eating, and think it's pretty super: pumpkin seeds.

As with most any food it's best to buy raw pumpkin seeds.

Benefits
Pumpkin seeds have many great nutrients in them proven to improve heart health, immune support, heart and liver health, prostate health, and anti-inflammatory benefits. Here are just a few of the nutrients in raw pumpkin seeds:

• Manganese
• Phosphorous
• Copper 
• Magnesium
• Zinc
• Protein
• Iron
• Fiber
• Omega-3s
• Antioxidants

One serving is usually 1/4 cup, and you probably want to stick to one serving a day. Although they have tremendous health benefits and are nutrient dense, they are also high in fat and calories. The brand I have has 15g of fat and 2.5 grams of saturated fat per serving. They do have a lot of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats as well.

Adding them to your diet
You can eat pumpkin seeds plain by the handful or toast them with a little salt or lime juice and chili powder. I love adding them to smoothies, salads, cereal, trail mix and stir fry.

Because of their higher iron content, I love getting my kids to eat pumpkin seeds, but I do have to hide them sometimes. For my daughter, I add them the granola she eats on top of yogurt. For my son, who is 18 months old, I grind the pumpkin seeds to a powder using a coffee grinder and add the powder to applesauce, smoothies or mashed foods such as sweet potatoes. It doesn't give him a ton of pumpkin seeds, but at least he's getting some of the benefit. We eat no red meat, so adding foods like pumpkin seeds are pretty important to our diet.

What's your favorite way to eat pumpkin seeds?

Avoiding No-No Ingredients

This is a tough post to keep fairly short. Our food has a lot of contaminants, and you can find out all you ever wanted to know about them from books and websites. Produce, dairy and meat have enough concerns to be their own post, so I am going to limit this discussion to the middle aisles of the grocery store.

Note: Spend as little time in the middle aisles as possible, and make these items only a small portion of your total groceries.What to avoid

There are many directions you can go with what you want to cut out based on food sensitivities, health conditions, diets and your kids' needs. A lot of this is a balancing act with what's ideal and what's affordable. I'd love to cut out all GMOs, but we aren't exactly certain which brands have banned them, and most non-GMO verified products are pricey.

Here are a few basics you can (and should) cut out now.

1. Artificial sweeteners: aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, neotame, saccharrin.

2.Artificial colors: most artificial colors are made from coal tar and have been banned in many other countries. You may be surprised at what has artificial colors. This is any red 40, yellow 5, etc.

3. Olestra: a fat substitute found in a lot of light or low-fat chips.

4. BHA and BHT: preservatives to prevent food from becoming rancid and smelling bad that are reasonably considered to be carcinogens. Found in many boxed cereals and snack foods.

5. Fully hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils: common sources of trans fats.

6. Monoglyceride and diglyceride: made in the same way as hydrogenated oils and may contain trans-fatty acids, but they fall outside the FDA labeling requirements for trans fats.

7. TBHQ: found in a lot of snack foods. This is a form of butane, and the side effects of even just 1 to 4 grams are pretty scary. The FDA has set a limit allowing up to 0.02% of the total oils in food to be TBHQ, which it considers "safe." I feel better avoiding this ingredient completely.

The old adage of buying foods that have only ingredients you can pronounce is a good rule when it comes to packaged food. Anything that sounds like a chemical probably is, and it's probably not good for you.

Scan the labels for fat, sugar and salt
Once you've scanned labels for the above offenders, also look at how high in the ingredient list sugar is listed. The earlier it appears, the more of it there is. Scan the sodium percentage to see if you can reasonably fit that food in your daily diet. Finally, take a look at the amount of saturated fat and trans fat.

If you're looking at a snack food, and those numbers are high, put it back and find something else.


So how do I shop like this quickly?

Here's me at the grocery store. My oldest is running up and down the aisles because she's bored. My youngest is doing his glass-shattering scream because he doesn't want to be confined in the cart. If I put him down to stop the screaming, he starts to pull everything off the shelves. I then smile politely as elderly shoppers comment on my stellar parenting skills.

Sound familiar? So how do you read labels and make good choices amid this chaos?


1. Go to a grocery store with samples. I'm kind of joking here, but if the kids have food in their mouths, they can't bug you too much, right?

2. Make a list of what you need and limit your in-store research to only those items. Maybe this time you just want to look at barbecue sauce and chips. Next time, you can look at pasta and cereal.

3. Do some ingredient research and make a list of what you want to avoid. If you have a no-no list running through your head, it's easier to pick up on those things as you scan the ingredient list. I also have a fairly extensive list in my phone of ingredients to avoid that I'll refer to if I'm looking at something new.


4. Look at percentages. Adding up milligrams of sodium or grams of sugar while wrangling kids is far too confusing, but you can quickly determine what 33% of your daily sodium means to you.


This is probably enough for one day. Is there anything you would add to the list?

Fatten up

Recently I signed the family up for an insurance plan under the Affordable Care Act, and I had the chance to earn $50 by taking a wellness assessment. I scored a 93 out of 100. The only areas that I got moved from low risk to moderate risk were BMI (underweight, always have been) and fat intake because I answered that I don't follow a low-fat diet, nor do I pay attention to my fat intake.

This got me thinking more about the overall approach we're told to take when it comes to fat. Answering questions about a low-fat diet aren't that simple. And advocating a general low-fat diet isn't necessarily good for us. I do not actively limit my fat intake; however, I pay close attention to the type of fat I eat. I eat little to no fast food, no beef, limited dairy and avoid hydrogenated oils, the leading source of trans fat, whenever possible. I do regularly eat seeds, nuts, avocado, oils (coconut or olive) and eggs. I eat a little cheese every day and sometimes yogurt. I also love to cook with butter. (I love the smell of onions and garlic sauteing in butter.)

Low-fat diets haven't made us skinnier.
Despite the push toward low-fat diets over the past couple decades, we still have rising rates of obesity. Most current research has disproved the idea that fat makes you fat, with the exception of trans fats. (See this article from the Harvard School of Public Health) Many low-fat diets are high in carbs, and low-fat foods often have added sugars to make up for the loss of taste when you remove the fat. Plus, you're more likely to consume more food when you don't have the fat to fill you up or that "mouth feel" that we all love from fatty foods.

Fat has many, many benefits.
Fat is good for you (in moderation of course): it provides energy, builds your brain, makes your skin healthy, makes hormones and helps build healthy cells. So rather than stock your kitchen with low-fat foods, incorporate fat into a diet full of fruits and vegetables. Limit saturated fats and avoid trans fats (that is, anything with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, regardless of what the package says), but add in seeds, nuts, oils and avocados to get healthy fats along with protein and other nutrients. And don't waste the egg yolks. They have a lot of health benefits as well.

What is your approach to fats? What about for your kids? 

Musical Motivation

Music is probably the top workout motivator for me. When I do group fitness classes or at-home workouts, I love ones that are choreographed to loud, upbeat music like Zumba, Piloxing, TurboKick/TurboFire or Combat.

I tried running again today. It's been at least 6 weeks since I've been on a treadmill, and I can honestly say I haven't missed it. But I have two mud runs coming up in about 2 months, so I thought I should give running a another try. The only thing that gets me through even 10 minutes on a treadmill (20 minutes is my absolute max before I'm bored to tears) is good music.

For fun today, I am sharing a sampling of my playlist. I have a fairly schizophrenic taste in music, and it shows up in my running playlist. Since my iPod died, I have been limited to what's on my iPhone. Previously, my playlist would've also included songs from Michael Jackson, Vanilla Ice and Trina. But here's some of what I listened to recently.

1. The Seed 2.0 - The Roots
2. Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair - Arctic Monkeys
3. Flesh and Bone - The Killers
4. Soobax - K'naan
5. Hollywood - The Cranberries
6. Hypnotize - System of a Down
7. Kiss with a Fist - Florence and the Machine
8. Open Up - The Dead Weather
9. This Is What Makes Us Girls - Lana Del Ray
10. Waiting for the End - Linkin Park

What's on your playlist? What songs or bands really fuel your workouts?

Facebook makes me feel like a horrible mom

Do you ever look through your news feed on Facebook and see all these happy posts with moms and their kids all smiley, doing fun things together? And then you feel like you’re a terrible mother because your kids are crying in their rooms after you told them to go there for their own good?

I look like this more often than I'd like to admit.

My youngest isn't even two yet, but it feels like it already. He has a pretty good amount of words for his age, but his favorite way to communicate is through high-pitched screams that make your brain rattle around in your skull. It's quite painful. Needless to say, that makes everyone in the house tense. My 5-year-old is actually in a pretty good stage lately, but with tensions high, I sometimes lose patience with her incessant talking. She likes to jump in with gibberish when her brother is in the middle of screaming either because a toy isn't working the way he wants it to, because I am not doing something he wants me to, or because there is food present and it's not in his mouth.

On those days, I start comparing myself to what I see on social media and feeding that sense of failure. But then I have to come back to reality and realize that we all have bad days. Our kids go through difficult phases. Sometimes we handle them well, sometimes we don’t. Some days it’s enough just to realize that my kids are overall happy, healthy and well adjusted.

Consistency is key

I'm starting to realize that the biggest hindrance to achieving any goal I want is consistency. I recently read The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. I have a hard time reading these types of books, because from an editor's perspective, they usually leave much to be desired. I think I could take the book down to 20 pages without losing any essential information. With my red pen safely locked away, I can see that he makes some good points. His basic premise is that if we make small changes and stick with them, over time we will see big results in being a better version of ourselves.

I read the book in January and started putting the principles in action. My business increased, I was busy, I was feeling successful. Then things slowed down, and I stopped working as hard. I go through these cycles all the time, with food, exercise, disciplining my kids, building my business. Half the time I blame it on hormones, but it really just comes down to me being inconsistent. I start by saying, "I've earned a couple days off." Then, that couple days turns into a week, which turns into two weeks, and the next thing I know, I'm feeling down in the dumps because I'm not achieving the things I said I was going to.

I have a million excuses for not being motivated. I could blame my husband, because it's so much harder to get things done with one more person in the house. But, to be honest, I'm glad he's home. We're happier than we've been in a year. My shortcomings are really just me not being consistent.

I've printed out a to-do list for the coming week, and I am starting today. I made a resolution at the beginning of the year to do some form of professional/personal development every day, whether related to my fitness coaching business or my writing business. I am recommitting to that resolution right now.

I'd love to hear any tips and tools that you use to remain consistent. Do you recommend any books that were especially helpful to you?

Eating Right on a Budget

Marcus left his job a month ago, and the job search is taking longer than we expected. Luckily, we got a good tax return, and we don't live extravagantly, so we have some wiggle room.

That being said, after living expenses, our biggest bill every month is groceries. We try to eat healthy, which can get really expensive really fast. And it's amazing how much a little 20-pound person can add to your food bill.

Eating everything organic, free range, pastured, grass-fed, etc. is a noble goal, but will drain your bank account fast. You have to decide what's most important to you, what you eat the most of and what you can settle for less-than-ideal on.

For me, I gave up red meat a little over a year ago. Not eating beef saves us money. I would love to eat local, organic free roaming chicken, but that costs about $12 a pound. I've compromised by buying mostly free-range chicken from a local butcher. It is fresh, never frozen, no water or preservatives added. I can talk to the butcher about where the chicken comes from, what they're fed and how they live. That makes me feel better, and it costs about $1.69 per pound.

I also regularly shop at Aldi to get great prices on produce and imported cheese. Aldi has added a lot more natural and organic foods recently as well. Reading labels is always key, especially when you're at more of a discount store.

Most of you know to buy staples in bulk or stock up when your favorites are on special. Here are a few more tips for saving money while not sacrificing health.

1. Eat less meat and more beans and lentils. They make hearty, filling meals for significantly less money. We usually go meatless at least two or three nights a week.

2. Buy fruits and vegetables that are in season. Or grow your own if you can. Shop local for these too. I joined a CSA through a local organic farm and will shop the farmers market this summer.


3. Spend on the organics that are worth it (i.e., the dirty dozen) and buy conventional for others. In general, produce with a thick skin does not need to be organic.

4. Plant your own herb garden to enhance meals and avoid the cost of buying larger amounts of fresh herbs that usually go to waste. (If you're good at this, come plant one for me. I kill all plants.)

5. Buy inexpensive cuts of meat for slow cooker meals or soups/stews. Buy whole or split chickens, and use the leftovers to make broth for soups.

6. Soups are easy to make, and you can usually throw in most vegetables you have on hand (fresh or frozen). Plus, make extra that you can eat for a couple days or freeze. This is great when you have a bunch of stuff about to go bad.

7. Double your recipe and freeze half for an easy meal later.

8. Limit the packaged snacks. They may seem cheaper, but often aren't as satisfying or give you as much bang for your buck as fresh food.

9. Search the websites of your favorite brands for coupons and combine with weekly specials.

10. Limit dining out to spend more on groceries. Try recreating your favorite restaurant meals at home for less.

11. Skip the sodas and other high-calorie drinks. Get a filter and drink tap water.

12. Try frozen vegetables. You can get store brand to save money, and many have similar nutritional value to fresh. Get frozen veggies with no sauces or added salt.

What ways do you save money on healthy foods?

Getting kids to eat healthy

My daughter is 5 now, and over the years, I've been asked how I get her to eat healthy. At one time, I thought I had this nailed, but then I had my son, and my daughter has been heavily influenced by preschool snacks and birthday parties. It's not so easy anymore.

The 5-year-old
When it comes to getting your kids to eat healthy, giving them good food from the beginning is always the easiest way to avoid fights. My daughter ate almost everything except for white potatoes and green beans as a baby. Even now, she will eat most fruits and vegetables, but she's getting pickier (or maybe just being difficult for fun, who knows). She wants most vegetables raw, food separated and no heavy spices or sauces. Sounds pretty normal, so I accommodate.

The problem we run into now is snacks. She wants the junk food she gets in school for snacks and will pick that over the healthy stuff. I explain why we have to eat the good stuff, but I don't feel like I'm getting through to her as much as I used to. Now that she's getting more independent and going places without me, I am more nervous about the choices she will make. I am hoping that having grown up with real food, the "edible food-like substances" (check out Michael Pollan for more on that term) she gets at school and parties won't have as much appeal.   

The toddler
My son is about a year and a half, and he's been much more challenging when it comes to food. He wants meat, fruit and carbs mostly. I might be the strange one, but I just couldn't understand last night why he didn't want to eat the pureed eggplant creole I made.

He'll eat most any fruit, but vegetables are tough. I think he may be like the rest of my family and only eat raw veggies, but he doesn't have enough teeth to chew them yet. For now, I have to cover green vegetables in cheese to get him to eat them -- compromise accepted. He likes sweet potatoes, butternut squash and zucchini. That seems to be about it. I hide other vegetables in sauces and smoothies, or make combinations he can tolerate such as mashed potato and cauliflower.

Tips I've learned
I'm still learning a lot about how to feed the kids. Here's a few lessons I've learned, and I'd love to have more to add to this list from other parents.

"Do as I say, not as I do" won't fly
Make sure you're modeling the choices you want your kids to make, and keep the junk out of the house (or hidden). You can't expect your kid to eat carrot sticks while you're noshing on cookies. So keep the cookies hidden on the top shelf and stuff your face after they go to bed.

Dip it

Little kids especially love dipping, so try nut butters, mustard, yogurt, hummus, pasta sauce, or salad dressing along with fruits and vegetables to get them to try new things or eat more.

Make it fun

Pizza, tacos and quesadillas are great ways to get veggies in kids. Make pizza night or taco night an event at home. Pitas, flatbread, English muffins and bagels are fun choices for individual pizzas. Have a range of veggies (broccoli, spinach, artichokes, mushrooms, bell peppers) and meat, and let your child pick her own toppings.

Same for taco night. Some ideas are cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, mushrooms, black beans, and corn. Remember to pile the veggies on your own pizza and tacos as well.

Keep trying

Don't give up. The experts say it takes something like 10 or 11 tries before a kid will accept a new food. Space out the introduction of new foods, and mix it up in fun ways. If your child is older, take him to the grocery store and let him pick out a new fruit or vegetable to try.

Hide the vegetables

Puree vegetables in things your child likes such as pasta sauce. Offer pureed vegetable soups with bread for dipping. Make fruit smoothies with veggies mixed in. Easy vegetables for smoothies are softened carrots or sweet potatoes, greens, beets and cucumbers.

Get the kids involved

Let your kids help with the grocery shopping and cooking. Ask them what they want to eat and try to accommodate in a healthy way.

Watch your tone and set the expectation

Trying new foods and recipes is fun! Share that enthusiasm with the kids.

Offer healthy choices with an even tone. Try not to sound like you're expecting them to say "no." Give them choices between two things you find acceptable.

Bribe them

If all else fails, bribery usually works. Put the broccoli on the plate first, and only when that's gone do you get the mac and cheese. I keep dessert treats at home that I approve of, and if the plate is clean, they get dessert. But only if the plate is clean!


What works for you? What do you do to combat the influences of school, parties and commercials?