Healthy Children

The one thing I wanted to accomplish on my lifestyle uproot was to make sure my children continued to live a healthy active life. This can be hard when you work full time, my husband works full time and well sometimes there is just not enough hours in the day. However, we have successfully done it!.

I have never been one to feed my kids junk food, unless it is a special treat. I have maybe let them have pop 5x in their 4 years of life and that's very rare thing and likely only over the last year. My kids ask for water or milk to drink over juices, and run like bats out of hell wherever they go. My mom always cooked us healthy meals with a warm vegetable, a salad, meat and a carbohydrate. However, it wasn't the healthy meals she fed us that made me fat.... It was the snacks she had in our house. We were the family that could have 10 snacks a day, they could be chips, sugary cereals, pop, chocolate, and all those fake fruit treats ( i.e. fruit by the foot) When I became a teenager, I chose those snacks all the time. I ate cookies for breakfast with a coke at school... I'd buy fries and gravy as a mid afternoon spare snack. I just ate like CRAP! I was very active but that didn't make up for all the crap I ate.

As an adult, it took me from 2000 to about 2003 to realize I was not only fatter.. ( size 24 now at this time) but I drank a case of full sugared pop on a weekly basis. I was at the point where I couldn't even handle owning a mirror. I completely changed how I ate when I started university and dropped down into a 18. Then I met my very lucky high metabolism husband, who didn't work out and ate whatever, whenever no problem diet.

Well needless to say... Back up to a size 24 I went. By the time we got married I was around the size 20-22 and to have kids I got myself down to a size 16.

Now back to healthy kids.... I refused to have my kids choose cheezies and juice for snacks. I didn't want my children to be overweight as kids and feel generally like crap all the time. I didn't want people ragging on them because of their weight and still don't.

I'm having wonderful success with this so far. They LOVE raw vegetables for the most part and beg for them at the store. A bag of snap peas or a cucumber doesn't last two days in our house. They would prefer cheese and crackers for a snack over cupcakes ( even when they ask for a cupcake they rarely eat it all, it's just to sweet)

Last night, Ainsley was going to her Zumba ( one of the many activities they have been in - soccer, swimming, mini chefs, and gymnastics as well) class and having an Easter party. We made small cupcakes and didn't opt to share a drink because cupcakes were sugary enough and there is a water fountain out the door. Ainsley came back to say she was thrilled with her party and someone brought mini carrots too! She however didn't really elaborate on the Coke that was brought to drink (which she never finished) nor on the over chocolate overload cupcakes covered in sprinkles.

To say the least when my kids through tantrums over snap peas, ask for cucumbers at supper when they don't see a salad and beg for carrots when I'm peeling them. I think I have done an alright job!