Healthy Living With Kids & A Spouse

One of the most common questions I get as a Mom on a health journey and now teaching others about health and fitness one of the most common questions I run into is, but what do I feed my kids?  I don't want to cook two meals.  What about my husband he isn't on board?

And here is my response, and it may sound harsh, but don't cook two meals.  They eat what you eat - period.

My take on this has always been, if you don't like what I'm cooking - cook your own dinner - totally applies to my husband as well and trust me once he was offered that option he stopped complaining because at least there was dinner on the table right?

Right.

So what have we changed?  Clean eating doesn't mean the end of the world, it doesn't mean you need to find 30 new recipes to make dinner totally new and exciting every single night.  Chances are most of you are eating the same foods week to week anyways and there are ways to clean them up and make them healthy.

  

We still eat pizza - gasp - oh the horror!  We totally do.  I often make our own dough with whole wheat flour or sometimes I buy pre-made crusts that are whole grain.  I use tomato sauce as my sauce with some italian spices and top it with chicken and veggies and low fat mozzarella cheese.  We love it - I eat my portion size & I'm happy and done.  The old me would have ordered pizza out and stuffed myself until I had to unbutton my pants then I'd eat more in the night or the next morning for breakfast - true story.

We still have burgers - gasp again!  But now instead of ground beef (my Dad will hate me for this since we raise cattle) - we use ground turkey and I mash up black beans, corn, and organic corn tortilla chips into the ground turkey with some cumin & chili powder and then I make patties.  Top it with some avocado - hot diggity it's good guys - seriously real good!  Also fast!

So that's just a few examples of how we eat now versus how we used to eat.  Eating clean can be fast, it can be flavorful, it can be EASY if you don't over complicate it.  Look at what you like to eat and ask yourself can I remove or replace ingredients that aren't the best options?  Most of the time the answer is yes and by taking those small baby steps over the course of 6 months to a year you will overhaul the eating habits of your entire family, shed some weight, and definitely feel better because you have eliminated a majority of processed foods if not all processed foods from your diet.

And as far as exercise goes do it.  If you have to pause because your kids are coming in and out of the room - so what!  At least you are doing it right?  If your baby wakes up - do squats or lunges while holding your kid.  Do chest presses with your kid - they will love it and it keeps you active.  Be an example to your kids - let them workout with you even if it's a bit cray!  Show them how fun fitness can be!

When a hubby won't work out, won't get on board - don't push him.  Let it happen at his pace.  Don't argue over it because it just makes him not want to join you.  Be the example to him, change yourself and he will come around.  It took Jade two years to join me and now he's a different man & we workout together.  I was worried about his health & high cholesterol, but it had to take him wanting to change for himself before he was ready to join me.  Just imagine if your hubby harped on you to get healthy it would make you mad - same goes the other way.  Be supportive, be encouraging, love your husband, and the day will arrive :)

If you want some meal ideas of what we do as a family check out my eating clean guide.

Disney Recap - 4 months delayed

I can't believe I didn't ever blog about this BUT probably because I may never recover from our trip!

In March I earned a free vacation to Disney from Beachbody.  It was a partial week at the Yacht Club so we extended the week at a resort of my parents.

On the way down Ollie started puking & puked the remainder of the drive.  She sat on a towel cut to fit her seat and after blowing through clothes and a roll of paper towels she rode in a diaper with another towel for a blanket.  It was hellacious - yep that's a word!

Baby girl finally recovered by the time we got to Florida on the second day, but the van smelled like death.  She had a couple major diaper blow outs of course on the streets of Hollywood Studios but we survived!

It wasn't long after that and they started dropping like flies.  

One night it was Jade in the middle of the night swearing it wasn't the stomach flu.  I refused to kiss him the entire trip - I'm hateful like that but I NEVER caught the bug!

We planned a full and I mean til you drop day at Magic Kingdom my most favorite place ever.  By the end of the day Everett didn't look great.  I just thought he was tired.  He slept through the fireworks, parades, all the fun, and when we got back to our condo he puked in the parking lot.

Fairly certain I did not win Mom of the year award for demanding we see the night show that day!

The next morning we were off to the Disney resort and we stopped for donuts then food supplies for the hotel.  

As I was in Walmart oblivious to what was taking place outside Aubrie puked all over the car - literally all over milk & donuts - too graphic?  Sorry!  Try to clean it up with wet wipes!  We threw her carseat cover away right then and there.  It was just a mess.

We pulled into the hotel parking lot only for Everett to proclaim he crapped his pants.  Jade (the one who cleaned up the puke as I shopped) lost his cool and shouted, "Why can't you guys warn me before you puke or shit yourselves!"  I was DYING - some adults can't even control themselves let alone a 5 and 7 year old.  Everett was promptly stripped nude in the Disney parking lot.

I did a full load of laundry in the hotel bath tub & hung the clothes on the balcony - did it help - absolutely not.  They were awful until we got home to do laundry and everything smelled.

Everyone missed the first party - which was amazing - Disney characters, a DJ, food, my family would have loved it but I had to go solo - boo!

The next day Aubrie and Ollie were the only two ready to rock so we hit Epcot pretty much on our own until Jade & Everett could meet us later in the day.  Epcot is right next to the hotel it was amazing!

Finally near the end of the trip EVERYONE was healthy!  

Not to make it sound like the worst vacation ever but seriously it was pretty touch and go but we had an amazing time!

We saw every park without puking!  And even hit the water park two days of the trip!

The last Beachbody party was out of this world - it was a Pixar party with all the characters in this huge building no one knew even existed followed by fireworks and dessert by the Epcot lagoon - is it called a lagoon?  It was just the perfect ending to our trip!

I had some time without the kids & worked out a couple mornings to Shaun T in front of the Epcot ball - it was opened to just us coaches early each morning & it was amazing!!  This is my coach Bec on the left & Veronica on the right - I love them!

All in all we had the best time despite circumstances!

And the van after several days in the Florida sun - oh my - Jade joked we'd trade it when we got home it was that bad!  And then in May we did trade it!  hahahaha!

Apologies in advance to the hundreds and hundreds of people we infected while we were there!  And these pictures were in no specific order :)

Jade is 33!

Happy 33rd Birthday you lucky son of a gun!

 

 

I am so excited to spend another year together, and always happy that you are the older one!!

 

If you see him around town be sure to honk or give him a high five - he's entering his mid-thirties!

 

 

I love surprises!

There are some things in life that just is Jade to a T.

Mowing is one of them. 

He is Captain Manicured Lawn.  Graduate of Golf Course Academy 401.  President and CEO of Wind Rows Aren't Cool.  Lawn Lover Extraordinaire.

His blood may just be green.

He has always, and I mean always dreamed of a big time mower.  This year he found his dream mower, and I told him no.  I told him not this year that we needed to wait.  We kept getting fliers from the mower store & he'd fall in love all over again over the little sales flier.  I stuck to my guns, no we can't afford it right now.

Then, I put a plan into place.  You see I normally couldn't have done this, but now that I'm a Beachbody coach - I can afford it!  The fact that Beachbody has opened new doors for me to do things like this for my love - priceless.

So I setup everything on my own.  Maggie & Kylie split it with me since they  have a football field lawn too.  Then I had Dad take in our old mower and make the trade & pick up the new mower.

I called Jade at work in a faked panic.  I told him the tub faucet had just fallen off & that a jet of water was spraying water like mad all over the bathroom.  You could tell he was shitting himself over the thought.  He told me how to shut off the water for the whole house & rushed home from work.

He couldn't believe it.  He slapped on his perma-grin & took the new ride for a few passes on the lawn - and that baby mows like a stinking go cart - FAST!

He's still thrilled & so am I that I pulled of such a big surprise for the man that does so very much for me!

~Annie Reid