When I make up my mind to do something, I pretty much always get it done. When it’s something more long term and even life changing, or life style changing, it takes more time. More thought. More conscious action. My journey to a healthy, balanced lifestyle was a long one and I can finally say I’m in a good place now.
When I was a kid growing up, my parents did the best they could as far as teaching us to eat healthy. They both worked full-time and ran their own businesses so they were often home late. When we were little, we had a live-in babysitter who cooked dinner for us. I don’t remember much about what she made for us but it was probably lots of quick meals, TV dinners, Kraft macaroni and cheese, and chicken nuggets. We also always seemed to have a wide variety of ice cream and cookies in the house and shortly after returning home from school, I would always have a big container of peanut butter in hand, with a big spoon in the other. I feel like the only time we ate somewhat healthy was when my parents cooked us Korean food.
So, needless to say, growing up I knew my four basic food groups but was probably only eating from two of them. This somewhat unhealthy eating lifestyle continued through my first year of college, where, let’s be honest, you’re living on a very small budget and are just getting by. I wasn’t eating cup of noodles or instant ramen everyday but I was frequenting the calzone and pizza cart on campus a bit too much. I finally said enough is enough and started trying to exercise on a regular basis and it really wasn’t until I had graduated and was living on my own in San Francisco that I finally started being smarter about the way I grocery shopped, what I ate, how often I exercised and just had a healthier outlook on everything.
And now that I’m a mother and have two young and impressionable girls, I am constantly trying to educate them on the importance of eating right. Eating a balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables and to take care of themselves. I am a big believer that parents need to teach their children the importance of a healthy lifestyle and eating habits by example.
If they don’t see us do it, they won’t do it. As a family, we also try to stay as active as possible. And now that summer is almost here and school will be out soon, we’ll be frequenting the pool and riding bikes and getting outdoors as much as possible.
As a food blogger, I am constantly thinking of and cooking food. I also have to taste everything and sometimes re-make things 2 or 3 times. This makes for a lot of food and sweet treats in the house. I try to give away as much as I can, I freeze a lot and thank goodness I enjoy leftovers! Another way I stay heathy is by getting lots of exercise. I try to exercise at least 3-4 times a week. There are definitely times I would rather not go for a run, but for the most part, I love it. It’s my alone time. It’s when I can let go of everything and just run. And I always feel great afterwards.
So, exercise plus eating healthy and watching my portion intake has helped me get to where I am happy, enjoying life and am still able to eat the foods that I love.
And even though my kids eat pretty healthy (with sweet treats mixed in), I still make sure they take their daily vitamins. They are still young and sometimes don’t eat as much as I would like during mealtime. By giving them their daily vitamins, I can rest assured that they are getting the vitamins they need until they are old and wise enough to get their vitamins and minerals purely from the foods they eat.
We keep mealtime fun by keeping it colorful with fruits and veggies, serving food to the kids on their favorite pink trays (for some reason, my kids love it when their food is in its own little compartment or section on the plate) and the way I cut certain fruits and vegetables helps a lot too!!
You’d be surprised at how cutting a vegetable in a fun and different way makes it more exciting to eat. Try it! And now that they are getting older, they help a lot more in the kitchen and I think this helps tremendously. When kids feel a sense of ownership and they have contributed something to the dinner table, they become more excited come mealtime.
I leave our vitamins in a little basket in the pantry, along with my vitamins and my husband’s, and on the days that I forget to take them out during breakfast, my daughters always remind me, “We need to take our vitamins!” And while living in Washington, we all started taking more vitamin D so that has kind of stuck with us too.
With a fruity flavor and gummy texture, L’il Critters™ gummy vitamins make taking your daily vitamins easier and more enjoyable. L’il Critters offer a robust portfolio of vitamins, minerals and other dietary supplements to meet your health needs. They are available at club stores, mass merchandisers, drug and grocery stores nationwide including: Costco, Walmart, Target and Walgreens. More information can be found at GummyVites.com. So, with all of this, my hope is that I am teaching my children about healthy eating and living and setting a good example for them while still enjoying life with a little sweetness mixed in!
Enter to win a $100 Visa gift card!
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
I received free product and payment for this sponsored post. All opinions are 100% mine.
Sweepstakes Rules: No duplicate comments. You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
1) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
2) Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
3) Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
4) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 6/10-7/31. Be sure to visit the vitafusion and L’il Critters brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!
