Quick switches for healthier kid lunches

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“I love packing school lunches!” said no mom ever!

School is starting again soon and I am already dreading the chore of packing school lunches. Just being honest here!

How are busy mom’s supposed to get this done when they have to be healthy but still things the kids will eat and won’t get boring? They have to be quick and easy to pack but don’t require short-term refrigeration or heating up. They have to be easily transportable without getting soggy or dried out. If you’re not a pinterest lunch making mom, then these requirements can be a little frustrating!

And isn’t it true that the easiest things to pack are often the least healthy for the kids? If you pack those, you’ll probably get “bad mom” judgement or even have the teachers send a note home about it.

30652226_2025800137683720_3884400209555357696_nHere are a few things I’ve learned to make packing healthy kid-approved lunches easy and fast:

  1. Main Items: For sandwiches or wraps, switch white bread or regular wraps with the whole grain (whole grain is more nutritious than multi-grain) version. If your child refuses to eat whole grain (ours did at first but gradually accepted it when it was the only thing available haha), there are many whole grain breads that look just like white bread. Check out “Daves Killer Bread” for a few great options! You can also use thinner sliced bread or smaller wraps and add more veggies and meat for a more filling meal. My kids loooove pinwheels – whole wheat wrap topped with low fat cream cheese and low sodium turkey slices. Sometimes my kid love to eat lunch meat with no bread at all. That’s super easy and fast too! If your kiddo is a chicken nugget fan, look for the healthier versions that look like real chicken instead of ground up mystery meat. Nitrate free options are always a good choice too.
  2.  Sides: Switch sweetened apple sauce with the unsweetened kind. You don’t even notice the difference in the cinnamon flavors. Throw in low fat cheese sticks and avoid sugary flavored yogurts (also avoid the fake sugar ones!). Instead, if you’re feeling ambitious, you can grab some plain 0% yogurt and mix in some strawberries or other fruit on your own the night before. When it sits in the fridge overnight, the fruit juices sweeten the plain yogurt naturally – this is one of my personal favorite snacks for myself too. Whole grain crackers like Triscuits and Sun Chips are a better choice than greasy crackers or potato chips. Look for “low sodium” too. If your child enjoys veggies, those are an easy and nutritious option, as well as fruit – bananas, grapes and blueberries are my favorite because they require almost no prep other than rinsing.
  3. Treats: Graham Cracker snacks and animal crackers are a better option than regular cookies and will still make your kiddos happy! If you bake at home, there are a few recipes for making healthier desserts on my post “4 Recipes with no Sugar” that you can make with your kids.
  4. Drinks: Water is best, of course. If your child doesn’t like drinking water, try adding fruit to it. If they are juice drinkers, look for the all natural, no sugar added versions. Hint: fill a water bottle half way with juice and the rest water to further reduce the sugar content without them even noticing a difference! Soda is a tough habit to break as an adult. If your child drinks it now, perhaps considering breaking the habit early would be a good idea. Whether the sugar free or sugar full kind, there is nothing good about drinking soda for children or adults.

 

What IS the “mom bod” anyway?

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Can we talk about the “mom body” for a hot second, please?

How do you define it? Do you think pregnancy changes your body and as a mom, you are too busy with “more important things” to worry about that ooor do you wish you COULD get your body back but you’re scared of being judged as being self-centered for putting yourself first?

Growing up and on into my 20’s, I had the picture of a “mom bod” in my head as a moderately overweight woman wearing high waisted mom-jeans, granny-panties, and other relatively unattractive clothing to cover up. She was a mom and looks and fashion were none of her business. She just didn’t get to care about that stuff. She only got to care about being a mom.

I think this was mainly instilled in me by a mix of the media and a child’s skewed view of adults. These days, as a mom myself, I have a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT view and I find it super frustrating to read social media and blog posts from actual moms and other women that push the idea that it’s a perfectly good and even preferable thing for moms to not put themselves first at all in their lives because then you’re not prioritizing your family.

Don’t get me wrong, I do agree that there should be no pressure on a mom to look any certain way or to even worry about losing baby weight with a newborn. I mean that wasn’t on my mind at all as I tried to figure out life with my new babies. Still though, there should also be no guilt placed on a mom’s shoulders for WANTING to be healthy and to care about her body and feel amazing, in whatever way she personally defines that to be, at any point after having babies.

13244228_1702026293394441_4767821473241889401_oAnd honestly, I think sometimes we hide behind this idea that since we gave birth and we take care of our kids, it’s ok to not take care of ourselves when really, it’s not our kids that are the true reason we choose not to exercise or eat healthy. I mean, if you truly look deep inside, does being a mom actually prevent you from saying no to the pizza and donuts or from finding 30 min to exercise?

In fact, I feel women putting themselves first ultimately benefits their families more than letting themselves go. When I finally began my health and fitness journey after having my youngest, the confidence and energy I gained through regular exercise, healthier eating, and the simple empowerment of conquering my goals has made me a better mom, wife, business woman, and overall human being in general.

Feeling good in my own skin was life changing for me. I went from being a mom that was too tired to play with her kids and too self-conscious to get in a bathing suit for the pool or beach with her kids to being a mom that could hang with her babies in ALL the fun activities. transformation
I’m not saying I’m a bathing suit model now, but I’m at a place where I personally am happy with my body and I feel strong and proud of myself regardless of what anyone else thinks. I did NOT feel like that when I wasn’t taking care of myself. Instead of worrying about how I look (regardless of whether I should care) like I used to, I’m now having a good time making memories with my family.

If you are a woman who feels amazing with no exercise and going to McDonalds every other day, then great, go out there and mom hard and happy like that! I was not that person. I was the mom that didn’t exercise, ate terribly, gained lots of weight in pregnancy and hated how I felt all the time. I used that “this is just my mom-bod and I’m too busy caring for my family” excuse for almost 2 years before finally deciding it didn’t have to be that way. My “mom-bod” could be so much more and I took action to make that happen.

I don’t regret it for a second. I’ve never been stronger, fitter, healthier or happier. And I’m a mom of 2 who had 2 c-sections and gained over 50 lbs in pregnancy. I got my body back and my health too. Its possible and there’s no shame in it. You have enough love in there for yourself and your family too.

3 tips to relieve soreness

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Ever felt like you couldn’t climb stairs or squat down on the potty because you’re SO SORE after a workout? Did you skip your next workout to “listen to your body and wait to feel better”? Well, guess what, that’s actually NOT what your body is telling you. If you stop moving, you’ll actually prolong the pain instead of healing it.

Here are a few quick tips to relieve the soreness faster!

  1. Use a foam roller! What the heck is a foam roller? Find out in this video I made to show exactly what it is and how to use it.
  2. STREEEEETCH! Spend 5-10 minutes in the morning and evening just stretching those sore muscles. Google “static stretches for XXX” where XXX is the muscle that is hurting you. You’ll find lots of different stretches you can do to loosen up those muscles and get them feeling better fast.
  3. Most importantly, do NOT skip your workout. Moving your body and specifically those muscles that are sore will actually increase the blood flow to those muscles as well as stretch them out and warm them up so that they can heal faster and get stronger, which is the whole point! It will hurt at first but once you get moving, you’ll notice the pain will begin to subside during the workout. Afterwards, you’ll continue to experience that relief for up to a few hours. Plus, the soreness will go away altogether faster than if you skipped the workout completely.

26841358_1983837901879944_316939018653072713_o

Getting Sensory Kids to EAT

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My daughter has been diagnosed with a Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). She’s mostly a sensory avoider but also has a few sensory seeker tendencies mixed in. For mom’s of kids like this, you know how challenging meal time can be. From her first solids all the way to now at 9 years old, finding food she will eat is an adventure.

Sensory kids often have issues with strong tastes and anything they deem as a weird texture. The biggest challenge I have with my daughter is with healthy protein and veggies.  I know all sensory kids will be different but I wanted to share a few of the healthier meals I’ve found that she’ll actually eat and that I actually feel good about giving her.

Breakfast: Whole grain mini bagels with cream cheese; Bacon or turkey sausage with protein pancakes/waffles; Granola (we make our own because she also has a peanut allergy – I like this recipe as a base but without the brown sugar: http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/kid-safe-nut-free-granola-465337); Fruit;

Snacks: Healthy smoothies – fruit and yogurt smoothies with some veggies hidden in it are great or even better, my daughter loves Daily Sunshine which is a pediatrician approved, kid formulated smoothie powder that comes in chocolate and strawberry banana. It’s packed with a serving of fruits and veggies, healthy fats, protein, and vitamins my kiddo needs but tastes like a chocolate shake so she actually thinks she’s getting a treat. It’s a win-win! Other snacks she enjoys are granola bars, carrots, sweet peppers dipped in a healthy ranch I make with 0% plain greek yogurt and a tiny bit of ranch soup mix, “ants on a log” – aka celery sticks with cream cheese and raisins, whole grain baked crackers like triscuits or gold fish, graham crackers with Sunbutter;

26172939_1976125785984489_6903273852973535921_oLunches: This is TOUGH because she would prefer to eat boxed mac & cheese and chicken nuggets with fries every day if she could. I’ve found she enjoys pinwheels – whole grain wraps with a layer of cream cheese (she loves cream cheese obvi) and deli meat like low sodium turkey. Homemade lunchables are usually a hit too. For those, I use deli meat, cheese slices, whole grain crackers, and a small treat like animal crackers or one cookie.

Dinners: Spaghetti is a big hit so we will healthify it by using whole wheat noodles and adding tiny cut veggies in the sauce. Tacos are a hit and she’ll actually eat them with lettuce wraps instead of taco shells so we often do that to increase her veggie intake. Sweet potatoes are popular and she loves regular potatoes with toppings but we make it healthier by using just a little sprinkle of cheese and plain greek yogurt instead of sour cream.

The biggest thing we have found is to request that she at least takes one bite of whatever we make for dinner (which can sometimes be a serious challenge) and if she hates it, she is allowed to have something different but no treats if no veggies are eaten. Overall, her diet could certainly be healthier but she is not malnourished or overweight. We feel that as long as that is the case, everything is ok and we will continue trying!

 

8 fun workouts you can do WITH your kids

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In my job as a health and fitness coach and personal trainer, I have worked with many women who have children ranging from infants to teens. The most common thing I hear is that it’s super hard to find time to exercise when you have to take care of your children. As a mom of 2 beautiful girls, I can TOTALLY relate!

Through my own process of trial and error, I’ve found some things that are really great for getting your kiddos involved with your workouts instead of trying to get your workouts done without the kids. I went from trying to get a workout done with a crying baby stuck in her bouncy chair a few feet from me (not very enjoyable for either of us to say the least) to fully involving my girls in my workouts whenever they want to join me.

Try these ideas with your kiddos so they’ll be your REASON instead of your EXCUSE:

FOR INFANTS

  1. Put your baby in a sling and find a low impact workout that involves no floorwork. For example, there are some fun country style and hip-hop style home workouts that work great for this in our virtual gym system.
  2. Check your local area for stroller strides type programs or meetups where you can exercise with other moms and push your infants in their strollers.

34818875_2052073928389674_4577471763486605312_oFOR CHILDREN AGED 3 – 12

3. Low impact partner workouts are really great for moms and kids to do together. Our virtual gym system has an entire program created just for this! It incorporates a ball to toss back and forth and lots of fun moves that keep the kids interested for the full 30 minutes. Both my girls love doing this program with me!

4. Dance workouts with easy to follow choreography are GREAT to do with kids. You’ll both work up a sweat and most likely get some great laughs together too as you work on shakin’ your groove things together! If you’re not ready to go to show your moves to the world in a public gym setting, contact me for info on our virtual gym to get access to lots of fun dance workouts you can do at home.

5. Go out in your backyard or to the park! There are so many fun ways to get exercise with your kiddos outside. For instance, kids LOVE to race! You can set up a space to race each other and keep track of who wins. If your kiddo is little, give them a headstart you meany! haha Another idea is to play tag. Its a GREAT workout and I’ve never met a kid who will turn down a good game of tag. Lastly, there’s always riding bikes, roller skating, and even just going for a nature hike or walk together too! Skip hide and seek though because too much time is spent staying in one place for the hiders.

FOR KIDS 13+

Teenagers are probably not interrupting your workout time as much as younger children but you may find that your time is limited due to running them around to their extracurriculars and friends’ houses, etc etc. Here are a few ideas for still getting your workout in, even though it may not be WITH your kids at this age!

6. Exercise in the morning before all the activity starts! (This is actually always my number one tip to create a consistent exercise routine no matter who you are.) Check out my tips on making those morning workouts easier!

7. Invite your teen to go to the gym, out for a jog/walk, or to do a home workout with you. Let them know it will help you with your motivation and accountability. You may find he/she will be honored to help and will even enjoy the chance to spend some time together. Plus, if your teen is not involved in any athletic activities already, establishing an exercise routine with you can really improve his/her health right along with yours.

8. While waiting for your child at the ball field, dance theater, swim practice or wherever they are after school, find a place you can get a walk or jog in. If you can do a drop off, head to the gym or back home for a workout while you wait to pick them up.  Invite some of the other “soccer moms” to join you to make it more fun and spread the health wealth!

22792274_1944205665843168_6455046436073072633_oIn the end, involving your kids with your health and fitness journey will be much more enjoyable than trying to fight with them to leave you alone. Don’t forget what a good role model you’ll be too! Kids are ALWAYS watching and learning from what we do. Show them the importance of healthy habits and teach them by letting them join you! You’ll also find that exercising together presents new opportunities for bonding and spending time together in a really fun way that’s good for the whole family.

If you’re doing any of these things or have come up with other ideas, I’d love to hear how you’re getting your kids involved! Tell me in the comments below!

Gym vs Home Workouts vs Private Training

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26841375_1982624858667915_3706689557479932164_oWant to start getting in shape but not sure how? The vast number of options to choose from can be both awesome and overwhelming. Often it can be hard to choose what will be best for you. Here are a few of my thoughts on gyms vs home workouts vs private training.

–> Gyms: Large buildings filled with equipment, sweaty people, aerobics class options, and even personal trainers is the most common picture to come to mind when thinking of gyms. Some people love this environment if they enjoy the social aspect of fitness and prefer to use equipment that they don’t have at home. Also, for some people, having to physically leave their home and go to a gym is more motivating and having a location away from the hustle and bustle of their families can be helpful to avoid workout interruptions. There are also boutique style gyms that cater to specific audiences such as women only or specific fitness styles such as Pilates studios or Barre studios. These tend to be smaller buildings and can be fun socially because you automatically have at least one thing in common, you’re all women or you’re all into pilates, etc etc. Financially speaking, gyms can range widely in price but often are in the middle of the three options.

20414094_10155455218600102_6514970187266003839_o–> Home Fitness: Working out in your living room can be a very convenient option and offers a different level of privacy. You’re able to workout whenever you choose without worrying about travel time and the only people who see you are those who live with you.  It’s great for people with really busy schedules and also those who prefer not to workout in a crowd. You can even get your kiddos in on it for extra fun! Often this is the less expensive option and there are more fitness style options available. It’s helpful to have support such as a workout buddy or group to cheer each other on. Otherwise, its only you that knows if you workout at home or not, which makes it easier to skip. Another advantage of home workouts though is that you always get the best spot in the class, you can pause it as needed, and the class schedule is completely up to you. You can choose your own music and shower in your own shower. There’s never anyone else’s sweat on your barbells either which is one of my personal favorite benefits! 😉

–> Private Personal Training: Hiring a personal trainer, whether in a gym or one who will come to your home or meet you somewhere such as a park, is a great option for those who want personalized attention and a routine specifically created to address their goals, health issues, and lifestyle. If you’re working out on your own in a gym or at home, you may have no idea you are doing certain moves incorrectly or that you have posture issues that should be addressed to prevent injury before even trying to exercise. A personal trainer can make sure you are exercising in the optimal zone and doing the optimal moves with correct form for your body. A personal trainer can also give nutrition guidance, although not individualized meal plans, to help improve your results. Simply exercising without changing your eating habits won’t get you to your goals. A personal trainer can also create long term as well as short term plans so you are prepared to make this new healthy lifestyle last! Pricing can vary widely though but is often not as expensive as you might expect.

Overall, the option that fits you best depends on your personal preferences, goals, and lifestyle. Regardless of which one you choose, it’s better to start somewhere than to not start at all. If you end up not enjoying your first choice, there’s nothing stopping you from trying something new!

**To schedule one free private personal training session with me or get information on my virtual fit groups with home workouts, contact me today!

Should Women Lift Weights?

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No doubt you’ve heard that lifting weights can make your muscles get too big and create a masculine appearance. Perhaps you’re even worried about that and try to avoid weights altogether. Well, I’m here to tell you that is a myth and weight training is GREAT for women!

Men get the larger muscles mostly due to the higher levels of testosterone in their bodies. Women can definitely get ripped and toned but regular weight training won’t turn you into a man, I promise!

27982561_1998029703794097_3742184840251879388_oIn fact, weight training is super important for women for many reasons, both aesthetic and overall health-wise.

Many of us want to prevent or get rid of those saggy upper arms, right? Weight training your triceps and biceps will help with that! Weight training is also helpful in getting those defined legs and a tight tush we all would love to have! Beyond that though, weight training improves day-to-day functional ability and also helps prevent osteoporosis, a weak bone condition that is more common in women than men as we age. Often we think of weight training as simply making our muscles stronger but it actually causes bones to grow stronger too. Cardio training alone won’t have the same effect.

I don’t know about you but when I’m a grandmother, I want to be able to run and play with my grandkids without fear of falling and breaking a bone. There are more factors in conditions such as osteoporosis such as genes and overall health of course, but starting a strength training routine can definitely help prevent or even improve it!

How to healthify your coffee

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29694369_2022298258033908_7513636351925813248_o“I want to get healthier but I don’t want to give up my coffee with cream and sugar.” Does that sound like you? It definitely was me a few years ago and I work with many clients who tell me the exact same thing. Good News: You don’t have to give up coffee to be healthier! Not as good news: Adding lots of cream and sugar is definitely going to slow down your progress.

Don’t worry though! Here are two easy steps to gradually healthify (yes I made up that word haha) a cup of coffee:

  1. Over the course of a few weeks, begin to cut down the amount of sugar – even if it’s fake sugar – little by little. First, cut it down by 1/4 and drink your coffee at that level for a few days. Then, cut the sugar by 1/4-1/2 again and so-on. Don’t stop until you have cut ALL the sugar out altogether. If you hit an amount that really makes you unable to drink the coffee, add a little honey. Then gradually decrease that.
  2. Once you have gotten the sugar out, begin to focus on the cream. Even skim milk is pretty high in sugar (lactose sugar) and calories. My biggest advice is to gradually switch from milk or a flavored creamer to an alternative milk product like unsweetened almond or coconut milk. These products are very low in calories and sugar and have more health benefits. Plus, you still get a creaminess in your coffee! Began by making your coffee with a mixture of half the amount of your regular creamer and replace the other half with the alternative creamer. Drink it that way for a few days to a week. Then, cut it to 1/4 your regular creamer and 3/4 the unsweetened almond or coconut milk. Continue until you’ve made the full switch.

There is an adjustment period but I can tell you that I no longer can stomach drinking really sweet coffee drinks like I used to enjoy. This method has helped many of my clients too! Give it a try and comment below to let me know how it worked for you

How to use a Foam Roller

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Have you ever felt so sore after a workout that you thought you’d never walk again?

Has anyone ever said, “Oh you should get a foam roller for that!”

And were you like, “what the heck is a foam roller?”

Haha been there!

But I recently learned what these babies are and how to use them! So I thought I’d share the wealth!