Monday, June 22, 2009

Same amount of meat, but MORE fruit + veggies!

I can't figure out how to move that pic over but look at me: eating asparagus in Montreal! That's healthy for the mind and body!

So, I haven't tried out at single new recipe, although I have collected a few (and I tried quinoa for the first time - it's nice!). What I have done is to make a bigger effort to make sure the veggies get on the plates and that we have more fruit available. Gotta love that huge $5 bag of spinach at Superstore and mangoes are in season (yumola!). So I've been making my kids eat the salads that I serve (obviously I don't mean E when I type "my kids" - don't be CRAZY! Although he does eat plain spinach leaves since I told him that caterpillars like to eat leaves). I even started serving fruit juice again, but they only get 250 mL of it a day. And for movie night with my DH I bought Italian soda by President's Choice which has fruit juice flavoring (instead of pop), and those lime tortilla chips (rather than potato chips) and red grapes (to replace candy). I know that I'm not going to get any health awards, but it was healthier than it could have been!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

May conclusion


Well, I'm blogging from Montreal! My kind mother offered to care for the children so that I could join my DH here while he's doing his classes. Of course, I turned her down multiple times, but then I just decided to carpe diem (plus it's our 15th anniversary next week!!!).

I have a great picture of E where he's gazing lovingly at his pet caterpillar. He put it into a jam jar, his dad punched some holes in the lid and we filled it with some nummy leaves and 1 week later, the formerly hungry caterpillar had started making a cocoon. E is so proud! AGAIN I didn't make a big effort with this naturalist profession, but we did ride our bikes more, and spend more time in the "courtyard" part of our yard.

I looked up my profession for June and it's meal planning, with a focus on meatless dishes. My sister-in-law stayed for a week with us in April, and she was avoiding sugar while eating lots of vegetables and it made me very aware of what we were eating (umm. . . lots of sugar and not so many vegetables!). And then G brought home the health food guide for his age group and we saw that we need to put 2 or 3 more servings of fruit and veggies into his daily diet. AND D brought home a book published by Reader's Digest in 2007 called "Magic Foods" and it's about how to keep you blood sugar regulated. So I think I have been prepped and motivated to dedicate this month to improving my family's diet. My first tip is to put prepped veggies and fruit on the table when the kids come home for lunch, while you're preparing the main part of the meal. They're hungry, it's the only option and they'll snack on it.