I love watching how my children have developed healthy habits in nutrition, fitness and health. I teach them all about food groups, portion sizes, what and when to eat, reading labels, and so forth. We encourage physical activity with exercise, sports and dance, and promote good habits for a healthy lifetime. It’s so incredible to observe their positive choices, and see them applying what they’ve learned on how to feel and look their best!
My family truly enjoys to eat whole, fresh foods and less junk. Our bodies feel the difference when we don’t fill it with good foods. Our taste buds, brains and stomachs definitely prefer the higher quality foods and we’ll know it if we don’t eat that way. All of my kids ages 6, 10 and 12 can identify food groups and know how to pair them together for the best meal or snack. They’ve learned some tricks of healthy nutrition, choose only whole grains, can read a package label, and they pay attention to portion and serving sizes. I involve them in shopping, cooking, and learning all the time. When told to find a snack, they’ll choose proteins and complex carbs. Some of their favorites are popcorn, cheese and whole grain crackers, fresh guacomole and whole grain tortilla chips, carrots with hummus, many fresh fruits and vegetables, edamame, nuts, yogurts and Shakeology. Each morning starts with a balanced breakfast with eggs, whole grains, fruits, adding whey protein to pancakes, waffles and oatmeal and they LOVE IT! We allow treats in moderation, so we definitely have our candy and ice cream, however, they don’t look for a lot of it. In fact, they’ll have Halloween candy left over for months that we end up throwing away. When they eat ice cream, sometimes they’ll add nuts, put it on whole grain waffles or rice cakes. Their bodies are loving their choices and I couldn’t be happier!
Courtney, my 12 year old daughter, and I recently went away with her dance competition team for a two day workshop. This is when her health knowledge was put to the test. We packed plenty of healthy snacks for the hotel and to carry with us. We even blended up some Shakeology in our portable Magic Bullet! She knew to eat a well balanced breakfast, so she chose oatmeal with pecans and strawberries at Panera. Stocked with snacks and lots of water, she was ready for a long day of dancing from 8:00-2:30. Pizza for lunch the first day and not enough rest the night before made her feel lousy later on in the day. After a good snack, late afternoon nap, and grilled chicken salad for dinner, she was back on track. She felt the difference, told me about it, and made better choices the second day, and it was great! Recognizing what her body needed without me telling her was priceless.
Alex, at 10 years old, has shown many signs of being hypoglycemic like me. During a baseball game this past summer, he began to lose focus, got frustrated, felt anxious, developed a headache, had noticeable mood swings, and couldn’t perform his best after not eating the right way. I immediately gave him Shakeology to level out his blood sugar and we spoke to a nutritionist shortly after. The nutritionist informed me that the knowledge and information I learned in treating hypoglycemia is the same to treat him. We followed up with a doctor check-up and spoke about the seriousness of the issue and eating right, exercising, and sleeping well. The hard part now is getting him to listen to his mother!! He can now identify the symptoms, and my hope is that he will soon be able to do what is necessary without my guidance.
Jack, now 6 years old, has grown up from the beginning with me preaching about good nutrition, fitness and health. He was only 2 years old when I had serious problems with my hypoglycemia and took control by learning and applying all the knowledge I could find on nutrition and fitness to help me. Recently, for a Valentine’s Day party in his kindergarten class, he chose Kashi Heart to Heart cereal, sliced apples and sugar free pudding to bring in for snack. I was impressed! He loves reading labels and telling you all about what food groups he’s eating…it’s like a game to him. We often share our Shakeology time together with straws and milkshake mustaches too!
As a parent, I feel so strongly about teaching my kids proper ways to live their healthiest, happiest and longest life ever. Proper nutrition combined with fitness and other positive lifestyle choices made a complete difference in my life, and now I am proud and happy to lead my children down the same path. I allow my kids to have treats, and they certainly aren’t deprived of good foods they love. They will eat their “non-healthy” foods, but they know when it’s enough. www.beachbodycoach.com/fitwithmolly
