It’s all about portion control

I’ve always loved miniature-sized things: dollhouse items, baby burgers, *cough* tiny bottles of booze *cough* (before you scold the trainer, I WAS a 28 year-old single gal just a few months ago)…and now I’ve turned to kid-sized food!

But when I came into this family, portion control was an unknown subject to them. Every day my eyes would widen as I watched the flock devour entire bone-in pork chops and giant glasses of milk at dinner, plates of sugary pancakes and syrup for breakfast, and lets not forget the after lunch and after dinner snack…a SNACK immediately following a meal!?! I wanted to rip the freshly colored hair from my head.

Lets first dive into the snack issue shall we? Goldfish, Oreo Cakesters, ice cream sandwiches, ice cream and chocolate syrup, candy, chips…the unhealthy list goes on. The “snack drawer” basically consisted of refined carbs, sugar and fat from the peanut butter crackers. Whole grains…low sugar items…fruit….anyone, anyone?? The fitness and nutrition soul inside me was screaming.

I had my work cut out for me.

While I didn’t want to completely change everything, I DID want to cut out some of the super unhealthy items and replace them with better, yet tasty choices. Bill willingly would accompany me to the grocery store so I could explain why some foods were bad and others were better options. After all, as a recently divorced daddy, he needed to understand these things since they were going to be new to the household.

The biggest challenge when feeding kids is finding foods that are healthy and that they’ll enjoy. So I started with no sugar added ice cream sandwiches, baked chips, chocolate peanut butter protein/granola bars, brown rice, apples and strawberries.

SUCCESS!! I even made sure to portion out the goldfish and fruit into little snack baggies. Now onto dinner.
We now use measuring cups. Veggies, (when they eat them) brown rice, pasta and of course meat are all measured to appropriate portion sizes before being slapped onto plates. (I got negative feedback at first, but that only lasted a night or two.)

While the kids still insist on a snack sometimes, now they reach for Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches, goldfish or fruit. And half the time they don’t even ask for one. Instead, they’ll talk about how bad food makes you fat and they’d rather go roll around in the living room or watch an episode of Spongebob Squarepants.

There’s still the issue of them not being with us all the time, and so, will still be faced with outside unhealthy eating habits, but if they can learn to understand that pigging out on unhealthy food should only be done occasionally instead of all the time, I’ve won that battle.

It’s only been four months, but the grandparents have already noticed a decrease in the size of their stomachs, and the kids are happy. And when they’re happy, so is daddy, which means I’m rewarded with foot massages, kitchen cleaned and my food prepared for me.

It’s a win-win for all. 🙂

Leftovers…now I understand.

Every morning, the kids, a.k.a. “the flock” as they shall be called from now on, make their own breakfast. Sometimes it’s protein pancakes, (recipe in a later post) sometimes healthy breakfast sandwiches, or more often it’s cereal. I’m realizing that kids tend to pour out more than they can eat, unless its in one of those little assorted cereal boxes. (Portion control at its finest!)

Herein lies the problem…they leave the leftovers. And I, being a former cereal lover (who once ate an ENTIRE box of Corn Pops…no joke), am constantly faced with the following:

Mmmmmm Captain Crunch and Honey Nut Cheerios. Yep, I gobbled a couple bites. The good thing was that I realized I no longer have much of a taste for Captain Crunch (one temptation off my list!) but it made me think of the times I’ve been going over nutrition with some of my mom clients, and hear them say something to the degree of, “I ended up eating the rest because he/she didn’t finish it.”

My cereal weakness came from the fact that I was so busy making Bill’s breakfast sandwich and helping the girls with their hair before school, that I was starving. Much like many moms out there who cook and serve the rest of the family before themselves…I’m now very much included in that category. By the time I get food onto my plate, one or two kiddies have already finished their meal. In most cases, their plate isn’t 100% clean, which leaves me faced with the choice of disposing what’s left in the trash, or in my growling tummy.

But I think I’ve come up with a solution: it’s against what I normally tell my clients, but in this case, it might be best to nibble as I cook. At least then I won’t be ravenous by the time the finished plates come my way. This goes for breakfast too. I’ll start chowing down as I get other things done.

This week will be my first attempt at the change so stay tuned to see if it works for me! I just may have new advice for my clients as well. It really pays to be able to relate to them as much as possible.

Sending willpower your way parents!

The 37 year old baby

See that bottle? According to my boyfriend, Bill, that bottle is basically Satan reincarnated. Truth, it tastes awful and goes down like molasses, but dammit it works. And when you’ve got a man who becomes a 5-year-old at the first sign of a cold, you need something to knock the phlegm right out of him before his whining drives you insane and makes you want to punch him. (Which for him would be tragic…after all, I lift heavy weights.)

So basically, the scene in the bathroom went a little something like this:

Me: (holding out cup of medicine) “Just take it real fast like a shot.”
Bill: (pursing lips together and shaking head wildly) “Mmmm mmmm.”
Me: “Dang it Bill you’re complaining about chest congestion and this will get it out, come on.”
Bill: “No way, the last time I took that I puked.”
Me: “So hold your nose and swish with mouthwash afterward.”
Bill: “Amieeeeeeee I can’ttttttt it tastes awfullllll!!!”
Me: “I swear if you don’t stop this I’m going to pin you on the floor and shove it down your throat!!”
Bill: (stomps on the floor) “I’m serious I can’t do it!”
Me: “YOU’RE GOING TO BE LATE NOW TAKE THIS OR ELSE!! ONE…!! TWO…!!”
Bill: (quickly gulps it down, makes a face and takes the mouthwash)

Moral of the story- no matter how old, men can still act like children but the one, two, three or punishment method works EVERY TIME.

Another triumph for all women. 🙂

Birthdays are the DEVIL

I hate the event…people bringing bad food, drinking (for the adults of course) and less we forget the main event- a giant sugary cake. Can you say test of strength!? Yes, even this health nut still retains her battle with food addiction. And with a household of six and a boyfriend with a huge extended family, I’m basically faced with a birthday or two per month.
I’ve already been present for three of the four kids’ birthdays this year, and I’d like to take a moment to reflect on the eight year old’s this past Sunday. Luckily for these kiddies, I’m overjoyed at the prospect of suddenly being able to do things I haven’t yet had the pleasure of taking on…like making outrageously colored and festive cakes. Witness exhibit A…Ella’s 8th birthday cake:

(Bows) Yes thank you, thank you all. It’s by far the coolest and prettiest cake I’ve ever created and its full of sugar!! Which brings me to today’s word…WILLPOWER.
Sometimes…ok more often than not, I just don’t have it. I revert back to my pudgy, unhealthy days and my inner monologue screams, “CHOCOLATE AND SUGAR!! FEED ME!!!” And then I’m left standing in the kitchen on my lunch break with arms crossed and toe tapping feverishly. Staring at the delicious leftovers in my cake saver. How does one combat an uninterrupted craving such as this? Do I call a friend and have her yell at me through the phone to toss the thing immediately? No- I guiltily devour several large forkfuls. Dammit…well at least according to my Lose It! app I burned almost 800 calories teaching spin and doing my back/bi’s workout this morning. I plop down on the couch and sift through emails in an attempt to erase the previous 5 minutes of my life, but I’m left wondering what possessed me to give in so easily.
I know many have been faced with the same or similar scenario, but for this fitness buff, who likes to practice what she preaches to her clients, the guilt I feel might surpass others’.
I guess next time ill chose to phone a friend. After all…we’re having the extended family over to celebrate AGAIN in a week!