Here's the only things that come to mind.
Kale. One of my new favorite foods. After hearing from a coworker that his wife and him eat almost four pounds of kale a week by putting it in smoothies, I had to try. And try I did. It's awesome. I remember reading somewhere that kale really helps clean the gunk out of your digestive track and I'll buy it. I've felt great after I tried doing this and I'm glad I stuck with it.
I have kale in my garden this year. It's been pretty easy to grow thankfully and I think I'll definitely try it again in the future. I grew a dwarf variety this year, I'll probably go regular next year...we will see though.
Another Kale recipe I've really been wanting to try is kale chips. I've heard they are awesome, but that you either love them or hate them. I think I'll love them, I just need to wait to make them until its a bit cooler.
My Kale Smoothie Recipe:
- 1 Banana
- Several strawberries
- Kale (to your taste preference...start with a small amount and work your way up)
- Low fat milk
Put them in a blender and blend until smooth. Mmm, mmm good. Sometimes I add a couple tablespoons of peanut butter for some protein boost. Oh yeah, good stuff. I'm still working up kale wise, so I only add a couple leaves. My smoothies are far from green...but I'll get there. Either way, it's a nice dose of veggies I wasn't getting before hand. Give it a try.
Kids. I'm hugely interested in kids health if you didn't know. Being that I have the little, I'm focused a lot on trying to get her to eat well and have a positive body image despite some of the awful trends and imagery we see today. I spend a lot of time teaching her good eating habits by modeling good behavior myself. I also do a combination of giving veggies and hiding some for extra nutrition. The little drinks my kale smoothies as a matter of fact!
I am also interested in making sure she's very fit and active. We dance, we have fun. I try to take her outside as much as possible. I still feel like we watch entirely too much television, but sometimes I need a break. One of my favorite books/blogs is Free Range Kids. It talks a lot about ways we can make our children have a childhood more like ours where they are outside a lot and getting to do more things, instead of living sheltered lives. I'm a big supporter of this. G is still a little too young for many of the things they talk about, but I'm always looking for ways to help her be more free range.
Being the mom of a little girl, I'm also really concerned with body image. With the obesity rates on the rise and eating disorders also increasingly more common, I'm trying to do everything I can to teach my little healthy habits and to like herself for who she is. It's definitely tough though. My biggest thing is to never criticize my body in front of her and to praise her healthy choices. We don't tell her to watch what she's eating, we just encourage her to make healthy choices so she can grow up healthy and strong - not big and strong or to stay skinny. Her happiness and health are extremely important to me and I want to do everything I can to set her up for success. That's my hope anyways - we'll see how that goes!
What types of things do you do with your littles to encourage a healthy lifestyle?
So those are my K's. Kind of weak...but I got something in there.
~A
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