The Secret Nutrient Moms Overlook (and How It Transforms Your Health)

 

Image Credit: UnSplash

{This is a collaborative post}

Life as a mom rarely slows down. Between managing work, family schedules, and everything in between, it’s easy to grab whatever food is convenient, often something quick and carb-heavy.

But if you find yourself running low on energy, struggling to stay full between meals, or just not feeling your best, there may be a missing piece in your diet: protein.

Protein isn’t only for athletes or bodybuilders. For moms juggling busy lives, it’s one of the most important nutrients to support energy, strength, mood, and overall well-being. Let’s take a closer look at why protein matters and how adding more of it can give you the boost you need to thrive every day.

Why Moms need Protein Every Day

Protein is made up of amino acids, the building blocks that keep your body strong and resilient. Every system in your body depends on protein, from your muscles and bones to your skin, hair, and immune system.

For moms, this is especially important because:

● Energy levels matter. Protein helps stabilize blood sugar, preventing the energy crashes that often follow carb-heavy meals.

● Recovery counts. Whether it’s from exercise, chasing after kids, or simply a long day, protein supports muscle repair and recovery.

● Feeling full is key. Protein is more satiating than carbohydrates or fats, meaning it helps curb mindless snacking and keeps you satisfied between meals.

 

Image Credit: Unsplash

How Much Protein Do You Really Need?

The standard guideline for sedentary adults is around 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. But for active moms (especially those exercising regularly or managing busy, physically demanding days), a range of 1.2–1.6 grams per kilogram may be more realistic.

For example:

● A woman weighing 65 kg (about 143 lbs) may need 80–100 grams of protein per day to support her health and lifestyle.

Making your Health a Priority as a Middle-aged Woman

{This is a collaborative post}

Lockdown has given many of us a great excuse to pause and a lot of time to look at our lives and assess whether we are satisfied with them. I'm lucky that I'm happy with so much of my life as I've spent the last six or seven years spending time in prayer and reflection to ensure I am using my time as I feel God wants me to.

What this period has done for me is to make me reflect on my overall health again and realise that change must happen. I'm not happy being so overweight and it's about more than just how I look. Being 46 and having all this excess weight is causing me to have many other issues, such as carpal tunnel in my hands, urinary incontinence, unexplained pain in the ball of my foot, asthma, menorrhagia (excessive menstrual bleeding) and serious calf pain when I exercise. As we age also, it becomes more important to know how our body works. For example, some women consider using progesterone tablets to help manage symptoms associated with hormonal changes.

So, I'm making changes and figured I'd share them as every middle-aged woman (I hate writing that, have I really reached that stage already?) should be looking after her whole health.

Eat Realistically

Your metabolism slows with age, from 30 onwards it will slow a little each year and this means you can't eat like you did in your twenties. I have to admit, that I am very late to realise this and sadly the pounds (stones!) have crept on over the years. So now it is time to go back to the 'healthy plate' way of eating and to make sure I have a good variety of foods, over three meals with a couple of small, healthy snacks in between and no evening snacking.

Move More

It really is pretty simple, the pounds tend to pile on as you get older and we generally move less, so change that. I have started to do an exercise DVD for 30 minutes as soon as I get up 5 or 6 days a week and that will help my muscles start to tone up and increase my metabolism, so exercise is a winner on two fronts. I've also started to wear a Fitbit again and join in with challenges with friends to motivate me to move more and get the steps in each day.

Changes are Coming....

It's been a lovely summer and it feels like a very long one. We've had a short break in Kent and a couple of days in London and now my parents and brother are here staying for the week. I've been at work one day a week, and that's been a nice escape and the kids have all had time away at camp and grandparents.

But now I am ready for school to resume and normality to come back. I like a break and a rest, but then I love routine too and I really am craving some quite times to myself without any shouts of mum or moans as they wind each other up and bicker.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record I have realised (again) that I must lose weight and this isn't just something I fancy, it really is something I MUST do. I have developed carpel tunnel syndrome in one hand, I still have pains in my left foot that never go away, my calves ache after too vigorous exercise, I have arthritis in my knee joints and my right thigh goes numb/ has pins and needles if I stand for too long. Add that to asthma and high blood pressure and you can see that I need to do what I can to try and give my body a fair chance at being healthy.

I've been burying my head in the sand for too long and I need to put as much effort into my own health as I do to anything else in my life. Nothing else will give me the quality of life that a healthier body would, so it completely makes sense to invest in that area. It really does seem crazy that I choose to eat too much and the wrong foods, rather than sacrificing a few calories.

Top Foods for Keeping Winter Coughs and Colds at Bay

We're at that rotten time of year again when the weather can't seem to make its mind up and we hover between warm and freezing days. And whilst it's lovely to cling on to the warmer weather the constant swapping between hot and cold always seems to play havoc with peoples health and even the chief executive of NHS England is warning that Britain could be facing a possible flu epidemic this year.

It's really important therefore that we are taking simple measures to stay well. It can be a costly business to have to turn to cold and flu remedies from the pharmacy but with a few preventative measures you hopefully won't need to, and even if a cough or cold does rear its ugly head then there are some very effective natural remedies available from health food stores too.

Eat a Wide Variety of Foods

One of the easiest ways to stay well is to ensure you are eating a wide variety of foods to give you enough vitamins and other key nutrients, this helps to ensure that your immune system stays fighting fit. Some of the key vitamins and nutrients your want to ensure your body is getting are -

Vitamin C - If you drink a 150ml glass of orange juice per day (can be fresh or from concentrate, nutritionally they are exactly the same), this can be counted as one of your five-a-day and it gives the full daily quota of vitamin C that your body needs. Sian Porter, Registered Dietitian says “Conveniently, pure orange juice is also a source of the B-vitamin folate, needed for white blood cells (that protect the body against infectious disease) to rapidly reproduce.” So this small, easy to drink and delicious glass of orange juice is a real winner.

Iron - If you start to feel tired and worn out then your iron levels might be low and you should be eating more leafy green vegetables like spinach, red meat, liver, beans and pulses, fortified breakfast cereals and sardine. Oh and I bet you didn't know that raisins and pistachios are also a great source of iron, so it doesn't have to be unpleasant to get your recommended quota.

6 Things Every Woman in Her 40's Should Do

40 year old woman image from Shutterstock

{This is a collaborative post}

We’ve all heard that 40 is the new 30 and I think it is true that as a nation we are staying younger for longer. People are working for more years, having babies later in life and today's woman is expected to have it all but truly, we can only function well if we are looking after ourselves.

As a woman who really enjoyed her twenties and thirties but didn’t make enough time to look after herself, now is the last-ditch attempt to ensure that I go into middle-aged feeling well. I want to share with you five things that every 40-year-old woman should be doing (me included!).

1.   Get enough sleep

This one seems so simple and of course, we all know that we function and look our best when we have had enough sleep but did you know that getting enough sleep will also boost your memory, reduce inflammation and avoid accidents?

Amazing isn’t it? Sleep can make such a difference, it can even increase our performance, as shown by a 2011 study from the Stanford University School of Medicine. The study discovered that elite athletes were able to improve their best times when they had more sleep each night over a lengthened period.

Not only is it important to get enough sleep though, more recent studies show that you should adopt a regular pattern of sleep. Your bed and wake times need to be pretty consistent to ensure that your circadian rhythm operates at its peak. The circadian clock ensures that hormones like cortisol and adrenaline are released about an hour before you need to wake up and your body will have moved into the less deep REM sleep so that when you make you feel good and ready to go.

Slimming Sunday - Regaining My Focus

I've been worrying about this post since the beginning of the week when I realised this weekend was the first weekend of the month and I'd suggested to Emma that would be a good time for our #SlimmingSunday linky to publish. We were doing it weekly but in truth hardly anyone was joining in and we wondered if people didn't want to write a post quite so regularly and thus have changed to become a monthly linky. 
From now there will be a Slimming Sunday linky every first Sunday of the month and it will be over on Life According to Mrs Shilts and here with me too.
So you might wonder why this post has been playing on my mind, its not as if it is a difficult or controversial subject to write about but it's about me feeling bad, sad, guilty, ashamed, whatever it is that I'm feeling as I haven't lost any weight since I posted my last Slimming Sunday post and even worse than that I've not really done anything positive towards sorting myself out. 
I'm not quite sure what's up right now but I'm obviously not in the right place to be really focusing on healthy eating and exercise in an effort to lose some of this weight. For one reason or another, or perhaps it is one excuse or another I've hardly been to my Monday night fit club, I haven't focused on my walking and my step count has dramatically reduced and I've been eating whatever I like.

#SlimmingSunday - Moving More...

Hello friends, welcome to #SlimmingSunday, the new Sunday linky hosted by me and Emma from Life According to Mrs Shilts. We'd love for you to link up any post that is diet/ healthy eating/ exercise related.

I've had a week off since I last posted as our family went away to Butlins in Minehead for a big Christian festival called Spring Harvest and we had the best time. I wasn't consciously dieting but I did make some really good food choices whilst we were there and enjoying the eat-all-you-can buffet breakfast and dinner. Thankfully I've got past the point where you have to stuff your face if you have paid for a buffet and I just go for one straight meal now. There was always jacket potatoes, salad and yummy roast meats available.

In the last week since we have been back home I wouldn't say I have been dieting but I also haven't been blowing out. I went and weighed in last Monday night at the fit club that I'm starting to attend and sadly it won't be on this Monday as it is a bank holiday. This does mean the kids can go back to school on Tuesday and I've got the week to get back to normal and focus on healthy eating before my next weigh in on 24th April. I'll let you know how I do.

The one thing I have been doing really well with over the last couple of weeks is my step count. Whilst we were on holiday I managed to clock up 123,314 steps, that was an increase of more than 30K steps from the week before and I am determined to keep it at this level as there is a lot of work to be done on my fitness level. Once the kids are back at school and normality resumes I've committed to a daily walk round the lake with the children after dinner most days and I'm even thinking of checking out the local gym again.

Oh and the other good thing has been my sleep. Of course I've been able to have a few lie-ins but I've consistently been getting over seven hours good sleep each night and I'm going to make sure this continues as I know I cope so much better with eating challenges when I am well rested.

So that's me right now. Not really dieting but being mindful of my food and making some good choices, whilst moving and sleeping more. I'll call it a win! But how about you, how are things going?

How to Join in

Slimming Sunday is a weekly linky hosted by Mich at Mummy from the Heart and Emma at Life According to Mrs Shilts. The posts go live at 7am every Sunday morning and you are most welcome to join in with any slimming/ weight loss/ exercise/ healthy recipe type post. Join as little or as often as you like. No pressure!

1)  Write or link up an existing post about diet/ slimming/ healthy eating/ exercise or anything related to these topics.

By linking up you'll receive a weekly email reminder about Slimming Sunday, of course there will be an unsubscribe button on every email so you can opt out any time but lots of people have been asking me for a reminder.

2)  Grab the badge or add a text link to either Emma or I (or both if you are feeling super generous)

3)  Go share the love. Please comment on both Emma and my posts and also at least one other but it would be great if you feel you could comment on a few more. I'm sure you'll feel the love back if you do.

Emma and I will come and visit you too and tweet out your links. Feel free to tag us with #SlimmingSunday, @michelletwinmum and @mrsshilts and we'll give you an RT.

I can't wait to read your post. Have a fabulous week, Mich x



<<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" id=":df.21" tabindex="-1" role="menuitem" aria-haspopup="true" style="background: yellow;">center</span>> <a <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" id=":df.22" tabindex="-1" role="menuitem" aria-haspopup="true" style="background: yellow;">href</span>="<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" id=":df.23" tabindex="-1" role="menuitem" aria-haspopup="true" style="background: yellow;">http</span>://<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" id=":df.24" tabindex="-1" role="menuitem" aria-haspopup="true" style="background: yellow;">mummyfromtheheart</span>.com"><<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" id=":df.26" tabindex="-1" role="menuitem" aria-haspopup="true" style="background: yellow;">img</span> width="200" alt="R2BC at Mummy from the Heart" <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" id=":df.33" tabindex="-1" role="menuitem" aria-haspopup="true" style="background: yellow;">src</span>=" <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" id=":df.34" tabindex="-1" role="menuitem" aria-haspopup="true" style="background: yellow;">http</span>://i290.<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" id=":df.36" tabindex="-1" role="menuitem" aria-haspopup="true" style="background: yellow;">photobucket</span>.com/albums/ll241/<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" id=":df.40" tabindex="-1" role="menuitem" aria-haspopup="true" style="background: yellow;">michelletwinmummy</span>/slimming%20sunday_zpsgoxujk5d.<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" id=":df.43" tabindex="-1" role="menuitem" aria-haspopup="true" style="background: yellow;">png</span>" height="200" /></a></<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" id=":df.46" tabindex="-1" role="menuitem" aria-haspopup="true" style="background: yellow;">center</span>>

Subscribe to #SlimmingSunday

* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name *

-----------------------------------------------------------------

If you like what you have read and want to stay up-to-date then subscribe by email for free and receive blog posts directly to your in-box - just click the link Subscribe to Mummy From The Heart... by Email or perhaps you like to keep all your blog reading in one place, if that is the case you can follow me on BlogLovin too!

Miss E's love of Juice Glorious Juice! #FruitJuiceBoost

I can't recall a time when Miss E hasn't been pestering me for a glass of juice. Even at nearly 10 years of age it is her drink of choice. No fizzy pop for her, she just isn't interested but 100% pure unsweetened juice or maybe a homemade smoothie and she is as happy as Larry (whoever he is!).

She affectionately calls OJ her 'brain juice' and insists on having a glass of it at breakfast as one of her recommended 5-a-day. I've always been happy with this as combined with a bowl of porridge or weetabix and milk it is a healthy breakfast that helps her stay full and focused on learning until her break time at school.

Research (1) shows that only 8% of 11-18 year olds achieve their minimum 5-a-day consumption of fruit and vegetables, so a small glass (150ml) of pure juice is a nice easy way to fill one of those five slots and perfectly I've found that 150ml fits in the empty Nutella glass nicely and makes it easy for Miss E to be able to measure out her own drink in the morning.

Welcome to Slimming Sunday with Me and Mrs Shilts #SlimmingSunday

Planning for food for the week is key to my successful weight loss

Welcome. It's so great to see you here for the first post in the #SlimmingSunday series. Emma at Life according to Mrs Shilts and I will be hosting this new linky each week and we'd love for you to join in.

Emma is a bit of a pro at Slimming World and has been following the plan for as long as I've known her (that must be at least 6 years or maybe more) and I highly recommend this great post if you are starting out on a Slimming World weight loss journey.

I am currently on Slimming World but I've tried out most diets and also Overeaters Anon for a few years as my weight is a lifelong battle and I've written about it quite extensively. As a Christian, I suffer with guilt for being this big (I need to lose around 8 stone) as I know I am abusing the body that God gave me and also I end up feeling bad that I turn to food for comfort rather than turning to God. So that's what I am doing right now, working on freeing myself from this guilt as that isn't God's plan for me.

I'm doing a 'Living Free' course at the moment, designed to help me live in the freedom that God gives me and I am making headway in learning that I am enough just as I am, I am loveable, I am unique, I am accepted and I am free to be who I was designed to be.

I started out well in January and lost half a stone but if I am really honest my food has been a struggle the last few weeks and I feel a bit of a fraud starting this linky but Emma and I have been planning it for a while and to be frank I think it is just what I need to get to motivated again. I'm not going to want to report in once a week to you all without some good news now, am I?

My FitBit has been dug out and I've been taking part in a few friendly challenges and moving much more. I really can't wait for the nicer weather to be here so I actually want to go out for very long walks. My step total for last week was 74,517 and I'm fine with that as it averaged over the 10K a day they recommend.

What I've learnt this week

• I have to meal plan and stick to it, it is not enough to just hope!
• That I must not buy foods that tempt me and have them in the house
• Not to go off the grid. I need to keep chatting daily with my SW friends and logging my foods and taking pictures. Accountability really works. 

Successes for this week

• Moving more and being committed to wearing my FitBit even when my food hasn't been great
• Spending lots of time with God and really working on loving and forgiving myself: Dumping the guilt!

Focus areas for the coming week

• Drink a large glass of water before every meal (I've done this before and it helped curb me overeating)
• Plan out my food for the week and stick to it. The online shop has already been ordered.
• A strict week on plan, keeping a very close eye on my syns. Record everything super accurately

Results

• This weeks result - 0.5 lbs, which is OK as I didn't really care for myself at all last week food wise
• Weight loss to date in 2017 - 4.5 lbs
• Starting BMI - 44.5       Current BMI - 43.6

Goals 

• Gain my half a stone award next Saturday (so that means losing 2.5 lbs)
• 2 stone loss by end of May for my Spain holiday
• 2.5 stone loss by 22nd July for my Bournemouth Holiday
• 3 stone loss by 15th August for my birthday
• 5 stone loss by the end of the year (that feels very exciting typing that!)

How to Join in

1)  Write or link up an existing post about diet/ slimming/ healthy eating/ exercise or anything related to these topics

2)  Grab the badge or add  text link to either Emma or I (or both if you are feeling super generous)

3)  Go share the love. Please comment on both Emma and My posts and also at least one other but it would be great if you feel you could comment on a few more.

Emma and I will come and visit you too and tweet out your links. Feel free to tag us in with @michelletwinmum and @mrsshilts and we'll give you an RT.

I can't wait to read your post. Have a fabulous week, Mich x



<center> <a href="http://mummyfromtheheart.com"><img width="200" alt="R2BC at Mummy from the Heart" src=" http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll241/michelletwinmummy/slimming%20sunday_zpsgoxujk5d.png" height="200" /></a></center>

-----------------------------------------------------------------

If you like what you have read and want to stay up-to-date then subscribe by email for free and receive blog posts directly to your in-box - just click the link Subscribe to Mummy From The Heart... by Email or perhaps you like to keep all your blog reading in one place, if that is the case you can follow me on BlogLovin too!

8 Fab Ideas for Healthy & Delicious Packed School Lunches #LunchBoxHeroes

My children have always had a mix of school dinners and packed lunches and whilst the lazy part of me would love them to have school dinners every day the sensible part knows that a packed lunch is often a much better idea in terms of both nutrition and cost savings.

It is easy to get boring though and give the same foods every day to your kids so every once in a while we all need a shake up and a reminder that you can make lunches fun without it being a right hassle.

Let me be upfront now though before you read on, I don't do all these amazing bento box style lunches for the kids (well not very often anyway) as I just don't have that kind of time or inclination and nor do I make my own yogurt to ensure the kids don't get to much sugar. I am all about an easy packed lunch that will fill the kids and offer them variety whilst being nutritious and meeting the government guidelines for a healthy packed school lunch.

Well, well Disappearing Tweets and a #TescoFail

What a funny old day it has been, I've found myself checking my phone on and off throughout the day as a number of like minded people have seen my recent tweet to Tesco's and decided they too feel that Tesco have gone a little bonkers!

This is the tweet I sent last night at 11.07pm after visiting their store at Tower Park, Poole -

What kind of irony is this @Tesco? Sweet-free checkouts, but it is OK to promote energy drinks??? pic.twitter.com/ncVcXwpjD5

— Michelle Twin Mum (@michelletwinmum) July 29, 2015

I'd heard earlier in the day that Tesco have decided to pull Ribena and Capri sun off their shelves as they are full of sugar and they want to help put a stop to childhood obesity.  OK, I am all for well-thought out initiatives that will go towards helping children make better choices. Education, workshops, promotional material, adverts and better labelling - all these things will help children make well-informed choices.

Will removing confectionery from the till areas and replacing it with sugar-free Red Bull energy drinks help my children to buy responsibly? No, I don't think it will. So that was why I tweeted Tesco last night because to be frank I'm outraged that my kids might now think that a sugar-free Red Bull is something acceptable and healthy for them to drink. Surely that is the message Tesco are sending?

Avoiding the new year diet pitfalls #FitandFree

I am what is known as a career dieter. I can honestly tell you I went on my first diet when I was 12 years of age and I begged my Mum to take me to the doctors so he would help. He told me to list everything I ate for a week and then the next week to halve it. Looking back now I feel that was pretty irresponsible of him (balanced diet and all that) but it did work... for a while.

For the next 29 years (yes I am 41) probably at least once a year I have started yet another diet and lost some weight and then put it all back on again. A diet mentality is not a good one. I can't tell you I've done every diet under the sun as ones like the cabbage soup diet that was popular in the 80's just do not appeal to me. I have always had a desire to lose weight healthily in a way that means I can keep it off and sustain that food plan for life.

If you know me you'll realise I'm not doing that well on my career of dieting as I am about 7 stone overweight. This year I have vowed things will be different, I am working hand in hand with God to sort my body out. I've joined Slimming World, I'm going to the gym and I'm also doing the Couch to 5K running program but I realise that until I am well into this change of eating (not diet) and losing some serious weight then people might be dubious of the results I'll get.

Despite my own results I'm actually quite knowledgeable on the subject on healthy eating and how to lose weight, so I thought I would share with you my top tips to avoid some serious diet pitfalls, those you might not even realise exist!

1. Putting the diet off until tomorrow
I started this healthy eating and exercise plan on the 1st January, it seemed as good as time as any and it was when i was feeling motivated. A few friends said they wanted to join me but said 'I'll start when the kids go back to school' and this is a slippery slope.  It is easy to say tomorrow but sometimes tomorrow never comes. So when you are feeling motivated, grab it and start then. Don't wait for anything as you may just miss the moment. Change is always hard whether the children are home or not.

2. Giving up at the first hurdle
There are very few people who can start a serious diet (especially if they have had weight and eating issues for years) and eat perfectly every day from day one. Accept the fact, there will be slip-ups and you might grab the wrong thing in a hurry. You have not blown it. When you allow the thought of 'Well, I've blown it. I might as well eat what I like and give up now' to stay in your mind then there is going to be problems. When that thought comes up, remember that you can start again NOW. Your healthy eating or diet does not have to start in a morning, on a Monday or whatever other lies you have told yourself.

3, Being too strict with yourself
You know you best, are you the kind of person who can give up all sugar, carbs and caffeine from your diet and still be happy? because your happiness or state of mind is really important in this, if you are a size 10 but completely miserable then guess what? Your new way of life is not working for you. Be realistic, eat a little of what you want and follow a plan which works for you. Some people do amazing things with eating plans I could never dream of living on, look at Jane and her paleo diet but do what it right for you. For me it is about moderation of all food groups.

4. Assuming cutting down on food will be the answer to your prayers
I'm sorry to be the one to tell you but once you lose weight you'll still be you. If you eat because you are unhappy or because you have problems you need to seek help and do whatever is necessary to get those sorted as being a slimmer you won't instantly make you feel great.  In fact for some people it makes them feel more vulnerable.

Also don't forget that the secret to weight loss is to eat less and move more.  So yes, you need to do some exercise too. I've started the Couch to 5K program and I'm finding that good so far (hard but good) and I also highly recommend any of Leslie Sansone's walk fitness exercise DVD's. They are really manageable for people of all fitness abilities but work for weight loss.

5. Thinking you have signed up for a miracle cure
There are no instant miracles when it comes to losing weight. If you sign up for a liquid diet, supplements or something else that promises you will lose 3 stone in 3 months then expect there to be a very large cost and some issues. As I've mentioned before you need to make changes for life and that is my biggest worry for people who lose a lot of weight on very low calorie replacement meal diets as they have to learn how to eat again once they have lost the weight and that is a big learning curve.

Then to finish here are a few tips from me, that I'm following as I endeavour to lose weight -

• Write down everything you eat, especially at the start of a new eating plan. You will forget what you have snacked on and it can be very easy to kid yourself that you are being good when actually your intake has gone up far past what you wanted. 
• Use a smaller plate or bowl for your meals. You will still feel full as your eyes tell you that you had a plate full but the calories will have been reduced. It is a great trick.
• Be realistic with your food, build in small treats. A little of what you fancy works wonders. For me it is chocolate and I find something like a small packet of milky way stars takes me ages to eat and I feel as if I have indulged lots.
• Find some supportive friends. You don't have to join a group but make sure you have supportive people around you. There are loads of wonderful groups on FB for people looking to make changes with their eating and life style. 
• Drink plenty of water and have a glass before every meal as it definately helps you to eat less.
• Plan out your menu for the next week and draw up your shopping list from that. I have my shopping delivered so I am not tempted in the supermarket and I'm not keeping junk food in the house. It makes it way easier.

I wish you all the best and look forward to hearing your tips or advice for changing to a healthier lifestyle.

Be blessed, Mich x

-----------------------------------------------------------------

If you like what you have read and want to stay up-to-date then subscribe by email for free and receive blog posts directly to your in-box - just click the link Subscribe to Mummy From The Heart... by Email or perhaps you like to keep all your blog reading in one place, if that is the case you can follow me on BlogLovin too!

Top 10 tips for helping your children eat a better diet

Of course as parents we know how important it is that our children eat a good balanced diet, we want them to have a healthy plate and to eat from each food group and meet the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, but let's be honest, it is not always easy is it?

Sometimes you think you are doing a good job, perhaps you make a spaghetti bolognese and you have even taken the trouble to grate up some carrots and mushrooms and hide them in the sauce and you are feeling all angelic until someone explains to you that the jar of ready pasta sauce you used contains a high level of salt, artificial sweeteners and perhaps a preservative like sodium benzoate which has been linked to hyperactivity in children when combined with colourings!

It is an absolute minefield nowadays to know what is OK and what isn't, this is why so many families are reverting back to basics and following diets like paleo, that is a step too far for my family but I am concerned about my family eating well and that is why I signed up to Organix and their No Junk Challenge. For the whole of this week I will only feed my family a food product if I completely know and understand what it contains. So if the label has letters and numbers on it under the ingredients I'll take this as a sign that they should not be eating it. Take a look at the top 12 list of additives to avoid, aptly called the Dirty Dozen!

OK, so now we know what to avoid but we still have the issue that it is not always easy to get children to try new things and to eat variety and healthily, so ere are my top 10 tips -

1. Get your children involved with growing your own produce. I have found that mine are far more likely to try something new when they have spent time planting the seeds and lovingly caring for the plants as they grew.
2. In a similar vein, get the kids cooking with you. Yes it takes a little longer but they gain so much from it and again are much more willing to try out new food items if they have invested time in their preparation/ cooking.
3. Once your children start cooking with you, why don't you encourage them to use their imagination and to make up a recipe. We often have JJ's pasta bake and how proud do you think he feels?
4. Play with some food and that way the child becomes familiar with it, why don't you make an edible picture with broccoli trees, carrot and beetroot flowers, cut using tiny cutters and noodles coloured with green food dye to make your grass.
5. Teach your children that there must always be at least three colours on their plate, so even if they are having fish fingers and chips (which are both yellow foods in case you are wondering) you then need to get two more colours on the plate, so empower your children to choose their own, perhaps cucumber and cherry tomatoes? Unfortunately salad does not go down well with the kids in my house and it would probably end up being green beans and carrots, my kids do love their cooked veg.
6. It might seem obvious but repetition is key, especially when they are very young. A child might reject something the first 8 times it is one their plate and then all of a sudden they will give it a go and perhaps even find they like it. Of course make sure the plate has items on it you know will be enjoyed as well as the new item you are trying to introduce.
7. Most of our meals are 'family service' rather than coming out ready on the plate. This means we have bowls of all the foods on the table and we help ourselves, this allows the child to feel as if they have some control. of course you can still have rules with this, my children always have to choose at least two veg.
8. Reward charts and praise always goes a long way with children I find. Until recently we had sticker charts most weeks where the children could work towards targets (it could be trying two new veg) and then if they achieve them they can choose a small reward, an extra bedtime story, a family bike ride etc.
9. Each week I plan our menu before I order the shopping and I make sure I ask each family member to choose one meal. Some prove unpopular with another family member so then I'll ask what we can do to make it better for them, it might be adding a corn on the cob as a side order, or serving the sauce separate to the pasta, as long as I'm cooking the same meal for everyone I don't mind making a few small changes.
10. I'll leave you with this last genius tip from Organix - Give them pads of paper and suggest they become restaurant critics, marking each dish out of ten and giving comments. Provide lots of little dishes – like a picnic – to encourage them to try each flavor and write down notes on the taste or texture.

Blackberry picking last year meant that my girls then tried lots of new recipes with blackberries - 

smoothies, muffins, bakewell pudding and so on...

-----------------------------------------------------------------

If you like what you have read and want to stay up-to-date then subscribe by email for free and receive blog posts directly to your in-box - just click the link Subscribe to Mummy From The Heart... by Email or perhaps you like to keep all your blog reading in one place, if that is the case you can follow me on BlogLovin too!

What kind of breakfast starts your day?

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, it is the one that kick starts your metabolism and sets the pace for the day. It is of course called breakfast for a reason, ie: it is breaking the fast that your body went through as you slept. In this day and age when food is so freely available the fast is not half as long as it might have been 100 years ago when they might have finished dinner at 7pm and not eaten again until the next morning and the body went through a good 12 hour fast, nowadays it is all too easy to snack right up until you fall asleep.

I think I can honestly say hand on heart that I've never skipped breakfast and of course on the surface that appears a good thing but the truth with me is that food is far too important to me to miss a meal. I get exceedingly grumpy when I'm hungry and it is just not worth the agro. The good part of this is that my kids don't miss breakfast and I'm installing in them the importance of starting the day well with a balanced meal. School of course advocate this and say that it helps the behaviour and concentration of children to have eaten before school. I want to ensure I help them have the best educational chance possible after all.

Daddy is not such a great role model in regards to breakfast. He runs out the house most days without having gone near the kitchen, luckily as he works in catering I can tell the kids he is eating at work and that satisfies their curiosity.  I know the truth is that dh will happily skip breakfast sometimes. Luckily when off work and home he is happy to have some porridge, shreddies or such and set a good example.

I'm delighted to have been sent some Belvita breakfast biscuits last week. I'm not sure what made me say yes to reviewing them to be honest, for me the words biscuit and breakfast do not naturally go together. Breakfast is the one meal of the day when I am generally healthy - I like to have some complex carbs, low fat diary and perhaps fruit, so say a bowl of porridge and a glass of orange juice. The sweetness of the juice satisfies my cravings and the slow release of the oats keep me feeling full for a long time.

Having said yes to reviewing the Belvita biscuits, I tried the new Belvita apricot and live yoghurt duo crunch and thought they were OK. The actual biscuit is really tasty but I found the apricot jam a bit too sweet and at 110 calories a biscuit I could not imagine me having them for breakfast. But I was super pleased when dh tried them and liked them and then I heard him say he would take the rest of them to put in his desk drawer at work and that way when he runs out the door and straight into the office he can snack on a pack of these with a glass of milk. Perfect I said, add in an apple or other fruit and you have a balanced breakfast. There is hope for him yet!

If something like the Belvita breakfast biscuits encourage a person like my husband to eat breakfast and start the day well then that has to be a really good thing. He has already checked out the other flavours and asked me to buy him the strawberry and live yoghurt duo crunch next.  I must say I'm also tempted to buy a box of the original whole wheat biscuits in the crunchy oats flavour for me to try. There are now 11 flavours in the range and the biscuits have an RRP of £2.79 for a box of five individual packs. The individual packs are perfect to put in your pocket or bag when you are on the go.

When I was shopping at Tesco the other day I noticed that the duo crunch box of 5 packs is on half price special at the moment and retailing for just £1.34, I think that is a fabulous deal, just 27p a day. We will be investing in some more at that price for sure.

I'm not saying everyone should change to eat a breakfast biscuit, if you have a good breakfast routine established then well done and keep with it but if you are the kind of person who is in a hurry and skips breakfast then try these out and keep some at the office for those times when you need a boast. They are made so that the energy releases over four hours and this will help with your concentration and energy level.



Disclosure: Thanks so much to Belvita for sending me out some biscuits to try out and thanks for the super days out kit that you sent, the picnic rug and bag are just beautiful. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

If you like what you have read and want to stay up-to-date then subscribe by email for free and receive blog posts directly to your in-box - just click the link Subscribe to Mummy From The Heart... by Email or perhaps you like to keep all your blog reading in one place, if that is the case you can follow me on BlogLovin too!