I am still so excited about my new journey to be healthy...but am I brainwashing my kids?? They keep hearing me talk about calories, fat grams, weight loss, exercise... this is a whole new lifestyle for my family. My almost 4 year old said to me yesterday, "Mom, this apple has 2 calories in it." At first I laughed and just told him not to worry about it, that apples are really good for him. Then the more I thought about it, I wonder how much he is thinking about everything. The picture above is my 9 year old son doing Jillian. He chooses to do it..and did it for 4 days. I let him thinking that any exercise is good exercise. Neither of my children are even CLOSE to being chubby, overweight, or even thick.. they are plain skinny. Anyone with kids have any advice here?
Also, I sooo excited about my new favorite snack! Baby carotts with Roasted Red Pepper Hummus! Hummus is something that 2 weeks ago, I would have never tried! It's 60 calories for 2 tablespoons and the baby carrots are 35 calories for 3oz. It's very filling and lets me eat something crunchy thats not chips with chip dip! I have also tried it with Red, Green, and Yellow Bell Peppers. YUMMY! And the peppers are only 20 calories for the entire pepper! I would love to try to make my own hummus. Has one ever tried this? Any tips would be appreciated!
This is a question I've struggled with myself. My son is 9 now, and he's seen me lose 142 pounds, and I'm still losing weight. When he started asking me, "Mom, do I need to count my calories? Do I need to exercise too?" I really started to think about how I phrase things to him. I tell him I'm eating healthy so I can live longer. We've talked about portion sizes and "green light, red light, yellow light" foods. He knows what healthy choices are and that he doesn't have to exercise, per say, but knows that being active is good for your heart. Which is the same message being sent at school. When he asked about counting calories, I found a book that showed food using the red/yellow/green light method and that showed him how green light foods were good for you and how you should limit the yellow and reds, but they were never out of bounds. It talks about "free fuel" (fruits and veggies) and how many green lights you should eat a day. He loves finding out what color the foods are and if he's eating a proper portion. When I work out at home, I offer to let him join, but if he wants to sit out or do something else for part of the video, I let him. I even got him a kids yoga video that he enjoys doing on his own.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the most important thing to remember is foster his self esteem. Make sure I give him the building blocks he can use later in live and to teach him healthy habits.
So I guess, what my long answer says is "No, you are not brainwashing your kids. You're teaching them how to be healthy." :)