The frustrations of a Mama wanting to get healthy

It amazes me the struggle it can be for a person, much less a whole family, to live healthy!  And then there's the ever changing information on what's good and what's not!  What's a Mama to do???  My head just might explode, I'll tell ya that!

Let me go back a bit.  A few years ago my husband when there a whole gamut of testing because of some things that showed up in his blood work at an annual doctors visit.  He went on medications for several things and allergy shots as a result of all the testing.  And then his blood work showed that he was diabetic, and it was then that we knew we needed to make some major, and permanent, changes!  We started cooking at home more, logging our eating and exercise on SparkPeople.  As with a lot of things, it has been an ongoing process with several set backs and re-starts.

I guess my biggest frustration with getting healthy is the varied information all over the place!  Eat this...don't eat that...cook this way...avoid this store...processed, unprocessed, gluten and no gluten.  OH.MY.GRAVY!!!!  It's enough to make my head spin, and I think it's giving my 3 kids a run for their money in the head spinning business!  HA!!!

As we continue to make changes over time, I have come up with these basic steps to make a healthy lifestyle sound easier!  ***DISCLAIMER:  I am not an expert, I am not perfect and I am not a poster girl for complete and total health!!!  This is still a process and I am still a work in progress trying to get better at things, getting healthy and losing this doggone weight!  I just thought it might be helpful to share some of the things that we are learning :) ***

1. BABY STEPS:  There is A LOT of information out there!  Don't overwhelm yourself!!!  Start small, and work your way up!  If you feel it's your eating habits that you need to tackle first, then by all means start there!  But again, make baby steps!  Don't eliminate everything all at once unless your life truly depends on it!  You set yourself up for falling off the wagon much easier!  Start with one thing...be it sugar, caffeine, dairy, gluten, eating out, red meat, whatever it is you feel you need to do without!  If you are needing to add exercise into your routine, don't try to run a 5k right out of the gate!  Work your way up!

2. LOG YOUR HABITS:  Journal your eating and exercise habits!!!  If you like paper, go out and get yourself a notebook or journal and log everything you put into your mouth and any kind of exercise you are doing!  Again, start small.  Log for a week and go back and review.  You will learn SO MUCH about yourself!  It will help you see where you need to make changes.  There are also FREE online sites that can help you do this as well, some that have smart phone apps that you can upload as well!  My Fitness Pal and SparkPeople are awesome sites!  SparkPeople has LOADS of articles, recipes and community forums that will help you along as well.  It's one of my favorite sites!  My Fitness Pal has a free smart phone app that is wonderful for uploading food and exercise when you are on the go!  I know there are others out there, feel free to Google and let me know what you find!

3. GET UP AND MOVE:  Exercise!!!  Even if it's only 10 minutes a day!  If you weren't doing 10 minutes before, 10 minutes will make a difference!  Turn on your radio and dance with your kids, walk around the neighborhood, search the web for free videos online (they are out there!!), the possibilities are endless, and cheap!  Weight loss may be your long term goal, but exercise affects other aspects of you life too!  Follow the link and you'll see! :)

Make it a habit...set a goal of a week, 2 weeks, a month even!  If you slack off for a couple of days, brush it off!  Everyone has those days!  Every day that you wake up is new and fresh, start over if you need to!

If you are motivated on your own, excellent!  If you are more motivated by having someone else work out with you, by all means, phone a friend or family member and drag them along with you!  The bottom line...JUST DO IT!!!

                                                              My kids waiting on me to
                                                                 finish my workout :)

4. READ LABELS:  When you are out grocery shopping, LABEL READ!!  If you can't pronounce most of the ingredients, you probably don't need to put it in your mouth!  If you are looking to lose pounds, pay attention to the fat and calorie per serving content!  If a Tablespoon of something is 100+ calories, it's not going to be good for you!  And Heaven help us if there IS food out there that's more than 100 calories per tablespoon!  Haha!!!!  My point is, know what you are eating!

Grilling is good!!!

5.  GROCERY SHOP STRATEGICALLY:  This is one of those areas that can get tricky and frustrating!  For parents, professionals, ANYONE with any kind of busy schedule!  We look for things that make our lives easier!  That's where companies and advertisers really get us, with their time saving meals in a box/bag.  The problem is, they put ingredients and additives in those meals that make them horrible!  Even the "healthy" ones!  Cooking from scratch is always better!  And it's absolutely possible for it to be quick and easy (your crock pot can be your verybestfriendever!!)!  Look for recipes, plan out your meals (1 week ahead or even a month or more ahead!).  There are websites and blogs GALORE that will help you with this!  Pinterest has OODLES of links to blogs with meal planning!  I have a whole board dedicated to such ideas!  Skinnytaste is one of my favorites that has several categories that are helpful: gluten free, carb free, it even breaks down in to meal ideas.  LOVE their site!!!  Meal planning will take a little bit of time, but it helps with your shopping trips!  You go in knowing what you need, it helps you budget, and it helps you stay focused!!!


I have been told this other tip over and over, and as we are working our way into cleaner eating, I have found this tip to be so very true!  Shop the outside aisles of the store!  Veggies, meat, diary, bakery/deli!  There are very few things that I actually shop down the inside aisles for anymore except the organic foods, pastas and cereal.  Occasionally I need dressings, oil, spices,vinegar and coffee, things of that sort, but as a whole, I'm on the outside rim of the store when I'm shopping for my meals!  That is where you are going to find your clean, whole foods!

This is by no means a perfect list!  It may not be the best list for beginners for you!  It's what has made an initial difference for us in making some much healthier choices and lifestyles.  I have many articles and ideas that I have pinned away.  If you need any additional ideas, drop me a line!