Aim for a balanced family breakfast of carbohydrates, protein and fat to help maintain blood sugar levels and delay hunger until it’s time for lunch or mid-morning snack.
Family Stories
The Snell Family, Plainfield, IL"The Healthy Family Home starter kit has not only provided my family with great ideas to help us think about making adjustments but it has also provided fun activities that we found easy to start doing as well. My family took to heart the information shared about computer “screen time” and made some changes using some of the ideas in the starter kit. Our changes included doing one or two of the family chores together each day instead of doing them all on Saturday. This has reduced time on the computer and increased our interactions with each other everyday, it has also freed our Saturdays up so we can go out and do pottery painting, bowling or a walk."The Walsdorf Family, Sheboygan Falls, WI"As preschoolers, I got my kids to plan one meal a week. It was easy; they picked one main dish, one veggie and one fruit to complete the meal. (In my view, it was at least one meal a week they'd actually eat.) In the beginning we had a lot of macaroni and cheese; cheese pizza; lots of carrot sticks and apples too. But it gave each child an incentive to participate in food choices!Gradually, they made new choices, experimenting with food. Meal planning gave them all ingredients to choose themselves when we went grocery shopping and I encouraged them to pick the best choices by reading labels. Because they planned it, they had more interest in helping me prepare the meals, and we made a big deal out of who chooses our meal that night. Later they started to help cook the meals and now as teenagers, young adults, they know how to plan and prepare meals. Admittedly, their specialties are things like homemade cheesy-vegetarian pizza, and macaroni and cheese from scratch with a little Gouda, but knowing what goes into a meal helped in many ways. I think my kids are still picky eaters, but they appreciate anyone's efforts to cook for them and they know the best meals come from the effort of choosing and preparing your own main dish+veggie+fruit and sharing it with your family." The Elenbaas Family, Chicago, IL"With the spring finally arriving, we're taking our pent-up energy out for walks and watching the new flowers and leaves bud."The Raven Family, Fayettville, GA"I eat bananas and oranges almost everyday. My favorite healthy food is Granny Smith apples. Those are my favorite kinds of food." | The Shefer Family, Ada, MI"Less than a year ago, my wife and I found it really tough to feed our family well. We both worked full time and with two kids who were each involved in sports/activities it made it really tough to make good food. We found ourselves eating out a lot. Then we found a local meal assembly facility where they make meals up for you and you just take them home to put in the freezer. I now go home after a long day of work to simply put the meal in the oven and help my kids with homework. We sit down together to enjoy the meal that took 20-30 minutes to cook. No planning, no messy clean up - done! They offer HEART HEALTHY options and give full nutritional values as well. The portions are what they are supposed to be - NOT FAST FOOD PORTIONS.So time kept us from making good eating choices. We ate spaghetti and pizza a lot. Now we eat restaurant type meals at fast food prices. I saved money and have time to enjoy the meals and not feel the guilt. " The Saunders Family, Maywood, IL"We turn on music in the evenings and when my sons (ages 7, 4 and 2) finish a great meal (veggies and all) they pick their favorite tunes to play after the meal. The whole family enjoys it and we inevitably dance, tumble or chase. My husband and I like working off dinner calories and my sons love sharing their tunes with the whole family. Everybody wins!"The Castaneda Family, Buffalo Grove, IL"I feel one of the keys for success for our family (and me personally) has been the supportive atmosphere towards living a more healthy and active lifestyle both at home and at work. My family and I are fortunate to have access to YMCA programs and facilities. My office has workout facilities onsite in case I miss a workout at home. The HFH materials have provided us with good tips and information to keep our family on track. In particular we placed the children's favorite fruit in a bowl on the table with an open invitation to have one piece as a before/after dinner as a snack. We've had trouble keeping the bowl full and no longer have to “negotiate” what they can have for snacks. Occasionally we'll mix in nuts as a snack alternative to introduce some variety." |
