Seems like we barely slowed down long enough to enjoy the holidays and already it's mid-January (oh wait, it only feels like mid-January - it's just January 3rd!). Today is our first day of "back to the routine," up early for school, lots of scrambling to get out the door on time. We did add a new breakfast idea, courtesy of my sister-in-law K-L: smoothies.
We used to be a fairly healthy family. When the kids were babies I made my own baby food (not as heroic as it sounds - just fast and cheap with a mini food processor). I gave my kids no salt, no sugar. I remember my mother-in-law thinking I was nuts to give the kids applesauce with no sugar. But I figured what they never knew they wouldn't miss. I read "what to expect your first year" like a maniac. Measured their food to make sure they were getting all the right vitamins, fruits and veggies. See, I prefer potato chips or m&m's for breakfast with a diet coke, and I figured that wasn't a healthy breakfast for babies nor a good way to raise my children. (No I didn't eat like that when I was nursing or pregnant!).
When we moved to Spain, some of my "no sugar" rules went out the door. Candy stores are to Spain like Starbucks are to America: everywhere. Babies are often sucking on lollipops (egad). We already stuck out just a tad with our blonde hair and blue eyes, so I eventually caved on my "no candy" rule. Yes, the kids were 2 1/2, but I kept it to a minimum for a while. I still insisted on lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, and we were blessed with an abundance of fresh fish and seafood, too. And I never succumbed to the Spanish "sugar in the milk" trick. Can you imagine??!! A's roommate in the hospital (broken femur in Barcelona - another story for another day) thought it so odd that he would just drink his milk and leave the enormous sugar packet for the nurse...
Fast forward to high school - running out the door at 6:45. Eating school lunches every day. Pop tarts in the car every morning. Who knows if they even had one fruit or veggie every day, never mind "5 a day." Sometimes I would pack some fruit for the morning commute for them. Sometimes they would pack a healthy lunch. But we were definitely developing hideous habits.
Enter K-L and her latest health tips. Her girls are champion swimmers and need to eat healthy all the time, and they make our schedule look like we're a bunch of slugs!! So this morning I made some smoothies - not totally on the healthy side because I was missing the protein additive and the vanilla yogurt (we used a little ice cream...and some crystal light raspberry flavor). Sh, my "I hate everything breakfast" girl loved it. A drank about 1/2 then reached for a danimals yogurt drink. It's a start anyway.
And Sh packed her lunch - A and I at least talked about him packing a lunch. At the very least, he will grab some fruit to add to the carb-filled school lunch. I will continue to read and try to incorporate healthy alternatives to our on-the-go lifestyle. Yes, there are a lot of great ideas out there, but not many that my kids (and Hubby) will actually eat. We've never been fans of pre-prepared or frozen food (our freezer contains a few frozen veggies in the winter, OJ and ice cream. that's all). We'll see how far we get. I'll keep looking for new ideas and we'll re-orient ourselves back to the healthy eating we used to do. Ahh ever the optimist!
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