Making healthy eating fun

So how do you make healthy eating and healthy living really enjoyable?  After all, you’re probably thinking that in order to live healthier, you probably have to say good-bye to a lot of pleasurable (bad for your health) eating habits.  And you’re still probably convinced that you have to “exercise like a fiend” in order to achieve significant weight loss.  As a mom or dad, you may also be feeling really challenged as you try to shift some behaviors in the family.  You already have enough battles on your hands!! Here are some tips to help pave the way to a healthier lifestyle that’s not only fun, but that involves the whole family:

• Do a buffet night at least once a week, and assign the menu plan and prep to different family members so that everyone can get a chance to host the event. Agree to use a salad as the main event, but vary the ingredients and the protein topping options.
• Create nights of “personalized opportunities”—personal pizza, personal wraps, add-to-a-soup base (beans, meat, fish), dairy night (healthy omelets, quiches, chili bowls topped with a bit of melted low fat cheese) using ingredients in your frig and pantry.
• Use fun family rewards to motivate healthy habit changes: a weekend movie, a beach day, a day trip to somewhere special.
• Have the family figure out new ways to “measure portions” by creating their own visual cues.
• Pick a new weekly ingredient and have everyone create a dish around it.
• Check out new cooking classes as a family.
• Subscribe to a cooking magazine that features light recipes or go online to find new healthy recipes.
• If weight loss is a goal, get any family member who hits a milestone a special gift, maybe a subscription to a magazine, a new exercise outfit, a massage or arrange for a special weekend hike and picnic.
• Remember the things that were fun in childhood—outdoor games, teaming up for sports, cooking with mom, riding a bike with a buddy. Create new activity experiences with your kids.
• Be spontaneous and flexible when it comes to initial exercise efforts. Sometimes the best-laid plans get ruined and the disappointment can be really overwhelming.  Agree to set aside workout time, but be more free-spirited and spontaneous with plans. Kids especially love sudden surprises like a family outing to the park to play soccer.
• Put a “love note” or “support note” on each plate at the dinner table, in lunch bags. Love and support should be expressed with words and not with food.

(Courtesy of Fat Families Thin Families BenBella Books)