Hi out there. I have had great success with my other posts so I thought I would try this one too. I need help! I don't know how to balance my family's nutritional needs. I am somewhat overweight (BMI 31). My husband works a grueling job and wants to gain muscle weight. My son will hardly eat any veggies. And I am breastfeeding. I need fewer and better calories, my hubby needs 4000 or more and my son just needs to eat. I know that we need to incorporate more veggies and fruits and less meat, fat, and carbs. I live in a small town so we don't have a huge selection of wonderful fresh produce. I don't know how to grocery shop so that I maximize the money I spend and get the most nutrition out of what I do get. Also, I stay at home with my daughter, so I am constantly eating. I know that I have a food addiction. I am afraid to take away the foods that I know my son will eat, because he is not really open to new foods. I am afraid that he will have nothing that he will eat. So there...I have shared all my excuses. The bottom line is that I know that I don't feed myself or my family right and I need to change it. Is there anyone out there who knows of someone who I can hire to come and help me get this straightened out. A nutritional guide service...I don't know what kind of professional help it is that I need, but I need it badly. If any of you can recommend a service that I might be able to use, please do so. I would so greatly appreciate it, and my family would too.
A.,
I work with a wellness company that has a super on-line program. You enter your daily meals and they offer menus which reflect your current eating habits while slowly moving you to a more "whole" way of eating.
I would love to discuss it with you more.
e-mail me off-list for deatils.
L. G
I am a stay at home mom of 3 4 and under, and am going to have another one in 2 weeks and I love to eat as well! One thing that has helped me is to try to go grocery shopping once a week. That does mean that I have to take extra time to plan what meals I will make for a whole week, but I spend less money, and by the end of the week there is less for me to snack on. LOL
My kids are super picky about protein, so I make sure that they have plenty of milk and cheese and yogart for snacks, and that they take a children's multi vitamin, and then if they just eat the rice and not meat for dinner I don't worry about it. They also ONLY eat raw veggies(carrots, celery, green pepper, salad), so thats what I serve for now. And if they are hungry, they eat.
I serve about 2 or 3 dinner meals a week that are meatless, with beand instead. This cuts down on our grocery bill and also is healthier.
I don't know what your income situation is like, but the government sometimes provides free nutritional counceling through WIC, if you meed certain requirements. Gook luck!
A.,
You need a nutritionist. Talk to your local hospital or your doctor to start. They may be able to steer you in the right direction. There are also a lot of websites to visit. For instance try Discovery Health Network, the address is www.discovery.com. They have a fitness and nutrition setion that may be able to help you.
Trying to get kids to eat fruits and veggies is tough. Luckily my 5 year old likes most fruits, but only green beans and salads for veggies. I hide a lot of different raw veggies in the salad and make sure I have a good quality low fat, low cal dressing that she likes. I just cut things up very small so she doesn't realize what she is eating. She also likes rice so I will make that with fine cut veggies in that also and it helps. Just take what he does like and experiment. We don't eat a lot of red meat except hamburger but we do eat a lot of chicken. A lot of times I use chicken and veggies to make a stock. I then strain the veggies and puree them very fine and stir it back into the stock and freeze them. (I make chicken salad with the chicken.) I use them for cooking my rice or stuffing. As long as you keep the liquid in something that it will absorb in, you still get a lot of the nutrients. It is just another way to disguise things. I also make a point if we are with people who are eating things she my never have tried before to get them to help her try new things. I will also sometimes make her take a bite and chew it up before I let her tell me if she likes it or not. I don't yell, I just hold the fork to her mouth and insist that she trys it. It can be very hard to do it, but I average about 50/50 with that. I have been able to get her to eat more different types of things that way. I know you husband is in a job that is tough on him, but maybe if your son trys to mimic him, he could try things that he may be able to get your son to eat. Good luck.
Hello A.,
my name is R. and I am a WMof two a 14 yr old daughter and a 6 yr old son.My husband also has a very hard laboring job.You would be suprised at how many people have the same issues that you are dealing with.You can do a search engine on the web and find a diabetic 2 diet follow those guidelines and add the calories you think your family needs.As far as fruit and veggies go..kids just don't like them.I suggest making fruit smoothies my kids love them.they think it is slurpies.They don't know it is good for them.I also give them a flinstone vitamin in place of their veggies.They love frozen yogurts it's like icecream to them.There are alot of alternatives to junk food.The diet I mentioned earlier isn't really a diet it is just about making healthier choices.You also won't have to buy fresh produce it has all the information on canned foods and frozen veggies.You can also buy frozen fruits to mix in the smoothies.It also has a menu that tells you how to prepare the foods.I hope this helps you.Good luck I hope you have sucess in your life style change.
Hi A.!
I too am over weight and going through the same things you are. I have found a solution that works for my family and may work for yours too..
I have basically started the atkins diet for myself. (done it before and it worked really well, then I had another baby! lol. I also am home all day with my 7 1/2 month old daughter, and I love to snack. So when I make my husbands brekfast (which is usually eggs and bacon) I make my self eggs and meat, either bacon or sausage. for lunch I make a chef salad or something with veggies. When I make dinner for my family I will just not have potatoes. I will stick with meat and veggies. If I get hungry then I snack on string cheese or something that is very low in calories. It satisfies both me and my husband. I was breastfeeding my daughter while doing the atkins, my doctor said it was ok cause I was still getting the protien that my lil one needed. There is no extra shopping to do or more money to spend. By all means dont take away the foods that your son will eat. When my oldest was little we used to add food coloring to her food, casue she would only eat GREEN FOOD. That is how we got her to eat more different foods. Hope this helps you. have a good day.
