How I plan to make my own life better

Being healthy for me is important because it makes me feel good. Not only on the outside, but the inside as well. It is also important to me to set a good example to my children, and make sure that I give them the knowledge they need to make healthy choices of their own, so they can live a long, healthy and happy life. Like many American’s, I live a busy life. I am a mother of two little ones, I work a part time job, I also run an at home business that keeps me pretty busy, and on top of that I am a full time college student. Time management can be difficult at times, and as for meals, sometimes it’s easier and more convenient for me to run to the store and grab a pizza for dinner, or stop to grab some fast food for lunch if we’re out running errands and don’t have the time to go home and prepare something. Right now it is especially hard because my family is in a transitional stage, my husband just recently got out of the military after spending 8 years in the Marine Corps, and now we are living with his parents until he is able to find a job and a place of our own. It’s been challenging not being in my own home where I can plan and prepare meals for our family, but hopefully in the next month or two we will be settled into our own place and I can get my family back on a more consistent and healthy diet. Thankfully, both my husband and my family have pretty good genetics and our children aren’t overweight, but that isn’t going to stop me from feeding them healthy and nutritious foods, as well as implementing exercise into their lives. My children love to be active, they love to play outside, ride bikes, my daughter also enjoys swimming lessons and chasing her brother and the dogs around the house. One thing that I would like to change is limiting the amount of time they spend on the television watching shows or movies. Although they don’t watch it nearly as much as some children do, I really want to push them to play or be active vs. sitting around watching television, which is a contributing factor to childhood obesity. I really want being physically active to be a part of their daily routine, so that it’s not something out of the ordinary to do when they get older.

Right now I would say that my family eats a fairly healthy diet. We do occasionally eat out, have some candy, or drink soda, but not in excess. Something I would like to change in our eating habits would be eliminating fast foods altogether. It can be convenient, but I think if I planned ahead and made food to take with us when I knew ahead of time we would need it, I could eliminate that from our diet. I also would like to eliminate sodas from our diets, and again we don’t drink it that often, but it doesn’t have any nutritional value, and I know it’s something that we could live without. I also don’t want my children seeing me drink it, and think that it’s okay for them to have it as well.

Lastly, as much as I love red meat, I would like to start eating less of it. Again, in moderation every now and then I can allow myself to have it, but I really want to start eating leaner protein and more vegetables.