They say, “We all have the same 24 hours,” but if you’re a parent, you know that’s a misnomer. When you have little kids, you don’t usually sleep through the night or have the energy for an hour workout. And your meals may be the same as your toddler’s (chicken nuggets, buttered noodles, and the broccoli they refuse to try).
Fortunately, your kids don’t have to completely hijack your health goals. You can reclaim movement and your nutrition without plunging into an impossible exercise routine or diet. Rather than jumping into a routine or intake designed for people with slow mornings and free time, you can make sustainable micro-habits to make you feel like a healthy human again.
Making the Food Your Kids Actually Eat Healthier
Some picky-eaters not only need to have their calorie-heavy beige foods, but they also want mommy and daddy to eat the same thing too. Plus, who wants to cook two separate meals? Instead, simply add more healthy ingredients to the food your kids want to eat.
If the kids are having grilled cheese, you have a grilled cheese too, but you add a handful of arugula and a slice of tomato to yours. If they are having plain pasta, you add a bag of frozen steamed broccoli and some canned chickpeas to your bowl. With any luck, your kids may want to try your additions.
The following ingredients that can instantly upgrade a kid’s meal:
- Sliced almonds, pumpkin seeds, or hemp hearts.
- Pre-washed baby spinach or kale that can be wilted into almost anything hot.
- A jar of pickled onions, kimchi, or a squeeze of fresh lemon to cut through the heaviness of kid-friendly fats.
- Pre-cooked chicken strips, hard-boiled eggs, or canned tuna.
By adding these to the beige base, you turn a snack into a nutritionally complete meal with almost zero extra cooking time.
Here is Your Permission to Throw the Waste Away
A lot of parents gobble up their kids’ leftovers. We don’t want to waste the food by throwing it in the trash. Especially, if there is little-to-no chance of them eating it later.
However, eating macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets means your body has to process the extra calories and sodium. So, while you might be saving the food from the garbage, you’ll have to spend more time and energy moving to burn off that additional food.
Working Out Without the Traditional Workouts
Do the suggestions of “waking up at 5am” or “squeezing in a workout during naptime” make you roll your eyes? Well, that’s likely because those ideas come from people who have more energy and don’t live your life.
Exercise doesn’t have to be in a gym while wearing spandex or workout shorts. Any type of additional movement to your day can help keep you fit. Research shows that three 10-minute bouts of movement throughout the day are just as effective for cardiovascular health as one 30-minute session.
Here are some examples of how to incorporate quick movement sessions into your already busy day:
- Morning: A 10-minute dance party in the living room with the kids.
- Afternoon: 10 minutes of stroller lunges or a brisk walk to the park.
- Evening: 10 minutes of bodyweight squats or push-ups against the kitchen counter while dinner is in the oven.
Anyone with a toddler knows that they are a workout. Just keeping up with them expends energy. Use playtime as a workout with the following ideas:
- The Airplane: Lie on your back and lift your child with your legs. This is an incredible core and leg workout.
- The Floor is Lava: Great for agility and heart rate.
- The Heavy Carry: Carrying a toddler on one hip while holding a laundry basket in the other is functional strength training. Engage your core, keep your back straight, and recognize it for the exercise it is.
Instead of scrolling on your phone once the kids are finally in bed, spend 10 minutes on a yoga mat. Focus on opening movements, like stretching your chest and hip flexors, which get tight from hunched-over nursing or picking up toys. Not only will these help you feel healthier, but they also signal to your nervous system that the day is over, leading to better quality sleep.
How to Make a Healthy Lifestyle Change Stick
So, you’re motivated today, but what about tomorrow? Or next week? Our ability to incorporate new health habits only works if they fold into our lives easily. Likewise, most of us are already at the point of decision fatigue, and adding another half dozen choices might lead us to the final conclusion of “No, I’m done.”
While we want our kids to experience different foods, you can benefit from habit stacking your own meals. Pick one healthy breakfast (like oatmeal) and one healthy lunch (like a salad) and eat them every single weekday. Then, you only have to think about what’s for dinner. Breakfast and lunch become automatic wellness wins that require zero brainpower.
In chemistry, activation energy is the minimum energy required to start a reaction. In parenting, it’s the energy required to get your sneakers on. Here are a couple of ways to remove the hurdles that get you started:
- Prep Adult Snacks: When the kids are screaming, and you’re starving, grabbing whatever you can usually means junk food. Having pre-washed peppers, hard-boiled eggs, and hummus on hand means you can eat without the sugary guilt (or crash).
- Keep your tools visible: Put your yoga mat next to the toy bin. Put your water bottle next to the coffee maker. Anything that makes it easy for you to go from standing to moving in less than 10 seconds will improve your opportunity to burn some calories and build muscle.
And bad days happen. Sometimes you don’t have the time or energy to get a full 10-minute micro workout, so do what you can. Do jumping jacks for 30 seconds. Five leg lifts while lying on the couch. Anything is better than nothing.
By Admin –
