Adapting to a Healthier Lifestyle

So, I took the girls to the doctor last week for the check ups and although everything looks pretty good, the doc did have one concern that applied to both of them. His concern was their BMI, body mass index, being too high. Sadly, both of my girls are in the overweight category for their age and height. Now, this did not come as a complete surprise to me, but it did concern me too.

Lexi, our super duper picky eater, does not eat well, due to the fact that she does not like anything. And, I have gotten tired of "making" her eat her fruits and veggies, so I kind of gave up and have been letting her live off of cereal, cheese sandwiches, and fruit snacks.

Christine, on the other hand, is not picky at all, she just likes her food!

So, I was not shocked by the news. However, since I have adopted a healthy lifestyle and am in really good shape at the moment, I felt bad that I was not making sure my children have also been healthy.

Well, no longer am I going to slack when it comes to my kids well being.

So, we have been following the choose my plate. gov philosophy all week and I am learning new ways to make healthy eating fun for the girls. We are "cutting" Christine off, when her serving sizes are met, and we are being more innovative in the way we encourage Lexi to try new things and branch out to different foods. They are drinking more water, and less juice.

Luckily, the girls have always been active, so we are continuing going to the park daily, riding scooters, dancing, etc. to get exercise.

Anyways, I have been surprised at how well Lexi has been adapting to this new way of eating. She has a chart hanging on our fridge and everyday when she eats at least 5 servings of veggies and fruits, 2 servings of protein, 3 serving of dairy, and 3 grain servings per day she adds a sticker to that category. She loves doing this, I will take a pic and show you what I mean later. But, it is working! She also crosses off a W for water, in which every day there are 2 W's to be crossed off.

Lexi is also taking gummy vitamins, which she loves and provides extra health benefits.

Anyways, wish us luck on this new adventure! Mostly, I wanted to share a fun lunch that I made for the girls the other day. Lexi loved eating it, and she ate almost all of it, which is great!

Here it is: A butter fly deconstructred sandwich

You can see the two vitamins at the top. The antennae is made up of apple slices, along with the decorative trim :), the body is a light string cheese, the wings are a slice of whole wheat bread but into two triangles, there  is turkey on the wings, and cucumber slices to add design. 

I hope to showcase more fun healthy lunches as I make them and I hope my girls will hold on to this concept so that they can be healthy, happy adults one day!