Eating well with kids is a whole new experience

I love to think back to the days when Josh and I were living together in Oshkosh with freedom to do whatever we wanted. Taking as much time as we wanted to workout at the fitness center, or run outside. Going slowly through the grocery store, picking out something healthy to make at home. But, reality is, we have 3 kids and minimal time to prep and cook healthy dinners. Thank God my husband likes to come home and cook, AND is is creative cook!
I will be the first to admit, my kids are not ideal eaters. They don't sit around popping grapes and granola into their mouths. They have a lot of pizza, grilled cheese, mac n cheese and the occasional happy meal (which they never want to eat anyways)!! I guess they don't eat like total crap, they do have a healthier side to their diets...they love whole grain bread, peanut butter, eggs, yogurt, apples, chicken, rice, soups, etc...

Eating well with kids around is a tricky situation, especially since i am a stay-at-home-mom. Why? Because I am constantly preparing and thinking about food! This means I am always around their food and constantly tempted to nibble on whatever they are having. This is no innocent indulgence, this is total sabotage of my diet! A little leftover pancake here, a couple bites of the leftover mac n cheese there, someone didn't finish their cookie for dessert, i guess i will!! NOT GOOD! This has to be one of the hardest parts of my daily struggle with food. And just being conscious of how often I used to "clean up" after them so-to-speak it's no wonder I have extra weight on me!! Not only is it to my benefit, but it gives a clearer picture of what the kids are eating. I know we need to work harder on improving our kids diets and we can't get mad at them. Of course kids are going to fight eating veggies for dinner but it is our responsibility as parents to give them the option to eat healthy. And we eat super healthy so why shouldn't our kids model us? I think after so many years of being in that nightly struggle of "eat your carrots! eat them now, or you will go to your room!!" we just got sick of it . So it's like, "fine eat your pizza for dinner, just get something in your stomach!" It's the last thing we want to do in the evening after a long day of working/taking care of kids. So hopefully as we turn our diets around together we will introduce our healthy eating habits to our kids. The problem right now is, we don't really make kid-friendly recipes. I don't think our kids would appreciate it if we made them eat spicy chicken curry and veggies. That would just be torture. But we could leave a smaller portion out for them without the spice in it. It's all about time management and patience, 2 things that are hard to come by in our household of 5, but we are trying to get there one day at a time!

Workout side note:

So i ROCKED it out in my workout last night running most of my 30 minutes. I'm sure my runner friends are laughing at me right now, but it was HARD for me!! And i can feel it in my legs today. But it feels oh so good. Just like i said last week, it's hard but i am seeing amazing results so the motivation is definitely there. :)

1/11/11 (!!)
bfast: 1/2 BAGEL W/THIN
SPREAD OF CREAM CHEESE
COFFEE

snack:

STRING CHEESE

lunch:

RICE AND VEGGIES

BANANA W/TBSP PB

snack:

SMALL BOWL CHEERIOS

W/SKIM MILK

dinner:

PRETZEL CRUSTED TILAPIA

W/HONEY MUSTART SAUCE

SPICY BROCCOLI SLAW

snack:

YOGURT

ALMONDS

CHEESE STICK

activity:

30MIN FAST WALK/JOG/RUN