How to Encourage Your Family to Be Healthier
There is nothing more frustrating than trying to make healthier choices for yourself and your family and everyone not getting on board. You’re trying to take care of them and make choices that are best and just aren’t receiving the support you expected. It’s almost infuriating.
Before having kids I had always been very sickly. Stomach problems, migraines, fibromyalgia, hypoglycemia…I was a mess. I’ve always eaten very healthy. Fruits, veggies, whole grains, dairy and lean meats and very few desserts have been the basis for my diet. I never ate a great deal of junk food but there’s was much I didn’t know about food at the time.
When I was pregnant with my first, I was diagnosed group b strep positive. My midwife was seriously concerned because of the possible fatal ramifications for my baby. She said I needed to cut out all sugar and processed foods to even have a chance at shaking it. This was the beginning of the change.
Although my little one was okay, he had serious problems with yeast now (made worse by sugar). I made sure to keep all processed ingredients out of our diets. However, in the coming years I struggled with miscarriage and even late term pregnancy loss. With even more research, I learned that this was once again my previous diet. All of the chemicals and preservatives flooding our foods nowadays caused all sorts of serious issues in our bodies, one being fertility issues in women.
My husband had even been suffering with health issues his whole life. Something big had to change. I had to completely rethink our diet for my sake, if not for my husband, our current children and all future children. I definitely didn’t want to burden our children with any unnecessary illnesses, problems or diseases when there was something I could do to prevent it now. If only my husband, friends and family were supportive.
Be a Good Example
I have learned that all the nagging in the world won’t help. My husband complains that he has headaches if he doesn’t have his daily flood of caffeine and he doesn’t like the taste of food without all of the added sugar. He, like others, simply doesn’t understand my obsession and has no desire to change. You can’t force others to comply.
What has made a difference is just being a good example myself. I stay far away from sweets and processed foods and try to make healthy choices for my children. When he sees me day in and day out making good food decisions at home and everywhere we go he starts making his own changes. Maybe it’s eating the veggies I serve at dinner our drinking more water rather than soda, he’s slowly making one change at a time in his own timing.
Fill Your House with Healthy Options
You could make sure to do the grocery shopping for your family if you don’t already. Choose healthy meal and snack options to fill your kitchen. If there are no “contraband” items, we like to call them at our house, there’s no temptation either. Buy lots of fresh fruits and veggies, blocks of cheese, whole wheat bread and tortillas, and grass fed meats. If you watch for sales, you can really get some great deals on good foods for your household.
If you still need to have “sweet” items in your home, make your own treats from scratch. There’s no reason not to have cookies and ice cream and other yummy items at home, if you can make healthy versions yourself. I’ll share tons of yummy, healthy treat recipes with you on my blog! And you can even make your own bread, chips, and tortillas if you have the time and the motivation. We do!
Offer Healthy Meals
Offer your family healthy meals and snacks. Cut up some cheese and apples for a snack. Set it in front of them and I promise you won’t have to fight them to eat it. Set out a bowl of nuts (from the bins, not the shelf in the store) or celery and peanut butter. Yum! Sometimes we get veggie trays from parties and that can sit out on the table for everyone to munch on day after day until it’s done (or until I use the rest to make a meal).
Make it a point to serve fresh veggies, fruit and a meat at dinner rather than a bunch of carbs. I’ve got a host of healthy casseroles and crockpot recipes to help you out. Its as easy as tossing chicken and pasta sauce in the oven for an hour while you stream veggies, or throwing it all in the crockpot while you’re at work. If healthy is all you serve, that’s what they’ll eat.
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Get Out of the House
Maybe health for you isn’t food but exercise. Get your family out for a walk, or to the duck pond or park. My kids love getting out of the house even just for a change in scenery and the playground is a favorite. But we all tend to get hungry while we’re out. So instead of stopping for fast food, I always take a bag of fresh fruit and veggies with us for snacking.
It’s easy to get settled in the couch in front of the TV, eat, and never get any exercise or sunlight. Turn the tube off or put limits on it and go throw a ball or go exploring outside instead. Sunlight is really good for your health as well. Tonight my husband turned on the sprinkler in the backyard to water the grass and had fun giving our toddler different challenges for getting around the yard without getting wet. They both had a lot of fun.
Encouragement and Praise
Whatever efforts you do see, make sure to offer tons of praise and encouragement without being condescending.
“I’m so glad you enjoyed dinner tonight.”
“I loved watching you have fun with our child in the backyard.”
A little really goes a long way.
Praise and encouragement feel good, on both ends. And when something makes you feel good, you’re more likely to repeat it. Try it out and see if finding the positives in your family becoming healthier doesn’t increase the desired behaviors. You may just find them asking to go for a walk or requesting fruits and veggies for snacks or with a meal.
Set Goals Together
Finally, try setting some goals together. When they start coming around, they might just be willing to make some compromises and work with you towards reaching goals.
Make them fun! Goals could be about trying new foods or recipes, getting out of the house together, making a big change in your household, or even finally talking to the rest of the family about your choices.
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I encourage you to make getting your family on board with your quest for health positive. No nagging, fighting, arguments over the dinner table or TV, but simply being a good example of health in your own life, including your food purchases, meal plans and balance. When they see how much better you feel, how how good they feel with all the praise and encouragement you’re giving, they come around.
By the way, since changing my diet, I haven’t been sick in years, and neither have my kids. No flu, no colds, no problems. Your family will see that. If you want some great, easy to make, healthy recipes to share with your family, you’ll want to look into my Clean Eating cook books here!
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