Single mother of 4 in need of some encouragment

cac1025

Hello, I am a single mother of 4. Ages range from 12 to 1 year. I work full time and find myself having very little time to cook, so I find what is quick and easy and it is usually unhealthy. I have been over weight most of my life. I am such an emotional eatter. My daughter is 1 year and I want to be able to teach her healthy habbits with excercise and propper nutrion but I first have to teach myself. I have little energy for myself. Most of it is used up at work/home/ and kids and not sure how to fit anymore in my day.

cac1025

Hello, I am a single mother of 4. Ages range from 12 to 1 year. I work full time and find myself having very little time to cook, so I find what is quick and easy and it is usually unhealthy. I have been over weight most of my life. I am such an emotional eatter. My daughter is 1 year and I want to be able to teach her healthy habbits with excercise and propper nutrion but I first have to teach myself. I have little energy for myself. Most of it is used up at work/home/ and kids and not sure how to fit anymore in my day.

MFS27

Hello! I'm a working mother of 3 (ages 8, 6, and 3) - and understand how busy life can get! Here's some tips:

1. I tossed ALL junk food - my older kids would go into the cupboard and snack 24/7. Now they have only healthy choices (mostly fruit/veggies since the cereal, whole grain bread and crackers are stored in the very top shelf where they would have to drag a chair to get it - and I would KNOW, lol.) This also helps me, since I'm only 5'4" and I need the chair too!

2. When I make dinner (especially when this is something "new") the kids aren't forced to eat it, however they cannot snack on anything else - so it is their choice, basically.

3. Food - I try to stay as vegetarian and organic as possible (this automatically means you tend to eat more healthy most of the time). I avoid the store "Whole Foods" - they are very over-priced, however Trader Joe's is very reasonable and sometimes cheaper than traditional stores. When we eat meat, it tends to be chicken breast, etc. Red meat rarely appears in our house. Some quick and healthy dinners:

- Egg White Omelette (you can get the kids involved and let them decide what they want in their omelette and help make it). All you need to do is chop up some veggies, onion, low fat cheese. Egg whites are all protein and very low calories (it is the yolk that is bad for you), so each kid can have a large egg-white omelette (about 4-5 eggs with yolks removed) if they are very hungry. Your 1-year old still needs fat for his/her growing brain, so should still have 2% milk and healthy fat.

- Soup, just heat and serve. You can grill some veggies as a side (corn on the cob), and put some gold fish crackers or croutons in the soup.

- Chicken - buy frozen breast in bulk, and to defrost, put in plastic bag and in a bowl of hot water (it'll thaw in 15 minutes) and cook! I like to cook chicken on the stove with a bit of olive oil, balsalmic vinger, and garlic. Some people like to bake it in a dish with cream of mushroom/cream of chicken, etc. Chicken on the stove will cook in less than 15 minutes (longer in the oven). Trader Joe's sells brown rice that is already cooked and all you need to do is microwave for 3 minutes. Rip up some lettuce for salad and you have a complete dinner.

4. Exercise - my husband recently started law school, so he is gone 3 nights a week, so I do some cardio in the morning (I get up at 4:30 to swim), however in the evenings I will put my 3 year old in his backpack carrier and take all the kids for a walk to the park or down the green belt. On weekends we go hiking in the mountains to the lake - the kids love it. My son weighs 35 lbs, so even a nice evening stroll is a good workout with him on my back! REI sells an excellent, comfotable carrier for about $190, or you can find cheaper ones at Baby's R Us or on e-bay, etc. The best exercise, I believe, is not a gym-like "artifical activitiy", but something that people would normally do and you enjoy doing and can bring the kids with you (can you tell I'm not a gym person???)

Hope this helps, and you CAN do it!

kart68

Do you have Dinnertime or a similar place in your area? They are popping up everywhere where we live. They prep the food for you and about once a week you go in and put a week's worth of meals together for the freezer to eat. I know a lot of people who do this and love it. They carefully plan menus for you to chose from and they are usually pretty health concious. They may seem expensive, but if you take into consideration the money you spend on groceries or eating out, it may actually be a bargain. Usually the meals feed about 6 people. I believe some of them you can have the food delivered.

Hope that helps!

Heather