Motivational Monday: Getting Your Family in Step with a Healthy Diet

Just because you decide to eat healthy, doesn't mean everyone in your household is on the same track. When everyone in your family is not on board, it can sometimes be an uphill battle. While you are buying fresh produce and searching for alternatives to your favorite snacks, your husband and child  (If they are anything like mine) are steady adding cakes, chips, and candy to your basket at the grocery store. Clearly, that can thwart your best efforts of weight loss when you find junk food everywhere you look in the kithen. So how can you get your family on the same page when it comes to eating healthy?

Communication

Eating healthy is not the same as being on a diet. Sure, both lead to weight loss. The difference is that one is temporary and ends when weight loss is achieved and the other is a life long commitment of choosing foods that will not only help you lose weight, but also improve your overall health. Once you have decided that you are ready to make that commitment, express to your family the reasons why. For me, my health is the number one reason. Living with multiple chronic illnesses means that if I do not take care of myself, I might not be around to enjoy life with my family. That, along with the handful medicines that I take, is a hard pill to swallow. Making sure that my family knows the reason why we are going to have turkey burgers versus regular beef hamburgers is essential to their participation in our new healthy lifestyle. If I take this new step in my life seriously, so will my family. They might not make all the changes that I make to their daily diet, but they are supportive in my efforts because they know the consequences.

Lead by Example

Getting my child to eat veggies has been an on-going struggle for the past 10 years (she is only 10, so all of her years on the planet Earth). When she was a baby, she would refuse to open her mouth for any vegetable (I don't care how many times the fork plane would fly near her mouth, it wasn't landing). When she was in pre-k, she would tell the cafeteria workers at school that she was allergic to vegetables. When she got a little older, we would sit at the kitchen table for literally hours and those veggies would still be on the plate. Then she would pretend like she had to throw up and we would put her to bed. I tried to "hide" the veggies in her food (puree them and mix them in with different dishes) and she would ask for processed foods. Ugh! It wasn't until I started to include her in the making of the meals that I saw results. It started with green smoothies. She loved regular smoothies, so naturally was curious about how these weird smoothies that mommy made all the time tasted. To her surprise, the fruits masked the vegetable taste and she liked it. Next thing I know, she would start experimenting with the vegetables on her plate. Then finally, she began  to eat vegetables on a regular basis as she knew I wasn't going to stop serving them.

Make It a Priority

My husband has a strong history of high blood pressure in his family, so when the doctor said that he was right on the cusp of high blood pressure it wasn't alarming. It was scary, but not alarming. By knowing his family history, it allowed me to pull examples from our family of the consequences of his actions. He couldn't argue with his mother about not taking care of her health if he was now in the same position. Now I must admit, he still puts heaps of candy in our grocery basket, but it is much easier to get him to take it out by reminding him of the repercussions of his actions. Just as he is concerned about my health due to my illnesses, I am concerned about his health due to pre-existing factors. He hasn't conceded to wheat pasta and tofu, but he is a little more open to trying new foods. One day at a time, one meal at a time. Trying to make.drastic changes all at once are jarring. Being serious about eating healthy doesn't mean you completely restock your kitchen the minute that you read this article. You move to a place that is realistic for you and keep that same thought in mind when making changes for the entire family. When you are strategic, realistic, and committed to.change it will happen in due time. Celebrate everyone's accomplishments at their level of success, not the level of your expectations. Most importantly, no matter how tough things get do not give up!