I was reading an article in the NY Times this morning and it was about how to get kids to eat their vegetables. The premise of the article was that the over selling of the vegetables – they are healthy, they will make you strong, they will make you grow, etc. – is actually detrimental to getting the kids to eat their veggies! According to a study, (I’m not sure how many kids were actually tested), but the kids who ate healthier were the ones who were just given the food and were not overly exposed to all the good benefits of healthy eating. I thought that was fascinating.
I remember my mom telling me to eat spinach so I can be strong like Popeye the Sailor Man!
I don’t recall however, that Popeye was my main motivation for eating spinach; I actually liked spinach as kid (I was the rare one in my family). Now that I think about my eating habits, I have always known that vegetables are good for you. However, that did not mean I was eating them as much as I should or specifically taking the time and effort to add them to my diet. Even though I do not know how accurate this study was, it makes an excellent point: just eat healthy, plain and simple. Just do it as Nike would say. As I have improved my diet over the past couple of years (I was not protein eater and I pretty much lived on Cliff Bars), I have definitely noticed how my overall health has improved and I have made the choice to just be healthy.
The Ideal Protein Diet definitely kick started my road to actually eating meat and lots of veggies.
My veggies used to be on a rotation of broccoli, spinach, green beans, and cauliflower; that was it. Not that those are bad or a bad rotation, but now, I eat peppers, zucchini, eggplant (occasionally on that one for sure), brussell sprouts (!), cabbage, kale, asparagus, and the list could go on. I just do it. I have more energy, I am not anemic, I keep my weight down, and it has been easy to maintain being healthy during my pregnancy.
- Side note: I have only had 2 real pregnancy cravings; mac and cheese and peaches. I did give into the mac and cheese ONE TIME, but other than that the stories I would hear of intense cravings for ice cream or French fries or Doritos has not been a problem and I attribute that to my healthy eating habits before I was pregnant!
My point is this: sometimes we just have to make the decision to be healthy.
It does not mean we will love that steamed broccoli every single time we eat it, but it does mean we need to consciously decide to better our health by saying no the chocolate molten lava cake at Chili’s and yes to an extra side of steamed broccoli. YOU have to decide whether you truly desire to be healthy. The Ideal Protein Diet is just a tool to get you healthy. You can choose to start eating ice cream and fried foods and pizza every night after you complete the diet and guess what?! That weight will not magically stay off. You have to choose, every day, whether you are a graduate or currently on plan, if you actually believe a healthy life is important and if you believe that then you will make those healthy choices.
Just. Do. It.
I was a really picky kid and my Mom and Dad were older. They grew a garden and I was not one that really like veggies. The way my mom got me to eat them was to be creative. She would take carrots and spinach and chop them very fine and put in spaghetti sauce. Or she would use Spaghetti squash for the noodle instead of real noddle and say it was a new type of noddle she wanted us to try. I think you have to find way to introduce good vegetables in creative ways and before you know it the whole family is eating them. Another big thing is not making a big deal out of it. Kid will follow the lead of their “Heroes” and what most parents for get now days is that they are really their kids “Heroes.