Healthy -N- Fit at Any Age: The Most Important Thing I Want My Kids to Know About My Health Journey

Thank you to everyone who has visited my blog lately and read my posts about my recent sugar detox! I posted before and after pics of myself on my last post and I just wanted to follow up a little about that. For one thing, that took a lot of bravery on my part to post those. I didn't post them to say, hey look at me and how great I look! Although I do appreciate all the nice comments and encouragement I did get from people saying I looked great, it really did encourage me. But I posted them to show just that change can happen in even a short amount of time, if you give your body good things and real things to eat. That's basically what this sugar detox was for me . . . a cleansing of all the sugar and processed foods my body had been used to, and a start at a healthier lifestyle eating real food! Not only did change happen on the outside of my body, but change happened on the inside too. I really do FEEL so much better in so many ways! I cannot say that enough. I don't feel as sluggish and weighed down all over like I did before. Now granted, I have been working on being a fairly healthy person for a long time . . . I almost always exercise in some way, shape or form each week. But my eating wasn't what it should be. I really, really, REALLY loved sweets and things that were bad for me. I guess I never realized how much harm it really was doing to my body. I kept an extra 10-15 lbs on me most of the time that I really wanted off, but just hadn't committed to deciding about eating the right way, until the detox. Now, that the detox is over everyone is asking me what am I going to do now? Well, the truth is, not a whole lot of different things than what I was doing during the detox. I've learned that I can continue eating this way as a lifestyle. It's not a diet that I just did for a little while and then am going to go back to my old ways. I worked too hard to throw that all away! I feel that this new way of eating clean is something that is so do-able and there are so many good options of things to eat. Not having my own sugar addiction (and that's really what it was, an addiction) hanging over me is so freeing! Instead of searching for sweet things to eat at night, I have a lot more energy to do other things . . . like blog more :-), work on my photography, read, do fun things with my kids and husband, and just enjoy life more! One of my favorite things my husband said to me during the detox time is that he told me how great I was looking on the outside and how proud he was of me for sticking with it, but the best change he had seen is how happy and positive I have been on the inside. And that is really true! I have felt so much better mentally too! I'm not saying I haven't had stressful or sad days, because I have, but I didn't feel the need to drown my sorrows and stress into a bowl of ice cream . . . that happened a lot before. I'm not perfect and I'm sure I will allow myself to indulge and enjoy a sweet treat every once in a while, but I really don't want to go back to my old way of eating, so it will just be every once in a while. Now, finally to the title of this post . . . the most important thing I want my kids (and husband and other family and friends) to know about my health journey is that it is a journey . . . and it is a HEALTH JOURNEY. Even though I posted before and after pics, I don't want the focus to be on that. I've always been very careful when talking to my kids about not saying "I'm fat, or I'm overweight, etc" And during this detox and health journey, I've focused on talking to them about the fact that I'm trying to eat more healthy so I can feel good and have more energy, which is really my main motivation. I've also told them that we are trying as a family to be more healthy overall. Do I think that all the processed snacks in my home will all go away? Most likely not, realistically. But I can steer our kids in the right direction of making healthy choices. We've already made a few around our house that have gone over better than I thought . . . we limit their juice intake. We have always limited sodas to mostly just once a week when we eat out, and most of the time make them choose non caffeinated ones. But at home they were used to drinking juice most of the time, it was always half water/half juice, which we still do, but now we've limited them to just having one glass full of juice at meal times (so 3 times a day). Any other time they want something to drink they have to get water. We've always had them drink water after and during their sports games, but didn't drink it a lot while at home. They've adjusted, although not without a little complaining, but they did adjust. That's just one simple thing we've done. I'm also trying to make it a rule that they at least try the healthy meal I've made with some of the new recipes I'm making. And they do! So, I don't have it all figured out yet about how to change my whole family over to my new way of eating, and not sure if I ever will. But even small changes make a difference. And through it all, I hope they will see that this is a health journey and I hope they will be inspired to live a healthy life too from following my example. And lastly, there are many things to a person, including myself . . . right now I'm choosing to focus a lot on this health journey, because it is taking a lot of my focus and energy. But I haven't stopped having other goals that I need to work on, just because I'm mostly blogging about this right now. I am still going through the "Wife After God" devotional (although I am not as consistent as I should be), and I am still trying to follow along with the parenting study we are doing in our adult life group at church called "Parenting with Love and Logic," from the book by Foster Cline and Jim Fay. Oh, and still working outside the home at my accounting job 22-24 hrs/week too, being a wife, being a mom, and everything else! We all have tons of hats to juggle and roles to play in our every days lives, and most of the time if you're like me, you don't ever feel like you have enough time or energy to get to everything you want to . . . but we have to just keep doing the best we can, a little at a time. And I hope my kids also see that you can be healthy and make changes for the better, even amidst all this chaos we call LIFE! Oh and not to forget to have some fun too!