Today was one of those days…from the moment I woke up, I was dragging all day long! I should have felt somewhat rested, since I was able to get seven and a half hours of sleep last night, but for some reason, I wasn’t! On top of it, today was cleaning day at our household, so I was in total procrastination mode. Who really looks forward to cleaning? I sure don’t, but I love the feeling of having a clean house!
Before I forget, here are a couple pictures of Keenan and I in his crib from a few days ago! I thought I would post a couple today! He wanted me to get in his crib after he woke up from his nap and go “sleepy sleep” with him. We had some fun taking silly pictures!
Being silly in his crib!
Another picture!
More about today: Keenan was tired, too and unusually fussy, getting into things he knows he isn’t supposed to and constantly testing the waters. Finally, one of his bottom molars came in, but the other one is not quite there yet, so I think that was the reason for his behavior today, Nonetheless, we had A LOT of time outs today! It is so easy to let things slide as parents, but it only gets worse if you don’t deal with the issues at the time. Consistency is key in parenting, though it certainly is tiring after a while! My patience were tested to the limit today, but without consistency, I feel Keenan will not learn what he can and cannot do or what is right from wrong.
Anyhow, more about our day…before talking about food, I completely forgot to take any pictures of our meals today, sorry! For breakfast, we had toasted almond flour pancakes leftover from last weekend topped with pumpkin butter and some slices of strawberries on the side. I had a latte, as usual! After breakfast, I preped our dinner, so it would be pretty much done by the time we got home from the gym.
Once dinner was prepared, we headed upstairs to start cleaning. Since Keenan was fussy today, he wasn’t too interested in being my usual “cleaning helper.” Though, when it was time to clean the bathrooms, he was excited about helping me scrub the bathtub and cleaning his potty!
For lunch, I made Keenan his favorite (of course): peanut butter, honey and banana sandwich with some cooked carrots and a glass of milk. I made myself my Egg White Florentine in a Mug topped with salsa and some baby carrots, sugar snap peas and a small peach on the side.
After Keenan went down for a nap, I finished cleaning and made myself an iced coffee (using my husband’s coffee concentrate), but I still felt tired, ugh!
Once Keenan woke up, we headed to CrossFit and I felt defeated prior to even working out! I was out of gas from the start, but it felt good to workout. Today’s WOD was: 4 rounds of 200 m plate carry of 25 lbs for women, 15 over the box jumps and 15 squat snatches (65 lbs for women). I completed 2 rounds and 29 reps (just 1 rep shy of completing 3 rounds!). It was a hard one, to say the least!
Prior to going to CrossFit, Keenan insisted on having a snack, even though he almost always eats his snack at the gym. Today, he seemed to be hungrier then most days, so I gave him a snack before we left (and brought one for the gym). Anyhow, it made me think about kid snacks and how much “junk” is out there. I thought I would talk about here.
It seems that every processed kid-friendly food is marked as “contains whole grains,” “contains all of the essential vitamins and nutrients” or is “high in fiber,” even though the first ingredient is enriched white flour, contains a very low amount of fiber, high in sodium and loaded with sugar! It is such a marketing scam, because unless you actually read the ingredients, you think you are buying something relatively healthy for your children.
For Keenan, I apply the same healthy eating philosophy that my husband and I adhere to: eating “clean.” We eat fresh fruits, vegetables, whole foods (little to no processed food), lean meats, nuts, whole grains, dairy and healthy fats, practicing mindful eating. For Keenan’s snacks, I try to make sure they are nutritionally packed as possible. Some of his favorites are plain cheerios (of course), which don’t offer much nutritional value, so I add dried cherries, cranberries or blueberries and some slivered almonds to make “trail mix.” He also LOVES Trader Joe’s Fiberful dried fruit and veggie bars (which have 6 grams of fiber and no added sugar!), fruit and veggie pouches and yogurt melts from Happy Baby. When we are at home, I usually give him little cubes of cheddar cheese with Ak Mak crackers or fruit, or peanut butter with some banana slices (of course!). Sometimes I even give him popcorn (plain popcorn that I pop in my air popper). I try to give him as many “whole food snacks” as possible. It is easy to buy whatever snacks that “look good” at the grocery store and are advertised towards kids as “healthy” or “organic,” without looking at the label and applying your healthy eating habits to your children. Just because your children are kids, it doesn’t mean that they can’t enjoy and have fun eating healthy food, too!
Trader Joe’s AWESOME Fiberful fruit bars and Keenan’s “trail mix” (though I ran out of slivered almonds, so it only contained cheerios and dried blueberries today).
New Yo Drops from Plum Kids that we recently tried. They are too small (which get everywhere) and contain only 1 gram of protein. The yogurt melts from Happy Baby are much larger and contain about 3 grams of protein per serving (I know, not much, but at least it is more!).
Speaking of food, for dinner, we enjoyed grilled country style pork ribs that I marinated with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, spices and Worcestershire sauce, roasted butternut squash with walnuts mixed with cinnamon, maple syrup and a little butter, along with a salad. It was delish!
After a long day, it is time for bed. Night!
Question: What kinds of snacks do you give your kids? Any homemade kid-friendly snack ideas?
I was wondering what you think of Kind bars? I try to keep some on me in case I get stuck somewhere in between meals, so I don’t splurge on junk. I like that they are pretty wholesome and have a nice mix of nuts and fruit.
Carolyn, I’ll be honest, I haven’t tried them myself, but when it comes to snacks, I’m always one for eating as “whole” as possible, such as packing nuts, or homemade trail mix. After looking at the nutrition facts, they aren’t too bad, but for the caloric load, they don’t seem to compare in having as much protein and fiber as some other bars that I have seen/eaten. For 190 calories, I think you will find other food items that contain more protein and fiber, so you get more bang for your “nutrition-buck.” It also depends on what your goals are. Are you trying to just fuel everyday activities, keep yourself fueled for high-intensity workouts later in the day or are you looking to lose weight? Personally, I like to keep snacks as low in calories as possible, but with the highest amount of protein and fiber as possible. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions! You can always email me at fitnwellmommy@yahoo.com.
Hi Melissa! Thought I’d share some if Lily’s snacks… we are pretty limited by her food sensitivities (no dairy, grains, peanut butter…) so I’ve had to really think outside the box. She loves snacking on black olives (and putting them on her fingers, of course), hummus with baby carrots, baby bananas (although sometimes she will ask for “Mommy bananas”), avocado, raw kale chips, spirulina/chlorella tablets, soaked chia seeds (she slurps them through a straw), most nuts, most fruits, and home made popsicles ( I usually sneak some veggies in them along with the fruit, plus more chia seeds).
Thanks for sharing Lily’s snacks! I have been interested in trying spirulina tablets and making some homemade kale chips to give to him. I might have to experiment with making a batch this weekend! Where do you get your spirulina tablets?
So funny! I felt like I was reading a post that I had done! We are so similar with healthy eating philosophies. As the Love Nugget gets older it is harder not to give him processed snack foods because they are easier but I try to stock up on homemade snacks and keep healthy options on hand. Ayden’s daily snacks are very similar with Keenan’s. He eats the plain organic cheerios and dried fruit, banana and nut butter, and Trader Joe’s Fiber bar. I recently started making him his own granola bites that I posted the other day. He loves them! Hope you have a better day today! We’ve been dealing with fits and grumpiness over here to and are just beginning to do time-outs. You’re right, consistency is key! Have a great weekend!
Thanks, Giselle! Today was definitely better! It is just so hard to see your child be so upset when you discipline them, but I know in my heart, it is the right thing to do. Anyhow, I am curious about your granola bites! I’ll have to try your recipe! Have a great weekend, too!