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Five Easy Changes For 2013

January 8, 2013   25 Comments

Okay, we are a little over a week into the New Year. Have you spread paint on your kids yet?

Five Easy Changes 2013

I was reading a bunch of healthy websites and they all had these “Five Easy” lists that I thought were hard to do. Stuff like “Stop eating processed food”. How is that easy if you eat processed food?

I have read all of the New Year’s resolutions that Snack Girl readers posted last week (see: This Year, Get What You REALLY Want!) and I have been thinking about the themes that emerged. Please add your resolution if you haven’t yet – you can come back next year and see what you wrote.

Five EASY (I hope) Changes:

1. Buy a cool stainless steel water bottle. Many listed that they wanted to drink more water. Personally, I am always fighting dehydration especially in the winter when the air is dry. I have found that the plastic water bottles make my water taste like plastic and these stainless steel ones are tougher. I love all the colors they come in and I feel super fashionable when I am carrying one. Seriously.

2. Leave your house messy (like those kids above). A big theme of the resolutions was “play more”. There have been times when my children want to play and there is a big mess in the kitchen, living room, or bedroom that needs my attention. I ignore the mess and play with my kids. Why? Well, chores are never ending but my kids are here now and they are super fun. My house frequently looks like a bomb hit it and while that frustrates me, I have decided that our mess is a statement of how we spend our time (playing). There are limits of course.

3. Park far away From your destination. Everyone wants to exercise more. I hear you. One way I have incorporated more movement into a stressful day is to park at the other end of the entrance to where I am going. I save time (no looking for parking) and fossil fuel. Since it is cold, I almost run to get inside and always feel energized by my power walk.

4. Announce your grumpiness. A lot of you want to be nicer to family and friends. I find that when I am hungry, tired, cold, or all three that my behavior plummets into unacceptable. One of my tricks is to let people know that I am grumpy so that they are aware that I may not be ready for the latest annoying thing to happen. My daughter has been known to be super nice to me when she knows I am in a tough spot.

5. Share vegetable recipes. Everyone wants to eat more vegetables so I thought we would have a “recipe swap” once a month here on Snack Girl. On Thursday, January 10th, I am going to post my favorite carrot recipes. Please share yours so we can all start to get more ideas on how to prepare common, inexpensive vegetables.

Do you have some easy changes that have worked for you?

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25 Comments:

How about not eating food I don't want "just to be polite." I'm going to find some handy dandy phrases to use in those moments....

Great idea for the recipe swap as I have gotten alot of good ones from your readers. I admit I'm a recipe book junkie, though in the last couple of years I've gave away my unhealthy books, and any buy healthy ones.

How about make time, even if it is just a little, for yourself? So many people complain that they have no time for themselves. Take 5 even if you just stand outside alone and enjoy the fresh air. No one is really that busy.

My favorite phrase is: No thanks, maybe later. You would be surprised how easily that works!

Love the recipe swap idea...always get good ideas from your readers!!

I've recently discovered Zumba Core for the wii. One of the Zumba instructors said that you have the option many times a day to turn your daily motion into exercise if you are mindful of it. So now I am mindful to exercise my core when I have to reach for something, sit at my desk, drive, walk, watch TV, or go up stairs. I have already noticed a difference in just this little change. I may also get a balance ball for my desk at work to help my effort along even more.

I love idea #2 above-play with your kids! We homeschool in a tiny house and are always making about 3 or 4 different things, besides what is happening in the kitchen!! And, may I add, find something that YOU love to do too! When my kids were young, I resolved to never stop reading something for fun, for me. I used to be so tired that I only read about a page a night before falling asleep, but that was OK! It took me months to finish a book, but I was still reading! Never stop playing!

Love the recipe swap! Here's my current favorite veggie recipe - a roasted vegetable soup that tastes creamy without one drop of cream! http://www.framedcooks.com/2012/11/roasted-vegetable-soup.h…

Re: the stainless-steel bottle, if you're sensitive to that metallic taste, Target was selling these

http://www.amazon.com/Ello-PURE-Bottle-Silicone-Sleeve/dp/B…

for $10 each a while back. We bought four and keep them filled and refrigerated for grab-and-go convenience. (And lest you think glass = fragile, this is really thick stuff and the silicone sleeve offers some good protection. I've dropped them plenty with zero damage.)

Love the swap idea..Love your site and I have gotten so many great ones on here as well...will swap...Love to you

Yes, I've started to add lemon to my water. Hydration is my focus. Though I already have a water ball that I carry everywhere, sometimes I crave flavor. A little lemon makes me drink water because I want to, not because I have to. PS: Love the recipe swap idea. Eating more veggies is another on on my list.

Kristen - I use True Lemon, orange or lime packets. 0 calories, 0 sugars. I keep them in my office, purse and kitchen. It does make it easier for me to drink more water.

I try to walk whenever possible. I live in NYC so we walk a lot and if I'm taking the subway, I try to get off a stop earlier and walk the rest of the way. Little changes add up to big results!

Get paying work and dont volunteer so much!

Eat less salty foods and go to the doctor..

For anyone interested the website for True Lemon is truelemon@truecitrus.com

Most food stores sell it though, just make sure you get the kind w/o sugar added.

Re stainless steel water btls...I would go a step further and buy an insulated stainless bottle. I LOOOOVE cold water, ice water even more. Kleen Kantee keeps the drinks icy cold, which makes me want to drink more water. Also, ice stays there for 24hrs. Seriously! Conversely, if you love warm liquids the containers keep stuff warm for 6 hrs.

I use glass water bottles and I got a neat sleeve for one to go in when I'm carting around. I got them from amazon, in a six pack. My kids use them around the house and so far nothing has broken.

I have a great veggie recipie!

As a substitue for mashed potatoes, my family last night used cauliflower! Just boil the cauliflower, and we used a hand blender to blend the boiled cauliflower & water, it tastes just like whipped potatoes! Just like and airy and creamy. It was a bit bland so i added some cayane, peppper, then a bit hot hot sauce and balsmic on top.

No more Drive thru's is one of my resolutions, even Starbucks! If I want it bad enough I have to park my car and go in to get it!

I love the veggie reciepe swap idea!

Flylady's stainless steel water bottle is by far the best out there. Double walled so no sweating, keeps ice for hours and has two openings, a large one to put ice through and a small one to drink from. http://shop.flylady.net/pages/FlyShop_swbboth.asp

I don't like to drink anything from plastic or metal so I found a glass bottle surrounded by plastic that can be dropped safely. Made by LifeFactory.

I hate those stainless-steel water bottles. I have tried them and they never clean properly and make your water, or whatever you put in them taste awful! At least that is my experience!

I'm challenging myself to eat more seasonal produce (vegetables are the real challenge). I'm trying to find recipes for the current season and learn to try new things. So far, I haven't liked a lot of what I've tried. I think it's just because I'm not used to the flavors. So, any sure-fired, guaranteed-to-like seasonal recipes for North Carolina will be most appreciated! ;)

I have a recently discovered lunch recipe I'd like to share:

On a bed of baby spinach leaves, place soft-boiled sweet potato pieces, crumbled feta cheese (low fat if you can find it), thin red onion slices, chick peas (canned & drained is fine) and drizzle caramelised balsamic vinegar over the lot. I know this dressing is expensive (like $9-$10 a bottle) but it is sooo yummy! And it is healthy and filling for summer lunches.

Oops! I forgot to mention that semi-dried tomatoes are also added to this salad to round it off. Semi-dried tomatoes are generally not sold in oil (as opposed to sun-dried tomatoes), so fewer calories.

I had no feta cheese once and used cottage cheese instead and it still tasted terrific. Much less fat in cottage cheese also, if you are wanting a lunch with fewer calories.

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