Keeping a workout routine with little ones around can be a huge challenge!  Anyone who has young children, whether one or more, knows how demanding life gets when you try to meet the needs and schedule for the whole family.  Take me, for example: in my single days I woke at 5 am to go to the gym Monday through Friday, and even on the weekends too. Then, with my life with kids, I  had some serious challenges keeping up on my workouts.  As a mom, I’ve learned that for every problem, there is always an equal or greater solution!  Rather than feeling like a workout has to be a certain way, I changed my focus to make sure I was simply active and moving each day in my life. The workouts started to integrate together.  As luck would have it, my little ones are just about the right size and weight to replace weights.  There are several workouts you can do using your kids! Infants and toddlers—our wonderful objects of affection–usually want to be by our sides 24/7, so this can be a really great opportunity to engage in some quality bonding time. And they’ll love getting picked up and held in a new, fun way!

Here the guidelines:

Make your focus for 5 – 10 minutes of “workout time,” as many times during the day as you can. A starting goal can be twice a day.

Do a specific number of sets and reps that you can determine based on your strength and goals.    Usually 2-4 sets with 10-15 reps are a good place to start.

Here are my favorites:

Bicep curls:  Take your precious little one in your arms and move them up and down, slowly.  Make sure when they are close to your face you kiss and coo with them.  They’ll love it! 

Shoulder strength:  Hold your little one out with straight arms and lift up and down.  This one can get a little boring for the baby so be sure to change it up and get creative in games to play for this exercise.

Squats:  Place your toddler on your shoulders and preform a standard squat, make a tiny little jump at the end just to get them to giggle. 

For cardio, one of the best workouts you can get is just chasing your kid around.  They think it’s purely a game and if you get into it too, you’ll forget that you’re “trying” to work out and it becomes just plain fun!  If you lean into following your child’s lead, you’ll be surprised how much activity you can get into a day (and how many calories you can burn)!  And it’s so fun for the kids that they’ll feel like they have the best mom!

I feel it is so important to teach our children the fundamentals of nutrition while they’re young, and what better way to teach them than a cooking class using farm-fresh produce taught by an experienced nutritionist? I want to share this upcoming event with you, and if you’re in Utah- I strongly encourage you to attend!

Today, 1 in 3 kids is overweight or obese. Another sad fact- kids today might not live to be as old and healthy as today’s adult generation. Unlike adults, children don’t get to choose the environment they live in. We have to provide a safe one for them.

Your little ones are eager to help out in the kitchen, so take advantage of that eagerness and get them cooking!

Sign up for Farm to Kids Cooking at: http://healthycookinglanay-efbevent.eventbrite.com/

Farm to Kids Cooking with IM Nutrition and La Nay Ferme

When: Saturday, May 11, 2013

Time: 11 am – 12 pm

Where: La Nay Ferme, Provo, UT

Cost: $55

With a focus on teaching healthy eating and food prep,
Farm to Kids Cooking class will teach kids to connect with the foods they’re eating and where their food comes from.

A hands-on approach to food preparation and cooking is essential to maintaining healthy eating habits. What better place to learn this at than on a local farm in the spring?

In this cooking class, you and your child will learn…
- Childhood Nutrition 101
- The Difference Between Conventionally Grown & Organic Foods
- Secrets to Cooking 1 Food Multiple Ways
- Kid-friendly Food & Meal Preparation Techniques
- Ways to Help Picky Eaters Adapt Healthy Eating Behaviors

Admission includes…
- a farm tour of local CSA La Nay Ferme in Provo, UT
- seating for 1 adult, 1 child for cooking lesson w/ Nutritionist Isabel Mejia from IM Nutrition
- a freshly cooked meal with a beautiful scenic view
- 1 week share of fresh La Nay Ferme farm produce to take home!

16 More Reasons Why You’ll Want to Attend: http://tinyurl.com/JoinFarm2Kids

Enrollment is limited in order to provide an intimate and hands-on class experience.

For more info, visit: http://www.foodisourfriend.com/healthy-cooking-class-la-nay-ferme/
View Press Release here: 

Sign up for class here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6190579189?ref=ebtn

Then Join & SHARE the FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/163155410523983/

Because we Americans have these fast-paced lifestyles, many of us turn to fast food for quick, easy meals to feed ourselves and our families on the go. We run to restaurants because we are too tired and too busy to prepare meals ourselves.

It’s no secret that fast food is a contributing factor to the obesity epidemic our nation is currently facing, but the damage this sort of fast-paced fast food life can do to one’s health needs to be talked about more. But it’s not JUST about the food we’re taking in when we’re on the go. This episode also warns of the dangers of living a stressful, fast-paced life.

Watch this week’s episode of The Skinny On Obesity to learn more, and then try your hand at meditation to let go of some of your daily stress!

Tonight, after your long busy Monday, get comfortable in a quiet room and listen to a free meditation track available on the Sculptations website. Do it right before you go to bed, and see if you feel a difference in the way you feel the next morning. I want to hear about it! Tell me your meditation experience on the LeanMoms Facebook page.

As women this is one we really need to pay attention to – especially if we are planning on having children or more children.  It’s also important as a member of society to help other women be their healthiest selves.  It’s becoming something we can no longer ignore and say it doesn’t affect me – I’m not obese.

The most eye-opening bit in this episode is this…now pay very close attention…

Our fat cells are pre-determined in the womb.

Our fat cells are pre-determined in the womb.

It’s so important, that I wanted to write it twice.  What this means for you and me and any future off-spring coming into this world is that what happens in a womans body prior to conception, not only affects her baby in many of the ways we already knew about, but it also determines what size of pants or how many metabolic diseases he or she will have throughout their life.

Because fat cells are laid down prior to birth, and what determines how many fat cells there are is insulin, the more insulin in the mother’s diet, the more fat cells are created – it becomes our responsibility as a society to educate ourselves and change our habits prior to any pregnancies, and it also becomes our responsibility to help educate our daughters (and sons) on how to care for their bodies by avoiding products that increase insulin, such as soda, white processed breads, sugary treats etc., and most processed foods.

The other key component to taking advantage of the years prior to pregnancy as well as during pregnancy is learning to love being active.  We must learn to love moving and making our bodies sweat, heart rates increase, and blood flow.  When we move more our insulin levels remain more level, preventing metabolic diseases such as obesity, heart disease, cancer, polycystic-ovarian syndrome, dementia, etc.

Watch the episode to learn more.

My LeanMoms Soft To Sculpted Program is the perfect program for women prior to pregnancy, during pregnancy, and after pregnancy.  It is also a great program for teens and young adult women.  Learning to incorporate strength-training into your overall life-time fitness routine is vital to your health as a woman.  LeanMoms is focused on providing you with ways to learn how to choose the best nutrition for your body, and gives you skills and knowledge for you to take with you and stay lean for life.

I am passionate about helping other moms and women feel their best and stop this unnecessary obesity epidemic.  It only can happen if we work together, share what we know, and always strive to learn more.

I would love to know if you’ve worked out during your pregnancies and ate a healthy clean diet…did you feel differently, look differently, and how was your labor.  Also how has your child been?

If you haven’t already, make sure to listen to LeanMoms podcast with Tatum Rebelle of Totalmommyfitness.com.  Tatum is an expert in pregnancy and fitness and in the podcast she shares some really great tips for staying fit during and after pregnancy.

And in case you haven’t registered yet, it’s never too late to hop on the Healthy Families Begin With Healthy Moms 6-week challenge.  It’s six simple steps to change your families overall health – if you continue doing them after the challenge!  Sign up here today.

Directions: Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a sided baking dish. Heat 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet. Dredge 2 fillets in the first mixture, coat as thoroughly as possible, and place them in the butter. Cook for approximately 2 minutes. Turn carefully and cook for another 2 minutes on the opposite side. Add half the lemon zest and half the lemon juice. Remove fillets from the pan and set aside while keeping warm. Repeat with remaining fillets. Plate the fillets, top with parsley and serve immediately.

Nutrition per serving: Calories 256, Protein 21 grams, Carbs 11 grams

I was dying to share with her all of the information on there.  But her being six I held back…some.  

What I did tell her was…

“Sweetheart, a lot of the reasons people are struggling more with losing weight is because their bodies have become addicted to sugar.  It’s in everything and everywhere, and it makes us want and need it all the time.  Sugar messes things up inside our body so that it doesn’t work right.  But we don’t realize it does this and we just keep wanting more.”

“Oh like when I eat a sucker and then I just want more and more of them?”

“Bingo! You got it.”

I kissed her and dropped her off to school.  She said, “Mom it’s Nicole’s birthday today, but I won’t eat a cupcake. I don’t want the sugar to mess up my body.”  

I felt a bit sad inside because what I had shared with my daughter  had sort of robbed her of one of the joys in life.  We have become so used to associating sugar with pleasure, it’s hard to imagine any occasion without it being present.  I struggle as a mom to change that in my family, and in my children’s eyes.  It becomes a fine line between educating and scaring.  

I do firmly believe we need to treat sugar just like we do other harmful addictive substances, but just as it took time to get where we are today, it will take some time for us to switch our thinking and associate sugar with harming ourselves and our future generations.  I’d love to hear your take on this and how you would share this information with your children, so please leave us a comment.
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To help you and your family with their health I am putting on a Healthy Families Begin With Healthy Moms free 6-week challenge that you can take with your family!  Make sure to join us and register.  It will be a great way to have your whole family ready to enjoy summer, because we all know summer can wreak havoc on our waistlines and our health with all the BBQ parties and roasting marshmallows happening.  If you start now in changing your family’s habits you will be more in control when summer hits and the ice cream truck comes calling!

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One of our amazing LeanMoms has just completed Level I 12 weeks!  We wanted to share her amazing results with you today.  And this woman was highly addicted to sugar, but through hard work and determination to cut it out, she was able to and now feels so much better. What’s even more amazing are the positive healthy changes she is seeing in her family.

Sheena says, “We are all changed! My oldest girl, who’s 5, now says, ‘Is this healthy? Is it made with whole wheat? Should we have eggs for breakfast? This has too much sugar in it. This isn’t good to eat.’ We go out a lot as a family, to eat. Between both of our families that come out to see us, that’s just what they like to do. So we have told ourselves we have to commit to making healthier choices even when we are out and about. So we look at the low cal, healthier menu. We eat lots of salads. We juice. And we love it!”

We would LOVE you to join us and start sculpting your best summer body starting today!

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I am committed to helping you discover the joys of baking sweets without the guilt.   Here is another fun, sweet baking recipe to try!  Just remember to keep it in moderation and get in those workouts

Here’s To A Sculpted New You!

Lacy

Makes 24 Cookies
Serving Size is 2 cookies

2 T. Raw Honey (local is best)

1/2 c. Organic Coconut Sugar

1/2 c. Organic Coconut Milk

2 T. Organic Coconut Oil

1 tsp.  Vanilla

2 c. Organic Rolled Oats

1/4 c. Raw Cocao Powder

1/4 c. Organic Shredded Coconut

Combine first 4 ingredients in medium size sauce pan.  Bring to a boil.  Boil for 2 minutes until all ingredients are dissolved. Remove from heat, and stir in remaining ingredients.  Let cool for 3-5 minutes, then drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper.  Cool until solid.  Enjoy! 

Nutrition Info: 136 cal.,17 g. carbs, 6.2 g. fat, 2.8 g. protein.

Check out this episode

3 mashed bananas (ripe)
1/3 cup apple sauce
2 cups oats
1/4 cup almond milk
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix mashed bananas, applesauce, almond milk, and vanilla together until completely incorporated. Add in raw oats and cinnamon.
Place rounded tablespoons of batter on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!