Colorful Containers one-upped my College Degree!

A year ago my Aunt came to a convention where she learned a lot about health and fitness. Me, being a Kinesiology Major and Health Science Minor, thought there wasn't too much for me to learn from a Beachbody Fitness Convention.  Although I had used the products for years, I never though that one particular program could have such a profound impact on my knowledge of nutrition.  I reluctantly ordered the 21 Day Fix from my aunt and when it arrived I was overwhelmed at first.  But after carefully reading through the meal plan I began to use the colorful containers that demonstrate what a full days's portions should look like and from every food group! I had always know the food pyramid (mypyramid.gov was my second home for years) but this program went a step further and actually showed me how big each serving needed to be for me to reach my goals, and in turn help others reach theirs! I couldn't believe it, these colorful containers had actually one-upped my college degree as I did NOT graduate college with this knowledge!

My 11 year old MAXED OUT!

TRUE STORY:
This morning while I was doing my Insanity Max:30 workout my 11 year old son joined me for ten minutes (For those of you who have done Insanity you know what a crazy huge deal that is!).  Later that day I took him to do his 5th grade physical fitness test for the state.  After the test I reviewed some of his results and the push-up score caught my attention.  He informed me that he had planned at stopping at 10 push-ups (which I'm sure would have qualified for a great score) but when he got to the 10th, he suddenly had Insanity trainer Shawn T's voice in his head telling him to "push himself to the MAX so that he can get stronger"! So he decided to push until he couldn't anymore and he "Maxed Out" at 18 push-ups.  I was soooo proud to hear him share this! I love and am so thankful that the example I set by consistently working out is really rubbing off on my kids and they are being inspired to be healthy and push themselves to do their best!

One of my favorite things to make my household is the Talapia that you can get from Costco! I am not a big fish eater.  Growing up, my dad was a spear-fisherman and we had fresh fish ALL the Time!!  I'm not sure if it was the abundance of fish or just that I never really liked the taste that turned me off from eating fish as an adult but in 9 years of marriage, I NEVER cooked fish for my family.  It wasn't until one of my nannies introduced me to Talapia that I had finally found a fish that I could enjoy.  And of course, Costco made it that much easier since they have a couple awesome varieties of seasoned Talapia.  The best part is that my kids love it too so it makes for a meal the entire family can enjoy! My favorite way to make it is over a bed of spinach and brown rice. ;)

Birthday Pancakes

For a few years now I have created a little tradition in my family by making "Birthday Pancakes" for my children on the morning of their birthdays.  The kids LOVE the colorful pancakes and it can double as a birthday cake (especially for those of us on a budget).  I simply use whatever pancake batter I have (although with the most recent birthday I added a Chocolate Shakeology pancake!Yum!) and I add food coloring to the batter. The food coloring doesn't change the taste at all but it does "mask" hidden added healthy ingredients like bananas, cinnamon, or even fresh blueberries! For your picky eaters, I have found that they are more likely to eat something that looks "fun" regardless of what's inside! I top it with some garnish, a candle or two, sing "Happy Birthday", and there you go!