This past January, I found out that I was pregnant with our fourth child. My emotions were mixed: I love having babies, but I always suffer from extreme “all-day” sickness, rendering me pretty much unable to eat anything but bland food or drink straight water for several months.
About this same time, everyone in our family fell ill from a virus similar to influenza (except me, thankfully!). Once we finally recovered and as the winter months dragged on, we all felt sluggish and tired, probably due to the fact that we weren’t eating very well. Because I could barely stand to be in the kitchen, most of our meals were packaged food. I tried very hard to include fruits and vegetables, but I couldn’t stomach raw foods myself, so that probably went by the wayside a bit too often.
Now that spring has finally appeared (it was snowing up until a week ago where I live) and I am finally starting to feel less nauseous, I’m bound and determined to get back to healthy eating habits and make even healthier choices than we were before I was feeling sick. Here are four ways we’re changing our diet and habits to get healthy this summer.
Choosing Water and Only Water
With the exception of milk at one meal per day, we will only be drinking water this summer! Before I got pregnant, I drank a ton of caffeine in the form of pop. I knew it was not healthy for me, and yet I drank it anyway because otherwise I would get a headache. Thankfully, my craving for caffeine has mostly gone away, and I plan to make some infused waters to get some flavor. Infused water is made by adding fruit slices as well as mint or other herbs and sometimes green tea in different combinations to a pitcher of water, giving you a variety of extra health benefits {stay tuned for some recipe ideas soon!}. I may also drink sparkling water (with no additives) because it sits better in my pregnant stomach. This is going to be hard, but worth it, especially when it starts getting hot!
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Eating Seasonal Garden and/or Farmers’ Market Fruits and Vegetables and Reducing Meat Intake
Because of our late spring, we may not have a big garden this year, but we will again be planting tomatoes, green peppers, peas, carrots and strawberries. I’m also anxious to visit the local farmers’ market to purchase some locally grown produce. Since most store-bought produce is shipped in from thousands of miles away, it lacks essential nutrients by the time it ends up on the shelf. Eating seasonally provides many health benefits and is the best bet for nutritional value. If you’re wanting to know where your nearest farmers’ market is located, check this great list at Local Harvest!
Another one of our plans is to eat larger amounts of vegetables and fruits at each meal, resulting in smaller meat portion sizes. Nutritionally dense veggies and fruits are just as filling as meat, once your body has adjusted to eating less meat and in the summer we’re never as hungry to begin with. Are your kids hesitant to eat vegetables? Here’s are some ideas on how to make that change and some tips for getting more veg in your baby’s diet!
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Going Outside, No Matter What the Weather, to Be Active and Exercise
We’ve had a very long winter here — the latest spring since 1881! I promised my husband I wouldn’t complain about the weather this summer, no matter how rainy or hot it gets. This same promise carries over into the time we spend outside. We want to make sure our kids go outdoors every day for as long as possible. We live in a very tiny town, and our yard, although big for a town lot, isn’t flush with trees or full of things to explore. So, we’re planning on making sure we get outside by doing seven simple things:
- Renewing our pass to the state park 5 miles from our home and using it at least twice a week.
- Driving 30 miles into the nearest large town to visit their many parks, at least once a week.
- Spending time at my parents’ farm, even if they are at work, at least once every 10 days.
- Finding frugal activities we can do in our own yard or at the little park in town.
- Going on lots of walks and bike rides, even if it seems redundant to us. It’s the best exercise we can get!
- Visiting the local pool at least every couple of weeks {it’s hard for me to take all three kids by myself, so we’ll have to go when my husband is home from work}. It costs money to get in, but since we’ll have it saved up ahead of time in our entertainment budget, it won’t be a budget strain.
- Having a daily exercise routine for my husband and I. He enjoys running and I don’t, so mine will probably consist of pushing the two year old in the jogging stroller while the other two kids ride their bikes.
Once I sat down and thought about all the options for being active and outdoors, it didn’t take me long to come up with good low or no-cost ideas!
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Eating Well When Traveling
Consuming healthy foods while on the road is one of the toughest things for us to do. I am always tempted to eat more ice cream and Cheetos during one road trip than I do the rest of the year! Being prepared for our trip ahead of time by taking along healthy snacks is one way to keep ourselves from spending too much money at fast-food restaurants, as is preparing at least one picnic lunch that we can keep in a cooler and eat at a road-side stop (another opportunity for exercise!).
When we arrive at our destination, we try to have area restaurants marked out ahead of time so we know where we can eat the healthiest. If we’re staying in a hotel, we bring or buy fruit and bring our bottles for water and make sure we are staying somewhere where they provide a filling continental breakfast that includes healthy options (just call the front desk ahead of time if you’re curious and ask!).
How are you staying healthy this summer? Any outdoor activity or healthy traveling tips you’d like to share?
