Motivating mum Chelona Ross has lost an incredible 16kgs following the Lose Baby Weight plans and following the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenges and today she is sharing her tips on how to incorporate vegetables into your families meals when they are not their favourite things to eat.
“Hi beautiful Mummy’s,
What a month March has been…
I am a 32 year old mum of 3 ages 9,2 &1 and have been using Healthy Mummy and Lose Baby Weight plans and products since late August 2014 and have lost 16kg to date. Starting my journey at 88.5kg and now 72.5kg!
Incorporating new things and changing habits has not always been easy for me and I still struggle some days but the hardest struggle in changing my lifestyle has not been changing my habits but those of my family.
When I first started using the Healthy Mummy products and Lose Baby Weight 28 Day Weightloss Challenges it was hard. Firstly I was weaning my 6mths old onto solids so had to prepare a separate meal often done in advance with a bit of planning, preparing and freezing so this was ok but then came my 2 year old who asked for pasta every night without fail followed by Master 8 that wanted what dad has as dad doesn’t eat many vegetables! When I say doesn’t eat many vegetables you can throw fruit into the equation as well, The list of fruit and veg I have to satisfy him and not deal with a melt down are:
- Potato
- Sweet Potato
- Pumpkin
- Carrot
- Apples
- Lettuce
Yes you read correctly you can count them with me 1-2-3-4-5-6…. that’s it and the carrot needs to be cocked within an inch of its life.
So what did I do to combat this problem??? improvise, great things so small they didn’t know and let them pick a meal each from the challenge menu with their pleads not to add a certain vegetable.(little do they know I always add it they just can’t see it)!
There are so many versatile recipes in the 28 Day Weightloss Challenge hub that I modify for my family such as the honey glazed steak that I make then I cook them a side of mash potato and carrots but throw on some greens for myself to have with the carrots.
Another favourite that I have modified for them and myself in order to get more veggies in are the turkey meatballs in rich tomato sauce that I make into a bolognese so take out the bread crumbs as I’m not rolling into balls and add the finest grated zucchini, carrot and mushroom and they don’t know it’s there!
We all have a lot of habits, some that will last a lifetime and others we change as we ourselves change and although I am modifying some recipes there are many that I don’t need to.
By slowly introducing new foods into our diet my family’s tastes have changed and I don’t mind cooking a side of mashed potato or putting a piece of bacon on my husbands salad that consists of just lettuce and cheese as my family are now slowly trying the things I put in their foods without me hiding them…
Changing my family’s eating habits has been a slow process but well worth it and I’m happy to say I haven’t had a complaint about my cooking or about anyone trying new things in a long time!
My advice for dealing with a family like mine would be:
- introduce new foods slowly
- use recipes that work for your whole family
- make that extra side of mashed potato for hubby(it only takes a little extra prep)
Healthy cooking is not all about following a recipe but using the knowledge you’ve gained to sometimes tweak things to work for you and your family!
Regards
Chelona”
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