New Year's Resolution: Help My Kids Eat Healthier!

What are YOUR New Year's Resolutions?

Do you want to get healthy? Start cooking meals at home more often? Make sure your kids get all necessary nutrients while cutting out the junk?

If you're resolved to help your kids eat healthier in 2013, read on!

Healthy eating is essential to healthy living. Eating the right foods fuel your body as well as your mind. You can be the best you - the you you were meant to be. Depriving yourself of the necessary nutrients can actually do harm to your self.

I think it is so important to instill healthy eating habits in your kids while they're young so they not only get the nutrients they need to grow right now when their brains and bodies are doing so much growing and developing but so they will continue to eat healthy of their own free will as they get older.

Set a good example and resolve to eat healthy too. When your kids see you eat healthy foods, they will want to also. You'll feel great about yourself because you'll actually be healthier and because you'll be doing something amazing for your kids - no matter how old they are! :)

We're a week into the new year; how are you doing with your healthy eating resolutions so far? I'm writing this hub for anyone who might be having trouble getting started or maintaining in their resolve.

First of all, you need to know that there are easy meal and snack ideas out there that are HEALTHY! You'll need a list of idea that you can go to while you're meal planning.

I have researched early childhood nutrition and meal / snack ideas for some posts I did on my blog. They include a lot of information as well as a long list of healthy ideas! I did 100 all together. Check out these two posts:

What and How to Feed a Toddler : 54 Healthy Meal and Snack Ideas

Part 2 : 46 More Healthy Meal and Snack Ideas

Included in these posts are Mealtime Practices, Evaluating the Day's Nutrition, Other Nutrition Tips, and Pointers on Serving.

Planning is Key

After you've selected some ideas to try, you can start the planning. I like to do meal planning for the whole month at a time. I've found this saves me time and money. I don't waste time thinking about what we're going to do for dinner tonight and I don't waste money on ingredients I don't need. So I take new ideas (more about that later) and my tried and true ideas and fill in my calendar for the month. This way, I can write grocery lists (I use the Out of Milk App for my android phone - free!) for each weekend. I still go grocery shopping once a week, even though I plan the whole month, because certain items like fruit and milk go bad or get eaten so we'll need more each week anyway.

You can also display your weekly menu in a fun way in your kitchen on a Menu Board. I made a menu board with cards for all my different meal ideas complete with ingredients and recipes on the back. Sometimes that's easier than propping my computer up next to the sink. I think both ways are good.

Finding New Ideas

Don't overwhelm yourself by trying to do a meal you've never tried before every day. Set a goal like trying 1 new meal each week. For the other nights, do the classics! And don't forget about the power of leftovers!! I love them for lunch and maybe even one dinner when it's just myself and my daughter.

I get almost every single one of my food ideas from Pinterest. I <3 Pinterest! Here are some of my boards that are just loaded with great ideas!:

Breakfast Ideas
Lunch Ideas
Dinner Ideas
Dessert Ideas
Snack Ideas
Meal and Snack Ideas for my Toddler
Pins I've Actually Done

You can find all of the above boards on my Pinterest Account.

Don't be afraid to shake things up and try something new. There are a lot ideas on pinterest that are not only healthy but also EASY and CHEAP, many with just a FEW INGREDIENTS. I love that! Some of my favorite meals are gems I found on pinterest. :)