105 - New Year's Goals / Systems & Changing your Family Food Culture

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Struggling to get your kids to eat healthy? Here are some things i’ve done to help my family. It’s also a new year! Let’s talk about the idea of setting new year’s goals, and how I like to come up with ‘outcomes and paths’ every 3,6,12 months!

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Creators and Guests

Host

Lindsay

Wife and mother of three. I have a deep passion for learning and teaching. I also really love lifting weights and fitness.

What is LiftingLindsay's More Than Fitness?

Dive into the joy of fitness with Lindsay and other guests exploring how it goes well and beyond the gym floor, the number on the scale, the size of your waist or the calories you're counting.

Lindsay: Welcome to the
Lifting Lindsay podcast.

Man, it's been a minute, guys.

It has been a minute between the
New Year's is always really big for

everybody's health and fitness goals.

I stay pretty busy around the new
year, but man, this year I got hit

really bad the past two weeks with a
cold and just a tiny little cold guys.

I get sinus infections really easy.

My dad was the same way.

And so a tiny little cold, doesn't
matter how small it is, Alex

is always like, oh my goodness.

Like start using, there's this thing
called the teapot that helps kinda drain

sinuses and I grew up just having to
use it ' cause I just get infections.

My little Link is the same way.

We thought it was a sinus infection.

I still think he did get one, but
then he also got, was hit by pink

eye and then, uh, spread to my other
child, and it, anyways, it's just been

a crazy beginning of the new year.

And do you know what I'm grateful for?

I'm grateful that I don't put a
whole lot of stock into the new year.

Right.

There are a lot of people that do, and
I'm not saying that that's right or wrong.

Personally.

I think that there is a better way,
and that is deciding that there's

no perfect time to start right.

The new year will not, there's nothing
magical about, about it in and of itself.

It, it actually won't ensure that
you hit your desired outcome or goal.

There's nothing special about it.

Just like there's nothing
special about Mondays.

I mean, how many of you have
heard or said, I know, I've

said, oh, I'll start on Monday.

Why do we think that there's
something magical about Monday?

Or I'll start again tomorrow.

There's, there is something.

I would say we have created
something about a new day.

It feels good, a new beginning,
and we have labeled that as well,

that's tomorrow a new day or Monday?

A new beginning or the first day
of the month or the first day of

the year, we have created that.

There's actually in and of itself,
nothing special about it, right.

In fact, I think one of my favorite
moments coaching was when a client

told me that they had found themselves
halfway through a box of a package of

Oreos, and they stopped and were like.

What am I doing?

You know, I, I, I think a lot of us
kind of found ourselves in that moment.

It doesn't have to be
directly about Oreos or food.

Have you ever had that happen
just in life in general?

You kind of had that moment, you
stop and you look around and you

realize where your life choices
have led you, and you're like, what

am I doing?

I know better.

I am better.

Why am I doing this?

Why am I my standards.

Not having boundaries.

Allowing this and this and that
from other people or myself, right?

I think that that's so common to
just kind of have that aha moment.

Do you know what else is so common
in those aha moments to be, oh, okay.

Okay.

I'm gonna do better.

I'll start Monday.

I'll start tomorrow.

I'll start.

Oh, well it's December, uh,
and so I'll start January 1st.

I'll start the new year and we always
choose this date so far in the future and,

and this beautiful moment of my client.

She said, it dawned on me as
I'm going through this, well,

I'll start again tomorrow.

Today's already a wash.

I'll just let you know.

Keep going crazy today with foods
and then I'll start again tomorrow.

And she said it was this incredible
moment when she realized my

new beginning will start now.

This very second, I don't have
to continue making these poor

choices for a minute longer.

Not days, not months, not hour.

Not a, not a minute longer.

My new beginning starts now.

So I was talking about this with
actually somebody on Instagram,

how I was a little frustrated.

This isn't how I wanted
my New Year's to begin.

On top of it guys, my app.

Oh, I mean you can imagine this, all of
the excitement around the New Year's.

I have all of these new signups
and my app gets a massive bug in

it and it is now ruining other
people's massive New Year's goals.

Support is working nonstop, but we
can only do so much because we have

hired out this company in using their
app and it's just like these bugs and

people couldn't get to the, oh my gosh.

It was guys, it was not how I wanted
to begin the new year, and I was

expressing some frustration just about
kind of being sick, this person didn't

know all of this other stuff that I'm
dealing with and personal struggles.

Just getting started figuring
out the in vitro process too.

Heads up for you.

We are doing IVF this month
and I I do ask one thing.

I I've had a lot of failed IVFs.

I've had, uh, five miscarriages, some
of them extending, us not finding

out till like 13, 14 weeks out.

Right?

I share that we're doing one last,
last IVFI have two frozen embryos.

I wanna share this, this, uh, time period,
but I am also going to put down boundaries

that if you follow me on Instagram,
or if you want to send me a message

on Instagram, or an email and be like,
Hey, Linds how's your in vitro going?

Just know a few things about this process.

It is ridiculously heavy,
emotional, and hard.

Um, I've also started taking hormone
shots that, in and of themselves,

they cause a lot of changes within the
body and, uh, just emotional changes.

So it is a tender time.

If you are curious about what's
going on with the in vitro process on

Instagram, I have saved stories on it.

If you haven't heard anything
there, there might be a good reason.

So if you want updates.

Go there.

Okay.

Um, I just ask that you don't reach
out personally and ask me, I would

hate for you to be the person who, if
I, I've just had so many miscarriages

and IVFs and I UIs not, not workout.

I would hate it if you messaged me
and were like, Hey, how's it going?

I'm so excited for you.

This is so fun.

How's it going?

I'm like, well, I just found out I had a
miscarriage, so this isn't so fun, right?

Like, I would hate for you to feel
that uncomfortableness, right?

Of, oops.

So just know that that's my boundary.

If you, if you're, if you
have questions, you're curious

about it, I don't blame you.

But, but, um, it under saves
stories on Instagram you'll

be able to see the updates.

So anyways, this has been a crazy
New Year's and I ha and I was

talking about this isn't how I
wanted to start my New Year's.

And a woman wrote to me and she
goes, isn't it great though that

neither you nor I hold a whole
lot of stock in the new year?

And I just kind of laughed
when I saw that message.

'cause I'm like, she is so right.

She is so right.

I don't.

At all.

I mean, I, there's a little bit of it
in the air just because I know a lot

of people are thinking about it, and
I do think it's a good time to pause

and say, yeah, what, what changes do
I want to see in the next 12 months?

But to be honest, at the beginning
of every month, I'm always like.

What changes do I wanna
see in the next 30 days?

Or at the beginning of a quarter?

What, what do I want to see?

What outcomes do I wanna see at
the end of this three months?

I'm always thinking that way and,
and I'm, I'm much like my client

who believes that new beginnings
can start literally right now.

You don't have to wait for
some magical, fictional date.

Or tomorrow or Monday, or, you know, a
new year or even a beginning of a quarter.

I have trained myself over time
to put really no stock into that.

But with that being said,
I do want to share that.

I still do like setting outcomes.

That's what I call them.

I don't know why I don't call them goals.

When I'm talking to other people, I
usually say like, oh, I have goals.

'cause that's their language
that they'll understand.

But, but it's funny because
right in front of me right now,

I have this big whiteboard.

I love writing stuff down.

I am a pen and paper or a marker
and whiteboard kind of gal.

I love it.

There's something therapeutic about
writing it all down and seeing it.

Or maybe I feel like I'm
some kind of smart scientist.

I don't know.

Like I'm writing it all down,
writing the paths that will lead

me where, but it is kinda funny

right now, I do have right in front of me,
I have this list of outcomes on one side.

So this is how I write out my, my goals or
future plans or things that I wanna see.

And I don't just have it
about fitness or business.

I have it about family.

I have it about relationships,
I have it about my marriage.

So I usually write this on a huge
whiteboard and I, I draw a line down

this center and on the right side I
write out the outcomes that I wanna see.

And on the left side, I write
out the paths, and systems

that will get me there.

So I think a lot of people do this wrong.

I think a lot of people think that if
they have a goal and they write down

their goal and every day they look at
their goal that they're gonna hit it.

But that is not the best approach.

There's always good, better, best, right?

That, that may be good.

I mean, I mean, it keeps the idea
of what you want right in front of

you, but usually the problem isn't
that somebody hasn't written down

or know the outcome they want.

I know a lot of people are like,
I really wanna lose weight.

I really wanna lose weight.

I really wanna lose weight.

And every day they fixate on it.

Every day they think about it.

In fact, it's everything they think about.

And yet, every day they are no closer
to the outcome than the day before.

The day before.

The day before.

Or the day before.

Or the day before.

Or the year before.

So writing out the outcome
is just the beginning.

So this month In Be Strong, which is
my membership site, we have books every

month, a new book that we read together
and you, you don't have to participate

if, if you don't want to, but I call it
the Walking Book Club because I wanna

encourage people, just like walk around
your house, just put in an audio book.

Walk around your house for a good
15 minutes, get another 1500 steps,

whether that's cleaning, washing your
windows, your mirrors, deep cleaning

laundry, like, or just walking
around your neighborhood or wherever.

Right now in Utah, it's freezing.

So, so I'm not going outside for my
walks, but, just another 15 minutes.

What I want to encourage people to do
another 15 minutes of movement, and

a lot of times it feels good just to
pop in a, a good podcast or, a book.

And so I want these to be really
productive times, not just getting steps

in, but choosing books that will help
lead people to their highest selves.

And so this month we've chosen
Atomic Habits by James Clear.

If you have not read that book
again, I've read this book two times.

This is my third time reading it, and I
still have just as many aha moments as

I did the first time I read this book.

It is so good and I, I listened
to it and I have the book.

Because I like marking stuff in
books, and when I'm driving to the

grocery store, I'll listen to books.

People often will be like, how many?

How?

How do you read three
to four books a month?

I listen to so many of them as I just
like, I'll drop my kids off at school.

I like talking to them.

Soon as they get out of the car,
pop in a good book as I'm grocery,

shopping, walking, whatever.

So this month is James Clear.

This book is amazing guys.

It is so good.

And I love how he says

we don't rise to the level of our goals.

We fall.

To the level of our systems.

He has this entire section about how
just having a goal doesn't get you there.

You have to, and focusing all your
time and energy on having that

goal, not what gets you there.

So I have said this a lot.

I feel like people oftentimes are in a

diet mind or just have a diet mindset
where they fixate on fat loss so much

and fixate on all the things that they
need to do, but they don't do any of it.

They kind of may be a little bit,
but they're exhausted mentally and

physically because they spend so
much time thinking about the goal.

And they spend so little times
actually creating systems that

carry them through to finally obtain
the goal or the desired outcome.

So systems are key.

They really are.

Just having the goal is not key.

It's knowing the path that gets you
there, and then actually following it.

So in another podcast I shared

that because I had somebody ask
me the question, how do you keep

life balance and not get too
pulled into your fitness goals?

And I'll let you guys listen
to that whole episode.

The main thing is that I have a lot
of goals, not just health body goals.

So that helps keep me balanced.

So right now.

On this whiteboard, I have family goals,
what I want to really see in my family.

So on the right hand side, I am,
I've just spent a lot of time

thinking about this and I wrote all
the outcomes that I want to see.

So I'm just gonna share
a few of them with you.

Um, just gonna kind of go down this list.

I want my kids to be hard workers.

I want them to learn how to
do hard things with a little

less complaining, to be honest.

Uh, I want them to learn how
to manage money and wants.

There's nothing wrong with wants, but
you need to learn how to manage them so

that you don't get swept away by them.

I want them to learn how to

read the scriptures and actually
learn the language of the scriptures.

I want them to feel safe and loved
in expressing their emotions.

No thought, no emotion is off limits.

They can express those things to
me and they find safety with me.

Oh man, guys, that one, we
could have a whole episode in

and of itself about that one.

Um, I want them to eat
healthier with less sugar.

I'm not an anti-sugar person, but
do you know how fricking hard it is?

Our kids are just inundated with sugar?

Even those who don't, like my sister
went through a three month sugar fast

with her kids, no processed sugar.

They could have fruit.

That was the extent she really wanted
to just kind of clear out their palate.

And I get that because if you're
used to high sugar everything, then

that's what your palette is used to.

And other sweets won't taste as sweet.

My brother went to Japan for two
years on a service mission, and

when he came back he brought some
Japanese candy and I tried it and I

was like, that is not sweet at all.

It, it's not bad.

It tastes good, but it's not sweet.

Like this isn't, to me, it wasn't candy.

And then my brother, after two years of
eating only, you know, food from Japan.

He had a candy bar and he was
like, oh my gosh, this is, he

was like, this is way too sweet.

It was the funniest thing ever, just
because he wasn't used to it anymore.

Children and sugar, it's hard.

I'm actually really glad that our kids
go to the schools that they do right now.

Two of them go to a
school called Challenger.

And Challenger is very much like
we don't reward kids with candy.

We don't do that for a lot of reasons.

One of the main reasons is they need
to learn to start doing hard things,

feeling accomplished.

We want them to feel accomplished.

We want them to do things on their own
and get that feeling of independence

like that leads to a lot of
self-confidence and, um, we don't want

them doing things right to get sugar.

To get candy.

I was so grateful for that because two
years ago my kids went to another school

close by and this teacher,
she was just doing her best.

Okay.

She was just doing her best.

I didn't agree with it, but
she, but I, I, I really do.

Uh, my heart reaches out to teachers.

They're just trying their best.

I get it.

but her thing was, I'm gonna have this
huge bag of candy and I'm gonna ask a

question and whoever raises their hand
and says it right, I'll give you candy.

Well, my daughter is the one who's
like front and center raising her

hand for every single question.

She's literally eating sugar all day long.

And I, it drove me nuts.

It drove me nuts because then they go
to church on the weekends and the church

teachers feel like they need to provide
a treat at the end of every lesson.

I'm like, you don't, you don't need
to just like, why can't we just teach

our children to good do good, to
listen because it has its own rewards.

We don't need to use candy
as this reward system.

It drives me nuts, guys.

Okay?

As I'm sure you can feel
that over this podcast.

The two other things that I have on
that outcome list for my children

is wanna teach them to serve others.

I want their worldview to expand.

So I have this whole list.

Now these are relatively
vague outcomes, right?

How do you measure my
children's worldview expanding?

How do you measure that they, you
know, have served enough or know to

serve or all of these things, right?

But these are general outcomes.

That I want, and I know
that these things take time.

So what I'm going to focus on
are the paths and the systems

that will get them there.

So on the left hand side, I have
these paths that they're going to

daily, weekly, monthly, be working
towards that will in and of themselves

naturally lead to the desired outcome.

You know, one of the things when I
do like one-on-one calls, or when

I do my weekly live calls with
Be Strong membership, um, users.

Uh, one of the things that I repeat the
most often is like, what are your systems?

What systems do you have in place?

And all last month we had about
four lessons go out on systems.

And this month we're now doing that
even more because this month's goal

is becoming the master of protein,
but we've got to get systems in place.

They might be hard at first, but
true systems turn into autopilot.

So it, it takes a lot of effort
at first, but once you get that

habit and system in a few months,
it's just on autopilot and it just

naturally leads you to the outcome.

And I've been thinking a lot about
this, these systems and also like

what is the low hanging fruit?

What can I just change by 1% today?

I.

And then in a few weeks
change by another 1%.

Then in a few weeks change by another 1%.

It's like once you get a new system in
place, then you kind of add a little bit

more on top, and this becomes a natural
path that turns things on autopilot

to now I just have this healthy life.

And a lot of times people will be like,
well, how do you get from where you were?

Lindsay?

Eating chocolate and cheese, no
concept of health and nutrition beyond

what other people think are healthy.

Right?

The the green juice drinks
and all of that like.

People sometimes have a weird
sense of what, what's healthy.

Um, but what's healthy is creating
these systems that just turn

on autopilot that lead you over
time to your desired outcome.

And so that's what I've been focusing
a lot on and as I've been looking at

my family, what are these systems?

What can we change by 1% today
that will have that incredible

outcome in five years?

So on that left hand side is, is
where I am I'm doing all of that.

Let's actually talk about the
eating healthy with minimal sugar.

Recently I had a woman write in
on Be Strong where they can ask

me questions and she's like,
I'm, I'm just really frustrated.

I've come to this really good
place with food, having a

better relationship with it.

Um, better systems, but, but my family
is struggling and my kids don't eat

healthy and, and I, we don't want our
kids to sit there and track macros,

like, let's, that'd be like weird.

Like we're not gonna have them do that.

But we still want them to be fueling
their body, right, getting nutrients

and not eating all the sugar.

And, and we, we also know the
negative impacts that it can have

with food relationship issues and
even body issues by over emphasizing

like, sugar bad, that's bad for you.

That's a toxin.

Like that type of talk is actually
showing some pretty negative outcomes.

People who talk that way tend to have bad
relationships with food, body dysmorphia,

bad relationship with, um, working
out, um, over utilizing those things.

So, we want to make sure that
we're teaching our children while

keeping a healthy mindset, right?

I have had those same
frustrations with my children.

They're, why would they come home and eat
a relatively healthy meal when literally

all day long my daughter is getting sugar
from her teacher for answering questions?

Right?

So, so why would she then eat her lunch?

The healthy lunch that I pack her,
she, she's not even that hungry

because she, she's just been eating
sugar all the way up to lunchtime.

So then she barely nibbles on lunch.

The rose, it all away goes to waste,
goes back to her classroom, where

once again, she's getting candy.

Um, and then comes home, wants a
treat because food is now just treats.

And I, it's, it was really hard.

I was so grateful when we sent
her to Challenger and they're

even like, if it's your child's
birthday, don't send candy and sugar.

So believe me when I say I have dealt with
these frustrations now earlier, mid, uh,

last year, I we had made a lot of really
positive changes and it was so awesome.

We were seeing our kids finally
sit down and eat healthy meals and

dinners and not have to have, uh,
treats and sweetss all day long.

We had made these changes and I'll share
a lot of those changes with you today.

But then, the holidays came and
we started traveling a lot too.

So we had Halloween, and we
were on a cruise, and then

we came back for Halloween.

And then there were a few
Halloween parties before that.

Thanksgiving we ended up traveling
for around, uh, Thanksgiving time too.

And then we had Christmas where,
you know, tons of daily treats were

being brought over by neighbors.

And I usually love all
of that and that's fine.

I love showing my children like,
you can just take a few, you don't

have to eat all of them, right?

But all of a sudden my house is just
full of all of this candy and I feel like

I'm pretty good at navigating myself.

Around that, but my children
have let yet to learn that.

And so a lot of times what parents
will do is they'll use fear like,

oh, that's evil, that's bad.

Sugar's bad, don't do that.

Or they're, they're on the other side of
the spectrum where they're so scared of

their child developing some type of eating
disorder or feeling bad about themselves,

and so they won't even talk about it.

Right?

We have to fall somewhere in the middle.

But what I noticed is even having a little
bit of these treats, my children they

didn't have a healthy approach to it.

And so I knew what we had to do.

We had to go back to what we had
established earlier on that year.

So let me go through that.

Now, I did go through and I got rid of
all of the treats the day after Christmas.

All of them, and I talked about
this on Instagram and some people

were saying, wait, wait, wait, wait.

But you teach that um, these
were genuine questions.

I don't think anybody was coming
at me and, and rightfully so good

questions saying, wait, wait, wait.

But how do you teach navigating
around treats if you're just getting

rid of all of them and, I'm like,
look, I'm really good at navigating

around it, but my kids aren't.

And right now their palate has
actually changed over the past three

months to all they want is sugar.

If it's not really high sugar, then
it doesn't quote unquote taste good.

Literally, my 4-year-old was telling me
that, like those were his words, saying,

if it's not sugar, it doesn't taste good.

I don't want it for dinner.

There were some, within just
a few months, we had fallen

right back into this rutt, so.

I went back to the system that was
working really, really, really well.

So the first thing is I
changed our environment.

I had to get rid of everything, not
because I think it's evil or bad, but

the environment was not setting my
children up for success because they

don't know how to work that environment.

I think this is kind of a
common sense principle, right?

You're not gonna give your
eight-year-old child a cell

phone with access to everything.

All the social media they
want all the YouTube, they

want all the TikTok they want.

I mean, we're really not
gonna do that, right?

We're not gonna do that because
there is an environment on there that

they don't know how to navigate yet.

So my children personally don't have
phones and, and won't have phones.

Intel.

Both they and I are in a place where, uh.

We can put in a lot of time and energy
into the educational process and slowly

introduce different environments and
how to be healthy in those environments.

So that was my thing.

I need to get rid of
this current environment.

I need to change it, and so
that there's really no treats.

And I need to help them kind
of clear out that desire of

wanting just sugar all day long.

We, we need to kind of step away from
sugar as much as we can right now.

And so that was step number one.

Step number two was to get rid
of all treats, like all bars, all

just like little really sweet.

Treats, um, and get them, if they
came to me saying they wanted a snack,

I said, you can have some fruit.

That was it.

Because another problem is they were
trying and they would sneak into the

cupboard too and get all of these
snacks and everything, and then

they wouldn't want to eat dinner.

Or I'd be like, yeah,
you can have that snack.

So then they just kind of freely
ate and then they would barely

touch dinner, and then half an hour
later be like, well, I'm hungry.

Well, yeah, of course they're
not going to eat their meals.

They were snacking all day long.

So I decided I'm gonna show them what
I do right now with my own clients.

Eat large meals, large nutrient-dense
meals, minimize all snacking.

So I'm going to introduce to my
children what I do for myself

and my clients right now.

So I got rid of all of those, all chips.

Now I did keep my popcorners.

They're not sweet and they don't
have that same satisfaction as

regular chips where you can just
keep eating, eating, eating, eating.

A lot of them are not like that.

The ones that we have in our home aren't.

And so I kept those and my children
could take those to school.

Those were not a snack to be had at home.

So then I put them on a schedule of meals.

We have breakfast.

You go to school, you eat
the lunch, you come back.

We can have a meal when you get back from
school 'cause they're usually hungry.

So this is kind of like a smaller meal.

You could call it a snack, but it's
something that's gonna be large

enough to hold them till dinner.

And if in between that they
still want something, we always

tell them you can have fruit.

And then after dinner, if they're
like, oh, I, I, I'm still hungry.

You should have had more dinner.

You can have fruit.

Since we've done this before,
the children just kind of knew.

We talked to 'em about this.

Explained why we were doing it,
and which really, really helped.

We are getting on board.

I am loving it.

We are back to our children eating meals.

I do wanna talk about one other thing.

What do I do as far as vegetables, because
I have kids that don't like vegetables.

To be completely honest, I'm,
I'm not a huge vegetable eater.

I don't really enjoy them.

Um, I do it more because like, I know
I need to eat it, but that's really

hard to have your kids do that.

So, as far as greens and vegetables
and, and try like, think what is the

purpose of having greens and vegetables?

The purpose is, in my opinion, to give
your, your children variety in their diet.

Uh, so I will have it on the table.

If they eat it great.

I try to at least
encourage them to try it.

But the other main reason is because
we want them to have the, the

nutrients and the vitamins, right?

Well, fruit also has
nutrients and vitamins.

They may not have as much as
vegetables, but they still have

'em and they have antioxidants.

And so I will now put fruit
on the table for every dinner.

I love watching my children
just eat, uh, a serving of

the, the meal that I have and.

Gobble up their grapes or the, the
cantaloupe or the bananas or the

strawberries or the blueberries or the
raspberries, like I feel like, do you

know what, at least they are getting
nutrients and vitamins from there.

I have other children who will
have three servings of greens.

Two days ago, green beans, my
daughter Elsie, three servings

of them, she loved them.

My other daughter won't touch
them, and so I'm like, do you know?

I'm just grateful she is
eating these blueberries and

raspberries with her dinner.

I.

So that's something that I've started
doing is if the goal really is to

help them get more nutrients to help
them get more variety in their diet,

we can do that through fruits too.

We'll be encouraging healthy
whole foods still, right?

Um, so that's one thing
that I've started doing.

Another thing that I've started
doing is asking them like,

what kind of meals do you like?

What do you prefer?

And getting their input.

So as I get their input, then I take
that and I make healthier versions.

Sometimes it's a hit and a
success, and sometimes it's not.

But I have stopped making
more than one meal.

I, I don't know if, if you've
ever done this before, but your

children won't eat the meal.

And so I told them, fine, then go
and make your own chicken nuggets,

then just get something to eat.

I'm not gonna make another meal.

And I thought that that was a good step
in the right direction, which I think

it was making them like make their own,
like if you want something else, then

you can, but I'm not making another meal.

Well.

I finally stopped doing that.

I, I finally realized I am training
them or they are training me,

actually, and we are wasting food.

So I stopped doing that and I
started telling 'em like, there are

meals that I make that I'm like,
Ooh, I'm not a big fan of this.

I don't like it.

I'm not gonna make it again.

But it's the food that
we have and so I will.

Eat it and I'll, I have sides that
I can enjoy too, but I have stopped

saying it's okay to get another meal
and everything's a battle at first.

Everything.

If you think that your kids are gonna
be like, okay, mom, sounds great,

then you are in for disappointment
and high levels of frustration.

It's just not gonna happen.

They're, they're gonna fight you.

And, and it's not that that's a bad thing.

They're pushing boundaries.

That's actually part of
maturing and growing.

That's how the brain works.

I'm gonna push to see what
I can get, kind of thing.

You do it.

Maybe the tactics are a little different
than your children's, but you still do it.

So we can't be upset with our children
doing something that's actually natural

for human development, but we can
decide to be the parent and we can

decide to be the adult and not let them
and, and hold your ground and say, no.

Now what I've just shared may
not work for a lot of people.

And some people may be like, oh, that's
gonna, that'll, that'll be great.

Remember what I said?

Everything is about trying something
out, seeing what works, what

doesn't, and learning how to pivot.

Okay?

The same is true with your children, but
you cannot try something once and then be

like, oh, it didn't work for my family.

Seriously?

That's like eating one
salad and being like, what?

Well, I didn't lose
weight, so doesn't work.

You have to be consistent.

That is the most important thing.

So let me just kind of go over a
quick list of just kind of what

I've already talked about, just
main takeaways on this subject.

The quick list of what has stuck before,
and then we kind of got out of it because

of holidays and everything and travel.

And now going back to it,
it's feeling really good.

I mean, it feels so good yesterday.

I made dinner and, and we're talking
about healthy, it was lasagna,

35 grams of protein per serving.

And because we had been putting our
foot down and not allowing them to

snack all day, and if they wanted
to snack, then I would cut up

some, they could have some carrots.

They could have some apples.

And I just put my foot down on that.

And um, and so when they sat down.

They were actually hungry for the meal.

My daughter, Elsie, ate three servings.

Hazel and Link had two.

And then afterwards, probably about
an hour and a half right before

bed, they were like, no, I'm hungry.

It was probably two
hours right before bed.

Oh, I'm hungry.

And he said, okay, then we'll cut up
an apple or let me cut up some fruit.

That's what we had.

So let me go through
this, this quick list.

Fruit at every dinner.

Like that has really worked for my kids
to get them more nutrients, more variety.

Two, they help me choose the recipe.

I even show them pictures.

Um, and then I also get feedback
on whether it's a keeper or not.

And it's interesting because the longer
they stay away from the highly processed

foods and treats and snacks, the more they
say yes to the healthier food options.

But also I really do try to
hear what they have to say.

Like, they really like hamburgers.

So once a week we have hamburgers and I
make them out of 96% lean ground beef.

It's nothing fancy.

Just season them up, grill them up.

We have that once a week
and they're so excited.

They, they all love their hamburgers.

Okay.

So, so I really do take their feedback
and I love even getting on Pinterest,

and they really like chicken nuggets.

Well bare chicken nuggets are actually
really good, and we air fry them

so they can have their, you know,
chicken nuggets once a week and I'll

take that and, and throw it in a
salad or or get creative with that.

But I do like to show them that
I care what they think and I'm

dinner's not just for me, but I do
also explain to 'em, look, I need.

I need you to eat healthy too.

I need you to fuel your body, right.

Another thing is my kids are at the age
nine 10 where I have started telling them,

um, to help out with the cooking process.

When they help make the food,
they usually are a lot different

in their reaction to it.

Like I said, not letting them
snack throughout the day, getting

them used to eating larger meals.

And then, like I said, getting
rid of all of the treats.

It is, it is so hard, but it is
really cool after a few weeks to

watch them love eating fruit and
that's like a treat for them.

Or I will make my, uh, protein
ice cream and I make it for them

too, because they just love it.

That's a big treat that
they get once a week.

You know, growing up we didn't have
treats every single day like that.

That's mind blowing that we do
that now because growing up.

I didn't know about you
guys, but we didn't do that.

Maybe once a week

my mom made a dessert.

Um, school didn't provide
treats for us every week.

Church didn't provide
treats for us every week.

This is like a thing that I'm seeing
in these younger generations that

is just kinda mind blowing to me.

I don't like it.

And so I'm gonna try to really push
back and even when I'm in church

callings, I try to push back on it.

And I try to encourage.

Don't use treats, or even ask the
parents if it's okay, because maybe

the parents are like, no, I don't
want you bringing 12 cookies to my

child every week just to sit through
church or school or something, right?

So, anyways, these are things that
have really, really, really helped me.

But the first few weeks are, I always
get big pushback and then it's like their

palate gets used to the, the lower treats.

Do you know we have
cereal every once a week?

And do you know what I do?

I buy this cereal from Trader
Joe's because it's not as sweet.

So they get this kick, but they don't
wanna keep having bowl after bowl after

bowl after bowl, and then they don't
wanna be snacking on it all day long.

It's like one bowl with some fruit and
an egg, and they're like, yep, I'm set.

I'm done.

So choosing the lower sweetened options
and getting them used to it, their

palate used to it, and ours need to
get used to those things as well.

So I have really enjoyed the past
few weeks watching my kids go

back to eating full meals again.

Back to eating more
healthy with minimal sugar.

They usually don't fight as much.

Their energy levels are so
much better throughout the day.

Um, so it really, really helps not
just physically, but even mentally.

Even emotionally, how they show up.

So I, it's something that I really wanna
strongly encourage each one of you

to look at the food culture in your
family, and maybe what I do isn't right

for you, but just looking and seeing
what can I change by just 1% today, by

just 1% today and then in a few weeks.

What can I change 1% today?

Right?

Just have that mentality of just little
changes and include your family in on it.

You really can.

You can include them in and say, this
is what we've been doing and it's

not working, so like what can we do?

This is what I think is going to be
best and we're gonna try it out, kind

of having those, those family councils.

I hope you guys have a wonderful, I
know this wasn't like entirely fitness

related or training related or, or
whatever, but last, uh, I've actually

had a lot of people asking me if I
could speak more on my lifestyle and

my family and how I've been able to
incorporate health and fitness into

my family more and just life balance.

Life balance.

Because life is so much
more than a six pack, right?

It's so much more.

I mean, prs feel great in the gym,
but life is so much more than that.

And there are other prs that
we can hit outside of the gym

and, and my encouragement to you
would be, what are the PRS that

you wanna see outside the gym?

What are some personal best that
you wanna see with your family?

Or even how you show up with your
family, so that you can enjoy your

family more, and life so much more.

Anyways, I hope you guys
have a wonderful week.

I will talk to you later.