The Start of a Healthier Lifestyle

I have been sick for way too long! I feel like as soon as I get over one illness, I get another. I have now been well for only 10 days during the past month. That is not a good ratio. To combat my seemingly sickly constitution, I have decided to make a conscious effort to eat better and to make time to get more excercise. I am also going to be meeting with a nutritionist next week to help me figure out what else I can do to boost my immune system.

My first step as I am finally feeling better from my recent Flu, was to menu plan for the following week and create my shopping list. I do have a number of healthy cooking cookbooks, as I love to cook and I do try to cook healthy meals. I just had gotten off track of late so need to refocus on this. I pulled out my Heart Smart cookbook by Bonnie Stern and started leafing through the recipes. I decided on the following recipes for this week (as we had a lot of the ingredients already in our freezer):

1. Sweet Chili Chicken
2. Moroccan Meatballs
3. Cod Baked in Tomato Sauce with Onions
4. Penne with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Bocconcini

Most of these recipes are fairly easy so are a good choice. I also want to introduce new flavours for the girls to expand their palate.

Wish me luck on my first week towards eating better. Next step: Join a Gym!!!

Activities, Playdates and More – Managing your Busy Family Life

Managing the many details of family life can often seem more difficult than being an air traffic controller! With my schedule, work, Brett’s schedule and the girls’ schedules to remember along with doctors appointment, dentist appointments and the list goes on; I have had to come up with a number of ways to deal with the inevitable chaos.

1.Menu Planning – By setting aside a small amount of time during the week to menu plan, you can save yourself the hassle of multiple trips to the grocery store by ensuring that all the food you need for the weeks meals and snacks are on hand. It can also save you money as you know what you need and don’t end up buying extra food that may go to waste. It can also help ensure that your family is eating healthy, well-balanced meals instead of choosing whatever is fastest at the last minute.

2.Family Calendar - The use of one master calendar for the whole family is very useful. By having all family members’ schedule in one place can avoid confusion and missed appointments. Your family calendar can not only be used for schedules but also for chores, To Do’s and for leaving notes for other family members. A Family Calendar is an easy way to keep everyone informed about what will be happening on a weekly and monthly basis.


3.Drop the unnecessary – Take a look at your schedule and see if there is anything on it that is not necessary. Is there anything that can be consolidated? A trip to the drugstore can be combined with a trip grocery shopping perhaps? Or perhaps, there is an activity that you have to convince your child to go to that can be eliminated. Are there any tasks that can be delegated to someone else? If you can cut corners with your chores and To Do’s than do it! Our family has invested in a cleaning service twice a month for those extra chores so that I can use this time more wisely on the girls or on work. It is definitely worth it!

4.Ask for HELP – There are a number of ways one can find help with the daily grind whether or not you have family around to help you. Some ways to do this is:
-Carpool/share drop offs pick ups – Find someone at your child’s school who can share pickup and drop off responsibilities. It may only save you 20 minutes at a time but this quickly adds up.
-Share caregiving – Another way to find help is to share caregiving with another parent as well. One day you can pick up their child and have them over for lunch and a playdate in the afternoon. Then you switch.
-Drop off centres – There a number of parent relief centres in Toronto run by the Ontario Early Years Centres. You can drop your child off with them for a few hours to get a break or have time to run errands. Do some research where you live to see if there are any options available to you. While the OEYC drops offs are free, there may also be paid options available as well.

5.Assign tasks to certain days – One of things I struggle with daily is the urge to procrastinate. To combat these urges I find that when faced with an overwhelming to do list (which I often have), it is helpful to assign one or two tasks to each day. For instance, I would assign Tuesday and Thursday to be laundry day. My main focus would be laundry for these days. By doing this, it helps me stay on track and focused and keeps me from being derailed by the enormity of all that must get done.


I welcome any tips you may have for juggling your busy weeks. Comments can be left on our blog post http://www.glowbabyfamily.blogspot.com

The Benefits of Menu Planning

I have been grocery shopping for over 15 years. It’s a weekly chore and for some it is not a favourite task. I however, love grocery shopping. It’s is partly because it is a form of shopping (I’m a bit of a shopaholic), but mainly because the little organizer in me loves the whole process that leads up to the weekly shop.

My favourite part is the menu planning. I love sifting through my many cookbooks to plan what mouth-watering meals I will be making for the week. I usually plan for three to four recipes for each week and write out all the ingredients I will need. I check the fridge and cupboards to figure out what we need to buy and what we already have. I then make sure I have the staples in the house. I always have pasta, spaghetti sauce, hamburgers, hot dogs and other kid friendly items. I then check to see what snack foods we have left and write down what we will need for the week.

This process of menu planning is very important to make sure that I have the right amount of food for my 10 month old, favourites for my 2 ½ year old, lunches for my husband and the right amount of food for our dinners. Aside from my enjoyment of menu planning, there are some very important benefits.

1. Planning saves money – If you stick to your list, you will buy only what you need. You can also plan around coupons and store specials to help with a budget.

2. Making Healthy Choices – By planning ahead and listing healthy options it is much easier to avoid the barrage of unhealthy choices you are faced with in the store

3. Efficiency – By doing a bit of prep work before your trip to the store, you can make your shopping experience much more efficient. You spend your time getting what you need, you have a focus and you won’t waste time trying to decide what to get.

4. Avoid multiple visits to the store – By menu planning, you will only need to go to the store once saving time. This also saves money as the opportunities to buy extra items are limited.

All in all, menu planning may seem like work up front but in the end it saves you time and money. It is definitely worth it!