Easy and Healthy Snack for you (and the kids)

On August 7th of last year, I shared with you a healthy and fun snack that my daughter and I discovered (see that post for the recipe). Well, we have added onto the original idea and thought I would share the enhanced version with you. What is great about this snack -- is that it's great for moms and dads! (As well as the kids).
1. Slice some fruit, any kind will do -- apples, strawberries, bananas, pineapples, cantaloupes, grapes (no slicing necessary), etc
2. In separate bowls put yogurt and all natural peanut butter -- this could get messy, but it is fun.
3. In a few more bowls add colored sprinkles, semisweet choco chips, granola, chopped nuts (find in baking section or chop yourself), colored sugar, etc.
4. Now, dip, dip and dip away. You may have to use a spoon or finger to smear the peanut butter if it does not stick.
5. Make sure to leave some for the kids.
I usually have everything sitting out and ready to eat and share when the kiddos get home from school. Try it!

Tips for eating Halloween candy

Here are some tips to cut down on eating too much candy --
-- Dump the candy on the floor with the kids and create a pile of your favorites (both you and your children).
-- Throw away (or donate to your child's daycare treasure box or good manners award chest) all candy that does not make it into your favorite piles.
-- Keep 5 pieces of your favorites for yourself -- again, either throw away or donate the rest of your pile.
-- For the kids, give each 5 Ziploc bags and let them put three pieces in each bag (this assumes the candies are snack size - if they are full size, then just one per bag).
-- Each day (for a total of 5 days, they do not have to be consecutive days) they can enjoy a bag -- Make sure they balance the treat with something healthy like nuts or fruit (that also goes for mom).

Eating like my kids

This week I am going to eat just like I usually try to feed my kids (I am not perfect). So, today at 6:45am I actually sat with my children and ate oatmeal and a drinkable yogurt for breakfast. I then sent my daughter to school with snacks, sunflower seeds, mandarin orange cup, banana and water, which I also ate throughout the morning before lunch. For breakfast, I normally would have eaten an energy bar and drinkable yogurt (one without high fructose corn syrup) in the car while driving the kids to school and would not have eaten again until 1pm because of my work. For lunch, I ate at the same time as my children did at school, 11:30 am, and had a sunflower seed butter and natural jelly sandwich on whole wheat bread, raw almonds, an all natural fruit leather (FruitaBu) and milk (I had skim, they had 1%). At the end of the day, I will run a nutrition analysis on how we ate and will report back.