Tasty Tuesday BONUS: Menu Planning and Shopping List for Paleo/Slow Carb w/ Vegetarian Options w/Recipes

Making a Meal Plan for a Variety of Eating Habits

I am very thankful that my children are fairly open to trying new things, and they are all used to eating healthy foods.  I'm proud of the fact that my children (for the most part) have taken control of their health, researched the things that are important to them and made choices that they believe and adhere to.  Because of that, I am more than happy to work with them to encourage and support their nutritional choices, even when they aren't the same as my own.  Even if it takes a little bit more work... its well worth it, to me.

I'm not about scheduled meals or a strict "meal plan", but I like to have the options organized so that everyone knows what there is to eat.  I make a large batch of food so that we have leftovers and all of my kids know how to cook, so if they're hungry, they don't have to wait for someone else to make it for them.  I like to make a two week meal plan, then make a grocery list to go with each plan.  Then I can choose a meal plan whenever it sounds good and have the shopping list to go with it.

Link to Meal Plan A

Grocery List for Meal Plan A

So, that's how it works for me.  I make a list of meals, then go through and make a list of groceries.  Fortunately, we almost always have the staples on hand, so it doesn't dent the budget too much (although this time, our cupboards were pretty bare, so the bill was higher than I'd like!).

How do you organize your meal planning and grocery shopping?  My favorite part about this method is that 2 or 3 months from now when I'm really swamped and busy, I can just reprint this exact plan and go shopping again without having to hunt down recipes and whatnot!

Links to some of the above mentioned recipes (Some I haven't tried yet, but I'll post them on my Tasty Tuesdays or Foodie Fridays for you as soon as I do!):

Mexican Soup (aka Taco Soup)

Chicken Onions & Spinach

Salmon Patties

Enchiladas (although this week, we're buying canned sauce)

Smoothies (and check back later today for my "Tasty Tuesday" Smoothie recipe)

Sweet Potato Oven Fries

Let me know if you have any questions!  I've been doing this for so long, I tend to forget that there are things I should explain!

Parenting & Weight Loss... Not Letting my own past Poison my Daughters' Self Image

Parenting Moment:

My 14 year old daughter has been my most consistent gym companion (my husband was sick last week and injured this week).  It has been really nice to workout with her and have the opportunity to discuss health, body types, self image, fitness and nutrition.  It has been a good opportunity to discuss the difference between people as well.  Body types, fitness goals & strengths,dietary needs, etc.  She is a vegetarian and has recently chosen to cut out sugar (which led to an almost immediate 100% clearing up of her skin!) and I'm a no grains, Paleo leaning type.  

After growing up and struggling with such a severely messed up self/body image, I love that we can discuss all of these things without it having to be a "fat/skinny/attractive" thing, but a health conscious, individual preference and CHOICE.  I love that. Love it.

I don't claim to have done everything 100% in the parenting department, but I think I've done fairly well in this, and I'm really really proud of my kids for taking the initiative on their own to learn more, make a change in their eating habits and take care of themselves.  They are pretty awesome people, even for *gasp* Teenagers!

Me Moment:

I'm still being good about tracking workouts.  (YAY ME!) You can see how I'm switching things up a little.  To be honest, as far as leg workouts go, I was STILL sore from last Wednesday's leg workout, so I chose to mix things up a little bit.  With the little bit of cardio added in tonight, I was dripping with sweat before we were even half done!

I think its a great thing to mix things up "keep the body guessing" ala Gordon on Dodgeball.  I LOVE that movie:)

Rewards for Reaching Goals

How do you reward yourself for reaching weight loss/fitness goals?

In the past when I've set goals, I always had trouble with rewards.

I don't want to reward with new clothes, because I plan on continuing to shrink!

I don't want to reward with food because I'm trying to get out of the mindset that food=reward.

So, I've decided to set some short term goals, and make a list of things that I would like to reward myself with.

GOALS By the end of January:

• 90 second plank
• 10 push--ups
• 30 minutes on elliptical HIIT without dying :)
• 35% body fat (I'm at 40% right now and OUCH, does that hurt!!!  I'm not sure how attainable this is, in 2 1/2 weeks but I need to start somewhere!)

Reward:  Hair Cut!  (I haven't had a professional hair cut since... my 40th birthday a year and a half ago!  I always cut it myself, but right now it looks crappy)

Future Reward Ideas:
Take a burlesque fitness class
Take a pole dance fitness class
Buy a new workout dvd/set (T-Tapp is one I really want, Insanity, etc.)

I got my new body fat analyzer today. At his request, I got my 17 year old son's results and said, "Well, that's pretty good..."

"For a GIRL"

He just laughed, but as I was walking back to the living room when he yelled out, "Wait! A HOT girl?"

Lol.