Who doesn’t know this? Every year during the Christmas holidays we eat nice meals and delicious desserts with our families and afterwards we like to make our New Year‘s Resolutions! One common resolution is Diet!
However, this is a challenging task, especially for parents who, with childcare, don’t always find time to focus entirely on themselves. However, we are bringing some tips that might help you and your loved ones!
Cookies, gingerbread, mulled wine, and then a three-course meal? No problem, because especially at Christmas time our stomachs seem to stretch immeasurably.
But only apparently. What’s more, the cold season often banishes us to the warm inside, to the cozy couch. Less movement with increasing food intake does not remain without consequences, and so the pounds add up quickly.
Now, of course, it would be possible to simply start a new diet and exercise more, but that’s easier said than done. Everyday family life is often stressful and complicated: working from home often clashes with homeschooling, daycare is closed once again, our kids love sweets, but we want to cook healthily every day.
Porridge for the very young, snacks for the older ones, a hot meal for the whole family, and then a special program for the diet?! In the chaos between work, pandemic, household and childcare, me-time easily falls by the wayside. That’s why we’ve put together three family-compatible tips for you:
1. Combine exercise with childcare. Try to incorporate sports and exercise into your daily routine as much as possible. Not everything works for everyone, but here are a few suggestions:
walk or cycle with your kids to daycare/school, the same goes for daily walks to the grocery store, friends, appointments. Use a cargo bike instead of the car. Incorporate gymnastics exercises into your daily routine (2 minute sit-ups, push-ups or squats while you wait for the kettle to boil).
Regular walking with a stroller or, starting at six months, jogging with a jogging stroller, are also nice activities to do together. It is important to drink plenty of fluids while doing so. Replace juices or soft drinks with water; the carbohydrates hidden here can be easily avoided.
2. Cook fresh. Cooking starts with shopping. What you don’t have at home, you can’t eat. This sounds banal, but it’s important because, as we all know, opportunity makes the thief. Basically, what’s good for kids is good for you. That means you don’t have to cook two or three different meals a day. For your children you probably look for fresh organic ingredients, lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lots of fibre and balanced nutrients.
So reduce fatty, sweet, or very salty convenience foods for yourself too. A delicious potato-vegetable mash for the little ones, combines well with a piece of fish for the older ones.
3. Establish fixed habits: you can really achieve long-term success if you succeed in turning the first small steps into a habit. This way you don’t even have to think about it anymore and automatically reach for the carrot, for example.
This will make it easier for you to fight against your inner demons, and the best thing is: fixed habits remain in place even in stressful situations. Get your partner and the whole family on board so that everyone pulls together, supports, and motivates each other.
Finally, if you need a handy and delicious food for your little one, you can always count on us; in all of our products we take care of the details to provide the best nutrition for your family!
