As I like to say, life has been getting in the way of healthy eating around here.  Between the hours I spend sitting and reading to my kids, and the hours I spend sitting and working at the computer, it’s been a little too much sitting, and I could feel some extra pounds piling on.  And then there was just not feeling like eating healthy stuff.  It’s funny, though.  In teaching my online classes I managed to inspire myself to Get Back On That Horse.

Last week I stopped into Kroger.  It’s not where I usually shop both because of location and price, but that’s what I was near when I needed to pick up some supplies.  I ended up hitting the jackpot there:

Organic spinach and lettuce marked down to cheaper than non-organic (I got one pound of each!!)

grapes (68 cents a pound), celery, and cherry tomatoes also marked down

organic vanilla yogurt marked down to cheaper than non-organic

and organic milk marked down to cheaper than non-organic!  (for a mighty long time I only bought dry milk since it only use it in baking and cooking.  But lately the price for the dry milk has almost doubled.  So I decided to experiment for awhile with buying the organic milk.  I froze most of what I brought home.  I used little snack size ziploc bags to do this since I don’t use that much at a time, and I think it will be fairly easy to thaw out.)

Then there were a couple of sweet sales on top of that!

(Most of the marked down items were because the food was getting close to their expiration date.  Since we have eight people here, I don’t hesitate to buy up stuff like that.  There’s no doubt in my mind that my kids will be glad to eat up bargain grapes in a day or two.  :))

So I came home ready to force myself to eat salads.  Lots and lots of salads.  Because two pounds of spinach and mixed baby lettuces is A WHOLE LOTTA salads.

Seriously–I use a 10-cup bowl for my salads.  I put in a big handful (or two) of spinach, a big handful of lettuce, some cherry tomatoes, some chopped up sweet peppers,  some salad sprinkles, some salsa, and a little bit of chopped up turkey.  These are BIG salads.  And the amount of greens I use doesn’t even hardly make a dent in the supply I bought.  Ha!  But I was loving it that I was having salads again.  I always wonder why I fell off the wagon in the first place, because my salads are so, SO yummy.  It makes me feel great to have something so healthy and satisfying in the middle of the day.  Usually that’s all I need for lunch.  Often I’ll have a second salad for dinner.  If I want an evening snack, I can have a salad without feeling “guilty” for pigging out late at night.

Since I was concerned that even with eating my mega salads the stuff might get yukky, I decided to experiment with making a green smoothie since my friend Sarah recommended it.  Basically, I put two handfuls of greens through my juicer (you could just do it in a blender) and then added a banana, an apple, and some frozen strawberries.  It looks kind of scary, but it was actually pretty good.  I ate it with a spoon, because it was too thick to make it through a straw.  Next time I will use more berries and fewer greens, and I think I will be able to get my kids to eat it.  (they tried it, said they liked it, but didn’t want to eat any more of it.  And my wonderful, non-picky husband Dave tried it and said it tasted “very healthy” and humored me by eating about 4 spoons of it, and then said he was done.  :)  Obviously I have a little bit of work to do to perfect my green smoothie recipe to make it everybody-friendly!)

After hearing many good things about the Leslie Sansone walking videos for home exercise, I got one out of the library.  I will confess that I sometimes borrow exercise videos or DVDs from the library or netflix, and almost always return them without ever watching them one little bit.  I guess this is just part of my optimistic nature.  :)  Well, this time I actually DID the routine, and it was really, really fun!  The video I got happens to be just a one mile routine, so it only takes about 15 minutes.  You mostly march in place, but also do some side steps, leg lifts, and kicks to spice things up.  Also, in this video there are arm movements to make the workout more aerobic.  If my muscle soreness is any indication, this is a real workout, even if it’s just a mile.

Not being a real exercise enthusiast, I have struggled to find something that I can realistically DO as well as ENJOY.  For a pretty good while last year I worked out at a nearby fitness center, but that just doesn’t fit too well into my life when I have children to teach and care for and a husband that is gone to work!  I like to go for walks, but the kids can’t walk as fast or as far as I like to, so that just ends up being for fun rather than for exercise.  Since I have no trouble finding time for the things I actually LIKE to do, I have been thinking that I need to somehow find an exercise somethingorother that I like doing.

I may have hit the jackpot because I liked this video so much that I’ve done the routine at least once a day since I got it, and decided to not return it to the library today like I was supposed to, because I’m just not ready to part with it yet!  (thankfully, I was able to renew it so now I can keep it until Wednesday)  Netflix has a whole bunch of her DVDs, so I have added a bunch of them to my queue, and plan to start having one on hand all the time.  Yes, I could buy a video, but I find that when you have to listen to the same chatter over and over again, it gets a little annoying.  (my daughter and I already have Leslie-isms that are cracking us up)  Plus, I would like to try out a bunch of her other workouts, including the 2, 3, and 5 miles ones.

So, just a little “keeping it real” here today.  I’m not even close to being perfect.  But I do enjoy it when I have some energy to spend on trying to improve. 

Here’s another great book review.  Many thanks to Christine for taking the time to do it!

Many thanks to Britni for her great review of my book here.  She is working on eating healthier this year, so she shares a lot of menu plans and keeps it real with the ups and downs of trying to eat healthier even when life gets in the way.  You can check out her blog here.

I know that at this time of year a lot of people are wanting to raise money for spring and summer missions trips, summer camps, and all year round people have special needs they could use some extra money for.  I wanted to let you know that I am open to the possibility of helping you reach your goals.  We can set up a super easy fundraiser for you, selling my ebooks!  If you are interested, just email me at Supermom@SupermomsHealthAndWellness.com and I’ll tell you all about it. 

Paula is the winner of the Bee Strong giveaway from the Ultimate Blog Party.  Congratulations!

It’s time for another blog party! Welcome to the fun!

I’m Erica, and this blog is where I focus on health and wellness issues, including stuff related to my business, Supermom’s Health and Wellness. You might enjoy checking out some of my articles that are pretty popular among moms:

Supermom’s Healthy Lemonade recipe: Great for your health, great for weight loss, tastes excellent, kids love it, and –get this– NO SUGAR! (You’ll love it!!)

Read about the two supplements that have given me tons of energy to keep on keepin’ on with my six kids, homeschooling, and running my businesses.

Here’s something I wrote about my children’s liquid multivitamin that we are so pleased with.

Some fun things I have going on right now:

Get a free ebook: The No-Cry Parenting Guide. Yours when you sign up for my free newsletter here.

Listen to my interview with Cindy Rushton, where we talk about healthy eating, without having to go to extremes.

I am also hosting a great sale on my two healthy eating books right now, with 50% of the proceeds going to Zoe Children’s Homes, which is an organization that rescues children from the evils of human trafficking. You can read more about this here.

In celebration of The Ultimate Blog Party, I will be giving one of you a bottle of the wonderful ENERGY GIVING supplement that I love so much, Bee Strong. To be entered into this giveaway you need to leave a comment here telling me what you would do with more energy! Make sure that I have an email address to contact you if you want to win. (Hey–if you’re allergic to bees, this product isn’t one for you. OK?)

You can visit my Baby Boutique Blog here, and my Supermom’s No-Lice Advice blog here. I have giveaways going on at both sites.

Enjoy the party!!

Despite the fact that I have done some writing about healthy eating, there are still a whole bunch of things on the subject that I don’t know or have never tried.  (as one of my instructors at a Certified Natural Health Professional seminar said, “It’s amazing how much I don’t know!”)  One thing I keep hearing about is kefir.  Although people talk about how healthy it is, I will admit that between the name and the look of the stuff, my reaction has been quite negative.  Something that looks thick and milky and lumpy and goes by the name “kefir” just doesn’t call to my taste buds or intellect…..  (True Confessions of Supermom–I have the same squeamish reactions to weird-sounding stuff as everybody else)

However, today I read something that mentioned that kefir could be flavored with lots of different fruits, and that it’s fizzy, like soda.  Although I don’t give my children soda, they certainly have had it at various parties, pot lucks, and so on.  The reference to something soda-like but healthy has gotten my attention.  The kids would probably love it.  (especially if I called it something else)  So, now I am going to TRY to learn how to make kefir, and see how it goes.

I was referred to this site here, being told that it has everything you ever (or never!) wanted to know about kefir.  So, I’m sharing it with you all as well.  Maybe we can learn together.

If you are already a kefir-drinker please do tell us about it.  How does it taste best?  How can I get started with this?

After I tackle my aversion to kefir, I plan to try kombucha, which, again, sounds very disgusting.  (even the description grosses me out, but apparently people are into it, so I guess it’s possible that it might be good.  There’s something about leaving stuff out on the counter to rot for days, and growing bacteria, and all that stuff that strikes me as….counter-intuitive to good parenting or something….)  If I can come up with cool, fun, tasty-sounding names for these, you can be sure that I will present them in ways that make you want to try it, instead of fear that you are about to eat something that one might only experience in an unfortunate display of hospitality on a mission trip somewhere in a third world country…….

I thought it would be fun to start featuring one favorite soap variety each month to give you a discounted way to try something new.

My family just loves all of these natural soaps that are hand made by a talented mompreneur (and personal friend of mine) in the USA. They are very moisturizing, and they smell WONDERFUL!

Cinnamon Stick is one of my new favorites. One side of this soap is soft and smooth, and the other side has ground cinnamon in it, making it naturally exfoliating–which feels SO GOOD and smells yummy enough to eat.

Ingredients: saponified coconut, olive, palm, canola, and castor oil, shea and cocoa butter, cinnamon essential oil, and ground cinnamon

These soaps are very mild and moisturizing, and are made with all-natural ingredients. All of the naturally occurring glycerin is retained during the process of creating the soap, unlike commercial soaps.

Each bar of this soap comes wrapped in fabric that makes it adorable enough to give as a little gift to a special someone.

Check out our Soap of the Month here!

The single most popular recipe I share with other moms is the one for my Healthy Lemonade.  It’s super easy, and so good!  There’s nothing to it:

Take two lemons and squeeze the juice out of them.  (I just use a hand juicer that cost about $2 at the grocery store.)

Put the juice into a two quart pitcher, and then fill it the rest of the way with pure water.

Add 2-4 droppers full of Sweet Leaf Stevia.  You can use the Lemon Drop flavor, which is very popular, the plain (which is great because it’s so versatile), or a fun flavor like Grape, Valencia Orange, or Apricot Nectar.

Stir and enjoy!

Stevia is an herbal sweetener that is much sweeter than sugar, but has zero calories, zero carbs, and a zero glycemic index!  The calories from the lemon juice is approximately 25 calories for the entire pitcher of lemonade.   The lemon water is great for cleaning your liver and gallbladder, for keeping your pH level healthy, and for fighting off kidney and gall stones. My whole family loves this lemonade, including the kids.  We have been able to reduce our juice purchase by 50-75% thanks to drinking this sweet, tasty, and HEALTHY lemonade all the time.  Try it–you’ll love it. 

About 2 weeks ago I read this wonderful book….Supermoms Simple Guide to Healthier Eating What a simply awesome little book!!!! The author really put things into perspective for me. She gives wonderful ways to start eating healthy little by little. Erica has great recipes for beverages, Breakfast and lunch and dinner. Since I have read this book I have been implementing healthier things here and there. Nothing that is overwhelming or extreme…just things that are very doable for me at this time. I highly recommend this book to those who are beginners or those who, like me, know a lot about nutrition but have problems actually implementing those things!!!

You can read the whole review here.  Thanks Amity!