Hello everyone! I hope your summer is going well so far. Last week our family was hit with a stomach bug and we went down one at a time. I thought I was going to be spared but just as the kids were back to their energetic selves I caught it (though less severe). But we are all feeling better and enjoying the lax schedule that is summer.
This week I’m trying a new chicken burrito recipe and will be roasting some summer veggies for pasta night. I hope to end the week grilling some turkey burgers but Fridays can be a wild card, depending on how we are feeling. As always, check Org Junkie for more meal planning inspiration.
Monday: Slow Cooker Sante Fe Chicken Burritos
Tuesday: Pasta Primavera with roasted summer veggies
Wednesday: Kids’ Choices
Thursday: Salmon Sticks with baked fries and salad
Friday: Turkey Burgers with feta, corn on the cob and fruit
More from Cooking Light
Simplifying my home
Lately, I’ve been focused on simplifying my home, going through and giving away stuff we don’t use. This all came about one day when it took forever to get the kids out of the house and I ended up late to work and I was so late I couldn’t find a parking space and once I did park I couldn’t find my work badge. You get the picture. TOTAL CHAOS.
I have to come clean on a few things. First, running a home is not something that comes easy to me. In fact, I consider myself domestically challenged. Second, we have a small place, so it’s easy for things to pile up and get lost.
For a long time, I always blamed this chaos on my lack of organization skills but I’m realizing that having too much stuff plays a huge role. So I’m going through each room in the house with a critical eye. I’m no longer keeping old toys just in case we have a family over with a baby or toddler. I just went through my daughter’s art stuff and realized that we could have opened a crayon shop we had so many. And am I really going to wear that purple velvet top I got in my twenties? It just makes sense to give a good portion of these unused things to someone who really needs them.
I also want to focus on simplifying mealtime too. I don’t want to spend my evenings doing dishes when I could be enjoying the kids or going for a walk. The nights I do keep it simple, everyone seems happier. And I can actually allow my hubby to do the dishes because he’s a bit slow (but more thorough) than me. I’ve been heading this way for a while but am really doing to dive into simplified meals. You’ll hear more about this!
Anyone with me on this?
In the News
There’s been a lot of news about whether or not obesity should be classified as a disease. In this WebMD post, I get into the pros and cons. On the one hand, it could mean more coverage and counseling for struggling people. On the other hand, “medicalizing” obesity could mean drugs and treatments overtake healthy lifestyle changes. And let’s not forget the unreliability of BMI as a tool, the fact that people can be healthy at higher BMIs and the stigma that could make it all worse.
A study in the June issue of JAMA Pediatrics looked at the effect parental conversation about weight had on disordered eating in adolescents. The moms and dads who had conversations that were “weight-centered” had children who were more likely to use unhealthy weight practices (such as dieting and binge eating). But the conversations that were more “health-focused” ended up having a protective effect against disordered eating practices.
I’ve seen it many times in my years as a dietitian. People who overly focus on weight choose more extreme diets that cause quick weight loss, but the weight comes back, sometimes more than before. The cycle of weight gain and loss continues and health, both mental and physical, is compromised.
What do you think about all of this? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Love the simplifying in all aspects of life. I would love to hear more about how you will do it at meal time. Good luck.
Thanks Jessica. I will be posting more about simple meals!
The simplifying portion of your post really resonated with me. I work full time & feel like I don’t want to waste time with meal prep, clean up when we can be doing other fun things. I try to plan ahead & use the crockpot. Although I want to maintain variety to expose my son to new flavors and cuisines. It really tough, so I’m up to hearing your suggestions too!! Love your blog & ideas. I’m an RD too & it’s do interesting how your experiences are so similar to my thoughts & feelings raisin my little one.
Thanks Jen! I appreciate it! I think a lot of parents feel this way. You want to provide a variety of good food but you want to do it in a way that doesn’t keep you in the kitchen all night. I definitely will be posting more about this!
This gal finally got the message and doesn’t use the word diet. We eat mostly for health. I’ve really reduced our intake of processed foods, lessen dairy and sugar in exchange of whole foods, fresh vegetables, fruits.
I really enjoy cooking from scratch too.
I hope you have a wonderful and delicious week.
I always try to cook with the intent of having leftovers. While I don’t always want to eat leftovers, it makes it a lot easier to give healthy meals every night of the week and still have time to spend with my 3 year old girl and 1 year old twin boys. Cooking in this fashion has helped me provide healthy food to my little family admits the daily chaos!
Love the idea of simplifying. We are moving into a smaller place, by choice, because I’m tired of spending hours cleaning rooms in a house we hardly ever use. I also lie the idea of staying health centered rather than weight centered when discussing food and planning meals 🙂