Eating Mistakes Busy Moms Make – And How to Avoid Them

Moms are busy. From the moment we wake up until our head hits the pillow, we are running a million different directions. We’re changing diapers, helping the 2-year-old go potty on the toilet, getting the elementary-schooler dressed and out the door, and then to music class, ballet, soccer, baseball, dance, and swimming…

As a new mother of two busy girls, I realized that that I was relying a little too much on convenience foods like PB&J, macaroni and cheese and packaged fruit snacks. There wasn’t a shortage of healthy lunch ideas for kids on Pinterest, and trust me, I had pinned most of them!

I had good intentions, but I kept falling back into the same patterns. I kept thinking, “If only I had more time.”

To make matters worse, I kept reading quotes like: “The quality of nutrition given to a child plays an important role in the future development of mind and body.”  Can anyone say, “Mom guilt?”

But my problem wasn’t a lack of time. It was a lack of planning.

I didn’t have a plan for snacks, lunches or even dinners. I often defaulted to eating out because I didn’t think I had time to cook.

Eating Mistakes Busy Moms Make - and how to avoid themGood Organization = Good Nutrition
Good nutrition comes down to planning. Choose one day a week when you plan the meals for the next week. Buy or print out a calendar that you hang on the fridge and use just for meal planning, and sit down with your recipes and your grocery list. It might take you an hour or two that first day, but it will be time well spent.

As moms, we are the primary shopper and actually control what foods go into our house. Think about that. You are in control of what food is in your house and the foods your family eats at home. Look at it this way: you’ve got to keep gas in your car to keep it running. In the same way, the foods you eat should give your body the energy it needs to make it through each day.

Here are a few small steps you can take to give your body the fuel it needs through the nutrients in our food. 

Start with Dinner
Whether you call it dinner or supper, start with planning healthy evening meals. This is the one meal of the day when the whole family can gather around the table and eat together. I know, there may be times when that isn’t possible, but whenever you can, make a family evening meal happen.

Tips for Healthy Dinners

  • Cook once. Eat twice. Cook a double batch and freeze half of it for an easy meal later that month.
  • Pick up a couple of rotisserie chickens, remove the meat and keep it in the freezer.  Cooked chicken can be added to soups, rice, casseroles, salads and almost anything else!
  • Try a themed tradition such as Meatless Mondays or Taco Tuesdays. This can give you a framework for planning your meals and simplify your choices on that day of the week.
  • Break out your Crock-Pot and try some new recipes. Crock-Pot recipes allow you to throw in your ingredients in the morning or at lunch and have your meal ready when you come home for dinner.
  • Make mini meatloaves and freeze them. You can warm them up and add veggies for a quick dinner.
  • Never cook just one pound of ground beef. If you’re cooking it for one meal, cook at least one more pound so it’s ready for another meal.
  • Ask your friend for their “staple” meals. Their staple may become yours!
  • Search Pinterest for healthy new dinner ideas.

Make a Plan for Lunch
Healthy lunches can be simple with just a little planning. If you feel like you’re stuck in the PB&J rut, pick up a few of those divided lunch containers that give you 3-4 compartments to fill and a few silicone cupcake liners to divide up the space even more.

Tips for Healthy Lunches

  • Pick a protein or two (meats, cheeses, nuts, hummus, hard boiled egg)
  • Add a fruit and some veggies (berries, oranges, grapes, apples, carrots, sugar snap peas, sliced cucumbers, broccoli, dried fruit, or cherry tomatoes)
  • Throw in a grain (crackers, pretzels, English muffin)
  • Use cookie cutters to make it fun! You can cut bread, cheese, meat and veggies into fun shapes with cookie cutters.)
  • Make up a salad. The trick for making a salad ahead of time without getting a soggy mess is not allowing the lettuce to touch the dressing. Put the dressing, nuts and hardier veggies on the bottom.  Then put the lettuce on top.  You can make up several salads in glass jars and grab one on your way out the door!

Snack Right
Instead of paying so much more for pre-packaged, processed foods in small bags, make up some of your own. Keep them in the fridge or in a cooler in your car if you know you’ll be on the go.

Tips for Healthy Snackin’

  • LARA Bars – These fruit and nut bars are just that: fruit and nuts. They have no added sugar or questionable add-ins.
  • Nuts
  • Smoothie – You can put almost anything into a smoothie these days, and they taste great!
  • Fruits and veggies: Clementine’s, grape clusters, carrot sticks
  • Apple slices dipped in almond butter
  • Ants on a log: Celery sticks with almond butter and raisins
  • Unsweetened applesauce with cinnamon
  • Yogurt
  • Cheese and crackers

We all know which foods are healthy and which are not. The key to eating better is making a plan to have healthy foods available when we need them. Start today by making a plan for next week. Schedule that hour to plan your meals.  You may even need to put it on your calendar, but write it down.

Remember, good nutrition starts with planning.

Disclosure: Kansas City Moms Blog received compensation in exchange for this guest post.

About the author: Amy Lucas works hard with Fulk Chiropractic to educate the Kansas City community on the importance of healthy living. Fulk Chiropractic’s 12 doctors specialize in chiropractic care for women and children.  They provide effective chiropractic care to Olathe, Overland Park and the entire Kansas City Metro area. Open 7 days a week, they provide chiropractic treatment when their patients need it most.

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