It's impossible to eat that many fruits and veggies!

Okay,  before we move on to another topic, I thought I'd write one more entry on healthy eating. In the prior post I suggested you try improving your diet by focusing on eating 5-10 servings of fruits and/or vegetables each day. Often this advice is met with the response that with a hectic, working, "real" life that includes kids with different after-school activities, this is impossible. Well, I have that life, too, so I thought I'd give you some specific examples of how it IS possible! Here is what a typical school day in our home looks like:

First, the kid menu. Our two daughters have different preferences, so I'll list them both:

BREAKFAST: ( Kid #1) oat squares & Silk milk and a banana; drink: water 

(Kid #2) Toast (white wheat) with spray butter & bowl of blueberries; drink: Silk milk (kids are lactose intolerant, this is no slam on regular milk)

LUNCH: (Kid #1) Ham on white wheat bread, mandarine oranges, a cut up apple, and two homemade cookies (or one of the 100 kcal pre-packaged cookies)

(Kid #2) PB&J sandwich on white wheat bread, snap peas and mandarine oranges, cookies as above; plus she has a morning snack at school which is usually grapes or a cut-up apple

AFTER SCHOOL SNACK: (Kid #1- still at school because of post-school activities)  Fiber One Bar (chocolate is her favorite) or a Chewy granola bar

(Kid #2- at home) - often we make a smoothie- usually a banana, frozen strawberries and vanilla yogurt

DINNER: Chicken (baked nuggets if we're in a hurry), applesauce, broccoli (the bag that you throw in the microwave for 3 minutes.)

DESSERT: vanilla  frozen yogurt served over a sliced banana with a dollop of Cool Whip on top

ME:

BREAKFAST: vanilla yogurt with a serving of thawed frozen raspberries and 1/8 c Bran Buds (cereal) and a tablespoon of Cool whip  (if I'm in a hurry ) OR a scrambled egg with some onion, mushrooms, & tomato tossed in (I'm too lazy to make an omelette, so I throw the veggies in first with some olive oil, and when they are soft in a couple minutes, I add in the egg.)

SNACK: every work day, I take two sliced apples and a small serving of cashews or almonds or a cheese stick, and I eat that mid- morning so I'm not ravenous at lunch time.

[As the seasons change, I may take  mini carrots or grapes, but it has to be something quick that I can throw in a ziplock bag or tupperware container . I use one of those apple slicers that look like a wagon wheel to make it easy to cut up the apples.]

LUNCH: At work- two servings of salad or whatever vegetable might be available and one serving of the entree; if I'm at home, my standby currently is to heat up the skillet, add a tablespoon or so of olive oil, and toss in cut up onion (usually half of a large onion), shredded carrots (I love these, so roughly a cup), mushrooms (three or four), and whatever else I've got that appeals to me that day- some broccoli, snap peas, or zucchini, for example- and then some black beans (love the organic HEB brand) and some brown rice (around a cup). (I make the rice one day, and then stick it in a tupperware container in the fridge for the rest of the week). If we had chicken or beef the night before, I'll toss in some of that for extra protein.

After school snack with the kids: Love the smoothies!

Dinner: I try to put a green salad or at least a sliced whole tomato as an extra veggie; I aim to have a fruit and a veggie for the kids along with the main dish. This is very often applesauce for the fruit, and steamed broccoli or carrots for the veggie. 

Dessert: Our version of the banana split OR a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich OR a glass of wine!

BOTTOM LINE: Go back and do the math- it IS possible to get in the 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables per day IF you give it priority, think about it in the grocery store, and use the quick and easy products- frozen fruit, single serving applesauce/peaches/fruit cups or carrots/celery, or the pop in the microwave bags of broccoli, green beans, or mixes with cauliflower & carrots.