Monday Motivational Meal

Looking for a fun way to serve up a family-friendly nutritious meal for your loved ones? Why not have a Build Your Own Tacos Night!?! Enjoy right-sized servings on our family-focused dishware, including Kidliga dishes for those precious kids!

 

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10 Healthy Family Meals on a Budget

Family Meals are so important. They are a way for us to spend time together enjoying good food and conversation with our kids. With the busy and demanding lives we lead these days it can be hard to prepare meals that are doable and affordable.

I have found that with a little thought and planning you can make meals that are healthy, budget conscious, and still doable. Buying produce and meats on sale is really helpful. And also with meats it may make a huge difference the cut of meat you choose.

Certain meals lend themselves to being more low cost and budget-friendly like soups, pasta and tacos, as examples. We thought we would look through our Live Vibrant blog to share some of our recipes that are family-friendly and budget-friendly for you to check out and try.

Eggs
Easy Eggs with this Kidliga Kid-Friendly Recipe
Healthy Egg Salad

Burgers
Kitchen Cupboard Tuna Burger
Peppered Turkey Burger

Lasagna
Tasty Meatless Lasagna

Soup
Turkey Bones and Root Soup
Slow Cooker French Onion Soup

Tacos
Build Your Own Tacos
Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Tacos

Bonus link:
Chicken Legs with Yummy Marinade for Grilling

Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!

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Monday Motivational Meal

Family Friendly Confetti Pizza Toast is a fun and healthy way to make quick and easy pizza a family affair. Everyone can build their own from nutritious ingredients. Makes meal prep a snap! Kidliga dishes were made for this super inviting meal! Enjoy!

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Fat shaming, Diabetes shaming, and James Corden

We need to be cheering each other on…not shaming!

People live with the burden of shame and self-blame, especially when it comes to their weight and chronic disease. It is not okay that people live with the shame and frustration of living with a chronic disease that cannot be cured and which others perceive as a flaw or due to a lack of willpower. I recently became aware of the complex emotions related to living with Type1 Diabetes and the shame and blame that T1Ds live with because of how people are so uninformed about this chronic, life-long disease. In a recent Facebook exchange a person living with T1D shared that “My concern is that the majority of the public still associates diabetes with obesity and lifestyle, and does not know there is more than one kind of diabetes. Most children with diabetes are affected with Type 1, and the condition is highly misunderstood. When ties are made generally between kids with diabetes and obesity, it makes me nervous for the T1D kids who do endure judgment and shame from others who don’t understand that it’s an autoimmune disease.”

We have to ask ourselves why it should ever be that important, for someone living with T1D, to make the distinction that T1D is not associated with obesity? Absolutely T1D is not caused by obesity. Truth is that there are kids with T1D who are also overweight or obese. But that is not the only point being made here. More importantly perhaps is that it tells us that fat shaming is alive and well and deeply scarring for children who are already challenged with another chronic disease. No one wants to be labeled fat because it has come to mean you are to blame for your condition or you are weak and have no willpower to correct your slovenly ways. Through the eyes of someone who has grown up with T1D we are able to see how brutal the judgment is for those children as well as kids who live with Type 2 diabetes and/or are living with excess weight. Clearly being labeled fat is the worst of all. No one wants to be associated with that terribleness…

Shaming is harmful. Shaming our kids to feel bad about a chronic disease is not only shameful it is scarring and can leave an open wound that lasts a life time as we can see from the words shared above. It has never been okay to shame others about their weight or a chronic disease they must live with. We do need to talk about how to manage our diseases in a positive and constructive way. This can and must be done in a safe and respectful way. Fat shaming can no longer be allowed…even from others who themselves live with other chronic diseases.

Here is what we need to be talking about…The growth of diabetes in our children has escalated . The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth study, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), found that from 2002 to 2012, incidence, or the rate of new diagnosed cases of type 1 diabetes in youth increased by about 1.8 percent each year. During the same period, the rate of new diagnosed cases of type 2 diabetes increased nearly 3x more quickly, at 4.8 percent. The study included 11,244 youth ages 0-19 with type 1 diabetes and 2,846 youth ages 10-19 with type 2. By 2050 it is estimated that the numbers of children with T1D will triple while the number who live with T2D will quadruple.

James Corden addressed the issue of fat shaming in a humorous as well as insightful way recently on his show. He was calling out Bill Maher for his insensitive comments about the need for more fat shaming. As Mr. Corden points out, obesity is a complex issue and no one has ever benefitted from bullying!

Bottom line…fat shaming and weight bias has no place in a world where kids and adults are living with chronic diseases and working everyday to live life as their healthiest selves. We need to call out the shamers and support those who face each day wanting to manage their diseases and weight successfully. We need to be cheering each other on…not shaming.

We need to support those facing their diseases and weight each day wanting to live life as their healthiest selves.

Download Our Free eBook:
Emotional Barriers to Sustained Weight Loss Success

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Monday Motivational Meal

Thinking about making some chili this fall season? You know what would make this even better? These delicious cornbread muffins are the perfect pairing. They look scrumptuous served up on any Livliga pattern!

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Kids, Diabetes and Healthy Eating...Some Helpful Tips

Portion Control is the Key to Success

There are so many helpful resources available on the internet these days. I recently visited the Joslin Diabetes Center website to find out more about their recommendations regarding healthy eating for kids living with diabetes. At the top of the page I saw the title “Key To Success: Portion Control.” The article on the page begins “The amount of food you eat is closely related to blood glucose control. If you eat more food than is recommended in your meal plan, your blood glucose (sugar) will go up. The only way you can tell if you are eating the right amount is to measure your foods carefully.” No matter what age we are or what chronic condition we may be living with and managing, eating healthy is all about what we eat and how much we eat. Portion Control is the key to success.

5 Portion Control Tips to Help Kids Living with Diabetes 

LivSpoons are a Great Tool for Easy Measuring

1. Easy measuring.  Finding ways to measure that are easy and repeatable is a must when we know portion control and portioning amounts is critical to our health. Having a scale to weigh your food and having measuring/serving spoons to portion your foods are must haves. Check out LivSpoons for easy measuring. They come in 6 measuring cup sizes and are handy for prepping food as well as serving it up in right-sized amounts. They are made of stainless steel so they are durable and kid tested!

We Need Balance with the Combination of Foods We Eat

2. Balanced Diet. We know that just eating one type of food isn’t good for us. We need balance in our diet to live health. We also know each food type has its own portion size. How do we know how much to eat of any given type of food to eat a balanced diet?  There is a handy line of dinnerware that has built into its design what a balanced meal looks like and also what the standard measurements are for each food group. They even have a kid’s line designed, Kidliga, just for a kid’s right-sized eating!

Make Measurement a Part of your Daily Routine

3. Practice, Practice, Practice. Living life as our healthiest selves requires eating healthy consistently. In order to eat well we need to create a system of healthy habits that is doable, repeatable and sustainable. Setting up your kitchen for healthy eating is key. Making measurement a part of your routine when prepping and serving food then becomes the way you do things so it becomes a habit. Right-sized dishware for the whole family is an easy way to make right-sized eating your new norm.

Portioning our Snacks as well as our Meals helps us to be Mindful

4. Mindfulness. A lot of our eating is done without thinking. How many times have you opened a bag of potato chips to eat just a few and then realize several minutes later you have eaten the whole bag!? If we are not present when we eat we can end up eating way more than we intended. When living with diabetes it is important to be present when you eat and aware of what you are eating so you can manage your blood glucose and insulin dosage appropriately. Portioning snacks as well as meals helps us to avoid mindless eating.

Eating Healthy is a Way of Life

5. Involve the entire family in Healthy Eating. Eating healthy is a way of life. If one person is living with a chronic illness, like diabetes, it affects the entire family. Healthy eating benefits everyone. Creating a healthy eating environment at home and making it a part of everyday life makes sustaining and, perhaps more importantly, enjoying a healthy lifestyle possible. Looking for some healthy recipes your entire family can enjoy? The Live Vibrant blog is a great resource!

Download Our Free eBook:
Emotional Barriers to Sustained Weight Loss Success

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Monday Motivational Meal - Low Carb & Kid Friendly Macaroni and Cheese

Sometimes you just need a night with some healthy and tasty comfort food. Try our Low Carb Macaroni and Cheese that is both diabetes-friendly and family friendly! Enjoy serving it up in cheery blue and pink Kidliga for the kids!

Try the Recipe here.

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Download Our Free Kids’ Activity eBook!
Sammie & Sax: Fun, Food, & Fantastic Ideas

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Monday Motivational Meal - No Cook Meal - Health Gazpacho with Chicken

As we begin September and are worn out from the heat, it is hard not to get stuck in the Summer Doldrums, especially when it comes to preparing healthy meals. We have just the refreshing solution! Try our cool and inviting no cook gazpacho soup. We served ours up in Halsa with its cool hues of blue...Enjoy!

 

Get the recipe here.

 

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and Enjoy Healthy Recipes All Year Long!

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