Rock Your Family's Health...

(c) nourishsunshine.com Rock Your Family’s Health �1

http://nourishsunshine.com

Introduction

Congratulations! I can only conclude that you’re here because you are interested in improving your health as well as your family’s. How cool are you? Hopefully I can give you some tips and tricks to make your shift towards better health a little easier.

Along with this workbook, I have thrown in a couple of free goodies.

• Checklist

• 4-week Menu Plan

• 4 Grocery Lists

(c) nourishsunshine.com Rock Your Family’s Health �2


Copyright © 2015 by Shirsten Shirts. All rights reserved. (You are welcome to print a copy of this document for your personal use. Other than that,) no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the author. Requests to the author and publisher for permission should be addressed to the following email: [email protected]. Limitation of liability/disclaimer of warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this guide and workbook, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this document and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives, promoters, or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

(c) nourishsunshine.com Rock Your Family’s Health !3


The purpose of this course is not to convert you to a strict organic, vegan, gluten-free diet. If that’s where you are at then my hat is off to you, I’m still working on it. Instead, I wrote this course to give you ideas for simple, easy meals and to teach you how to make a typical family dinner healthier. So without further ado, let’s start rocking your family’s health.

First off, let’s go through the things this workbook will provide for you, as well as the best way to use it.

Introduction (video 1)

A quick intro explaining the madness behind this workbook. I have a reason for everything, I promise.

Step 1: Plan Your Why

The best chance you have at making a lasting change is by backing it up with solid reasons that are personal to you. In Step 1, I will provide you with a worksheet where you can accomplish this very thing.

Step 2: Plan Your How

Once you have your why established, it’s time to focus on your how. In this step, you will determine the type of schedule you will be able to maintain, the amount of meals you would like to prepare each week, and the amount of time you are willing to dedicate to food.

Step 3: Plan Your Meals (video 2)

Now’s the time to get into the grunt work. Along with this workbook, I have provided you with a sample 4-week menu. I will go into more detail about this particular menu, but it may be the case that these meals look like a big pile of junk. I would be surprised, but I won’t be offended. This just means that you have to do some dirty work yourself and come up with a meal plan you think your family will enjoy. More to come on the how.


Table of Contents


Step 4: The Grocery Store

Dun, dun, DUN! (Imagine that was dramatic music.) I HATE grocery shopping. So this step is all about giving you some of my personal tips for making this necessary evil a little less painful.

Step 5: Save Boatloads of Time

Here, I just provide you with a few more tips for working through the whole healthy eating process a little more efficiently.

Step 6: Meal Prep (video 3)

I’m not going into particulars here. This section is merely to show you how you can make the weeks flow more smoothly by using 1 day ahead of time to prepare some of the hard stuff.

Step 7: Execution

It’s finally time to make your meals! Again, this will just be an overview of how you can work more easily and get things done on time.

This may seem like a lot, but once you have completed this course your weekly meals should be much smoother. Just bear with me and we’ll figure it out together.




Plan Your Why

Why is your own health important to you? Try to list at least 3 reasons. (ex. I can feel better day to day, I can prevent future health issues, I can heal current health issues, I can look better, etc.)

Before you complete this section, you may want to jump over and watch video 1.

There are tons and tons of small changes you can make that will gradually improve your family’s health in a lasting way. The thing is, the best chance you have for this stuff to stick is if you have good reasons for those changes that resonate with YOU. So, I present to you a genius work of art…or a worksheet to fill out at your leisure. However you choose to look at it is cool with me.

Why is your family’s health important to you? Again, list as many reasons as you can. (ex. I don’t want my kids to be sick as often, I want to lower my husband’s chance for disease, etc.)

Now take the reason that resonates most with you, from either or both questions,

and put it somewhere where you can easily see it. On the fridge, on a sticky

note somewhere, copy and paste it onto a note that stays on your computer screen, just make sure you can access it without breaking a sweat. This is important for

when you feel your willpower waning and draining, which does happen, my friends.



Plan Your How

The next step is figuring out how many meals you would like to make each week. Are you just worrying about the weekdays? Do you want to leave just one day free for eating leftovers or eating out? Will you plan on making breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Snacks?

That was a lot to take in. I know my brain is exploding. So let’s break it down. Breakfast? Yes or no?

If yes, how many days?

Also important, how many people? Does your husband take breakfast on the go?

You get the gist. Now lunch. Go. (In the box)::

And for the grand finale…Dinner!



Here’s another important one. What are some obstacles that might get in your way? AND, how could you be prepared beforehand so these potential obstacles don’t become a problem? Be as detailed as possible. These could be things like lack of motivation, a time crunch, or whiny kids. Or perhaps all three!

Plan Your How



That’s not all, my friend. The next step in planning your how is a biggie. Once I changed my thinking on this, preparing meals for my family became so much easier.

How much time are you willing to dedicate to preparing food every day?

I used to hate the idea of spending more than a few minutes on any given meal. But once I started thinking of the time spent as minutes towards my health and the health of my family, not simply towards an attempt to make the hunger pangs stop by desperately trying to stuff something, anything, into my (or my kids’) mouth, suddenly a little extra time in the kitchen wasn’t all that bad.

This is the reason “the why” is so important. Hang onto that why when the thought of dragging yourself into the kitchen to make a meal is as horrifying as a scene from Jurassic World. (What can I say, I just got back from seeing Jurassic World and I found it horrifying.) The point is, cooking is an investment in your health and your family’s health. Every single day.

So once again, how much time are you willing to dedicate towards preparing meals each day? Why that amount? Is it a realistic chunk of time to make healthy meals? (Remember, you can have fast, healthy meals, I just ask this because my limit used to be no more than 10 minutes. Not exactly realistic.) Try and divide this time by meal in the box below. (I usually do not like to spend more than 15 min on breakfast, 20, on lunch, and 30 on dinner.)

Plan Your How

Breakfast Lunch Dinner



Lastly, sketch a tentative schedule for the time you would like to make your meals each day. I say tentative because things change very easily, and it’s easy to get discouraged when you don’t accomplish the things you had planned exactly when you had planned them. But, at the same time, it’s helpful to have an idea about when to start your meals each day.

Plan Your How

Schedule

Breakfast

Lunch

Snack

Dinner



Plan Your Meals


You have a much better chance of sticking to a meal plan when it involves planning meals you and your family actually like.

Another helpful consideration is whether you’ve actually made the meal before. Just because you see a mouthwatering picture on Pinterest does not mean that the meal will be easy to make or necessarily enjoyable. So start with tried and true favorites for your greatest chance at success.

What are your family’s favorite meals/foods? Try to list at least 10.

What are some dishes you have prepared in the past that were easy

and simple? Again, list as many as you can.



Plan Your Meals


Week 1: Monday

Tuesday Wednesday

Thursday Friday

Saturday Sunday

Week 2: Monday

Tuesday Wednesday

Thursday Friday

Saturday Sunday


The Grocery Store

Now it’s time to put those meals together! First focus on dinners. These most likely are the bulk of what you came up with.

Look for patterns in your meals. Are there lots of pastas? Meat dishes? Stir fry-type meals? You want variety throughout your week, so do your best to space apart similar meals.

P.S. You can start with whatever you are comfortable with. If you’re ready to jump into a 6-week meal plan, great! If you only have enough for 1 or 2 weeks, no sweat. You can leave those couple of weeks on repeat until you are a pro, then try to add in more meals. (This is what I suggest.) Here I have only provided 2 weeks, so if you have more just make a document somewhere for your reference.



I’m not one for shopping anyway, but for some reason the grocery store is particularly painful. Don’t ask why, I don’t have a good answer. But, despite my disdain, I have accepted that it is a necessary part of life, and have crafted some ways to lessen its evil effects. Today I will share them with you.

1. Have a plan of attack.

If I lay my list out beforehand and can effectively work my way through the store, I spend much less time aimlessly wandering through the aisles. Because despite hundreds of trips, I still can never find half of the stuff I go to buy.

So, you’ll notice that in the grocery lists I provide along with the meal plan, every item is separated into categories based on where you are most likely to find that item in the store. Hope it helps.

2. Grab the kids a snack.

My girls absolutely love those fruit/veggie pouches that you can just suck right out of the package. A masterful invention. So early in our voyage, I grab one for them to demolish. You can still have the checker scan the empty package, and my children are oh-so-much sweeter.

Bonus Tip: Be selective when buying organic.

I don’t know what kind of relationship you have with organic food. We all know the less chemicals and pesticides the better, but by the same token, you don’t want to over-stress this.

Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that organic usually means pricier. And it is much better to have more produce with only a few items organic, than fewer fruits and veggies that are exclusively organic. For more tips and information on this, see my post on the dirty dozen.

Save Boatloads of Time




Honestly, the best way to save time when eating healthy is through preparation. This idea will be covered more extensively in the next step, so for now just get comfortable with the thought of good, solid prep.

One big way I can save time (and sanity) is by carefully selecting when I make

Now that I’ve said my peace, it is your turn to brainstorm. What are some good ways you can save time? Is it about when you cook? When you shop? What your kids/partner is doing? Take into consideration all of the details that affect your day.

The Execution

The number one tip I can give you when it comes to actually preparing your meal, is read through the whole recipe before you begin.

You’re probably already aware of this rule and have it down pat, but I have to say it anyway. I’ve screwed up more meals than I care to say by neglecting to go through the steps, ingredients, and supplies that are required first.

If you have a good sense of what to do when, you can save time by filling in the lulls with a little chopping, mixing, or even dishwashing.



Now for the hard part…or is it the easy part? Totally depends on what? You guessed it - how prepared you are.

But after all the preparedness has swirled away into dust, it’s finally time to make your meals. So here are a couple of tips to keep in mind when you reach that beautiful and elusive gate that is…making dinner.

The second thing to keep in mind is this: don’t be afraid to substitute. It feels like I wasted my life away one horrible, ghastly, heinous shopping trip at a time, looking for every single ingredient from my recipes. UNNECESSARY!

If something calls for basically any vegetable, you can sub in basically any other vegetable. Because I’m gonna let you in on a little secret…vegetables are good for you, and typically mix really well together.

The Execution



Anyway, onto the meals!. For my first meal (from the meal plan, not ever) I made the Quick Tomato Basil Pasta. And it was good. Here’s a link to it (I originally came across it on Pinterest).

As you saw, before the night of the meal even came around I had already prepared the sauce. So it literally took me about 20 minutes to get everything else ready.

I simply: 1. Added the sauce to some olive oil and garlic 2. Let it simmer while the pasta cooked. Easy peasy.

A caution: Be wise if you choose to go with a pre-made salad. Make sure you read the label to be sure you’re not getting a super sugary dressing or croutons with a bunch of ingredients you’ve never heard of. Whole foods are what we’re going for, people.

In the meantime, I cut up some fresh strawberries and opened a prepared salad from the store (pricier option, but in a pinch they’re awesome). And voila! Dinner was served.

If you set yourself up for success, dinner can be that easy every single time. And healthy too! We had fruits (strawberries), veggies (salad), and whole wheat pasta.

The rest of the week was similar.

When I brought out the stir fry, I just had to throw some pre-chopped veggies I bought onto a skillet with the pre-made sauce. Then you dunk it all on the pre-made rice, serve it with some fresh fruit, and you’re good to go!

As for the other meals: fish - easy; burgers - puh-lease; burritos - no brainer! You get it. And with a little planning (and a little practice) your weekly meals can be this simple, too.

The Execution



The same goes for other foods. If you’re unsure, just do a quick search on google for possible substitutes for that particular food.

Here’s an example with eggs. Look at all those resources!

The Execution


You did it! Hopefully you now have a plan in place and a solid foundation for making your meals easier. But don’t let it end there! Let me know any of your tips and tricks for rocking your family’s health.



Date post:	26-May-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	4 times
Download:	0 times

Rock Your Family's Health...

Documents