Every day I’m learning.  Thank goodness I’m open to learning.  For the past 2 weeks I’ve been on my new adventure of obtaining my “Family & Children” Health Coach certification from Dr. Sears (he’s amazing! Click to meet the Doc!) and the one item that I’ve learned and keep thinking about is… MEETING THE INDIVIDUAL WHERE THEY ARE AT.  Not where I want them to be.  I’ve been on this health journey for almost 5 years.  It’s my career, I’ve had 5 years of education, a health coach of my own, I am constantly learning.  The way I eat today took me at least a year to get to.  And I am in an entirely different spot today than I was even a year ago.  My new goal is for women and their families to not feel overwhelm or that they have to reinvent their life in a week.

One example I’m trying to keep this mindset in is through my Kitchen Makeovers I do.  Instead of going through everything with the mindset of “THROW IT OUT!  IT’S GARBAGE!  IT’S TERRIBLE!”, I go through items with the attitude of “What small steps can we make to eventually crowd out these items with healthier items?”  Maybe you have fruit flavored yogurt in your fridge that is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup along with other unidentifiable items.  Try to slowly get to the healthiest option.  Next time it can be vanilla yogurt sweetened with organic cane sugar, then a yogurt with less sugar and full fat, then the following week you can switch to organic, then perhaps your final step is mixing organic plain with your vanilla, eventually getting to the point where your yogurt is organic plain whole fat yogurt.  You can then sweeten it with berries or a drizzle of honey.

Each small change you make will allow your taste buds to adjust and eventually love the healthier option.  But it may take patience, especially with your children.  Maybe you’ve been having chicken finger nights with ingredients that aren’t the best for your littles but perhaps the first step is buying organic chicken fingers (there are plenty of options now) where you slowly get to a point where you are making your own (I make mine in less than 20 minutes prep and cook)?

The key to changing what you put in your body, and your family’s, is to make small changes that build and build to that final result.  To gradually change taste buds, allow for you and the family to get used to the change, to be motivated to make the next change, and eventually you all are eating to fuel your bodies.  Together.  Reach out to me if you want to talk more about this- I’m always learning and trying to make changes for the better.  We can learn together!

XO-