Category: Healthy-ish Podcast

Boost Your Health with Hobbies (Podcast #23)

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Delish and Healthyish Podcast #23 Boost Your Health with Hobbies

In the finale of Season 1 and the final podcast of 2018, Corinne and Jen discuss the importance of starting new hobbies and keeping old hobbies going, and why hobbies are so important for your well-being. Corinne goes into detail about how she started doing photography just weeks ago with her refurbished Canon Rebel (https://amzn.to/2S9RFts) and Jen talks about ultimate frisbee and upcycled crafts and jewelry.

If you’re thinking of getting into photography, check out Kelle Hampton’s course called Framed! — there’s a new 3-week course starting in January 2019. Other great resources include Clickin’ Moms and Live Snap Love. Those are great places to start on your photo journey and they make photography doable and super fun.

Cheers to health and new hobbies in 2019!

xo,
Jen & Corinne

Indoor Winter Survival (Podcast #22)

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Indoor Winter Survival

 

Hi friends! Are you getting cabin fever and going crazy keeping kids busy and keeping the peace in your house this winter? Listen to our tips on how to survive the cold indoor weather as we chat about scavenger hunts, board games, cards, puzzles, and other ways to keep you from losing your mind and actually enjoy the time inside your home this winter.

If you can’t listen, here’s a list with handydandy links which you may want to add to your holiday wish list. Happy insiding!

You got this! Dig into that puzzle and game supply and have some good old fashioned fun!

Jen & Corinne

Getting Ready for the Holidays: Decluttering (Episode #19!)

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Episode 19: Getting Ready for the Holidays: Decluttering Toys, Clothes and Linens

Hi friends! Jen here. We won’t keep you here too long, because we want you to go declutter 3 fantastic areas of your house before the holidays hit you. Listen here or check out this summary:

  1. Your kids’ toys. Donate toys that haven’t been used in a while (especially those stuffed animals!), store toys for years down the road, and consider starting a rotating toy system where you put away certain toys for 6 months and then bring them back out again and put others away. Clearing the toy clutter before more toys enter your house will keep you sane in January and beyond.
  2. Your clothes and your kids’ clothes. Downsize, donate and just don’t keep! Go minimalistic on the drawers and clothing closets in your house. As seasons change is a great time to evaluate and get rid of worn-out or unworn clothes. Make room for new things coming in or just get simpler and survive with less.
  3. Your linen closet (if you have one!). Keep 1-2 towels on hand per family member (a few extras for guests if you live alone), only 1 extra set of sheets per bed in the house and get rid of old ratty towels and sheets without hesitation. Roll towels and washcloths for easier access and storage and check out these cheap shelf dividers for towels. You can use small baskets for washcloths, and linens can go in collapsible containers like these. And for a “pop-up” linen closet, check out this best-selling shelf on wheels.

Now get those donation bags filled and feel the amazing breath and freedom of less clutter! 🙂

xo,
Jen & Corinne

Getting Ready for the Holidays: Staying Healthy in the Chaos (Podcast #18!)

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Getting Ready for the Holidays: Staying Healthy in the Chaos

Hey friends! How’s that holiday shopping going? Jen here. I’m determined to get all my shopping done by Halloween, but there are only 12 days left and I only have 1 stocking stuffer! Send help. 

Well, on another note, take a listen to podcast 18 where Corinne and I share our tips for keeping up with your healthy habits and avoiding sabotage this holiday season. We chat about how important it is to keep exercise in your day with yoga workouts (don’t forget your mat when you travel!) and walks, batch cooking healthy soups for quick veggie-ness when you’re buried in takeout leftovers and holiday cookies, staying hydrated and never slowing down your smoothie blender.

Take a listen and take our tips to heart. We can do this together!

Jen & Corinne

 

Getting Ready for the Holidays (Already!): Detoxing (Podcast #16)

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Getting Ready for the Holidays: Detoxing

Welcome back, and congrats if you challenged yourself with No Spend September because… woohoo!… it’s October! Jen here. Now that we’ve got our spending, household duties for kids and adults, and allowance systems under control, it’s a great time to start thinking about the holidays. Because, if you start now, it may actually be fun!

In episode 16, we embark on our “Getting Ready for the Holidays” journey and discuss getting your mind, health and body ready for the holiday season by considering a quick 7-day detox or simply adopting healthier habits. Listen below or on iTunes to why Corinne and I believe detoxing before Thanksgiving can really set you up for a healthy mind and body going into the fruit cake chaos. And if you can’t listen, I’ve listed out our big why’s below. 

Why Do a Detox Anyway?

First of all, it’s important for us to define “Detox”… this is not a juice fast, a torturous deprivation situation, or something you should dread. If you just eat healthy food (read: lots of plants and very few processed foods and sugary garbage), move your body a little more, and focus on hydration (half your body weight in ounces daily) for 7 days, your amazing liver will do a great job at mobilizing and ejecting toxins. This will help you:

  • Minimize cravings (how handy right after Halloween?)
  • Boost your metabolism (burn that fruit cake faster!)
  • Increase your energy (more fuel in the tank for getting creative with holiday gifts!)
  • Feel better and feel more confident that you are doing the right thing for your body

For Corinne, detoxing, or simply focusing on scrapping the sugary stuff benefits her body and mind in ways she can’t even explain. She considers it a necessity. She also finds that waking up an hour before her kids to exercise and have “me” time benefits her outlook and energy, and it helps her feel more in control of her day. For me, simply focusing on whole foods and being hyper aware of what goes into my body grounds me as the stressful holidays approach. Rather than accepting the fact that you’re going to eat poorly and try and fix it in January, how awesome would it be going into January feeling like you’re already a few steps ahead?

So, consider checking out our free 7-Day Detox and then joining us the last week of October as we prepare to do the detox together starting on Monday, November 5th. Right now, we’re taking some extra time to understand and execute the detox with our new recipe plugin (check out how gorgeous and user-friendly the Fully Loaded Kale Salad looks for the new detox!).

Let us know how you plan on getting your body and mind ready for the holidays in the comments. We love ideas and are always learning from you!

xo,
Jen & Corinne

 

No Spend September: Division of Labor (Podcast #15!)

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Division of Household Labor

Hello again! Jen here and we’re still no-spending, but getting really close to “overdoing it October” (ha!). In episode 15 of the podcast and our last one in #NoSpendSeptember2018, we bring up the importance of having a conversation between you and your partner about the division of labor in the house.

We encourage you to sit down and:

        1.  List out the adult chores in the house and to-dos in your family life. These include homework, making lunches, keeping track of school activities, taking kids to the doctor, taking out the trash and paying the bills, to name a few. Name all the things that need to get done. This also includes keeping the kids on track with THEIR chores that we talked about in this post. If you’re a single parent, MAJOR props!!!
        2. Figure out what you’re both willing to do (who likes that chore the least?!). A biggie here for couples is dishes, and another one is the kids’ bedtime routine. Who likes scrubbing spaghetti off the pot AGAIN and chasing the kids around with a toothbrush? Not fun! Draw straws or pick days. If your kids are helping with dishes as part of their chores, then who is the ‘enforcer’? I guess try to make it fun. My kids are really into the army right now, so we hear a lot of “Sir, yes sirs!” during dish time and table cleanup, and that definitely keeps us all laughing.
        3. Determine what is REALLY important to your partner and fit it into the week. Does your partner want to go to the gym, make music or meet up with friends? See how you can make those fun and healthy diversions happen for both of you. Tag-team parenting and chore-doing aren’t rocket science, they’re survival science!
        4. Pick a time to look at the week ahead together. Perhaps it’s a Sunday “date” on the living room couch where you look at the next 7 days and figure out who is doing what and where you might need to reach out for help. Sharing a calendar can also be really helpful. This prevents scrambling at the last minute when one kid needs to get to basketball, one kid needs to get to lacrosse and you need to attend back-to-school night. Time to enlist that carpool or call on a sitter.

     

  2. Share your family and partner responsibility systems in the comments below. We are always upgrading our methods and want to hear from you! xo, Jen & Corinne

No Spend September: Free Family Activities (Podcast #13!)

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Free Family Activities

Hey No-Spenders! Jen here. We’re almost mid-way through the #NoSpendSeptember2018 challenge and while my spend-hog kids have declared it “the worst month of their lives,” Corinne and I are having fun (mostly!) and feeling like we’re getting more quality time with our clans.

Aside from the gag-ilicious stew I made this past weekend from fridge scraps (adults liked it, kids weren’t sure), the backpack I bought on Amazon because Annie was falling down the stairs with the too-big one I tried to recycle, and Corinne convincing her mother-in-law to buy pizza for her kids, it’s been a VERY successful challenge for us so far. Listen to our wacky convo about it all in Episode 13 along with a bunch of the free and fun things we’ve done with our families and partners to make no-spend exciting. Here they are listed out for your reading pleasure as well:

  1. Go to the library. Make it a weekly trip. Get lots of new books, DVD’s and audiobooks.
  2. Play board games, cards and solve puzzles: Dig into that closet and have a ball rediscovering old games and puzzles. Ramp up the gaming and host a “Board Game Olympics” show-down with several games. Teach your kids the rules of chess (and learn yourself). Play poker with pennies.
  3. Set up an obstacle course around your house. Make a mess, but have a blast.
  4. Make a dedicated basement (or other) space for free, messy play. Speaking of mess, make an out-of-the-way space for your kids to make a mess and not have to clean it up every day. Keep it out of your eye-shot so it doesn’t stress you out.
  5. Make iMovies. Interview your family members, dress up and act goofy, and use the iMovie or another app to make movie trailers or little home movies. Use the slow-mo and time-lapse features. A slow-mo of your kid spitting is fascinating (yes, I have 2 boys!). If I can do this, anyone can.
  6. Make cards and write letters to friends and family. Who doesn’t like mail, especially the unexpected type? Decorate, write a quick note, and send! Walk to the mailbox for extra credit.
  7. Go for a hike or “adventure” walk in your neighborhood. Look for treasure, new creatures, or count things (like fire hydrants or basketball hoops).
  8. Make a picnic dinner for your backyard or local park. Pack it up and head on out! Make the food mess outside, but eat fast before the bees and flies find you!

For lots more ideas, check out this long list. And please share your no-spend ideas in the comments below!

In homemade playdough,

Jen & Corinne

Back to School: Weekend Meal Prep and Planning

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podcast11.png
Nothing slaps a parent or kid into shape like Back to School. It’s time to get back into routines, stop ordering out so much, stop sleeping in, start going to bed earlier, and start thinking about dinner before 8pm.

So, in episode 11 of the Healthyish podcast, Jen and Corinne share the importance of taking time on the weekends to plan and prep a few foods and meals to make the week MUCH easier—easier to survive without takeout food, with homework chaos, and with easy-peasy lunch packing. They also share school supplies shopping ideas and an idea for a budget-friendly anniversary dinner with kids. Join them as they swear by weekend prep to prevent overwhelm and insanity!

And for our fabulous 3-Day Weekend Prep e-guide, sign up for our mailing list on the right-hand column of the blog and we’ll send that your way. If we’ve wet your whistle, this “Lazy Lasagna” is a life-saver if you prepare one or two on the weekend. You can even construct one or two and stick them in the freezer to thaw and bake months down the road.

Share your favorite weekend food chores with us… what do YOU do with 10, 20, or 30 minutes on the weekend that makes your week of meals so much easier?!

Buried in casseroles,

Jen & Corinne

Restaurants with Kids: Do It, Or Stay Home?

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Restaurants with Kids: Do it or stay home?

Eating out with our kids is something we rarely do… it’s full-on chaos, expensive, and when we get home, half the kids are hungry. But, it *can* be fun, healthy-ish, and even enjoyable if you take this week’s podcast (episode 6!) tips to heart.

Take a listen and hear how Corinne and I navigate eating out with little ones, including ordering veggie sides and the kids’ food early, and bringing along fun things for them to do like these:

Peaceable Kingdom Games to Go

Melissa & Doug Sticker Pad

And! The awesome podcast book we keep mentioning is here:

  • Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls Podcast and Book 

Share your restaurant kid hacks in the comments below. We’re always looking for more ideas too! 

xo

Jen (& Corinne)

Healthy Family Snacking

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Healthy Family Snacking TipsWhat up snackers?! Who doesn’t love a good snack break? I know my house is a big fan of the snack because my kids’ favorite meal is something we call “Snackin’ Dinner”… We spread a tablecloth on the floor of the family room, put a movie on, and chow from a giant platter of snacks: nuts, seeds, olives, chopped veggies, crackers, hummus, sun-dried tomatoes, cheese pieces, edamame beans, pretzels, you name it!

Well, in this week’s podcast (episode 5–woohoo!), we talk about Healthy Family Snacking, to help you get you started on making sure snacking doesn’t take over your life, interrupt the stellar nutrition of your meals, or ruin the serenity of your kitchen.

Here are a couple teaser tips:

  1. Let kids be independent with their snacks within your healthy guidelines. It’s ok if they make a mess! This gives them some freedom when they may not have much choice at mealtime.
  2. Set a “no snack window” timeframe before meals when snacking isn’t allowed. It could be an hour, 2 hours, or even 3 hours before a meal (and by meal, I probably mean dinner). Announce that snacking is about to close and let the wildlings go kookoo. Then, hopefully they’re still hungry for the next meal thanks to the window.
  3. Establish a specific snack space in your kitchen so kids can help themselves. We have a dedicated snack bin in the fridge for individual peanut butter and hummus in these condiment cups for dipping pretzels or veggies, plus a doubled-up snack drawer tower which is filled with individual applesauces, seaweed snacks, packs of nuts, granola bars, larabar minis, kind bars, individual pretzel packs, and other nutritious options. The tower sits on the floor of the pantry so it can be reached by all the kids and they know to grab a variety and not just 6 granola bars:

What are your snack hacks? Share in the comments!

xo