Are you thinking about starting the 21 Day Fix workouts and eating plan in 2016? Maybe you are like me and are worried about how to switch up your cooking for your family?
Starting the 21 Day Fix was a challenge for me. When I started a year and a half ago, my two kids were preschool and elementary aged, we had two dogs, I commuted to work 2 hrs each day, I taught full time and had an online business, and still had cleaning and other chores to do around the house. In other words, my life was busy! Sometimes cooking dinner sounded like the worst possible thing to do after a long day and a beating headache – eating out was so much easier. And finding time to workout? Yeah right! I barely had enough time to enjoy a glass of wine and I had been slowly reading the same book since the summer because I just couldn’t find the time (or peace and quiet!). I was worried I couldn't fit a healthy lifestyle into my day.
When I started the Fix, I’m not going to lie, I struggled. I skimmed the book, I counted my containers, but I quickly lost track and my husband made it very clear that I was on a diet, not him and the kids. I felt deprived as they ate their regular food and I ate something different. It was really easy for me to make the excuse that I just didn’t have enough time to make it work for me.
Luckily, I had an awesome coach and she really encouraged me that I could do this. It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle! And it’s a lifestyle that my family could benefit from if I found a way to include them on my journey. So I started with small changes: no more coffee creamer, I only drink 1 cup with a splash of milk and a squeeze of agave nectar now. I switched out our soy sauce for Bragg’s aminos and changed our white rice to brown (we live in Hawaii, so rice is our go-to side dish). I switched from sour cream on taco nights to Greek yogurt (and the kids don’t even know the difference!) Once I made these little changes, it was easier to make the commitment to eat cleaner. I bought a clean eating cookbook (affiliate link) and pinned a bunch of recipes. I found cleaner ways to eat our regulars: spaghetti with zucchini noodles, personal pizzas with cauliflower crust, taco night with corn tortillas instead of flour. And sometimes I only do those little tweaks for my dinner and make regular stuff for the rest of the fam. That way we’re still eating basically the same thing, but they have noodles and I have zoodles. Once I learned more about healthy eating and what it actually looked like from reading the 21 Day Fix eating plan, I was able to easily make small adjustments. We didn’t eat super unhealthy to begin with, but committing to cook each night and not eat out twice a week like we were doing made a big difference.
Changing to a healthy lifestyle, especially for a busy family is doable. It isn’t going to happen overnight and it is going to take some trial and error. But don’t give up! The outcome of this work will be a healthier family.
No comments