To ask you to tell me how you changed you unhealthy ways? Need inspiration!

[450fromPaddington]

Im a working mother of 3 under-threes. I work 3 full days and have the children on the other days. My lifestyle is sedentary aside from pottering about with housework/looking after the kids.

My diet isn't ideal. Should probably consume less strawberry laces, biscuits, cheddar cheese, wine etc. I eat from a narrow range of easy options during the day (think cheese on toast) although I do make a home-cooked family dinner.

It's weighing on my conscience that I need to set a good example to the children now. I don't have the excuse of having a newborn anymore to excuse my lazy ways!

I have started going to the gym once or twice a week at 630 to do 20 mins on running machine and cross trainer to try to improve my flagging energy levels.

I need inspiration and motivation to make other changes though. Once the kids are in bed I just watch TV and chill out all evening. I can't find a thread on getting healthier generally as they all seem to be about weight loss and I'm quite thin as it is (Crohns disease).

Would love to hear your inspirational stories or any advice/comments.

I'm jealous of your cottage pie for lunch on Thursday, I love cottage pie for lunch, it's a bit stodgier than fresh and so delicious. Cottage pie is going on the menu plan for the week after next now

I second what super said about turmeric. It's an amazing substance. Great for your mouth too, brushing teeth with it helps whiten them (or rubbing the root if you can find it, middle eastern or indian grocers will have it), silling it around your mouth is supposed to be good for gums and it's great for your liver, guts, immune systems, etc.

super That couscous recipe looks great :) Totally putting that on my recipe book-blog DP and I have cous cous with a baked lentil dish and he is another who says he could live on a couscous dish!
Couscous is a nice grain to experiemnt with, as it's quite plain so you can flavour it easily, it has a nice texture and goes with a hell of a lot! I bought some giant couscous to play with yesterday, there is a great recipe in the Hugh book that I've been dying to try with it in.

I'm going okay, did a big 9.9mile walk yesterday, which was nicely over the 8 miles I'd intended to do! I'd posted the walk on a group on the Girls on the Go group on Meetup and 6 others turned up at varying points, there were five of us who did the entire walk and two who did part-way, they were all lovely too! I will walk 2 miles by myself today, probably an 'around the block' type thing but I live on a massive hill so around the block is a workout

How are you doing so far? Getting up early for the gym sounds very difficult! Getting up is not my forte I want to start getting up and doing stretches in the mornings now, try and get my muscles limber enough to do the splits for the hell of it haha.

I had to make some changes to my unhealthy lifestyle when my cholesterol spiked. Good idea to have your level checked as one should do so every 5 years even if not been raised before. It's a simple blood test you can ask your GP to arrange. I started walking for 30 minutes 5 times a week - a brisk walk around my neighbourhood. Anything more and I probably wouldn't have stuck to it. Done so now for 7 months. Was such a couch potato before but now I actually enjoy the 'me-time' aspect and feel fitter. Also devised low fat recipes that my whole family could eat and which helped get my cholesterol level down. Will send you a link to the recipes if you like. Good Luck!

I like cous cous but I never know what to put with it. In summer I just cooked it with a chopped garlic clove then mixed it with chopped tomatoes, cucumber, pickled gherkins and onions, peppers and olives. It was really nice but still quite bland.

try roasted vegetables, red onion,peppers.courgettes and some harissa paste with the cous cous - works wonders - or even chopped apricots and almonds if you use chicken stock and have with grilled chicken

Roasted root veg, parsnips, sweet potato, squash, etc go really well with couscous too :)

Couscous on its own is bland as you say Debs75. I tend to think of it like rice in that it will absorb the flavours of the food being served with it - like a vegetable or chicken casserole/tagine. It is also lovely as a salad, though, but then I would use a vegetable or chicken stock in the water when it is soaking. You already have all that flavour then. Once the couscous has swelled up, add a tablespoon of olive oil and, using your hands, massage it into the grains to prevent any stickiness. Now you can add whatever you like to make it into a salad. My favourite is to chop up a large bunch of mint leaves, then add the seeds of a pomegranate and some chopped pistachio nuts. A nice dressing to go with it is 2:1 olive oil to lemon juice plus a teaspoon of allspice and a half teaspoon of ground cinnamon. A grinding of black pepper to finish off. You don't need any more salt as the stock is usually salty enough but add some more if you prefer. Mix it all together and you have a middle eastern tasting salad. It looks gorgeous with the red seeds and the green nuts and herbs.

I can't wait to try some of these couscous suggestions! These descriptions make couscous sound a potentially very tasty dinner.

fromthehealthyheart - that sounds like a great amount of exercise. At the moment I find going to the gym on sat easy as it is at 9am. I'm struggling with my midweek visit as I need to be back in the house before 8am!! Would love some healthy suggestions for all the family - thanks

confused - I really need to build up the exercise I'm doing, you are doing so much, it's great!

I used turmeric in a dinner this week after the advice on here!

On a more positive note I have been eating Bergen bread with the family and having white bread and cheddar cheese less often than before. I have managed to eat some fruit most days which is great as I'd got into the habit of eating no fruit. Now I just eat some slices of the kids fruit when I peel it for them.

Less praiseworthy is my habit of still eating a biscuit or two for breakfast some mornings(usually work mornings as I'm so rushed). I also have two glasses of wine with dinner quite often.

Hi 450fromPaddington

Glad you like the couscous ideas. If you reduce your wine to one glass you will already be halving the calories you are taking in through drinking. If you really need two glasses, a spritzer works well as it is still alcoholic but half the calories. Try to make one change at a time. So first tackle the morning biscuits or the wine but not both at once. I actually eat my breakfast in the car in the mornings on the way to work. Very bad habit but no other time so I understand your biscuits. You may want to swop these for a low fat muffin - you can bake these in advance and keep them in the freezer and just take out what you need for a few days, or one at a time if you will be tempted to eat them all! I know I would.
I am not allowed to give you the name of my website with the low fat recipes on the message board. If you are on Facebook you will find it.
I would never exercise at all if I had to be back in the house by 8am!! That really makes it difficult. Dancing around the living room for half an hour maybe during the day? Anything that gets your heart rate up and a gentle sweat for 30 minutes is good. I read somewhere that it is also beneficial if you do 3 lots of 10 minutes a day. That may be easier to fit into your schedule than one 30 minute workout.

Thanks fro the advice healthy heart:)

I might try dancing around the living room with my toddler to increase my midweek exercise!