Family Healthy Living Challenge (with free Excel Points Tracker!)

I have never been a super healthy person.  I will admit, I have rather couch-potato-ish tendencies. The only time I've been good about exercising regularly was for about a year or two in high school. And then I went to college and was embarrassed to work out in front of my roommates and thus destroyed all the good habits I had developed. I love binging on ice cream, cookies and Netflix and I'd rather have a brownie than some kale. I've never been fond of scales and may have had an unkind thought or two as I pleaded with the gods of shopping that I could find a size 14 buried deep behind all the 0s and 2s on the rack. As I've gotten older, I've tried to eat better but have never been motivated enough to really change my habits. I still love ice cream and hate running. I think I've finally found a combination to help get me on the right track though: our Family Healthy Living Challenge and my Up24 by Jawbone fitness tracker.

Let me start off by saying I am not a dietician or a doctor and this is not a diet. The Healthy Living Challenge is a simple, fun program you can do with you family, friends or even colleagues to encourage you all to make healthier choices for eight weeks (or really however long you want to make it). I didn't make it up (my sisters-in-law adapted it from a program their friend had used) but I did make a wicked awesome spreadsheet to help calculate your points throughout the competition.

So how does it work?

Last year my husband's family decided it would be fun (not to mention good for us) to try a Family Healthy Living Challenge. Each day we could earn points by completing healthy living requirements like eating three servings of vegetables, exercising for 45 minutes, taking a multivitamin, drinking 48 oz water, etc. We each had a partner (outside of our household) that we were supposed to contact each day. Contact could be a text of support (How did today go?), a phone call in distress (I REALLY WANT A COOKIE!), you could work out together - whatever you wanted, we just had to make some type of contact each day. Each week we'd total up and report our points using a simple Google Spreadsheet and by the end of eight weeks whoever had earned the most points would win. The first time around, the challenge went well but had a few kinks. We decided to make a few tweaks and do another challenge a couple months later. This time around, the points work as follows:

• Vegetables: three servings a day earns 5 points, two servings earns 1 pt
• Fruit: two servings a day earns 3 points
• Dairy: two servings a day (or taking a calcium supplement) earns 3 points
• No sugary treats/sweets: Consuming less than 100 calories in sugary treats/sweets in the day earns 5 points, less than 200 calories earns 2 points. Sugar points are only counted for 6 days a week though so you can have a "Sugar Day!" each week
• Water: Drinking at least 48 oz of water earns 4 points
• Exercise: Exercising for under 30 minutes earns 2 points, 30-44 minutes earns 5 points and 45+ minutes earns 7 points. Exercise points can only be counted 5 days a week
• Food journal: Keeping a food journal throughout the day earns 5 points
• Multivitamin: Taking a daily multivitamin earns 1 point
• Contacting your partner: Contacting your partner earns 1 point
• Don't eat after 9pm: Abstaining from eating after 9pm earns 3 points
• Eat within 12-hour period: Eating all food within a 12-hour period earns 2 points

Each week we also highlight one of the requirements and make it worth double the points to help add extra incentive. For example, the first week taking a multivitamin was worth double points, earning you two points instead of one. The second week was fruit, etc.

Keeping Track of Points

We originally had a simple Word doc to keep track of our points each week. I got sick of adding my points up after a week or two so I designed an Excel workbook to track and add up the points for me. Because I am so gracious and kind I'm providing you with both ways to track your points.

To download both the Excel and the Word doc click below. 

Excel Spreadsheet Points Tracker     Word doc Points Tracker 

For instructions on how to use the Excel Spreadsheet, refer to the "Directions" sheet in the Excel file. It should be the first sheet in the workbook when you open the file.


My not-so-secret weapon: My Up24 by Jawbone

 

The first time around my husband and I did a pretty good job meeting the food requirements.  We made sure we were getting at least three veggies a day, two fruit servings, two dairy and although it was hard, we were pretty good about avoiding sugar. We even managed to kick our nightly ice cream habit. But we were still horrible about exercising. I think some of the only times I actually got my exercise points were when I counted walking around the grocery store for an hour. The second time around my husband and I decided to give ourselves a little more motivation.  We decided to each get Up24 Fitness Trackers by Jawbone. It's made the world of difference for both of us. We just finished Week 3 and I haven't lost an exercise point yet!

What is it?

The Up24 is a smart, sleek wristband that tracks your activity throughout the day and your sleep it night. Pairing with your smartphone, it helps you set and reach activity and nutrition goals, giving you reminders and advice throughout the day to help keep you on track. The paired app lets you track your daily nutrition (calories, fiber, unsaturated fats, carbs, protein, sugars, saturated fats, sodium and cholesterol) and gives you food scores from 1-10 to help you make healthier food choices.

What I like about it

• I've found I'm most successful in losing weight when I'm keeping track of calories - both what I've consumed but also what I've burned, too. When I burn at least 500 calories MORE than I eat each day, I'm more likely to lose weight. The UP app helps me keep track of all that. It's easy to use and gives me all sorts of cool data about my sleep, food and daily activity. 
• It syncs wirelessly with my phone, giving me immediate updates. When I was in college my parents bought be a BodyBug to help me lose weight. It was basically a little-ish device I wore on my upper arm that tracked the calories I burned each day. They had an online system to enter your food and track your calories. I loved using it and lost about 20 pounds with it but I had to take it off and plug it in to my computer if I wanted to check my stats or update my system. I love how quick and easy it is to check my stats with the Up24.  I just open and phone and I've got all kinds of data at my fingertips
• No subscription fees. While I loved my BodyBug, I ultimately stopped using it because there was a monthly subscription fee.  I went to Ghana for the summer, canceled my subscription and never renewed it. With the Up24 you buy the band and that's it. 
• Whether it's Smart Coach suggestions or a buzz when I've been sitting for too long, my Up24 gives me that extra boost I need to stay motivated
• It helps me set achievable goals and gives me helpful advice and reminders along the way
• The UP app gives you scores from 1-10 in terms of the healthiness of your meal. Healthier foods get a green score between 8-10, okay foods are yellow and score 5-7.9. Unhealthy foods will get a red score under 5.  As silly as it is, I have definitely avoided eating certain foods because I didn't want a yellow or red score.
• It's comfortable to wear (I don't even notice it) and easy to put on BUT it couldn't ever really fall off either.
• The band's stopwatch feature makes it easy to time my workouts. I can add more details in the app, too, so it can better estimate my calorie burn
• The food journal has a bar code scanner that works pretty well.  Every now and then I'll have to manually enter nutritional info for an item but it recognizes most of our food.
• It's a bit more affordable than some of the competitors. My husband and I did quite a bit of research before settling on our UP24 bands. Right now on Amazon certain colors are selling for about $70. That's about $30 less than Fitbit's comparable model, the Fitbit Flex. Jawbone also offers the Up Move for about $50. It does most of the same things as the Up24, it just doesn't sync wirelessly with your phone 
• It syncs with TONS of additional apps. I haven't really explored this much yet but it seems like a cool feature
• It's just a band. While my husband wishes it had a watch or some kind of screen built into it I like that it's just a band. It just looks like I'm wearing a cool bracelet. No awkward questions. 
• It's splash-proof. I can wear it when I wash my hands, do the dishes or even in the shower. It's not completely waterproof though and cannot be submersed in water.

What I don't like about it

• My biggest complaint is that you can't enter recipes for homemade meals to figure out calories. You can, however, enter custom foods. I usually use another app or website (like MyFitnessPal) to figure out nutritional information and then add it as a custom meal
• It's not perfect. Neither the sleep tracker nor the activity tracker are completely perfect. I've found that if I'm awake in the middle of the night but lying still, the app thinks I'm sleeping. The calories burned is also an estimation based on your weight, steps and activity level. I'm guessing Jawbone's new Up3 which monitors your heart rate, too, provides more accurate data. It's pretty new so I've only be able to find it for sale on Jawbone's website.
• Entering everything you eat can be a pain. This is the case with any calorie counting or food tracking, though. I much prefer using the app to fulfill my Food Journal requirement for the Family Healthy Living Challenge, though. It makes me feel like there's actually a reason I'm keeping track of what I eat. Plus, their system is pretty easy to use
• While splash-proof, completely waterproof sure would be nice. 

While by no means necessary, I've found fitness trackers to be a big help when trying to lose weight and build healthier habits. If you want to learn more about the Up24, I recommend checking out this great review from CNET.  I also recommend learning about other trackers before you make your decision.  This article, also from CNET, helped me a lot when we first started looking.

And that's that! Now you know my healthy living secrets! Now get up and get moving!

*** Although this post was not sponsored it does contain affiliate links.  I make a small profit when you buy products from these links at no additional cost to you***

Baby Led Weaning: A Beginner's Guide to Letting Your Baby Feed Herself

Whether you breastfeed or use formula, giving your baby solids for the first time can be a bit daunting (at least with the first kid!). As my baby was nearing her six monthiversary I started to feel a bit apprehensive about starting her on solids.  I had so many questions! Was she really ready? What should I start her on? How much should I give her? What if she gets constipated? How much solid food vs. breastmilk should she have? I imagined my kitchen as a baby food war zone -- mushy puree, painstakingly made from scratch, flying every which way, splattering my floors, my table, and every nook and cranny of our high chair. I saw my sink overflowing with smoking blenders, my stove stacked with pots and a mountain of half-eaten baby food jars collecting in the fridge (because I'd given up on making it myself, of course). Every piece of our clothing was newly tie-dyed with splotches of rejected sweet potato orange and chunks of some kind of mystery cocktail of green. I could hear her screams mixed with my crazed pleadings as a spoon quivered towards her unrelenting lips. 

Okay, okay, I will admit that was a bit dramatic, but I really wasn't looking forward to going to war with my baby over food. I spent countless dinners watching little ones fight with their parents (and grandparents) over the spoon. I was not looking forward to joining the struggle.

When I first heard about Baby Led Weaning (or BLW for short) it sounded crazy and impossible and waaaay too good to be true. With BLW parents skip spoon feeding completely and just give their baby more or less what they eat, letting their 6+ month old feed him- or herself finger foods from the get go. No battles. No mush. Just babies, having fun exploring food. Basically you have this 

 

instead of this

(Sorry it's grainy... it was a copyright free pic!)

After doing some more reading and watching some helpful videos on youtube I decided I wanted to give this thing a try and see what happens.  So far, both me and my baby have loved it! And since parents who have tried BLW tend to get "evangelical" about it (at least according to this article), I decided to put together a little guide for parents, who like me, have never heard of Baby Led Weaning.

The Basics

Let's start things off by going over the basics of Baby Led Weaning.

First, let's talk about what baby led weaning really means.

Baby led weaning does not mean you stop giving your baby breastmilk or formula. Breastmilk or formula should make up the majority of your baby's diet until they are at least one year old. Because the term Baby Led Weaning was coined across the pond in the UK it uses 'weaning' in the British sense, ie "adding complementary foods to baby's diet," rather than the American, "to give up breastfeeding." Some people prefer to call it Baby Led Feeding, Baby Led Eating, Baby Self-feeding, etc. As Louis and Ella would say, tom-aye-to, tom-ah-to. Just keep breast- or bottle-feeding your baby until they're at least a year. 

The "baby led" part simply means you sit back and let your baby do their thing while you as a parent neither force anything upon them or start breaking into a sweat over how or how much they're eating.

Simply put, baby led weaning means letting your baby feed him or herself from the get go.  Not only is your baby absolutely capable of safely feeding him- or herself at around six months, chances are they'll have a lot more fun with it, too.

But what's wrong with purees? 

Purees aren't bad, they just aren't necessary. Pureed baby food first became popular around the early 1930s.  Back then, doctors suggested starting babies on "solids" as early as three or four months old. Because babies at such a young age aren't yet capable of chewing, mothers started turning to purees and cereals to feed their babies. In no time, mush became the accepted norm as baby's first foods. Today health authorities like the World Health Organization, Health Canada and the UK Departments of Health* all recommend waiting until babies are at least six months old before introducing solids. At this age babies' digestive systems are more developed and ready for solids, their tongue thrust reflex (nature's way of protecting baby from swallowing anything they can't handle) has begun to recede and they are  fully capable of feeding themselves.  No purees needed!

*The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends starting solids between four and six months, but adds that babies should be able to sit up with little to no support and grab things to take into their mouth. Most babies aren't capable of doing both of these things until about six months of age.

Don't believe me?  Check this out

What does BLW look like?

BLW looks a lot like the video you just watched. As explained by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett in Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods - and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater:

• The baby sits with the rest of the family at mealtimes, and joins in when she is ready
• She is encouraged to explore food as soon as she is interested, by picking it up with her hands - it doesn't matter whether or not she manages to eat any at first
• Food is offered in pieces that are the size and shape that the baby can handle easily, rather than as purees or mashed food.
• She feeds herself from the start, rather than being spoon-fed by someone else
• It's up to the baby how much she eats, and how quickly she widens the range of foods she enjoys

And it's really that easy.  You give you baby food and your baby eventually figures out how to eat it. For the first little while it may seem like your baby is doing everything with their food except eating it but you might be surprised by the story the diapers tell. 

Signs of readiness

It's important to wait until your baby is really ready before you start solids. In addition to waiting until at least six months, your baby should also be doing the following: 

• Sits up with little or no support
• Reaches out to grab things and then takes them in her mouth quickly and accurately
• Gnaws on toys and makes chewing movements
• Starts putting food in her mouth herself

Even then, your baby might not be interested in food yet. That's okay. When you let your baby decide whether or not they want to try solids, you're ensuring that your baby really is ready.  

First Foods

The idea behind BLW is to eventually just give your baby whatever you eat but it's probably a good idea to ease them into things with foods that are easier to chew, first. Some great first foods include:

• Bananas
• Pears
• Avocado
• Mangoes
• Apple (steamed or baked until tender)
• Peaches/nectarines
• Plums
• Sweet potato (baked -- I like to cut them into fries, toss with some olive oil - but NO SALT - and then bake for about 30 minutes at 400F, flipping them halfway through)
• Squash (baked)
• Carrots (steamed)
• Broccoli (steamed)

Try to cut food into stick shapes as these are easier for babies to hold (your baby likely won't be able to pick up little pieces of food until s/he develops a "pincer grip" at around 9 months). For more slippery foods like bananas or mangoes I usually leave part of the peel on so it's easier to hold. For example, I often cut bananas into chunks a couple inches long and then quarter each chunk, leaving the peel on. This gives my baby a nice little stick she can easily grasp. I've also read you can trip dipping mushier foods like avocados in crushed whole grain cereal to make them easier to hold on to, too.

Some other advice I've found:

• Breads - Try lightly toasting bread before giving it to your baby. Also stick to whole grain breads without any seeds or nuts (choking hazard). 
• Soups or dips - Soups or dips are fine, just make sure you're still giving your baby control. You can dip their spoon for them and then pass the spoon over (so they're the one actually putting the food in their mouth) or use a piece of bread or pita as a dipper 
• Meat (like chicken or turkey) - We haven't given our baby any meat yet but it's recommended to serve in big chunks that are easy to pick up and hold (but not small enough that they could choke on it). Your baby probably won't be able to chew much, if any of it, but I've read babies like to suck on meat
• Cooked pasta - start by just giving them the pasta plain, without any sauce (easier to hold) and use whole grain varieties whenever possible
• Make sure any food that's been cooked beforehand (steamed, roasted, etc) is cool enough for your baby to eat before you give it to them. I like to stick hot foods on a plate in the freezer for a few minutes before I give it to my baby. Make sure you check the temperature in the middle before handing it over, too. 

BLW purists will tell you to just feed your baby whatever you're eating, whenever you're eating from the get go - so long as your family doesn't have a history of allergies. On the other hand, pediatricians often recommended only introducing one food a week to make it easier to spot the culprit in case baby has a bad reaction to something. We've kind of mixed these two pieces of advice, usually waiting a few days between new foods. We've been at BLW for about a month now and our baby has had bananas, pears, mangoes, squash, sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, green beans and a little pancake. I also give her half of a baby spoonful of my yogurt each morning.  

For the first year, food is more for fun

It may take a bit of time for your baby to figure out how to successfully wrangle food into his mouth (especially more slippery foods). Even when your baby does successfully get food into his mouth, chances are quite a bit (if not all) of it will just come sliding right back out. This is both totally normal and completely okay. Since you're still regularly breast- or bottle-feeding your baby, you don't have to worry about how much your baby is really eating. For now, mealtime is a learning experience. Your baby is learning about taste and textures, colors, smells and shapes. They're working on their hand-eye coordination and figuring out how to bite and chew. You'll be amazed at how quickly they figure things out!  Eating for calories can come later.  For the first year, meals can be more for fun as your child builds a positive relationship with food.  

When to feed the baby

BLW pros recommend feeding your baby (or well, letting your baby feed herself!) whenever you eat yourself. Since you're still breast- or bottle-feeding your babe it's fine if you skip a meal here and there though. In our house, my baby also gets some food while I eat breakfast and then lunch and dinner vary depending on how the day goes. In addition, for the first little while, your baby won't connect eating with filling her tummy so experts also recommend sitting your baby down to eat about an hour after breast- or bottle-feeding her. If they're hungry, babies can become easily frustrated with food.

Oh yeah, it's messy

I almost forgot to include this one. Learning to eat is messy business. But it's the good kind of messy. Your baby will smash, smear, drop, squish, squash, crumble and spit out just about everything on her tray as she learns to eat but hey, the kid's learning to eat! I stick one of these bibs with sleeves from Ikea on my babe (usually with another bib on underneath) and let her have at it. She's actually usually pretty good at keeping her food on her tray but a few things always fall overboard. I've heard putting a plastic table cloth under baby's chair can help contain the mess. Added bonus, with BLW at least when my baby spits something out it just lands in a little chunk on her tray (which she may or may not give a second shot at making it into her mouth). With purees the food gets sprayed and glopped everywhere. 

You'll end up throwing away some food

Your baby isn't going to eat everything you give them.  I try to save what I can for later but I end up throwing quite a bit away each day.  I tell myself it's a price I'm willing to pay to help my baby learn to feed herself a healthy amount of food. To help avoid waste, experts suggest giving your baby a variety of foods but only a little bit of each item.

Keeping your baby safe

Now that we've gone over the basics, let's make sure you know how to keep your baby safe when eating.

Make sure your baby is sitting upright

Leaning your baby back or sitting them in a reclined seat (like a bouncer) for meals drastically increases the risk of choking whether you are spoon-feeding or your baby is feeding herself.  Make sure you baby is seated upright at all times during meals.

Don’t let anyone except your baby put food into her mouth

When babies put food in their own mouth they are in control of it. If they can chew it, they will. If they can move it to the back of their mouth and swallow it, they will.  If they can't do these things, the food will just fall out (so long as they're sitting upright). Allowing your baby this control keeps him safe. Imagine if someone started shoving food in your mouth. It'd probably be pretty hard to eat safely! This also helps keep your baby safe from smaller foods he isn't ready for yet.  As explained by Rapley and Murkett, 

"The link between what the baby can do with his hands and what he can do with his mouth may also help keep the BLW baby safe. When a six-month-old baby first starts to feed himself he can't pick up the sorts of food that he might have trouble moving around with his tongue, such as raisins and peas, so they are unlikely to get into his mouth. It's only as he gets older (about nine months) that he will begin to use his finger and thumb in the "pincer grip" that enables him to pick up tiny objects. By this time...his chewing skills will be well advanced. This means that once he can get a raisin to his mouth he will almost certainly be able to manage it safely."

Learning to chew and then swallow

One of the things I love most about BLW (besides how easy it is on a lazy mama like me), is my baby is learning to chew first and then, eventually, swallow. When you spoon-feed your baby pureed foods they don't have to chew -- they can just slurp it off the spoon. This works great until they start encountering lumps. With BLW my baby is learning to chew first, and then swallow. Not only does this reduce her risk of choking, building good chewing skills also helps with the development of speech and good digestion.   We've been doing this BLW thing for almost a month now and while she'll occasionally gag, she hasn't choked once. 

The difference between gagging and choking

Our gag reflex is designed to help us move food that is too big for us to swallow safely away from our airway (preventing choking). Although the gag reflex is triggered at the back of the tongue in adults and older children, in a six month old baby the gag reflex is triggered much farther forward on the tongue. Not only does this prevent your baby from choking, it also helps teach her how to handle food in her mouth. As Rapley and Murkett explain, "When a baby has triggered this reflex a few times, by putting too much food in his mouth or pushing it too far back, he learns not to do it."

So how do you tell the difference?  If your baby is making noise, they're likely just fine. Give them a moment and you'll soon see a chunk of food make it's way to the front of their mouth or all the way back on their tray. Below is a video of a normal gag reflex.

If you're baby is unable to cough, cry or breath it's time to take action. Although you probably won't ever need it, here's a great video to walk you through what to do when a baby is choking.  

 

Foods to Avoid

With BLW you can give your baby almost anything BUT there are still some foods you should avoid

• Salt - Babies shouldn't have more than 400mg of sodium a day  (their little kidneys can't handle it!) so keep your baby's salt intake to a minimum. Buy fresh or frozen fruits and veggies as much as possible and avoid giving your baby fast food or pre-made meals as these are often incredibly high in sodium. Make sure to read those nutrition labels!
• Sugar - You need to keep your baby's sugar intake down, too, for the same reason why you and I shouldn't have too much sugar.  Plus, you don't want to encourage a sweet tooth!
• Whole nuts - nuts are a choking hazard and should be avoided until your child is at least three years old 
• Honey - Honey contains botulism spores and should be avoided until your baby is at least a year old. This includes things like Honey Nut Cheerios, honey graham crackers, etc. 
• Cow's milk - Don't give your baby cow's milk until at least a year. Other dairy like cheeses and natural yogurt is okay, though (go for whole milk varieties)
• Shellfish - lobster, prawns, crab and shrip
• Whole grapes, cherry tomatoes, cherries, olives - Also a choking hazard. Make sure to halve or even quarter before giving to baby and remove any pits
• Popcorn, hard candies, etc - also a choking hazard

Some foods can also be hard on a baby's digestive system or are more likely to cause an allergic reaction. These should be introduced very gradually. These foods include:

• Tomatoes - harder to digest
• Corn - Also harder to digest
• Citrus fruits - oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes, etc can be hard to digest and often give babies rashes. It's recommended to wait until 12 months before introducing citrus to your baby.
• Peanut butter - There is a huge debate over when to introduce peanut butter.  We're planning to wait until our baby is at least 12 months
• Berries (especially strawberries) - can trigger allergies
• Eggs - Egg whites are a big allergy-trigger so avoid giving them to your baby until at least 12 months. Egg yolks can be given around 9 months.

Additional Resources

If you want to learn more about BLW I recommend taking a look at the following resources:

• The BLW Bible, Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods - and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett. If you're serious about trying BLW it's a good read. 
• This is the book in pamphlet form. It provides good, brief guidelines about BLW
• BabyLedWeaning.com is another great place to go for info and support
• Trusting a Baby To Know How to Eat from The New York Times Parenting Blog
• Why baby knows best when it comes to food from The Independent
• This post from Hellobee.com has a wonderful list of food ideas for BLW 
• Youtube! Baby Led Weaners love to share their love for BLW and Youtube is rife with proof! The most helpful video I watched is a 10-minute how-to from Victorious Heart (which I've kindly embedded below!)

• ME! I'm not a BLW expert by any means but I did quite a bit of research before starting and I've got some experience under my belt. Feel free to comment with any questions you may have  and I'll do my best to answer 

*** Although this post was not sponsored it does contain affiliate links.  I make a small profit when you buy products from these links at no additional cost to you***