A day in the life of my kids' lunchboxes

Here at home, I do everything routinely. It makes life SO...MUCH... EASIER. My kids know routine, and they thrive off of it. It also equips them to take responsibility for themselves, because they have learned things in an organized fashion, they now know exactly what they need to do in the day and therefore can handle the few days we aren't so organized and still be responsible for themselves. It's almost like learning the ABC's in order, we would probably never remember if it was scrambled everytime we heard it, and therefore would forget SOME letter at some point. I have lunch in the exact same place in the fridge always made and ready the night before. I have their homework on the table so they can put it in their bags. I even usually have breakfast out on the table before they get up so I can hop back in bed until it's time to leave. Having a schedule or organized routine helps them make a list in their mind of the things they need:

Teeth brushed.
Hair brushed.
Lunch put in backpack.
Homework put in backpack.
Socks on.
Coat and shoes on with backpack ready to go.


But they have also learned to not EXPECT routine. This equips them to handle change very well. It's a win-win.


But the routine I haven't ever strayed from is what they get for lunch. So here's a look at the lunch of a Nash kid (this was last night's):

Every lunch has a: piece of fruit, string cheese, vegetable (usually carrots), dried fruit (raisins or prune), crackers (usually Annie's), and main course (usually a sandwich made with Dave's bread). 

Packing the same things for my kids' lunches makes my shopping routine incredibly easy. I never browse to see what I want to get them for lunches, I stick with the same things. They get leftovers (as you can see above) if I have a lot of food left from dinner, or else a sandwich. I switch up their veggies and fruits to give them rounded nutrition, as well as some of the ingredients I put into the sandwiches. For our little man, he gets smaller portions or sometimes I eliminate the crackers, but as for older brother, he just might eat me out of house and home! He never has any food left in his lunch and comes home starving every day!

Up to week 24

This momma has had a rough summer! As commerical fishermen, we don't really know what our summer schedule will be like EXACTLY. Last year we were on call mid-June through the end of July, and only fished 12 days. We worked another 10 on top of that around our site. This year, we fished almost every day mid-June through August! It was crazy, and since my husband banned me from being on a boat, I was stuck in the kitchen as the camp cook. You know what this means for me? Constant eating. Let's face it. I gave up completely my normal eating routine. I was eating bread, and lots of it, on top of candy and all those baked goods I made for crew motivation. This is my struggle. I am not a person who can handle being around a kitchen and not constantly snacking. It was rough, and it really changed my eating habits for the bad. So I have gained an extra 5 fat lbs on top of the mid-range healthy pregnancy weight gain. YIKES! I am trying to get back on track by eating healthy and consistently, eliminating those extra carbs and sugars I ate. No, I wasn't eating out of pregnancy cravings or nutritional need. I was eating out of my bad binging and emotional habits, eating foods I actually wasn't craving at all but were just lying around. This is a problem. When people say "oh, it's for the baby!", I get mad. First of all, I know myself, and this is not healthy eating. It's a trap of going back to where I was before; an emotional binge eater. Secondly, if it IS for the baby, I sure as heck better stop feeding her candy! OH, did I mention she's a girl? :) So, I've started up with T25 and finished week one last week. I modified a lot of the moves and because of that I have also added the weight circuit from "How to Exercise When You're Expecting" by Lindsey Brin on Mon, Wed, and Sat. That brings three of my workouts to 50 minutes instead of 25, which is still not a whole lot of time to give! This week, I am adding in portion control containers (get yours here). My calorie intake will be 1800-2099 and I am ALSO going to allow myself a yellow container with whatever I want... you know, since I'm pregnant. That will be an extra 100-250 calories. Which is still within an appropriate amount for someone pregnant. Plus, this is a TRANSITION for me to get back to normal so I don't want to make the process extra hard. Portion control isn't dieting, I will be eating my normal healthy things (along with Shakeology! Getting everything momma and baby needs!), but I will just be reminded of how much is a good amount. I am just going to be doing it for the 21 days, hoping that this will reset me into my normal eating again. It's a very hard adjustment from letting yourself eat WHATEVER and HOWEVER much you want to trying to get back to normal. It's easier to never let yourself get to that point! I found myself very unhappy and self-conscious this summer, because I knew what I was doing to my body. I knew I was making bad choices, and those choices were not making me happy. This directly affected my relationship with those around me! I was not content in who I was and I was projecting that on to others. I want to be happy, healthy, and content for my baby! SO here it is... some photos that show that weight gain. Again, I realize this isn't an out of control weight gain, but I was NOT healthy and if I hadn't stopped myself sooner I would end up somewhere far worse. But those pants I wearing were loose around my thighs and butt during my first trimester...

All in all, I'm not worried about it. I AM going to do something about it, but most of that is going to be post-pregnancy. Right now, I just don't want to lose my eating habits and want to keep healthy for baby and me :)

Pregnancy weeks 15-17 1/2

Pregnancy weeks 15-17

You can see the difference!

As you can tell, week 17 is when I really started to show! I stepped on the scale this morning and was shocked to see I have gained 11 pounds! This is such a weird thing to get used to. That scale is NOT going to go down for another 5-6 months! It's a little bit nerve-wracking and takes a lot of reassurance to know that this is NORMAL. If you're adding the weight of a uterus big enough to hold a baby, of course weight is going to be gained. The scale no longer matters anymore. 

I have been eating normal and doing my workouts, modified still. I found out that my initial blood tests showed that I was low in iron, and I was shocked because I like to consider myself a very healthy, moderate person. I began to look at labels on food to find foods high in iron, and turns out that WHITE BREAD has the highest amount of iron in it! Being that I was gluten free up until getting pregnant, this low iron level makes sense. So, for all you avoiding wheat, remember to be eating other foods high in iron! 

We weren't able to see the baby's gender at our last ultrasound, being that it was sitting with criss-crossed legs... Come on baby! Open up for mama! We are going to wait another month until our next appointment to take a look. I expect things to finally start to feel real once I'm able to start imagining a little boy or girl! 

All in all, things seem to be going well. My sharp pains from the uterus stretching are still in full force, and I have found myself with random bouts of nausea early in the morning that wakes me up. But other than that, I'm feeling great! And I'm feeling like I need to capitalize on this energy while I have it.

That's it in the Nash world, can't wait to update with the baby gender :)

Weeks 14&15

Getting close to halfway! And close to finding out the gender!!! My uterus popped out, but I don't notice a significant belly growth. I found that at the beginning of week 15, my nausea came back! I was being awoken by bouts of morning sickness and this was an unpleasant surprise. I also have bad, sharp cramping pains and those are SUPER...

What I have discovered is that I really CANT run while pregnant unless it's ONLY on an incline. I don't know how people do it! My uterus gets super sharp pains and can't handle it. So I've stuck with my Beachbody programs with some modifications. I've found that it's just really important to listen to what YOUR body is saying.

Again, Shakeology is a pregnant lady's BEST FRIEND. This, and water :) I've found it really hard to get my nutrition in, especially when I'm nauseous! All I want is bread and carbs to settle my stomach, and this makes my gut feel gross; so Shakeology is my saving grace! My stomach also eats itself out if I get hungry, to the point where I feel like there is permanent damage to my gut when I don't have a snack....


Now here are a few pregnancy progression photos :) I found that you can suck in your uterus so it just looks like you have a little fat pooch, I'm interested in what everyone else does for their photos?! Suck in? Let it hang? Give it a little push out? So I started taking a picture of flexing my abs and then relaxing. The 13& 14 week photos are of my relaxed belly. My uterus looks like it's dropped or something from week 13 to 14.

Week 13

Well, people started guessing after this photo got "released".  I was 12 weeks when my belly finally "popped" out, and also a matron of honor where I was displayed for all to examine my now odd-shaped belly.  Once the photo got out on facebook all whispered to each other about my belly, so I set the score straight not too long after :)

So it's now public, I am PREGNANT! I went in for my 13 week ultrasound today and saw little baby wiggling and kicking around. So thankful I can't feel it yet! That's a lot of moving and wiggling, I'll take the numbness as long as I can!

After seeing the baby alive and well, I'm now so thankful for my relief from day sickness! It is always scary wondering if maybe something happened to baby and wondering if THAT'S the reason your sickness is gone.

I am still working out consistently, now doing a lot more than I did the first trimester. I always back down when I feel uncomfortable, whereas before pregnancy I would just push through. There's a lot I'm gladly backing down on, because it's not just MY body I'm taking care of now. Therefore, I gladly accept offers to go take naps. I also gladly use an excuse to do very modified versions of workouts. I am NOT expecting to keep in perfect shape or at an optimal weight, I want my pregnancy to be relaxed, healthy, and also fun! So I will eat like I usually do and ease down on my workouts. That may add a few extra pounds to lose, but I'm happy with that! It will also make a better "body after baby" segment ;) 

Right now I am doing my beachbody programs. I started Insanity Max 30 and am hoping to do the program all the way through over the summer, modifying all exercises I feel like. I also found that there are ways to modify for my needs that are more intense, but still safe, than the modifications offered on the DVD, I'll have to do a post on those modifications! I plan on ordering T25 next and maybe doing that with some piyo. I want to commit to routines through my pregnancy that I know I can keep up when baby comes, and 25-30 minutes a day is about all I can commit to! When I add in healthy eating and choose my splurges appropriately, I don't need more than that. 

Looking forward to next month when we get to see if baby Nash is a boy or a girl!!!

No, not even SHE is perfect.

It's funny how so often, so many people judge others who appear to them as slim or "skinny".  I know this, because I used to be like that. I was never skinny, but I also was never "HUGE". I was plump. But I was plump in disguise. My weight fluctuated so much, no one could ever label me as skinny OR plump. But I remember walking around the halls at school, so mad at the girls who were drinking red bull italian sodas or mocha freezes and yet were stick skinny, because in my mind that's why people were fat. I would think to myself "well I can't have that because it makes me fat, they're just lucky" (FYI those calories caught up with those girls). Yet the craziest part of my judgement is that I WOULD have those things, but because I was so conscious about it and telling myself "it's a splurge" every time, I acted like it was a special, once in a while thing.

When your mindset is one like this: "Today will be a day that I'm NOT going to have that" or "tonight I'm going to SKIP dessert" then you might have yourself a problem. When I thought was being "good", it was because I was able to deny myself something. This is not a healthy mindset!
The focus shouldn't be on when you will eat well and say NO to bad foods, but instead you should always eat well and decide when you say yes to those "bad" things. It's okay to do this! But the more you think of it as saying "NO", the harder it will be. Instead, focus on when you will say yes. It's a lot easier to remember when you said yes than to remember when you said no. This is the mindset that spurred my weight loss! I wasn't even trying, I thought I was in pretty decent shape, but I did change my mindset and the weight just seemed to follow suit.

I also became a beachbody coach and have Shakeology every day for breakfast, and this really saves me calories and starts my day off right every day. Whenever I'd have a huge craving for something I just KNEW I'd binge eat on, I would make myself have Shakeology first. Every time, without fail, I don't desire what I craved prior. Why? Because my body was lacking some nutritional element, and shakeology covers the nutrition basis. When your body is satisfied nutritionally, those cravings become less frequent. (go to my website shakeology.com/donicanash    or beachbodycoach.com/donicanash to learn more about shakeology!).


Now, it's great to splurge every once in awhile. My first couple months of pregnancy I definitely overdid it! I craved McDonalds and absolutely HAD to have it almost every day for a week or so... I was so nervous that this craving was going to keep up! It was getting so expensive and my pants weren't thanking me... But it eventually did. I went total reverse and McDonalds sounded like the most horrible thing on the planet (as it SHOULD sound!) and clean foods were calling my name.

The goal is to eat in a way that you maintain your ultimate desired weight on a 30 min 5 day a week exercise schedule. You shouldn't have to workout more than 30 minutes to be at your best body. If you are having to, then make sure you are eating clean and consistent, and figure out what is going on in your body that makes you either think you need to workout more or actually makes it so you have to work out more. Sometimes it's fun to do an hour long workout, I enjoy it! But you shouldn't have to live off of long workouts. Your life should be active and healthy enough that 30 min 5 days a week does the job! Choose the right foods and the right exercises and your body will thank you :)


For personal coaching sign up for a Team Beach Body membership at teambeachbody.com/donicanash

Vanilla Shakeology Frappachino! Best way to start a busy day :)

Yes, you live an extreme lifestyle.

I read an awesome book recently called "The Rockstar Remedy" which hit basically everything I believe in when it comes to health and fitness. In this day and age, our lives are extreme. We have much more to deal with than the average person back in the day. With technology, blended families on the rise, social media, cell phones, over stimulation, and working mothers and fathers: we juggle more than ever before.

We are no longer working just to keep food on the table. We have to maintain our electric bills, our phone bills, our gas, our children's school and extracurricular activities, insurance, student loans, etc; and still try to maintain a healthy family and life. We are more vulnerable to the outside world, can be reached any time at any moment, whether in bed or on a date, and we are mentally/physically over-committed. This is how life is! Not a lot of us get to opt out of this new way of life (although we are thinking of getting rid of our smartphones, bye bye facebook and endless hours of pinterest). Because we live such extreme lifestyles, we have to do everything we can to keep our bodies well maintained.

Detox DAILY. 

-Drink water. Lots of it. 

-Exercise DAILY. 30 minutes of exercise with 30 minutes of active movement throughout your day (laundry, painting, cleaning house, etc.)

-Eat clean. No matter how much you work out, you CANNOT cancel out an unclean diet. Yes, working out can allow yourself pizza on Friday night or ice cream with your kids, but you can't cancel out the daily usage of such foods. 

-Sleep! Aim for 8 hours a night.

-Give yourself at least 10 minutes of calm. Send the kids outside, have your husband do homework with them...just make sure you get this. Do a ten minute youtube yoga session, a mantra, relaxation techniques, etc. Make sure you are able to be calm! Never let yourself get to a point where you cannot just BE.

Eliminate stresses where you can, and live in the moment! Living such extreme lifestyles is draining to our mind and body; do not add any more stress to it by living an unhealthy lifestyle as well.

Grace and peace,

DNash