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Menu of Musings | Recipes | A Family Affair with Simple Start

A Family Affair with Simple Start

February 21, 2012 by Billie Hillier Leave a Comment

I wrote this blog post as part of a movement by Weight Watchers to encourage people to remember that loving yourself starts with taking care of your health everyday. Though I was compensated for my time and commitment, all views, positive and negative, are my own. #LoveHealthyMe #WWsponsored

Simple Start


We do everything as a family. Trips, family game night, movies, dining out, and more. I enjoy these times with my family and want to make sure that I am as healthy as possible to keep up with them. I have to admit that my old man of a husband is in way better shape than his child bride. With that and the 
past few months of having had a lot of health issues and I “warned” everyone that we would be changing up our diet in hopes of improving what is happening.

simple start


While I am doing this new me for me, I also and doing it for them too and here is why:

  • My 18 year old daughter developed Type II diabetes and we were hoping it was because of her Kleine Levine Syndrome episodes but it looks at though it’s just genetics. {Bob is Type II too}
  • Migraines have plagued us for the past three months with Alex missing probably 3 out of 5 days of her senior year since the beginning of December. The entire month of December it seemed like we spent more time in bed knocked out than up and about. {And a few visits to the emergency room as seen above.}
  • I rang in the new year with the flu, double ear infection, sinus infection, and… wait for it… bronchitis. Took me 5 weeks to be able to get over that one!

While we eat and maintain a lifestyle that is more healthy than the average family, we still feel that something needs to change. The problem is with our family it’s impossible to do a fad diet due to dietary restrictions and they never work!

The reality is our family LOVES to eat and we all appreciate GOOD food! With the tastiness of the morsels that Bob whips up is the desire for seconds and sometimes thirds – GULP! No wonder my backside is wider than an axe handle!

In the past I have done Weight Watchers with friends and and have always been a fan of their methodology. If you read any unbiased research normally they recommend their plans as it’s not a fad, it’s just changing the way you load up your plate. Instead of two large spoonfuls on your plate just add one – it makes you think about portion control.

I honestly need to lose about 40 pounds of F-A-T. Since you gradually grow over time I guess I never realized how many “gradual pounds” I have gained over the year until we went skiing. If you are a Facebook friend, then you saw this post:

weight watcher simples start

When I saw the opportunity to try the new Simple Start with Weight Watchers I knew it was the accountability I needed to jump start my weight loss and to help my family eat healthier. While I am okay with portion control, I don’t think my adult teens will be mentally counting so this new plan sounds like it will meet all the goals I have for myself and my family. {And they won’t notice!}

It’s hard to exclude foods from your diet when preparing meals as a family because doing a “diet” is no fun when everyone else around you is dining on other foods. “No thanks, I will just gnaw on these carrot sticks.”

Bob is a full blown vegetarian, Alex only eats chicken or turkey, Spencer prefers only chicken or turkey but will eat most meats if he has too, and I eat all meats except for veal and seafood. See how complicated it is for my family to try to support a diet as a family!

skiing 1

My Zoolander kids posing above for the camera. Little did they know that when we returned from this trip, we would be starting a new way of meal planning using the Weight Watchers Simple Start plan.

With Simple Start it is. All you do is eat from a list of foods that you can find in any grocery store (we call them PowerFoods.) We give you lots of delicious meal ideas or you can make your own. It’s so uncomplicated it’s almost unbelievable.

weight watchers simple start 2

One thing that our family doesn’t do as a family is breakfast and that is changing. Starting our day off right should be a priority but it never has been. For our journey I am starting our change by adding a family breakfast into our routine and then will focus on lunches and dinner. Working and learning about the preferred ingredients is the first step so since we don’t normally do breakfast, nobody will realize that something has changed! Below is one of the first breakfast meals we had together with our new lifestyle:

  • Roasted Potatoes
  • Scrambled Eggs
  • Whole Wheat Toast {Low Calorie}
  • Alex’s Breakfast Fruit Smoothie {see recipe below}

Creating a healthy meal plan shouldn’t drastically change the way you live just modify what you are currently doing with smarter choices. Book mark my site to see other yummy Weight Watcher Recipes we will be creating over the next few weeks that you would never think are “healthy friendly!”

Note: since this uses non fat yogurt it will not be a thick smoothie. If you want to thicken it drop in more banana {which Alex doesn’t like an overbearing banana taste} or an avocado.

Alex's Breakfast Fruit Smoothie

Alex's Breakfast Fruit Smoothie

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup strawberries
  • 1/2 cup blueberries
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened orange juice
  • 1/2 cup apple, peeled & chopped
  • 1/2 banana
  • 1 cup fat free vanilla yogurt
  • 1 cup ice cubes

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender; purée until smooth.
  2. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Follow Weight Watchers on social media:

  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/weightwatchers
  • Pinterest: http://Pinterest.com/weightwatchers
  • Twitter: https://twitter.com/weightwatchers
  • Instagram: http://instagram.com/weightwatchers/

Filed Under: Recipes, Sponsored Post Tagged With: Simple Start, Social Stars, Weight Watchers, Weight Watchers Recipes, Weight Watchers Simple Plan

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