Day 24 of 28 - Trim Healthy Kid

Today is day one sugar free for Emmy Lou. She's pretty excited. She started her morning with a fruit smoothie. We learned a couple valuable things... First I'll probably use plain greek yogurt in her smoothies for thickness and avoid ice so she can drink it faster from now on. Second, we will stay away from the mixed berry options for a bit. She wasn't a huge fan of all of the seeds that were involved. I don't really blame her.

Otherwise, we packed her lunch last night. Abbycakes is getting a much more THM-friendly lunch & snack for school by default, since I refuse to buy two different types of lunch items. I don't see her making a fuss, so we will see. She always wants to do anything else her big sister is doing, so why not this too??

For those wondering how we are pulling this off, here's a look at this week's and next week's meal plans for Emmy Lou.

WEEK TWO - Trim Healthy Kid Menu

 Partial week since we started on Ash Wednesday.

Wednesday is also Girl Scouts & karate, so she eats at the karate academy.

WEEK TWO - Trim Healthy Kid Menu

X's are meals she will have at or from her dad house.

Monday & Wednesday are Girl Scout Meetings followed by karate again.

You'll notice I don't have weekends listed on there. She'll basically eat what I'm eating on Saturdays and Sundays are her free day. She also put in an exception of her own - her class Valentine's Day party on Friday is also a free day. Can't blame her there!

She's off to a raring start and is still excited. We all know how something new like this works though... It's fun and exciting at first, but the novelty eventually wears off. I hope she makes it to Easter before it really starts to wear off. 

For the most part, I don't see the meals being a problem since we already feed them THM meals. I just see her missing treats and fast food. Even then, our fast food was limited and we'll make THM-friendly cookies this weekend as a treat. I also plan to try baking some THM-friendly donuts this weekend! We'll see how those turn out. If they're good, I'll definitely share the recipe.

As for the menu above, here are the recipes needed to pull it off:

Smoothie Base:

 *Almond Milk Smoothie Base

                                             -1 cup Almond Milk (or half almond milk half water)

                                             -1 scoop Whey Protein powder

                                             -5-10 ice cubes*

                                             -your favorite Sweetener to taste

                                             -Flavor as you like

For a berry smoothie, we will add some frozen berries, about 1/2 cup. For a Peanut Butter Cup smoothie, we will add 1 TBSP unsweetened cocoa and 1 TBSP powdered peanut butter to the above base. 

I'm going to change it up for her tomorrow and leave out the whey protein powder and add 1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt instead to make it smoother. We'll see if that helps a bit. I can also add 1/2 tsp glucomannan powder to thicken it up too. It will take some trial and error to find the best mix to fit her preferences.

Peanut Butter Dip (we haven't tried this one yet, but I'm excited to!)

                                             -1 TBSP peanut butter powder

                                             -1 TBSP Greek yogurt

                                             -your favorite Sweetener to taste

Breakfast Burritos

Skinny Peanut Butter Cups

Chocolate Overnight Oatmeal (we haven't tried this one yet, but it's on the menu for this weekend)

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bites

Remember kids are growing and need fuel, so crossovers are completely normal for them. This means putting carbs and fats together in one meal. We're just focusing on keeping the bad sweeteners out of her food at this point.

I'm hoping that having to sit down with Emmy Lou and plan out meals helps me get out of my own fuel rut. I've been depending pretty strongly on S meals and I need to mix it up a lot more. I've been throwing in an FP here and there with a greek yogurt for snack, but mostly, I'm all over those S meals. Let's face it, they are (S)atisfying!!! 

We all survived Mardi Gras! Now, back to our regularly scheduled schedule. Karate tonight for everyone, tomorrow for the kids, and Friday for The Hubby and I. Part of the weekend with my girls and then a Valentine's Day of Fun with The Hubby (I planned it this year)! I then have Monday off of work with a follow up appointment with the pain specialist working on my rib pain. I'm still keeping everything crossed that he has the magic solution, my hope is fading, but I'm still holding on to what's left of it!