It's so hard to diet when you have kids

There's always SOMETHING in my house I buy for them that I want but shouldn't have. I don't buy complete junk for them. I try to get them the healthier of the sweet treat choices. Lots of fruit, of course, and things like granola bars, string cheese, and trail mix. I buy the "light" string cheese, for my sake, my kids don't know the difference.  But when you are dieting things like granola bars and trail mix are a huge waist of calories. Relatively high glycemic. High calorie when you consider they do nothing to make you feel the least bit full after 150 calories +. So you are immediately looking for something else. Banana's are even a poor choice in snack when it comes to dieting. Just because it comes from nature doesn't mean its not high glycemic/high calorie. And that just sucks. Because I like Bananas too! And if I didn't have a constant supply of Bananas in my house I think my 2 year old and 4 year old would just die. I let each of them have 1 or 2 a day. Although if they had it their way it would be all they eat!

Just made rice crispy treats for my kids. They are so hard to resist! Sweet and crunchy, awesome combo. Only had a little nibble though so, so far so good....

Splenda needs to make marshmallows. If they did that then Rice crispy treats could turn out to be a low calorie snack alternative! Wouldn't be the healthiest snack in the world still, but we all crave a little sugar and empty carbs every once in a while don't we?

Any other Mothers out there with poor will power that are constantly craving to eat the snacks you buy for your children? What do you guys do? Any advice??

Try making black bean brownies.  You can get the mini muffin silcon tins for a perfect bite size.  They taste great and are reasonably healthy.

I find it very challenging also.  I have a 6 year old and he's been spoiled with his special treats.  I'm cracking down on the junk we buy for him and I'm making a conscious effort to teach him to make healthy choices.  As for my husband, he's not much of a help.  I'm working on him also to make healthy choices, cause he definitely needs it (100 lbs overweight).

I think with kids if we don't have those treats in the house or make them from the time they are very young, they don't realize what they are missing.  If you can't have it, then don't have it in the house for them to have either if it is a temptation.  If you don't want to eat bananas, then buy other fruit that you can eat and have them eat it too.  They will learn to eat the other stuff and soon forget about the bananas.

I don' t have any issues with sugar..... I'm not sure about this negative view towards bananas.  I mean, for the calories involved I can usually fill myself up with one during a snack between meals.  Plus it's good to have some carbs as it helps fuel exercise.

I have 3 kids... and I do most of the grocery shopping since I enjoy it and my wife doesn't.  I pretty much buy them whatever I feel is fine for them and buy myself what I feel I need instead of  trying too much to get them to eat what I like that will  aid in my weightloss.

Original Post by schadylady:

I think with kids if we don't have those treats in the house or make them from the time they are very young, they don't realize what they are missing. 

until they encounter the real world...

 my boys are pretty good about enjoying their healthy snacks (generally fruits, veggies, and cheese), but do like the sweets on occasion. my biggest food problem right now is with the oldest, 5, he is convinced that waffles are all he needs.

Thanks smwhipple, I will have to try those!

My kids will know what they are missing! LOL . I have 4. The oldest 9. When I went from buying Cookies to granola bars (examples) 2 years ago, at first everyone was ok with it. But the more time that passes that my kids don't get things like cookies or ice cream, the more they complain about it. My oldest is the toughest. She complains about being hungry so I give her options, and she says no to each one and mopes around and whines. Reason being? She wants a cookie or ice cream, and knows we don't have it, and I wont buy it, and if she even asks......she will get a scolding! My 7 year old is the same. The 4 and 2 year old are a lot easier. 4 year old was only 2 when I started making changes in what I bought.  And of course, my 2 year old was just born. But I really do my best to keep an even balance between buying my children snacks and treats while keeping it healthy for them. But still, I feel these things are good choices for my kids, but not myself as I am trying to loose weight. And I am one of those people who does just fine all day until late at night. Then I give in to temptations. And late at night it doesnt take very many slip ups like that to take your calorie intake from deficit to maintaining. And when you do that, your obviously not going to loose weight. This is my problem......

And to night, the reason I made this post is because I DO have issues with sugar. And Bananas are in fact high glycemic, I am not just making it up.  If your not sure what this means, I recommend researching it, it could be very helpful to your diet. I also do the shopping and do as you. Buy what I think is fine for my kids, and different things for myself for my diet. But like I said. I have poor willpower at times. Especially at night. Which is my problem! And if I only bought apples, carrots, and celery as snacks for my whole family (5 of whom are NOT dieting) I think there might be a riot......

Original Post by satyrswoman:

until they encounter the real world...

 EXACTLY

Original Post by aftonmae:

And Bananas are in fact high glycemic, I am not just making it up.  If your not sure what this means, I recommend researching it, it could be very helpful to your diet. 

Well, I know about the high glycemic index of bananas, it hasn't stopped me from eating them, and eating them hasn't stalled or detracted from my weight loss.  For people who have a problem with sugar, though, I can see how they could be a problem.

As for the kids' snacks, some of them are healthy (granola bars, grapes, bananas, etc.) but some are not, and they do have their treats (pop tarts, gummy snacks, cheetos etc.).  I'm not sure how I managed to develop the willpower to resist the occasional nibble of their stuff - I'm thinking chewing gum had a lot do with it, combined with a hint of lazyness - I developed a habit of entering everything into the food log, and many times what prevented me from snacking on a few cheetos is that I just didn't feel like updating the log.  Eventually it just became habit to overlook them.

LOL santonacci. I have that laziness too. Except I will have those nibbles anyway. It always happens at night. I start nibbling on things I shouldn't and they don't get logged. Next thing I know I have no clue how many calories I have eaten, I just know it's probably not good.

And yes. I have a HUGE problem with sugar. Carbohydrates in general to be more specific. The way my body reacts to sugar is down to a science. I react to them the way anyone's body does, but to an extreme. Being that If I eat anything high glycemic, I produce a lot of insulin which makes my blood sugar drop, when my blood sugar drops I crave more sugar/carbs to bring my blood sugar back up. When I eat more my blood sugar drops more, etc. etc. A vicious cycle. A year ago I was sick all the time. Nearly passing out practically every 5 minutes. Literally passing out a few times a day. So I went to a DR. and after lots of tests my Dr. Diagnosed me as being insulin resistant. I make WAY to much insulin so my blood sugar gets dangerously low. Which explains it all. Once I knew what that was I completely understood everything. Why I felt the way I did. How it connected to what I ate. I know now what I have to do to keep myself comfortable, happy and healthy. Even what to do to loose weight. I just get stuck in these ruts that I can't seem to get out of! And a lot of it has to do with what I see in the pantry! I don't look in the pantry when I am looking for food for myself. I keep all my "diet" stuff in a separate cupboard. When my kids want a snack they ask, I tell them what I will allow them to have, and they get it themselves. Honestly, the late night give-in's are when I am packing my hubby's lunch for work!

I just have really sucky willpower.

Anyways, the reason for this post in the first place was only to see if any other mothers (or parents, not to leave out night or any other Dad) in my situation have any tricks up there sleeve they utilize to get through the day with there willpower in tact. I've come up with several myself but after a while they just quit working.

 And I am out of ideas!

In your case if you know the high glycemic foods are going to set you up on that cycle then just keep them out of the house if you can't keep from the "just a bite" situations.  It's a hard thing to do but since it honestly sounds like it's detrimental to your health then I think the family will more then understand.

Reasonably if you remove the tempting things and then slowly phase them back in with just enough for the kids I think that'd be a more forgiving then fighting to resist and feeling guilty when you can't.  No sense beating yourself up.  At least for me since I'm an emotional eater that's really an easy way to set me up for a binge.

You said the late night issues happen when packing your husband's lunch.  I know saying "get him to pack his lunch" is one of those things that probably won't fly.... didn't when mine worked out of the house, so I'm not going to go there.  If you need to have something can you pre-pack your own snacks so you have a little something there to eat when you're tempted to pick?  I pre-pack all my snacks and at night I have a protein shake so I don't fall into the mindless snacking when I'm catching up on news and emails.  It's helped me a lot.  All my snacks being portioned worked great because when I hit the bottom of the container, that's that.  No big bag to get more from!

Hasn't been easy but the keep it out and then slowly allow it back in worked with my addiction to chocolate.  I don't keep it in the house anymore and literally can go a couple months without.  If I get that itch at the checkout then I'll get a small bar and split it into portions. 

Hope some of this might help

I have 3 kids ages 2, 5 & 6 and a hubby that doesn't need to lose weight.  It's always a struggle to give everyone what they want while keep my on my diet.  Our rule in the house is "healthy food first".  If the kids want a snack, they have to choose a healthy option before they can go to the "junk".  Even then I try to buy healthy-ish junk.  Z-bars by clif are excellent protein bars for kids that I like too.  They look sinful and are a lot less calories than regular power bars.  I also LOVE trader joes...they make all natural or lower fat options of just about everything.  So even our potato chips are lower in fat than regular.  The kids don't know the difference.  Good luck!

don't diet!  change your lifestyle.  :D

if i'd have walked into a house last year & peeked in the fridge for some food & there was ONLY lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, celery, cucumber, etc...  i would have said to myself:  "geez!  i guess i'll just eat later."

if i would walk into a house today & peek in the fridge & ONLY found junk, i would say to myself:  "geez...  i guess i'll eat later."

just make simple changes.  one at a time.  make sure they are changes that you can live with, though.

Original Post by snowfence:

don't diet!  change your lifestyle.  :D

if i'd have walked into a house last year & peeked in the fridge for some food & there was ONLY lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, celery, cucumber, etc...  i would have said to myself:  "geez!  i guess i'll just eat later."

if i would walk into a house today & peek in the fridge & ONLY found junk, i would say to myself:  "geez...  i guess i'll eat later."

just make simple changes.  one at a time.  make sure they are changes that you can live with, though.

Brilliant. xD

I am exactly the opposite, the child struggling with parents` incredibly unhealthy snack choices and poor junk food just about everywhere around the house.

I find the best way to resist is, whenever something is lying around, I grab it and put it away in a cupboard or some place I can`t see it.

If I find myself really tempted I will just sit down and read the nutritional info on all the packages of those sweets, several times if needed, and think of all the yummy healthy food I could shove down for the same caloric content, or, even better, for the same amount of fat (usually huge in sweets).

The best advice I can give you is to compromise once in a while. Fine, you`re not satisfied with a handful of cranberries, then have your banana - much better than a pack of cookies or a tray of brownies. But how about going for a walk in the park and enjoying your banana somewhere on a bench with a lovely view? That way, even if your body is craving more, you are far away from your food supply, and hopefully by the time you are back home all the walking and fresh air will have calmed your sugar rush and taken food off your mind.

Best of luck!

Edit: Forgot to add; if you decide to try that out and know your sugar rush can drive you pretty crazy, best not to have any cash or credit cards on you. ;)

I don't have any magical answers - but I do know some companies make diabetic snacks - which aren't bad - I've tried the Russell Stovers peanut butter cups & chocolate covered peanuts - they're similar in calories to other foods, but much lower carbs - they also make something by Glucerna I believe which has shakes and snack bars for people with diabetes.  Also - you may want to purchase the Eat Clean Cookbook for families & kids by Tosca Reno.  She promotes low-glycemic sweeteners such as agave nectar and stevia and has good recipes in there for families - even recipes for desserts such as cupcakes, quickbreads, etc.  I've been using the cookbook for a little while and I've learned a lot - and most of the recipes would be lower glycemic, as the sweeteners don't cause as much insulin production as sugar would.  Of course, you may already know all of this! 

would love the recipe for black bean brownies!  i am a nanny and this family is full of junk food junkies! always snacks around. cookies, chips etc. i asked to start buying kids more healthy treats because it would help with there behavior, so they did. unfortunately they still buy the cookies chips etc. i bring my own food and snacks but when u love food like i do. its hard to resist when u know there are choc chip cookies right in the cupboard!   i also find myself taking bites of my kids foods( testing the temp or finishing the last chicken finger) hard habit to break! i am counting calories and those bites can really mess me up! would love any junk food fake out recipes i can turn this family on to!

I totally feel you, and oh how I want to nosh on a rice crispy treat. Man, I haven't had one in ages! Delicious! You REALLY need to send Splenda an email suggesting their innovation of marshmallow goodness, because I would pay for that in a blink.

We make our brownies/cookies/etc from scratch with whole grain flours & pumpkin & yogurt. They're still devilish & pack in some fiber. I haven't tried the black bean brownie thing, I just can't get past the revolting image I have in my head.

I also make sugar free jello pudding & make trifles with bananas or frozen cherries/berries & lowfat nilla wafers. The wafers get all cake like & it seems like a really special treat.

I can't have much sugar for medical reasons and I use (generic) Splenda for pretty much everything. I totally get the whole natural stevia/agave business, but they are prohibitively expensive for my family.

As far as snacks go, I avoid them when I avoid them and eat them when I eat them. I focus on a healthy balance, you know? Sometimes I just want some delicious "empty" treat & I think that's ok. Sometimes I eat them too often & cut myself off for a while. It's a balance, but I think it's more healthy for some of us to focus on balance rather than on benders, you know?

Do you exercise? I'm a much better mommy when I exercise. Plus, then I can eat pancakes for breakfast and brownies for lunch & not go all mental about it like I do when I'm either lazy or have to shift my priorities (you know, the never ending never constant schedule of MOM ;)).

It feels horrible to think "I have no willpower." I have lived a lifetime of struggling with guilty/"willpower"/food issues. Now I try to think of my marathon running brother & Michael Phelps. They don't feel guilty about eating sugary carbs for breakfast if that's what they want. Something about the lack of weight gain and self conciousness makes eating brownies for breakfast a great idea, whereas I would probably struggle with guilt & feeling useless.

THAT is what motivates me to exercise. Cause when I don't I pathologize EVERY SINGLE BITE I put in my mouth. When I exercise I'm pretty relaxed.

I don't know if any of that helps you, but good luck! It's a balance for all of us, I think (though there are some "saints" on this board who I am certain must be living some double life).

P.S. Another "trick" I have is when I want something amazing & delicious, I either pack up my daughter, or, if she's at school/with someone else, call a friend & we have a date at a fabulous bakery or patisserie. I can eat my glamorous treat there with some coffee & it feels great. Nothing like bagging a couple of doughnuts at the grocery store & downing them in the car... not that I've ever done that... uh....

Anyway, sometimes eating cranberries & bananas in lieu of satisfying your true craving can lead to just as many calories consumed via cranberries & bananas and an exponential craving for cake. That kind of self denial is just crazy, in my opinion. If you truly want something (want = want it for longer than impulse with increasing desire) then go & get it!