The first two days my youngest came home with half of his lunch uneaten and on the third day he didn’t eat any his sandwich (the same sandwich he requested). On day four he asked for popcorn chicken and goldfish – which he has had for three consecutive days. This morning as I packed up the same lunch I told him we can’t live on popcorn chicken and goldfish and he simply responded: “why not?”

I guess I should be glad he’s eating lunch, but I wish it were healthier – or at least a variety. So this morning I googled healthy lunch options and a lot popped up about First Lady Michelle Obama and the Child Nutrition Act, celebrity chefs like Jamie Oliver and his efforts to bring awareness to prime time TV, and blogs about making a difference in your school’s cafeteria. While those are great (I even enjoyed the blog about the teacher who ate school lunch every day and documented it), I just want some simple suggestions and ideas on what to pack for a picky eater.

After digging some more I found a few sites worth sharing:

• Healthy lunchbox suggestions: I think I’ll make them a bagel sandwich tomorrow
• 12 healthy snack ideas for kids: My kids might like making (and eating) their own granola mix
• 15 healthy foods to pack in a school lunch: Instead of popcorn chicken maybe my kids will eat cold chicken strips with dip
• Packing a healthy lunch box… easier than you think: Since they eat burritos at home, I bet they’ll like mini burritos at school (fingers crossed)
• FitCity’s Entertaining Ideas this month features Back to School Food Fun: I don’t know about my kids, but I think I’m going to pack Schoolbox Sushi for myself

What do you feed your kids for lunch (and please don’t say popcorn chicken and goldfish)?

If you know anything about a little auto race in Indianapolis during the month of May, you probably know that the winner of the Indianapolis 500 drinks milk as part of the Victory Circle celebration. It’s a tradition that began in 1936 when winner Louis Meyer’s mother handed him a bottle of buttermilk, his favorite drink. But is milk still the drink of champions (and families) today?

Consider these facts from the Got Milk website:

• Chocolate milk is considered an ideal recovery drink after sports or exercise. The combination of carbohydrates and proteins replenish the body better than even sport drinks can.
• Drinking 3 glasses of milk each day can help significantly reduce the incidence of bone disease (such as osteoporosis) and fractures.
• When combined with routine brushing, the calcium in milk can help kids enjoy cavity-free teeth.
• A protein found in milk helps increase sleep and improve next-day alertness when milk is enjoyed in the evening.
• A diet rich in calcium (at least 1200mg of calcium a day) can help alleviate the physical and emotional symptoms of PMS.

Milk is important not just for the calcium it provides, but for other nutrients our bodies need.  AskDr.Sears.com reports an 8-ounce glass of milk provides:

• Protein: 8 grams.
• Carbohydrates – lactose, 11 grams
• Fat: Depending on what kind of milk (nonfat to whole milk), milk contains anywhere from negligible amounts of fat in non-fat milk to eight grams of fat per 8-ounce glass in whole milk.
• Calcium: 300 milligrams or 35 percent of the RDA for school children. Note that the percentage of calcium absorbed from dairy products is much higher than that absorbed from most vegetables. Milk is fortified with vitamin D, which boosts calcium absorption.
• Vitamin B2 (riboflavin): 8-ounces of milk supply half the RDA for children under three years, one-third of the vitamin B2 requirement for school-age children, and one-fourth the requirement for teens and adults.
• Vitamin B-12: 30 percent RDA for children
• Zinc: one eight-ounce glass, 10 percent RDA for children
• Vitamin D: 25 percent RDA for children and adults
• Vitamin A: 10 percent RDA for children and adults

Of course, several of the recipes submitted in the FitCity Make Your Own Smoothie challenge also contain healthy amounts of milk.

Still, there are people who prefer not to drink milk or who can’t because of allergies. If you fall into one of those categories, other good sources of dairy nutrition include rice milk, soy milk, broccoli, spinach, and calcium-fortified cereals and juices.

As for me, my preference for getting my daily requirement of milk is the good old-fashioned milk shake. Though prudence and the desire to wear pants that fit keep from a three-shake-a-day habit. What about your family — do you manage to get your three daily recommended servings of dairy, milk, cheese or yogurt  or do you find other ways to take in the calcium and other nutrients milk provides?

Our guest blogger this week is Justina Barone, a 2-year breast cancer survivor. She was diagnosed at the age of 27. Justina was young and fit, but breast cancer does not care and does not discriminate. Justina, however, does not give up. Two weeks after a bi-lateral mastectomy and reconstruction she was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame at her alma mater.  Justina lives every day with a purpose, to share her story with anyone to raise breast cancer awareness.  We hope her story can be an inspiration for your own health journey.

We are surrounded by images from the media encouraging us to eat healthy.  Jennifer Hudson belts out glorious notes encouraging us to win our personal battle against bulge, like she did, in her Weight Watchers ® commercials. 

Her commercial explains that feeling of can’t that so many of us combat everday.  I can’t lose weight, I’ve tried before.  I can’t workout, I don’t have time.  I can’t join a gym, it’s too expensive.  I can’t get breast cancer, I’m an athlete. 

Well just like Jennifer, being stuck in the frustrating negative world of can’t leaves us forced to begin each new day just as the old one ended.  Forced to continue life in a perpetual loop of can’t and before we know it 10 years have gone by and gasp maybe we’ve grown a little bigger, a little unhappier, and a little unhealthier.  Or worse, we’ve missed our childhood because of being too overweight to play. 

I woke up one day in my world of can’t to the shocking truth that I can in fact get breast cancer, and I was only 27. 

I found myself thrown into the world of can.  Now that I know I can get breast cancer and did – what do I do?  I decided that I wanted to keep moving forward.  I read books to gather information so that I could make educated decisions regarding treatment.  I soaked in information about cleanses and changing my diet so drastically that I would be eating organic spinach and watermelon in a blender for 30 days.  I imagine that I felt the way about an organic liquid diet that many adults feel about establishing a workout routine, and many children feel about eating their veggies.    

Drastic change is not always the best change.  Even though I found myself saying “I can’t run 3 miles after chemotherapy treatments because I was too exhausted.”  I also found myself saying “I can walk up and down the stairs in the house.” 

I don’t have a voice as angelic as Jennifer Hudson’s but, I was just as proud to finish walking up two flights of stairs as I was to win a half-mile race.  I wanted to belt out, “I can!  I did!” at the top of my lungs and now that I have completed treatment; I can call myself a survivor, because “I am!”

“I can. I did. I am.” And you can too!

Maybe you could even begin by walking in the Susan G. Komen Central Indiana Race for the Cure on April 16^th.  Whether you want to run or walk with your family and friends, set a goal to complete the 5K course and let that be the beginning of your “I can” while being surrounded by people who believe we can find a cure for breast cancer. 

Regardless of your fitness level just remember to keep moving, eat healthy, and challenge yourself.   

Justina is one of 20 Komen Ambassadors who were selected to represent the different faces and stages of breast cancer. Learn more about the surviviors through stories and pictures.

We’ve been members of our gym, Empower Fitness, for several years now. 

Back in 2009, we took an Endurance Challenge to benchmark where we were in terms of fitness.  In November of 2010, we did the Challenge again to see improvements.  And in March of 2011, we’ve done the Challenge again. 

Our biggest improvement happened from 2009 to 2010.  That’s when we had started running and taking strength training more seriously.  I remember being pretty thrilled with the results of that Endurance test the second time around.  And this time around, I was able to take time off my 1/4 mile and that felt awesome.  Well, it felt awesome when I was done and had stopped running.  It was pretty awful while I was doing it.  Christy and I both made improvements in a lot of areas and we know what we need to work on to improve for next time.

Can you do our Endurance Challenge?  Maybe you don’t have all the equipment.  But you can make adjustments.  Take 30 minutes today to do a set of specific exercises.  Challenge yourself to do as many reps in 60 seconds as you can.  Ask a friend to do it with you so you push each other.  If you want more detail on each of the exercises we did, read the post I wrote about it back in November.

Another challenge I’m currently involved in is a Shape Up Challenge at work.  This is a challenge that lasts 10 weeks.  My team is competing in 2 out of 3 areas- Exercise the most minutes per day and Walk the most steps per day.  There is some fierce competition out there.  Christy and I are pushing each other to get at least 10,000 steps per day and we really want to push to 15,000 per day.  I did get my 10K in each day last week- and got some great encouragement from my FitCity Fit Friends on Facebook one night.  I slipped a little one day this week- I was under the weather.  2,000 steps is approximately 1 mile.  On my running days, I get 6,000 steps on my lunch hour.  It’s easy to hit my goals on those days.  I have to get more creative on my non-running days.  Walks with the kids in the evening, for example.  Last week, we took a night walk.  We had a glow stick and a flashlight, we listened for birds in trees, we counted dogs, we moved sticks off the sidewalk.  Another evening, we walked 1 mile to dinner and then 1 mile home.  Christy, one of my Fit Friends, was with us for each of these walks.

I challenge you and your Fit Friends to walk 10,000 steps.  Pick a day and do it.  Find ways to get outside and walk a mile.  Get on treadmills at the gym.  Stand in front of the TV and swing your hips, jog or march in place, dance.  Get moving and get those 10,000 steps.

I also challenge you to share what you’ve done!! Share it on our Fit City Facebook page.  Post it in your status.  Tweet it.  Blog about it.  Let people know that you are getting active and focused on fitness.  There is an amazing thing that happens.  You will soon start to connect with others who are fitness focused and you can encourage each other.  You will see friends start posting about going to the gym or getting out for a run.  Friends will ask for encouragement to get their activity in for the day.  Start sharing and you will start to form a support network- you will inspire others and you will be inspired.  In the past year, I’ve watched on Facebook as my list of friends have started sharing more and more about their activities and it definitely inspires me to keep going!  Major props to Lety, Krista, Lauren, Katie, Tonya, Jessica, Emily, Ashli, Ginger, Michael, Mike, Kirsten, Beth, Amber, Darcey, Kris, Carol, and so many more!!!  I love scrolling through my news feed and seeing people encouraging each other, asking quesitons, getting support. 

So what challenge will you choose for today?  Going to take on that Endurance Challenge?  Going to get 10,000 steps?  Going to start sharing your activity and connecting to your Fit Friends?

We women are gifted in the area of taking care of others. It is in our nature to nurture and care for others. Any woman would know what I’m referring to, but if you are a Hispanic woman you can relate even more.

In the Hispanic culture we are taught, consciously or unconsciously, to put ourselves aside and serve our husbands, our children, our parents, our aunts and uncles, our grandparents, our nephews and nieces, and anyone else in our inner and outer circles. Unfortunately, sometimes we are looked over the shoulders when we stop doing these activities to take care of ourselves.

I’m not criticizing that characteristic of our culture or of women in general, as I know most of us enjoy being that way. It is wired into our woman/motherly nature. But also remember that if you don’t take care of yourself, you might not be able to take care of others in the future.

We women tend to put off important things like getting Pap Smears every year, or doing our monthly self-examination for breast cancer or a mammogram, if you are eligible. We can always find something more important to do.

Perhaps you have had your testing done, but are too busy to schedule your follow-up appointment with your doctor or re-do a test you were asked to re-do. In my case I think: “Oh, I can work on it next week” or whenever. Well, guess what? The next week I forget and then it never happens.

Can I just ask you to please take some time TODAY to do what you need to do?

With tears in my eyes I must say that breast cancer has hit close to home this year. I have had the opportunity to think very deeply about this terrible disease, among many others, that is taking precious lives.

In February I lost one of my childhood best friends to breast cancer. She left a husband and 3-year-old twins behind. Just a few months later, two other loved ones, including my dear mother, were diagnosed with breast cancer and a few others had scares serious enough to go for further testing. Very few things have been more devastating in my life than this news.

As I see it, cancer does not respect cultural background, economical condition, age, or beliefs. It is becoming more prominent in our country. The best weapon against it is making the time to take preventive measures and screen it out. You have to do your part.

If you a procrastinator, like me, I plead with you to not take this lightly and not leave this for later. If you haven’t done so already, pick up the phone and call your doctor or health center to schedule your appointment for these woman matters. If your financial situation is an issue there are many places in town like the Family Resource Planning or community medical centers such as the Shepherd Community Center that will assist you in getting these services at low- or no-cost. There are also Health Clinics that are offered throughout the city that will offer these services for very little cost.

Earlier this year I was really surprised when I took my 13-year-old daughter to a physical and the doctor asked her if she self-examined her breasts. She showed my daughter how to do it. The doctor said that it is never too early, but that she was also doing it so that she starts “knowing” her breasts early and thus be able to tell any changes in the future.

I recommend you do your preventive testing the first month of the year, January, that way it will be easier for you to remember when was the last time you had it done. Your self-examination you should do it monthly after your menstrual period.

Implementing good healthy habits also include taking care of these medical issues responsibly. Don’t put it aside anymore and be ready to start off a great year. The best health legacy you can give your children and future generations is to teach them to be responsible when it comes to taking charge of their health.

I am open to changing a few things to make Thanksgiving a little healthier:

1. I will have some healthier snacks on hand for pre-Thanksgiving. I get so focused on the Thanksgiving meal that my family eats whatever we can find around the house for two days before the big day! I am going to invest in a fruit and veggie tray and have other healthy options on hand.
2. I will add another vegetable to the menu. If you have a good recipe, please share it in the comments section.
3. I will plan some sort of physical activity with my family for Thanksgiving weekend. We tend to watch sports, shop or check out the latest movie, but this year we need to add in a walk or something else physical. Several health facilities have extra classes and special activities like the Great Turkey Burn Off.

Here’s what I’m not willing to change – my favorite recipes. I love my recipes. I am not the greatest cook, so once I finally have a recipe nailed down I don’t like to change it. In other words, I will not be doing what the “add-in-tofu-it-really-tastes-the-same” crowd would do.

The other reason I don’t change holiday recipes is because so many of them have been passed down to me, and I really have an emotional connection to them. My sweet potato pie recipe is a gift I treasure from a friend who passed away earlier this year. I want the pie to taste the same as I remember when she was here to enjoy it with me.

I don’t want to pack on pounds during the holidays; I want to maintain. The YMCA has a Zero Gain Campaign starting after Turkey Day if that’s one of your goals too.

This year, I’m holding on to the best parts of my holiday traditions, but I’m willing to add in some new ones. How about you – what are your Thanksgiving plans?

“Mom! Please don’t!”

“You’re just asking to get egged.”

“I’m not helping you clean up when somebody who wanted candy TPs the house.”

“Why don’t you just not answer the door. That would be better.”

But I like answering the door when trick-or-treaters are on the porch. I love to see the wee little princesses and the toddlers wearing costumes so bulky that they are in near danger of toppling over backwards. I love the clever costumes that don’t come from a store — last year’s favorite was the Geico stack of money.  

So just not answering the door doesn’t seem like an option. However, I am trying to think of something a little more fit-friendly to hand out this year. I have a neighbor who, teasingly, gives little raw broccoli florets to the kids he knows. (Once he’s gotten the desired look of shock out of them, he coughs up the sugary stuff.)

Broccoli aside, here are a few things I’ve come up with as possibilities for handing out on Halloween night:

1. Halloween themed pencils
2. Stickers
3. Individual packs of pretzels
4. Dimes
5. McDonald’s Halloween coupons ($1/12  and good for mostly healthier options)
6. Silly bands (bought in bulk)
7. Sugar-free gum
8. Lower sugar granola bars

I really wanted to list 10 things, but I’m running out of ideas. Maybe you have some suggestions?

Is it worth trying to swim against the candy current? Are my kids right? If I hand out pencils or stickers, will I be cleaning eggs off my front porch the next morning?

When Lori started her school, she focused on finding the best teachers for a 3 year old classroom, a 4 year old pre-K classroom, and a Kindergarten teacher.  She developed curriculums and philosophies that the school would be based on.  She created a learning environment that would cater to part time students and parents as well as care for children and parents who needed all day care.  She carefully selected a location and designed a space that encouraged learning and playfulness. 

Little Explorers is a private preschool and Kindergarten in Fishers, located near 116th and Brook School Rd.   When my husband and I decided it was time for our daughter to move from an in home care situation to a preschool, we searched and visited and interviewed a wide variety of schools.  We looked at church based programs, Montessori, private preschools, chain preschools.  We were very careful in our selection of Little Explorers as the place for our children to begin their educational foundation.

This is Little Explorers’ third year in full operation.  This year, thanks to a new school cook and a new program discovered by the Kindergarten teacher, Little Explorers has rounded out the curriculum for all students to focus on a well-rounded child in terms of education and health.

Initially, the school was not focused on the food served to the children.  Running a quality school means making a lot of choices.  The food served wasn’t on the top of the list.  The menu consisted primarily of frozen and canned foods.  Chicken nuggets, burgers, fries, canned vegetables, canned mixed fruit.  This year, that all changed when the school hired a whole foods chef- Ms. Satch Cole. 

Satch is dedicated to feeding kids food that is prepared by hand.  She has updated the school’s menu and continues to work on removing all high fructose corn syrup products, all canned fruits and veggies, and she prepares the school’s main meal- lunch- each day.  She has updated the menu to eliminate processed meat and cheese.  The only foods that still have high fructose corn syrup are ketchup and jelly (hard to buy healthy versions of these items in bulk).  She is learning what menu items work well with the kids and what menu items don’t work logistically.  For example, roasted chicken legs sound great- until you have a classroom full of kids who won’t eat the chicken off the bone and you have to remove the meat from 50+ chicken legs.  Each day, the kids are served fresh fruit and veggies that are either fresh or frozen.  Main courses include meatballs, homemade chicken and noodles, and beef stew.

In addition to the change from processed to whole foods, Satch has updated the way the kids eat with a focus on sustainability for our environment.  I think any parent can understand that taking the easy road is often the most appealing choice.  I know that I’ve had to survive some weeks by living off of paper plates and plastic cutlery.  Until this year, Little Explorers has been serving all snacks and meals with disposable dishes and cutlery.  Satch, with her dedication to sustainability, brought in lunch trays, cups, silverware, and serving dishes.  The kids eat family style in their classrooms instead of being served individual plates. 

Lori has seen the changes as a very positive thing for the school.  She says that children who previously were packing lunch each day are now eating the school lunch because the options are healthier.  She has also been amazed at how well the kids have responded to the food.  Lori says that the one thing she has really learned is that we tend to not give kids enough credit when it comes to food.  We assume that kids won’t like vegetables that are too different or unfamiliar.  We assume that they only want nuggets and fries.  When Satch first put beef stew on the menu, Lori couldn’t imagine the kids eating it.  But it’s become a favorite meal!  Recently, Satch served fried cabbage.  At first, most of the kids turned up their noses.  When encouraged to try it, the feedback was positive (it’s like warm salad!”).

In addition, the budget has not taken a big hit.  That’s right!  According to Lori, they expected there would be an significant increase in the cost of food.   However, there is far less waste and Satch is very skilled at knowing where to buy produce at the best price and how to make the produce last the longest.  For example, serving bananas on Monday and then using bananas to make banana bread from the leftover fruit later in the week.  At this early stage in the school year, the budget has seen only a small increase.  I’ll be interested to see where things stand later in the year when they no longer have to buy styrofoam plates and such every week.  In addition, as the school year hits a nice rhythm and Satch figures out which menu items work best, I’m thinking that things will scale down a bit from where they are now.

The other new thing introduced this year is a program that Kindergarten teacher Ms. Sally Lamping is utilizing called The Maze.  As Sally explained it to me, most learning processes in the classroom don’t work together in the brain but the Maze activities create learning opportunities that make both sides of the brain work together.  The school year is only a few weeks old and Sally reports that she is already seeing benefits as the children are more focused in the mornings.  The Maze is the second thing they do each day.  I was very intrigued by this program but also confused about how it worked and what the children actually did.  I was very excited to have an opportunity to go into the classroom and see it in action.

The Maze is designed to build in difficulty from month to month.  For example, they children will spend a month doing an exercise where they walk on a blue tape strip on the floor.  The next month, that blue tape is replaced by a board on the floor.  The next month, the board is replaced by an actual balance beam.  Every few weeks, the course of The Maze gets updated with different activities.  On the day I was there to observe, the children were doing Jelly Rolls, Walk The Line, Over the Rainbow, Under the Rainbow, Eye Tracking, and Push the Wall. 

The first thing I noticed was how quiet the classroom was during The Maze.  It isn’t a free for all activity course.  The kids go one after the other through each station.  Before they begin, Sally reviews what exercises they will be doing and how they do each one.  She reminds them of the rules- to concentrate and no talking. 

I watched my daughter lay on the floor and roll from one side of the carpet to the next.

Then she came to the Walk the Line- blue tape on the floor that she walked “heel toe, heel toe.”  Since my visit, the directions for Walk the Line have changed and the children now stand to the side and walk sideways down the line with just their toes on the tape.

For Over and Under the Rainbow, the children go over, without touching, a curved foam noodle.  Then they go under a curved foam noodle.

In Eye Tracking, one by one, each child gets face time with Sally and an object that they are asked to track with only their eyes.  Don’t move your head, only your eyes.

Finally, the children lined up and headed into the hallway for Push the Wall.  They faced the wall, put their hands up, and pushed as hard as they could for a 10 second count.

In addition to this new program, the school has plenty of physical playtime built into the daily schedule.  There is a great outdoor play area and playset.  The teachers and staff interact with the kids outside, encouraging them to play with a parachute attached to the fence or to play catch or play with hula hoops.  Extra activities are offered for an additional fee- dance class and a mobile gymnastics class. 

There is a trend in schools these days and I hope you’ve seen it in your area.  Our public school district made drastic changes to their food program this year.  No fried foods in the elementary schools, no additional charge for an extra serving of real vegetables (not french fries), eliminating high fructose corn syrup, eliminating processed foods. 

I know that the responsibility for the health and well being of our kids truly rides on the shoulders of the parents.  As a mom, I am striving to keep my kids active and to offer healthy choices and to teach them about sugary junk food versus healthy fruits and vegetables.  However, if I’m giving my kids all the healthy messages and they go to school and are surrounded by sugary milk and syrupy fruit and deep fried meat and potatoes, my authority on the subject is undermined.  For years, one of the main concerns I heard coming out of schools was that there wasn’t consistency between school and home.  They wanted parental involvement and communication.  I like seeing that schools are going the other way, too.  Taking the lead on instilling healthy values in our children is a priority and hopefully it’s a priority that is growing across the country.

I plan to go back and visit Little Explorers again in the middle of the school year.  I’m interested to see what Satch and Sally and Lori will tell me about any changes in behavior or cognitive development that they feel is related to the changes in the school’s healthy values this year.  Will the children be more focused?  Will the children have fewer behavior problems?  Will there be a child that they see drastic improvements in?  What are the benefits we haven’t thought of yet?  What are the struggles that still need to be answered?

How about you and your school or daycare?  How health focused is the environment that you send your children into when they aren’t at home?  How much influence do you have to make improvements?

Seriously? Where is the weight of parental responsibility? The last time I checked, small children were not driving themselves to McDonald’s, cracking open their piggy banks and ordering a 4-piece chicken nugget Happy Meal with fries and a chocolate milk and oh, can I please have the Littlest Pet Shop toy with that?

According to the article in the Huffington Post, Michael Jacobson, executive director of CSPI, concedes that it is the parents’ responsibility too, but says including the toys with the meal is like “a door to door salesman coming to a family’s house every day and asking to privately speak with the children.”

“At some point parents get worn down,” Jacobson says. ‘They don’t always want to be saying no to their children. We feel like an awful lot of parents would be relieved if this one pressure was removed from them.”

Welcome to being a parent. The word “no” is a significant part of the vocabulary.  And that door to door salesman business? If I don’t want a door to door salesman asking to speak to my kids, I have the power to close (or not answer) the door. If I don’t want my kids bombarded with McDonald’s and other fast food ads or ads for grocery store food pushed by cute and engaging characters, I know exactly where the “off” button on the television is.

I understand parents getting worn down and giving in from time to time. Trust me, “oh, all right!” has escaped my lips more than a few times. But I still get to be in control.

We just came back from a mini-vacation to Holiday World. We had McDonald’s on the way down and (gasp!) on the way back. Heading to Holiday World, we let the kids get Happy Meals — with apples instead of fries (no caramel dip because it makes a huge, sticky mess) and milk instead of soda. My choice, not theirs. Why? Because I’m the mom and I said so.

On the way back, we bought two #4s — the two cheeseburger and fries meal, threw in an extra cheeseburger and three  small soft drinks to feed the whole family. No toys, but the kids were still happy to have Mickey D’s. We could have done the apples again, but I was trying to feed all five of us on less than $15 to keep us under our vacation budget.

And tonight we’re having the FitCity Roast Turkey, Sundried Tomato and Basil wraps with a side of fresh melon. Would my kids prefer to have McDonald’s again? Probably. But we won’t. Why? Because I’m the mom and I said so. And I don’t need the Center for Science in the Public Interest to fight that battle for me.

If CSPI wants to remove a parenting pressure for me, maybe they can help me figure out which school is best for my kid with sensory processing issues or how much freedom to give my 13 year old or how to convince the 11 year old that he’s too young to worry about getting a girlfriend.

Whether McDonald’s is giving away free toys in their Happy Meals? Small potatoes.

Lately, I’ve had lots of of fragmented thoughts about what I wanted to post on Fit City. So I thought I’d just try a Fit Fragments post and see how that goes.

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Last weekend I was at my parents’ house for my youngest brother’s high school graduation. I love going to my mom and dad’s. What I don’t love is that as soon as I get there, I make a beeline for the kitchen and find all sorts of yummy-but-bad-for-me stuff to eat. Cheetos and ice cream and sugary cereal and marshmallow fluff. That’s just for starters. When I go there, I fall so easily back into the comfortable habits that made me an overweight kid and teenager. Do you have a place like that? How do you handle it? I wonder what kind of habits I’m helping my kids set? What will they come home and look for some day?

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On Saturday, we participated in the American Liver Foundation walk at White River State Park. I’ve been to the park on numerous occasions — to visit the Indiana State Museum, the zoo, the NCCA Hall of Champions. But I’d never walked the paved path behind the zoo. It’s shady and cool and lined with walls of Indiana limestone. I felt like I’d discovered a hidden treasure and thought that I won’t wait until some organized event to go back with my kids and walk through there.  I also wonder what other pretty and free locations there are to go as a family. Have any favorite spots you’d care to share?

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The kids get out of school for the summer at the end of this week. I’m already dreading the battles over too much time playing video games, sitting in front of the computer and vegging in front of the TV. I would love to hear your ideas for handling this. (I’m sure being a firm and consistent parent has something to do with it.)

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The budget has been tight at our house lately. One thing that I’ve noticed is that it’s much cheaper to buy junky processed foods than fresh foods. I’ve been trying to keep my bank account and my family fit by going with generic where I can, shopping the produce sales, and stocking up on healthy stuff that’s on sale. The $10 grocery list has been a lifesaver for me on more than one occasion. I like it because with one or two exceptions, there’s not a lot of processed stuff on it. What are your fit and frugal tips?

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There — I think my mind just might be empty! Feel free to fill it up again with answers to the questions I asked in this post!