4 Steps to Family Wellness and Nutrition

This is a sponsored conversation written by me for compensation by Bayer. The opinions and text are all mine.

I’m so glad for this opportunity to share 4 steps to family wellness and nutrition with you, along with my personal wellness journey and how it set me on a course to improving my family’s overall wellness.

Before I give my steps to establish a family wellness plan, I’d like to share a bit of my personal history with you. I think it will help you understand why I am now so passionate about living a healthy lifestyle.

Five years ago, I might have laughed if you told me I’d be sitting here right now writing about family wellness and nutrition. I was single, an empty nester, very overweight and generally unhealthy. I was lonely and missing my all-grown-up son. I found my comfort in food. Seriously, my gummy bear addiction was out of control y’all and exercise was pretty much non-existent for me.

About 4 or so years ago, my lifestyle changed significantly when I made the decision to move back to Florida and become T’s legal guardian. My son was all grown up and on his own, but I felt like I still had some mothering left in me. My little girl, T, was 7 years old when we became a family. I quickly realized that she was a lot more active than I remembered my son ever being as a child. Only, it really was ME who was different. I was much older this time around, out of shape and out of practice. I couldn’t make it a full day at Disney World or Universal Orlando theme parks which is something we now love to do, and I was exhausted when my head hit the pillow each night. I recognized that if I was going to be able to keep up with T, I was going to have to make some BIG changes.

I made some significant diet and lifestyle changes which resulted in weight-loss, more energy, and over-all improved health. I was feeling better than I had in a very long time, and as a result gained some much-needed self-confidence. This renewed self-confidence led me to my relationship with Andy.

A lot has changed in 5 short years. T is 11 years old now and definitely keeps us on our toes. Although we are “older” parents, we’re able to keep up thanks to good nutrition, taking Bayer multivitamins for nutritional support and regular exercise.

4 Steps to Family Wellness and Nutrition

Something I’ve learned over the course of these last few years is that family wellness can be easily achieved when you have a plan and stick to it. It’s simple to add Bayer Multivitamins for nutritional support as part of your family’s healthy routine.

1. Have a family meeting. I think it is important for each family member to weigh in and express wellness concerns and goals. In my many years of being a mom, I’ve learned that involving the whole family in decisions usually yields better results. Brainstorm together to formulate a family wellness plan. You may also want to assign duties to each family member such as purging the pantry, meal planning, and organizing family activities to stay active. Once your plan is established, set a schedule to have a weekly or monthly meeting to go over progress and challenges, and make adjustments if necessary.

2. Meal planning. A healthy diet is essential to family wellness. Spend time, if needed, to educate the family on good nutrition and discuss portion sizes. Find recipes that have lower fat or lighter versions of your family’s favorites or tweak your existing recipes by substituting healthier ingredients. I find that planning my menu and shopping list for the week ahead, makes it much easier for us to eat a healthy diet.

Try spending a little time on the weekend, prepping healthy snacks for the week ahead. Having healthy snacks on hand will help with temptation. Increased water consumption is also an important part of a healthy diet.

3. Add vitamins and supplements. Nutrition can seem overwhelming. Even if you eat well, you might fall short in getting enough key nutrients from food alone. Bayer multivitamins can easily help fill this gap.

I buy Bayer One A Day^® and Bayer Flintstones™ Complete Gummies at my local Walmart in the vitamin aisle. They are also conveniently available through Walmart online Grocery Pickup & Delivery services.

Taking Bayer Multivitamins is a simple way to make sure the whole family is getting key nutrients they may not be getting from food alone. I take Bayer One A Day for Women and Andy takes Bayer One A Day Men’s. My daughter takes her Bayer Flintstones Complete Gummies at breakfast as part of our morning routine.

4. Get Moving. Regular exercise is important for overall wellness. Whether you are walking the neighborhood, going on a nature hike, or spending an entire Saturday walking around your favorite theme park – the key is to keep if fun and keep moving.

Try letting each family member take turns choosing activities. Brainstorming fitness activities can be a fun part of your monthly or weekly family wellness meetings.

The key to any successful goal is planning. I hope you found these simple steps to family wellness and nutrition helpful, and I wish you much success with your healthy lifestyle plans. What does your family do to keep healthy? I’d love to hear! Please drop me a note in a comment below.