The Challenge

A little while ago I was asked if I'd like to participate in the Mums United project from the Heart Foundation. So, what is the Mums United project? The Heart Foundation is asking Mums across Australia to unite in a quest to raise a healthier & active family.

From when we welcomed Piper into our family, I always wanted to raise my children to eat well & make healthy choices. I wanted children that shunned the TV & spent all their time playing outside & reading. I imagined us all going on family bike rides & walks with the dog. And while I make sure my girls eat well & they participate in swimming lessons & dance classes as well as running around like little maniacs a lot of the time, sometimes the TV attracts their attention for a little too long. The cold weather, work, & everything else that's added to the chaos of our lives has also seen almost a complete stop to our walks(sorry Zeus!) & bikerides. While I steer the girls towards frits & veggies, I've fallen off the wagon a little & am not eating as well as I used to.

As I've put on a bit of weight since our whirlwind European adventure(think super delcious food in Malta & real chocolate eclairs in Paris) & I have an obese daughter(apparently), now is the perfect time for my famiy to join the month long challenge! So what are we going to do as part of this challenge? As we're a big dairy family we're going to swap from full cream milk to light milk & swap our regular chees to Bega So Extra Light chees(this brand was suggested by Soup, who is helping the Heart Foundation run this project. If it saves me the hassle of trying to work out what to cut out or change I'll give their recommendation a go!). We're also going to aim for a 30 minute walk at least three times a week.

Throughout the month I'll also share more information on what the Heart Foundation actually does(they don't just put little ticks on food. Yes,I was surprised too!), some yummy recipes that they've shared with me(I don't want to just post them, I want to actually cook them!) & there'll be a giveaway too.

I don't often do this sort of thing on my blog, but I think this is a worthwhile project. If you'd like to find out more about Mums United & the Heart Foundation you can take a look here.

Can we do it? I hope so! Since I've put it out there on my blog I'm going to have to! And hopefully these changes will become a habit that continues well beyond the months challenge!

*I'm so glad that The Heart Foundation no longer gives their tick of approval to McDonalds. I don't know if I'd have been so quick to participate in this challenge if they still did!

*Totally unrelated to anything Heart Foundation, Mums United or health, but the title of this post just reminded me of highschool! One of my male friends had a major crush on one of my best girlfriends & he tried so hard to, shall we say, 'woo' her, but she was a hard nut to crack, so she was nicknamed, 'The Challenge'! It was hilarious, but I guss you had to be there!