Tips for Getting Fit After Baby

Losing weight and getting back into shape after giving birth can often seem like a daunting task. We never really know where to begin and are often overwhelmed with choices that are all touted as being "the best" way to shed those unwanted pounds. The reality is that the gimmicks and tricks to increase weight loss in a short period of time are not sustainable and do not actually get to the root of the problem (inactivity and over-consumption).

So, what's the answer? How are you supposed to get back into those jeans? The hard truth is that a combination of a healthy diet and regular exercise are the only way one can achieve healthy weight loss and maintain it over a lifetime.

So, as you begin your journey to becoming a FITMOM, here's the "skinny" to help you ensure success:

3500 calories is equal to 1lb of fat. There are only 2 ways to "kill the fat": reduce the consumption of extra calories OR increase activity levels.

Meeting with a nutritionist or dietician can help you put together a healthy meal plan that will meet your daily dietary needs and assist you with your weight loss goals.

Blast Belly Fat. Sorry, but you just can't target your weight loss to a specific body part or region. Why? Fat cells are found all over the body and unfortunately, you can never know which ones will be broken down to provide you with the energy you need to complete a physical activity.

Leg, Bums and Tums. For most women, these are the top 3 areas we seek to improve. Why does it take so long? There are certain hormones that are produced in our body that actually inhibit the breakdown of fat cells from those specific regions. To help improve these areas, a combination of cardio and strength training will help increase muscle mass, decrease fat, tighten and tone.

Set a goal and make it SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely). For example, To improve my core strength, I will perform The Plank 5 times per day and hold it each time for 45 seconds.

Build exercise into your daily activities. To achieve any weight loss goals you can expect to work out up to 1 hour at least 4 times per week. This may seem like a lot, so start by exercising for 15 minutes every day, then increase your sessions by 5-10 minutes every week until you are up to 1 hour of physical activity. Always increase TIME and then INTENSITY.

You don't have to have had a baby in the last year for these tips to work! I've seen so many FITMOM transformations in the past 4 years. These are women who work hard and see changes slowly, but consistently over time. You can do it, too!

Get Your Baby Involved in your Workout!

It's been soooo cold out for the past few weeks, that it's hard to go anywhere without bundling up! If you have a baby, there's always a worry that she might get too cold in this weather. Or, sometimes you have a toddler at home with you as well and getting out of the house with a baby and toddler feels a bit like running a marathon.

If you're feeling couped up, I've put together a few exercises that you can do at home with your baby. Don't forget to warm up your body first... You should do some full body movements (running on the spot, walking/running up the stairs, arm circles, shoulder rolls) to get your blood flowing and to prepare your body for a workout with your wee one.

Aim to complete each exercise for 30 to 60 seconds and then start at the beginning and repeat a second or third time.


1. Squats with Baby

Using a baby carrier or just holding your baby, you can squat up and down. With your feet shoulder width apart, be sure to sit back, like you're reaching for a chair that's behind you. Keep your weight on your heels, so that your knees don't go over your toes and pull your belly button into your spine to keep your core stabilized. Inhale as you go into your squat, exhale as you come back to standing.


2. Triceps & Shoulders

You can face your baby towards or away from you for this one. Hold her under both arms and beginning at your chest height, lift her up towards your ceiling. Inhale as you lift, exhale as you come back down to chest height. In this same position at chest height, you can also extend your arms forward, staying at chest height, so that they are straight (but with loose elbows) and then bring them back into your chest. Alternate between these two moves to work both your shoulders and your triceps.




3. Baby Lifts (aka Deadlifts)

Holding your baby either facing you and supporting their head or facing out, stand with your feet a little more than shoulder width apart. With a nice flat back and open chest, inhale and hinge forward at your hips until your upper body is parallel to the floor. Keep your back flat, shoulders back (waaayy back!) and belly button pulled in towards your spine. Exhale and use your core to bring you back to standing position. You should feel this in your lower back and hamstrings.

4. Wall Sit with Baby

Find a wall where you can sit with your legs at 90 degrees, making sure that your knees do not go over your toes. Remember to pull your belling button into your spine and push your back flat against the wall. You can hold your baby on your lap to increase the difficulty or you can use him to do chest presses while you're sitting.





5. Kiss your Baby Pushups

With your baby lying on her back and you in pushup position, inhale as you lower your body down to give your baby a kiss and exhale as you push your body back up. Remember to pull your belly button in towards your spine, keep your back flat, lead with your chest and keep your head in line with your spine. Modify to your knees, if you need to.

6. Hamstring Curls with Baby

Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor and heel close to your glutes. Place your baby on your pelvis or use him to do chest presses while you lift your hips up towards the ceiling, squeezing your glutes. Lower your hips until they graze the ground and squeeze them back up again. Repeat lifting and lowering for the allocated time.

7. Front Plank

Resting on your forearms and toes, pull your belly button into your spine and keep your back flat. If you have trouble holding your belly button in towards your spine, lower to your knees. Push your elbows into the floor to help engage your core even more. Increase the level of difficulty by lifting one foot off the floor. To pass the time, try to make your baby laugh.



Complete your workout with a full body stretch and remember to drink lots of water during and after it!

If you're new to exercise or haven't been at it for a while, please remember to consult with your physician before you begin a new fitness routine.

Enjoy!

A Holiday Workout Just for You!

Just because there are no FITMOM classes over the holidays, doesn't mean that you shouldn't workout! Here's a little holiday workout for you to try. You'll need running shoes, workout clothes (including a supportive bra), a mat, water and a little bit of attitude!

Be sure to begin your workout with a simple Warm up to get your muscles moving and your blood pumping. If you have stairs in your house, start walking up and down and move to running up and down. About 10 sets will get you warm. Once your body feels warmer, you can follow with some dynamic stretching (leg swings, arm circles, shoulder rolls). No stairs? No problem! Turn on the tunes and dance like nobody's watching until you're feeling warm and ready!

We're going to do a 40-30-20. You'll do each exercise for 40 seconds, take a 10 second rest, repeat for 30 seconds, take a 10 second rest and finish with 20 seconds. Take a 30 second to 1 minute break between exercises.

Exercise 1 - Mountain Climbers

In front plank position, bring your right leg up towards your chest and switch legs mid-air. This works your cardio as well as your core, so be sure to move fast enough to get your heart pumping! Pull your belly button toward your spine and keep your hips in proper plank position as much as possible.

Exercise 2 - Tricep Dips

Complete these using your stairs/bench/kitchen chair (or other piece of furniture - just make sure whatever you're using is pushed up against a wall). Make them easier by keeping your legs bent to 90 degrees or make them harder by stretching your legs straight out in front of you. Remember to pull your belly button into your spine and keep your back close to the step or chair. Inhale as you lower your body, exhale as you push your body back up.

Exercise 3 - Rotating Plank

Begin in front plank and after 2 seconds, move to right side plank. Hold for 2 seconds and move back to front plank. Hold for 2 seconds and move to left side plank. Hold for 2 seconds and return to front plank. Continue rotating for the allotted time. Modify on your knees, if you need to. Remember to pull your belly button into your spine and keep your back flat.

Exercise 4 - Jump Squats

Be sure that your knees don't go over your toes in your squat. Make it harder by keeping your hands on your waist or over your head. You can reduce the impact by doing regular squats without the jump, but remember to move at a good pace to keep your heart rate up. Inhale as you squat down, exhale as you push back to standing.

Exercise 5 - Wide Pushups

Your arms and legs should be wider than shoulder width apart with your elbows at 90 degrees (like you're in a star position). You can modify on your knees or against the wall. Just remember to pull your belly button towards your spine, keep your back flat and lead with your chest (not your head!). Inhale as you move your body towards the floor, exhale as you push back up.

Exercise 6 - Burpies

Everyone's favourite! Jump up, squat down, extend your legs into plank position, bring your knees back to a squat and then jump up.

Remember to drink lots of water between exercises!

Cool down: Return to your stairs and walk up and down 5 times or do a light jog on the spot for a few minutes. Finish with a full body stretch, a pat on the back and a big smile. You did it!

**If you are a beginner, or just making your way back into fitness again, shorten the time to 30-20-10 and work your way up to the times recommended here. Try to complete this workout two to three times a week over the holidays. Remember to always consult your doctor before beginning a new exercise regime.

Happy Holidays!

Welcome to the New FITMOM!

A few months ago, FITMOM Canada embarked on a journey to update FITMOM's web presence across the country. I am very excited to share the new home of FITMOM with you today!

Not only has the FITMOM Canada website had a complete overhaul, but we have updated our logo as well! Now, whenever you see this logo, you can be assured that you are experiencing the highest quality pre and post natal fitness programs. These programs are designed to support you during your pregnancy and post partum experience. Under the guidance of our founder, Andrea Page, FITMOM continues to be the leader in prenatal and post natal fitness.

In the next few months, we'll be working to transition from our old logo to our new logo! Keep an eye out...

Fall classes are off to a great start! FITMOM Ottawa will continue to offer our signature FITMOM & Baby classes at three locations in Ottawa, FITMOM 2B at one of our locations and FITWOMAN Bootcamp at two of our locations into the winter. Classes will take a small break over the December holiday period, but will return in full force at the beginning of January.

If you haven't experienced a FITMOM class, please come and join us during our Open House week from October 21-25th. All classes are free, but since space is limited, please register by emailing Susan at: info@fitmomottawa.com

I hope you are as excited about the new changes we have made! Please take a moment to check out the new FITMOM Canada website!

Beyond the Belly - Fitness for New Moms

I'm not sure why, but this year was been a banner year for pregnancy! Our FITMOM 2B class was full every week with pregnant women since September and they just keep coming. When debating about this seeming surge in pregnant women, my colleague at FITMOM Durham suggested that it might have something to do with the hockey lockout. I have two HUGE hockey fans in my house, who were not all that excited to hear of the hockey strike. But if that's the reason I've met so many awesome pregnant women, then bring it on!

A number of FITMOMs 2B have either recently had their babies or are just about to give birth. While the outcome is a bundle of joy and love like you've never quite experienced, the process to get there can be exhausting. The first few weeks can feel overwhelming - between feeding and changing diapers, there's very little time left over for you. But here are a few exercises you can do during the first few weeks after baby arrives to help you feel a little more like yourself:

1.  Pelvic Floor:

Your pelvic floor muscles will lose elasticity during pregnancy due to pressure from your growing fetus and you will likely need to recondition these muscles regardless of the type of delivery you've had. A quick way to find your pelvic floor muscles is to try and stop the flow of urine when you're sitting on the toilet. You can use this test as a gauge to see if you're using the correct muscles, but don't do this on a regular basis!

Begin by contracting your pelvic floor for a series of 10 x 1 second contractions. Follow with contractions where you hold your pelvic floor contraction for a longer period - begin with holding for about 3 seconds and work your way up to 10 seconds.

To be sure you're doing them correctly, remember:

• Don't hold your breath
• Don't tighten your tummy, thighs or buttock muscles
• Don't squeeze your legs together

Try to complete 10 short and 10 long contractions a few times a day, remembering that pelvic floor muscles fatigue easily. If you need to, complete fewer contractions more often in the day to prevent fatigue.

2.  Shoulder Rotations:

During pregnancy, our shoulders tend to roll forward as our upper back muscles weaken, due to larger breasts and postural changes as a result of a growing belly. Poor posture during breast feeding can aggravate this.

Begin by inhaling and lifting your shoulders towards your ears. Exhale and roll your shoulders back and down, allowing your shoulders to fall as far from the ears as possible and squeezing your shoulder blades together. Release to normal position and repeat.

This exercise will remind you to correct your posture, open your chest and strengthen your upper and middle back at the same time. Try to complete 10 repetitions a few times a day. Once a good latch and breast feeding is established, you can practice this exercise during feeding time, as it's easy to do with your baby snuggled in your arms.

3.  Abdominals:

Pelvic tilts will help release tension in your lower back and rehabilitate your core muscles.

Begin by lying on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Inhale to fill your belly with air. Exhale, pulling your belling button towards your spine and slightly rolling your hips towards your ribs, but not lifting your hips or glutes off the ground. Release and repeat.

Try to complete 10 repetitions a few times a day. Work up to 20 or 25 repetitions as you begin to feel stronger. You can practice pelvic tilts after you finish nursing as you are cuddling with your baby.

For these and other exercises that you can work on in your first six weeks after your baby is born, you can watch this FITMOM video.

Five Years Ago...

As the snow is finally starting to melt, it dawned on me that it's been five years, this month, since I became involved with FITMOM. At the time I never would have guessed how FITMOM would change my life.

When I had my first baby 13 years ago, I met a wonderful circle of friends through the Boomerang Kids Strollercise program. At the time, we only had 6 months for our maternity leave, so when Strollercise was offered 3 days a week, we were there for them. As we went back to work, we had to find ways to keep our friendship strong. Exercise is what brought us together, so that's what we continued. For a long time we ran together one or two evenings a week.  

After a while, the running group dwindled - some of us were pregnant and some were busy. In an effort to keep active, one of the moms would find a program each spring and let us know she was registering and would any of us like to join? One year we did a Running Room clinic. One year we did pilates. One year we did deep water running. And then, one year we did the FITWOMAN Bootcamp.

I remember my very first class. I thought I was in reasonable shape, although spring was coming and I hadn't really done a whole lot of exercise through the winter, except a weekly volleyball game. I was sadly mistaken. The class was really hard, I really struggled my way through it and I was really sore for days afterwards. But, I had paid my money and I was going to see it through. A few weeks after I started, the owner ran a two for one promotion, so I began going twice a week and noticed how much faster I was seeing results. I never really looked out of shape before, but within a few months, I was feeling stronger, more energetic and in shape. My body changed so that my clothes felt more comfortable and I felt good.

My friends and I continued going to the FITWOMAN class for nearly a year, but slowly, schedules changed and some of them dropped off. Originally, I joined the class because I had friends going, and this was a good opportunity to see them. I had added the class to our family calendar, so that if anything else came up, we could arrange for a babysitter. And, I felt the cost of the class was high enough that I didn't want to miss any classes, if it wasn't absolutely necessary. Eventually, these things mattered less and less as the class became established as a part of my weekly routine and as an essential component of my well being.

I kept up with weekly classes for well over two years, taking breaks here and there when kids soccer games got in the way or doubling up on classes in the "off season" between sports. When the owner announced that she was giving the business up, I wondered what I would do to replace my FITWOMAN classes. I looked into other alternatives, but either the commitment was too great or the timing didn't work.  And so, nearly six months after my last FITWOMAN bootcamp class, I bought the business. Now, I get to teach fitness classes to help other prenatal and postnatal women feel the way I felt. I get to share my experiences and give them advice when they ask. I get to see moms form friendships with women they may not have met otherwise, just like I did all those years ago. And I get to hold all of those beautiful babies. Life has changed, and definitely for the better.

Thanks FITMOM.

And the Winner Is...

I'm sure I've left you all in suspense long enough!  I'm ready to give out some Lululemon love:)

Thanks to everyone who participated and helped me Spread Some Love in February!  

Katherine S. (from the FITMOM and Baby Thursday class) is the winner of the Lululemon Giftcard, but all of the participants are winners, since they've all had an extra class added to their session!

I have to admit, when I first advertised this promotion, I was hoping to increase traffic to my FITMOM Ottawa Facebook page so that others would also hear about FITMOM. But, it actually helped me to get to know my clients a little better. Given all of the grumbling I (sometimes) hear in class, I was somewhat surprised to learn your top 5 favourite exercises:

Burpies, lunges and wall sits (mainly from the prenatal population!) were tied for the third favourite exercise. Squats were second. The favourite exercise? Given the population I work with, this shouldn't be a big surprise:  

PLANK!!

The surprise? It was the favourite by a long shot!

What I wasn't necessarily expecting was all of the love you shared back! I enjoyed reading the exercises you liked and why:

• Squats - they burn, but the payoff is great!
• Lunges - they make me feel strong and challenge my endurance
• Wall Sit - for 90 seconds, it's just you, your concentration and that wall!
• Plank/Sprints - it reminds me of my high school basketball practice suicide drills!
• Windsprints - they get my heart rate up and make me feel strong and powerful!
• Burpies - they are such a good full body workout
• Pelvic Tilts - because they come at the end of the class!
• Lunge Pyramids - they come with a 3 day burn that only means good things!
• Wall Sit - it definitely prepared me for labour!
• Plank - anything that targets abs is high on my list

But some of you went the extra mile and also told me why you love FITMOM. It was so wonderful to read these comments and feel like I am making a difference in your lives. So, thank you for your hard work, dedication and positive attitudes. I feel privileged that you choose to spend week after week with me.

Adapting...

Happy New Year!  Albeit, a little late.

My holidays began with a lesson in adapting. For years, we had an artificial tree. But a few years ago, we decided to get a real tree and headed to our local tennis club where Habitat for Humanity sells Christmas trees. The trees are usually pretty nice, it's close to home and we often run into other neighbourhood families. But this year, I really wanted to get a tree from a tree farm. The kids are getting older, and soon enough, they won't be at all interested in a tree farm. A hockey game scheduled directly before our trip to the tree farm changed it all. After a hit from behind (in non-contact house league hockey, no less), we took a trip to CHEO instead of the tree farm and came home with this:

A broken arm - both bones and what was referred to by the doctors as a "very bad fracture". And thus began our period of adaptation.

So, a few days later, housebound with a sad and sore boy, I hauled our less than real tree upstairs and began to set it up. In the end, we found ourselves with a very open schedule and had a lovely time decorating the tree, all together.

Fast forward a few weeks. The arm is healing pretty well, the cast has been changed to a smaller, lighter, fibreglass one and we've been given the ok for him to start back with exercise. He can't play anything contact, so instead, he's skating on a big treadmill of synthetic ice. Pretty cool.

Sometimes life throws you a curve and you need to make a change. But you adapt.

Exercise is the same. In order to improve, you need to continually challenge and change what you're doing. If you do the same exercises with the same muscles over and over again, your muscles will adapt and you will reach a point where you're no longer feeling the benefits of your exercise session. So, change it up every few weeks and do something different. If you're out running or biking, try going at a different pace, adding intervals, hills or distance. If you're doing weight bearing exercises, try increasing your weight, reps or sets. Keep fooling your muscles so that they need to keep adapting and you'll continue feeling the benefits.

Who knows? You might just love the changes you make.

FITMOM Ottawa Motivated Mondays - Challenge 8

Welcome to the start of another great week! One that I'm REALLY looking forward to. I'm taking my nearly teenage son to Paris for a quick holiday to visit one of his best friends. I've never talked to anyone who doesn't LOVE Paris, so I'm looking forward to my first visit there!

This week, I thought I would share my personal top Five reasons for working out. Perhaps you have a similar list. Please feel free to share what motivates you to make time for fitness every day.

What motivates me to work out?

5.  To sleep better.  The fitter I am, the better I sleep. And I love to sleep ALL night. When your body is physically exhausted, it has no choice but to shut down and rest, which means that you can sleep all night and feel refreshed and ready to go in the morning. I still enjoy my coffee first thing in the morning, but when I've slept well, I don't NEED it.

4.  To feel happy.  Exercise helps release stress and makes me more patient.  It's how I got through my toddler and preschool days without losing it. And now, with kids right around the corner from entering their teens, I suspect my patience will be tested even more! Feeling less stressed and more patient = a happier mom.

3.  To eat what I want.  I generally eat a well balanced diet, but I have a few weaknesses that I am able to indulge once in a while, because I'm burning calories. I don't have a sweet tooth, but I do love to eat cheese and put cream in my coffee, two things that come with calories! Being active every day allows me to indulge guilt free!

2.  To feel good about myself.  Being fit gives me confidence and energy, makes me stronger and helps me with my volleyball game. All things I love. But it also makes me feel good about my body and the way I look. We all have things we don't like about our appearance and I'm no exception. But, being fit goes a long way to loving myself fully. I didn't really understand this until I had to lose over 50 lbs when I had my first born. Pushing my body through exercise was how I was able to feel much better (and lose the weight!). It also made me more fully appreciate the struggles associated with weight loss.

1.  To stay healthy.  I want to live a long life. My father died of heart disease when I was 21. He's missed graduations, weddings and grandchildren. I don't want to miss any of those things. He loved sports (watching them from his arm chair) and I miss having him on the sidelines of all of the sports his grandchildren play. He had a quadruple bypass at 45, followed by 2 heart attacks. He died before he was 55. I'm almost at the age where we found out he needed open heart surgery and I REFUSE to let heart disease take me down also.

FITMOM Ottawa Motivated Mondays - Challenge 7

Welcome to the start of another great week!

This weekend Jen, from FITMOM Durham had the opportunity to take part in Tommy Europe's "Shred It" Bootcamp in Toronto.  Most of us probably know Tommy Europe from the Slice Channel's Bulging Brides and The Last 10 lbs Bootcamp shows that were recently popular, where he is portrayed as quite intense and even a little bit scary.  He has since shifted his focus slightly and is now going across Canada running his popular "Shred It" Bootcamps for he general masses.  Lucky for Jen, she was able to take part this time around and says that he's a lot nicer in real life!

Jen says she found the bootcamp a challenging, fun and positive experience for her and two of her FITMOMs who joined her. They spent the hour squatting, lifting and lowering their bodies and challenging their core, using just their body weight.  What they discovered was that it felt great to push themselves and experience just how much their bodies were capable of.  

While I wasn't able to join them in Toronto this time, I was inspired to push my own body.  Teaching FITMOM classes keeps me in relatively good shape, but I don't often push myself as hard as I could (I still have to be able to show you what to do and use words to motivate you through your workout!!).  So, I decided to do my own workout and see how far I could push myself.  Since most of my FITMOMs and FITWOMEN did tabatas last week, here is the set I did:

1. Pushups
2. Step-ups
3. Reverse flies
4. Jump squats
5. Plank on the ball
6. Reverse plank to hamstring curls on the ball
7. Bench tricep dips
8. Running with knees up

I struggled through the tricep dips (in women, it's our weakest muscle), but managed the rest.  It was a tough workout and I haven't pushed my body that hard in a while, but it felt good.  Since I was alone, I had to play a few games with myself to get through the 7th and 8th set of some of the exercises and push harder to finish up.

This week, I encourage you to push yourself and see what you are made of.  Instead of stopping your workout when you normally do, go for a little longer.  Run a little farther or walk a little faster.  Add 10 more reps to your set or try a new exercise.  I am sure you will be surprised by what your body can do!

And, finally, check out how great Jen looks hanging out with Tommy!  Lucky girl:)

Jen & Tommy at Shred-It Bootcamp

ME by FITMOM: A Better Mom Experience

Experience 50 days (10 weeks) of amazing support, programming and connection!

FITMOM is very excited to launch our new health and wellness program, catering to our valued clients, on November 1st!

ME by FITMOM is a health and wellness program that combines online support with in-class teachings. Designed to affirm the FITMOM principles, it reinforces and helps teach moms the importance of being N.I.C.E.R (Nutrition, Invest in time alone, Connect with Community, Exercise, Rest & Repeat) to themselves. The busyiness of life and mainstream culture finds many women challenged to try to balance it all, with increasing pressure and stress building up. We want to help you change this.

Over our 10 week program our registered clients will receive:

1. Daily bite size challenges to filter into your day based on the N.I.C.E.R principles
2. Email support
3. Exclusive access to online life and fitness coaching sessions
4. Online community
5. Video workouts
6. Support journal
7. Support guide
8. Access to trained professionals
9. Strategies for stress management
10. ...Lots more!

If you aren't currently registered for a FITMOM class, but would like access to our ME by FITMOM on-line support and email program, there is a cost of $50 to join. 

Please register by emailing Susan at:  FITMOM Ottawa or calling 613-617-4537

FITMOM Ottawa Motivated Mondays - Challenge 6

Let's start off the week with another tip to help keep us motivated and on track with our wellness plan!

So many of us are in a rush to lose those extra pounds immediately after birth.  We want to quickly reclaim our bodies after giving so generously to our precious little ones over the course of 9 months.  Weight loss, when done right, is best achieved through a healthy diet and regular exercise.  One without the other will likely keep you from reaching your goals.

Sustaining a nutrient dense diet is as important in the post-partum period as it was during your pregnancy.  For those of you who are also breastfeeding, it is even more essential as your body will take what it needs from your storage to make fabulous breast milk for your baby.  Unfortunately, it means that we are often left depleted!

Ideally we should eat every 3-4 hours, to help ensure that our glucose levels don't drop dramatically and to keep our metabolism working hard for us.  Whenever possible we should ensure we are reaching for whole foods instead of pre-packaged meals and snacks (they are often the biggest enemy to achieving a healthy diet!).  A healthy diet requires adequate intake of:

• a quality protein source (meat, poultry, eggs, beans, nuts/seeds etc)
• healthy fats including DHA (fish including salmon, sardines, mackerel etc, cod liver oil, walnuts, avocado, peanut butter)
• quality carbohydrates (whole grains, cereals, oats, fruits, vegetables, beans etc)

Also remember that we should be eating at least 6 servings/day of fruits and vegetables (including at least 2 leafy green vegetable sources)

Refer to the Canada Food Guide recommendations to achieve overall good health and vitality.

Here are some other great examples of meals and snacks that hit the mark for this weeks challenge. 

Finally,here is another good resource to help you better understand Good Fats vs Bad Fats.

The article Choosing Healthy Fats can also provide some guidance on your next grocery shopping excursion.

Enjoy!