I was approached by Cafémom to be part of the Walmart Family Routine campaign speaking on how certain products help you create a healthier routine.  I like the subject of family health, and am certainly open to trying things out so I said “why not?” Since there is no Walmart store near me, I was given a code to purchase the items above on Walmart.com.  I decided to focus on the multivitamins.

I’ve had my fair share of struggles with food. Even today, it is an effort for me to have a healthy and balanced diet since cookies and ice cream rank high with my taste buds. I’ve tried to do things differently with my kids, hoping they grow up with better eating habits then I did.  My bet is that they won’t struggle quite as much. However, what I have learned is that you can’t pass on what you don’t have.

If I don’t have good eating habits, then chances are they won’t either. It’s not that we are terrible, but there is much room for improvement and I just can’t seem to find the commitment to go through with it. I know what a healthy meal looks like, and I understand portion control.  But I get frustrated when I sit down at the table after cooking a yummy vegetable to hear this guy say “I don’t like broccoli” before even tasting it.  As cute as he is it drives me crazy.  Sooner or later I give in, and am no longer consistent in my attempt to serve up a vegetable I know they won’t eat every time we sit down.

Both my boys and I are very active with physical activity being an important and daily part of their lives.  And while my Doctor recommended a multivitamin for me, the pediatrician did not specify anything.  So I did what every mom about to write a campaign on her blog would do: research.

I went to my source of all things medical, WebMD, and found more information.  I did not get a PhD on the subject, so those of you who do indeed have it, please chime in. From what I gathered vitamins and minerals are in fact important for all sorts of body functions, they act as building blocks at the micronutrient level. Macronutrients, then, are carbohydrates, proteins and fats which are more complex though also crucial for our bodies to perform properly.

In a perfect world, you could get all your vitamins and minerals from your macronutrients. If you eat a healthy, whole, natural, and balanced diet chances are you won’t lack for much. However, as I said above, that is not quite my family’s case.  I’d say on a scale from one to ten with ten being an organic healthy queen, we score a seven.  This translates in that we may not be getting all the micronutrients we need as some food groups tend to be underrepresented in our diets.

And so I am committing to start the school year with both my boys and I taking a vitamin supplement. This way, what we lack in our diet might be rounded out with our vitamin supplement.

Does a vitamin supplement replace a healthy diet? Of course not, that’s not what I am saying. But if Fearless refuses to eat anything green in color, than giving him a daily vitamin might help.

We received our order from Walmart.com within a couple of days, and the boys had their first taste. I remember loving the Flinstones when I was a kid, and it turns out my kids loved it to. “Can I have another one?” They thought it was a candy. Yes, the Flintstones has some sugar but I can live with that.

As to my vitamins, I chose an All-1-One Women’s Vitamin. The gummy kind. It tasted good enough.

So we are set to kick start the school year the healthy way. We will continue to work on our diets and the variety of macronutrients we eat as a family, but just in case we don’t get everything we need … we are covered with our multivitamins.

Thank you Walmart and Cafémom for helping us get started on a healthy routine!

How about you? What family routine do you have to keep your family healthy? And where do you get the products you need? Please share! I need inspiration.