Breakfast en familia con McDonald's

Those of you that follow me on the Twitter heard me chatting it up last Saturday about an event I was headed to.  It was the first of many with my fellow Central Florida Latinas (Joscelyn from Mami of Multiples, Karina from con sabor a KaFé, Myrah from Coupon Mamacita and Yadira from El club de las diosas). I was interested in this event I wanted to learn more about my options for breakfast since I tend to skip it a lot.  We had the privilege of having Silvia Klinger there to give us information as a nutritionist and health consultant.

One of the first statistics that floored me was that 40% of families don't eat breakfast.  All this time, I thought it was just me.  Now, I make sure the frog princess eats her breakfast but I have never been big on it mainly because in the mornings, I'd always sacrifice due to timing and might grab something on my way in to the office, if time permitted.

I learned that McD's has options that are under 300 calories which is always good when I'm on the run including their most yummy blueberry banana nut oatmeal.  Who doesn't love avena?

Silvia chatted with us as we ate and interacted, ran around playing with the kids and waited for some tips on making better choices.

Here are the 5 things Silvia discussed with us:

1. Eat breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. How often have you heard this? I continually hear it yet sometimes wonder if the brownie and ice cream at the end of the day doesn't trump it. But, hey maybe that's just me. But in all honesty breakfast sets the tone for the day. You're giving your body the start up nutrients that it needs to get you to zip through the day
2. Variety! I do think that when I have variety in my meals it makes me 1. want to try new things and 2. gets me to look forward to mealtime.  I'll never forget a class I went to years ago called paint your plate. It had to do with making sure you had variety at every meal.  But don't you feel like you never know how much of what you should be eating? I think that my body operates better when I have a good balance of nutrients (you know, as opposed to just brownies and ice cream).  This is why I like to head over to Choose My Plate whenever I need a reminder. Check them out if you need reminders on how much of what you need to take in 
3. Drink! Drink! Drink! (WATER) I recently had the pleasure of a makeup class and I was complaining about how I think my skin sometimes gets flaky.  Well, I got called out. One look at my skin and she said: you're dehydrated. DUH! I live in Florida and I should know better. I used to have a water bottle that I'd drink out of while in the office. Now that I'm working from home, I haven't been as consistent.  Silvia reminded me that I need to get back on it because staying hydrated has such an effect on our bodies especially if we are doing #4...
4. Exercise.  And you don't have to be in the gym for 2 hours a day.  Whether you're taking a walk, a jog or popping in a DVD for a little workout.  Exercising will go a long way in feeling good both inside and out
5. Rest. Um, excuse me? What's that?!  As parents/friends/caregivers/sisters/brothers etc, life seems to go 60 mph all day every day.  But, taking time to rest is imperative to you feeling good and being even more productive.  When was the last time you got 7 hours of sleep (in one continuous period)? In this life of busy, we need to remember that in order for us to keep going, we have to take a break and rest

All in all I not only was reminded of what I need to do in order to make healthier choices but I got a chance to interact with some awesome members of my community.  I look forward to many more interactions and events with the Central Florida Latinas.  Be sure to check us out on The Twitter!

For more information on nutrition choices please check out this link.

This was a sponsored event by McDonald's in partnership with Mami Innovative Media.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.