I started posting Thanksgiving recipes on my mom blog. Since I love cooking at Thanksgiving, it made sense to start a new blog just to document what I planned to cook that year. From there This Mama Cooks! morphed into a diet blog and then a healthy food and lifestyle blog.

Small changes! If you do it all at once, you'll be overwhelmed and won't be successful in changing your life for the better.

Chili made in a slow cooker. My favorite is Healthy Slow Cooker Pumpkin and Bean Chili (pictured above). You can quickly put it together before leaving for work. It’s delicious. And the kids won’t notice that you snuck in healthy vegetables and high fiber beans.

Veggies, veggies, veggies! You can always sneak some extras in to soup, chili or stew – canned diced tomatoes are perfect for this. I also love adding frozen pre-sliced okra or green tomatoes to curry dishes.

I have two! I like using Stevia instead of sugar. I’m also a big believer in baking with buttery spreads instead of regular butter, which helps lower the saturated fat content.

Some recipes and lifestyle tips to help make their lives easier, less complicated, and more healthy.