For CeCe, she doesn’t believe in “bikini boot camp” or seasonal diets, but rather, thinks that eating nutritious food and getting exercise should be a yearlong lifestyle for the whole family. But getting everyone to eat their broccoli isn’t always the easiest thing to accomplish. However, she recently discovered a clever trick that makes eating veggies seem like a game, which means CeCe is able to serve the vegetables she wants to without a fuss or a fight at the dinnertable.

“Try getting a six-year-old boy to eat broccoli! It used to be a fight every time I served it to my son,” says CeCe. “But now I use toothpicks to stick steamed broccoli onto a Styrofoam plate (the thicker the better so the florets stand up straighter) like miniature trees! Then I usually drizzle melted cheddar cheese to create “rivers” and “lakes” in the table-top forest. It gives my son an extra boost of calcium—not to mention that it’s delicious! The best part? His two-year-old sister watches him devour the “trees” and wants to get in on the tasty veggie-filled action at dinner too!”

“Of course, being healthy doesn’t just mean eating healthily. My husband, Clark, and I make it a point to exercise with the kids on a regular basis. Since down in Georgia it’s already in the 80s, we go to the pool at our country club where we have a family membership. Swimming is a wonderful low-impact form of cardio, and the kids have so much fun, they don’t even realize they’re working out!  Hopefully it will instill in them a lifelong commitment to exercise that they’ll pass on to their kids many years down the line.“