7 Health Tips for Real Life Motherhood
We all know what to do to stay healthy: Eat wholesome, real foods, exercise a few times a week, get 8 hours of sleep, and hydrate, to name a few. But in real-world mom life, this is not always easy to accomplish.
We want to do these things to improve our health and be healthier and happier mamas, but we also have distractions. We are pulled in a million different directions every day. It is easy for our health goals to take a backseat. It is easy to find excuses as to why we have not spent time on ourselves. And those excuses are validated, but the other things that we had to put first, for example, a sick child, come before us often, right? But here’s the thing: once we continuously start to put everyone and everything before ourselves, we become no use to anyone else because we are completely burnt out. I think every one of us moms has been in this situation before. If you are currently on the struggle bus of trying to find ways to fit your wellness goals into your already hectic schedule, please read on. I have taken the most WELL-KNOWN HEALTH & WELLNESS TIPS and REVAMPED them to fit the busy mom life schedule.
QUICK NOTES:
✧ When reading through these, remember it is not all or nothing. Take one or two of these steps to start to work on each week; over time, you will start to see a difference in your health.
✧ Mental wellness is a crucial component of our overall physical health. Our stress and anxiety can get the most of us, especially when we have a lot to do. Take some time to focus on your intentions and goals as they relate to your health and wellness. I have a FREE goal and intention workbook you can download that can help you get more clear on the goals you want to accomplish
START YOUR DAY WITH PROTEIN
The word protein means ‘prime importance’! When it comes to improving your health, consuming an adequate amount of protein is a must. Protein helps to improve your energy and help you stay full longer after your meal. Start your day off with some protein, combined with a complex carb and some healthy fat. This will not only provide you with the physical energy you need to sustain yourself throughout the day of chasing kids around, but it will also give your mood a good boost.
Download a free meal plan that includes my favorite super simple meals to get started.
GET ENOUGH SLEEP
This one feels downright laughable as a mother. Of course, we want better sleep. When people have told me to go to bed earlier or get more rest, I kind of want to punch them in the face! I don’t know about you, but I would love to get a full 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. As mothers, we do not always get to control how much sleep we get. This is why I have found it to be crucial to set yourself up with a routine BEFORE going to bed. We might not always have the luxury of sleeping a full 8 hours, but we can take some time each evening to nourish our mind and body so we can at least get into a state of relaxation, even if it lasts for only a few hours!
Need help setting an evening routine?
Download the free Fuel Your Soul eBook to help you reset your body, mind, and soul
Includes worksheets to help you create the perfect morning and evening routines!
Side Note to Moms with Napping Kids: If you are a SAHM/WFHM, listen to your body when your kids nap; if you are tired, take some downtime too. YES, you have a billion and one things to do, and your mind is racing with what you need to accomplish. But if you take that time for a few minutes to relax and settle into yourself, I can almost guarantee you will get more done in your day.
Listen to what you need. In the early days of motherhood, I found that sometimes, doing a quick clean-up and catching up on laundry with classical music on or watching an uplifting show provided me with that mental rest, and I felt better to go about my day. Other times, I needed to sit down and read a book in the quiet when they napped, and sometimes, I needed to plop on the couch and watch the latest episode of The Bachelor to zone out!
Always listen to what YOU need and not what anyone else is saying in person or on social media.
On another note—
If you have a newborn and toddler and are sitting there like, “Yeah, one will nap, but the one won’t be,” try to see if this can be made into quiet time…. The toddler looks at books or does a quiet activity that allows you some mental space to also take a breather. I know how hard it truly is, and it took me a while to accept that I needed to carve out the time to just calm down.
Here are a few reasons why you should rest when you can if you are looking to improve your health and energy:
When we are tired, we are way more likely to reach for a sugar snack or caffeine-fueled drink. These things are going to improve our health; they are just going to perpetuate fatigue and brain fog. When we don’t get enough rest, the hormones that regulate our appetite (Leptin and Ghrelin) are totally disrupted. This can result in us not actually being able to tell when our bodies are full and having us reach for those junk snacks! If you are trying to improve health, energy, and weight loss- it is crucial for you to make that time for yourself.
REDUCE STRESS
Reduce Stress is another one of those health tips, like getting more sleep, that, when applied to mom life, makes you cringe. Just like you want more sleep, you also do NOT want to feel stressed! You want to be a happy, calm, intentional mama. But the reality is you're most likely overwhelmed and stressed. Though this is the norm in most of our mom circles, let’s try to make it the goal to be energized and calm instead of burnt out and overwhelmed more days than not.
Notice, I do not say that you want to thrive all the time and never have bad days or feel overwhelmed. Stress is a part of life, and we want to learn how to manage that stress and overwhelm so we don’t reach the higher levels of stress where cortisol levels are super high, we are in burnout and/or adrenal fatigue.
Reducing stress by making time for yourself and doing things you enjoy is possible. Self-care is essential. Take a minute to sit here, take a deep breath, and think about what you truly need right now. What would help you feel calmer? This is an easy journal exercise to clarify what your body is craving. Do you need quiet, do you need connection, do you need a nourishing meal? The list might be long but try to focus on one or two things that you know will help you calm your body and mind.
“‘Feeling stressed can create a wide variety of physiological changes, such as impairing digestion, excretion of valuable nutrients, decreasing beneficial gut flora populations, decreasing your metabolism, and raising triglycerides, cholesterol, insulin, and cortisol levels.’”
— MERCOLA
ADDITIONAL STRESS REDUCTION TIPS :
Ask for help - do you have a family member that can come by to lend a hand with the kids a few times a month? Do you have it in your budget to hire a mother's helper or sitter? Who can you bring on, to help provide some additional support, so you can get to the things you need to reduce your task load and spend some time on yourself?
Therapy or Coaching - do you feel like you need additional support to talk through anxiety, set goals or get some coping tools to manage everything on your plate? Having a therapist and or coach can help you start to prioritize and address some bigger concerns you have going on. This also will typically give you about one hour that is dedicated to just you!
Magnesium - magnesium is known to help calm your body and stress. You can take a supplement, always do your research on supplements, and choose high-quality brands. We like Pure Encapsulations and Mary Ruth Organics. Mary Ruth’s has liquid magnesium in a delicious vanilla almond flavor that you can take before bedtime. With an Epsom salt bath, you can also help reduce stress (and even improve your skin). Again, choose quality with your bath salts. Recommended brand: San Francisco Salt Company, Epsom Soak. You can also increase your magnesium naturally with foods like dark chocolate, bananas, raisins, cashews, whole wheat bread, kidney beans, flax or chia seeds, and potatoes!
Diffuse Essential Oils - Aromatherapy has been known for a while now to help reduce stress and calm anxiety. Oils like lavender, frankincense, chamomile, vetiver and peppermint are all shown to give your mental wellness a little boost. Below is one of my favorite diffuser blends to calm the mind and body :
STRESS LESS DIFFUSER BLEND
✧ 3 drops lavender
✧ 4 drops vanilla
✧ 3 drops copaiba
✧ 3 drops orange
DISCLAIMER: Always consult a physician when adding any supplement.
DON’T SKIP MEALS
Our body needs fuel to function. So when it is deprived, it literally screams for food. And usually, it screams out wanting things like pizza and chocolate! Keeping our bodies fueled with nutrient-dense foods will give us the energy to keep up with our littles. Always eat breakfast, and be sure to make the time to eat a well-rounded lunch and dinner. Have snacks that are not processed in advance, which can help you ward off cravings and give you extra energy boosts throughout the day.
CHECK OUT THIS PINTEREST BOARD FOR HEALTHY MEAL IDEAS
or scan the image below
HYDRATE
On average, a woman should drink 9 cups (2.2 liters) of water daily. It is SO easy to forget to drink when constantly moving, but you must hydrate! Keep a liter bottle as you go about your day. Try to work up to a goal of consuming 2 of those every day!
HYDRATION TIP
If you are addicted to caffeine and soda, cut your consumption in half for one week and replace it with water (unsweetened iced tea and water with lemon or other fruit works, too!). See how you feel.
Try this Cucumber & Lemon Water from Cook at Home Mom
INGREDIENTS:
1 medium lemon
2 inches ginger root
1 cucumber
64 oz. water
ice for serving
For the rest of the directions and more tips on how to add even more flavor to this drink, visit Cook at Home Mom ↠
EAT FAT
A little goes a long way when it comes to fat. But increasing your healthy fats (and starting to crowd out the empty-calorie snacks) can improve your energy levels. Healthy fats also promote protection against depression and heart disease, and they do wonders for your hair, skin, and nails!
Choose wholesome foods like nuts, seeds, and avocados, and when cooking use high-quality olive oil or grass-fed butter. Depending on your own health goals, you might want to look into going for whole milk dairy products over the fat-free and low-fat options.
GENTLE MOVEMENT
Has working out fallen to the bottom of your list of things to do? I don’t have to tell you the benefits of exercise—the list is ridiculously long. But for us as moms, it can help provide us with that much-needed energy boost, increase our mental clarity, and decrease stress—all the things we truly need to get through our toughest days.
Remember, no one form of fitness will work for everyone. You have to find what works best for you. Depending on your current level of fitness, you might have to take it easier than others. Moms recovering from diastasis recti might need to have physical therapy before they can even think about starting a new workout routine.
Be honest with where you are at. It is okay if the most workout you have done is walking up and down stairs with piles of laundry and picking up kids. We all have been there, and the first step is to figure out where you are. I have found that many beginner exercise programs are way too advanced for someone who has not worked out for a while or in a postpartum period. If you want to start an at-home workout routine, watch the full videos before you begin to see if you think it is a good fit. Taking walks is almost always the best way to start slow; it gets you out of the house and into the sunshine and fresh air.
I wish I had found them after the birth of my twins. I discovered FIT2B many years later and was so impressed by the movements created by the founder, Beth. They are truly dedicated to REAL motherhood and healing of our core. The workouts range from easy (including pregnancy and postpartum) to challenging. I will have a longer post in the future about my review of this program and the progress it has made not only for my physical health but my mental (and even spiritual) well-being.
Another option if you are truly a beginner —do not laugh—but I found Jane Fonda’s Prime Time videos to be the best beginner workout! You can check them out on Prime Video or for FREE on YouTube; I have linked them here for you to explore
Jane Fonda Prime Time Strength Training
*Remember to always check with your healthcare provider before starting a new workout or diet routine!
*Bonus*
WELLNESS TIP FOR MOMS WITH BABIES UNDER 6 MONTHS
Prioritizing your health might be hard, especially if you are a first-time mama. Take the time to adjust to motherhood, get used to your body again without a baby living inside you, and develop new routines that make you feel good. Take steps to increase your nutrient-dense foods (keeping in mind your body’s needs, especially if you are breastfeeding) and slow movement. Asking for help when needed and taking care of your mental health should be at the top of your list. The other things will start to get easier and fall into place. You do not need to be back to your former self in 4 weeks - embrace motherhood and take each moment slowly. You will want to cherish each moment of that first year with your new baby, even the sleepless nights.
Personal perspective: I beat myself up so much for not having my life together those first few months of twin motherhood, not working out, eating better, letting laundry pile up, and having unopened mail. My life was a mess. My body and mind still needed to heal, but I put this crazy pressure on myself that I had to have things be a certain way. This just made my already present postpartum anxiety worse, and it took me longer to heal.
We each have very different experiences with pregnancy and the postpartum period. Stop comparing and thinking about what you THINK you need to do. Your intuition will always guide you.
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