“You are worthy and deserving of being cared for too. As a mother it is really important that we take the time to look after ourselves and nurture and nourish our body too.”
We chat to nutritionist and mum Casey-Lee Lyons from Live Love Nourish about her tips to help you look after yourself too.
Being a mum to my now 3 year old has been the most amazing (and challenging) journey of my life! It has been filled with incredible moments and of course all of the challenges and learning curves that come with being a mum. One thing that I have learned is how important it is that we as mums look after ourselves too so that we can best look after our littles ones also. You are important and your health matters too!
Nutrition is a really important part of looking after yourself. Making sure your body is nourished will help:
- To give you extra energy
- Help to balance hormones
- Promote better quality sleep
- Improve moods
- Feel good in your body, and so much more.
As a parent, being time poor is one of the biggest challenges commonly faced, especially when it comes to meal times and nourishing our body with healthy food choices. Being a mum myself I absolutely understand! So here are my time-saving tips that I hope help you to nourish yourself and your family:
Keep meals simple. As mum would say, it’s the love that goes into your meal that counts most, more than it looking like a masterpiece! Choose just a few healthy ingredients to create a simple meal. For example smoothies for breakfast are a quick and nutritious option.
Meal prep. Spend even just an hour in the kitchen on the weekend to prep some meals or prep some ingredients for your week ahead. This will save you lots of time and reduce stress at weeknight meal times. This could be a pot of soup, bolognese, freezing smoothie ingredients in packs, cooking and freezing quinoa in portion sizes ready to add to meals or making some snacks for the freezer etc.
Batch cook. Cook recipes that you can make in bulk so you can freeze portions.
Cook once, eat twice. Make extra serves when cooking for the next day’s lunch, dinner or freeze for another night. You can also make meals where you can serve it two ways, such as cook a big batch of bolognese sauce and serve with zucchini noodles one night and the other night serve it on top of baked sweet potato chips for ‘nachos’.
Get the kids involved. Most kids love getting involved in the kitchen and this can help you with meal time. My toddler loves to wash veggies, mix, stir, mash, decorate the table and add toppings to smoothie bowls. Kids are more likely to eat the food they’ve been involved with also.
Make dinner ahead of time. If dinner time is a particularly stressful time in your home, consider making dinner ahead of time when it’s not as hectic such as in the morning when the kids are perhaps more settled.
Start your day with a nourishing breakfast.
Remember you are worth it! You deserve to feel your best and healthiest self.
Remember you are not alone. Standing in their very own kitchen with their very own mess and dinner time madness is another mother just like you doing their best.
Use a slow cooker. Preparing meals in a slow cooker takes next to no time at all and by the end of the day dinner is ready without much pressure.
Find ways to boost nutrition where possible such as adding a pinch of turmeric + black pepper to meals, cooking with a good quality oil such as extra virgin olive oil, add a few cubes of frozen spinach to your stew or soup or add nutrient boosting ingredients to your smoothies.
Breakfast for dinner. Have some go-to, time-saving but nutritious meal ideas such as breakfast type meals at dinner time. We often have eggs and veggies or omelettes for dinner which are very easy to make and take little time to prepare.
Be kind to yourself and take care of YOU! When you take care of yourself it is much easier to take care of someone else.
Do your best. Take pressure off yourself and do what you can. Give yourself permission to not have to be perfect.
Have a laugh. Parenting sure has some of the funniest moments and if we can appreciate these and have a good laugh we can increase our endorphins helping to put us into a happy mindset where you are more likely to make healthier choices that will love your body back.
Make meal time fun. In my home, we often have lounge room floor or backyard picnics, we invite teddy’s and dollies to our dinner table, we enjoy build your own burger night or theme nights such as fried-rice Friday etc.
“What would mum do?” If nothing goes to plan, I ask this question. And if not any of the above, she would tell me to take a step back and give me the biggest and longest hug to recharge my strength and energy and before you know it, it all seems a little easier. We can do the same for ourselves; take a step back, breath and reset your mindset before your prepare the meal.
Remember you are enough…
I wanted to remind all of the mother’s out there that you are not forgotten!
Being a mum is an incredibly important role and you are doing an amazing job. No matter how intense it may get, no matter how tired you may be from sleepless nights or hectic days, no matter tough it can be, no matter how much you’d love to wash AND dry your hair but instead put other’s needs first, all that you do really is appreciated and means the world to your little one and your family.
Please remember:
You are enough.
You are important.
You are loved.
You are so worthy!
Those little eyes that stare up at you, thank you! Through their eyes you are everything. You are perfect, you are strong, you are the best, you are their hero! They thank you for being you!
Casey-Lee, Live Love Nourish x
About Casey-Lee
Casey-Lee Lyons is a naturopath, nutritionist, recipe developer and founder of Live Love Nourish, a refreshing online wellness resource for living your healthiest and best self.
She is passionate about inspiring health and happiness through easy-to-understand nutritional and lifestyle advice and loves to share simple real food recipes free from gluten, dairy and sugar.
Casey-Lee’s refreshing approach to nutrition has helped many people improve their health, increase energy, find their natural weight, improve gut and digestive health, balance hormones, heal cravings and more via her website, recipe books and the Live Love Nourish signature 8- Weeks To Healthy and Happy Online Program.
Her mission is to educate and inspire others to love and nourish their body from the inside out to achieve health and happiness.
To download her free recipe e-book or to find out more about Casey-Lee visit her website or follow Live Love Nourish on social media:
Instagram @livelovenourishaus
Facebook @livelovenourish
