Stressed Mum & The Results of Healthy Eating
I speak to a lot of mums during the week and a common theme is that no matter how hard we sometimes try to be healthy and eat healthy foods – life somehow seems to get in the way and the result is that we turn to junk food or food that isn’t as nutritious as it could be.
But the catch 22 is that if we feel tired and lacking energy turning to eating junk food or non healthy foods will only make us feel worse.
One of my good friends was working way too hard and also had two toddlers (2 and 4) and had taken on too much. She never had time to do any exercise and her food choices were toast and jam for brekkie, some kind of choc biscuit mid morning, a sandwich for lunch, maybe some fruit in the afternoon, a dinner high in carbs and lots of coffee during the day. When I caught up with her she looked so frazzled. She had headaches all the time, had spots all over her chin and head and just looked exhausted – plus she was wanting to lose 8kg but was thinking that was an impossible task.
So I made some suggestions to her (she did ask for my help – I didn’t enforce it) on how she could feel better.
Have a smoothie for brekkie so she started the day well and got lots of nutrients. Cut out the coffee and have green tea instead. Drink at least 1.5 litres of water a day. Do online shopping so each week a BIG delivery comes with heaps of fresh healthy food for the week. Take healthy fruit and nut snacks to work. Rather then the same sandwich on white bread have salads with protein and some wholegrain bread for lunch. Get up 30 mins earlier each day to do some indoor exercise. Cut out the dairy as the spots could be a sign of intestinal congestion. Eat more veggies and protein for dinner rather than going heavy on white carbs.
And the amazing news is that I saw her this weekend and she is 6.5kg lighter, her skin is spotless and she says she has more energy than ever! What a result! So if we make a concerted effort to change our habits and especially plan ahead with the food shopping we are much less likely to make poor food choices and you will be healthier and happier.