You are probably expecting that this piece will be about raising healthy kids. Well, it’s not, though it all counts. It’s about being a Mum (or Dad). After all, it is you, the parent who does all the hard work. Sun up to sun down and often several times during the night you are on duty. It never stops. From the moment of conception your body needs energy to keep up with the little one(s). You are the one growing the kids, and this kind of gardening requires a LOT of energy and, as the saying goes, one cannot pour from an empty cup. Being a healthy energetic parent requires several key components.
SLEEP
As you sit there at 3 am trying to convince your toddler that sleep is in fact awesome, you find yourself regretting all those missed opportunities for sleep in your own childhood. Yep, its a tough one. A solid sleep is important to fire on all cylinders. If it is currently seeming impossible to find, just remember they aren’t this little forever. If you are struggling to sleep for other reasons, try a few restful techniques like laying off the screen time and caffeine before bed, avoid eating too close to bed time, chamomile tea, exercise (during the day), and stress management.
EXERCISE
Aside from just inducing exhaustion, exercise is a great way to deal with stress, anxiety and depression for example. It encourages digestion, enhances immunity, lowers blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and fat stores, and it reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes. There is more, but that’s another blog. The important thing is you feel better, you have more energy production, self confidence increases, body composition and quality of life improves as a side effect. I can live with that.
WHAT GOES IN
Yep, good food. You knew I was going to say it. What you put into your body changes the way you feel and the energy you have. If it is processed and packaged it is essentially full of the stuff that makes you feel flat and tired, often requiring the body to store some of it as fat. That won’t help you feel better. An energy positive diet includes nutrients such as carbohydrates (from good sources), protein, the good fats, iron, B vitamins & phosphorus, antioxidants, calcium & vitamin D.
FRESH AIR
Get out the house. Get out the office. The kids will thank you for it as well. A perk is it wears them out too. Forget about the to do list for awhile. Get some sun, take off your shoes. Let it all go for awhile.
WATER
Staying hydrated is one of those things we often don’t think about enough. Early dehydration is not always obvious but it does make you feel flat, tired and sometimes cranky.
SOCIAL DOWNLOAD
Making time for social interactions is good for the mind and can be invigorating and inspiring. It helps to off load some stresses and have a good laugh. Catching up with good friends, or even just a bunch of people in similar situations as yourself can leave you feeling a lot more normal and not so alone.
Life is super busy and being a parent (the wonderful adventure that it is) often finds you putting yourself last. But don’t forget about you. You are important to your little people as well and they need you to be happy and healthy. So go ahead. Make some time to get out the house and recharge. You will be glad you did.
Thanks for reading,
Angela
Riverland Nutrition & Wellness 