After babysitting my four month old niece for the last few
days I have had a bit of a wakeup call. I have always thought I would struggle
with the lack of sleep having a baby brings but didn’t realise how quickly the
lack of sleep would affect me. By only the third morning I was a wreck! I was
tired, grumpy, reaching for all the wrong foods and could feel myself starting
to get sick. As much as I loved having some quality time with my little niece
it was a relief knowing I could hand her back that afternoon. How on earth am I
going to cope when I can’t hand the baby back? When I can’t rely on my partner
to look after her while I have a nap? When I actually have to do some housework
and cook proper dinners? Or worse… have the energy to go to work!?
2. Ditch the wheat, dairy and artificial sugar until dinner time
I have always been a good sleeper, needing at least 8-9
hours each night. Fatigue has always been my biggest struggle and when I was on
my strict elimination diet last year this significantly improved but it was not
a realistic long term way of eating. Since being off the diet I have found that
eating wheat, dairy and sugar tend to cause me to feel sluggish and tired (I’m
guessing because they are harder to digest).
As I am getting married at the end of the year a baby is
definitely on the horizon and is something my partner and I are really looking
forward to. So with less than 6 months to the wedding it’s time to make a
serious commitment to not only my health, but my future babies! I think where I
struggle is this all or nothing approach. But it doesn’t have to be so black
and white… a lifestyle change needs to be realistic and manageable.
Here are some simple, easy to implement steps to nourishment
I am going to commit to:
1.
Start the day right.
Many days the first thing I eat
isn’t until 11 o’clock. I have never been a breakfast person (I have some bad
gagging on cereal memories from when I was younger). But I realise that
starting the day with zero fuel is leaving me running on empty. So as I am not
very hungry in the mornings I like to start the day with lemon juice in warm
water. Not only is it a nice little morning ritual to start your day but it has
a tonne of health benefits and helps me warm up on these cold winter mornings.
I find the days I feel the best
are the days I have a juice (and 2 juices leave me buzzing!!). I get a good
dosage of nutrients without having to sit down to a meal… win – win!
2. Ditch the wheat, dairy and artificial sugar until dinner time
As I said above this doesn’t need
to be an all or nothing approach. I find dinners are the hardest to eat cleanly
as most of my favourite dinners contain one or all of the above. I have found
some alternatives to my favourite dishes and have really ‘’cleaned up’’ the way
we eat but cutting wheat, dairy and sugar out is just too much for me right
now. I find by adding as many vegetables and organic/healthy alternatives as
possible I am crowding out most of the not so great stuff anyways. Leaving
these foods until later in the day also means that any fatigue I may feel as a
result won’t be as problematic as I can just go to bed!
3.
Stay hydrated!
Water increases your energy level
and will help to flush out any toxins.
4.
Make some healthy alternative snacks
Being prepared and having your
snacks prepped for the week ahead really helps to keep me on track. The weeks
where I spend some time on Sundays getting myself ready for the work week are
the weeks where I really stay on track. The weeks I have nothing prepared I
reach for the nearest sugary snack or soft drink for the energy to get me
through the day which really results in an energy slump an hour later.
5.
Be prepared
When I lack energy I get lazy and unmotivated and end up reaching for 'cheap, fast and easy foods' which make me feel even worse. It's a vicious cycle! Again, I use my Sundays to plan
and shop for the week ahead. I plan out each dinner and create a grocery list
around this. This tends to stop any last minute trips to the shops or take away
joints for an ‘easy meal’ and helps to reduce waste as we are only buying the
food we need for the week. I would also like to start keeping a few yummy
emergency meals in the freezer for those days when I just can’t be bothered to
cook. This seems to be a bad habit on Thursdays where we are both tired and
can’t be bothered cook and end up getting take away. Not only is this bad for
our health but we are wasting money regularly on food we don’t need!
6.
Keep it clean!
You can’t be motivated and
inspired to create wonderful, nutritious meals when your kitchen looks like a
pig sty! Sometimes I take one look at my messy kitchen and say ‘’I can’t be
bothered, lets get take away!” Staying organised and clean can help you to stay
motivated. Cleaning my juicer before I even have a chance to drink my juice
seems to be a good system for me. Obvious things like putting dirty utensils
straight into an empty dishwasher can be great timesavers and will save you
doing it when you are tired at the end of the day.
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