As a mother of two little boys I know how hard it can be to remember to take care of yourself and often the first thing that gets compromised is our eating. It’s so important to make your health a priority because you want to be the best role model to your children and be able to keep up with their high energy levels. The best way to do this is through good nutrition and being active yourself. Today I am going to share some of my mums hack nutrition tips that get me through the day without reaching for a packet of Tiny Teddy’s or Two Minute Noodles.
Lets start with BREAKFAST
The day starts and I am 100% sure you make breakfast for the kids, and I am 70% sure you go without because you are too busy trying to get everyone sorted for the day ahead. Breakfast allows you to start your day with a nutritious meal that will aim to give you the energy and mental clarity to kick start your day. For us busy mums I always recommend consuming something that you literally can grab and go. If you are trying to have a cooked breaky, there is a high chance that you will put it in the “too hard basket” and just avoid breakfast altogether. You need to make choices that are going to work in your favour and make your life easier.
Here are a couple of my fav recipes for breaky that are time efficient and are definitely mum friendly for those hectic mornings.
1) Overnight Oats- Perfect for busy mums, as you literally just have to grab it out of the fridge in the morning and go.
½ Cup Rolled Oats
1 Scoop Vanilla Protein Powder
1 tsp Chia Seeds
15g Cacao Powder
Almond Milk- Unsweetened
50g Raspberries
Use a jar, cup/bowl to construct your oats.
First add in your oats, followed by the protein powder, chia seeds, cacao, and berries. Pour the Almond Milk over the top. The amount will depend on how runny you want it. Keep in mind that the oats will absorb the milk overnight. All the flavours ooze together overnight and it tastes like a party in your mouth.
2) Smoothies- The reason I love smoothies is that they are so versatile and you can literally include so many highly nutritious ingredients that will make you feel amazing.
My fav smoothie:
120g frozen banana- frozen makes all the difference, as it makes it super thick.
50g Frozen berries of your choice- I use strawberries.
10g Choc Greens Powder- Great for a chocolate hit, but contains the goodness of lots of greens.
30g Avocado- Healthy Fats- so important for our hormones ladies
Spinach- 1 handful
20g Vanilla Protein Powder
If I’m on the run, I put it in a keep cup and take it in the car with me.
LUNCH
I often find lunch can either go two ways. You either are so busy running errands that you forget to eat OR lunch is one of those meals that you happily sit down to because your children are either napping, or it’s the only time to get some rest before you have to do school pick up.
Rule of thumb with any meal is to make sure it contains protein. Importance of protein can’t go understated. Protein will assist with muscle retention, muscle recovery, muscle building and help you feel full. Now I know a lot of you may have read that and thought “I don’t want to become too muscly”. Trust me when I say, it is SO HARD for females to build muscle as we just don’t have the genetic makeup or high levels of testosterone to build muscle easily. What I will tell you is that the more muscle you do have on your body, the more fat your body will burn. For time poor mums, the supermarkets have now made it so easy for us to eat well with less effort needed.
Here are some examples:
1. Canned Tuna or chicken with microwavable brown rice and a frozen vegetable steam bag.
2. Salad mix from the fresh food area of the supermarket with Chicken (Coles and Woollies both have pre-prepared chicken breasts available)
3. Corn thins or Rice Thins with Avocado, Spinach, Tomato and Tuna
4. Four bean mix with microwavable rice and a frozen steam bag of vegetables.
5. Omelette- this will take you 5 minutes to make- 2 eggs, spinach, mushroom, pumpkin, tomato and grated cheese.
All the options listed will take you no longer then 5 minutes to prepare. All you have to do is make sure you have these ingredients ready at home.
DINNER
I think the most important factor when considering your dinner options is to plan ahead and create your dinner menu for the week ahead of time. This organisation will honestly save your sanity, time and give you a sense of control. If you haven’t given meal planning any thought maybe it’s time you did. Once you have your meal plan organised, you can then go to the supermarket and buy all the ingredients you need for your meals which will save you so much time as you won’t need to stop by the supermarket multiple times during the week and you will be saving money on impulse buying.
Keep dinners simple. A general rule of thumb is to keep the meat the size of your fist, avoid crumbing, frying or covering in sauces.
Cook in big batches- When cooking, double the portions so you only have to cook every second to third night.
Make food fun- Get your children involved in the cooking process. This will give them a sense of ownership to the dish, allows them to see the process of cooking and will most likely result in them wanting to eat the meal as well.
Cook foods that the kids LOVE to eat, but put a healthier spin on it. E.g.
1) Fish and Chips- Baked fish with baked sweet potato fries or roasted vegetables.
2) Pizza- homemade with lots of vegetables as the toppings.
3) Pasta- mix spiralised vegetable “pasta” (sweet potato, zucchini) through the ordinary pasta with hidden vegetable tomato sauce.
4) Chicken nuggets and chips- hide vegetables in the chicken nuggets and bake the nuggets instead of frying. Add some home-made baked chips or use an air fryer (I have a great recipe of hidden vegetable chicken nuggets on my Instagram in the highlights section).
SNACKS
Choose high protein yogurts, fruits, raw vegetables, smoothies, grainy crackers topped with cottage cheese, vegetable muffins (recipe on my Instagram- staceylapira_mummy_revival), hummus, rice cakes or corn thins with a nut butter, or air popped pop corn.
As you can tell, nutrition is my jam. I love creating recipes that are EASY, HEALTHY and do not require an abundance of ingredients. I am all about making mum life as easy as possible and I am always thinking of new recipes to do this. I am so passionate in trying to help mums regain control of their own well-being so they can live a life feeling confident in their own skin.
