Navigating Motherhood: Boosting Energy and Libido with Nutrition

Motherhood is an exhilarating yet demanding journey. From sleepless nights to endless responsibilities, it's no wonder many moms find themselves running on empty. Unfortunately, a common coping mechanism is hitting the caffeine hard, but as it turns out, there are healthier and more effective ways to recharge our energy and reignite our libidos. In this episode, I am joined by perinatal nutritionist, Brooke Harmer where she shares incredible tips on how to improve your energy, mood AND libido without relying on multiple cups of coffee to make it through the day!

Embrace a Balanced Plate

One of the first steps to feeling more energized is understanding how to build a properly balanced plate. A balance of protein, healthy fats, and fiber is critical. This combination helps stabilize blood sugar and provides long-lasting energy, unlike a bowl of cereal that leaves you crashing later. A colorful diet rich...

Balancing Ambition and Family: How to Avoid Burnout as a High Achiever

In today’s fast-paced world, balancing career aspirations with family commitments is a challenge for many. In a conversation with Katy Murray, we delved into the struggles and strategies of navigating ambition alongside a fulfilling family life. Here’s a peek into some key insights that can help you thrive personally and professionally without sacrificing one for the other.

The Art of Slowing Down

For many high achievers, the notion of slowing down seems counterintuitive. However, embracing a more mindful pace is essential for sustaining energy and avoiding burnout. Rather than racing to tick off every item on a never-ending to-do list, take a moment to breathe, reflect, and prioritize. This intentional pause helps you align your actions with your core values and goals, fostering a fuller, richer life.

Scheduling Downtime

A chief takeaway from our discussion is the importance of...

Reclaim Your Pelvic Floor: Insights into Motherhood's Hidden Struggles

In this episode, I am joined by Becca Boeving, we're diving into a topic that's as essential as it is overlooked: pelvic floor health. Whether you've experienced motherhood yourself or are in awe of the journey others have taken, understanding this part of our anatomy can make a world of difference.

Understanding the Pelvic Floor

The pelvic floor consists of muscles that support various functions, from control over bathroom habits to enhancing intimate moments. Despite its critical role, myths abound, like the ubiquitous suggestion to do Kegels at stoplights. The truth? Not all pelvic floors benefit from Kegels, especially if they’re already tight, which can actually exacerbate issues like incontinence or pain.

From Misconceptions to Realities

Postpartum life often leaves us in a whirlwind concern mostly focused on the newborn. Meanwhile, mothers are left with their pelvic floor recovery...

Navigating the Journey of Raising Boys: Insights from a Parenting Expert

While each child is a unique individual with their own strengths and challenges, there are common threads that bind the experience of parenting boys. In this episode, we explore insights from Rachel Sklar, a dedicated parent coach specializing in helping families raise kind, calm, cooperative, and connected boys.

Embracing the Challenge of Parenting Boys

Parenting can be both rewarding and daunting, particularly when it comes to raising boys. From dealing with unexpected behaviors to unlearning traditional approaches, the journey is filled with learning moments. Rachel shares how understanding and adapting to each child's unique needs radically changed her approach to parenting her three sons. Her personal experience highlights the importance of customizing parenting techniques to suit your child's temperament, interests, and strengths.

Creating a Harmonious Home Environment

A key...

Welcome back to another episode of the Marriage and Motherhood podcast! In today’s episode, we feature one of my favorite health experts, Casey Everhart to talk about how we can start eating our way to feeling happier and more energized, and it doesn't involve dieting.

Casey Everhart brings immense knowledge and firsthand experience on health, fitness, and nutrition. As a personal trainer and nutrition coach with a master’s degree in health and human performance, Casey’s journey started with her struggles with weight, body image, and mental health. From being a competitive gymnast to battling disordered eating, Casey turned her struggles into strength. She now helps busy moms find balance through quick at-home workouts and a sustainable nutrition philosophy.

Protein: The Building Block of Health

One of the central themes of our discussion was the importance of protein in our diets. Casey explains that protein contains amino acids, which are...

The Changing Dynamics

If you reflect on your pre-kid era, you'll likely notice just how much your marriage has transformed. Pre-kids life was simpler. You could plan spontaneous trips, enjoy quiet dinners, and had flexibility that parenthood quickly consumes. But, when kids come into the picture, their needs and schedules take precedence. This fundamental shift can place significant strain on a marriage.

The Overwhelm of Raising Kids

The pressures and overwhelming responsibilities of parenthood often catch us off-guard. From ensuring we meet their basic needs to managing tantrums and navigating school schedules, every aspect of life requires meticulous planning. It's no longer about just the two of you but about balancing a child's needs with maintaining marital harmony.

Shifting Roles and Added Responsibilities

Becoming parents introduces 'Mom' and 'Dad' roles. This added layer of responsibility can alter how we perceive and interact with our partners....

Welcome back to another episode of the Marriage and Mother podcast! This is part two of the series "What I Wish I Knew Before Becoming a Parent," designed to support aspiring and current parents with as much knowledge as possible to set them up for success.

The Realities of Self-Care

Last episode, we delved into the evolving dynamic of partnership and how to navigate those changes. Today, we'll be focusing on self-care. Self-care is vastly underrated.

At the very core of our life experiences — as women, partners, mothers, daughters, friends, business owners, or any of the myriad roles we play — self-care is pivotal. If we don't take care of ourselves, every facet of our lives can suffer. Imagine walking around with a baseline feeling of 15 on a scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is the best possible state of being. It's like living in a world where you're perpetually cranky, a lens that taints every experience negatively.

Reframing Self-Care

Just like the...

In this episode of the Marriage and Motherhood Podcast, I am joined by Mikki Gardner to discuss the complex world of co-parenting. Mikki is a certified life and conscious parenting coach, host of the Co-Parenting with Confidence Podcast, and author of The People Pleaser’s Guide to Co-Parenting Well. With her background in navigating life post-divorce and helping moms transition through the emotional and practical difficulties of co-parenting, Mikki shares invaluable insights on managing these complex relationships.

Understanding Co-Parenting and Its Challenges

Co-parenting is a subject that many listeners may not have direct experience in but, as Mikki explains, the principles often apply to all types of parenting, including married couples.

She defines co-parenting as parenting with anyone that you don’t agree with 100 percent of the time. So, across the board, this is everyone.

Mikki emphasizes the significance of being...

Welcome back to another episode of the Marriage and Motherhood podcast. In this episode, we're diving into how marriage evolves after you become parents. This topic is relevant to both new and seasoned parents, offering insights and practical advice to help you navigate the changes that parenthood brings to your relationship.

The Changing Dynamics of Partnership

Partnership Before Parenthood

Before you have kids, partnership primarily revolves around mutual decision-making, consultation on important matters, and offering each other support. These principles still hold post-parenthood but on a much different scale. Before kids, it's simpler: Do we make decisions together? Do you consult with me on big matters? Are you helpful to me? Do I feel like we're a team?

The Shift Post-Parenthood

After kids, the specificity of roles becomes more critical. Our expectations for our partners drastically increase. The granular details—like "Who's going to do what?" need...

What is Mom Rage?

Alexis begins by explaining that anger is one of our six primal emotions and often carries a lot of shame and stigma. For many of us, anger is connected to negative childhood experiences and suppressed feelings. She emphasizes how societal expectations and the immense mental load on mothers contribute to this intense emotion.

Moreover, Alexis discusses the modern push for gentle parenting and how it can sometimes lead to moms emptying themselves emotionally without realizing it. The constant need to empathize with children without addressing our own needs creates a "perfect storm" for mom rage.

Addressing Mom Rage: Key Strategies

Self-Forgiveness

One of the crucial strategies Alexis talks about is self-forgiveness. Moms often hold onto shame and guilt after an outburst, which can perpetuate the cycle of anger. She shares a four-step process she uses with her clients to forgive themselves before they attempt to repair their relationship with their...