Raising Healthy Mothers

How much choice do you really have over what you eat and what you buy for food? Although I've always had an awareness of the importance of eating food tha thas been minimally processed, ideally cooked from scratch, I hadn't considered the role that marketing, advertising and packaging plays in making a food impossible to resist and stop consuming.  In this episode of Raising Healthy Mothers I take...

Almost 10 years ago I bought my first Fitbit. I bought it because I wanted to track whether I was doing 10k steps a day. It worked really well - I would often find myself heading out for an extra walk at lunchtime. But I found all the options for tracking overwhelming, and I especially found the sleep information disturbing. I would sometimes wake up feeling like I'd had an amazing night's sleep,...

Children have the incredible power to help us step into the here and now. They very much live in the moment, often have an instinctive need to be in nature and are excellent at knowing how much food and sleep they personally need - with little consideration for what you, the parent, need. In this week's episode of Raising Healthy Mothers I have a fascinating conversation on why we often start inst...

Welcome back to Raising Healthy Mothers for Season 10! Have you made new year resolutions or have plans to 'be healthier' in 2024? If that's the case then this is a juicy episode for you, because I'm going to tell you the 6 things I want you to STOP doing this year if this is the year you finally want to get your health on track.   These are the mistakes that come up time and time again when it co...

Breakfast is often touted as the most important meal of the day. Yet it's also usually the meal we put the least amount of thought into. It's obvious why – there's usually not much time and there are places to get to, so convenience wins every time. And for fussy eaters, it's often thier moment to shine. Becuase they get the same, predictable meal most days. It's usually always the same colour, th...

This week's guest on Raising Healthy Mothers is someone who exudes enthusiasm and excitement for her passion - gardening. And not just for the aesthetic beauty that having a joyful garden brings but for the mindful, thoughtful activity of being out in nature, being in the moment with the job that you're doing, and tending to the garden in the way that we have been connecting with nature throughout...

This week's guest on Raising Healthy Mothers is one of those wise mothers of teens from whom I can look up to and learn from. She emanates absolute calm and confidence when it comes to parenting – two qualities I know I strive hard for! Maija Tweeddale is a nutritionist helping parents create nutrition and lifestyle habits that stick so they can have the energy and good mood they need for a family...

Today I'm tackling a common question that comes up every time I run a breastfeeding course. It's usually something like this: 'when can I start expressing so my partner can take over some of the feeds and bond with the baby too?' I find this a difficult question because two questions come up for me in return: Why does your partner feel like feeding them is the only way to bond with them? Is it rea...

I recently ran a poll asking mums what their biggest worry was about breastfeeding for a second time. The unanimous response was around managing tiredness and exhaustion of breastfeeding while caring for an older child as well. I totally get it. The first time round it hits you like a tonne of bricks - how dependent this tiny creature is on you - and how they don't seem to have a clue when is the...

This week I'm celebrating 100 episodes on Raising Healthy Mothers! And this time I'm in the interviewee chair. My husband puts me on the spot this time. We talk about… How I became a nutritional therapist How my thinking around nutrition has changed How I approach motherhood wellbeing What strings I've added to my bow to support mothers My top myth busting and tips on breastfeeding, perinatal nutr...

When was the last time you stood up and just...walked out of a room. Without looking back to check everyone's OK? Without making sure the kids were safe, had what they needed, weren't going to ask for something the minute you'd got comfy on the loo? During my conversation with Kate on this week's episode I realises how easy it is to feel trapped and suffocated in motherhood. And yet, how we can al...

This episode has been a long time coming. This month marks 5 years since I started specialising in motherhood. And this episode is the culmination of everything I've learned so far in the journey. When I started out I focused mainly on nutrition and diet. But while the information I had about a healthy pregnancy, postpartum recovery and replenished motherhood was sound and had the potential to be...

Coffee in motherhood. Probably the one thing many mums can agree as being totally essential to get through those exhausting broken nights. I know people who didn't drink coffee before having children but started after their first child.   Motherhood is tiring and all-consuming and often the ritual of making a coffee and taking that first  sip is a glorious moment to just be.   So this week I invit...

I am doing something a little bit different today, something I've never done before but always thought of doing here on the podcast.   I've bene running my Self-care Challenge and one of the best feedback I've had so far is fromthe Mindful Tea Break guided meditation I recorded for them. And because it had such a great reception, I decided to share it here on the podcast.    This is a five minute...

Occasionally I invite someone onto the podcast that speaks to my soul. This week's interview is one of those – my conversation with Lisa Mabberley of Morther, Nurture and Wild ended up being a heart-to-heart that made me feel really seen and heard. In our discussion I realised why it is we miss out so much when we don't have a tribe around us. As a mother of tweens, she's much further along her mo...

If you've listened to my podcast for any length of time you'll know that I talk about taking time out, taking things easy and taking things slow as a mother. But in order to do this we have to navigate feelings of guilt, lack of time, energy and headspace to do what seems such an obvious and simple thing. There are so many metaphors out there - you can't pour from an empty cup. Put your own oxygen...

Being inside without your own personal outdoor space is really hard when you have energetic kids who love being outdoors, who need plenty of physical activity on a daily basis (as we all do!) and who are naturally inquisitive and fascinated by the natural world. As my children have grown older I have become more and more aware of how important getting outside for exercise is, and while everyone be...

Depending on where you are in the world, summer holidays have started or are about to start. And often that comes with a healthy dose of....self-criticism, low self-esteem, negativity - and downright hatred of the bodies we now have as mothers. It's heartbreaking. So in this episode I've diving into body positivity over summer. I'm discussing... What body positivity means, why it's important and o...

This week on Raising Healthy Mothers I'm tackling a topic that came top when I ran a poll on what's holding you back from making health changes: Snacking and cravings. Why do we have them? Why is it so hard to resist? Is there anything we can do to make better choices? "We often beat ourselves up about our lack of willpower - we assume there's something within us - a moral failing that means we ca...

You're exhausted. You're struggling with your mental health. You get cramps and find yourself going to the toilet 5 times a day, making you anxious about leaving the house. You know your diet is crap, you drink too much caffeine, you don't eat enough fruit and veg, and your sleep is non-existant. You've heard that good health comes frmo the gut so you wonder whether taking a probiotic supplement c...

I was a very fussy eater as a child. It's one of those family truisms. They still laugh about it now. I don't; I feel for little me who found it so very hard to eat everything people wanted me to.   Now as a nutritional therapist, natural chef and all-round food lover, I am well and truly out of that phase. There's very little I won't eat and I love cooking for people.   And I also happen to have...

This week on Raising Healthy Mothers I take you on an unforgettable adventure, packed with personal discoveries, heart-pounding challenges, and a healthy dose of cheesy self-reflection. Picture this: a hen weekend away on the stunning coast of Devon. A group of wild women ready to embrace the unknown, led by the fearless bride-to-be, who happens to be my cousin. Now, coasteering might sound like a...

Today on Raising Healthy Mothers I'm welcoming Emma Cottam of Isabella and Us back onto the show. We last spoke on the podcast in October 2020 - we were deep into the first 6 months of the pandemic and looking ahead to a second lockdown. It was GRIM times indeed! I decided to invite her back because she's recently started offering help establishing journalling practice, and this is something I've...

Today on Raising Healthy Mothers I'm talking to Kate Longden, also known as the Food Doula. Kate describes herself as Chef, Nurturer, Cooking Coach and Founder of the original food hug meal delivery service offering edible support across the UK, and I can vouch that her food looks incredible on Instagram! If you've been listening to my podcast for a while you know how much I love talking about foo...

Until a few weeks ago I was a meal plan dodger all of my adult life. Despite it being my no. 1 piece of advice for clients to (a) stick to their goals (b) save money and (c) avoid having to use willpower to stop eating junk. While it's true that meal planning can do all of those things, I'm also a very creative cook, and it's genuinely one of my most favourite things to do. Plus meal plannings fel...