Raising Healthy Mothers

This week marks a milestone for the podcast - it's been 3 years since I first pressed publish on an episode!   So in today's episode I'm reflecting on 3 years of podcasting, with over 80 episodes and almost 10,000 downloads.   I'm going to talk about the 6 key thing I've learnt in starting and maintaining a podcast, My personal highlights and favourite moments, and musings about the future of the...

Today on Raising Healthy Mothers I'm talking to Claire Gillies of Delicious and Real all about meal planning. If you're anything like me you know you're supposed to meal plan to make life easier, save money and avoid food waste. But actually getting started can be overwhelming! And what about if your plans change?   That's why I invited Claire on to talk about how she meal plans, why she started a...

Welcome to a new season of Raising Healthy Mothers! This week I'm diving into the confusing world of nutrition information and ingredients list on packaged food.  One question I often hear is 'is it OK to use pre-prepared sauces and condiments?' It's a big worry for parents trying to do their best for their family that by using shortcuts they are letting their family down. Hellooooo mum guilt! Hel...

In a society that expects mothers to immediately return to their pre-baby lives, a sleep-deprived co-sleeping, breastfeeding mother has to face some uncomfortable choices to make for her health, family and career.   When I first became pregnant I had already decided I was going to co-sleep, exclusively breastfeed and be 100% responsive to our baby.   I knew I'd be tired but I figured it was only f...

Chances are as a mum to a little person your sleep is restricted or disrupted most nights. Chances are you're drowning yourself in coffee and feeling wretched most days. What if you spent your time optimising your day to get you the best night's sleep ever? In today's episode I'm talking about the importance of a morning routine for getting a good night's sleep. It sounds counter-intuitive but how...

Everyone knows being a mum is exhausting, right? It's just part of the job, no? Also weight gain, sluggish digestion, hair loss... mum symptoms are brutal - but normal.   Aren't they?   If you've ever got to the point where you feel that there must be more to your tiredness, lack of energy, brain fog, low mood and hair loss than just being a mum then this is the episode for you.   My guest this we...

If you've ever experienced the burning pain, the urgency, the sheer inconvenience of a UTI then you'll know  how it can affect you as you go about your every day life.   But what if it doesn't go away? Or keeps coming back? What if the doctors say there's nothing they can do for you because there's nothing to show in your urine samples?   My guest this week is Mary Cotter and she knows exactly how...

This week on Raising Healthy Mothers I welcome Rowan Whitehead to discuss the societal gap that often arises between couples when they have children, causing imbalances in unpaid labour division, parenting and mental load roles. Rowan founded the Facebook group Bridging the Gap after her own experience of motherhood and imbalances in her relationship upon becoming a parent.   In the episode we dis...

I've always resisted entering into a discussion around weight loss in motherhood, mainly because I hate the pressure and expectation laid on mothers to lose their baby weight and go back to the shape they were before. But I know many mums become deeply unhappy with their bodies postpartum, especially one year or more later.   In this episode I'm going to discuss the 5 reasons you're might be strug...

Since becoming a mother I've found it really hard to find the energy, time and motivation to do exercise. I can barely keep the house tidy let alone find the time to get to the gym or an exercise class! Enter the Power of Mum , an at-home strength training programme. I found it totally by accident but it lit a fire inside me - I still didn't know how I'd find the time but I knew I needed it. So in...

Are you one of the over half a million people who signed up for Veganuary this year? It's getting more and more popular - each year sees more people signing up. And each year sees more and more vegan food on our shelves - often highly processed - it's the food industry cashing in on the trend! Now that January is over you might be wondering whether you should continue being vegan. In this episode...

Today's guest is talking about something I have been (and still often am!) deeply uncomfortable with - Money. I know I'm not alone in finding it difficult to hold on to money, often living from paycheck to paycheck and - as an entrepreneur - in feast and famine from month to month. My guest this week is Philly Ponniah, a certified financial coach helping women improve their relationship with money...

Here's a confession. I'm a nutritionist and I'm often confused about nutrition. I spent 3 long year studying nutrition and how what we eat can make you feel good or make you feel bad. How certain foods can improve certain symptoms and how certain foods can make it worse. The truth is nutrition is confusing! In theory we know more about nutrition, health and wellbeing than ever before. Yet as a glo...

In today's episode on Raising Healthy Mothers I'm delving into what makes a healthy lunch to have at work - whether you're working from home or in the office. It's often one of the first things I talk about changing with my clients because so often our lunches are rushed and a bit of an afterthought - and they wonder why they struggle with a 3pm energy slump! I'm here to help you reclaim a proper...

Welcome to a new year and a brand new season on Raising Healthy Mothers!   Are you busy making a resolution? Have you decided to start a new exercise regime? Drop the carbs? Cut your screentime? Start meditating? Go vegan?   When was the last time you decided to make a change and stuck to it for longer than a few weeks?   I'm definitely guilty of struggling to stick to a new habit - and then guilt...

This week in the Christmas Quickies I'm discussing how to avoid the 'f**k it' attitude over Christmas.   You know the one - 'ah it's Christmas, what the heck, I"ll pick back up in January'   Except it never works does it? After 2 weeks in January of being on a diet that solely relies on willpower you discover a forgotten box of Roses and polish it off. (Please say it's not just me!)   So while it'...

Hello and welcome to a Christmas special on Raising Healthy Mothers! In this week's episode, I'm diving into one of the top tips I give to clients - Stick to a consistent eating and sleeping routine. This is often one of the first things to go out the window come Christmas so I'm here to explain why it's so important! In the episode I talk about... The effect of sugar on our body The impact of alc...

How is it that we put so much energy into instilling good habits and routines for our children but are complete hypocrites for our own habits? This is how I felt when a few months into motherhood I was averaging 4-6 hours on my phone every single day. That's a QUARTER of my life! Imagine looking back at your life at the age of 80 and realising you spent 20 of those years on your phone. I bet you w...

When my son was 3 and my baby was 4.5 months, we went on a 13 hour flight to Malaysia. I felt genuinely lost as to how I was going to keep my pre-schooler occupied for so long. And a little bit scared.   Thankfully, a bit of research and chatting to those who've done it before and I felt prepared. In this episode I'm sharing my experience and my top tips on how I managed the flight AND stay sane....

When my son was still a baby I promised myself I wouldn't let him watch TV until he was AT LEAST 5. I mean I survived until much older without a TV so surely he can too. Oh how naive I was! By the time he was 3.5 he was regularly watching 3-4 hours of TV, sometimes more than that. Like most habits that we're not happy with, it crept up slowly and steadily, often out of necessity while caring for h...

I always used to think that breastfeeding aversion was a clear sign that your body can't cope with the demands of breastfeeding. It makes logical sense. But when I experienced it for myself I realised that logic doesn't necessarily come into it - and the emotions of feeding an older baby is far bigger than I realised. So this week I'm diving deep into the aversion and agitation I experienced way b...

When my son was 2.5 I started becoming really smug that I'd done all the right things and avoided any fussy eating. Three months later his baby sister was born and BAM fussy eating! In this episode I talk about navigating my son's fussy eating as a nutritional therapist. I discuss The one basic foundation that informs our whole approach to eating and feeding children The three consistent strategie...

Do you co-sleep? Or have you ever considered it and wondering how to do it safely? Maybe you're pregnant for the first time and are thinking 'no way, I'll never sleep with my baby, that's too dangerous!' In this episode I get personal with our sleeping arrangement. I talk about... Why someone might consider co-sleeping Whether co-sleeping is safe How to make your bed safe for sharing with a baby W...

In today's episode I'm delving into my story of how I gently nightweaned my toddler - while still co-sleeping. I discuss... Why babies and toddlers feed through the night How long to expect them to continue feeding Why I nightweaned when I did My nightweaning timeline Why it took me 3 attempts to nightwean him What I'd do differently next time Just like any element of breastfeeding, it's been very...