Mindful Zoom

Exercise doesn’t have to mean getting up at 5 am to hit the gym. We are all busy, and making it to the gym when we have a family isn’t always a realistic goal. So instead of worrying about that, we could try to go to the playground with our kids. Or throw a dance party in the house with our kids. Or roughhouse with our kids. Make it easy on our-self, and it’s more likely we will actually meet our healthy mom goal and enjoy it too.

One of the things we’ve found to be really helpful is to make small simple goals when it come to food. For example, we could make a goal to eat only whole grains 80 percent of the time. So instead of reaching for the white bread, chose the whole wheat bread, oatmeal or quinoa instead. Or we could make a goal to eat at least 4-5 servings of vegetables per day. These simple goals are realistic changes without restricting us too much, which makes our more likely to stick with it in the long run.

One of the best ways to get healthier in terms of food is to put a list of superfoods on our refrigerator and strive to eat each of them at least once a week.

Here are the top superfoods to offer health protection:

Beans
Blueberries
Broccoli
Oats
Oranges
Pumpkin
Salmon
Soy
Spinach
Tea (green or black)
Tomatoes
Turkey
Walnuts
Yogurt

Similarly to making healthy mom goals a lifestyle, We can also aim to meet our goals with some sense of moderation. Heading to a Valentine’s party, go ahead and indulge a bit. Going on a weekend getaway, don’t stress about not fitting a work out in.

If we are hoping to succeed with some long term goals this year, one way to do this is making a lifestyle choice rather than a fad. Aim to meet your healthy eating, exercise, or self-care goals about 80 percent of the time.

If we don’t meet our goal one week, that’s okay. Don’t feel like us that we have to give up on our healthy mom goals just because we weren’t able to achieve them one week. Nobody is perfect. Goals are flexible and fluid. Aim for an overall pattern.

In addition to what we just mentioned above about scheduling in time each week, consider taking shorter sanity breaks throughout the day for our-self. It could be 10 minutes of alone time in the morning before our kids wake up to read a few encouraging quotes. It could be 15 minutes of alone time after our husband gets home from work. Hide in the bathroom for 15 minutes if we have to—wash our face, put on some lipstick, or read a magazine. Anything to recharge our-self just a bit.

There is enough time for everything if we truly want it to be. Schedule in the time for our-self that is realistic, and ask our spouse and other family members to respect that time. If that means we take 2 hours a week to get out of the house and go for a hike with a girlfriend, ask our husband or a friend to watch after our kids. Commit to making the time for our-self.

We may feel like our goals fall by the wayside because there is not enough support to encourage we through the process that we completely relate. Our goals may not be very important to another person, and therefore, they might not hold on us accountable in the best way. Being our own motivation can change this. Write down our goals and put them on the refrigerator. Take it a step further and tell as many people as possible about our healthy mom goals. The more people that know about our goals, the more motivated us and we will feel to fulfill them.

Healthy eating, exercise, and self-care for mom often falls by the wayside without an actionable plan. Grab our-self a small gift and purchase a Monthly Planner. In the planner, write down meals list we intend to make during the week, days have a plan to get some sort of activity, and schedule in some much needed me time. It’s easier to stay committed to our healthy mom goals when they are down on paper.