In this week's podcast episode, I am joined by our practicing Clinical Nutritionist, Melissa Kirkwood to discuss the importance of personal well-being as a parent/carer. In our online clinic, we often see a lot of children with complex health issues, children who aren't sleeping, or those who are unwell a lot, which puts a lot of pressure on the parent or carer of that child. Too often parents are so busy caring for their children, that they forget about their own wellbeing. So in this episode, Mel and I will share some practical changes you can make to support yourself.
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In this week's podcast episode, I am joined by our practicing Clinical Nutritionist, Melissa Kirkwood to discuss the importance of personal well-being as a parent/carer. In our online clinic, we often see a lot of children with complex health issues, children who aren't sleeping, or those who are unwell a lot, which puts a lot of pressure on the parent or carer of that child. Too often parents are so busy caring for their children, that they forget about their own wellbeing. So in this episode, Mel and I will share some practical changes you can make to support yourself.
You can look forward to learning about:
Episode Links:
Welcome to the Natural Super Kids podcast, where you will discover practical strategies to inspire you to boost the health and nutrition of your kids. I'm Jessica Donovan, a qualified naturopath specialising in kids health, and I want to make it as easy as possible for you to raise healthy and happy kids. Let's get into it. Hello everyone, welcome back to the Natural Super Kids podcast. I am joined by our clinical nutritionist, mel, for today's episode. Hello, mel, hello, it's good to be back. Yes, so we'll get to an introduction for anyone who doesn't know you in a second. But the topic that we landed on today and I'm really excited to dive into this with you, mel is the importance for parents and carers to be looking after themselves, and you shared with me that you've seen recently quite a few mums in clinic or talk to mums in clinic that were seeking some help with their kids, but then you noticed that perhaps they needed to ramp up their self care and looking after themselves. So I think, as a parent, the mental load and looking after yourself should be a big priority, and often is not. But when you add in a child that has health challenges into that mix, it just adds a whole another level of mental load. So before we get started into the topic of today, do you want to just tell everyone a little bit about yourself, mel?
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure. So I am the clinical nutritionist here at Natural Super Kids. So I've been in clinic for around two years now, or a year and a half, and I see clients on Wednesdays and Fridays and, as Jess mentioned, a lot of the time we are seeing children and throughout, I guess, the questioning, when we're taking case notes and things like that, I find that parents or mothers or carers, a light bulb goes off in their head where they're like hang on a minute. This also sounds like me, or hang on a minute, maybe I need some help as well. So I wanted to kind of bring this to the podcast because I think as carers parents, you know, mothers, fathers we often put our kids needs first or whoever we're caring for first, and it can become quite busy and chaotic, I guess, looking after children and we often forget to look after ourselves. So I think in this chat we're just going to offer some kind of general, very simple advice that parents and carers can incorporate into their day to day to kind of just I don't know feel better in themselves when they're looking after other people.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I love that you, you know, talked about simple, because it doesn't have to be, you know, big stuff or stuff that takes a lot of time. I think people can feel overwhelmed. Well, I don't have the time or the capacity to, you know, focus on myself as well. But, yeah, we're going to be sharing some simple tips and it's that, you know, it's that that age old analogy of, you know, putting your face mask on or your oxygen mask on first, because if we are depleted, exhausted as parents, then that is, you know, that's not, that's not doing any favours to our family. So I know lots of mums struggle with the idea of taking care of themselves or prioritising their own health, wellbeing, self care. But you know, if you do struggle with that or feel like it's, you know, somewhat selfish, I think that mindset shift of well, hang on a minute, if I look after myself, I'm going to be better equipped to look after, you know, everybody else. So let's talk about some of the things we can focus on. Like you said, we'll keep this, this, this, really simple. So I know you're wanting to sort of talk about three main areas. Do you want to share what they are? First of all, mel.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the three areas I'm going to focus on are, I guess, essentially the most important things nutrition, movement and then mind. And, as Jess said, I am a very well both you know, jess, sarah and I, our practitioners here at Natural Super Kids kids. We are very simple, practical practitioners, like the last thing we need to do is overwhelm and already overwhelmed family units, so we pretty much bring it back down to basics. So for some people these tips are going to seem very basic, but for other people it might just be a bit of a light bulb moment in their head to incorporate them Because, at the end of the day, simple changes have big effects?
Speaker 1:Definitely. Can I just add in that, even if people are listening and feeling like, oh, this is simple, I've heard this before, I would guarantee you that most people listening are not actually implementing all of these things, so don't dismiss an idea that you've yeah, I know that I've heard it before, but are you actually doing it and how can you improve in terms of what you are doing?
Speaker 2:Because that, at the end of the day, right like you have to implement it for changes to happen, like nothing changes if nothing changes. So when it comes to diet and nutrition, I very simple thing that most parents and carers forget to do this, and it's the importance of eating protein and balancing your meals. So what I find is a lot of my adult clients, specifically mothers, busy on the go. You know they're getting up in the morning, they're making lunches and you know drop school, drop off and things like that, and they're so on the go that they generally tend to snack throughout the day rather than having decent meals. And when it comes to that snack, it's usually quite high in carbohydrates and very low in protein. So I think for me, when I'm offering advice to busy parents, if you can set yourself up for success, it would be to have a protein packed breakfast of at least you know, 25 to 30 grams of protein and making sure you know you're getting that protein here in for breakfast. So that sets you up for the rest of the day. And then you know there are other things that you can incorporate throughout your meals to, you know, eating foods that are high in magnesium and B vitamins and iron and things like that. But I think the most simple and easy tip would be ensuring that you're having a protein packed breakfast.
Speaker 1:Yes, I totally agree and I know personally when I am having a protein rich breakfast. It sets you up for good habits for the day, because then you're more likely to eat better throughout the day, because your blood sugar is more balanced, your moods are more balanced, your energy is more balanced. Can you just give people an idea of what a protein like practically what a protein packed breakfast could look like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure. So things like an omelet and egg omelet. I kind of tend to lean towards eggs a lot, so I'll give you other options if you don't like eggs but omelets, you know, eggs on sourdough, frittatas and I like frittatas and kind of like egg cup or egg muffins, because you can meal prep and prep that ahead of time, freeze it, so you always will have a breakfast on the go. If you don't like eggs or you can't eat eggs, you could do things like yogurt, a good quality high protein Greek yogurt with nuts and seeds, nut butter, fruit, fresh berries, a protein smoothie with a good quality protein powder or collagen powder. The importance of getting a good quality protein powder without billers. There's a lot of protein powders out there these days. They're full of you know, colors and flavors and emulsifiers. So finding a decent quality, one that packs a punch, so one that's got around 25 to 30 grams of protein per serve, or a good quality collagen powder.
Speaker 1:What else, just while you're? Yeah, I mean, they're really good options. And I hear a lot of people say I don't have time for eggs in the morning. But you could literally fry off a couple of eggs and it takes two minutes and that can be your breakfast. So that excuse of like I don't have time for eggs in the morning. Well, you said those things that you can make ahead of time are great. But yeah, it takes a couple of minutes to scramble or fry up some eggs and you've got. It can just be that, even with a bit of avocado on the side, or, you know, you could have a good piece of good quality bread toasted on the side. But yeah, eggs are a great option for protein. Do you have any? Anything else you wanted to add?
Speaker 2:Well, I think in this Western world we often think breakfast equals eggs or cereal. But you can honestly just eat anything for breakfast. You could have leftovers, you could have a stew, you could have I don't know if you wanted to eat. Yeah, if you wanted to eat steak and eggs, like you know, you could have anything realistically. It's just that you're eating it at breakfast time Like it is your first meal of the day. That's breaking the fast. It doesn't have to be cereals or, you know, eggs or things like that. So I think it's just we're in the habit of eating these, I guess, breakfast-labeled foods. But really, if you wanted to have a steak and mashed potato or something for breakfast, it was free, or a curry or whatever floats your boat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or a soup in the winter. I mean we're in the warmer months now, but you know a soup with some chicken or you know beans or protein in like meat is a yummy breakfast in the like, a warming breakfast in the winter too.
Speaker 2:Yes, actually baked beans or like baked eggs and beans, that's a really good breakfast as well. I always forget about beans for breakfast because I just I don't tend to eat them. My partner does, but yeah, they're full of, you know, fiber and full of protein. So they're really good as well and kind of it's best if I guess you could make your own beans at home. But if you were to purchase beans on the shelf, just ensure you know that they are the best quality ingredients and just be mindful of, like, the sodium content in beans on the shelf.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so many, so many great ideas, and definitely not skipping breakfast. Like, protein at breakfast is, you know, makes such a difference, but skipping breakfast is absolutely going to make a big difference to how you feel throughout the day. Yes, definitely Okay. And what else have you got to share with us in terms of, like you know, I guess, diet and what's going into our mouths?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I think you know, the carer or the mother that I have pictured here is someone who's coming to me with their child, who potentially has a sickness or an illness or an ailment, and they are putting all their energy into this child and kind of not filling up their own cup. So I'm picturing here someone who is probably, you know, snacking throughout the day and therefore energy is dipping. So with that comes our beloved coffee. I knew you were going to say that. You know, when we have a breakfast that isn't going to fuel us for the day, it is going to result in our energy dipping and troughing and, you know, spiking and dipping, sorry. And so what do we rely on? We rely on caffeine to get us through, or, you know, caffeinated drinks. I love coffee, like I love it, I drink it. I'm never going to take coffee away from anyone. It's about reducing the amount of coffee that you have and the reliance on it for keeping you energised throughout the day. So my next tip is just, if you feel like you're surviving on caffeine, it's just to be mindful of that and work towards reducing your caffeine intake and I think once you have a protein packed breakfast, you will really notice that your energy has changed and you won't really rely on the caffeine as much.
Speaker 1:Yes, so true. And another big no-no is caffeine on an empty stomach. So you know have that protein packed breakfast and then have your coffee. Look, yes, I am guilty, You're guilty aren't you.
Speaker 2:I am guilty of stomach, I 100%. And I did have a client today and, yes, yes, I should be advising people not to have caffeine on an empty stomach and I know that. But my client said to me today, when I wake up, the caffeine brings the coffee, brings me so much joy as I'm kind of making my kids breakfast. And I said to her okay, for now, focus on the other things, and in the next lot of treatment plan we will look at swapping the breakfast before the caffeine, because at the moment she's very sleep deprived and that's bringing her joy. So I was like I'm never going to take that joy away from any of my clients, but let's work on eventually, down the track, swapping that around.
Speaker 1:But I love that because, well, I was just going to sorry, I was just going to say that you know, if you're telling her no, you can't have that coffee first thing, like you need to have breakfast first, like that's going to feel very depriving for her. But once she's got her energy levels boosted and she's feeling more regulated from the other things you're doing, then she will be in a much better place to be able to switch that around as well. Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 2:Like if you are a sleep deprived parent who's overwhelmed and the thing that's bringing you the most joy of the day is that coffee first thing, and I say, nope, you're not having it anymore. I'm not stressing out an already stressed out parent, so we'll focus on that later down the track. Again, it's all about being mindful, right Like. As long as it's in the back of your head that, oh, maybe today I might have a herbal tea first thing and then I'll have my coffee at morning tea time. It's just about kind of educating the client on how we can make them feel better, and then later down the track, if she feels up to it, we'll do the coffee after breakfast. But no, I am guilty of it. I feel like I'm a terrible nutritionist too Every morning when I have my little piccolo on an empty stomach, I think.
Speaker 1:I should be doing this. Well, we are not perfect. We've all got those maybe less than healthy habits, and I've been guilty of it before, but I definitely notice a difference having. I do have a coffee every morning, but I have made a big effort to make sure I eat first, Because I sometimes I do eat breakfast, but sometimes I could wait like an hour or two before I eat breakfast but I want my coffee earlier than that. So I have been in a bad habit of doing that before, but I definitely notice a difference. I can talk from personal experience that having that coffee, just making myself eat breakfast earlier yes, that coffee does make a big difference.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you don't have to eliminate it from your life forever.
Speaker 1:No, I love that. I love that realistic approach and I think it's important for people to realize like we're not perfect and we can still build in these healthy habits without taking away all the things that we love. And I think you wanted to talk a bit about hydration as well, like, the opposite of the coffee is making sure that we're well hydrated.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so just ensuring that you're drinking enough fluids throughout the day. A lot of the time people will feel will get like sugar cravings, but realistically they just needed a glass of water. They're just dehydrated. So I feel like a lot of us are pretty terrible at drinking water. So it depends on your body size how much you should be drinking. But I say for an adult to aim for 1.5 to 2 litres of water. This also depends on your physical, whether you're outside working or you're exercising a lot and burning through it. But I just find that generally people aren't drinking enough water and therefore they're fatigued. So just important to kind of. I find it's easy if you buy a 1.5 or a 1 litre stainless steel water bottle and it just goes around wherever you go, you've got your water bottle, so you're more inclined to drink water when it's on you. So that's just probably the easiest way to yeah, great tip.
Speaker 1:And also, then you know how much you've drunk, because sometimes you're like, how many glasses have I drunk today? Have I even had a glass of water today? And if you can try and start the day with a glass of water, maybe before that coffee, that can really help kind of get that hydration started and make the water enticing. Some lemon or lime or mint, or, you know, have a jug out. If you've got young kids at home, I find, like you know, when you're getting them a drink or telling them to drink, make sure you're drinking as well. That's another little helpful tip. Okay, so let's move on to movement now. I'm so passionate about this because it is, you know, I think often, as women especially, we think we have to exercise to, you know, keep trim or lose weight or whatever it might be, but exercise can make us feel so good. So tell us, tell us what we need to know about movement if we are a parent or carer, when it comes to looking after ourselves.
Speaker 2:Yes. So I guess it depends on who you are and how you're feeling. So, from the lens of an overwhelmed, sleep deprived parent, I find the hit workouts aren't for you at this point in time. So that's like your F45s, your you know that fast-paced, loud music, go, go, go kind of workout. So high intensity interval training. Because what's happening is you're already kind of depleted, you're tired, you're fatigued, you're going into an environment that's very stressful on your body and you kind of can't get out of that dysregulation. So then all day, like I am all for exercise, but it's when you're feeling overwhelmed and fatigued. It's about choosing the right form of exercise for you in this moment of your life, you know. So if you love F45, but you have a child that doesn't sleep and for this moment in time you aren't sleeping, in my head I always advise okay, so let's focus on moving your body in a gentle way that you're still getting exercise but it's not so stressful on your body. And so things like you know walking, yoga, pilates, swimming, hiking, even just like general strength training, that's you know not slower, not, yeah yeah, not slower, and considered, and just you're focusing on your breathing and things like that. I get that like a lot of people love that F45 kind of workout because it's you know 30 minutes, you know what you're doing, you're in and out, but when you kind of already overwhelmed, your, your body is in fight or flight and then you're putting yourself in an environment that's very fight or flight and you just can't. It's like a hamster on a hamster wheel, right, you just can't break it. So your body just needs a moment where you need to swap things around and just do gentle exercise.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it needs to slow down. And the other important thing to remember is that high cortisol you know, when we are stressed and in fight or fight and flight and we're sort of exacerbating that by doing these high intensity workouts and that cortisol is staying high that is actually contributing to, you know, excess fat, particularly belly fat, and so I know from you know experience and working with clients, that slowing down the exercise can actually be more beneficial not just to the way that you're feeling but also to, you know, your fat storage and weight loss as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I was listening to a podcast over the weekend about stress and one thing I didn't know is that stress can be contagious, in the sense that when we are stressed and we have high cortisol, cortisol is a hormone that we can sweat out or that we do sweat out. So if you are amongst other stressed people so let's say, like your household is stressed you all become stressed because you're actually the sweat particles are going into the atmosphere and they can land on you. It's a similar kind of circumstance where women you know, like if you're living or working in a small environment of women or you're living in a group house of women and all of a sudden, you all start to menstruate at the same time. It's a similar kind of concept to that. So, yeah, so I guess, like if you it's just being like conscious of like your stress levels around your children as well, knowing that they can catch your stress Well, it's true.
Speaker 1:And also that we can then feel we can become like. If we're talking about kids that are, you know, having mood swings and aren't, you know, coping with stress very well, they're disregulated then that's going to lead into our us feeling stress. I think we can all think about that. Within a family unit, you know, if one person is dysregulated, going through stress, then it definitely, you know, has an impact on everyone else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I mean, if anyone wants to listen to the podcast, I'll target in the show notes. But the lady who the gentleman interviewed is a psychiatrist and her particular, I guess, focus is stress. So yeah, it was really interesting, so I'll add it to the show notes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would love to have a listen. Yeah, and I know, like, as I you know, I'm in my forties, now mid forties, and I was a bit of a crazy exerciser in my twenties. Mainly I used to teach fitness, instructing actually those more high intensity kind of workouts, and I loved it. It was kind of good for me at that stage of life. But now I am doing more of those slower strength training, lots of walking, yoga, hiking, all those things that you mentioned, because I you know, like getting older, I think it suits me better, but also it does help regulate my nervous system, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and as I said, you know, everything is a season of life. You know when, when you have little kids and you're sleep deprived, this isn't forever. So, like I saying, you know, reduce the hit workouts for this point in time, like you can do it later down the track. It's just all about kind of doing what's best for your body at this point in time in your life For sure.
Speaker 1:And I think on the other end of the spectrum, if you're not moving your body at all or you know not consciously or very little, then adding some extra movement into your day you know, just walking, even if it's, you know, stretching, yoga there's so many online workouts you can do these days is so important for your energy levels. It kind of doesn't make sense, but when you're you know it really helps your body produce more energy when you're moving regularly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, and also like thinking of like unintentional ways to exercise. So if you're someone that doesn't love going to the gym, it's like, you know unintentionally, like if you love gardening, like that's pretty strenuous on the body at times. You know you're up and down a lot. You know walking your kids to the park, things like that, playing with your kids on like playground equipment, like that gets the heart rate up. Definitely. Swimming at the beach, like just finding ways to incorporate movement into your life, that Doesn't feel like a chore. I think that that's the easiest way to to bring it into your life.
Speaker 1:So true, so true. Putting some music on dancing around at home with the kids. You know, little kids love that, teenagers not so much. My team Don't dance, mum, don't even like move your arm, yeah, but we used to have lots of dance-offs when my kids were little and it really is a good mood booster as well. Yes, definitely. Okay. Great the great tips there, and let's move on to mind now.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So when we think of you know overwhelm, things like that and I don't want to say that like every parent that comes to us in clinic with a child who needs Assistance is overwhelmed, like that is I'm probably pigeonholing, but it's all about kind of Making sure, as the carer, that you're looking after yourself as well, and that includes, I guess, finding Time to regulate your nervous system, whether that's through mindfulness or, as I like to pull it, like pockets of peace in your busy day. And for everybody, like not everybody loves to sit still and meditate, so I I kind of try and find ways to get that mindfulness elsewhere. So things like being out in nature, like ensuring that you are at least out in nature every day, and one really great tip or thing to incorporate is morning sunshine as soon as you wake up. So I guess Getting, if you can kind of wake up and you know, get outside, be outside in nature, I guess like look at the Sun. The easiest way to do this is, as a family, is eat your breakfast outside. So this helps regulate your circadian rhythm and really helps with, like, nervous system support. And then I think, like finding pockets of peace in your day when you're not, I guess, working or doing something for someone else, you're doing something for yourself. So, whether that's, you know, having a lovely bath with Lighting a candle or, I don't know, having a shower by yourself, because I know busy parents often, when they're little, they've got little kids that they don't get to shower by themselves. Another easy way to kind of regulate and slow down your nervous system Is a yoga pose where you lay down on the ground and you pop your legs up vertically against the wall. I don't know the name of that. Do you know, jess, what it's?
Speaker 1:called legs up the wall. That's what.
Speaker 2:yeah, Okay, good yeah there is, I think, like a yogic name for it I'm not sure what it is and I think you know, the most important thing, if you can, is prioritizing sleep, good quality sleep. So reducing screen time, not scrolling on your phone late at night, going to sleep at a regular, good time, you know, before 10 if possible, and making sure that you, you know, have good quality sleep. Obviously that depends on what Season of life you're in, if you're up breastfeeding or you know you've got a toddler who still wakes throughout the night. You know, just do your best to get as much good quality sleep as possible. That will really help with, I guess, supporting your nervous system as well.
Speaker 1:Definitely, and going to bed earlier, you know, if you are having broken sleep. You know, I think I think it can be tempting because we have this time to ourselves In the evening when we've got younger kids and we've finally got a moment to ourselves. So we can get in the bad habit of, you know, of sort of stretching that out and then going to bed too late and that just ends up a bit of a negative cycle and the hours before midnight, you know, much more valuable kind of sleep hours. So if we can get to bed that bit earlier, that really helps. And, yeah, trying to avoid the screens, at least in the, you know, 30 to 60 minutes before bed. So, you know, curl up in bed with a good book. You'll probably be asleep in five minutes if you're, if you're having broken sleep. But yeah, I really love those tips and those pockets of peace. Like it doesn't have to be, you know, an hour long message or a 30 minute meditation. Like that's just unrealistic for most of us. So, even if it's just a couple of minutes here and there, I love the legs up the wall is so good. And so you just sort of shuffle your bum really close to the wall, laying on your back on the floor, legs up and that's such an easy thing to do Nervous system regulator and you can get. You know, you can make it a game with the kids. Let's put our legs up the wall and Lay here and do some breathing exercises, so everyone's being regulated through that little activity as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'll put a link to either a YouTube video or a blog post on, I guess like what we're talking about when it comes to legs up the wall, because sometimes it can seem a bit confusing. So I'll pop that in there if anybody's interested in doing that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sure, okay. And then do you want to just briefly share, you know, I guess, your experience with working with clients and you know, I guess, how these things have helped.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I've got two clients in mind. The first one is a mum of two. So she actually came to me for both of her sons for completely different issues. One was her one son was having gastrointestinal like digestive issues and the other son was experiencing anxiety. He is autistic and ADHD and they were kind of just looking for assistance there. And then as we kind of got into the questioning, this client of mine said oh, maybe I, that sounds, that sounds like me, maybe I need some help. So she booked in, which is usually the case. So she is a mum in her 40s. She has a really busy job in the medical field, lots of long hours, history of shift work, so already you know nervous system dysregulation from a long period of time. She's obviously a busy mum of two. She was experiencing a lot of digestive issues so she said to me that she couldn't digest anything. So everything she put into her mouth would blow to her or she would have runny stools or flatulence or things like that. She was experiencing brain fog, lots of anxiety, and she said that she felt quite burnt out. So she worked through COVID in a tertiary hospital. So you know, that's enough to kind of again burn you out. Her diet was obviously very minimal, like she was eating like tiny, tiny little serves of limited amounts of foods because she felt like everything she ate caused her pain. And then she was working out for four mornings a week at F 45. But when she was there she felt horrible. She was dizzy, she would get up from, let's say, like a burpee and feel very lightheaded. She was low energy and she had poor sleep because she couldn't switch her brain off. So straight away I'm thinking okay, her gut is in knots because she is in fight or flight so she can't digest anything because her nervous system is so wound up that anything that goes into her mouth it seems like a threat. And you know her, she doesn't have a relaxed abdomen, so everything she's eating just kind of causes her harm or causes her pain. So, dietary, I said, all right, you know we really need to focus on warm, easy to digest foods to soothe the gut, to really be gentle, easy to digest. So things like broths and conges, slow cooked meats, soups, stews, things like that. I wanted her to have three decent meals a day, no snacking, because again, that's more work for her digestion to kind of break down those foods and like use up energy that she doesn't already have. She was drinking barely any water, so we prescribed her to drink at least 1.5 litres of water, including herbal tea. I love herbal tea. I think that good quality, naturopathic, blended herbal teas, which you can get online, have such potent medicinal qualities to them. So I think that sometimes we forget that. So I gave her a lot of digestive support in the form of tea, so like aniseed and licorice and things like that. I told her to stop doing F45, which she wasn't happy about. So this client was a very kind of Taipei go, go, go, go, go, no rest, like I don't have time to rest, let's go kind of personality and I was like you just need to rest. Your body is telling you that you need to rest. So I said for four weeks let's just pause your F45 membership and I want you to just do go for a walk around the block or just you know, gentle, pilates. So she did that for four weeks. I suggested that she go to acupuncture to help with her digestion and also support her nervous system, and then one thing I got her to do was legs up against the wall and she was like I can't sit there. But I kind of remember, let's say, five minutes. I can't sit there for five minutes like I'll get agitated. So I said to her okay, I want you to lay down and put your legs up against the wall and set a timer for a minute, and I want you to do that for a week, one minute, and then the next week I want you to go to two minutes. And I was like, by the time you're down on the floor like you're going to not want to get back up. So the one minute's going to be kind of too small over time frame. So you're probably going to end up being there for five minutes anyway. So we did that. And then I recommended as a family because, as I said before, like I was treating her sons as well so as a family, I told them or asked them to go out in nature one outing per week. So whether that's a bushwalk or, you know, kicking the soccer ball at the park or I don't know, going to the beach or something, I just wanted them as a family unit to have that time where they all could be out in nature resetting their nervous system. And then I did a prescription for sleep support and energy production. So from that, which I know is like a busy kind of case, she was very compliant. So the sleep support prescription helped her stay asleep and calm her busy mind. So therefore she recovered overnight. So she was feeling more energized in the day. She stopped the F45 and was enjoying the slow walking and the Pilates. So she found, like she wasn't, her cup was already empty and the F45 was kind of like taking from an empty cup. So she felt like her cup was full, her digestion improved, she was able to eat more foods, the brain fog lifted and she felt more energised. What else? Oh, she laid down on the ground for legs up against the wall and she ended up getting up to like 10 minutes, which was amazing for her, yeah, so, and she went to acupuncture, which she really loved as well. So all in all she started to feel better and, you know, once her gut wasn't so kind of stressed, she was able to digest foods properly. So therefore she was getting the nutrients she needed from the foods. She was getting the energy she needed from the foods. So therefore that impacted her energy levels.
Speaker 1:Well, I love that and it was like, even though there's you know there's quite a lot in that, but it's very simple changes for her to make, it really actually is doing less than what she was before and those those positive flow on effects for her. You know, when her guts like that, it means she's not going to be absorbing nutrients and all of all of that. You know those negative flow on effects from having that dysregulated nervous system. So, yeah, such a positive result.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and so yeah, and I mean it also helps, like once she starts to feel better, then her sons will start to like it's a flow on effect, right. So as a family they're feeling much calmer. As a family unit, they're not in fight or flight mode, all together in the one house.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I also love that simple like just get out for an outing outside in nature once a week, that's such like you know, obviously that's going to be helping them with physical health benefits but also mental health benefits and that connection time together yeah, so important, yes.
Speaker 2:And then just quickly my last. My second case study is a client that I saw today for her treatment plan. So she is a mum in her early 30s. She's had two kids in three years and so she's pretty much been pregnant, had a baby or breast feeding in three years and she is very sleep deprived. So she's still waking to feed her infant and her toddler can sometimes wake up at three or four AM. So she came to see me for her son the toddler, to help with his sleep and then when we were chatting she was like, oh, I need, I need support as well. So again, I've got a very overwhelm, sleep deprived mum. So my treatment plan is going to be very simple and it's pretty much going over what we have already talked about. I ensured that she had a good quality breakfast with protein at least 30 grams of protein in her breakfast. So she was having just a smoothie which was pretty much just carbs, like a banana and a nut milk and maybe some nut butter, so it really wasn't enough for her. So, yeah, good quality breakfast, just being mindful of her coffee consumption and swapping that for a nice herbal tea. I've got her on specific supplements to help with energy support. So I can't magically make her children sleep, but what I can do is help her body recover from the lack of sleep. So she's at least kind of feeling half human. And then I've given her that support to work on the gut, brain access, so specific probiotic strains that have been shown to support sleep quality, support cognitive function and reduce anxiety. And I just simply said I want you to have your breakfast outside and get that morning sunshine. And she wasn't really exercising, just kind of like incidental exercise. So I've just asked her to either go for a swim or go for a walk around. You know, walk to the park or walk around the block pushing the pram and then just finding those pockets of peace. So every day, you know when your kids are playing outside in the sandpit, or you know, in the yard make yourself a cup of tea and sit in the grass barefoot. You know earthing or what do they call it grounding, grounding with nature. And you know having a few couple, like a couple, of deep breaths in and just kind of being mindful in the moment. As I said, you know it would be amazing if I had a magic kind of switch where I could make babies and toddlers and everyone sleep. So she gets a solid eight hours, but in this season of her life that's not achievable right now. So it's really about supporting her through this period of time so she's not burnt out at the end of it.
Speaker 1:Yes, I love that. And just when you said about you know taking your shoes off and you know grounding, and when you were talking before about even just having a shower alone, it's those moments. It's not. It's. It can be built into things that we're already doing. We're already standing there watching the kids play. So let's just change our mindset. You know, take our shoes off the one and even that isn't absolutely necessary but just focus on our breathing, focus on relaxing our body, and you know that's going to help regulating our nervous system, rather than thinking I've got to get home, got to make dinner, what am I doing? Yeah, it's just those mindset shifts, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's just like. So sitting outside on the grass focusing on your breathing while drinking a cup of tea is a lot, is much more achievable than me saying, okay, you've got to go do a guided meditation for half an hour, like that's just not going to happen, right? So the small things we can sprinkle into the already you know curated day will have long term effects, long term positive effects.
Speaker 1:Definitely, and that's that simple switch. You know that the example of sitting outside and having a cup of tea in the sunshine as opposed to having your cup of tea while you're scrolling through social media, like there's a that makes a big difference. Those, those little changes that you can make. I love that. Thank you so much for sharing. I mean, we could we could continue talking about this for so much longer, but I think our listeners get a really good idea of some simple, practical things they can do if they're feeling overwhelmed which, let's face it, most parents are to some degree. But also, I think it's really highlighted, you know, like how, how supportive you can be for mums in terms of, you know, offering, offering that support. So we will pop a link to Mel's calendar so you can book an appointment if you're feeling like, yes, I need some, some support with this sort of thing, because it can be really helpful just to chat this through with someone, have someone look at it from that sort of external view and really highlight some important things that you can change. That will make you feel so much better. So thank you so much, mel. Thanks for having me See you next time. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today. Head on over to our website, naturalsuperkidscom, for the show notes for this episode, as well as a whole heap of inspiration to help you raise healthy and happy kids. I'll see you next week.