The 3 meal-planning mistakes moms make and how to avoid them
Some moms I know have asked me how I stay sane while consistently feeding healthy meals that please six people ages 8-87 all with different preferences—while managing to work, take care of kids, and exercise most every day. The answer is meal planning! I haven’t always been a great planner, but I’ve learned a lot over the years. I had to plan especially carefully when training for a world-championship triathlon and getting in two training sessions per day. Just like scheduling my workouts, I found it absolutely necessary to plan meals in advance. If you’ve struggled to find time for everything, including your running and getting healthy meals on…
Best 9 Benefits of Meal Planning for Moms on the Run
If you’re like most runners, you wouldn’t train for a race without a training plan, so why would you eat without a meal plan? Discover how these nine benefits can help you plan meals to save time, money, and improve your health. 1. Less stress at meal time Imagine this: it’s been a busy day and you haven’t had a single second or even a hot minute to think about what you’re going to cook tonight. Well, you’ve thought several times about the fact that you don’t know what to make, but you still don’t have any great ideas. You pick up the kids and they say they’re starving. “What’s…
Top 3 Tips for Making Meal Planning Easy
I like to waste my time, money, and food—said no mom, ever. If you’re like most modern-day mothers, you value your time, hard-earned dollars, and the food that fuels you and your family. You probably dislike waste and want to save your resources as much as possible. Most moms who run want to eat well and be healthy so they can feel strong and run faster and farther. If you don’t already plan your meals, you’ve likely heard others claiming its benefits, but it just seems like one more thing on an already full plate. What if planning meals could actually be easy? Read on for three top tips to ease…
5 Ways to Make Fitness Goals Smarter
After a doozy of a year 2020 was, perhaps it’s been awhile since you’ve competed in any sort of race or had a significant fitness goal. Maybe you finally found a goal or race that looks interesting. But will you be ready? How do you know if it’s challenging enough, or too risky? You’ve probably heard about the acronym of SMART (most often defined as Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound) for goals. Creating goals the SMART way really is an intelligent thing to do. However, I have some suggestions for each letter that will make them even smarter. Let’s break down each of the five aspects of SMART goals.…
Exercise Snacks: 8 ways to stay active even when you don’t have time
Kids never seem to get enough snacks. Parents, am I right? If more adults treated movement like snacks, the world could be a healthier, and therefore happier, place. Somehow we westerners have adopted a “go big or go home” mentality when it comes to fitness. But this is simply not helpful nor necessary for most individuals. Meet exercise snacks. Let me introduce you to the concept of “exercise snacks.” These are short bursts of movement that fit into bite-sized pockets of your day. Some days there’s no extra time or energy to dedicate an hour, or even 30 minutes, to exercise. On those days when you’ve got too much going…
3 key steps to becoming an athlete even if you’ve never been one
Can I tell you a story about Megan? Image: Megan Hyatt Miller courtesy of Baker Publishing Group Megan Hyatt Miller is a mom of five, including an adopted baby girl and two boys from Uganda. She’s also the CEO of her father’s high-powered business and podcast co-host and author. She has taken on many roles throughout her life, but none of her titles have ever included the word “athlete.” However, last year she decided she wanted to become healthier and stronger. As she thought about her future self, she decided she’d like to be an athlete though she’d never been one before. To do so, she committed herself to completing…
Retrain your brain in 3 simple steps
You’re a fraud, an imposter, unqualified. No one will listen to you. What you have to say isn’t important. No one cares. You should just let the pros do the work. There are so many people who can do this better than you. These are the attacks I get. Pretty mean, huh? Well, ya, especially since they come from within myself. You may not be able to control a thought popping into your head, but you can choose to let it pass by or attack it with truth. Here’s a 3-step hack for retraining your brain. Recognize a negative thought not with judgement, but curiosity. “This is hard. I might…
Lessons Learned from Failure: a Swim Gone Wrong
Happy New Year, everyone! This is the time of year when we’re usually hyper-focused on what we’re going to do better for the coming year. However, in 2021 I am resolving to make more mistakes. As a people-pleasing perfectionist I don’t think it’s fun to fail. But I recognize that failure is a humbling teacher that brings more learning and growth than when things go well. I believe that if you’re not failing you’re not getting out of your comfort zone and risking enough. Do you agree? Most often on social media we see the highlight reel, celebrating successes and showing our best side. A talented and wise writer friend of…
3 Ways to Build Resilience
Difficulty, failure, hardship—it happens to everyone. A similar setback may cause some to crumble and others to grow and become stronger. What is that secret sauce that enables one to rise above the struggle and emerge even stronger than before? It’s called resilience. One of my favorite stories is real-life resilience is that of Louis Zamperini, subject of the bestselling book and hit movie, Unbroken directed by Angelina Jolie. The young Zamperini was a juvenile delinquent whose family thought he would end up in prison or on the streets. But, in high school a group of girls charmed him into joining the school’s track team and he excelled. After graduating…
The 5 Best-Kept Secret Uses for Sparkling Water +Recipes
My post Is Bubbly Water Bad or Beneficial? 3 Myths Debunked detailed the health benefits of sparkling water. So now that you know it’s a healthy alternative to soda and other sugary drinks, I’m going to let you in on a little “secret”: seltzer water is good for so much more than just sipping (including some helpful household uses). Here are the five ways to use sparkling or seltzer water to enhance your eating and drinking experiences and to sparkle up your home. 1. Spruce Up Smoothies This is my favorite way to enjoy bubbles when they’re bountiful. (I buy Bubly water cans by the case at Costco). If you…
