I came home from work the other day in a fit of rage. You know the days when everyone and everything just makes you irrationally angry? Of course, the kids had to be misbehaving in the worst sort of ways. Their behavior was no doubt from them picking up on my horrific energy. But at that moment, I didn’t think of it; I just felt like, “Why is everyone being ridiculous,” when I already said I had a hard day.
For dinner that night I consumed a soft pretzel, those really “good” ones that are frozen that you heat up in the oven, with a side of ice cream (topped with chocolate chips and whipped cream of course). Note: I did serve my kids a more nutritious meal; this was special just for me.
I am telling you all of this because even though my mission here is to support moms in caring for their whole being, I too am struggling. I never want you to read my posts and think that I have it all figured out. I don’t. I never will. I have experience, resources, and the ability to provide support to other moms, and I absolutely love sharing and supporting mothers, but I am as real-life as it gets, with chaotic days, moments of losing my S#!t, and nights of consuming a carton of ice cream.
The important thing to take note of is that when you have these moments, days, or even weeks, how do you heal, process, and ground yourself so that you are not so caught up in all of these emotions that it starts to consume your life and your joy?
Do you dwell on them for a week, feeling like you failed? Do you bypass all of the events and emotions that led to those moments (or days)?
After I sat and journaled through all of the yuck that led to that mess of a day, I realized how much I was truly neglecting myself. Going from one task to the next, never properly resting, processing, or healing my body with food or getting the proper movement it was craving. Any type of spiritual practice was out the window months ago. No wonder everything was getting to me; I was being overstimulated in every way, and then not taking any time to fully unwind and care for myself. There were not any truly fun intentional moments spent with the family; it was all of the doing and not much of just rest and enjoyment.
Realizing there will be more time to establish some better and healthier family rhythms come summer, I felt as if I needed something now, before I completely spiraled into a bigger emotional disaster than I was presently feeling.
If you are feeling any of these similar emotions and in need of a pick me up - I would love for you to join me in this 3-Day REFRESH.
It is not exactly a cleanse or a detox, and it is more than just food and nutrition. It is a simple, wholesome lifestyle - refresh!
THREE Days of NOURISHING foods, taking time to journal daily, engaging in a spiritual practice (of choice), and doing 15 minutes of movement that your body craves.
The meal plan is not complicated, and minus the picky eaters you might be feeding that you have to adjust for, overall the plan should be able to be adapted for the whole family. Ideas are included.
Once I finally get myself established into my routine, (only a couple of more weeks to go) I think I will be turning this into a weekly post, sharing all of these plans (+ more in regard to home & family). I would love to know what you think and if you and your family could also benefit
leave me a comment or send an email to let me know!
We will start with the food & nutrition part of this :
3 Day - SIMPLE & NOURISHING MEAL PLAN
Each morning, before consuming any food warm lemon water (8 oz) + an additional 8 oz of regular water
Consume water throughout the day (I will also be making some lemon water to keep in the fridge)
Download your Smoothie & Juice Recipe Book ↡
DAY 1:
Breakfast: 2 soft-boiled eggs, whole/or sprouted grain toast with grass-fed butter or avocado, side of fresh berries
Optional For Kids, if they do not like the soft boiled eggs, hard boiled or Greek yogurt, toast with butter and jelly plus a side of fruit (recommended berries, banana, or apple)
Snack: smoothie or juice
Lunch: Mixed Greens Greek Salad, leafy greens topped with choice of protein (optional), shredded carrots, cherry tomato, shallots, kalamata olives, cucumber and feta cheese
For Kids: Lunch Plate: nitrate free roasted turkey breast, cheddar cheese (cubed) cucumber and/or carrot sticks, almonds, grapes + sweet treat (chocolate square, homemade cookie etc.)
Snack: hummus & veggie plate
Dinner: Steak Tacos with Crunchy Slaw (for slaw, you can mix mayo and greek yogurt for a lighter option)
Flank steak (salt and pepper, grilled or cast iron), corn tortillas, avocado and crunchy slaw
Optional For Kids: cut up flank steak, corn, guacamole and tortilla chips
Dessert: NO BAKE Cookie Bars
Optional: I like to make these a PB bar, just replace the cashew butter with PB!!
DAY 2:
Breakfast: Greek yogurt parfait - topped with fresh berries, walnuts and pumpkin seeds
(optional toppings - cacao nibs, honey or coconut nectar)
Optional For Kids: Greek yogurt parfait with various toppings of choice, whole grain toast with butter
Snack: smoothie or juice
Lunch: turkey, avocado, tomato, lettuce on sprouted grain toast, hummus of choice as spread, side of fruit
Optional For Kids: turkey and cheese sandwich (with lettuce, if your kids will eat!), carrot sticks and ranch dressing, fruit of choice
Snack: No Bake Cookie Bars (leftover)
Dinner: lemon chicken: whole (rotisserie) chicken, place in cast iron skillet and drizzle with olive oil, juice of one lemon, and another lemon cut in wedges around chicken, season with salt and pepper. Cook at 350 degrees, for 20 minutes PER pound (should reach an internal temp of 165 degrees (F))
Serve with brown rice and peas - use some of the juice/drippings from the chicken and mix with the brown rice and peas, sprinkle with about ¼ cup parmesan cheese
Roasted carrots - bake at 450 degrees for about 25-30 minutes with olive oil and sea salt
Dessert: Chocolate Covered Raspberries
*note: we do not use Stevia, chocolate chips recommended for this recipe are below
DAY 3:
Breakfast: two slices of sprouted grain toast with almond butter, banana, honey and cinnamon, 1 hard boiled egg
Optional For Kids: most likely would enjoy this same breakfast, if not, toast with butter and jelly, egg (of choice) and banana slices
Snack: smoothie or juice
Cook roasted vegetables for lunch and dinner - all veggies for soup (see recipe), plus 2 sweet potatoes and one cauliflower (on a separate sheet pan)
Lunch: roasted turkey and lettuce wraps (romaine lettuce with hummus, roasted turkey and shredded carrots) served with roasted sweet potatoes and cauliflower
Optional For Kids: nitrate free roasted turkey breast, cheddar cheese (cubed), roasted sweet potatoes and grapes
Snack: carrots, red pepper, tortilla chips and guacamole
Dinner: leftover chicken vegetable quesadillas and roasted vegetable soup (recipe in Fuel Your Soul ebook)
Optional For Kids: chicken and cheese quesadilla with small side salad - we do crunchy green leaf lettuce, shredded carrots and some ranch dressing, other options, carrot, cucumber or pepper sticks with an optional side of dressing to dip.
Dessert: A FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT with Treat: Options: chocolate dipped apples, chocolate, peanut butter dipped bananas,salted almonds, popcorn - I will do a sweet and salty combo such as chocolate peanut butter dipped bananas and popcorn or chocolate dipped apples and almonds
Brand Recommendations
I wanted to give you a few of my favorite (healthier) brands for some of these recipes.
Sprouted Grain Bread: Ezekiel, 7 Grain Bread, or Trader Joe’s Sprouted Grain (cheaper option)
Applegate (nitrate free) Turkey Breast, you can get packaged or Deli from Whole Foods
Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet or 60% Cocoa Chocolate Chips
Enjoy Life Chocolate Chunks
Bob’s Red Mill Oat Flour
Wholefoods 365 Jelly or Trader Joe’s (any Jam) - look for a jelly/jam with no high fructose corn syrup
Movement
Pick a type of exercise that you can commit to, that isn’t too long and not overly strenuous. It really is just about stretching and moving your body in a different way. This should be 15-20 minutes, but you can choose longer if you wish. I have a Fitness Tips for Moms blog post that might help you! I am committing to doing my “old lady” Jane Fonda workout for 20 minutes. You can learn more in the article here.
Journaling
Each evening, a quick reflection on what I need to process through, gratitudes, and a brain dump of anything that needs to get done the next day/week.
If you are looking for more journal exercises, you can download the free ebook, Fuel Your Soul. It is basically this refresh type of guidebook designed for motherhood.
Spiritual
This will be different for each person. I plan to do three days where I commit to reading the Litany of Trust, as I am currently in a surrender and trust mode, and I am not good with that… this Litany has helped me in the past when I have been in a similar situation, maybe it will help you too.
Family Activities
I am not overextending myself on this for these three days, as I feel like I need to really focus on what I need to get myself out of the funk (and yes, I had to release my guilt around this!), you might be in this same situation. This is why I put the family movie night on the 3rd night as a way to unwind with the family and enjoy some treats. Hopefully, the little ones will cooperate for the movie!
I would love to hear from you about if this was helpful and what else you could use more support with! Let me know in the comments!
Announcements!
I am excited to share that this newsletter will turn into a weekly-ish publication soon! The format will be similar to what was shared above. Each week there will be a meal plan, ideas for kid and family activities, intentional ideas for media (reading, listening, etc), a prayer, affirmation, or spiritual practice to focus on for the week, and inspiration for health and fitness - this could be anything from a workout I am loving to a mini cleanse! The first one should be out later this month! There will still continue to be a monthly newsletter and these will shift to more seasonally focused themes as well as monthly reflections for motherhood.
The Seasonal Homemaker Spring Guide is still on Sale! Since we are halfway through spring already, it has an extra discount and is now available on Etsy! If you liked the meal plan above, you would enjoy the gentle liver cleanse I designed in this guidebook! Feel free to email me if you have any questions!