Working mothers, you’re the epitome of super women, managing work, home, kids, relationships and possibly pregnancy, too. If that’s not a superpower, then we don’t know what is! You may feel like you’re being pulled in many different directions, with your own nutritional needs often falling off your radar. To help you along the way, we’ve created these nutritional tips that extend out of the kitchen and into your everyday life.
Easy recipes
There’s no need to complicate things, especially when you’re short on time and energy. Choose simple dinner recipes and make extra food so that you’ve got leftovers for lunch the following day. Invest in some good, no-leak tupperware! If you’ve got a slow cooker, try variations of your favourite dishes. Throw everything into the slow cooker before you go to work and return home to the beautiful aroma of I-don’t-need-to-cook-tonight.
Extra easy tip: Don’t bother peeling your vegetables and avoid cutting them unless completely necessary.
Plan and ask for support
A well-laid plan may not always be executed as you’d like, but it certainly does help to frame your days and weeks ahead. Get into the routine of planning, whether it be alone or with your partner and family. Meals, school pick ups, household tasks and downtime should all feature in your plan. It doesn’t need to be too elaborate, and can even be scrawled on a piece of paper and stuck on the fridge. Remember that there are people around you that you can ask for support, you don’t need to manage everything alone.
Boosting your nutrition
Adding nutritional supplements and powders to your meals for a nutritional boost is a great way to quickly improve the nutrients of a meal. It could be as simple as choosing a nutritional supplement shake such as Mother Care.
You could also pick up other powders, such as magnesium, and add a scoop of it to your breakfast. Along with improving your nutrient intake, magnesium will also boost your energy and can aid in reducing muscular tension. This is especially useful when you don’t have enough time to schedule in a massage every week.
Hydration to fight constipation
It takes as little as a 1% reduction in total body water for you to feel the effects of dehydration. Mental fogginess, lethargy, difficulty concentrating, dizziness, and constipation are just some of what many Australians experience. As a working mum, it can be easy to forget to drink the recommended eight glasses of water a day. To ensure you have a healthy digestive system and avoid suffering constipation, keeping your fluid intake up is essential. Try to create a habit of drinking two glasses of water before you leave home in the morning, even if you have to down it while you’re rushing out the door! To make it easier, have a reusable water bottle that you can pop open with one hand. This way you’ll always be able to take a gulp of water, even if you’re doing everything one-handed; which, let’s face it, that’s what mum life is often about!
Morning sickness on-the-job
Feeling nauseous or having to make frequent bathroom visits is all the more challenging when you throw a job into the mix. One of the best things you can do is talk to your employer about what is happening for you, and ask for their understanding. If you find that morning sickness does only strike in the morning, ask to work from home in the morning and come in to the office a little later in the day. If your morning sickness is a little more unpredictable, you may need to step up your negotiation skills. With flexible working hours becoming more commonplace, you may find that your employer is quite responsive and supportive to your needs during this stomach-churning time.