With her first pregnancy, Sarah felt a lot of pressure from her doctor to restrict her eating to avoid weight gain and other adverse consequences to her baby. However, she found that abiding by these rules was virtually impossible for her, given how her body responded to hunger and fatigue while she was pregnant. This led to both extra stress and shame.

Even though she was warned she might have gained too much weight, Sarah found that losing weight and making better food choices was much easier after the baby was born. So when her second pregnancy came around, she decided to take a less strict approach.

This mindset shift enable Sarah to reclaim her ability to manage her own health (and sanity) on her own terms and at her own pace. While this may sound small, it is an incredibly empowering act that snowballs into a successful healthstyle.

When guilt and shame are motivators and you feel like you can never do enough, most people will respond by doing less for their own self-care, not more. Sarah’s approach bypasses this shame cycle and enabled her to lose her baby weight in a way she could manage.

Sarah also has some Jedi mindtricks for getting her kids to eat what she serves them, along with some great tips and tricks for keeping her own healthstyle on track.

Wish you had more time to listen to the podcast? I use an app called Overcast (no affiliation) to play back my favorite podcasts at faster speeds, dynamically shortening silences in talk shows so it doesn’t sound weird. It’s pretty rad.

Listen:

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If you’d like to be a guest on the show, please fill out the form here and tell us your story.

Rachel knew that having a baby would make it harder to maintain her healthstyle. But it’s now been 18 months and she still hasn’t found a way to regularly make the best choices and ends up eating out 2-3 nights per week.

Her issue is that her old healthstyle––which she loved––required an amount of time and energy that simply aren’t realistic for her anymore. She and her husband love to cook elaborate meals, but trying to fit it into their new baby life just isn’t working.

We also identify a few other invisible barriers that are blocking Rachel from fully utilizing her tiny New York kitchen. Subtle barriers can derail any well-intentioned healthstyle, but when you’re exhausted and every single part of your life feels new and overwhelming, identifying and eliminating those barriers is extra hard.

Together, Rachel and I come up with a few ways to simply her meals and make weekday cooking more practical.

Wish you had more time to listen to the podcast? I use an app called Overcast (no affiliation) to play back my favorite podcasts at faster speeds, dynamically shortening silences in talk shows so it doesn’t sound weird. It’s pretty rad.

Related links:

Foodist Kitchen

How To Cook Perfect Rice Without A Rice Cooker (and store it for months)

Listen:

Listen on iTunes

Listen on Stitcher

Listen on Soundcloud

If you’d like to be a guest on the show, please fill out the form here and tell us your story.

For the Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup. 

Great news! The Mindful Meal Challenge was such a success we’re going to run it again every week. Sign up now to start on Monday!

This week how to trust your future self, a simple way to better choices, and how parents impact your adult relationships.

Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!

I also share links on Twitter @summertomato and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Read the rest of this story »

For the Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup. 

This week children change parents’ habits, science-based pregnancy advice, and the real truth about saturated fat.

Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app I just discovered to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!

Want to see all my favorite links? (There’s lots more). Be sure to follow me on Delicious. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Read the rest of this story »

For the Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup. 

This week soup is the new juice, BPA-free plastics still dangerous, and how to lose 160 lbs without dieting.

Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app I just discovered to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!

Want to see all my favorite links? (There’s lots more). Be sure to follow me on Delicious. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Read the rest of this story »