e055 – The Part-Time Jungle Podcast: Healthy Food Choices for Busy Moms with Dr. Abha Sharma

04/12/22 • 42 min

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How do we build healthier food choices when we’re busy, tired and overwhelmed? It isn’t always the first thing we want to do, even though we know it will make us feel better in the long run. What if there was a better way? An easier way? That’s what we’re talking about with Dr. Abha Sharma on this podcast episode. Abha is a Health and Wellness Coach for Professional Working Moms. In her work, she helps working moms glow up through hormone health + living a holistic lifestyle. She combines wisdom from her personal journey AND the scientifically proven Precision Nutrition Methodology to guide women to truly radiate from within. Abha is also a Pediatrician, IBCLC, and the host of The Health Has No Finishline Podcast; a weekly podcast which dives into subjects such as body image, emotional eating, mindset, healthier living, and so much more. Listen in as we talk about: Creating more time. Abha talks about how to find more time in our days, and outsourcing the things that don’t light us up. Eating healthier and exercising. Abha shares the myths around both of these, and shares her best tips for incorporating more of each into our lives. Tips to have better food choices on hand. How we make better choices is through how prepared we allow ourselves to be. Abha shares her best tips for us. Connect with Abha Instagram: @_healthhasnofinishline https://www.instagram.com/_healthhasnofinishline/ Facebook: @AbhaSharmaHHNFL https://www.facebook.com/AbhaSharmaHHNFL Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/healthhasnofinishline Website: https://healthhasnofinishline.mykajabi.com/ Podcast: Health Has No Finish Line https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/health-has-no-finishline/id1533022406 Radiate From Within Membership: https://healthhasnofinishline.mykajabi.com/ OUR KIDS WANT LOVE We learn from so many experiences as moms. For Abha, the biggest learning experience has been to not get caught up in the little details and in trying to look perfect. We don’t need to fit in a box of what we think motherhood should look like. At the end of the day, our kids just want to spend time with us and feel loved. They don’t care about all the external details. CREATING MORE TIME Abha talks about how to find more time in our days, and outsourcing the things that don’t light us up. She shares the story of what life was like before her daughter, when she had ample time to dedicate to working and spending time with her partner. She talks about what shifted within her when she became a mom, and how she decided to shift her focus and career. Of course, that didn’t give her the time back that she was looking for, as we all know we end up being even busier when we start up a new venture. Abha shares why it was necessary for her to outsource the things that were bogging down her creativity, and how her life and business started to flourish. EATING HEALTHIER AND EXERCISING “Be kind to yourself and remember that it’s not about being able to do it all. It’s about being able to do all that feels good to you.” There’s a myth that we need to dedicate two hours to each day to our health and exercise habits. Abha shares why she feels that just isn’t the case, and gives listeners tips on which exercises to incorporate – even while playing with kids! We can incorporate healthier choices when we set ourselves up for success, and Abha gives us the tools we need to make small, yet significant and simple changes. TIPS TO HAVE HEALTHY FOOD CHOICES ON HAND “If you can eat fresh cooked versus a frozen meal, that’s always better. But... we are human. Have a frozen meal on hand because life can get challenging sometimes.” When we prepare ourselves in advance, it’s easier to make healthier choices all around. From stocking our pantry with healthy go-to items, and our fridge and freezer with easy to cook meats and foods, Abha shares simple tips to make better food choices. She also warns us about food labels,

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e054 – The Part-Time Jungle Podcast: Helping by Healing with Jenn Abbatiello

Do you ever feel the overwhelm of trying to “do it all”? Or maybe you’ve been struggling on your parenting journey and are needing a bit of hope that it’s all going to be okay? In this episode, Jenn Abbatiello joins me to talk about peaceful parenting and how it can help us build stronger relationships with our kids and ourselves. Jenn is a mom of two young boys and a Certified Parent Coach. She is the founder of Your Transformed Family, helping parents end the anger, frustration, and guilt to find calm, confidence and ease in their parenting without yelling, threatening or punishing. As a former dominant parent, Jenn learned to become a peaceful parent and is dedicated to helping other parents transform their parenting too! Prior to founding Your Transformed Family, Jenn worked for 20+ years as a senior sales & marketing executive with companies of various sizes and across industries. She helped launch Microsoft Advertising in Canada, built and led the marketing team at Thinking Capital and spearheaded the growth of Reader’s Digest in Southeast Asia. When not working with families, she loves the outdoors skiing, hiking or running with her husband and two boys. One thing she can’t live without is her morning latte with oat milk. Listen in as we talk about: The struggle behind being a mom. Jenn gets honest and real about becoming a mom even if it wasn’t in her life plan. Healing our trauma to help our kids through their big emotions. Jenn talks about her biggest parenting lesson, which is to do her own inner healing work so that she can help her kids. Tips for prioritizing working on yourself. We can only show up as the mom we want to be when we take care of ourselves. Jenn shares her two tips on how to do just that. Connect with Jenn Instagram: @yourtransformedfamily https://www.instagram.com/yourtransformedfamily/ Facebook: @yourtransformedfamily https://www.facebook.com/yourtransformedfamily/ Website: https://www.yourtransformedfamily.com Quiz: What’s Your Parenting Style I checked out Jenn’s “What’s Your Parenting Style?” Quiz and learned that I am a “Balanced Parent”. Take the quiz to see what type of parent you are and receive tips and resources to support you along your parenting journey: https://www.tryinteract.com/share/quiz/6230b3f2452f9b00188a8bd5 THE STRUGGLE BEHIND BEING A MOM When Jenn and her husband started talking about kids, Jenn felt it just wasn’t in her life plan. After a battle with cancer, she wasn’t even sure if she could have them. Jenn gets honest and real about becoming a mom, and how it brought up many fears and a battle with wanting to be in control. She talks about how she hit her breaking point, packed her bags and left. This is what led her to where she is now, helping people through their parenting journey. HEALING OUR TRAUMA TO HELP OUR KIDS THROUGH THEIR BIG EMOTIONS “Parenting is about co-regulation. You cannot co-regulate if you yourself are not regulated.” Our kids, like us, have big emotions. Just because they may be younger, it doesn’t discount how they feel, express and self-regulate. Jenn shares that her biggest lesson as a mother is taking care of herself and doing the hard inner healing work, because it’s so important in being able to show up and be the parent you want to be. When we take the time to work on ourselves, it helps us stay patient in those really hard moments, and gives us the ability to pause and take a step back so we can help our kids. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORKING ON YOURSELF “When you’re triggered by your child, what’s that story that you’re telling yourself? How do you peel the onion of where it originated from so you can change it?” If we’re not giving ourselves the space to become our best selves, how can we expect the same of our kids? We need to give them space to grow into the people they were destined to become. Jenn has two ways she takes care of herself in order to show up as the best mom for her kids:

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e056 – The Part-Time Jungle Podcast: Project Management for Parents with Hilary Kinney

How does a project manager organize her family and home? And what are the benefits to having planned out systems in place when it comes to things like chores and household responsibilities? This episode is jam-packed with amazing tips to manage boundaries, workload, time and energy so you can spend more of your time doing what you love. Joining me is Hilary Kinney, a project director with 18 years of experience at a Fortune 500 company. She is also the proud mother of an elementary school student. Her recent parenting accomplishments include teaching him to, among other things, plan his day independently, make dinner, and get his chores done without complaining – most of the time. Her career achievements range from facilitating a C-suite-sponsored customer recognition program across 7,000 Marriott properties globally, to directing special projects for The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company President’s office. Hilary earned a B.S. in Hotel Administration from Cornell University. She holds a Project Management Professional (PMP)® Certification from the Project Management Institute, as well as a Change Practitioner Certification from the Prosci® Change Management Leadership Center. She lives with her family in the Washington, D.C. area. Listen in as we talk about: Prioritizing as a family. Hilary developed this concept based on the theory of constraints, which means managing to our limits. Creating ‘white space’. We discuss adding more space in our lives to just live and be present. Strategies to help families manage times of change. Hilary shares her best tips when it comes to helping families navigate change. Working together as a family team. There are ways to get our family on the same team, and Hilary talks about the ways that work for her family. Favourite organizational systems to use as a family. How do we get our family organized? Hilary teaches us how she keeps track of her family in her home. Connect with Hilary Instagram: @pmforparents https://www.instagram.com/pmforparents/ Facebook: @ParentsProjects https://www.facebook.com/ParentsProjects Website: https://www.projectmanagementforparents.com/ Book: Project Management for Parents by Hilary Kinney https://www.projectmanagementforparents.com/book PRIORITIZING AS A FAMILY Hilary developed the concept of prioritizing as a family based on the theory of constraints, which means managing to our limits. This can be a bit counter-cultural and different from what we’re used to hearing, because we’re used to thinking about how to maximize our time and get as much done as possible in the amount of time that we have. The project management theory of constraints flips that on its head and focuses on what our limits are and what we need to be restricted by. CREATING ‘WHITE SPACE’ “No matter how organized you are, if you’ve got too much going on categorically, you’re not going to be able to make it happen.” Creating white space is imperative for busy families. The idea is that it’s like a buffer of free time where you don’t have anything scheduled or planned. It’s when you get to relax and simply exist and be human instead of constantly doing. Hilary shares how she has implemented white space into her life and into her family’s routine, and the joyful moments that have come from this simple shift. STRATEGIES TO HELP FAMILIES MANAGE TIME OF CHANGE Hilary shares two important points about how to help families manage times of change. The first strategy is change management. It’s about analyzing and developing a plan to help support the change, as well as including all stakeholders (aka your family team) in the change management process. The second strategy is risk management. What are the risks of the change? How will this change impact and affect the family unit? By considering these two important strategies, you can plan for change within your own family and create a plan that will support all family members. WORKING TOGETHER AS A FAMILY TEAM