October 21, 2025 • 22 mins
What if your meals matched your life instead of your ideal? In this episode, we dig into how seasons like new motherhood, busy work sprints and healing change our capacity, cravings, and priorities.
The ebb and flow of life isn’t failure, it’s feedback. By reframing food as support, not perfection, we trade guilt for practical tools that help us nourish ourselves and our families with less stress and more intention.
We unpack the three anchors that make this shift real: awareness, flexibility, and compassion.
- Awareness means naming your current season with honesty. Being real about your time, energy, and emotional bandwidth, so your menu fits that reality.
- Flexibility looks like crock pot wins, 15-minute dinners, sheet pan staples, and inviting help from the people you live with.
- Compassion releases comparison and honors changing needs across pregnancy, postpartum, toddler years, and career demands.
We also talk about modeling a healthy food story for our kids. Choosing curiosity over rules, consistency over perfection, connection over performance.
You’ll leave with simple, repeatable steps so whether you’re rebuilding after a hard week or leaning into a slower rhythm, these strategies will help you create ease without abandoning nutrition or your budget.
Want extra support in your journey? Grab my FREE Meal Plan & Prep Workbook, then tell a friend and start together.
Thank you so much for listening in! If this episode spoke to you, it would mean the world to me if you left a review or shared it with a friend. And don’t forget to tag me so I can personally thank you for helping me spread the word.
Follow and chat with me on Instagram:
Podcast account - @thrivelikeamother.podcast
Personal account - @thrive.empowered
Sending you light and love always!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hey Liv, I'm Ebony and welcome to Thrive Like a
(00:03):
Mother.
On this podcast, we're scaredfor our truth, but that fear is
what fuels us to truly live.
You're in the right place if youfeel like you're stuck in
survival mode and you're readyto step into who you were truly
meant to be.
I'll share resources and tools Iuse daily to help you in your
(00:25):
journey toward a healthiermindset and to break the wheel
of survival.
The journey may not be easy, butyou won't have to face it alone.
I'm a mama of three, healing dayby day from past trauma, and I'm
on a mission to build a lifeI've always dreamed of, but
never thought was possible.
So, love, if you're ready tobelieve in what's possible,
(00:48):
let's link arms and thrivetogether.
Hey loves, welcome back to theThrive Like a Mother podcast.
I'm really excited for today'sepisode, y'all, because I want
to talk about something that hasbeen on my heart recently, and
(01:13):
that is the idea of seasons.
And yes, this is a timelyepisode because we have just
entered the beginning of fallseason and we are entering the
final quarter of 2025 as I'mrecording this episode.
But in today's episode, I don'twant to just talk about the
(01:35):
seasons as in, you know, theseasons on the calendar, fall,
spring, you know, all of those,right?
Because if you are anything likeme and you're thinking about the
seasons of your life, youprobably have noticed that your
relationship with food actuallyshifts depending on what season
(01:56):
you're in.
And if you're like actually no,I have not thought about that,
then this episode is definitelygoing to give you a new
perspective on what that lookslike.
Y'all, when I was a brand, abrand new mama of one, food was
really just about survival forme.
I really was in the mode ofgrabbing whatever I could
(02:20):
whenever I could.
And a lot of the time that wastruly like whatever drive-thru
was closest to home on thecommute back.
And later on, I really had morespace available to really think
deeply about the nutrition.
And I had more space andcapacity to start cooking meals
(02:41):
from scratch, using wholeingredients, and started to
really enjoy the process.
And now as a balance,motherhood, entrepreneurship,
and in my own healing, I'vereally realized that the food
choices really still ebb andflow with whatever season I'm
(03:02):
in.
Yes, the goal is to cook homecooked meals most of the time.
But we go through seasons,y'all.
We go through seasons.
And for a long time, I used tothink that whenever I was in a
season that was a little bitharder, that meant that I was
being inconsistent, that Iwasn't showing up as I was
(03:24):
supposed to, that I wasn'tdisciplined enough.
And now I'm seeing itdifferently because I see it now
as allowing myself to honorreally truly where I am right
now.
Right now.
Food is not meant to be rigid,y'all, or perfect.
It is meant to support us trulyin whatever season that we're
(03:47):
in.
And that really means we have tostart honoring where we are
right now, no matter what seasonit is.
And so today we're gonna reflecton how our relationship with
food evolves, what it looks liketo truly embrace that season, no
matter which one it is, and howto really release the guilt and
(04:10):
show up with grace for ourselvesin every single moment.
And so I want you before we divein deep into this episode, I
want you to start thinking backto what your relationship with
food looked like in a pastseason of your life compared to
where you are right now.
How has it shifted?
Because this is gonna help youstart thinking of the different
(04:33):
perspective of how ourrelationships, relationship with
food really shifts throughoutour lives.
And so let's let's talk aboutthe idea of seasons.
Let's start there.
Gosh, and again, we're nottalking about fall, summer,
spring, winter, right?
We are talking about seasons oflife.
(04:54):
Think about any life changesthat you've had, where maybe,
you know, even starting fromgraduating high school, that was
a big shift in a season for me.
Graduating high school andmoving in on my own at the dorm
rooms at college, not reallyknowing like how to cook for
myself and having to reallystill rely on the food haul and
(05:19):
late night burger grabs, frygrabs, all those things, right?
And then came the motherhoodstages, right?
Different stages in motherhood,being a first-time mom, really
grappling with what that lookslike, you know, trying my best
to embrace the transformationthat motherhood is, and also
(05:42):
still trying to figure out howto feed myself.
And eventually, as they getolder, trying to figure out how
to feed the sunny person.
Seasons, y'all, different energylevels.
Maybe you're in a season rightnow where your workload is very,
very heavy and your time looksmuch different than it did in a
(06:05):
previous season.
Maybe your finances are lookingdifferent than they did in the
past.
Maybe you're on a journey whereyou're saving up for a home or a
big purchase or saving up totackle debt, right?
Maybe your finances are in adifferent season.
(06:27):
And so when I'm talking aboutseasons, right, I want to share
a story of a season that I wentthrough as opposed to kind of
where, kind of where I am now,right?
So I want to talk about thatearly motherhood survival stage
because that one is one thathits me the most, especially now
(06:50):
as a mom of three.
Now I've gone through thattransformation now three times,
being where I'm at, going backto the first time I became a
mother and really being in thatsurvival mode, right?
That postpartum, oh my gosh,what just happened?
I now have this tiny human thatI have to take care of, as well
(07:14):
as continuing to learn how totake care of myself and what
that looks like now that I amnow, now that my time looks
different, right?
Now that it's not just aboutcaring for myself, but also some
of my time is going towardstaking care of this little
person.
And food for me, like I said,y'all, it was pure survival.
(07:35):
It was, okay, what can I doquickly?
Um, and at the time, I believedthat for me quickly that equated
to someone else making it, itbeing already ready, right?
Not saying that that's a badthing at all, but this season
looked different for me.
My time looked different.
Now, even as a mom of three,with the youngest being just one
(08:00):
and a half, just one and a half.
So I'm just coming out of thatseason where my time was, my
time capacity was a little bitless and what I was able to do.
And now, knowing what I knownow, that easy doesn't have to
equate to someone else makingthe meals and me just picking
them up.
(08:21):
I can create ease now, eventhough my time looks different.
It looks like creatingflexibility in my meal plan,
focusing on the meals that takea shorter amount of time to
cook, focusing on the mealswhere I can just pop it in the
crock pot or pop it in the oven,and that's as much cook time
that I have to put towards it.
(08:43):
It looks like me being a lotmore intentional about my prep,
being a lot more intentional ofwhere in my time, where in my
schedule does the this time fit,right?
And our needs change, right?
Over time.
I know that you listening tothis now, you know that very
(09:06):
well, that our needs change aswe get older, as reasons in our
life change.
And that's normal and it's okay.
So I want to dive into how foodevolves at these different life
stages, right?
Because you go from beingpregnant and you are technically
(09:27):
eating for yourself, but alsoeating to nourish your body so
you can grow this entire human.
And then once that human is inthe world, things shift.
You are now in a recovery mode,a healing mode, a transformation
of becoming a mother and thingsshift again.
(09:49):
Very quickly, I might add.
It seems like nine months is avery long time.
Um, it's really truly not,y'all.
When you think of it in thegrand scheme of it.
And then once that little one ishere, y'all, when I tell you
things move so quickly, wherethey are first just a tiny
little baby.
They don't really need food yet,right?
(10:11):
They are just surviving off ofmilk.
And then before you know it,it's time for them to start
learning how to eat.
Another season shift.
Another point where you have toshift your thinking in the way
of what kind of food you'regoing to be providing for
yourself, what kind of foodyou're gonna be now providing
(10:33):
for this tiny person, how you'regonna start introducing them to
food and helping them buildtheir own food story.
It evolves, right?
Even in thinking from food whenyou are healing from trauma
versus how you are thriving instability after that healing,
(10:58):
right?
How does it look different foryou?
For me personally, as I washealing, I started to view
myself in a different way.
I started to view the way Icared for myself in a different
way, and that translated intosomething completely different
when I was on the other side.
(11:18):
And I'm gonna go back to busywork seasons, right?
Because I know a lot of us areworking mom, right?
We are working to provide forour families, and that looks
like sometimes working reallyhard and not having enough time
or feeling like we don't haveenough time to provide the
nutrition that we want toprovide, as opposed to having
(11:40):
those slower seasons where wehave more time capacity.
Both of those, yes, both ofthose are different, but you can
create the same nutritionalgoals in both of those seasons,
it just looks different the waythat you approach it.
(12:05):
And that's the perspective Iwant to give you today.
I want you to give yourselfgrace instead of guilt.
When you're in that busy season,I don't want you to feel like,
oh gosh, I can't show up in thesame way I had been a few months
ago when I had more timecapacity.
Of course it looks different.
(12:25):
Of course it does.
But this is our opportunity toagain look at food not as
perfection, not as showing upperfectly, but in a way of
really looking at how ournourishment can match our
current season.
And so we're gonna think aboutsome of those things, right?
(12:47):
I want you to ask yourself aquestion now, and that is like,
what season am I in right now?
Am I in the season of survivaland healing?
Am I in a season of growth andtransformation?
Or am I in a season where thingsare a bit more slowed down?
And whatever season you're in,how does showing up differently
(13:11):
look when it comes to food,right?
The season I'm in and right now,how can I be realistic about how
I approach my nutrition?
We're gonna talk about someways, obviously, obviously, to
support yourself in the seasonyou're in right now.
It comes down really to threethings that I want you to focus
(13:32):
on.
The first one being bringingyourself some awareness.
And we just did that with thethe first question, asking truly
what season you're in right now,and what is it that you need to
do the most?
Right.
So if you're in the busierseason, being aware of I don't
(13:54):
have as much time, I need foodthat is going to nourish me, but
I'm able to get that foodquickly, right?
And not defaulting to DoorDash,right?
Not saying that there's anythingwrong with DoorDash, but if your
goals are you're wanting toprovide nutritious meals for you
(14:17):
and your family, if your goalsare you don't want to spend as
much on eating out, then you canstill do that without the guilt
by really honing in onunderstanding what season you're
in and starting, starting rightthere.
The second thing you're gonnawant to focus on is flexibility.
(14:39):
Flexibility.
Adjust your expectations, y'all.
Some of our seasons are gonnacall for those crock pot meals,
those meals that you put in, youknow, super early in the morning
and you come back later on andit's already done.
Those meals that take like 15 to20 minutes to put together when
you get home from work andgiving space for support.
(15:05):
What does that look like in thisseason?
Is there anyone within yourhousehold that you can ask for
support from in a season whereyou don't have as much capacity
to pour into, you know, makingthe home cooked meals?
What does that look like foryou?
(15:25):
And number three, y'all,compassion.
Compassion.
We are releasing the guilt ofthis episode when it comes to
our food habits, because theyare going to look different than
anyone else's.
I don't want you looking atsomeone on social media and
being like, oh my gosh, how dothey have the time to put
(15:47):
together all of these foods?
Right.
Because your season lookscompletely different from
theirs.
I personally allow myself tohonor my season, honestly,
y'all, every single week.
Every single week I evaluatewhere I am at with time, with
(16:07):
capacity, and I mean likeenergy-wise, right?
Too, because as women, ourenergy cycles flow differently
throughout the month, right?
So I give my myself space and Ihonor this is where I'm at this
week.
How can the choices I make asfar as what food I'm going to
(16:31):
plan for my family?
How can that align with whereI'm at in this season?
Sometimes it means I need toprep less food or spend less
time prepping.
Sometimes it means I need tolean into the simpler meals that
come together quickly.
And sometimes I do have moretime, and it means I can pour
(16:56):
into the part of me that lovescooking those really comforting
foods that take just a littlebit extra time that I want to
provide for myself and myfamily, right?
And so let's go into three tips.
You're like, okay, I get it.
You want to have awareness, youwant to have flexibility, and
(17:19):
you want to have compassion foryourself.
But then how do you implementthat, right?
So I'm gonna give you some tipsfor first of all, identifying
your season and going fromthere, okay?
Because that's where we start.
We identify where our season isat, and we move on through
there.
And when you're identifying yourseason, you want to think of
(17:40):
things like where are my energylevels at?
Where is my time at?
And something people don't oftenthink about is what is my
emotional bandwidth?
Like, how am I feeling in thisseason?
Am I in a place where I need tomaybe nurture more of my healing
journey?
And maybe for me, that doesn'tlook like spending more time
(18:03):
cooking and prepping.
Right?
Choose the meals that fit forthat season, whether they are
quick, whether they are budgetfriendly if that's a season that
you're in, whether they arecomfort driven.
If it's a season where you needto be held by your food, right?
(18:28):
And y'all give yourself at leastone anchor meal every single
week that makes you feelsupported.
Start with just one.
I'm not saying every single mealof the week, you have to be
focusing on having it fit yourseason.
Yes, you want to be mindful ofhow you're planning, but if you
(18:51):
start with just, okay, I canfocus on at least one meal
during the week that is going tosupport me in this season, one
meal that is going to serve mein this season, then that's
where you start.
You build up from there.
And so I want to ask you to takea moment today and write down
(19:14):
like what's one small changethat you can make in your meals
in your kitchen this week thattruly honors the season that
you're in instead of fightingagainst it, instead of trying to
strive for perfection, insteadof trying to strive in the way
you've always done it.
Why isn't it working now?
Maybe it's we need to look andevaluate what season we're in,
(19:38):
what season of life that we'rein.
So as I wrap up today, I wantyou to remember this.
Your relationship with food isgoing to change, and that's
okay.
That is life.
And it's honestly quitebeautiful to start to have the
self-awareness where you startlistening to exactly what is
(20:03):
going to serve you in thisseason.
And every season of life,whether it's one of survival,
whether it's one of growth orhealing, or one where you are in
a season of abundance.
Each one of those comes withtheir own needs.
And so what I hope that you'velearned on this episode today is
(20:24):
learning to listen in to selfand truly honor those needs
instead of fighting against themto fit the mold, right?
We are breaking the mold.
Food is not about perfection, itis about nourishment, it is
about comfort, and it is aboutconnection.
(20:46):
And when you start givingyourself permission to eat and
plan food in a way that truly,truly supports where you are
right now, the you you are rightnow, you not only start to make
cooking become easier, makefeeding yourself become easier,
make feeding your family becomeeasier, you also start to become
(21:10):
a model for your family, right?
That it is safe to honor ourseasons, that it is safe to
evaluate and be self-aware.
Be self-aware and truthful aboutwhere we are.
And so I want you to take a deepbreath as we end, and you're
(21:32):
gonna ask yourself, what seasonam I in right now?
What do I need most from food inthis season?
And I want you to let theanswers to those questions guide
you this week.
And don't forget, y'all, my mealplan and prep workbook is now
(21:55):
free and available to help youcreate the rhythm in the kitchen
that continues to feelsupportive no matter what season
that you're in.
And for y'all, the link is inthe show notes.
I got you.
See you on the next episode.
Thank you so much for listening,love.
(22:16):
If anything in today's episoderesonated with you, share it
with your bestie or share it onsocial media and tag me so we
can chat about it.
As always, sending you light andlove, and remember, you are
worthy, you are enough, and youdeserve to thrive.
Hey Liv, I'm Ebony and welcome to Thrive Like a
(00:03):
Mother.
On this podcast, we're scaredfor our truth, but that fear is
what fuels us to truly live.
You're in the right place if youfeel like you're stuck in
survival mode and you're readyto step into who you were truly
meant to be.
I'll share resources and tools Iuse daily to help you in your
(00:25):
journey toward a healthiermindset and to break the wheel
of survival.
The journey may not be easy, butyou won't have to face it alone.
I'm a mama of three, healing dayby day from past trauma, and I'm
on a mission to build a lifeI've always dreamed of, but
never thought was possible.
So, love, if you're ready tobelieve in what's possible,
(00:48):
let's link arms and thrivetogether.
Hey loves, welcome back to theThrive Like a Mother podcast.
I'm really excited for today'sepisode, y'all, because I want
to talk about something that hasbeen on my heart recently, and
(01:13):
that is the idea of seasons.
And yes, this is a timelyepisode because we have just
entered the beginning of fallseason and we are entering the
final quarter of 2025 as I'mrecording this episode.
But in today's episode, I don'twant to just talk about the
(01:35):
seasons as in, you know, theseasons on the calendar, fall,
spring, you know, all of those,right?
Because if you are anything likeme and you're thinking about the
seasons of your life, youprobably have noticed that your
relationship with food actuallyshifts depending on what season
(01:56):
you're in.
And if you're like actually no,I have not thought about that,
then this episode is definitelygoing to give you a new
perspective on what that lookslike.
Y'all, when I was a brand, abrand new mama of one, food was
really just about survival forme.
I really was in the mode ofgrabbing whatever I could
(02:20):
whenever I could.
And a lot of the time that wastruly like whatever drive-thru
was closest to home on thecommute back.
And later on, I really had morespace available to really think
deeply about the nutrition.
And I had more space andcapacity to start cooking meals
(02:41):
from scratch, using wholeingredients, and started to
really enjoy the process.
And now as a balance,motherhood, entrepreneurship,
and in my own healing, I'vereally realized that the food
choices really still ebb andflow with whatever season I'm
(03:02):
in.
Yes, the goal is to cook homecooked meals most of the time.
But we go through seasons,y'all.
We go through seasons.
And for a long time, I used tothink that whenever I was in a
season that was a little bitharder, that meant that I was
being inconsistent, that Iwasn't showing up as I was
(03:24):
supposed to, that I wasn'tdisciplined enough.
And now I'm seeing itdifferently because I see it now
as allowing myself to honorreally truly where I am right
now.
Right now.
Food is not meant to be rigid,y'all, or perfect.
It is meant to support us trulyin whatever season that we're
(03:47):
in.
And that really means we have tostart honoring where we are
right now, no matter what seasonit is.
And so today we're gonna reflecton how our relationship with
food evolves, what it looks liketo truly embrace that season, no
matter which one it is, and howto really release the guilt and
(04:10):
show up with grace for ourselvesin every single moment.
And so I want you before we divein deep into this episode, I
want you to start thinking backto what your relationship with
food looked like in a pastseason of your life compared to
where you are right now.
How has it shifted?
Because this is gonna help youstart thinking of the different
(04:33):
perspective of how ourrelationships, relationship with
food really shifts throughoutour lives.
And so let's let's talk aboutthe idea of seasons.
Let's start there.
Gosh, and again, we're nottalking about fall, summer,
spring, winter, right?
We are talking about seasons oflife.
(04:54):
Think about any life changesthat you've had, where maybe,
you know, even starting fromgraduating high school, that was
a big shift in a season for me.
Graduating high school andmoving in on my own at the dorm
rooms at college, not reallyknowing like how to cook for
myself and having to reallystill rely on the food haul and
(05:19):
late night burger grabs, frygrabs, all those things, right?
And then came the motherhoodstages, right?
Different stages in motherhood,being a first-time mom, really
grappling with what that lookslike, you know, trying my best
to embrace the transformationthat motherhood is, and also
(05:42):
still trying to figure out howto feed myself.
And eventually, as they getolder, trying to figure out how
to feed the sunny person.
Seasons, y'all, different energylevels.
Maybe you're in a season rightnow where your workload is very,
very heavy and your time looksmuch different than it did in a
(06:05):
previous season.
Maybe your finances are lookingdifferent than they did in the
past.
Maybe you're on a journey whereyou're saving up for a home or a
big purchase or saving up totackle debt, right?
Maybe your finances are in adifferent season.
(06:27):
And so when I'm talking aboutseasons, right, I want to share
a story of a season that I wentthrough as opposed to kind of
where, kind of where I am now,right?
So I want to talk about thatearly motherhood survival stage
because that one is one thathits me the most, especially now
(06:50):
as a mom of three.
Now I've gone through thattransformation now three times,
being where I'm at, going backto the first time I became a
mother and really being in thatsurvival mode, right?
That postpartum, oh my gosh,what just happened?
I now have this tiny human thatI have to take care of, as well
(07:14):
as continuing to learn how totake care of myself and what
that looks like now that I amnow, now that my time looks
different, right?
Now that it's not just aboutcaring for myself, but also some
of my time is going towardstaking care of this little
person.
And food for me, like I said,y'all, it was pure survival.
(07:35):
It was, okay, what can I doquickly?
Um, and at the time, I believedthat for me quickly that equated
to someone else making it, itbeing already ready, right?
Not saying that that's a badthing at all, but this season
looked different for me.
My time looked different.
Now, even as a mom of three,with the youngest being just one
(08:00):
and a half, just one and a half.
So I'm just coming out of thatseason where my time was, my
time capacity was a little bitless and what I was able to do.
And now, knowing what I knownow, that easy doesn't have to
equate to someone else makingthe meals and me just picking
them up.
(08:21):
I can create ease now, eventhough my time looks different.
It looks like creatingflexibility in my meal plan,
focusing on the meals that takea shorter amount of time to
cook, focusing on the mealswhere I can just pop it in the
crock pot or pop it in the oven,and that's as much cook time
that I have to put towards it.
(08:43):
It looks like me being a lotmore intentional about my prep,
being a lot more intentional ofwhere in my time, where in my
schedule does the this time fit,right?
And our needs change, right?
Over time.
I know that you listening tothis now, you know that very
(09:06):
well, that our needs change aswe get older, as reasons in our
life change.
And that's normal and it's okay.
So I want to dive into how foodevolves at these different life
stages, right?
Because you go from beingpregnant and you are technically
(09:27):
eating for yourself, but alsoeating to nourish your body so
you can grow this entire human.
And then once that human is inthe world, things shift.
You are now in a recovery mode,a healing mode, a transformation
of becoming a mother and thingsshift again.
(09:49):
Very quickly, I might add.
It seems like nine months is avery long time.
Um, it's really truly not,y'all.
When you think of it in thegrand scheme of it.
And then once that little one ishere, y'all, when I tell you
things move so quickly, wherethey are first just a tiny
little baby.
They don't really need food yet,right?
(10:11):
They are just surviving off ofmilk.
And then before you know it,it's time for them to start
learning how to eat.
Another season shift.
Another point where you have toshift your thinking in the way
of what kind of food you'regoing to be providing for
yourself, what kind of foodyou're gonna be now providing
(10:33):
for this tiny person, how you'regonna start introducing them to
food and helping them buildtheir own food story.
It evolves, right?
Even in thinking from food whenyou are healing from trauma
versus how you are thriving instability after that healing,
(10:58):
right?
How does it look different foryou?
For me personally, as I washealing, I started to view
myself in a different way.
I started to view the way Icared for myself in a different
way, and that translated intosomething completely different
when I was on the other side.
(11:18):
And I'm gonna go back to busywork seasons, right?
Because I know a lot of us areworking mom, right?
We are working to provide forour families, and that looks
like sometimes working reallyhard and not having enough time
or feeling like we don't haveenough time to provide the
nutrition that we want toprovide, as opposed to having
(11:40):
those slower seasons where wehave more time capacity.
Both of those, yes, both ofthose are different, but you can
create the same nutritionalgoals in both of those seasons,
it just looks different the waythat you approach it.
(12:05):
And that's the perspective Iwant to give you today.
I want you to give yourselfgrace instead of guilt.
When you're in that busy season,I don't want you to feel like,
oh gosh, I can't show up in thesame way I had been a few months
ago when I had more timecapacity.
Of course it looks different.
(12:25):
Of course it does.
But this is our opportunity toagain look at food not as
perfection, not as showing upperfectly, but in a way of
really looking at how ournourishment can match our
current season.
And so we're gonna think aboutsome of those things, right?
(12:47):
I want you to ask yourself aquestion now, and that is like,
what season am I in right now?
Am I in the season of survivaland healing?
Am I in a season of growth andtransformation?
Or am I in a season where thingsare a bit more slowed down?
And whatever season you're in,how does showing up differently
(13:11):
look when it comes to food,right?
The season I'm in and right now,how can I be realistic about how
I approach my nutrition?
We're gonna talk about someways, obviously, obviously, to
support yourself in the seasonyou're in right now.
It comes down really to threethings that I want you to focus
(13:32):
on.
The first one being bringingyourself some awareness.
And we just did that with thethe first question, asking truly
what season you're in right now,and what is it that you need to
do the most?
Right.
So if you're in the busierseason, being aware of I don't
(13:54):
have as much time, I need foodthat is going to nourish me, but
I'm able to get that foodquickly, right?
And not defaulting to DoorDash,right?
Not saying that there's anythingwrong with DoorDash, but if your
goals are you're wanting toprovide nutritious meals for you
(14:17):
and your family, if your goalsare you don't want to spend as
much on eating out, then you canstill do that without the guilt
by really honing in onunderstanding what season you're
in and starting, starting rightthere.
The second thing you're gonnawant to focus on is flexibility.
(14:39):
Flexibility.
Adjust your expectations, y'all.
Some of our seasons are gonnacall for those crock pot meals,
those meals that you put in, youknow, super early in the morning
and you come back later on andit's already done.
Those meals that take like 15 to20 minutes to put together when
you get home from work andgiving space for support.
(15:05):
What does that look like in thisseason?
Is there anyone within yourhousehold that you can ask for
support from in a season whereyou don't have as much capacity
to pour into, you know, makingthe home cooked meals?
What does that look like foryou?
(15:25):
And number three, y'all,compassion.
Compassion.
We are releasing the guilt ofthis episode when it comes to
our food habits, because theyare going to look different than
anyone else's.
I don't want you looking atsomeone on social media and
being like, oh my gosh, how dothey have the time to put
(15:47):
together all of these foods?
Right.
Because your season lookscompletely different from
theirs.
I personally allow myself tohonor my season, honestly,
y'all, every single week.
Every single week I evaluatewhere I am at with time, with
(16:07):
capacity, and I mean likeenergy-wise, right?
Too, because as women, ourenergy cycles flow differently
throughout the month, right?
So I give my myself space and Ihonor this is where I'm at this
week.
How can the choices I make asfar as what food I'm going to
(16:31):
plan for my family?
How can that align with whereI'm at in this season?
Sometimes it means I need toprep less food or spend less
time prepping.
Sometimes it means I need tolean into the simpler meals that
come together quickly.
And sometimes I do have moretime, and it means I can pour
(16:56):
into the part of me that lovescooking those really comforting
foods that take just a littlebit extra time that I want to
provide for myself and myfamily, right?
And so let's go into three tips.
You're like, okay, I get it.
You want to have awareness, youwant to have flexibility, and
(17:19):
you want to have compassion foryourself.
But then how do you implementthat, right?
So I'm gonna give you some tipsfor first of all, identifying
your season and going fromthere, okay?
Because that's where we start.
We identify where our season isat, and we move on through
there.
And when you're identifying yourseason, you want to think of
(17:40):
things like where are my energylevels at?
Where is my time at?
And something people don't oftenthink about is what is my
emotional bandwidth?
Like, how am I feeling in thisseason?
Am I in a place where I need tomaybe nurture more of my healing
journey?
And maybe for me, that doesn'tlook like spending more time
(18:03):
cooking and prepping.
Right?
Choose the meals that fit forthat season, whether they are
quick, whether they are budgetfriendly if that's a season that
you're in, whether they arecomfort driven.
If it's a season where you needto be held by your food, right?
(18:28):
And y'all give yourself at leastone anchor meal every single
week that makes you feelsupported.
Start with just one.
I'm not saying every single mealof the week, you have to be
focusing on having it fit yourseason.
Yes, you want to be mindful ofhow you're planning, but if you
(18:51):
start with just, okay, I canfocus on at least one meal
during the week that is going tosupport me in this season, one
meal that is going to serve mein this season, then that's
where you start.
You build up from there.
And so I want to ask you to takea moment today and write down
(19:14):
like what's one small changethat you can make in your meals
in your kitchen this week thattruly honors the season that
you're in instead of fightingagainst it, instead of trying to
strive for perfection, insteadof trying to strive in the way
you've always done it.
Why isn't it working now?
Maybe it's we need to look andevaluate what season we're in,
(19:38):
what season of life that we'rein.
So as I wrap up today, I wantyou to remember this.
Your relationship with food isgoing to change, and that's
okay.
That is life.
And it's honestly quitebeautiful to start to have the
self-awareness where you startlistening to exactly what is
(20:03):
going to serve you in thisseason.
And every season of life,whether it's one of survival,
whether it's one of growth orhealing, or one where you are in
a season of abundance.
Each one of those comes withtheir own needs.
And so what I hope that you'velearned on this episode today is
(20:24):
learning to listen in to selfand truly honor those needs
instead of fighting against themto fit the mold, right?
We are breaking the mold.
Food is not about perfection, itis about nourishment, it is
about comfort, and it is aboutconnection.
(20:46):
And when you start givingyourself permission to eat and
plan food in a way that truly,truly supports where you are
right now, the you you are rightnow, you not only start to make
cooking become easier, makefeeding yourself become easier,
make feeding your family becomeeasier, you also start to become
(21:10):
a model for your family, right?
That it is safe to honor ourseasons, that it is safe to
evaluate and be self-aware.
Be self-aware and truthful aboutwhere we are.
And so I want you to take a deepbreath as we end, and you're
(21:32):
gonna ask yourself, what seasonam I in right now?
What do I need most from food inthis season?
And I want you to let theanswers to those questions guide
you this week.
And don't forget, y'all, my mealplan and prep workbook is now
(21:55):
free and available to help youcreate the rhythm in the kitchen
that continues to feelsupportive no matter what season
that you're in.
And for y'all, the link is inthe show notes.
I got you.
See you on the next episode.
Thank you so much for listening,love.
(22:16):
If anything in today's episoderesonated with you, share it
with your bestie or share it onsocial media and tag me so we
can chat about it.
As always, sending you light andlove, and remember, you are
worthy, you are enough, and youdeserve to thrive.
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