Episode 14: Testing Positive and Recovering from COVID-19: In Conversation with Kimberly Mueller

In today’s episode, Dr. Toni talks with psychologist and founder of SheWorth, Kimberly Mueller, about her personal experience with COVID-19 symptoms, testing positive and recovering from COVID-19. Kim was one of the first people who tested positive and recovered in the province of Alberta where she lives.

In this episode, we cover 

  • What symptoms of COVID-19 Kim experienced: body aches, fever, mild shortness of breath, fatigue, headache, mild sore throat, complete loss of taste and smell
  • How she processed the shock of testing positive
  • Dealing with being sick and talking about COVID-19 with her young kids
  • The thought process behind deciding who and when to tell about testing positive 
  • How to see the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity 
  • The ways that different age groups and personality types respond and behave to recommendations for self-isolation and distancing 
  • How to measure the Big 5 personality traits to determine the different personality types of you and your family members
    • Openness to Experience
    • Conscientiousness
    • Extroversion vs. Introversion
    • Agreeableness vs. Disagreeableness
    • Neuroticism

Powerful Mama Advice:

Be mindful of your intake of media. Don’t watch the news constantly. Put a daily time limit on what you watch or read about COVID-19.

Focus on what you can control – even if it’s just taking a shower or getting outside for a few minutes.

Set aside some worry time each day, then shift your mindset with thought stopping, engaging with friends or family, or pursuing a hobby or other activity.

Articles and Websites Mentioned:

New York Times article about the loss of smell with COVID-19.

Personality Test on SheWorth.

Connect with Kimberly at https://psychologycalgary.com/ and http://sheworth.org/

Today’s Mama Must Have: 

Dr. Toni can’t live without her favourite music/emotional support video on YouTube by Canadian musicians Walk Off The Earth (Mash up of Beatles songs) that Frankie lets her play over and over.

Thank you for joining us today! 

Have any comments, suggestions or burning questions? Email us or connect with us on Facebook and Instagram. We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5 star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!

Episode 13: How to Keep Your Kids Entertained Without Technology

In today’s episode, Dr. Lisa talks with Elizabeth Verwey, entrepreneur and founder of Office Mentors and Mountain of Ideas about how to keep your kids entertained at home, in the car or on public transit and other public spaces without technology. They also discuss how to make meaningful connections virtually, when you can’t physically be with family members or friends.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • “Seize the Moment” parenting to keep your kids engaged during little moments during the day, like in the line up at a grocery store
  • Fun and easy games to play at home and outside of the home
  • How to handle being criticized for your parenting and remember “when you spot it, you got it”
  • A quick and easy way to meal plan and grocery shop on the go without thinking
  • How to keep your kids busy when you’re on a conference call or working from home
  • Ways to keep your kids quiet outside of the home
  • How to connect with kids over Skype or FaceTime

Today’s Mama Must Haves: 

Dr. Lisa recommends the Velo Balance Bike, Rainbow Songs online music classes and Sprout online movement classes

Thank you for joining us today! 

Have any comments, suggestions or burning questions? Email us or connect with us on Facebook and Instagram. We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5 star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!

Episode 12: What We’re Doing to Try to Stay Physically and Emotionally Healthy During a Pandemic AND How to Talk to Your Kids About What’s Going On

Disclaimer: The information in this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not meant to substitute professional medical advice. Always with consult your licensed health care provider before making any health changes or taking any supplements or herbs.

Please note: At this time, no drugs, vaccines or natural health products have been shown to prevent or treat coronavirus/COVID-19. The best tools we have are practicing proper hygiene, self-monitoring, self-isolating and going into isolation where required. See the Government of Canada’s tips on prevention/proper hygiene practices and Ontario’s 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) self-assessment.

In today’s episode, Dr. Lisa and Dr. Toni talk about: what we are doing to stay physically and emotionally healthy during the current global pandemic, some tips on how to work through anxiety and fear, and how to talk to your kids about the coronavirus/COVID-19.

How are we handling things right now:

  • Following health recommendations for our region – washing hands, not touching face, social distancing, working from home, teaching online
  • Getting help for a good quality sleep with meditation, magnesium, melatonin, L-theanine
  • Struggling to keep a daily routine

How we are supporting our immune function in general:

  • Using general immune-support nutrients and herbs for ourselves and our kids, including vitamin C, vitamin D3 with K2, vitamin A, zinc, elderberry, echinacea, probiotics, astragalus, garlic etc..
  • Enjoying smoothies with berries and a superfood greens mix, ginger tea with honey, bone broth, fresh lemon juice, and lots of fruits and veggies in general 
  • Working to keep sugar intake low

How to Work Through Anxiety and Fear:

  • Sit with it, write it down, release or put aside for now
  • Connect with friends and family – tend and befriend, in person as appropriate, by phone or online 
  • Find like-minded groups for connection and support online – like the Get Superpowered Facebook Group where you can join Renee Jain of GoZen and Dr. Shefali for daily practices to help kids, teens, and grown-ups transform stress into courage, confidence, and resilience
  • Move your body – dance, get outside
  • Seek online therapy with health care professionals
  • Limit media exposure – set times for going online and watching the news, consider a time limit
  • Seek out humour and comedy for laughter
  • Start day off without news or social media, don’t end your day with news or social media 
  • Reframe – gratitude practice, ask where is the opportunity in this?
  • Daily acts of kindness or connection  #kindemic #randomactsofkindness

How to Talk to Your Kids about Coronavirus

  • Process your own fears first
  • Find out what they have heard or know
  • Don’t dismiss your child’s fears
  • Talk at an age-appropriate level
  • Emphasize good hygiene practices – don’t share drinks or food, don’t pick nose or touch face and eyes, wash hands, cough into their sleeves/arms
  • Reframe the changes as positive opportunities if possible

Here are some articles for tips on how to talk to your kids about the novel coronavirus:

Other Useful Resources:

Mama Must Have: Dr. Lisa recommends an activity like this 12-in-1 Disney puzzle to keep the kids entertained

Thank you for joining us today! 

Have any comments, suggestions or burning questions? Email us or connect with us on Facebook and Instagram. We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5 star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!

Episode 11: How to Get Your Kids to Bed, Effortlessly, Using Process Improvement; Sleep Better and Reduce Stress Using Bullet Journaling and Digital Minimalism

In today’s episode, Dr. Lisa talks with process improvement consultant (and mom of almost 3) Nicole North of Whiteboard Consulting about how process improvement makes your life easier and reduces mom stress – from getting your kids to bed at night and out of the house in the morning to keep track of all of the important and mundane things that are stuck in your head.

In this episode, we cover:

  • How Nicole made going to bed fun for her step-daughter
  • The importance of off-loading mom burden and increase your kid’s responsibility
  • How creating checklists makes routines like getting out of the house with your kids in the morning way less of a nightmare
  • The wonders of bullet journaling for creating the world’s best to-do list to keep track of your grocery list, your daily health habits, appointments, personal goals, meeting notes, and everything else in your life
  • How bullet journaling reduces your mental workload and stress level as a busy mama
  • The difference between using a computer or phone versus using a paper journal
  • How to maximize your kid’s naptime and not waste your time on email
  • The benefits of practicing digital minimalism on your stress level and sleep quality

Today’s Mama Must Haves:

Dr. Lisa loves her Costco membership for stocking up on toilet paper, organic produce and healthy food staples like chia and hemp seed.

Nicole loves to reduce the messiness of kids’ activities with Melissa and Doug Water Wow! Mess-Free Reusable Colouring Flip Pads and Crayola Color Wonder Mess Free Markers and Paint.

How to Find Nicole North/Whiteboard Consulting:

Find Nicole and Ruth of Whiteboard Consulting on Instagram @whiteboardconsult

Here is the link to Nicole and Ruth’s podcast “At The Whiteboard”

Here is Nicole’s blog post on “How I Used a Process Map to Make a Kid Go To Bed”.

FREE online courses from Whiteboard Consulting:

Here is Nicole and Ruth’s free online course: “Show Your Inbox Who is Boss”.

Here is Nicole and Ruth’s free online course: “Bullet Journaling: The Ultimate Organizational Hack”

Thank you for joining us today! 

Have any comments, suggestions or burning questions? Email us or connect with us on Facebook and Instagram. We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5 star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!

Episode 10: What To Eat? Nutrition Tips for Hormone Balance

In today’s episode, Dr. Lisa and Dr. Toni talk about how nutrition is crucial for having a healthy, balanced hormones.

As perimenopausal mamas, it can be tough to eat healthy when life is busy. Preparation can be key, especially to help make it easier at the end of the day after working and running around picking up kids from school or daycare.

Quick tips for food prep:

  • Pick a day on the weekend to do quick meal prep for the week, make a grocery list and get your groceries for the week
  • Keep frozen veggies on hand to roast, steam or saute as an option for quick nutrient boost to meals

What does a healthy, balanced diet look like? Macronutrients found in food include:

  • Protein – animal and plant based
  • Fats – animal and plant based, unsaturated and saturated (avoiding trans fats!)
  • Carbohydrates – simple and complex including fibre

There is no one size fits all when it comes to a healthy diet! There is no one master diet that is the right way to eat for everyone and your nutritional needs can change depending on the stage of life you are in.

While a healthy diet can vary from person to person, there are some nutrition guidelines to consider:

  • Aim for covering half your plate in vegetables, especially colourful veggies and leafy greens
  • Eat more Brassica family veggies to support estrogen detoxification, including broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and kale
  • Cover a quarter of your plate with healthy sources of protein like wild caught fish, organic chicken, grass fed beef, beans and legumes 
  • Complex carbohydrates like whole grains or starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes, squash and beets can cover the remaining quarter of your plate
  • Add healthy fats like avocado, coconut and olive oil, ghee, nuts and seeds like almonds and walnuts

Start your kids early with healthy eating to avoid having to make more than one meal – see Episode 5 with Amanda Beatty for more tips!

Remember that your portion control and balance of carbs in your meals will most likely be different than your kids! Your kids may need more simple carbs in the form of fruit and grains. 

Read the label when you’re picking out processed foods and looking for healthy snacks. A snack may say gluten free or natural, but can still have a whole lot of added sugar in it in the form of evaporated cane juice, sucrose, glucose, fructose or other words that end with “ose”.

Are you eating enough protein? 

Protein is important for hormone balance for a number of reasons:

  • Acts as essential building block for hormones and enzymes
  • Supports muscle mass, which is metabolically active tissue that burns more calories!
  • Has higher thermic effect of food, which means that your body will burn more calories when digesting and processing food with higher levels of protein

Make sure you have a breakfast that contains protein with:

  • Eggs in scrambled, omelette, frittata or hard boiled form
  • Quinoa porridge with seeds like hemp and ground flax
  • Chia seed pudding 
  • Smoothie with nut butter, protein powder 
  • Adding in an extra scoop of collagen or protein powder to any of the above

Other goals to use your food as medicine can include:

  • Balance your blood sugar to prevent energy dips, insulin release and fat storage
  • Stay more full and satisfied with protein, healthy fats, complex carbohydrates and fibre
  • Get a mood boost with complex carbohydrates and tryptophan-containing foods like chia and sesame seeds
  • Avoid inflammatory foods like processed sugar and find out if your body is not happy with other normally healthy foods 
    • Common food sensitivities can include dairy, gluten, corn, soy, eggs and even almonds!
  • Avoid drinking too much water with your meals so that you’re not diluting your stomach acid which can impact your ability to digest and absorb your food properly

Today’s Mama Must Have:

Dr. Toni believes that every mama needs a go-to healthy snack to fuel yourself and your kids and her go-to snack is her hemp protein power balls. Here’s her recipe:

Dr. Toni’s Hemp Protein Power Balls:

  • ½ cup hemp protein powder (from Manitoba Harvest)
  • 1 tbsp organic cocoa powder (from Camino Cuisine or Rodelle)
  • ½ cup sunflower seed butter (from Nuts to You, or use almond/pumpkin seed butter)
  • 1 tbsp organic blackstrap molasses (from Wholesome)
  • ½ tbsp hemp seed oil (from Manitoba Harvest, or use MCT/flaxseed oil)

Optional:

  • Coconut flakes
  • Ground flaxseed
  • Dried cranberries (sweetened with apple juice from Patience)

Mix dried ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then add wet ingredients. Consider adding more oil if using optional ingredients. Roll into bite sized balls and store in the refrigerator.

Thank you for joining us today! 

Have any comments, suggestions or burning questions? Email us or connect with us on Facebook and Instagram. We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5 star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!