Taking Care Of Yourself Helps You Be The Mother You Want To Be
Bringing a desired child into the world is one of the most important life events, if not the most. However, the responsibility that comes with it means having less time for yourself and your partner, and a lot of fatigue, ultimately. Taking care of yourself is, without a doubt, essential to be the mother you want to be.
We constantly hear that healthy eating and exercise are key to good health. What’s more, what you eat, the amount of daily physical activity, and how you take care of yourself all influence your child’s attitude to health, fitness, and well-being.
Healthy nutrition
It is true that, at first, maintaining a healthy daily menu is very expensive at all levels, especially since it is time-consuming. However, once you know what nutrients your body needs, preparing and thinking about meals will be much easier for you.
Your body needs a wide variety of nutrients. According to the pharmacist and deputy director of the Granada Scientific Instrumentation Center, Mariano Mañas, nutrients are classified into six food groups. In this way, said distribution allows us to substitute food for others from the same group, since it will have a similar nutritional function.
- Fruits, vegetables and greens: three to four servings a day.
- Cereals and derivatives: three servings a day.
- Legumes: three servings a week.
- Meat, fish and eggs: three to five servings a week.
- Dairy products and derivatives: two servings a day.
- Fats, oils and butters: four tablespoons a day.
A healthy diet gives you the energy you need to face the day to day, maintaining the proper functioning of your entire body.
According to Mariano Mañas, a good diet depends on a good nutritional education. Therefore, it is necessary to install a healthy eating habit in children from early childhood, starting with becoming a healthy model that they can imitate from home.
Physical exercise
Today, time is a very valuable commodity, especially for parents. In itself, it is difficult to reconcile work and family life, to include extra time in our routine to dedicate to physical exercise.
After a tiring day, it is normal for you to feel tired to exercise. But surprisingly, physical activity can increase your energy levels, which translates into well-being. Consequently, improve your attitude towards daily problems.
It doesn’t matter what type of activity you do; it does not matter if it is low intensity, like going out for a walk with the family. The important thing is that a daily period of twenty minutes is dedicated to physical exercise, approximately.
Physical activity will not only improve your health, it will help you relax and increase your personal satisfaction. For all this, it is essential to instill and involve children in the habit of the need for daily physical activity.
Assemble a strong support network so you can take care of yourself
We all need support from time to time, and families even more so. Those parents who have a supportive social network at their disposal show greater well-being, which means that they will be able to take better care of their children.
Enrique Gracia, in his book Social support in community intervention, appreciates the relevance of support networks. Explain that mutual, instrumental and emotional help in the networks allows satisfying basic human needs, such as security, affection, sense of belonging and self-esteem.
Often, with the entry into motherhood, the relationship with our family or friends changes. It is probable that with relatives there will be a rapprochement; a new member of the family is an extraordinary event that unites your family members. However, with friends it is different.
The routine of caring for a child can be somewhat incompatible with the plans of your friends. You see each other and meet less and less often and the relationship ends up getting cold. It is important to make an effort to maintain our quality friendships, as they are more important to our health than we think.
Spending time is also taking care of yourself
Taking care of yourself also means taking time for yourself. It’s easy to forget yourself when you’re busy reconciling your work and personal life in the best possible way. If you are always aware of others and overload yourself with your responsibilities, your mood worsens and you are more irritable.
Spending time weekly to do what you like and disconnect from everything else will help you cope better with your day to day. Watching your favorite series, going shopping, dedicating a space to caring for your body image and traveling will positively influence your health.
You must prioritize yourself. And for this you must know how to say “no”. But don’t feel guilty about it. Taking time for yourself will help you feel better about yourself and with others.
Without a doubt, eating a healthy diet, engaging in daily physical exercise, assembling a quality social support network, and spending time with yourself are the basis for helping you maintain a healthy lifestyle. Taking care of yourself and taking time to enjoy yourself will help you become the mother you want to be.
