Having a family is extremely hard and takes a heavy toll on the body and mind. With all of life's pressures, the lack of sleep and learning that comes with a new baby, most parents feel overwhelmed. As a mother. we sometimes forget the importance of our wellbeing. We understand it takes a village to raise a home.
I’m Anamarie, a single mom to my beautiful daughter Bella. All my life I've been extremely dedicated to eating right, but when I became a mother taking care of myself, proper nutrition was the last thing that came to mind. It was so hard to maintain a household, chores, work and raising a child. Aside from struggling to eat something during the day, the baby-led-weaning phase began and it was both complicated and stressful to keep up with everyday chores. Only mothers understand the massive struggle of our children getting introduced to new foods. There’s always the worry of, "are they gonna choke?" Do they have any food allergies? What should I cook this time? Am I giving them sufficient nutrients? Can I season my baby's food? What am I gonna eat today? I'm always prioritizing my child's food. But as a mother, I would constantly forget about my own health and well being.
During my pregnancy, I was working full time and my body was exhausted. We all experience some type of discomfort during pregnancy. Whether it be vomiting, having to use the bathroom nonstop or becoming highly sensitive to the aromas of certain foods. I really didn’t have much energy at all. No matter what was going on, I would always prioritize my household and my work. But as a mother, that's what we do. We put our families first.
Postpartum was the hardest part for me. Even after having a C-section, breastfeeding, experiencing unpredictable hormones, bottle refusing and what it meant to be a first time mom. Sometimes I'd only eat once a day. During this phase we really don’t have much support and can lose our identity in the process. Now combine that with taking care of your baby and your energy is absolutely depleted. Cooking for myself felt impossible. It just didn't feel like there was time.
My battery was drained. I was breastfeeding my child and I wasn't receiving any kind of proper nutrition at all. I would eat anything that was easy and available or I would just have one meal a day and go for hours without eating.
When my child started her led weaning, I completely dedicated myself to meal prep. It really began to save me an unbelievable amount of time. I ate very similar to what my child would eat. The only difference was that my food was seasoned. LOL!! I started becoming a lot more inventive with my recipes. I wasn't afraid to introduce new foods and shapes to her. And most importantly, I was able to sit down with my daughter and have that family time together that I felt was missing. Of course meal prepping wasn‘t easy. On weekends I had to stay up late at night. But it was so worth it in the end. My child and myself were finally receiving the full and correct amount of nutrients. I became so interested and involved in nutrition again, that I was able to find myself adapting to the world of motherhood and discovering my identity.
Through this unpredictable and wild journey, many friends who are also moms have shared similar struggles. Living in NYC, a city where every second, minute and hour goes by faster than the blink of an eye, many of my friends have found it difficult to nurture both themselves and their families fully. My friends absolutely loved my social media food plates and everyone kept asking me for recipes or tips! A lot of them weren't able to find opportunities to meal prep due to work, double shifts and just the knowledge behind it. That’s when I decided to come up with the idea of meal prepping for both mothers and their families.
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