My Mom Proven Ways to Boost Energy Naturally

"Why did I think it would be a good idea to walk the kids to school?" I think as I slowly contort my body, sneaking out from under the sleeping baby that only just barely closed her eyes.  The sun now slowly lifting herself from a long night's rest.  Stretching her fingers above the tops of the mountains like she's peaking out from under the covers.  I haven't seen that for awhile.   Summer has been good to me.

Last night was not good to me though.  Last night was very abusive.  Despite spending the last couple of weeks of summer getting the kids on a schedule again, the excitement of the first day of school fought hard to keep the kids awake.  I think Jack finally closed his eyes around 1:30 a.m., right about the time that Thea woke up crying, waking up a very sleepy Kate. "I'll never sleep again," I think.  I'm more angry than tired.  After getting both girls back to sleep I peek at my phone.  2:30 a.m.  6:30 is going to come pretty early, but I force myself not to worry about it because that will keep me up all night.  Funny how that works.

So 6:30 came really early this morning.  And now because of my brilliant idea to walk my kids to school, I actually have to get ready.  I will be seeing real people and I doubt my kids want me talking to the neighbors in my pajamas.  Maybe I can take the three year old and the baby in their PJs.  Nah, I should get them up and ready too.  And to top it all off, I told the kids I would make cinnamon rolls.  Oh today is going to be a day!

Luckily getting no sleep and still being able to get things done is pretty much my super power.   Tragically I don't drink caffeine so the only way I survive is by using a few natural habits I've developed to keep things going. And since I graduated in nutrition and exercise science most of them revolve around lifestyle management.

Here are few ideas that will help after your next sleepless night.

1. Exercise

I know it seems like the last thing you want to do when you've been up all night, but it makes such a difference.  Sometimes I am so tired that I can't even get motivated to put on my sports bra.  I mean, that takes work.  But even on those days, if I can just take a walk in the neighborhood (no sports bra required) I feel so much more invigorated.  In fact studies show that the days where more daily steps were taken, subjects reported having higher levels of energy.  In fact 20 percent more energy was reported and a 65 percent decrease in fatigue.

So which exercises help the most to boost energy?  Light to Moderate workouts will generate the largest amounts of energy without depleting your resources.  The best activities include walking, yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates, and strength training.

2. Drink More Water

So anyone that knows me know that this is my cure all for anything that ails you.  Stomach hurts, drink more water.  Can't lose weight, drink more water.  High blood pressure, drink more water.  No energy, DRINK MORE WATER!  It will seriously solve any problem you have.  Except maybe having to pee too much.  I don't think it helps with that.

The truth is water helps maintain fluid balance in our bodies which aids with our physical performance and fights fatigue and exhaustion.  Just a glass of water can clear our minds and help us to think better. It helps increase your attention span, memory, and motor skills and will naturally lighten your mood.

3. Have A Snack

Being a new mom again, I am constantly watching what I eat so I can lose those pesky pregnancy pounds.  I've kind of gotten used to being hungry all the time so that is not always a natural trigger for me to eat.  But I've noticed if I haven't eaten in a while, I will start nodding off and yawning like nobody's business.  This fatigue has become my new trigger.  It lets me know I need fuel.  So what is the best thing to eat when your feeling drowsy?  Find a good snack that has protein, fiber, and a little bit of fat.  Peanut butter is always a good bet.  Also try yogurt and nuts, or hummus and pita chips.  My personal favorite is a banana and peanut butter smoothie.  Energy for days!

4. Take Time To Laugh

You know what they say, laughter is the best medicine and it's true!  We change physiologically when we laugh.  We stretch muscles in our face and body, our pulse and blood pressure rise, and we breathe faster, sending more oxygen to our tissues, creating more energy!  The effects of laughter and exercise are actually very similar! So take some time today to watch a funny YouTube video or visit with your funniest friend.  It's good for your health and you will be much more productive with the rest of your day!

5. Good Nutrition

Fill your body with fresh fruits and vegetables and you will notice a difference in your energy levels within just a couple of days.  These foods are packed with vitamins and minerals that will kick your energy into high gear.  Some of these vitamins include Magnesium, B vitamins, and Iodine.  If you don't think your diet is giving you enough of the good stuff there is no shame is popping a multivitamin.  Supplementing is a great way to to make sure you are getting what your body needs to stay alert.

6. Massage Your Ears

It might sound funny but only to us here in the western hemisphere.  This technique has been used for thousands of years to help increase energy.  The reasoning behind it is that all your acupuncture points run through the outer edges of your ears.  Pinch the outside edges of the ear and massage them up and down and you will notice a significant increase in energy!  I know you're doing it right now and it works right?!  You're welcome.

Tips for Feeding a Large Family Without Using Coupons | Big Family Living

I have nothing but love and respect for all you fabulous couponing mommies.  You are organized, all planned out, filling your cart to the brim and saving hundreds of dollars without even a bead of sweat on your forehead.  It really sounds lovely.  But it also sounds something like the families you see on TV.  They are close to reality so you think, "I can be like that!" but when you look closer you sadly realize that this scenario could never be a reality in this life.  My reality looks more like one of those old shopping game shows where you dash up and down the rows as quickly as possible.  Manically grabbing everything on my list, hoping to beat the buzzer... the nerve wracking cry of the baby.  And if I can get all the way to the end of my list before the three year old lets go of the cart and jumps into the frozen food fridges, it's like I've won the Olympic Gold Medal for the Grocery Store Dash.

Honestly, though, I wish I had the time to coupon and I do save a few coupons here and there for items I use all the time, but I've just accepted the fact that couponing is not going to happen for me.  That being said, I have made a list of ways you can save money on the bags and bags of food it takes to feed a big family without the prep work of coupons.  Let's get started:


Make a Menu

This is the most important thing you can do.  It does take some time, but it is so worth it.  You need to sit down and plan out your family's breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack menu for each and every day.


Obey 

The Menu Like Its The Bible

Okay so there can be a little wiggle room, but to make the biggest impact you really should just stick to the menu.  For me this means just buying the ingredients for the meals and snacks on the list.  I don't buy anything else.  Nothing!  And I don't let anyone treat my kitchen like an all night diner, coming in and ordering snacks and meals at all hours of the night.  They get what is put in front of them on the table and that's it.  There was a time I was even writing the snacks for the day on the food board and they couldn't even choose their snack.  I know... crazy.  I have since relaxed a little bit now that the kids have gotten older, but I still have a mental list of the snacks I have planned and when they are gone, no more snacks.


Buy Generic

Okay I will agree that there are some products that you just need to get the name brand, but I can't think of too many.  There are so many great store brand items that taste fantastic and many actually come from the same factory as the name brands.  I love buying generic!  This love has been the biggest reason why I don't use coupons.  Coupons will give you a discount on just the name brands and you almost always need to buy two or more to get the same kind of discount that you get from just picking up the generic version.  'Nuf said.


Shop Around

For awhile I bought everything at Walmart because they will price match and I really thought it was great to get all my shopping done in one place.  It still is a great idea, but for my situation, I have noticed I can get better groceries and better deals by shopping around.  Yes it is a bit of a pain but totally worth it for me.  For example, I will hit the big warehouse stores, like Sam's Club for my bread, bananas, milk, butter, and some meat and cheese products.  They have great prices and quantities that meet my large family needs.  I can really get better deals at my favorite grocery store for everything else so then I walk away.  This is where I have to be strong.  It is tough but you can do it ladies.  My next stop is where I get most of my groceries.  Its the store in town with the best produce, great employees, and great prices.  If by chance something on my list is terribly over priced here, then I take it to my final store, Walmart.  I always hit Walmart for my Popcorn and Graham Crackers because they are so much less expensive there.  I also get whatever items were not priced well or available at the last store.  I will use an app like Scan Life or PriceGrabber to compare prices on the items I need now and Walmart will match the lowest price.  I have been using this system for years now and have saved even more than I could have with coupons I swear.


Limit The Amount of Times You Eat Out, Including Hubby's Lunches

Making meals for my husband has been something that I have been dragging my feet about for years.  I know it is healthier and money saving, but I just have so much that I'm already doing that it  seemed...just hard.  That would mean adding another 7 meals to my menu plan.  And more shopping, ugh.  But I can say that I have been making Brenden's meals for a few weeks now and it really does save on money.  It takes a little time to get in the habit, but it does make a difference.
Besides just my husband's lunches, I also try to make sure I'm around in the evenings to make dinner whenever possible.  There are always days when it just doesn't work and you need to grab a pizza, but nowadays I try to schedule in the days that we eat out as a family to make sure that we don't spend too much.

Try these ideas out and let me know what tips you have as well.  I would love to see what other super moms do.

20 Thoughts On Having Six Children

One of the last posts I wrote mentioned how I just wanted to, "leave this year open to a little mystery.  Kind of a feeling of letting the wind take me where it will."  So it seems as if the wind has blown me towards a familiar land...baby island.  

I know it's been a long time since my last post but with good reason.  We found out that we were expecting our sixth child in February of this year.  It was a little bit of a surprise but the best kind we could have imagined.  The expecting and arrival of Thea has been just what our family needed.  

I do realize though... that the idea of a large family is foreign to most people (especially outside of our state) and so I have decided to share: 


20 Thoughts and Facts I've Found on Having Six Children 

1.  Fact:  Surveys in recent years show that less than 2% of families today have 6 kids and .5% of families have 7 kids or more.  This means that I now belong to a very elite and little understood group of super women.

2.  I cannot count the number of times people have stopped me at the store with, "Oh my!  Are they are yours?" or "You have your hands full!"  or my favorite, "Are they all from one father?"  Honestly I enjoy it. There is a sense of accomplishment knowing that I do something every day that few other women can imagine possible and with a smile to boot!

3.   Did you know that those who do have six children are presumed to be very religious or not very educated or both. My husband and I are religious, well-educated, and just love children. (Well at least our children.)

4.  Studies show having six children can be the mark of the eccentric or the genius. The psychologist Alison Gopnik wrote a very fine essay about her brilliant, eccentric parents and the six children they produced, including, besides Alison, her brother Adam, the New Yorker writer, and her brother Blake, the art critic. The novelist and director Galt Niederhoffer is one of six daughters; their father is, according to The New York Times, “one of the most successful (and most idiosyncratic) money managers in the nation.” I claim to be both eccentric and genius.  haha

5.   I am very mindful that many people want more children than they have but have been unable to have them. My hubby and I talk about how lucky we are every day.

6.  We all want to leave something behind when we leave this world and if all else fails I will leave progeny. Not a bad legacy if you ask me.

7.  And I won’t be lonely in old age. Maybe they won’t all love me and take care of me, but the odds are good that one of them will. Maybe two.

8.  I come from a thrifty upbringing which I love and think more people should adopt.  And now, finally, having our cute little sixth addition has given me the power I was lacking before, to instill these beliefs in my kids. 

9.  Up until now I have been in a tug-of-war between the belief of giving my kids things that I didn't have so they wouldn't be deprived or left out, and the belief that sometimes the answer is no and that they will have to earn or wait until its right.  Now I clearly can say no to things we don't need and not feel guilt.   I can explain to the kids that it’s because of our sacrifices that this family works.  We are not like the majority of families.  Sometimes we will have to make sacrifices but we also have things that some other families might not.    This is just one of the many lessons that I think kids can learn from growing up in a large family.

10.   No, I don't like pregnancy, at all. I'm not sentimental about it. I literally told my doctor before I knew that I was pregnant that if I ever was pregnant again it would kill me.  I had to come back two weeks later, tail between my legs, for my first prenatal visit.  I'm not going to lie...everyone in his office had a good laugh about it. 

11.  One of the joys I got during this pregnancy was having everyone ask if this was my first.  I always took it as a compliment and then loved shocking them when I said, "No we have a few more.  This is our sixth."  Always put a smile on my face no matter how awful I was feeling.

12.  One of the unexpected joys of parenting this many kids is that it has given me new reasons to admire my husband.  He is awesome!  I don't think I would have known how amazing he could be if we had only had one or two children.  I tend to take control in the parenting department and it wasn't until I knew I couldn't control all the kids by myself that he blossomed into this amazing dad!  And I give him props for patience.  Patience with me in the early days as I tried to do everything by myself and patience with the kids which include 4 dramatic daughters.

13.  And he was raised to do this job.  His 3 sisters did a very good job of teaching him how to be an awesome, understanding man surrounded by beautiful women. 

14.  Having six kids has opened up a whole new world to me.  People all the time are telling me about how they grew up in a big family, like 8-10 kids, and how they want that too.  These are people I have known for years and we have never had these conversations before.  I'm not sure if it's because people are afraid to admit it until they are with other large families or what but I love being a member of this new club.

15.  I have come up with unique ways to deal with the responsibility.  Sometimes when I get the chance to be in the car alone, I blast the radio in the old minivan and pretend I'm 20 again with no kids.  And sometimes I get mad that I'm in a minivan because it ruins the whole illusion. 

16.  Yes, I am very tired. 

17.  But I use my fatigue like a super power.  It's like the Hulk and his anger.  The secret is that I'm always tired.  You can control it when it’s constantly with you!  I'm not sure what I would do it I was ever well rested. 

18.  There are things I miss about life before parenthood.  Showering without interruptions.  Conversation with the hubs without interruptions.  Sleep without interruptions.  (I'm starting to see a pattern here.)

19.  But those interruptions are the cutest little things ever and most of the time they are jumping into my conversations to tell me something they are so excited about.  Or jumping into my bed because they know I can make it all better.  It's nice to be surrounded by people that still have a lust for life and who need me wholeheartedly.  Someday they won't. 

20.  We're happy!  Yes life can be hectic and weekend dates can't come soon enough, but I would not change it for anything.  Family is everything to me and I have created a life surrounded by what I love most.  There is nothing better than that!

This article was inspired by Mark Oppenheimer's post Forty Thoughts on a Fourth Daughter.  You can read it here.