In this episode, I am interviewing my friend and colleague, Amy Slater. Amy’s journey of self-discovery began with the birth of her first set of twins. Embracing motherhood brought about a massive shift in her persona, but it also introduced her to a myriad of physical and biological issues. These experiences marked a significant turning point in her life, guiding her on a path that led to significant transformation. With her belief in the importance of small but consistent changes, Amy hopes that her story can inspire others to make positive changes in their own lives.
Our goal is to create a special episode just for moms and specifically help them deal with the often hidden load of motherhood. While being a mom is truly the greatest gift, it doesn’t mean it isn’t challenging, especially in a society that provides very little support for moms. We will start out with a discussion on the hard seasons and then get into how you can start creating a nourishing environment in your home.
As always, this episode is for informational purposes only. Please talk with your healthcare provider before making any nutrition or lifestyle changes.
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Transcript:
Amanda Montalvo [00:00:01]:
Welcome to the Are you Menstrual? Podcast, where we dive deep into all things women’s health to support you on your healing journey. I’m Amanda Montalbo, functional and integrative dietitian, also known as the Hormone Healing Rd. If you enjoyed this podcast and you want to keep learning, check out the podcast Patreon, where I share a bonus episode with additional downloadable resources each week. You can go to patreon.com Forward Slash Healing RD or check out the link in the show notes this episode is sponsored by Paleo Valley. They are back again, sponsoring us, making it so that I can bring you this content consistently. And I have talked about quite a few of my favorite products from them lately. But for this specific one where I’m digging into how to build resiliency in motherhood and things for moms, I wanted to highlight the beef sticks again because that is probably the number one product I use with my daughter. She eats a beef stick every single day, whether it’s for a snack.
Amanda Montalvo [00:01:00]:
Sometimes she doesn’t want to eat breakfast, whatever I have planned for her, so she’ll have a beef stick with some fruit for breakfast. But it’s something that comes in handy over and over again and kids snacks are always going to be expensive and for me, I would rather invest that money. I do the subscription for Paleo Valley so it’s cheaper, but they have a monthly subscription where you can adjust it whenever you want and it makes it so that it’s much more sustainable. You can choose the different flavors of beef sticks, you can switch them out, very easy to use and update as needed. But that is something that has been very important as Eliana has gotten older and myself too, I enjoy to have them as a quick protein source, especially for on the go. As she’s gotten older, I’ve realized the importance of having easy on the go snacks, and their beef sticks are something that are not only delicious, but they’re incredibly nourishing. They’re made with the highest quality beef and it’s all sourced within the US, so highly recommend checking them out if you have not already. I have all the products that I love from them linked on my page.
Amanda Montalvo [00:02:03]:
You can go to paleovalley.com slash hormonehealingrd. You’ll get a discount and you’ll be supporting the podcast. I appreciate it so much and thank.
Amanda Montalvo [00:02:12]:
You for your support.
Amanda Montalvo [00:02:14]:
Our goal with this episode is to create a very extra special episode just for moms specifically. Trying to deal with this often like hidden stress load of know we’re I love being a mom. I know Amy loves being a mom. It’s truly the greatest gift, but it doesn’t mean it’s not incredibly challenging. It’s like the best thing you’ll ever do and the hardest thing you’ll ever do. And I think as a society, we don’t get enough support for moms. We just kind of expect them to do everything and be able to handle it all. And then when their health falls apart, everyone’s shocked.
Amanda Montalvo [00:02:52]:
But in reality, that’s really what we’re set up for. So we’re going to start out. Amy’s going to share her background. I think a lot of you will connect with her story, and I just think it’s so important to know where she’s coming from because it’s really easy for us to have this conversation. We’re both in the health field. We care about women’s health and moms specifically. So Amy’s going to go through her background, then we’re going to talk about crafting the culture in your home and how you can adjust that. And then we’ll get into more, like, the practical tips.
Amanda Montalvo [00:03:24]:
So, as always, this episode is for informational purposes only. Please make sure if you make any nutrition, health changes, or anything like that related to this episode, you clear them with your doctor first.
Amanda Montalvo [00:03:36]:
All right, Amy, give us your background.
Amy Slater [00:03:38]:
Tell us your story.
Amanda Montalvo [00:03:39]:
How did you start wanting to support moms?
Amy Slater [00:03:42]:
Well, first of all, I’m so pleased to be here. This is a true honor, and I hope that everyone will get some information from my story and be able to make changes in their lives, because it doesn’t matter where you’re starting, all of the little things that you’re doing will add up to be big changes down the line. And like I always say, it’s just about consistency and being consistent with your changes. And that’s what I did. And all of a sudden, little things start to happen. So looking way back with my first set of twins, they just turned 13. And I remember after having them, I had a complete shift in my persona, of course, entering now into motherhood. But physically and biologically, I had so many issues, so many, I didn’t even know how to express them into words.
Amanda Montalvo [00:04:30]:
So when I went to my follow.
Amy Slater [00:04:31]:
Up appointment with my doctor and they asked, how are things going? Of course, I smiled and said, oh, everything’s great.
Amanda Montalvo [00:04:37]:
I love all of it. But inside, I was literally just hanging.
Amy Slater [00:04:41]:
On by a thread. I felt anxious. I felt completely overwhelmed. I felt so disconnected from myself. It was just this very strange feeling. And even now I struggle to put it into words, but I can even feel like just looking back now, I can get all those feels.
Amanda Montalvo [00:04:59]:
I physically was incredibly exhausted, like, beyond.
Amy Slater [00:05:03]:
Any type of exhaustion I’ve ever experienced. Of course, I was nursing two babies and up at all hours. And with twins, you’re on a consistent schedule, so it’s every 3 hours for many, many months, at least. That’s the system that I use, right or wrong. And I was not feeding myself well. I didn’t know at that time how to feed myself. I didn’t know how to move my body. I had no idea about pelvic health, physical therapy, even though I had been in a personal trainer at that point for ten years and I had degree.
Amanda Montalvo [00:05:33]:
In nutrition, but I still had no idea what to do.
Amy Slater [00:05:37]:
And so it wasn’t too long after all of that where I started trying to find answers on my own, because I went to a counselor and she told me I just was anxious. A new mom, it’s totally normal. But I decided that I didn’t want that to be my normal because I couldn’t carry my boys around. I would see other moms at the grocery store and see them smiling and happy, and I was literally struggling. Every time I would go to the store with two babies, I’d have two car seats, trying to get them in the grocery cart, and then at that point, then dragging a double stroller behind, and it was so hard, my back.
Amanda Montalvo [00:06:12]:
Hurt, my body hurt, and I didn’t.
Amy Slater [00:06:14]:
Even know where to begin because I’d never experienced that level of dysfunction globally in my life. So about eleven months after, I didn’t know which way to turn. So I went out to California and visited with a mentor. I know that was a huge leap from local. And I told him, I said I felt like my whole body was just twisted.
Amanda Montalvo [00:06:35]:
And I felt like foundationally, the thing.
Amy Slater [00:06:37]:
That was making me the most exhausted and causing me the most stress, it.
Amanda Montalvo [00:06:40]:
Wasn’T having two babies, it was my body feeling so dysregulated and so right.
Amy Slater [00:06:46]:
There, I started to frame the foundation of what I’d had no idea would become the entire course of study for the next decade.
Amanda Montalvo [00:06:52]:
And then also helping women was trying to figure out how to move better.
Amy Slater [00:06:58]:
And to function better in the world that I needed to move in. It was no longer about racing, which was my background in athleticism. It was about how am I going.
Amanda Montalvo [00:07:06]:
To function for life? How am I going to sit down.
Amy Slater [00:07:08]:
On the ground and pick up my child from the ground without my back hurting and then feeling so wiped out because I had to stand in the.
Amanda Montalvo [00:07:13]:
Kitchen and cook, I wanted to do all these things.
Amy Slater [00:07:16]:
So he looked at me, and he had no idea about diastasis, either at that point or didn’t diagnose it. But he said, your tendons, all your tissue. He was a soft tissue specialist.
Amanda Montalvo [00:07:25]:
Felt like complete, like ropes.
Amy Slater [00:07:28]:
I’ve never felt anything like this.
Amanda Montalvo [00:07:30]:
This is a guy with many, many.
Amy Slater [00:07:32]:
Hundreds of thousands of hours of experience. And I was like, what is causing this? He said, I think you should try this new thing called Paleo.
Amanda Montalvo [00:07:41]:
I’m like, what’s that?
Amy Slater [00:07:42]:
And of course, I was looking for anything with a strategy, because at that point, as a mom, you know, Amanda.
Amanda Montalvo [00:07:47]:
You want, just give me the list, and then I’ll do the list.
Amy Slater [00:07:51]:
I don’t want 10,000 different things. I just need a list. And he said, you eliminate these things. I was like, great, I can do that. So I started right away because I felt so bad. I had never in my life felt so terrible. And so I just started pulling things.
Amanda Montalvo [00:08:06]:
Because I had no money to start pouring into supplements.
Amy Slater [00:08:10]:
I had no idea about any supplements.
Amanda Montalvo [00:08:11]:
At that point, other than taking my multivitamin. And I started removing things.
Amy Slater [00:08:17]:
So I strategically removed gluten.
Amanda Montalvo [00:08:19]:
And then he said, look at this.
Amy Slater [00:08:20]:
Thing called Weston Price. Start studying Weston Price.
Amanda Montalvo [00:08:24]:
So I found a CSA, and I.
Amy Slater [00:08:26]:
Started adding in raw milk, and I started adding in organ meats, and I just changed everything.
Amanda Montalvo [00:08:32]:
And it took time and just consistent.
Amy Slater [00:08:37]:
Effort, and very little by little, I would be able to do more things. And I was sleeping deeper, and I.
Amanda Montalvo [00:08:43]:
Found myself starting to laugh again.
Amy Slater [00:08:46]:
This was over years. This wasn’t over, like a month or a week. This was years of just believing and trusting in the process, because I knew.
Amanda Montalvo [00:08:57]:
There was no alternative to this path.
Amy Slater [00:09:00]:
Because of everything I was learning.
Amanda Montalvo [00:09:02]:
It just made sense on a principal level, on a soft tissue level, a connective tissue. I knew my fascia was completely disrupted.
Amy Slater [00:09:10]:
And then I learned about pelvic floor and diastasis, and I started weaving these.
Amanda Montalvo [00:09:14]:
Things in and using my background in.
Amy Slater [00:09:16]:
Applied functional science and starting to put.
Amanda Montalvo [00:09:19]:
Together the pieces and what I just.
Amy Slater [00:09:21]:
Termed as are my pillars, which that word is everywhere now.
Amanda Montalvo [00:09:25]:
I focused on those.
Amy Slater [00:09:27]:
I had no time to look for immediate changes because I was framing the structure in my world. And I just kept on layering in and layering in and stayed consistent.
Amanda Montalvo [00:09:38]:
And then it came time to feed.
Amy Slater [00:09:40]:
The boys, and it came time to where they were done nursing. My girls nursed for two and a half years. The boys nursed for about eleven months and were done. And so when I started to learn about all these things, it was right.
Amanda Montalvo [00:09:52]:
About the time it was going to feed them.
Amy Slater [00:09:55]:
So then I started thinking about, how am I going to make this doable?
Amanda Montalvo [00:09:59]:
Everybody has to do it.
Amy Slater [00:10:00]:
My husband’s a different story. He had his own time frame. But with the kids I knew that what I was learning I needed to.
Amanda Montalvo [00:10:08]:
Implement with them as well because of.
Amy Slater [00:10:11]:
Our family history of mental illness. And then later to learn that their dad had Celiac or had Celiac.
Amanda Montalvo [00:10:19]:
And all of these things I was learning, I knew would help them build.
Amy Slater [00:10:23]:
A stronger, more resilient system. And also knowing that going into that.
Amanda Montalvo [00:10:27]:
Pregnancy, I did not have the best.
Amy Slater [00:10:30]:
Mineral reserves, which I knew nothing about.
Amanda Montalvo [00:10:32]:
At that time, or gut health, which.
Amy Slater [00:10:34]:
Is why my postpartum experience was what it was.
Amanda Montalvo [00:10:38]:
I was going to say, do you.
Amanda Montalvo [00:10:39]:
Want to give a little bit of background about before you even conceived your. Just to give people insight? Because it’s like, why was postpartum so challenging? And I feel like when you hear.
Amanda Montalvo [00:10:51]:
Your history, you’re like, got it?
Amy Slater [00:10:53]:
Yes. It won’t take you long to figure out why. Because I spent probably twelve years in.
Amanda Montalvo [00:11:00]:
Consistent high stress state from different life.
Amy Slater [00:11:06]:
Events in the family going on that were extremely high stress. I was diagnosed with add when I was in middle school, but later to look back and knew that it was non celiac gluten sensitivity, 100% in addition to just a stressful world that I grew up in. And then you couple that with a high. Like everything I sought out was adrenaline. So it was racing at the highest level, road bikes, racing, long endurance trail races, anything that was dangerous, risky, high speed. I did it and I did that for years. And then I decided I was going.
Amanda Montalvo [00:11:42]:
To get pregnant and I had no menstrual cycle, so I had to use.
Amy Slater [00:11:45]:
Ovulation stimulation shots to stimulate it because I had hypothalamic amenarrhea for 15 years and was told that my doctors that.
Amanda Montalvo [00:11:54]:
Axis is fried, there’s nothing you can do to fix it.
Amy Slater [00:11:58]:
And so I went ahead and little did I know that going forward with that not trying other, I thought I.
Amanda Montalvo [00:12:05]:
Tried everything, which was nothing.
Amy Slater [00:12:06]:
And then little did I know that I was setting myself up for a very high risk pregnancy and then putting my children at risk too. I was very fortunate to be born.
Amanda Montalvo [00:12:17]:
With two healthy babies.
Amy Slater [00:12:19]:
But I will say that the boys were significantly different in manner than the girls. That’s beside the point from this. But my history going into it was 100% depletion. Nervous system dysregulation. Just everything was stimulant, stimulant, stimulant. So I was depleted, depleted, depleted going into it.
Amanda Montalvo [00:12:40]:
It’s like that. When I had Irene Lyon on, she talked about functional freeze and how when you’re in that frozen state of your nervous system, you seek out that cortisol, that adrenaline. And so it sounds like you were stuck in that functional freeze, which would make sense if it’s like, if you had a lot of stress and your body couldn’t get out of that state, it was like frozen, trying to preserve and save itself. And then you’re just trying to find that stimulation because it’s normal for us to go in and out, but when you’re stuck, you’ll try to find it in other ways. So I know that that’s like a part of your background. I think that’s just important. And I think a lot of people will honestly relate to coming to that place and then having that challenging postpartum. So you’re learning how to feed your kids.
Amanda Montalvo [00:13:28]:
You’re like, okay, how am I going to do this? And then you had your girls, like, four years later.
Amy Slater [00:13:34]:
Yes, I did. And just to that point, that episode was just fantastic also, because I could identify with much of it. But I think it does relate to a lot of women because I was on stimulant medication in addition to these stimulating events since middle school until about two years before I had the boys, when I pulled myself off of it.
Amanda Montalvo [00:13:54]:
Because I get tired of it.
Amanda Montalvo [00:13:56]:
Yeah.
Amy Slater [00:13:56]:
And that overdrive then. And then pulling out that stimulation, it speaks to the healing process as well, because when you go through that healing process, you come out of fight or flight, you’re going to feel more tired for a while because you’re not running on adrenaline cortisol. But mine was a whole nother level of it, so. Yes. So I started implementing like crazy, and everything started changing. And I would go to the park.
Amanda Montalvo [00:14:21]:
And I realized, gosh, just two years.
Amy Slater [00:14:24]:
Ago, I remember standing in this exact.
Amanda Montalvo [00:14:25]:
Spot and feeling, how can I even do nap time?
Amy Slater [00:14:29]:
How can I do the rest of.
Amanda Montalvo [00:14:31]:
My day just feeling so exhausted?
Amy Slater [00:14:33]:
And I would use food as a.
Amanda Montalvo [00:14:35]:
Stimulant, too, because my blood sugar was.
Amy Slater [00:14:38]:
So dysregulated for so long, because I had such low adrenal dysfunction. Like, I’d do the Dutch test or.
Amanda Montalvo [00:14:44]:
The adult, I don’t remember.
Amy Slater [00:14:45]:
It was very old school adrenal testing. I can’t remember the practitioner’s name. Yeah, the old school salivary panels, like, just flatline completely.
Amanda Montalvo [00:14:54]:
And that’s how I felt.
Amy Slater [00:14:55]:
So I’d go meal to meal for energy, and as soon as that meal time would come up. You can’t do that with kids because you got to have some flexibility around that time because you’re feeding your kids. I had none.
Amanda Montalvo [00:15:08]:
I had no cushion whatsoever, and that.
Amy Slater [00:15:10]:
Didn’T work with twins. And so when I had the girls, or when I was going to have the girls, I still had hypothalamic amenariah.
Amanda Montalvo [00:15:18]:
So I used ovulation stimulation, but I prepared a little bit better for it that time.
Amy Slater [00:15:23]:
Not as well as I know now.
Amanda Montalvo [00:15:25]:
And what I teach moms now, but.
Amy Slater [00:15:27]:
A little bit better. And so I achieved pregnancy quickly with that, or we achieved pregnancy quickly with that and then had the girls and that pregnancy, I nourished my body a lot more, did all the things for.
Amanda Montalvo [00:15:39]:
Diastasis, care and postpartum was a completely.
Amy Slater [00:15:44]:
Different experience, especially since the girls were born early and they were in the NICU. I know now that I had H. Pylori at the tail end of that pregnancy, which I’m quite sure stimulated early delivery, and that was a very stressful time. So that first part of I spent the first eight days in the NICU with them. They were given antibiotics and all of the formula feeds and everything, to my horror. And I stayed there at the hospital with them and wouldn’t leave and nurse them for those first eight days. Slept in a closet in the NICU, Basically. And that was horrible.
Amy Slater [00:16:21]:
And so I knew that all of that stress needed to be then accommodated with my going back to two four year olds. And then now we’re in this new sleep cycle again, where we’re pumping and nursing every 3 hours again now with newborn preemies, and that would go on for the next eight months. So I had sleep disruption for EIGht months, I had a huge diastasis, and I had two four year olds to care for and to put on the.
Amanda Montalvo [00:16:48]:
Face for them because I didn’t want them going through what I was going through.
Amy Slater [00:16:54]:
So, needless to say, that’s when my systems, that’s when I started videoing things, started presenting some of the information that you’ll see in the blog post we.
Amanda Montalvo [00:17:03]:
Have attached and saying, this is going.
Amy Slater [00:17:05]:
To be my outlet because I needed something to document what I was doing.
Amanda Montalvo [00:17:10]:
Or mentally, it started helping me to.
Amy Slater [00:17:13]:
Catalog a system for myself to where I could feed the four year olds.
Amanda Montalvo [00:17:18]:
How they needed to be fed, nourish the girls, and then most importantly, nourish myself because I knew I needed to.
Amy Slater [00:17:24]:
Be a fully intact superhuman to do.
Amanda Montalvo [00:17:27]:
This, to run this family.
Amy Slater [00:17:31]:
And that’s where I started to develop things.
Amanda Montalvo [00:17:34]:
And I remember we’ve discussed previously how you felt postpartum. It’s like you weren’t naturally super motherly, which was, like, mind blowing for me, because I think you’re, like, the ultimate mom. When I’m like, I think of Amy, I’m like, you got two sets of caring. You can just tell how much you care about your kids and other moms. You genuinely want other moms to thrive and be healthy and feel good because you know you’ve been there and it’s possible. Can you talk a little bit about that difference postpartum, your first and then, versus when you had your second set of twins, the girls, did you have a better experience? Did you feel like because of the nutrition, the things you worked on in your home and the systems, that you were able to enjoy that more?
Amy Slater [00:18:25]:
Amanda, that’s such a good question. Such a good question. Because I know that I didn’t have that motherly presence, and I was more.
Amanda Montalvo [00:18:32]:
Of a flatline steel wall because I couldn’t. I couldn’t emote.
Amy Slater [00:18:37]:
I was completely catatonic at times. I had no energy to even laugh.
Amanda Montalvo [00:18:43]:
And smile with the babies.
Amy Slater [00:18:45]:
It was so hard for me to even sit on the floor and play.
Amanda Montalvo [00:18:47]:
With them and do tummy time.
Amy Slater [00:18:48]:
And that tears at my heart a lot because I missed that first year.
Amanda Montalvo [00:18:53]:
Year and a half because I was so dysfunctional.
Amy Slater [00:18:56]:
And then I started looking around and.
Amanda Montalvo [00:18:58]:
Seeing, like, I see this at bus stops.
Amy Slater [00:19:00]:
I see Mom’s.
Amanda Montalvo [00:19:01]:
You can look in Mom’s eyes and see it.
Amy Slater [00:19:03]:
It’s not your fault. Let’s change this. We have to change this. So, yes, night and day. Because when I started to come around and my brain started to heal and I started to be able to absorb.
Amanda Montalvo [00:19:16]:
Nutrients and I started to develop myself.
Amy Slater [00:19:21]:
Again, and I was like, this is.
Amanda Montalvo [00:19:23]:
Literally the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But the most awesome and joy, an.
Amy Slater [00:19:29]:
Abundance of joy I’ve never experienced in.
Amanda Montalvo [00:19:31]:
My life would start to come in.
Amy Slater [00:19:34]:
And still, even when the boys run.
Amanda Montalvo [00:19:37]:
Off the bus and they’re 13, I.
Amy Slater [00:19:39]:
Still get those tingly butterfly feelings. Like, I’m genuinely excited to see them. And I didn’t have that initially. And I know it’s because of depletion. And when I work with moms now.
Amanda Montalvo [00:19:50]:
And that’s the first thing they say.
Amy Slater [00:19:52]:
My world is still filled with stress.
Amanda Montalvo [00:19:54]:
But I don’t feel it.
Amy Slater [00:19:56]:
I don’t see it. It’s not the same experience. And it’s because your level of resilience goes up.
Amanda Montalvo [00:20:02]:
And I know you see that, too.
Amanda Montalvo [00:20:04]:
Yeah. And I think a lot of people will connect with that. And there’s a spectrum.
Amanda Montalvo [00:20:10]:
Right.
Amanda Montalvo [00:20:10]:
Sometimes we’re not that extreme. Sometimes we’re feeling like that on some days and not others. But deep down, I think a lot of moms know something is off and dysfunctional. And I think that ultimately, I know I could feel better and enjoy this more and have it not feel so hard. Motherhood is always going to be hard. It’s going to be so amazing and it’s going to be so hard. But when you’re not taking care of yourself, you’re not nourishing yourself. It’s a million times harder because, again, you don’t have that resilience.
Amanda Montalvo [00:20:39]:
Your body can only hang on so long. We’re going to talk about the practical stuff, the systems that you created. But before we get into that, I think a really important thing to cover is how can we change the culture within our home. And I think this is when you have younger children, babies, I think it’s easier to do this because you’re starting fresh, basically. Right. Things are not as solidified yet. There’S more room for flexibility. I think you can do that with older kids.
Amanda Montalvo [00:21:08]:
It’s possible. It’s just harder. I’ve had clients that have done it. It is harder, but it’s possible. Can you talk about how we create the culture in our home and how you went through and just shifted things slowly over time? We’re not doing this overnight. Anyone. In order to make those changes with.
Amanda Montalvo [00:21:28]:
Food and your mindset around food. Yeah.
Amy Slater [00:21:32]:
And know that this is coming from a mom to a mom. Right. So I am not a trained counselor. I’m not a child psychiatrist, but this is the system that I’ve used myself and then also taught other moms to use it. So take it for what it’s worth and make it your.
Amanda Montalvo [00:21:48]:
So I also have a heavy science.
Amy Slater [00:21:52]:
Background and then a heavy knowledge of what’s going on inside, but I don’t think you even need that because there are so many resources now, just the abundance of information that you put out there. Amanda, we can take that and teach our kids. The things that my eight year olds.
Amanda Montalvo [00:22:08]:
Know is they’ll use terms like hydrate know.
Amanda Montalvo [00:22:13]:
I love it.
Amy Slater [00:22:14]:
They know what their poop is supposed.
Amanda Montalvo [00:22:16]:
To look like, and they know if.
Amy Slater [00:22:18]:
Their poop is off, it has cracks or if it’s smooth.
Amanda Montalvo [00:22:21]:
They need to know that. And so that understanding of they know.
Amy Slater [00:22:25]:
They have to have their protein at every meal. They know they eat their protein first. So little things. When I first started with the boys.
Amanda Montalvo [00:22:33]:
They learned right alongside me.
Amy Slater [00:22:35]:
And so I was, of course, learning an accelerated rate. But I would talk to them. We would crack coconuts together. We talk about the medium chain triglycerides, of course, that was the big thing back then. And we were talking about the fiber in the coconut and how the oil is so good and you can eat your meat off the bone because that’s good for your joints. Where are your joints? Here are their joints. So if you have young kids, you.
Amanda Montalvo [00:22:55]:
Can use really great tools.
Amy Slater [00:22:58]:
Like, there’s a great book called, are you what you eat? And I’ll send you the link. But it’s such a great resource because it has. Here’s what raspberries do for you. Here’s what all the red fruits and vegetables. And for little kids, every time they.
Amanda Montalvo [00:23:15]:
Ate, we talked about it, and it.
Amy Slater [00:23:16]:
Wasn’T to the point where it was like, you can only eat healthy foods.
Amanda Montalvo [00:23:19]:
But we talked about, hey, when you.
Amy Slater [00:23:21]:
Go to a birthday party and there’s all these red candies, maybe we avoid them. And this is why. Because of how they make your brain feel after, if they would go in and have a monumental tantrum or they were way out of control, then we.
Amanda Montalvo [00:23:34]:
Talk about, what are the things that you ate?
Amy Slater [00:23:36]:
What are the strategies that you can.
Amanda Montalvo [00:23:38]:
Use to nourish yourself differently?
Amy Slater [00:23:40]:
These little things add up. And every instance I could, I would start to bring these lessons in.
Amanda Montalvo [00:23:47]:
In addition to how our play at.
Amy Slater [00:23:50]:
The park was helping to support their bodies, support their brains, and use terms instead of nervous system. Used to use brain or something that they know. But now I think that if you have people that are listening that are like mine, that are preteens or that.
Amanda Montalvo [00:24:05]:
Are in school, they’re out of.
Amy Slater [00:24:07]:
When the kids started going to school and they started seeing kids open packages.
Amanda Montalvo [00:24:12]:
And I could no longer just cut.
Amy Slater [00:24:14]:
Them carrots or give them pistachios, where they saw kids opening chip bags or teddy grams or whatever it was at that time, why can’t we have those?
Amanda Montalvo [00:24:22]:
I want those.
Amy Slater [00:24:24]:
I also had to learn the hard.
Amanda Montalvo [00:24:25]:
Way of saying, there’s got to be a place for things, because otherwise, then.
Amy Slater [00:24:32]:
You go off the rails and then you start to rebel. And then the kids are the weirdos in the corner that have the separate snacks, and that’s. Yeah, and that’s what mine were. They had cans of sardines, and they love sardines, but it was like, you can’t do that. And unfortunately, that’s just the world that we live in. So the way that I started to.
Amanda Montalvo [00:24:54]:
Shift it was we said we can.
Amy Slater [00:24:56]:
Do as much as we can in.
Amanda Montalvo [00:24:58]:
The home, and then if we go.
Amy Slater [00:24:59]:
Somewhere, then whatever I can bring or swap, if it’s appropriate for the setting, then we do so. But then we also think about, like, if we’re at ball games or we’re.
Amanda Montalvo [00:25:09]:
Traveling, can we seek out restaurants?
Amy Slater [00:25:11]:
What are things that we look for?
Amanda Montalvo [00:25:12]:
And they know we look for things.
Amy Slater [00:25:14]:
Places that have a grass fed burger, usually the easiest, or that have gluten free buns, or that we talk about. What kind of oils? What kind of oils do you fry your fries in? Those little things add up to huge things. Because if we talk science, the kid’s microbiome is going to dictate their brain.
Amanda Montalvo [00:25:30]:
Health, which drives the entire household. You know, as being a mom, when.
Amy Slater [00:25:35]:
Your kid is dysregulated, you become dysregulated really quickly. Unless you’re a robot.
Amanda Montalvo [00:25:40]:
I am not one.
Amy Slater [00:25:41]:
And with multiple voices, if the kids are dysregulated in the house, that is a massive stressor, too, for your own health, especially if you’re on a healing journey. So it makes sense to try to be inclusive of all these different values and teach them right alongside while you’re learning.
Amanda Montalvo [00:25:58]:
Hey, it’s Amanda here. Just wanted to pop in really quickly and let you know about my Black Friday deal. So starting at November 19 until November 24, you can get $80 off the master your minerals course using the code Black Friday 23. And I will put the link below in the description of this video. Just wanted to give you a heads up. I know a lot of people are thinking about what they’re going to focus on for Black Friday. And this is the biggest sale that we do all year. So again, that is November 24.
Amanda Montalvo [00:26:29]:
I hope that you can take advantage. And I think with little kids, they grasp so much more than we realize. One thing that I’ve done, my daughter’s only 18 months, but she is finally interested in cooking. We have a little tower. Tower that my husband made for her. And before, she was mostly just, like, climbing all over it, super safe and enjoying it that way. But now she likes to come right up to the stove and she’s learned not to touch it and all that stuff, but she likes to mix stuff. She fakes putting spices in.
Amanda Montalvo [00:27:02]:
It’s the cutest thing ever. But she’s much more interested, which has been great because at this age, that 17 to 18 months. I’m like, what happens with her food preferences completely changing? It’s insane how much it shifts. It’s like slowed down a bit. But I was like, for a while, I was like, she’s never going to want to eat all the things that she’s loved her whole life again. There was like a six week period, but then she started to get interested in cooking. My sister has done that with my nephew forever. She loves to cook.
Amanda Montalvo [00:27:35]:
And he was really picky for almost a whole year from that age two to three. And I was like, just get him cooking with you if they’re involved. I let my daughter choose between the vegetables at dinner. I’m like, which veggie do you want? And I just give her two options, and she’s so little. And people will probably, I don’t know, think it’s crazy, but they’re already a human with their own personality and their own feelings and their own everything. And if you can include them in things and give them that autonomy, I think it makes a difference because she’s already past that picky stage for the most part. But I wasn’t going to force her to try to get interested in cooking. I was like, if you want to play, go play.
Amanda Montalvo [00:28:18]:
But I was happy when she did because I was like, wow, this has really made a big difference in her wanting to eat these foods. And I think that’s something that you can definitely do. I know it can make things messier. It can slow down the process sometimes. And there are certain things where I’m like, you’re not doing that. But even just having them part of it involved in it, I just think that makes a big difference, too. And that’s what I’m saying. When I think of, what is the culture in your home? Like, do you give your kids choice when it comes to their food? How mad would you be if someone constantly told you what you were going to eat? I would be so mad.
Amanda Montalvo [00:28:57]:
So it’s like, how can we give them options even if they’re small? And again, explaining things to them. Like, when we cook, we talk about, like, oh, we’re using butter. This is where butter comes from. And it seems so silly, but I’m telling you, they take it in and they’ll remember. And then I remember one time, my nephew, he just spits out this phrase and I’m like, how do you even know that phrase? And it’s because it’s like my sister was explaining something to him while they were making food and he remembered it. And it may have been like six months ago, and now it’s popped back in. But it does make a difference. And I think involving your kids in creating the culture and seeing what do they like, every kid’s going to be different.
Amanda Montalvo [00:29:37]:
Maybe some kids don’t want to get involved in cooking. Maybe they want to help you do the dishes, whatever it is. How can you bring everyone in the family into the food choices, how we make our food, why it’s important, I think that makes a world of a.
Amy Slater [00:29:56]:
The girls, if anybody’s been following me.
Amanda Montalvo [00:29:58]:
For a while, I have so many.
Amy Slater [00:30:01]:
Videos of Annabelle and Madeline cooking with me. The ones with the boys are really.
Amanda Montalvo [00:30:05]:
Old, but I have so many.
Amy Slater [00:30:08]:
If you’ve ever seen any of those. And where they’re peeling pomegranates and they’re peeling the mean and they have just the sandwich knives. I don’t know what they’re called. Just like the regular knives that are.
Amanda Montalvo [00:30:18]:
A little serrated and they’re cutting everything.
Amy Slater [00:30:21]:
And I’ll ask them which one is the heart? I mean, Annabelle knows how to butcher a beef heart, and she’s amazing, and she can pull everything apart. I had a live the other day, and I was watching it just with her the other day, and she’s like, holding it up. She’s got her finger in the aorta, pulling apart the atrium, pulling apart all the vessels. And even my anatomy teacher was like, oh, jeez. But I brought them to the farm, and they met the cows that they.
Amanda Montalvo [00:30:46]:
Would later have their mean.
Amy Slater [00:30:49]:
And they know Mr. Roger, the farmer, and everything on their plates. They always have two or three vegetables, but it’s not like sometimes they’re frozen and I’ll go to Costco and get them. It’s not like I’m in the know cultivating all these things. We have a huge garden, and they know how to plant seeds, and every year we start our seeds, and every year they plant them, and they know how to trim lettuce, and they know how to pull herbs, and they know how know stem a kale.
Amanda Montalvo [00:31:17]:
But you can do this.
Amy Slater [00:31:20]:
I’m just in suburban America, and so it was just like you, like, they.
Amanda Montalvo [00:31:25]:
Are at the countertop helping me, and.
Amy Slater [00:31:28]:
It was more labor intensive, but it.
Amanda Montalvo [00:31:30]:
Kept me on my game.
Amy Slater [00:31:31]:
And that’s what this was about, was.
Amanda Montalvo [00:31:33]:
Like developing all these systems to where.
Amy Slater [00:31:37]:
They know to look at the whiteboard for what’s on the menu this week. And they had a say in that.
Amanda Montalvo [00:31:42]:
What’S our protein going to be? And so that one day, my goal.
Amy Slater [00:31:45]:
Is that it’ll be second hand to.
Amanda Montalvo [00:31:47]:
Them where they say, oh man, I.
Amy Slater [00:31:49]:
Am not feeling great, I can’t think clearly, I’m constipated. And they automatic reflexibility go back to.
Amanda Montalvo [00:31:57]:
What am I eating? And I think that’s pretty awesome that.
Amy Slater [00:32:01]:
We can, as moms instill this just through little habits that we’re doing. So I have a bunch of blog posts that I share, but there’s one feeding kids a massive job that’s 100% necessary.
Amanda Montalvo [00:32:14]:
And I go into pretty big detail about principles that I had.
Amy Slater [00:32:20]:
As I use the litmus test, when you’re going through and as kids get older, you’re looking at different products, different packages, but then also thinking now about budget and I can’t do all the organic bars, how do I make that at home?
Amanda Montalvo [00:32:32]:
How do I have time to make it at home?
Amy Slater [00:32:34]:
How do I freeze it? All of those things we’ve talked about, freezers and the importance of investing in.
Amanda Montalvo [00:32:39]:
A freezer, a dehydrator, but lots of.
Amy Slater [00:32:43]:
Little things that we can do as moms. And these are all in these blog posts that I’ve shared with you that are just simple things that you can just start doing consistently and you save.
Amanda Montalvo [00:32:53]:
Money now and then medical bills later.
Amy Slater [00:32:57]:
Mindset for yourself now and reduce overall stress in the household. Because when everybody’s in a fed state.
Amanda Montalvo [00:33:04]:
And absorbing their food, it’s amazing how.
Amy Slater [00:33:07]:
Much better all of us feel and function.
Amanda Montalvo [00:33:10]:
And one thing I think is so, I mean, obviously you have boys, but with the girls especially, being able to teach them even the bowel movements and what’s your poop supposed to look like? It is so simple, but it’s so important because, and boys obviously have to worry about this, too. I feel like especially now with social media, but with girls especially, they’re going to get inundated as they get older with these messages around food. And I think if you can create a strong foundation with the connection with what you’re eating and how you feel, how your period goes, do you have really bad cramps, all that kind of stuff? How can you connect those things without obsession? Of course, we don’t want kids to be obsessed with food, but I think it’s giving them the power because they’re going to get exposed to this stuff eventually.
Amy Slater [00:33:58]:
It happens really early.
Amanda Montalvo [00:34:00]:
I’m sure it’s incredibly early now, too.
Amanda Montalvo [00:34:02]:
It’s like first grade.
Amanda Montalvo [00:34:04]:
Yeah, well, just think about how many, I know so many women, myself included, that spent a good majority of their life dieting, and so that’s going to rub off on your kids. Especially if you don’t really have a ton of awareness around the things that you’re saying about yourself, about food in front of your kids. They absorb all those things. So I think it’s just another thing to. Because I get a lot of questions about teens and stuff like that. I’m like, this is the kind of stuff that you’d want to focus on with teens, like teaching them about their bodies and how food can affect them. But I think just making, just not doing it with obsession, but just educating them and empowering them. Right.
Amanda Montalvo [00:34:44]:
You want them to feel like they know their. Because I always say, you know your body best, kids, they know their body best, especially if from a young age you can help them connect with it instead of ignoring it and turning it off or not talking about certain things. So we talked about creating the culture in your home. I think it’s like making slow shifts is the best way to do it. I know everyone’s different, though, and some.
Amanda Montalvo [00:35:08]:
People are like, I just need to.
Amanda Montalvo [00:35:10]:
Change the things and work on it and figure it out.
Amanda Montalvo [00:35:13]:
I think when you have kids, though.
Amanda Montalvo [00:35:15]:
It’S probably easier to make slower shifts. But whatever works for you. And having the conversation with your spouse and saying educating them, which can be difficult and sometimes, especially if you’re really depleted and you’re like, I don’t want to have to explain this. Send them a podcast. Send them something that resonated with you that you think is going to be easy for them to understand and be like, I need you to do this work. Like, when I wanted to have a home birth, I sent my husband a million things and I was like, educate yourself, because I do this for a living and I don’t want to explain all this stuff to you over and over. Like, you read this and then we’ll talk. And it was just like another thing.
Amanda Montalvo [00:35:53]:
I was like, I don’t want to have to carry this whole mental load and moms do that. And I understand why we make a lot of important decisions for our families, but I’m very much like, my husband is incredibly involved and I don’t want him to just go along with it. I’m like, I want you to have an opinion. I want you to care. I want you to care what our kids eat, what we eat. And he definitely does, but that took time. So I think that’s another big part about creating the culture. Usually it’s the husband that maybe it takes a little bit longer to get him on board, that’s okay.
Amanda Montalvo [00:36:25]:
But I think providing resources that you learn from. They can learn from. Hopefully they want to learn. And then when it comes to taking.
Amanda Montalvo [00:36:34]:
Action, it’s meal planning.
Amanda Montalvo [00:36:38]:
And I know that some people hate that, and I think there’s a million different ways to do it. But do you want to talk a little bit about some of the foundations of starting to have some meal planning?
Amanda Montalvo [00:36:50]:
And it doesn’t mean making all your.
Amanda Montalvo [00:36:53]:
Food on a Sunday.
Amanda Montalvo [00:36:54]:
If anything, it’s more like just having.
Amanda Montalvo [00:36:57]:
A plan that you can implement throughout the week. But can you talk about some basics of that and how to keep it simple?
Amy Slater [00:37:02]:
Yes. One of the blog posts I had was the mommy hack one. Make the most of your time in the kitchen, three recipes. And it was by how to make the most of your chopped vegetables, because.
Amanda Montalvo [00:37:14]:
That’S the thing that makes the most.
Amy Slater [00:37:16]:
Because usually we’re hiding vegetables at that stage.
Amanda Montalvo [00:37:19]:
I think I have a video of.
Amy Slater [00:37:20]:
Annabelle or Madeline helping me chop them. But we had meatballs. I make so many meatballs where all the vegetables are hidden in the meatballs. And honestly, I’m hiding the vegetables more for my husband to eat them than for my kids. But at that point, I was just kind of going along.
Amanda Montalvo [00:37:36]:
So everybody ate the same thing and.
Amy Slater [00:37:39]:
How to chop them once and then use it in three different things. So it was like in a sardine salad, which is a whole nother conversation. Yes, you can eat sardines. No, they’re not terrible. You can mix them so they are palatable. And also the same with organ meat. We can make it work so that it’s hidden if we think about basics.
Amanda Montalvo [00:37:59]:
I don’t get too nuanced here about.
Amy Slater [00:38:02]:
How to take base recipes, whether it’s making muffins or making banana bread to save money on snack products. Because as your daughter gets older and you have to go different places, it’s handy to have, say, pull a muffin out along with a bee stick, and then you have everything kind of in the muffin that you know that she needs, along with the bee stick and.
Amanda Montalvo [00:38:25]:
Then a piece of fruit, but learning.
Amy Slater [00:38:28]:
Some of those basic recipes and then just being able to make tweaks to them. So if you make a basic banana bread bar, and then you can add in different things, different types of nuts or seeds or change out flowers, things like that. But as far as meal planning goes, my best strategy is always start around.
Amanda Montalvo [00:38:46]:
The protein and then get everybody in.
Amy Slater [00:38:50]:
The habit of eating leftovers, whether it’s leftovers for lunch or leftovers for dinner, or we’re going to take these in a thermos to school. Because lunch matters, too. Lunch does not just have to be a bag of chips, an apple, a cookie, and a sandwich. It can be leftovers. And so starting to introduce those concepts will save you so much time and effort to where then, when you’re cooking.
Amanda Montalvo [00:39:12]:
If you have a family of four.
Amy Slater [00:39:14]:
You don’t just make four servings, you’ll.
Amanda Montalvo [00:39:15]:
Make twelve servings, or you’ll make 16.
Amy Slater [00:39:18]:
Servings so that you have two lunches and two dinners that you can utilize that one recipe for. So when I write it out on.
Amanda Montalvo [00:39:26]:
My whIteboard, which used to be in.
Amy Slater [00:39:28]:
Olden times, a chalkboard, then I would write it out Monday through Wednesday as a roast with carrots, mashed potatoes, and strawberries. And that’s on the board. And then you do the next three days or you do the next two days. So I would say hands down meal plan it. And I always do it around what’s on sale, what kind of meats are on sale, or what have I got from us wellness meets?
Amanda Montalvo [00:39:52]:
Or what do I know is at.
Amy Slater [00:39:53]:
The Farmers market, what’s on sale at.
Amanda Montalvo [00:39:57]:
Costco this month, those kind of things that you can look at.
Amy Slater [00:40:02]:
And then the other thing that’s most important is, especially during the stage that I’m in, and then you’re always in.
Amanda Montalvo [00:40:08]:
Running a business is you’ve got to.
Amy Slater [00:40:12]:
Think about how much time you have to execute these beautiful plans because it may be slow cooker for like a month straight if you have just a huge push. And that’s fine, too. It’s fine that it’s just different cuts of a roast. That’s fine, too. It doesn’t always have to be these new beautiful recipes. But looking at, okay, Wednesday afternoon, I know I’ll have a couple of hours to do something for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
Amanda Montalvo [00:40:35]:
So consider that in your meal plan.
Amy Slater [00:40:39]:
For when you’re going to be able to do it. And actually on my whiteboard, I’ll write out a task list next to the day.
Amanda Montalvo [00:40:44]:
So Wednesday’s meal is flounder, rice and asparagus.
Amy Slater [00:40:50]:
But I got to prepare for Thursday because Thursday I’m going to be gone to work. I got to do that Wednesday. Does that make sense? Just like you would do for a.
Amanda Montalvo [00:40:58]:
Business or your planner for work.
Amy Slater [00:41:03]:
That’s the way I looked at my meal plan was this is like my task list. And then that’s how everything kept going.
Amanda Montalvo [00:41:09]:
And then anytime I had an opportunity, I would batch it so I’d make.
Amy Slater [00:41:12]:
Two casseroles instead of one because I knew next week is going to be really busy and I’ll just pull it.
Amanda Montalvo [00:41:17]:
Out of the freezer.
Amy Slater [00:41:18]:
So the more ahead of the game we can stay on food, the more money we save. Again now and then later, when our kids don’t have health issues because we’ve.
Amanda Montalvo [00:41:27]:
Been nourishing them, or we reduce the.
Amy Slater [00:41:30]:
Risk of the health issues and then ourselves, too, that we’re staying ahead of our health because we’re nourishing our bodies and we’re not going to start running on cortisol and adrenaline and having dysregulated.
Amanda Montalvo [00:41:39]:
Sleep and so on.
Amanda Montalvo [00:41:41]:
And sometimes this can feel incredibly hard. My husband’s deployed right now. When he first left, I was like, very in a food rut because it was like, now everything is on me. All of caring for Eliana 24/7 trying to work, find time to work during the day, and then I’m like, and I have to feed us with no help. Because again, my husband is incredibly, he’s like super dad. He’s an amazing cook and he loves to cook. He loves to cook with Eliana and he is so hands on and involved that when he’s gone, it’s like sometimes I’m like, I wish you were not so helpful so that when you left, it would be like, not a big deal. But it was like a huge shift and she turned 15 months.
Amanda Montalvo [00:42:27]:
It was like she changed a ton and developed a ton. In a short period of time, her taste buds change. I’m like, how on earth am I supposed to do this? To me, it really just came down to cooking very simple meals and I just didn’t do a ton ahead of time. I was like, there was no time to really prep. I’m like, so how can I make the meal as easy as possible so that it doesn’t require prep? And I did a post recently sharing. I think it was like four or five recipes that are like, I saw that simple, easy ingredients, you should be able to find them at any grocery store, and it’s like you basically just make them your own. But that’s basically all we’ve been eating. And honestly, it got me out of that food rut because I was like, okay, so it doesn’t have to be stressful.
Amanda Montalvo [00:43:12]:
And she does better with more simple meals. I think kids do better when food is a lot simpler. Sometimes it’s like we make these crazy recipes. Like, I remember I made this recipe and I was like, she’s going to tear this up. She didn’t like it. And I was like, I just made this whole thing literally because I thought you were going to crush this meal and she didn’t even want it. And so that’s when it’s like another reminder that it’s like, it doesn’t have to be fancy and it can be very fun to make those kinds of recipes and indulge and everyone loves it. But it doesn’t have to be that.
Amanda Montalvo [00:43:48]:
It’s like, I love the cook once dinner fix cookbook if you want something where it’s not a ton of prep, because Cassie Joy is great. She’s got that cook once, eat all week. But it’s a lot of prep on a Sunday. I could never do that now. But the cook once dinner fix, it’s like you make one protein that you use for two different meals. So if you’re someone that’s like, I don’t think my kids are going to eat the same meal like two to three times in one week. Then maybe you pick the same protein, you prepare it, but then you make shredded chicken. You can make that into tacos or some sort of taco dish and season it that way.
Amanda Montalvo [00:44:24]:
And then you could do a pulled barbecue type chicken with sweet potatoes for another meal. And they can be two completely different meals. So it’s like basic things like that where again, you made that chicken one night, so then you don’t have to make the chicken the next night. You’re just making a separate meal that you know that your kids are probably going to eat. It can be that simple. And I’ll put that cookbook, I’ll link that one, too. That’s a good.
Amanda Montalvo [00:44:50]:
I and I have.
Amanda Montalvo [00:44:51]:
Like a million links for Amy’s blog posts and stuff. But it’s like, even just like that kind of a premise, like pick your dinners, start with dinner. I think that’s a great one to start with because then if you make extra, you’ll have lunch and then you can start thinking about, what are we eating for breakfast? What are some breakfast?
Amanda Montalvo [00:45:09]:
I feel like that’s totally different based.
Amanda Montalvo [00:45:11]:
On your schedule and stuff in the morning. Are you trying to get kids off to school? What do they like to eat in the morning? That sort of thing. How much time do you have? But it’s like, just experiment and find what works for your family and don’t feel like it has to be perfect. It doesn’t. You don’t have to make all your food from scratch. But like you Said, I mean, kids snacks are so expensive.
Amanda Montalvo [00:45:32]:
Kid food.
Amanda Montalvo [00:45:33]:
If you want to make money, get into the business of making anything for kids and you’ll make a ton of money because it’s like their products, they’re.
Amanda Montalvo [00:45:40]:
Just through the roof.
Amanda Montalvo [00:45:41]:
It’s so expensive. So you talked about learning how to make muffins like banana bread bars, things like that, and freezing them. That can be a big one. Do you have a blog for something like that?
Amy Slater [00:45:55]:
I’ll have to send you. I have a zillion of them. I make so many different versions of muffins. Okay, but really, here’s a good secret for that. If your kids like banana bread, just look up and you want to avoid, say you’re like, all right, I’m going to try this. Go gluten free. Just look up. Put the word paleo in front of.
Amanda Montalvo [00:46:15]:
Any type of muffin, and I guarantee.
Amy Slater [00:46:17]:
You there’s a recipe for it, like paleo pumpkin muffin. And then you’ll get a whole bunch of them. They’re like, it’s got an almond allergy. I can’t do almonds.
Amanda Montalvo [00:46:24]:
Do pumpkin seed flour.
Amy Slater [00:46:26]:
Just get a bag of pumpkin seeds, grind it in a blender, and you have pumpkin seed flour.
Amanda Montalvo [00:46:29]:
Oat flour?
Amy Slater [00:46:31]:
Yeah, I usually make it.
Amanda Montalvo [00:46:33]:
I don’t buy it because it’s really expensive, but if you grind up oats.
Amanda Montalvo [00:46:36]:
It’S like incredibly cheap.
Amy Slater [00:46:37]:
Yeah, you can get the huge bag of organic oats at Costco, and you can make your own oat flour, but those little things save so much money. Then take that muffin recipe and turn it into a sheet pan. And just spread it in a sheet pan, cut it into bars. I used to wrap them in wax paper and go through the whole nine yards. Now I freeze them individually and they go in a Ziploc bag and they pull them out and then that’s that. But when you have kids that are eating all day, it just takes you like one trip to Costco, buying all the Z bars and everything else, which.
Amanda Montalvo [00:47:06]:
Also have not so awesome ingredients when.
Amy Slater [00:47:09]:
Eaten consistently all the time, that are not awesome for developing kids microbiomes. And they’re still growing, developing brains every once in a while. If they have a Z bar at a friend’s house or you’re in a pinch, fine. But all that stuff that we have is way tucked away for emergency purposes. Otherwise our food bill would be $2,000 a month just in snack, and nobody can sustain that. And so I look at nutrition and food as also, and I tell this to them all the time, if you want to perform on the field, if you want to do well in your test, if you want to sleep at night. And now the girls are learning about where babies come from. We’re just talking about that.
Amy Slater [00:47:49]:
They’re going to be nine. We found a great book for them. This is how your hormones are developing and it’s what we’re bringing in. And they have that knowledge base. But I look at that as an asset for myself, too, as a mom in mom health, because it makes me.
Amanda Montalvo [00:48:04]:
Feel good that I’m doing for them.
Amy Slater [00:48:07]:
What I need to have done for me. And no, it’s not easy and it’s.
Amanda Montalvo [00:48:11]:
Not perfect every day. It can’t be like, we can’t. But as long as we’re consistent with that messaging, it pays off hugely.
Amy Slater [00:48:22]:
And it’s simple. Yes. All my recipes are very simple. It doesn’t have even need a recipe to do it.
Amanda Montalvo [00:48:29]:
Yeah, I know. I’ll throw stuff together and I’ll put it in my stories.
Amy Slater [00:48:32]:
People like recipe.
Amanda Montalvo [00:48:33]:
I’m like, oh, I know.
Amy Slater [00:48:34]:
I don’t measure anything, not even muffins.
Amanda Montalvo [00:48:39]:
I know it’s bad. I know people like, it’s like, I understand baking can be such a science, but I’m like, I mean, I think there’s some flexibility there. And some people are like, they need the recipe, and I get that, but I could never slow down and do that every single time I wanted to. I also have been cooking for a long time, and that’s the other thing. If you can involve your kids and you create this culture in your home, that food is a positive thing. It can nourish your body. It can make you feel really good. It can also maybe not make you feel so great.
Amanda Montalvo [00:49:09]:
Teach them about that. The other big piece that they’re going to get is they’re going to learn how to cook. I mean, I cannot tell you how many people, adults do not know how to cook. And I don’t blame them, obviously. I grew up with my mom cooking everything because we didn’t have the money. We never ate out if we got fast food. All my friends ate fast food all the time. I was always so jealous.
Amanda Montalvo [00:49:32]:
Now I’m older, obviously. I’m like, thank God we did not do that. My mom’s like, we just couldn’t afford it. If we could afford it, we definitely would have given it to you more, but we could not afford it. And I was like, wow, I just thought we were really healthy. But it’s like, I learned how to cook that way because I constantly saw my mom cooking. As you get older, then it’s like, all right, this is your job tonight. When my mom went, she used to have a home daycare, and then she went back to an office job and we had to make dinner and we knew how and it wasn’t a big deal.
Amanda Montalvo [00:50:04]:
And I’m so grateful for that because it does make that less stressful. So if you’re listening and you’re like, I don’t really know how to make these things. I’m not a great cook. That is another big barrier. And I would really focus on simple recipes.
Amanda Montalvo [00:50:18]:
And I’ve had clients that didn’t really.
Amanda Montalvo [00:50:20]:
Know how to cook. And we’d be like, let’s make this one recipe this week and master it, and then you can experiment later. And we would make one new recipe every week, and they’d learn how to make, like, stir fry, and then they’d learn how to make meatballs or something, and then it was like using a crock pot or an instant pot for things. And I remember just being mind blown that people didn’t know how to cook. So that’s like another gift that you can give your kids when you implement.
Amanda Montalvo [00:50:45]:
This kind of culture in your home.
Amy Slater [00:50:47]:
Yeah, I mean, I’m going to nursing school in seven weeks. My kids have got to know. And we’ve been implementing for the last.
Amanda Montalvo [00:50:54]:
Six months, especially with one of my.
Amy Slater [00:50:57]:
Boys who, God bless, he is going to need some guidance. The other one is fine, but this one, we mastered the smoothie and he’s mastered making his breakfast. But I want them to have this because guess what? Shifts when I’m not here, Dad’s working.
Amanda Montalvo [00:51:13]:
Full time their food, and I refuse.
Amy Slater [00:51:17]:
For that to go out the window when I’m in school. So we have talked about this and how we’re not just going to live on snacks and I’m going to have as much planned ahead as I possibly can, but I don’t know that road but having that and giving them those tools. And Annabelle came up to me the.
Amanda Montalvo [00:51:36]:
Other day and she was like, even.
Amy Slater [00:51:38]:
Though you really annoy me when you’re always talking to me about all this stuff and everything seems to be about.
Amanda Montalvo [00:51:45]:
Health, I actually think it’s kind of.
Amy Slater [00:51:47]:
Cool that I’m really good at soccer, and I know it’s because my muscles are strong because of what I’m eating.
Amanda Montalvo [00:51:54]:
Needless to say, she’s humble.
Amy Slater [00:51:55]:
And then she’ll say, and every time in science and we talk about the body, I know the right words to say. Mom and everybody.
Amanda Montalvo [00:52:03]:
She’s eight going on 25.
Amanda Montalvo [00:52:07]:
Good Lord.
Amy Slater [00:52:08]:
And she’ll be like, so I guess I kind of like it. And I’m really excited about you coming into my class and talking to my classmates about bones, and you may want to talk to them about food, too. And I’m like, so they get it. And the cool thing is that then feeds my soul. And I think you’ll find as a.
Amanda Montalvo [00:52:28]:
Mom, when you start getting.
Amy Slater [00:52:31]:
I’m very passionate about this. But as your passion starts growing and you start seeing changes in your health.
Amanda Montalvo [00:52:36]:
Because just like Amanda provides, invaluable.
Amy Slater [00:52:42]:
Like, I followed you for so long, back when I saw you doing videos outside with your gym when you were crossfitting. That’s how long ago that I was.
Amanda Montalvo [00:52:50]:
First introduced to your work.
Amy Slater [00:52:53]:
You’ve helped me change my life in a lot of ways, and I’m so grateful for that, just like many other mentors.
Amanda Montalvo [00:53:00]:
So I definitely am so thankful.
Amanda Montalvo [00:53:02]:
And then we eventually got to meet because we’ve all.
Amy Slater [00:53:05]:
That was so cool. I was like, I’m just going to give this a try.
Amanda Montalvo [00:53:08]:
I don’t know.
Amy Slater [00:53:09]:
But I think that as women continue, especially moms, to follow your work and.
Amanda Montalvo [00:53:15]:
Really understand that there are principles in.
Amy Slater [00:53:19]:
The world that we just stick to because we’re bombarded by all of these messages and most of them are honed.
Amanda Montalvo [00:53:24]:
In on how do we become the.
Amy Slater [00:53:27]:
Women that we were or how do.
Amanda Montalvo [00:53:29]:
We get our body back.
Amy Slater [00:53:31]:
We need to focus on how do we function really well in life from a movement perspective, from a nourishment perspective, of course, Hormonal. But then, hey, we’ve got another, like.
Amanda Montalvo [00:53:42]:
40, 50 years to look at once.
Amanda Montalvo [00:53:46]:
The kids are grown.
Amy Slater [00:53:47]:
And I refuse to be this sunken shell of a woman because I didn’t put in my efforts now. So all this stuff collectively put together, you are doing so much to benefit yourself and just be super proud of.
Amanda Montalvo [00:53:59]:
Every single effort, even if it seems very small.
Amy Slater [00:54:03]:
All of those things come together and.
Amanda Montalvo [00:54:05]:
All of a sudden you’ll be like, whoa, I feel totally different.
Amanda Montalvo [00:54:08]:
And it’s every season of life. Like, we talked about birth, postpartum, and then having little kids. As your kids get older, but then also, like, perimenopause and post menopause, I often get questions, how do I set myself up for success? I’m like, it’s all the things I’m always talking about. If you can do that and get yourself out of fight or flight, give your adrenals a break, give your thyroid a break, eat enough food, get outside all those things. Don’t burn the candle at both ends. That’s what’s going to set you up for success. And I think it’s so interesting because I think that’s also incredibly important when you’re a mom, because that’s like the quickest way to get into that burnout. Nothing really changes other than the fact that depending on your health history and how depleted you were and your hormones, that of course, is going to make the transition much harder.
Amanda Montalvo [00:54:57]:
So it’s like, if you can take care of yourself at all those ages, it’s going to help you so much as you transition, and hopefully you can put that off. So many women go through menopause in their early forty s and I’m like, and that partially can be genetic, so don’t ever feel shamed or guilty. If you went through menopause early, that can 100% partially be genetic. But I still wonder about the environment of their mom and their mom and what their nutrient status and their hormonal status was like and everything. But it’s like we have some control over that. We have, I think, a lot of control depending on when we find this information and when we can implement it. But that can be something too. It’s like, yes, we want to be thriving as moms.
Amanda Montalvo [00:55:44]:
We want to have healthy kids that are going to grow up and be healthy, and then we want to be healthy.
Amanda Montalvo [00:55:48]:
I always think about, I have weird.
Amanda Montalvo [00:55:51]:
Family stuff and so I’m like, I want to be there for Eliana. That’s incredible. In our new baby, her name’s going to be Amaya. I want to be there for know, and that’s so important to me. And that’s a huge part of why I also make all these health choices. So it can snowball into so many different things. Don’t feel like you have to do. We don’t do things the like, we’re different people, we implement things differently.
Amanda Montalvo [00:56:19]:
But I’m hoping that with the information, all the links I’m going to share.
Amanda Montalvo [00:56:23]:
To Amy’s blogs, I love educating your kids.
Amanda Montalvo [00:56:28]:
We’re all going to do that in our own way. But take the information, make it your own, leave whatever doesn’t feel good for you, and then see how can you use this to support your health and your children’s health. But your health really matters as a mom. You dictate how regulated you are. Dictates how regulated your kids are.
Amy Slater [00:56:48]:
Absolutely.
Amanda Montalvo [00:56:49]:
It makes a big difference.
Amanda Montalvo [00:56:52]:
Yeah.
Amanda Montalvo [00:56:52]:
So I just think that’s something where we always put ourselves last. But Mom’s health really matters. It’s going to make your kids healthier and I don’t know, don’t feel overwhelmed with the information. I’m hoping that this helps you take action and just do it your own way. There’s no perfect way to do it. It’s just whatever feels best for your.
Amanda Montalvo [00:57:13]:
Family and works for you guys.
Amy Slater [00:57:15]:
And remember that I was told I would never regrain my cycle. That axis is fried. You have ADD and ADHD.
Amanda Montalvo [00:57:24]:
We don’t grow out of that.
Amy Slater [00:57:26]:
Well, I don’t take any medications for ADD and ADHD, and my brain works a lot better than it ever did. And I have a regular menstrual cycle each month, and I ovulate every month.
Amanda Montalvo [00:57:37]:
And how old are you? Are you okay with sharing that? Yeah, I’m 44. Yeah, you don’t look 44.
Amanda Montalvo [00:57:43]:
So I just think it’s important to. It’s helpful to know. It’s like you’re not some young 30 something mom that is doing. I just often hear, well, I don’t have the energy or, I’m this age and stuff, and it’s like, you can do it. And you’re healthier now at this age than you were before you had kids, probably, yes.
Amy Slater [00:58:06]:
And every single one of my clients.
Amanda Montalvo [00:58:08]:
I see it happen.
Amy Slater [00:58:10]:
It’s like it’s not magic sauce.
Amanda Montalvo [00:58:12]:
And you can do it.
Amy Slater [00:58:15]:
You can 100% do it. And I hope this was energizing to everybody because I’m so passionate about this, which is why I’m going back to school to bring this to one day patients. And, I mean, just working in the hospital now and seeing it, there’s so much wrapped around diagnosis or this is who you are, this is what you’re destined to be. You’re not. I mean, I am a completely different human being than I was ten years ago.
Amanda Montalvo [00:58:42]:
I wouldn’t want that human being the mom to my kids. I needed to create her, and so.
Amy Slater [00:58:48]:
Everything, I wanted her to look like those behaviors I embodied, and I just.
Amanda Montalvo [00:58:53]:
Pretended like I was already her, and I did those things to make her. And then I’m still doing those things.
Amy Slater [00:59:01]:
To whoever I will be ten years from now.
Amanda Montalvo [00:59:03]:
Yeah.
Amanda Montalvo [00:59:04]:
And it’ll always be ever changing. And I feel like that’s the evolution of being a mom. It’s like you’re not a mom, and then you go through this crazy transformation from maiden to mother, and you’re trying to figure out who you are and balancing it all and still knowing yourself, but also being just so overtaken by your love for your kids and stuff. It’s like a crazy transition and evolution. But for me, I’m like, it’s been the best thing of my life so far. So it can be beautiful, it can be hard, but we just want to make it so that you’re not in this fight or flight feeling or frozen state where you’re like, I wish I could enjoy this more because everyone deserves to enjoy it. So is there anything else you want to leave people with? I’m going to link all your social media, your website, your millions of helpful blogs. I’ll also put the cookbook I mentioned, that simple recipe post I have on Instagram.
Amanda Montalvo [01:00:00]:
Lots of resources for you all.
Amanda Montalvo [01:00:04]:
And anything else we should share.
Amy Slater [01:00:07]:
I feel like a thousand other things.
Amanda Montalvo [01:00:09]:
I know. We’ll see what questions you guys have. We’ll do a part two, but I feel like we wanted to give this foundation to you.
Amanda Montalvo [01:00:17]:
I’ll give you a starting point.
Amy Slater [01:00:19]:
I think the biggest thing is we didn’t even touch on movement, but the.
Amanda Montalvo [01:00:25]:
Movement piece is a huge one.
Amy Slater [01:00:28]:
Another time, but thinking about all that you have in your world now, just continue to put those efforts forward because it will pay off and I’m going back to school. So as far as my one on one availability, it’s just a little bit different for the next couple of years. I’m still seeing clients, but on a limited basis. But I do have a lot of cool resources, like the essential energy Guide for moms that’s out there. That’s way too long the freebie for you. But as is my nature, information overload and then I’ll still keep showing up on social media to drop some information.
Amanda Montalvo [01:01:05]:
She’s a great follow. I love when your kids are making food and stuff with you. And just same thing, like lots of simple tips on how to be very, very supportive if you’re a mom and you’re wanting to make changes or feel inspired. And then we are going to have Amy inside Patreon to get to that movement piece. We’re going to do a class on how to move the pelvic ring and modify that rib cage. Something that gets crushed, your fascia changes, pregnancy and postpartum. I’m like, I think any woman, you definitely don’t have to have a child to need this type of work. I think if anything, do it before if you can.
Amanda Montalvo [01:01:46]:
But we’re going to do that class with Amy in December, so make sure you join Patreon if you want to join us there. But thank you so much for being here, sharing your brain and just sharing your passion, Amy. I really appreciate it.
Amy Slater [01:02:00]:
Thanks, Amanda. It’s really a pleasure.
Amanda Montalvo [01:02:03]:
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Are you Menstrual?
Amanda Montalvo [01:02:07]:
Podcast.
Amanda Montalvo [01:02:07]:
If you want to support my work, please leave a review and let me know how you like the episode. This lets me know what you guys want more of, less of. I read every single one and I appreciate them more than you know. If you want to keep learning, you can get access to the bonus episode and additional resources on Hormonehealingrd. I’d love to have you in there. Thanks again, and I will see you in the next next episode.
