Huge changes, especially emotional ones, have a big impact on your life. Not only from an emotional level, but stress also causes your body and hormones to react in many different ways. That’s why it’s absolutely vital to take time for yourself during these periods of upheaval, especially when your children go back to school.
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When the kids leave for school for the first time, or maybe for the last time, it’s a big adjustment for us moms. All of a sudden we’re faced with all this free time we’ve never had before. A lot of moms have a really hard time with this, and that’s completely normal, but you can make it easier on yourself.
Using your newfound free time to explore who you are and what brings you passion is so releasing. You can use the time to take up a new hobby, learn a new career, or simply bring new joy into your life on a regular basis.
I’m adamant that a healthy diet can help you feel balanced when the kids go back to school. My Keto-Green lifestyle makes sure you have the nutrients you need to support a healthy body and mind, no matter what you’re doing.
It’s so important to nourish yourself when you’re experiencing big changes! Nourish yourself from the inside out with healthy food and from the outside in with soulful activities that make you feel good. And obviously keeping a positive outlook and imagining the best outcomes does wonders for you!
What do you imagine this year and season will bring you? How do you deal with big changes in your life? Do you follow a healthy diet throughout the year?
In This Episode:
- What happens to your hormones when the kids go back to school
- How you can use your newfound free time to explore who you are and incorporate joy into your life on a regular basis
- How following the Keto-Green lifestyle can help you feel balanced when your children go to school
- Why it’s important to nourish yourself when you’re going through changes in your life
- What impact a positive outlook and imagining the best has for your life
Subscribe to Couch Talk w/ Dr. Anna Cabeca on Youtube
Quotes:
“If you are feeling that time, that isolation, that depression, it’s extra important to nourish our body, extra important to reset our circadian rhythm.” (5:03)
“Fasting makes it easy for me. I get really clear, focusing on getting Keto Green, getting those Ketones firing up my brain, especially when there are challenges around me.” (9:06)
“During this time of year, when we’re shifting and there’s changes taking place, the seasons changing, we are never for lack, that’s for sure. I encourage you to nourish yourself, focusing on those things that just bring you joy and pleasure.” (11:12)
Links
Join the Magic Menopause Community Group on Facebook
Join the KetoGreen Community on Facebook
Buy The Hormone Fix
Transcript
Dr. Anna:
Well, ladies, back to school time and here we are getting ready yet again for another exciting school year, and if you out there are like me, there're mixed blessings associated with the schedule and order that comes with a regimented school year, and one truth about me is that I'm really excited to have that law and order yet again. There's a lot of chaos in the summer between camps, and my daughter going with her father and travel and vacation and work and integrating that all into keeping a young now, middle-school girl entertained, busy and out of trouble for the most part.
Dr. Anna:
Well, Avamarie is really easy. She's 11, and she loves horses so as long as she has that time out on the farm, she's really just so easy. It is hard, however, being a single mom, it really is hard, and the challenges, the disruption, and schedule with back and forth certainly is something that I've struggled with. And being busy with business and my older girls and my next book that I'm writing has brought in some challenges in and of itself, let alone trying to get some romance into the picture of my life. So that's an exciting new tidbit for they you all.
Dr. Anna:
Dating post-50, hmm, never thought I'd be here, but here I am, and so we'll certainly talk more about that. I'm thankful for friends like J.J. Virgin and Arielle Ford and John Gray as experts weighing in. Diana Kirschner, man, I've got some really great people to fall back on, and I've needed to reach out a couple of times, truth be told. Well, this podcast is not about romance. It is about getting us back to school and getting us back into routine and how critically important that is. And I know many of my friends are now empty nesting and are having a hard time with it. I mean, seriously, when you're busy scheduling with kids and work and family, agendas, menus, trying to eat healthy, shopping, budgeting, all those things. I mean, when do you have time for yourself and more importantly, when do you have time for a nervous breakdown?
Dr. Anna:
So here, sometimes, now we'd get those silent hours during the day or in the evening with kids all gone and back to school and there're not a thousand things pulling us in different directions and guess what? We have time for a nervous breakdown. Take full advantage of it is my feedback on that, absolutely. This is time to take care of yourself. Now, what's happening? Physiologically there's a drop in cortisol and so you can feel like you don't have that energy, that edge, and also, you're off the high. The high, the excitement the change, the constant dopamine, the constant worry, the constant, the constant, right. Do you know what I'm saying?
Dr. Anna:
So all of a sudden kids out of the house, time, peace and quiet for yourself, hopefully, right? We want that. We've been looking forward to this time and yet you feel depressed, isolated. What do I do with myself? Walking around in circles. Moody, sad, right? Is it I'm missing my kids? And it's often, I'm just relearning how to live in this new paradigm. So what's happening in your life? What suits you? What serves you? What brings you pleasure and joy outside of our kids' lives, and how do we bring that back into our lives?
Dr. Anna:
It's really an interesting philosophy and it's an important time as we're getting our kids back into school. If we're empty nesting, if we're alone, living alone, and if we're exploring dating options in the world. If we're re-igniting our relationship with our husband, our spouse, it's a critical time to kind of hone in and say, "What nourishes me? What brings me pleasure? Who am I? Who am I? Who do I serve? How do I show up in this world? What makes me smile? What's my cheer word?" Right? I talk about our cheer word in my online groups, my Magic Menopause group, and really focusing on what brings us joy? What makes us smile? What nourishes our soul? And those are the activities I really feel like this week, this podcast from here on that we focus on that. Focus on what's the one thing that just brings us joy and how can we incorporate that into our life on a regular basis?
Dr. Anna:
It's a thought, it's an activity. It's picking up an old hobby that maybe got put on the shelf for a bit too long, and how does that feel for you? And if you are feeling that time, that isolation, that depression, extra important to nurture body, extra important to reset our circadian rhythm. In my book, The Hormone Fix, I always talk about the multiple factors of how we nourish our body the keto green way. It's more than a diet, right? It's a lifestyle. One of the most important things I do on a regular basis and now with the school schedule, shifts in circadian rhythm. We're getting up earlier, going to bed earlier because of school schedules and really honing in that routine. And God bless you all if you kept that routine all summer and please, please comment, share with me how the heck you did that because I have yet, in my 53 years, been able to accomplish a regular routine.
Dr. Anna:
So one thing that I will do now is get up in the morning and watch the sunrise. Get outside, ground, barefoot as long as the weather permits and the fire ants don't get me. We're in Southeast Georgia. We've got an issue with some fire ants lately. But getting outside and getting barefoot is really important. Getting those early rays of sunlight into your eyes. No glasses, no contact lenses, nothing to shield those rays, morning sunlight, and how important that is. Energizing, recharging. We get a lot more than vitamin D from the sun. So taking advantage of nature on a regular basis, that's one thing. Certainly keto green, right? Nourishing our body, getting in healthy fats, healthy proteins. Let's cut way back on the carbs. We're heading into a season that's going to bring us into school lunches, afterschool meetings, there're activities, social hour, so focusing on that keto green lifestyle, cutting back on the sugar and the carbs, especially around the corners, Halloween, around the corner's Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Dr. Anna:
So creating those disciplines and honing in and for me right now, because I do feel that Ava's off to school, she's on a schedule. While I'm not empty nesting, my daughter, Amira, who's been in college for the past two years, she's a junior this year at Valdosta State University, but she is taking this year abroad, the whole entire year in the Netherlands and let me tell you my heart's aching. I've sent her off from the airport and legit, I cried. I'm excited for her. I wanted her to do this. I ignited her love of travel and international experiences. Yeah, so off she goes, a year of adventure and yes, of course, I'm going to go out there and see her. Of course, I've got my book, my plane ticket yesterday, reality hit. Booked my plane tickets yesterday. I'll be heading to Amsterdam in September and I honestly can't wait.
Dr. Anna:
So nourishing myself also starts with really focusing on the alkalinizers. I just did a double-shot of Mighty Maca, a swig of apple cider vinegar and hydrating, stopping the coffee because I recognize that coffee raises my blood sugar. I've worn a continuous blood sugar monitor for the past six weeks. Testing what raises my blood sugar, what doesn't and coffee, sadly, even with my keto coffee or Bulletproof Coffee, it raises my blood sugars. So it's knocking me out of ketosis and also stressing my adrenals at a time where really book deadlines coming up, business, some challenges, the slow season really my adrenals need some restoration. So I'm hitting off a lot of alkalinizers and then three days of fasting. Three days of fasting. Water fasting, and maybe some adding in some bone broth during this fasting cycle. But just focusing on fasting, giving my body time with its intelligent design to heal itself.
Dr. Anna:
And also prayer, touching into that Enlightened spirit within me and without me and getting clarity around the healthy and important relationships in my life, and nourishing those as well. So fasting makes it easy for me. I get really clear focusing on getting keto green, getting those ketones firing up my brain, especially when there are challenges around me. The considerations of I could go down the path of fearing my daughter's experience in Amsterdam and in the Netherlands and how she'll do by herself. Will she meet good people? You know how it is. Your mind will go down a rabbit hole, right? But instead, imagine the best. Reframing my mind. Taking this time of spiritual resetting, fasting and focusing on keto green and disciplines and practices that nourish me and bring me joy and pleasure, bringing that into my life and imagining the best, imagining the best for her life. Imagining the best for my other daughter's lives, their school, their work, their careers, their relationships, and for me as well. As well as for all of you, imagining the best.
Dr. Anna:
So share with me, what do you do? What you imagine this year, this season brings you. What is something that you can incorporate that brings you pleasure into your life? It's a good meditation. Just makes me smile thinking about it. There's a whole list. So what's the one that I can do or re-initiate on a regular basis or maybe it's like a binge pleasure? Maybe it's like, "I'm going to go spend two nights at the beach and just get up, walk the sunrises, walk the sunsets and enjoy that ocean, the last little bits of summer and the sand under my feet. That would be a huge pleasure binge for sure. Maybe we can't do the whole weekend, but I can incorporate little bits here and there.
Dr. Anna:
Well, during this time of year and as we're shifting, there're changes taking place. The season's changing, we are never for lack, that's for sure. I encourage you to nourish yourself, focusing on those things that just bring you joy and pleasure. You know what that builds? That builds oxytocin and that just makes everything better. So whether you're getting kids off to school, empty nesting, caregiving, in new relationships, nurturing, reigniting your current relationship. I'm glad to be here with you. Off if we go to another season. Thank you for being with me on Couch Talk. This is Dr. Anna Cabeca, and I look forward to seeing you next week. Always share your experiences with me, and I love reading your reviews and your testimonials. They warm my heart. I appreciate you.
