The Mommy Tune-Up: A blog solely devoted to the busy mom’s pursuit of sanity and good health!

Finding a Place for Meditation in Our Busy Lives

Finding a Place for Meditation in Our Busy Lives

Meditation is a concept I love to talk about.  I teach it in both an academic and a clinical setting, and it is so interesting to me to hear the experiences people have had with it, the preconceived notions they may have about it, and how they see it fitting into the lives they live today. It is my humble…
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What’s This I Hear About Grain-Free

What’s This I Hear About Grain-Free

This blog post is a continuation of The Busy Mom’s Guide to Eating Well. Step 4: Explore Meal and Snack Options that are Grain-free This step is by far the most challenging, and most challenged, rule I write about. Because I specialize in holistic mental health and because I see a strong connection between what we eat, our digestive health,…
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A Moment of Insight Courtesy of Jennifer Aniston

A Moment of Insight Courtesy of Jennifer Aniston

I picked up an article about Jennifer Aniston a while back. The article was entitled, something along the lines of, “What is Jennifer Aniston Good At?”  I must have had some time on my hands so I started reading.  I expected to read something about her being a good friend (I’ll be there for you).   Or maybe a good cook?  A good…
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What Motivates Us to Take Better Care of Ourselves?

What Motivates Us to Take Better Care of Ourselves?

One of the philosophical principles of naturopathic medicine is that the body has an innate ability to heal itself. Applying this principle to our everyday lives, we have an innate desire to take care of ourselves and to improve our health and sense of wellbeing.  Wouldn't that mean that deep down we all prefer to eat healthier foods, to exercise daily, and to get enough sleep? Shouldn't that…
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Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

This blog post is a continuation of The Busy Mom’s Guide to Eating Well. Step 5: Vary the colors of your vegetables and fruits every day; the different colors offer varied nutrients that are essential to our health   Do you eat the same thing day after day? We are creatures of habit and we know what we like. But…
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Let’s Protect and Respect Our Time

Let’s Protect and Respect Our Time

I can’t help commenting on this today.  I’m wondering if you are noticing what I’m noticing? As I find myself using and depending on my smartphone more and more, I find that I am able to accomplish more and more.  I’m able to answer an email at the grocery store, reschedule a patient anywhere and anytime with a single text, review…
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The Mom of Three who Stopped for a Coffee

The Mom of Three who Stopped for a Coffee

My husband and I took our children to soccer practice last weekend. The town we live in offers a youth soccer club for children of all ages.  Our four-year-old son’s practice starts at 8am on Saturday mornings, and our six-year-old daughter’s practice starts at 8:30.  The temperature outside that morning was in the 30’s, and there was a thin layer…
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What’s Your Source?

What’s Your Source?

What refuels you? What do you do to recharge?  As moms, we are giving, giving, giving all day long.  Sometimes we are up all night with our children.  When I talk to moms about their health, I hear the words exhausted, drained and depleted. We need to identify and find our source – our source is what we do or…
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Take a Breath – The Key to Our Survival and Sanity

Take a Breath – The Key to Our Survival and Sanity

In physiology, we learn that breath is the vital exchange of gases. It is a sign of life. In yoga, breath is Prana or our vital force moving through our bodies. In mindfulness meditation, breath is used as a tool to stay in the present and as an object of focus or concentration. For moms, breath is not only vital…
read more →
Let Your Healthy Behaviors Ground You

Let Your Healthy Behaviors Ground You

Occasionally I will notice a trend or make a connection in my work.  Recently, I have been super interested in what it takes and what allows us to make real and lasting changes in our lives.  What I am noticing is this … my patients who see making healthy changes in their lives as a chore or nuisance struggle more…
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Take Back our Health: A Busy Mom’s Guide to Eating Well

Take Back our Health: A Busy Mom’s Guide to Eating Well

I often hear moms today talk about how they can’t squeeze eating well and taking care of themselves into their schedules. We often look for a quick fix or a fad diet or we postpone our health to a future time – a fictitious time where we will have all the time in the world for good health. Both strategies…
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Zen and the Art of Laundry

Zen and the Art of Laundry

If I write a book in my lifetime, it may very well have this title.  While speaking to a group of moms last month, the topic of doing laundry came up.  Oddly enough, laundry comes up a lot in my group discussions with parents.  When you think about it, maybe it’s not so odd that laundry is a hot topic…
read more →
Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

This blog post is a continuation of The Busy Mom’s Guide to Eating Well. Step 5: Vary the colors of your vegetables and fruits every day; the different colors offer varied nutrients that are essential to our health   Do you eat the same thing day after day? We are creatures of habit and we know what we like. But…
read more →
Grieving Our Former Lives

Grieving Our Former Lives

Do you miss certain things about your life before kids? Do you miss the freedom you had before kids? Are you ever frustrated with, overwhelmed by or resentful about your new responsibilities and pressures as a mom? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, I want to give you permission to grieve your former life.  I believe…
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A Balancing Act: Our Families, Our Work, and Ourselves

A Balancing Act: Our Families, Our Work, and Ourselves

As I head off to a medical conference this week, I will be without my family for a few days.  While I admittedly look forward to this trip every year, I also feel a little guilty for looking forward to it and will, at the same time, undoubtedly miss my family.  Time to myself is a priority.  Before I had a family, I used to spend quite a bit of time…
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A Busy Mom’s Guide to Eating Well

A Busy Mom’s Guide to Eating Well

I often hear moms today talk about how they can’t squeeze eating well and taking care of themselves into their schedules. We often look for a quick fix or a fad diet or we postpone our health to a future time – a fictitious time where we will have all the time in the world for good health. Both strategies…
read more →
I Clean Because It Lessens My Anxiety

I Clean Because It Lessens My Anxiety

How one reacts to chaos says a lot about a person. As moms, our lives can be pure chaos.  Messy rooms, piles of laundry, and dirty dishes are the physical signs of chaos in our lives, but that is just the tip of the chaotic iceberg.  Our homes are chaotic, our schedules are chaotic, and our relationships can be chaotic.   I…
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Moms Don’t Have Time to Be Sick

Moms Don’t Have Time to Be Sick

I don’t think I fully understood the saying “Moms don’t have time to be sick” until I was a mom. Actually, it wasn’t until I was sick AND a mom that I fully understood that saying. Some of the toughest days I have had as a mom have been when I was sick.  We have to dig so deep on those…
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Low-fat Usually Means More Carbs and More Sugar

Low-fat Usually Means More Carbs and More Sugar

This blog post is a continuation of The Busy Mom’s Guide to Eating Well. Step 3: Understand that low-fat often means more sugar, and that healthy fats are essential to our health This is a fun step!  This step says we can and should eat plenty of delicious and satisfying food. Fats have gotten a bad reputation over the years. …
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Banish Your Inner Critic with Kindness

Banish Your Inner Critic with Kindness

When I first started doing guided imagery and guided meditations in my private practice, I would always begin by asking my patients to let go of any expectations they might have and approach the experience without judgement or criticism. I can hear my voice now as I write this … I have asked patients to “let go of criticism and…
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Make a Date with Yourself in 2016

Make a Date with Yourself in 2016

My calendar is getting full.  Every January when I get back from the holidays, I buy a new datebook ... a new datebook for the new year.  I keep track of the kids’ school days and their days off, their weekly classes and play dates, and birthdays and birthday parties.  I jot down the daily pick ups and drop offs of my kids at school.  I schedule doctor and dentist appointments,…
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Holidays and Stress: The Gift of the Present Moment

Holidays and Stress: The Gift of the Present Moment

For many of us the holidays hold such wonderful memories, such great expectations and a lot of responsibilities.  We have cookies to bake, cards to write, envelops to address, presents to buy or make, gifts to wrap, decorations to put up, parties to go to … much of which is joyful and some of which is stressful.  Even this time…
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Zen and the Art of Laundry

Zen and the Art of Laundry

If I write a book in my lifetime, it may very well have this title.  While speaking to a group of moms last month, the topic of doing laundry came up.  Oddly enough, laundry comes up a lot in my group discussions with parents.  When you think about it, maybe it’s not so odd that laundry is a hot topic…
read more →
Taking Care of Ourselves While Taking Care of Others

Taking Care of Ourselves While Taking Care of Others

I recently talked to a great group of moms about the challenges and rewards of taking care of ourselves while caring for our children.  Many of us are living the role of caretaker.  We care for families, children, partners, elderly parents, patients, clients, pets, and more.  We accept the role because we are needed and because we can help.  We…
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A Busy Mom’s Guide to Eating Well: Step Two

A Busy Mom’s Guide to Eating Well: Step Two

Step Two: Avoid eating meals that consist solely of refined carbohydrates, and understand the importance of including protein and fiber in our meals. Sugar and carbohydrates are plentiful in our meals and snacks. If we eat the foods that make up our Standard American Breakfast (like bagels, muffins, pancakes, toast, and waffles), we are eating pure carbs. When we snack on…
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Make Yourself One Promise over the Next Six Weeks

Make Yourself One Promise over the Next Six Weeks

For many of us the holidays hold such wonderful memories, such great expectations and a lot of responsibilities.  We have meals to prepare, cookies to bake, cards to write, envelops to address, presents to buy or make, gifts to wrap, decorations to put up, parties to go to … much of which is joyful and some of which is stressful. …
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Surviving Sleep Deprivation

Surviving Sleep Deprivation

Writing a blog post about surviving sleep deprivation is one part real strategies and solutions and one part pep talk.  Whether we are up at night feeding a growing and hungry baby, negotiating the transition from a crib to a big-kid bed, or caring for a sick toddler, we have to dig deep — dig deep within ourselves for the…
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Feel Free to Feel

Feel Free to Feel

I’d rather feel silly, excited or glad, Than cranky or grumpy, discouraged or sad. But moods are just something that happen each day, Whatever I’m feeling inside is okay! -Jamie Lee Curtis My mom gave my daughter a book a few years back called Today I Feel Silly & Other Moods that Make my Day.  When I read it to her, I'm reminded how much I…
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The Mom of Three who Stopped for a Coffee

The Mom of Three who Stopped for a Coffee

My husband and I took our children to soccer practice last weekend. The town we live in offers a youth soccer club for children of all ages.  Our four-year-old son’s practice starts at 8am on Saturday mornings, and our six-year-old daughter’s practice starts at 8:30.  The temperature outside that morning was in the 30’s, and there was a thin layer…
read more →
Take a Breath – The Key to Our Survival and Sanity

Take a Breath – The Key to Our Survival and Sanity

In physiology, we learn that breath is the vital exchange of gases. It is a sign of life. In yoga, breath is Prana or our vital force moving through our bodies. In mindfulness meditation, breath is used as a tool to stay in the present and as an object of focus or concentration. For moms, breath is not only vital…
read more →
Grieving Our Former Lives

Grieving Our Former Lives

Do you miss certain things about your life before kids? Do you miss the freedom you had before kids? Are you ever frustrated with, overwhelmed by or resentful about your new responsibilities and pressures as a mom? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, I want to give you permission to grieve your former life.  I believe…
read more →
Could Friendly Bacteria be a Mom’s Best Friend?

Could Friendly Bacteria be a Mom’s Best Friend?

If you haven’t noticed yet I talk a lot about the mom’s struggle to find the time and energy to take care of herself. While it can be a challenge to eat well and exercise regularly, moms are also often plagued with health concerns like poor digestion, hormone imbalance, anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances, to name just a few. What if…
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Embracing the Mess and Enjoying the Ride of Motherhood

Embracing the Mess and Enjoying the Ride of Motherhood

I consider myself a recovering perfectionist. When I was a student, I put enormous pressure on myself to excel, and I would settle for nothing short of an A. As a physician, I prided myself on establishing strong relationships with patients, returning their calls immediately, and going the extra mile. In my personal life, my home was super-organized and everything…
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Welcome to The Mommy Tune-Up

Welcome to The Mommy Tune-Up

Welcome to The Mommy Tune-up, a new blog solely devoted to the busy mom’s pursuit of sanity and good health! Becoming a mom has been, by far, the most wonderful and most overwhelming adventure of my life. I am a naturopathic physician whose passion has always been to help others, as well as myself, lead the healthiest lives we are…
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