Healthy Habits: Overall Health and Balance

Leanne Jacobs is a certified clinical nutritionist and Pilates and yoga instructor, MBA, Holistic Wealth expert, and author of the upcoming Beautiful Money (Penguin Random House, January 2017). I had a chance to interview her about health and balance in a variety of areas.

QUESTIONS:

1. As a nutritionist and a yoga and pilates instructor, you definitely know about healthy balance. What are some ways that parents can help stay balanced with competing needs of family members?

At the core of everything, I think it is a personal philosophy shift. When we fully and deeply embrace that we must take care of ourselves first and ensure we are vibrantly fuelled with life force energy, our universe changes. I find

The biggest challenge for moms is feeling guilty when they put themselves first. Guilt is a toxic emotion and does nothing but weigh us down with emotional fat and clutter. I am a big believer that our roles as moms is to show our children how to vibrantly walk though life. We must shift from telling our children to showing our children when it comes to evolving into brilliant human beings. When we put ourselves first as moms (obviously to the best of our ability), our children feel our connection. A simple rule of thumb I have is that when I have a spare hour or two, I prioritize 1)Be 2)Do 3)have. This is a simple method that reminds me that being at my best for my children is always the priority. As a new mom, Sleep is top priority followed by movement (a run, a walk or yoga). I am also making daily meditation more of a priority in my life. Life absolutely flows better with meditation.

2. What are some healthy living tips that you can share for families?

Sleep! I used to prioritize fitness over everything else in my life- until I crashed. Adrenal fatigue got the best of me. When we are sleep deprived, our bodies are out of alignment and all the exercise in the world isn’t going to reconnect us to ourselves. Clear thinking and emotional wellness requires sleep. Today, I prioritize sleep over fitness. Ideally, I get them both in daily but if I have to choose- I choose sleep! Juicing is also a part of my daily life. I juice daily and my children have been juicing since they were a year old. They may not always get excited for their juice but I find introducing it early helps them intuitively connect with cellular health. Health is the absolute #1 core value for our family. We aren’t extreme as parents but we do prioritize clean eating, water and juicing. As a family, we are aligned. Alignment doesn’t happen over night but if you stay focused on your highest vision for yourself and your family- you will get there! My husband and I are also really good at giving each other time to take care of ourselves. When I need a few hours to take care of myself or get in some personal time, he is my greatest supporter. I am the one who makes my journey more difficult than it has to be at times- when I forget to ask for help.

3. Part of having a healthy family is being financially healthy. How can families keep their finances strong?

Make Money an open conversation in your household. Avoiding talking about money makes it a topic that becomes uncomfortable. As parents, we want to empower our children to step into their leadership and confidence around money from a young age. Be mindful of the language you use around money. Keep language positive, empowering and abundant (especially around your children). Remember that kids who hear ‘we can’t afford it’ or ‘there isn’t enough money’ often repeat these money patterns as adults.

Empower your kids to manage their money. Bring your kids to the bank and teach your kids to make money transactions as young as possible. Empower them to lead in the area of finances so they are empowered to make solid money decisions. Taking care of everything for children can often lead to them not being able to make decisions for themselves and getting into significant debt when they hit the university years. Read books on money together and make learning about finances a family affair.

Have a ‘save more than you spend’ philosophy for your family. As early as possible (4 is a great age to start), start teaching your kids the value of money and how to respect money. Teach them to save half of everything they receive. Teach to respect what they get in exchange for money but also what they will give in exchange for the money they receive.