Anna Chernavina

annachernavdev

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Supporting Loved Ones on Their Health Journey

Most people get so excited when they find something that works for them that they immediately want to share it with people they love and care about. We’ve all been there – the joy of discovering something beneficial, whether for health or personal growth, makes us eager to help our loved ones. However, the reality is that our good intentions are often met with defensiveness and rejection, leaving everyone frustrated.

So why is that this way and how can we do better?

First, let’s talk about the process of change.  Change involves way more steps than just action steps. Acknowledging this reshapes our understanding of progress in the change process.

Let’s look at different stages.

Pre-contemplation: A person is not ready to change yet. They might feel the change is not necessary or they might see it as unachievable.

Contemplation: A person wants to make a change, but the cons of making the change outweigh the pros leading to ambivalence. 

Preparation: During that stage, the pros of change outweigh the cons. People are ready to take action and begin creating a plan.

Action: People in this stage are implementing the change, but have not engaged in a new behavior for an extended period yet.

Maintenance: People are engaged in new behavior over an extended period.

Relapse can happen at any moment during the process of change. People make certain steps toward change, but something gets in the way and setbacks happen. It’s important to adopt a curious mind at that stage and not take it as a failure, but as a learning opportunity and get curious about ways to proceed with the change when things get in the way.

If you find yourself at a place where you want to share the tools or the insights you found helpful, consider where they might be in their journey. Clarify the role you wish to take on – whether as a coach, advisor or simply a supportive family member. Sometimes the most we can do is just to accept, create a safe and loving space for the people we love, and be the support that they need. If you believe you can assist in implementing change without jeopardizing your relationship, be mindful of the change process. Your help may range from being a good listener to being an accountability partner or sharing your helpful insights. 

Remember, change is a process, and progress involves navigating through the various stages with understanding and patience.

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My child won’t eat that

Often, parents are concerned that their child may not eat “healthy”, because they have specific food preferences and refuse to eat anything else. It’s important to empathize with your child’s preferences and meet them where they are. What if instead of changing the variety of food your child eats, you start by changing the quality of what they already enjoy?

For instance, let’s consider a scenario where your child only eats rice, chicken nuggets, carrots, and banana bread. You can explore ways to make those options as healthy as possible. First and foremost, preparing these foods at home gives you control over the ingredients, ensuring that you know exactly what goes into them. Even if you decide to follow a regular banana bread recipe, it will likely be better than the store-bought version as you can avoid adding preservatives, artificial colors, and flavors. Additionally, you can regulate the amount of sugar you include. You can also go further and look for a healthier banana bread recipe if you’d like. 

Let’s take rice as an example. How can we ensure it’s as nutritious as possible? Consider purchasing organic sprouted rice if your budget allows. You can also soak the rice yourself, which reduces the amount of phytic acid. Phytic acid binds minerals and has an antinutritional effect. For soaking instructions specific to each grain, you can refer to the Weston Price website. When cooking rice, use bone broth or a mixture of water and bone broth to enhance its nutritional value. If bone broth isn’t available or you’re short on time, consider adding grass-fed ghee butter. This way, your child not only has rice but also receives the nutrients present in bone broth or ghee butter. By focusing on the quality of the food without drastically changing their preferences, you can make positive changes.

Meeting kids where they are and searching for solutions they are willing to accept will make your task much easier and more enjoyable. Try to find ways to learn with them, be creative and curious together and you might find a partner who enjoys this journey.

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Finding Joy When Plans Go Astray

Life has a way of throwing curveballs, and it’s not always easy to stay joyful when our plans get derailed. Imagine this: you were excited about a weekend biking adventure with your family, but suddenly the weather forecast turns gloomy. Disappointing, right?

But here’s an empowering thought: pause and ask yourself, what’s the true value behind your plan? Perhaps it’s the desire to spend time with your family and create new memories together. When you shift your focus, you’ll see that you are no longer attached to that plan and there are other ways to fulfill that desire for a memorable time together. Explore alternatives, and embrace the unexpected and that’s where the joy will happen.

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Screen time for kids

We want to keep our kids away from screens, but why is that important?

Once kids are introduced to the screens, they want more and more of it, which can have detrimental effects such as missed opportunities for outdoor play, hand-eye coordination activities, and movement. Such activities are essential for the development of vision, which is not just about eyesight, but also a complex brain function that helps us process and derive meaning from what we see.

Excessive screen time may also lead to myopia at a young age and delay in speech and language development. Furthermore, it impacts the relationships that we have with our children, depriving us of bonding time that is crucial for building strong attachments. Additionally, screen time may impair the development of empathy.

Spending time in nature, with animals, reading books, listening to stories, and imagining what they would do if they were a character from that story, that’s what helps kids develop empathy. 

Many parents may feel that taking screens away means they will have to entertain their children non-stop. It’s partially true since kids will want more of our attention, but it doesn’t mean we need to dance, crack jokes and build lego all day long so they don’t get bored. Make them part of your life and the things you do. Depending on your child’s age you can cook together, clean the house, do gardening, fix broken chairs, etc. You would have to lower your expectations though. For example, cooking with a 6-year-old sometimes means that he is going to mix spices with water and soap or decorate the table with stones and flowers he found on the way home or make eggs with spirulina because he wants them green. Some days he happily cuts veggies and makes a dressing, but it’s not always like that and that’s ok. It gives him so much more: he gets to have experience in the kitchen, experiment with different flavors, and express creativity! And as a side effect, he loves the food he was making even more! It also fosters bonding time between parent and child, which ultimately strengthens their relationship.

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Healthy food 101

We want to feed our kids the healthiest food possible, but life gets busy and sometimes we do need to buy packaged snacks. What are the healthiest options you can find there? First I would like to provide you with a simple guide on how you can navigate those ingredients and find the best available options in the store. Second, I will provide you with a list of my favorite options. If you don’t have time to dive into the ingredients guide you can just go directly to the second part.

Ingredients guide

Always look at the ingredients list first, not at the nutritional value only. The shorter the list of ingredients the better.

What if the list of ingredients is long and I don’t know what half of those names are? The simplest way to choose the best ingredients is to look for the list of ingredients where you know every single item on the list and would also buy it yourself. Let’s see what it might look like:

Almond Milk #1

water, almond and salt

Almond Milk #2

almond milk, calcium carbonate, natural flavors, sea salt, potassium citrate, sunflower lecithine, gellan gum, vitamin D2

When you look at Almond Milk #1 you know what every single thing on the list is, right? So that would be on your best choice list. Almond Milk #2 ingredient list has way more ingredients and it’s unlikely you have them in your pantry, so that product might not be the first one to choose.

To put it simply, all the names that sound like chemicals most likely are chemicals and you don’t want to have them there.

And now it gets tricky, there might be ingredients on the list that look familiar and friendly, but you might want to limit or avoid them if possible and make them your second choice option if no other options are available.

  • Sugar. Sugar makes products sweet, but provides zero nutritional value and is a source of simple carbohydrates that spike our blood glucose levels.
  • Industrial seed oil (canola oil, rapeseed oil, cottonseed oil, corn oil, vegetable oil, soybean oil and etc) is rich in Omega -6 and pro-inflammatory. It’s better to opt out for ghee butter, coconut oil, olive oil, and avocado oil.
  • Citric acid. Manufactured citric acid is often produced from a type of mold and can cause allergies or side effects. It’s better to use lemon/lime juice for a natural course of citric acid.
  • Natural sweeteners (maple syrup, honey, coconut sugar, stevia). They are fine to use occasionally as an alternative to refined sugar, but you would still need to watch the amount you consume. Although I prefer to use as little sweeteners as possible to not develop a sweet tooth in the first place.
  • Artificial sweeteners (aspartame, saccharin, cyclamate and etc.). There is not enough research to confirm its safety.
  • Natural flavors, natural sweeteners and etc. Even though it doesn’t sound harmful, what concerning is that the manufacturer chose to not disclose what that really is and I prefer to avoid that if possible.

What you can buy in the store

I hope it didn’t get too overwhelming and in case it did, I would like to provide you with the list of options you can find in the store to make this process a little bit easier for you. Please, note that the products might not be available in all the states or stores. You will also find there an ingredient list so you have an idea of what ingredients to look for in case you don’t have the same product in your store.

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Prioritize yourself

You had a child and fully dedicated yourself to taking care of this new life and your family. Your child has become your first priority, and you had to prioritize their routine over your sleep, career, and sometimes even taking care of yourself. It felt necessary, it was a hard yet happy time, and you wouldn’t change a thing about it. However, now it feels like the right time to start making some changes.

Maybe it’s going back to work or your pre-baby routine, but what if “I can’t perform at the same level as before?”, “What if my child gets sick, and I have to miss a workday?”, “I want to go to the gym twice a week, but I also need to be with my child”. It all feels so overwhelming!

We often put ourselves in the backseat to ensure that our family and children thrive, to make sure they have everything they need. But what do they need the most? They need their parent, who is happy, healthy, and energetic, to take care of them and be there for them when they need it most. Taking care of ourselves does not mean putting our child’s needs behind; it means making sure we can be there for them as long as we possibly can and be the kind of parent we always wanted to be. It doesn’t mean that there will be no sacrifices, but it’s about finding the right balance that allows us to care for ourselves and our family with the same amount of love.

I invite you to take a deep breath, close your eyes, and think about what would make you happy, fulfilled, energetic, and healthy. What would you like to bring into your life that would allow you to renew your energy, make your eyes sparkle, and bring a smile to your face? What kind of parent and partner do you want to be?