It’s a privilege and honor for me to introduce to you today my friend Brittany Musser of Natural Wellness Mama. Brittany and I, though we’d mostly lost contact in recent years, go way back…we were two of about ten baby girls born during the space of about eight months within the church our families were a part of at the time. (As you can imagine, this made for some pretty epic birthday parties when we were little tots.) Fast forward nearly a quarter-century, and here we are starting our own families. Brittany has been an inspiration to me over the last year or so especially as I’ve followed her health & wellness journey, particularly with the Trim Healthy Mama eating plan and the growing Plexus trend. And since health and wellness are NOT my areas of expertise, but something I believe we’d all do well to pay more attention to, I’ve asked Brittany to share her story here today. I’ll let her take it from here!
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Life takes on a whole new meaning when you become a mother. You are responsible for this new little life that demands your constant attention and care. All your time is dedicated to the wellbeing of your child, and things get put on the back burner…and often times, they tend to be important things. Important things take time, dedication, determination, and energy. And those are exactly the things that I lacked as a new mom and I didn’t have any extra to spare. It felt like all my time and energy was being put into this new role of being a mom and I was VERY determined to be the best mom I could be. Motherhood is one of God’s greatest blessings, but the struggle is real. Motherhood is HARD. And in the midst of all the chaos there are many important things that can be put to the wayside, but one in particular is your health.
I found this out first hand in the weeks and months after giving birth. I knew I should be eating healthy and taking my vitamins to nourish myself and my baby, but cooking healthy takes a lot more time and preparation and energy, and taking my vitamins seemed to be the last thing on my mind when all I wanted to do was sleep. I quickly realized taking care of my health became much more of a challenge since becoming a mother. I would make excuses and tell myself that I am in a season of my life where it is next to impossible to take care of my health. But, we can NOT rely on our own strength or it may very well be next to impossible. Ask God to give you the desire to take care of your health and to walk with you on the journey. Your body is God’s temple, so let’s make taking care of His temple a top priority.
I have also learned that I owe it to my husband and my children to take care of myself. Our children deserve healthy, energetic mamas! We as mothers are not doing our families any favors by neglecting our health. Instead of using our children as an excuse for not having time and energy to take care of ourselves, let’s use them as our motivation! I like how Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison say it in their first book, Trim Healthy Mama:
Our body is not only our own. You are your husband’s investment and your children’s role model. Attaining a healthy weight and learning the art of maintaining that weight is not only a gift to yourself, but is one you keep giving your husband and children throughout the years.
I believe we can take this statement and apply it to general overall health and wellbeing. Maintaining our health and vitality is not only a gift to ourselves, but to our families and to God as well. Since becoming a mother and going through some struggles myself, helping mothers recover and maintain their health is a new found passion of mine and I would like to share with you a few of my favorite tools that I use every day.
Two years ago my mom gave me the book Trim Healthy Mama as an early Christmas gift. I was VERY skeptical at first, and thought it was just another unhealthy diet that promoted the use of toxin-laden diet foods. Yuck. But, it actually turned out to be one of the best gifts I was ever given and changed the way I look at food, and is hands-down my favorite tool for maintaining my health. I love how it is written from a Christian perspective, and chock-full of information. I am by nature a researcher, so I LOVE to read informative books, however long they may be.
The “THM” way of eating is a family-friendly lifestyle change that was designed to optimize your health while keeping your sanity, which is especially important for all us mothers out there. It is low glycemic, protein-centered, and focuses on the importance of not spiking your blood sugar. Being gentle to your blood sugar is a must if you want to lose weight and is vital to your overall wellbeing. Too much insulin has an inflammatory effect on the body, and when you don’t have enough, your body’s cells begin to starve. A little bit of knowledge on how blood sugar reacts to different foods will make a huge difference in the way we look at “eating healthy.” Even healthy food can be dangerous to our insulin levels.
In addition to the THM plan, I also supplement. To quote Pearl and Serene again:
It would be nice to say that a whole foods diet can give you all the vitamins and minerals you need, but this is the real world. Let’s face it, we need a few extras to keep our bodies protected and running at optimum.
For this reason, ever since I began my THM journey, I have tried my best at keeping a supplementation routine as described in the book. I am so thrilled I came across Plexus products, because they work hand-in-hand with THM! Especially because it helps stabilize your blood sugar. This is my second favorite tool! My supplement routine has been greatly simplified, but at the same time, I feel like it’s more complete and effective. I was super skeptical when I first heard of Plexus. All I heard about was the “pink drink,” which I just assumed was full of junk. But I didn’t realize Plexus is a complete health and wellness company with numerous supplements and vitamins, and even a probiotic. So after researching the ingredients and discovering how nourishing they are for the body, I decided to give Plexus a try.
At the time, I was also dealing with severe fatigue, yeast, and hormonal issues after having my baby. But after the blues and fatigue didn’t improve much even after my daughter was sleeping through the night and I was six months postpartum, I knew I needed to do something about it. A lot of people might say that is normal after having a baby, which is true to an extent. But just because something is deemed normal, does not mean that’s the way it’s supposed to be and that we just have to live with it.
I am happy to report that my health has greatly improved since starting Plexus supplements six months ago. The Slim has given me energy, cleared the brain fog and also boosted my milk supply for my still-nursing little girl. Our yeast issues have been resolved thanks to the probiotic, and to my delight, my eyesight has noticeably improved after adding in the XFactor as my multivitamin. All this combined with eating the Trim Healthy Mama way, and I have never felt better. Health is really such a blessing.
Trim Healthy Mama is not just for crunchy mamas and health fanatics, and Plexus is not just for people with health issues or weight to loose. Both are beneficial to people from all different walks of life to help us maintain our health and vitality! So let’s encourage each other to make healthy choices for ourselves and our families, and to allow ourselves grace on the journey.
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You can get in touch with Brittany on her Facebook page or on Instagram (@thenaturalwellnessmama).
Have questions we could all benefit from hearing the answers to? Ask away in the comment section below! Did you enjoy this post? Let us know! I’m hoping this won’t be the last we’ll hear from Brittany here at The Realization of Good. Until next time…best wishes for your pursuit of health + wellness! ❤
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