2025 Mid-Summer Reflections

A Nod to Gentle Nutrition

Jul 17, 2025

I used to get nine hours of sleep a night. Before I had kids.

I remember those days so clearly. Freshly married just before I turned 23. Living in a small 2-bedroom townhouse. I had graduated with a ministry degree, and I put my degree to good use volunteering to lead the children’s ministry at the small church plant that we attended. For the most part I was happy to be a homemaker.

My internal alarm clock would wake me up at 7:30 a.m. Well rested, I would begin my day. I would wash, dry, fold, AND put away the laundry. Keep the kitchen spotless and vacuum the floors. I would meal plan and grocery shop at four or five different stores to get the best deals. I’d get my workout in and track my food for the day. Dinner would be ready when my husband got home from work. We’d do puzzles or play board games. And we’d be asleep by 10:30 p.m.

It’s wild to reflect back on that season of life that feels like three lifetimes ago. How blissful. How naive I was!

Much has changed in 15 years. We live in a new house. We have two kids and two dogs. Ministry looks like leading women toward freedom. And I no longer have the luxury of getting 9 hours of sleep each night.

This week my husband is on a business trip. It’s also our first “normal” week of summer. Bible camp and theater camp are now just memories, and I have the joy and challenge of being the memory maker for my kids for the rest of the summer. Unfortunately, “end of March Emily” didn’t know that “July Emily” was going to be solo parenting this week when she signed her youngest up for swimming lessons. All March Emily knew was that it made sense to sign him up for the 8:15-8:45 a.m. class so that it didn’t interfere with 9 a.m. theater camp drop-off on the one week the two overlapped.

8:15 a.m. swimming lessons. What was I thinking?!

I had a solid plan Monday morning. I would get up and make myself breakfast, wake up the boy and shower while he was getting dressed, eating breakfast, and getting ready for his day. We’d leave on time and get there on time and then we’d move on with the rest of our day.

“Best laid plans.” I don’t know what the rest of that saying is, but it definitely applies here.

No sooner did I get out of bed than I remembered that I have dogs … and with my husband being out of town, I was solely responsible for them as long as my kids were still sleeping. Our little dog is almost 15. She moves slowly. She can’t hear. And if you don’t tend to her carefully, she has no issue peeing in the house.

I got the dogs sorted and then realized that I was going to need to wake my son up and get in the shower immediately if we were going to make it to swimming lessons on time. Thankfully, we made it – barely.

Today is Wednesday.

I woke up tired.

We had plans to go to a friend’s house to swim after swimming lessons so all three of us needed to be up and ready to go a little before 8 a.m.

My daughter set her alarm for 7 a.m. and the kids had a list of things they needed to do to be ready to go. (I love that 11 & 13-year-olds can be fairly independent!)

I said good morning to my sleepy babes as they stumbled into the dining room as I passed them to let the dogs out. I showered, got ready for my day, and grabbed the few things I was needing to take with me – a snack, lunch, my water bottle, breakfast.

Breakfast. These mornings have been so crazy and so early for a summer morning that I haven’t even had time to make myself coffee in the morning. No wonder I’m so tired!!

Breakfast has been a mishmash of random things but recently I’ve been enjoying a bagel and a banana with peanut butter and mini chocolate chips. With my time crunch this morning, I threw two bagel thins in the toaster, slapped some cream cheese on those puppies, and headed out the door.

As I was driving to swimming lessons, I remembered these goals that I had set for myself this summer:

Put on my bathing suit and have fun with my kids without thinking twice about it
Add a fruit or vegetable to every meal
Prioritize water

I was missing fruit or a vegetable. For breakfast and lunch.

One of the key components to Intuitive Eating Principle #10 – Gentle Nutrition is nutrition by addition. Keeping fruits and vegetables in the front of my mind at each meal helps to add important nutrients to my overall diet. No strict rules — just a good, flexible goal to work towards.

However, today I was not coming anywhere close to meeting my goal!!

As I was driving, and thinking, I reflected on how past Emily would have been so stressed out and frustrated about forgetting to grab a banana or something simple to eat with breakfast. We have multiple beautifully ripe bananas sitting on our counter at home. Instead of getting too down on myself, I resolved to turn those bananas into banana bread when they turn brown if they don’t get eaten soon enough.

And then I remembered that after I dropped my son off at swimming lessons, my daughter and I were going to head to the store to get a few things to take to our friend’s house. I sent my daughter in with the list and at the bottom of the list we added “one banana.”

It can be easy to forget that one meal or even one day doesn’t really make that much of a difference to your health overall. It’s the cumulation of what you eat overtime that matters. Without even thinking much about it, I ate fruit salad and vegetable soup for dinner. I more than made up for the missing component of my lunch!

What health or fitness related goals have you set for yourself this summer?

How are you doing with them?

What helps you to keep going when you don’t quite reach your goals?

I’d love to hear from you!!

IE with Emily

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