Your Health Counts Too: Simple Nutrition for Busy Parents

Written by Helen Shah MRPharmS ANutr

Being a parent is hard work. It’s an all-consuming role that rarely comes with much time off. We focus on how to support our children in the best way we can, and it’s easy to forget that our own health and well-being are just as important.

As parents, we are the scaffolding that holds our family up – if we don’t care for ourselves, that scaffolding can start to wobble. We might struggle to have the energy to play with our children, find concentrating at work difficult, or start to feel mentally overwhelmed. Prioritising our own well-being may feel selfish – but in reality, it’s essential.

As a nutritionist, I regularly see clients who are juggling parenting, work, elderly parents and other responsibilities. They often grab food on the go, skip meals or survive on snacks and caffeine.

Good, balanced nutrition is essential to provide your body and mind with a stable supply of energy over the day, keeping you energised and mentally alert, as well as giving your body the building blocks it needs for your immunity, hormone health, mental health, and so much more!

If you’re finding it difficult to manage your nutrition, you’re not alone. In the UK, only 17% of adults get their 5-a-day of fruit and vegetables, and only 4% eat enough fibre. I want to share a really simple technique you can use to get closer to these targets and help you nourish and fuel your body.

The Balanced Plate Method

I call this The Balanced Plate Method. It’s a really simple visual technique to allow you to balance your plate of food to ensure it contains the right proportion of macronutrients – Carbohydrates, Protein and Fat, along with the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables needed to provide the micronutrients – vitamins, minerals, etc. your body needs

We should be aiming for roughly:

Half a plate of fruit and vegetables

A quarter of our plate of starchy foods (carbohydrates)

Quarter of our plate protein

Small amount of healthy fats

This method is something to aim for, not a hard and fast rule, and it doesn’t mean having to change what you eat totally.

Simple nutrition for busy parents: How it works

Sit down for a meal – have a look and notice the proportions.

Does something need to be reduced or increased to get to a balanced plate e.g. reduce the pasta portion size and increase the vegetables?

Is there a simple addition you can make to boost the nutrition, e.g. another handful of frozen vegetables or making sure there is a protein source, such as chicken, chickpeas or tofu, on your plate for each meal?

Below are some ideas of how you can include these foods on your plate.

Protein Aim for lean proteins	Carbohydrates Aim for wholegrains	Healthy Fats	Fruits and Vegetables
Chicken, Fish, Tofu, Beans, Pulses & Lentils, Eggs, Greek Yoghurt, Soya, Protein, Edamame and Baked Beans	Pasta Rice Bread Potatoes Bulgur wheat Quinoa	Nuts Seeds Olive, Rapeseed Oil Avocado Oily fish (also counts as protein)	Any fruit or vegetable counts here as long as it’s not juiced. Fresh, frozen and Tinned all count

As well as providing the nutrients you need, balancing your plate has other benefits:

It slows digestion, keeping you feeling fuller for longer – which reduces snacking, making it easier to maintain a healthy weight.

It allows the energy from the food you eat to slowly enter your blood, keeping your blood sugar in the ideal zone. This prevents large peaks and dips that can cause hunger, cravings, brain fog, irritability, and a lack of energy.

Healthy Snacks

The same principle applies to snacks – this is important, as, in the UK, snacks contribute almost 25% of our daily energy intake and are often high in sugar and low in fibre.

High-sugar, low-fibre snacks like sweets and biscuits can initially spike our blood sugar, making us feel a bit more energised and boosting our mood. However, this effect is short-lived. As our blood sugar rapidly dips after the peak, we can feel tired, lethargic, and find it harder to concentrate.

We also begin to crave more sugary foods to boost us out of the dip, creating a cycle of snacking.

Good hydration

The final part of this method is good hydration, especially if you’re increasing your intake of fruit, vegetables and fibre to help keep your bowels moving.

Our body is over 50% water, and it is involved in many body processes. Did you know, by the time you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated? This can affect our energy levels, concentration and mood.

All non-alcoholic drinks count towards your hydration. Aim for 6-8 cups or glasses of fluid a day, plus more if you are unwell, exercising or in hot weather.

Finally, making these changes benefits the whole family. Research shows that dietary habits in childhood are carried through into adulthood, so by making these changes, you’re helping your children build healthful habits themselves and carry them forward into their own lives.

If you would like to know more about this and other nutrition topics in a simple, easy-to-understand way, follow me on Instagram, Facebook, visit The Pharmacist Nutritionist website or sign up for my newsletter for nutrition tips direct to your inbox.