Anushka Sharma’s Nutritionist Shares a Diet for Working Mothers

It may seem like an extremely difficult job to grow a career as well as kids, but working mothers seem to have superpowers to breeze through it effortlessly and make it look so easy. However, Juggling both household responsibilities and work leads to an extremely busy lifestyle leaving no room for mother’s to look after themselves let alone follow a healthy diet. A survey by the Working Mother Research Institute says that 44 percent of working mothers do not get the time to sit down and eat. Shocking statistics reveal that the average working mom only spends about 3 minutes and 15 seconds eating breakfast and often eats it standing up. Ryan Fernando, celebrity nutritionist and founder QUA Nutrition, says, “Mothers often put the kids and family’s meals habits before their own, which leads to patterns like  eating after the whole family has eaten, often compromising on leftovers or too small meals for the work they do throughout the day. The incidences of obesity, CVD, PCOS and other non-communicable diseases are on a rise in working professionals and you don’t want to find yourself at the receiving end of it when it comes knocking on your door.” He shares dietary tips for working mothers to invest in a healthier self-care because a mother’s dietary choices can highly impact the kids and family’s eating habits.  

1. Form a plan of action. Pick a time, like Sunday afternoon, to sit down and plan out the week's meals and grocery lists. It sounds like a simple thing, and it is. Make time to plan and do it consistently so you get in the habit.

2. Prepare easy to cook and pack meals for effective time management, work with easy tasty nutritious recipes. For example – vegetable pulaos, vegetable parathas/cheelas/ salads 

3. Go seasonal and local for rotational intake of macros and essential vitamins & minerals,  and at the same time adding variety from all food groups to your diet and also your families 

4. Keep a go to  healthy snack in your work bag like cut fruits, nuts & seeds, carrot cucumber sticks, roasted chanas to avoid reaching out for that packet of biscuits or chips from the canteen or vending machine 

5. Set reminders or meal timing alarms to get into the habit of eating on time, there are apps which enable you to track your meals and follow a meal routine, get tech savy and creative to make it fun! 

6. Do Not skip meals, Do not eat in a rush, always sit and eat, chew your food thoroughly for optimum nutrient utilisation by your body. 

7. Include more fibre in diet in form of fruits and vegetable salads for good gut health, digestion which may also help in controlling your mood and energy levels as it positively influences the gut microbes and in turn the gut- brain axis. 

8. Refrain from giving into your cravings  or indulges like ordering from outside, eat from the food stall outside office.

9. If it is an option subscribe to a healthy meal/ tiffin delivery service – rather spend few extra bucks making right food choices than impulse ordering junk from food delivery apps.

Always remember these tips will help you maintain healthy eating habits in the long run. Mothers are the underrated superhero’s we all need and they need to eat right to sustain and effortlessly balance professional and personal challenges.