86 // Finding What Works Amidst the Overwhelm
Three things to think about as Muffin Club comes to an end
Since Muffin Club started nearly six weeks ago, we've talked about how it really is a microcosm for more important things than just muffin recipes, like:
Habit stacking
Setting up systems in your home that help simplify mealtimes
Creating sustainable habits so that the never-ending task of feeding your family doesn't feel quite so exhausting
Learning how to develop the necessary skills so that you have the muscle it takes to continue to feed your family from a position of a really healthy relationship with food
Considering what a good support system looks like in our digital, access to everything world
So, as we wrap up this season's worth of healthy snack ideas for kids (in the form of muffins), I want you to think through the three questions covered in this conversation. Each will lend insight to what about Muffin Club worked for your family, made feeding feel easier, and gave you a springboard for healthy habits at the start of the New Year.
SHOWNOTES:
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Full Episode Transcription
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[00:00:00] Since Muffin Club started six weeks ago, we've talked about how it really is a microcosm for more important things than just muffin recipes. Things like habit stacking and setting up systems in your home that help simplify mealtimes, creating sustainable habits so that the. Never ending task of feeding your family doesn't feel quite so exhausting.
[00:00:22] And also learning how to develop the necessary skills so that you have the muscle it takes to continue to feed your family from a position of a really healthy relationship with food. Also, we talked about on Monday. What good support system looks like. You know, while I'm excited and thankful that so many of you have loved the support that Muffin Club offers of showing up in your inbox each week, and that you all have entrusted me with this opportunity to support you in a way of sending you a weekly recipe, I also want you to see how it really is.
[00:00:57] Muffin Club really is a microcosm for having that support where it's. Getting everything all at once or trying to piecemeal it all together. So much so that we feel overwhelmed, but instead we recognize that more is not always better, but instead finding. All of this in one really can help us to take those next steps to having a healthier feeding foundation for our family.
[00:01:26] Hey Mama, I'm Ashley and welcome to the Veggies and Virtue Podcast. In this podcast, you'll find simple menu ideas, kitchen organizational systems spelled out for mom life, and feeding tips and tricks that are both evidence-based in grace. I believe that you can find flexibility when it comes to feeding your family so that you can feel calm, capable, and connected in the kitchen.
[00:01:44] As a registered dietician and Christian mom of three myself, I want you to break free from the mealtime battles and to feel equipped while feeding your kids all day long. Pull up a stool at my kitchen counter and let me pour you a cup of coffee and say a quick prayer for you. It's time to chat about the meal times, messes moments, and ministry of motherhood.
[00:02:06] This Friday, the sixth and Final Muffin Club recipe goes out, hits all your inboxes, and I'm excited for you guys to get to finish out this series. However, I know as we get into the official holiday season with Christmas and then New Year's and maybe vision planning for 2020, . I know that there's kind of this mixed emotion because I hear from moms every time I run Muffin Club that they wish it wouldn't end, that they just want it to continue indefinitely, and I would love to have the bandwidth to do that kind of thing always and often, or I should say maybe often and always, but what I want you to know does exist for you, especially in the upcoming year, is an opportunity.
[00:02:53] To jump on with something I'm really excited to be launching. I'm gonna be telling you about it on my live workshop on January 11th. So to sign up so that you get a lot of valuable information just in terms of how to meal plan and prep in the new year without having to spend all day Sunday doing anything.
[00:03:14] I want you to be on my live workshop. It's free. It's January 11th, and you can sign up@veggiesandvirtue.com slash. . But one of the things that I'm going to be sharing on the workshop is about this exciting new beta offering that I'm gonna be offering at a discounted price, but also be giving a lot of free access to, to those who want to participate and who are on the call.
[00:03:39] So make sure that you're sign up for the workshop. You'll get all the information. Even if you can't show up live on the 11th, you'll still have access to everything that I share. The tips. From that workshop itself, but also the further information you might be interested in in regards to how to continue with something very similar to Muffin Club in that, how I've already talked about it, you know, every week since Muffin Club started six weeks ago.
[00:04:06] We've talked about how it really is a microcosm for more important things than just muffin recipes. Things like habit stacking and setting up systems in your home that help simplify mealtimes, creating sustainable habits so that the never-ending task of feeding your family. Doesn't feel quite so exhausting, and also learning how to develop the necessary skills so that you have the muscle it takes to continue to feed your family from a position of a really healthy relationship with food.
[00:04:37] Also, we talked about on Monday. What good support system looks like. You know, while I'm excited and thankful that so many of you have loved the support that Muffin Club offers of showing up in your inbox each week, and that you all have entrusted me with this opportunity to support you in a way of sending you a weekly recipe, I also want you to see how it really is.
[00:05:00] Muffin Club really is a microcosm for having that support where it's. Getting everything all at once or trying to piecemeal it all together. So much so that we feel overwhelmed, but instead we recognize that more is not always better, but instead finding all of this in one really can help us to take those next steps to having a healthier feeding foundation for our family.
[00:05:26] And next week we're going to be talking about what is your starting place after Muffin Club ends, which can feel like the end, I really want you to. how Muffin Club can help you create momentum as you get into the new year and help and how you can leverage that as a starting place to really move forward with some of these things that you've already learned through Muffin Club.
[00:05:50] So if you want more information about what you can expect from this free workshop, as well as some of these offers, including that free beta group that I talked about to continue the momentum that you hopefully. Started, even if you've been very inconsistent. If you see the format of Muffin Club and it's been something that's favorable to you, I think you're gonna really want the information that I'm gonna share live on the workshop on January 11th.
[00:06:15] So make sure to sign up@veggiesandvirtue.com slash workshop. In today's episode though, we are going to begin looking ahead a couple weeks to the new year because I think, I don't know if you're someone who already has done 2023 vision planning. I know I spent some time. A few weeks ago doing it for my business in 2023.
[00:06:36] And so obviously with veggies and virtue being my business, there are parallels with my life and I'm gonna share with you guys in a couple weeks what my word for the year is, and you know, kind of some of what this vision planning I feel like is. For me personally and professionally, but something I wanna encourage you to do as Muffin Club comes to an end, is to take a minute to reflect.
[00:06:59] And you might wanna just get out a piece of paper as you hear me talk through this. And if you've done Muffin Club, if not, let Friday's. Sixth and final email be that reminder to you to take a minute and think about what you thought about it. You can always hit reply. I'd love, even if it's just an added layer of accountability for you.
[00:07:19] You can take a minute and type this out in an email. Hit reply and send it over to me. I would love to hear what your thoughts are. And to know what are some of the elements of Muffin Club that was helpful to you. But whether you do that on the email on Friday, or you just choose to do it on the notes tab on your phone right now, I want you to ask yourself three things about Muffin Club that I think will help you to vision, plan, and ultimately to goal set when it comes to what types of things you want to start or continue in the new.
[00:07:53] The first thing is I want you to ask yourself, what did you like about Muffin Club? And I want you to be really specific because this is something I've surveyed my community about each and every time I've done Muffin Club. And again, you can reply to me this year. I'm not gonna send out the official survey this year, but I think if you can ask yourself, what did you like?
[00:08:15] Did you like that you had one new Healthy Stack idea sent to you each. Did you like that? It was one thing? Did you like that it was sent to you each week? Did you like that you saved money because you weren't buying as many package snacks, but instead you were creating a lot of really nourishing snacks with ingredients that you already had on hand?
[00:08:38] Did you like that you knew ways to integrate and include new variety for your family, whether it be at breakfast or with lunches, or as. Through something that was otherwise pretty much the same. Median being a muffin, you know, like wrestle through some of these things and reflect on that because if you can identify what you liked, it will be very straightforward for you to begin to identify what are those systems, those strategies, and the skills that you can continue as Muffin Club ends, and yet the new year begins.
[00:09:14] The second thing I want you to think about, What did you learn? Because there is a learning curve and you know if this is your first time ever doing Muffin Club, I know there's a lot of families who do it each and every time I run it, but if this was your first time doing Muffin Club, you might have begun learning things like what are some healthy swaps in a recipe like a muffin.
[00:09:36] Are there things that you could do to reduce the amount of added sugar in a recipe? And your kids still enjoyed it and ate it. Were there healthy swaps that you became more familiar with, like trying alternative flowers to just white flour, but maybe you began using almond flour or coconut flour or whole wheat flour and you learned about how to do those.
[00:09:56] And in having the recipe that had already been proven as tried and true, you learned how those ingredients worked, how you purchased those ingredients, you know, I know sometimes just the learning curve. , how do I even find these at the grocery store? Or where do I need to buy them? They can overwhelm us before they're even in our home, and especially before they're even included in the rotations of the meals and snacks we offer.
[00:10:18] So maybe it was learning things like those healthy swaps. It could have also been that you learned something new about your child that you didn't know that. , they knew how to crack an egg, or maybe you didn't know that they actually hate the tactile feeling of cracking an egg. I know that's two of my three kids, depending on kind of where they're at in sensory regulation.
[00:10:41] Sometimes cracking an egg is just too much sensory input for them and we've had to learn to kind of adapt that. But maybe this was one of the first times in kind of one of the entries into including your kid in the kitchen and you learned that they really like helping you bake. You may have learned that they really didn't like helping you bake.
[00:10:59] In the observation I mentioned like with the eggs, you may have begun to become more aware of diff. Sensory aspects of your child and to begin to just scratch the surface or see the tip of the iceberg to some of the other. Challenges you may have faced when it comes to what socks that they put on or how they respond to the way different clothing fits or how they're adjusting as the temperature changes and they have to wear long sleeves under a long sleeve sweatshirt or coat.
[00:11:28] Again, these are incidences that come up often in my own home and that I'm very aware of now, particularly with my most sensory sensitive child because I've continued to. Each of these little cues of how she's regulated from a sensory perspective and knowing that the sensory system is so involved in a child's relationship with food and the way they go about feeding some of these little takeaways can be really key to identify and to honor and hold space for, and not just overlook and move past and often push past just telling the kids it's not that big of a deal or forget about it or what.
[00:12:05] However, we might. React in the moment, but instead, I want you to reflect on this so you can think about how do I want to respond to this in a way that nurtures the overall feeding environment that I want for my family, but also that just is in tune with my child in ways that maybe otherwise. I hadn't even noticed.
[00:12:23] So ask yourself, you know, what did you learn about your child? Maybe you learned that while they hadn't learned to like pumpkin in most forms, maybe you found that they loved pumpkin muffins. Or maybe there isn't a way that you've found that they've learned to like cranberries. And yet a cranberry orange muffin was something that they really enjoyed because this is how in the feeding space, we begin to see how we can add variety.
[00:12:48] By food chaining and leveraging those foods that we learn, our kids do have some tolerance to. They do show that they like or love in certain forms, even if they might still be learning to like it in other forms. And that gets to the third and final thing that I want you to reflect on in regards to any observations you might have had from Muffin Club.
[00:13:10] And that's, I want you to think. Where you may have leveraged certain opportunities with the foods that you exposed your child to was the aspect of Muffin Club and having one new recipe a week somewhere where you learned how to leverage exposing them to something new and not in a way that was so ambitious and aspir.
[00:13:33] That you felt defeated when they refused it, but instead it was something that offered a single batch or a few repeated exposures to something that was otherwise unfamiliar, but you learned how to leverage that opportunity to repeatedly help them learn to like something. with a more intentional approach rather than kind of some of the more common defeat and frustration that as moms, we can feel when we're exposing them to new options.
[00:14:05] You may have found how you leveraged more nutrient dense options in their diet because rather than giving them just a simple pre-made chocolate chip muffin from the store, you lever leverage this canvas, this, this muffin as a vehicle of adding in. Nutrient dense options, and maybe you leverage this by an opportunity that one time a week you were going to challenge yourself to bring your child into the kitchen and to prepare yourself mentally and physically for what mess may ensue.
[00:14:39] But in doing so, you leverage the opportunity to expose them to these foods before they were even offered at the table, and you learned that you could leverage the opportunity of having them sprinkle in flax. Or add in ingredients that they otherwise were unfamiliar with or may still be learning to like, and you didn't feel the need to hide or sneak, you know, special, extra healthy ingredients in.
[00:15:05] But instead you leveraged the opportunity to engage them in the process to expose them to these foods before they were offered to eat it. And you saw what that can do for helping a child learn to like new. So whatever it might be, I want you to reflect on these three things. What did you like about Muffin Club?
[00:15:24] What did you learn through Muffin Club, and how did you leverage some of the approaches that we used within Muffin Club for a bigger picture or a more purposeful objective than what someone may see as a seemingly. Muffin recipe being sent to you via email. And if you're listening to this and you still haven't signed up for Muffin Club and you're like, oh man, what have I missed?
[00:15:49] Make sure that you go and sign up. You will get access to the past five weeks of recipes. You have to make sure that you sign up before this coming Friday. So sign up today or tomorrow. So that you do get Friday morning's email, because after that muffin club is over, we're gonna mo move into holidays and new year planning and things like that.
[00:16:08] All you need to do is go to veggies and virtue.com/muffin-club, dash sign dash up, so that's Muffin Club signup. There's just hyphens in between. each of the words, so muffin dash club, dash sign, dash up. The links are in each of my weekly emails too. If you're on my newsletter, just make sure that you click one of those so that you can get access to these follow winter recipes and some of my family's favorites before they're gone for the year.
[00:16:39] It has been a joy having you on podcast today, and if you've enjoyed it as well, I have a quick favor to ask. Do you mind hopping over to Apple Podcast and leaving me a written review? This will only take you a hot second, but it truly blesses me every time I get to read one of you right over there, and it allows me to bless others through this podcast and the episodes to come.
[00:16:59] The other thing that you can do is to take a screenshot of this episode and tag me over on Instagram. Veggies and virtue. I would love to see what action steps that you're taking from this episode and also to support your family in the journey moving forward. Until next time, thanks for coming over to chat at my kitchen counter.
[00:17:15] Remember that you'll always have a seat and a snack loo for you here.
