
I'm a Nutritionist and Mum of 2 - Here’s the Health & Wellness that Works for Me
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Time to read 4 min
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Time to read 4 min
Mind in a million places? Gym kit gathering dust? Welcome to The Recharge — where mums share how they make health and wellness work for busy, tired schedules.
Introducing Rhian Stephenson — nutritionist, ARTAH founder, and mum of two under five. As Psycle's former CEO, she once believed workouts had to be an hour to count. Now, she’ll grab 12 minutes when she can — because even a quick sweat boosts her mental health. Here, she shares her top hacks for managing nutrition and energy.
I always take my supplements in the morning, first thing without fail. Then, the only thing I really do for myself in the morning is just take a minute to have my coffee. It's not necessarily the most helpful thing to do first thing, but it's what I do, because I like it and it makes me feel good.
6:30am– My kids are up. I'd love to squeeze in some "me time" in the mornings, but with nighttime wake-ups still happening, a 5:15am alarm just isn’t worth it — so I don't.
7:00am – The morning rush begins. I’m wrangling my four-year-old into their uniform, packing bags, and trying to keep the chaos to a minimum. Meanwhile, my two-year-old stays home with our nanny while I dive into full-time work.
8:45am – I sit down at my desk — and eat. I skip breakfast with my kids (I’m just not ready to eat that early). Being allergic to eggs and dairy, I usually go for buckwheat overnight muesli with almond yogurt, berries, and homemade granola — or sometimes smoked salmon on sourdough with avocado.
The three things I am super consistent about are:
Since having kids and working full time, I've had to become much more organised with food prep. You'd think, as a nutritionist, I already would be, but I wasn't. Now, I batch cook and when I shop, I plan my whole week. At the start, it felt like a major hassle, but now I know it's going to make my life easier.
One afternoon every month I'll cook and put 10 things in the freezer. It's transformational on those nights where you're exhausted, your kids have taken ages to get to sleep, and you just want to eat healthily.
I would not have survived motherhood, work and breastfeeding without Cellular Hydration and Enhanced NAD+ Complex. For me, NAD especially was transformational. After my second baby – lack of sleep, breastfeeding and juggling two – I had this mental fatigue that I had never experienced before. It made everything so hard. I started taking NAD and within five days it was gone. It helped me then have the mental energy to add in all those other things into my life.
I run commute – Twice a week, I run to work. I used to hate it (I’d much rather be in a class), but it’s the easiest way to squeeze in exercise — and a great way to shake off the morning chaos.
I stand – My standing desk at work has been a game-changer for my energy.
I do a lunchtime class – On the day I work from home, I squeeze in a barre class at lunchtime — a little win for me.
I use weekend childcare – Our gym has a crèche, and honestly, it’s the only reason we joined. The kids love it, and so do we — it’s completely transformed our weekends.
My kids still wake in the night, so if I'm exhausted, I start my day with a big hit of protein — the more, the better.
When I'm tired, my blood sugar goes haywire, so I double down on managing it through food. During the daytime I skip sugar and grains completely, and it makes a huge difference. I feel sharper, more energised, and far more focused.
I would definitely go to yoga. Before kids, I used to really enjoy going to a yoga class once a week. Now it's too hard to fit in a class.
I do breath work and self hypnosis. I use an app called Reveri. It's amazing. I do 10-minute mindfulness, self hypnosis sessions and they calm me down so quickly.
I find bedtimes pretty stressful. But after the girls are asleep, once I've eaten, I always do some yin yoga, breath work or stretching. Something on the floor that really helps to ground me and loosen the tension in my body. I need it these days – it helps me really calm down.
I've stopped drinking alcohol — it just made everything harder. I had less patience with my kids, felt snappy, and struggled to enjoy time with them. Even one drink left me feeling off for days, making it tougher to juggle work and mum life. Right now, it just doesn’t serve me — and honestly, I don’t miss it at all.
My social life has taken quite a hit in this phase of my life. I still see my friends, but not often, and not as much as I'd like. I used to get upset about it, but I know all of this is a phase.
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