I was on the Accountability Call on Sunday morning, and a woman needed support. She’s the mother of two small children, and she’s not staying Bright. She’s had success with Bright Line Eating, but is currently struggling. 

What’s happening is that she’s going, going, going for her family and getting depleted. At the end of the day, she doesn’t have the energy to start cutting vegetables. She orders takeout, sits on the couch, and overeats. 

She commented that it seemed like Bright Line Eating was mostly working for older, retired people who don’t have kids at home. She felt like it was impossible to stay Bright with her kids. The part of her that allows her to indulge is a caretaker part—a food indulger part that has, as its motive, taking care of her, so that she can rest a bit.

I related. I was Bright through my kids’ earliest years, but when BLE blew up, and I had to juggle a growing business, it tipped me over the edge. Every few weeks, I’d get a bunch of food, sit on the couch for hours, and binge my brains out. I realized that, just like her, I had a part that was trying to give me a rest. It knew I wouldn’t permit myself to take a break unless I was in the food. What I needed was to learn to give myself permission to rest—without eating.

I needed to learn, for example, that I could go take a bubble bath. If I had time to binge, then I had time for a bubble bath. 

We talked about the story this mother has in her head about how Bright Line Eating is just for retired folks. Our population indeed skews a little older than average, but that’s mainly because it takes time for people to do enough research to understand that they want to embrace a solution as potent as this one. 

What was great was the parents who kept popping into the chat thread to tell us how they were super-bright. This mom realized it was possible to stay Bright and raise your kids at the same time—many others are doing it. Bright Line Eating is for anyone who realizes moderation doesn’t work for them and wants to embrace a powerful approach so they can be free and healthy. Lots of people in their 20s and 30s are doing it successfully.

Here are some additional tips: Someone mentioned that you can have a habit stack with kids; it may just mean getting up earlier. Do your self-care before the kids wake up. When our kids were little, they went to bed at 7 pm and woke up at 7 am. I woke up at 5 am, so I could get my self-care done.

That may sound like a lot, and it is. Being a parent of young kids is a lot. But it’s way better to do it with gas in your tank, having meditated and having had an amazing breakfast. 

We also talked about mom groups in BLE. That support is important. It’s a great strategy to have access to others in a similar situation when you’re working to become Bright. 

Another option? She needs to have an easy-to-grab, emergency dinner meal. So if she reaches the point where she is depleted, she can still have a Bright meal. She needs baby carrots, bags of frozen peas, and then mozzarella string cheese sticks, pre-weighed baggies of nuts, or pre-hard-boiled eggs for protein. 

If you do this right, it’s faster and easier than take-out. If you have food that you can assemble in 90 seconds—and I’ve done this—you’re set. She loved this idea.

All this toward what end? We talked about how it’s so important when you have little kids to be structured and steady. That’s what children need. And when we’re in the food, we can’t do that.

When we’re Bright, we’re eating our weighed and measured food on time, we’re feeding them good nutritious meals on time, we’ve got time to be with them in between, to go to a park or museum, or play with them, and we are steady and present for them. We stay Bright so we can be that kind of parent. We can’t be that way if we are binging. 

I’m so glad this topic came up. If it’s your situation, please get connected to our BLE community, because there are other parents there who want to know you.