Let me ask you something. When was the last time you felt genuinely sharp? Not just “I had coffee and I’m functional” sharp, but clear-headed, energized, actually-in-the-room sharp?

Most of us have quietly accepted a version of ourselves that’s a little foggy, a little tired, a little “off” and chalked it up to getting older, being busy, or just how things are now. But here’s the thing: that fog has reasons. Real, biological, fixable reasons, and most of them have nothing to do with willpower or discipline.

In this post, we’re pulling back the curtain on what’s actually going on inside your body and brain during perimenopause. We’re talking about the surprising link between your gut and your mood, what your sleep problems are really trying to tell you, and why stress is so much sneakier than anyone gives it credit for.

Resources We Mention for Daily Habits for Perimenopause

• Get Cynthia’s books: The Menopause Gut (Amazon/Bookshop.org) and Intermittent Fasting Transformation (Amazon/Bookshop.org).
• Perimenopause May Be the Wisest and Best Years of Your Life – How to Make That Reality with Jenn Pike
• Women Metabolize and Build Strength Differently Than Men (Especially Over 30) with Pearl & Serene, authors of Trim Healthy Wisdom
• The best blue light glasses for better sleep
• Stress Mastery Challenge for busy moms

Get your free life skills workshops at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/skills

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

I’m joined by Cynthia Thurlow, a nurse practitioner and expert in perimenopause and menopause, and this conversation truly feels like a mini masterclass in understanding your body. We talk through what is really going on with your hormones, how your gut plays a much bigger role than you might expect, and why so many of the symptoms we tend to brush off are actually connected.

In this episode, we cover:

• What the gut microbiome is and why it affects nearly every system in your body
• Why perimenopause can start earlier than you might expect, sometimes in your 30s
• The first hormone to shift and how it impacts stress, sleep, and mood
• How estrogen changes can lead to symptoms like weight gain, heavy periods, and gut issues
• Why your menstrual cycle is a vital sign you should not ignore
• The connection between hormones and brain fog, anxiety, and mood changes
• Why perimenopause can feel chaotic and how to start understanding those changes

Resources We Mention for Hormone Changes in Perimenopause

• Get Cynthia's books: The Menopause Gut (Amazon/Bookshop.org) and Intermittent Fasting Transformation (Amazon/Bookshop.org).
• Perimenopause May Be the Wisest and Best Years of Your Life – How to Make That Reality with Jenn Pike
• Hope for heavy periods: 5 root cause solutions that might surprise you
• Stress Mastery Challenge for busy moms

Get your free life skills workshops at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/skills

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

Have you ever eaten chocolate or chips when you feel stressed?

Rewarded yourself for a job well done with a little sticky celebration?

Hid from sadness with a whole box of ice cream to yourself?

The term "emotional eating" might be new to you, but I'm sure you can see how it works. This interview with Tricia Nelson, author of Heal Your Hunger, is powerful in that we unlock the hidden truth behind why many of us can't lose weight --

It's not about the food.

It's not about self-discipline.

It's about feelings.

In this chat, we focus on the adults, on how to get through our own emotional eating, and although we touch upon how this impacts our parenting, it's not about kids' health today.

Super quick note that this isn't a kid-friendly interview, nothing huge, but you might not want to have this one on with kids in the background.

Resources We Mention to End Emotional Eating

• Tricia’s book: Heal Your Hunger
• Is sugar addiction real?
• How we’ve broken our metabolism: tips for cutting out sugar
• Tips for summer snacking
• Master your stress: Intro to stress mastery, make stress your BFF, stress mastery for busy moms
• Avoiding emotional eating in kids
• Connect with Trish on her website
• Take the quiz to find out if you are an emotional eater or food addict
• Follow her on Facebook
• Join the Secret Sauce to Emotional Eating Facebook group (It’s free! Anyone can join!)
• Trish has generously offered you listeners a complimentary 30-minute session: Emotional Eating Breakthrough Session

Get your free life skills workshops at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/skills

Take control of your stress with the Stress Mastery Challenge today!

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

If you’ve ever looked at your child’s behavior and thought, “What is going on right now?”—you’re not alone.

In this episode, we go beyond surface-level parenting advice and get into something deeper: what your child’s behavior is actually trying to communicate.

Wendy Snyder introduces a powerful framework that helps you “translate” your child’s actions in real time. Instead of reacting with frustration, you’ll start to see patterns, unmet needs, and opportunities to teach life skills. It’s a shift that can completely change how you experience everyday parenting moments.

Along the way, you may find yourself rethinking what it really means to be a “strict” parent, and whether the strategies you’ve been using are actually helping in the long run.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The four hidden reasons behind most misbehavior
• How to tell if your child is seeking attention, power, revenge, or support
• Why punishment often makes behavior worse instead of better
• What to do when your child says hurtful or dramatic things
• How to stay calm when your child is upset with your rules
• The difference between firm boundaries and “strict” parenting
• How to stop power struggles before they escalate
• Why your mindset matters just as much as your parenting strategy

If you’ve been feeling stuck in cycles of frustration or wondering why nothing seems to “work,” this conversation will give you a new lens to look through ... and a few moments that might just change how you respond the next time your child pushes back.

Did you miss part 1 of this episode? Watch or listen here.

Resources We Mention for Understanding Your Child's Behavior

• Pre-order Wendy's new book at Amazon, Bookshop.org, or wherever you find your books, and then grab the preorder bonuses here.
• My mini-episode about boundaries especially for teens
• Scripts for calm connection with Bryanna Kappadakunnel
• Listen to Wendy's episode on parenting "cactus kids"
• More on power struggles, positive parenting, and forgoing traditional discipline in this episode with Amy McCready
• My episode on the

Get your free life skills workshops at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/skills

Take control of your stress with the Stress Mastery Challenge today!

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

There’s a moment in this conversation I can’t quite shake.

A mom drops her child’s favorite stuffed animal into the trash while her four-year-old begs her not to. If that makes your stomach tighten, you’re not alone.

Because even if you’ve never had a “trash can moment,” you’ve probably had that moment. The one where you hear yourself and think, “Wait…is this how I want to parent?”

That’s exactly where this conversation with Wendy Snyder begins. Not from perfection, but from honesty, growth, and a deep desire to do better than what we were handed.

And the surprising part? She doesn’t just share what went wrong. She shows us what to do instead in a way that feels doable and hopeful.

If you’ve ever wondered why punishment doesn’t work, why strong-willed kids push every button, or why you keep reacting in ways you swore you wouldn’t, this episode will meet you right there.

Inside, we talk about:

• The story behind that “trash can moment” and why it changed everything
• What’s really happening during power struggles
• The discipline belief most of us inherited and why it backfires
• A simple 4-step process to set limits without yelling or shame
• Why connection changes everything
• How to support strong-willed kids without breaking their spirit
• What breaking generational cycles actually looks like
• The long game of parenting and what success really means

Underneath it all is a quiet shift. Maybe parenting isn’t about controlling our kids better, but understanding them and ourselves more deeply.

If that’s the kind of change you’ve been craving, you’re in the right place.

Resources We Mention for Respectful Discipline

• Pre-order Wendy’s new book at Amazon, Bookshop.org, or wherever you find your books, and then grab the preorder bonuses here.
• Listen to Michele Borba’s interview about helping our kids build empathy.
• Scripts for calm connection with Bryanna Kappadakunnel
• Listen to Wendy’s episode on parenting “cactus kids”
• My episode on the Fresh Start Family podcast about building connection through cooking

Get your free life skills workshops at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/skills

Take control of your stress with the Stress Mastery Challenge today!

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

If you’ve ever thought, “Why can I not get my life together when it comes to time?”—you are absolutely not alone.

This conversation felt like such a breath of fresh air because we’re not talking about rigid schedules, perfect planners, or waking up at 5am (thank goodness). Instead, we’re digging into what actually works for real moms with real lives… you know, the kind where kids interrupt everything and plans fall apart before lunch.

I had so much fun hearing about Anna’s real-life experiences in the professional world, SO different than my life, and wait until you hear what we both have in common when it comes to being POOR at time management! I couldn’t believe her confession about getting in trouble at work for a time-related issue…

What I love most is that Anna brings so much grace and practicality to this topic. She doesn’t expect perfection; and honestly, that might be the most freeing part of all.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why time management isn’t really about your planner (and what actually matters instead)
• A simple “mind sweep” method to instantly reduce overwhelm and clear your mental clutter
• How to figure out what actually deserves your time (and what you can let go of)
• Practical ways to involve your kids so you’re not doing everything yourself
• What to do when your plans fall apart (because… they will)
• A simple framework to handle those chaotic, stressful moments without spiraling

If you’ve been feeling scattered, behind, or just plain overwhelmed, this episode is going to meet you right where you are, and give you a few doable steps to move forward.

Resources We Mention for Time Management for Moms

• Get Anna’s Blueprint to Balance here
• Buy Anna’s book, Time Management Essentials: The Tools You Need to Maximize Your Attention, Energy, and Productivity on Amazon or Bookshop.org
• When we talk about being an “upholder” or a “rebel,” that’s from Gretchen Rubin’s book The Four Tendencies.
• Learn more from my interview with Megan Sumrell about managing your time, and check out her TOP program for a free training on getting your life toge

Get your free life skills workshops at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/skills

Take control of your stress with the Stress Mastery Challenge today!

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

If you’ve ever stood in the middle of your house and thought, “Where do I even start?”… you are absolutely not alone.

But what if the problem isn’t your lack of discipline… it’s your approach?

In this conversation, I sat down with Ingrid Jansen from The Declutter Hub, and she completely reframed how I think about clutter. We didn’t just talk about getting rid of stuff. We talked about why it feels so hard in the first place—and how to make it feel doable (even in the middle of real life).

Because here’s the truth: clutter isn’t just about things. It’s about emotions, habits, identity, and sometimes even guilt. And once you understand that piece, everything starts to shift.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why “decluttering your whole house” is actually the fastest way to get stuck
• The simple mindset shift that makes decluttering feel lighter and more positive
• Why starting with what you want to keep (not what to throw away) changes everything
• How to break any space into small, manageable chunks you can tackle in minutes
• The surprising advice Ingrid gives about what to do when you feel unsure about an item
• What the “messy middle” is and why so many people quit right there
• How clutter and emotions like guilt, stress, and overwhelm are deeply connected
• The hidden ways new clutter keeps sneaking into your home (and how to stop it)

Resources We Mention for Easy Decluttering

• Ingrid and Lesley’s book: Reset Your Home: Unpack your emotions and your clutter, step by step (Amazon/Bookshop.org)
• Get started in the Declutter Hub!
• Take the clutter quiz
• Dig more into the mental load of clutter with Katy Wells
• Organizing styles for families with Cas from Clutterbug

Get your free life skills workshops at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/skills

Take control of your stress with the Stress Mastery Challenge today!

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!

Money fights are rarely about the money.

They usually start somewhere small. A decision. An assumption. A moment that feels harmless at the time.

And then suddenly you are on a honeymoon, of all places, realizing you are not actually on the same financial page at all. That is exactly where this conversation begins.

Amanda shares a story that many couples will recognize: a beautiful life moment that quietly turned stressful because expectations were never spoken out loud.

Because money is not just math! It is emotion, trust, and more.

In this interview, we dig into what happens when financial communication falls through the cracks and why those cracks often appear during big life events when we least expect them.

You will see how:

• silence around money can create conflict even in strong relationships
• credit cards can blur the reality of spending in stressful moments
• surprise expenses often show up when emotions are already high
• assumptions about “who is paying for what” can quietly derail connection
• financial stress spills into relationship dynamics faster than we think
• talking about goals early can prevent hurt later
• planning together creates more peace than planning alone
• mistakes around money can become powerful growth points

Resources We Mentioned for Financial Literacy for Families

• Check out Wallet Win, the Teixeiras’ courses for kids and teens about finance (and get $10 off with my link), or the Catholic Money Academy for grown-ups
• Teaching Kids the Value of Money and Joy in Spending and Saving
• Teaching Kids about Debt Early
• My reel about Gabe’s blankets for the homeless population
• Teach teens how to budget with Crystal Paine’s One-Hour Budget for Teens (use code LIFESKILLS for a discount!)
• Reducing your food budget while eating real food
• How to make homemade yogurt
• Amanda’s workshop on Allowance vs. Wages is in Season Four of #LifeSkillsNow

Get your free life skills workshops at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/skills

Take control of your stress with the Stress Mastery Challenge today!

• Kitchen Stewardship
• Raising Healthy Families
• follow Katie on Instagram or Facebook
• Subscribe to the newsletter to get weekly updates
• YouTube shorts channel for HPH
• Find the Healthy Parenting Handbook at raisinghealthyfamilies.com/podcast

Affiliate links used here. Thanks for supporting the Healthy Parenting Handbook!