How to Start Integrating Holistic Wellness into Your Family’s Routine: Expert Tips from a Pediatric RN and Holistic Mom

Starting a holistic wellness journey can feel overwhelming!! Especially when you’re juggling the demands of parenting and adulting.

The good news? You don’t have to do everything all at once.

Small, intentional steps can have a big impact over time.

Starting Your Holistic Wellness Journey

Taking take those first steps...

Start with Food

The food we eat fuels the body as a whole, so start with small, intentional changes. Swap out packaged snacks for fresh fruits, veggies, or even homemade treats. When grocery shopping, take a peek at ingredient labels—if you can’t pronounce it, maybe skip it. Prioritize organic options for produce like strawberries and spinach, where pesticides are often highest. This Dirty Dozen list has the fresh foods with the highest pesticides. These are a good place to start buying organic!

A hard reality I’ve learned: Your kids will eat what you eat. As someone who has never been familiar with whole food options, I took the chance to learn and explore new foods together as a family. When you try new things as a family, it shows your kids it’s okay to not like everything, and it makes discovering new favorites so much more fun!

For a long time, snacks in our house pretty much meant something that came out of a box—even after making healthier swaps, our ‘better’ organic snacks were still processed snacks. (But hey, progress is progress! If you're in the phase of swapping non-organic/highly processed snacks for organic or nutrient dense snacks, that's still a step in the right direction. I was there too!) Eventually, I decided to take it a step further and really change things up. Just recently actually, and on a whim, I grabbed a container of dates at Costco because I’d heard they were super versatile. We tried them plain as a family, and to my surprise, they were a huge hit!!—well, except for one kid who wasn’t sold (there’s always one, right?). In my opinion, dates have a texture that’s somewhere between gummy snacks and taffy. I can’t lie though—I hyped them up by calling them “candy dates,” and that little trick worked like a charm!

💡 Pro Tip: Start with just one meal a day to keep it manageable. Breakfast is an easy place to begin—think eggs, meat based protein, or smoothies instead of sugary cereals. I also aim for organic, pasture-raised meat and eggs to sneak in a little extra nutrition.

Support Gut Health

Gut health is the foundation of overall wellness (hence why diet is so important!) thanks to the diverse microbiome living in your gut. This community of bacteria plays a key role in digestion, immunity, mental health, and more. A balanced microbiome helps your body absorb nutrients, fight off illnesses, and even supports a stable mood. Probiotics are a great way to introduce beneficial bacteria and maintain this balance, but they’re not the only option.

Fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt, or even sourdough can naturally support and diversify your gut microbiome. These foods promote the production of short-chain fatty acids, which fuel your gut lining and help everything run smoothly. Here’s the cool part: If you’re eating fermented foods regularly—like adding a small scoop of sauerkraut with lunch or some yogurt in your smoothie—you might not even need a probiotic supplement. Incorporating these foods a few times a week can be a simple, cost-effective way to support your gut health without extra expenses. By focusing on gut health and prioritizing your microbiome, you’re setting the stage for better digestion, a stronger immune system, and overall wellness throughout your entire body.

💡 Pro Tip: Make probiotics kid-friendly by incorporating them into foods they already love! Add a dollop of yogurt with live cultures to fruit bowls, mix a kid-safe probiotic powder into applesauce, or serve probiotic-rich drinks like kefir in a fun cup. Making it easy and enjoyable helps build healthy habits early!

Simplify Your Wellness Tools

Now that you’ve started taking care of your internal health, let’s look at the tools that will help you support your family’s wellness. You don’t need every natural remedy out there to get started—just focus on a few versatile, go-to tools:

Immune Support: Elderberry syrup, a high-quality multivitamin, or probiotics.

Lavender Essential Oil: Perfect for calming, better sleep, minor first-aid, massage.

Magnesium & Vitamin D: Both are essential for a range of benefits, including restful sleep, easing growing pains, supporting digestion, and promoting overall health. These two work together—magnesium helps activate Vitamin D, and Vitamin D supports magnesium absorption. Incorporating both into your routine ensures you’re getting the full spectrum of their health benefits. Some supplements offer both in one!

💡 Pro Tip: Choose a few products you’ll actually use daily and build your collection over time.

Transition to Low-Tox Living

Now that you're making changes to what's inside your body, let’s take a look at what’s surrounding you: the products you use every day. Household items like cleaning supplies and personal care products often contain chemicals that might be doing way more harm than good. Start swapping them out for safer alternatives as you run low. Brands like Truly Free, Branch Basics, and Force of Nature are great options for keeping the house clean. As far as keeping you clean - local farmers markets or homemade recipes will save you money and are fun to create! I personally love tallow based products like soaps, lotions, and deodorant. Tallow is super versatile and is so easy to make yourself.

My first swap? Air fresheners! Wall Flowers to be exact...I used to be a die-hard Bath & Body Works fan (aren't we all at some point?) After learning more about product ingredients, switching to essential oils for both health and home, scents felt like such an upgrade—plus, it was a win for my wellness and my bank account. While concentrated oils may seem pricey upfront, they go a long way and are way more versatile in the long run. You really do get what you pay for!

💡 Pro Tip: Take it slow! Swapping household items can seem overwhelming if you try to do it all at once. Start by switching out one product at a time. Trash the air fresheners -- find a replacement. Ditch your laundry detergent -- find a replacement. Then toss that Clorox -- trust me theres plenty of alternatives for this one. It wont be hard to stop once you're there!

Build Simple, Consistent Routines

Holistic wellness works best when it becomes part of your everyday life. Start with small, manageable habits, like drinking a glass of water each morning, taking probiotics with breakfast, or creating a calming bedtime routine with lavender and magnesium. As you get more comfortable, try addressing common ailments naturally—before reaching for Pepto-Bismol, try a tummy tea; instead of Motrin, consider an herbal tincture or magnesium to support inflammation and reduce pain; and instead of Tylenol, try Camilia drops for teething. These are all simple, easy ways to integrate holistic living into your daily routine.

💡 Pro Tip: Keep it simple. Focus on consistency, not perfection. By making these small shifts, you'll slowly build a natural, supportive wellness routine that works for you and your family.

Remember, holistic wellness is a journey, not a destination.

Start small, build sustainable habits, and give yourself lots of grace along the way! Progress, not perfection, is what truly matters.

— Katelyn 🫶

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