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Amara Wellness

Amara is a speaker and coach who empowers moms to trust their intuition and guides them with practi

Amara is a speaker and coach who empowers moms to trust their intuition and guides them with practical tools for raising naturally healthy families.

09/26/2023

New clients often ask me to help them come up with "kid-friendly" recipes so they can get their kids to eat, and I always have the same answer which is: kid-friendly food is not in my vocabulary. I know this isn't always a popular answer but I feel pretty strongly that only offering children salty, beige food because that's what they gravitate towards rarely serves anyone.

So, if I don't do "kid-friendly" recipes, how do I support moms who want to get their kids to eat better?

There are several factors I take into consideration when I create a customized plan with a client. I always look at the energetics and expectations around mealtime. The ages of the child(ren) definitely determines how we approach shifts to family eating habits. And one of the most important pieces in the plan is to work on the parents' eating habits and relationship to food.

In order to create a family environment where the children learn to experiment with new foods and nourish their body in a healthy way, it's essential that the adults are doing those things too.

If that feels like a lot of work, it's probably because you know you need to make some shifts yourself and I TOTALLY get it (I myself struggled with a poor relationship with food for the majority of my life). Here is what I can promise you, it's NOT all or nothing. For most of the families I work with (my own included) the children learn with the adults. It's not about perfection, it's about growing together as a family.

If this is something you would like support with, please send me a DM and let's make a time to chat. A connection call is simply an opportunity to get to know each other better and to see if I might be able to help you (no strings attached!) and I'd love to hear from you!

09/18/2023

I married a man who is the only child of an Italian immigrant mother, who didn't work outside of the home, and was a phenomenal cook. When I met my husband he told me "he doesn’t do leftovers”.

I, on the other hand, was the only child of a mentally ill single mother who worked very long hours outside of the home. Let’s just say, I didn’t turn my nose up at a home cooked meal (leftover or otherwise).

When we got married and I started doing most of the cooking, I knew I would need to get creative. There was no way I was making fresh chicken cutlets or lasagna five days a week, but we both enjoyed food and wanted to eat well.
That was really the start of my creativity in the kitchen and my cook once; eat thrice philosophy.

Fast forward almost two decades and most of our meals ARE leftovers, but with creative sauces and spices, they feel like something new and fresh the second (and sometimes even third) time.

And thankfully that husband of mine is now also grateful for leftovers (he's a pretty smart guy 🤣).

09/06/2023

For me, deciding WHAT is for dinner can be way harder and more stressful than actually making the dinner, and I know I'm not alone in this because it's one of the things that clients come to me for help on ALL THE TIME!

Here are three things I do to feel inspired when mealtime decision making fatigue (MDMF) creeps up:

1) At the beginning of each school year I ask every family member for a list of at least 4 meals they enjoy eating and want to see in our rotation. We have four people in our household so that means I have four days of meal ideas each week for four weeks.

2) I go through the menus of our favorite restaurants and make a list of the things I know I'd want to order (or feel inspired to recreate).

3) We have one straight-up leftover meal a week. I call it "a little bit of this; a little bit of that" (how's that for inspired creativity 🤣) and I heat up what we have in the fridge because not every meal can be a masterpiece and if I worked hard to make a home-cooked meal I don't want to waste it.

At the start of each week I meal plan our menu of dinners using the above for inspiration. Let me know if you've experience MDMF and what you find helpful...

08/30/2023

For my husband's birthday this year I wanted to make him one of his favorite meals of red wine braised short ribs but since his birthday is in the middle of August I didn't want to have to have the oven on all day.

I browned the ribs in my dutch oven, added some carrots, onion and garlic and deglazed the pan with wine and stock and then I put the lid on the simmering liquid and it all spent five hours in my (which requires no heat and no electricity) and by dinnertime we had beautifully tender braised short ribs.

08/23/2023

There's no such thing as perfect when it comes to eating (or anything else for that matter) AND ALSO if we're doing our best to instill healthy eating habits and a positive relationship with food in our child, it's important that we look at what WE are modeling for them.

As much as we may hate to admit it, our children usually do what we do more than they do what we say. If that makes you 😬 let's make a time to chat. Supporting moms to create a healthier relationship with food is kinda my jam.

08/07/2023

It is a little known fact that the primary consideration in choosing where to take our family vacations is amazing local cuisine. While it's also true that a beautiful beach is a close second, fresh, seasonal and delicious food is always key for us. Whenever possible we also try to find accommodations that allow us to visit the local markets and cook our own food (we consider experimenting in the kitchen together to be a fun family activity and it's definitely less expensive than eating out every meal).

These are a few of the dinners we made a few weeks ago while in Cape Cod (one of our favorite spots!)

And P.S. If you're thinking that I'm lucky because we don't have any picky eaters in my family, look closely in the background of the lobster photo and you'll see that on that night the eldest member of our family made his own sausage sandwich 😂🤣

08/05/2023

I remember those very long days with young children and how physically taxing they were on me. One of the things that I always prioritize when I work with a family is how absolutely essential is is that the caregivers are well nourished in order to thrive during this time.

We spend so much time focusing on what, when, and how our kids eat and too often we leave ourselves as an afterthought. Nourishing yourself well IS absolutely essential and, btw, your kids are watching you too. If your own relationship with food is not one you'd want them to model, it might be time to make some shifts. Reach out if you'd like support.

08/02/2023

One of the most wonderful ways to foster a child's natural curiosity is to get them involved in growing a vegetable garden.

08/01/2023

Moms often come to me feeling so overwhelmed by all the things they think they need to do in order to get their family on a healthier track (never mind the fact that so much of the advice they've heard seems to be contradictory). Here's what I can tell you based on my nearly 20 years of experience coaching moms on supporting their family's health with food and holistic remedies...

The more you can tune-out all the "experts" and begin to tune-into what you and your family needs right now, the better off you'll be. That doesn't mean that the choices you make in the next few months will be the same choices you'll make in a year or two, but consistent baby steps make a huge impact.

07/28/2023

Lettuce wraps are definitely in the rotation for hot summer weeknight dinners.

07/25/2023

I love supporting my clients to get started with a small vegetable garden because there are SOO many benefits to growing your own food. One of the most important ones is that children learn where food comes from and how amazing fresh, ripe food tastes.

07/13/2023

If you cook a lot you WILL eventually burn yourself. I highly recommend keeping cantharis homeopathic remedy in your kitchen for minor burns. It's literally saved me so many times when I've had a house full of hungry people and accidentally burned my hand taking something out of the oven.

it's great for sunburns too!

07/08/2023

My least favorite question is "so what do you do?"

Even after all these years (almost 20!) it's still so hard for me to answer because I do SO MANY things. Here's what I can tell you...

My practice is dedicated to helping mothers support and nourish themselves and their family in order to feel more energized, confident, successful, happy and healthy. My mission is to help you be the best version of yourself right now.

And how we do that together depends on so many things. Sometimes it's simple tweaks in what you're already eating; sometimes I recommend a holistic remedy/supplement; usually there's a little learning curve about how to choose and prepare foods; sometimes what's keeping you from the best version of yourself is more about your inner dialogue and beliefs; and sometimes (often actually) it's a matter of figuring out how to work with your family to get everyone else on board because changes, even little ones, can be hard.

I support mamas in all of this! Please reach out if you'd like to chat about how I might be able to support YOU.

07/06/2023

I come from a family of beach lovers and (thank goodness!) my husband and kids love the beach too, which means that most of our vacations are spent (yes, you guessed it) on the beach. So much time on the beach also means that we have to make sure we're protecting our skin against sunburn.

At home we eat lots of red fruits and veggies and I try to make sure we also do on vacation, but it's not always as easy so before we go I buy a "red powder" of dehydrated red fruits and vegetables to take along. It's become one of our our traditions that every day when we get back from the beach, while everyone is showering and getting ready for dinner, I make us a delicious red smoothie with a scoop of the red powder and some frozen fruit. It's cool and refreshing and also great for our skin!

Below is a link to the red powder I like to bring (as well as some of my other summer travel remedies): https://us.fullscript.com/protocols/amarawagner-summer-remedies

06/16/2023

This is one of my FAVORITE salads this time of year. Cut watermelon, some finely chopped basil and mint, a little sprinkle of feta and a squeeze of fresh lime just before serving. The flavors go so well together and, as a bonus, the antioxidants in the watermelon also help protect your skin against sun damage.

06/06/2023

I'm giving a workshop on "superfoods" next week I'd love to hear, what does this term mean to you?

(P.S. it's not a regulated term so there's really no wrong answer)

06/01/2023

I recently asked my kids what were their favorite dinners from the past few weeks and, surprisingly, salad bar came in a winner!

What have been some of your favorite weeknight dinners lately?

05/31/2023

Cooking a lot means that eventually you WILL cut yourself and burn yourself (sometimes a lot). Recently I sliced right through the bed of my fingernail when my knife slipped and, with the help of helichrysum essential oil, two weeks later you would never know. I've also burned myself more times than I'd like to admit and cantharis homeopathic remedy has saved me every single time (I also keep an aloe plant for burns). I literally keep both of these in my kitchen at all times (I travel with them too!)

Address

Park Ridge, NJ
07656

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Website

http://www.amarawellness.com/

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