Hilaria Baldwin is a yoga instructor, health guru, wife, and mother. Her recent book The Living Clearly Method lays out five principles for moving through our lives consciously and positively.
What does living clearly mean? Being present. Living clearly means getting to a place where you’re living each moment as a well as possible, as strongly as possible, as passionately as possible. So many of us get wrapped up in daily life that feels monotonous. Becoming clear gives you the ability to say, “Hey this is what’s going on, and I’m snapping out of the monotony” and snapping into a place where you can start to make changes that potentially need to be made in order to live your moments in this life as strongly and as best as you possibly can.
What advice do you have for parents who are feeling overwhelmed by everyday life? When I find the moment where I feel like I might snap I realize that I’m not taking care of myself as best as I should be. The most important thing is to tap inside yourself and summon the strength because getting angry or reacting never makes the situation any better. Getting a little perspective, which is the first principle in the book and saying “this is what it is” and realizing that it will pass at some point. Checking in with your breathing—if you can start to regulate your breath, you are less likely to be tense and then you’re less likely to lash out. If you breathe your body will soften. And then grounding, take notice of your surroundings and become very present, and connect to your physical form and then you can start to find balance, ask yourself “what needs to be done?” And then letting go, letting go of these things. In the hardest moments creating a little more consciousness and a little more clarity will give you a lot more strength.
How do you keep it healthy in your home with young kids? A lot of it is getting out the bad and having the perspective of knowing your kids might be upset that you’re taking away their junk food, but in the end they are going to be healthier. So knowing that you might have to go through a little bit of a difficult phase in order to get to a place where everybody is healthier. I talk about recipes in my book that appeal to each principle, and there are recipes for improving lung health, brain health, and that help you root yourself to the ground using vegetables that come from the ground, and a salad dressing that has lavender and honey that helps with relaxation. I have toddlers and they can be a real pain to feed. One day they will eat something and the next day they are like, “No, I will never eat that.” You do the best you can with toddlers. They will not be toddlers forever, so you want to encourage them to eat good things so they do eventually grow out of that “no” phase and into being healthy individuals.
Check out this recipe for Granola Energy Bites from the book:
Makes 48: Serving size = 2 pieces
Just because time is short doesn’t mean you have to throw good nutrition out the window. These bite-size snacks will satiate hunger on the run. One or two of them will reboot your energy and help you think straight so you can make it through to your next good meal. Don’t eat too much of a good thing if you are watching calories. Food is medicine, after all, and it’s important to get the right dose.
Ingredients
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup almond flour
2 tablespoons ground chia seeds
1⁄3 cup golden raisins
1⁄3 cup dried cranberries
½ cup walnuts, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup almond milk
½ cup applesauce
½ cup olive oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a 13″ × 9″ baking dish, overlay a large piece of parchment paper, overlapping all the sides. Coat the paper with coconut oil.
- In a large bowl, combine the oats, almond flour, chia seeds, raisins, cranberries, walnuts, and cinnamon.
- In another large bowl, whisk together the almond milk, applesauce, oil, eggs, vanilla, and orange peel.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine.
- Spread the granola mixture onto the parchment paper and push down, making sure the mixture is even and compact. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until browned and dry.
- Allow to cool completely in the baking dish. Once cool, remove the granola bites by lifting out the parchment paper. Cut into 48 pieces. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
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