Hi! I’m Marisa. Welcome to Rest & Relish where you’ll find tips for living a healthy and well-balanced life, including (mostly) healthy food recipes, wellness tips, as well as occasional ideas to add a little more fun and adventure to life.
WHO AM I?
I’m a wife to Ross, mother to two wonderful ten-year-old twins, and one miniature dachshund! I enjoy sharing my love for cooking (and eating!) healthy foods, while helping others incorporate more intentionality into their everyday lives through helpful strategies and systems.
REST & RELISH….WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
You might be wondering….what does that look like? My goal is to give you the tools and resources to live your best life through recipes, health and wellness information, and organizational strategies/routines in order to maximize time for your interests and those you love.
Rest & Relish has become my mantra! Let’s focus on savoring the little and big moments in life through purposeful activity, nutritious meals, healthy habits and joyful experiences.
WHY?
I’m an occupational therapist who built a successful practice helping children (and their families) with a variety of developmental, psychosocial and cognitive challenges. While I’m not here to provide specific healthcare advice, my background equips me to help you navigate living a healthier lifestyle and incorporate healthier foods (especially plant-based) into your family’s diet based on my unique experiences and expertise.
I have the additional perspective of having experienced pretty much every work experience out there! I’ve worked full-time both inside and outside of the home, part-time outside of the home and now am working part-time at home. Life is busy for us all – work, carpool, kids’ activities, maintaining friendships and hobbies…the list goes on and on! I will try to share my tips and tricks with you on how I fit it all in a day without losing my mind (well, most of the time!).
You will find a heavy focus on food here because food is a passion of mine. I’ve been a pescatarian since 2001 and eat a mostly vegetarian diet with the occasional fish dish.
Prior to 2001, I was often sick and frequently at the doctor with unexplained pain and discomfort. As a child of the 80’s, I had my share of meat & 2 meals, as well as processed snacks. Once I finally eliminated meat, decreased dairy and processed foods, I felt so much better.
BIGGER PERSPECTIVE
The rest of my family enjoys meat, but I do try to limit their consumption and add vegetables to everything I possibly can! My kids have very different taste buds from each other, whereas my husband can and will eat anything!
We’ve had our share of unique mealtime challenges over the years and I’ve had to get creative with meals and menus. In addition to my own dietary restrictions, we have mild lactose intolerance, a gluten sensitivity and sensory processing challenges in the mix. We eat a lot of mixed bowls, salads, wraps and love Mexican food!
I believe that mealtimes should not be a struggle, but a time of rest, reflection and relishing both the meal and time together. (Really…that’s my philosophy on life as well!)
I believe in meeting a child where they are…no force feeding or clean your plate club at our house. This is also my parenting philosophy as well….a certain amount of choice and control are so important to development.
Finally, I care about our planet. The more meat that everyone eats, the more pollution we create. I’m slowly educating my husband and children on this topic and gaining traction with them.
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN THE REST & RELISH LIFESTYLE?
We place a heavy focus on vegetables, reading, traveling to interesting places, hanging out in the great outdoors and spending time with family. We love to learn and devour novels, cookbooks, and podcasts (in no particular order). The kitchen, library and nature are our favorite environments. We value living a healthy and well-balanced life, filled with good food, exercise, work and the proper dose of fun!
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