Category: Parenting

Feeding the Growing Athlete

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It’s 3:35p.m., One kid needs to be at football by 4:45. Another is lacing up for a cross-country meet. Three more need to be at the gym in a leotard with their hair up 3 towns over, and all five have a science project due tomorrow. That’s a normal Tuesday at our house.

I’m a mom of five teens who also is a dietitian, and I still don’t have a perfect meal plan. What I do have is a plan that works most days, holds up on the messy ones, and keeps five growing bodies fed enough to learn, train, and recover.

The goal isn’t perfect nutrition. It’s a simple plan for real life.

What “Fueling the Growing Body” Really Means

Practice starts before your kid walks in the door. Food, fluids, and recovery are part of training, just like drills and conditioning. Teen athletes are asking their bodies to do three big jobs at once:

  1. Grow. The early teen years bring some of the fastest growth of their whole life: bones, muscles, brains, hormones, all of it.
  2. Learn. A full school day takes real energy. Focus, memory, and mood all run better on regular meals.
  3. Train. Practice, games, meets, and conditioning burn a lot on top of everything else.

When you add those up, most teen athletes need more food than parents expect, and they need it spread out across the day. This is not the season for cutting, skipping meals, “eating clean” to the extreme, or trying to change body size for a sport. A growing athlete who’s under-fueled doesn’t just feel tired. Their body starts making trade-offs, and growth and bone health are often the ones that pay.

So in our house, the question isn’t “Is this the healthiest possible food?” It’s “Did they eat enough, often enough, to do everything we’re asking of them today?”

The Busy-Week Map

Here’s how a typical school-and-practice day breaks down for us. Every family’s schedule is different, so borrow the parts that fit.

Before School: Breakfast Counts

Breakfast is the first fuel stop of a long day. It doesn’t need to be fancy. It needs to happen.

Quick ideas that work in our kitchen:

  • Eggs + a bagel + avocado or peanut butter (or a seed butter)
  • Overnight oats with Greek yogurt and a fruit and nuts of their choice
  • Peanut butter (or seed butter) and banana on toast
  • A smoothie with yogurt, fruit, and oats, plus a handful of nuts on the way out

If your teen “isn’t hungry” in the morning, start small. A glass of milk and a banana is better than nothing, and appetite often grows once breakfast becomes a habit.

Packing the Day: Lunch and the Backpack Snack

Lunch is what powers the afternoon and the start of practice. A lunch that’s just crackers won’t cover it. We aim for carbs + protein + a healthy fat (more on that formula below).

Then there’s what I call the backpack snack, the one they eat between classes when lunch didn’t last. This snack does a lot of heavy lifting, especially when lunch was at 10:45 and dinner is still hours away. Pack it the night before. Future you will be grateful.

After School, Before Practice

This is where a lot of teen athletes come up short. Lunch was hours ago, and they head straight into training running on fumes.

The general rhythm:

  • A fuller meal a few hours before practice (that’s usually lunch).
  • A smaller, easy-to-digest snack closer to practice, mostly carbohydrate with a little protein. Think fruit + a cheese stick, pretzels + a yogurt, half a sandwich, or a granola bar + milk.

Closer to practice, keep high-fat, high-fiber, and very heavy foods lighter. They digest slower and can leave some kids feeling sluggish or crampy, especially runners and gymnasts who are moving, flipping, or bouncing.

Dinner (In the car or at 8 p.m.)

Late dinners are real life in sports families. It’s okay. Dinner is still a full meal: carbs, protein, healthy fat, and some color from fruits or vegetables. If dinner is very late, the after-practice recovery snack becomes even more important so nobody hits the table starving and wiped out.

And then: homework, shower, sleep. Sleep is when a lot of growing and recovering happens. Protect it like you’d protect practice time.

The Next Morning

Recovery doesn’t end at bedtime. Breakfast the next morning restarts the cycle, especially after a hard practice, an evening game, or a long meet day.

The Build-a-Meal Formula

When I’m tired and the fridge is half-empty, I fall back on one simple formula:

Carbs (grains and fruit) + protein + a healthy fat

  • Carbs are the main fuel for training and for the brain. Think bread, rice, pasta, tortillas, oats, potatoes, crackers, and fruit.
  • Protein helps build and repair muscle and supports growth. Think meat, chicken, fish, eggs, dairy, beans, and tofu.
  • Healthy fats help with fullness, growth, and overall health. Think avocado, nut or seed butters, nuts, seeds, olive oil, and cheese.

Add a fruit or vegetable when you can. 

Meal Ideas That Work Across Sports

These are on regular rotation at our house. Most travel well, and many can be made ahead.

  • Meat and cheese sandwich + an apple with peanut butter or seed butter
  • Chicken and rice with sliced avocado
  • Protein pasta with your favorite sauce
  • Eggs + bagel + avocado or peanut butter (or seed butter)
  • Tortellini with red sauce and spinach
  • Turkey and cheese wrap + fruit
  • Hawaiian pita: ham, pineapple, and cheese tucked into a pita
  • Taco bowl: rice, seasoned meat or beans, cheese, salsa, and avocado
  • Mediterranean bowl: rice or quinoa, chicken, cucumber, tomato, hummus, and feta
  • PB&B: peanut butter (or seed butter) and banana on bread or a tortilla
  • Tuna salad with crackers or on a sandwich
  • Overnight oats with fruit and a spoonful of nut or seed butter
  • Mini pizzas on sandwich thins
  • Meat and cheese snack box with crackers, fruit, and cheese curds

Nut allergy at home or at school? Almond butter, seed butter, or organic soy-based spreads swap in nicely almost anywhere you see peanut butter. Always check your school’s or team’s allergy rules, and read labels for cross-contact.

Hydration: Top Priority

If you only change one thing this week, make it water. Even mild dehydration can make practice feel harder and leave kids feeling tired, headachy, or off. And teens are notorious for forgetting to drink until they’re already thirsty.

What works for us:

  • Send a full water bottle to school every day, and refill it before practice.
  • Drink through the day, not just at practice. Chugging a bottle in the car rarely makes up for a dry school day.
  • For longer or harder sessions (think long runs, hot football practices, two-a-days, all-day meets or tournaments), fluids with electrolytes and some carbohydrate, like a sports drink, can help replace sweat losses and support energy. For a regular practice of about an hour, water is usually enough.
  • Pay attention to heat. Hot days, heavy pads, and indoor gyms without air conditioning all raise fluid needs.

A Note on Caffeine

Energy drinks, pre-workouts, and coffee drinks are everywhere, and teens see older athletes using them. Caffeine isn’t recommended for kids and teens. It can disrupt sleep, which growing athletes badly need for recovery, and it can leave some kids jittery, anxious, or with a racing heart. Energy drinks – even Bubbler – are a firm no in our house. A good snack, enough water, and a decent night’s sleep do far more for a teen athlete.

Between Sessions, Drills, or Events

Hydration is the priority here. For long sessions, two-a-days, tournaments, or meets, a small, easy carb snack during breaks can help support energy.

On long days with breaks, such as meets, tournaments, or races with multiple events, easy options include:

  • Applesauce or yogurt pouches
  • A smoothie
  • Fruit, pretzels, or crackers
  • Trail mix

A sport-specific tip on trail mix: it’s great between sessions, but it’s heavier on fat and fiber, so it’s not ideal right before or in the middle of training. For gymnastics, save it for longer breaks rather than between rotations. For football, it works better at halftime of a long day or after practice than mid-drill. For cross-country, save it for after the race; before a run, stick to simpler carbs like a banana or pretzels.

Recovery: Refill the Tank

The car ride home is prime refueling time. A snack with carbs + protein within about 30 to 60 minutes after practice helps muscles recover and refills the tank, especially when dinner is still a ways off. We keep recovery snacks in the car for exactly this reason.

The simple rule: Carbs + protein within about 30 to 60 minutes.

After harder or longer sessions, some families like aiming for roughly twice as many carbs as protein. That ratio is optional. Getting a solid mix of carbs and protein in, and soon, is what matters most.

Our Favorite Recovery Picks

  • Cottage cheese + crackers + peaches
  • Snackle box: nuts or seeds, pretzels, cheese, and dried fruit in a tackle-box-style container
  • Yogurt parfait with granola and berries
  • Trail mix (with seeds instead of nuts if needed)
  • Bagel with peanut butter or seed butter + a hard-boiled egg
  • Chocolate milk + peanut butter toast (or seed butter toast)
  • Eggs in a frame: an egg cooked in the middle of a slice of toast
  • Half a turkey sandwich + a piece of fruit
  • Leftover pasta or rice bowl from last night’s dinner

Chocolate milk deserves a special shout-out. It’s cheap, kid-approved, travels in a lunch box with an ice pack, and brings both carbs and protein plus fluid.

When to Worry: Signs a Teen Athlete May Be Under-Fueling

This section is for parents and the clinicians who care for your child, like your pediatrician or a registered dietitian. It is not a checklist for coaches to screen athletes. If you notice something, the next step is a conversation with your child’s doctor or dietitian.

One symptom on its own doesn’t mean something is wrong. Teens get tired, moody, and hungry for all kinds of reasons. But several of these together, or signs that keep showing up, deserve attention:

  • Low energy that doesn’t bounce back with rest
  • Performance stalling or getting worse despite hard training
  • Frequent injuries, especially stress fractures or injuries that are slow to heal
  • Getting sick often
  • Mood changes: more irritable, anxious, down, or withdrawn
  • Trouble focusing at school
  • Growth slowing, or weight dropping or stalling during a time they should be growing
  • Feeling cold all the time, dizziness, or lightheadedness
  • Skipping meals, eating much less than teammates, or avoiding whole food groups
  • Strong worry about food, body size, or “earning” food through exercise
  • Changes in periods: periods that stop, become irregular, or haven’t started when expected
  • Labs that keep coming back low (like iron) at checkups

What’s Going On When Athletes Under-Fuel

When an athlete consistently doesn’t eat enough to cover training plus growth plus everyday life, the body starts cutting back to save energy. Doctors call this relative energy deficiency in sport, often shortened to RED-S. In plain words: there isn’t enough fuel for the amount of training.

You may also have heard of the female athlete triad. That describes three connected issues in girls and women: not enough fuel, changes in periods, and weaker bones.

But this isn’t just a “girl thing.” Boys and teen athletes of every gender can under-fuel too. It can show up as low energy, mood changes, slowed growth, hormone changes, and more injuries. My son’s football schedule and my daughter’s cross-country miles can drain a body just as fast as my gymnasts’ practices.

Many cases aren’t on purpose. A busy schedule, a small appetite, a long gap between lunch and practice, or a big growth spurt can all leave a kid short without anyone noticing. Sometimes, though, under-fueling is tied to disordered eating or an eating disorder.

Early care matters. Getting help sooner lowers the chance of lasting effects on growth, bones, and health. If you’re worried, call your pediatrician and ask about seeing a registered dietitian who works with young athletes.

If you suspect an eating disorder, please don’t try to handle it with a meal plan. This post isn’t medical advice or treatment for eating disorders. Reach out to your child’s doctor right away. If there are signs of immediate danger, such as fainting, chest pain, or thoughts of self-harm, seek urgent care or call or text 988.

A Simple Plan Beats a Perfect One

Most weeks at our house are not Pinterest-worthy. There are drive-thru nights, cereal-for-dinner nights, and nights when somebody eats a granola bar in the car while finishing a worksheet. That’s okay.

What keeps us steady is a handful of simple habits:

  • Eat breakfast, even a small one.
  • Pack the backpack snack the night before.
  • Carry a water bottle everywhere.
  • Fuel before practice: carbs + a little protein.
  • Refuel after practice: carbs + protein within an hour.
  • Protect sleep.
  • Watch the big picture, and loop in your pediatrician or dietitian if something feels off.

Our kids are growing, learning, and training all at the same time. When we fuel them for all three, they don’t just perform better. They have what they need to grow, recover, and enjoy the sports they love.

That’s what Fuel to Flourish™ is all about.

This post is for general education and isn’t a substitute for individual medical or nutrition care. Every athlete is different. Talk with your child’s pediatrician or a registered dietitian about your family’s specific needs, allergies, or health concerns.

The Gift of Written Word

Published on by onesource4wellness

There’s something powerful about taking a story that lives in your heart and finally putting it into words.

I’m incredibly grateful to Motivational MD Publishing for helping me transform one story into a growing collection of books and, ultimately, a bigger vision for Fuel to Flourish™.

Sometimes writing a book doesn’t just tell your story. It helps you discover what you’re meant to do with it!

Get Your Copy(ies)

Order on Amazon

Check out Motivational MD Publishing

Motivational MD Publishing

Looking Back after 13 Years

Published on by onesource4wellness

Every July I open the virtual photo albums and reminisce over the last 365 days. I smile, I cry, I chuckle, I think about the “what if’s” and let those worries go, and count my blessings: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I compile photos that articulate where each member of the V5 started the previous year and who they became. I add photos I know that they’ll cherish and sprinkle in a few that I know will make them cringe but smile inside. Then, I listen to countless songs trying to find the right one that I know they’d listen to and think, “yep that was me at 13.” My favorite part of building these collages is watching them one-on-one with each of them. We always catch little mistakes the first time through and they beg for me to take a photo out but they typically stay. Each one ends with a side hug and kiss on their head.

Join me as we look at Theo, Bella, Lily, Kali and Ellie over the last year!

Happy 13th Theo!

Happy 13th Bella!

Happy 13th Lily!

Happy 13th Kali!

Happy 13th Ellie!

Ellie’s audio: How to save a life: https://youtu.be/cjVQ36NhbMk?is=RGcdU_DVxLikDQpT

From Baby(ies) to Big Kids: Thirteen Years of Becoming

Published on by onesource4wellness

This week, the V5 turn thirteen. Thirteen. I sat with that sentence for a minute because for so long, our story was defined by the beginning. The shock of discovering there weren’t one, two, or even three babies growing inside me but five.

The appointments. The preparation. The uncertainty. The NICU. Then, the bottles and diapers and feeding schedules. Five car seats. Five cribs. Five tiny people who somehow needed us all at once.

When I wrote Bump to Baby(ies), I told the story of how our family began. It was a story about pregnancy, surrender, survival, and discovering courage when life multiplied in ways we never could have imagined.

That first season passed quickly. The days were long but the years short. They became toddlers with opinions. Preschoolers with personalities. Elementary schoolers discovering friendships, sports, strengths, and struggles. And now, somehow, they are teenagers.

The Story After Survival

People have asked us versions of the same question since the kids were born: How do you do it with five?

When they were babies, the answers were practical. Schedules. Systems. Preparation. Teamwork. And probably more coffee than medically advisable.

But as they grew, the question became much more complicated. How do we raise five children at the exact same age while honoring that they are five completely different people?

How do we create structure without controlling them?

How do we help them become resilient without protecting them from every struggle?

How do we teach responsibility while making home a place where mistakes are safe?

How do we stay connected as schedules, sports, school, friends, emotions, and independence begin pulling everyone in different directions?

And maybe the biggest question of all: How do we raise children who know they are deeply loved while preparing them to eventually walk into the world without us?

I definitely don’t have all the answers. Thirteen years into this parenting, social experiment, I’m more convinced of that than ever.

What I do have are lessons. Lots and lots of lessons. Some learned beautifully. Others learned the hard way.

One of the surprises of parenting has been realizing that children aren’t the only ones growing. The parents we were when five babies came home are not the parents we are today.

We’ve learned that connection matters more than control. That repair matters more than getting every interaction right. That our children can share the same home, the same parents, and even the same birthday and still need completely different things from us.

We’ve learned to laugh. We’ve learned to apologize. We’ve learned to have hard conversations. We’ve learned that sometimes the best parenting happens around the dinner table, driving to practice, or during a completely ordinary Tuesday night.

And we’ve learned that resilient families aren’t families without struggle. They’re families who learn how to move through struggle together. That became the heart of Baby(ies) to Big Kids.

A Book About Becoming

Baby(ies) to Big Kids isn’t a story about how we figured out parenting. Quite the opposite. It’s about what we’ve learned while figuring it out.

The CALM parenting framework is about raising resilient kids while continuing to become resilient adults. It’s about communication rooted in curiosity, anchoring values, connection through words and actions, responsibility, emotional awareness, and creating a family culture intentionally even when real life is loud and messy.

And because reading about these ideas only takes us so far, the story grew again. I created companion workbooks for parents and youth so families could move from reading about resilience and connection to actually practicing them together. What began as a story had become a set of resources. 

We Were Never Meant to Do This Alone

There’s another lesson woven throughout these thirteen years that deserves its own chapter: Family resilience doesn’t happen in isolation.

Our children have been shaped by grandparents, teachers, coaches, healthcare professionals, neighbors, friends, and people who have simply shown up again and again. So have I.

We have been privileged to grow up alongside two of our people, Alex and Danielle. Frank and Alex became best friends in high school, two kids from neighboring towns bonded by Seinfeld, classic rock, and countless hours writing and playing music in Alex’s basement before rocking talent shows and benefit concerts together. Their friendship followed them to college, where they joined the same fraternity and eventually served as president and vice president, and where Alex met Danielle, who quickly became part of our story,  too. Over the years, the four of us have celebrated, struggled, built careers, raised families, laughed, challenged one another, and become family. We are iron that sharpens iron, but perhaps our greatest lesson has been that even strong people need a village.

Danielle has been part of ours through so many chapters, which makes it especially meaningful that she wrote the foreword to Baby(ies) to Big Kids. There is something incredibly special about having someone who has witnessed the messy middle of your story help introduce it to the world.

And Now There Are Five Teenagers

On the weekend of their thirteenth birthday, I find myself looking backward and forward at the same time. I can still see those five tiny babies. But I also see five young people becoming increasingly themselves. And I know the next chapter will bring questions I haven’t even thought to ask yet.

But this week? I’m going to celebrate five thirteen-year-olds. I’m going to marvel at the fact that somehow we made it from five NICU isolettes to five teenagers. And I’m going to remind myself that we still haven’t arrived. Thank goodness.

Happy 13th birthday, Theo, Bella, Lily, Kali, and Ellie!

What an extraordinary adventure it is to grow alongside you.

Flourishing Was Never the Destination

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For most of my life, I thought flourishing would look like arriving.

Arriving at motherhood.

Arriving at health.

Arriving at a credential.

Arriving at a career title.

Arriving at peace.

Like many of us, I have spent years believing that life would finally make sense once I reached the next milestone. If I could just make it through school. Build my career. Have a family. Find balance. Achieve success. Then I would finally feel like I had arrived.

But life has a remarkable way of rewriting our plans.

When I learned I was pregnant with quintuplets, every expectation I had for motherhood changed overnight. My carefully imagined future gave way to uncertainty, high-risk pregnancy, months of medical appointments, and eventually the quiet, sacred halls of the NICU. The destination I had envisioned disappeared, replaced by one I never would have chosen.

And yet, that’s where I first began to understand what flourishing really means.

It wasn’t found in having all the answers.

It wasn’t found in perfect health, perfect circumstances, or a perfectly predictable life.

It was found in the courage to keep growing anyway amidst a perfect mess.

Over the years, life has continued to teach me this lesson.

Sometimes flourishing looks like surviving the NICU one day at a time.

Sometimes it looks like rebuilding after heartbreak or disappointment.

Sometimes it looks like changing careers, embracing new opportunities, or letting go of a version of yourself you thought you had to become.

Sometimes it looks like sitting around the dinner table laughing with the people you love after an incredibly hard day.

Sometimes it looks like asking for help.

Sometimes it looks like extending grace to yourself.

Sometimes it simply looks like trying again tomorrow.

I’ve come to believe that flourishing isn’t reserved for people whose lives are easy. It’s available to every one of us. Not because our circumstances are perfect, but because growth is always possible if we choose it.

As both a healthcare leader and a mom, I’ve had the privilege of walking alongside thousands of people navigating some of life’s biggest battles. I have partnered with patients digesting a new diagnosis, families managing chronic illness, children building resilience, communities working toward better health, and people searching for hope in the midst of uncertainty.

What I’ve learned is that beneath every diagnosis, every challenge, every success, and every setback is the same universal question: How do we continue to grow when life doesn’t unfold the way we expected?

That question has shaped every part of my journey.

It inspired Bump to Baby(ies), where I shared the unexpected story of pregnancy, the NICU, and discovering courage in surrender.

It continued through Baby(ies) to Big Kids, where the focus shifted from surviving parenthood to intentionally raising resilient, connected families.

It found new life in workbooks created to help parents and children put those ideas into practice.

It expanded through Life is a Battle, And We Will Win, reminding young people that every challenge they face can become part of a story of hope, resilience, and perseverance.

And now, it has grown into something even bigger.

Fuel to Flourish™ isn’t simply a program or a collection of books. It’s a philosophy. A commitment. A movement rooted in one simple belief: Every person deserves the opportunity not just to survive but to flourish.

Whether that means helping a new mom feel less alone.

Supporting a child who is learning to navigate anxiety.

Equipping families with practical tools to strengthen connection.

Partnering with schools to build resilient students.

Collaborating with healthcare systems to create more compassionate, person-centered care.

Or working alongside communities to improve health from the inside out.

It’s all connected. Because flourishing isn’t about arriving. It’s about becoming. 

It’s about choosing hope when circumstances feel uncertain.

Choosing connection when life feels busy.

Choosing courage when fear feels loud.

Choosing growth when giving up would be easier.

None of us will escape life’s battles. But together, we can learn to face them with resilience, compassion, and purpose.

My hope is that Fuel to Flourish becomes more than a collection of resources.

I hope it becomes a community where families feel supported, young people feel seen, healthcare becomes more human, and every person is reminded that flourishing isn’t something we earn once we’ve reached perfection. It’s something we practice every single day.

So whether you’re navigating pregnancy, parenting, adolescence, illness, career transitions, or simply trying to become the person you were created to be…

Welcome. I’m so grateful you’re here. Because this journey isn’t about arriving. It’s about flourishing together.

Add Resilience to Your School-Supply List

Published on by onesource4wellness

Every August, families begin making their back-to-school lists. Backpacks. Notebooks. Pencils. New shoes. Water bottles. Lunch boxes. These supplies help students get through their school day but we also need tools that cannot be tucked neatly inside a backpack or pencil pouch. Our youth need trusted adults. They need healthy ways to manage stress and big emotions. They need spaces where they feel seen, supported, and connected. They need reminders of their strengths, hopes, and goals. Most of all, they need to know they do not have to face life’s challenges alone.

That is why I am thrilled to invite my community to the Back-to-School Youth & Family Resilience Celebration: Life Is a Battle and We Will Win taking place on Sunday, August 16, from 2:00–4:00 p.m. at the Sun Prairie Public Library.

The event is free and designed primarily for youth ages 10 and older and their caregivers.

More Than a Back-to-School Event

The celebration grew from a simple idea: What would happen if we treated resilience, emotional awareness, supportive relationships, and healthy coping skills as essential school supplies? The result is an interactive afternoon where youth and families can move, create, reflect, laugh, connect, and learn together. The event will include:

  • A dance party
  • Youth voices and author stories
  • A Youth Mental Health Art Walk
  • Games and giveaways
  • Interactive youth resilience activities
  • Caregiver resources
  • Family connection activities
  • Community mental-health and family-support resources

Rather than approaching mental health only through crisis, this event will create a joyful and approachable space for prevention, conversation, connection, and hope.

Youth are encouraged to identify the people, personal strengths, coping strategies, goals, and sources of hope they can carry into the school year. Caregivers will receive practical tools for fostering connection, communication, and emotional safety at home. Families will also have an opportunity to develop shared strategies they can use when life becomes stressful.

The goal is not for families to leave with every answer. It is for them to leave with more language, more connection, and a clearer understanding of where they can turn for support.

About Life Is a Battle and We Will Win

The event is inspired by the book Life Is a Battle and We Will Win: Stories of Hope and Resilience, created by Dr. Jasmine Zapata in collaboration with an intergenerational group of authors, educators, physicians, parents, grandparents, youth mentors, therapists, advocates, and young people. The book brings together honest stories from people who have faced difficult experiences and continued moving forward. Through personal narratives, reflection prompts, activities, and practical encouragement, readers are reminded that struggle does not mean their story is over.

The central message is simple: Life may feel like a battle sometimes, but with support, resilience, community, and the right tools, we can keep going and we can win.

The book is part of the national Life Is a Battle and We Will Win Youth and Family Empowerment Book Tour, a movement working to place stories of hope and practical mental-wellness tools into the hands of 50,000 youth and young adults. As a contributing author, I am especially proud to help bring that movement home to Sun Prairie.

Centering Youth Voice Through Art

One of the most meaningful parts of the event will be the Youth Mental Health Art Walk. Young people have been invited to submit drawings, sketches, and paintings representing their experiences with emotions, mental health, stress, hope, identity, belonging, resilience, or growth. Art can communicate experiences that are not always easy to put into words. By displaying youth-created work, we hope to honor their perspectives, encourage healthy conversation, reduce stigma, and remind young people that their voices matter.

Building a Community of Support

The celebration is being hosted in partnership with the Sun Prairie Public Library, with additional community partners invited to share resources and support for youth and families. Libraries are uniquely powerful spaces for events like this. They are places of learning, creativity, storytelling, belonging, and equitable access. They also allow families to explore difficult subjects in an environment that feels familiar, welcoming, and connected to the broader community.

Our accepted program vision is to create a safe and uplifting experience where youth are reminded that they matter, they are not alone, and resilience is something they can learn and strengthen.

Join Us

The Life Is a Battle and We Will Win Back-to-School Youth & Family Resilience Celebration will be held:

Sunday, August 16
2:00–4:00 p.m.
Sun Prairie Public Library, Community Room
1350 Linnerud Drive, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin

The event is free and designed for youth ages 10 and older and their caregivers. Advance registration is recommended. Register Today!

Please share the event with a family, educator, coach, youth leader, counselor, or community member who may benefit.

Together, we can help young people begin the school year with more than notebooks and pencils. We can help them carry hope, courage, trusted relationships, healthy coping strategies, and the belief that no matter what challenges they encounter, they do not have to face them alone.

No matter how hard life gets, don’t give up. You will win.

What 90 seconds Can Teach Us About Life

Published on by onesource4wellness

This week I sat in a convention center in Knoxville, Tennessee surrounded by hundreds of gymnasts from across the country.

One by one they saluted the judges. Ninety seconds. Years of practice. Thousands of repetitions. Countless falls. Blisters. Tears. Mental blocks. Comebacks. Victories. Disappointments.

All distilled into a routine shorter than most commercial breaks.

As I watched my daughters compete at the AAU National Championships, I found myself thinking less about scores and podiums and more about what gymnastics quietly teaches our children long before they ever receive a medal.

Because gymnastics isn’t just a sport. It’s an education in resilience.

The Imbalance That Teaches Balance

Few youth sports ask so much for so little time in the spotlight. Many competitive gymnasts train 15–25 hours each week. That’s hundreds of hours every season preparing for routines that last only seconds.

One wobble on beam.
One missed hand placement on bars.
One landing slightly off.

Months of preparation can change in an instant. And yet…

The next day they buckle their grips, tape their joints, chalk their hands, tighten their ponytails, and start again. What an incredible lesson for life.

More Than Physical Strength

Most people see the muscles. They notice the power. The flexibility on floor. The precision on beam. But what they don’t see may be even more impressive. The courage to throw a skill after falling. The confidence to compete while your heart races and their legs wobble from adrenaline. The discipline to practice the same movement thousands of times. The humility to accept coaching. The patience to trust that progress isn’t always linear and that their self-worth II not defined by their last rep.

These are not just athletic skills. They’re life skills.

The Four Pillars of Resilience

As someone who spends much of my career thinking about health, care models and system that promote holistic well-being, gymnastics reminds me that flourishing isn’t just about physical fitness. It’s about the whole person.

Physical resilience is built through strength, flexibility, balance, coordination, endurance, fueling, recovery, and learning how to care for your body.

Mental resilience grows every time an athlete chooses courage over fear, focuses after a mistake, or learns to quiet the voice that says, “What if I can’t?”

Emotional resilience develops when disappointment becomes determination, when frustration gives way to persistence, and when success is celebrated without letting it define your worth.

Social resilience is found in teammates cheering louder than anyone else even if it meana trading spots on the podium, coaches who believe before athletes believe in themselves, families who spend weekends traveling together, and friendships forged through shared challenges.

These young athletes aren’t simply learning gymnastics. They’re learning how to navigate life.

Behind Every Routine

People often ask about medals. I think about the mornings that started before sunrise. The long drives. The endless affirmations and behavioral coaching to break the cycle of unhealthy thoughts.

The braces and wraps. The grips. The ice packs. The stretching routines. The pep talks in the parking lot. The heart hands from across the gym that connect our souls and fuel confidence.

I think about coaches who refuse to lower the bar because they know these girls are capable of more. I think about parents learning to say, “I’m proud of you,” regardless of the score. I think about teammates who erupt with joy when someone finally lands the skill they’ve been chasing for months. That’s the part spectators rarely see. And maybe it’s the most beautiful part of all.

Wisconsin Has Something to Celebrate

This month, athletes from Flip City Gymnastics, Hartford Gymnastics Academy, Ultimate Performance Gymnastics, and other Wisconsin clubs represented our state with heart, determination, and grit at the AAU National Championships.

I’m especially proud that several Wisconsin gymnasts including two from our own family earned qualification to the AAU Junior Olympic Games this August in Des Moines, Iowa. What an incredible accomplishment. Not because they qualified. Because they became the kind of young women who were willing to do the work long before anyone was watching.

To the Girls

If you’re reading this someday, I hope you remember this:

Your score will fade. Your medals will eventually collect dust. But your character That stays.

The resilience you’ve built inside the gym will carry you into classrooms, careers, relationships, parenthood, leadership, and every challenge life places before you.

No judge can score that. And no one can ever take it away.

So here’s to every gymnast stepping onto the competition floor this August. Wisconsin is cheering for you. We’ll be cheering even louder for the women and men you’re becoming.

Now let’s rally behind these incredible athletes as they head to the AAU Junior Olympic Games in Des Moines!

Leave a note of encouragement in the comments, share this post to support Wisconsin gymnastics, and help these young women feel an entire community standing behind them as they take the national stage.

Gallery

Mental Health Matters: Five Young Voices, One Powerful Truth

Published on by onesource4wellness1 Comment

This week, I had the privilege of presenting on a panel for a Black mental health summit alongside my fellow co-authors of Life Is A Battle but We Will Win. The summit centered around resilience, healing, and collaboration across communities — mothers, men, caregivers, and youth.

As a population health leader, dietitian, youth advocate, and ally, I believe our responsibility is not simply to ask people to be more resilient — it is to build communities, systems, and spaces that address the root causes impacting mental health in the first place.

My portion of the conversation focused on adolescent athletes and their unique mental health experiences. Athletes are often taught to push through physical pain. Unfortunately, that mindset can sometimes extend to emotional pain too. While sports can build confidence, discipline, and resilience, they can also create pressure, perfectionism, identity struggles, and isolation when mental health challenges are left unseen.

One statistic shared during the summit stopped the room: suicide is one of the leading causes of preventable death among NCAA athletes. That is not okay.

But here is what is okay:
It is okay to not be okay.

For Mental Health Awareness Month, I wanted to move beyond simply talking about mental health and instead create space for honest conversation within my own home. So I asked my children three simple questions:

  1. Why is mental health important?
  2. What has been your experience with mental health?
  3. What words of wisdom would you share with other youth?

Their responses were raw, insightful, vulnerable, hopeful, and wise beyond their years. And honestly? I think we have a lot to learn from them.

“Your feelings matter.”

Mental health matters because it affects the way we see the world, ourselves, and other people. Sometimes people cannot see mental health struggles on the outside, but that does not make them any less real. I watch my friends struggle silently especially when painful experiences are brought up by others who do not realize the impact their words can have.

Their message to other youth was simple but powerful: “Keep your head up. You got this. There are people there for you.”

Sometimes the most healing thing a young person can hear is- You are not alone.

“Mental blocks don’t define you.”

One of my children bravely shared their experience with OCD, anxiety, and a severe mental block. What began as fear during competition slowly unraveled into something much bigger.

There are tears. Frustration. Fear. Questions. Therapy. Prayer. Patience. Healing.

Eventually, through support, treatment, faith, and perseverance, I began reclaiming confidence little by little. Today, I’ doing skills I once thought were impossible. I try to encourage others to, “Work hard. Trust the process. Dreams really can come true.”

And perhaps most importantly, mental health struggles do not define you. They are experiences that deserve support, compassion, and care.

“Finding the right support matters.”

Another child shared their experience navigating anxiety, ADHD, and depression.

I used to cry every night, feeling overwhelmed, and eventually realized that something bigger was going on. I started working with a therapy. The first therapist was kind but not the right one for me. The second therapist is an art and play therapist. We play games, get creative and connect through art. This built trust and a bond that changed everything.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to mental health support.

Healing can look like conversation.
Or movement.
Or medication.
Or art.
Or faith.
Or community.
Or all of the above.

They also wanted to call out the impact of screen time and sleep on mental wellbeing.

“Sleep is so important and the blue light from screens (especially before bed) can make it worse.”

“Sometimes you just need to find your people.”

One of my children was diagnosed with anxiety at six years old and later with ADHD.

I got diagnosed with anxiety when I was six and later with ADHD. I had to try a bunch of different medicines until we found the right combo. It took awhile but when we did it was so good. It helps me a lot.

They also emphasized the importance of trusted relationships: friends, counselors, and safe adults who make you feel understood instead of judged.

Their words were beautifully simple: “Never underestimate yourself. Sometimes you just need to find your people.”

There is so much wisdom in that. Connection matters. Belonging matters. Feeling safe enough to be yourself matters.

“Don’t struggle alone.”

The final response was short, honest, and deeply important.

Mental health is a “touchy topic.” It is something many people still struggle to discuss openly. Keeping everything bottled up only makes the burden heavier.

Their advice: “Talk to somebody you trust and find ways to help yourself so you’re not struggling alone.”

That’s it right there. Not struggling alone. Not carrying invisible pain in silence. Not believing you have to earn support by reaching a breaking point first.

What I Hope We Learn From Young People

What stood out most to me throughout these conversations was not weakness.
It was awareness. Insight. Emotional intelligence. Honesty. Hope.

Our youth are navigating enormous pressures:
Academic pressure.
Athletic pressure.
Social media.
Loneliness.
Comparison culture.
Identity development.
Fear of failure.
Fear of not belonging.

And yet, they continue showing up every day trying to figure out who they are and where they fit in this world.

Mental health conversations cannot begin only once someone is in crisis. We must create homes, schools, healthcare systems, teams, and communities where emotional wellbeing is normalized, supported, and protected proactively – not reactively.

So here is my invitation to you: Ask someone you love about their mental health.
Listen without fixing.
Create space without judgment.
Help people feel seen, heard, valued, and safe.

Sometimes one conversation really can save a life.

If you’re interested in learning more about my next book – Life is a battle but we will win – tune into this virtual book launch on May 28.

You can learn more and register for the free event here. https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/AAGm5qPKQCi92lUX3-wNTw

Or, Pre-order your copy today!

When You’re Functioning, But Not Okay: Mental Health Awareness

Published on by onesource4wellness

Redefining What “Struggling” Really Looks Like

For a long time, health was measured by what we could see; Blood pressure. Weight. Lab values. Physical endurance. If those checked out, we called ourselves “healthy.” But something has shifted. We’re beginning to understand that mental and social wellbeing aren’t secondary – they are foundational. You can be physically “fine” and still be carrying a level of emotional weight that quietly erodes your quality of life.

And the data is catching up to what many have been feeling:

  • Among youth, rates of persistent sadness and hopelessness have risen significantly over the past decade, with nearly 1 in 3 adolescents reporting poor mental health in recent national surveys.
  • Adults report increasing levels of anxiety, burnout, and emotional exhaustion, especially those balancing caregiving, careers, and constant connectivity.
  • Older adults face rising levels of loneliness and isolation, both of which are now recognized as serious health risks comparable to chronic disease.

Here in the Midwest, including communities across Wisconsin, these trends are showing up in our schools, our workplaces, and our homes.

Struggling doesn’t always look like falling apart. Sometimes it looks like showing up… while quietly unraveling.

The Cost of Holding It All Together

There’s a version of strength that gets praised in our culture; the ability to push through, stay composed, keep going no matter what. But there’s a cost to that kind of strength when it comes at the expense of processing what we carry.

Unresolved guilt.
Shame we never spoke out loud.
Hurt we minimized.
Forgiveness we haven’t fully worked through.

These don’t just disappear because we stay busy. They settle. And over time, that emotional weight doesn’t stay contained to the mind, it begins to show up in the body. It can look like irritability that feels disproportionate to the situation. Exhaustion that sleep doesn’t fix. A sense of numbness where joy used to live. When we carry things we haven’t acknowledged, the body keeps score in quiet, persistent ways. Holding it together isn’t the same as being okay.

The Brain–Body Connection

We often think of “impact on the body” as something reserved for major trauma. And while trauma absolutely leaves a physiological footprint, it’s not the only thing that does. Chronic, unrelenting stress – the kind that feels manageable day-to-day – can have a profound biological effect over time. When the body perceives stress, it releases cortisol. In short bursts, that’s helpful. It keeps us alert and responsive (think fight or flight). But when stress becomes constant, cortisol stays elevated. And that matters because sustained high cortisol levels are associated with increased visceral adiposity (fat stored around vital organs) which is linked to higher risks of cardiovascular disease, metabolic dysfunction, and inflammation. In other words: the body responds to emotional strain as if it were a physical threat.

This isn’t about blame – it’s about awareness.

Because the same system that responds to stress can also be supported and regulated. Small, consistent practices can help. The goal isn’t perfection. It’s giving the body signals of safety again.

The Turning Point: Holding Two Things at Once

There’s a concept introduced by Dr. Kim Whitmore in her book Grateful and Grieving that resonates deeply: the “ampersand” moments. The idea that two things can be true at the same time.

You can be grateful and grieving.
Strong and struggling.
Functioning and not okay.

That tension isn’t something to fix, it’s something to acknowledge. For many of us, the turning point doesn’t come from a dramatic breakdown. It comes from a quiet moment of honesty: Something feels off… and I’m willing to notice it.

Naming a feeling doesn’t make it worse. It makes it visible. And visibility is where change begins.

Even when your mind tells you to push it down. Even when old messages from childhood, culture, or expectation tell you to “get over it.” You’re allowed to feel what you feel.

Small Steps That Actually Help

When everything feels heavy, the answer isn’t to overhaul your life overnight. It’s to start small and start honestly. Here are a few simple ways to begin:

A 5-Step Grounding Exercise

This brings your body out of overwhelm and back into the present.

  • Name 5 things you can see
  • 4 things you can feel
  • 3 things you can hear
  • 2 things you can smell
  • 1 thing you can taste
5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Exercise

Name the Feeling (Without Fixing It)
Instead of “I’m fine,” try:

  • “I feel overwhelmed.”
  • “I feel frustrated.”
  • “I feel hurt.”

Clarity reduces internal tension.

Control What You Can, Release What You Can’t
Draw two columns:

  1. What I can control
  2. What I cannot

Seeing it visually helps your brain stop trying to solve the unsolvable.

Gentle Body Reset
A short walk. Stretching. Deep breathing. Not as punishment but as support.

One Honest Conversation
With yourself, or someone you trust. You don’t have to carry everything alone.

A Small Invitation Forward

You don’t have to solve everything today. You don’t have to unpack every layer of what you’ve been carrying. But you can start here:

Name one thing that’s been sitting beneath the surface.
Acknowledge it without minimizing it.
And take one small step forward.

Because progress in mental health doesn’t come from force. It comes from awareness followed by gentle action.

What’s Next

In the next piece, during Mental Health Awareness Month, I’ll be inviting a perspective that’s often missing from this conversation – our kids. Not as observers of mental health, but as participants in it.

Through their own words, we’ll explore what it looks like to experience emotions, pressure, resilience, and growth in the first 12 years of life. Because mental health isn’t something we arrive at later. It’s something we’re building together from the very beginning.

A Book is Born

Published on by onesource4wellness

When Purpose Arrives Before You’re Ready

The book is here! And in a way that feels both familiar and deeply personal… it arrived early. Just like my babies did.

There’s something about early arrivals; they don’t wait until everything is perfectly prepared. They come when they’re ready. And when they do, everything else rises to meet them. This book feels the same.

It was born out of a season that stretched me in every possible way – physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. A season filled with uncertainty, decisions no one feels fully equipped to make, and moments that still live quietly in my body. And yet, here it is.

Not perfect.
But real.
And ready.

Because this book was never meant to be just mine. It carries pieces of so many shared experiences: the overwhelm, the questions, the silent strength, the moments we don’t always say out loud. It carries our story.

This week, we had a family meeting about focus and forgiveness. Simple in concept. Not always simple in practice. As we talked, I found myself sitting with something I hadn’t fully named before. In writing this book, I had to revisit moments that were incredibly hard including conversations with doctors who, in the context of a high-risk pregnancy, presented options that felt impossible to hear. At the time, those moments left an imprint. And while I’ve always understood that they were doing their jobs – operating within their training, their data, their responsibility – it doesn’t erase the weight of what was said or how it felt to receive it.

What I realized this week is that telling this story required something more from me. It required forgiveness. Not because anyone was wrong. But because I didn’t want to carry that weight forward. There’s a difference between remembering and holding on. And this book… in many ways… helped me begin to release.

So here we are.

The book has arrived.
Earlier than expected.
But right on time for what it was meant to do. To support. To reflect. To give language to experiences that often go unspoken. And to turn something deeply personal into something that might help someone else feel a little less alone.

If this story resonates with you, there are a few ways to be part of what comes next. If you’ve been following along and waiting, you can now order a copy directly from me or through Amazon.

Order on Amazon
ORder a Signed Copy

If you know someone walking through a high-risk pregnancy or early parenthood, you might consider gifting or donating a copy.

Donate a Book

And if you’re part of a community, clinic, or organization that supports families in these seasons, I would love to connect whether that’s sharing the book, starting a conversation, or simply exploring how this message could reach those who may need it.

Connect with Dr. CAssie

More than anything, thank you for being here. This may have started as my story. But it continues because of all of us.