Motherhood Inspiration: Devrie Pettit
Welcome to another Motherhood Inspiration Interview! Devrie Pettit is a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist. She does not believe in diets, loves to cook, and try new restaurants. Devrie is a wife and mother of four. Raising them as "foodies" rather than "health nuts" is one of her deepest passions. I incorporate the principles of Intuitive Eating and advocate for Health At Every Size as I help you overcome food restriction and heal from chronic dieting. Follow along at @happilyfed, and check out her book here.
- Who are you a mom to? Four kids! Braylon, Chayce, Remme, Mavyn.
- Tell us about your life outside of motherhood: Right now I feel like work is my hobby. I really love reading and learning about the work I do but it does get emotionally and mentally draining. I really love to watch TV. I do love to travel. OUr family had an incredibly fun travel year planned for 2020. I was mid air to Paris when the travel ban was announced. We had plans for China, NYC, Niagara Falls, and Boston to see the Taylor Swift concert. So that was a big bummer. But we go to Lake Powell every summer and went twice this year. We love to go boating as a family. And all of my kids are heavily involved in activities, so I am always carpooling and cheering for them.
- Did you work before having kids? If so how did having kids change that? I was in the middle of my internship for dietetics when I became pregnant. I had only been married for 6 months. But I hated birth control and was like, "Let's just see what happens." So when I graduated with my masters I was very pregnant. I took the national RD exam 2 or 3 weeks before I had my baby. And I got a job right after I had him. I have always worked at least part-time. And truly believe it makes me a better mom. I love having something that is mine. It's evolved over the years. And I am really grateful for the platform that I have. It allows me to be very flexible. I don't really believe that you can "have it all" as they say. But I do believe you can have pieces of it all or during different seasons of life. When kids start going to school, it opens up so many opportunities for moms.
- Briefly describe what diet culture and intuitive eating means: Diet culture is a system of beliefs that idolizes certain bodies as a barometer of health, productivity, fitness, and discriminates against other bodies. It also demonizes certain foods and puts other foods on a pedestal. Diet culture is everywhere, we are breathing it, swimming in it, it's everywhere we go. It's in our kid's math tests at school, with friends, co workers, it's going to Jamba Juice just to order a smoothy... it's everywhere so I'm really passionate about calling it out. I think there is something to be said about learning to recognize diet culture and silently calling it out and saying "it's not for me." I think its helpful to think of a diet as anything that tells you "how much," "when," and "what to eat," and really takes away from you tuning into your own body and asking yourself "what sounds good" and "what feels good to me."
- How do you balance the constant chaos of motherhood? In addition, how do you prioritize self care? "I don't have any balance. It's so hard. Again, I feel like having kids in school offers balance. I can work when they are gone. But I want to be the one who drives them to practice. I want to be at all of their games and performances. I hate missing stuff. I do not like to volunteer at school. Right now we can't. I like to send supplies and donations. I do think I have gotten better at self-care. I take mom breaks in the middle of the day. I try to go to my room and shut the door when they stress me out. I have amazing friends. And my husband and I prioritize date night on the weekends. It's a must."
- Tell me about your "life's Messy Moment" story. Oh goodness. This is every single day. Many times per day. We have what I like to call "sensitive brains" at our house. I have a daughter with ADHD and another with Autism. I have ADHD myself and the noises and chaos can really get to me. I don't multitask well and forget things often. One story that comes to mind though is one year when we were all planning on traveling to Mexico the day after Christmas and my mom kept reminding me to check all of our passports, but I just kept putting it off. Well we were cleaning up Christmas and packing for our trip and I got the passports out and realized that my daughter's had expired! Long story short, my husband and daughter had to fly to San Diego that night because there are only a few places in the country that do 24 hour passports and we ended up getting her passport renewed and we were all able to go on our trip. It was definitely a "messy" and expensive moment.
- How did you hear about the Ayla Bag? You guys! It looks awesome. I need one.
- What feature on the Ayla Bag are you most excited for? I am always here for a backpack and kids. It is brilliant.
- Tell us one place where you would use the Ayla Vac? This is genius. I don't know if you have seen, but I often show my messy car. My kids eat and change in the car and bring all sorts of random things in there. So I say "Just call me Joey Tribiani". You know on friends when he goes to Vegas and opens his car and all this garbage spills out? That's my car. My husband would love if I had that because he gets so frustrated about my messy car.
Be sure to follow along at @happilyfed, @mindfulcounseling, and check out her book here.