One of my friends, a mother of three, was joking with me about the Burnt Toast Syndrome a while back. This is the drive which leads loving mothers to eat the burnt toast themselves, as they want their families to have only the best. I suspect every dedicated parent understands this theory, and many are probably living “Burnt Toast” lives.

Yes, it is important to care for your family. You don’t want them to get sick, or feel a lack of support. And you want them to live happy, peaceful lives – without stress. So, you run around everywhere, spending every ounce of your own energy taking care of your loved ones.

I want to offer every part of my being to caring for my family, and definitely find myself suddenly hustling to prepare dinner without having had time to even eat my own lunch yet; but I always hear that little voice telling me not to forget about myself. At first, this made me feel terribly selfish – How could I think about myself when I have two little ones who need me? Then, after a few bouts of illness, and publishing an interview with Leeza Gibbons, everything became crystal clear.

If I get sick, my family suffers. My husband has to fill in for me as Mommy, and my children are left to bare-minimum daytime attention. This is just in the case of a short-term illness, from pushing myself too hard, and sacrificing too much of my own health in just a matter of weeks or months. What happens over years of such self-neglect?

I watched my own parents suffer over the decline of their parents, with the years of smoking and poor diet having had an obvious effect. What parent wants to do that to their children, no matter how old they are? So, it is with this in mind that I ask myself, ‘Did I eat well today?’ as I head off to bed before I am too tired to sleep.