As podcast host of Brave Talks and thought leader in the fields of plant-based nutrition, body positivity, radial acceptance and more, Emily Nolan has her day timed down to the smallest chia seed. The wellness expert shares how she gets her day up and running as mama to three-year-old, Ollie whose multiple food allergies inspired her to become an allergy ally in service to the millions of parents on the food allergy journey with their kids. (Her food allergy course for parents debuts in the fall of 2022!)

Peep Emily’s schedule below and discover how she gets it all done – not to mention the FOMO-inducing rockstar meals she feeds her son! Read on….

6 am: I wake up to “Mommy, I’m up!” I go upstairs, get my son, hug him for a few quiet minutes, and bring him down to my bathroom so I can shower. I have a podcast interview today and desperately need to wash my hair. 

6 – 6:15 am: I shower and wash my hair as Ollie plays on the bath mat with a couple of toys and his loveys. Dad is out of town for work so it’s all me early in the morning. I chat with him as he plays.

6:30 am: I make tea and Ollie’s breakfast. I drink a turmeric ginger tea and Ollie drinks a warm herbal tea called “Happy Belly” that we get from our local market. I pour his tea in a beautiful handmade ceramic espresso cup to make the portion size small and manageable. He gulps it down as I make his breakfast: toasted Ezekiel sprouted grain English muffin with a scrambled egg on top (egg is part of his daily oral immunotherapy for his food allergies) and add ghee. On the side, I include a cup of blueberries and fresh mint and raw almonds. I add to his plate a small homemade 99% cacao chocolate, which he’s been asking for, and his chewable probiotic which he’s obsessed with.

I also make his supplement concoction: Mary Ruth’s Multivitamin AM, Ionic Zinc, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, a pinch of greens powder (kale, spirulina, moringa), and fish oil. I mix it in with a Tablespoon of fresh heirloom kefir. Sometimes, I’ll add a splash of pomegranate juice to mask the green powder flavor. Luckily, Ollie isn’t a picky eater so bitter flavors don’t surprise him. 

6:45 – 7 am: I spend onee-on-one time with Ollie in the mornings because I work out of the home as much as possible. This morning, we build lego together and play Spidey and Green Goblin. I’m always the bad guy.

7:15 am: Our au pair is usually up and ready to play with Ollie while I prep for the rest of the day. I make coffee, dry my hair, get dressed, pack my bag, pack Ollie’s school bag, and listen to a podcast episode draft and take notes on my phone for my editor before it gets published. 

8:20 am: I make sure Ollie is getting his winter gear on for school–he goes to an outdoor school and dressing seriously for winter requires time to negotiate with a three-year-old who only wants to wear Spiderman pajamas all day.

8:30 am: I pull the “treat in the seat” trick. I let Ollie pick out a snack from the pantry to eat in his car seat on the way to school. He loves agency over his food choices. He picks a Cerebelly Peppa Pig bar. This is also part of my plan to normalize nourishing packaged foods so he doesn’t obsess over them–since we eat mostly a whole foods diet to cultivate his gut health and immune system. 

8:40 am: We’re in the car and off to school for drop-off. We listen to Pete the Cat storytime and Little Bunny Foo-Foo by The Kiboomers on repeat.

9 am: I drop Ollie off at school and head to my office.

9:15 am: I get to my office and hustle to set up my podcast equipment and run through my questions and script. 

10 am: I record a podcast with Red Sneakers for Oakley, a foundation bringing awareness to food allergies and how to use epinephrine “First and fast.” 

11:30 am: I speak with the founder for so long after the recording that we plan a food allergy “Lunch and Learn” to promote my video course for parents of children with food allergies. We jump off and I pack up to go get Ollie from school. (They canceled after-school “lunch bunch” until the COVID positivity rates go down. The classes are mixed in after-school care and they want to keep the kids in their pod as much as possible so school days are short!)

12 noon: I pick up Ollie from school and bring him home for lunch.

12:15 pm: We have a “Lunch + Lego” date. He had a cheese quesadilla (made from cassava + chia), pickled radishes, and another small homemade cacao chocolate. I make my lunch: a bowl of mixed sprouts, hummus, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, and a big heap of giardiniera on top. I add peanuts, almonds and 100% cacao chips from Thrive Market in a bowl and eat them for dessert with a small cup of kefir. 

1 pm: I leave Ollie to finish the lego project with our fantastic au pair, give him three kisses and a hug and head back to my office to finish the day.

2 – 4 pm: I record more audio for my podcast, send emails, work with a parent I’m coaching one-on-one, and finish part of my script for my food allergy video course. 

4:30 pm: The au pair bathes Ollie and I head home from work to make dinner. He has to bathe early to keep his heart rate down before he gets his allergens as part of his evening immunotherapy treatment every night. Dinner is slow-cooked stew I started before bed the night before. If it doesn’t turn out, there’s always pizza and salad!

5:15 pm: Dinner time and wind down. 

6 pm: Ollie eats a precisely measured amount of nuts/allergens as part of his daily oral immunotherapy to desensitize him to the allergens.

6 – 7:30 pm: The au pair and I tag-team between cleaning up the kitchen and house, doing laundry, preparing Ollie’s school snacks for the next day, and playing “Spidey and his Friends.” Again, I’m assigned the role of Green Goblin.

7:30 pm: I get my PJs on, brush my teeth with Ollie and bring him to bed. These days, bedtime is a battle, but we’re trying new ways to keep him from bargaining to stay up later with pretending he’s hungry or not tired. This is the hardest part of my day right now and I usually find myself hilariously singing our once sweet bedtime song at a hurried pace just to get the night over with.

8 pm: I go through my own bedtime routine, interrupted by Ollie coming back downstairs to chat, as I wash my face, take my vitamins, floss and brush my teeth. I walk him back upstairs and negotiate with him to try and stay in bed. I go back downstairs and open up the book on my nightstand, Black Cake, recommended by my Book of the Month membership I’m doing with a couple of my girlfriends. 

8- 8:30 pm: I negotiate with my son as I try and read in bed. Finally, he falls asleep. I always make sure to say, “I love you forever,” before I leave his room, even when it’s tough and he’s fighting sleep.

8:30 – 9 pm: I read in bed and then it’s lights out.