Why I started Seriously Oats, what I believe about women's health, and why I think it's time we start doing things differently.
If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that taking care of yourself can feel like one more thing on an already never-ending to-do list.
When I started Seriously Oats, I wasn't coming from a place of having everything figured out. Quite the opposite. I was at a point in my life where I felt pretty hopeless about my own health.
I was working two jobs, raising my daughter as her primary caregiver, and taking classes part-time. Most days, I was just trying to keep everything moving. Between work, parenting and everything else that comes with being responsible for a household, finding time to look after myself felt nearly impossible.
I wanted to eat better. I wanted to feel better. But the options available to me weren't working.
Most convenient breakfast options contained wheat, which upset my stomach, and the alternatives I could find weren't something I genuinely enjoyed eating. I didn't want another product I would buy with good intentions, only to have it sit in my pantry because I didn't actually like the taste.
I wanted something convenient, something that tasted incredible, and something I could feel good about eating consistently.
So I decided to make it myself.
It was never just about breakfast.
Seriously Oats started with a pretty simple idea: create a breakfast that felt more like dessert, without compromising on the things that mattered to me.
But the mission behind it was always bigger.
I wanted to make it easier for women, especially mothers, to take care of themselves.
I think one of the biggest challenges we face is that we're constantly giving our time and energy to everyone else. Our children, our partners, our families, our jobs, our responsibilities. And somewhere in the middle of all that, we become really good at putting ourselves last.
Time is one of our most limited resources, and for many women, it's the one thing we simply don't have enough of.
That's why convenience was never an afterthought for me. It was central to the entire concept.
I wanted to create something that could be ready in seconds. Something that removed another decision from your morning and made nourishing yourself a little easier.
Because taking care of yourself shouldn't require an additional hour in your day.
And you shouldn't have to sacrifice enjoyment to do it.
I also think it's time we change the conversation about women's fitness.
Over the years, my own relationship with health and fitness has evolved considerably. The more I learn, the more I realize how much of the messaging directed at women has been centred around restriction.
Eat less. Take up less space. Do more cardio. Lift lighter. Don't get too muscular. Focus on burning calories.
I don't think that's the direction we should be going.
I want to encourage women to become stronger, to fuel their bodies properly, to challenge themselves physically and to pursue goals that have nothing to do with simply weighing less.
I want women to want to be fit. Really fit.
To build muscle. To improve their cardiovascular health. To become stronger, faster and more capable. To understand how their bodies work and what they need to perform at their best.
And I believe we can't get there if we're constantly under-fuelling ourselves or treating exercise as punishment for what we've eaten.
Our bodies need adequate nutrition to support muscle development, recovery, energy and overall health. They need movement that challenges them appropriately. They need rest, consistency and time to adapt.
We don't need to train less because we're women. We need to understand how to train well, fuel appropriately and work with our physiology rather than against it.
I want more women to experience what it's like to feel genuinely strong and capable in their bodies.
Not just smaller.
Why I'm creating The Journal
As I've continued learning about nutrition, exercise science, strength training, recovery and behaviour change, I've found myself wanting to share more of what I learn.
There's so much health and fitness information available today, but not all of it is accurate. Social media can be an incredible place to discover new ideas, but it can also make it difficult to distinguish evidence from opinion, marketing and misinformation.
One day, a food is good for you. The next day, it's bad. One influencer tells you to eat more carbohydrates, another tells you to avoid them entirely. Everyone seems to have a different rule for how women should eat, exercise and look.
I want The Journal to be a place where we can cut through some of that noise.
A resource for women and anyone who wants to better understand their health, with practical, science-informed information about:
-
Nutrition: Understanding protein, carbohydrates, fats, fibre and how to fuel your body.
-
Strength & Training: Building muscle, improving performance and learning how to train effectively.
-
Recovery & Wellness: Understanding sleep, stress, recovery and the importance of rest.
-
Body Composition: Learning about fat loss, muscle development and metabolic health without falling into the usual diet-culture traps.
-
Behaviour & Lifestyle: Building sustainable habits and making health fit into real life.
My goal isn't to tell you what to think or give you another list of rules to follow.
It's to help you understand the why behind what you're doing, so you can make informed decisions about your own health.
And when possible, I'll share the research behind what we're discussing, because you deserve more than another opinion presented as fact.
A little reminder before you go
If you're a mom who feels like there's never enough time, I see you.
If you're a woman who has spent years believing she needs to eat less, exercise more and make herself smaller, I hope we can start challenging that narrative together.
If you're someone who simply wants to feel better, become stronger, learn more about your body and make healthier choices, you're in the right place.
You don't need to have everything figured out. You don't need a perfect routine. And you certainly don't need to wait until life slows down to start taking care of yourself.
You deserve to be a priority in your own life, too.
That's why I started Seriously Oats. And that's why I'm creating The Journal.
Here's to taking up space, getting stronger, eating well and becoming the healthiest versions of ourselves.
I'm glad you're here.
— Rae
Founder, Seriously Oats