I Am Mom Enough

Have you seen the latest issue of Time Magazine? I haven't had a chance to get a copy yet, but have read excerpts and have seen it discussed all over the web for the last couple days. Regardless of the tone of the articles or any spin that the writers may put on the issues, I find it really encouraging to see mainstream America opening up and talking about topics like breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and positive discipline, because ultimately these issues affect not just parents and children but on many levels our society as a whole.

I do find the cover photo to be a bit exaggerated.  I am sure it was purposely posed to incite controversy and drive magazine sales. I personally know lots of Attachment Parents and extended breastfeeding moms including myself. I have seen some wild gymnustics and lacrobatics performed by active toddlers intent on exploring and looking at everything while nursing. I wouldn't be shocked, but to date I have never seen a preschooler drag up a chair to stand on while nursing.  Little people can be intensely creative problem-solvers when they are trying to get what they want, so I guess this scenario, although it's not typical, isn't completely unrealistic.  If it was girlfriend of mine and her preschooler, I'd probably have a good-natured laugh. Then, I'd say let's all go sit in the living room where it's more comfortable for nursing.

Here are two moms, who are part of a local moms group I started, giving their take on the Time feature on ABC2 News in Baltimore:

I completely agree with what Jessica said about her daughter Payton nursing, "When she turned a year old, I just was like I can't take her away from this. She loves it. She relies on it. It's her comfort, puts her to sleep." I felt this same way.

When my youngest daughter turned one, she was already scheduled for surgery the following month to correct a slight birth defect of her ear. I knew we wouldn't wean before the surgery, because breastfeeding was such a comfort to her and also because breastmilk provides pain relief and promotes healing. Originally my goal was to breastfeed my baby for at least a year, and we made it YAY!!!  I thought after she recovered from her surgery, we would be done.  But then around that same time, I learned that The World Health Organization and many health organizations world-wide actually recommend breastfeeding until at least the age of two.  Before I had children, I never imagined myself nursing a toddler, but  it felt so natural to continue, and I am so happy that we did!

" . . . people have to realize this is biologically normal. It’s not socially normal. The more people see it, the more it’ll become normal in our culture. That’s what I’m hoping. I want people to see it. There seems to be a war going on between conventional parenting and attachment parenting, and that’s what I want to avoid. I want everyone to be encouraging. We’re not on opposing teams. We all need to be encouraging to each other, and I don’t think we’re doing a very good job at that." from Q&A with Breast-Feeding Mom Jamie Lynne Grumet -- A conversation with the woman on TIME's May 21 cover

I talk regularly to moms who think attachment parenting, child-led weaning and gentle, loving parenting are integral to raising happy, healthy confident kids. I think every good mother does the best she can at the time with the resources and information that she has. The more we learn and share, the better parents we become. I intentionally chose the moms in my circle of friends for their desire to be the best mothers they can, to grow and learn as both women and mothers, and for their ability to be understanding and supportive.  Motherhood can be hard at times even without feeling like you have to justify your every parenting decisions or impress everyone around you with your stellar mothering skills. Raising children is not a contest to be won. I don't need to be "#1 Mom!" I do need to be able to share openly with my fellow moms without fear of being judged as not "mom enough."

Related Posts:

• 101 Things to Do With Your Toddler (counting-on-me.blogspot.com)
• Ryan Gosling on Cloth Diapers  (mamahealthnut.blogspot.com)
• Cloth Diapering: Healthy Baby Bums  (mamahealthnut.blogspot.com)
• Make Your Own Flu Vaccine  (mamahealthnut.blogspot.com)

Make Your Own Flu Vaccine

What's in the Flu Shot? This video about the ingredients of the flu vaccine is both scary and funny.



Everyone has the right to know the truth about what's in vaccines and what the actual benefits are versus the risks. This vital information (not just the hyped-up drug company and government-back propaganda) should be public knowledge.

You can't go back in time, but going forward never let anyone inject anything into your body or the bodies of your children without doing your homework first. You cannot trust pharmaceutical companies, doctors, insurance companies, or the government to provide you with unbiased information or make the choices that are healthiest for you and your children.

Earth Day 2012

Happy Earth Day!  

I love infographics and the one below from Recyclebank is perfect for today!

Share Responsibility for the Planet

Create a network effect on the environment with small changes to your everyday behavior -- Let's take going green viral!

• Fill a Pool: If all Facebook users shortened their showers by 1 minute we'd save enough water to fill 1,123,364 Olympic-sized swimming pools  
• Pin Your Green Idea: If every active Pinterest user pinned one reuse idea per month, there would be 12 million new green ideas on the web
• Power Down: If all Twitter users shut down their computers for one hour, it'd be like taking 9,128 cars off the road for a  year
• Up your Eco-IQ: If you set aside just two minutes a day to watching an environmental video, you'd set aside 12 hours a year to improve your eco-knowledge
• Donate to Illuminate: If every smart phone was recycled at the end of its life, enough energy would be saved to power 199,800 homes for one year.
• Hit the Pavement: If all Nike+ app users ran outside for just one day instead of on a treadmill $442,500 could be saved on electricity bills.  

Happy Easter, Peeps!

Hopefully you haven't already over indulged on Easter Candy.   If you have, stop right now and get yourself back on track.  

Today, this weekend, this week, this month, the healthy plan you've been on are not ruined! Just put the candy down and step away right now.  

Go for a nice walk, if you can, and then start fresh.  Try to make tomorrow the healthiest day possible.  Strengthen your resolve to be fit and healthy.  

Do not touch one single piece of Easter Candy tomorrow.  Continue through the rest of your week eating healthy meals and snacks, staying away from processed junk food and candy, drink lots of water and get as much exercise as you can!

Related articles

• Think Twice -- Easter by the Numbers (mamahealthnut.blogspot.com)

Ryan Gosling on Cloth Diapers

I've been seeing a lot of funny Ryan Gosling Memes and wanted to share this one from Glow Bug Cloth Diapers.  I really got a kick of it and thought my cloth-diapering followers would too!

Related articles:
Why Wear Organic? (mamahealthnut.blogspot.com)
Healthy Baby Bums  (mamahealthnut.blogspot.com)

Quick Upper Body Workout

Here's a quick workout that you can do without any exercise equipment.

Double Click to Enlarge

Push-Ups -- Whether you do full push-ups or need to modify them at first, use the best form that you can.  See the Push-ups photo diagram below for some helpful hints and tips.  

• Harder -- Ace Fitness Exercise Library -- Push-up
• Easier -- ACE Fitness Exercise Library -- Bent-Knee Push-ups

ACE (The American Council on Exercise) is an extremely reputable source for safe and reliable fitness information.  If you are unsure of how to execute an exercise, ACE has a great library of exercises with excellent step-by-step explanations and photos.

Plank -- The 1st position of your push-up is also the straight arm plank.  After completing your 30 Push-Ups, hold in your plank position for 30 seconds.  The Plank will work your core muscles.  Be sure to keep your butt down, your abs tucked up tight, don't let your back sag and don't forget to breath.  If you cannot hold the straight arm plank with good form for the number for seconds required, try starting with the Front Plank from the link below.  This plank is done on your elbows and forearms instead of your hands.

• Harder - Straight Arm Plank
• Easier -- Ace Fitness Exercise Library -- Front Plank
• Want more options? Here's an interesting article about the progression of the plank to easiest to hardest with lots of options in between: Plank Progressions for Killer Abs

Bench Dips -- Sit on the side of a bench with your palms on the bench, beside your hips.  If you don't have a bench , the edge of a dry bath tub, sturdy chair or coffee table will work too.  Your legs should be straight out in front of you, heels on the floor, toes up. Straighten your arms so your butt lifts off the bench. Bend your elbows 90° as you lower your butt toward the floor. Pause, and then push back up to the starting position. Move up and down in a smooth and controlled motion as bench dips can place stress on your shoulders. Concentrate on using your arms to to lift your body (not your legs).  After each set of dips, hold in the lowest position of the dip for the allotted time. See photo 2 below.

• Harder: The straighter your legs are the harder the exercise will be.  
• Easier: If you cannot complete the exercise with your legs straight, try bending your knees.  The exercise will be easiest with your knees bent at a 90° angle, feet flat on the floor directly below your knees. 

1. 

Photo Source: Sportize Me

2. 

Photo Source: Sportize Me

Now you're ready to try it! 
Let me know how it goes for you! 

Quick Upper Body Workout 
No Equipment Needed 
30 Push-ups, Plank for 30 seconds
20 Push-ups, Plank for 20 seconds
10 Push-ups, Plank for 10 seconds
30 Bench Dips, Hold for 30 seconds
20 Bench Dips, Hold for 20 seconds
10 Bench Dips, Hold for 10 seconds

Hungry for Change

I really wanted to watch Hungry for Change while it was free, but time got away from me, and I missed it. Did anyone get a chance to watch it?  If you've watched it, what did you think? I'm hoping if I can't borrow it from a friend, it will come out on Netflix soon. I've found lots of other informative natural, healthy and/or green living DVDs on Netflix.

I did scoop up the Free Hungry for Change Action Guide and Sneak Peek at the "Food Matters" Recipe Book with Juice and Healthy Recipes Preview:

10 Step Action Plan -- Click on the Image above to view and print the complete, full-size Hungry for Change free printable.

Here are the highlights from the 10 Step Action Plan:

1. Add freshly squeezed vegetable juices into your day!

2. Detox your body with green vegetables & gelatinous plant foods.

3. Add parsley & cilantro into your diet.

4. Add cultured foods into your diet.

5. Eat yourself beautiful!

6. Dissolve stress in your daily life!

7. Use the power of visualization.

8. Transform your life with love!

9. Add healthy fats into your diet.

10. Avoid aspartame, msg, high fructose corn syrup & heavily processed diet and fat free products.

Sneak Peek at the "Food Matters" Recipe Book with Juice and Healthy Recipes Preview -- Click on the Image above to view and download the free sample recipes.  Some of these look so good.  I can't wait to try them!

Related articles:

• Diet Soda Linked to Poor Health
• Beef Consumption at 50 Year Low

Klean Kanteen

I just ordered two of these Klean Kanteen Sets for my girls to replace all of our plastic sippy cups.  I am so tired of trying to find the matching lids, straws, valves etc for all the different sippy cups we have. My girls fight over who gets what color, and I worry about toxic chemicals from the plastics leaching into their drinks or directly onto their skin.  I am hoping, once these arrive, to completely do away with all their other cups.  I know a lot of parents, who avoid plastics, give their little ones mason jars to drink from, but that would turn into a disaster at our house.  My kids can't seem to go ten feet without dropping their cups or sitting them down on something unstable like our white sofa.

I really love the Active Pink (above) and may get the adult version for myself if I like these bottles as much as I think I will.  My daughters chose the Solar Yellow and the Prevention Purple for themselves.

The sets we ordered come with both the sippy lids and the sport bottle caps, so they will grow with my girls.  Klean Kanteen has so many great colors and styles from which to choose. The ones pictured above are just a small sampling. The even do baby bottles. Plus, I really appreciated being able to purchase high quality, healthy, green products from a company that is truly devoted to doing what's best for their customers' health, their employees and suppliers, and our environment. 

FROM WWW.KLEANKANTEEN.COM HERE ARE THE OTHER FEATURES THAT HELPED ME DECIDE ON THESE PARTICULAR BOTTLES:

• Free of BPA, phthalates and other toxins
• 100% recyclable and eco-friendly
• Made of 18/8, food-grade stainless steel, no liner needed
• Doesn't retain or impart flavors
• Slim design fits most bottle/cup holders
• Rounded corners are easy to clean with no hard angles where dirt, germs or bacteria can stick
• Stainless steel threads
• Fits large ice cubes
• Includes one Avent™ spout and dome lid
• Cap & spouts are made of BPA-free polypropylene (pp#5)
• Dishwasher safe (colored bottles should be hand-washed)
• All parts can be boiled for sterilization
• Capacity: 12 fluid ounces (355 ml)
• Weight: 3.75 ounces (w/o cap)
• Size: 5” H (w/o cap) x 2.75” W
• Opening diameter: 1.75" (44 mm)

Are you using plastic sippy cups and bottles or greener, healthier alternatives? Are your kids' cups and bottles BPA and phthalate free? Are yours? Leave me a comment telling me what you're using and why.

6 Tips to Help You Kick Your Coffee Habit

I'm happy to say that our household is completely coffee free and almost caffeine free.  With a host of health concerns being linked to coffee consumption, abstaining from coffee gives me one less thing to stress over and that makes me HAPPY!  If you can't get your day started or keep it going without your coffee or caffeine fix, Mama Natural has some great tips to help you kick the habit.


For those of you who may not be familiar with Genevieve AKA  Mama Natural, her tagline is "Whole Living in a Processed World." She and her husband have an ever growing collection of YouTube Videos that are both informative and amusing.  Her "Sh*t Crunchy Mamas Say" videos hit very close to home for this Healthy Mommy and made me laugh out loud!

Go check her out on YouTube.  Then come back and leave me a comment telling which Mama Natural Videos you watched and what you thought.

Which Makes More Sense?

I love this chart.  I so often feel like individuals who put a lot of time, effort, and hard-earned income into making healthy, educated decisions and lifestyle choices are treated like they are crazy for not accepting the propaganda being pushed by big government and big business.

Double Click to View Larger 
Source: Occupy* Posters

So which make more sense to you? 

Regional environmental groups and community activists are spending their limited operating budgets in a massive conspiracy with 90% of the world's scientists to create a worldwide hoax and crash the global economy OR . . .
Big oil companies (and chemical companies like Monsanto, Dow, and DuPont) are spending their obscene profits to bribe anyone they can to protect their profits and limit any future liability their pollution may cause.  
Leave me a comment letting me know which makes more sense to you!

Environmental Benefits of Reduced Meat Consumption

Skip the Burger, Save the Earth :-)

Eating Less Meat Can Help Preserve Our Planet

REDUCE YOUR CARBON (AND METHANE) FOOTPRINT 
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that the meat industry generates 1/5 of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that are accelerating climate change worldwide . . . far more than transportation. All livestock greatly contribute to CO2 emissions through their respiratory processes, but also of monumental concern is methane gas (CH4) emissions from their digestive processes. Methane gas is 21 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. With nearly 1.5 billion large ruminants like cows world-wide, both carbon dioxide and methane gas are being emitted into the atmosphere at astounding rates. These rates have been decreasing lately, but are still much higher than our Earth can continue to support, while remain a healthy environment for us.[1]

MINIMIZE WATER USAGE 
The water needs of livestock are tremendous, greatly exceeding those of vegetables or grains It takes 1,800 - 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of grain fed beef. With that same amount water, farmers could grow 16 pounds of broccoli, 25 pounds of potatoes, enough soybeans for three pounds of tofu or enough wheat for nearly five pounds of whole wheat bread.[2]

HELP REDUCE FOSSIL FUEL DEPENDENCE 
On average, about 40 calories of fossil fuel energy go into every calorie of feed lot beef in the U.S. Compare this to the 2.2 calories of fossil fuel energy needed to produce one calorie of plant-based protein. Moderating meat consumption is a great way to cut fossil fuel demand.[3]

PRESERVE THE RAIN FOREST  
Cattle ranching is the largest impetus behind the destruction of the Amazon Rain Forest with deforestation occurring at an alarming rate. From May 20000 to August 2006 alone, Brazil lost nearly 58,000 square miles of forest—an area larger than Greece.[4]



Learn More:
Meatless Monday
Health Benefits of Reduced Meat Consumption
Beef Consumption at 50 Year Low

Sources:
[1] http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.HTM
[2] http://www.sierraclub.org/sustainable_consumption/toolkit/choosing.pdf
[3] http://www.meatlessmonday.com/why-meatless/
[4] http://www.mongabay.com/brazil.html

Health Benefits of Reduced Meat Consumption

Meat consumption in the U.S. is down. Are you eating less meat at your house? If so here are some of the benefits that you may experience:[1]

• Reduced Cancer Risk
• Reduced Risk of Heart Disease
• Reduced Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes
• Prevention of Long-term Weight Gain and Obesity
• Increased Longevity
• Improved Nutrition including:
• higher intakes of fiber, protein, folate, zinc, iron and magnesium
• lower intakes of saturated fat and total fat

Learn More:

Meatless Monday

Beef Consumption at 50 Year Low

Environmental Benefits of Reduced Meat Consumption

Source:

[1] http://www.meatlessmonday.com/why-meatless/

Beef Consumption at 50 Year Low

Meat consumption in the United States dropped for the fourth year in a row with beef consumption at a fifty year low.[1] Whether this drop in meat-eating is due to the global recession or the concerns of better-informed consumers for their personal health and the health of the planet, I hope this trend will continue. The health and environmental benefits of eating less meat are numerous and far-reaching . . . significantly affecting not only the individuals who curtail their carnivorous tendencies, but our planet as a whole and all of its inhabitants.

Learn More:
Meatless Monday

Health Benefits of Reduced Meat Consumption

Environmental Benefits of Reduced Meat Consumption

Source:
[1] http://www.dailylivestockreport.com/documents/dlr%201-5-2012.pdf