If the food industry has its way, shoppers will soon see an at-a-glance view of a product’s nutritional profile on the front of the package, separate from the complete nutritional information. The mini-profile will list the calories, fat grams, milligrams of sodium, and grams of sugar in big numbers (sometimes with a highlighted important “nutrient”…
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When a friend gets cancer
I didn’t even know what the term lymphedema meant when Susan Niebur of Toddler Planet blog told me she was working out a deal to have compression sleeves made available to women who can’t afford them. I hadn’t ever met Susan, but I knew she was in a rough place with a recurrence of cancer;…
Thyroids of a feather…
When I wrote an essay titled “Attemptus Interruptus” about having to postpone conception to deal with Graves’ Disease, autoimmune hyperthyroidism, I had no idea that the woman I referenced in the second-to-last paragraph would face the same disease. I was best friends with S in eighth grade and spent most of the summer of 1987 on her…
Feelin’ the Holistic Moms love
What a surprise I got tonight when my Holistic Moms co-leaders and members presented me with flowers and a (gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, refined-sugar-free) cake at our monthly meeting! We decided not to do a huge anniversary party again this year after last year’s blow out, and I wasn’t really missing all the stress! But they…
Spreading the gluten-free gospel
I’m so excited for tonight’s Holistic Moms meeting on Special Diets! Going GF (and also dairy-free, soy-free, and corn-free) has made such a difference in my physical and mental health! Cheryl Harris of Harris Whole Health will be speaking on the reasoning behind gluten-free diets, dairy-free diets, the GAPS diet, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and…
Imitation crab meat – scary!
Check out more posts about real food at Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s Real Food Wednesdays blog carnival! I noticed my son’s cheeks were red when he got home from Whole Foods, but I hoped it was just from being in a warm car. He announced that he got sushi with shrimp in it, but when…
“Lunch Line” documentary tells important story of school lunch
When I learned from the DC Urban Moms calendar that the documentary Lunch Line was going to be screened downtown at Busboys & Poets last Sunday night, I could hardly contain my excitement. School lunch is an issue I’ve been getting very interested in, especially with the passage of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act in…
Tears on my yoga mat
Yesterday I went to a yoga class for the first time since the baby was born five months ago. And I cried. It was a big deal to get out the door. For weeks, nay, months, I had been looking up schedules at all the local studios to see when they might have a class…
Cloth Diaper store comes to Manassas!
I’m excited to share that Abby’s Lane now has a brick and mortar store in Manassas. The grand opening is tomorrow, January 15, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 7730 Donegan Drive, Manassas, VA 20109. Check out the store website for more details and for information about Cloth 101 info sessions. In the Del Ray…
My child is my mirror – January Carnival of Natural Parenting
Welcome to the January Carnival of Natural Parenting: Learning from children This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared the many lessons their children have taught them. Please read to the end to find a list…
Playing hooky
I haven’t done anything. I’ve done way too much. The last few weeks have been a blur. No, wait, all five months of my daughter’s life have been a blur. Tonight was the first parent meeting at my son’s school since we started going there in fall 2008 that we have missed. My son has…
Real Food Wednesday – School Lunch Reform?
View more posts about Real Food at Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s Real Food Wednesdays blog carnival! The new “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids” Act signed on December 13 is getting a lot of positive feedback for the changes it will make to the federal school lunch program, but there are some reasons to hold back praise. I’m…
Solstice celebration — we did it!
I’m so excited that I managed to pull together a solstice celebration this year. At noon on the day of, I talked to my friend and let her know another mom from our Holistic Moms chapter was maybe going to make it. Usually I can’t stand last-minute things, but this time is was great to…
Study says kids don’t want sweet cereals
I just learned from Nancy Piho’s My Two-Year-Old Eats Octopus blog about the results of a new study on children and cereal. In a study published in Pediatrics, Yale researchers found that children will eat low-sugar options if they are offered. The gist is “If you serve it, they will eat it,” suggesting that offering…
Gluten-free, dairy-free black bean brownies
On December 13, President Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 to “improve” the school lunch program. Some “Real Food” enthusiasts raise questions about the fact that the school lunch program is even tied to the Agriculture Department, a point Sally Fallon made in her address, “The Politics of School Lunch” at the…
On the bunny slope of tradition-making – Carnival of Natural Parenting
At age 37, I still haven’t learned to ski, and almost five years and two children into parenthood, I can’t quite believe in myself as a real mom of a real family with real traditions of its own. Although a few years of experience in Waldorf education tells me that children thrive on daily rhythms…
Like this: Christmas tree in the house!
It’s been a week since we put up the Christmas tree we cut down at Ticonderoga Farms. It was the first time we’d bought a tree as a married couple (I think) and for sure the first time as parents. But it was something I did yearly as a kid, and I always enjoyed it….
Advent Garden: focusing on beauty
When I walked into the Advent Garden room holding my son’s hand, I felt a rush of senses. The smell of fresh evergreens instantly transported me into a magical wintertime. I felt the profound calm of the darkened room, lit only by one candle in the middle of the spiral of greens and a few candles…
At the pump: credit or debit?
On the night my daughter turns just four months old, why did I just spend 15 minutes to pump three ounces of breastmilk? On one hand, I know this is a full month later than most working moms have already gone back to the office. By now, they are pros, with freezers stocked with milk…
Gluten-free, Dairy-free Pumpkin Quick Bread
“Gluten-free food at Waldorf school” is something of an oxymoron; those places love their wheat! My son brings his own bread and muffins for snack to replace the homemade, whole wheat organic snacks the students and teachers make in the classroom. Last night my husband said to some friends of the boy’s school and his…