Before I had even cracked the spine of the book Good Enough is the New Perfect: Finding Happiness and Success in Modern Motherhood, it got soaked. For at least the fourteenth time, I’d failed to screw the top on my new glass water bottle on correctly, and it spilled all over the purse I took…
nutrition
Putting a public face on “holistic”
Welcome to the April Carnival of Natural Parenting: Compassionate Advocacy This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared how they advocate for healthy, gentle parenting choices compassionately. Please read to the end to find a list…
Taking care of myself: GAPS diet update
Spring hasn’t fully registered here in chilly but blossom-filled Northern Virginia, but I think my stomach is finally on the mend. I started the GAPS diet on February 6, and I am still in a modified introductory stage. I’m only just now even considering trying to eat any raw foods (besides juice, and avocado). It…
Advocate for local food at Farm Food Voices 2011!
On Wednesday, March 16, local food advocates will convene on Capitol Hill for a grassroots lobby day. If you care about where your food comes from, join them! Farm Food Voices says: “Join a coalition of organizations, local food advocates, and small family farmers from across the country to lobby federal legislators on local food…
Healing my gut and finding my bliss
Read more about Real Food at Kelly the Kitchen Kop who hosts a great Real Food Wednesdays blog carnival each week! I’m looking for my inner “healing junkie.” Have you found her? She seems to run and hide the second the baby wakes up, like right now. (A day later…) But it’s not the baby’s…
Foundation airs its criticisms of USDA and presents alternative guidelines
Read more about Real Food at Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s Real Food Wednesdays Blog Carnival! On Monday, February 14, the Weston A. Price Foundation made its criticisms of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s dietary guidelines crystal clear. For anyone who had assumed the governmental agency must be doing its best to ensure the health of…
WAPF to release alternatives to USDA guidelines
At 9 a.m. on Monday, February 14, the Weston A. Price Foundation is holding a press conference to explain its concerns about USDA dietary guidelines and to offer its alternative. WAPF’s Healthy 4 Life guidelines can been viewed in this pdf or ordered in a $10 booklet. I’m so excited that this information is finally…
New food labels tell only part of the story
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”…
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…
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…
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…
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…
More on healthy food in schools!
My visit to Barcroft Elementary school’s Farm to Table celebration (referenced here last week) is now described in more detail on my column at the Washington Times Communities Family Today. Read “Authors, chefs encourage local, healthy food in schools” and tell me what your school is doing — or not doing — to promote healthy…
(Good?) Food in schools
I was so disappointed to miss last weekend’s Wise Traditions conference sponsored by the Weston A. Price Foundation. The topic was “The Politics of Food;” I looked forward to hearing about “The Politics of School Lunches” and in participating in the food activism panel with WAPF publicist and food blogger extraordinaire, Kimberly Harkte of Hartke…
Farm to School Week underway!
As I wrote about last week, November 8-12 is Virginia Farm to School week, as made official by the Virginia General Assembly. Today I share more about the efforts in Alexandria and Arlington public schools in my column at the Washington Times Communities Family Today. Click here for my previous post about Alexandria’s George Mason…
Virginia celebrates Farm to School Week — spotlight on Alexandria’s George Mason Elementary
With my son in currently attending a Waldorf preschool that makes all its own food from scratch (from organic ingredients), it’s been too easy for me to ignore what’s going on in public school cafeterias. Next week, November 8-12, 2010 Virginia will celebrate its second Virginia Farm to School Week, part of the greater Farm…
Freedom for Family Wellness Summit
Reporting here on this exciting event I’m attending tonight and this weekend! Wellness Summit to Address “Vitalism” and “Conscious Choice” Parents are up against a lot of choices these days. Whether the question is about vaccinations or breastfeeding, co-sleeping or where and how to give birth, today’s buzzword is “informed choice.” As International Chiropractic Pediatric…
CNN report on high fructose corn syrup
The CNN report for which I was interviewed about high fructose corn syrup is now online. View it here! Thanks to reporters Brianna Keilar and Lesa Jansen for taking on this issue! Read more about my opinions on HFCS here.
Silver Diner supports local food in schools
Who knew diner food could be health food? I had no idea that the Silver Diner – a chain of restaurants in Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey – was on a mission to serve local food and offer healthier choices. When I attended a special evening recently for food bloggers, I got a true taste…