Have you guys used the Good Guide? I recently came across it as I was looking up the ingredients in some of my baby’s bath products. The Good Guide is this great online resource that rates the best products for baby, home, pets, food, apparel, electronics, appliances and cars based on the health, environmental and social footprint they leave. It’s been so helpful for us in choosing products for our baby and home.
Just today I was having a conversation with a friend about real foods. The conversation started when we got to talking about how we plan to feed our kids as they grow and just how much food has changed in the last 50 years. Our bodies are designed to eat real, natural foods from the earth but today we are almost “forced” to eat an abundance of sugars, salt, preservatives and an array of chemical additives. As much as we try to eat whole, organic, natural foods you still never know if the food your buying deemed “organic” truly is. It’s a scary realization that our society has gone down the path of eating this way. Don’t you wish we all had the time and know how to grow our own food? I know I do. What’s alarming to me is that most people are just okay with the way our food is grown today. Chicken’s pumped with hormones so large they can’t walk, strawberry’s grown double their natural size because of the chemicals used to fertilize them. Scary, isn’t it? So how can we change the way we eat? What are some of the things you and your family do to eat in a more natural way?
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After I had my baby, I expected to be back at the gym or out in the park exercising just a couple weeks (at most) postpartum. The unexpected C-Section I had put a bit of a damper on these plans and the first time I stepped out for a walk 3 weeks after Ruthie was born left me short of breath and feeling extremely out of shape. I tired quickly and my belly hurt- I told myself I’d try again in another couple days. Slowly but surely I began walking regularly and at a decent pace again but almost 3 months later I’ve yet to do much more. Running (something I used to do in the past) seems impossible given the fact that I’m breastfeeding (ps, are there tips for this? maybe a super supportive sports bra?) and anything super intense like weight training just does not interest me which leaves me with yoga. Oh yoga, the lifesaver of exercise if there ever was one. I feel amazing during and after practice and feel like I’m finally getting toned- Yay! Hot yoga is especially my favorite. There’s just something about leaving a workout dripping wet, don’t you think? Do you lovely folks have any other wonderful postpartum exercise ideas?
Throughout all of this I’ve learned that not having the perfect post baby body is okay. I’m happy with how I look and know that my body changed / is changing because I grew a human inside of it. That fact alone is worth any amount of “body imperfections” there are.
With Mother’s Day just around the corner we wanted to take the opportunity to talk a little bit about maternal health and this beautiful print you can purchase to help the women of the Edna Adan University Hospital in Somaliland, Africa. We so often take for granted how lucky we are to have a wonderful maternal healthcare system available to us when most women around the world do not. Here’s a little blurb from the hospitals website: ”The health of the people of Somaliland is among the worst in Africa, with one of the highest Maternal and Infant Mortality rates in the world. Every year, one baby in eight dies in infancy while nearly 4000 Somali women die in childbirth. This tragedy can be attributed in large part to the long civil war which brought about the death or departure of nearly all of the country’s trained health care professionals.”
You can help by purchasing this print, (great mothers day gift! 
spreading the word on your own social networks or by donating money directly to Edna Adan. Every woman deserves proper maternal healthcare so lets do our part.
With spring just around the corner, we’re on the hunt for fun food ideas for dinner parties this spring and summer with friends. Not only are these few ideas fun for the kids, they’re fun for us adults too!
These baby carrots “planted” in hummus pots are the perfect spring treat. I don’t know about you but hummus and carrots is a quick go to snack for me and this just makes the snack super fun for kids! I love this simple, tasty idea.
These roma tomato, cheese and green onion “flowers” are darling! Originally from polish blog, Biblia Smakow we found this cuteness through Raw Foods Revolution. Here’s how to pull these fun flowers together:
13 large cherry or small Roma tomatoes
14 stalks of green onions or chives for the stems
200g farmers cheese or cottage cheese for filling (or you could use goat cheese, egg or chicken salad)
1 cucumber
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Salt and pepper
Puzzle sandwiches! I LOVE this idea! So easy and can be done with your child’s favorite sandwich. Wouldn’t it be fun to have an entire tray of “puzzle pieces” for your party goers to choose from!? We just think this is so cute.
Stay tuned for some more fun food ideas!
This past Christmas my husband gifted me with a gift certificate to a local yoga studio for mama and baby yoga classes. I was still pregnant at the time and the idea of a healthy physical activity to do with my baby girl seemed so awesome. My daughter is just now 4 weeks old and I can’t wait until she’s just a bit older so we can enjoy something so wonderful together. If you’re curious as to what the benefits for your baby might be in doing yoga I came across these and wanted to share.
If you’re new to yoga or aren’t quiet sure if it’s “you” I say give it a try! There’s nothing quiet better than instilling a positive idea of health and fitness in your children plus you get to do it together! Has anyone done mama and baby yoga classes and what was your experience like?
We’ve been on a real juicing kick at our house lately and so I thought I’d share a little bit about why we’ve been juicing and a few favorite recipes. First of all, we had to really examine what types of vegetables and fruits we were juicing since I am currently breast feeding. We started juicing lots of green veggies ( spinach, cucumber, kale ) which are known to not only provide incredible amounts of beneficial nutrients but are also known to detoxify the body. As good as they tasted and are for your body, I noticed after just a day the green juices were upsetting my baby’s belly. Because of their detoxifying abilities what was left in my breast milk were some of the not so great toxins. Since then we’ve switched to juicing mostly fruits which not only taste delicious but like the veggie juices are just so dang good for you. If you are thinking about juicing I’d definitely do a little research on the effects juicing certain types of foods can have on your body. It can be quiet a shock to your body if you are going from a not so great diet to home made juices. They are so great for you but initially you want to be careful and make sure you know what you’re getting into. Here is a favorite we’ve been enjoying a ton lately:
Apple, Lemon and Ginger Juice
3 apples (any kind will do)
2 lemons
1 small piece ginger root
*Make sure your fruits are clean, and cut in halves or thirds. Follow the instructions in accordance to your specific juicer. We use a hamilton beach juicer and really like it.
Back in my college days, those days of living independently for the first time, I shopped solely based on how much things cost. I rarely read labels, had probably never eaten anything termed “organic”, didn’t seek anything local out and mostly lived on carbs- maybe a few veggies and fruit from time to time. In hindsight, I can’t believe I felt okay and appeared healthy. Now, years later, after living in various cities, watching one too many food documentaries and seeing the organic / local trend grow we are much more apt to spend a little more money on quality, natural foods than less money on processed, factory produced things. We realized that after making the decision to want to eat “food” (not chemicals) we noticed our portions became smaller -in a good way, (not so glutinous) and we seemed to have more energy and felt better overall in our every day lives.
I think often times people who are not used to shopping organic assume that it’s SO much more expensive, when really, it’s not. Sure, some things, like a gallon of skim organic milk or the meat you would normally buy are more expensive but there are ways to cut down on your grocery bill and still eat healthy foods.
1. Think about what you can take out of your current diet / grocery trips. Do you really need the frozen dinners or soda? (I understand too that giving up some of the things we are used to eating and drinking is a challenge but I think you will find that even just after a few weeks of eating less processed, sugar filled foods it will be come like second nature) In our house we drink water, buy one sugar less juice and organic skim milk.
2. Think about eating less meat. I’m not here to make a case for becoming vegetarian, but I am aware that organic meat is much more expensive than non organic. When my family decided to make the switch to organic foods we simply started eating less of it because it is expensive. We noticed that we started eating more vegetables and fruits to make up for the lack of meat. Seems like a pretty good trade off to me.
3. Cut coupons. Most people assume you can not use coupons on organic products but you can! Sites like Organic Deals has just what you’re looking for!
4. Talk to your family about the changes that are going to happen. Get the kids involved in picking things out and helping cook in the kitchen. Having them feel like they are a part of something new for your family will make for a smooth and healthy transition over them feeling like you are simply taking things away.
Over the past several months we’ve been making a conscious effort to eat more greens. There are so many nutrients and benefits to eating those leafy greens, the effort in putting kale, spinach and the like in our normal evening meals has been well worth it. We’ve found that you really can put kale in anything! Finely chop it and put it in your normal morning fruit smoothie or spaghetti sauce. Mix it in with your salads raw and you won’t even notice it or cook it with a little garlic and olive oil as a delicious side dish. We’ve been feeling great and feel good about eating something that really does provide our bodies with such incredible nutrition.
This portobello mushroom and kale stroganoff recipe’s from Bev Cooks is one of my favorites!
* 2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 medium white onion, finely chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 portobello mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed and sliced into 1/2 inch strips
* 1 Tsp smoked paprika
* 1 Tbs. all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 cup vegetable (or chicken) stock
* 1 Tbs. tomato paste
* 1 bunch chopped kale
* 1 bay leaf
* 1/2 bag egg noodles (probably 2-3 cups)
* 1 cup sour cream (or Greek yogurt) (or you can use a little less if you get the creaminess you like) (I used maybe 3/4) (okay bye)
* coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the onions and sauté for about 4 minutes, or until they start to soften. Add the garlic and mushrooms; season with the smoked paprika and a pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté another 3 minutes, until the mushrooms have softened and are darker in color.
Lightly dust the mushroom mixture with the flour and toss to combine.
Add the stock and the tomato paste. Stir to sort of dissolve the paste. Add the kale and the bay leaf; simmer 5 to 10 minutes.
In the meantime, cook the egg noodles in boiling water until it reaches al dente, maybe 5 minutes. Drain and add to the mushroom skillet.
Add the sour cream and stir to combine. Hmmmmm, creamy. Remove the bay leaf and dig on in, y’all.
As someone who enjoys eating natural, local foods there’s nothing better than enjoying a delicious snack from a company who prides itself on their local, natural ingredients. Whirlybird Granola was founded a couple years ago by a Cincinnati Ohio native passionate about creating and sharing her homemade granola recipes with friends and family. Now you can find Whirlybird all over town and online too, of course! A few of my favorite granola idea’s that are a bit unique from the normal granola and yogurt straight from the Whirlybird website include:
