New Mother

New Mother
New Mommy & Baby- Enlightened Birth & Doula Services

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Salad, Delicious Salad. How to eat your green supplements better.

For pregnant mommies, I would recommend this salad, later in pregnancy, or minus the heavy parsley. 


I have this hay fever thing going on this week. So, naturally in trying to get rid of it and out of my system, I have upped my antioxidants*. I decided why not try something different in taking my powdered green supplements as well and make it into one! Try this if you get tired of drinking your greens with juice or water.
Take salad basics, in this case organic greens, washed and dried.
Cut up the following ingredients, all fresh, no dried ones- cucumber, tomato, onion, garlic, cilantro and parsley. Throw in some olive oil, red wine vinegar and a spoonful of your favorite green supplement…
Here is the one I use- pH Miracle’s, Doc Broc’s Power Plants, I’m sure you have a good green supplement of your own.

Don’t forget salt & pepper to taste! Salt and pepper make everything taste extra good!
Mix the two up and toss.

Enjoy your delicious healthy antioxidant rich salad!

Here’s the definition of antioxidants from Medline:
*Antioxidants are substances that may protect your cells against the effects of free radicals. Free radicals are molecules produced when your body breaks down food, or by environmental exposures like tobacco smoke and radiation. Free radicals can damage cells, and may play a role in heart disease, cancer and other diseases.
Antioxidant substances include
·        Beta-carotene
·        Lutein
·        Lycopene
·        Selenium
·        Vitamin A
·        Vitamin C
·        Vitamin E

Antioxidants are found in many foods. These include fruits and vegetables, nuts, grains, and some meats, poultry and fish.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

How To Read Nutritional Labels and Who Decides What Goes Where... (FDA)






Pretty Neat Guide I snagged from TJ's! It really explains food labels and how the FDA- Food And Drug administration decides how things are displayed. Isnt' it funny that the "Food And Drug" Administration deals with both "Foods AND Drugs"? Like what's THAT about? Makes me take a step back, sense GMO manufacturing was started by the big PHARMA, huge drug companies that make terrible drugs like "paxil, zoloft, welbutrin", etc. Makes you wonder... WHY are they also handling our FOOD quality and how can they possibly decide how good and healthy food is, if they have approved SO many terrible drugs? Hummmm...... 

SOMETHING's A FISHY......

Monday, September 9, 2013

Respect the Body and it's Natural Functions- The Core Values of Enlightened Birth & Doula Services


Over my many years of being in this field of Birth, I have seen a lot of things which people do to disrespect the natural functions of the body. Such as enhancing or speeding up birth, assuming that drugs don’t affect the body of both mother and child, assuming that the child inside the womb feels nothing and is affected by nothing. Restricting the mothers body during labor, etc.
I consider that one of the natural functions of the body, it to maintain a peaceful environment inside the womb for the child, for labor to start when it starts and for it to take as long as it takes.
However, I am not new to birth, and I understand that for some people, natural enhancement are required to get things rolling. And I believe that as long as we do not cross the line between helping the body to
accomplish it’s goals, and FORCING the body we are doing better than how we have been doing since “Modern” Medicine became Modern Medicine.
Some of you may disagree, and prefer to labor in very medical, hospital setting. Happy news is, this Core Value still applies to you! Even by doing just a little bit, you can help someone achieve a much nicer birth in a hospital
If a mother in labor feels hunger, feed her, if she is thirsty let her drink, if she wants to use the bathroom, let her walk herself to it, let her move, let her labor in peace. The paranoid rules that hospitals enforce on all mothers are meant to prevent major complications in High Risk patients– we are not all “High Risk” and these labels do not apply to all people. Respect the body and it’s natural functions and birth will be less of a hardship on the mothers body, and the baby’s body and help to decrease the fear of natural birth.















Why You Want A Fat Or Chubby Baby!





Very good article with very important data. Around Los Feliz and Silvelake, I see a lot of skinny babies and toddlers, makes me a little worried. So I thought I'd share this data about why fats are SO important to your babies and children! Now before everyone gets upset about this subject, lets clarify some things, there is such a thing as a constitutionally small baby AND a constitutionally large baby. Here's the definition of constitution, I looked it up myself as it recently came up with one of my clients.

the composition of something.
"the genetic constitution of a species"

Now, let's review, before you read forward, so we can agree on what we're talking about. I am NOT advising you to make your child obese, this is a whole different thing, here is the definition of obese, so we're all clear:
o·bese
ōˈbēs/Submit
adjective
1. grossly fat or overweight.

I pulled some baby pictures off the Internet from related articles so we can have some examples of baby weights, You will see the description in the captions of the photos.
You will see a Constitutionally large baby, an underweight baby and an obese baby, probably born to a mother with Prenatal Diabetes. And finally, a baby with some normal, lovely rolls of fat.

Constitutionally Large Baby


Underweight Baby


Obese Baby




Normal Weight Babies


There is so much hype about childhood obesity that it has scared some parents into restricting fat altogether. Although the childhood obesity epidemic is very real, it is crucial that our kids receive the appropriate amount of fat. The fat we need as adults is very different from the amount of fats babies and toddlers need for growth and brain development. Fat provides energy and sustains hunger and promotes wound healing. Enough fat also gives flavor to food and will encourage your kid to eat a variety of foods (even veggies!).

Linoleic and alpha-lenolenic acids are not made in the body, so they must be provided though foods. Also, Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble and need fatty foods to be absorbed by the body.If you provide meals and snacks that provide low, moderate, and high amounts of fat your child can choose what and how much to eat depending on hunger levels and needs. As a parent, we know it's sometimes hard to relinquish control, but kids are great at regulating food needs and will eat more or less depending on what they need. It's important that we trust them.

Operation Fat Baby
As a registered dietitian and obsessive baby-food maker, I was well aware that my kid needed as much as 40-50 % of her food calories to come from fat at least until age 2 and then slowly reduce fats to about 1/3 of total calories around age 5 or 6. I made sure she had plenty of whole-milk products, fatty fish and eggs, avocados and other healthy fats and oils. Even then, at her 15-month pediatrician appointment, we discovered that she dropped from the 75th percentile at 9 months to the 10th percentile. I knew some decrease in weight is very normal at this age, and that the fat in breast milk also decreases over time, but I have to admit that dramatic increase through me for a loop. That is when "operation fat baby" began.

My first step was to cut back on nursing a little. Lilia was a bit of a breast milk grazer which was making her less hungry at meal time. I also needed to make sure that each of her meals and snacks had a good amount of fat included. It's early days yet, but so far "operation fat baby" has helped to increase Lilia's weight by 3lbs in 2 months, which is about normal at this age, and over time I am confident she will increase weight-for-age percentiles.

How to Add Healthy Fats
I had already learned from experience that we couldn't dictate what Lilia eats - but rather offer a variety of healthy fats that Lilia could pick and choose from to help regulate her weight. I also knew it was important for my husband and I to limit saturated fats (even though my husband is religiously pro-butter, he knows he wants his heart to continue beating). Here are a few ideas to add fats to your baby, toddler, and preschoolers foods:

When offering a lower fat menu option for dinner make sure to allow your child unlimited access to high-fat spreads, sauces, and salad dressings.
Occasionally fry meat, fish, and other foods.
Add sour cream, whole-milk yogurt, butter, and cheese to casseroles.
Add extra eggs when baking
Add powdered milk to soups, sauces, casseroles, potatoes, and milk.
Offer avocados, peanut butter, whole-milk yogurt, and other high-fat foods as snacks.
Add gravies, sauces, and butter to veggies, pasta, and rice.
Too Much of a Good Thing
Make sure not to go to any extremes with adding fat to your child's diet. Childhood obesity is real and pushing or forcing kids to eat fats will backfire in the end.Your young child should be getting the majority of their calories from nutrient dense foods and not empty calorie foods such as sweetened-beverages, fast-foods, and processed foods laden with high-sodium and trans fats. As I mentioned in my post 10 Guidelines for Raising a Healthy, Happy Eater, if you are concerned about your child's diet, weight, or fat intake check in with your family doctor or a registered dietitian.

With Lilia gaining weight at a healthy pace, my concerns about fat intake have eased somewhat. But as a family, we still work hard to ensure that plenty of healthy, nutritious (and hopefully tasty!) fats are on our plates regularly. Avocados, olive oil, butter and cheese all feature heavily in family meals. As with most things in parenting (and life), it's all a case of moderation - but (when it comes to fat at least) what moderation means for babies, and what it means for adults, are two different things.

Full article @: http://parentables.howstuffworks.com/health-wellness/why-you-want-your-baby-be-fat-no-seriously.html

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Pregnancy & Baby Safe Carpet Cleaning

A great way to keep your carpets fresh, without putting your baby's or your own health in danger, with toxic chemicals from the usual carpet cleaning products, is by using this simple alternative recipe instead!

. You can make your own carpet cleaning, dry shampoo with 1/2 cup cornstarch, 2 cups baking soda, four or five crumbled bay leaves and 1 tbsp. ground cloves. Mix it well, then sprinkle it onto your carpet. Let it sit for an hour, and then vacuum.

Simple, safe and smells great!