APtly Said – Page 123

Eating Wholesome Foods: Additives To Avoid

My birthday is coming up this month, and at the top of my list of wanted gifts is a bread maker.

Four years ago, if you had told me that someday I would want a bread maker so that I could make my family’s bread from scratch, I would have laughed in your face. Until I was purple.

In fact, even after kids and marriage (yes, my husband and I are one of those couples who likes to do things in opposite order), my husband did the majority of the cooking for our family. Meanwhile, if I so much as looked at a toaster it would pop out burnt toast.

This arrangement was all fine and dandy for me, until about a year ago. When I did some reading and researching and realized how strongly our health correlates to what we put in (and on, but that’s another post) our bodies. And I took a look at the things that my children were eating and did not like what was listed on the label under ingredients.

So, after a discussion with my husband, we changed our shopping strategy. Out went the processed food and in came the wholesome goodness. Now, we are far from perfect and still have some processed food in the house, but what we buy we only buy after carefully examining the labels, and with the knowledge that in our journey, we are taking baby steps and will get there some day.

Bread has been causing me trouble (seriously, how much sugar does bread really need?) and so bread maker has made the top of my wish list. In the meantime, I am still examining labels, cursing at food companies who can’t seem to lay off the sugar, and doing as much research as I can.

There’s one book that I’ve found most helpful, and that’s Staying Health With Nutritionby Elson M. Haas. Now, this is book is huge (1,139 pages) and therefore not the type of book you sit down and read cover to cover (at least, not if your life is anything like mine, as in homeschooling two small children while working from home and studying to be a CBE), but man is it full of information!! I use it more as a reference and I love it. What I really love about it is that Haas has a chapter devoted to additives and has a really cool chart that lists which additives to avoid, which are okay in moderation, and which are probably safe. I wrote this list down and carry it with me into the grocery store to reference while I shop. So, without further ado, the Food Additive Chart:

Additives to Avoid: artificial colors, sodium nitrate and nitrite, BHT, saccharin, sulfites, sulfur dioxide, BVO

Additives to Limit: BHA, MSG, sugars (sucrose, dextrose, corn syrup), artificial flavorings, THBQ, Prophyl gallate, EDTA, hydrogenated vegetable oils, salt, aspartame, caffeine, propylene glycol, gums, xylitol, aluminum salts.

Probably Safe Additives: vitamins A, C, &E, beta-carotene or carotene, carrageenan, annatto, acids, alginates, minerals, glycerin, gelatin, pectin, natural flavorings, calcium proprionate, polysorbate 60, 65, 80, sorbitol, sodium benzoate, lecithin, vanillin, and potassium sorbate.

Hope this list was hepful. What steps do you take, if any, to ensure your family eats a diet of wholesome foods?

Shelly is a WAHM to two girls. You can find her daily at http://www.adventuresofabreastfeedingmother.com

7 Ways to Fill Our Mama Cups

My last API Speaks blog post, Running on Empty, about feeling mama burn out was hard to write. I felt ashamed. I felt like a failure. I felt worried that motherhood was going to turn out like so many other jobs I’ve had: fun and interesting at first, then drudgery. It took me two days to write the post because I kept editing my feelings. If I just cut the words, maybe I could delete the feelings too. I wrote while my toddler son napped in the next room. I kept walking in to look at him, so peaceful while he was sleeping. I kept willing him to sleep longer, give me more time. On the second day, right after I’d clicked the button to submit my post, he woke up sad. He clung to me and cried. Maybe he’d had a bad dream. Maybe he’d picked up on all of my conflicted feelings while he slept. I was sure that if he were old enough to read what I’d written, he would feel betrayed. Maybe all of that was true, or maybe I was just finding one more way to not give myself a break.

I needed a vacation from my mama job, which wasn’t realistic. Getting a vacation from my state of mind, however, was absolutely possible. Just admitting to myself (and those who read the blog post) how burned out I was feeling helped. It helped me to understand what was contributing to my exhaustion. It helped me acknowledge my feelings and give myself some space to actually feel them. The comments on the post offered me some great suggestions to renew balance. I tried those and some more. And I’m really starting to feel good again, having fun with my son, being more creative about how to spend our time so our life together doesn’t feel like the movie Groundhog Day. Maybe some of what has worked with me will work for you. Continue reading “7 Ways to Fill Our Mama Cups”

Stepping Out

My 14 month old kicks her feet against the table and makes a deafening screech while reaching for her Daddy’s beverage at the restaurant. As he allows her to have a sip of his drink, I look around to see how many fellow diners are tsk tsking our choice to allow our baby to drink what they must think is SODA! I have the overwhelming urge to announce “It’s only unsweetened iced tea…really. She never has soda, I swear.” But that would not be entirely true and besides, now our five year old is loudly promising to eat the rest of her pasta and veggies after she eats all of the french fries…she promises. The floor is covered in the crushed remains of the fire roasted zucchini and rice pilaf dish we ordered for the baby…her grinning mouth is dripping and bubbling with ice tea, not one single piece of food has passed her lips. I eat my (now cold) food with one hand (not my dominant one) while liberally applying even more ketchup to my daughters fries. My husband is fishing ice out of his cup with a fork to entice the baby with since the tea is now gone and the she is gearing up for another screech fest. Did I mention that our teenager ordered nothing but appetizers and is sulking in the corner of the booth because I went ahead and surreptitiously ordered her a salad and had the gall to ask her to please put some green food in her body before loading it with junk? The single thought running through my head is: If they eat this junky stuff, then everyone in the restaurant will assume that they eat like this all of the time…and that I let them do it! Continue reading “Stepping Out”

Part-Time Co-Sleeping

In my almost five years as a mom, I’ve been lucky to avoid most of the controversial issues that pit parents against one another. I received mostly positive reinforcement and reactions over my decisions to breastfeed, stay at home, use discipline other than spanking, return to work part-time, wait an additional year to send my son to kindergarten and avoid processed foods.

Obviously, I’ve met those along the way that disagree with me and my methods, but for the most part, they’ve been respectful of our differences.

Respectful, that is, except for the issue of co-sleeping.

My husband and I have co-slept with both kids at some point. Our son and the two of us in our bed, or one of us and our son in his bed. Me on the couch with our daughter, or her in the bed with my husband, or even all three of us in our queen size bed when she was a days old newborn. My son was just two years old when my second baby was born, and had stopped napping. It took my daughter eight weeks to sort out the difference between night and day and she wanted to nurse approximately every 27 minutes. Having her in the bed with us was the only was I got any sleep. And I feel that I am spoiling her cause last week when I happened to visit the SleepSoWell website, I happened to read a ton about the best Egyptian cotton sheets and got them. Now our little one only loves sleeping on them.

It worked for us, but when people found out we were co-sleeping, the reactions were definitely negative. One person called it “unnatural.” Someone else said “weird.” I also heard “gross,” and “unacceptable.” One person went as far to tell my husband that under NO circumstances should our son be in our bed. Plenty of people have offered their advice for how to “get that kid out of your bed.”

They are two and four now and I’m still no closer to understanding why so many people have such a problem with co-sleeping, or why they think we do it reluctantly instead of purposely.

There’s more. I wish the detractors would understand one simple thing: co-sleeping doesn’t have to be an all or nothing deal.

My family are what I call part-time co-sleepers. We do it when it works for us, and we don’t do it when it doesn’t. If one of the kids is sick or not sleeping well or needs comforting, we share a bed. If my spouse or myself need some space or the kids are happy, healthy and sleeping well, they sleep in their own beds.

They do share a room, although they are in separate beds and I do feel that that has helped make our choice to part-time co-sleep easier. Room sharing has it’s pros and it’s cons, but that’s another post.

Each morning, when my son wakes up, he comes down the hall and if I’m still in bed, he climbs in with me and we snuggle. It’s my favorite part of the day.

More often than not, these days the kids sleep in their beds in their room, but the frequency of co-sleeping has waxed and waned over the years.

Part-time co-sleeping has been the perfect way for us to find balance between two extremes. On one hand, I like to sleep sometimes without little feet digging into my ribs and having the kids in the bed with us all the time is too intrusive. On the other hand, making my children always sleep away from us, in their own beds and ignoring the benefits of co-sleeping is an idea that makes me uncomfortable and isn’t the right choice for us either. By choosing the middle ground and doing a little of both, we’ve arranged things so our number one priority is met–everyone is happy.

How do you feel about part-time co-sleeping? Has it worked for you?

Take It To The Limit

Struggles are part of parenthood. We all have particular struggles and internal battles. Unfortunately, something that happens very often is that we parents don’t like to admit our struggles. Perhaps this is done for self-preservation, and perhaps this is done to avoid making others uncomfortable. We like to be self-confident, sure, and positive. But I personally think it can do us a world of good to admit our parenting struggles. It lets it be known that struggles are universal, and that to have them does not mean we’re bad parents. We are all just human. Continue reading “Take It To The Limit”

The Right Stuff

I will admit to being extremely susceptible to all types of marketing. Cell phone camera doesn’t have a flash! Hair dye has glimmering highlights! Chicken at the farmers’ market is locally sourced and fed an organic vegetarian diet! Statements like these make me forget so, so easily that I don’t take pictures with my cell phone (except for when the baby or kitten’s momentary cuteness needs to be captured for posterity), that I don’t want to dye my hair while I’m nursing, and that like my feathered friends, I’m a vegetarian. With my incapability to resist ads in mind, it is remarkable that we have yet to buy the majority of the products that have been marketed to us as not only convenient, but totally necessary and also capable of turning us into the Swedish supermodel parents Sweet Pea deserves. Continue reading “The Right Stuff”

Saving Money through Attachment

In these tough economic times, I’ve been reflecting on how much money is spent unnecessarily on pregnancy and childbirth. I thought I’d write about ways that attachment parenting can help save parents money.
Prepare for Pregnancy, Birth, and Parenting

By being informed about different birthing methods and medical interventions, you can be more involved in those decisions and this could help avoid unnecessary medical costs.
Taking care of yourself and eating right will also reduce your risk of complications during pregnancy.
You don’t need to buy pregnancy and parenting books to be well-informed either. You can check out books from your local library and/or read articles on the web.

Continue reading “Saving Money through Attachment”

Running on Empty

I want a vacation, even a long weekend, all by myself with no one else to clothe, no one to come to the bathroom with me or to ask to nurse in the middle of the flower store. Maybe it’s the developmentally appropriate but exhausting conflicts that come with having a 2 1/2 year old. Maybe it’s that the last three years have been hard ones full of lay-offs and other money concerns, health challenges and innumerable other setbacks that add up over time. I’m sure there’s not one cause.

Continue reading “Running on Empty”