I’ve cheated on my blog with Huffington Post. But it’s okay. It’s an open relationship! Go check out my first HuffPo blog post: Eggplant Parm Is Not Just For Vegetarians
If you love me, you’ll go read and comment, and perhaps even vote me up!
I’ll be posting recipes and other foodie content once a week. You can subscribe to my feed over there by going to my bio: HuffPo Bio
I’m sorry. Did you miss my detox updates? That’s because, as of Tuesday night, there is no more detox. Why? Because I found out that toxins can be released through breastmilk. And here I was worried about supply issues! Bad mama. Needless to say, I immediately ceased to feel guilty about cheating on my detox earlier that evening with a brownie.
However, Henry is still going strong with the detox. He only has two days left and I’m very proud of him for sticking to it! Our next step is to figure out how to incorporate the healthfulness of the detox into our daily diet and still enjoy the foods we like to eat. I suspect we will cut back on the amount of meat we eat, include more fish in our diet, and continue our smoothie regimen. We haven’t missed coffee too much this week (except for slight caffeine withdrawal headaches at the beginning of the week), and I am not opposed to becoming a tea drinker, so that’s another change we’ll probably make–save the coffee for Sunday mornings or something.
In any case, the detox really made me conscious of how my body is feeling, and how I’m really not taking very good care of myself. I’m tired, stiff, and in a bit of a rut. Henry’s been harping on me for awhile now to do something for myself and he’s right. It definitely means going back to the gym and also, getting some pampering. I see a massage and a facial in my future!
I totally cheated on the second day of the detox. We went out to eat, and I probably could’ve just asked for a plain old salad but instead, I got a fritatta. I paid for it big time later. I ended the day with a headache and a general feeling of overall ickiness. This could’ve been due to the caffeine withdrawal, though…
I’ve made some modifications to my detox schedule, though, since I felt like my milk supply was dropping, from lack of calories and fat. I’m loosely interpreting the instructions for the detox to mean that I can change up the menu however I want, as long as I stay away from the no-nos. I totally had a peanut butter smoothie this morning! Peanuts, after all, are gluten-free, according to my research and it’s a yummy fat.
Breakfast today was oatmeal and I think the bulk of the oatmeal goes a long way in staving off my crankiness and keeping my supply up to par.
Henry, so far, has lost tons of weight and he reports that he is feeling fuller sooner, and that his appetite is healthier. Success! As for me, I’ve been lazy about weighing myself but I did weigh myself yesterday and found that I’ve lost a couple of pounds. Nice. Weight loss is not the overall goal of the detox but it is one of the benefits.
It remains to be seen if I’ll go back to coffee after this detox, or at least cut back on it… somehow, I don’t think so!
Ugh. Yesterday was… not pleasant. Not the worst thing in the world but who knew that cutting my daily calories by more than half would make me flat-out cranky and bratty?
I felt better after drinking a Naked Protein Shake, and having some nuts&raisins. The nuts and raisins are a no-no on this detox but I was out and it was my best option at the time. Also, I’m somewhat concerned that the huge calorie drop will affect my supply.
Alice has been crankier than usual this weekend and I think it’s confluence of various factors, and I don’t want to make it worse by frustrating her with a low milk supply.
The nice thing about this detox is that it can be as serious as you want it to be, or don’t want it to be. As long as I stay away from certain foods (gluten, nightshades and dairy are among the no-nos), I can still be effective in the detox.
Today is better, so far. Henry ran out and got a blender this morning at Target, so we could make proper smoothies. I tried to make them in the food processor yesterday but ended up making a huge mess because you can only put so much liquid into a processor– a fact that I knew but didn’t remember until after I’d made a mess, of course.
The carrot-ginger dressing included in the menu is, as Gwenyth says, “the jam!” Nom-nom. That is definitely something I’ll keep making, detox or no.
So far today, I’m feeling a little headache-y and low-energy. The babe and Henry are napping at the moment, so I’m going to grab this opportunity to do some yoga breathing and take a warm shower.
Every once in awhile, I feel the need to press the reset button. I start to feel sluggish and in a rut, mentally. Often, the mental rut manifest itself physically. Usually, I just ride it out or slow things down.
I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a cleanse for a few years but the extreme nature of most cleanses scare me, and now that I’m nursing, I most definitely cannot do one of those lemon-water-with-cayenne-pepper-&-honey-three-times-a-day dealios.
My husband found a website called Goop, written by Gwenyth Paltrow. Her “Make” section this month happened to be about doing a winter cleanse. A fasting detox during cold weather is a no-no, so her 7-day cleanse menu includes actual food. The menu was developed by Dr. Alejandro Junger, and is excerpted from a book he has coming out in May.
I cleaned out the fridge, made the shopping list, put the meal schedule on a spreadsheet and dropped over 200 dollars at Whole Foods. (That last part nearly killed me!) We had japanese food for dinner last night because I was craving katsu and this morning we started our cleanse.
So far, so good. It’s been nothing but liquids since we woke up– water, tea and now a smoothie. (Note to self: get a blender. Cuisinarts are not made for smoothies.) We plan to take it easy this week and I have a yoga breathing DVD lined up in our instant queue. Henry won’t be going to the gym this week, and I’ll be packing bento boxes for him to take to work. This cleanse will definitely be harder for him than for me, since he has to get up and go to work everyday, and be around people who are eating “real” food. Me, I’m just a lazy housewife that gets to lay around the apartment all day, drinking smoothies and eating sunflower seeds. Right?
I was enticed to try out a new networking site called Qlubb when Twittermoms posted a giveaway for trying it out, blogging about it and tweeting about it. So here I am!
I live in an area with lots of SAHMs, and a dearth of indoor playspaces. During the warm weather, we don’t notice much because we have an abundance of parks in this neighborhood and the odd rainy day is manageable. When winter rolls around, we all start to get cabin fever and seek each other out for playdates and playgroups. A few lucky moms live in buildings with playrooms and invite a small group of moms and babies to join them every week. Other of us have decent-size apartments and arrange playdates. Being a new mom is a little daunting sometimes and definitely a little lonely, because where does one begin to start making mommyfriends? It can be just as socially awkward as high school! I met moms at library laptimes and by chance in Starbucks, having worked up the nerve to actually strike up a conversation (my high school self would’ve up and died at the prospect).
Here’s where Qlubb is a great idea. Qlubb is basically a wiki with a user-friendly interface that allows members to post events, messages, files, and links. Everyone has equal access to the site once they are invited and given a shared password. The creator of the group sends out invitations that contain the shared password, then the community grows from there.
In general, I’m totally on board with this idea and I’m excited to see where I can go with this. For now, I have a bit of a wishlist for future updates of the site:
Even with this laundry list, I will continue using Qlubb because I think there is a need for it in my community but I’m also keeping a sharp eye on how it all plays out, and I will shut it down, if I can… the fact that anyone can go in and change the password makes that difficult, and it does not appear that Qlubbs can be deleted.
Overall, I think Qlubb is a great concept but it is a little too open for my comfort, considering the purpose that I’m using it for.
This was originally posted to the BLW Yahoo group and I am taking the liberty of posting it in as many places as possible. If you feel so inclined, please cut and paste the text below and re-post!
Posted with author’s permission.
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Please forward this message on to all your relevant contacts ! I am
desperate to get my research back, so I am going public with my story.
Hello,
My name is Emma Kwasnica. I am a 30-year-old Canadian tandem-nursing
mother living in Montréal, whose Facebook account has now been
entirely disabled over the breastfeeding photos controversy. The
official petition group on Facebook is called Hey Facebook,
breastfeeding is NOT obscene! . I am reaching out because I think you
might be interested in the Facebook fiasco over breastfeeding images,
and them being classed as “obscene, sexually explicit and
pornographic”. Yes, I said breastfeeding. The most loving, selfless
act on Earth.
For the record, my entire Facebook account has now been deleted, with
no explanation from the administrators of Facebook. While they have
not confirmed the reason for disabling my account, I can only suspect
it stems from the fact that, in the days leading up to the disabling
of my account, I had photos of me breastfeeding my daughters deleted,
and was given a “warning” for having had uploaded “obscene” content
that renders Facebook “unsafe for children”.
Given the amount of obscene, pornographic, and truly disturbing
photos, applications and groups that proliferate across Facebook, I
am stunned that this has happened to me. I am an aspiring
midwife/Childbirth Educator/ Breastfeeding Counselor; I run a lively
discussion group on Facebook called Informed Choice : Birth and
Beyond, and have been sharing all of my summarised research, studies,
links regarding pregnancy, birth and motherhood with a group of
nearly three hundred people, since July 2008. And now, everything
that I ever wrote, all my photos, all of my midwifery-related
research, has been deleted –right off the face of Facebook.
Furthermore, this does not concern me alone, as many (over a
hundred ?) other Facebook users had their posts deleted, too, since
whole discussion threads were deleted into oblivion, if it was indeed
me who began the thread (which, 80% of the time, I had started the
threads, since this was my group/me sharing the most recent research
relevant to the childbearing/-rearing woman).
Facebook has not responded to my e-mails politely enquiring why my
account has been disabled. They remain faceless. Hence the reason why
I am now reaching out and going public with my situation. I am
desperate to get my words back, and most importantly, the general
North American public needs to be made aware of Facebook’s disgusting
double-standards regarding “decency”. I am revolted to report that
Facebook allows the likes of a group called “Dead Babies Make Me
Laugh”, and yet, someone such as myself, who wants nothing but to
inspire and help women on their journey to birthing healthy, vibrant
babies, has her whole account deleted.
I have now done radio station interviews (a Sakatoon one, as well as
Montréal’s 98.5 FM), and was interviewed for ‘La Presse’ newspaper
here in Montréal, the article for which appeared in yesterday’s
edition of ‘La Presse’ (the English translation for which you will
find below). I may be doing another one-hour long segment on the same
Saskatoon radio station at some point this week.
There is a Canadian slant to this whole Facebook fiasco, in that the
tireless organisor of the original online protest is from Ottawa
(Stephanie Muir), the site that is currently the “safe haven” for
breastfeeding photos which have been deleted by Facebook is a
Canadian one (TERA), is coordinated by Paul Rapoport of Hamilton,
Ontario, and now, the only (known) person so far to have had their
Facebook acount fully disabled over this issue –me, a Montreal
mother.
Please help me by spreading the word of Facebook’s appalling actions
(such as by posting this to your blog), and consider this an official
plea to get the word out ! For the sake of the next generation of
babies, people everywhere need to understand that the larger issue of
normalising breastfeeding is deeply important here. In 2009, it is
unacceptable that women feel shamed, or are sexualised, while
providing the most normal, the most physiologically appropriate food
for their babies : breastmilk.
Sincerely yours,
-Emma Kwasnica, Montréal
(514) 656-1560
PS You will aslo find attached the scanned, full-page image from Le
Journal de Montréal, in which I am breastfeeding my daughters. This
is particularly relevant as Facebook has said that no major newspaper
in North America would publish the type of breastfeeding photos that
they have deleted. This simply isn’t true – this newspaper image
(from October 2008) is living proof ! If Montreal, a city of over 3.5
million, can handle seeing this image in a daily newspaper, they why
can’t Facebook ?
http://picasaweb.google.ca/emma.kwasnica/20081011BreastfeedingChalleng e#5261616556288520402
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MOTHERS CRUSADING AGAINST FACEBOOK
Daphné Cameron, La Presse
January 04, 2009
“Cover up this breast that I do not want to see.”
Even though it was written in the 17th century, Molière’s famous
refrain is still à la mode for those who run Facebook’s networking
site.
For several months now, photographs of mothers breastfeeding their
children have been being deleted. The restriction has provoked anger
in women all over the globe. In protest, 11,000 women replaced their
profile picture with the image of a breastfeeding mother.
This online protest was organized for December 27th by Stephanie
Muir, an Ottawa mother outraged by the website policy, that says that
no “pornographic or sexually explicit” material may be uploaded to
the site.
“It is unthinkable that in 2008, such a loving image, one of a mother
breastfeeding her baby, can be perceived as sexual or offensive,” she
said. “It’s because we stigmatise women in this way, that mothers
make the choice not to breastfeed, or breastfeed for a shorter length
of time.”
In additon to the web protest, a few dozen women assembled in front
of the Facebook headquarters in California, and nursed their babies
there.
The response by Facebook administrators was immediate. According to
Stephanie Muir, accounts of several protestors were disabled.
This is the case of Montrealer Emma Kwasnica, who no longer has
access to her personal account, since January 1st.
“Facebook began deleting photos of me breastfeeding my daughters on
December 28th”, stated the 30-year-old who is studying to become a
midwife. “A few days later, the administrators disabled my account
with the only explanation being that I had uploaded obscene content.
Breastfeeding is the most beautiful thing in the world. How does one
automatically associate that with sex ?”
The protest organised by Stephanie Muir has provoked a media frenzy
in the United States. Facebook reacted by publishing a press release
that specified that only photos showing nipple or areola are banned.
Facebook reiterated that it is a private company which has the right
to decide which content it hosts on its site.
I’m just gonna go ahead right now and say that I’m not making any resolutions. This is a refrain you’re gonna read all over the Internet this week, of course and understandably so. The key to making meaningful resolutions is to keep the list short and realistic. In that case, they are just goals, anyway! I don’t need some big, fancy RESOLUTIONS list every single January 1st.
I have long-term goals, some big ones and some small ones. Instead of making a new list every year, I focus on the list I already have. I have no interest in making it longer than it has to be. I’m a five-year plan kind of gal, or ten years, even.
Having said that, here are the goals I’ve been working on for the past couple of years:
There are other goals I have like, get out of debt that are just plain unrealistic right now. I’ve downsized my debt quite a bit, to be sure, aside from my student loans but it won’t go away completely unless we get a large windfall, or I go back to work.
Also, this will be the year that I get back to the reading habit. How I went from finishing several books a month to barely being able to finish a 200 page novel, I don’t know but it is a disgrace.
