Tatyanna Wright's Haute Mama

Haute Mama of the Week

Nine month pregnant bathing beauty patiently awaits her due date. I love that Mariangela is out and about enjoying last minute alone time rocking an itty bitty stripy bikini.

Pic taken on Bondi Beach, Sydney Australia.

Orthorexia? Come on.

Why do people always have to give things names – like orthorexia, the coined phrase that describes the obsession of eating healthy? Come on. Reading Babble.com the other day there was a post about orthorexia. Obsessing is the key word here, as in Obsessive Compulsive-Eating Disorder and should be treated as such rather than frightening people into thinking that if you eat healthy and whole foods you’ll starve yourself. 

Claiming eating healthy or simply raw foods is a disorder is almost like what General Motors did with their electric car the EV1. That is to say, they got scared the world would stop using fuel so they withdrew every single electric car from the market and took back EV1's from “owners” burying them the Nevada desert. Sounds like a conspiracy to me – is the fast foods industry upset that more people are actually starting to care about their diets and taking a genuine interest in a slow food?

Jamie Oliver’s winning 2010 TED presentation discusses how the US is killing its occupants through fatty foods and how we need to eat better IE: healthy- that means learning to include fruit and vegetables rather than consuming fried, fast and frozen bar foods.

The girl mentioned in the Babble article (originally taken from a Time piece), was anorexic becoming obsessed soon after her doctor told her to eat healthy. No one has ever stated that you can survive on raw broccoli alone. Her interpretation of healthy meant eating nothing but one kind of raw vegetable. When someone obsesses this much its OCD. I think her mental health is what’s really the cause of her drastic weight loss – 68lbs is extremely low for a 5”4 woman. Ones state of mind should be analyzed before people start attacking healthy eating.

The entire world once ate “healthy” – 30 years ago to be exact, when our foods were grown fresh without genetically modified elements and people cooked from scratch at home. Today we are a nation of fast food junkies and eating on the go is a favourite past time. 30 years ago people weren’t diagnosed with orthorxia because it didn't exist. We ate how we were are meant to: healthy.

Enjoy eating, it’s a part of life. Here are three great books worth reading to learn more about diet and eating healthy without leaving you obsessing. The Optimum Nutrition Bible, Real Food for mother and baby & The Conscious Kitchen.

Olympic Inspiration

The Olympics are fabulous to watch with children for so many reasons - competitive sports, inspiring stories, encouragement of an interest, to name a few. But in this instance, it's because winning medals has inspired my son to get things done around the house.

Call it The Home Olympics - The goal is to win a medal be it who can finish dinner first, who will get dressed first or helping to clean up the best, or playing games. Winning medals has been an amazing way to get things done! I wish I'd come up with this idea long ago but I can't claim it as my own. After watching the first couple of alpine events my five year old son declared we were going to make medals and you had to earn them - just like the Olympians. I turned this into an art project, we drew, coloured and cut our medals complete with ribbon so they could be placed over the head - even an adult head (our medals are shown below). He LOVES them, medals are being won constantly, though my son doesn't like the singing part: "Anthems are just too long!" 

With or without anthems I hope the competition continues in our home once the Winter Games have concluded. For other Olympic inspired things to do with your children, check out these Olympic activites.

 

Cute Chausson?

Cute, adorable and creative. These sweet little slippers caught my eye at the MoMa store in Soho the other day. While they're all these adjectives, safe is one they are not. Much to my disappoint, the soles of these stylish little shoes are made from PVC. Why is this so bad you ask?

For those of you concerned with the health of your child, PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is an emerging toxic plastic of concern. True PVC offers a diverse and varied range of properties, and contributes significantly to the modern lifestyles that we all enjoy. However, this pulverizing polymer is cheaper than rubber, leather, and latex, and doesn't break down in land fill. Considering your child will only be wearing them for a few months what will become of these chaussons post wear?

Why can't they make their shoes using natural rubber? Clearly the shoes are designed to be worn indoors on the feet of very young children who's skin will be absorbing all the toxins right into their fresh feet. Nice. As much as I like the look of these, I won't be buying them for my children. Would you put them on yours for the sake of having the grooviest slip-on?

The Crib Dilemma

The time came and went to say farewell to our beloved Seed Organic Cradle. Alas I feel as though we hardly got good use from it. You never can tell how quickly your baby is going to develop. While its rewarding to watch your baby grow and exciting to see them hit milestones, I just wasn't prepared to have our baby pull herself up and out of the cradle at four months.

Much discussion was had on the topic of beds. Should she sleep in our sons bed and buy him a new one, should we let him keep his bed and buy our baby a new one. Ridiculous conversations about beds went on and on for months... Meanwhile our daughter, now completely able to crawl, cruise and enjoy mama's milk whenever she pleased, slept in our bed. That's not to say I don't enjoy her being in our bed - I do, its more that I didn't want to have to go through the whole sleep training thing again at an age where our baby is more aware. So there lies the crib dilemma - do we keep her in our bed or buy a new one?

We did finally purchase a new bed: The Alma Mini Crib by Bloom (pictured below). Much to our delight, this crib, while tiny suites its purpose. We wanted something small enough to fit in our room, that would fold up to store or travel with, looks great and is environmentally friendly. We're also using it as a sometimes play pen - for those days when I need to wash my hair! Or keep her near to me while I tend to my older child. Its on optional casters so I can wheel it anywhere in the apartment. I love this crib and as much as I liked our first cradle I think I would have purchased this one first had it been available last summer. The only upset is, that unlike the Seed Organic Cradle, this one does not include the mattress or sheets - we had to buy them all separately. The Alma is for ages birth - 2 years. Hopefully we'll make it to two without our daughter learning to pole vault by her first birthday.

Go Green Event Tomorrow

Nothing is more important than the health of your child. Tomorrow is Go Green an event proudly presented by Haute Mama and Citibabes featuring a special screening of My Toxic Baby, a new powerful documentary about toxins in our world. Below is an inspiring short film that ties in with our Go Green event. I hope to see you tomorrow. The event is free with free childminding. Please RSVP: [email protected] Generous sample donations and product from Plum Organics, Origins, Mamatini, Egg-Baby, Organic Avenue and Green Depot.

A Wake-Up Story from Healthy Child Healthy World on Vimeo.

Mamatini: The Breastmilk Drink

I love breastfeeding. And I’ve been blessed with ample supply. However fortunate I am, I know there are many women, and many of my friends that haven’t been so fortunate. This struggle can be heart breaking for women who want to offer their babies their own milk.

Enter Mamatini, a new mother-inspired beverage developed to support a nursing mothers production and supply requirements. Think of it as a daily vitamin for your milk. Created by Erica Duignan Minnihan, Mamatini was inspired by her own nursing experiences. “It was a drink I wished I’d had when I was breastfeeding. I was really just sick and tired of brewing teas 3-4 times a day".

With an interest in holistic wellness Erica knew there were a lot of great homeopathic ingredients (like Micronutrients, fennel & fenugreek) that could be taken to help with energy and overall health. Erica consulted with her pediatrician homeopath mother to formulate a "wonder-drink" for the breastfeeding mom that would provide vitamins, mineral absorption and increased breastmilk.  “I thought this was something other moms would really embrace, as there has not been a ton of marketing done around natural ingredients that can support milk production”.

One of the key ingredients is fenugreek - A herb that has been used for centuries for both culinary and medicinal purposes. The exact mechanism for increases milk production is unknown, but it has been proven to increase production by up to 800%.  

Even though my milk flows abundantly I was curious to find out what other affects Mamatini possessed. I have to say I could actually feel my body reacting positively right after consumption. I felt elated and more focused – which was great for me, since I have a five year old as well as a baby, it was a welcomed natural boost to my dwindling contentment. And it tastes great too with a hint of ginger mint. So drink to your baby’s good health!

Mamatini can be consumed 1 - 2 times daily. For more information on where to buy Mamatini, visit drinkmamatini.com Mamatini is not recommended for pregnant woman until 36 weeks.

If you’d like to sample Mamatini, please visit the upcoming Go Green event at Citibabes this Thursday in Soho. The event is free.