Posts Tagged ‘Engine 2 Diet’

Feeding My Family with Love and Respect

By Monica Cravotta | Published: Friday, March 12, 2010

This post is part of the 2010 API Principles of Parenting blog carnival, a series of monthly parenting blog carnivals, hosted by API Speaks. Learn more about attachment parenting by visiting the API website.

I was drawn to participate in this month’s API Speaks blog carnival because I find the topic so interesting in its subjectivity. I view myself as:

An advocate of breastfeeding for both its health and nurturing benefits;

Someone desiring to provide and model healthy eating for my children (today we had mac-n-cheese, veggie burgers and fries….some days are better than others); and

Someone with deep curiosity around the intensely personal, primal nature of feeding our young that exists cross-culturally among mothers.

I feel very fortunate to be alive today and part of a generation of women that can experience so much when it comes to equal rights with men. I’m all about competing with men professionally and earning equal pay.

AND at the same time, I like to acknowledge gender differences and embrace all that is inherently feminine. During this chapter of early parenting years, I personally feel a great sense of my own femininity when nurturing my children with their daily sustenance. I feel connected to all other mothers in the world through this practice — including animals — especially birds for some reason. Funny that one of my 20-something nicknames was “Monnie Bird.”

Guzer.com Photo

I think the highly personal aspect of feeding our children with love and respect is how we each define what that means a little differently. To tell a mother that she’s not feeding her child right — iye, iye, iye — that can be seriously offensive! It seems to cut to the core of a defining aspect of motherhood.

So without implying any kind of critique if yours is different, here’s a window into my family’s practice of feeding with love and respect:

Extended Breastfeeding. This is a relative term…some moms define “extended” to mean until a child chooses to wean which could be age four or five. Each to their own. My goal is two years for my littlest. (more…)

Posted in Attachment Parenting, Breastfeeding, Nutrition, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Recharging & Fortifying Depleted Mama

By Monica Cravotta | Published: Wednesday, January 20, 2010

“Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.” Buddha

I fear this is going to come out sounding ridiculously trite and cliche, and I’m saying it anyway. Health is everything! And like anything in life that we love, it’s so damn easy to take for granted until you don’t have it. This last round of sick for everyone in the family has me bound and determined to make health our #1 priority.

We’ve been committed to eating mostly vegan (we still eat eggs, fish and butter), and to minimizing our consumption of fried and processed food and refined sugar. Fans and friends of Rip Esselstyn who convinced us to change our diet six years ago, we believe diet is the #1 foundation for both short-term and long-term health. Check out his Engine 2 Diet web site. The name comes from his fire station in Austin — all vegan firefighters, thanks to Rip’s influence.

Sleep and regular exercise come next of course — the first of which must remain in its current “lack” state in order for me to stay committed to attachment parenting in the way I’d like. The second, I have the ability to get on top of and will when we’re all past feeling so crummy.

What I can do is follow what I’m calling the Recharge & Fortify Mama Plan. It’s a combination of prescriptions from my naturopath and a diet recommendation from my friend, Patrice Sullivan, the most amazing healer and acupuncturist I know. These women, among others, became concerned when seeing me last fall following my year of mothering a newborn, toddler and teen, and told me I was extremely depleted and needed to get on top of my health immediately.

I’m doing my best and find it challenging to keep up with everything they’ve suggested while taking care of two small children. I’m on top of the supplements for the most part and am eating this way 80% of the time — just not juicing yet. Here is everything suggested to me:

DIET

Morning: tea, red clover in tincture for hour or two. When hungry, fresh juice: veggies plus apple and lemon with 2 tsp spirulina, 1 tsp maca. Next, miso soup with 1/2 tsp bee pollen, more tea or diluted jar juice. Smoothies fine on a warm day. Chew juice/smoothies to activate better digestion.

Lunch: vegan meal: combination of beans/legumes, rice, kale, and veggies is ideal; salad with sprouts and seaweeds. You can make a “pressed” salad while you juice in the am. Mix 1 tbsp goat yogurt and 1 tsp fresh lemon into salad and put a heavy bowl on top to press. Pressing has the effect of “cooking” the vegetables in the sense of making them more digestible, but preserves the active living enzymes.

Dinner: 80% veggies. Some almonds, egg or legumes if you feel like it. Sprouts and seaweed are good too.

* Note: use soaked beans versus canned, and soaked, raw almonds.

Bed Time: goat yogurt with minerals.

SUPPLEMENTS & HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES (Am I keeping up with this? Not entirely…..but I do my best)