Nutrition as an addiction

Good nutrition is my addiction. All my time in St. Agnes was not a waste. One class I adored was nutrition, because it was run by a registered dietitian from the Hartford hospital. It wasn't a class run by the staff just reading information to us they photo copied out of a book. I also signed up to meet with her for one on ones as well.

I love food..I mean everyone loves food but for me its not just eating food. Its learning what makes up food. As in, if I take a bite of this..what vitmains and minerals are going into my body. Then I break it down into what do these specific vitamins and minerals do for my body.. it goes on and there. Food obsessed!!

So of course I wanted to make sure every bite that went into my baby's mouth was well worth it for her developing mind and body. I'd researched and decided during my pregnancy that Earth's best was the baby food I would use for her because its organic and I had huge concerns about the amounts of pesticides in fruits and vegetables. Along with breatfeeding I was a golden child in the eyes of this woman.

I learned everything I could and because it was a huge interest of mine anyway, I took to the information like a bee on honey. I also tweaked bits for what worked best  for us and what my instincts as a mother said to do. I also needed to pay close attention to my own in take because I was still growing and because I was still breatfeeding, what I took in was also very important.

All of my parents, mother, father and step father eat very healthy. I grew up vegetarian, so this gave me a great start on my journey. While at St. Agnes, the food served was not what my body was used to and as I mentioned earlier was slathered in gobs and gobs of butter. Not that I don't like or use butter or most likely margarine which is even worse. A routine physical and blood draw showed my bad cholesteral numbers were sky high after a short time of eating the food served. I was ate all the time because I felt half starved, I was a hundred pounds soon after giving birth, and because DeAna nursed so much I was in constant need of calories and nutrients.

I waited 6 months before starting DeAna on any kind of baby food. I never used infant cereal with her. I saw one to many babies struggle to digest the stuff. When I did start her I started her on one type of baby food a week. One week peas, one week carrots, one week sweet potatoes. We have a long history of food allergies in our family and I needed to observe for any reactions. I didn't introduce her to fruit for a while. My reasoning is that I did not want her to develop a taste for sweets early on. Of course it was obvious that she loved the sweet potaties best which was fine with me because it is a "Super Food" and is loaded with huge amounts of vitmains per bite.

When she was  around nine months I started her on Cheerios. Can I get an Amen! Are Cheerios not the best finger food for babies ever??? Super healthy, low in sugar and affordable! They melt down easily in baby's mouth, so the choke risk is less and they travel well. They help with fine motor development and they dont hurt when they get stuck between your toes! haha

From cheerios, I started giving her a very small amount of juice in a sippy cup but only my favorite brand of juice would do. Can I tell you how upset I get when I see babies with things like Kool-aid, soda, and fruit drinks in their bottles and sippy cups! I was known at St. Agnes to dump them right out, while explaining to the mother why and refill them with milk and water, or if its juice..it has to be Juicey juice. I know that crossed a line but a baby bottle filled with soda is like putting a pure posion into a little ones mouth and that will not happen under my watch. Every baby's health matters to me, not just my own child's,

I grew up on Juicy juice and my parents knew best, because it is 100% fruit juice and packed with vitamins and antioxidents. I have a belief that there are benefits that come from a diet of fruits and vegetables that we don't even have names for yet. Look how long it took the main stream public to learn about antioxidents!
My parents also knew best when they only let me have small amounts each day and watered it down. Although Juicy Juice and all 100 % fruit juice  have no added sugar, it has natural occuring sugars from the fruit it's self. These sugars can effect a child's teeth.

I prepared DeAna scrambled eggs a little after a year old. Eggs are jam packed with good for you things. They are mushy and easy to swallow. You can quickly prepare them in the microwave even. They are a great source of protein and now you can get them with enriched with Omega-3s. Yay Eggs!