Author: eattypelive
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Self-care at the mercy of others
“Just remember to make time for you,” said every person I interacted with in the first year after having a baby. It certainly felt like every person, anyway. I would smile and “Mm hm” back at them but some days the temptation to bitch slap these well-intentioned people was almost overwhelming. It’s not the message…
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Baby’s first foods
I got a message a couple days ago from a friend, asking about first foods for baby. She’d gone online and, in her eloquent words, discovered that “There’s a lot of shit out there.” I couldn’t agree more. First thing’s first: when is baby ready for solids? You’ll hear six months thrown around a lot…
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To hide or not to hide: the vegetable question
My 3-year-old is currently going through a growth spurt. He is super tired, super hungry and super emotional all at once. I consider it training for when he’s a teenager. When I picked him up from preschool yesterday I read his little take-home slip of paper that lists what he ate that day. I was…
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Mindful eating and hypocrisy
I dipped my spoon into my soup and slurped the creamy goodness noisily. I crunched my piece of toast, delighting at the way it broke into chunks in my mouth… And then crumbs spilled all over my keyboard and I very nearly knocked the bowl of soup over trying to clean it up. I eat…
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Want to increase IQ and EQ? Read a novel
Recently I was told that I’ll never “develop as a person” if I continue to read novels instead of more serious non-fiction titles. It’s hard to explain my reaction when confronted with this view: a mix of exasperation, incredulity and facepalming. But sadly, this is a common misperception among self-help book devotees. I couldn’t bring…
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Breastfeeding is more than the milk
Recently, a mother complained on Twitter about the pressure to pump and bottle feed instead of just OG breastfeeding. I had only been on Twitter a couple days at the time and I was nervous to comment and share my own story, but I wish I had. The pump-then-bottle-feed message was pushed on me time…
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Spacing out
Some time ago, my then 2-year-old was sitting on the couch, staring off into space. In this blissful moment of silence, I pulled my phone out and started going through my emails, writing the shopping list, and checking my To Do list for what else I needed to get done. And all the while my…
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The dinnertime battleground
My son was sitting at the table, ready for his dinner. We had a vase of flowers on the table that he had picked from the garden, and we had lit several candles. I placed his plate in front of him, smiling at my lovingly prepared wholesome meal that would meet all of his nutrition…
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The gentlemen’s powerlifting competition
My breath rose in misty clouds in the air in front of me and I snuggled deeper into my blanket. It was 2010 and I was in a typical student hovel in Dunedin, having transferred universities to pursue nutrition studies. We were too cheap to turn the heat pump on in my flat, so I…