Facebook and Breastfeeding

Detail from Pablo de San Leocadio (1445-1520) Virgen de la Leche (Virgin of the milk).

What does Facebook and breastfeeding have to do with each other and why am I blogging about it on my food blog?  I’ve decided to blog about this because breastmilk is (and should be) baby’s first food so I think it is very  much so food/nutrition related.

What does Facebook have to do with breastfeeding?  Facebook seems to have declared war on moms posting breastfeeding pictures. It’s ok to show women with everything but the nipple showing, thongs and all sorts of inappropriate things but a woman breastfeeding is labeled as obscene, offensive, containing sexual content and even pornographic.  What?!  Since when is breastfeeding any of the above.  It’s a messed up society that would label breastfeeding pictures as such.  Breastfeeding was photographed, painted and sculpted before formula came on the scene and breast were then sexualized. If you would like to see some example of historical pictures of breastfeeding (to shut up anyone who says they are “old fashioned” and think breastfeeding is a private act that should be covered up) see this beautiful Facebook page devoted to this very thing: Historical Photos & Prints of Breastfeeding.  Before formula, it was a normal part of life meaning when baby was hungry, baby ate and if a photographer was present there was a good chance this beautiful scene would be captured on film.

So why am I up in arms now?  A very good friend of mine who I have known for years, a lactivist on a mission to normalize breastfeeding, has had her Facebook account suspended 2 times in one week for breastfeeding photos. Emma posts these photos is hopes that if more people saw breastfeeding, it would become normal again.  We hear the message constantly, breast is best… but don’t do it here, or there or good grief not there.  Emma wrote an excellent piece about why seeing breastfeeding is important here.

For those who say they don’t want to see, don’t look.  But I hope you do and begin to see breastfeeding for what it really is, feeding a child.  Simple as that.

News Release

Facebook continues its war with Canadian breastfeeding activists

Vancouver, January 9, 2012

Canadian mother and Vancouver breastfeeding activist Emma Kwasnica has been banned by Facebook for posting pictures of breastfeeding. Kwasnica says Facebook has an ongoing campaign to rid its site of photos of nursing mothers.

There is an occasional flip-flop. Today in the UK the American social media site apologized for deleting several breastfeeding-related photos from UK-based Facebook accounts – photos of little girls pretending to breastfeed their dolls. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/09/facebook-photos-girls-pretending-breastfeed

Kwasnica and several supporters in other Canadian and U.S. cities remain banned.

Kwasnica has had her Facebook account deleted four times and has also been suspended numerous other times. It has always been for breastfeeding photos that Facebook mistakes for photos of a pornographic or sexual nature. This latest action came over a photo of her breastfeeding daughter that has been up on her account for several years.

Although Facebook has recently apologized for several similar incidents, its way of handling breastfeeding photos is distressing for their users. Kwasnica’s latest suspension notice arrived when she woke up on Saturday morning and discovered the photo had been removed and she had been given a 24-hour suspension that limited her access. Facebook briefly reinstated her account but then removed another older photo and issued a 3 day ban.

Kwasnica says, “Facebook has to stop harassing women for posting pictures of breastfeeding. It’s that simple. They have to stop. It’s no different than harassing a woman in public for breastfeeding. We aren’t doing anything wrong, and it’s not right that they harass, intimidate and bully us because they have unclear policies and can’t figure out how to get their employees to follow them correctly.”

Over 2,400 people have joined a Facebook page to show support for Emma and other women who feel harassed by Facebook’s policy of disabling accounts and deleting photos first, and apologizing later when it realizes its error. A petition is also circulating on Twitter.

Facebook support page:

FB! Stop Harassing… http://www.facebook.com/StopHarassingKwasnicaAndALLBreastfeedingWomen

A petition is also circulating on Twitter at act.ly/5dj.

Contact

Emma Kwasnica

604-2150433

emma.kwasnica@gmail.com

Melanie, decaffeinated

Day 6 of weaning from caffeine

Taking an unflattering picture of myself that isn’t so horrible that I don’t want to post it is hard.  Does this picture express how tired I feel?  Remind me again why I’m doing this?

I’m down to 1 part leaded to 6 parts unleaded which was what I was planning on being the last stage.  Good news, no headaches or flu like symptoms that I experienced when going cold turkey (you’d think that kind of withdrawal would scare me from getting back on it, nope).  Like the other times, I’m not craving coffee like I normally would.  One cup satisfies me where before I’ve been known to cry when I thought there was a full cup in the pot but there was only a few drips.

I do know this tired stage will go away and I’ll have more energy than before.  I just have to keep reminding myself of that.  It doesn’t really help when the house is a disaster, I’m too tired to care and I have important company coming over on Wednesday.  Maybe I’ll be up for cleaning tomorrow…

Lacto-Fermented Garlic Paste

I’m lazy.  As my good friend Tricia told me this morning, I’m a super mom in some areas and lazy in others.  As I chatted with her in my pj’s amidst a super mess house, I peeled 4 lbs of garlic and bragged about how my 20 mo is fully potty trained, day and night.  Yeah, I’m awesome.

Sometimes I work hard so I can be lazy.  Like garlic paste.  I love fresh garlic and before I devoted my life to eating only real food, I bought garlic paste in the jar.  While it’s not horrible, it’s still not as good as the fresh stuff but sometimes I just too lazy to peel the clove, chop it up and then clean up the mess.  Sometimes I just want to open a jar and that’s it.  I can be that kind of lazy.  So when I’m feeling not lazy, I’ll make garlic paste.

This is what 4 lbs of garlic looks like.  Today I was feeling extra spunky and made 2 1/2 quarts of garlic (1 of garlic paste and 1 1/2 of pickled whole cloves).  How did I peel 4 lbs of garlic without going insane?  A while back a video was going around Facebook of a chef showing how he throws a whole head, just separating the cloves, in a large metal bowl, topping the bowl with another and shaking the crap out of it.  It works!  Love it!  I used 2 plastic bowls which worked but I think metal would be better.  Since plastic bends, it was hard keeping the skins from flying all over my kitchen.

Of course you don’t have to make a whole quart of it.  I’ve made a pint and even just a cup before.  Just divide the recipe accordingly.

I’m lucky enough to be friends with a gardener who specializes in garlic.  When she posted on Facebook that she still had a bunch from the end of the season, I jumped on it.  I kept the soft neck for fresh recipes and all the hard neck was lacto-fermented since it doesn’t keep as long.  You can use lacto-fermented garlic as you would regular garlic.  I prefer to not heat it up too much because you kill off all those wonderful probiotic buggies.  Add a small scoop to a cup of broth that has cooled enough to consume for a super yummy and healthy treat.  

Garlic is also wonderful this time of year to fight colds and the flu.  Mix a bit of garlic with honey, cayenne to kick strep.  It works!

Lacto-Fermented Garlic Paste

• 1 pint worth of garlic (this might take upwards of 10 or so heads)
• 2 tbsp fresh whey
• 2 tsp sea salt

Place everything in a food processor and pulse until a smooth paste forms.  Scoop into a pint sized mason jar and using a spatula, clean the sides of the jar and press out any air pockets.  I’ll gently tap the jar on a padded surface to smooth it out and remove bubbles.  Let set at room temperature for 5-7 days and then move to cold storage.  I’ve heard garlic is best when aged a few months.  I wouldn’t know because we eat it too fast.  Maybe this time I’ll find out since I made so much.  

Another New Year’s Resolution Post

Another New Year’s resolution post?  Yeah.  A little late to the game but better late than never.  

I do like doing New Year’s resolutions.  Some I’ve kept, some I’ve not been successful keeping.  Last year I had 2.  One was a success and one was a partial success.  I ran a half-marathon (go me!) and I got off coffee for part of the year.  I was hoping to add a full marathon to my year this year but due to the flood and having to rearrange our house, turning my workout room into a much needed bedroom, my treadmill is gathering dust in the garage.

This year I’m going to retackle coffee.  I know it’s not a good idea to do the same resolution over and over since it can lead to discouragement but I have good cause.  I fell off the wagon last year because the baby was just not sleeping well, thus Mommy was not getting enough rest.   I reasoned that during that season in my life, coffee and I were just going to have to get along.  Being a good, patient, happy mom was more important than not drinking coffee.  That was the difference my 2 cups of half-caff made.

Enter this year.  Baby is consistently sleeping through the night finally so I have no excuse.  Instead of listing off all the reasons coffee is bad here, you can read all about it at Cheese Slave’s blog here http://www.cheeseslave.com/30-reasons-to-quit-coffee/

My reasons for quitting?  First, heart arrythmias. There are others things that I am doing in addition to removing coffee to improve this.  I actually haven’t had a serious bout since I took my nutrition extra serious this last fall.  But coffee still sends my heart racing and it doesn’t feel good.

Second, I feel it interferes with my appetite.  Most people would think “Awesome!”. But for me it’s not a good thing.  I’m hovering on the edge of being underweight and nursing an active toddler doesn’t help.  I need to eat more and coffee makes me not hungry.

Third, I’ve been off caffeine before and I know I just feel better.  Especially when I’m well rested.  Now that small is sleeping well, I know I’ll feel better for it.  Also since I’ve improved my nutrition, I’m sleeping much better than I ever have (I’m a bit of an insomniac).  

My plan?  I’ m going to do what worked for me in the past.  Not the cold turkey method that I accidentally did twice (bought decaf on accident and then thought I had the flu only to find out I was just drinking decaf).  I’m just going to slowly replace my caffeinated for decaf.  When I get to the point of full decaf, I revisit whether I want to cut coffee completely.  

My last cup of full caff.

I do plan on starting up running again after we do a little more home renovations.  So maybe a marathon next year?

 

Top Post of 2011

I’ve only been blogging on Pickle Me Too since the end of October and am so excited about how well it’s been received.  So I thought I’d share with you my top posts of this short year.

#1 Lactofermented Purple Eggs, what a wacky treat!

#2 Lactofermented Carrots with Indian Spices, yes they are as good as they sound!

#3 Chocolate Eggnog, need I say more?

#4 Apple Cinnamon Grain Free Granola, yes you can have cereal on the GAPS diet.

#5 What Are We Feeding Our Kids, guest post by my wonderful step mom.

Honorary Mention Our Journey With Autism, this post describes my family’s experience with diet and autism.  Yes, nutrition matters.  While it’s not the most visited article on this website, it was on personal blog and it’s my personal favorite post.  

Happy New Year from my family to yours!

New Year’s Egg Bake

It’s been a tradition for our family to have egg bakes on holidays.  Not on purpose, we just like egg bakes.  They are an easy and inexpensive way to feed a lot of people for breakfast (or dinner).  I love having a well-rounded meal with everything in one dish.  Most of the time egg bake recipes are born out of the question “Hmm, what do we have in the fridge this morning?”
Well, this morning I was inspired by sour cream, bacon, potatoes and a variety of sweet peppers.

Bacon, Pepper and Hash Brown Egg Bake

• 4 slices of bacon, chopped
• 2 medium potatoes, shredded
• 1 medium onion, sliced thin
• 1/2 cup sweet peppers (choose a variety of colors, sweet or hot)
• 8 eggs
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 tsp salt
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup feta cheese

In a large skillet over medium heat, brown bacon pieces.  Drain, set aside bacon and reserve about 3 tbsp bacon fat.

Mix potatoes, onions and peppers.  Spread evenly in the still hot skillet and brown potato mixture like you would hash browns.  Flip to get both sides browned.

Beat eggs, sour cream, salt and pepper together.  Pour over hash browns.  Sprinkle bacon and feta on top.  Cook eggs for about 5-10 minutes or until egg begins to set.

Move skillet to the oven under the broiler and bake to set the top, about 3-5 minutes.

Let cool slightly before slicing.