And on the Sabbath Day of Raw Vegan Food, even God rested

So I totally caved... Saturday night after the Holi Color Festival. It wasn't so much that all that color throwing had me working up some uncontrollable appetite. No, it was more a combination of eating a handful of carrots and grapes with a glass of pinapple juice to sustain me until three in the afternoon; and as we were leaving the festival we made the mistake of walking past a few of the food vendors with curry deliciousness and roasted chicken wafting through the air.

It was like the devil had been clothed in Chicken Tikka Masala... come to steal my detox right from underneath me!

Danny kept talking about hitting up the Bombay House for date night; and after eating (literally) like a rabbit for the better part of the week, I had nothing left to fight off temptation.

And that's true in so many ways:

A random sampling of the 'fare' from Omars.

These are the raw vegan sushi option.

I think they use crushed macadameia nuts in place of rice.

That food (or lack there of) made me loopy. Danny and I joke that I hadn't won an argument with him in five days. My brain seemed to stop working. I wasn't as quick witted (well, for me. It's a sliding scale, you know). I couldn't form complete thoughts or sentences. Even at yoga (when I wasn't on the verge of blacking out), I had to concentrate so hard on what the instructor was saying... just to get my body in the right position. I just kind of always felt a step behind.

Danny's logic was that even God rested on the 7th Day--and moreoever, that my "Sabbath' (or sabbatical from vegan-raw)should start at Sundown. I texted my lady-friends to tell them I was hanging up the jersey early, and by nightfall, I had indulged in amazing Indiana Food and coconut cream pie (not so Indian, but still amazing)... oh, and had managed to gain every bit of weight lost in the experiment back in water weight and happiness.

THE END

Well for now at least. I've got a bit more to report on... especially now that I can think again. But for now, I will say I am glad the experiment is over with and I don;t ever have to do that again. At least not for 6 days... 3 is fine. A week is just crazy.

Coloring Throwing with Krishna

This Spring I wanted to start anew Mangum Family Tradition: attending the "Color Throwing Festival" celebrating "Holi" / the welcoming of Spring. In India, they use (used?) crushed up flower petals, but at the Spanish Fork Lotus Krishna Temple we purchased bags of colored chalk for $12 and had the time of our lives.

Holden was a little bit timid at first.

He was trying to figure out why we were telling him

to throw things when usually we're asking him not to do so.

But he found his way:

Mangum Family Christmas Pictures: December 2012

And another one...

The official "color throwing" happened every two hours (we hit the 1pm dance). With a countdown rivaling the ushering in of New Years, a rainbow of color fills the sky and then bleeds into a hazy mist of some pinkish brown and purple. It's pretty amazing to see. The above picture and two below were taken just moments after the coutdown.

I love this picture for some reason... It was just so cool to be at this neat

celebration of life and beginning with my boys. I'm glad my husband's

open minded enough to bring our little guy to things like this.

Here we are on the balcony of the Lotus temple looking down at the crazy mosh pit below with the band playing "Hare hare Krishna Krishna, Ram Hare Hare." Needless to say, we kept our distance from the crowd surfing madness, but we danced a little from the distance. The energy was pretty infectious.

This is a picture of Holden's frustration with us that he does not get to hold the iPhone. This is also about the time we decided it was time to make the trek back home.

Danny and Holden outside the grounds

(You can see the Lotus Temple in the background.)

My Fruitneral: Day 6 of the Raw Vegan Week Challenge

You'd think I'm pregnant with the odd dreams I've been having about raw food (I'm not, I assure you. Though I'd kind of like to be actually.) Ugh! Two more days.... chant with me:

TWO MORE DAYS!

TWO MORE DAYS!

What irks me is I could've bought a gorgeous pair of stilettos and a hand bag from Nordstrom with the amount of money we've spent at Omar's alone this week...but if it wasn't for him, and his delicious sauces at Rawtopia, I'd be stuck cursing citrus fruit and lettuce wedges (well, cursing them more than I already do).

In case you're just joining us, I am on a week long challenge of eating only RAW-VEGAN-FOOD with a few friends. I've lost a few pounds (apparently it's fluctuating a little bit as I was 139.5 this morning). But it's supposed to be super healthy for you. According to the never-wrong, always perfectly cited Wikipedia:

"Raw vegans believe that foods cooked above [115 degrees] have lost much of their nutritional value and are less healthy or even harmful to the body. Typical foods include fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouted grains and legumes.[...]Raw vegans can be subdivided into fruitarians, juicearians, or sproutarians. Fruitarians eat primarily or exclusively fruits and nuts. Juicearians process their raw plant foods into juice. Sproutarians adhere to a diet consisting mainly of sprouted seeds."

I feel like I'm a combination of all three. But that quote seems kind of odd to me, because Notting Hill had me believe that a Fruitarian was something a little different:

"Keziah: We believe that fruits and vegetables have feeling so we think cooking is cruel. We only eat things that have actually fallen off a tree or bush - that are, in fact, dead already.
William: Right. Right. Interesting stuff. So, these carrots...
Keziah: Have been murdered, yes.

William: Murdered? Poor carrots. How beastly!"

When I think about how many carrots I've murdered this week, it almost makes me want to give up the whole project and stick to eating non-food items. You know like things created in a lab by food-science doctors with a relentless industrial marketing machine and lobbyists on capital hill that try to tell us we're better off eating a protein-shake with maltodexrin, soy lecithin and 20 other varieties of soy and corn products than say...some spinach?

Or not.

I guess I'll stick to murdering my vegetables for a couple of more days. Crazy to think they're being eaten alive. Well to paraphrase my little sister regarding the raw-food-project: "Hey, it's your fruitneral." Or the carrots funeral, depending on how you look at it.

Sesame Street: Feist sings 1,2,3,4

This makes my heart happy. And Holden likes it too.

Day 5: March Madness

The bullet points to kick off Day 5 of my week-long Vegan Raw Food challenge.

• Scale says 138.5 Is this a detox or a crash diet? That's a pound a day.
• Omar's again last night: For dessert I indulged in a raw lemon pie with strawberries. it felt sinful but it wasn't cheating.
• I have spent way too much money on food this week (like the equivalent of a month's worth; including our 'eating out' indulgence money.) It's a good thing we don't budget or I'd really be battling some guilt issues.
• My skin feels really soft.
• I just have the weekend to make it through.
• I feel pretty good - though I'm awaiting some kind of 'awakening' that I'm doubtful is going to happen: lets call it being cautiously optimist.

My favorite quotes from Danny about the challenge:

1. "No wonder deer spend their entire lives trying to find food."
2. [After eating 1/4 of a 'pizza' from Omar's and some almond hummus]: "My mouth is full--not my stomach."

In other cleansing & vibrance news:

Danny joined me for his first hot-yoga Bikram class yesterday evening. He did great for the entire 90 minutes. I was so proud of him. In eagle pose he even got his arms underneath one another, and the instructor said: "Danny you're really flexible." Which is not something my husband is used to hearing about himself at yoga classes.

The truth is I get pretty giddy and fall even more in love when him when he practices wiht me, because yoga is such a hugh part of my life. And it may be the heart-expanding raw-food talking, but isn't it awesome when we get to share the things we love with the people we love?

Day 4 of Vegan-Raw-Food Week

So Tuesday night it was chicken, and last night I dreamt of potatoes.... roasted with olive oil, rosemary and colby jack cheese. Yummers. Soon enough, I remind myself.

The scale says 140...so that's basically a pound a day. Call it water-weight, toxins, junkies...whatever you want, but I actually feel smaller. (Unless I put on my skinny jeans right out of the dryer. That's always a humbling experience.)

I think I'm past the worst of it. And by lunch today I'll be officially half way.

Danny's been a great sport about it too. We've modified his eating a bit. He's joining me in the vegan thing (and staying away from processed sugars/starches) this week. He's eating what I eat for breakfast and dinner, but he'll enjoy steamed veggies at lunch ...he also had my home-made hummus with carrot sticks last night for dinner. (Garbonzo beans are 'cooked' before I grind them with tahini, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil and cumin...so the 'cooking' obviously puts hummus off the list for me.) But this 'cleanse' is not really as far of a jump for me as it is for him; and he goes out to eat for lunch with business people every day...and they're not dining at Omar's, you know?

Other than that, this new food regime continues to have me wrestling with questions about my food and lately, I've been asking myself what I've been learning from this experiment.

It's not really like me to deny my body something it's craving so much. Like say, hummus. (I mean home-made hummus is not exactly the equivalent of a hostess powdered doughnut six-pack).

Usually, when I can tell I really need something (e.g. craving roast when I was pregnant with Holden), I eat it. Unfortunately, I also have the nasty habit of eating what I want--not just what I need. (My past cupcake addictions are great examples...not to mention how I stuffed my face during the holidays after I finally got below 140 lbs; and subsequently gained it all back as a result).

Though right now, I don't crave cupcakes or brownies and candy isn't even on the radar (though I'm not really a candy person anyway)...my body seems pretty content with the amount of natural sugars I'm getting from all this fruit. But a slice of home-made pizza with whole wheat pita bread crust? That may be the first thing I indulge in.

I guess what I'm learning is to distinguish the wants verses needs in my body. This is also teaching me just how overwhelming the food-processing industrial machine is...you can't even buy 'almond milk' without have some kind of additive.

Even my beloved canned garbonzo beans are processed with "sugar, salt, calcium chloride, sodium sulfate and calcium disodium EDTA." (Michael Pollan would be so disappointed.) I have no idea what half of those things are, but I'm really glad I've been at least rinsing them off in the past. Guess I'll be starting another tradition of cooking my own lentils too.

Chapter 3 (Adventures in Raw Food-Day 3 of the Week-long Challenge))

I dreamt I ate chicken last night...and I still woke up kind of hungry. But it doesn't take much to take that 'edge' off. For breakfast, a banana and some fresh juiced pineapple did the trick.

Holden was under the weather yesterday so last night was a little rough (not just the poultry nightmares). Danny got the shakes all of the sudden and cursed: "I can't live off this food. I'm a high performance athlete!" We chuckled together as he hasn't worked out in almost a week.

Today is supposed to be the hardest day. But I can't imagine feeling worse than I did at yoga yesterday morning. Six in the morning can be painful in of itself. But the 90 minutes of 106-degree room and what felt like 90% humidity (though it was probably closer to 40) seemed to force my body into an early purge of emotion and toxins.

I kept having to stop and take breaks... which is not my norm for most-things-physical: I'm more of one to 'push through' the uneasiness. More than a few times I would stand up and the room started getting black spots all over it, my ears got that weird hollowing sound, I was swaying back and forth and couldn't hear what the instructor was saying.

Eventually we made it down to the ground and as I lay on the floor, my hands got really tingly (like when your leg falls asleep) and my fingers started curling into themselves. I looked down and my hands -- they suddenly appeared to have Bikram-onset-rheumatoid-arthritis.

It was all really strange.

And I had RSVP'd for the Advanced session that evening.

I kept thinking to myself there is no way I can do this.

Who knew fruits and veggies were so dark and powerful?

But the day continued, I drank a bunch of water, took a nap with Holden (oh the bliss of just one child!), had some lettuce & guacamole wraps and found myself getting dressed for yoga.

Then Holden puked all over me.

And by the time I got in the car at six pm I was wondering if the universe was sending me a message -- like maybe you've had enough for today?

I vowed if I got in a car accident on the way to the studio, I'd know it wasn't meant to be.

But I made it; and the class was full and the energy was amazing. (A few of the people in the class compete at the Yoga Asana National Championships... which sounds like an oxymoron to me, but it's their thing... not mine.) It is inspiring what they can do with their minds and bodies.

And as I mentioned last night, I had one of the best classes of my life. And I was the least tired I've ever been in one of those classes. And it was like I had given a new lease on life; and my body was a little more bendy, and my heart felt a little more full and my cells seemed reenergized.

**Alternate Indie Film Post Ending**

And Holden puked on Danny while I was gone.

Adventures in Raw Foodie-ness (Chapter 2)

Day two of my experiment - same weight: 143... heavy sigh. Changing your diet is a lot like exercise -- somehow I feel like after a hard workout (or a day of eating raw) I should magically be 10 lbs thinner.

But I am feeling pretty fabulous... teetering on the edge of hungry, but feeling pretty good. I've heard that the body needs a certain amount of '"fat" to feel full: so do the Omega-3s in avocado count?

Besides wondering how I am going to push through an extra dose of hot yoga tonight, I am wishing I had the secret recipe to Omar's Almond Curried dipping sauce that our vegan nori-rolls came with last night. It just makes everything better.

A Great Debate -or- A Different Kind of March Madness

I've also been doing a lot of thinking (or obsessing?) about the vegan/vegatarian thing. It made sense to me NOT to be a vegan with all the processed soy products and fake-sausage patties and faux-margarine, faux-food products. None of that stuff really seemed like a eco-conscious choice once you figured the oil/gas equation for plastic, packaging, shipping, the food science processing, etc. As I've mentioned on so many occasions, I prefer to eat Food. Real Food. Not Food-like products.

Vegetarian made a little more sense: it's such a wide scope and you seem to be able to eat a little more sustainable. . . and for me, my body almost seems to crave it during the summer. (Though I usually end up being one of those Octo-Lacto Vegetarians: so I grant myself the luxury of eggs and dairy).

I dig the idea of being a free-range seasonal eater (very little meat/animal products except in the colder months and eating what's local): seems like this choice would have the least amount of environmental implications... you're living off the land, taking proper steps for food storage during the months where the snow means limited local produce. And it seems to be a lot more consistent with what I believe on a religious level (spiritually, I'm not exactly sure.) But then again when it comes to animal slaughter, no matter how nice that chicken's life has been, I always seem to end up coming back to the mantra "It still hurts to be killed."

And full circle back to the Raw-Vegan-Foodist thing. So you definitely win points for staying clear of all the personal and environmental horrors associated with mass meat/poultry/etc consumption, and your eating minimally packaged foods (I mean just how much packaging does a raw yam come with, you know?) But the bigger question is where is all your produce coming from?

I mentioned I didn't buy all organic produce. But even if I did, there's not a plethora of local anything right now in SLC. Things (organic and conventionally grown alike) are being shipped from all over the world to my local Costco (where I bought the bulk of our fruit & veggie eats for the week). I picked up some stuff at Liberty Heights Fresh, Whole Foods, and my local Smiths. But how sustainable is it to eat raw when there's still snow on the ground?

Unless you're growing bean sprouts in a backyard green house, how is this lifestyle choice sustainable in Utah?

I find myself wrestling with questions like these all the time. Often when I'm peeling a banana because that monkey food is NEVER in season in Utah. :)

But I'll continue to wrestle with the moral and ethical questions about my food choices probably forever. Regardless, I think on a cellular level my body is grateful for the overhaul. Day three tomorrow: and usually the most challenging for any cleanse. (I remember this from my past life when I was addicted to Diet Mt. Dew. I was also eating out twice a day and would've considered boneless buffalo wings and fries with ranch dressing from Wingers one of my favorite meals. My how things change. )

Today's Raw Eats & Treats:

breakfast: "Island Smoothie:" Fresh pineapple and mango with frozen banana, home-made almond milk, avocado and apple juice.

Snacks: carrot & bell pepper sticks with guacamole, banana, more of Alyssa's cacao/coconut date "brownie" deliciousness, asian pear slices, orange slices.

Lunch: Romaine lettuce wraps with chopped cucumber, orange bell pepper, onion, alfalfa sprouts, guacamole and that divine curried almond sauce left over from last night. (What am I going to do tomorrow when I run out?!?!)

**UPDATE: 9:30 pm**

I had the same romaine lettuce wrap for dinner that I had for lunch and another bite of the 'brownie'; but I seriously had the greatest Bikram class of my life. Just got back from my second Bikram class today (I get to attend the 'advanced' class occasionally).

But seriously, I feel AMAZING! I wasn't perfect, but my body was getting into poses it has never been in before. I didn't even really feel tired; and the class is and hour and 45 minutes -- yes, hot, humid yoga. This morning at the beginner class I was getting lightheaded and kept feeling like I was going to blackout/pass out.

Is it possible my 'horrid 3rd day' was moved to 6 am this morning because of the yoga practice? Or more like 3 hrs and 15 minutes of yoga?

Only time will tell.

BUT I FEEL RADIANT!

Adventures in Raw Foodie-ness (Chapter 1)

So it's on! Today starts my week long experiment as a vegan raw foodie. What this basically means is that I will ONLY be eating plant food that's not processed (I think the technical temperature is below 110 degrees or so.)

So here's how it's going so far:

• Had a genius idea to hit up Whole Foods and Costco (even though I do not heart Whole Foods one single bit). The 'make your own Peanut Butter machine ended up exploding all over me; and it wasn't until I got home that I realized the peanuts are probably pre-roasted (so I can't have it anyway). But at least my black sweater smelled like organic Skippy....
• I don't really want to think about how much money I've spent on produce today (a mixture of organic and conventional. If we're only eating plants I don't want to limit myself to apples, carrots and spinach!). But anyway, it makes me mad the government subsides corn and soybeans for fillers in tomato sauce and everything else... why aren't they subsidizing whole foods like apples and carrots? But I maintain, the question is NOT "Why does a organic produce cost so much more?" but why is all of that other 'food' so cheap?" I mean seriously, do you stop to think about the personal and environmental devastation that comes from eating cheap food in mass quantities? Ugh! (Oh and if not, just rent "Food, Inc" and then you'll catch a glimpse of what I'm saying.)
• Also, special thanks to my mother-in-law for lending me her juicer a year ago when I wanted to make Holden his own organic juice. I still have it and today made a batch of apple juice today. FAB-U-LOUS... and so sweet!

You may be wondering why I'm doing this?

Well, the answer is kind of three part:

1. Even though I'm not a fan of 'dieting' per se, I feel like my body needs a little 'spring cleaning.' Whereas DETOX, can come with a host of negative associations, this little experiment is a great kick-start to refocus my healthy eating choices (I have been engaging a little too much in trysts with white flour.) This is just a little kick-start to get back focused on minimally processed whole food focused lifestyle.
2. I've got a few friends that are doing it. See, there's these girls from highschool that I get together with a couple of times a month (maybe?), and a few months ago we came up with the ridiculous idea of having sex every day for 30 days straight. And so when we're together we just decide to do things like that... so thus, the raw food idea. (Though I think Danny is a little bummed the Raw-Food Challenge is not accompanied by anything directly affecting his libido.)
3. Why not?

Today's menu items included:

Breakfast:

Green Fruit Smoothie with Avocado, spinach, melon, pineapple, OJ, blueberries and a hand-full of almonds that had been soaked in water overnight (I'm going to make my own almond milk).

Lunch:

Carrots dipped in Guacomole (avocado, tomatoes, white onion and line juice); fresh mango slices, a hand-full of almonds and some apple juice.

Dinner:

We actually kicked off the raw food week with a little get together at my house. We fed the kiddos whole wheat organic pasta with parmesean and then let them entertain themselves whilst the adults indulged in raw food concoctions like "live almond hummus, with cabbage, lettuce, onions, tomatoes and parsley"; tabouli (parsley, tomatoes, red onion, mint, etc); loads of fresh veggie 'bites"; fresh guacamole; and a spiced curried seaweed roll with macadamia nut rice, avocado, tomatoes, zucchini, onions and alfafa sprouts. (The sweet curried almond sauce was AMAZING!) For dessert we noshed on a raw date, coconut and cacao "brownie" served with chilled strawberry citrus "soup."

Pictures hopefully tomorrow....

Oh and today I am weighing in at 143. I am excited for a little 'cleanse.' (HCG can suck-it.) This is way cooler.

St. Patty's Day Traditions (& Kitchen Explosions)

"CLUNG--K!"

"pssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss....."

That my friends is the sounds of a 16 oz can of Murphy's Stout crashing to the floor and slowly exploding in my kitchen. Holden continues his experiments with gravity...

This round's score:

Gravity: One

Mom: ZERO

The Can After the Fact - notice the easy pour 'spout' now

deformed for perfect kitchen spraying action.

Tomorrow's St. Patty's Day, and even though we're not Irish (though Holden definitely has the skin-tone for it), somehow I created a new tradition last year by making Guinness Cupcakes.

The were kind of ridiculous.

The batter spilled all over the tops of the muffin tins and middles sunk so low that the only way to make them look remotely normal was to fill in three inches of frosting in the center. Danny loved them, and asked for them again (yeah, sure the alcohol bakes out). And being the agreeable and submissive wife that I am known and loved for, I obliged. Also, I'm kicking off a Raw Diet Week on Monday and of course dragging Danny along, so the man deserves a tall one: even if it is in cupcake format.

So the cupcakes?

I had Little Bits help me.

Besides his stellar performance in the "Irish Beer exploding all over my kitchen" bit, his contributions include:

Dumping Cocoa powder all over the counter.

Turning the cake flour box upside down, which later resulted in this:

He also managed to spoon teaspoons full of the sourcream-egg mixture on his chest (he was aiming for his mouth).

In Holden's defense, he is great at cracking eggs. I always let him do the first 'whack on the kitchen counter' and then I follow up with another, or just separate the shell and put it in the batter.

He's also super supportive and of what we're making. For example, yesterday we were making almond biscotti from scratch. I thought I completely had this recipe dialed; as it's been a go-to quick treat for the past month. But somehow I made the dreaded mistake of baking soda instead of baking powder... but every time Holden dipped his slimy mitts in my batter and licked his fingers he'd say, "MMMMMMMMMmmmmmMMMMMM." So the kid really knows how to lift my spirits. (I still ended up throwing out all 3 dozen, though... sad.)

But when he looks that great in a baker's hat, how could I ever think of being upset at him?

Regardless, I guess our St. Patty's day tradition is officially that...a tradition! I just hope next year comes without the beer explosions. Seems like they'd appreciate that more in Chicago or Boston.

Little Sample of Holden's maneuvers and way sweet kitchen skills.

Also, he gets some flour in his eye....

and yes, I have a problem closing my kitchen cupboards when I cook. I'm sure it stems from my relationship with my father, or something...

PS. Special thanks to my dear friend *Emily for hooking me up with the stout. She was making Irish Stew and had an extra can that saved me from buying more beer than I'd know what to do with.

*Names have been changed to protect the Mormon innocent... or have they?

While the TOM-Cat's Away...

Danny had to work tonight. And by work, I mean "he's entertaining clients at the Jazz game in the suite." Needless to say, he's digging his new job. I am happy about it too...because obviously my husband would do that part for free.

Holden was a little devastated when he found out his Dad had to leave again (once he got home from the office); but we made do.

Dinner consisted of apples, oranges and fresh sliced organic pineapple from Bountiful Baskets (the pasta dish I made was nasty when we tried it at 4 this afternoon, so we went with what we love.)

We read a few chapters of Black Beauty (the adapted illustrated classic in novel format with pictures), and looked at the National Geographic 'hippo' book we borrowed from his Grandma. And then we did a little yoga:

Holden getting into Down Dog

A little 'flamingo' balancing action...

can you see his right leg up behind his knee?

And my favorite kind of yoga...

where I say "Show me your happy face, " and we get this.

Namaste.

The BREAST Kind of Protest

So it's no secret that I heart boobs (no wait, that's my husband.) But I heart breastfeeding...

Not that Holden and I were any good at it. We tried and tried and cried and cried and tried some more. I've mentioned on numerous occasions that even with lactation consultants (yes, that's plural), LeLeche League meetings, nurses, doctors, nipple shields, SNS system and everything short of trying a wet nurse, Holden and I gave it our best shot BUT he refused to latch completely at four months. As such, I was left to pump for the remainder (and a little beyond) his first year of life. Granted, my milk production levels were a bit 'abnormal.' I was producing so much milk Winder Farms was worried I'd start my own dairy operation.

But pumping is not my favorite thing.

Of course I would've preferred to nurse him...in the home, on the phone, at the store or on the floor. I would've preferred to nurse him here or there or anywhere...Instead, I was pumping on airplanes, in lavatories, in the the handicapped stall of Delta's Crown Room, at church, once of the floor of a Massage Envy shop after a flat tire, and the list goes on, and on, and on.

That's why it makes me sad when things like this happen:

"On January 30, Norika Aita was nursing her 11-month-old daughter, Elaine, on a bench near an escalator in the [Hirshhorn Smithsonian] museum when a security guard told her to move to a restroom to breastfeed. When Aita found no seat other than a toilet in the restroom, she returned to sit on another bench and resumed nursing. Another security guard then approached her and said, 'Mom, you cannot do that.'"

Obviously these security guards didn't know about the governments Right to Breastfeed act.

When Holden was nursing, he refused to latch if there was anything covering his face -- blanket, hooter hider (you get the point). I couldn't 'cover up' or my son wouldn't latch. So I guess to keep people from feeling uncomfortable, I was just supposed to let my kid starve...no wait, whip out a bottle because that wasn't weird? Except it is...if you really think about it. Nursing is one of the most natural things a mother can do for her child (granted, it wasn't easy for us, but it's still natural).

Plastic nipples, pumps, glass and bottles... they're about as un-natural as you can come by for feeding a baby. And before you think I'm passing judgement, let me remind you I've been there -- I get it. It's not available for everyone. Those 'un-natural' things made it possible for me to feed my child.

But that's not my point. My point is tolerance for those who are nursing.

We live in a pretty jacked up society... where women can parade around scantily clad with hardly anything on top, or wear swimsuits that may only cover a small portion of their bosoms; and their bodies (for the most part) are celebrated. (If you don't believe me, just look at any summer issue of US Weekly.) But a mother sits on bench to feed her child how-nature-intended and people start to squirm.

Bless you Western Civilization... but this is not progress by my standards.

Fortunately, the story from the museum has a positive outcome. Volunteers, boob-activists and the museum all got together for a nurse-in (yes, it's how you imagine, minus the signs that say "Save the Ta-Ta's"):

"The tone of the nurse-in was celebratory and communal, with mothers, fathers, babies and children of all ages happily chatting, nursing, and enjoying the art. Museum staffers were supportive and enthusiastic about drawing such a crowd. 'We’re glad you’re here,' beamed Hirshhorn Director of Administration and Finance Anthony (Chris) Walloo, who is expecting his first child in April and chatted with mothers about the best options for baby carriers."

Art and breasts? Sounds like there was a little something for everyone.

You can check out the full story on Mothering.com HERE.