My daughter cuddled up to my side peering over my shoulder at the drawings of the “inside” boy parts. When I started rattling off names like seminal vesicle and vas deferans, I could sense that it was time to lighten up before the “big reveal”. 

We had embarked on our homeschool version of the birds and the bees since official school lessons start next week. I switched over to the American Girl classic “The Care and Keeping of Us” so we could talk about deodorant and bras instead of male anatomy. 

It’s been a couple of years since I looked at this book, but I have to say, American Girl got it wrong. Their language around weight and food isn’t ok. Let’s break it down with some direct quotes from the book (unfortunately this is just a small sampling of the MANY erroneous statements). 

 "We've been getting that chicken takeout a lot. Can we think of something else that's healthy, but would be a change? How about...

I walked into my daughter's room to say goodnight and stopped dead in my tracks at her doorway. 

"Hey! What are you doing?" I asked casually. 

"What do you mean?" she asked confused. 

"Ummmm, you have a bright neon pink fuzzy belt woven into your hair." 

"Oh, that! That's just my bathrobe belt and I'm using it to curl my hair. My friend at dance told me alllll about it." she said excitedly. 

Wow, I thought. SO creative. This must be how all the famous duos are born. Some clever people put two seemingly unrelated items together and make magic. 

Peanut butter and jelly. French fries and Ketchup. Pancakes and syrup. Salt and caramel. Spice and lattes. Hot waffles and ice cream.

You know what two things don't go together, but the gurus are trying to get you to buy? 

Intuitive Fasting. 

Enter Gwyneth Paltrow and her new obsession she's co-promoting with a doctor. Promoter of the vagina egg, vaginal steams and radical detoxes, she's...

Hey mama,

We made it to 2021! Do you feel like a champion for surviving 2020?

I wish that our reality was different, but we're still wearing masks, staying at home and watching the COVID death toll climb. I know you're exhausted and overwhelmed after a year of working harder around the house, taking in the news, worrying about your parents, yourself and your kids and taking in your part of racial inequalities in America. 

It's a lot and down right traumatic for many. 

While there's tremendous hope for the coming year, we're still "in it". In order to get through this, we're going to need all the energy, self care and health we can muster. And I'm not talking about monthly pedicures or a biweekly blowout. 

I'm talking about getting enough sleep, moving your body, practicing gratitude, having someone to talk to or connect with, laughing (start here) when you can and getting enough food. 

The diet industry knows that you're tired and your life feels out...