I wanted to share this interview from Natural Child World Magazine that I did recently with you all. Enjoy!
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“Alicia Silverstone, Mother, Actress, and Author of The Kind Mama and The Kind Diet”
by Ariane Moore
Becoming a mom can be tough. Some women experience very difficult and miserable pregnancies, births,and motherhood, but actress and author, Alicia Silverstone is here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way. You can have a beautiful and healthy pregnancy, birth and child just by being a little, well…kinder to yourself. In her new book, The Kind Mama, Silverstone guides you from pre-pregnancy to post-pregnancy outlining how to truly nurture and nourish yourself every step of the way so that you can be the healthiest, happiest and strongest mama that you can possibly be. She shares amazing advice, helpful tips, delicious recipesand her own personal experiences all in one book, so that women can arm themselves with all of the tools and information they need to truly enjoy every moment of this beautiful experience called motherhood.
NCW: Tell me about your new book The Kind Mama.
AS: Mainly I wanted to create a resource for women that had all of the valuable information, so that they could make the best choices for themselves. I wanted to empower them, and these same choices would help them get pregnant with ease and have an ailment free pregnancy, free of all of the stuff that we have come to assume is unavoidable like swollen ankles, diabetes,and all of that business. And for them to know their birth options and to have the healthiest, happy, little love nugget they can! And I wanted all of that information to be in one place.
NCW: You shared a lot about your own pregnancyin the book, was it difficult sharing that information and being that open?
AS: You know, I think yes and no. No, because I really, really wanted to show women what was possible for them, and so much of my experience was healthy, vibrant, and blissful…My experience was so good, andI knew that it was because of these choices that I was making so I really wanted to share that with everyone.But you know because it’s me, sometimes I get shy and I’m like, ‘why am I even saying this!’
NCW: I love the recipes in The Kind Mama. Which recipe is your favorite?
AS: Well that is tricky! I mean they are all my favorites, and they are all things that I have been using for so long…during pregnancy and after, they have been really, really helpful for me. But I guess it is fun to talk about the ones that might meet those needs of women when we are kind of being a little crazy and want to have something wild, like that sort of meaty, salty, fried, hearty thing. You can have the Fat Fried Udon Noodles with sesame oil, garlic and ginger…They’re good! Really you can’t stop eating them, it’s really impossible!And then of course if you are wanting something sweet the Chocolate-Dunked Coconut Delights…are pretty to die for, and the chocolate pudding doesn’t hurt either! But those are all the things for when you are just being a little bit more wild and playful, not for every day – the fun stuff!
NCW: How would you describe your pregnancy? What was the worst part and what was the best part?
AS: The hardest part was being nauseous for so long.That was not at all fun! I wasn’t nauseous all the way to the end, but I hated food all the way to the end. So that when I was in labor, standing there, with my midwife, in full pushing mode I said to her, ‘Do you think I’ll like food ever again?’ I was wondering if there was a switch, like the moment the baby plopped out I would be able to eat again and love food…ha ha…That was my big concern in that moment! It had been so long that I hated food, which was just so weird for me because food is such a huge part of my life. I had nausea for a long time but everything else was blissful…Everybody says to you at the end of your pregnancy, “Can’t you not wait to get this thing out of you?” And I was like, ‘no not at all’. I didn’t feel that way, I felt very happy being pregnant and really truly loved it, and when I see pregnant women I long to have that experience again because it was so magical. And that is whatI want for everyone to have and that is why I set up this book, because I know that it’s possible to feel that way.
NCW: How would you say your life has changed since becoming a mama?
AS: Well, I have never been more tired in my life! That’s why I always go back to The Kind Mama, becauseI know that there are challenging moments, and you are pushed every moment to be the most present you can be.
NCW: What would you advise for being a Kind Daddy?
AS: Oh, well there are tons of tips in this book for daddies!We have whole sections for Kind Gentlemen, and these sections are for daddies/partners only. There’s so much for them to do, and there’s stuff for them to do at every stage. There as vital in this whole thing as mommy is, the only difference is that they don’t carry thebaby in terms of the nine months, and they don’t have the boobies, ha ha, but they do everything else and they can, and they absolutely should for themselves because they’ll miss out so much if they don’t.
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Thank you Ariane & Natural Child World Magazine!