Cocoa Mode in the Eagles Nest

Wow, what a show! Thank you to everyone who called in to this morning's program and to those who were unable to get through, feel free to speak your mind in the comments section below.

For more on the topics covered, check out these links:

Obama: Not Black/Not White

Georgia State Senators proposes merging two HBCU's with non-white
colleges

Also, thank you to Carol Jenkins for taking time to talk us about the Women's Media Center and the Progressive Women's Voices program. For more information, please visit their website.

Finally, for those of you still searching for a perfect gift for that fabulous, fashion forward woman in your life, consider Janice Frink Brown's suggestions:

High End
Money
Jewelry-Diamonds and Pearls
Electronic Gadgets-GPS, I-Phone (the price has gone down)
Designer Clothes
Spa, Gym or Exercise machine with I-Pod that talks
Trip to Presidential Inauguration
Vacation
Flat Screen TV
Subscription to Sirius XM Satellite Radio

Mid-Range
Invitation to go shopping the day after Xmas
(Let her select the gift-write the amount she can spend in the card)
Gift Cards-Restaurants, Visa, American Express
Lingerie
Pajama Gram
Pet
Music (concerts), Performing Arts events

Budget
Gift Baskets-Wine and Cheese, Starbucks
Stocking Stuffers

**the podcast will be available on cocoamode.com later this week.**

Mommy Memos

Mommy Memo #1

The little one and I boarded a plane and headed home to Detroit for Thanksgiving this year. Because my mother's side of the family is small (three generations of only children - make that four) Thanksgiving dinner is not unlike a regular dinner, only with all of my favorite foods. We landed on Thanksgiving afternoon as hungry as can be. I couldn't wait to sit down to a heaping plate of cheese grits, cranberry sauce, homemade rolls, stuffing and green beans. I was sure my little one would be just as excited to eat all of sweet and savory treats he rarely gets at home.

I was wrong.

My finicky son sat down at the Thanksgiving table and ate:

A dinner roll.

That's it.

A dinner roll.

I was so ashamed. So, now I'm on a mission to get my child back on the vegetable wagon (as if he was ever on it) or at least back on the food wagon. After doing some research my mother and I came up with seven tips to get your kids to eat vegetables. These tips were so good that her co-worker Carolyn Clifford decided to share them in her weekly health column in the Detroit News Newspaper (wink wink) and I'm sharing them with you.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081202/LIFESTYLE03/812020387

1. Be a good role model. They won't eat them if you won't.

2. Be persistent. Some experts say a child may have to be exposed to a new food four to five times before trying it. Others say it will have to be on the plate as many as 15 times before the toddler will take a bite. So don't give up.

3. Be creative. Make vegetables attractive to children. Serve them on the plate in fun ways.

4. Be stealthy if you must. Add vegetables to favorite dishes such as pizza, spaghetti, quesadillas or tacos. You can even add grated carrots or squash when making fresh-baked goods.

5. Be sensitive to the young palate . Kids' taste buds are more sensitive than adults, so bitter vegetables such as spinach and asparagus may elicit strong negative reactions. Children also prefer crunchy veggies to soft, mushy ones.

6. Be involved in food cultivation and prep, and let them be, too. In the spring urge them to grow their favorite vegetables. And throughout the year, let children select veggies during trips to the supermarket.

7. Be firm. Serve healthy meals to the entire family. Don't prepare special meals for the picky eater. If healthy food is all that is available, sooner or later that is what they'll have to eat.

How do you get your kids to eat healthy foods? Share with a sister...I need all the help I can get.

In Case You Missed It - Sista's Go Green

Once again I'd like to thank Dr. Majora Carter for sharing her story and expertise with the Cocoa Mode family. I admire her dedication to environmental justice for all. Her story proves that by harnessing the power of community we can bring about all kinds of change. Please take some time to check out her website to discover how you can create change and opportunity in your town.

Also, don't forget to check out Bianca Alexander and her crew over at Conscious Living TV. Learn how a few simple changes to your diet, beauty regimen and energy use can make all the difference in the world.

As always, feel free to continue the discussion below in the comments section.

YES WE DID!

I'm speechless.

In Case You Missed It.

A very special thank you to Sharon Dumas Pugh, founder of Full and Fabulous for all of the work she's doing with full figured girls in Detroit and around the country. If you're interested in learning more about Full & Fabulous or better yet, starting a chapter in your town, please visit the website: www.fullnfabulous.com

Also, thank you to Dr. Monica L. Baskin of The University of Alabama at Birmingham for sharing her expertise. Like Sharon, she's dedicated a good portion of her professional career to helping African American and low income families break the cycle of obesity and disease. Remember, this is more than just a cosmetic issue, obesity is a serious health problem facing our entire society.

For more information on how you can help your family stay fit and health, check out these websites:

Mayo Clinic

Health Corps

Kids Health

Feel free to add other resources in the comments section.

A FEW THINGS THAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION

1. The Secret Life of Bees came in third this weekend, earning $11 million dollars at the box office. If you haven't already, I highly recommend you see this movie. Like Sex and the City, this is a perfect movie to catch with a group of your closest girlfriends. I guarantee you'll walk away with a fresh sense of purpose and feeling empowered to take on the world, I did.


2. Colin Powell's endorsement of Barak Obama. Too bad the simple minded among us are assuming this is a race issue. I'm curious to see if Powell's announcement will influence the highly coveted independent voters.


3. The Yoga in Schools debate. In case you haven't heard, I have committed a large portion of my life to yoga, learning it, writing about it, and teaching it. Now that the parents at an upstate New York public school have agreed that yoga (as long as it's not called yoga...ok whatever!) can be taught in schools, I hope other schools around the country follow their lead. Give me a good yoga practice over a couple of Ritalin any day.


4. A Kanye West/Boy George colabo. That's the news in the U.K. I'm still waiting for confirmation from my label contacts, I'm crossing my fingers. *side note* not crazy about the 40 naked women at the album release party Kanye, you can do better.



I'm busy working on this week's Cocoa Mode so I'll be back later with more.
Later....

Watch Out!!

Donna Brazile keeps it real for The New Yorker (watch here)

Authors Te-Nehisi Coates and John McWhorter go head to head on Hip Hop, culture and politics. My kind of discussion. Thanks Anovelista.

This link was sent to me by a co-worker. It's meant to be a funny look into the mind of a Black man who constantly finds himself dealing with racism. It got me to thinking, what if the man was about 20 years old and dressed in jeans and a jersey, would you react any differently than the woman in the video? (BTW, this video contains profanity so you may want to turn your speakers down or wait until you get home to watch.)