WhenNikki Reed‘s daughter started solids, the actress quickly realized she had a discerning eater on her hands.
Since coming to terms withBodhi‘s palate — “She’d pick a tomato over a piece of cake any day,” the mom of one says — Reed, who along with husbandIan Somerhalder,strives to live a zero-waste lifestyle, has gotten more creative with her cooking. And in the process, she discoveredRaised Real, an organic, clean meal delivery services for kids that ships pre-portioned, ready-to-steam portions to your door — including a just-launched line of Breakfast Oats — starting at $4.99 apiece.
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“I actually approached the company myself as a fan, consumer and mom,” Reed, an advisor to the brand, says. “We organically formed a partnership that ended up growing into something so much more. Now I’m involved in different aspects of the company, from marketing and product development to the everyday brainstorming of it all, to being an actual customer myself.”
Reed says she grew up with “an amazing mom who was just trying to make ends meet,” so her diet was a mix of home-cooked meals and fast food — “whatever we could make happen.”
“Honestly I eat it as much as she does,” Reed adds. “I’m really busy, too! They do everything for you, adding nut butters and oils, chopping the fruits and nuts, those little added benefits. Kids love the color and flavor — it makes it as fun as nutritious.”
Another challenge the actress recently faced was winding down her nursing journey with her daughter.
“I feel so lucky to have been able to do it for more than two years,” she says, adding that she’s “comfort nursing” here and there. “And I think it’s nice there’s such a good discussion and global movement around nursing right now — it’s important for women to celebrate their experiences as moms, their bodies, their struggles. And it provides space for people to talk about what happens when they can’t breastfeed, too. Moms need other moms to lean on.”
“But no one talks about postpartum weaning,” she adds of thefeelings she’s been experiencingas Bodhi stops nursing. “I remember calling a girlfriend of mine and asking about it — she said it’s normal to feel weepy when you have hormones shifting in your body as your milk is drying up.”
“I said, ‘Thank God you told me that!’ ” Reed adds. “I didn’t know what was going on. But it’s important to have people to talk about that with, and the Internet has provided such a good community for people to share their stories and lean on each other in a way you couldn’t before social media. I feel grateful for that.”
source: people.com
