Does this make me a hippy?

We recently had friends over for dinner and were discussing health foods. When I mentioned that we had been adding hemp hearts to our smoothies, Rich jokingly asked if I was a hippy. I wasn't offended by this, but it did get me thinking....what makes a person a hippy? After reading today's post, I'll let you decide for yourself...does this make me a hippy?

Does it make me a hippy to eat natural health foods such as hemp hearts?
Over the past year, Riley and I have become more aware and concerned about what we put into our bodies, and therefore into our child's body (throughout my pregnancy and now that I'm breastfeeding). Riley started a paleo diet last spring, and things have just sort of evolved from there. We purchase organic fruit, vegetables, and meat as much as possible (not easy to do in a small town like RMH). We eat hemp hearts, flax meal, Greens Plus, nutritional yeast, almond milk, etc. We have not completely cut out wheat products, but have cut down considerably. We try to limit our junk food to once a week or so (Riley is much better at this than I am :). Being pregnant made me wonder about what sorts of chemicals were added to our foods to preserve and flavour them. We eat a great amount of fruits and vegetables, and lately, lots of spinach (I add a handful to my smoothie every morning - very healthy and doesn't change the taste at all, just the colour!) Just last night, Riley made kale chips - they were delicious! It's not easy to eat natural, whole foods all the time, but we are doing our best - for our health and for Griffin's.

Does it make me a hippy to use cloth diapers?
When I first decided that I wanted to try cloth diapers in my first trimester, I heard many negative comments. "Good  luck with that!" "Let us know how that goes when you have a newborn and are doing 8 loads of laundry daily!" or simply just laughing in a condescending manner. This only made me more determined. After doing an ample amount of research on cloth diapering - why one would use cloth, pros and cons of cloth diapering, and the different types of cloth diapers available, I decided that this was the right choice for our family.  Riley wasn't hard to convince when I shared the facts with him. First and foremost, it is better for a baby's skin - disposable diapers are made with chemicals and gels to wick away the moisture from baby's skin, and are often bleached to make them white - not something I wanted to come into contact with Griffin's brand new, perfect, untouched skin. Secondly, it's much better for the environment. Disposable diapers take up to 500 years to decompose and on average a baby will go through 5000 to 7000 diapers in their first two years. It's also more economic to use cloth. The average family will spend about $2000 - $2500 on disposable diapers per baby, while you can spend as little as $300 on cloth diapers (depending on the kind you purchase) that will last the entire time baby is in diapers, and can be used for the next baby too. We have spent a bit more than this to get set up, probably closer to $500, but we are also using cloth wipes. W do use natural compostable disposable diapers at night to help Griffin sleep a bit longer. Overall, I am enjoying the cloth diaper experience. Griffin hasn't yet had diaper rash and we do one load of diapers a day, sometimes every second day.

Does baby-wearing make me a hippy?
I have two different types of wraps/slings. One is a very long piece of fabric that I learned how to use on You Tube (I'm not sure how I would parent without technology and Google - I've often thought this about teaching as well). This Moby style wrap has Griffin upright - he enjoys looking around when I first put him in it, then he falls asleep. It will be great as he grows because you can use it in so many different ways. I also borrowed another type of sling from my lovely friend, Erika. Griffin is snuggled in against me laying down in it (similar to if I were holding him in my arms) - and this one is magical. He falls asleep right away in it, even if he is overtired and cranky. It is also easier to take with us when we leave the house, while the first one really only works for at home. When I've mentioned to a few friends that I "wore" Griffin around the house so I could get a few things done, I get funny looks and replies. However, this is a natural thing to do in many other cultures, and has really made my day to day life at home easier.

Does teaching yoga make me a hippy?
Last July, I took a two week, 200 hour yoga intensive training. I was about 4 months pregnant and it was one of the most difficult things I had done up to that point (now I know that the long, physically and mentally draining days didn't come close to comparing to child birth). Yoga can be associated with a hippy life style.  Hemp clothing, vegetarian/vegan diet, green-drinks, scarf-wearing, unshaved armpits, chanting....while I don't participate in all of these aspects of the yoga stereotype, I do partake in some. I haven't yet purchased any hemp clothes, although we do have a store in Rocky that I could purchase some. They look extremely comfortable but are a bit pricey for my taste. I still eat meat, but as I mentioned, we try to make sure it's organic when possible. I don't drink green drinks in the sense they are usually thought of, but my smoothies in the morning ARE green because of the spinach.  I LOVE scarves and wear them all the time :) I do shave my armpits though, when I have a chance for a longer shower anyway. And although I was a little shy about chanting when I first started my yoga training, it ended up being one of the things I enjoyed the most about the training. Griffin likes it too - when he's really fussy and we can't soothe him, chanting OM often calms him down. Also, the first time I felt him kick while pregnant was during a yoga class in my training....so I'm pretty certain we have created a little yogi! In the next few weeks, we will be helping teach a mom and baby yoga class, which I'm very excited about and I'm sure Griffin will enjoy.

I'm sure I could go on with more examples...but this post has already taken a few days to complete. So I'll leave it up to you....am I a hippy?