“They say that moms with children with food allergies do more research than the CIA, and I think that’s true,” quips Leah Segedie at the opening of a three-minute video she’s using to get the attention of moms and and baby formula giant Similac. She wants the company to get rid of the GMOs they put in their line of formulas, something Similac (Abbott Laboratories) decided not to do at their recent annual shareholder meeting.

To join Leah’s fight and let Similac and its competitors know you won’t stand for this, sign this petition at Change.org. Also, join us on the #SimilacNoGMO Twitter party Wednesday, May 22nd from 8-9:30pm EST, where you’ll join host Leah @BookieBoo and @DietsInReview as a panelist.
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It’s a very common practice amongst mom bloggers to accept products from companies to review or promote to their audiences. The bloggers get everything from candy bars to mattresses and vacations for free and the brands benefit because, for what is usually no more cost than samples of their product, they get a lot of highly influential publicity.

This weekend, some of those mom bloggers came under quite a bit of fire from their peers. Several moms were invited by Kentucky Fried Chicken to visit the restaurant’s headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky to learn about their new “healthy” kids meals and in turn promote them to their followers using #KFCKidsMeals on Twitter. That’s pretty standard, but where eyebrows raised on this publicity event was that the company invited the moms with their kids.

The health of our children is a hot button issue right now, and the #KFCKidsMeals hashtag was practically high jacked by moms condemning both KFC and the participating moms for subjecting their children to what is no better than chemically laden, nutritionally void food.

Leah Segedie, known best as @BookieBoo and the leader of Mamavation, was one of the moms on the outside of #KFCKidsMeals tweeting in. Any time you intersect kids and nutrition you’ll find Leah, and this campaign was no different.

“I basically took control of it to make sure it was done in a fair way without attacking the bloggers involved,” she told us. “But I can’t control what people write on their blogs, obviously.”

Leah spent this weekend tweeting out questions to the moms involved. She wanted to know about MSG, sodium, carcinogens, and other chemical ingredients in the food. Who better to ask than the people sitting right inside KFC HQ? As far as we could tell, no one got back to her with those answers; although, one tweet implied that the company would get in touch with her.
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If you care at all about what you eat, how you workout, or just like some good old-fashioned inspiration, then there are a few people you need to follow immediately. Fifty to be exact.

Each year, Mamavation hosts the Top 50 Most Inspirational Healthy Tweeps list to recognize those people and organizations doing the most good on Twitter. In years past, the list has been entirely crowd sourced, with people voting up their favorite follows to determine a top 50. This year, Leah Segedie decided to do something different. She appointed a panel to make the final decision based on votes by the community. DietsInReview was proud to be a part of that panel, joined by members of Mamavation Leadership and Segedie’s husband, Mark.

After weeks of watching the nominations come in, the top 10 Tweeps in five categories have been revealed. Rather than a single list of 50, this year the list was organized with five categories of 10 winners. This allowed us to recognize a broad range of personalities and purposes. The 50 winners were divided across Fitness, Food, Weight Loss, Inspiration, and Activism. And based on community nominations, we broke the list down to recognize some pretty awesome people and organizations.

You can see the full Top 50 Most Inspirational Healthy Tweeps 2012 list here at Mamavation, but we’ll highlight a few from each category who’ve had the biggest impact on DietsInReview.

FITNESS

We’ve had the pleasure to work with @MizFitOnline and @LisaJohnson over the years on a many different projects. Bright, energetic women, they each motivate in that very real way that isn’t preachy or condescending. They’re in the trenches next to every other woman with time that’s too short and to do lists that are too long.
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At the start of the new year Lindsay Chung decided it was time to get serious about her weight loss. On January 2, Lindsay weighed 176.2 pounds and says she couldn’t stand the sight of the number. Se knew she had to do something to change it. However, Lindsay’s number one obstacle was her addiction to food. “My only real obstacle was that I’m addicted to food – plain and simple. I like to eat whether I’m full or not,” she told us. Lindsay is not alone, there are people who cannot get enough of food and this contributes to their weight gain.

One day Lindsey joined an online community called Mamavation, a website set out to challenge mothers to makeover their lifestyles. The site and program were founded by Leah Segedie of BookieBoo.com, who has also shared her True Weight Loss Story with us. Soon after joining Mamavation Lindsay started their 2 Week Challenge, which consists of six days of hardcore workouts and one day of rest. After the 2 Week Challenge, she found a love for exercise.
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By Cat Poland, a work-at-home mom blogging at CatPoland.com.

Car doors closing quietly, subdued greetings, sneaker-laced feet shuffling as stretches begin, hands slapping at mosquitoes eager for an early-morning snack. At 5 a.m. on a weekday morning, these are the sounds of the Fitness Junkies, all mothers (or grandmothers) who are committed to pushing their bodies to the brink of collapse all in the name of getting a good workout.

I went once, puked twice, and haven’t returned. That was before my second child, and despite my utter and complete failure during my first go-round, I’m considering giving it another try. Why?

Well, I have a confession to make. Sometimes, I want to run away from my children. No, not “Thelma and Louise” style running away, but good, old-fashioned, feet-pounding-pavement running away. I just want to escape, feel blood coursing through my veins, and just be alone. Completely and sweetly alone.

Of course, I would eventually run back (if I didn’t collapse somewhere along the way). I love my darling babies, but as a new work-at-home mom, I need “me” time. Not only that, but I need more energy (and strength, mental clarity, etc.). I went from sitting at a computer for 50+ hours a week, to chasing around a one-year-old and three-year-old overnight. As much as I love my new gig, I’m not physically prepared!
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