Once upon a time not so long ago, the word "beer" prompted mental images of frat boys chugging Miller Lites. It did not, traditionally, scream "mother."

But times, they are a-changin', and more and more women are drinking beer these days. And despite the lingering stereotype of a "mom drink" as a chilled glass of chardonnay (not that there's anything wrong with that), some moms are definitely sipping suds. Heck, Carol Stoudt, mother of five, has adopted the moniker of "Queen of Hops" since opening Stoudt's Brewing with her hubby in 1987.

Asked about the perfect Mother's Day brew, Matt Barclay of Brooklyn (N.Y.)'s Bierkraft says, "most of our women customers drink the Belgian Tripel [style]." With fruit and candy flavors, Tripels can be sweet but also incredibly complex. If mom is a fan of sweet wines or desserts, try pouring her a Belgian ale after dinner, like an aromatic raspberry Lindemans Framboise lambic. If she's a chocolate freak, proffer a Chocolate Stout.

Or maybe your mom does sling back Miller Lite with the best of them. School us! Does your ma drink beer? What's her favorite brew? (Moms, don't feel shy about speaking out on your behalf!)

Researchers from Exeter and Oxford U asked 740 pregnant women (all first-time moms) to keep a food diary during their gestation periods.

Their findings? That women who ate more food and more nutrients were 24% more likely to give birth to a boy (specifically, 56% of the women in the group who ate the most gave birth to boys). The average woman who gave birth to a male consumed 2,413 calories a day and ate foods containing potassium, calcium and vitamins C, E and B12. The odds of having a boy were also higher among women who consumed one bowl of cereal every day (though the researchers didn't specify whether the bowl was eaten at breakfast or not).

But some people are wary of the stats, saying that a man's sperm ultimately decides whether a child will be male or female, and that diet has little or nothing to do with it.

If anything, hopefully the study will remind and encourage pregnant women to eat a healthy, well-balanced meal no matter what sex their baby turns out to be.

When I was a kid, my mom would have a schedule of what dinners to make on each night of the week. It wasn't completely strict. She would be flexible sometimes, especially during certain seasons. But for the most part, Sundays were for pasta (or, as we called it, spaghetti), and either Tuesdays or Wednesdays were for The Hamburg Plate, which consisted of scrambled hamburg (side note: is calling it "hamburg" a regional thing?), mashed potatoes, and creamed corn. It was sort of a Shepherd's Pie, only all separated (side note #2: does anyone even eat creamed corn anymore? I think the last time I had it was in the 80s.) Other nights were set aside for a chicken dish, sandwiches, and another night maybe for some sort of soup/stew.

How about you? Did your family have certain nights for certain meals, and did you continue that sort of trend when you became an adult? I have frozen dinners and pizza a lot more than I probably should, but that's more about laziness and an addiction to pizza than anything else.

All the campaigns to encourage people to eat healthier are having an impact on mothers, but not necessarily in the way that you might expect. Instead of giving up fried foods or other things deemed to be unhealthy completely, some mums are not changing what they feed their kids - they're just lying about it. A new survey, which was sponsored by the British Potato Council, found that as many as 93% of mothers lie from time to time about what they feed their kids, and they mostly spin the tales to their own mothers and other relatives, since they make up the group that is most likely to criticize parenting choices.

The most commonly made claim is that the kids are not allowed to eat fried foods, followed by telling people that their children "eat mostly fresh food at home." Other untruths include assertions that the kids are only allowed candy at weekends, are never fed frozen food and get all the required servings of fruits and veggies every day.

Some are confused as to what foods are healthy, or simply give up due to lack of time or energy, opting for a TV dinner instead of frozen fish sticks with some fresh veggies. Fortunately, the kids aren't as confused as the parents, so it is possible that the "little white lies" won't be necessary any more. The study also showed that 58% of kids would question their parents about whether given foods were healthy or not, demonstrating that they are becoming more aware of healthy eating issues at a young age and will hopefully want to make better food choices as a result.

Though the South Beach, Florida store in question was closed for renovations this past Sunday, some mothers gathered at a Starbucks and held a "nurse-in" to protest the expulsion of a woman named Nicole Coombs from the store. Coombs claims that she was asked to leave for breast-feeding her 4-month old son. The Starbucks manager, however, maintains that Coombs was asked to leave for changing her baby's diaper on one of the tables in the cafe.

Coombs states that the store manager asked her to leave while she was breastfeeding. She said she would leave as soon as she was done, because she was so outraged that she did not want to remain in the store. Then, according to Coombs, she proceeded to change her baby's diaper. She does not deny that she changed the baby on the table where people ordinarily eat. Now, the store manager says that he did not say anything to Coombs about breast feeding, which is perfectly acceptable in the store. He contends that he approached her as she changed her baby on the table and asked her to stop. When she refused, she was asked to leave.

There has been a 75% increase in the "twinning" rate since 1980 and a new study published in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine is saying that it has to do with dairy consumption. In a study that compared omnivores, lacto-vegetarians and vegans, omnivores were the most likely to have twins. The scientists attributed this to the fact that they had much higher levels of  insulin-like growth factor (IGF) in their bloodstream, and that those levels, which were also lowest in the vegan women, directly corresponded to the likelihood of having twins.

Common sense should tell you that humans have been consuming animal products - including dairy - for thousands of years. A change in the birthrate over the last two decades is indicative of something that happened in the last several decades, not with dairy in general. And, in fact, the physician in charge of the study noted that the increase "may also be a consequence of the introduction of growth-hormone treatment of cows to enhance their milk and beef production." This seems like a logical explanation, since it offers a reason why dairy may now be having an effect on the birth rate of twins.

Doctors in the study suggested that women consider non-animal protein sources during their pregnancies to help decrease the risks associated with multiple births. It sounds like they should be recommending that women increase their non-animal diet before becoming pregnant, as well.

 

Apparently, some "experts" want Mother's Day to be canceled on the grounds that there "should be no such thing" and mothers should be appreciated every day. True enough, but in my experience, everyone likes to feel special sometimes, and having one day that is a little extra special is a very enjoyable thing. It's like treating yourself to an ice cream cone on a hot day instead of just having a Coke to cool down. It is possible, however, that things are getting a little out of control - especially when it comes to dining out.

Mother's Day is the most popular day of the year for dining out, followed by Valentine's Day. I've already speculated as to why this is, but that's not the issue. The issue is where people are eating. I remember walking down the street to have a pancake breakfast with my mom, or perhaps driving out to the beach to be near the water. I was definitely not paying $70 per person for a prix fixe menu, as touted in my local paper by some establishments, nor do I intend to in the future. It's not that my mom doesn't "deserve" that, it's just that Mother's Day is about spending time with your mom and appreciating her, even if it's just over a cup of coffee.

Are you taking your mom out to eat this year? Is it somewhere really "special" or just somewhere you can enjoy her company?

In another effort to stem criticism about their lack of concern for kids' nutrition, McDonald's has created a Global Panel of Moms to discuss issues like health, nutrition and overall well-being. The nine women on the panel come from six countries, including Argentina, Germany and China, and are a diverse group in terms of accomplishment. Four are former Olympians, one is a cooking show personality, and others include an artist, a childhood development expert and a PTA (a school parent organization) president. McDonalds says that they plan to establish additional panels for individual countries. It sounds as though they plan to use these panels to brainstorm new and healthier offerings for kids, such as the packaged apple slices that were introduced as an alternative to fries over a year ago.

Of course, it remains to be seen as to how much McDonald's will change its menu. Healthy or not, their offerings are still popular, and that is something that is difficult for a business to even consider walking away from.

The World's Greatest Mom cookie collection is offered for Mother's Day from Eleni's Bakery in New York, though there is no doubt that Mom deserves something special more than once a year. Eleni's specializes in elaborately decorated cookies, all done by hand, that are as much a treat for the eyes as they are for the taste buds. This cookie gift set includes 21 iced sugar cookies, each one unique and mom-related. It's $65 for the cookies, which come packaged in a lovely gift tin.

Eleni's also has an I Love Mom set and a floral Mom's Bouquet collection, both of which would also be great choices for a Mother's Day treat. 

For the full assortment in the World's Greatest Mom tin and the other collections, click past the jump.

Scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Pennsylvania claim to have found periods in the first seven months of life in which taste preferences are developed. If it is true, it might mean that the foods that the mother eats during pregnancy will influence what foods the child prefers later in life. It also means that, since the taste of a mother's milk can vary according to her diet, that the foods a mother eats while breast feeding could also have a long-term impact on a child.

I have a hard time believing this, aside from the bit about finding flavor variation in mother's milk. As anyone with a sibling (or with multiple children) will note, most kids have different eating preferences. Most mothers do not radically change their diet from one pregnancy to another. I think that children develop tastes depending on what they are exposed to and how they are introduced to it, not based on some residual "memory" from infancy.

ABC News also notes that "the data could be used to influence how baby formula is designed, so infants are exposed to tastes that will help them enjoy healthy foods later in life." Attempting to program children, in infancy, to pick spinach over sugar? Excuse me while I laugh at how ridiculous that sounds. Just because a child was given spinach flavored formula does not change the fact that they will probably like ice cream the first time they try it.