Cairo she has to find ways to sneak in the foods the toddler doesn’t like. “She’s a huge smoothie drinker, but she doesn’t like vegetables, so I’ll throw an avocado and spinach into a smoothie. I just add whatever she doesn’t like to what she does like because she has to be familiar with whatever she is tasting.” She also adds honey to meals such as pancakes to sweeten the pot for her picky eater. “I respect her and what she likes and what she doesn’t, so it just means I have to find new ways to introduce foods to her.”
WELLNESS IS A WAY OF LIFE
The family takes supplements and stays active. “We have a bike and a treadmill. It’s just important to get the entire family moving and making sure you all are eating well-balanced meals with proper nutrition.” She also makes sure everyone is getting the proper amount of sleep and keeping regular sleep schedules. “Having them go to bed at the same time every day has been beneficial for us. They get on a circadian rhythm that has been helpful.”
ART IMITATES LIFE
The style in which Mowry parents is similar to It’s clear that health and wellness are of the Cocoa McKellan, the nontraditional mom that she utmost importance to Mowry, but she believes it’s portrays on Family Reunion. Cree slept in her bed equally important to pass that knowledge on to her until he was 4, and Mowry has continued the bedkids. sharing tradition with Cairo. “I felt like being a mom, “Cocoa is this kind of peaceful sometimes we take care of Zen-loving mother and that’s everyone but ourselves,” she says. the way that I am. She’s not “How can the goose lay the egg your traditional mom, and that’s if the goose doesn’t take care of where the conflict comes in on herself?” the show; it’s tradition versus She answered that question nontraditional. I grew up in a by co-founding the supplement traditional household. My mom line Anser with manufacturer is an evangelist, and she is for BioSchwartz after a longstanding spanking children and not for battle with endometriosis. She co-sleeping. I didn’t want to raise says her doctor told her after my kids that way, just like Cocoa several surgeries she would need doesn’t,” Mowry explains. to change her lifestyle to help The show tackles heavy with her symptoms. “I went on topics such as religion and race this journey of educating myself relations. For example, the family about how food exacerbates or reacts to police accosting the suppresses an existing condition, black McKellan kids for being in — TIA MOWRY so I changed my diet, started “the wrong neighborhood.” exercising and started taking “We’re not afraid to depict supplements and I saw a huge the truth, and that’s what is so shift.” During that journey, Mowry began noticing amazing about this show. It’s a success because it’s the lack of supplements specifically for women of multigenerational and everybody can sit down and color in the marketplace. watch.” “I wanted to basically start a conversation Whether she’s learning lines, chasing her toddler with the women that felt ignored or not included or having dance parties with her son, one thing within the conversation of health and wellness Mowry has realized is that balance isn’t in her because it should be accessible to everyone and it’s vocabulary. affordable.” “There is no such thing as balance for me,” she Anser’s collection includes multivitamins for confides. “If there is balance, then I’m not forgiving the entire family, prenatal formulas and beauty of myself. I’ve just learned to go with the flow, and supplements. while I have a list of priorities — and those are my “You are not whole if you are not well. If you take children, my family, their health and well-being care of yourself, you aren’t being selfish, and that’s — it’s important for me to be fulfilled and not lose the one thing I had to learn myself.” myself just because I’m a mom. So as long as I tap She reinforces a healthy lifestyle for her kids: into that, I am a happy person.” l
60 BACK TO SCHOOL | 2020
GETTY IMAGES
“When someone is investing their time ... it makes you want to care about yourself.”