Video - Blossom Ball 2010 - Intro
Padma Lakshmi: Well, my mother has actually been spending a lot of time with me and so, you know, I believe one of the things that is greatest to have is many generations in the family involved with the child and so my mother has very generously taken a leave of absence from work and spent the last six months with me, you know three months before she was born and now when I was on set working on Top Chef and so the thing I learnt from my mother is just to be very physical with children and to hold them and to really nurture them and give them a sense of security and well being, just by that party game, you know, and I noticed my mother does that to her granddaughter and I noticed that, you know, I remember that when I was little. Oh! That is incredible.
Question: Did you sing, when you were pregnant?
Padma Lakshmi: Did I sing?, Ya, I sang a little, I read a lot. I read the New York Times out loud. I did.
Question: Do you think that is going to help her as she gets older?
Padma Lakshmi: I hope so. I do not know. I mean you just do the best you can, I guess.
What other little odd rituals did you pick up during your pregnancy and that you thought helped to improve your baby’s health and your health and make you happy.
A member of my family made me a beautiful baby ipod, like a nano ipod with a lot of classical music, both indian classical music as well as you know _____ and so I would stick the little ipod buds in my hands, and I would just, you know, make the baby listen just a little bit, not too much, because amniotic fluid, I am told, is very sound conductive but, you know, I think basically you just need to be consistent and loving with your children, at least that is the way I think.
Question: You look great. How did you lose your baby weight so quickly?
Padma Lakshmi: Well, I am nursing, that is a lot of it, but I also virtually continue to work really hard at it. I box, I run up and down the emergency stairs of my building, I go on a treadmill, I jump rope, I try to watch what I eat obviously, but it is hard, it is hard, and I think it is okay, you know, I just was doing sound editing for the show and actually saw myself on camera, I mean, today, I am 12 weeks after giving birth, but I went back to filming the show just after six weeks, and there you see a big difference. I looked like a big woman, you know, I do, and that is okay, I mean, I had a baby, you know, its all right. I did not really feel the pressure to be stick thin right away because I was healing. My pregnancy was not any easier, you know, not an ideal one and I just want to do whatever was healthy as for the baby and also to be honest, I liked being bigger like I think that women who are round and big are also very sexy. You know, I felt very voluptuous, I felt very sensual. I did not feel like I needed to be bone thin again. You know, I felt that I had gone through the process of motherhood from being a girl to being a woman and I think there is great value in all kinds of body shapes.
I will stop you for a second. What are you looking forward to most about nice ________?
Well, first of all we want everybody to have a good time and enjoy but more importantly, emphasized today’s mini, which is Endometriosis Foundation Second Blossom Ball in which we promote education, research, awareness, and early treatment for women who suffer from endometriosis, which are more than 8 million women, up to 10 million women, in the United States 180 million women in the row. These women do end up having severe pelvic pain, #1 reason for pelvic pain, #1 reason for infertility, and major reason for hysterectomy for women who are in their late 30s. So, we want to prevent these. We are a preventative organization. We are an awareness organization. We want education for nurses. We want the education to go to schools, classes, in every corner of female’s life, we want it to be known, so that is what we are trying to do.
Question: What do you think is the hardest part ________ about the process in raising awareness, in educating these youngsters in turn, you know?
Padma Lakshmi: I think resistance to change, resistance to learn, and insurance industry’s resistance to appreciate these procedures and underpaying doctors for their good effort. It is important and also the traditional knowledge about endometriosis for over years have big value that is very difficult to change. So, a new world order with respect to endometriosis information for the last 15 years on endometriosis is not been applied yet. So, we want to bring those changes fast. So, like anything else, resistance to change is #1 reason of obstacle for us.
It means you want to get involved in public _____ but since it is a little bit complicated and you may feel, you know, uncomfortable about talking the subject. How can they still _____.
Well, most important thing is if they know what this is about, the kids are very intelligent and they even bypass their mothers to get information and there are tons of information, and they can even bypass the nurses. They are finding information with the right sources with the internet, with the doctors that they do this, and our foundation is more than glad to supply information. We would love to help kids, girls younger than 28 years of age. These girls are the ones that could be really helped well.
Great. Thank you so much. Have a great day.