DHA and Food with Friends

I went to visit my regular physician yesterday; I wanted to assess my nutritional levels, get some advice, and possibly get a referral for an OB/GYN. He told me that I should supplement DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid), because babies will leach that from a mother's body if they aren't able to get it through the mother's diet. He said that there's speculation that a lack of DHA can lead to postpartum depression, too.

Looks like you can get both vegan and fish versions of DHA supplements. My GP recommended fish-based Nordic Naturals, but said vegan was fine. I ordered the vegan version from Life's DHA, mainly because Kris Carr recommended it. Otherwise, he just took some info, ordered some tests, and congratulated me. I'm glad I went.

Tricky day, foodwise, because I had lunch and dinner at other people's houses.

Fasted for the morning (for blood work)
Quart green juice (cucumber, spinach, apple, ginger, kale, parsley -- bought at a juice bar)
3 vitamin caps, spaced throughout the day
1 apple
Bowl squash soup (my friend and I made this together -- she's a wonderful cook and so generous and cool)
Salad of two ears corn, two tomatoes, 1/2 head celery, parsley, 1/2 avocado
Spinach salad
Rice with cooked peppers and onions, steamed broccoli, 3 chocolate-dipped dried apricots (!!!Yum!!!), 2 gluten-free macaroons

A few things I've learned in my many, many, many years:

1. Don't fast unless you're sick. It'll just lead to overeating later.
2. Foods that are sugary or fried taste good, but they are the opposite of satisfying. They leave you craving more.

I'm not sure if that's just true or just true of me, but it's definitely worth remembering. Also, when I eat too much cooked food I get sick (this morning I woke with a chest cold). But so it goes. To me, it's more important to connect with people -- it's not healthy to let your diet alienate you from the world. And I'm not so fragile that I can't cope with a tiny cough.

Just the Facts

No reflections today, just a record of my diet:
green tea, 2 probiotic caps
green juice (1 head kale, 1 head spinach, 1/2 cucumber, 2 apples -- yuck, did I buy arugula instead of spinach?) drunk during the day
3 vitamins, spaced throughout the day
1 green apple
4 ears of corn, two tomatoes, 1/2 c. parsley, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 head celery
sm bowls of marinated kale salad and sauteed shiitake mushrooms
several sundried tomatoes

All's well on the western front.


Recommendations: I read through Sherah's pregnancy story and really enjoyed it. Not medical advice, again, but encouraging and so fun to read. Onward!

Every Possible Mistake

Yesterday I made some, um, sub-optimal choices. So it goes. I think beating yourself up about mistakes is often more damaging than making a mistake, though...so I just keep going.

My choices:

green tea with 2 probiotic caps
green juice (1 head kale, 1 apple, 1/2 head celery, 1 head romaine, little parsley) drunk throughout the day
3 prenatal vitamins, spaced throughout the day
4 sm. green apples
cup guacamole with 1/2 head celery and 1/2 cup parsley
Vegetable roll (from the sushi place)
cup edamame
sm. piece tempeh

Well, not terrible. But I definitely ate past the point of hunger -- and even satiety -- with that guacamole. Oh, guac! Why are you so delicious? It's the fresh but store-bought kind that inspires my overeating. Just seems like such a treat, and I didn't have to make it so I have no sense of its value.

Recommendations: I recently saw a list of The Dirty Dozen -- the most heavily sprayed produce items -- and realized that many of my regulars are on the list. I wish more stores sold organic produce...in my neighborhood, it's very difficult to find. Anyway, I went to buy a bunch of organic greenery, which was fun.

I also read a good article about a raw food diet and its use during pregnancy. They also recommend tempeh for its B12. I like it, but I think now I better chill out on the soy. Once in a while is okay. I've just never learned the difference between "okay, now and again" and "okay, now! and again!"

The nitty gritty: As usual, this is way TMI, but... I evacuated pretty well, some gas. The, a-hem, issue is clearing up. I feel some odd ghostly cramping low down -- lower than I would feel it during a period. My nips are ridonkulously sore. I went running and, towards the end, it felt like I was being stabbed in the nips by tiny, vicious assassins.

My sleep was a bit different, too. Instead of a nap, I went to bed at 11 and woke at 8. Whoo! Wish I could do that when I'm working. I should get a jump start on my work, come to think of it, because I have school and a full-time job to contend with come January. Sigh.

***

I think sleep and morning light erase all errors. Or not all, but most. Yesterday I felt sad, really gloomy, for much of the day...but a good sleep has put me to rights. Here's a passage about morning's temporary reprieve from Elizabeth Bishop's "Roosters":

In the morning
a low light is floating
in the backyard, and gilding

from underneath
the broccoli, leaf by leaf;
how could the night have come to grief?

gilding the tiny
floating swallow's belly
and lines of pink cloud in the sky,

the day's preamble
like wandering lines in marble,
The cocks are now almost inaudible.

The sun climbs in,
following "to see the end,"
faithful as enemy, or friend.

Don't Tell a Soul

Someone once said to me that fears are wishes. To be fearless is to embrace all of your desires, right or wrong. I'm afraid to miscarry. I'm afraid to talk about this.

***

Here's how I treated my body yesterday:

Green tea with 2 probiotic caps
green juice (beet greens, romaine, cucumber, apple, 1/2 lemon, ginger -- not so good), drunk throughout the day
3 prenatal vitamins, spaced throughout the day
Big box o' blueberries
3 ears corn blended with 1/2 avocado
1/2 head celery
arugula salad with tofu, mushroom, zucchini, peppers, sweet potato
some baked fries
some dried apple slices

The nitty gritty: My stomach felt great yesterday -- no gas, easy evacuation. But I'm definitely having squooshing feelings down below. Is this dangerous?

Recommendations: I read Pulling Daisies and a pregnancy nutrition article on Crazy Sexy Life yesterday; both were good, but not really the information I was looking for. I want to know if there's medical evidence that a diet made up of mostly raw fruits and vegetables is enough to sustain gestation.

I also watched this video interview with David Wolfe:



The video is full of medical-ish terminology, but I have trouble believing David Wolfe. He has the resume of a rock-star grocer, not a physician. So I take his recommendations with a grain of salt. How can you prescribe what you sell?

***

Last night, we went to dinner with friends who are 4 1/2 months pregnant. I wanted to talk about all this, but I didn't or couldn't. I need advice, and I can't say a word.

Just Another Tricky Day

Yesterday was just a crappy day. Raining and blowing, my sugar levels all wackadoo, too much time on my hands. Here's my attempt to get back in the groove:

cup of green tea with 2 probiotic caps
green juice (1 head kale, 1 head celery, 1 cucumber, 1 apple, little parsley and ginger) drunk throughout the day
3 raw vitamin caps, spaced throughout the day
hearts of palm
2 green apples
1/2 head celery dunked in dip of 2 ears corn blended with 1/4 avocado
salad of two tomatoes, hearts of palm, parsley, 1/4 avocado

Definitely feeling more peaceful now. The green juice and the vitamins really calm me down...I'm so grateful for them.

Recommendations: I watched some videos yesterday about raw pregnancies. This one had a good idea:



I liked the idea of keeping things you know you like, things you know are good for you, on hand so that you don't get kooky with cravings. Some other good videos at

Women Go Raw, Gina
Jinjee Talifero on her 5 pregnancies

I also read Talifero's ebook on her raw pregnancies. I enjoyed it, although there's not a lot of medical information in there, just stories. One of Natalia Rose's books, Raw Food Detox Diet, includes some helpful information. She says that women who have been eating a raw diet should continue that way as long as they're comfortable, although she does not recommend that women try to go raw during pregnancy. My eating patterns are probably closest to those described in Rose's book, so I'm hoping this advice applies to me!

Maybe I'm not far enough along yet, but I don't feel as if I have cravings. I'm eating a little less, maybe, than I usually do. My workouts are a bit mellower, too... I do about 4 miles, maybe lift some weights. I feel really, really good, to be honest.

Of course, this makes me worry that I'm not really pregnant. I'm such a spaz.

On Christmas Day in the Morning

How do you eat when you go to your inlaws? Do you talk about nutrition...and are they cool with your beliefs? My inlaws think yogurt is weird. Sushi is newfangled to them. I don't think they're open to the kind of stuff I'm into.

So yesterday was Christmas Day. Big, traditional gathering -- a rough ride for a nutritional adventurer. My policy on those occasions is: being polite trumps dietary preferences. And a codicil: I don't need to make myself sick to be polite. So I kind of eat around the meal and try to be a good guest. Thing is, sometimes I'm so focused on being polite that I become boring. Which is, let's face it, the worst guest of all.

Whatever. Here's a look at yesterday's food choices:

cup of green tea with two probiotic caps
green juice (1 head kale, 1/2 head celery, 1 head chard, 2 apples, 2 cucumbers) drunk in the morning
3 prenatal vitamins in the morning
a green apple, a kiwi
salad of 2 ears corn, tomato, sm. handful parsley, 2 stalks celery, 1/4 avocado, tsp. olive oil

mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, green beans, salad
sliver flourless chocolate cake

I feel a little jumpy and irritable after all those simple carbs. Or maybe it's just because I went through a family gathering without booze -- yikes! I'd forgotten how edgy and silent I get. I need wine! Please!

Oh well. The nitty gritty: prenatal vitamins are a thumbs up. I'd been very tired before I started them, but now I can work out in the gym, take a wee nap, and last until bedtime.

My digestion's still kind of slow, though -- you know, constipation. Ylch. I'm going regularly (every morning, sometimes again at night) but not as quick and clean as usual. I read that this is normal, but I'm not digging it. It's causing some issues. (Why can't I write this? I specifically intended to write about this stuff... but I'm all worried about putting it out there.) Let me try that again: I feel like I might be getting a hem'. And I guess that's normal with pregnant ladies, but I am opposed. Opposed! I'll up my fluid intake to see if I can avoid it.

I took a test yesterday just to check in, cause I'm so nervous about this. Still pregnant. We'll keep going.

The First Post

I'm really scared I'm going to miscarry. Maybe it'd be no big deal: We haven't told many people yet. Heck, we haven't known about it for long...I'm only 5 weeks gone. But I worry. I keep pressing on my breasts to see if they're still sore. I weigh them in my hands to see if they're loosening.

I'm almost 40; I just tested pregnant; and I've been eating a raw food diet for a couple of years. I'm not sure how all this is going to play out. Some women claim to have comfortable pregnancies on a raw diet. Physicians (and my family) think it's a crock of crap. I usually listen to my body and ignore the experts but, at 40, the chances of miscarriage are high. It may be as high as 20-30%. I don't want to mess around.

This is a blog about my attempt to have a healthy pregnancy. It's about the questions I have -- and answers I find -- about pregnancy nutrition. If it doesn't work out, if I miscarry, then we'll know my choices were wrong. If it does work out...well, knock wood. I want to write this anonymously so that I can write about intensely personal, physical things -- how things are going in the bathroom, how my breasts feel, twinges low down -- without modesty. I'm writing this blog because I wish it were already written. I wish I could read it to the end, now, to find out how I should have treated my pregnancy.

***

Today is Christmas morning. I'm on vacation and better able to take good care of myself. Yesterday, I treated my body like this:

Woke early after a bad night's sleep. (Dumpster emptying at 3 a.m. -- I heart NY.) I had a brief workout at the gym, cleaned the house, wrapped some presents, and then went to church and dinner with my inlaws. How did a prickly Jewish intellectual wind up in this tidy Catholic life? Eh. I'll leave that for another blog. Here's the food intake.

Cup of green tea, two MegaFlora probiotic caps
Green juice (1 head kale, 1 head romaine, 1 head celery, 1 cucumber, 1 apple) drunk throughout the day
3 Vitamin Code Raw Prenatal vitamins, spaced throughout the day
2 green apples
cup or two of pomegranate seeds
1/2 cup guacamole
3 soft corn tortillas
salad with hearts of palm, artichoke, tomato, peppers
ear of corn

We told my inlaws tonight about the pregnancy. I'd told my mom, via phone, just after I read the tests. But this was the first, tentative, "don't tell anyone" and "take this with a grain of salt, but..." announcement. I was nervous. I'd fantasized for a few years about making this sort of announcement, and now I wish I'd kept my mouth shut. What if it doesn't pan out? Ugh.

I won't see the doctor until late January, so I'll keep quiet until then. Why don't doctors see you right away any more? Shouldn't someone tell me to stop freebasing, now, while it's early? I mean, I'm almost 40 and pregnant -- I need advice! The nurse said I should take a prenatal and hang loose for now. Please. Has she never met a Jew before? We hang taut.

So, Christmas day. 5 a.m., and I'm the only one awake. My super-hot, somewhat mopey husband is still sleeping adorably. We haven't been married very long. He's still my boyfriend, in my mind.

The nitty-gritty: I evacuated my guts pretty well today. The raw corn helps, I guess; I'd been having trouble for the past few weeks. But my digestion is still slower than I like. I burp. I can't decide if that's good (a sign that I'm still pregnant) or bad. I felt a few twinges very low down -- just above the mons pubis. No major cramping in the uterus. Am I still pregnant?

That's enough for one day. Fingers crossed.