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.

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.