http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_raspberry_leaf
I asked my midwife at my last appointment (last Thursday) about drinking Red Raspberry Leaf tea as I had heard about it on a natural childbirth board. Basically I was told it couldn't hurt. So last Sunday I stopped off at Whole Foods and bought three boxes, two Traditional Medicine brand and one Yogi Tea brand. The Traditional Medicine is just 100% RRL, the Yogi Tea has a bunch of other stuff in it, including mint. Right now, I'm liking the plain tea the best. It tastes almost like black tea, but without the caffeine. I usually drink it straight, but it's not bad with some honey, either. The benefits are that it's high in a bunch of vitamins (see Wiki site), and since I need to keep my fluids up, this is another way to do that. So I'm drinking a liter of tea, and trying to get in a liter of water, plus whatever milk I drink. I'm doing better some days than others. Anyway, I'll go ahead and recommend the tea, as I can't find any negatives to drinking it.
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Olympics
I love watching the Olympics: cheering on the USA, cheering on the inspiring stories, cheering on the underdogs (or the occasional sure thing, like Michael Phelps!!). Nothing is more inspiring than watching someone who has spent the better part of his/her life working for this one goal and then getting to stand on the podium. I get teared up just writing about it. How does this relate to childbirth? Wait, I can link it.
You're probably not spending a lifetime preparing, but certainly a large portion of how you've lived your life will affect pregnancy and labor. If you've been eating well, get regular exercise and keep the stress levels down (ha!) this is going to be an easier journey than if not. The better you do with this during your pregnancy, ideally, the easier journey you'll have. If you're just starting now, you'll still have an impact. The better shape that you're heading into labor, the better labor should go.
Unfortunately, this does NOT guarantee an easy pregnancy and/or labor. I know plenty of women who do everything right (myself included) and have miserable pregnancies. And I know of women who do everything wrong and have easy pregnancies (I don't know about the labors). But, I tell myself, if I weren't doing (almost) everything right, how much more miserable of a time would I have? So it comes down to having faith in doing the right thing for your body and your baby.
You're probably not spending a lifetime preparing, but certainly a large portion of how you've lived your life will affect pregnancy and labor. If you've been eating well, get regular exercise and keep the stress levels down (ha!) this is going to be an easier journey than if not. The better you do with this during your pregnancy, ideally, the easier journey you'll have. If you're just starting now, you'll still have an impact. The better shape that you're heading into labor, the better labor should go.
Unfortunately, this does NOT guarantee an easy pregnancy and/or labor. I know plenty of women who do everything right (myself included) and have miserable pregnancies. And I know of women who do everything wrong and have easy pregnancies (I don't know about the labors). But, I tell myself, if I weren't doing (almost) everything right, how much more miserable of a time would I have? So it comes down to having faith in doing the right thing for your body and your baby.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Caffeine
Hmm, so I managed to leave off one of the controversial foods in my prior post. With my first pregnancy, when I went to my GP to have the pregnancy confirmed she assured me that a couple of cups of coffee a day would be fine and that chocolate was always okay (my husband was trying to keep it all from me). That same day the story broke that more than 300mg of caffeine a day could double your chance of a miscarriage. I had already decided to forgo coffee and caffinated teas, so this just reinforced my decision. I think I can count on one hand how many times I had decaf coffee during my first pregnancy, even (and one was after a red-eye flight cross-country).
But that was before I had to deal with a teething (ie: not sleeping) toddler besides my own pregnancy-induced exhaustion. So, my slight compromise: I've been drinking some decaf tea and I just bought a bag of decaf coffee. Why bother? I get a psychological boost from drinking the fake stuff and there is a teeny, tiny bit of caffeine in them. Although studies show that I should be fine, here is another example of why risk it? I'm less worried about the risk of a miscarriage than I am about the affects of caffeine on Baby Blob's heart. If some caffeine raises my pulse, what is it doing to the already super-fast beating baby heart? Even if it's not causing permanent damage, I just can't believe that it's good for the baby.
At the very least it's another reason for my husband to help more around the house, because I'm just too tired to deal with it all!
But that was before I had to deal with a teething (ie: not sleeping) toddler besides my own pregnancy-induced exhaustion. So, my slight compromise: I've been drinking some decaf tea and I just bought a bag of decaf coffee. Why bother? I get a psychological boost from drinking the fake stuff and there is a teeny, tiny bit of caffeine in them. Although studies show that I should be fine, here is another example of why risk it? I'm less worried about the risk of a miscarriage than I am about the affects of caffeine on Baby Blob's heart. If some caffeine raises my pulse, what is it doing to the already super-fast beating baby heart? Even if it's not causing permanent damage, I just can't believe that it's good for the baby.
At the very least it's another reason for my husband to help more around the house, because I'm just too tired to deal with it all!
Risk Aversion
I'm sorry about no post last night, between my class and watching/reading what was going on in Haiti, I completely forgot. But I have been inspired, hence today's topic.
I will admit it, I am a stickler for the rules. And when it comes to the "shouldn'ts" of pregnancy, doubly so. I know plenty of women who had the occasional glass of wine, deli meats and soft cheeses without any problems. And I know women who did everything right and still had children born with problems. The biggest issue is that for a lot of things, nobody knows for sure how much of something might hurt a fetus. The reaction to alcohol, for instance. This most likely has a genetic component where some women can drink like a fish (see the 60s) without harming the fetus where others are risking fetal alcohol syndrom with only a couple of drinks before they even know they are pregnant. The chances of consuming a raw egg infected with salmonella is like one in 10,000. Listeria poisoning is similarly rare. But, as far as I'm concerned, why take the chance?
My life has already been a series of lucky breaks. If there is a natural phenomenon for the US, I've been in it: hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes; I've been on an airplane that was struck by lightening two feet outside of my wingside window. I've been evacuated from my home because of chance of flooding. The house next door to mine burnt to the ground and the only thing that kept mine safe was that the prevailing winds were freakishly not blowing. I lived six blocks from the Capital on 9/11. Need I go on? I'd rather not push my luck on some of the stuff I can control.
So, no sushi, no chevre, no wine. I don't eat deli meats, so it just gives me an excuse to bypass that hoagie. I called every single grocery store in a 30 minute radius looking for pasteurized eggs so that I could make the chocolate mousse in the Buche de Noel for our holiday party (I also totally do not trust the USDA and their food safety testing). And you've already seen my opinion on skin care products. I believe that the FDA rules prohibit doing drug trials on pregnant women, so what is considered "safe" is frequently that which has not been shown to be detrimental. So, yes, no drugs for me. Obviously, if something became life or death, I would relent, but I see no reason for antacids or painkillers. If I can handle natural childbirth, I can deal with some heartburn.
And as a final emphasis on the Fates and not tempting them: really, what were the odds that I would have gotten Swine Flu when I did with the effect that it had?
I will admit it, I am a stickler for the rules. And when it comes to the "shouldn'ts" of pregnancy, doubly so. I know plenty of women who had the occasional glass of wine, deli meats and soft cheeses without any problems. And I know women who did everything right and still had children born with problems. The biggest issue is that for a lot of things, nobody knows for sure how much of something might hurt a fetus. The reaction to alcohol, for instance. This most likely has a genetic component where some women can drink like a fish (see the 60s) without harming the fetus where others are risking fetal alcohol syndrom with only a couple of drinks before they even know they are pregnant. The chances of consuming a raw egg infected with salmonella is like one in 10,000. Listeria poisoning is similarly rare. But, as far as I'm concerned, why take the chance?
My life has already been a series of lucky breaks. If there is a natural phenomenon for the US, I've been in it: hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes; I've been on an airplane that was struck by lightening two feet outside of my wingside window. I've been evacuated from my home because of chance of flooding. The house next door to mine burnt to the ground and the only thing that kept mine safe was that the prevailing winds were freakishly not blowing. I lived six blocks from the Capital on 9/11. Need I go on? I'd rather not push my luck on some of the stuff I can control.
So, no sushi, no chevre, no wine. I don't eat deli meats, so it just gives me an excuse to bypass that hoagie. I called every single grocery store in a 30 minute radius looking for pasteurized eggs so that I could make the chocolate mousse in the Buche de Noel for our holiday party (I also totally do not trust the USDA and their food safety testing). And you've already seen my opinion on skin care products. I believe that the FDA rules prohibit doing drug trials on pregnant women, so what is considered "safe" is frequently that which has not been shown to be detrimental. So, yes, no drugs for me. Obviously, if something became life or death, I would relent, but I see no reason for antacids or painkillers. If I can handle natural childbirth, I can deal with some heartburn.
And as a final emphasis on the Fates and not tempting them: really, what were the odds that I would have gotten Swine Flu when I did with the effect that it had?
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Herbal teas
Continuing with the food theme, an item not given much thought: herbal teas. It's cold outside and you've either cut back or cut out your caffeine intake. There's only so much hot chocolate you can drink (or you're really good about your sweets). Herbal tea seems to be the natural (pun intended) choice. But, there are some herbs that you should be careful about consuming during pregnancy. I haven't been able to find a reliable and comprehensive list yet, so I just brought my teas to my last midwife appointment and had her look them up. I had heard that hibiscus was a no-no, but to my surprise, the flowers are okay, just the roots are bad. The real shocker was that licorice root is a BIG no-no. There are lots of teas with licorice root in it, including one of my favorites: the Aveda tea. Also Tazo's Passion. Check your labels, it's hiding in a few of them. And if you're a fan of real black licorice, it's also off the table (Twizzlers are fine, there isn't anything real in them. Yeah, so don't eat them anyway). Anise seed is an acceptable subsitute if you really love the licorice flavor. Oh, and what does licorice root do? It can cause brain damage to the developing fetus. So just say no!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Beef, it's not what's for dinner
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/us/31meat.html?_r=1
Okay, so heavy on the links for a couple of days, but these are important. The title of my blog might indicate that food might be mentioned but I've been dragging my feet as we're still in the post-holiday deluge of bad foods (as I put a chocolate-covered cherry in my mouth). So here's a way to jump into it. NEWS FLASH!! The US food safety is a joke! The majority of our food is not properly inspected and is processed in facilities too large to keep track of what comes from and goes to where. Hence, you have stuff like above happen. Food poisoning becomes much more likely.
This becomes so much more important to be aware of when you're pregnant and feeding a small child. Immune systems cannot ward off food poisoning as well so what was an annoyance becomes potentially life-threatening. Why do you think pregnant women have so many restrictions on their diet? Listeria in soft cheeses and luncheon meat, for example. Women in other countries safely eat unpasteurized cheese, why can't we? It's all about how food is made and distributed in this country. More on another date, it's late and I'm tired.
Okay, so heavy on the links for a couple of days, but these are important. The title of my blog might indicate that food might be mentioned but I've been dragging my feet as we're still in the post-holiday deluge of bad foods (as I put a chocolate-covered cherry in my mouth). So here's a way to jump into it. NEWS FLASH!! The US food safety is a joke! The majority of our food is not properly inspected and is processed in facilities too large to keep track of what comes from and goes to where. Hence, you have stuff like above happen. Food poisoning becomes much more likely.
This becomes so much more important to be aware of when you're pregnant and feeding a small child. Immune systems cannot ward off food poisoning as well so what was an annoyance becomes potentially life-threatening. Why do you think pregnant women have so many restrictions on their diet? Listeria in soft cheeses and luncheon meat, for example. Women in other countries safely eat unpasteurized cheese, why can't we? It's all about how food is made and distributed in this country. More on another date, it's late and I'm tired.
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