Truthfully, not too much has happened lately, so I really haven't had a lot to comment about. I've also been trying to dedicate my time to getting rid of old clothes and getting my ethnographic study class off to a good start.
On the other hand, I can comment a little bit more about the only real issue I've been having up until now, having to eat!
Luckily, after my oreo cookie ice cream day, my cravings haven't been quite so unhealthy. I haven't really even been having very many cravings, and the real issue is trying to find something that appeals enough to me to actually eat it.
The doctors have given me several recommendations of what and how I should be eating. I was told to eat 5-6 small meals a day, and to try to get in grilled meats and fish and vegetables and fruit. I was also told to get in more dairy and to drink 3 liters of liquids a day.
The first week or so, that wasn't a problem. Little by little, though, meats and fish have become much less appealing. Even eating vegetables has been difficult. To eat them raw, which I normally don't mind, has been even harder. So, after realizing that what is most unappealing to me is eating foods that are completely solid, I decided that the best way to get in my veges was to drink them.
One of my favorite ways to get in veges lately has been drinking "green lemonade."I actually have seen many variations of the recipe, but it can be found online as a recipe that is loved by detoxers, raw foodists and vegans alike.
Athough I don't really fit into any of those categories, I can also appreciate the types of foods that they like to eat.
I try to eat foods that are as whole and unprocessed as possible anyways. My garden is completely organic, and I try to grow as much as I can for as much of the year as I can. So, in the morning, a drink like this really helps to start the day out right. I've been craving a lot more simple carbs lately, and feel guilty that what I've been eating hasn't necessarily been nutricious nor healthy. Living off of bread, potatoes and pasta may seem like the perfect representation of the USDA food pyramid, but I am skeptical about the pyramid being the best way to eat. Drinking something like this makes me feel a little bit better about the rest of my diet not being exactly what I would have liked.
So, for those of you who want to try this for yourselves, there's not much to it. I juice some celery (leaves and all), a whole lemon (peel and all), and sometimes add some cucumber and sometimes a small apple. Other possible additions inlcude carrots (that I still have left from my organic garden), ginger root, peppers, and other types of fruit.When you add carrots, the "lemonade" isn't quite so green anymore (as you can see in the second picture), but it is a little bit sweeter.
Apart from the vegetable juice, another thing that I've been able to eat, other than bread and potatoes, has been yogurt and fruit.
As spring is nearing, I've finally been able to start to find strawberries at the Friday fruit and vegetable market. So, last Friday, I bought 2 kilos of strawberries, some lemons, and 4 kilos of clementine tangerines, sworn to be "completamente biológicas"- so, I guess they are supposedly organic.
If that's really what they meant,
I couldn't find out for sure, since the grower wasn't around, and the man who sold raw honey in the stand next to him was the one who sold me my tangerines. Greatful for his help, and out of curiosity, I decided to buy some raw honey too.The raw honey came in handy for my next treat, a blend of strawberries, yogurt and raw honey. Perfect!!
So, there has been some debate about pregnant women eating certain raw foods. Some of my favorite foods, like jamón serrano, have been called off-limits for me due to a concern about a pregnant woman's susceptibility to certain bacteria like listeria and salmonella, which could potentially cause a miscarriage. There is also the concern that listeria can cross the placenta and infect the baby leading to infection or blood poisoning, which can be life-threatening. So, after buying my nice bottle of orange blossom raw honey, I've found places that say that a pregnant women should avoid it. It is a bit frustrating that every time I want to eat something new, I feel like I have to fully research it online. When I look at reliable sources, though, it seems like it really isn't an issue. Honey doesn't normally go through a real pasteurization process, and when it does, it loses many of its good properties, and incorporates bad ones like increased hydroxymethylfurfural (whateve that is) levels, and reduced diastase activity. So, while a baby shouldn't eat honey during the first year of life, normally honey, even raw honey, is considered safe for pregnant women.
Of course once I tried the raw honey, there was no going back. There is absolutely no comparison in taste. Now I just have to avoid eating the honey from the jar by the spoonful. :)
As of Sunday, I actually have been feeling a lot better. I still have been eating some of my newly found favorite foods, but I've been able to, little by little, eat foods with meats and seafood again. I haven't been as tired lately either.
I don't want to speak too soon, but maybe I'm over the worst part of the first trimester.
On the other hand, maybe I shouldn't be so happy about that.
I thought my mom was crazy when she told me about her belief that the presence of morning sickness is positively correlated to increased intelligence of the baby. Although, I have to admit that I did appreciate the example of how I caused severe morning sickness to back up the notion. In the age of the internet, though, it is easy to look these things up to see... and sure enough, she was right...
It seems that a recent Canadian study showed this to be true...
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090423/sickness_090423/20090423?hub=Health
Before deciding to start over and try for a smarter baby, though, I guess I'll just have to try to appreciate the fact that I am feeling a lot better lately. It's also important to realize that a lack of morning sickness hasn't really been correlated to a lack of intelligence... (after all, Mauri's mom didn't have any with him) So, maybe I'm a little bit more intelligent, but Mauri isn't exactly dumb either. :)
We'll just have to wait and see.
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