Why we need fat and cholesterol in our diets

I have been pleasantly surprised to read that the book by Gittleman and my Nutrition textbook have a lot of similar suggestions on nutrition. This is good because I have always thought that there was too much conflicting information out there. I hope that this will make it easier for me to get a well rounded view on what is a healthy diet for mamas during their pregnancies.

I love this quote:
“I emphasize variety, ensuring consumption of a wide range of vegetables, fruits, protein, low-fat and full-fat milk products, and complex carbohydrates. This means putting lean meat and eggs back into your diet; it means using all the available sources of calcium, like green leafy vegetables, not just dairy products. Variety will give your body maximum exposure to all the essential nutrients from food sources without risking the problems of excesses-gluten intolerance, yeast infections, and degenerative diseases”. Pg. 50

This quote sums up what my idea of a healthy diet should be. I feel like, instead of putting so much energy into cutting out things, that we should put more energy into finding and adding more of a variety of foods into our diets. An example would be that people have become afraid of red meats, and have therefore cut them out of their lives and now are having hard times coming up with good sources of b-12 and iron, or that our saturated fat intake (which isn’t evil, just needs to be curved) is up because people are forgetting about the vegetable sources of calcium in our diets like dark leafy greens and are consuming so much dairy products that they are eating too much saturated fat from dairy.

Yesterday, I spent a lot of time reading about cholesterol….dun dun duhhhhhh (that is supposed to be suspenseful music, if you couldn’t tell). What I learned is that there are actually two kinds of cholesterol, dietary and blood. Our body actually creates and need cholesterol and is considered “so vital that it is contained in practically every cell of the body and aids in cell membrane repair” pg.52. What I am finding is that our body actually makes most of its own cholesterol and takes very little from the dietary cholesterol stores. There are also studies that suggest that it is not necessarily the cholesterol in food, but the oxidized cholesterol after you cook it that poses the problem: “it is not pure cholesterol that creates artery-clogging plaque, but rather the toxic substances produced by the oxidation of cholesterol. Oxidized derivatives of cholesterol are unstable and decompose into free radicals, which damage blood vessel walls.” Pg. 55

My conclusion at the end of these chapters is that we need fats in our diets! Fats provide energy, it provides warmth, cushion, and allows our bodies to ingest those ever important fat soluble vitamins. It is needed for hormone production and body development, so cutting fat out of our diets completely is actually detrimental to our health. I am going to make the conscious effort to eat a better variety of foods so that I will be more likely to get all of the nutrients my body needs. Next in the book is about the role that sugar and carbohydrates play on our bodies. Until next time!

Let Nutrition Month Begin!!

I have decided to make this my official “Nutrition Month”. What does that mean? It means that for 30 days (and maybe longer) I am going to be concentrating my studies on nutrition. I am not just going to focus nutrition during pregnancy, but nutrition in general!!

I am trying to gather some really well rounded sources. Obviously I tend to lean more towards the “crunchy” side of thinking, but I really want to know what the best and healthiest options for mothers and families are. I am willing to have my mind changed about what I think to be healthy!

I have a few books that I will be reading, as part of my studies. Super Nutrition for Women by, Ann Louise Gittleman; Nutrition for a Healthy Pregnancy by, Elizabeth Somer; Prescription for Nutritional Healing by, Phyllis A. Balch; Prescription for Dietary Wellness by, Phyllis A. Balch; Nourishing Traditions by, Sally Fallon; The Natural Pregnancy Book by, Aviva Jill Romm; and Understanding Nutrition Custom Edition for Oklahoma State University by, E. Whitney and S. Rolfes. I really hope that these books will give me a well rounded look.

I have begun reading the Super Nutrition for Women by Ann Louise Gittleman. It isn’t a very long book, but it seems to be packed full with information. Gittleman talks about the dangers of living on the American low-fat/no-fat diet. We have deprived ourselves of a vital nutritional element from our lives. Without fats, our bodies cannot utilize the fat soluble vitamins such as Vitamins A, D, E, and K. Let’s look at what some of the vitamins help with:

Vitamin A: needed for new cell growth, healthy skin, hair, and tissues, and vision in dim light.
Vitamin D: promotes absorption of calcium for healthy bones and teeth
Vitamin E: protects red blood cells and helps prevent destruction of vitamin A and C.
Vitamin K: necessary for normal blood clotting and synthesis of proteins found in plasma, bone, and kidneys.

This is just on a basic level, what these vitamins do for us. I am only two chapters in, but am finding out reasons not to be so scared of fats! I will continue to post as I learn more. I am hoping that I will have this book read by the end of the week. It just depends on how much the kids will let me read 

On a different note, I want to say that I am working on a blog post about my miscarriage with Gabriel. So much has happened and I have learned so much from my experience and time with him that I want to make sure I am able to truly express what his life and death has meant to me. I promise that I will not leave everyone hanging for very long. Until next time!

Saddest day of my life

I was so excited, because today I had the baby's first ultrasound scheduled. It was like Christmas waiting for it all day today. I was a cleaning fool, so that I could pass the time quickly. Time came, I packed the kids up and went to the US place.

As we started to look at the baby, I noticed that the baby looked kind of small for what I knew my gestational age to be, but more noticeably, I noticed an absence of something very important.....a heart beat. I could tell the technician was very uncomfortable and worried, and to tell you the truth, so was I. My family was in the room with me, and I didn't want to let on that I was worried about the baby so I didn't say anything. We decided to use the trans vaginal probe to get a better look.

While we were looking I still couldn't see a heartbeat and I just knew.....but it was too awful to say and I couldn't/didn't want to think about it. Finally the technician looked at me and said "I can't find a heartbeat". I played it off in front of my family, and my husband thought that meant that we needed a better machine to get to see the heartbeat. I don’t know how I was able to keep it together.

After Adrian and the girls left the room so I could dress, I just lost it. The technician was so good to me and was very patient and gentle, and I am so very grateful to her. She talked to me, answered my questions and was just there. Then it was time to go, and I saw the box sitting on the table. It was one of those picture boxes, but I knew exactly what it was for….I got mad at that box. I decided I hated that box, it was a disgusting box and it made me want to scream. This simple little gesture to try and comfort me made me want to run…..I felt like if I touch that box it was going to kill me. I pulled myself together, walked out of that room with that box and drove home.

On the way home I felt like, how can there ever be happiness anymore? I felt like everything else should be sad, and I wanted to feel sad forever but when I got home, I watched my two girls laugh. They had so much fun and were so happy…..it made me feel so peaceful. I realized that it was okay to be happy, and that everything was going to be okay. I was sad that my girls were not going to get the chance to know my baby but so happy that I had my girls.

I am dreading waking up tomorrow. I have to face an entire day of knowing that my baby is not with me anymore. At least today, I got to spend most of my day with Gabriel. That is what I have decided to name the baby. I have a long way to go at processing this, but tomorrow is a new day.

Too long!

I am so bad about writing for my blog! But I feel like I get the important stuff down :)

So much has happened since the last time I blogged. I graduated from OSU in May, my family and I moved to Edmond OK, I have attended 7 births as a doula, have been co-leading an awesome birthing and parenting group in Stillwater, and am currently 11 weeks pregnant with baby number 3 planning for my first homebirth!

The knowledge and confidence that I have gained in these past 12 months are so much! I have seen different kinds of births, and 7 beautiful babies born. I have had the pleasure of see one mama dance through her labor, an awesome VBAC, and make so many new friends. I don't think these families will every really understand how special I feel to be allowed into their birthing spaces. Thankyou families!

I also know, without a shadow of a doubt, that this is what I am supposed to do. I have worked very hard, for this, and I believe that I am good at what I do, because I love and believe in it so much. Thank you so much to everyone in my life that supports and helps me on my journey! You know who you are :)