Blog posts : "Food"

Hyperemesis Gravidarum

There is a lot of misinformation around the Internet surrounding hyperemesis gravidarum. First, let's look at the name, "Hyperemesis" simply relates to excessive vomiting. Hyperemesis is common with flus, food poisoning and so forth. Rarely, it is associated with pregnancy: Gravidarum. It is a fairly rare condition of pregnancy which puts the mother and the baby's life at risk if it is not well managed. 

Some sites say that if you lose 5-10 lbs in the first trimester, this is a sign of HG. Unless you are borderline underweight before you became pregnancy, this is not the case for everyone. We prefer to use percentages of body weight instead: 10-15% of body weight. For a 120 lbs person, that would be 6-12 lbs. 

HG is easy to distinguish between morning sickness, because of the inability to keep anything down without medical intervention. This means all foods, all water, all juices, all drinks, all medications -- everything. 

HG is not very well understood in society, so there's a bit of a stigma that goes with a woman suffering from it. People assume she's milking her morning sickness or playing up her symptoms, when in reality she is not able to hydrate or nourish herself and her body begins to waste away until medical intervention occurs. For me, that meant an IV with 2 L of normal saline and a few shots of gravol. Immediately after, I was started on diclectin which kept vomiting to a minimum, but eating was still a challenge as nothing is appealing. In fact, most things repulse you, but you force yourself to eat anyway and risk the chance of throwing it back up.

There's something.... Interesting about eating and drinking knowing full well that it's just going to force itself back up, anyway. 

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Frugal Tip... Find a Recipe Using the Ingredients You Have

My bookmarks are flooded as it is, so I thought I'd post an entry about this website so I didn't have to add it... Ha!

This website lets you do a sort-of reverse search, using a list of ingredients that you actually have. The search results will be a list of recipes that use those ingredients. This is perfect for at the end of the month when you need to use the remaining ingredients inside of your fridge before they go bad, while sparing you from having to spend more money.

Without further adeou, here is the website: Recipe Puppy.com, featuring a pug... Of which my mother has two and of which I may or may not have an aversion to. Darn jumping, yappy cute blobs on legs.

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Tortillas! Awesome Recipe

Tortillas are incredibly easy to make. I just whipped up a batch and froze half of it my Tupperware Freezer containers. I used this recipe:

Easy Tortillas Recipe

  • 4 cups flour
  • 1/8th teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup warm water (or so)

From this video:

Enjoy!

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Goji Berries - Wolf Berries: What's the Big Deal

For the past year or so, I've been hearing all about goji berries and how good they are for our health. I knew they were high in antioxidants and decided that I'd try eating a handful each day. Mostly, I was motivated by the idea of possibly having something new to help me in the fight against nodular acne. I started eating them at the same time as I started a bunch of changes in my diet and supplementation, so it's hard to say whether or not they've been extraordinarily helpful or not.

I have had one nodule show up since I started eating the berries. Let's take a quick look at Goji berries per 1/4 cup serving; percentages based on recommended intake per a 2,000 calorie diet:

  • High in Vitamin A (20%), Vitamin C (10%), beta carotene, and Vitamin E, Vitamins B (1, 2, & 6)
  • 9% Calcium, 8% iron, and other trace minerals
  • Contains 5 grams of protein and 32 grams of carbohydrates with 150 calories per serving
  • Amino acids, polysaccharides, and antioxidants
  • One of the highest ranked foods on the oxygen radical absorbent capacity ranking system, created by the USDA, surpassing other berries (take that, you snobby blueberries!)

Blah, blah, blah... We always hear about antioxidants. Is it just a buzz word in your vocabulary that you don't have a definition for? Let me help you out:

" Antioxidants: A group of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes called antioxidants that help protect our body from the formation of free radicals. Free radicals are atoms or groups of atoms that can cause damage to our cells, impairing our immune system and leading to infections and various degenerative diseases. Antioxidants work together with the body's natural free radical scavangers to eat up these free radical particles. " - Acid Reflux Information Website (didn't really have a proper title, heh)

Are they worth the insane price per Kg? Heck yes. In my book, they are! Even if it's just for the placebo effect :P  Do yourself a favor, though, and avoid reading up on the health benefits. Most of the websites you will find out there on google are pushing you to buy the berries while providing unclaimed benefits. Unfortunately for us, these amazing, nutrition-packed berries have not had studies performed on them outside of the animal testing world. There are plenty of false claims out there ranging from "better legs" to curing cancer.

I eat them in three main ways:

  1. Sprinkled in my oatmeal before cooking the oatmeal. Add in some agave nectar or some apple sauce for sweetening. Yum!
  2. Blended up into a smoothie. I recently found they don't mix well with the taste of blackberries... Yeck.
  3. Trail mix: raw almonds, goji berries, and cranberries.

Enjoy!

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