First of all, I will list the 'common pregnancy symptoms' that I was experiencing full-force, which have now gone away. Keep in mind that these are common and many women take them for granted as something that is just a normal part of pregnancy - including my midwife. Here goes!
Insomnia - I now sleep like a wee baby, and hope my wee baby does as well when he arrives!
Fatigue - I no longer need a midday nap.
Restless legs - my poor sore restless legs no longer make me toss and turn at night.
Swelling in my face, hands, ankles and feet - all of these things have returned to their normal size, thankfully. I was starting to feel like a blimp.
Acne - My skin is beautiful. Most days I even skip my makeup routine because I found I was putting it on, then looking at myself and realizing I looked better before I applied it. And this is my skin all over.
Skin dryness - Dry skin is a thing of the past. My skin is not even a little bit thirsty. I still moisturize the belly to keep stretch marks and itchiness under control, but that is a separate issue.
Heartburn - this is a BIG one for me, because I was getting heartburn every night several times. I detest taking any kind of medication, and since I consider TUMS to be medication, I'm thrilled to be able to say that I no longer require those annoying little pills.
Constipation/Diarrhea - Let's just say I'm regular and leave it at that!
Other delightful things that have happened include:
I have found something I am deeply passionate about - holistic health - and look forward to exploring career options in this field.
My eyes, ears and heart have been opened to all kinds of different environmental and social justice issues, inspiring change in different areas of my life that make me feel like I can leave this earth having done more good than harm. This will also enable me to raise environmentally and self-aware children.
I have done a lot of work on the inside, including learning the joys of meditation (blog to come), the deliciousness of journaling, the all-over tingly feeling of delight caused by volunteering for a worthy cause, and the biggest one - learning to accept and love the things I can't change, and working lovingly and diligently on the things I can change.
Realizing how lovely life can be when you trim off all the unnecessary frills, embrace simplicity, and turn off the freakin' television!
For those of you who may be considering the raw/vegan lifestyle, I will share with you a few of my favourite meals that are simple and easy...and make you feel super-charged with healthy goodness!
For breakfast, my favourite things are rye toast with almond butter (and sometimes a little honey if I wake up feeling grumpy), Kashi 7-whole-grain Honey Puffed Cereal with cut up strawberries and banana, and a little almond milk, and any combination of breakfast smoothie - but this one's my fave:
- handful of frozen mango and strawberry
- 3 pieces of ice
- 1/4 cup chia gel (2 tbsp of chia seeds in 1 cup of water left to soak overnight makes chia gel - and the health benefits would rock your world!)
- 1/2 cup of almond milk or pure OJ - both are delicious.
- blend those together and listen to your tastebuds sing!!!
For lunch I enjoy homemade whole wheat pitas with all kinds of yummy veggies (I use lettuce, spinach, green and black olives, alfalfa sprouts, many colourful peppers and pickles) sometimes tofu, and either baba ganouj or hummus. The pita recipe I use is here. The only difference is that instead of white and wheat flour, I use wheat for the whole thing. These are also good cut into pieces and toasted to make yummy pita chips for dipping in hummus and other delicious vegan dips. Hummus woud have to be my fave though. You can buy all kinds of vegan dips at the grocery store, but for an even yummier experience make your own! There are all kinds of recipes online.
For supper my current faves are strawberry spinach salad with walnuts, a good old fashioned veggie burger, vegan whole-wheat pizza or tabouli-stuffed peppers.
For a snack I usually munch on a beautiful combo of nuts, seeds and dried fruit (my favourite combo being sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts, raisins, banana chips, pistachios and dried figs). I also enjoy Kashi Honey-Puffed Cereal dry, and there's all kinds of recipes for vegan energy bars online - every one I've made so far has been ultra-yummy.
My fave drink right now would be 1 part Bolthouse Vanilla Chai (found at the grocery store in the refridgerated section) to 2 parts almond milk. It's delicious cold and at night-time I enjoy it warmed up with a little cinnamon added to it.
The moral of this TRUE story is that when you take your health and well-being into your own hands, do some good old-fashioned learning, keep the best and leave the rest, and decide for yourself what works for you, you will emerge from the experience feeling like a fresh spring chicken!
No comments:
Post a Comment