Posts by fincharella

Hey armandounc-

I think I can help a bit.  Interestingly, I just read this today:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/06/19/1 55354070/why-you-shouldnt-panic-about-pestici de-in-produce

But to get to your questions:

1)Yes, organic requirements only require that farmers use organically approved pesticides, fungicides, etc.  Some are harmless, others are known carcinogens (just naturally occurring ones).

Here's a discussion of another loophole:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/us/farmers- seek-to-raise-standards-for-berries.html?page wanted=all

2)  It seems that the only pretty clear link is between high levels of pesticide exposure and Parkinson's (and potentially other neurodegenerative diseases).  The jury is still out on "normal" exposure, although rats seem to develop spatial memory issues after exposure.

http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/29/2/32 3.short

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1 247187/

3) Yes, they do. I don't know the difference between frozen and fresh. 

4) Having worked on a farm, I think washing is important. If nothing else, think of the person handling or packaging your produce that was out in the field all day picking amongst the recently sprayed leaves (or actually doing the spraying).  The chemicals have permeated his/her clothes and hair and they are sure to get on the food. I wash to minimize my exposure, although just with water.

I'm so sorry!!  I can relate - my closest friends all got pg within just a few months and I feel like they can't understand what it's like.

Keep in mind that fertility treatment is a big money business these days.  Unfortunately, many of these doctors have far too many patients and far too much pressure to give the kind of care that people deserve.

I would definitely see another doctor.  Shop around if you have to!  Most importantly (and this might be the hardest piece) try and remember that it's not the end of the world if you can't conceive again.

One of the things my husband and I have been working on through all of this is being able to envision how good our lives can be with or without this baby, and to remember how fortunate we are already and all of the options we really and truly have (adoption, traveling, foster parenting, having more money for other things, being able to take care of our parents, being able to retire earlier, having time and energy serve our community, buying our dream house, etc...) If the only option you can see for yourself is getting pregnant, then you are setting yourself up for a potentially devastating disappointment.  It can affect you emotionally as well as make it even harder physically to get pregnant, but of course you've heard that a million times ;-)

In some ways, not being able to conceive has allowed us to take a wider view of life in general. We've realized how incredibly fortunate we are in so many other ways and how the stress of this situation was affecting our ability to see that clearly.  I was 33 when we started trying, and I'm now 35.  I feel that I still have a fair chance of conceiving in the next several years, but I equally love the idea of adopting in 5 or 10 (or more) years, or of being able to travel to a foreign country and help less-privileged people, or of being able to take care of my mom as she ages, etc.  There are so many ways that we can be of service in this world, and being a parent is just one of them.

My best to you!!!

Original Post by kelrantymus:

Original Post by fincharella:

Original Post by kelrantymus:

Original Post by carmenxox:

None! Unless they are fermented, soaked, and/or sprouted. 

Beans are very irritating to your gut, and contain harmful compounds.

Such as? Genuinely curious since many vegans and vegetarians out there rely on legumes as a large part of their diet and seem to do just fine.....When I was vegetarian for 8 years, I ate tons of beans and lentils and didn't have an issue...so I'm curious as to what these "hamful compounds" are and what they do.....frankly, I'd be more worried about the mercury content in fish than the difficulty of digesting lentils.....

Phytates are surely the primary harmful compound Carmen is discussing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytic_acid

Thanks for the info. I think I will continue to eat lentils, though. I just love them too much to give them up. :)

 

ETA: Oh! Lentils are lower in that than almonds, oat meal, brown rice.....If I'm reading that chart right......

I know it!  And I hate knowing it!

Original Post by kevinatthebrook:

Original Post by amethystgirl:

Original Post by nomoreexcuses:

So you wouldn't really think this was the first awesome thing.

To be fair, fincharella said that she wished she could say it more often, not that it was the first time she had ever said it.

So if it took from Nov 2008 to May 2012 for her to once again feel pride in her country, that's not particularly often. Especially if she isn't as old as Buck, so 4 years is a greater percentage of her total years.

et tu Agirl..... Then again who is?

I'll admit, I'm impressed you witnessed the Emancipation Proclamation ;-)

Hmmm, if I were trying to gain weight I would eat...

Pasta with pesto or butter and garlic, bagels and cream cheese, big Italian sandwiches on crusty bread with cheese and mayo, burritos with beans, rice, and meat, cheese enchiladas :)

Eat calorie dense snacks, too.  Nuts or trail mixes, nut butters (like 2 apples or 2 bananas with almond or peanut butter), cheese (super calorie dense), dried fruit, and full-fat yogurts are all good choices.

Maybe you aren't eating enough fat either?  I think often people inadvertently eat a diet too low in fat.  Choose fattier cuts of meat (chicken thighs, beef chuck, pork shoulder).  Cook your vegetables in butter or olive oil and add fat to your carbs, too (potato with sour cream, a few pats of butter on your rice or bread (but buy good butter, okay? Kerrygold!)

:)

I'm proud to be an American today!  I wish I could say that more often.

I'm a chef (although not a pastry chef), so here's my two cents:

I'm not sure adding hummus to a muffin recipe would be the way to go, BUT you could take that idea and run with it....For example, you could make muffins using garbanzo flour in place of all or part of the regular flour and then spice them in a way that would compliment that flavor (using savory flavors). Maybe using saffron, cumin, garam masala, etc. to make a nice little savory muffin.  They might make a nice compliment to a Middle Eastern meal!

BTW, Aren't those Bittman NYT Magazine recipes great?  I've been cutting them out and saving them like an old lady!

I try and avoid wheat, too, and I feel like I have lots of options, BUT I cook almost all of my food from scratch.  I think if you are heavily reliant on packaged foods you're going to have a harder time, not to mention, a lot of the "gluten-free" pre-packaged products contain other grains that may be just as likely to upset your digestion.  It's really a trial and error thing, so my recommendation is to try one thing at a time to determine what works and what doesn't. You might find, like I did, that you don't even want to eat any of that stuff anymore anyway because you feel so much better!!

Do you have time to take on some cooking?  Soups, stews and braises are great ways to make complete, healthy meals and it's easy to avoid wheat when you're cooking with whole foods.

I eat eggs or yogurt and fruit for breakfast and then lunch and dinner is mostly veggies with a small portion of meat. I also eat rice, sweet potatoes, plantains, regular potatoes, beets, carrots, and squash on a regular basis.  They're all really easy to cook (they can all be roasted, which requires very little work), and you can make extra to last a few days.

Good luck!

Here's my $.02

I have to eat dinner late.  Work has been really busy this year, so I'm not home until 7:30, and I am the cook ;-)  That means we eat at 8:30 on average.

To compensate, I now wait until 10:00 to eat breakfast.  This gives me a longer fasting window every day, PLUS, if my eating hours are shortened, it's much easier for me to eat within my calorie budget.

Edit:  To be fair, I should say that I don't have to get up too early (8:00).  I do think there's something to having a longer fasting window each day (as opposed to eating breakfast at 6 and dinner at 8)

HEY EVERYBODY!!!

This happened to me for 10 years. I thought there was nothing I could do about it except take bc pills (my doctor thought it might help), but I wanted to get pregnant, so I said no.

Then, I went on a Paleolithic-type diet for unrelated reasons and I stopped eating gluten and vegetable oils (I cook with olive oil,coconut oil, and butter) and it COMPLETELY STOPPED HAPPENING. Literally, I have no symptoms of PMS.  And when my period comes, I have a little, light discomfort in my low abdomen instead of cramps so bad I need 4 Advil to function.

I don't know if it was the wheat, the Omega 6s (from the oils) or a combination, but I am so happy about it that I will never go back to eating that stuff again.  SO, if it makes you that miserable, you can do something about it.