While looking back at my last few posts I realized I've been a bit of a negative Nancy lately. And I'd like to think it was for good cause (if one can really justify prolonged negativity). I've been in that stage where I feel/look chubby and not pregnant, which has taken a bit of a toll on my self esteem. My hormones are a bit out of whack and I've kind of been in this state of limbo with not only my pregnancy but my routine, my workout regimen and my wardrobe. I know that sounds like a really shallow statement, but for me it's been true so judge me if you will.
But I think I've turned a little bit of a pregnancy corner.
The first turn of the corner came from the little help of some friends and Ina May Gaskin. A super special hug-filled shout out to the amazing women who recommended I read Guide to Childbirth. So far it's been the most influential motherhood book I've read and the most positive influence on my pregnancy.
One of the passages that resonated with me the most was about the studies that correlate positive thoughts to productive labor and unwanted influences or negativity with the retardation of labor progress. She went on to say that believing in yourself and thinking about your body in a positive light are the first steps to effective labor. Honestly, I've never been the kind of person to think positively about my body and I definitely haven't been doing it since becoming pregnant. Well, there's no better time to start than now!
The second turn came just this morning while struggling with what to order during breakfast. I started second guessing my blind following of pregnancy food rules because, well, a lot of them seemed pretty antiquated and not really applicable to the way I eat in my every day life.
When we got home I started reading into the science behind foods to avoid and in an effort to better understand the whats and whys, and obviously to question them, what I found was surprising.
First, I found an article about eggs. Now if you know me you know I have subscribed to the motto "if you like it then you go and put an egg on it" for many years (or at least in that terminology since Single Ladies hit the scene). So for me, breakfast has been pretty difficult. While reading the article I deduced two things:
1. While not totally safe, eggs are some of the lesser worries (bacteria-wise) for us pregnant ladies. The issue with eggs is the risk of salmonella. Salmonella does not easily penetrate the placenta and is more likely to get the mother sick before the baby. So yeah, there's totally added stress to your body if you get salmonella during your pregnancy, but it won't harm your baby.
2. HOWEVER, there are also studies that prove that farm fresh, antibiotic-free eggs are less likely to GIVE you salmonella than that of factory farmed conventional eggs.
Taking points 1 and 2 into consideration, I'm led to deduce that as long as I know where my eggs are coming from and how old they are, I can totally have runny yolks. Within reason. I mean, I obviously plan to use this as a treat and less of a staple in my diet but good lord if I'm not amazingly pleased to read this.
Elated from victory #1 I found this little gem on Epicurious about general rules of pregnant eating. Overall, this was a great article to read and follow about baterium in general and different food theories, especially from the point of view of someone who loves to eat.
The best part for me was about meats in general, but mostly about steak. The biggest fear with undercooked meats is listeria, which is far more detrimental to your baby and your body than salmonella. However, listeria lives only on the surface of meats. So hamburger or any other ground meat should be cooked fully through to well-done status, but a steak or any other whole piece of meat only needs to be seared to be considered safe. This basically means I've ruined 2 good steaks for nothing. Again, I will be treating a medium rare steak as a treat (with the rampant heart disease that runs in my family I try to subscribe to this philosophy most of the time anyway) but I'm really relieved to know I can fulfill not one but two of my top protein cravings (with peanut butter coming in at a close third) without feeling totally guilty.
All of these revelations have made me quite the happy pregnant lady today. What's made you happy today?
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