Essential Vitamins and Minerals for a Healthy Pregnancy

Pregnancy is one of the unique experiences that a woman can go through in her lifetime. There are so many matters that you need to consider before and during your pregnancy. Among these matters, nutrition (especially minerals and vitamins) are very important. Your health during pregnancy and the health of your baby will be affected by these vital matters. Ultimately, it’s in your best interest to make sure that your diet included the nutrients you need for a safe and healthy pregnancy. Here, we discuss some essential nutrients, minerals and vitamins that you should incorporate in your diet.

Vitamins

Vitamin A and beta carotene help the growth of teeth and bones. You can find this vitamin in potatoes, spinach, broccoli, carrots, cantaloupe, and pumpkin.

Vitamin D is responsible for body’s ability to use calcium as well as phosphorus. Like Vitamin A, Vitamin D also has an effect on the growth of bones and the teeth. Vitamin D can be found in sunshine during certain hours of a day. So it’s highly recommended that you spend plenty of time outdoors during the early morning. Be sure to drink and eat plenty of milk and fatty fish.

Vitamin E is responsible for the forming and developing the body—namely the red blood cells and muscles. Foods that are rich in vitamin E include spinach, vegetable oil (in moderate amounts), fortified cereals and nuts.

Vitamin C helps the body develop its immune system and absorb iron. Vitamin C is also an antioxidant which protects the tissues from damage. Vitamin C can be gained by consuming citrus fruits, strawberries, potato, tomato, green bean, bell peppers, papaya, and broccoli.

Vitamin B1 or Thiamin is able to regulate the nervous system and can provide you with energy. Rice, pasta, organ meats, pork, egg, nuts, wheat germ, fortified cereals, and berries are good providers of Vitamin B1.

Vitamin B2 or riboflavin promotes healthy skin, eyesight, and energy. Good sources include meats, egg, and fortified cereals. These foods are also rich in Vitamin B3. If your pregnancy is causing you some indigestion then you can sooth your stomach with foods that are rich in Vitamin B3.

If your morning sickness tends to be severe or frequent, you can improve your condition by giving your body enough Vitamin B6, which can be found in a variety of foods. These foods include oats, brown rice, bran, nuts, sunflower seeds, walnuts, nuts, pork, chicken, liver, spinach, egg, soybean, beans and carrots.

Minerals

To start caring for the baby inside you, folic acid supports the placenta, prevents spine bifida and other neural tube defects. Green leafy vegetables, spinach, beans, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, nuts, pasta, fortified cereals and orange or orange juice are all rich in folic acid.

Aside from strengthening bones and teeth, calcium is also responsible for preventing the blood clots and improving functioning in nerves and muscles. Milk, cheddar cheese, dark green leafy vegetables and juices are all tasty sources of calcium.

Iron is responsible for production of hemoglobin. Iron prevents anemia, low birth weight and premature birth or delivery. You can gain iron by consuming beef, pork, spinach, dried beans, dried fruits and oatmeal or grains that are fortified with iron.

Tasty Recipes for Summer

As we are moving close to summer time, everybody’s preparing for this season of fun under the sun. Summer brings its own special activities such as its own food recipes. It’s going to be hot, humid and storms will take place in some places. Indeed, in hot and humid weather, certain foods can be really refreshing such as ice cream, a cold drink and more. These refreshments would really make you feel that summer time is the best time of the year.

Aside from desserts and drinks, there are so many recipes for summer that might interest you. Here are some recipes which can make your summer a memorable time for you and your family.

Let’s start with making a salad, a butter bean salad to be more specific. To prepare for this type of salad, you need:

3 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

5 Tbsp. olive oil,

¼ tsp pepper,

Chopped parsley (parsley can bring a lot of taste and a good aroma in salad so put in as much as you want)

2 (15 oz.) cans butter beans (rinsed and drained)

11 oz. corn can (drained)

14.5 oz. can zesty chili diced tomatoes (drained)

Small red onions chopped (not more than 3 pieces).

Simply prepare a big bowl and combine vinegar with olive oil, salt and pepper. Make sure you mix it well. Afterward, add the parsley and start mixing again. It’s good to consider that you should mix parsley in the bowl well and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix them well, chill the bowl for two hours before serving and enjoy the salad.

Some people might not want to spend so much of time cooking in their kitchen. Eventually, they will decide to dine out and often this act can be a part of a lifestyle. If every material is ready and laid out on the kitchen table in an organized way, cooking can be much easier and faster than what you think. So make sure that you always carry out an organized approach in cooking. Now we move on to the main dish which is lemon thyme grilled chicken. Here are the ingredients you need:

4 boneless and skinless chicken breasts (if you are serving more people then simply add to the amount)

1 tsp. dried thyme leaves

3 cloves of garlic (minced, always keep in mind that garlic can bring a very good taste to your food so if you want to add a bit more flavor then its completely up to you)

1 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. salt

3.5 tsp. lemon juice (it would be great if you use real lemon)

3 Tbsp. olive oil

To prepare this meal, you will first place the boneless skinless chicken in a bowl and pour lemon on the chicken breasts. Make sure the chicken and lemon juice are mixed well. Add the rest of the ingredients, cover the bowl and chill it in your refrigerator for 1-3 hours. Prepare the grill while the chicken is in the refrigerator. Initiate the fire a quarter of an hour before you bring out the chicken. Grill the chicken for 5-7 minutes on each side. Ultimately, it’s up to you how you want your chicken—some prefer their meat well-cooked while other prefer it rare and a bit juicy

With these two recipes, you will surely enjoy your summer time meal. To lean more about summer recipes, do some research online.

What is wrong with me?

What do you think is wrong with me that instead of sending in some perfectly respectable ShopRite Cupcakes to a room full of 5 year old children, I feel the need to bake, a THREE layer cake, with coordinating icing, and figures made from fondant. Clearly, the scariest part of my Halloween is the amount of therapy I need.

Ps – Do you think this was what they had in mind when they requested “healthy” snack!? Come on people…it’s freakin Hallowween.  Somehow spiders and ghosts made of  hummus seemed a bit silly.

Don’t Play With Your Food Kids! How to Get Your Toddler to Eat Their Veggies & More!

If you have trouble getting your kids to eat their veggies or anything edible for that matter, like I do, this absolutely clever plate will do wonders for your feeding times.

My daughter loves to decorate the character’s face in imaginative, clever and fun ways. Hey, I even like to do it myself.

You can find this item on this site:  Scents of Delight. ** Note **, I have not been paid or sent a free sample to endorse this product. It’s simply unique enough and makes lunch & dinner time almost bearable with a picky toddler!

Now I just have to figure out what to cook that will have  entertained enough to eat and play and miss the broccoli and asparagus on her plate! HA!

Would You Enhance Your Child’s Academic Performance Through Drugs?

I’d like to think I would do everything in my power to let my child be as successful as she wants to be.

I’d like to think I wouldn’t let anything stop me from paving the way for her in order to make her passage into adulthood as uncomplicated as possible.

I’d like to think I would give her everything I never had and it would all work for the best.

Then I see people who have those parents! Parents who have clawed their way to success on their own only to raise lazy, irritating brats who think the world revolves around them.

I see educated successful people raise drug addicts, unemployed, lost children.

WHY? Is it the curse of doing too  much for your children? If that’s the case, I don’t want to help my children. As much as that may kill me to see them struggle, that might be what is best for THEM.

How can we know that our good intentions and love will end up being someone’s crutch or excuse for not pushing hard enough! What if we make them push TOO HARD??

Apparently many parents feel pushing your children to work harder, be smarter and push more is better for them. Prescription drug use is on the rise these days. Check out this article about the uses of neurologically enhancing drugs from the New Yorker Magazine.

And it’s not the type of drugs you are thinking. Weed, coke and heroin are the least of our problems. Their obvious abuse is easier to spot in most circumstances.

The real problem today lies with prescription drugs if you ask me. The housewife who pops uppers and downers daily in order to function, men who abuse Viagra, anti-depressants and a ton more. All thanks to easy access pharmacies online that are more than happy to send you hundreds of little pills to ease all your pains. Viagra, Prozac, ……

We have become a society defendant on drugs for everything. Even our athletes, our present day gladiators, are using performance enhancing drugs to better their game.

So why shouldn’t your child? If it means getting into Harvard or getting accepted into a prestigious firm, what would be the harm?

Apparently, more people than you might imagine feel this way.

What do you think? Would you encourage your child to be more competitive in order to succeed? Would you go back in life and take these pills yourself if you could?

Tell us! We want to know!

Big Salads For Big Butts – 101 Simple Salads for the Summer Season

Yummy yummy! I don’t know what it is about salads, but I LOVE THEM!

When I was pregnant, I swear I could devour a salad 3 times per day. Something about the mouth-watering juicy feeling of eating something light and healthy just had me all over it!

The funny thing is, my daughter LOVES salad as well. She can gulp down tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, strawberries, cherries like it was J-O-B!

Nowadays, I eat salad so I can lose the 60lbs I gained during the pregnancy that I am STILL not anywhere near getting rid of.

Check out this NYTimes article on 101 different salad recipes for the summer season. YUM YUM YUM!!!

I love salad recipe collections like this to keep your menu and palate fresh.

So chop chop! Get busy eating some healthy veggies and fruits!

You can thank me later.

Do you have a favorite salad recipe? Share it below in the comments!

Restaurants Kid’s Menus – Full of Junk!

When did the “Kid’s Menu” turn into the “Junk Food” menu?? This crap seems to be creeping into our schools, into our homes, vending machines, restaurants — EVERYWHERE! These companies try to get their clutches into our children’s stomachs as early as the toddler years. We are losing the obesity epidemic!

We recently went to a restaurant with a couple of friends. When it was our turn to order, we got 2 adult meals with a side order of cherry tomatoes. This spurred on a few comments about whether I am eating for 2 and what is the baby going to eat.

“Well”, I said, “Have you seen the Kid’s Menu???? It’s full of chicken nuggets, mac & cheese and more junk food!”.

We’ve started ordering 2 adult meals and just giving our daughter a portion of our meals. It broadens her taste buds, she eats better food and we even save a few bucks!

Don’t get me wrong! She loves nuggets, french fries and anything fried with bread crumbs, but we try to avoid that for now. When is old enough to buy her own food, she can choose to eat whatever she wants. But for now, grilled chicken with veggies it is!

What do you feed your children at a restaurant or diner?

Study Allows Early Autism Detection by Age 2

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/838145

We have some children in our extended family whom I believe have undiagnosed mild autism. They exhibit the classic signs and behaviors such as inability to make eye contact, extreme focus on particular toys to the point of being unaware of other people in the room, inability to form relationships and/or bonds with others, mood swings and more. They are unlike any other children I’ve known or been around. It almost seems like the joy of being a child has been taken away from them. I feel terrible for them.

I found this article on CNN about some new breakthroughs gained on the fight with Autism in this country. As the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the United States, Autism is newly diagnosed in 67 children EVERY DAY! The average age for diagnosis 3.

According to some new research done by lead study author Dr. Joseph Piven at the University of North Carolina, “children with autism have normal-sized brains at birth but at some point, in the latter part of the first year of life, it [the amygdala] begins to grow in kids with autism. And this study gives us insight inside the underlying brain mechanism so we can design more rational interventions.”

In people without Autism, a normal-sized amygdala helps a person process faces and emotions, behavior commonly known as joint attention.

“When you see a face, you scan it, identify if it’s friend or foe and make a decision about whether to move forward or avoid it,” said Dr. Barry Kosofsky, chief of neurology at Cornell Medical Center, who was not affiliated with the study.

“Many studies have observed the brain grows too big in kids with autism, but this study finds that by age 2, the amygdala is already bigger and stops growing,” said Kosofsky. “So it tells us the critical difference has already developed. It now poses the question: Are children born with autism or does it develop in the first two years of life?”

“By tracking the behaviors and brain volume growth from birth in high-risk babies, we can pinpoint when the brain first begins to grow larger than normal and provide therapy or medications to limit the growth or symptoms a lot earlier than we are doing now,” said Piven.

Convertible Stroller Turns into Bicycle & More

Wish I lived in the Netherlands or at least someone would make this in the US! Hint hint Bugaboo and Graco!! Come on keep up with the Europeans! This stroller really does seem like something I would use! I do have to admit, there are a lot of gizmos and convertible kid furniture and such that seems somewhat pointless to me, but I think this Dutch company Taga hit on something awesome here! It’s reminiscent of the Bugaboo slim and modern design but with an extra kick! And it seems to store well in a smaller trunk for those of us who don’t drive 18 wheelers and would like some space for our groceries. It also promotes healthier living for those of us who live in walking distance to the market or in a city. Also, since it is completely carbon emission free, Taga is a smart and convenient substitute for a car in large cities such as New York. It will allow you to reach greater distances throughout the city while still caring for the environment and getting some needed exercise.Gosh… I can soo see myself with this thing if I still lived in the city!!! I wouldn’t need a car for those short trips to the drugstore or supermarket but I could still use SOME type of transportation! I have to admit, it’s brilliant! Taga also won a Red Dot Design Award for their ingenuity. Child seating can be reclined for a sleeping little one, and there’s both a hood and rain guard for protection against the elements. Future options will include seating for two children, a car seat adapter, a cart mode, a wooden double seat and extra front-end protection. The Taga is available in stores throughout Europe and the UK, where pricing is GBP 1,695. It’s available in Red, Orange, Blue and Green! Sighghhh…… I have 7 words?? When is it coming to the US???? Whom am I kidding – I live so far away from civilization, this would only be useful for getting our daily mail!

Hydroxycut Recalled by the FDA

I’ll admit it…I’ve popped a few diet pills in my life.  Once the baby was out, I couldnt blame my big rump on the pregnancy, and I was sooo tired of being huge,  who could blame me? I needed some instant weight loss gratification! Who wants to sweat and exercise when you can take a magic pill and shed that baby fat in a matter of hours!

Hydroxycut always seemed like the good choice. It’s been around since 2002 – I mean if it caused brain damage or something, wouldn’t the FDA have caught it by now?

Well! Not so fast!! Apparently, they were waiting for someone to die before investigating the contents and side-effects of this ever popular diet pill!

FDA Warns Consumers to Stop Using Hydroxycut Products

Dietary Supplements Linked to One Death; Pose Risk of Liver Injury

Hmmmm…… let’s regroup for a minute! Hydroxycut claimed it was as natural and clean as a baby’s butt! It cornered the market for over 7 years on weight loss supplements, by claiming it was natural (all natural ingredients) and nutritional weight loss supplement. It claimed it was able  to help you lose weight and gain muscle definition. There are no studies proving any of these claims.

Let’s face it ladies! If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

I am actually shocked that people are still popping diet pills after the whole ephedra nonsense. Unfortunately, the victims of these products are young impressionable girls who idolize Photoshoped models on the covers of Vogue and will do anything to look like that. Or desperate post-partum women like me looking for some normalcy again!
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