LAmom

CURRENT FOOD INFATUATION: KABOCHA SQUASH

This year I've been working on improving my diet (I wouldn't say that it was really bad before, but there's room for improvement).  My inspiration is some research I did on how to live to be 100.  From the things I read, it looks like I should focus mainly on exercising more and eating better kinds of food.

So I've been trying new vegetables, including lots of different types of squash.  And I have fallen in love with the Kabocha squash.  Velvety texture with a flavor almost like a sweet potato.  Mostly eating it baked with butter and that's it, but I'm seeing some recipes around that look interesting.  This one will probably be first.

LISTEN TO THE UTERUS

(cross-posted to LAcrone)

This post ended up going in directions I had not originally planned :-)

So the preliminary results of a Dutch study say:

Women in stressful jobs who become pregnant should virtually halve their time at work right from the start of their pregnancy, according to Amsterdam specialist Gouke Bonsel.

Bonsel, a professor of social health at the well known AMC hospital in the city, says women should work no more than 24 hours a week, if their occupation is stressful.

Preliminary results from a recent study had shown surprisingly strong results, he said.

'We were astonished and we thought long and hard about publishing the results, but it is perfectly clear.

'Women who work 32 hours or more in a stressful position have noticeably lighter children, with all the consequences,' Bonsel says.

The study, a major long-term investigation into pregnancy, found an average weight decline in newborns by 150 grams, the same as that caused by smoking during pregnancy,

There are some instances where pregnant women need special consideration, but I don't think this counts as one of them.  I believe that many of us, male or female, pregnant or not, abuse our health by allowing ourselves to be put under chronic stressful conditions and accepting it as normal.  For us, the consequences may not manifest themselves for a long time.  Pregnancy just happens to be a time when the results of this neglect are more immediate and easier to recognize.

The right response to this data would be to conclude that overstressing people is bad.  The wrong response would be to decide that pregnant employees are a hassle because they can't take the heat.

These stressed-out pregnant moms and their low-birthweight babies are trying to tell us something about our lifestyle.  You can call them our canaries or you can call them our prophets.

All that hippy-dippy ecofeminist talk about the uterus being a cauldron of wisdom -- this is an example of what that means (at least what it means to me).  For instance, some say that the emotional changes women may get premenstrually are not indications that the women are losing their grip.  Rather it's that they are genuinely confronting feelings that they (and the rest of us) are usually in denial about.  We can either listen and learn or we can push it away -- Don't pay any attention to her.  She's got PMS.

PMS, menstrual problems, menopausal storms and more.  I think our wombs are sending us a lot of messages about the toxic (both physically and emotionally) environment we live in.  And a lot of treatments for those problems seem to be aimed at getting those uteruses to just SHUT UP, without looking at what the underlying messages might be.  Your hormones are making you unpredictable and unproductive?  Try these hormones in a bottle.  They'll regulate you nicely.  And if that doesn't do the trick, maybe we'll just take that uterus out.  OK?  Now, back to work.

Don't get me wrong.  There are indeed some instances where women have female problems because their reproductive systems are just plain broken.  But often, we're too quick to conclude that it's the woman's body that's at fault and needs to be either fixed, pitied, or ignored.

Similar ideas explored here, but not female-related.

STUDENTS CAUSE A STIR BY BELIEVING SOMETHING THEY WERE TAUGHT

I liked this story:

The widow of the man who ignited the low-carb craze said she will donate $16,000 to an elementary school where some students refused to sell candy as part of a fundraiser.

The North Side Elementary students said selling the chocolate bars and potato chips went against what they were taught in school about healthy eating. They were raising money for a field trip to Washington D.C.

Veronica Atkins said the donation will come from her foundation, which promotes her mission to combat Type II diabetes.

``I was so proud when the children said you're telling us not to go out and eat sugar and then you ask us to sell it,'' Atkins, 68, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Tuesday's edition. ``I said no way am I going to let them down and not let them go on the field trip.''

I'm not saying that I have a perfect diet, but I do try to limit my sugar intake.  And I do get tired of sweet-faced children asking me to support their causes by buying sugary stuff.  Sometimes, when I was single and had more money, I would give a dollar and refuse the candy.  These days I just say no, thanks.

In my younger days, the young women at our church (teens and early twenties) wanted to do a fundraiser once.  The first suggestion, of course, was a candy sale.  I suggested that instead of offering something that really wasn't good for people, we could offer something that would be more worthwhile, like maybe cleaning people's houses for money.  My idea was quickly shot down.

JUST DON'T GET SICK

Redneck Mother is having quite the adventure trying to getting a claim paid from her health insurance company.  Here is the most recent episode in her epic saga.

MENOPAUSE CARTOON

Sue's got a precious Dave Coverly cartoon strip on her menopause blog.  Go look.

NO "CHESTNUTS ROASTING" JOKES, PLEASE

One thing about feministing.  They find out about every experimental form of contraception that's on the horizon.  Well, there's a new one being used in Serbia.  Men are getting mild electrical shocks to their testicles, which is said to render their sperm immobile for about 10 days.

ESTROGEN DEFICIENCY?

Sue Richards, in her excellent menopause blog, has a quote from Dr. Susan Love:

If estrogen deficiency is a disease, all men have it!

MOMS AND BABIES AT RISK AFTER EARTHQUAKE

The earthquake in South Asia may continue to result in casualties for months to come.

The U.N. estimates 40,000 pregnant women were among the 4 million people affected by South Asia's Oct. 8 earthquake. Health officials say the temblor may have triggered miscarriage and premature labor, and could worsen Pakistan's already dismal statistics on infant mortality.

Korejo said higher infant and maternal mortality rates could persist in the quake zone if survivors don't get adequate health care. "If they can't reach care, (mothers and babies) could easily die," she said.

Women treated at the hospital are the lucky ones. Some 800,000 people in remote areas have been virtually cut off since the quake, with no aid or medical care.

IF WE ATE WHAT THEY TOLD US TO . . .

UPDATE -- I found a link I want to add: Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.

From the American Journal of Public Health we learn that foods that should be in the minority in our diets make up the majority of what is showcased in TV commercials aimed at children.

Convenience/fast foods and sweets comprised 83% of advertised foods. Snacktime eating was depicted more often than breakfast, lunch, and dinner combined.

A 2000-calorie diet of foods in the general-audience advertisements would exceed recommended daily values (RDVs) of total fat, saturated fat, and sodium. A similar diet of foods in the child-audience advertisements would exceed the sodium RDV and provide 171 g (nearly 1 cup) of added sugar.

You know how commercials for children's cereals always include that shot of the bowl of cereal accompanied by a couple pieces of toast, a glass of juice, and a glass of milk, while the cartoon mascot chirps, "Part of this nutritious breakfast!"?  Do any of us really feed our kids that breakfast?  The whole reason you serve cereal is to save yourself the trouble of preparing a breakfast.  If I'm going to make the effort to make toast for everybody, I can give them some fruit along with it and forego the cereal.  When they say "part of this nutritious breakfast," you know full well that the cereal isn't the part providing the real nutrition.

If you happen to live in Seattle, however, you may soon see some advertisements for much better food choices:

This week bus riders in the Highline, Tukwila, Burien, and White Center areas will see original works of art by 120 area students that have been created as part of a bus advertising campaign promoting the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.

"We were teaching students what advertisements are and how to pay attention to their methods, and what they are trying to sell them. We start the lesson by teaching children about how flowers use bright colors, scents, and even mock female insects to attract pollinators. The students were asked to create advertisements for fruits and vegetables after the kids reported that they have not seen any ads like this. Proud of their own artistic achievements, some of the students suggested it would be cool if these ads could reach the public in their neighborhoods."

Here's a sample of some of the ads.

This illustrates why the profit motive can be so destructive.  Advertising, instead of calling our attention to the things that are best for us, instead wants us to focus on whatever someone can make the most money from.  My favorite example is breastfeeding.  The big problem with breastfeeding is that nobody makes that much money from it.  Some nursing moms buy breast pumps, but those are only a one-time purchase.  How can that compare to formula that you have to buy continually for years?  That's why ads for bottles and formula vastly outnumber the "public service" ads that encourage us to breastfeed.  Our best interests are not the issue.

THE CHANGE IS GONNA DO ME GOOD

I'm talking about THE change.  I'm only 40, but the first waves of menopause are starting to wash over me.  It brings changes in my body and in my mind.  I'm fascinated by it.

This blog isn't a place where I intend to talk about my plumbing, so for those who are interested, I have started another blog, LAcrone:

this space will be dedicated to discussing pre-menopause, peri-menopause, and just generally maturing in the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, and whatever other realms

a place to relax, put your feet up, and let your feelings flow

Anyone who's interested, drop on by.

this space will be dedicated to discussing pre-menopause, peri-menopause, and just generally maturing in the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, and whatever other realms

a place to relax, put your feet up, and let your feelings flow