Author Archives: Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition

Catching my breath

Last week was a bit of a bear.  A jury summons coincided with a couple of big deadlines at work.  I managed to complete most of the work tasks over the [previous] weekend — which was good, but also left me rather drained at the beginning of the week.

I cooled my heels for two days in the jury gathering room, part of this debacle; they had far more jurors than expected, leading to some interesting times on Monday morning.  They never called my number, and I was released late on Tuesday afternoon.

Instead of spending Wednesday addressing my growing paid-work and housework lists, I was home with sick Sir.  Thank goodness he’s not sick much (knock on wood), because he transforms from a sometimes-challenging, but usually pretty easygoing and low-key kid to an ab. so. lute. bear when he’s sick.  From Wednesday through Friday, it felt like we just moved from one meltdown to another, with some snotty-nose-wiping in between.

His antics had me alternating from annoyance to unable to suppress my laughter at the absurdity.  On Thursday, I told him we had time to listen to two songs before his nap.  After the second song, he started requesting the third track on the CD, “Jimmy Cracked Corn.”  I told him we would listen to that after nap; he disagreed and collapsed to his knees, sobbing “Jimmy Cra Cor” over and over again, while bouncing up and down with snot and tears streaming down his face.  I was torn between trying to comfort him (and get him down for an obviously much-needed nap) and getting out the video camera (I chose the former).

Earlier that morning, he had a breakdown when Matthew left for work.  Gabriel didn’t get to the window in time to blow him a kiss, and that was all it took.  It started out sweet that he really wanted to blow Daddy a kiss, but after several minutes of inconsolable crying, the sweetness lost it shine, replaced by eye rolling and mutters of, “Good Lord, child!”

There were some okay moments, too, but by the time my MIL arrived to pick him up late Friday afternoon, I was beyond exhausted (turns out I was getting sick, too) and close to the end of my rope.  Gabriel had Baba time for the next 24-hours, and we managed to salvage Valentine’s Day and transition to a fairly nice, if low-key and still sick, weekend.

I’m looking forward to a more normal week and returned health for all of us!

Smells fishy . . . and I’m eating it

I’ve been toying with the idea of adding sardines to my diet for a few years now.  While I was pregnant, I took a fish oil supplement for omega-3s.  I decided I wanted to try some kind of fish-based source of omega-3s again.  A bit of research showed that you get more benefits from eating actual fish than from taking fish oil supplements – not surprising, as this is true of many nutrients: better from real food than from a pill.  So I decided to take the plunge.

Two weeks ago, Matthew picked up a few tins of sardines for me.  I rather thought he would come home with one or two cans, but when he pulled out four (different varieties), I figured that would force me to try them enough to make a fair judgment and get over any initial uncertainty.

Sardine Trial (all from Trader Joe’s):

  • Wild Caught, Unsalted in Spring Water, 1 serving (2.96 oz.), 1.3g omega-3/serving
  • Wild Caught, Skinless, Boneless in Olive Oil, 1.5 servings (~2 oz/serving), 1.2g omega-3/serving
  • Lightly Smoked in Olive Oil, 1.5 servings (2 oz/serving)
  • Smoked Herring in Canola Oil 2.5 servings (~2 oz/serving)

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I started with the Wild Caught, Unsalted.  As soon as I opened the tin, I was met with a very strong fishy smell.  The fish oil supplements were looking better and better.  Despite the claim that a single serving was the entire tin, I started with about 1/3 of the contents, mashed up with some dill potatoes.  It was awful.  I thought this wouldn’t be a big deal, because I used to eat canned tuna, but blech!

In the interest of giving it a fair shake, and giving myself the chance to get used to a new taste, I turned the rest of the tin into sardine salad by adding some mayo, mustard, plain yogurt, celery, onion and garlic powder, lemon juice, and salt.  Still awful, really, but over the next two days I managed to choke it all down on crackers.

At this point, I debated donating the three remaining cans to a food pantry.  I knew once I opened another tin, I would feel obligated to finish it, and did I really want that?

Not ready to call it quits, I decided to try an actual recipe, using the Wild Caught in Olive Oil to recreate this sardine pasta recipe (I used just one tin — half the amount of sardines the recipe calls for).  As soon as I opened this second tin of sardines, I realized it is true that not all sardines are created equal.  While this variety still smelled fishy, the scent was distinctly less strong than the first variety (reminded me of canned tuna) – a good sign.

I actually really enjoyed the pasta dish.  Gabriel gobbled it right up, too.  Matthew ate it, though he was a bit dubious (both of them missed out on that first awful tin of sardines).

I have yet to try either the smoked sardines or smoked herring, but I’m optimistic that the smoky flavor will make them seem less fishy.  I will probably try another round of sardine salad with at least one of these tins.

Environmental and health considerations
Tiny fish lower on the food chain (like sardine and herring) have less chance to accumulate toxins, like mercury, so they are one of the healthiest choices if you want to eat fish.

Both sardines and herring are on the Marine Stewardship Council’s list of best seafood to consume.  But, again, not all sardines are created equal when it comes to environmental impact, and I’m afraid most of what we bought from TJs falls into the Mediterranean, “avoid due to overfishing category.”  Apparently, I need to be looking for the Marine Stewardship Council’s blue label when I shop.

The packaging is a major down side of sardines.  First there is the obligatory tin (recyclable, yes, but still using resources).  Then, for two out of the four varieties I tried, the tin alone wasn’t enough.  One had a plastic outer wrapping and another was in a cardboard box – excessive packaging to be sure.

Real food vs. supplement
Not sure where I come down on this one.  If the omega-3 fats are truly better absorbed from the fish, that is a big plus, assuming you can stomach the fish.  On a per serving basis, the fish oil supplements generate much less waste.  It would probably take more than 30 tins of sardines to get the same number of servings as in a bottle of supplements.  This also makes the real food version more expensive, dollar-wise, than even a high quality supplement.

Practically, I don’t see myself eating sardines every day, while taking a supplement every day is relatively easy.  For now, I plan to combine the two, perhaps trying to eat some sardines once or twice a week, and take a low-dose fish oil supplement most days (still need to buy the supplement.

While not a realistic expectation, I’m a little bummed that my first “dose” of sardines didn’t make me feel like superwoman.  Ultimately, to maintain the added cost of either sardines or supplements, I would like to see some kind of results.  While not necessarily linked, there is some chance that the additional omega-3s will help my psoriasis (since the condition involves inflammation and omega-3 fats are supposed to reduce inflammation in the body) and they may also help my mental health.

If I keep this up, I guess I will technically be a “pescatarian” though I’ll probably continue to identify as a vegetarian.

One-third-life crisis

What happens when you’re too young for a mid-life crisis but too old for a quarter-life crisis?

Though Wikipedia defines quarter-life crisis as a period “ranging from the late teens to the early thirties,” that seems a bit of a stretch.  Once you reach thirty, it would only really be a quarter-life crisis if you planned on living until 120.  I don’t.

Quarter-life crisis sounds like the just-graduated from college, can’t find a job, moving back in with the parents kind-of thing.  This is not that.

My mid-20s were actually okay, if rather by the book.  Graduated from college; went to grad school and added some letters after my name; was employed full-time; got married; had a baby.  Check, check, check.   I have a lot to be grateful for, and yet . . . .

I’m pretty sure I’m too young for a mid-life crisis (though my ailing body might disagree), but I’m definitely feeling some serious ennui.  “One-third-life crisis” lacks the ring of the other two terms, but it fits better than anything else I can think of.

Employment
Not sure I should even get started on this one.  Suffice it to say that what seemed like a fulfilling field with good job prospects back in 2004/05 is not so much.  Add having a spouse in the same field, and you’ve got double trouble.

That path to an M.D. that seemed so long and life-sucking in college?  Ha!  At this point in my life, if I’d gone with my original medical school plan, I would have finished med school, finished my residency, and been a full-fledged doctor.  Oh, hindsight!

We’re tossing around the idea of one of us going back to school for something with more job security (and higher compensation).  Two career contenders are physician assistant and optometrist.  Both would involve significant time and money for schooling, which is hard to consider at this stage of life, with a young child, other life interests and financial obligations, etc.

A less-drastic step that might lead to better job prospects in the public health field would be one of us going back for additional coursework in biostatistics.

However, none of that sounds as interesting (or as unrealistic) as my current [one-third-life crisis] goal . . . .

Being Pink (the singer, not the color)
Last week, I wasted a significant amount of time on my newfound obsession with Pink.  While I didn’t actually watch the Grammy Awards, I saw the video of her performance (which included aerial acrobatics and some very athletic dance moves).  This led me to seek out other videos, as well as general information about Pink and her career.  You know, typical internet stalker stuff.  My research led to two conclusions: 1)Pink is awesome, and 2) I want to be her.  No, really.

Pink is actually a few years older than me, so, theoretically, I have a bit of time to get my [nonexistent] singing / performance career to where hers is now, though it turns out her acrobatic dance moves didn’t come from nowhere; she was a pretty serious gymnast when she was a kid.  (I think I did gymnastics for about a year — does that count?)  On the other hand, she apparently trained for the aerial acrobatic portion of her 2010 tour in 6 weeks, with an additional 3 weeks of training for her 2013 tour.  If I had 9 weeks to do nothing but develop my skills with professional trainers, who knows?

But in reality . . .
. . . I’m probably just going to chop off a bunch of my hair and try to figure out whether or not I’m going to P-A school.  Oh, and maybe buy a house.

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Anyone with me in this one-third-life crisis boat?  Or been there recently?  What are you struggling with and/or what changes do you want to make?

I’m melting, melting

Okay, not melting exactly (it’s WAY too cold for melting), but I do feel like I’m falling apart.  Over the past year, I’ve accumulated a number of small-ish health issues: psoriasis, nail fungus, and back pain.  None of them are huge, but they are nagging things that won’t go away, no matter how much I ignore them.

Psoriasis
About this time last year, something funky started happening to the fingers on my right hand: itchy, red, very sensitive patches that eventually became swollen.  After a couple of months, when my half-hearted efforts to treat my [self-diagnosed] leprosy failed, I made it to the dermatologist, who, after a very cursory glance, proclaimed that I had eczema, not leprosy, and sent me on my way with a prescription for a topical steroid.

I never really used much of the huge tube of steroid cream, but my symptoms cleared soon after the doctor visit, largely due to the changing seasons (less cold, dry air) and possibly to some improvements in my mental state.  (Eczema and psoriasis are similar in that they are exacerbated by stress, anxiety, etc.)

It’s baaaaaaaacckk!  All good things must come to an end, and with the return of cold, dry winter air came the return of my skin condition.  With a new twist.  After a few weeks of the standard irritated skin on my fingers, I started noticing joint pain in the affected areas.  Matthew already suspected that my skin condition was psoriasis, not eczema, and this new symptom seems to confirm his suspicion.

Not only do I have psoriasis, I have a fun and relatively unusual manifestation — psoriatic arthritis — lucky me!  The joint pain is not constant; some days, I don’t notice this aspect at all, but there have been a couple of pretty bad periods, where I had to turn vegetable chopping duties over to Matthew because it hurt to hold the knife.

Anyway, since treatment of psoriasis and eczema is relatively similar, I’m working on using up that huge tube of steroid cream; applying fancy, expensive petroleum jelly (i.e., Aquaphor) every couple of hours; trying to work on some of the stress reduction stuff; and hoping the spring arrives soon.

Nail fungus
I’d never, ever had nail fungus.  Then, last February, I redeemed a pedicure gift card.  (Note that this was the second, or maybe third, pedicure I’ve ever gotten in my life.  It was likely also the last.)  A few weeks later I noticed an odd spot on the nail of my big toe.

I waited around a bit, hoping that it was a bruise under the nail and would just grow out, but after a couple of months, it became clear that the nail salon had given me a special gift — nail fungus!

Treatment options seem pretty limited, since I’m staying away from the oral anti-fungals.  This leaves topical anti-fungals, [very expensive] laser treatment, or alternate topical remedies.  For now, I’m applying Vick’s VapoRub twice a day, after soaking the toe in warm water (hoping this makes the nail more porous / the treatment more effective).  Like topical prescription anti-fungals, there’s a good chance I’ll have to keep this up daily FOR A YEAR.  Then, maybe, if I’m lucky, my nail will be healthy again.

Ongoing back pain
From October through December, I invested a significant amount of time and money in physical therapy for my back.  I felt like things were headed in the right direction, but I reached a point where I felt like I wasn’t making any more progress.

According to the therapist, the two rotated vertebrae were back in their proper places, and staying there, but I continued to have point pain whenever I pressed on one of the vertebrae.  This didn’t seem to be going away or getting better, and some of the PT exercises seemed to exacerbate it.

I checked myself out of physical therapy, hoping that my spine just needed a bit more time to get used to things being back in their proper places (after all, things had been out of whack for three months before I sought treatment).  But those hopes seem unfounded.

What to do?  More physical therapy (with a different therapist)?  Chiropractic?  (Was going to try chiropractic initially, but had a hard time getting a good provider recommendation.)  I also have not had any imaging done on the area, so I’m wondering about an MRI so we can see what’s really going on in there.

I’m not sure of my next step, but I probably need to do something.  The pain is limiting my physical activity (most activities don’t hurt while I’m doing them, but they lead to increased pain later, so I’ve been avoiding quite a few strengthening exercises) and making me feel old and grumpy.

Life’s leaps and bounds

Remember that job Matthew and I both applied for back in December?  Well, less than 24-hours after the initial interview, they notified me that I was not in the running.  While being notified of your application status in a timely manner is nice, this was almost so fast as to be insulting.  I was pretty sure I cleaned all the chia seeds out of my teeth before going in to the interview.  Had I made a some other glaring mistake?

I guess I’ll never know, but fortunately, over the last month-and-a-half, Matthew made it to the second round interview, then jumped through some additional hoops, and then waited.  His efforts culminated in a [full-time] job offer this week, which he accepted.

This is good.  It makes our in-progress purchase of a bicycle that will be worth more than our car seem not quite so insane.  We’ve ordered the bike and made a down payment at the bike shop.  The frame color and style we want is back-ordered until sometime in March, but we should have our Xtracycle Edgerunner cargo bike by spring!

In case that wasn’t enough excitement to end January / begin February, we looked at a house on Friday afternoon.  We’ve had various realtors sending us online listings for about a hundred years now.  Between the listings and looking at satellite images of the property, we rule most of these out, based on factors including being too close to something unfavorable (e.g., a highway or railroad) or not the right size and/or sunlight for a very large garden.  Every now and then, there’s one we deign to see in person.  Usually we go, take a relatively quick look inside and out, shrug, thank the realtor for his/her time, and walk away unimpressed.  Many realtors don’t have the patience to stick with us.

Friday afternoon was different.  I won’t say it’s our dream house, but given how long we’ve been looking, this might be our “good enough:” decent house that we can make our own over time, decent space and layout for gardening (after we remove some trees), inner-ring suburb, decent/good public schools, and not much further than Matthew’s current bike commute.  Its downsides are mostly things we can fix, with some time and money, though the location is not as walkable as I would prefer.

Anyhow, we’re planning to make an offer this week.  What will happen after that is anyone’s guess.  It’s a foreclosure, and the bank is accepting owner-occupant bids for the first 10 days.  We won’t know how our bid stacks up to other bids, so once we make the offer, it will just be a waiting game.  At the end of which, we will either be making the largest purchase / investment of our lives and becoming home-owners rather than renters, or not.  Not nerve wracking at all.