Whole Health Dietitian — Tastefully Fueling Active Transportation
Number of draft posts started in the last week (and by “started,” I mean they have titles): 6
Number of published posts in the last week: 1
Sigh. Maybe one of these days . . . .
Until then, here’s a gratuitous baby picture to make up for my lack of posting 🙂
Dairy has been a food group of much contention in our house over the past year. First, Matthew tested positive for a dairy allergy (at least according to one type of test) and subsequently went on an elimination diet. He was part way through the “challenge phase” of the diet, where you add various forms of dairy back into your diet in a specific order (ghee, butter, yogurt, hard cheese, soft cheese, milk), when The Dude came along.
We had agreed ahead of time that it didn’t make sense for him to continue with the elimination diet once the little one arrived (by that time he was up to “hard cheese” anyway), what with the influx of donated meals. We were already specifying vegetarian meals, and adding “no dairy” on top of that seemed too complicated.
However, after a few weeks of a very fussy baby, MY dairy consumption became the focus of attention. Certain proteins in the mother’s diet can pass undigested into breast milk and cause problems for the baby, and dairy proteins are a major culprit, although it is relatively rare (estimates from various sources range from 1 in 100 to 5 in 100). We consumed most of the dairy-containing food in the house, and then I went cold turkey.
Eight weeks of scrupulously avoiding any dairy, including most foods prepared for us by others, restaurant meals, etc. Eight frustrating weeks where I really wasn’t sure if it was making a difference for Gabriel, or if I was going to a lot of trouble for nothing. And then a few weeks ago, I started adding dairy back into my diet. Not in any particular order — just trying to avoid eating “too much” on any given day.
Since then, The Dude’s poops have taken on a strange consistency — very mucous-y, with a few little streaks of blood on occasion — and, in retrospect, he’s had more issues with gas. At first, I chalked it up to a bit of a stomach bug, but when it continued, I looked it up, and, you guessed it, the stool changes were consistent with a dairy sensitivity.
So it’s out with the dairy once again. I’m willing to make the sacrifice if it actually helps him, and at least this time, I have something concrete (or not) to monitor for improvement.
I’m pretty sure it’s been over a month since I last rode my bike. I believe the actual date was October 15th, when I made a late evening gelato run to use a Groupon before it expired. (I returned home with a quart of half pistachio, half cherry, in case you were wondering.) So yeah, hard as I try, I can’t come up with a time since then, which makes it a month-and-a-half 😦
When I was a full-time bicycle commuter, I’d barely hesitate before heading out on cold, dark rides. I’m afraid that I’ve gotten a bit soft after wo years of car commuting, plus the last few post-baby months of barely biking for non-work trips. Though I long for the day I return to full-time bicycle commuting, the all-weather aspect will require some readjustment.
Knowing I’m not the only new bicycling mama in bicycle withdrawal does help a bit. If we actually had the baby supporter, we might have given the trailer a real test drive (i.e., one with The Dude) last Friday, but alas, it only exists on our Christmas wish list right now.
I really doubt we’ll take him out in the trailer in the dead of winter, for fear of creating a Dude-sicle, and as goes baby, so goes mama. That means we’re looking at the spring before any chance even semi-regular biking around here. It just occurred to me that maybe I should get one of those trainer thingies for my bike, or I might not be fit to ride my bicycle around the block, much less take longer trips pulling a trailer, come spring!
The past four-and-a-half months have probably been the toughest, most challenging of my life, but in the midst of it, I have so much to be thankful for:
Happy Thanksgiving! What are you thankful for?
For some reason, a post I read over two years ago, about a Japanese man who used only one mug for over 30 years, has really stuck with me.
We have several pieces of beautiful, functional pottery that Matthew bought during his time in Utah: a plate, a bowl, something in-between a plate and a bowl, and two mugs. We tend to reserve the plate, bowl, and bowl-plate for special occasions because we hand wash them rather than putting them in the dishwasher.
The mugs, on the other hand, serve as our water glasses, and have been part of our everyday lives, something special in the ordinary. With their large volume, they are also perfect for heavy drinkers like us. (We also hand wash the mugs, but they just have water in them, so we don’t actually wash them all that frequently. And by “not that frequently,” I mean less than once a week.)
While the reality is that we have a shelf and a half of glasses and mugs in our cabinets, in practice, we are somewhat like the Japanese man with his one mug.
One fateful night back in September, we were up with Gabriel. After changing Gabriel’s diaper and handing him off to me for a feeding, Matthew went into the kitchen to get a drink. When I heard the crash, my heart dropped, knowing immediately that our pair of mugs was now down to one.
At the time, one of the lowest of the postpartum period, the broken mug seemed like a metaphor of my life since July 9th: my birth plans shattered and life as I’d known it broken, hopeless, unrepairable.
The thing is, we knew that using the mugs meant an increased chance of breaking the mugs. Instead of sitting in the cabinet, collecting dust, we enjoyed this piece of art every day for over five years. The one intact mug remains in daily use, though it is a bit lonely without its mate.
Matthew contacted the artist, and they may be able to make us a replacement. Part of me thinks it’s silly, what with all the other cups and mugs we own, but another part of me understands enough to not really protest. Perhaps it will be a new mug for this new life journey.
Her Green Life