Somehow the last full month of summer went in a flash. When I look back at all the little moments through memories on my phone, I realize there was baby, or I’ve barely captured anything at all.
I’ve now been back to work for a full month. I have felt constantly pulled between wanting to be in two places at once. And balancing work with breastfeeding or pumping regularly – in short, the last year or so of pregnancy and new motherhood has given me a whole new appreciation for mothers.
And in the more granular, events both in our neighborhood this past week, and in my community of people have shaken me the last few days. Tragedy, shock, personal fear. While we can all do hard things – sometimes we just wish for others to stay at the top of wheel of fortune just a while longer. And of course we wish that for ourselves.
Reading
- Importance of Using Epigenetic Nutrition and Supplements Based on Nutrigenetic Tests in Personalized Medicine: “This study highlights the importance of considering individual genetic profiles when recommending dietary supplements…Tailoring supplement choices based on genetic information can lead to better health outcomes and reduced adverse effects, emphasizing the need for integrating genetic testing into nutritional planning and healthcare practices.”
- The key to the Mediterranean Diet / Eating Pattern is the olive oil, right? More studies like this one might lead us to believe otherwise.
- Another example of gut health impacting hormone balance.
- I finally read People We Meet on Vacation and enjoyed literally everything about it except the last couple pages.
Enjoying
- A Vegetarian Ceviche that tastes pretty much the same as the imitation crab-based one I grew up with. I’ll be leading a virtual Cook-Along in the next few days if you’d like the recipe and/or to cook-along with me!
- Gluten-Free Sourdough Pizza with this Quick Homemade Pizza Sauce. I made a Margherita Pizza for the first time ever last week and it was AMAZING – using this dairy-free mozzarella.
- an adapted version of the Vaghareli Makai corn salad recipe in Heidi Swanson’s Near & Far.
- This playlist. And also this one, which I personally refer to as Temple Morning. Our baby has mostly listened to Gregorian chants or Sanskrit mantra songs, and he came into this world to a different playlist of the same (now his bed-time songs).
I’ve always been a big music person but my tastes have changed with the years. In the last few, I’ve realized I need music that calms my nervous system rather than amps it up. It’s safe to say I’m in a spiritual/chanting phase.
Nutrition and Food/Cooking Questions
- Should I be avoiding chocolate due to the recent headlines about heavy metal content?
A recently published study on heavy metals in chocolate is a bit alarming, and should be taken into consideration as lead and cadmium are toxic. For most individuals, this means limiting your portion sizes, choosing products that have somewhat lower amounts, and consuming chocolate less often. See Consumer Lab for more details on brands and products. This is especially true for pregnant women, young children, and anyone with chronic health conditions. This doesn’t mean you have to avoid chocolate completely – just be conscious of just how much you’re consuming. - What do you think of soy products? I try to avoid them because of health risks.
Soy really has gotten a bad wrap over the years. This is usually true because of its phytoestrogen content. Traditional soy foods including organic tofu, tempeh, and edamame actually are linked to preventing the health conditions that many are weary they’ll promote. This is because the phytoestrogens act like a “key” in an estrogen receptor “lock”, and they replace the key that estrogen would have inserted into that receptor lock. In fact, we see that up to two servings of traditional soy foods per day can be helpful for preventing breast cancer, both pre-and post-menopausal, and higher soy consumption is associated with reduced risk of death after cancer diagnosis. Consuming soy may also help with the symptoms that often present in the menopause transition.
For the same reason as the estrogen lock and key description above, men need not fear soy products either.
You’ll want to seek out organic products as non-organic soy is commonly genetically modified and will have heavy glyphosate use during crop production. The takeaway here is that as long as you’re consuming soy in traditional ways and not in ultra processed products, it’s beneficial in well balanced and diverse eating patterns.
Until next time ~ Rebecca
p.s. if you have nutrition or cooking questions, you’d like to submit, enter them in the comments, or submit via the contact form. If you’d like to sign up for my periodic newsletter, you can do so here.
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