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Have you seen my other blog at USAToday.com? It features tips for feeding your family healthy foods, and offers a weekly recipe that I prepare with my children as part of Cooking With My Kids. This week’s recipe is Quick and Easy Honey-Wheat Hot Cross Buns. Get the recipe, and many more at http://tinyurl.com/4×2e5x
Fat is good; you need it for several reasons, including for the essential fatty acids it offers that your body cannot make on its own.
However, the type of fat you eat matters when it comes to fertility.
Higher intakes of trans fat, found in processed foods such as fast-food French fries, pastry, and stick margarine, may increase your risk of endometriosis, a condition that can reduce your chances of conceiving, according to a recent study in Human Reproduction.
The good news: Eating omega-3 fats, found in seafood, fortified foods, and dietary supplements, reduced the risk of endometriosis.
The study results are preliminary, but promising. And they add to the body of evidence that points to omega-3s as beneficial and trans fat as unnecessary and, worse, harmful.
In a related study, Harvard researchers have found that eating trans fats translated into a lower rate of conception in a large group of women with no history of infertility. Separate research related trans fat to weight gain in women.
Baked potato and grilled fish, anyone?
Have you seen my other blog at USAToday.com? It features tips for feeding your family healthy foods, and offers a weekly recipe that I prepare with my children as part of Cooking With My Kids. This week’s recipe is Quick and Easy Honey-Wheat Hot Cross Buns. Get the recipe, and many more at http://tinyurl.com/4×2e5x
When I was pregnant, I often thought I was losing my mind, and I worried about it. I couldn’t locate important, everyday objects, my attention span was shorter, and my disposition was, at times, less than pleasant.
If this sounds like you, take heart. A new study gives credence to your memory glitches and mood swings.
Researchers at Bradford Institute for Health Research in the United Kingdom found that beginning in the second trimester, women have trouble with spatial recognition memory. In other words, you are less likely to recall where you put your keys, or where you set down those important documents you need to review. Your “mommynesia” may even persist for a few months after delivery day, the study suggests.
Twenty-three pregnant women and 24 women who were not pregnant took computerized tests to determine their ability to remember patterns and locations, and to see how well they could learn certain rules. Women who were expecting babies did worse than those who were not pregnant. Pregnant women also expressed higher levels of depression and anxiety.
Nobody knows why your mind goes to mush (or feels like it is) as you get closer to delivery. Hormone fluctuations and fatigue may play a role.
Having the baby seemed to improve the mood in the group of previously-pregnant women, say the researchers. Sure, until the effects of chronic sleep deprivation set in!
Read more about so-called pregnancy brain here.
