The Flourished Files Blog

Pregnancy and Acid Reflux

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Photo of me taken by my husband
7 months pregnant

Hi Everyone I missed you all !  I wrote this article a couple of months ago during the summer time when I was still pregnant. The baby is now here ! But I still wanted to publish this so you guys could see my experience with Acid Reflux and Pregnancy.

Hey guys! So the reason why I have been away from blogging on this site and my social media for quite some time is because my spouse and I found out we were expecting a child! Now with pregnancy comes a whirlwind of emotions. You just go through all these different stages and emotions and sometimes you just can’t control it because of all the hormonal changes taking place in the body during pregnancy.

As I embark on this new journey in my life I am learning a lot and all the symptoms that come with pregnancy. One of the major symptoms of pregnancy that most women experience and other women are very very lucky not to experience is NAUSEA and VOMITING. Even though the cause is unknown as to why women experience these symptoms such and nausea and vomiting especially in the first trimester ( first 12 weeks) the main culprit is believed to “The Pregnancy Hormone Hcg” also known as Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (see reference below). I know that is a very long name to pronounce so we will just say Hcg.  

Hcg levels are especially high in the beginning of pregnancy and this is the hormone that allows us to actually confirm that we are pregnant either by a blood test or urine test. After about 11 or 12 weeks levels of the hormone will start to decline but still remain active until the end of pregnancy.

I thought that pregnancy would be a breeze for me but I had these symptoms instantly and even at almost reaching 20 weeks I am still experiencing symptoms such as gagging when waking up in the morning and throughout the day, nausea before meals and after meals, and extreme fatigue not to mention the backaches, insomnia, and changes in heartheart. I mean it is a lot but as women this is what we were called to do and it is a beautiful thing.

But now as the baby grows, I am starting to experience more reflux and heartburn. There are still some medications such as tums which is safe to take during pregnancy but I have tried them all and nothing has worked. So getting through reflux during pregnancy is a challenge especially if you are having changes in your appetite sometimes you just eat what you can and it is hard to stick to the rules of reflux. Of course you should continue to make sure that you are staying away from your trigger foods , greasy foods, spicy foods and certain spices and condiments. Also drink lots of fluids especially water but drinking fluids during pregnancy be after meals or before meals so that you do not get too full and nauseated. You should also eat small frequent meals and try not to overeat. So these are some of the things I try to do to take control of my reflux if you guys have any tips please comment and share below!

Thank you for reading!

Want to read more about The Pregnancy Hormone Click on this link that will direct you to the American Pregnancy Association Website

Reference: https://americanpregnancy.org/while-pregnant/hcg-levels/  

What Are The Best Reflux Recipe Books?

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Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Excuse me all for as I have been away for quite some time but now I am back! As you guys already know from reading through my blog I have LPR (Laryngopharyngeal Reflux) Acid Reflux. It not has been an easy journey with acid reflux and I’ve had many moments where I have struggled through it. Psychologically and emotionally at one point, I thought that I would never be able to eat a normal diet ever again. It took a lot of hard work and effort but now I am in a much better place with managing my reflux. As much as you can take medications for reflux it is 80 percent about your diet and what you are eating. So eventually you will have to make those necessary changes in food choices that you will carry with you for years to come.

On my Instagram page: @ Acidrefluxx_ many of my followers have been asking me what are some of the best recipe books for acid reflux. To answer that there are many to choose from. What I do before purchasing any is books is making sure I skim through the reviews and check the contents page to see if the recipes are ones that interest me and I am willing to try out because everyone has their preferences.

How Do You Handle Your Sweet Tooth on Valentine’s Day

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Happy Valentine’s Day! Picture Credit: Me!

Now we all love sweets, at least most of us get a sweet tooth from time to time. Now for someone like me who has Acid Reflux when it comes to those Valentine’s Day chocolates, I definitely cannot have the whole box in one day. Maybe more like one piece of chocolate a week lol. So the question is how can we still enjoy sweets without consuming too much sugar and calories?

First to start do not overdo it! Whether you get one box of chocolate or many different sweets do not eat it all in one sitting! Whew! Second, try looking for sweets that are vegan! Now they still contain sugar of course but the ingredients in vegan sweets will be a lot healthier and not contain high fructose corn syrup which we know is like the number one sugar enemy. High fructose corn syrup is used in so many food products including wheat bread that you may think is 100 percent healthy, always read your nutrition facts labels they are there for a reason. 

Third try looking for sweets that are organic which will have much better ingredients but again it does not mean it does not contain sugar. Fourth, you can go completely sugar-free and look for sweets. I have tried many things that are sugar-free such as sugar-free cakes, sugar-free ice creams, and sugar-free chocolates and they still taste good! Lastly, if you are good at baking in the kitchen you can bake your own sweets that way you get to control how much sugar you use in your recipe. 

When it comes to sugar in the diet, it should always be in moderation. Really when it comes to sugar consumption for Males the total amount for one day should only be about 37.5 grams of sugar and for females 25 grams of sugar per day (According to the American Heart Association). Now we all know that most of the time we go over those recommendations. 
As I always teach to anyone that I coach we have to have certain things in moderation and sugar is most certainly one of those things.

Here is a list of a few things I have tried out:

Breyers Sugar-Free Vanilla Ice Cream

Breyers Non- Dairy Peanut Butter Flavor Ice Cream

Pillsbury Sugar-Free Yellow Cake Mix

Healthy Foods Healthy Foods

There are many sugar-free sweets you can purchase through Amazon if you can not find them in your local supermarkets such as sugar- free Reese’s and Hersey candies

Some of my favorite vegan brands are:

Enjoy Life

Lenny and Larry’s

Nature’s Bakery

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Do you have a Health Plan / Goals

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Picture Credit: Taken by me! One of your health goals might be to focus on 
 
a healthy mind such as doing meditation or yoga


As I mentioned in my last blog post some of us are still overcoming those New Year’s Blues. But guess what now it’s time to make a list of your goals and get a game plan started. So to start your probably thinking how do I start off this list or organize this list.
Everyone is different and are facing different health issues and concerns so start off with writing out your health history. 

When you start off with writing out your health history it allows you to narrow down the things you need to focus on. For example, someone may have as part of their health history high cholesterol. You then know to put on your list limited foods in diet that cause high cholesterol. So once you take a look at that it helps you to breakdown your goals even better. After that is done take a deep breath in and out you made it through the first step. Then you will begin to map out your individual goals I will provide down below two examples you can use. Both of these formats work out great but the goal is to choose any format that works out best for you.
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Picture Credit: Pinterest. This is one way you can write down and organize your health goals each month
Picture Credit: Pinterest. You can also make a self-care list just like this these list are free and printable through Pinterest

If you are someone that has a busy schedule or is on the go take a picture of your list to carry it around with you. Post it up against your refrigerator so that every time you open the fridge you can get a good reminder of your goals.

Once you get this system going it will keep you reminded of the health goals that you have. Take the time to sit, think, and jot down. Let’s get healthy 2019!

Are You Having The New Year’s Blues?

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Happy New Year 2019!
Picture Credit: Gighy.com Source : Evite

Happy February guys! But Ummm where did January go? If your feeling how I’m feeling than you know that January was like was a blur and went by wayyyy to fast. Whoa 2019 slow down. For those of you who made resolutions, you may have decided that you are over it. But don’t feel down the month of January may be over but every day is a new day to start fresh.

So my question to all of you is how are you taking care of yourself going into this New Year. The focus of this blog will be on Nutrition, Health, and Wellness. Three of my most favorite subjects but where do you begin? The first thing you need to really think about and evaluate is how do I currently eat. Then you need to think about how do I take care of myself? did you already get your yearly physical and are you aware of everything that is going on with your health such as high cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension etc. Then you will want to think wellness how am I exactly taking care of my body? Do I exercise, do yoga, run, jog, or meditate?

These are all questions that we must ask ourselves. Yes, we have to evaluate ourselves because who else will? Once you get in the frame of mind of making a change, change will happen. Remember that change is the only constant thing in life. When it came to myself before I got diagnosed with Acid Reflux LPR, I was very stubborn. I just ate anything I wanted not taking into account what the foods I was eating was really doing to my body. My main weakness was sweets and still is but I am now better at controlling myself. Yes, sugar is important because it provides fuel to our bodies and can give us a burst of energy but guess what happens when that burst of energy goes away? Correct you look for more sugar and more sugar to get you through the day. Not a good pattern to follow believe it or not sugar is not that great for the body and we should only consume it in small amounts 20 grams per day to be exact. Sugar can cause a lot of diseases in the body and be harmful to our Cells to some extent when you look at nutrition on a scientific level which I will not dive into at this very moment but I will soon (LOL).

But I hope this post will allow you to really think about your overall health and where you stand today, and the changes you want to make for 2019!