Category: Physical Health

Motherhood Challenges

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Me and my little one

Today makes 19 months of me being a mother and I can’t believe how quickly it has gone by. A year and a half later I can definitely say there are challenges with motherhood or being a parent. I won’t talk about all of those challenges in this blog post but I will focus on one that I’ve struggled with probably since the beginning and that is time management. As much as I want to make plans for my day, do things for myself or create content or study that doesn’t quite go as planned. Some days I can barely get to it at all if I’m lucky!

So the question is how do you manage your time or make time for yourself. Good question lol . To start nap time is your best friend. During a nap you can do one of two things. You can take a nap yourself or you can use that time to get EVERYTHING done! . Just kidding, do not do that and try to cram everything into that nap time because believe or not that nap time goes by quickly at least when your little one is past one year old. When babies are first born and in the newborn stages that is when they sleep more. My son used to sleep for 2-3hours and sometimes longer. So you have more time to work with when they are newborns but once they are a little older the nap times become shorter and shorter so do what you can with the time that you have. 

One thing that got really bad after I gave birth was the pregnancy brain. Pregnancy brain turned into mom brain and mom brain is much tougher for me and I forget things easily so when I have ideas for content I have to make sure I jot them down right away or I will forget. So always write down your ideas. Always plan ahead if you can and have either a notepad or use a notepad app on your phone. Even if you can’t get to what you need to do, you know that you have everything written down.

So when it comes to time management when you have children no matter their age we have to adjust and that is one thing I’m learning on this journey of parenthood.

Written By: Vanessa J

The New Normal Exercising at Home Part 2

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Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

I absolutely love what the photo above says wake up and workout and ever since the pandemic started for some of us working out at home has become a part of our new normal routine. Last year I wrote part 1 to this blog post and it received some pretty good traction and so today since that blog post did so well I want to follow up with part 2 which is an at home workout video! Now I’m not saying I’m an expert when it comes to working out but I wanted to visually show you all some of the exercises I enjoy doing at home.

Join along with me! 14 minute video

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Prepartum Depression and Postpartum Depression

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Photo by Kristina Paukshtite on Pexels.com

Prepartum and Postpartum Depression

This blog post is for all my mama’s out there and mama’s to be. Let’s get real and let us talk about postpartum depression but only not postpartum but prepartum depression which is something I experienced the first few months of my pregnancy.

It is said that the cause for postpartum depression is unknown but can be linked to rise and drop in hormone levels after giving birth. After a woman gives birth they given six weeks before coming back for their first postpartum checkup. In my opinion that first visit just goes by really fast and because postpartum depression is such a big topic of discussion in motherhood and pregnancy one screening for postpartum depression is not enough. Thats exactly how it went for me and several mama’s out there. During your six week check up you are given a questionnaire to fill basically asking you questions in relation to how you are feeling at that time. If you score above a certain number on that questionnaire it may mean you might have postpartum depression.

After my six week visit everything was good and my doctor said to come back in a year. I was thinking to myself a year? Thats it? That is all? This is where I feel things go wrong screening for postpartum depression should not just be after the first six weeks but should continue throughout that first year of being postpartum. 

As for my experience with prepartum depression which I am not sure is really a term but that’s what I would call it, I experienced this between my 2nd to 4th month pregnancy.  I just remember feeling really down and like I didn’t feel like myself, I didn’t want to get out of bed. Throughout most of my pregnancy I did feel very sick and was nauseated and dry heaving almost everyday so some of those things could have played a factor to making me feel more depressed but it just a different feeling that I never felt before.

It is very important that we know the signs and symptoms of postpartum depression which are:

  • Depressed mood or severe mood swings
  • Excessive crying
  • Difficulty bonding with your baby
  • Withdrawing from family and friends
  • Loss of appetite or eating much more than usual
  • Inability to sleep (insomnia) or sleeping too much
  • Overwhelming fatigue or loss of energy
  • Reduced interest and pleasure in activities you used to enjoy
  • Intense irritability and anger
  • Fear that you’re not a good mother
  • Hopelessness

If you feel that you may be exhibiting any signs of postpartum depression please reach out to your primary care provider

Written By: Vanessa J

Check Out My Youtube Video on Postpartum Depression

Nutrition For Endometriosis

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Photo by Larissa Deruzzi

In today’s blog we are closing out our final topics that were specific to women, for the month of March and this post is going to be about Endometriosis. Now , I’m pretty sure many of you out there may already know what Endometriosis is and there are many that don’t.

If you have not heard about it before, endometriosis is a disorder that affects the female reproductive system. This disorder specifically affects the uterus. The uterus is the area in which when pregnancy occurs the baby grows while inside the embryo sac. The uterus also sheds every month during to release an egg and that is why we have bleeding and have our menstrual cycle.

The tissue that lines the uterus is called “endometrium”. What happens in endometriosis is that the endometrium tissue starts to grow outside of the uterus.  The ovaries, fallopian tubes, and tissue in the pelvis can all be involved because the tissue growth can spread.

This is a condition that can be very painful for the women that do have it especially during the time of their monthly menstrual cycle that tissue becomes inflamed due to all the hormones that are being released.

The reason why I wanted to talk about nutrition for endometriosis is because Tia Mowry ( Twin from Sister Sister) has advocated for endometriosis because she has had it for many years and faced struggles with getting pregnant due to endometriosis. She also had to have multiple surgeries to removed the tissue that was growing outside of her uterus even though it would come back. She has advocated that changing her nutrition and diet is what helped her to not only get pregnant but manage her symptoms.

What she focused on was removing foods from her diet that triggered inflammation because it would cause the pain to be worse. She removed processed foods from her diet and a lot of dairy from her diet because dairy causes inflammation in the body. Eating more fruits, and vegetables, and fresh foods was a key to managing her symptoms. 

I hope you all enjoyed reading this blog post and if any have questions about endometriosis or changing your diet please talk to your Primary Care Provider or a Registered Dietitian.

Let’s Recap!

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Nutrition Recap For February and March

So for the month of February and March on this blog and on Youtube my focus  was on Heart Health and Women’s Health. The month of February in the US is Heart Health Month and the month of March is Women’s History Month . I will leave the links below to the Youtube videos I did for February and March.

Now that we are in April, I just wanted to give a recap of some of the diseases and disorders that I discussed and nutrition recommendations for those diseases and disorders. ( Disclaimer I work in the field of Nursing and Nutrition but I am not a Medical Doctor. When making any major changes to your diet or health please consult with your primary care doctor or a Registered Dietitian).

  1. Multiple Sclerosis 
  • Disease of the central nervous system 
  • Central nervous system includes the brain and spinal or cord
  • Attacks the nerves or nerve cells 
  • Myelin sheath deteriorates
  • Myelin sheath helps nerve signals travel and covers the nerve cell
  • Sensory Motor and Cognitive Problems
  • Cause is unknown 
  • Linked to genetic and environmental factors
  • Genetic being a female and Certain Genes
  • Environmental factors infections and Vitamin D deficiency 
  • Four types of MS
  • vision problems
  • tingling and numbness
  • pains and spasms
  • weakness or fatigue
  • balance problems or dizziness
  • bladder issues
  • sexual dysfunction
  • cognitive problems

Nutrition for MS – There is some evidence that a diet low in saturated fats and supplemented by Omega-3 (from fatty fishes, cod-liver oil, or flaxseed oil) and Omega-6 (fatty acids from sunflower or safflower seed oil and possibly evening primrose oil) may have some benefit for people with MS.

Vitamin D is a hormone and has many functions in the body:

promotes the absorption of calcium, necessary for bone health

supports immune response to infections

helps to limit inflammation and regulate the immune system

Food sources of Vitamin D include oily fish (such as salmon or tuna), beef liver, egg yolks, pork, fortified foods such as milk and juices

Biotin is considered a form of vitamin B, and is a component of enzymes in the body that help break down certain substances. It also activates certain enzymes that help the body produce myelin – the substance wrapped around many nerves in the central nervous system. Biotin, also known as vitamin H, is usually obtained from food.

2. Cardiovascular Disease 

  • Can include any condition that affects the heart , blood vessels, hypertension , atherosclerosis, arteriolosclerosis , high blood pressure, blood clots
  • Heart diseases that affect women more than men include
  • Coronary microvascular disease (MVD) – a problem that affects the heart’s tiny arteries
  • Broken heart syndrome – extreme emotional stress leading to severe but often short-term heart muscle failure
  • Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest. It lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back.
  • Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
  • Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
  • Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness

Nutrition for Cardiovascular Disease – Avoid junk foods, processed foods, fast foods. Stay away from saturated and trans fats. Eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, lean meats, fish such as salmon. Low Sodium Diet, Low Fat Diet/ Protein plus Fiber 

3. Lupus

  • Autoimmune Disease 
  • Inflammation and swelling takes place anywhere in the body and can attack any organ or organ system
  • Lupus affects everyone different some people might have mild symptoms and some people might have severe symptom
  • People will have flare ups and then go into remission 
  • Symptoms:
  • fatigue
  • fever frequent fevers
  • hair loss and hair thinning
  • rash butterfly shaped rash on cheek bones
  • pulmonary problems lungs can become inflamed and swollen 
  • kidney problems Inflammation of kidneys
  • swollen joints
  • gastrointestinal problems
  • thyroid problems
  • dry mouth and eyes

Nutrition for Lupus- Eat a well balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables and omega 3s Salmon, Tuna, Mackerel, and Sardine, Citrus fruits Vitamin C.

Avoid processed foods, junk foods, any foods that cause Inflammation in the body dairy is known to cause Inflammation in the body

Check out my YouTube Nutrition Coaching Videos: