Disclaimer

Any and all the opinions expressed in the content are from my own experience and what I have learned. All data and information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as peer-reviewed or published professional articles. It has no representations about accuracy, completeness, recentness, and validity of any information written here. Every individual is different, please review any all decisions that you have made through this with your health care professional.

I also write only on things I practice, please use at your own descretion.

Postpartum recovery - sutkeri ausadhi ( सुत्केरी औसधी )

Recovery from delivery is an intense process. Our body needs to heal and build up on its own, so a little self care and pampering is a must. One of the must do's that have been in practice among all Nepali is eating sutkeri ausadhi ( सुत्केरी औसधी ). This is made after the 11th day of child birth, so that the body can recovery from all the post delivery effects. Here is my mom's recepie of making about 6 pounds of sutkeri ausadhi ( सुत्केरी औसधी ).

Ingredients (Quantity - All of them are as per your taste, so you can increase/decrease them)
battissa (बत्तिस्सा) (8 oz) - this is the only ingredient that is available in Nepal, and can be bought at Ason.
Ghee or clarified butter (1.5 lb)- lots of it, but you can always have your own portion.
Almond (5 oz)
Cashew (5 oz)
Walnut (5 oz)
Dates (5 oz)
Rasin (5 oz)
Coconut powder (5 oz)
Khoa (15 oz) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoa (available at Indian stores)
Gond or edible gum resin (available at Indian stores) (9 oz)
Brown Sugar (7 oz)
Milk (1/2 gallon)
green cardamom (50 counts)

How to cook.
1. Grate Khoa
2. Chop Rasin and Dates
3. Grind almond, cashew and walnut into powder like consistency
4. Heat ghee, fry gond till cracker like consistency, don't let it burn (brown/black color), keep aside
5. fry coconut powder in ghee, put aside
6. fry  almond, cashew and walnut powder in ghee, put aside
7. fry Rasin and Dates in ghee put aside
8. In lots of ghee, cook the battissa (बत्तिस्सा), the
powder should be soaked in ghee when cooking. Put aside.
9. In a big pan (we need a deep and big pan, as we will have to mix all the ingredients and cook).
10. In the big pan, add milk and bring to boil, add battissa (बत्तिस्सा), and cook till thick consistency.
11. Add all the other ingredients except gond. Cook till everything mixes well and the consistency is thick.
12. Add gond and mix well.

You can store this in the refrigerator for almost a month. Eat this once or twice a day (2 table spoon at a time) with milk to recover postpartum, in our own Nepali style.

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Signs that say 'YAY'

Being pregnant is such a wonderful feeling. You will soon bring that someone special to this world and you are getting ready for it. What can be more exciting than that. Along with the excitement comes the excessive task of your body taking care of the whole pregnancy game. The body goes through a tremendous set of changes and here are some visible ones that can tell that you are pregnant.

Missed periods, the first and the major milestones of pregnancy. Get the home pregnancy test done and you will see positive results if you are pregnant, time to celebrate.

Along with that comes some uncomfortable feelings. You are super tired, and that's more like running a marathon a day. Even if you manage to get 12 hrs of sleep a day, and you still feel you need more and can crash in anytime and anywhere. You may have nausea and it can start before you miss the period, up to the day you delivery.

Morning sickness is another in the list. The term morning is just a fake name, it can happen anytime of the day, right from the time you wake up to bed time. You may have nausea and vomiting countless times, however most ladies have it in the mornings.
Food aversions comes next. You may start hating the foods that you used to love the most, and gulping down food could be a challenge. On the other hand, some people as very lucky not to have any nausea or food aversions and may want to eat all the time. All the time and anything.

Mood swing also takes control over your life. You may get angry, happy, frustrated, and cry for no specific reasons. Its just the effect of the hormones that body is producing. Just take it as you go on. Bloating, swollen tender breast and frequent urination are also symptoms that hint you are pregnant.

Most lucky people get over it by end of the first trimester. Every pregnancy is different, and you may have all of these or none, so just hang in there and it will be over soon.


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Limiting "carbs" for Gestational Diabetes

It takes discipline to take in-charge of your gestational diabetes, and you can easily do it. All you need to do is:
1. Plan, plan plan - this is the key, plan all your meals and snacks. Remember that you dont want to over feed your baby, so stick to the diet always.
2. Unless your obgyn tells you not to excercise, you can do some light workouts. Brisk walk is good. You could also clean the home, vaccum, wash the dishes, cook and clean the kitchen, clean the bathroom. There are ways to keep the baby in you happy and also make your home clean.

You could plan a day with the following:
Breakfast - 30 grams of carb from category2, anything/any amount from category1
Snack - 30 grams of carb from category2,  anything/any amount from category1
Lunch - 45 grams of carb from category2,  anything/any amount from category1
Snack - 30 grams of carb from category2,  anything/any amount from category1
Snack  - 30 grams of carb from category2,  anything/any amount from category1
Dinner - 45 grams of carb from category2,  anything/any amount from category1

Category1: You can induldge on them. Happy and Free food.

turkey

pork

shrimp
tofu

fish

goat

chicken

all kinds of nuts but limit peanuts.

mustard greens (tori ko saag)

gai choy ( rayo ko saag)

gai lan (kalo tori ko saag)

pumpking vines (pharsi ko munta )

chayote vines (iskus ko munta )

eggplant/brijal ( bhanta)

ladysfinger (bhindi) 

fenugreek leaves (methi ko saag)

spinich (palungo)

peppercress (chamsur)

watercress (simrayo)

tomatoes/onion/ginger/garlic/cilantro/parsley

radish

mushroom

zhucinni

all variety of pepper (belpepper/chillies)

celery

asparagus

brocolli

cauliflower

cabbage

long beans (bodi)

green beans
bamboo shoot (tama)

cucumber

avocado

olive
all kinds of nuts

artichokes

and all the veggies you get. 

Avoid veggies that are high in carb like  plantain (kera ko tarkari), corn, sweet potatoes, any kind of poatatoes, peas, carrots.

All kinds of cheese (avoid cheese that are soft and viened as it may contain listeria, not at all a good thing for the baby like feta cheese, blue cheese)
Indulge peanuts in less quantity as they are higher in carb compared to other nuts.

Category2: Measure and eat, make sure to read labels

white rice

brown rice

noodles

bread

roti

poori

paratha

milk

yogurt
fruits

any Daal - you have been thiking it is protien but it has a lot of carb too.

NO NO NO, you can see how much you should avoid this by looking at the number of no's

fries

fried chicken - you can go for baked chicken and eat a lot of them

cookies/doughnut/muffins/bagel/

cakes pies/icreacreams

soda, energy drinks, juices, smoothies, milk shakes

pizza 

jam/jelly/honey
Rice bread (sel roti)
desserts (all kinds)

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Gestational Diabetes - Positive Vibes

It's hard when your doctor calls and tells you that you have gestational diabetes. Gestational Diabetes is mostly detected during week 24-28 during pregnancy, but for some with family history of diabetes or who are obese, this is detected even earlier.  Women do get back to normal once the baby is born and a special diet is followed postpartum. 

Should you be really worried about it? I think no, it just means that your body is not able to produce enough insulin to process the glucose intake. This is all due to the growing belly and other organs in the body gets crunched and unable to function as it used to. I know it feels nervous and scary in the beginning, but think about the effort  you are putting to bring someone special into this world.

The baby inside must be saying  "I am so special, and mommy needs to work a little harder to make sure everything is right. I think i deserve a little attention. don't you? "

The first thing you do is google (smiley), and find millions of hits, but consulting a nutritionist adds that extra benefit. Adding more complex carbs to your diet, lets the glucose in the food dissolve slowly maintaining a constant  blood sugar level. Also adding more protein to the diet makes you feel full longer. The hardest of all is, eliminate all processed foods, desserts from your diet. You must be thinking that this is the only time i get to enjoy them, and how to eliminate, but actually if you think, you are taking the bad things out of your body. Processed food and high sugar content of dessert do no good to your body. Sticking to frequent eating habit does not let you feel hungry, apart from breakfast, lunch and dinner, add snacks 2 hrs after each meal, meaning you are eating smaller portions, 6 times a day.It is also a good practice to walk altleast 20-25 mins after each major meal and adding yoga and stretching to your daily routine once a day. This increases your metabolism and also helps maintain a healthy glucose level. 

Stick to the routine and things will be fine.

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The Math behind due dates

Congratulations! you are pregnant, but how along are you? Confused?

The pregnancy test that is available in the market can show positive as early as 1 month into the pregnancy. Its a fact that if you miss your period and test positive, you are pregnant. How many months? you are 1 month pregnant already and 8 more to go. The count starts 2 weeks prior to your ovulation when you start your first day of your last last period. 

Now when is you due date? It is exactly 40 weeks, which is 280 days from the first day of your last period or 9 months and 1 week. And someone asks you "how many month pregnant are you?", lets see how well you can calculate that.

Enjoy Counting and happy pregnancy!

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Postpartum nutrition

Postpartum is the period when one struggles to get the best nutrition and it is for the mom's recovery as well as for the growth of the baby. Doctors say you can eat anything postpartum, but it can be challenging to come up with a healthy yet nourishing set of food that you can eat. Along with the mother, the baby directly gets that food you eat, so it is very important not to upset the new born from the food that the mom consumes. This is the time when the mothers body is recovering at a very high speed. All the organs that were displaced when you were pregnant try to move back to its own position and hence it is not a good idea to stress the body and organs. Also the new born, who was used to only the amniotic fluid inside the womb is now trying to consume and digest mothers milk. Mothers milk is all made up of what the mom's eat, hence it is very important to be careful of what you eat at this time.

Food that must be  avoided atleast a month postpartum : chillies, lots of oil/butter/ghee(moderate amounts can be consumed, as it aids in milk production), whole beans (gedagudi), cauliflower, brocolli

If the baby is not digesting food well enough, they have bloating, vomiting and spitups, try to make sure that the food you take is not the ones that may cause allery to the babies and may be upsetting the baby.

Must eats: rice, oats, breads, lots of whole grains, lots of cooked greens (avoid raw greens and it is hard to digest), lentils, milk, red meat soup (khasi ko jhol), vegetable soup (tarkari ko jhol), asparagus soup (kurilo ko raas)

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Hello Mommies!

It feels just yesterday when I felt I was a kid, and now I am a mom. Aama thats what I call my mom, and Mamu, thats what my daughters call me.

This is dedicated to all the moms out there as I know how much your baby means to you. You are always a baby in your mom's mind, even if you feel you are grown up.

I would like to thank a close friend of mine who inspired me to write. This is not for me but to help others who need more information. Sharing my personal experience and exposure using this write-up, I just hope will be helpful to you. Do let me know if you would like some specific information, and I will try my best to add a page about it.

Enjoy each moment with you kid, that's how life is wonderful being a mom. This is dedicated to all the moms in the world!



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