Tag Archives: health

mommy stuff

my birthday wish

September 27, 2011 – 5:03 pm

Today is my birthday.

I don’t usually announce my birthday like this but today I want to.

I hope people read this and make my wish come true.

My one birthday wish today is to have everyone that reads this say a prayer for my sister.

My sister, 34, is battling breast cancer. She was diagnosed last year on November 5, 2010 and last week we learned that the cancer has now spread to her brain and lungs.

I know the only one that can help her is God and if everyone prayed with me, I know a miracle will happen.

Please pray for her full health.

Please pray for her wellness.

Please pray for her husband and two young sons (5 and 1.5yrs).

If anyone can get through this, I know it’s her.

She is the most generous and loving person I know and cannot understand why she’s been chosen to go through this.

Please pray.

~Skye

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mommy stuff

DADS… ARGHGHGH!

September 16, 2011 – 7:30 am

I’m not usually too riled up about the topic of Dads but I just read this post on The Morris Bunch Blog and it just makes so MAD!

Gena of The Morris Bunch Blog writes that she’s been horrible at working out because she has no time to exercise. Well, of course she doesn’t, she has FIVE children and TWO step kids to take care of and she’s home alone with the smallest ones all day long. I have two little girls and know exactly what she means. She goes on to say she resents her husband for taking nightly runs while she cooks and cares for her children. Hello? Who wouldn’t be resentful? I know in my household, it’s CRAZY here during dinner time and often I’m home alone too while I have to cook and care for the girls but that’s because my husband’s at work.

What’s the kicker? Someone commented on her post suggesting she go running after dinner while husband cleans up and do dishes. Her response was, “He thinks after dinner it’s his time so that doesn’t work out real well either.” I’m sure he is a great guy but…… WTF?! I’m so pissed off for her right now!!!!!

My husband is not as bad as this guy but there are times that make me wonder WTF? Sometimes he would take showers at the most inopportune times when we’re trying to get ready to go out when he could have done that way before. Most times I do get stuff ready to go out by myself but it’s nice to have a second person to either get the kids ready or double check the diaper bag. If something is forgotten, it’s always my fault since I’m the one getting shit together! Other times, he would go ahead and take a nap when one of our babies go down for one. Umm, hello? What about me?? If he would have asked, that’s great, but he just does what he wants when he wants to. He does other stuff around the house too without asking if I need any help with the girls and it drives me crazy. When I say I have stuff I want to do too, then he tells me why don’t you just do what you want to do like I do? Umm, because I don’t know if you’re going to take care of the children or take off doing some other chore or sleep or whatever!

My hubby has definitely made changes since those days and now always asks me what I want to do before he does things himself. There is only so much free time that each of us have and it seems unfair that the children always go to “Mom” by default. I can imagine lots of other Moms out there are feeling the same thing as Gena and me. Moms seem to always have to plan things in order to do what they want while Dads just pick up and go on the whim.

The best way to get around it is to tell your partner how you’re feeling and together figure out a way to fit both of your activities in. Both are parents, not just Mom. Both have needs, not just Dad.

For Gena, I hope she finds a way to fit her exercise in with her husband or get the help she needs so that she can have that 30 minute or an hour run because this alone time for her is so important. She needs to find “her time” too. Being a stay at home mom is hard, moms totally need her own space and a break from the daily grind or she will start to lose herself.

Hoping the best for you, Gena!!

Skye Diaz

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mommy stuff

gestational diabetes: you CAN have SWEETS!

August 2, 2011 – 12:05 pm

I had written about my experience with gestational diabetes last post but now I want share some of the foods and drinks that I found made things easier. I was craving sweets like crazy, like with both pregnancies but this one was worse since I wasn’t allowed to have any sweets because of the gestational diabetes. Well, one of my clinic visits, I asked the dietitian what I can do about my cravings for chocolate and ice cream. She told me it’s all about counting carbs and so I can enjoy low calorie treats if I wanted to, no problem! I was in shock! “Is this TRUE?” I thought to myself.  I just had to maintain the amount of carbs I was allowed to have for each meal.

Carbohydrates come from 3 main sources:  Grains & Starches, Fruits, Milk & Alternatives, and “Other Choices (sweet foods and snacks)” is what my chart had.  I was allowed 30 grams of carbs for breakfast, 45 grams of carbs for lunch, 45 grams of carbs for dinner, 40 grams of carbs for bedtime snack, and only 15 grams for the other two day snacks.  Because I knew the worse time of day for blood sugar levels being high was in the morning, I avoided any sweets/carbs in the  morning except one slice of very high fibre bread.  When it came to lunch and dinner, these are the times when I was able to sneak some sweets in (especially at dinner since that was when my blood sugar levels were the lowest)!  :)

For example for dinner, I would  have 1/2 a medium potato (15g of carb), 1/3 cup of corn (10-12g of carb), and a low calorie fudgsicle bar (15-20g of carb); along with other foods from the rest of the food groups I’m supposed to have like meats and vegetables.

When looking at the food label, there is always a “TOTAL CARBOHYDRATE” count but you need to minus the “Fiber” count to get your real net carb count.

Here are some sweets that I indulged in while I had my gestational diabetes:

  • Breyers CarbSmart line – WOW, this line of ice cream is awesome!  The Fudge Bars are only 8g of carbs (total carb of 9g minus dietary fiber of 1g = net carbs of 8g), you can even have TWO!  LOL  The fudgebars are just one option, the rest of the line includes Vanilla Ice Cream Bar, Vanilla and Almond Bar, Vanilla Ice Cream, and Chocolate Ice Cream.

  • Nestle Kit Kat Pop Choc – YES, real chocolates!  These little gems were great because 9 pieces were about 11g of carb and I usually ate about 14-15 pieces.

  • Low Fat Chocolate Mousse – This is a mix and when used with skim milk, each 1/2 cup serving is only 6g of carb (hello!  you can easily eat 1 cup)!  These were not only low fat as well, but super delicious!!!  I had tried some other recipes the nurse gave me from the clinic and they were all horrible!  This was so easy to make and soooo good!

  • Diet Pop – I was allowed to drink about 10 per day (I only drank 1 or 2 per day really).  It’s funny because once I had to restrain on my sweets, even Diet Coke looked so inviting, something that I don’t even drink at all when I’m not pregnant!

  • Pellegrino or Soda Water – I found this a lifesaver as well for making great drinks.  I would mix Pellegrino with lemon juice and splenda, or when eating out, I always ordered soda water with a splash of orange juice and pineapple juice.  You have to stress the “splash” part to your waiter or else you will get too much juice, which would mean too much sugar.

When choosing your treats, just read the nutritional label carefully.  Look at the “NET” Carb count (Total Carb minus Fiber) and how much fat it has; fat also matters because you don’t want a lot of fat either since you need to maintain a low weight increase during this last trimester.  There are actually a lot of cookies and sweets you can eat when you have gestational diabetes as long as the amount falls within your own allowances.  Of course, always check with your doctor first before trying any of these suggestions.

skye diaz

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mommy stuff

gestational diabetes: my story

July 31, 2011 – 6:37 am

When I was pregnant with my second baby last year, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes at about 28 weeks. I was not happy when this day came because it was the start of three months of watching your health very closely.  Gestational diabetes is high blood sugar that develops during pregnancy in a person who did not have it before pregnancy.  The pancreas does not produce enough insulin to combat the glucose in your body.  I’m not going to go all medical here since there are many medical sources on the web you can look up, I just want to share what I had to go through and forewarn anyone that may have to go through the same thing.

For the next three months, everyday, I had to test myself on what my blood sugar levels were 7 times a day: before and after each meal and before bedtime snack.  Yes, I had to prick my finger and draw blood 7 times a day.  My fingers got a bit painful and used different fingers to combat the pain.  At the same time, everyday, I had to shoot insulin into myself 4 times a day before all meals.  This is because although I was controlling my gestational diabetes with my meals and exercises after meals, by the time the next meal came, I had high blood sugar again.  To avoid taking the insulin, it would seem I would have to exercise all day long which is almost physically impossible since I was getting bigger everyday.  The casing of the insulin needle didn’t even look like a regular needle casing, it looked like a pen.  The needle part of it is very small and you screw a new one on each time you shoot the insulin.  This wasn’t too painful, sometimes there was no pain at all, which I thought was weird.  I usually did it in my thighs where there’s a lot of fat!  haha.

On top of that, I had to get checked every two weeks from the gestional diabetes clinic.  I had to record all my blood sugar levels everyday and what insulin I had taken.  In the beginning, I also had to record all the foods I ate (which was three meals and three snacks a day!). The nurses reviewed my stats and then adjusted the level of insulin or diet if they saw problems with the levels.  It seemed that as your pregnancy goes on, the hormones kept going up!  My insulin was adjusted at every clinic visit during the first two months of being diagnosed, but during my last month of pregnancy, the hormones seemed to finally level off and I didn’t have to add anymore insulin.  The nurse had initially showed me a graph on how the pregnancy hormones increases in your body during pregnancy and I learned that your pregnancy hormones don’t even take off til about 24-28 weeks (that’s why they test for it during that time) and when it does, it increases exponentially.  Thus, the amount of insulin I had to inject was added gradually, it was not from the start I had to have insulin nor was it 4 times a day when I did need it.

My daily routine at my gestational diabetes consisted of:

  • Before breakfast – blood sugar level test and a shot of insulin
  • Breakfast – very high fiber bread, one slice, with peanut butter and cinnamon, no jam allowed; an egg and a slice of ham.  Needed a lot of protein, mornings were the worse for me for high blood sugar levels.
  • After breakfast – 20-30 minute walk on treadmill (I walked longer here because this was my worse time of day)
  • An hour after breakfast – blood sugar level test
  • Mid morning snack - 1/2 cup nuts and small fruit
  • Before lunch – blood sugar level test and a shot of insulin
  • Lunch – a lot of vegetables, fish balls (or some sort of protein), with a quarter pack of udons.  I also had a small fruit and sometimes yogurt too with it too.
  • After lunch – 20 minute walk on treadmill
  • An hour after lunch – blood sugar level test
  • Afternoon snack – 1/2 cup chicken with tomatoes and onions and 15g of goldfish crackers
  • Before dinner – blood sugar level test and a shot of insulin
  • Dinner – 4-6oz of protein like chicken or fish, with lots of vegetables, 1/2 cup of corn, small fruit
  • After dinner – 10-15 minute walk outside or treadmill (my blood sugar levels were the lowest during dinner time so I didn’t exercised as much.)
  • An hour after dinner – blood sugar level test
  • Before bedtime snack – blood sugar level test and a shot of insulin
  • Bedtime snack – stonewheat crackers with peanut butter

I will explain more about nutrition in another post because I have lots of foods to recommend but as you can see, it’s a lot to deal with everyday.  I was always counting carbs, counting how much protein I was eating, how much exercise I needed.  This was very important though for the health of my baby.  If you do not control gestational diabetes, you can risk your baby being larger and having low blood sugar when he or she is born; as well, risk yourself of having high blood pressure during pregnancy.  Always listen to your doctors and take care of yourself.  It’s ALL WORTH IT when you meet your little angel!

UPDATE: How to get sweets into your gestational diabetes diet? Read this post: gestational diabetes: you CAN have SWEETS!

skye diaz

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mommy stuff

pregnancy foods

July 5, 2011 – 9:09 am

While I was pregnant… I missed:

- Sushi! (especially salmon sashimi!)
- Wine! (red and white! I don’t discriminate.)
- Beer! (pale and bass ale baby!)
- Raw Oysters! (need I say more?)
- Ceasar salad! (not supposed to eat raw eggs.)
- Strawberries (because I became allergic to them at 6 weeks with  my first daughter but okay with strawberries again after being pregnant!)!

 

Low Calorie Foods/Drinks that I’ve made that are Pregnancy friendly:

1) Pellegrino – you can mix this with any juices and it will make the juice taste extra good. For example, mix cranberry juice (1 part) and Pellegrino (3 parts)… what you will get is a drink that is low in sugar and refreshing. Another mix with Pellegrino is lemon slices with 2 packs of Splenda… very refreshing! Third way I mix Pellegrino is with orange juice and cranberry juice… or orange and pineapple juice…. very delicious!

2) Cherry Tomatoes w/Snap Peas – this is an awesome, filling snack and it’s super convenient because you just buy these at the store, rinse them quickly, and put them into a zip lock bag together. This snack cannot get any easier.

3) Ceviche w/Taco Chips – I love ceviche, and it’s super healthy. Ceviche is traditionally made with raw fish like tilapia soaked in lime juice… but to ensure the fish is cooked, I just poach it. Poach 2 fillets of any white fish you like, but I think tilapia is the best. You only need to poach it for 5-6 minutes, drain and let it cool in the fridge. Meanwhile, make a pico de gallo salsa – chop up and mix the following together: white onions, tomatoes, cilantro, lots of lime juice (from real limes, no cheating), salt to taste, and if you like it spicy, throw in some jalepenos. When the fish is cooled, mix the fish into this salsa mix, and mix is thoroughly. For an additional spin, add some chopped up cocktail shrimp! Yum. Served chilled with plain taco chips or flat tostadas.

4) Ultimate Sundae – com’n, I love sweets…… Use your favorite ice cream, add half a banana that is split into half longwise, and add the following for topping: fresh blueberries, crumbled chocolate chip cookies, and drizzle some chocolate syrup on top. You can even add some cinnamon sprinkles to finish it off! You can’t get better than that!  Oops, this one is that that low calorie!  ;)

During my pregnancies, I think my biggest craving was sweets. I loved eating chocolate, ice cream, cookies, and all sorts of desserts. But I still missed the foods/drinks I listed above, very badly.  By the way, I didn’t really go over board with the sweets (I don’t think)!  With my second pregnancy, I had gestational diabetes (GD) so there was no way I was allowed to eat that much sweets at all… even fruits were limited.  That’s a topic for a whole new blog entry, so much to say about GD!

 

skye diaz

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