Saturday, November 6, 2010

The slightly anemic white woman's huevos rancheros













Today's breakfast - scrambled eggs with red kidney beans and a little Rotel to give the dish a slight, heartburn-free kick: the slightly anemic white woman's huevos rancheros.

Paul, please don't tell your mother. I am sure she makes something that is far more delightful.

At my prenatal appointment last week, we learned that my iron levels were a little below normal, making me slightly anemic. This makes sense if I think about how tired and sluggish I've felt lately. I really haven't experienced the return of normal energy that many women talk about in the second trimester. Now I know why.

Our midwife warned me that I may have to start taking iron supplements if my iron levels continue to drop (which apparently is often the case for many women during pregnancy). I guess I made a pretty disagreeable face at this idea. Could you blame me? Iron supplements are famous for causing nausea and vomiting and a host of gastrointestinal side effects. No thank you. I just left those days and am NOT eager to return.

So our lovely midwife allowed me to try to correct the situation through diet before going down the supplement road. It has been a wonderful eating week - except for one day early in the week when I had a meltdown about not being hungry and wanting to go straight to bed without dinner (low iron AND pregnancy hormones do not mix). Poor Sean. Love, I am still sorry, but I appreciate you taking such good care of me even when I wasn't on my best behavior.

This week, we've eaten meatloaf a couple of times, steak twice (lean!), eggs and lots of greens veggies. I've also had a lot of oatmeal (as an aside - I think it's best with banana and a small drizzle of honey, in case you were wondering), shrimp, clam chowder and hummus (yeah for chickpeas AND tahini).

Tonight, I am hoping for mussels! I do love mussels and it's been such a long time since we've had them. Especially with yummy bread to soak up the cooking liquid. Mmmm.... I'll have to post pictures.

Overall, I think the iron-rich diet seems to be working. I noticed yesterday on my way from work to the bus stop that I was feeling much less drained than I had on previous nights. I actually enjoyed the mile+ walk, in spite of the drizzle and dankness of the evening.

Plus, I find myself looking forward to the weekend for reasons other than sleeping late and lounging about all day (although I do plan to do my fair share of this, too). I hope to do more simple sewing projects. More on that later.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

HA! It's probably all that delightfulness that made my dad diabetic. I haven't had too much "sabor" in my parent's household since. I am sure they tasted just fine.