Chokecherries & Prenatal Vitamins

You may be a little shocked to find that I have not been taking multi-vitamins this pregnancy.  I hope that you will not judge me, as I don't do this lightly.

With my first two pregnancies I bought the leading brand of prenatal vitamins.  The ones you find on the grocery store shelves.  I took them as faithfully as is typical of me.  Forgetting sometimes, but doing my best to take them.  After Benjamin was born I learned that when you take the vitamin is important and taking it in the morning on an empty stomach can lead to nausea and vomiting.  Which is exactly what happened to me with him only I didn't realize it at the time.  The mornings I forgot to take the vitamin I felt better.

I also learned that most vitamins don't actually do your body any good but can actually harm the body.  Most vitamins have fillers and binders that your body certainly doesn't have any use for.  They also don't come in forms that our bodies recognize, so they just pass on through.

With Kara I took a prenatal vitamin from "Garden of Life".  It is considered a "raw whole food" vitamin.  It comes in a gel capsule and has no binders or fillers.

When I discovered I was pregnant this time I didn't exactly plan on not taking the vitamins, but I was concerned about the benefits of taking them.  They are quite expensive and I was worried about the negative effects that taking so many vitamins in a non-food form - even if they are raw and "whole food".

So, what am I doing instead?

I am trying to eat really well.  The foods I am eating now, I would consider to be leaps and bounds healthier than my first two pregnancies, and slightly more healthy than Kara's.  I eat a lot less of the foods I would consider unhealthy.  I also take stinging nettle, alfafa, red raspberry leaf in a gel capsule.  I take raw whole food vitamin D in a gel capsule.  I swallow a spoonful of cod liver oil. I eat farm raised eggs everyday.  I consume broth made from chicken and beef bones that I've made myself several times a week (I'd love to say everyday, but alas . . . )  I have also recently begun to take evening primrose.  (you'll notice I take everything in capsules.  This is because they are in their truest form, in an easy to swallow vehicle.  No binders or fillers.)  I also try to drink herbal teas that are good for you.

And yesterday I added something else that I'm very excited about!

Chokecherries :) :) :)

Last fall I dehydrated some chokecherries from off my Mom's Mayday tree.  I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to use them but I read this great article that had a ton of suggestions and was sure I could use them somehow.  I also made chokecherry jelly and took the leaves and branches and made some chokecherry syrup to ease coughs.  Chokecherry's are full of vitamins and are so very healthy.  Their pits are poisonous until heated - dehydrating makes them safe to eat.

Yesterday I put some through my flour mill (with a little fear as I wasn't sure you were supposed to, but it worked great :) and ground it as finely as I could.  The powder smells like almond extract (very much like the almond cookies my brother in law Tim's mother makes :).  I mixed a little with some milk and drank it.  I wouldn't say that I would drink it just for the taste but it didn't taste bad and was very easy to drink.  It's not terribly finely ground so it didn't mix in completely.

There are so many opinions out there as to what a pregnant woman should take.  For now, with this baby, this is what I'm doing.   And so far I feel great!  Honestly this has been the easiest pregnancy for me so far.  I have more energy, way less nausea, less heartburn, less body aches, less stomach aches, more emotional stability.

Now if only I could regularly consume enough liquids.  That is a huge struggle for me.  I have begun keeping track of how much I'm drinking and that definitely helps me to drink more.  

 Well, on to my day.  Hope you have a wonderful weekend full of sunshine!