Pica: Chalk Craving in Pregnant Women

Posted on 30 June, 2013 by Judith Halek

~ pica2 pica-31 pica-1 ~

When a woman, pregnant or NOT desires or craves chalk, for taste or the sensation of crunching, there is an iron deficiency in the woman and she is anemic (more tired, need energy building foods). Once she gets the iron balanced in her system, she will NO LONGER have the craving for the chalk.

When one supplement’s their diet with iron pills, it is important to take the iron pills with something acidic, like orange juice, BECAUSE it helps to ENHANCE the absorption of iron in your body.

rolaids1 When one takes rolaids, it is COUNTER PRODUCTIVE to the absorption of the iron in the body. Rolaids is an ANTACID, (not acidic) and you NEED acid to absorb the iron in your body. So, you are just canceling out the iron supplement each time a rolaid is taken. It doesn’t matter if one takes one or ten…IT IS NOT GOOD! Research shows if a pregnant woman has to choose between chalk and rolaids, the more favorable choice is the chalk. It doesn’t have the antacid element to it. STOP rolaids immediately if your doctor has suggested this as a solution away from the chalk.

Eating iron rich foods is imperative. If one needs to find foods that will satisfy a need to CRUNCH try something like ALMONDS or other kinds of seeds or nuts rich in iron. Leafy green veggies are high in iron and so are dried apricots which are ALSO high in Vitamin C, (an acidic source).

_____________________________________

Floradix is a liquid formula that will help to enhance the iron absorbtion in one’s body when eating iron rich foods.

Floradix Formula Iron (250mL) Brand: Flora

http://www.amazon.com/Floradix-Formula-Iron-250mLBrand/dp/B0002DUFKU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1254578184&sr=8-3

Uses: Energy, Anemia etc. The absorption rate of Floradix (liquid iron gluconate) is twenty-five per cent compared solid iron tablets that have an absorption rate of two to ten per cent. Floradix provides maximum absorption by using the most highly absorbable form of iron, iron gluconate. Floradix also contains B vitamins and vitamin C to enhance absorption, herbal extracts to increase digestion, and fruit juices to ensure proper stomach acidity. A twenty milligram dose of Floradix satisfies the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of fifteen milligrams of iron for women of child-bearing age.

_____________________________________________

Homeopathic remedies to help get your minerals balanced in one’s body are:

1. Ferrous Phosphate: 6X or 12X strength, take 1-4 times per day, 4 pellets. This very useful cell salt is known as the “oxygen carrier”. It has the ability to carry oxygen to all the cells of the body for use in conversion to energy.

2, Bio-chemic Tissue Salts: take 5/6 of these COMBINATION 3-4X’s per day.

The 12 Tissue/Cell Salt Combination As the name implies, this is a combination of all 12 salts in a single tablet. This combination can be used daily in much the same way as you would take a vitamin or supplement. To treat specific conditions, however, select one of the single salts listed above. RECOMMENDED POTENCY – 6X is the most widely used potency. These are all the different MINERALS combined into the 12 Tissue/Cell Salts.Calcarea Fluoricum Calcarea Phosphoricum Calcarea Sulphuricum Ferrum Phosphoricum Kali Muriaticum Kali Phosphoricum Kali Sulphuricum Magnesia Phosphoricum Natrum Muriaticum Natrum Phosphoricum Natrum Sulphuricum Silicea (Silica)

________________________________________________________

How Much Iron?
The recommendation increases to 27 mg for pregnant women.

http://www.healthcastle.com/iron.shtml
Iron Rich Foods containing Heme Iron (Iron found in animal protein):
Excellent Sources               Good Sources
Clams                                       Beef
Pork Liver                                Shrimp
Oysters                                     Sardines
Chicken Liver                           Turkey
Mussels
Beef Liver

Excellent and Good Sources of Iron Rich Foods containing Non-Heme Iron:

Enriched breakfast cereals
Canned beans
Cooked beans and lentils
Baked potato with skin
Pumpkin seeds
Enriched pasta
Blackstrap Molasses
Canned asparagus

Warning: Pregnant women should not eat liver because of its very high Vitamin A content. Large amounts of Vitamin A can be harmful to the baby.

The absorption of Non-heme iron can be improved when a source of heme iron is consumed in the same meal. In addition, the iron absorption-enhancing foods can also increase the absorption of non-heme iron. While some food items can enhance iron absorption, some can inhibit or interfere iron absorption. Avoid eating them with the iron-rich foods to maximize iron absorption.

Iron Absorption Enhancers (GOOD to eat)
Meat/fish/poultry
Fruits: Orange, Orange Juice, cantaloupe, strawberries, grapefruit etc
Vegetables: Broccoli, brussels sprouts, tomato, tomato juice, potato, green & red peppers
White wine

Iron Absorption Inhibitors (BAD to eat)
Red Wine, Coffee & Tea
Vegetables: Spinach, chard, beet greens, rhubarb and sweet potato
Whole grains and bran
Soy products

Is Spinach a good source of Iron? Written by Gloria Tsang, RD Published in May 2006 (HealthCastle.com)

Spinach and Iron has been a highly discussed topic in our free nutrition forum. Many readers know that spinach is a source of iron. However they are confused that spinach is said to contain an iron absorption inhibitor as mentioned in our Iron Rich Foods article.

Spinach – a source of Iron
Spinach is a source of non-heme iron, which is usually found in vegetable sources. Unlike heme iron found in animal products, non-heme iron is not as bioavailable to the body.

According to the USDA National Nutrient Database, one cup of cooked spinach provides ~3.5mg of iron whereas a cup of raw spinach only contains 1 mg of iron.

Spinach – also inhibits (stops) iron absorption.
Spinach also contains oxalic acid (sometimes referred as oxalate). Oxalic acid binds with iron, hence inhibiting its absorption.

Spinach is not the only food containing high levels of oxalic acid. Whole grains such as buckwheat and amaranth, other vegetables such as chard and rhubarb, as well as beans and nuts all contain significant levels of oxalic acid.

So Should you or Should you not eat Spinach?
You do not need to give it up if you are a spinach lover! Simply eat spinach with any foods containing iron absorption enhancers. Here are some examples:

Iron Absorption Enhancers (Good to eat)
Meat, fish, or poultry
Fruits: Orange, Orange Juice, cantaloupe, strawberries, grapefruit and other Vitamin-C rich fruits
Vegetables: Broccoli, brussels sprouts, tomato, tomato juice, potato, green & red peppers
White wine

Colony Collapse Disorder – The Tipping Point

Posted on 15 May, 2013 by Judith Halek

We have heard of ADD, (Attention Deficit Disorder) ADHD, (Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder) PIT, (Pitocin, an artificial oxytocin to get labor contractions started) ROM, (Rupture of Membranes, breaking of waters during labor), VBAC, (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) but have you heard of CCD, Colony Collapse Disorder? I hadn’t until I read the recent issue of Yoga + , (Spring 2009) Lorrain Dusky’s article on “The Future of the Bees”. Without the healthy cross-pollination of 25 million flowers per day…we can kiss many simple nutritional pleasures in our lives goodbye. Melons, apples, coffee, blueberries, cherries, cucumbers…shall I go on?

As I read the article, I began to see many correlations between the world of bees collapsing and the world of birth at a critical mass. And who is responsible for both? Of course, we humans.

Industrial beekeepers scratch their heads and wonder what the possible cause of CCD could be? Medical caregivers scratch their heads and wonder what the cause of the rise of inductions/epidurals/cesareans/infirtility could be?

In Rowan Jacobsen’s book, Fruitless Fall, he takes a look at how far the bees have been taken from their natural environment, where they ate a varied diet, and now attempt to thrive on the monocropped fields of industrial farming, where they struggle and die. Sound familiar? So what is this ‘industrialized agriculture disease?’ Chemically fertilized fields of single crops: no biodiversity, not local pollinators, no curbs on diseases than can spread across countries through the packing and shipping. Hmmmm…not only is the care in a disarray, the stress levels put on bees is outrageous: trucked around countries to do their pollination duties, viral infections on the rise mites, chemicals to kill the mites, exotic pathogens, antibiotics and on and on. Sound familiar? Diets of CORN SYRUP, for DECADES. As Jacobson states, “GIving them corn syrup is like giving us nothing but soda when we are sick.” As Dusky mentions in her article, “Migrant labor, bee style, One job to the next, no vacations and lousy food to boot.”

Queen bees are dying off in 6 months instead of a couple of years! The baby bees are weak and subject to all sorts of viruses. Forager bees are listless and exhausted, a perfect breeding ground for the mites. Bees die off in the fields. Not only is this happening in the United States, but Canada, Asia, South America and China. Sound familiar in the birth world?

Jacobson even suggest, “If the bees lived a life they evolved for, staying in one place, having a variety of flowers to visit, which would give them the different nutrients they needed, the corn syrup addition might be okay.” Dusky continues with, “But when a cheap diet of sucrose comes at the end of a long list of stressors, you get a tipping point and …CCD.”

So what is our ‘tipping point’ in the birth world? The fact that in 3 decades cesarean sections have gone from under 7% nationally to 35+% today. Faster, easier, more convenient and financially profitable procedures. Why waste the time on letting a woman’s body go into labor naturally when the drugs and pharmacuticals exist today to expediate the process. Step away from nature, at what cost? The World Health Organization (WHO) states that no region in the world is justified in having a cesarean rate greater than 10-15%.

“Inductions and epidurals?’ Another ‘tipping point’ in the field of birth. All creating more opportunities for us to distance ourselves from nature and our own natural chemicals and allow the ‘machines’ to determine, when, how long and how much time.

I remember seeing a birth film by, David Sotnik, “Fate of the Earth, Fate of Birth,” (1997) where midwife Candace McCracken stated, “I’m worried that natural childbirth is becoming an endangered species.” Birth and cultural anthropologist, Robbie Davis Floyd draws a line between women who choose to ‘drop down into biology’ and those who do not choose to ‘drop down into biology’, thus creating two completely different cultures. One that tunes in and trusts the nature of their bodies and the other that sees and experiences their bodies to be a ‘vehicle’ and the baby to be the ‘end result’. A culture of a mechanistic, detached society that does not choose to be in their bodies by even breastfeeding. Where do you draw the line?

There is hope for the bees though, with a Buddhist, Bee Mystic, in Vermont, Kirk Webster. Instead of opting for chemicals to kill his crop of mites, he allowed the bees to die, took the survivors and bred them with each other and introduced hardy Russian bees into the hive. Patience was the key, because he had to wait a decade without income. (OH HORRORS for the industrial world of bees). The result was developing bees largely resistant to mites and letting the bees build their own V-shaped organic hives. No bad diets…only a variety of apple blossoms to feed off of. Staying local, no trucking around the country. The Bee’s needs were met.

As with any collapse or disorder, there is a silver lining. Colony Collapse Disorder opended the world’s eyes to the fact that agriculture depends on honeybees. Biodiversity is what we humans crave and need for survival.

So, what is our silver lining in the birth world? What are we going to do to bring back our connection to nature, our natural secretion of hormones, healthy vibrant food sources and trusting the process of labor and birth? I put it in your hands, your words, your actions.

If the bees can make it with the help of one small farmer at a time, remembering it takes patience, trust, good strong genes and getting back to nature…it might be a helpful formula for the birth community to regroup, realign and tip the point in another direction.

‘Birth Dissonance’ Into ‘Birth Consonance’

Posted on 6 January, 2013 by Judith Halek

Are you ready to stop pouring your life energy into defining yourself as a separate entity and allow yourself to beome undefined? Going from wasted energy put into egoic identity can be invested into a new and more interesting purpose. A whole different perception, way of being and knowing, gettting and doing or not doing, when interacting with the Universe?

The dreamstate is a magical place and we are a part of it. We ARE it. We are the miracles, the mysteries and we keep looking outside ourselves, giving our power away, for something or someone else to create it all or fix it for us; TENS machines, epidurals, pitocin, doula, acupuncture, homeopathy, cesareans, prosteglandin gell, a birth tub, midwife, doctor, partner.

A psychological term to describe the discomfort we feel when our thoughts, (seeming reality) and beliefs, (feelings and emotions) come into conflict is: Cognitive Dissonance. I see it all the time in pregnancy or particularly in labor and birth. The woman get’s signs from her body and the baby that it is not ready to come. Her doctor says, “The baby needs to come now.” She is in conflict with her belief and the thoughts instilled in her by the doctor. The problem begins as the pressure builds and the woman allows herself out of fear to go with the doctor’s demands.

What does she know? This is her first child? This doctor has ‘delivered’ thousands of

babies. They are the expert, yet her belief and inner knowing is, ‘the baby is not ready to come.’ The problem excellerates as she gets induced and her body is not dilating. Even with all the drugs, everyone is confused about the “insufficient cervix,” or the “inability to progress.” No one is taking into consideration the most important element in the center of the drama. The mother’s belief’s conflicting with her thoughts.

I call this ‘Birth Dissonance’. Where the internal belief collides with external reality. Where self and not-self come into contact/conflict. We are not innocent by-standers or victims of our experience. We are the shapers of our dreamstate reality. Until we get it, really get it, by standing up for, falling apart from, letting go of, surrendering into the opposite of where we have been all our lives, things are not going to change. And we will continue to blame everyone and everything for our lives being the way they are. Falling apart is coming together.

Society has put billions of dollars into medications, illegal, legal drugs to separate mind from body. Something to put you to sleep, something to make you wake up. Something to make you dialate, (pitocin) something to numb the pain, (epidurals) and when the epidural stops the pain and the contractions, there’s more pitocin to regulate it back to par. (Providing all systems are ‘go’ for the woman being induced.)

What people are looking for is ‘Birth Consonance,’ an end to discomfort, not the delusion. But the truth is, the consonance sought can only be found in deeper unconsciousness which requires reduction of dissonance. How does one get to reach that natural, integrated level of consonance? Through serenity and tranquility or diving to the depths of the self-delusion and swimming through the muck until one gets to the surface and is able to see and know the insanity and madness they have been buying into all their life.

So, are you a person who is stuck and wants to get unstuck? Or a person who knows you are stuck and wants to stay stuck your judgements and denial?

Ah, and there truly lies a of potential consonance or dissonance.

Whatever your choice in or out of the labor room: ”Everybody Breathe!”

(Ideas inspired out of Jed McKenna’s third book in a trilogy entitled, Spiritual Warfare)