I ventured out to the dr. today for my 28 week visit and the highly anticipated, standard glucose screen. This is, of course, my favorite medical appointment in pregnancy, because the joy of drinking 10 oz. of overly sugary, non-carbonated, orange goodness is almost more than I can stand. It’s just such a treat! As I read the label before consuming my mid-morning refreshment, I was disturbed (although not shocked) by its contents. My favorite? Natural Flavorings and Yellow 6. Really? Yellow 6? Does making the beverage orange increase any of its appeal?

For this mama, the answer is absolutely not. It’s totally perplexing to me that the healthcare industry thinks it brilliant to offer its pregnant population such an admirable choice when it comes to this kind of thing. Now, I don’t get on my whole foods/raw foods/organic foods soapbox very often, and I certainly do it with little frequency here on the blog. But. I’ve done my level best to eliminate colors by number (and other such offenders) from our diets for some time now, and (I think) for good reason. I come across articles and legislation and packaging every day that make me wonder with regularity, “What on earth is happening to our food?!” And I think the answers are terribly frightening.

I could go on for a long time about why we try to hard to keep certain things (ok, lots of things) off of the table and out of our pantry these days. Just see my kid after a whole foods based meal, versus after a few too many bites of ice cream or anything else sugary or processed. Plain and simple, it’s just. not. worth. it. At least as far as I can see it. This doesn’t mean that we don’t have the occasional treat, or that our family is the perfect picture of health at all times. It just means that I’ve grown accustomed to reading labels and taking our consumption (food, body care products, baby items, and the like) pretty seriously. I know some people think I’m a bit out there for doing so, and others are much further along the curve than I am (I generally envy their knowledge and clean living savvy). Regardless of where people are on the continuum, I think it’s super important these days that we’re all owning our health and the choices that impact it on both a daily and lifelong basis. This will continue to be a consistent effort for me in the time to come. There’s always more information available, and certainly, so much more we can do to make sure that we’re consuming responsibly–for our bodies, our minds, our communities, and the environment. So much more.

At any rate, I begrudgingly drank the obligatory orange stuff (read: garbage) that made me sick to my stomach not minutes later, and trudged on over to my appt. Try as I might, it honestly did make me a bit cranky (just saying). Quite thankfully, I “passed” the test and all of the other necessary counts for the day, and it seems as though the babe and I are fairly agreeable with one another on a physical and physiological level. Phew. Scratch that three hour screen off the list (at least this time around:).

I’m trying so hard not to be crabby about anything pregnancy related, I really, truly am. Especially after last year and now having a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby–I couldn’t (and shouldn’t) ask for a whole lot more. So please bear with me when I’m just terribly honest and needing a space to air my baby-carrying thoughts. And please also know that I am overjoyed and still in awe of this process–as much as possible, and every day. Still, I’m human (and growing a human), and sometimes things get to you in a way that they otherwise wouldn’t sans pregnancy hormones. I think that’s alright. I want the Button to look back on these crazy 100 days entries and know that his or her mama is real, authentic, sometimes vulnerable. I actually think there’s a whole lot of health in that!

detoxing tonight (kidding!). but perhaps unwinding from a somewhat challenging and edgy day for yours truly. here’s to wonderful wednesday tomorrow–it promises to be looking up!

mm

Some helpful and wonderful links if you’re walking down a similar road to health (or aspiring to), or just wanting a little more info:

–Healthy Child, Healthy World

(check our their newest infographic on food and the farming industry here:

–Healthy Child’s Farm to Fork Infographic

–The Honest Company (A personal favorite for household, bath and baby products that are safe for our bodies and kiddos)

–gDiapers (There are LOTS of great cloth diapering companies and products out there these days. I just love what these guys are doing and how they approach cloth and the environment)

–Vine.com (Great place to shop products and companies with a bent towards all natural goodness 🙂

Happy (and healthy) browsing!