Why You Should Probably Be Taking a Prenatal Vitamin Even If You Aren't Pregnant

The process of growing and breastfeeding a child for six months sucks out 5 years worth of nutrition from your body. This means that if you are not supplementing your diet while pregnant and/or breastfeeding your body will remove mineral and other nutrition stores from your body in order to create/ feed that little bundle of joy. Your body will actually take calcium from your bones and give it to your baby. This is one of the reasons women are more likely to suffer from bone loss. (There also another  bigger and more complex explanation that has to do with estrogen, but I won't get into that.) So if you plan on having a child in the next five years, or even if you have had a child in the past few years, you need to build (or rebuild) those nutrient stores by taking a vitamin. (This is a tidbit that I didn't learn until I had to start teaching it to people,  and is a good reminder for myself because I haven't been good about taking them lately.)

If you're pregnant or breastfeeding, prenatal vitamins are good for your baby. Taking a prenatal when pregnant drastically reduces your risk of having a child with birth defects. The problem with prenatal vitamins is that for many women the iron in them has a tendency to make pregnant women nauseated. When I was pregnant with my son, every time I took a prenatal vitamin I started vomiting. There is a method of getting around this. If you take prenatal vitamin with a glass of milk, the protein in the milk decreases indigestion, and your body also when given the choice of calcium or iron, will choose calcium. It can't effectively absorb both at the same time. (There's a long explanation involving chemistry, but brevity I'll fore-go that one too.) The downside is that you're not getting the iron. (But that's better than throwing up all of it, right?) If you can't handle that go for the gummi vites and some folic acid.
 Other good reasons to take a prenatal vitamin: They make your hair and nails grow stronger, faster and healthier. I started taking a prenatal vitamin when I was fifteen for this very reason. (and I took them consistently until I got pregnant, the irony) Also, prenatal vitamins are super cheap. However, you should be forewarned that the iron can make you constipated, so make sure you are drinking plenty of water.

Ginger- Not just for cookie houses and Thai food

Currently there is some nasty horrendous gastro virus epidemic running through my extended family. While my in-laws were visiting us today, they started having symptoms too. I pray and hope that my kids don't come down with it as well. Anyway, it brought to mind a simple recipe that a co-worker once shared with me. It's fabulous for upset tummies and morning sickness too.

Orange-Ginger Smoothie
1 dreamsicle, stick removed
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
2-3 canned peach halves
1 T vanilla yogurt
Blend all ingredients in blender until smooth.

Besides decreasing the motility of the GI tract (it helps with diarrhea and cramping as well as nausea), ginger has many other benefits. It is useful for treating heart disease because it thins blood and lowers cholesterol. (So don't go overboard with it if you are on any kind of blood thinner.) In many countries, it is used as a treatment for the common cold. And the FDA has determined that is safe with no notable side effects.
Research in rats and mice have found that it prevents skin cancer, kills ovarian cancer and helps to treat diabetes, but it will probably be quite awhile before they can determine if it is potent enough to fix those problems in humans.