Albert Einstein was able to articulate exactly what insanity means. He said that the definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again expecting different results. I’m reminded of how, year after year, I plant new flowers expecting them not only to live, but to flourish, despite going through days, even weeks, of not getting any water. I just think that it will make them tougher! But for some reason, they never quite make it through boot camp.
This definition of insanity also reminds me of how I think that if I buy a lot of fruits and vegetables, that I will be forced to eat all of them before they go bad. But without a plan, they almost always ultimately end up in the trash can. That is, after verifying that they are way too bad to eat, therefore confirming that it’s okay to throw them in the trash, without feeling guilty. I continue to buy these flowers and fruits and vegetables because I know they’re good for my life, but unless something changes, I will probably let all of these good things go to waste again.
Without consciously realizing that my thoughts were turning bad, like the three-week old vegetables sitting in my fridge, I found a book by Joyce Meyer at Half Price Books called Power Thoughts. Something about the book title made me pick it up. I could hear Joyce say to me, “you need to think about what you’re thinking about.” I haven’t been thinking very good thoughts lately, especially as every month continues without being pregnant. My thoughts have been slowly transitioning from disappointment to discouragement and if I don’t start getting my thoughts back on track again, they will eventually lead me into a darker place of despair. I don’t want to end up in this place because this is probably where all the ghosts of my previously neglected flowers, fruits, and vegetables have gone to haunt me.
In my previous blog I mentioned that I was going to be navigating through my own Eat This, Not That foods for trying to conceive, by reputable individuals only. But after starting to read Power Thoughts with my husband, I’m beginning to realize that unless I start changing the way I think, I will still probably reach for a bag of potato chips because it’s much easier than taking the time to cut up an apple. They’re made out of potatoes so it’s essentially a vegetable anyway, right?
As I read through The Mother of All Pregnancy Books by Ann Douglas, I found that there are four things that I consider essentials for me while I’m trying to get pregnant. These essentials are to make sure that I have enough folic acid, iron, and calcium daily and the fourth essential, will be quitting my coffee addition. Hold on…stop drinking coffee! We will talk more about this crazy thought in a minute.
It is not a problem for me to get enough folic acid or iron because I take a prenatal pill every day, which has enough of my daily requirements. The prenatal pill has 800 mcg of folic acid, which is double the recommended 400 mcg, and it has 27 mg of iron, which is 9 mg more than the recommended 18 mg of iron a day. The only positive thought I need in order to take my prenatal pill is how easy it is to take it, no vegetables or fruit need to be cut up or watering cans needing to be filled, just a glass of water and a pill. It’s already a habit anyway, after all, I was on the other pill for 16 years.
According to Dr. Natalie Burger, you should consume around 1,000 mg of calcium daily while you’re trying to get pregnant. My prenatal pills only have 250 mg of calcium so I have to get the rest of my calcium needs from somewhere else. I had read on a link I found through Pinterest that I should stay away from dairy if I’m trying to conceive. After reading what some doctors had to say on the web, this advice isn’t accurate. In fact, women who participated in a study had a decrease in fertility when low-fat dairy was consumed, not to mention not having any dairy, instead of full-fat or whole dairy products. This is exciting news because I love dairy. No positive thoughts needed for this one. I have no problem cutting up a pear to eat if I know that I can “pair” it with some cottage cheese. I still have to be mindful of calories and getting too much fat, but I’m glad dairy is still on the list.
Limiting my caffeine is slightly more problematic. Not drinking coffee, for me, is equivalent to someone shoving lettuce down my throat like the Keva smoothie poster in front of their store and then proceeding to tell me that my favorite band, Shinedown, broke up and will never produce another song, ever again. The reason why doctors suggest to reduce your coffee intake to less than 300 mg a day or to none at all, if you can help it, is because it acts like a diuretic, so it depletes your body of fluid, nutrients, and calcium that it needs for the baby. It also interferes with your body’s ability to absorb iron, it increases mood swings (though I swear mine might become worse without coffee), and can cause sleeplessness. All of this knowledge is great, but unless I do something about my thoughts, I’m not sure I can stay away from coffee for longer than 24 hours.
But there is more to creating positive thoughts than just trying to kick my caffeine addiction. It’s been difficult not getting pregnant and even though sharing my thoughts on my blog and reading other blogs has been extremely beneficial for me, I have to work on still believing for a baby. Your body is basically driven by your brain, so everything it does is a result of something you think about. Easier said than done. Since I’ve started reading this book with my husband, I found out I wasn’t pregnant again. But this time instead of feeling like I was at the bottom of a roller coaster hill, I just coasted through like Amtrak. I’m not at my destination of getting pregnant yet, but thinking positively has put me in a better mindset already for this month. So instead of staying on the same monthly roller coaster and slowly going insane, I’m putting a stop to my negative thoughts and I’m going to remain steady on my course.
So back to finding positive thoughts to help me stay away from coffee…hmmm still working on it.
Journey of Restored Hope 