I know by now you've picked up that I am expecting a new little gift, but he almost wasn't because of dietary issues. Here's my story about how mayonnaise almost sent me into the change of life at 35! I hope it helps any ladies out there not feeling quite themselves lately.
It started because my husband and I decided that we didn't want too big of an age gap between our children. Our youngest, Big Hoss (just FYI I won't ever use their real names ;) ), will be 2 this February. He is two years younger than Porkchop, he will be 4 in July. So we felt that the next should be about a 2 year difference as well. Since we have two that have a huge age gap, between Gobble and Porkchop there are 5 years, and we noticed a separation in their interaction we didn't want to let them get too far apart. (Our daughters are Irish Twins and a third, their ages being Thelma and Louise are 13 and 12, and Hamburger is 11) We also didn't want them too close together either. So after a year of trying to get pregnant and nothing happening, which is not the norm for me, we decided to see my OB/Gyn.
It started out with tests to check my hormones and see if they were out of whack. They check this at different times during your cycle. But my almost clockwork periods had become very irregular (leading to many heart breaking negative pregnancy tests) and it took forever to get these tests done right. I also lost my left ovary 9 years ago to uterine fibroid problems, so we had to figure out which month was supposed to be right ovary ovulation. So what usually takes 3 months worth of tests for me took six more long months. In this time I turned 36. I was so heart broken when they told me that my cycles weren't just off but that I was not ovulating at all. We were referred to a specialist.
When we got an appointment with the specialist we were told there was an 11 month wait time to be seen. All I could think was by then my eggs were going to become nonexistent. My regular Gynecologist told me that I needed to add vitamins and other dietary changes to my life to help get healthier. My husband being the wonder man that he is went online and started Googling everything he could about early menopause. One of the most revolting habits he says I have is that I add mayonnaise to everything. So when he told me the mayo was probably my problem I thought he was full of it and this was yet another attempt at getting me to not eat mayonnaise. I did a little research myself and found that he was probably right. Most commercial mayonnaise is made with hydrogenated soybean oil, which has been linked to hormonal imbalance in women. I checked our pantry and discovered that all the salad dressings and things like ketchup all contained the same two ingredients, hydrogenated soybean oil and high fructose corn syrup. The amount of those two things I was eating was a lot more than I thought. Almost all processed foods contain them. When you factor in things like potato chips, boxed add water and stir foods, canned soups, sodas, sports drinks, candies, ready made cakes, and over all everything ready to eat that contain one or both of these things and I was living off of them. Not to mention I was feeding them to my children and most importantly my daughters. Take a moment to go look at your pantry and you will be amazed at how many things contain those.
So we made a switch to all natural and started making things from scratch. Our grocery bill took a nose dive for the better! As well as all our health improved! My A1c came back high normal. I had been on insulin shots for 10 years. I lost a little weight, my skin and hair improved. We all had so much more energy. We went through the tests again and 6 weeks before our appointment with the specialist we received news that I had ovulated! Two weeks after that I got a faint positive home test. 2 weeks before our appointment with the specialist we got the confirmation from the doctor that I was indeed pregnant, but were told to wait until we had an ultrasound to confirm viability before we canceled with the specialist. Two days before that appointment we got to see our new little bean and right in the middle of that bean was a beautiful fluttering heart beat!
Now looking back on all of this I realize I was slowly killing myself with the crap I was eating and I was taking my family with me. If you are having trouble with irregular periods, mood swings, poor health (my diabetes was linked to the same thing as my hormones), and fertility issues meet with a nutritionist and work out the diet that works for you. Check your foods you eat and see just how much of those two things you are eating. Many of the ingredients used in processed foods aren't even safe for consumption. I hope this helps shed some light on my struggle and helps anyone going through the same thing find a little hope.
Love,
Mom
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