Last posts on advice2024-03-29T09:27:47+01:00All Rights Reserved blogSpirithttps://www.hautetfort.com/https://www.hautetfort.com/explore/posts/tag/advice/atom.xmlIndianSamouraihttp://www.indiandacoit.com/about.htmlPregnancy advice, Indian styletag:www.indiandacoit.com,2014-11-06:54765452014-11-06T08:02:00+01:002014-11-06T08:02:00+01:00 At 6 weeks, my Indian gynaecologist (a dinosaur)...
<p> </p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.indiandacoit.com/media/01/00/4064997179.jpg" target="_blank"><img id="media-4737182" style="margin: 0.7em 0;" title="" src="http://www.indiandacoit.com/media/01/00/3723219490.jpg" alt="India,pregnancy,advice,myth,papaya,ghee" /></a></p><p> </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1c11; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-themecolor: background2; mso-themeshade: 26; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #1E1C11; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: background2; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;">At 6 weeks, my Indian gynaecologist (a dinosaur) confirmed the pregnancy and provided her first recommendations: “You immediately <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">stop papaya</strong>. And also pineapple. Also you stop outside food for the next 6 weeks.”</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"> </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1c11; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-themecolor: background2; mso-themeshade: 26; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #1E1C11; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: background2; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;"><a href="http://www.indiandacoit.com/media/02/01/3720698144.jpg" target="_blank"><img id="media-4737179" style="margin: 0.2em 0px 1.4em 0.7em; float: right;" title="" src="http://www.indiandacoit.com/media/02/01/2926688202.jpg" alt="India,pregnancy,advice,myth,papaya,ghee" width="175" height="132" /></a>Not that I eat papaya everyday but I don’t like being told I can’t do things! So I checked… There was only a study, conducted on rats, and here is what is says: “The results suggest that normal consumption of ripe papaya during pregnancy may not pose any significant danger. However, the unripe or semi-ripe papaya (which contains high concentration of the latex that produces marked uterine contractions) could be unsafe in pregnancy.” (<a title="source" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12144723" target="_blank">source</a>). As my new doctor puts it, you need to it kilos of papaya to maybe feel an effect, nothing to panic about after eating a slice at breakfast!</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"> </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1c11; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-themecolor: background2; mso-themeshade: 26; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #1E1C11; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: background2; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;"><a href="http://www.indiandacoit.com/media/02/02/3430139215.jpg" target="_blank"><img id="media-4737181" style="float: left; margin: 0.2em 1.4em 0.7em 0;" title="" src="http://www.indiandacoit.com/media/02/02/1480977808.jpg" alt="India,pregnancy,advice,myth,papaya,ghee" /></a>Then I informed my stock manager about the pregnancy and his first question was whether I had <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">hanged a poster of cute babies on the wall</strong>? He was convinced of the method because he had hanged a poster of white babies and his daughter was of fair complexion! Careful not to have a Smurf pic on the wall!! When I laughed about it (in spite having seen a similar poster on my sister-in-law’s wall) I was told that having “having good looking or positive pictures on the wall can surely make me feel good which is great for overall pregnancy and well-being”. Later on, in the same vein, my favourite Indian asked me to read less thrillers and stop watching murder movies… Happy puppy will give birth to happy puppies! </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"> </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1c11; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-themecolor: background2; mso-themeshade: 26; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #1E1C11; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: background2; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;">A few weeks later, I visited a customer and her reaction was very spontaneous: “Oh you look even more beautiful! When is your baby girl due??” Seeing my face – how could she possibly have an information (the gender) that I didn’t?? – she explained that a <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">glow on the face</strong> indicates you will deliver a baby girl. But glowing me also has a <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">low, small and round belly</strong>, which would indicate a boy. So let’s see! </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"> </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1c11; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-themecolor: background2; mso-themeshade: 26; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #1E1C11; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: background2; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;">At work, I also get “healthy” advice: “you need to <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">eat double</strong> as you eat for two”, “<strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">don’t take the stairs</strong> it may create a shock for the baby”, “what??? You are <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">traveling by rickshaw</strong>, stop immediately! And by bike also, are you nuts??”. No wonder a lot of pregnant Indian women turn into elephants – which is the favourite topic of my new gynaecologist: the wonder of Indian mothers’ transformation during pregnancy versus Western women – her theory is that it has to be genetic. Which I am not convinced about since studies (<a title="source" href="http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/tropej/online/chapter3.pdf" target="_blank">source</a>) state that “women in Western Europe gain 10-12 kg in weight compared with their counterparts in the developing world [India being included in the study] where the average weight gain is 7-9 kg”. Anyhow, she still shows no compassion when I put on an extra 100 gms! </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"> </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1c11; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-themecolor: background2; mso-themeshade: 26; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #1E1C11; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: background2; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;">I was not given the following advice but I found it very funny: “<strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Drinking coconut water</strong> after the seventh month of pregnancy makes the baby’s head as large as the coconut.” Or “<strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">eating something white first thing in the morning</strong> will result in a fair-skinned baby.”</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"> </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #1e1c11; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-themecolor: background2; mso-themeshade: 26; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #1E1C11; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: background2; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;">And, last but not least, when discussing these Indian myth with a French friend, she shared, roaring with laughter, that she had read that in villages, pregnant women <strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">eat <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ghee</em></strong> (clarified butter (pure butterfat left over after the milk solids and water are removed from butter) commonly used in Indian cooking) to lubricate the way out of the baby. I also found it very funny till the day my favourite Indian came home with ‘my’ <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ghee</em>. And no, I didn’t laugh at his face because when he came home in the first trimester with my ‘tea’ (a disgusting ayurvedic potion called ‘<em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bhadradi Kashayam</em>’) he practically saved my life and helped me overcome nausea all through the pregnancy. Plus he had taken up on him to give me a healthy diet and made salads, soups, juice etc. every day. So the minimum I could do was to take him seriously and do some research. I was not supposed to eat cooking <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ghee</em> but a special ‘herbal’ <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ghee</em>, like he has one for his joints (depending on the herbs, the <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ghee</em> will deposit in different parts of the body). And not astronomical quantities like I had been told (which was to ruin all our efforts for me not to put on too much weight). So I have been taking one spoon daily of ‘<em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sukhaprasava Ghritham’</em>. It is given in 7th and 8th month of pregnancy to ensure easy delivery of child.</span><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"> </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 8pt;">Sources (pregnancy myths in India): <a href="http://www.babycenter.in/x1023025/is-it-safe-to-eat-papaya-ipapitai-during-pregnancy"><span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.babycenter.in/x1023025/is-it-safe-to-eat-papaya-ipapitai-during-pregnancy</span></a> ; </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://www.thehealthsite.com/pregnancy/eating-ghee-will-make-your-baby-slide-out-easier-and-other-such-hilarious-indian-myths-busted/"><span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.thehealthsite.com/pregnancy/eating-ghee-will-make-your-baby-slide-out-easier-and-other-such-hilarious-indian-myths-busted/</span></a>; <a href="http://wonderwoman.intoday.in/story/food-myths-in-pregnancy/1/84211.html"><span style="color: #0000ff;">http://wonderwoman.intoday.in/story/food-myths-in-pregnancy/1/84211.html</span></a> ; <a href="http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2007/may/23preg.htm"><span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2007/may/23preg.htm</span></a> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"> </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 8pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;">Sources (Ayurveda and pregnancy): <a href="http://www.ayurvedaelements.com/articledivinedelivery.php"><span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.ayurvedaelements.com/articledivinedelivery.php</span></a> ; <a href="http://ayurveda-foryou.com/women/garbhasanskar.html"><span style="color: #0000ff;">http://ayurveda-foryou.com/women/garbhasanskar.html</span></a> ; <a href="http://ayurmedinfo.com/2012/05/28/sukhaprasava-ghritham-benefits-dosage-side-effects-ingredients/"><span style="color: #0000ff;">http://ayurmedinfo.com/2012/05/28/sukhaprasava-ghritham-benefits-dosage-side-effects-ingredients/</span></a> </span></p>