Solace in Kale

Well, here I am 10.5 weeks pregnant, a master's degree in nutrition, and finding myself nauseated by many of the foods I encourage my clients to eat! I feel like a hypocrite and wonder what type of karma has led to this sorry state. But, there is one beacon of hope amidst all my nausea...kale! That amazing green leaf is my saving grace these days. I can eat it til the cows come home with no ill effects, making me feel much healthier about some other indulgences I've began allowing myself these days (cheese anyone?). My vegan lifestyle fell by the wayside when I hit about 7 weeks. Raw? Well, raw didn't even last that long! I take solace in the healthy foundation I gave my growing baby, a mostly raw, vegan foundation full of superfoods and green juices every morning. So now, I must let that alleviate my guilt in my newly discovered LOVE of organic cheese! It's not that I haven't had cheese before, I'm not a life-long vegan by any stretch of the imagination but my vegetarian roots are strong and I at least have faith in maintaining them thoughout this pregnancy. So I must laugh when I think back to some women I've counseled when they'd tell me about their cravings for this or that and I just couldn't understand it. This is my karmic debt perhaps, to understand what they were going though while coming to me to ensure that they were doing the best they could amidst such strange and irresistible yens. I thought I understood before but sister! do I understand now! Maybe this is the universe's way of enabling me to be an even better nutritionist as I've now began walking this walk as well. I've tried many other realities, having been an overweight child with no concept of what the different types of foods would mean for my body, struggling with an eating disorder during my teen years, until finally finding balance in a healthy vegetarian lifestyle by my mid-teens. But never, ever, have I experienced this. So, my hat's off to all you moms...the one's who are vegan, vegetarian and omnivores alike but who try to ensure that everything that goes into their bodies is as beneficial as possible for their little ones within. I feel like I've joined a priveleged group and I couldn't be prouder or happier about it. Sometimes I just wish cheese wasn't so darn tasty!