Nausea: It's Not Just for Pregnancy, It's a Way of Life!

Hello, dear nauseated readers!!

A brief health-type update in which there is a good deal of TMI - you have been warned. Also an update in which I try to juggle a cranky baby with typing, while simultaneously dealing with "Crocodile Hunter" in the background and mentally ignoring the hideous mess waiting my attention - so there is no guarantee that this entry will actually make sense. Again, you've been warned.

So.... where to begin?

With my first and second babies, my cycle returned at eleven months postpartum. With that in mind, I have been nervously calculating when I ought to go back on the VLC diet in order to avoid being caught unawares by a surprise pregnancy. Should I do three months? Six months? Nine months?

I had tentatively decided on nine months for my start-date, when, last month - bam! Cycle returned. A good five months sooner than it had ever returned. I was rather disappointed! But all the same, I was back on the VLC diet within negative five seconds, and have remained on it ever since (three and a half weeks), even though by this time I am already about to die of boredom (and carb cravings). I need to figure out some new menu options (eggs, anyone?).

But almost immediately (three days in), I ran into a problem - nausea. Lots and lots of nausea. Thinking the obvious, I wondered if a new little one had joined us - but that was apparently not the case, as a long line of negative home pregnancy tests could tell you. But why, why, why, was I nauseated so badly - for hours at a time, several times a day? Especially since this had not happened last time?

I finally hit the computer to do some research, and found that nausea is a common side-effect of diets that are low-carb, high-protein, AND low-fat. Bingo. I remembered that the original paperwork had said that one's diet should be high-fat - deriving at least 50-80% of one's calories from fat. I had unintentionally been doing a low-fat version of the diet, and I was paying for it .

Immediately, I added a ton of healthy fats to my diet - butter, avocado, olive oil, nut snacks (something I'd been avoiding), and even (*gag*) a spoonful of cocoanut oil twice a day. And.... bam! Within a couple of hours, the nausea was gone and has not returned in the week or two since.

So... for anyone doing the diet, remember to keep it high-fat!

And other than that.... I'll keep you updated!

My longterm plan is to wait until I'm completely through menopause and then eat nothing but carbohydrates for the rest of my life. I may kill myself in the process, but I shall die supremely happy. Mmmm.

In other NVP news, I emailed my summary entry on the VLC diet to the USC researcher who is doing heavy-duty research work into HG treatment. Frankly, I felt a little bit silly doing it. After all, I am a two-bit blogger who's done a bit of internet reading, while she is an incredibly specialized research doctor who is an expert in her field. However, just in case there's anything in it, I wanted to get the information into the hands of one of the only people who could do something substantial with it. There may be nothing in it after all (my experience last time was not conclusive), but it's worth a try to get the information out there.

And there you have it! Your local NVP news for the day. How are you all doing out there?