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breastfeeding
Hi Nisha,
I am a nursing mom and mother of two so I might be able to give some helpful imput. While I was pregnant with both of my children I did crave things like cheese, nuts, bread, pb, sometimes even ice cream! I mean it is better for the baby if one dosen't indulge but I can't say that I never did! It is always better to try and satisfy cravings macrobiotically with the vegetable quality equavilent (like for corn chips try fried polenta, or cheese try mixed nuts or peanut butter, ice cream try a blended kanted with almond butter, etc) but it dosen't always work out. I can't say that I have ever craved meat with either pregnancys. If you are craving meat you need to look at the amount of salt that you are taking. An imbalance of minerals leads to such cravings. I would say trying to cut you salt intake by half.
Then you need to replace the animal quality yang with vegetable quality. Everyone needs yang to keep them going and give them energy. While I was nursing my son I got so depleted that I HAD to have soba at least two to three times a week. Plus kimpira, nishimi, *plenty* of arame and hijiki (at least a cup a week), dried daikon. This time, after my daughter was born, I had to move on to baked vegetables and baked beans! Anyhow, it works. Also, mochi and amazake are both excellent foods to keep one's milk supply up. Mochi in miso soup, soba and broth topped with deep fried mochi or just pan fried mochi with a little grated daikon are some of my favorite ways to have it. Make sure you have the usual array of pressed, blanched, sauteed veg. dishes and quick steamed greens, as well.
My son had a problem with exema last winter. I cut back severly on the amount of baked flour in our house while I was pregnant in the last trimester and stumbled upon the answer. Baked flour makes the skin really dry and exema is just the skin's way of discahrging that excess. Nuka (rice bran) baths are helpful and too many baths overall can aggrevate it (my husbands favorite way of changing a poopy diaper is giving the kid a bath with out stopping up the drain- yuck, I know...). So Griffin's skin cleared up on it's own without any moisturizers or special creams.
Hope this helps-
Elizabeth
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