If you have ever suffered from morning sickness then you know that you would try just about anything to quell that wretched feeling. Everyone seems to suffer a little differently; some people feel nauseated all the time, others just in the morning, other just at night…some people vomit all day long for 5 months and others are lucky enough to feel completely normal.
Causes & Treatment
The cause of morning sickness it not entirely understood. Some scientists argue that feel rising hormone levels alter the functioning of the hypothalamus and trigger the gag reflex, others feel it is a biological warning sign for the body to avoid any foods that could be potentially harmful to the growing fetus.
I have an entire regimen for treating women with morning sickness. I employ acupuncture, ear press needles and sometimes I even leave in ear tacks on specific points. I always recommend Vitamin water (it saved me) and continual nibbling on whatever you can get down. It’s extremely tough to eat when your nauseted but keeping blood sugar levels constant is key in feeling well.
Just recently a friend and excellent homeopath, Rebekah Azzarelli of Brooklyn Homeopathy recommended Umeboshi Plums for morning sickness. I had heard of umeboshi plums in macrobiotic cooking and also remembered that mume or Wu Mei is a Chinese food used for digestive issues and diarrhea. Interesting!
“Umeboshi (Japanese: 梅干; literally “dried ume”) are pickled ume fruits common in Japan. Ume (Prunus mume) is a species of fruit-bearing tree in the genus Prunus, which is often called a plum but is actually more closely related to the apricot. Umeboshi are a popular kind of tsukemono (pickles) and are extremely sour and salty. They are usually served as side dishes for rice or stuffed inside of rice balls (sometimes without removing their seeds inside) for breakfast and lunch. They are occasionally served boiled or seasoned for dinner.
This Japanese style traditional pickle is considered good for digestion, prevention of nausea, and for systemic toxicity, including hangovers. Green ume extract is even used as a tonic in Japan. The citric acid is claimed to act as an antibacterial, help to increase saliva production and assist in the digestion of rice. Additionally, umeboshi is claimed to combat fatigue (historically given as part of a samurai’s field ration) and protect against aging.
How Umeboshi Plums are prepared:
The plums are pickled, left outside to be exposed to the elements of the sun and evening dew, packed in barrels with crude sea salt and shiso leaves, and then pressed by a weight. The combination of these elements, pressed over a period of at least six months, creates the natural bacteria, enzymes, organic acids and powerful alkaline qualities of the Umeboshi Plum. In fact, Umeboshi Plum has been called “The King of Alkaline Foods.”
Benefits:
Alkalinity is an important factor for health. We want our blood to be just slightly alkaline (about 7.35). If the blood is too acidic, then harmful bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, fats and mucous thrive and grow, contributing to degenerative blood and disease. Our blood can become too acidic from consuming an excessive amount of sugar, refined flour products, alcohol, toxins and animal foods.
This condition worsens with an inadequate intake of oxygen, often caused by sedentary lifestyles.
Umeboshi is rich in organic acids, especially citric acid and phosphoric acid. Organic acids help ensure a rapid breakdown of an excess of acids (such as lactic acid and pyruvic acid) in the body. Such an effect helps to balance, or often eliminate, the symptoms of excessively acidic conditions, including a hang-over, fatigue, morning sickness, car/sea sickness, some headaches, stomach troubles and anemia. In fact, an Umeboshi Plum that has been aged 6 to 7 years has been known to stop diarrhea.
Acupuncture has been proven effective by the NIH for the treatment of nausea. To schedule an appointment with Laurel Carroll e-mail Laurel@ancientcurrent.com.
Info above taken from Macrobiotic.com and Wikipedia
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