Hummus recipe

This is a very delicious hummus recipe, try it and you'll not regret it. Hummus is a great dip for vegetables. All my friends love it :) It's easy to make, cheap and is very healthy. 

Ingredients:

1 cup of uncooked chick peas
or
2 cups of cooked chick peas
1/3 cup tahini
1/3 cup of lemon juice
1/2 clove of garlic
1 tea-spoon salt
1/4 tea-spoon cumin (optional)
2/3 cup of water (better to use water left after boiling chick peas)
1 table-spoon olive oil
1 roasted pepper (optional)
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To cook chick peas: in a large pot put 1 cup of chick peas and 6 cups of water. Let it stay for 8 hours or overnight. Drain the water. Add 6 cups of water and boil it until tender, about 50-60 min. Drain the water, leaving 2/3 cup to use when blending everything. 1 cup of uncooked chick peas gives about 2 cups of cooked chick peas. 


To roast pepper: just cut a sweet pepper into similarly-sized pieces and spread them out on a sheet pan. Roast them in an oven tossing once or twice at 400F, until they're tender and brown in spots (15-20 min)


To make hummus: mix all ingredients together in a blender and blend.

Enjoy!!!

What I've experienced after stopping birth control

After stopping birth control pills I've experienced lots of positive effects. I feel myself again, no more depression, no crying, no mood swings, vaginal infections stopped right away (sex is great :)) Woo-hoo!!!

But it's four moths after and I still struggle with side affects of being on bc for such a long time (10 years). My hormones are definitely screwed and I don't know how long it will take to get them to normal level. I've experienced excessive hair loss, bad nails, and the worst - acne came back with vengeance. Still I think that I've made the right decision to quit bc pills. Apparently there are some long-term side effects of bc pills. For example one study showed that it could lead to  continuing sexual, metabolic and metal health problems. If I'd have all the information I have now at the time when I started taking bc pills, I probably would never started taking them.

I think that quitting bc is not a simple process. We have to prepare our bodies for such a sudden change in hormone production. And by preparing I mean the right diet, supplements and vitamins. I'm still in the process of searching for the right solution. I think that some research should be done in this direction. But it's definitely not as simple as "if you want to stop, stop right away".

I found a great forum - other people's experiences after quitting bc. It really helped me to understand that I'm not the only one there. There are many people with the same problems. Some women are lucky and have no problems with bc, but it wasn't the case with me. So I've decided to start this blog just to aware people about the bc pills, their side effects and moreover how to deal with side effects after stopping bc.

Currently I'm developing a diet which is kind of low glycemic index diet with tons of vegetables and fruits and no fried food, grains, breads, and meet. I'll wright about it soon. This is the only thing that seems to work with my acne. I'm not sure if it'll work in a long run but at least I've started to see a slight improvement. I wasn't able to achieve that with any other methods. My hair is also much better now. The only problem is that diet takes a long time to work. I'm planning to see naturopath, dermatologist and endocrinologist sometime soon. Hopefully they also will have good advices. I'll keep posting updates after these appointments here. I'm also planing to wright about my diet, skin care routine, supplements and vitamins, etc. I wish I have more free time to devote to this blog :)

Quitting birth control pills

I was very scared of stopping bc pills. On forums I read that side effects of stopping bc can be more severe than taking them. It takes a long time for our bodies to regulate hormone production disturbed by long-term use of bc. So after sopping bc some women would not get period for 3-4 months, some would need up to 2 years. Hair loss, acne, weight gain/loss, anxiety, panic attacks, mood swings were also mentioned as side effects after stopping bc. Again I was seeking help with doctors (I decided to see a few), hoping that they can at least help me and maybe tell me if I need to somehow prepare my body before quitting bc. But no, the answer was if you want to quit, just stop taking pills at any time. They have suggested to wait until the end of the pack and quit. I knew that I had to quit and I did, in August 2010.

By that time my acne started to reappear. It was very mild, just a few pimples. Again I talked to my doctor.  And she said that it's no problem and it should go away on its own.