Boy or Girl?

I love the NY Times Wellness Blog and have posted about some of their posts that I found interesting in the past, but I've found another couple worth sharing!!

Boy or Girl? The Answer May Depend on Mom's Eating Habits is the first article that caught my interest. Apparently how much a mother eats, or how consistently she eats, at the time of conception may influence whether she gives birth to a boy or a girl! How interesting is that? Apparently Y chromosome sperm thrive on glucose?

This kinda makes sense to me as to how we ended up with a girl b/c around the time Eliza was conceived (she was planned, so I know what I was doing that week) I was like never eating breakfast, and we were in the middle of a road trip where I was mostly living off caffeine and sugar free gum and baby carrots...

I think if I conceived this week, though, we would have a boy... (not going to happen).

However, I've read that gender is also determined by timing relevant to ovulation. If anyone has the slightest interest in learning more about their fertility, I would definitely recommend Taking Charge of Your Fertility. I found it fascinating and helpful to know what happens to my body every day, week, month... but being raised by a nurse instilled in me (and my siblings too) a fascination for the science behind things, so I loved learning the physiology behind my fertility.

Another article that I found very interesting, but that will probably not interest many others is the Psychiatry Handbook Linked to Drug Industry. Since this is directly relevant to my career, I found it very interesting. And I think it's an OUTRAGE that "More than half of the task force members who will oversee the next edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s most important diagnostic handbook have ties to the drug industry!"

For those of you that aren't familiar with abnormal psychology, basically all doctors, social workers, therapists diagnose their clients using the DSM-IV. This is the book that in the past has had homosexuality marked as a mental illness, so obviously they're constantly updating the book. The DSM-V is scheduled to come out in 2012 and will then be the foremost text for the mental health world.

Which is why this is ridiculous and an injustice to the mentally ill in our nation!! ... It's like lobbyists being elected president... okay that's my rant... check out the article, though.

Anyone else have any thoughts on either of these articles?

p.s. A link to NY Times Wellness blog is on my sidebar

and did I trick anyone with the awesome It's a Boy! picture?

I hope so! Just like to keep everyone guessing...