#but I also supplement her diet with other stuff

[todaysbird]

my parents have been getting hill's science diet for years, what is bad about it? /gen

there’s not anything inherently wrong with feeding hill’s science diet particularly if it is a specialized formula that helps your pet with an issue they have. however a lot of animal nutritionists recommend against it because it is pretty high in carbohydrates and can make the average pet gain weight even if they have a healthy lifestyle. it’s also hella expensive compared to a lot of foods of comparable/better quality. basically afaik it’s not going to like kill your pet a la Hartz products but there’s better options

[coldflasher]

me every day begging ppl on facebook to listen to their actual vet and not someone on the internet who has zero qualifications whatsoever

[doberbutts]

Saw in one of your transition timeline posts that you got taller on T and was real curious since that’s a really rare experience. Do you think you just had the dna for it/height range in your family ? Or were you surprised by the change?

In addition: do you have any other ways you’ve tried to transition physically other than HRT? Like do you use minoxidil / work out more than you did and stuff like that. Pseudo medical changes that don’t get talked about often are always interesting to me.

If I’m too nosy feel free to leave this in your inbox. Just hope you know I’m asking in good faith! Also I always appreciate you on my feed man. Good takes plus good selfies AND good dogs makes for a pretty damn good blog you really cracked the code on that one

Honestly I didn't expect to get taller at all and in fairness it was a fairly marginal amount (2in) BUT a couple things to consider:

I am intersex and began puberty at 6ish, had C cups by 7, and had my first period by 10. That is VERY early and likely accounted for my relatively short stature compared to the rest of my family, which brings me to my next point

My entire family is filled with people who are 6ft tall at minimum and I am one of only ones that never hit 6ft. And while that's not so unheard of, I think it also has a lot to do with my height gain. My biological sister is over 6ft tall. My father is over 6ft tall. My mother is almost 6ft tall. My aunts and uncles and cousins are largely over 6ft tall. The shortest of us is my adopted sister (4'9"), genetically my cousin, whose mother is over 6ft tall but her father was just over height of legal dwarfism (5ft even), so it makes sense that she's a little smaller. I was the next shortest at 5'8" which isn't really that short but seemed noticeably small when compared to the dozens of 6'2"-6'7"s of the rest of the family.

I think that also had something to do with how long it took to recognize that the early puberty did have an effect on my natural growth, because of course no one thought it was strange when I'm over the average height of a cis woman anyway... but then when compared to the rest of the family, my doctors quickly realized that I'm the odd one out and probably for a reason.

So while I was surprised by the change, it was more the fact that I started HRT at 30 and nearly 20 years post-puberty and less that I actually gained height. Like, I figured if I had started T when I'd wanted to at 13, I probably would have gotten taller. Maybe even that 6ft range the rest of my family's in. But I thought my height was simply my height when I did actually start T almost 2 years ago, so realizing one day that hey wait a second I'm actually taller was a pleasant surprise.

I am not on any other sex hormone supplement. I did start a cholesterol medication and change my diet when T made my cholesterol jump, mostly at my doctor's urging, but that wasn't a surprise because both the men and women in my family have cholesterol problems. I also expect to be diabetic at some point for the same reason. I don't work out, but I am more active on T, largely because it fixed a lot of my joint pain and chronic fatigue and blood pressure/heart rhythm issues. And just this month I started an inhalant steroid for my asthma, but I don't think it would have any effect on height as that's mostly just to make sure I can actually breathe during allergy season.

I'm not bothered by these questions at all. Ask away!

[chuckeroo777]

Dungeon Meshi Volume 14 Part 3

Eat or be eaten. There is no hierarchy. Eating is, quite simply, the exclusive privilege of the living.

Come on, it's time to eat! What shall we have today?

I think the real takeaway from Dungeon Meshi is that cannibalism is a firm "maybe".

Slurp!

I remember seeing a post a while ago about Dungeon Meshi being fatphobic, and while I kinda see where they're coming from, I don't really agree. It's not exactly controversial to advocate for healthy eating and moderate exercise. While the body types could be a bit more diverse, especially in the main cast, Kui clearly has respect for people of various body types. Have you seen some of the daydream hour stuff?

They know him so well. Chilchuck in particular I think understands best. After all, his succubus becomes what he most desires, but it isn't what he wants.

I love this grumpy old gnome who spits nothing but facts.

This whole sequence is very nice.

So, I know this isn't literal, but do you think Falin would have been able to fully expel the dragon's soul? But even if she could, she chose kindness instead. And that's really nice.

I wonder what the demon thinks about all this. Has it actually learned any sort of lesson from all this? Either way, it at least seems to be taking its defeat as graciously as one would hope.

A precious image. It's all been leading up to this.

So, all the changes I've noticed. First, she has feathers covering most of her body. Some haven't grown in yet, but the coverage seems to match her chimera form, leaving her hands, feet, head, and tummy bare. She has large canines. She might have enhanced strength, though she was known for bashing heads in before her transformation too, so it's hard to tell. She also has normal eyesight, as opposed to her previous nearsightedness.

God, she is just like me.

WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!?!

Everyone loves pizza.

I still say familiars are the best solution. He can both make his own monsters, and observe real monsters through the eyes of his creations.

Oh, quit your bellyaching. A quick detox spell will have you right as rain.

An adorable image, and a fitting ending for an amazing manga.

Of course, it isn't quite over yet.

Glad to see she's doing well. Cat's would totally do this if they could talk.

This is so cute. Just like when you were in school!

Was it ever established what the heck living armor eats? Most shelled mollusks rely mostly on filter feeding, but that doesn't work so well in a terrestrial environment. Then again, we know monsters can supplement their diet with mana, and the mana in this dungeon awakens Kensuke later, so maybe they're super efficient to the point that they only need mana. And iron.

I love these dumbasses.

An important image.

Have I mentioned I love the dynamic these guys have?

One final precious image to end things off. What are the odds his wife is just off-screen?

Thanks to everyone who joined me for this tasty journey. I still have some other stuff cooking, so stay tuned! The Laios Got Eaten AU might be a bit. I'm struggling to figure out how they defeat Thistle or the Demon without Laios. I also have another AU I might write involving an OC. We'll see.

Have a great day, and may all your Meshi be Dungeon.

[dustbuneary]

togekiss are predators?! i thought they were all fluffy and cute and love the pure of heart stuff

Well i mean, why can't they be all of those things? I mean I think she's pretty fluffy and cute. She also loves to punch things so hard they simply stop living.

The face of a murderer.

Really though, the dietary habits of Togekiss are really interesting. While they can eat berries and some plants like their prevoloutions mostly did, it actually makes up a relatively small part of their diets once fully evolved. It's not all that widely known though, since they're relatively rare and most people look at the fact they don't have claws like a lot of bird pokemon do and assume they aren't capable of hunting. Oh how wrong they are.

But Sarah, you ask me, Sarah if they don't have claws how do they hunt? Don't bird pokemon usually need talons for that? Well normally yes, but you see Togekiss has developed an entirely different style of hunting! You see, most bird pokemon have to be relatively light to carry themselves through the air, relying on things like updrafts and aerodynamics for flight. Well, Togekiss supplements that with the Fairy type energy that they naturally generate, meaning that togekiss are MUCH MUCH HEAVIER than almost any other bird pokemon.

Now what does this have to do with hunting? Well you see, as one may guess from the not having talons, Togekiss can't learn claw type attacks. Do you know what it can learn? Drain punch. Rock smash. Brick break. Focus punch. Do you see what I'm getting at here? You heard right, Togekiss hunt by balling up their little fists, dropping out of the sky at top speed, and PUNCHING THEIR PREY TO DEATH.

It's absolutely incredible to watch. Almost instantaneous too, breaks their spine on impact, probably a more humane way to go than most predators give, and I've seen her take down prey as big as an adult male Sawsbuck! None of this negates the other points though. Togekiss are still sweet, friendly pokemon that require positive energy and peace in their lives to thrive, and I don't know about pure of heart or whatever but they sure do have a way of telling if someone has good intentions at the end of everything.

Aaaaanyways there's your Togekiss lesson for the day. Hope ya learned someting.

[nudibranchpropaganda]

followed you because when you reblogged my bad communication post i loved your url !! do u have any nudibranch propaganda to share?

Hell yea i do!! This got a little long :)

These funky little dudes have the coolest morphology, something theyre well known for. They can be pretty tiny (0.4 cm) or surprisingly large (60 cm) and generally live in the tropics, though there are certainly a wide variety that live in cooler ocean water as well. Some of the more well known species are very eye catching, like the Jorunna Parva (Bunny slug) or Glaucus Atlanticus

Some of them look like funky leaves and some of them look like slugs we see on the surface too! (Did you know licking banana slugs that you find on land makes your tongue go numb? 10/10 not recommended but i was a dumb kid)

They also come in a goth or clown variant for those that are looking to fit a certain aesthetic :)

Theres two kinds of nudibranchs. Dorids, which breathe from a central plume of gills above their ass, and Aeolids, which breathe from a collection of spiky protrusions called cerata. There are a couple more distinguishing features relating to their digestive tracts and mantles (or lack thereof), but this is the easiest way to tell them apart in my opinion!

Theyre also carnivorous! These guys will eat a wide variety of stuff, including sponges, coral, barnacles, anemones, and even other nudibranchs and their eggs.

There are a couple species that have some pretty cool diets, like the Glaucus Atlantica, which preys on the portugese man of war and other siphonophores. It can eat the man of war whole if theyre small enough, but will also just eat the tentacles if theyre too big. Glaucus will then push the stinging nematocysts (the bits that hurt) from its insides to its outsides and use them as self defence!

There are also sea slugs, like the Costasiella Kuroshimae (technically not a nudibranch yada yada yada) that eat algae they then use to photosynthesize!

These funky little creatures are also hermaphroditic! Like a lot of animals, they use mating dances to attract a partner. Thats not whats cool about their reproduction though. When the time comes to lay their eggs, they do so in the coolest ribbon-like structures.

Mostly though, i just love how different all these little guys are. Personally, my fav nudi is from the ocean near where i live!

Anyways, that was rlly long. thanks if u ended up reading and defs look into these little weirdos on ur own!! (references? idk her :P but actually i dont remember where i learned most of this, though some supplemental info and pics w out credits from wikipedia!)

[luveline]

how did you lose the weight in august? not trying to be invasive so don’t answer this if you don’t want!!! just a fellow girlie trying her best

weight loss and diet underneath

it’s okay! I’ll have to over share a little but I have some cool stuff wrong with me so I started by just calorie counting and eating in a deficit, most time a big deficit and including moderate exercise but it wasnt working as it should be, cos of all that stuff that’s wrong with me, but I started taking supplements to improve my ‘metabolic function’ and also to ease the other stuff wrong with me and now having much better results. I feel like my body is normal for once

[nyalisa-landale]

I think my main problem with dawntrail's writing is that none of the characters have ever read a science fiction novel in their entire lives, because science fiction hasn't been invented yet on etheirys, so obviously they can't tell what's going on from a mile away even though I, the player, can. (more of me thinking through this, spoilers for the whole damn msq):

the problem is that my main wol is "me if I got isekaied into the game a year after I started playing it", and I have read several science fiction novels in my entire life, in addition to having been raised on a steady diet of farscape, stargate: sg1, and star trek: enterprise supplemented by tng and tos. so she's got plenty of "educated guesses", to borrow a phrase from the msq, about where all this is going.

but the story has to constantly repeat itself because gamers can't fucking read and a chunk of the playerbase still thinks garlemald was the good guys and a lot of the audience probably wasn't raised on the early sci-fi channel's offerings or the japanese equivalent (which I suspect is a steady diet of gundam). and the wol has never been written as one of the educated adults in the room; that's what we have the nerd squad for. and the wol waits around for them to do all the smart people stuff, except sometimes for a dialogue choice where one option is to prove you've been following the conversation just fine and the other is to ask alphinaud to explain in little words.

the game's always kind of been like this, and I like it just fine, but then you combine it with all the little stuff like how when the group splits up to do stuff, we're always paired with lamaty'i and never anyone else, with the Singular exception of shaaloani, which is also the most attention the story pays to erenville for its entirety even though his home was destroyed and his mom's fucking dead and now only lives in the matrix (I have not yet been to the matrix but I do know that it's zone 6, and I'm not hopeful of erenville getting the focus he should there). and krile! she was supposed to be a big player here, we literally learn about her past and where she came from, and she gets like five lines of dialogue per zone and all of them are super generic.* what's she thinking? how does she feel about all this? idk, maybe we'd find out if the story ever let us hang out with anyone other than lamaty'i!

and to be clear: I like lamaty'i! you can tell because I consistently only refer to her as lamaty'i instead of wuk lamat! I wanna take her on a world tour, ostensibly for Diplomacy but mostly because I think she'd have a great time and it would be super fun!

but like, I would like to be able to check in with all my other friends, too! and I know she's Extremely Orange Cat Coded but I'm pretty sure she, at the very least, should be like. checking in with erenville, her childhood friend???? the story keeps telling us they're friends, but it feels more like they're two kids whose parents were friends and who were therefore forced into each other's company a lot, but not like actual friends. like we know erenville was a fussy kid so him being really snarky kind of tracks, but when you combine it with lamaty'i's general lack of... idk, care? checking in? I mean, nobody's really checking in with erenville and seeing how he's handling things, and maybe it's because the scions just generally don't really know him very well but they do know he's pretty private and therefore think giving him space is best, and that if he's struggling he'll reach out. but lamaty'i and him are supposed to be actual friends, and until about three years ago when he left for sharlayan they seem to have been spending a lot of time together, even if it was just because erenville's mom dumped him at the palace so she could go run off and have adventures (cahciua doesn't seem to have been a very good mom tbh, but maybe zone 6 will change my opinion). like. lamaty'i should know erenville well enough to feel comfortable actually checking in on him and making sure he's all right. but she just. doesn't do that. which leaves the lingering impression that they're not actually friends.

(part of this is that nobody ever fucking touches anyone in this game. it's super super rare - see me yelling about somebody finally fucking hugging gulool ja earlier. I get that they don't like to rig anyone physically interacting with the wol, because they could be anywhere between lalafell and roegadyn or hrothgar-sized and that's fucking awkward and a pain in the ass, but lamaty'i reads as a super physical person and even her just bumping shoulders with erenville once or twice and like. having one singular moment with erenville where she's like "I'm here for you" and gives him a reassuring bicep squeeze would go a long fucking way to establishing them as people who actually like each other.)

* literally nothing about the story so far would change if krile had been like some random orphan from the isle of val and just. found an old letter to her grandpa from gulool ja ja containing the earring and decided to go see what all that was about. if the two lalas from alexandria had just smuggled out the key and the earring, instead of those AND their baby. hell, she doesn't even have to be galuf's adopted granddaughter, she's just The Only Person Who Survived Val Disappearing so she's in charge of the students now! here's this letter to our organization's founder from across the globe, let's go see what that's all about! but she is his adopted granddaughter, and also g'raha's foster sister, another relationship that dawntrail has seemingly entirely forgotten about. although I suppose it doesn't matter, since krile sure doesn't seem to have any kind of emotions or even really reactions to learning about her original parents or where she came from, so what would she need reassurance from her literal older brother for? (unrelated I hate hate hate that krile's one of the youngest scions even though she's so extremely older sister coded. she's only older than the twins and maybe tataru? it just doesn't make sense to me.)

SO ANYWAY I think my ultimate conclusion for alisa being so blasé about plot developments and probably being stoned the whole msq because goddammit she's on vacation, is that aside from zoraal ja thinking he's zenos and definitely not being zenos, alisa has correctly identified sphene's entire deal as being shadowbringers writ small, and sphene's definitely not emet-selch, so alisa can just kinda hang out and let lamaty'i prove her mettle and only jump in if she asks to use a lifeline. this is a problem to be solved by having eight warm bodies to throw at it, not a problem that actually Requires the warrior of light. I almost even wanna take off her serious title since she's not taking this very seriously, but I know it's going to become relevant later because I couldn't stop clicking on spoilers lol

[lean-mean-demon-genevieve]

Hello, I've recently started reading your blog and am enjoying it so far. I'm curious on your thoughts about a few things. What is your overall opinion on Jared? I've been noticing lately that Jared has been looking more miserable lately and looks a good bit thinner than he did a couple years ago. I also noticed his hair doesn't look as soft and shiny as it used to.

I watched the Mens Health video of an interview with him on what he eats and his workout routine. I noticed there was relatively little protein outside of him mentioning chicken, cheese and sometimes eggs and bacon. I also recall him mentioning he doesn't really eat carbs either. Do you think Gen is perhaps trying to control his diet and that it's possibly impacting his health mentally and physically? I know of people who do keto right and are healthy but I'm wondering if Jared is really doing that right, especially with what I've noticed and also tends to get sick a lot. I'm also wondering why he had to use a hyperbaric chamber to get more oxygen to his brain at one point.

Also, I saw a post of yours where you mentioned your first disdain of Gen is much stronger than it is towards Danneel. Would you be kind enough to tell me why you hate Gen a lot more than Danneel?

Thank you for your time in reading and hopefully answering this all.

Oh man, I’ve been super busy for the past several weeks, then sick, and haven’t gotten around to responding to asks in any particular order. But I’ve also been hesitant to touch this one because anyone that comes anywhere close to Jared critical content is immediately chased with pitchforks around here. It is so divided and therefore people are defending their faves to the death. Especially since Prequelgate, Jared, and thus Gen, are the current Prom King and Queen in the areas of fandom I most often see. And let me be clear that I’m not a Heller nor am I anti-Jared but I’m just also not a stan…of anyone. Honestly, I’m an “eat the rich” leftist at heart who believes anyone’s choices can be looked at with a critical eye.

(Long post under the cut)

To answer the easy stuff first, I don’t feel as strongly about Danneel because, except for a few appearances here and there, she keeps to herself lately and doesn’t give me a reason to really analyze her behaviors. I wasn’t deep into fandom during the early days of her and Jensen getting married and all of her territorial behaviors, so I don’t bring all of that with me to the present day. I do hate the way Danneel panders to Hellers and I did pick up on some irritating comments in her most recent OTH podcast appearance. The response from a fan question at HonCon about how Jensen can never impress her makes me roll my eyes and is part of their schtick that feels very tired. I don’t think we would be friends, but Danneel doesn’t get under my skin quite the same way Gen does. I think in some ways, Danneel has been more openly who she is (even if it was bitchy and unlikeable) whereas Gen has hidden behind a Mary Sue persona of golly-gee-whiz perfection…and I just respect that authenticity more.

Describing why I am anti Gen is…honestly difficult to summarize. I will link some of my other posts to help. Right away, it’s not because I’m jealous and she gets to be married to Jared. Overall, it lies in all the inconsistencies and hypocrisies which, honestly, I wouldn’t even be aware of if she wasn’t so set on proving her worth to herself by building a platform to manipulate her fans with sales pitches. She preaches sustainability while also jet-setting constantly. And she’s more of a flip-flopper than a preacher, so understanding what she even stands for is difficult. She wants to sell you 6 different supplements for the almighty gut health while also being seen drinking alcohol regularly. And when she laments about being stressed I lose my entire mind because most of us could only dream of having her version of stress. In one of her most recent IG story ads she complained that 2 trips out of the country (and away from her children) were just SO HARD to deal with! To me, instead of the relatable vibe she’s going for, she regularly comes off as entirely ungrateful and unaware of all of her privileges.

When I look at Gen, don’t see the same “goofy, light-hearted mom who is altruistically trying gosh darn hard to save the world with recycling and kindness” that her fans see. I see an uptight yet insecure grifter who skates by in this fandom by doing the bare minimum while being praised like a saint. And I think that it is her connection to Jared that affords her all the fandom grace. When people still refer to this grown man as one of their “boys” and liken him to “literal sunshine,” puppies, and sunflowers…well, imagine the positive assumptions we make about a partner that person chooses.

(I hate referring to either J as a boy, don’t come for me…and I’ve seen Jensen receiving the same stanning that also makes me gag lol)

While I hope Jared is not struggling with any other underlying health issue, his frame has appeared to change in recent years. But I’m definitely not here to say that this is due to Gen “controlling” him in any way. I do think Gen has/has had her own issues with eating (she admitted to having history of an eating disorder in a podcast once) and excessive exercise, but Jared is a grown man who makes his own decisions. Jared himself has alluded to insecurities in his body image over the years, praised what I would call disordered eating practices like fasting, and his bulked up frame as Soulless Sam was suspected of having anabolic help at the time. I do think he dabbles in manipulating diet and exercise in different ways like every one else in The Biz and I think he has a naturally lanky frame. So if he doesn’t want to work out constantly in order to stay swole, then I fully respect that. There is also the issue of his knee that no doubt impacts his capabilities as well.

As for the hyperbaric chamber (mentioned during Jared’s appearance on the Inside of You podcast on 5/24/22): he didn’t need it and the evidence that it even fixes anything just isn’t there. That doctor is a known quack, and he sucked Jared right in. At these clinics they take specialized (and not widely accepted in the field of actual neuroscience) scans of your brain and present you with scary results in order to sell these expensive chambers and their own supplements. It’s a racket. Now, how did he find his way to an Amen Clinic in Costa Mesa, CA? I really couldn’t tell you, but it does sound like the shifty, woo woo alternative medicine that Gen has also been pursuing for her “brain fog.” But then again, his supposed buddy and co-star Keegan Allen is also a health and wellness wackadoo, and we’ve seen Jared get sucked in by the likes of that young lady with the boutique IV drip clinic too. Jared has also shouted out Joe Rogan multiple times. He’s got multiple influences.

If Gen and/or Jared is concerned about their cognitive functioning, as a person with connection to the world of eating disorders, my opinion is that they invest in less oxygen chambers and instead at least consider more carbohydrates and overall calories. You’d be amazed at how much less foggy your brain feels when it’s properly nourished. And no, I’m not diagnosing anyone here, but I am saying that people with access to these expensive specialists are sometimes overlooking an answer that is right in front of their faces simply because eating a wider variety of nutrients would betray their brand. And sometimes people are scared to eat more when they can no longer workout like they use to and have an image to maintain.

[magnoliamyrrh]

Can you drop the face wrinkle exercies routine? You said it did wonders to your face

sure! I know i wrote this on here before cuz someone asked me but i cant find it so here we go again lol

ive started using some new skincare products bc of the rash thing ive gotten on my face and those help too ive come to see. ive been using azelaic acid cream 10% morning sometimes night too, it helps increse skin overturn (like retinol does) and increse the collagen in the skin, but has been pretty gentle on my skin, and made it more smooth than it has been in yrs. it also dries out the face tho and i have a naturally very oily face without the acid, so ive been using A+D ointment (vaseline + lanolin (sheep grease)) which has been working great (vaseline cant clog up pores). having moisturized skin rly helps! also, ive v rarely used sunscreen throughout my life, and i know ppl say this helps prevent as well

other stuff, sometimes when i wake up i will take a icecube and rub it on my face. great way to wake up lol, but it also tightens the skin and helps reduce inflation. everyonce in awhile i will freeze an eggwhite and use this instead. also, being well hydrated helps, and Maybe taking collagen supplements or eating a diet heavy in collagen (soups w bones, bone marrow, skin, chicken feet etc, taking gelatin or collagen supplements) may help (i do this anyway bc of my lack of collagen bc genetic disorder).

as for the exercises, i follow the ones of this lady. you can also find her on tiktok where she has more content

the one at 2:38 (first link) is the one i do most often and i feel like its rly helped! it rly is a big difference compared to how it used to b before i started all this (and i can also tell a difference bc ive stopped doing it regularly for some weeks and its still better than it used to b, but not as good). i feel like i look less like a chronic smoker 30 year old exhausted mom lol, like i rly look moreso my age, most times i dont even have actual wrinkle dents in my laugh lines anymore where before there used to be!

this is for laugh line wrinkles tho, she has many others too for other parts of the face: ive done her eye exercises before and her forehead massage exercises and feel like those helped too! ive also done her exercises for jowels, and felt like they were sagging less. make sure your face is moisturized before you do this tho! ,,, ive also been at times doing a version of the lymph notes face massages you see online (but w my hands, not that stone thing), cant tell you if they help w anything but it does feel nice and help release tension in the face (tension being one of the things which leads to wrinkles)

i really did notice a difference after awhile of doing these every day! how much i did a day varied, sometimes just 10 min sometimes more as i was sitting around doing other things. i know at some point my cheeks hurt the day after, like i had muscle fatigue like when you exercise other muscles lol. i also noticed that after a few days it became a lot easier to do the movements and my face muscles were definetely getting stronger. be consistent and have patience and i really do think you will see some results!!! ive also seen a scientific study on this sort of exercises done on elderly women (50/60+) where they did 30 min of exercises every day for months, showing before and after photos, and i was rly shocked by the results; its why i decided to try to do this! best of luck :)

[agentsquirrelsgotrobots]

Part 2 of The Gods have found us (Megatron help us all.)

Repost, because I didn't know how Tumblr worked the first time I posted this.

Cody woke up and dug himself out of the towel, looking around at his new surroundings. He shrugged off his coat and pants, taking off the t-shirt and undershirt. He put the t-shirt back on, and found that his other clothes, along with some rags and the bag that he had been offered earlier, had been used to stuff the old datapad cover that made up the makeshift sleeping pad underneath him.

The tank was about the size of the tray, maybe a bit smaller. The toilet was in one corner, and there was a shade that reminded him of the little hides you can buy for some reptiles above his head, pushed flat against the wall with a little rounded knob that lowered it down, casting the area in shadow and making it dark enough that he could sleep even with the lights on. Cody heard Tarn chuckle, the sound making him giddy. He reached into the tank and pulled a little ring on the top of the shade, and Cody watched the knob rotate as the shade was pulled up.

"Oh, don't say you are sleepy yet? The last time you were out for twelve hours. That's no fun. How about you eat something? You haven't had much more than water and a swallow or two of the cleanser."

Cody heard a bell ring, and a packaged bar of… something came out of a dispenser. It was in a language he didn't understand. He opened the orange package, and the bell rang again. A packet with one clear side, showing that it was filled with a white paste with a symbol Cody recognized as a cybertronian medical emblem, was stamped on the corner. The bar looked like a blocky granola bar, with what looked like bits of cured meat and grain embedded into it. He opened the packet too, the sweet artificial medicine smell making him wrinkle his nose.

He looked up at Tarn, who was watching him intently. He knew that one way or another, he would end up eating both packages. Whether it was by force or not was up to him.

He popped the corner of the clear packet and stuck it in his mouth, expecting it to taste horrible. Surprisingly, it tasted a bit like cheap, too sugary frosting. He set the packet aside to finish with some water and bit into the bar. It tasted like beef jerky and cheap trail mix without the candy. Willing to try something, Cody spread a little bit of the paste on the bar. Yep, that was good. He knew it would get old quickly, but at least he wouldn't bechoking down the alien equivalent of dog kibble. He moved away from the dispensers and to the water spout, washing down the rest of the food with it.

Tarn directed him to throw the garbage into the waste disposal as if he had used it normally. Feeling tired, he turned the shade back over his bed and fell asleep to the sounds of Nickel and Tarn talking in a language he didn't understand.

Tarn had to hide his amusement as Cody discovered that Nickel had sweetened the mix of dietary supplements and growth blockers she had added to a flavorless edible paste. The individually wrapped treats, meant for much bigger omnivorous pets, were the perfect size and calorie content to be the base of Cody's diet. Just enough for his minimal activity level and daily needs while also keeping him pleasantly full.

"When did Swindle say he would be stopping by to make the deal?" Nickel said, rummaging through her storage closet. "We are getting low on some things, and if you are serious about keeping the little monkey in its organic state, we will need more than a couple weeks' worth of supplies. I am talking about buying multiple years' worth in advance if we are serious about it. Cyber formation of an organic organism is not an exact science, and I am not entirely sure about how reliant on energon he will be after it's complete.

"A few weeks, in earth rotations, of course. Worst case scenario, I make a vehicon use an online grocery shopping service, and you have to defrost a few meals in the heat scanner."

He left, and Nickel shut down the medbay for the night and curled up on one of the medical beds.

The next morning, Tarn woke up to a call from Megatron. He answered it, willing himself to act a lot more awake than he actually was.

"Tarn, I have wonderful news. We captured the helicopter and the female human alive, and the fire truck is on borrowed time, seen ranting and raving while shooting at anything that moves. Knockout tells me that the kid likely caused his parental coding to go haywire and caused him to lash out when he was suddenly taken away. The same could be said about the other human pets and their guardians. The helicopter is timid and very submissive, and the female is rowdy but is easily reasoned with. The plans have changed, and I don't intend on reuniting the two humans. Do with the kid as you will, but procure four vials of liquid cyber metal for me. The human's short lifespan is a weakness I can't afford, not until the helicopter has been fully indoctrinated. As soon as supplies are secured, I want your ship out of range of earth for as long as the human stays alive."

"Understood. Are their plans to capture and cyber form the human that learned cybex? I know Soundwave had an interest in him."

"Unfortunately, yes. My third in command is quite insistent on taking it with us."

"So four vials of cyber metal, along with space stable supplies for all of them? I assume you will be partially covering the cost?"

"Yes, but any materials sourced for the human in your possession is out of your funds. The drugs you use to arrest the human's natural aging process are expensive."

"Affirmative. I will amend the order with Swindle at the soonest convenience." Megatron ended the call, and Tarn called Swindle and increased the order, informing him that the Decepticons will be footing the bill for the cyber metal, so be generous with his pricing. Swindle agreed, hearing the threat in his voice. No price gouging or convenience fees would be tolerated this time.

As directed, Tarn had the ship duck behind Saturn to make the deal.

Swindle's ship docked with Tarn's, and he had his workers load up the decepticon purchased supplies while he haggled the price of the goods bought with Tesarus's funds. As much as he owed Tarn way more than the contents of his savings account, Tarn still didn't want to set a precedent.

"Yeah, you got a deal." Swindle said, barely tamping down the irritation in his voice as he was forced to sell four vials of cyber matter, two water tanks with filtering attachments, and two decades worth of organic pet treats for much lower margins than he would have liked. Well, time to see if he can upsell a little bit. "I also have a few options for if the organic you're buying these supplies for gets a bit too rowdy. Non addictive, fairly mild, and doesn't have the rather … smelly drawbacks of some of the more conventional products. Just keeps them nice and cuddly, with an entertaining high that wears off quickly and transitions to nice, drowsy, affectionate organic that will stay still for medical exams, stay calm around loud noises, and makes them all around easier to handle."

"Appreciate the offer, but he has warmed up beautifully to the ship. I have seen what high humans do, and I do not find it entertaining to see its intelligence drop to nothing but its bare instincts. Besides, it's too young. Mind altering substances can curb its remarkable brain function."

"Oh? Do tell? Do you think it might be an outlier of its own species?"

"Perhaps. It caught Lord Megatron's attention by effortlessly charming and commanding bots many times its size without a single threat or controlling device." Tarn said, just a hit of his Voice leaking into his speech, threatening death if Swindle got any ideas on who owned Cody. Cody was Tarn's, in every way he wanted to own him, until he decided that he wasn't. He doubted he would get bored of such an interesting creature, especially once the cyber-forming process starts and he gets to watch Cody change.

He heard rumors about how cuddly and malleable the cyber forming process makes the affected organic. How pure and strong the spark bond is, how vulnerable it makes it as it dampens the victim's memories but keeps its personality and core traits whole and untouched.

Tarn had already made the arrangements with Nickel to open up the hold that was installed to secure Cody against the outer walls of his spark chamber during his retrieval. As it stood, the space was too small to be useful while out on the hunt, with no way for Cody to see outside. He would have to acclimatize Cody to the glory of the List and to worship Megatron slowly, in order to make sure he became a true believer, not just a scared pet.

The first step was to get a strong spark bond established after the cyber formation, in order for Tarn to use it to sooth and prime Cody to associate the noises of the hunts with good things, like attention and the gentle, warm embrace of a parent bond.

Swindle's men finished unloading the supplies and loaded themselves back onto the merchant ship, Swindle following behind them.

Tarn closed the cargo bay's inner door before Swindle's ship detached from the dock and flew off.

Tarn looked through the supplies that were dropped off, splitting up what was for Cody and what was going to the Nemesis. The two orders had been separated by the intended location as usual, but Tarn still liked to snoop sometimes. He set aside two boxes of a different flavor of the treats he had been feeding Cody, this one in a light pink box instead of an orange one, certain that he could introduce them to him as a reward for cooperating with Tarn.

He put an emergency bottle of oxygen in his subspace, knowing that even if Cody never needed it before he was cyber-formed, it would make a good makeshift grenade. He picked up the boxes and opened the door to leave, ordering Vos and Helex to put away the stuff meant for the Peaceful Tyranny as he walked to the medbay.

He set down the boxes of food and went over to the tank. Cody was laying under the sun lamp, enjoying the warmth on his skin, pretending that he was still on Griffin Rock. Nickel thought he looked pale, and Cody was curious about what the skinny light bulb mounted on a swivel join on one side of the tank was. She turned it on when he asked about it, setting a twenty minute timer so he didn't burn.

Those delusions were shattered when Tarn turned off the lamp, swore in cybex when he melted his paint off one finger on the hot bulb, then yelled at Nickel when she made him treat and cool his hand down before picking up Cody.

Cody scrambled to stand up, getting a drink of water before standing out in the open for when Tarn eventually picked him up. He heard a hiss and a grunt as Nickel cooled off Tarn's hand and a grinder as she removed the melted paint. He swore again when Nickel activated the berth restraints, pulling him flat against the table, and, by the sounds of it, started to do something painful to his chest.

Finally, after Nickel finished up and cooled his hand again, Tarn scooped up Cody and held him against his chest. Cody squirmed a bit but got into a more comfortable position on his back and stayed still, not knowing what Tarn intended to do.

Tarn opened the middle section of his chest plate, and the pocket expanded to be a rather cozy size. Cody guessed that was what Nickel was doing when she forced him onto the table.

He showed it to the human, pointing out the little vid screen he had installed on the inside of the space, wirelessly connected to multiple cameras and microphones he could stick in the gaps of his plating, along with access to some simple children's programming to decompress after a successful hunt.

After showing him how to turn the screen off and on and what each button did, he closed his chest back up and decided to get some cuddles in. What's the point of kidnapping an adorably soft organic if you aren't going to pet it?

Remembering the few times he had seen an organic with its young, he put Cody against his chest, making sure that his arms and legs weren't being squished by his body. He hummed happily as the youngling's instincts took over and curled up its body, his knees covering up his vulnerable organs while his hands reached up to be by his face. His delicate spine was just barely visible through his skin, and the big, oversized garment he had worn without fail for days sagged off his back. Tarn took a breath, increased the temperature of his hands a little above human room temperature, and tried something. He rubbed circles into Cody's upper back, encouraged by the way his muscles relaxed farther than he had ever before.

Tarn's treatment of Cody reminded himself of the rare times when his siblings and dad were out of the house or upstairs and Heatwave had gently plucked him from the couch or wherever he had sat down with a few toys or a game and held him in one of his hands, sometimes gently rubbing or tapping his back, as if he was a stubborn infant refusing a nap.

The first couple times, he had struggled, but it was one of those rare times that none of his family was in the house but him. Heatwave just did something to warm up his hands and held him until Cody hit that temperature where he felt sleepy and content, even despite the fact he hadn't taken regular afternoon naps since he was six and was very uncomfortable pressed against the hard glass of Heatwave's chest. He then set Cody back on the red couch, his parental coding satisfied.As time wore on and Chief got a bit more comfortable with having the bots babysit and touch Cody, Heatwave picked him up more often, sometimes shifting around a few panels in the back of his cab and letting Cody nap to the sound of his spark beat, careful to never let the light of his spark peak through. That wasn't his place, and he wasn't sure that humans could bond platonically anyway, being organic.

He was almost found out a few times, when Cody fell asleep in his cab after a mission, or relaxed a little too fast reflexively into his hands the few times he had picked him up to get him out of harm's way. The other bots covered for him that time, trusting that he would never do anything inappropriate to the little human.

Cody didn't say anything either, not knowing if his family would even believe him. He knew Heatwave had left a child behind on Cybertron, and Heatwave didn't hurt him or touch him anywhere he wasn't supposed to, so he just let the bot pick him up to get it over with.

Tarn was different, a little more detached with him, but seemed to care a little more about him each time Cody saw him. And boy, was he fighting the urge to stretch out and take a nap. Oh, what the heck, he would probably just put him down if he didn't like Cody moving.

Tarn reflexively tilted his arm to support the human, who had stretched his arms backwards, his joints and spine releasing a chorus of soft pops before it yawned and curled back up.

Nickel had a disgusted look on her face. "I could have gone my entire life without hearing the sound of that fleshy popping its spine." She said in cybex, examining the chrome cyber metal in its glass vial before locking it in storage. "You sure you want to wait on cyber forming it? It will throw off the order of the List."

"Hmm." Tarn replied, also in cybex. "The List does outweigh my own priorities, but I would like to have a bit more time to introduce Cody to the rest of the crew, and lay down some ground rules. He hasn't even been to the shrine yet, but I would rather he be introduced to that when his mind is fresh and open to suggestion. By the way, I, of course, will be acting as his Sire. It's only fair, he is most comfortable with me." Tarn removed a bulky plate from the door of his chest compartment, a purple tinted window showing the inside of his chest pocket.

He opened the door and slid Cody inside it, turning on the screen for him and putting the plate into his subspace. He smirked as he got a popup notification that Cody had picked a cutesy animated movie to watch as Tarn made sure he wouldn't go squish.

"All crew to the bridge." He barked into his comm link, sitting in his captain's chair. He could feel Cody's head pressed against the back wall of the pocket and felt glee at the idea that he was so close to his spark.

Soon.

Soon, he will have an apprentice, a backup vocalist to his kills to make the hunt that much sweeter.

All he needed to do was give him the tools to sing.

[idleglowingpixels]

Character Design #2: Draculaura De Ville

AHHHHH I'm so sorry I was like, two days late with this one! Lotta irl stuff going on lately, completely distracted me! qHq Anyway, the second character reveal is Draculaura! I will also be updating Frankie's post to include their descending scaritage...Hadn't thought to do that until this one :'D

Name: Draculaura De Ville Aliases: Drac/Laura/Laurie/Ula-D Age: 15 Pronouns: She/Her Monster Type: Vampire Descendant Of: Count Dracula De Ville Freaky Flaw: "I'm a total hemophobe. The sight of blood gives me the creeps!" Grade Level: 1st year/Freshman Favorite Subject: Creative Writing Character Description: Being the adopted daughter of the Vampire King, Draculaura has a lot of expectations as an heiress to the throne. Despite her best efforts to make friends, her title made it difficult to find true friends in her previous homeschooling group. Transferring to Monster High from her home in Transylvania, she's ready to find her wings.

Additional Info: - Due to the existence of non-silver mirrors, as well as her being a turned vampire, Draculaura can see her reflection. - She tends to feel dizzy or faint from the lack of blood fueling her in comparison to other vampires. Her supplemented nutrients from her vegetarian diet ease her symptoms at varying levels of success. - Being a vampire, she has the ability to control one's mind, should one look in her eyes when she casts the ability. She rarely uses it, only under extreme circumstances. --This ability cannot be done to other vampires, and vice-versa. --The usage of this ability on Monster High's campus is strictly prohibited, and students can face expulsion should they cast it -- camera footage cannot be manipulated by the spell. - The ability to transform into a bat form is also an ability Draculaura has. However, this isn't an ability she can tap into at the start of the AU's timeline, due to her being turned into a vampire instead of a vamp at birth. - She is excitable with a bubbly personality and a heart of gold. Any time she can do so, she will spread kindness and positivity wherever she goes. However, her kindness has been taken advantage of before, which causes her to keep to herself before meeting her ghoulfriends. --She also temporarily goes by Laura to avoid her connection to Count Dracula. - Prior to her relationship with Clawd, she is unaware of his kinship with Clawdeen and Howleen. - Her hat in the drawing was a gift from a friendly witch in Transylvania.

[elfdragon12]

From time to time, I recall that one PETA tweet going (paraphrased) "unless you dream of killing a cow with your bare hands, you aren't a carnivore!"

And you know how it's these types of folks who will insist on feeding dogs (and the less rational ones include cats) a vegan diet?

By PETA's own logic, my dog is a total carnivore.

Her idea of the best time is following animals tracks (she has caught the scent of deer on someone's car--they were right there when we were walking by and said they hit one after she wouldn't stop sniffing the bumper). It's not a friendly "just wants to play", but a full "wants to sink in teeth and rip it apart, Mother, I crave violence". She's gotten her mouth on a bird (that, for some reason, wasn't flying even with a dog obviously going for it) and a cat (the cat was safe, between its speed and me holding her back, it slipped away before she could bite down). She goes nuts seeing animals she isn't allowed to chase, jumping in the air and yelping in frustration. At least half of our walks go to the same stretch of road with multiple empty lots where we've seen deer down from the mountains and cats from the neighboring homes. Tracks and scat everywhere.

Also, the only fruits and veggies she doesn't spit out are the ones cooked in meat broth (and that she usually leaves until there's none of the good stuff left).

There really isn't anything about this that can change. Dogs are facultative carnivores (carnivores that can/may supplement their diet if they can't get enough) and my dog is half shar pei, a utilitarian breed with a focus on guarding and hunting and she strongly takes after that parent. (Huskies, her other half, also can be high prey drive.) Thousands of years of breeding and no apparent socialization in her younger life (or possibly flunked) means that it's just a part of her nature to want to chase down animals.

It's just nature and it's neither moral nor immoral for her, a dog with no concept of morality, to follow it.

... What would be immoral is to knowingly take in an animal whose dietary needs go against my beliefs and force them to follow my diet that doesn't properly sustain it.

[madbalalaika]

Health update #4. This is a lengthy one, so bear with me :")

❗TW: food, diet, weight, female health❗

Let's start with a bang: I'M NOT ALLERGIC TO COCOA!!!

Which is like??? I'm surprised, considering how much chocolate I ate last year when my gut was as bad as it could get. But I'm not complaining at all, let it always be that way 🙏🙌✨

Been a while since I've done one of these, don't even remember that much what happened after my last health update lol

??.03.2023: But one thing I remember though and what's kind of bugging me (just a wee bit, not much at all) is that I've completely stopped my meal diary thingy, but not cause my doctor told me to, that's cause I'm a lazy piece of sh-

No, jk

But seriously, I just can't do it, it's such a burden to me. The fact that it took so much of my daily time just to focus and write down what I ate made me feel like I'm completely wasting my time instead of focusing on trying to be more productive, and, in turn, more happy

09.06.2023: I'm still not doing that cause I know it would make me miserable :")

What's also very interesting, is that apparently, these past few months (from around December 2022, to be exact), I had pretty bad malnutrition and anemia, not to the point where I would literally fall, but pretty close. I would feel dizzy and lightheaded almost all of the time, my blood pressure would consistently be 90/60 or lower, and the back of my head would hurt.

And the thing is, right? I was undereating, and not even because I wanted to do that, but because first of all, I was very confused by my GI doctor's instructions regarding my diet. I don't know if it's just me, it most likely is, but I felt like I didn't understand how my healing process was supposed to work and what I needed to look out for. It was all very vague.

Second of all, because of how vague it was, I was scared to make a single mistake, feeling like the damage from a negative reaction (like unbearable pain of the whole digestive system from the beginning of esophagus to intestines, which I got almost every single time I ate at that time) would be permanent, so I was just scared to eat. I was hungry, cold, and tired a lot of the time, which was really stressful, but for some reason also very hard to pinpoint what exactly was going on. I thought, "Well, I cut out all these bad foods, why am I getting worse?"

And I JUST realized I had malnutrition all this time, like???

Oh, and I also lost my period around December, which contributed greatly to already piled up stress, so yay to that I guess

14.07.2023:

I GOT IT BACK!!! AFTER 7 MONTHS IN A HORRIBLE LIMBO OF NOT FEELING LIKE A NORMAL HUMAN BEING, or a human being at all for that matter, more like an empty shell, I FINALLY GOT IT BACK 😭

I took pills to get it back. 3 times. After the 2nd time, my gynecologist asked me what my diet was, and I told her about my problems, and she said that the fact the the pills that were supposed to work hadn't worked, meant that most likely I just didn't have enough nutrients and needed to gain my weight back to get my hormones to work properly (as a side note, before December, it was 62 kg, then I lost 4 in a span of a couple of days, and then 3 more throughout the next few months) I did gain it back by some miracle, AND my lost muscle mass, as well as inspiration and good mood!

At the time of my 2nd visit to the gynecologist, I was researching a lot of stuff about GI health and stumbled upon some articles about this thing called leaky gut, and how it might contribute to food allergies, and that there's an amino acid called glutamine that's supposed to help with that

So I bought the supplement, took it for about 1.5 months, did get a lot better, thankfully, so I started to reintroduce foods back into my diet, like the nightshades, a lot of meat and other proteins, fruits, sweets, gluten free grains, CHOCOLATE OMG YES, etc.

While I did get better, it still wasn't enough though, so I started to research the vitamins that I could've lacked, found out I didn't get vitamin A in my diet at all, which is one of the main ones that support the health of the body's mucous membranes. Took that as well, and it helped tremendously. Now I can finally eat sour things like tomatoes, or EVEN WHOLE ORANGES, HOLY SHIT (but I won't do that again, cause I tried it, and my skin wasn't happy at all). So now I can also get vitamin C from the foods that I like, and not just salad leaves, ugh (as much as I dislike sour foods, I actually missed them lol)

The only vitamin that I lack right now is B12 which I'm not sure how to get naturally since it's mostly found in the animal products that I cannot eat, like dairy, eggs (oh yeah, right, forgot to say, I developed an egg sensitivity), some other stuff, so I'll have to supplement that, probably.

I also most likely won't be able to try to reintroduce milk/gluten into my diet anytime soon, cause I had some rice a few days ago, that I washed really really well to get rid of any traces of gluten in it, and still got poisoned, and felt absolutely sick after that. So yeah... Not in the next few years, that's for sure

But at this point I can just let out a huge sigh of relief, cause I feel like the main crisis has finally passed. I don't feel like my stomach is gonna rip every single time I eat, which is a win in my book. Yay for that 🙏✨✨✨

It's been almost half a year now since my last visit to my GI doctor, I need to check in with him to see what else there is to do. Most likely, a lot of blood tests, and I'd like to do a gastroscopy as well, because I still don't feel a 100% well, there's still something missing, some piece of a puzzle that I can only find after that. So yeah.

Thanks for reading my hopefully coherent babbling :") Love y'all

[thessalian]

Thess vs Medical Verdicts

So, doctor verdict!

According to my serology tests, whatever gluten intolerance I have is not coeliac. Which is honestly good because who wants to have an autoimmune disorder, am I right? I asked the GP what it might be if it’s not coeliac and apparently it’s either intolerance to the gluten protein or to wheat carbohydrate in specific. I’d honestly like to figure out which it is if only because I really like barley in soup and stuff, but I’m not sure it’s worth it. Better to just stick to the gluten-free diet, leave it at “gluten intolerance” and avoid gluten as much as possible because while I’m glad it’s not autoimmune, doesn’t change the fact that I suffer if I eat most gluten-containing things.

(Though maybe I could try soup with barley in it, so long as it hasn’t got wheat as a thickener, and see if that makes me ill. But maybe some other time.)

My vitamin D levels, on the other hand ... yeaaaaaaah those are still low. So I’m getting yet another loading dose of vitamin D thrown at me, and then I have to have more blood tests for calcium and parathyroid of all things, since they’re trying to figure out why I’m vitamin D deficient. I think it probably has something to do with lactose intolerance and the fact that even if I did go outside much, both those tests were done in winter when there’s maybe seven hours of daylight anyway. GP doesn’t sound overly worried but does say I should probably start taking over-the-counter supplements once I’m finished the loading dose. Yay.

I did have an amusing bit of aside with the GP when he was trying to explain to me what parathyroid meant in really simple terms and I was like, “Don’t worry about it; I’ve been a medical secretary for 25 years”. So now this one knows he doesn’t have to worry too much about his terminology with me. It’s a thing I keep having to tell doctors when I see them, just because I can hear them trying so hard to put things into simple terms while also not panicking anybody and I’m sitting here like, “no, seriously, I have typed so many letters about this, I get it, it’s fine”.

So there we go, a couple of answers and a few more questions but overall we can stick with the idea that my digestive system doesn’t like it when I go off a gluten-free diet,and it’s probably worse now than it used to be because IBS comes with the fibromyalgia bumper pack so yeah, seriously, stay away from gluten but at least I don’t have an autoimmune problem. Like I say, not exactly worried about parathyroid issues; just a lactose intolerance and British winter plus not really going outside much means I have some issues getting sufficient vitamin D and should keep an eye on that.

I was considering going out today but on balance I think not; I have a significant case of the aches after yesterday and I need to save a few spoons because Mother’s Day is coming up (19th March here; thirty years and I’m still struggling because of the difference between North American Mother’s Day and when we celebrate it here) and I wanted to make my mother some home-made caramels or maybe maple sugar candy, and at least get her a card. She doesn’t want me spending a lot of money on her, especially in the current climate, so I’ll give of time and spoons instead. Also means I break out the candy thermometer, which needs some use.

[figjelly]

Need to do some grocery shopping tonight and lately I've been giving Clarice cucumbers (since I also eat them on sandwiches). I had some good watermelon the other day and I've been craving more. I know she likes it so I think I'll pick up enough for the two of us.

She loves blackberries but God the mess she makes. And the seeds she pukes up and immediately tries to eat again. I know she likes zucchini and squash as well but I like giving her stuff high in protein to help supplement her diet. The leafy greens she just plays with but I've not tried brussel sprouts. I need to do more research.