u/Mei_Flower1996

ASA Ladies,

I have been HIjabi for many years, since about age 13, I am almost 29. Since I was about 14, my default option for outfits was "long shirts" ( a top that is long enough to cover the hips/bottom, or hit at might thigh) and pants that were loose-ish ie not skinny jeans but typical jeans or chinos ie fitted on the thigh loose on the bottom leg. Most of them were these stretchy rayon tunics I'd get from JJill, not the most fashionable. The others were basically short dresses back when longsleeves/short skirt dresses were easy to find. Kind of like a Western version of Shalwar Kameez.

I'd literally been thinking of adding long skirts to my rotation for like 6 years. That way I can do a "regular " shirt and still cover my bottom/hips/thighs. Additionally, covering the shape of my legs is a nice bonus. They also look so much more pretty and feminine.

I guess the reason I had been dragging my feet was thinking that I would find the double layer of fabric on my legs hot/uncomfortable (as us Hijiabis generally wear a layer to cover our legs under the skirt, of course), and that I am not graceful enough to move in one without making a fool of myself ie tripping or not being able to climb stairs. I have not given up pants, I have simply been wearing them less.

I have found that they are surprisingly easy to move in. To the point where if I wore a skirt a couple of inches above my ankle, and it had ample wiggle room and some flexible fabric, that I think I could even run in one. My modest athletic wear is basically cotton athletic pants and a simple cotton kurta, so basically shalwar kameez. I feel like a long athletic skirt would be even more modest. Apparently, these do exist.

Have any of you ladies worn long athletic skirts? Are they easy to move in? Can you run in them?

Hi folks

I finished my Master's in bioinformatics in Dec 2024. I still don't have a job. I have wanted to a more software dev type bioinformatics role, so I bounced around learning Java and trying to work on my own personal projects ( Bioinformatics projects are so hard to reverse engineer...). I have currently landed on taking the Clinical Data Science Specialization offered by Coursera to try to get that certificate under my belt, and I'm realizing projects working with the playground patient data sets may be easier for me to achieve to add to my resume since I have been slowly progressing on anything else. Maybe I am just slow or maybe this is normal. I am not sure.

If is possible to start out with a more health informatics type role, and then eventually transition into a more "software writing" type role?

Also, has anyone here been out of a job for over a year and still landed one? Similar question, did anyone who finished school in 2025 land a job? At all?

Hi everyone,

I am 28, almost 29F. I have been losing weight off and on since 2 years ago when I decided I wanted to slim down, I was somewhat overweight.

One thing hampering me in my weight loss journey, as well as my weight maintence journey, was constant hunger. I realized part of the issue was undereating fiber ( salads have almost no fiber, as it turns out), but I realized another issue. My maintenance as a moderately active female should not be more than about 2100 calories a day I feel like I average more like 2200-2300 because I am always hungry.

I first started noticing this a couple of years ago. I feel like even after a meal, I am still hungry. When I eat a snack, instead of my hunger tapering off it gets worse!

I looked into this. Apparently, as you get older, the main signal for fullness is your stomach stretching mechanically . Ie, you only feel full if you eat a proper meal that stretches your stomach, a snack doesn't not signal to your brain that you ate. Also, when you do eat a snack, your brain anticipates a full meal and pumps insulin into the blood. If you don't eat a full meal, this causes a sharp drop in blood sugar, which your brain interprets as hunger. Which prompts you to overeat. It wasn't me just being gluttonous. My hunger was dis-regulated.

I wasn't imagining this! Snacking was making me hungrier! I have been adopting eating until I am moderately full and not having any snacks or sugary drinks in between. It is helping hugely. I'm not sticking with it perfectly, I do still get ice cream or something here and there, maybe once or twice a week, but staying with this as my general pattern has reduced my hunger. It also trains the body to only expect food at mealtimes, and is better for insulin.

I'm going back on a deficit to lose the small amount of weight I had lingering because of this. And then I will have a better secret to manage my weight! Even averaging overeating 100 cals a day is 10 lbs over the course of a year. So this small dis-regulation was keeping the extra fat on me.

That's all. If you guys are struggling with excess hunger, maybe try this. There was a study I read the abstract for that said among two groups of adults, one with three large meals and the other with six small meals, the six smalls reported being hungrier. It was published in 2013.

Edit: The "ice cream once a twice a week thing" is something I mentioned because it's an example of eating between meals, breaking the pattern of three meals and no snacks. I do eat a bit of dessert daily, but eating ice cream halfway through the gap between lunch and dinner technically violates the pattern.

Hi folks,

Been getting back into making my own coffee for about a year now, and have gone back to using my trusty ceramic Hario V60, now with a K Ultra to freshly grind the coffee, rather than the pre ground I was using when I was still in school.

I noticed one thing. When iced, my coffee tastes perfect most of the time. This is because some " funkier" coffees do taste more balanced when iced, but even my basic medium/dark roasts have this property.

When I brew it hot, the bitterness/sourness tends to be more overwhelming no matter what I do with grind size and water temp. It can be saved with a little milk, but still. I realized something-

Even if I use water to pre-heat my ceramic V60 , the coffee it tepid by the time it drips into my cup. It's a large ceramic mug, most of the time, but sometimes I have these smaller ceramic mugs for when I want a small cup. Room-temp coffee is infamous for tasting unpleasant, due to acids breaking down ( ice somehow stops this process? The acids become very cold and don't break down).

I have started pre-heating my mug. I just pour some of the water from the kettle into it, but I also microwave a little water in it sometimes. My coffee tastes better! Now there isn't a taste difference between my iced and hot brews for my "ordinary" medium/dark roast coffees.

Does anyone else do this?

Edit: For the "tepid coffee isn't good", I meant the Chlorogenic acid in brewed coffee continuously breaks down into harsh-tasting quinic acid. One acid breaks down into another, and the latter is more bitter or sour or "yuck" tasting.

I'm sure it depends on the beans. I noticed this the most with La Coloumbe Nizza medium roast.

Hi folks,

When our parents came to the USA, they obviously noticed that the food quality in the USA is not as good as back home. They miss the foods they at back home. For many Pakistanis/Indians, one of the things they miss the most are mangoes.

My (28F) family normally visits Pakistan every couple of years, generally in the summer as at least one of my siblings only gets a long school break then. Most of my Khalas work education jobs so they also have more time off in the summer. So , I ate plenty of amazing Pakistani mangoes growing up. We have not been since 2022, though. I do, however, completely forget they exist when I come back home to the USA.

As far as Mexican Mangoes, we had mostly been eating the Tommy Atkins Mexican mangoes until last year when we discovered the Altoufa variety at Costco ( since the Costco ones are already ripe, they look much more appealing than the yellow mangoes at the grocery store , even though ordinary stores have been stocking the Altoufa since like 2018 or so).

In our area ( eastern Massachusetts), Royal Mango has been available since about 2023 or so. The truck arrives at a nearby desi market 1-2 times a week June-Aug, you place your order in advance. The connection is through Wattsapp/email. You then go at a pre-set time to pick up the mangoes fresh. I used to think this was because the supply was super limited, but have since been made aware it's the main way to prevent the product from spoiling before it reaches the customer. In areas with a higher Pakistani population, they are available right there at the store! I did not know that until recently.

Just last year, after enjoying authentic Chaunsa during July for a couple of years right here in my parents' Massachusetts home, I realized I genuinely have strong cravings for the Pakistani mangoes in July. I thought..how strange. I eat them when I visit Pakistan, but completely forget about them once I come back to the states. Then I realized- if someone lives in Pakistan, it's perfectly natural to crave Pakistani mangoes as Mango season approaches. My brain has now registered that this something I can enjoy here.

It's interesting because before we started having them here, I never imagined Pakistani mangoes would be part of my Rizqh ( Allah's provision). Now they are available to the extent that I crave them. It's wild to imagine a Mango grown on a tree in Pakistan halfway across the world was written for me to enjoy. So cool.

Anyway. Would like to hear about the Mango situation where you are at!

Hi folks,

I graduated with my MS in Bioinfo in Dec 2024. I still don't have a job.

I am thinking of doing a slight pivot into health informatics. "Health informatics" was one of the sub-concentrations available in my MS, but I did not pursue it at the time. Since I already have background skills in Python, R, some bash and SQL, it seems like the logical choice to make myself a more attractive candidate.

Is taking courses in health informatics to do a slight "pivot" worth it? I am in the Boston Area.

Is it any good ? I've been using my moka for about a month but I don't like the PERC Juggernaut sorta dark, really good I have been using.

I am thinking to try JP licks espresso roast.

Is it any good?

Hi folks,

Over the course of my life, I've known people who "don't want to be reliant on medication." For example, my mom has chronic joint pain and dust mite allergies and doesn't take any pharmaceuticals for them. She takes meds for hypo-thyroidism, but that is it.

She won't use an air purifier, wash her sheets with hot water, or take any consistent meds. She'll take Allegra here and there when it's really bad, but only if the repeat sneezes are particularly fast and awful.

I've been trying to get her to take anti-inflammatory supplements ( gingerol, or blackseed, or tumeric/black pepper) for both her joints and allergies, and she refuses. She also doesn't take consistent medicine for the allergies because she doesn't want to be too reliant on medication.

The medication thing I can understand- you can even argue that most allergy medicines are designed for seasonal use and not year round use, as most people have bad allergies for 6 months or less.

But supplements are different, right? They are natural. Some or just big doses of food, so it's not too different from eating. I guess it's also just general stubbornness, ie no reason not to wash the sheets or use an air purifier , she's just being stubborn.

Can anybody explain the logic behind this?

Hi folks,

I started taking Blackseed Oil Supplements , orally, for my blepharitis. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be helping. Its normally a very effective anti inflammatory, used for allergies, eczema, join pain, etc.

I'm wondering if I can put dilute Blackseed oil on my eyelids, but I have the same hesitation as I do with Tea Tree oil, ie it's very irritating if it gets in your eyes.

How do you folks handle this? Also, do any of you put Fish as a topical treatment? I saw someone mention that on here. I do havae some omega 3 cod liver oil, so I am willing to try that.

Hi folks,

My MS in Bioinfo ended in Dec 2024 with a co-op, and I have been unemployed since. I did really well in the co-op, but it was in academic setting and funding made it so I could not get a full-time offer.

I have been trying to learn new skills and build projects so my skills don't decline, but I'm worried that the longer I spend without a job, the lesser than chance of getting one.

Anybody have any stories?

Hi folks,

I used to make coldbrew with cream of coconut when I was in college.

I have gotten into making pourover with light/medium roasts recently, and drinking it black. ( I had previously been making dark roast w milk because of acid reflux).

I decided to slowly get into adding stuff to my brews, because I only like black coffee with a sweet breakfast.

I bought some coconut condensed milk at Whole Foods some time ago, I was planning on buying cream of coconut to make pina colodadas, and I could not find cream of coconut at the store and found coconut condensed milk instead.

It's basically like cream of coconut , but much more homogenous.

I mixed it into some PERC Colombia Raspberry Lava Cake, and I brewed it as a pourover with about a tsp of the condensed cococnut milk for a 4 g brew.

And OhMyGod, it's so good.

Anyone use this in their brews?

Hi folks,

I have thought about how some coffee works better in my new 2 cup venus than I thought, and some does not.

I had a La Colombe Nizza Medium roast, and it worked surprisingly well in a cappuccino. The only issue was I used whole fat milk which kind of drowned the taste of the coffee.

I had a PERC Juggernaut " Sorta dark, really good" , and I thought it would work in the Moka and it was not good. I did it as a pourover, and I just did not like it.

I have a PERC Colombia Raspberry and Lava Cake and wow it's good as a pourover with coconut condensed milk ( I know pourover is generally consumed black, but it's good).

I'm considering making it in the moka pot...

Anyone else? I'm looking to try Lavazza and some JP Licks beans next. I have a burr hand grinder so I want to buy whole beans, and it's why I have not done Cafe Bustello.

Hi folks,

My darling father has awful hay-fever, developed a few years after coming to the USA. By then it was the 1990s, and Flonase and the like existed. HIs is all spring. He has the "adult immigrant hayfever" which tends to be especially severe. A lot in his eyes, repeat sneezes, post nasal drip. ( interestingly enough- less of the runny/stuffy nose. I guess it all goes down the back to make his throat scratchy and give him a cough rather than him just being able to blow his poor nose.) He's like a photo out of a textbook.

I had it as a child as well, but with more PND/cough and nowhere near as sneezy. I outgrew the worst of if it by age 15, and it faded out in my 20's. His was always worse than mine though, even before I outgrew it. Likely because I was born here.

He does Flonase and Ketotofin eyedrops. No pills work for him- from Allegra and Zyrtec to Singulair, they may as well be sugar pills.

He saw an allergist a few years back. The thing is- his season is 2 months long. Only about 3-4 weeks are his symptoms "moderate despite medications" instead of just mild. So he " just misses" the criteria for shots, while also struggling with his hay-fever more than most.

I started him on 5% standerdized gingerol supplements. Ideally, we should have started mid March, but it was more like late March. For an April/May season, he started with 1 pill in the AM, then 2 pills a day about two weeks ago, one with breakfast, and one with lunch.

One complaint- some heartburn with taking the pill. He is in his late 50's, however. Milk or yogurt with the pills helps, and of course taking it with a meal.

Huge improvement. He barely needs the eyedrops anymore on a typical day ( he does take them for prolonged outdoor activities). Repeat sneezes and Post Nasal drip are also much better!

The real truth will come in the next week or two, but it seems these supplements have changed his life during this month.I'm so glad, I always felt awful watching him suffer, especially since I outgrew mine.

I only wish we began these sooner! Initially, I thought that if the other pills don't do anything for him, then natural remedies would not , either. He also never looked into these himself, even though we are South Asian ( ie more likely to use natural remedies).I suppose that's what daughters are for, hehe.

Anyway! You folks should try. I am not going to link the exact supplements, in case this post gets flagged as an ad. You can DM me for them!