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Diet And Health

Diet And Health

Last updated on: May 11, 2015 at 6:35 am by Ambaa Choate

Diet And Health 2015-05-10T22:42:57-04:00 Ambaa Choate

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Well, Mother’s Day was pretty rough for me. I mean, I have nothing against the day itself or the idea of the day and celebrating my own mom is great. But it is a very intense reminder of that one thing I don’t have that I so desperately want. And at my new job it’s hard because I am interacting with lots of customers who all want to wish me a happy Mother’s Day!

I hope that this time next year I’ll be celebrating my first Mother’s Day as a mom. Any thoughts, prayers, well wishes, etc. that you can send my way are appreciated.

As you know, I’ve been diagnosed with a condition called PCOS that is one of the major causes of infertility for women. There is no cure and doctors usually suggest work arounds like using powerful drugs to force ovulation. However, I have two friends with PCOS who conceived their children naturally without these drugs. They both knew before they started trying to have a family that they had PCOS and had been working on managing the symptoms for a long time.

One of these friends suggested a book to me written by a woman who has PCOS but has not had symptoms in fifteen years due to her system of feeding the body in a way that supports hormonal health.

It’s called WomanCode (which kind of makes me roll my eyes).

But despite the name I decided to buy the Kindle version and give her methods a chance. It’s the only thing out there I’ve found that suggests you can have some control over this condition. And I realized that I was looking at spending thousands of dollars on fertility treatment, so why not spend $10 first to see if I could do it myself?

The fact is, I need to work on my blood sugar levels too. I’m one step away from pre-diabetes. It can be reversed but I have to be dedicated to eating in a way that really nourishes my body.

Based on the information in the book, I’ve been putting together meal plans and I wanted to share those with you in case anyone else reading this book wants help with that part of the program. She explains that to best support your body’s systems, you should be eating different foods at different points in your cycle. There’s a great chart in the book for all the types of foods for each of the four parts of the cycle and all the types of nutrients you should be getting to balance out the hormonal changes that are constantly going on within your body. The timing of each meal also matters to keep blood sugar levels consistent.

(If you need more information about the parts of your cycle and how to tell where you are, Taking Charge of Your Fertility is the classic and a must-read for every woman whether she wants to get pregnant or not.) With PCOS it can be difficult to tell what part of your cycle you are in since you almost never menstruate. I had to guess where I was to start but I think within a couple of months I should have a much clearer idea.

Using the chart from the book and some of her other principles (only complex carbs, limited sugar, bigger lunch than dinner, no carbs or sugar for dinner, etc.) I put together these meal ideas. I’m still modifying and expanding. The “afr” means it is from the cookbook Appetite for Reduction that a friend lent me.

Follical Phase (7-10 days)

Breakfast

Oat muffins with plum jam and almond butter oatmeal raisin breakfast bars carrot banana breakfast bakes

Lunch

Stir fry with carrot, cashews, snap peas “meat”loaf mushroom tibs (afr) mac and trees (afr) creamy mushroom fettuccine (afr) carrot pasta with zesty garlic sauce and brown rice

Snack

sauteed broccoli pecan butter brussle sprouts cool slaw (afr) soft broccoli polenta (afr) orange scented broccoli (Afr) sweet and salty maple baby carrots (afr) avocado plum orange homemade lara bars: tropical, cashew cookie dough

Dinner

everyday chickpea quinoa salad (afr) pad thai salad (afr) cesar salad with eggplant bacon (afr)

Ovulatory Phase (3-4 days)

Breakfast

“pretzel” strawberry salad with fake cream cheese roasted red pepper strip on corn bread brussle sprouts potato hash

Lunch

rajma portabella mushroom burger spinach salad with pecans almond crusted tofu quinoa with roasted red pepper sauce spinach linguine with edamame pesto (afr)

Snack

almonds chocolate date mousse apricot grilled asparagus jerk asparagus (afr) shaved brussle sprouts (afr) strawberry homemade lara bars: apricot almond

Dinner

strawberry spinach salad (afr) spicy blue potato and corn salad (afr) lettuce wraps with hoisin mustard tofu (afr) red pepper soup (afr) http://www.bojongourmet.com/2013/04/asparagus-leek-and-green-garlic-soup.html http://www.ourhenhouse.org/2013/06/because-bunnies-cant-type-how-i-answer-why-vegan-with-my-heart-not-my-head/

Luteal Phase (10-14 days)

Breakfast

pumpkin seed granola walnut banana bread muffins pumpkin chocolate chip oatmeal breakfast cookies avocado with vinegar scallion potato pancakes (Afr)

Lunch

spagetti squash chow mein and marinated tofu “tuna” salad with chick peas roasted red pepper sauce over polenta “b”lt in lettuce orange cauliflower butternut coconut rice (afr) chickpea picatta (Afr) tamarind bbq tempeh and sweet potatoes (afr)

Snack

hummus (afr) pumpkin seeds oven baked onion rings (w/ chia seed breading) (afr) roasted radishes healthy pumpkin pie parfait sweet potato bread cauliflower mashed potatoes apple peach pear raisin date homemade lara bars: pbj

Dinner

sancruary chef salad (ranch style)(afr) warm mushroom salad with cranberries (afr)

Menstrual Phase (3-7 days)

Breakfast

gingerbread spice protein granola chocolate peanut butter chia breakfast parfait

Lunch

wild rice pilaf with cranberries and mushrooms wild rice salad with oranges (afr) cranberry cashew biryani (afr) black bean tacos (pinterest) tempeh helper (afr) yam and black bean soup with orange (afr) wild rice and mushroom pilaf (pinterest)

Snack

kale chips garliky mushrooms and kale (afr) unfried refried beans concord grape cranberry watermelon homemade lara bars: very cherry (use cranberry instead)

Dinner

black bean soup vegan chili sushi roll adamame salad (afr) black beans in red velvet mole

Pinterest is a great source of recipes. You can type in whatever restrictions you have and Pinterest will bring up gorgeous pictures of food you can make!

The diet does seem to be helping by the only ways of measuring I have.

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