My First Pregnant Dessert: Fresh Peach Crisp

Something that has been truly hard for me is kicking out all the refined sugar from my house.  Anyone who has met me knows I am a complete sucker for sweets.  Embarrassing confession:  I once had a sweet tooth so badly I dumped some sugar into peanut butter and chowed down.  Today, I needed something sweet.  It has been three days since I cold turkey (funny expression for a pescetarian) did away with refined and processed sugar, which has meant that I simply stayed away from all things sweet.
However, this is not just Sayonara to processed sugar in all forms.  This is kicking out all white sugar and any other sugar that is specifically raw because these can gunk up your liver leaving it not so strong if HELLP syndrome settles in.  Some things my mind jumps to immediately are honey, agave, and raw cane sugar.  Whenever searching for recipes, I search by ingredients rather than trying to sort through a lot of recipes for one dish.  The ingredients I knew I had in the kitchen to workout a dessert with today were:

A basket of peaches (Thanks, Pop)
Agave
Arrowroot (In place of cornstarch because corn products are to avoided for a happy liver)

When I searched these ingredients I stumbled upon Elana's Pantry.  I am a little in love.  Here is her recipe for Peach Crisp:

Peach Crisp

6 large peaches, sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
¼ cup grapeseed oil (I actually used coconut oil because I didn't have any grapeseed oil on hand.)
¼ cup agave nectar

1. Place peach slices in a large bowl, sprinkle with lemon juice, vanilla, and arrowroot; toss to incorporate all ingredients
2. In a smaller bowl, combine almond flour, salt, grapeseed oil and agave for topping
3. Place peach mixture in a 3 quart baking dish
4. Crumble topping over peaches
5. Bake covered at 350° for 45 minutes, until peach juice is bubbling
6. Remove cover and bake a few more minutes if topping is not yet browned
7. Serve

It was delicious and quite satiating.  I generally find myself a bottomless pit for dessert.. Maybe it was the almond flour, but this crisp was really filling.  While I am on the topic of almond flour, I will say that it is a bit pricey for me, but it is really worth it in recipes like this.  I try to use something as healthy and cost effective for more commonly made foods like bread or thickening sauce, but, wow, sometimes that almond flour make all the difference!

So, a big Thanks! to Elana's Pantry for providing our dessert menu while staying within our healthy liver, healthy pregnancy bounds!

How do you indulge your sweet tooth?

What the Liver Wants, the Liver Gets

Since I have decided that I am not going to have HELLP syndrome, I have focused mainly on the dietary needs of my liver, red blood cells, and platelets.  My desire is to have each as strong as can be.  That way (at least in my mind- this is in no away medical advice) when my liver thinks, Hey, Blythe's pregnant! Time to go buck wild, and swell up to the size of a watermelon, it will be in peak condition.  I believe, as mentioned in my previous post, in a lot of mind of matter.  If you think all day about how you are going to get sick, you are probably going to get sick.  If you gear yourself up to be well, the power of positive thinking is strong.

I started by getting myself a notebook.  I love that school just started and I actually still find uses for marble bound notebooks.  *sigh*  I love school supplies.  Anywho, this notebook is the keeper of all things related to my second pregnancy.  I started with possibly my favorite thing in the world:  food.

I love food.  I would never quit eating if I did not have to.  As a pescetarian who likes to experiment with recipes, I am actually quite excited to have a challenge with what to eat a lot and what to avoid.  Does that make me a food nerd?  Whatever.  So I made a list of foods that make my liver (and yours, too!) happy.


Happy Liver Foods!
Garlic
Grapefruit
Beets
Leafy greens
Avocados
Cruciferous vegetables (like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and kale)
Lemons
Turmeric (Safe only after the first trimester and only as a spice!!!)
Walnuts
Endive
Bittergourd   Not safe when paired with hemolysis
Fenugreek  Not safe for pregnancy
Carrots
Flaxseed  Not safe for pregnancy
Onions
Apples

While these are not the only foods I can consume, they should be the rockstars of my diet.  Each detoxifies or simply gives my liver a break.  After I made the list, I cross checked each of the foods with pregnancy safety and how they interact with hemolysis and low platelet issues, hence the modifications.  Of course one blanket need for each and every food is that it be organic.  I don't necessarily preach the organic need in everyday life (though I do think it is a healthier way to go), it is necessary if you're going for complete liver health.  If it is not organic, your liver has to filter all the yuck that is leached into the produce.  No good.  The next logical step was to research foods my liver wanted me to avoid.

Ew, Yuck, said your liver
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Fructose
Processed food
Artificial Additives
Coloring
Preservatives
Refined sugar and sweeteners
Margarine, shortening, or commercial oils
MSG
Alcohol

Clearly, these are all to be generally avoided in life, but when pampering your liver, these are waaayy gross and uncalled for.  My heart dropped when I read the repetitive discouragement from refined sugar because that is definitely my weakness.  Cake. Candy.  Muffins.  Ice Cream.  Do I really have to say no to these for the next nine months?  Yes and no.  I can eat sweets (within moderation- or total crazy binge) that I make myself with raw cane sugar or a natural sweetener like honey or agave.  That is an awesome thing because, really, who wants to eat plain grapefruit without a little sugar on top?  Not I, said the fly.

taken from http://drlauraimola.wordpress.com

The last thing I will write for this post is that warm lemon water is awesome.  If you drink a large glass of warm lemon water in the morning when you first wake up, it will help your liver push out all the toxins it filtered in your body the night before.  Think of it as running an empty dishwasher once in a while.

That's it for now.  Happy Pregnancy and Happy Liver!

Oh, the Farmer and the Cowman Should be Friends

This won't be posted until I announce that I am pregnant, but I think I need to blog about it anyway.  I was diagnosed with HELLP syndrome during my first and only prior pregnancy.

H (hemolysis)
EL (elevated liver enzymes)
LP (low platelets)

For more information and specifics about HELLP syndrome, click here, but the short version is that if Preeclampsia were little league baseball, HELLP is a similar World Series winning variety of pregnancy induce disease.
I was not treated as a HELLP patient until many weeks after it reared its ugly head.  The honest truth was that the doctors and nurses prepared my family for the possibility that only my baby would be leaving the hospital with my family.  The short and least dramatic version of this story is that after a week of hospital, I did get better, and I left the hospital, healthy baby and healthy me.

taken from www.physio-pedia.com

Fast forward to now.  I am almost 5 weeks pregnant.  I have wanted this for a long, long time.  I have prayed for this.  I have longed for this.  And now that I am pregnant, I am scared.  I am scared because fate in was in my favor for my last encounter with HELLP syndrome.  The more research I do, the more I wish I would stop.  I seeing things like way premature birth, extended hospitalization towards the end of pregnancy, and fatalities.  Awesome.  Because what a pregnant woman really needs is cause to worry.  Because pregnant women surely do not worry about anything else while pregnant.

All sarcasm aside, I need a plan.  I am of the opinion that in many situations, mind is way over matter.  I need a positive attitude.  This is going to be okay.  I am also of the opinion that natural, preventative is best, but I am grateful for medical science when the need arises.  In the world today it seems like natural medicine and medical science are always at odds with one another (To vaccinate or not to vaccinate, to have Pitocin or let your body create Oxytocin), but I believe the farmer and the cowman can be friends.  I believe I need both to ensure a healthy and long baked pregnancy.

It turns out, much to my dismay, I might need a specialist OBGYN.  And that sucks.  I love midwives.  I love the low key, this-is-what-your-body-was-made-for attitude of midwives.  They don't push Pitocin simply because they are tired of waiting for you to deliver.  They listen.  They believe you deliver your baby while they catch the baby.  Doctors seem to be the complete opposite.  Check out The Business of Being Born.  This documentary changed my view of birth forever.  I am dreading going to an actual OBGYN, but it seems that my prior experience with HELLP leaves me with little choice.  However, that does not mean that I will develop HELLP this go round.  It means I have between 1 in 5 and 1 in 4 chance of developing HELLP again this pregnancy.  So, here's my plan:  natural and preventative health so that I do not develop HELLP syndrome again and a specialist OBGYN if I do.  I am going to keep a log of my HELLP-free journey because there is a serious need for one.  Looking forward to your support and encouragement!