OPERATION: PROGESTERONE PART II

If you haven't already, you might want to go back and read my first post on this to get the full picture.

To summarise, last time I told you that I had been to see Sophie Lamb, a medical herbalist, because I have been having a few miscarriages recently. She recommended a few supplements (which I detailed last time) and also gave me some advice on my diet. This time, I'm going to tell you about the dietary advice she gave me.

Firstly there are a few things to avoid: 
Vegetable oils, except olive oil which I can have cold, as a salad dressing for example. Did you know that you should never use olive oil as a cooking oil? It becomes unstable at high temperatures, and is therefore bad for your health. Something like coconut oil, avocado oil or organic butter are much better options as cooking fats. 

Seeds & unprepared grains: A lot of people think they need to cut grains out of their diet completely, but it's about understanding how they should be prepared for optimum benefit. This is mostly a simple case of soaking them before use. For example, if you're going to have porridge for breakfast, soak your oats in milk or water overnight beforehand. If you're going to have rice for dinner, soak it in water from the morning until you cook it in the evening. If you're going to eat bread, it should be sourdough. My local cafe does THE BEST sourdough pancakes, they are out of this world, and not entirely bad for you either :o)

Cruciferous Vegetables: This includes things like cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. The only one of these I ate regularly is broccoli and Sophie said it's fine to have this occasionally, once a week perhaps. The reason I should avoid these types of vegetable is because they contain enzymes that interfere with the formation of thyroid hormone. As somebody with congenital hypothyroidism (an under active thyroid gland since birth), this is bad news for me.

Next are the "sacred foods". In some tribes and communities, they put young men and women on a special diet for 6 months before marriage, to give them the best chance of having successful pregnancies, resulting in healthy, beautiful, well formed babies. The diets consist of these "sacred foods" and the key to the sacred foods is a thing called fat soluble activators. These activators are the animal forms of vitamins A (retinol isomers), D (vitamin D₃ and isomers) and K (vitamin K₂). That is to say, activators are only available from animal products. As much as you may not want to hear it, a vegetarian or vegan diet simply cannot provide these things. A more detailed article about this can be found here.

For me, this means lots of eggs, butter, meat on the bone and liver. Eggs, butter and meat on the bone I can do, no problem. Liver?? That's food hell for me. I cannot stand the texture of liver. I like liver pate, and Sophie has recommended I eat a pack of organic chicken liver pate per week (that's the sort of dietary advice I like) but I also need to try and have actual liver. Other organ meats are just as good, but liver is the most readily available. She has recommended that I try and get used to it by hiding it in other meals, such as bolognese or casserole. I managed this for the first time on Friday. I made a bolognese sauce, and added 3 chopped livers to it. I'm not going to lie, it was a struggle. Every time I came across that undeniable weird powdery texture, I had to think about something else and have a huge gulp of water after each mouthful. But I'm hoping that in time I will get used to it.

As for meat on the bone, this isn't always possible for me. For example, if I make a curry or a risotto or something, I don't want my meat to be on the bone. The way to get around this, while still getting the goodness, it to add gelatine to these meals. Gelatine comes from animal bones, and it so, so, SO good for us. I got a bag of bovine gelatine from Botanica which I make up and add to any meals where I'm not using meat on the bone. I also have a teaspoonful dissolved into the milk I use for my morning latte each day. Another way around this would be to make a bone broth/stock and use this is your cooking. Just go and ask your butcher for some good animal bones, boil them for 6-24 hours and use the liquid for soups, stews and anything else you fancy.  

Sophie also told me that I should be eating gouda cheese on the regular, for a good dose of protein, and something like sweet potato, or mango daily for a healthy source of carbs. Also sea salt, and plenty of it. The myth about salt being bad for our health needs to be stopped in it's tracks. As long as it's a good sea salt and not that rubbish processed table salt, it's all good baby. At the moment, a typical day in the life of Kate looks something like this:

Breakfast: Two eggs scrambled with sea salt & black pepper, on a slice of sourdough toast. Served with a bovine gelatine latte

Lunch: Sweet potato wedges cooked in coconut oil, sprinkled with cinnamon, A wedge of gouda cheese, and some mango chunks for pudding. Served with a glass of orange juice.

Dinner: Jerk chicken made with thighs and drumsticks, served with two grated carrots (see my previous progesterone post for the relevance of the grated carrots)

I'll keep you posted on how this goes. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments or via the contact form.

laters taters (as Beau says)

xo