"You might want to reconsider your vegetarianism" said the nurse down the phone line. My blood test results confirmed my pregnancy and also showed that my iron was teetering on the low end. Having experienced plenty of patronising dietary advice I let it slide and chose to rejoice in the other part of her news: I was having a baby!!!
I relaxed in the knowledge that I probably knew more about nutrition than the nurse and set out to boost my iron. However, as the weeks moved on, a niggling car sickness feeling invaded my days and my usual lust for all things delicious started to fade. Suddenly I was faced with the fact that all I could handle consuming was marmite on toast and apples. The mere thought of my regular favourites set my stomach turning and literally made me gag. This was unexpected for me.
Having been a high raw vegan and gluten free goddess, this was a new frontier for me: to feed myself and my growing child with as much gold as possible whilst dealing with first trimester nausea/dietary fussiness (which I must say was mild and nothing to complain about).
All I could do was trust my instincts and eat what my body told me to eat, which went something like this: Marmite, almond butter or avocado on gluten free toast, apples, lemon wedges to suck on at work, lady grey tea with oat milk, an hilarious and solitary event where I sent my partner out to buy me corn and capers for dinner because they were all I could think of eating without feeling sick. Eventually I could stomach Mezze's traditional lentil soup with crudites on the side and little gluten free ginger cookies from harvest wholefoods. One saving grace for me was "Miso soup". I sipped on this all day at work and it eased the discomfort of nausea. If I drank some at the beginning of a meal, I would eat the whole thing and feel fine afterwards. This went on for a few weeks and by week 10 the doors flung open and my appetite came flying in with gusto.
I no longer craved the cleansing raw vegan diet and now required dense, building block meals. Quinoa, tempeh, endless plates of avocado on GF toast, hello mushrooms!! (the lovely people at Revel on K Rd got to know me and my "hello I would like another plate of mushrooms, yes just mushrooms thanks").
I enjoyed bowls of warm oats with raisins and tahini stirred through, I sprinkled walnuts, sunflower and pumpkin seeds on everything, providing me with extra protein and minerals, especially zinc. Chia seed puddings and smoothies provided calcium and omega-3 fatty acids in an easy to digest form (perfect in the last trimester when your belly is big and digestion can be impaired. I made homemade sesame, almond and brazil nut mylks for calcium rich smoothies and creamy ice slushies as the summer got warmer.
I drank big jars of nettle infusion everyday for iron, extra nutrients and fluid balance. (I highly recommend Susun Weed's "Herbal for the childbearing year" for herb use during pregnancy and beyond). Nettle helps your kidneys to do the work for two beings, while providing excellent and easy to absorb nutrients. Eventually I welcomed my beloved "big kale salad" back into my life in time for christmas feasting. I could add avocado, nuts, seeds and kelp noodles to this for a nutrient packed meal and a bit of raw for good measure.
Sadly chocolate was still off the menu as it made me feel ill. Exceptionally dark and low sugar chocolate had been one of my main food groups (the minute after Huia was born I was demanding that chocolate be brought to me now!).
I would like to add that I supplemented my diet with plenty of spirulina, wheatgrass and barley grass powder, spatone iron sachets, and FeMax - an herbal iron tonic. I added the extra iron supplements during the second half of my pregnancy as your baby starts to take more iron from your stores during this time.
My darling angel Huia Moanakiteraki Harris Le Harle was born gracefully and beautifully after a 6 hour labour. I LOVED giving birth. It was the most amazing experience of my life and I am seriously looking forward to doing it again one day. Huia is thriving on my vegan breastmilk and has good chubby cheeks that show for it. Yay plants!! Thanks for the nourishment.
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Sunday, 18 September 2011
In the beginning.... Pregnancy adventures Part One.
Hello and welcome!!
Most natural practitioners out there will advise a woman (and her partner) to spend a year in preparation for conception. We are advised to cleanse and rebuild our systems in order to have the good sperm and shiny, sparkly temples to house our divine growing babies. A year of avoiding coffee, alcohol, drugs, junk food, toxic house cleaning products, consuming hormone balancing herbs and a highly nourishing menu of foods.
In my case, the cleansing and rebuilding, nourishing herbs and yummy scrummy nutritious diet happened as part of another journey - one that I stumbled upon during a time of great change and upheaval.
As a bit of background I will tell you a few things about my upbringing. Most importantly, my Mother was a vegetarian who married a meditation teacher. We lived on a very pure diet with intense spiritual ideals. She researched nutrition and made sure that my brother and I were raised on the most nourishing diet possible. She drove to a local farm and got milk straight from the cow and bought food from a local wholefoods/co-op.
I was never a fan of milk and we discovered later in life that I was indeed lactose intolerant (among other things!) As the 80's rolled on and the hippie marriage dissolved, our lives and diets merged with the times. Our lunch boxes had "tiny teddies" and "le snacks" like all the other kids. There were always wholesome home cooked meals, but never quite like the isolated and ideal early days. By the time I was a teenager I had a stomach that made sounds like chewbacca and intense tummy cramps that required many pillows and yoga poses on the floor to settle the fire.
After more years of trial and error, the "liver cleansing diet"and excluding various food groups, I was armed with the knowledge that wheat/gluten and all forms of dairy = unhappy, painful times for me.
This required me to start researching food and nutrition and bought me to the path of joyful nutrition. Goodbye soy milk, 2 minute noodles, bran muffins, white sugar, toast, etc etc. Hello quinoa, stevia, raw foods, tea, good quality dark chocolate, juicing, superfoods, tonics and herbal medicine!
In the year 2007 I was going through a life overhaul. My four year relationship ended. I needed to find a new job. My dearly loved grandfather passed away. All around the same time I might add. I got a job working for a naturopath in a tea house and got stuck into learning about herbs and all things tea. I was also co-hosting a tv show 5 nights a week which was fun but a bit of a punish. All of a sudden I was dizzy all day. For 2 weeks it felt like I was on a boat on a rocky sea and I felt sea sick. The inner city doc was 100% sure I was pregnant: "well, it would have to be immaculate conception, the second coming of jesus" I told her. One look in my ear confirmed that I had an inner ear virus which would last about 8 weeks. I packed up and went to stay at my Mum's house where I stayed in bed and faced the music. I couldn't eat but deliriously cried out for red grapes with seeds to chew on. I slept on and off for a couple of days, ate red grapes and drank water, cried A LOT and managed to stop the internal swaying. Lying in bed not being able to move meant that I faced all the emotions and fears inside of me. The loss of my dear love who I thought I would always be with, the loss of my grandfather and his absence in all of our lives, and the looming black hole feeling that my life was somehow ending.
Upon returning to my apartment I was still eating the red grapes but added pear slices and lemon water. I tried eating some plain brown rice but had to spit it out. Fresh fruit it shall be! After a week or so I was beginning to feel good. Really good. I had heard about the raw food diet but had never considered doing it exclusively. I started having big salads with lots of avocado and fresh fennel bulb. During my rest between tea house and TV land I would read up on the net about the raw foods lifestyle and good recipes to make. It took no effort at all as my body was leading the way. I also stopped having my morning long black coffee and I had already given up alcohol. This was turning out to be a super cleanse! I made sure to look up new recipes every day to make sure I was getting all the nutrients I needed. I was also consuming amazing tea's at work everyday: Green teas with ginger and mint, nettle, white tea, oolong, matcha (japanese green tea powder whisked in a bowl) and my beloved yerba mate. Mate tea became my social drink. I had one of the best new years ever drinking iced mate with honey and was just as silly and energized as my boozing companions.
Over the next 3 years I lived the raw vegan lifestyle. I felt amazing and it healed so many elements of my body and my emotions. I reclaimed my sense of humor and felt younger and happier than I was as a teenager. It was quite socially isolating when it came to eating out but I was having such a good time it didn't matter. My friends came to love my raw chocolate desserts and yummy bliss balls, my big salads and smoothies. I did green juice cleanses when I felt stressed out and tired. I tried all kinds of raw herbs and superfoods like maca, mesquite, purple corn extract, chlorella, spirulina, shilajit, medicinal mushroom powders, bee pollen, and of course raw cacao beans and powder. These all allowed me to experience new levels of health and energy while allowing my diet to be varied and exciting.
I reunited with my former love and managed to merge my dietary lifestyle into our new relationship. This time I was sparkly and fresh with way less baggage and a reclaimed self esteem. It was hard not sharing meals together, but we got along just fine.
By 2010 we had a trip planned to attend a wedding in Chile. I was well aware that eating raw while traveling through south america was not a wise idea. I do have an irrational fear of vomiting and had no desire to waste any time with my head down a toilet so I carefully added quinoa and cooked root vegetables into my life (This story requires a whole other post which I will add in the future).
Upon returning from our one month adventure overseas I fell pregnant instantly. This was a pleasant and delightful surprise! We were not trying to have a baby, but we were not exactly trying not too :)
I had felt the transition from girl to woman happening over the last couple of years. I had also been feeling deep body aches every time I saw a baby. My body new it was the right time!
I felt grateful that my temple was clean and still resonating from a month of mind blowing travel.
Not only had I avoided the stress of "trying" to conceive, but I had started all the homework years in advance. It was as if I had been been preparing for this moment all along.
And so the pregnancy journey began, and boy was it not what I expected...... in a good way :)
Part Two coming soon!
RLH
xxx
Most natural practitioners out there will advise a woman (and her partner) to spend a year in preparation for conception. We are advised to cleanse and rebuild our systems in order to have the good sperm and shiny, sparkly temples to house our divine growing babies. A year of avoiding coffee, alcohol, drugs, junk food, toxic house cleaning products, consuming hormone balancing herbs and a highly nourishing menu of foods.
In my case, the cleansing and rebuilding, nourishing herbs and yummy scrummy nutritious diet happened as part of another journey - one that I stumbled upon during a time of great change and upheaval.
As a bit of background I will tell you a few things about my upbringing. Most importantly, my Mother was a vegetarian who married a meditation teacher. We lived on a very pure diet with intense spiritual ideals. She researched nutrition and made sure that my brother and I were raised on the most nourishing diet possible. She drove to a local farm and got milk straight from the cow and bought food from a local wholefoods/co-op.
I was never a fan of milk and we discovered later in life that I was indeed lactose intolerant (among other things!) As the 80's rolled on and the hippie marriage dissolved, our lives and diets merged with the times. Our lunch boxes had "tiny teddies" and "le snacks" like all the other kids. There were always wholesome home cooked meals, but never quite like the isolated and ideal early days. By the time I was a teenager I had a stomach that made sounds like chewbacca and intense tummy cramps that required many pillows and yoga poses on the floor to settle the fire.
After more years of trial and error, the "liver cleansing diet"and excluding various food groups, I was armed with the knowledge that wheat/gluten and all forms of dairy = unhappy, painful times for me.
This required me to start researching food and nutrition and bought me to the path of joyful nutrition. Goodbye soy milk, 2 minute noodles, bran muffins, white sugar, toast, etc etc. Hello quinoa, stevia, raw foods, tea, good quality dark chocolate, juicing, superfoods, tonics and herbal medicine!
In the year 2007 I was going through a life overhaul. My four year relationship ended. I needed to find a new job. My dearly loved grandfather passed away. All around the same time I might add. I got a job working for a naturopath in a tea house and got stuck into learning about herbs and all things tea. I was also co-hosting a tv show 5 nights a week which was fun but a bit of a punish. All of a sudden I was dizzy all day. For 2 weeks it felt like I was on a boat on a rocky sea and I felt sea sick. The inner city doc was 100% sure I was pregnant: "well, it would have to be immaculate conception, the second coming of jesus" I told her. One look in my ear confirmed that I had an inner ear virus which would last about 8 weeks. I packed up and went to stay at my Mum's house where I stayed in bed and faced the music. I couldn't eat but deliriously cried out for red grapes with seeds to chew on. I slept on and off for a couple of days, ate red grapes and drank water, cried A LOT and managed to stop the internal swaying. Lying in bed not being able to move meant that I faced all the emotions and fears inside of me. The loss of my dear love who I thought I would always be with, the loss of my grandfather and his absence in all of our lives, and the looming black hole feeling that my life was somehow ending.
Upon returning to my apartment I was still eating the red grapes but added pear slices and lemon water. I tried eating some plain brown rice but had to spit it out. Fresh fruit it shall be! After a week or so I was beginning to feel good. Really good. I had heard about the raw food diet but had never considered doing it exclusively. I started having big salads with lots of avocado and fresh fennel bulb. During my rest between tea house and TV land I would read up on the net about the raw foods lifestyle and good recipes to make. It took no effort at all as my body was leading the way. I also stopped having my morning long black coffee and I had already given up alcohol. This was turning out to be a super cleanse! I made sure to look up new recipes every day to make sure I was getting all the nutrients I needed. I was also consuming amazing tea's at work everyday: Green teas with ginger and mint, nettle, white tea, oolong, matcha (japanese green tea powder whisked in a bowl) and my beloved yerba mate. Mate tea became my social drink. I had one of the best new years ever drinking iced mate with honey and was just as silly and energized as my boozing companions.
Over the next 3 years I lived the raw vegan lifestyle. I felt amazing and it healed so many elements of my body and my emotions. I reclaimed my sense of humor and felt younger and happier than I was as a teenager. It was quite socially isolating when it came to eating out but I was having such a good time it didn't matter. My friends came to love my raw chocolate desserts and yummy bliss balls, my big salads and smoothies. I did green juice cleanses when I felt stressed out and tired. I tried all kinds of raw herbs and superfoods like maca, mesquite, purple corn extract, chlorella, spirulina, shilajit, medicinal mushroom powders, bee pollen, and of course raw cacao beans and powder. These all allowed me to experience new levels of health and energy while allowing my diet to be varied and exciting.
I reunited with my former love and managed to merge my dietary lifestyle into our new relationship. This time I was sparkly and fresh with way less baggage and a reclaimed self esteem. It was hard not sharing meals together, but we got along just fine.
By 2010 we had a trip planned to attend a wedding in Chile. I was well aware that eating raw while traveling through south america was not a wise idea. I do have an irrational fear of vomiting and had no desire to waste any time with my head down a toilet so I carefully added quinoa and cooked root vegetables into my life (This story requires a whole other post which I will add in the future).
Upon returning from our one month adventure overseas I fell pregnant instantly. This was a pleasant and delightful surprise! We were not trying to have a baby, but we were not exactly trying not too :)
I had felt the transition from girl to woman happening over the last couple of years. I had also been feeling deep body aches every time I saw a baby. My body new it was the right time!
I felt grateful that my temple was clean and still resonating from a month of mind blowing travel.
Not only had I avoided the stress of "trying" to conceive, but I had started all the homework years in advance. It was as if I had been been preparing for this moment all along.
And so the pregnancy journey began, and boy was it not what I expected...... in a good way :)
Part Two coming soon!
RLH
xxx
Friday, 9 September 2011
The first post!
Hello there,
This blog was created to share the health/healing/food/pregnancy/birthing/sustainable living knowledge I have picked up along the way (and people keep asking me to share with them). I figured it would be easier to put it all here rather than have endless tea dates. My "new motherhood lack of sleep" often results in a complete lack of speech coherence so this is a much better way to spread the Love. As a daily reader of blogs, I hope that this one will provide the 'information nourishment' that I have received from all the wonderful writers out there. May your journey be filled with all things delicious and magical. I look forward to sharing with you!! Yay.
RLH
This blog was created to share the health/healing/food/pregnancy/birthing/sustainable living knowledge I have picked up along the way (and people keep asking me to share with them). I figured it would be easier to put it all here rather than have endless tea dates. My "new motherhood lack of sleep" often results in a complete lack of speech coherence so this is a much better way to spread the Love. As a daily reader of blogs, I hope that this one will provide the 'information nourishment' that I have received from all the wonderful writers out there. May your journey be filled with all things delicious and magical. I look forward to sharing with you!! Yay.
RLH
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