Fertility Friendly Eating

Well, now that I shared my deepest, darkest secret with the world last week, I decided I can't hide out anymore and need to blog what we're going through, so even if I can educate just one person on the process and journey of infertility, I have done some good! One of the things we ourselves have been learning more about since beginning this journey is "food for fertility". Sounds crazy right, lots of people get pregnant who eat garbage, smoke, drink, and the list goes on. However, when you have been diagnosed with infertility of any form they recommend you live with a better diet. Sometimes this is because obesity is playing a role in the problem. For those of you who know Adam and I, you know that we are far from obese, are avid runners, eat pretty healthy, and definitely do not smoke. Yes, of course we have the ocassional glass of wine or bottle of beer, but hey, we have to keep our sanity somehow! :) So, the researcher in me began reading more about this idea behind "food for fertility". Basically, you want a healthy, whole diet...fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean meats, some meals without meat, no soy products... The list could go on and on of do's and don'ts but I won't bore you with that. Because of learning all of this, I am always looking for healthy foods and new meat free options to try! I am going to share a coulple of them with you that we have found to be delicious and pretty easy.

The first one is a quick, easy lunch...Turkey, Bacon Wraps! I like to make them ahead of time so that all Adam has to do is grab one on his way out the door in the morning, which then makes for a quick, healthy meal for him when lunch time rolls around at work. So I set up an assembly line and got started!

Turkey, Bacon Wraps
Makes: 6 wraps
Serving Size: 1 wrap
Calories: 295 (this will vary if you use different brands of products)

What you need:
1 package Flat Out wraps (pick your type, I use whole wheat)
6 tablespoons light ranch dressing
9 slices Velveeta Fat Free Sharp Cheddar
18 slices Hormel Natural Choice Oven Roasted Turkey
6 slices Jennie O Turkey Bacon
6 cups romaine lettuce
3 good size Roma tomoto's

Directions:
Cook turkey bacon in skillet. While bacon is cooking, layout all 6 wraps and prepare to assemble. Start by putting one tablespoon ranch dressing down the center of each wrap. Place 3 pieces of turkey side by side. Then break all slices of cheese into halves, place 3 halves down the center on the turkey. Spread about 1 cup of lettuce over the top. After bacon has cooked, lay on paper towel for a few seconds to soak what little grease it produces. Place one strip of bacon down the center of each wrap. Fold both sides in to wrap. I used Glad Press and Seal Wrap to roll them and seal all edges tightly. But you can use whatever you prefer. Then I sliced the tomoto's in half (one half per wrap) into chunks and seperated them into 6 ziploc baggies. The reason I keep the tomoato's out is because they tend to make the wraps soggy and well I hate anything soggy! :(

Each day you grab a wrap and a bag of tomoato's to add on when you're ready to eat! These are so healthy and filling. Adam and I normally have ours with a cup of Greek Yogurt and a cup of grapes...yum!

So there is an example of a great fertility friendly lunch, but remember it's healthy too, so you don't have to be concerned with fertility to enjoy them! Next comes dinner! I found this amazing recipe via Runner's World (one of my favorite places to find healthy recipe's)...Creamy Spinach-Mushroom Lasagna! This obviously falls into our meat free meals. We have now started the "Meatless Monday" tradition, however Adam thinks that sounds so corny, despite me telling him that many people call it that, so he prefers it be referred to as no meat on Monday's! haha! Sounds the same to me but whatever! Anyway, this lasagna was AMAZING! Adam even said he liked it better than regular lasagna and I totally agree!

Quick, Creamy Spinach-Mushroom Lasagna
From: Runner's World
Serves 12, Calories: 412 per serving

What you need:
15 oven-ready, rippled style lasagna noodles
Salt
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 pound sliced mushrooms
2 10-ounce packages frozen chopped spinach (thawed and squeezed dry)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup vegetable broth
3 cups marinara sauce (no sugar added or low-sugar)
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

(I chose to cut everything in half and only make an 8x8 pan since there is only two of us.)

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 400°F. In a 13 x 9-inch baking dish, soak noodles in 2 quarts of piping hot tap water until soft, about 10 minutes. Drain. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, sauté until tender and well browned, about 7 minutes. Add spinach, sauté until heated through. Combine spinach-mushroom mixture with the basil, 8 ounces of cream cheese, and 1/4 cup broth. Mix remaining 4 ounces cream cheese with 1/4 cup broth in a small bowl; set aside. To assemble, spread 1/3 cup marinara on the bottom of baking dish, then assemble 4 layers in the following order: 3 lasagna noodles, 2/3 cup marinara, 1 cup spinach-mushroom filling, 3/4 cup mozzarella, and 2 tablespoons Parmesan. Top with remaining 3 noodles, the cream cheese-broth mixture, 3/4 cup mozzarella, and 1/4 cup Parmesan. Cover with cooking spray-coated foil and bake until bubbly, about 45 minutes. Leaving lasagna on same rack, turn oven to broil. Remove foil and broil until lasagna is golden brown, 5 minutes. Remove from oven; let sit for 10 minutes.

This was so good and will definitely be served often in our house! Here's where that glass of wine comes into play as well...nothing better than a good wine with a pasta dish! :) Enjoy!



~Erica

Stronger

Well, I promised after the first of the year I would get better at being more consistent with my blogs and I have clearly failed miserably. We have had a lot going on in our VERY personal life that we have kept somewhat secret for over a year and a half now. After the recent occurrences (which I will explain later) we have decided that we are ready to open up and let people in on what's been happening. Bare with me as I try to make this as simple as possible.

In January of 2011, Adam and I decided to start trying to start our family. After a very long year of let down after let down, we went to a fertility specialist in January 2012 in Urbana. After many blood tests and ultrasounds, I was diagnosed with poly-cystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and Adam was diagnosed as having low sperm morphology (poor sperm shape). These two things put together were keeping us from our dream of having a baby come true for over a year! It was very hard to let settle in but after moving back to Chicago in May, we began seeing one of the best fertility specialist in Illinois in June. Dr. Kaplan at the Fertility Centers of Illinois has a history of very high success rates, so that began putting some of our fears at ease. We underwent our first Intra-Uterine Insemination (IUI) in July and after the very long two week wait we had a positive blood test. I was actually pregnant! We couldn't believe it for quite awhile. Because pregnancies achieved through reproductive treatments are considered high risk we had to go in several times for blood work and ultrasounds over the next couple weeks and it was pretty scary. Unfortunately, on August 8, at 7 weeks, I suffered a miscarriage. As common as they are, anyone who has gone through one will tell you it is a horrible experience you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy. We are still dealing with our anger and pain daily, trying to understand why some people are given children so easily and we are stuck going through this horrible process. We will have to wait a few months before we are able to try IUI again, to give my body plenty of time to heal from the miscarriage. We were told by our doctor that it is very uncommon for people to get pregnant on the first IUI, which gives us some hope that maybe the next time it will be successful and have a better ending. Only time will tell.

Several of our close friends and family were aware of what's been happening for part of our journey so far, but we have decided that it's getting harder and harder to not tell people and we would love for more people to be educated on "infertility" including myths and fallacies that surround it. I will continue to do my best to help more people understand anything I can. Infertility is a very scary journey to starting a family, those who have or are currently experiencing it know exactly what I mean, and those who don't, well, I'm going to do my best to help you understand! :)

Otherwise we're doing okay and trying to support each other and stay positive! I'm going to leave you with a quote I found on Pinterest the other day. It made me think of my amazing husband as I read it, I could not have gotten through many of the days over the last 20 months without him!

"The couples that are 'meant to be' are the ones who go through everything that is meant to tear them apart and come out even stronger than they were before!"