Sacred Strawberry

I mean that in the most literal of possible ways   See, I am pregnant!  As of now, I am 10 weeks along and super happy although sort of overwhelmed by all the new information I have learned already and feel like I need to learn before giving birth.  I *know* I am just supposed to breathe and trust in the flow but sometimes that is easier said than done…even for someone in the middle of yoga teacher training, haha!

For the first 5 or 6 weeks of being pregnant I had no idea, but I felt wonderful.  Then, I went to the US to visit my family for Christmas and started feeling awful.  That plus the food available in the city where my parents live meant that I was not in a good place at all.  I ended up gaining about 20 pounds in three weeks.  Awful, just awful!

Then, we got back to Spain and I started feeling even worse.  Instead of eating to help with the nausea, I couldn’t eat at all.  I had been living on rice cakes and peanut butter, sprouted and dried almonds and fresh apples until finally one day last week I felt good enough to get the blender out and I made my first green smoothie since being pregnant.  Oh my gosh, it tasted wonderful! I made the decision there that I want this pregnancy to be high-raw.  I know it may not always be possible, but I am going to do the best that I can while still being flexible enough to respect where I am at the moment.  Sound good?

Here is what I have been eating the past few days:

20 Jan 2012

-breakfast porridge with cooked oats, banana, peanut butter, honey and cinnamon
-one big ass juicy orange
-midmorning snack of 1.5 Raw Health brand raw pitta bread (basically just a not so yummy thick raw cracker) topped with a guacamole made from avocado, lemon juice, garlic, salt and chopped cherry tomatoes
-lunch of big salad made by hubby with lettuce, beets, cucumbers, apples and celery mixed with a mustard dill dressing
-bit of a Raw Health brand cherry chocolate bar (also underwhelming, but sort of awesome that I prefer my own creations!)
-a few unsulphured dried apricots
-some raw brownie crumbles and chopped strawberries
-two tiny carrots and a little hazelnut basil pate
-stevia lemonade
-cooked dinner of sauteed onions, brussel sprouts with rice pasta and walnut pate thinned out with packaged almond milk

Supplements: today I had 3 Vitamin Code Prenatal vitamins, one DHA cap and a spray of sublingual vitamin D

21 Jan 2012

-porridge with strawberries and carob powder
-2 organic eggs (which I immediately threw up)
-raw brownie and a few sips of green tea
-fresh pineapple
-salad and a bit of white bean soup from Ecocentre buffet
-small tub of chocolate Booja Booja raw ice cream
-dried apple pieces
-dinner of organic corn/mushroom pasta with broccoli, green peppers, sundried tomatoes, carrots and basil tofu

Supplements: 2 Vitamin Code raw prenatal vitamins

I am looking forward to sharing how my pregnancy unfolds and how my diet evolves to meet my changing needs and body

xx

Strawberry white chocolate cheezecake, a photo by DivineMissEm on Flickr.

Strawberry Banana White Chocolate Cheesecake on a Brazil Nut biscuit crust. OMG!

Raw Spicy Cheez-Its, a photo by DivineMissEm on Flickr.

These are so super delicious that it is hard to believe they are raw. The recipe is adapted from Kate Wood’s (now Kate Magic) Traffic Light Biscuits in Raw Living. I use her base of brazil nuts, flax and red peppers and add a bit of red onion, tiny bit of tomato, nutritional yeast and green Tabasco.

Wow, the end of Spring and the beginning of Summer this year have been so crazy and full of  so much change, and growth, I think too.

We decided to move out of Madrid, out of the city, and into the suburbs.  We moved into a loft apartment that is three minutes walk from our jobs, and about the same to yoga class.  I have sort of turned into a clean-freak in this place, which is such a change from my previously chaotic and messy ways.  But we have ridiculously high ceilings! and a balcony! and comfy sofa! and an open plan kitchen!

One of the downsides of the new digs is that the kitchen is really, really basic and doesn’t have an oven or a proper stove.  Just two electric burners/hobs.  Nada màs.  But I have my dehydrator and blender/food processor so I have been eating lots and lots of raw food.  And it has been so freaking easy!

I want to post pictures of some of the creations I am most proud of, including a raw, nut-free chocolate cake that seriously tastes like a baked cake.  My friend J who came over to try it told me that it tasted like day old cooked cake, which I think is hilarious!  It was awesome, though.

We are also going to England soon, and I am actually excited about it.  We are going to go into London so we can go to InSpiral Lounge for some raw food goodies and then shopping at Braintree Hemp in Camden.  Although we don’t have too much money to spend, but whatever.  Then we are going to spend the rest of the time on the Isle of Wight, at his parents’ house.  I really want to spend lots of time at the beach this time and get whatever sun England in August is prepared to give us.   And eat lots and lots of wild greens the garden.  And take lots of pictures.