Fertility Part 7

We've been following "The IVF Diet" by Zita West for the past 4 days. Today is day 5 of the "plan to support IFV treatment and help couples conceive." I heard about the book online. It has all the measurements in grams and the oven temperatures in Celsius because the Zita West clinics are located in the UK, but luckily unit conversions don't bother me. The thing about the diet that is intimidating is the sheer number of ingredients, and to me, exotic ingredients.

We made a master list of all the ingredients from days 1-7. We summed up the quantities of each item that would be needed. We went through the pantry to see what we already had, and then we made a grocery list using a commercially-available template. The original template didn't have many of the items on it, but it was useful for grouping items into the big categories: produce, dairy, baking, meat, etc. There are still a few items I have no idea what they are: inositol, lucuma powder, baobab powder. There were also a few things we couldn't find: juniper berry, spirulina, oatcakes, okra, peaches, arrowroot flour, vegetable starter (for pickling). But we made a good effort.


I hope you don't count all these items to check me on this, but I count 114 separate things, and that's not including the stuff we already had at home. We went over to Whole Foods to buy organic produce and filled up two shopping carts with $350 worth of groceries for 1 week! Dear husband refused to pay $35 for like 4 oz of spirulina granules. If you know an affordable source, please let me know by posting a comment. Mid-week on Wednesday we had to go to Von's to get some other items, which cost another $80.

The meals have been good -- delicious even! I've been checking, and this diet does meet the same requirements of my previous post. The less than 40% carbs and greater than 25% protein is already calculated into the meal plan. I still check it because it's tough to stay within the 1700 calories per day limit and eat all the foods recommended in the diet.

chicken schnitzel (day 1 dinner)

9-bean soup with turmeric bread (lunch day 2)

chermoula-baked salmon (dinner day 2)

kale hemp pesto (day 3 lunch)

turkey san choy bau (day 3 dinner)

sardines with olive tapenade (day 4 dinner)

Of course, I'm not a professional food blogger, so these pictures are just quick and dirty. I don't think I could publish these recipes, or the complete meal plan, due to copyright restrictions. I think you get the idea. What I can say is that it's giving me some peace of mind and freeing me to stop worrying about coming up with recipes. The detail provided in the book is sufficient for a competent cook to follow.

There are a lot of pieces of equipment required to make the recipes. So far we've used:

• blender (every morning there is a protein shake) you could use a NutriBullet 
• juicer (we used this one day, but you could alternately use a NutriBullet)
• food processor (this is used almost every day to pulverize nuts)
• mandolin (I used this to make zoodles, but you could use a spiralizer)
• grater (there is zest in one of the recipes)
• garlic press
• grill (we have a George Foreman)
• oven
• stovetop
• bread machine (you could bake in the oven, but it's easier to do overnight this way)
• baking pans and cooling racks

The recipes come together pretty quickly (for some), and others can be prepared ahead of time so that it takes just a few minutes at the moment when you actually want to eat it. All the recipes are proportioned for two people, with the assumption that both partners will be doing the diet together. This is a big help for us since my husband doesn't really like to eat leftovers and the variety is good.

This weekend we'll spend time planning for week 2, which is ~80% unique from week 1. Dear husband has been helping out with all the cooking. He is a BIG help. I could never do this alone. Having this "food project" is helping me stay busy during the waiting time for the end-of-semester and another "normal" menstrual cycle to pass.

I had a little moment of guilt thinking about how I "should have" been on this diet before egg retrieval. But luckily dear husband corrected that course of thinking. He said that we could go so far with the "what if's" and it's not very useful. Like what if we had been vigilantly saving for retirement, what if we had a large 401k, what if we would have been 100% responsible with our student loan money (or not even taken out loans)... the list could go on ad infinitum. So we're trying to keep a positive mental attitude and be in the present moment.

I've been getting really into classical music lately. It's relaxing, engaging and nostalgic. I've also been carving out more time to be outdoors. My body is craving sunlight and fresh air more than ever. Last week, I went to the Future Currents: Los Angeles River event at the Soraya Performing Arts Center here on CSUN campus. In the background is a sculptural piece made from Arundo donax, giant cane, which is an invasive plant found in the LA river.

Future Currents: Los Angeles River

Future Currents was a music / dance / art event that had a panel discussion on eco-artists who push conversations about sustainability and ecology using their various art forms. I made a pan flute out of the Arundo donax which I had a great time learning how to play. This week, I went to the Earth Fair with some friends from the chemistry department and saw some of my bicycling friends once we got there. Like I said, it was just great to spend a couple of hours mid-day outdoors, which I don't usually do.

I added pain into the topics for today's blog because my fingers are really hurting from all this cooking. I feel like my hands have been through the meat grinder! But the good news is that I seem to be losing weight. I read that I don't have to get down to "normal" body weight for my body to take the pregnancy better. If I lose even 15 pounds, that would be good. So I guess that's a goal too.