Search This Blog

Pregnant & Paleo?

4/30/2013 *Sara-Marie* 1 Comments


Before we were blessed with the news of our pregnancy, I already had all of these visions on how I was going to eat, exercise, and be generally awesome when the time finally came to grow a tiny human. Then, I got pregnant. 

Since going paleo last summer, I knew that I wanted to continue to eat real, whole foods for the benefit of my growing child.  All of the veggies and high quality meats would provide all of the essential nutrients, and I probably wouldn't even need to take a prenatal vitamin! (I know now, this is crazy talk.)

To my surprise, I quickly experienced food aversions to almost EVERYTHING I was eating on a regular basis. Eggs used to be my go-to source of high-quality protein that I could eat any time of day. Now - I can barely get myself to make them. Sweet potatoes didn't stir up in me the passion that they used to do. Neither did veggies or salad. Just the smell of my husband cooking a steak can make me gag.

For the first few weeks of my pregnancy, I could only manage to consume the following:
Lots and lots of watermelon with lots and lots of freshly squeezed lime juice
Sparkling/Seltzer Water with lots of lime wedges and cucumber slices

Green smoothies - at least I was getting some spinach and coconut milk in my system in addition to all of the fruit!
And random combos like organic strawberries and sunbutter
 Then on those days when I felt like I could eat a real meal, I craved BAD stuff. Since I was suffering from the morning sickness, my will power was low so I caved into some glutenous foods like:

At least I was able to eat some eggs!
The only redeeming ingredient in this meal were the crushed walnuts
Yes, that is real pasta and real Parmesan cheese. Face palm.
 While all of these tasted good at the time, especially after not eating things like bagels, waffles and pasta for such a long time, they only made me feel worse.

 Now that the morning sickness is subsiding a bit, I've been trying to get myself back on the paleo bandwagon. I've had a little bit more energy and I actually have the desire to cook again. I'm still not feeling eggs, steak, or sweet potatoes, but I have managed to eat the following healthy meals over the last week or so:
I've always liked my homemade salsa, but lately, I'm like in LOVE with it. With extra lime of course. Baby likes sour.
Random concoction #1: sweet plantains, chicken thighs, 1/2 avocado, drizzle of balsamic glaze
Random concoction #2: sweet plantains, brussels sprouts, chicken sausage, olive oil/maple syrup/balsamic dressing
Organic pork chop with roasted veggies
Roasted cauliflower and organic Italian chicken sausage. Btw, I had this for breakfast. Gotta think outside the box!
Spaghetti squash and baked garlic chicken wings
 I can honestly say that I feel better now that I've cleaned up my act a bit over the last week or so. Getting back in the groove is motivating me to continue on this path. I know it is healthier for our baby for me to eat the most nutritious foods possible, so I have to commit. The hubby and I are even going to attempt a pregnancy Whole30 for the month of May. Now that I'm past some of the first trimester craziness, I'm hoping I can continue preparing delicious and nutritious foods and be the paleo mom I so desperately want to be!

Wait - did I just call myself a mom? That's weird. Sometimes it doesn't feel real, but in about 5 months we will be parents. SO excited and SO scared all at the same time!

In terms of exercise, I again thought I would be a totally cool CrossFitMom by now, but that hasn't happened. Right now I'm celebrating the fact that they opened up the local park's nature trail and I took advantage of the beautiful weather this evening.

Baby steps, right?

Pun intended.

1 comments:

Guess What? We're Expecting!

4/20/2013 *Sara-Marie* 4 Comments


 
We will welcome our first baby in October 2013!

Yes, you read that right. This is the main reason I've been pretty silent on the blog lately. On top of being super busy with work, I've been dealing with morning sickness, fatigue, afternoon sickness, fatigue, and evening sickness! Haha, but it will all be worth it and we are SOOOOO EXCITED!

So here's a photo recap of our first trimester!
I literally took a test every morning for a week, just to be sure!
Our first appointment at 6 weeks!
Our tiny little nub at 6 weeks 6 days. Can't believe how tiny it is and how fast it turned into the following picture!
Just 5 weeks later and our little nub is fully formed and so active! It was amazing to see!!!

In the middle of our ultrasound I REALLY had to use the bathroom. After emptying my bladder, our little nub had more room and decided to stretch out it's arms and legs!
"Hi Mommy & Daddy!"
Thanks babe for saying the right thing!

 We are so in love already.

4 comments:

Boston Strong

4/20/2013 *Sara-Marie* 0 Comments

In light of all of the recent events that occurred in Boston this week, I've been contemplating what to say in this post. I thought about sharing about how many Boston Marathons I cheered at while a student at Boston University, or how my mother-in-law has run the Boston Marathon for the last 10 years but thankfully didn't this year. How my family and I could have been there. But in all honesty, I felt selfish if I decided to dedicate a whole post about how we were spared. Instead, I'm dedicating this post to those that weren't so fortunate this week and our law enforcement avengers.

My prayers will continue to be with the families of the victims that were robbed of their future and the hundreds of families that will forever be changed.

Rest in Peace Krystle Campbell, Martin Richard, and Lingzi Lu
My prayers are also with the family of MIT Police Officer Sean Collier who gave his life in the line of duty:


And I'm praying for a quick recovery for MTA Officer Richard Donahue:


Lastly, I'm thanking God for every single state trooper, police officer, agent, military personnel that helped make Boston safe again. Their exceptional courage and heroism is greatly appreciated and admired. Because of them, Boston was able to rest easy last night and I was able to safely leave Boston this morning and hug my hero at home.

We are so grateful for the many brave men and women who put themselves in harm's way to protect their city. Their selfless service is best represented in the following picture where this officer went out of his way to bring some milk to a family with young children that had run out during the lock-down in Watertown, MA.


THANK YOU. 


0 comments:

Roasted Tomatoes and Butternut Squash Recipe

4/03/2013 *Sara-Marie* 0 Comments



Last night, I mistakenly made my new favorite side dish. I really wanted to make this roasted butternut squash recipe but I was out of some key ingredients. So I decided to throw together what I had and it turned out to be quite delicious. 

Roasted Tomatoes & Butternut Squash Recipe

Recipe Ingredients:

- About 2-3 cups of butternut squash, cubed (I used just the neck of a medium sized butternut squash)
- 1 pint of grape tomatoes
- 1 medium onion, diced
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Dried rosemary
- Dried basil
- Salt & Pepper

Recipe Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2.) Prepare veggies and mix together in a large baking sheet
3.) Drizzle extra virgin olive oil until all veggies are coated
4.) Liberally season with dried rosemary, dried basil, salt and pepper
5.) Roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes
6.) Enjoy!

Just before hitting the hot oven!

This makes a pretty good sized batch of veggies, probably 4-6 side dish servings. We enjoyed for dinner last night and it was also perfect as part of my hubby's post-WOD recovery meal. Check out how pretty it looks along side his grass-fed rib-eye steak. Yum.

Yes, he's incredibly adorable. No, you can't have him ;)
Leave a comment when you try the recipe and let me know what you think!

XOXO,
SMP

0 comments:

Shame on me

4/03/2013 *Sara-Marie* 0 Comments

Source
It's not you. It's me.

It saddens me that I haven't been blogging in almost 2 months! Life has just been really crazy lately and I haven't had the time. I've been given more responsibility at work so when I'm done doing my day job, I want nothing to do with a computer screen!

But I miss blogging. A lot.

So I'm taking the time today to just let you know that I have not abandoned you and that Consider the Leaf Turned will be back in business soon!

I've got lots of yummy recipes to share and it would just be selfish of me to keep them all to myself!

Until then, enjoy this video that I've turned to for comedy relief during my most stressful days.


XOXO,
SMP


0 comments: