Quick Thoughts On A Thursday

So I totally slacked on my "What To Eat Wednesday" post yesterday, mostly because we're still trying to recover from the past weekend and haven't been eating the best. Breakfast and lunch are pretty easy, but at the end of the day, dinners are the last thing we want to think about which means we don't always make the best choices. I unfortunately see this as a trend for October since we'll be out of town almost every weekend. Oh well, eating well two out of the three meals in a day is better than not at all, right?

I'm probably jinxing myself, but I haven't had any side effects from the Clomid (yet.) Mind you, tonight will only be my third dose, so they could still pop up, but I fully expected to have horrible night sweats and headaches moments after taking the first dose. Of course, now that I've said this, I'll be writing a post tomorrow about how I didn't sleep all night and woke up drenched in sweat.

Many of you have asked if I'm getting a mid cycle monitoring appointment, and after my last appointment with Dr. B, I fully expected to. However, when I emailed my nurse to set one up, she said that Dr. B does "monitoring" appointments 33-35 days after the onset of your period...which would put me approximately 5 days after the start of my next cycle. I nicely pointed that out and explained that when I last spoke to Dr. B, he wanted to do a mid cycle appointment to make sure I didn't pop out 10 babies nine months from now, but the nurse was very adamant about scheduling me for November 6. I didn't feel like fighting her about it; honestly I'm just trying to coast my way through these next few months of Clomid before getting referred to an RE who is hopefully more organized, but I will bring it up to Dr. B in November. If I do happen to get pregnant with Clomid, then I will be ecstatic, but I'm not getting my hopes up too high. We all know hope is a bitch.

This weekend, Keegan and I are driving down to the coast for Cruisin' the Coast. As Keegan's wedding present, I surprised him with a trip to Cruisin the Coast last year, and it's quickly become a tradition for us. We'll spend the weekend on the sandy beaches of the Mississippi/Alabama/Louisiana coast looking at vintage cars and eating tasty foods that are horrible for us. Maybe I'll have a post not centered about my lady bits next week and will post some pictures.

I doubt I'll post again until next week, so I hope everyone has a good weekend. If you have a few moments, make sure to send some good vibes into the universe for Stupid Stork. She has two fighting embryos from her last IVF cycle and are hoping they'll survive until the end of the week so they can be frozen. She wants to be that success story when everything looks bleak, and I want that for her too.

Here's To The Clomid Crazies

I swear, blogging about a missing period has the same voodoo abilities as taking a pregnancy test. Hours after my last post, my cramps increased and my period showed her ugly face overnight, just in time for our 13 hour drive to Illinois for our friends' wedding. Thankfully my period was short lived; medium flow on Saturday for the wedding with spotting on Sunday for our drive back home.

The wedding was wonderful, full of good friends, lots of alcohol (not consumed by me of course,) a candy bar and lots of love. Like many friend groups, our small circle exploded all over the US after college, reaching from Pennsylvania to Mississippi to Missouri. We try to get together at least once a year, and having weddings certainly makes this easier. Besides myself, there are only two other women in our group (we all dated and ended up marrying engineers, not exactly a woman-driven field,) so naturally the talk turned to babies during the reception. It was actually a nice talk since one of the girls is dealing with PCOS as well, and the other has been in the loop with our reproductive worries since the beginning. It was easier to have a face to face discussion with them about how things are going instead of trying to explain everything over texts or emails. Apparently I've been nominated as the first in the group to pop out a kid and we've jokingly set our next get together as my baby shower.

I start Clomid tomorrow and I'm nervous. Nervous about the side effects, nervous about it not working, but honestly, more nervous about it working. As much as I want to get pregnant, I'm scared. Before, I thought that a positive test meant a take home baby, but unfortunately, this community has shown me that it doesn't always happen that way. But, before we get ahead of ourselves, let's complete step one. Here's to the Clomid crazies.

Hope's A Bitch

I really wanted to be one of those success stories. You know, those women who get pregnant before they move onto their next big step? I wanted to be able to call my doctor and tell him to forget about that Clomid prescription, because this was our lucky cycle and we got pregnant the "natural" way.

For a second, I thought I was. For a second, I let hope back in.

I started talking pregnancy tests on 9 DPO, even thought I knew logically that it was too early. Negative, of course. 10DPO and 11DPO came up with the same results. I stopped testing because I figured if it was going to happen, it would have by now.

12DPO came and I started lightly spotting which is normal for me a day or two before my period. Since I was having period like cramps, I figured my favorite aunt would come knocking yesterday, on 13DPO.

But she didn't. All day yesterday, I was on high alert, feeling for cramps, waiting for that familiar gush that signaled the start of a new cycle. But it never came.

Today, as I inputted my temperature into Fertility Friend, I realized I was a day late. For as long as I've been tracking, that has never happened. My heart skipped a beat and I rushed to take a pregnancy test. This has to be it, right?

Negative.

No matter how I turned the test, no matter what light it was under, no matter how hard I squinted, it was negative.

I thought I had come to terms with the fact that this cycle wasn't going to work back on 9DPO when I had my first negative test, but that little bit of hope snuck back in and made me think "maybe, just maybe."

Now, I'm angry. I'm ready to move onto Clomid; heck, I was ready months ago. But once again, my body is proving that it can't do anything right. Even when I want my period to start, it taunts me with that little bit of hope and then makes me come crashing down again.

I hate hope. Hope's a bitch.

What To Eat Wednesday - Pressure Cooker Chili

On my last post about the low amylose diet I've started, I asked if anyone would be interested in some of the recipes we would be trying. I got some good responses, so I figured I'd start "What To Eat Wednesday," a (hopefully) weekly post that will describe at least one meal that follows the low amylose diet.

We're not exactly starting off on the best foot since this recipe is only low amylose-ish, but it is delicious!

I am in no way a food photographer

One of our favorite TV chefs is Alton Brown, host of the show, Good Eats. We've watched all 14 seasons over and over again, and it's honestly the show that we've been falling asleep to recently. Alton is quirky and funny, but what I like most about his show is that he explains the science behind why food happens. We've tried many of his recipes, and we haven't found one yet that we didn't like.

Keegan's been making Alton's Pressure Cooker Chili for years and got me hooked on it pretty quickly after we moved in together. While not 100% low amylose, it's pretty darn close and still full of flavor.

Note, the ingredients have slightly been altered by Keegan. Alton doesn't believe in beans in chili, but we find it tasty. Feel free to omit if you're not a bean fan.  

• 3 pounds stew meat (beef, pork, and/or lamb) (*we normally just use beef)
• 2 teaspoons olive or vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 (12-ounce) bottle of beer
• 1 (16-ounce) container salsa
• 2 hand full of tortilla chips (~30 chips)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 15.5 oz can of dark red kidney beans
• 1 15.5 oz can of pinto beans

1. Cut meat into about 1" pieces then place in a large mixing bowl and toss with the oil and salt. Set aside.
2. Heat a 6-quart heavy-bottomed pressure cooker over high heat until hot. Add the meat in 3 or 4 batches and brown on all sides, approximately 2 minutes per batch. Once each batch is browned, place the meat in a clean large bowl.
3. Once all of the meat is browned, add the beer to the cooker to deglaze the pot.
4. Scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the meat back to the pressure cooker along with the salsa, tortilla chips, tomato paste, chili powder, and ground cumin and stir to combine.
5. Lock the lid in place according to the manufacturer's instructions. When the steam begins to hiss out of the cooker, reduce the heat to low, just enough to maintain a very weak whistle. Cook for 20 minutes.
6. Remove from the heat and carefully release the steam. Drain and add both cans of beans to the pressure cooker. Stir to combine then keep on low heat for 5-10 minutes to heat the beans.
7. Serve with cheese and oyster crackers and sour cream if desired 

To make this recipe more low amylose friendly, you could use water to deglaze the presser cooker in step 3 instead of beer as well as not adding oyster crackers at the end. Unfortunately there is no replacement for the tortilla chips as they're used to thicken the chili.

This recipe is pretty simple; all you do is throw everything in and let the pressure cooker do its magic. Keegan and I get a serving each at dinner, (sometimes two,) and at least one serving for lunch the next day.

If you give the chili a try, let me know what you think! 

Low Amylose Diet: Tips, Tricks and Tidbits

I have only been on the low amylose diet for a few weeks now, but here are a few tips, tricks and tidbits that I've learned so far:

1. I'm always hungry. Not to the point of being uncomfortable, but it's been a big change from eating three meals a day that were large and made me feel full, to eating 6-8 small snack sized meals a day that keep me above starving, but never to the point of feeling full. 
2. Preparation is the key to this diet. Since I'm eating 6-8 small meals, I have to bring a lot of food with me to work. Each day, I fill my insulated lunch box with cheese sticks, fruit, frozen edamame that I can steam at work, fruit mashes, fruit leathers, and more. Things like the cheese sticks and fruit leathers are easy because they come prepackaged, but depending on what else I bring, some preparation is needed. Say, for example, we buy a bag of grapes at the beginning of the week. I'll wash them all and then divide them in enough containers to last me the week. That way, I can just grab one when I'm preparing my food for the day.
3. Even after just a few weeks, I can already see a change in my body. Not necessarily my weight or measurements, but how my body reacts to certain foods. When Keegan's parents were here over the weekend, we threw out the diet to make it easier on us all. While we didn't go crazy, we did make homemade pizzas and go out for frozen yogurt. Come Monday, I had some...digestive issues and horrible heartburn. While I hated to see my favorite foods cause so much discomfort, it was just more proof that this is what my body needs. 
4. Personally, starting this diet slowly worked best. Instead of going cold turkey from all "bad" foods, I started by making small changes. Making smoothies for breakfast instead of muffins or toast. Bringing a variety of small snack sized meals to work instead of packing one big lunch. Hiding veggies by throwing in some spinach into my smoothies or chopping up a bell pepper to go into pasta sauce. Doing it slowly was a less shock to me, both mentally and emotionally. I'm pretty sure if I had done it all at once, I would have stopped after a few days because it would have been too many restrictions. Doing it slowly was like weaning myself off of the "bad" foods. 
5. Be flexible. Doing any kind of restrictive diet is really really hard, especially with today's hectic lifestyle. I don't beat myself up if Keegan and I have to go out for dinner because we both work such crazy hours, I just try and make better choices than I used to. A salad is always better than a bowl of pasta. A quesadilla full of chicken and veggies is better than a fast food hamburger. Keegan and I will be traveling to two weddings in October, and I know that the food that is served probably won't be within my diet. If there is a buffet, I will try and load up on the salad and meat. If it's a prepared dinner, I will just have to shrug my shoulders and allow myself a "cheat" day. 
6. Remember that tomorrow is a new day. Just because you caved and got a mocha instead of a sugar free coffee, or you have to eat a prepared dinner at a wedding, doesn't mean that you have to quit the diet entirely. My personal philosophy of this diet is that it's more about integrating healthier choices into your every day life, not making it so difficult to come up with a meal that you quit after one day. You'll make mistakes, but the point is to learn about what you're putting into your body and how to make better choices. 

Like I said, I'm still new to this whole thing, so I'm still learning and making mistakes. I probably won't post too often about the diet because I know it's not the most interesting topic, but I'll make periodic updates and perhaps post recipes if I find some I really enjoy. Thank you all for the good wishes on my last updates, they're a great motivator! If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment or email me. 

Low Amylose Diet: The Food

We left off at my discovery of the low amylose diet which I was sure would be the death of me.

A review of the rules:

1. Avoid all simple sugars such as candy, sodas, cakes, pies, ice cream, etc. These are almost pure forms of glucose.
2. Avoid vegetables that are grown underground, corn, bananas, and foods enriched with maltodextrins or corn syrup.
3. Avoid wheat, rice, rye, barley, and oats.
4. Eat a minimum of 3 servings each of above-ground vegetables and fruits daily.
5. Eat at least 6 ounces of protein every day.
6. Avoid low fat foods.
7. Don't count calories!

The first thing I did was go through and list all of the foods I wasn't allowed to eat...

Goodbye bread, cookies, pizza, soda, ice cream, potatoes, pasta, cake, candy...

but, that just made me depressed, so I started thinking about all the foods I could eat.

Woohoo broccoli....and apples....and nuts....can't forget about the cheese, I love cheese.....

I'll admit, the "good" list wasn't as exciting as everything I was saying goodbye to, but it did have some perks. We rarely purchased nuts because they're so darn expensive, but now they're a staple in my diet. I'm allowed to eat pretty much as much as I want, as long as the foods fall within the rules. I've always loved fruit, and now I'm able to eat it in many different forms (more on that later.)

Since I was already doing the low-ish carb diet, it wasn't too hard to cut out carbs almost all together. Instead of doing a few mini muffins with fruit for breakfast, I've started making smoothies. A cup of almond milk, a couple of cups of frozen fruit, and a handful of spinach makes for a surprisingly filling breakfast. This blog has many "green" smoothie recipes that are pretty tasty.

While trying to get my 3 servings of above-ground vegetables and fruits daily, I've taken to eating fruit in many different forms. I liquefy fruit into my smoothies. I try to eat one piece of fresh fruit daily. I love fruit leathers like the ones from Stretch Island Fruit Co. (the raspberry ones are my favorite.)

via

I also found out that I like fruit mashes. I found the Buddy Fruits Pure Blended Fruit pouches at our local Kroger when they were 10/$10. I picked up a variety of them and have found that their Apple & Cinnamon are my favorite. They taste just like applesauce, but are made up of only apples, concentrated apple juice and cinnamon. No preservatives to make them have an infinite shelf life. 

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Unfortunately, getting veggies into my diet has been more difficult. I'll admit I'm a picky eater, and the only veggies I truly enjoy are carrots, potatoes and broccoli. Neither carrots or potatoes are allowed in my diet, and I only like broccoli when it's cooked, which can be difficult to do for lunches at work. I try to mask veggies with my fruit by adding a handful of spinach into my morning smoothie or getting fruit mashes that are a fruit and veggie blend. I'm not perfect by any means and I know I'm not getting my 3 servings of vegetables every day, but it's a learning process. 

I've also started to eat more nuts and dairy than I used to. They're both a good source of protein and are pretty filling. Since you're not supposed to count calories on this diet, I just take a bag full of nuts to work and snack throughout the day. I've also taken an entire bag of sharp cheddar cheese sticks to work and keep them in the fridge for when I get hungry.

Dinners have been the most difficult for us to transition. A mix of working too many hours, not being prepared, and my pickiness has meant that we haven't made the best choices when it comes to dinners, but we're better than we were. We've almost kicked pasta entirely out of our house and have replaced it with dinners of a vegetable (usually broccoli,) and a meat. Our biggest hurdle is the days, like tomorrow, when I work 9-5 and then have to come back to work around 6:00 for a performance. An hour is just not enough time for both of us to drive the 20-30 minutes back home, prepare and eat dinner, and then drive back to my work. Those nights, we typically meet up for dinner out, but we've been trying to make better choices on where and what we eat. A chicken quesadilla with vegetables and black beans with a side of fruit is much better than a heaping pile of pasta.

Now, my favorite part, dessert. Christina also has an awesome video on PCOS snack ideas and a few of them I've moved from the snack category to dessert. An example would be fruit (fresh or frozen,) with sugar free whipped cream. There is also sugar free Jello, pudding and ice cream. I've tried the sugar free Jello brand mousse, but I wasn't a fan. I looked for sugar free ice cream and found "no sugar added" varieties, but the list of other ingredients were so long and unpronounceable that I put it back on the freezer shelf. One of my favorite sweet treats that I've found are sugar free candies geared towards diabetics, mainly the Russell Stover brand ones. They're made with "sugar alcohol" which, according to the package is a "unique blend of sugar substitutes," whatever that means. I know it's not the healthiest treat, but one of these every so often won't completely derail my diet.

I apologize that this post was so long, but it takes a lot to makeover your diet. We've had some success along with some failures with new recipes we've tried that I'd be more than happy to share if there's interest.

Tomorrow I'll share some tips and tricks that I've learned that make this diet not suck as much.

Low Amylose Diet: The Discovery

Since September 2012, I've lost about 30 pounds by combining Metformin with a low (let's get real here, low-ish) carb diet. However, I noticed these last few months, that my weight loss has plateaued. I've been doing a dance in the 208-212 pound area, but haven't really lost any significant weight in about three months.

Yes, I just posted my weight on the internet. Yes, if you can do simple math, you can figure out how much I weighed in 2012. Be nice, ok?

One day, while searching around YouTube for stories from ladies who also have PCOS, I found Christina's  SubfertileFrugalista channel (she also has a blog.) After perusing through her videos, I found one titled "The PCOS Diet That Worked For Us."

The PCOS Diet That Worked For Us by SubfertileFrugalista

In this video, Christina talks about the Low Amylose Diet that was prescribed to her by her RE. Christina has PCOS and had been trying for 3.5 years to have a child. They had tried every treatment you could think of, and was on their last ditch effort when they went to an RE to do IVF. Christina's RE, "Dr. Miracles," suggested going on the Low Amylose Diet. If they weren't pregnant after three months, then they would do IVF. I believe on the fourth month, they conceived, but sadly lost their little girl. After another couple of months, they conceived again and had their daughter Wren. As an added bonus, Christina lost 11 pounds in the first month of following the diet and 20 pounds overall.

A diet that allowed her to conceive after 3.5 years of infertility?! Of course my interest was peaked. From what I understand, Dr. Miracles "invented" (for lack of a better word,) this diet, so I haven't been able to find much literature on it, but Christina spells out the rules during her video. They are:

1. Avoid all simple sugars such as candy, sodas, cakes, pies, ice cream, etc. These are almost pure forms of glucose.
2. Avoid vegetables that are grown underground, corn, bananas, and foods enriched with maltodextrins or corn syrup.
3. Avoid wheat, rice, rye, barley, and oats.
4. Eat a minimum of 3 servings each of above-ground vegetables and fruits daily.
5. Eat at least 6 ounces of protein every day.
6. Avoid low fat foods.
7. Don't count calories!

At first I thought this diet would be impossible. Giving up sugar, candy, cakes, ice cream, soda, bread, corn, carrots, potatoes, and bananas would surely be the death of me! A little melodramatic perhaps, but this girl loves her some bread and butter.However, I convinced myself that I would start off slowly and see what happened.

Next I'll talk about foods that follow the diet and don't taste like grass....much.

*I am in no way a nutritionist. You should probably talk to your doctor about starting a new diet...unlike I did. Don't be like me!*