Woo hoo! You made it to 2017! How does it feel? It should feel great because you’ve got a clean slate, with a fresh new year ahead of you! How inspiring! If I learned anything last year it’s that people like to snack. And sometimes snacking behavior gets a little sloppy. But, luckily for you, I’ve come up with a January series titled “20 Snacks Around 200 Calories” to get your snacking back on track!
Happy holiday party-time! Woo hoo! Time to celebrate and have fun! Yes, I do believe in fun and yes, I do think you can indulge (even when struggling with infertility) in some fun holiday drinks. HOWEVER, there should be a self-imposed limit to the celebratory drinking. Hear me out, ok! Today’s Fertility Friday blog post is dedicated to my Holiday Drink Tips.
Who Me? Cook?
I don’t remember spending a whole lot of time in the kitchen as a kid. Sure, I had my hand at whipping up a muffin or cake mix now and again, but that was the extent of it. Not being “invited” into the kitchen to cook isn’t something for which I blame my parents. I’m pretty sure they felt like many parents – tired and just doing their best to get food on the table. My dad worked all day and most of the cooking was left to my mom, who, I’m pretty sure, didn’t love cooking. Even though she didn’t necessarily enjoy it, she was a great cook and we had some amazing meals at our house. The food was so good and I never knew that no one else ate the way we did.
Are you done having kids?
I get that question quite often. Sometimes it’s an innocent question, other times it feels more judgmental, delivered with a tone that feels accusatory – how could I possibly only have ONE child? And the question comes from anyone and everyone. From the mom at the playground to the grocery check-out person. And it hurts. Secondary infertility hurts.
It’s hot and you’re thirsty. You’ve had glass after glass of water, but you’re looking for something with just a little more pizazz.
It can be a struggle to drink enough water every day and many of us fall short of our water requirement. Instead of thinking “outside of the box” when it comes to water, we continue to grab our glass, stick it under the facet and hurriedly chug it down. Just trying to “get it in.”
This is a big world full of awesome people, and I always feel so blessed when I meet anyone in that “awesome” category. Elana is one of those awesome people. She’s a rock star dietitian and a true advocate for our profession. She’s excellent at communicating nutrition information in a practical and relatable way, and we love that. She’s also honest and human! So, Liz and I were super honored when she said she would be happy to share her infertility story (and a few recipes!) with us for our special Fertility Feature Series.
Elana is a nationally recognized food and nutrition expert and spokesperson with nearly two decades of experience working in communications. Prior to becoming a registered dietitian, Elana worked in public relations, eventually parlaying both skills into a career as a nutrition communications consultant. While she works with a variety of clients and issues, the cause most dear to her heart is maternal and child nutrition, from preconception to the preschools years.
Elana is a wife and mom to two fabulous kids (and one fur-baby – her dog, Buster.) She struggled with infertility with her first child and can relate firsthand to the emotional side of trying to conceive (fueled by some seriously strong hormones). She is also a resource for postpartum depression, as PPD is four times more likely for those who have received infertility hormone treatment vs. those who conceived spontaneously.
Thank you Elana. What a wonderful profession that you get to combine your love for nutrition to help others achieve the family they too, have dreamed of! We are so incredibly honored to have you join us!
Just to prove how awesome and generous she is, Elana’s also got two amazing, fertility-friendly recipes for you. Visit her over at A Sprinkle of Sage and grab the recipe for her Oatmeal My Way and Spring Rolls!
Want more? Don’t forget to head over to Liz’s site, Shaw Simple Swaps, for more features of dietitians we love.
Strawberries are a delicious, nutritious treat, but now that they have moved up on the “Dirty Dozen” list, what should you do?
Strawberries recently moved up on the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” list. Just what does that mean for you? Read my article on Parents.com to learn just what prompted the changes and what you can do! Hint, don’t worry, you can still safely enjoy strawberries!
Click here for the full story on Parents.com. Don’t forget to check out the EWG website to see the complete and updated Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen Lists.
I’ve got some exciting news for you. Today marks the official launch of the series “Fertility Friday.”
“Wait!” I hear you saying. “What in the world does that have to do with food and nutrition and YOU, Sara?”
Great questions everyone and let me say, you just set me up perfectly to explain myself. Here’s the back story, I’ve struggled with infertility. To make a really long story, super short, infertility is a hard, stressful, lonely and emotional journey. But, I’ve learned some things along the way and those things have led to this exciting place.
Divine intervention happened a few months ago when I met fellow fellow dietitian Elizabeth Shaw. To make our long story short, we clicked. She shared her infertility struggles and I shared mine. We talked so much, both lamenting the fact that there wasn’t a book written by dietitians for people going through infertility. That bothered us, so we have taken it upon ourselves to write that book. It’s been a fun, crazy, emotional process, but we’re excited about it. We want you to be excited about it too. April 24-30 marks RESOLVE’s National Infertility Week, making this a perfect time to kick things off. To bring awareness to a topic that is near and dear to our hearts, we have decided to run a series of posts on Friday’s in April dedicated to food, nutrition and fertility. We’re calling it Fertility Friday. It’s our way of showing you the fun stuff you’ll see in our book, but also a great platform to get people talking about infertility.
We hope you’ll share in our excitement as we tackle a subject that deserves more attention. Let’s make it a point to support everyone’s journey, no matter how easy or hard. Let’s take the steps necessary to live the Infertility Awareness Week motto of #startasking. To you, I say, #askaway!
And don’t forget to check out Liz’s site Shaw Simple Swaps for her introduction to Fertility Friday!
Click here for more about National Infertility Awareness Week and RESOLVE.
