Just the FATS Ma'am

Yep, you read that title right--I said the F word. Fats! As I mentioned in last week's post (very important info here peeps!), my bones and my body have finally begun to show the consequences of battling an eating disorder for the majority of my adult life. This included many factors, but most of all, it has negatively effected my bone density and hormone balance. Without measurable hormones, I am unable to absorb several valuable nutrients, but most importantly, calcium, which is what is negatively impacting my skeleton. While several hormone replacement options have been discussed, D and I are doing a ton of research and not rushing into anything.

That being said, I have decided to try a little experiment on my own! You see, ones' body cannot produce estrogen without fat. Without estrogen, the rest of your hormonal system is thrown way out of whack, hence the lack of ovulation and fertility issues. But also, without estrogen, no calcium is absorbed into the body no matter how much Greek yogurt, cottage cheese or laughing cow plus calcium supplement are consumed. So basically, it all goes back to FAT.

Of course I'm not talking about gaining an extraordinary amount of weight or eating spoonfuls of butter here. But I have made it my goal to increase the good, healthy fats in my diet in order to improve my overall health. I'm taking on this challenge with the help of my dear friend Susan over at The Great Balancing Act.

A few ways I'm planning on incorporating more healthy fats:
Nut butters, avocados, salmon, and my version of Abby's Spicy Mixed Nuts. Remember these? I have been savoring them since Christmas and my supply finally ran out. I decided to duplicate the flavors minus the sugary syrup. I simply roasted some raw nut varieties with chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, stevia and cloves. They're so addicting!!

I will also continue to take an omega-3 supplement, which I have been doing for years. I think these are helpful, but apparently not on their own unless they are in addition to other fats. i mean, get real, they only have 1 g of fat per pill, so taking two a day as my only source of fat probably wasn't doing me a whole lot of good.

In my research, I came across a fascinating report, manifesting as The Fertility Diet. This "diet" details several theories to improve fertility based on a study of about 18,000 women and what they ate while trying to conceive. Not only does the study recommend more fats to improve chances of conception and reduce ovulatory infertily, it has these additonal tidbits to offer:

• Adding more carbohydrates at the expense of naturally occurring fats predicted a decrease in fertility. This could very well mean that natural fats, especially unsaturated fats, improve ovulation when they replace easily digested carbohydrates.This could very well mean that natural fats, especially unsaturated fats, improve ovulation when they replace easily digested carbohydrates.
• more fat in the diet, and in some cases more saturated fat, improves the menstrual cycle
• Unsaturated fats do things to improve fertility—increase insulin sensitivity and cool inflammation
• Replacing 25 grams of animal protein with 25 grams of plant protein was related to a 50 percent lower risk of ovulatory infertility.
  

Another article backs up the findings of this study, reinforcing that "women who ate full-fat dairy foods, including ice cream, more than once per day had a 25 per cent reduced risk of infertility due to ovulatory disorders compared to those who ate full-fat dairy foods only once a week." (source)

So, I will also try to tackle full fat dairy products. While I don't think I could ever really bring myself to drink whole milk, and I could NEVER give up my 0% Fage and lowfat cottage cheese, I think I could try some regular ice cream and cheese. Especially this stuff:

Baby blue obsession. It's been such a long time since I've had real cheese. Good grief!

I think the whole article was really interesting, and I'd encourage all of you to read it here.

Overall, it is just really clicking for me that fats help our bodies in so many ways, from helping out brains function, to regulating hormones and improving hair and skin. Help, in the skin department BTW, is also majorly needed. My hair is in good shape, still as pouffy and large and in charge as ever, but my skin belongs in an African wasteland! I know Susan is posting pics of her skin before and after, so I thought I'd do the same--warning--this IS not attractive! Yikes! Anyway, so I am really hoping that our Fatty February will be a great exercise in health improvement. I know it will be a big, and very difficult challenge for me, but I am super excited to see how it all pans out!

Anyone want to join us? I would love to hear your suggestions on incorporating healthy fats, and if you have done so and seen increased health benefits! Happy humpday tomorrow, and happy BEST DAY OF THE YEAR on Thursday--it's my birthday! :) Whoo hoo! xoxo

I Scream, You Scream for...FFF #14

My favorite thing for dessert is ice cream. This is not me favorite dessert in the world--that would entail something like my moms' homemade chocolate cake with two inches of frosting, carrot cake from The Roof with two inches of frosting, or bread pudding--with no frosting--or with. That would be yummy too.

But for every day, I prefer something a little lighter and ice cream fits the bill beautifully, I consider myself quite the connoisseur of different brands and flavors. I think the slow churned, double churned, however churned is the best invention literally, since sliced bread. I mean, half the fat AND smooth creamy taste? That's what I'm talking about!

Recently, however, my friend Jess came up with a totally different type of ice cream and still managed to keep that smooth creamy flavor using a perfect ingredient for Freaky Food Friday....

Avocado Ice Cream!
Yup. Ever since taking the plunge with avocado this summer, I am not quie so afraid of it, and it it a little more often, but never before in a sweet format. Now, i know that a lot of vegan and raw cooking incorporate avocado into certain desserts to replace animal fats and dairy products, but I think it's usually masked by a stronger ingredient such as chocolate. In this dessert, it was the star of the show for sure!

You'll notice above, that I said creamy flavor, but not necessarily texture. You can see in this pic, that the ice cream ends up being slightly crystallized, but it still tastes very smooth!
It is a sweet dessert, but at certain points, I'd find myself feeling like I should bust out the chips and salsa and start dipping. So, the avocado flavor certainly shines through, but is wonderfully complemented by lots of sugar and hints of cream. Needless to say, this isn't something I can eat a lot of at one time...which, given my track record with other types of ice cream, may not be a bad thing!

What's the best dessert you've had recently? This was definitely the most interesting one I've had in a while! Hope you all have a great Friday and a happy weekend. See you tomorrow for Sammie Saturday! xoxo

Taking the Avocado Plunge

Well friends, I finally did it--I took the avocado plunge! After seeing Gena's post on the very odd, but enticing Guacanara sauce, I decided I could give it a go. I figured if I just mixed the avocado in with a seemingly totally unrelated food source, I could just pretend it wasn't in there, which is exactly what I did. Well, let me tell you folks, I think my fat phobia could be cured, or at least partially remedied, because I will most definitely be making this deliciousness again ( and again and again)! The avocado gave the sauce an amazing creamy texture and the spices were spot on!

For the guac, I used 1 whole avocado, cumin, red pepper flakes, lime juice, garlic powder and added a diced tomato.
We were cheater-cheater-avocado-eaters on the marinara and just used Hunt's from our massive supply of food storage. Mixed the two together, and voila, mexitalian yumminess.
I had mine over julienned zucchini a la the original, and D chose to eat his with regular noodles. I think that's the mark of a truly wonderful husband when he'll try just about anything I decide I want to experiment with, but I think it's a little easier when it involves some sort of pasta! This recipe was sooooo easy and delicious.

I have some more Gena-inspired recipes up my sleeve, and after the success of this one, I will probably be posting them sooner rather than later. Have a great Friday!