Thursday, 1 August 2013

Lentil and Kale Salad with Pan Fried Duck Breast

Duck and lentils - a match made in heaven

Lentil and Kale Salad with Pan Fried Duck Breast

As a new convert to eating meat, I recently discovered duck breast and have stocked up on a few breasts in the freezer for while our butcher is away on summer holidays.  

If you cook it right it is low fat, tasty and SO easy to make. In my recipes, one duck breast is always enough to feed two people.

I was thinking of making the duck with a lentil/bean/kale cassoulet-type thing, but Mr Duncan had eaten a big lunch and requested a salad.

Fertility Focus

Kale is full of antioxidants, vitamin A, vitamin K and is a good plant source of calcium.

Lentils are a good source of folic acid, full of iron and provide a non-meat form of protein.

Ingredients

  • Brown lentils
  • Kale
  • Parsley
  • Onion
  • Cucumber
  • Tomato
  • Duck breast

Method

1.  Take the duck out of the fridge to come to room temperature.

2.  Rinse the lentils and simmer for about 20 minutes until soft.  

3.  Rinse with cold water and drain.  Set aside to cool.

4.  While the lentils are cooking, turn the oven on to 200 degrees C.  

5.  Dry the duck breast and score the skin.  

6.  Dust the skin side with a little bit of salt.  

7.  Place the breast skin-side down in a cold oven proof pan and cook over a medium heat for 5-6 minutes, until the skin-side is brown and crispy. 

8.  Turn over the duck breast and cook on the non-skin side for 30 seconds.

9.  Remove from heat, drain the fat and place in the oven for about another 5-8 minutes depending on how you like it.  

10.  Remove from the oven and rest the meat while you prepare the veg for the salad.

11.  Cut the 'spines' out of the kale leaves, and chop and scrunch the chopped kale with your hands to soften it. 

12.  Finely chop the parsley and some onion.  

13.  Chop the cucumber and tomato into small cubes. 

14.  Toss the lentils with the vegetables in a dressing of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

15.  Slice the duck and serve on top of the salad.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, 30 July 2013

Review: The Fertility Diet, Sarah Dobbyn - Maximize Your Chances of Having a Baby at Any Age

The Fertility Diet by Sarah Dobbyn

The Fertility Diet

The Fertility Diet
How to Maximize Your Chances of Having a Baby at Any Age
Sarah Dobbyn
Simon & Schuster UK, 2012 

As an Amazon Associate I will earn from any qualifying purchases you make from Amazon.  However I didn't when I purchased and reviewed this book over a decade ago.
  

I have to admit, what attracted me to this book is its subtitle.  Age is not necessarily on my side in my attempts to conceive and carry a baby to term and I am keen to maximise my chances where I can.I already eat a pretty healthy diet and follow the usual lifestyle advice for women who wish to get pregnant.  I eat organic, home-cooked food, gave up coffee, alcohol etc and follow the advice on sites like Naturally Knocked Up and Wellness Mama.


The Fertility Diet was recommended to me on Amazon.  I wasn't convinced I needed to read it.  But it nagged at me so I checked out the reviews which ranged from 'the woman is crazy' to 'I got pregnant at 42 because of this book'.  

 
So I tried to find a copy of the book in the library catalog to no avail.  Though my google skills did uncover a comment by the author on a ttc forum claiming to have conceived and birthed a child when she was 44.  This gave some credence to the claims about maximising your chances at any age.

Sigh.

So I ordered it.  
 
Even as I am giving away books to charity shops before we move to Australia, I am replenishing the shelves...

What is The Fertility Diet all about?

Actually, the author covers many, many different aspects of TTC.  In addition to the usual nutrition/lifestyle/exercise/environment advice she also looks at fertility blockers, detoxing and aspects of natural living. 

It's not just about what you eat.  Each chapter concludes with an 'action plan'.  These are steps to put the recommendations in that chapter into action in your life.

I enjoyed the initial chapters about the 'Ingredients for Baby Making' and 'Pushing Snooze on the Biological Clock'. They give a rundown on

  • the biological conditions for conception,

  • how aging affects these and

  • how aging can be slowed down,

citing various research studies. 

These chapters give me good hope.  From this perspective, my fertility age is probably not the same as my chronological age.  I had an inordinately healthy childhood which established a lifetime of good eating habits.

I found the chapters on the Fertility Diet itself quite boring with lists of various foods and their benefits, without the backup of research references.  They did, however, reinforce that I've been eating the right sort of foods to maximise my chances (and that I know way too much about the subject).

I don't have any specific fertility issues (other than age), so I skipped through those chapters.   Except the one on miscarriage, though I didn't learn anything new to prevent losing another baby.

 

Was it worth buying The Fertility Diet?

I am glad I bought it.  It gives me hope and reassurance I am maximising my chances of a healthy conception.  I learned that I pretty much follow the Fertility Diet in my day to day life. 

My recipes are also more interesting and taste better than the ones in the book :-).


What are my main take-aways?

I will take on board several ideas from the book.  As a result of reading it I will

  • eat more raw foods, 

  • start using digestive enzymes and 

  • aim for better quality sleep.  

Getting more natural sunlight can be an effort in London when you work full-time, but I'll work on that too.  

It will be easier in Australia.

I will also stop drinking tonic water as quinine is apparently associated with miscarriage.  This is a bit of a pity.  Tonic is my non-alcoholic drink of choice when out with friends or colleagues.

I'll leave the suggestions on colonic irrigation, lunaception, drinking sole and taking loads of additional supplements - for now.

We'll see how it goes.  Fingers crossed!


L.
x
 

Midlife Fertility Surge? Hope from the Daily Mail

I love this article from the Daily Mail about a woman who had four children naturally in her 40s after 20 unsuccessful years of TTC. 

While I am well aware of all the depressing statistics regarding age and fertility, I remind myself that I've achieved two pregnancies in the past year and a positive state of mind is more likely to enable me to achieve a third than a depressed one.

When I find myself feeling down I can return to the article and others like it to give me hope and counter all the negative suggestion in the media about my age and chances of conceiving.

Saturday, 27 July 2013

Book Review: 30 Something and the Clock is Ticking, Kasey Edwards

30 Something and the Clock is Ticking

30 Something and the Clock is Ticking
What Happens When You Can No Longer Avoid the Baby Issue
Kasey Edwards
Mainstream Publishing Company, 2011






A self proclaimed feminist and career woman, Kasey is startled to find herself blurting that she wants a baby to her boyfriend of a year after returning from a 10 day Vipassana Meditation retreat.

They agree to revisit the subject in a year, at the ages of 32 and 34 respectively, there is lots of time.  

However at a routine checkup a few weeks later Kasey discovers she has a number of fertility issues and doctor recommends IVF within the year if she wants to have a child.

With candour and humour, Kasey elects to take on the baby issue in her own terms.  

Does she in fact want to be a mother?  

What life would she be choosing for herself if she did?  

Is she still of value to her partner if she is infertile?  

Is she of value in her career if she's not?  

If she does want to be a mother, would she be a good one?  

Kasey worries that taking on the invisible and poorly valued identity of mother in our society could bring back the black dog of depression from her past.

Researching the academic literature and the lives of her friends, Kasey weighs the pros and cons, like the Management Consultant she is, in order to make a rational recommendation to herself and finds herself re-examining her own ideas about motherhood and marriage.  In the end the choice is emotional, not rational and in the final chapters she shares the challenges of trying to conceive under a deadline.

I picked this book up at the library while looking for some prescribed reading for an essay I have to write, and read it in one sitting.  I found it to be both entertaining and educational.

The life Kasey paints of motherhood is not pretty - it involves a lot of effort and sacrifice for little appreciation and very small, but ultimately worth it, reward. 
 
Kasey also goes into the injustice of the gender pay gap and the 'mommy path' career women are sidelined into once they admit parenthood is on their agenda. 

Ultimately, trying to have it all means navigating a minefield of compromises and what it looks like is unique to each woman.

I could relate to Kasey's desire to decide and take action before time ran out and maybe its the educated, career oriented circles the author moves in, but I was surprised by the stories of her fellow female dinner party guests and the situations they found themselves in with regard to becoming parents.

On a side note, this is the second book in a row I've just picked up off the biography shelf for casual reading that has detailed the benefits of vipassana meditation.  

Some years ago I sat next to a man on a flight from New York to London who was just returning from a vipassana retreat.  He spoke in detail about it and I thought it would either benefit or kill me.

Maybe the universe is trying to remind me something.


L.
x

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Tuesday, 23 July 2013

Beetroot and Mint Coleslaw

Vibrant colours for vibrant health!

One of the challenges involved in getting a weekly veg box is figuring out tasty ways of enjoying vegetables you wouldnt usually choose to eat.  

I'm no great fan of cabbage cooked, but I dont mind coleslaw.  

I was out of carrots so thought I'd experiment with beetroot which has a similar texture and sweetness to carrot. 

 The mint in our garden has gone nuts so I thought adding a bit of that would give a nice counter to the sweetness. 

Mr Duncan said this was the best coleslaw I've made yet.

Fertility focus

Beetroot is full of iron and folate

Cabbage is antioxident and also contains a phytonutrient called Di-Indole Methane that helps with metabolising estrogen effectively.

Ingredients

  • Cabbage
  • Beetroot
  • Mint
  • Apple cider vinegar
  • Olive oil

Method

1.  Grate the beetroot
2.  Finely chop the cabbage and mint.  
3.  Toss together in an apple cider vinegar and olive oil dressing.