Renn Faire Privateer Gone Mom.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Double Whammy; The news that shook me out of my SAD diet stupor.

Being pregnant is hard.  Being food conscious is hard, too.  Being pregnant AND food conscious?  SUCKS.

My body has been craving simple carbs like mad.  Know what's full of simple carbs?  Crap.  Conventional, boxed, overly processed CRAP.  In a battle between hormones, sciatic pain, pelvic pain, and food cravings, the cravings are the easiest to take care of.

So instead of being our usual 80/20 selves (80% Primal, 20% not Primal but mostly clean with an occasional cheat thrown in), we've been more along the lines of 50/50 (50% crap, 50% whatever healthy thing I can manage to scrounge together).

The kids and Captain are LOVING it.  We've had crackers and cookies, bread for sandwiches, noodles and rolls with dinner, and take-out and fast food MUCH more than I am willing to admit.

I've been struggling.  Feeling guilty about allowing my family to eat this junk, feeding my family this junk, and every night I resolve to do better the next day.  Then, the next day rolls around and it's the same story.

Until yesterday.

**History break.  During each of my pregnancies my blood platelet count has dropped low.  Low enough that I hemorrhage after delivery and need intervention in the form of a clotting injection.   Anything less than 100 can cause extra delivery complications.



Yesterday my platelet count came back much lower than it has previously been at this stage in my other pregnancies; at 29 weeks my count is at 105.  Group F Strep was also found in my urine samples, meaning I have a urinary tract infection; not from e Coli, as most are, but from strep, pointing to an imbalance in my gut flora.

Low platelets AND a UTI.  Fun.

My doula picked the brains of a few colleagues and informed me that there are some inconclusive studies out there linking gluten to low platelet counts during pregnancy.  There are also a few connections between chlorella consumption and increased platelet count.  

So begins an experiment.  I'm officially going back to a strictly gluten-free diet, and at the same time falling back into a mostly Paleo lifestyle, with the exception of rice, red potatoes, and quinoa for simple carbs and Greek yogurt for extra protein and probiotics.  I'm also taking an spirulina supplement for chlorella and cranberry extract, to see if it helps my UTI in conjunction with focusing on gut healing foods.

In the spirit of camaraderie, I thought I'd share what we're eating the first few days of our re-adjustment, in case there are others out there needing some easy ideas, or a sympathetic ear.

If you live a gluten-free, Paleo/Primal, or clean eating lifestyle, what revelation(s) made you start?  Have you had any stops and restarts?

Check back tomorrow for the next post, which will include a curry recipe, meal plan ideas, and preparations for the first few days.

4 comments:

  1. YAY! You know my revelations already. :O) I hope this works!!!!!

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  2. Good luck with this. It always takes something to snap us back to our healthy ways, doesn't it. My hubby has Celiac, so he eats gluten free. With my last pregnancy, I was craving sandwiches, but couldn't stomach the thought of gluten free bread. I was all carbs carbs carbs. I had gestational diabetes, low platelets, and group B strep. Now I know why.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! We've done it before, I'm just still struggling with those carb cravings. It's amazing how strongly they influence us, isn't it? The amount of things that can be changed just by cleaning up your diet is astounding.

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