Eating four portions of fruit a day

Before I start, please bear in mind that I don't need to lose much weight and that some fruits, most notably bananas, have a very high sugar content. As such you might want to consult your dietician about the best way to get your fruit without compromising your healthy weight. As I have mentioned before, I am not a dietician! Just a girl trying her hardest to get pregnant!

Anyway - eating fruit can feel tough, fresh fruit moulders so quickly and perhaps, like me, you might even dislike it! Here are a few things that I try.

1) Keep dried fruit in your handbag

I bought a few teeny tiny zip lock containers and decanted a larger bag of raisins into them. I eat perhaps a quarter of a cup a day. Too many are very fattening, but these do count toward your four portions of fruit for the day!

2) Keep frozen fruit in the freezer

I add a handful of frozen berries to my yoghurt in the morning. Or a couple of handfuls into my blender for my daily super fertile smoothie (recipe forthcoming). Preserved or frozen fruits aren't the healthiest way to eat fruit - nothing can replace eating an apple - but they do count nonetheless.

3) Know your portions

Canada's Good Food Guide is really helpful when it comes to knowing your portion sizes. In actual fact, it is good in pretty much every way imaginable! If you are trying to get enough fruit in your diet then you are going to need to know portion sizes.

4) Know which fruit is best

Some fruits are super fertile. It is funny to think of fruit as being super fertile but it is true, it definitely is! I am not lying here, I promise. Some fruits are just super fertile. And those are the fruits that you want to eat. You want to eat blueberries, they are a super food. You want to eat red berries, they are so bloomin' healthy. Most of all you want to eat pineapple - core and all - which is a source of bromelain, but you only want to eat it after you have ovulated as it will help any potential little bean stick. You don't want to eat it before you ovulate though because it will make your cervical mucus too acidic and sperm will not be able to survive within it.

photo credit: Pineapples from the Ham via photopin (license)

What are good fats?

Good fats include monosaturated fats, for example olives or avocadoes and they include polyunsaturated fats, for example fatty fish or walnuts. Saturated fats like dairy products or red meat may not be the worst type of fats, but they are not to be confused with the important good fats that you need two daily portions of in order to be super fertile.

We don't really need to encroach upon trans fats like deep fried anything or biscuits or baked goods, they are just a no no but then we have known that for years!

I find it very simple to ensure that I get these types of good fats into my diet. I eat a serving of salmon twice every week. It is a fish that does not have a high mercury content and is the only fish, therefore, that I fully trust. I eat a handful of almonds every day. I eat half an avocado on multigrain toast every day.

Eating more good fats is one area of your diet where, with the exception of the salmon, you do not need to do any heavy duty cooking. I keep a small tub of almonds in my handbag to snack on whenever I need to and then I eat salmon and avocado. Pretty simple, right?

Stay tuned for this recipe!

How to eat more leafy greens

So I (we) need to eat three portions of leafy greens a day. Let's face it, leafy greens ain't exactly chocolate or pizza. They ain't even bread and butter. They are rabbit fodder. It is hard to consume the correct amount of salad every day, not to mention the fact that leafy greens tend to wilt pretty quickly in the fridge!

I wasn't the healthiest person before starting this journey. But I have managed to make lifestyle adjustments to become so and getting creative with leafy greens was one of those ways. Here's how I did it!

1) Smoothies

I am not a fan of green smoothies. I have tried them and I just couldn't stomach them. However, what I can stomach is a fruit smoothie with a handful of frozen baby kale thrown in. Baby kale isn't as tough to stomach as kale and you can't taste it. Plus, keep it frozen and you can use it whenever you need it! I make my super fertile smoothie every day!

2) Salad toppings

I keep my frozen salads - kale and spinach - for other purposes too. I use them to put on top of pizzas, into pasta sauce mixes, into soups. This is such an easy way to get those leafy greens into your foods without you even realising that they were there!

3) Straight up salad

Every Monday I eat a whole salad. Usually a packet one with all the little extras inside because I am lazy and it is easy. Sometimes I will go all out and make up a salad that is a bit fancier but this is the easiest way. I only eat salad on a Monday because this is the day after shopping, when the salad is still super fresh.

4) Make green potato chips

Toss the kale in oil and some lemon juice and put on a baking sheet. Bake at 300 degrees until crispy and delicious.

5) Hide it in your baking

Blueberry muffins laced with spinach anyone? Pretty great, right?! Because you don't ever realise the ruffage hidden inside. Not that muffins are particularly healthy though so this one shouldn't be a habbit!

License: (license)

I will be posting a few recipes in due course - stay tuned folks!