The Perfect Birth Snack -
Here’s a super-luxe recipe for a delicious, hydrating and restorative birth snack. I’ve taken a classic recipe for Labour-Aid, and there are many of them out there and combined it with one of my favourite ingredients pasture raised bovine gelatin to create a soft, golden jelly.
It’s a breeze to make and transport to your place of birth.
What’s so good about my Honey Lemon Jelly-Aid Recipe -
It’s golden and beautiful to look at - remember we eat with our eyes first.
Jelly is a fun-food - for most of us it brings happy memories of carefree childhood - anything that can do that for us is a sure-fire way to boost the flow of oxytocin in labour.
Easy to slurp and easy to digest - especially as labor becomes more intense, it’s beneficial to continue eating light and nourishing foods, but as sensations start to intensify food often becomes the last thing on a laboring woman’s mind.
Helps sustain energy - pure hydration helps you sustain energy, calm and focus.
Loaded with naturally occurring electrolytes - to support to healthy muscle function essential to sustain progress in labour. Electrolytes also regulate nerve function; hydration, ph levels and blood pressure, essential to sustain energy through labor. Slurping this delicious jelly also helps with recovery after birth because electrolytes assist in rebuilding damaged tissue as well.
The Ingredients -
Coconut water - nutrient dense and super high concentrations of naturally occurring electrolytes, essential for energy and muscle recovery and superb source of beneficial minerals to support muscle function.
Fresh lemon juice - tastes good and gives this jelly it’s luminous golden colour and refreshing lemonade flavour. Lemons contain citric acid, a natural compound that can be used to aid digestion and soothe the stomach, may offer relief from nausea, heartburn and bloating.
Raw honey - rich in minerals and easily digestible sugars your body can use for energy. In times of peak physical exertion - hello labour - sugar helps your body to down-regulate the production of stress hormones like cortisol. Cortisol levels spike during times of peak physical output. Too much cortisol can disrupt the flow of labour, making raw honey delicious and incredibly benficial.
Himalayan/ Celtic salt - full of electrolytes and minerals. Salt plays an important role of balancing the stress hormones during exercise/ peak physical exertion of labour by reducing adrenaline levels and supports overall metabolic health. Helps with muscle contraction and expansion and re-hydration.
Pasture fed bovine gelatin - helps to promote relaxation; regulate blood-sugars; aids wound healing; reduces systemic inflammation; sooths and heals the mucous membranes of the gastrointestinal tract supporting digestion and assimilation of other nutrients.
All in all these ingredients are greater than the sum of their separate parts - the combination of natural sugars found in raw honey and fresh lemon juice plus glycine-rich gelatin is a metabolism-supporting, stress-busting birthing snack. The inclusion of a pinch of salt helps to draw down cortisol, which naturally rises during a peak physical exertion and left unchecked can inhibit healthy metabolism and with it progress in labour. Suspended sugar and salt are the building blocks of proper, sustained hydration, making slightly salted juice held in almost solid form more hydrating than guzzling lots of plain water!
Optional Extras:
Rescue Remedy - is a Bach flower essence that can help you feel calm and centred during labour.
Calcium and magnesium - essential minerals assist with muscle and nerve activity, helping the muscles to relax or contract. Calcium also helps with blood clotting, to protect you from losing too much blood. Crush tablets, use powdered liquid form to the ratio of 2:1
Honey lemon Jelly-Aid Recipe
3 cups coconut water
1/2 cup filtered water
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon/ lime/ orange juice
2 ½ tbsp gelatin
3 tbsp raw unpasteurized honey - to please your taste
¼ tsp unrefined Himalayan salt/ Celtic sea salt
To Make:
In a small saucepan, sprinkle gelatin crystals over water and give it a few minutes to bloom - that’s where the water completely absorbs the crystals.
Place saucepan on low-medium heat and warm until gelatin is completely dissolved and liquid is clear. This takes a few minutes, then add honey and salt, stir until completely combined.
Remove from heat.
Pour lemon/ citrus juice, coconut water and any extra ingredients into a medium bowl. Pour over gelatin mixture and stir to combine.
Pour into a smooth mold - I like to use a silicon baking pan, a glass/ ceramic bowl works fine.
Refrigerate until set - takes about 2 hours, less if set into a collection of smaller molds.
Remove from fridge and enjoy slurping on this delicious snack through out labour!
Have you tried this Birth Snack? Did you enjoy it? What else worked for you, please email me, let me know!
Love xx Nina
Join me in your own exploration of Letting Go for Birth.
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