I always thought that liquid gold was breast milk. The breastfeeding community talks about how vital it is and how powerful our bodies are when it comes to milk adapting to our babies needs and producing the right amount at the right time. Which is priceless, like gold.
But another liquid I recently heard talked about as liquid gold caught me by surprise: olive oil.
And the reason it was being called that is because it can be used in so many ways and has been used for thousands of years in baking, cleaning, and care. When God created olive oil, he knew what he was doing.
It’s gold when it comes to trying to switch up a recipe to make it allergen safe or just keep things simple.
In order to keep breastfeeding effectively I had to completely change my diet. As my little one is allergic to dairy, soy and eggs. And dairy and eggs make up most baked goods these days. So trying to find alternatives that didn’t taste gross and actually still cooked things well has been a challenge. That was until I started learning more about baking.
Specifically simplistic baking like they had to do during hard times and wars when food was scarce. Where water, oil and flour were the most accessible ingredients so people adapted what they were doing to ensure their bakes would work with those three things instead of needing eggs or milk.
So I’ve been collecting recipes and creating my own that have allowed my family to still eat goodies like fluffy pancakes and muffins and gooey cookies without using eggs, milk or butter. Just water, flour and olive oil (plus baking soda and powder and salt and all the other little things that go into these bakes).
Baking has truly become something I enjoy that makes me feel like me and has helped me heal through this postpartum journey. There have been countless days where I have felt useless and as if I’m failing my daughter because there’s poop in her diaper due to me miss reading an ingredient label and eating something she can’t have. And believe me when I say, knowing that what you’re consuming is causing her baby to bleed destroys you at your core. I feel so guilty and anxious about food unless I (or my husband) cook it.
Meaning we don’t eat out very often and when we do it’s strictly raw vegetables and meats that aren’t seasoned.
I can’t take the risk of causing my baby more pain.
So, being able to cook with olive oil (and other oils for that matter) has allowed my milk to restore to a form that gives my baby all that she needs without the pain. oil is restoring my milk to gold and I’m thankful for it.
Also shout out to all the brands that are investing their time and energy to making allergen safe food taste good.
Another thing that caught me off guard recently regarding olive oil, is my family went on a vacation and I brought along a new book with me. I read the back and it didn’t say anything about the object being used for the lessons, rather just the lessons themselves. So when I opened to page one of the introduction I was taken aback to learn the book was all about Gods design for the olive tree and olive oil.
That’s right, the thing that had been helping heal me and my daughter God has been using since the beginning of time and I never slowed down enough to notice. I don’t think it was an accident that in the same week I heard that olive oil was liquid Gold, I also read about the importance of the olive tree and all its resilience throughout history.
In my weakness, he is strong.
I’ve felt weak through the journey of food and breastfeeding. But God has always been with me and created away for me to experience good things even in the height of guilt and sacrificing food to keep my baby safe.
Praise the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever. Psalm 118:1