Form and Function

So, this can be filed in the "creative posts" category, because I don't know anywhere else one could categorize a recipe for placenta smoothie. Yeah, eating one's own placenta. Gross? Yes. But maybe not crazy. The placenta manufactures and presumably stores many hormones, the same ones that go haywire shortly after birth, and who's to say upping those maternal hormone levels through ingestion of the placenta can't have any benefit? Maybe a little oxytocin to encourage uterine involution? How about a little estrogen and progesterone to counteract the emotional effects of the giant postpartum hormonal crash? Physiologically, I can buy it. Gastronomically, it's hard to swallow. Oh yeah, it's my blog and I'll pun if I want to.

There are some studies out there that address the postpartum benefits of placentophagy but mostly I've found lots and lots of anecdotal stories from women who've once suffered postpartum depression (PPD) and rave about how eating their placenta prevented a recurrence after future births. As one blogger described her PPD: "It's like PMS a thousand times over. I don't know how else to tell you how bad it was except to say "It got so bad that I'm eating my placenta in order to get rid of it." Yeah. That bad."

There are many possible placenta preparations, including cooked and dried, but I'm including a recipe for raw placenta smoothie.

1/2 c. raw placenta, cubed, membranes removed
1 c. frozen berries
1/2 frozen banana
1 c. berry juice

Whir until smooth in a blender.