Naturally Knocked Up » Nutrients for Fertility

Preparing for Pregnancy

donielle — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 03:48:23 +0000

Let me ask you this:

How long did it take for you to plan your wedding?

Did you spend hours on the phone talking with florists, caterers, and reception halls? Did you try on dress after dress looking for just the right one at the right price? Did you start a workout program to lose weight? What about being nice and tan?

Tell me then:

How much more important is it then to take the time and prepare your body for pregnancy?

As women we’ve been given the great responsibility of carrying a precious new life, but our work needs to start before we conceive.

You see, the egg and sperm used at each conception are actually over 3 months in the making! That’s right, it takes a full 3 months for both the sperm and the egg to mature, so what you eat and what you’re exposed to before conception will make a difference in the health of your little one. And women are not the only ones that need to be aware of this as half of the genetic makeup comes from the man.

Not only is it important to clear out your home of conventional cleaning products, but keeping processed foods out of your diet and replacing it with a Fertility Diet is essential to providing a solid foundation for your baby. In doing so, you’ll be able to not only aquire better health for yourself, but passing that on to your baby.

*Enrollment for the Fertility eCourse will be open until the end of today. I hope you’ll be able to join me as we learn how to get our bodies ready for pregnancy!

I have a lot of new and exciting things coming up here this fall, so make sure you add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email. I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter! **

Fertility Diet part 5: What it Looks Like

donielle — Mon, 24 May 2010 09:55:29 +0000

Eating for fertility is all about getting in the most nutritious foods you can. Each one of us will eat slightly different based on our owns tastes, the way we were brought up, and our culture, but no matter our background – we must choose nutrient heavy foods!

I’ll give you a view into what that diet could include. While it’s not perfect, it’s food I love and food that’s easy to prepare.

Day One

Breakfast - whole milk yogurt (raw milk yogurt is even better!), fruit, touch of honey. Fresh juice from 1 green apple, celery, carrots, and 1 beet.

Snack – cut vegetables and homemade dip

Lunch – a salad that includes 2 cups of leaf lettuce, cut veggies, hard boiled egg (pastured), raw cheese, crispy nuts, and a homemade dressing

Snack – apple and raw cheese

Dinner – tacos with homemade ’soaked’ tortilla shells, rice (soaked) made with homemade bone broth, avocados, onion, fresh salsa, lettuce, and raw cheese.

Day Two

Breakfast – Scrambled eggs (pastured) made in tallow, slice of sourdough toast with butter

Snack – yogurt and fruit

Lunch – chicken noodle soup made with homemade bone broth and brown rice noodles

Snack – celery and peanut butter (soaked)

Dinner – Italian cream cheese chicken,(made with homemade bone broth, homemade cream cheese, and brown rice noodles) salad

Dessert – Nourishing Fudge

Day Three

Breakfast – Smoothie with 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 cup whole milk (raw preferred), frozen fruit, 1 Tbsp melted coconut oil, 1 raw egg yolk

Snack – granola bar

Lunch – 2 hardboiled eggs, sourdough toast and butter, cut veggies

Snack – fruit and nuts

Dinner – hamburgers on homemade buns, sweet potatoes, broccoli, small salad

Day Four

Breakfast – 2 egg omelet with veggies and cheese, berries

Snack – cut veggies and dip

Lunch – lentil soup and salad

Snack – yogurt and fruit

Dinner – Grassfed beef roast with salad

Snack – Smoothie with 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 cup whole milk, frozen fruit, 1 Tbsp melted coconut oil, 1 raw egg yolk

Day Five

Breakfast – soaked oatmeal with raw cream, butter, nuts, maple syrup and fruit

Snack – homemade popcorn with butter and sea salt

Lunch – salad with leftover taco meat, avocados, rice, salsa, and homemade dressing

Snack – hard boiled eggs

Dinner – Grilled meat/poultry, steamed veggies, and soaked millet

Day Six

Breakfast – sourdough pancakes, yogurt and berries

Snack – fruit and cheese

Lunch – BLT pasta

Snack – homemade trail mix

Dinner – baked salmon, steamed veggies,baked potatoes with butter

Dessert – red grapes

Day Seven

Breakfast – eggs and sourdough toast, fruit

Snack – cut veggies and dip

Lunch – chicken tortilla wrap, cut veggies and dip

Snack -fruit

Dinner – homemade pizza and salad

Dessert – Healthy Brownies

What are 3 ways you think you can increase the amount of nutrients you consume in a day?

For me, I try to include broth wherever I can fit it in, I like to eat whole milk yogurt (both for the fat and for the probiotics) and I try and consume a majority of my ‘breads’ as sourdough.

This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday and Mindful Menus

I have a lot of new and exciting things coming up here this fall, so make sure you add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email. I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter! **

Fertility Diet part 4: Foods to Avoid

donielle — Mon, 24 May 2010 09:32:33 +0000

We’ve been talking a bit about what essential nutrients we need and where to find them, so let’s talk a bit about the foods that may hurt our fertility.

Sugar

One of the “anti-nutrients” all health care providers, holistic health coaches, and nutritionists can agree on is sugar. This particular food can cause widespread damage throughout your body! One of the many ways it does is by causing your insulin levels to rise. When you eat a sugary food, your body needs to release insulin in order bring down the levels of sugars in your blood. The thing you need to realize is that insulin is a hormone, and when constantly flooding your system, rising and falling, it brings along all of the other hormones as well. Your endocrine system is connected so when just one hormone can not be regulated it can no longer perform and regulate the others – including your sex hormones (testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, etc.)

It’s also hard for our body to digest and uses the nutrients our body has stored in order to get rid of it, as well as being hard on the liver (which is our bodies natural detoxifier).

Caffeine

Studies have shown that women who drink one to one and a half cups of coffee each day had up to a 50% reduction in fertility. Three cups a day has been linked to early miscarriage (new evidence shows 200 milligrams as the limit). The liver has to convert caffeine so that it may be passed in your urine. Your liver also has to deal with excreting your hormones. If the liver is overworked in one area, it can’t function properly. Caffeine increases the excretion of calcium which is important in absorbing vitamin D as well as providing a little baby with strong bones.

Alcohol

In women, alcohol may actually prevent the production of progesterone, which is vital to ensuring a pregnancy is carried to term. In men, it reduces the levels of sperm-making hormones which can actually wipe out a sperm count for three months after a heavy drinking session. (It takes 3 months for new sperm to mature)

Low-fat Milk

The problem is, it seems our bodies need fat in order to maintain our cellular structure. And removing the fat from milk has actually been shown to cause an imbalance of hormones throughout the body, causing a failure to ovulate or produce a healthy egg. In a recent study, scientists found that women who ate full fat dairy were found to have a 27% lower risk of infertility. Women who ate low fat milk products twice a day were found to be twice as likely to not ovulate. This study shows that eating healthy fats, as are in milk, is helpful in reproduction.

Soy

Soy contains something called phyto-estrogens and while some health practitioners (even holistic ones) think that eating soy can be healthy, I have a problem with something that includes these “plant derived estrogens’. While in some cases a diet that includes a small amount of soy may not be bothersome, many men and women find they have issues with this particular food.

It’s also been alleged that soy is high in something called phytic acid which prevents nutrients from being absorbed as well as robbing bodily stores of nutrients trying to digest it. (it may bind to nutrients like zinc and carry it out of the body)

Lastly, a very large portion of the soy grown in the U.S. is genetically modified. Meaning that scientists have changed the DNA of the plant by ‘merging’ it with cells from other organisms. A few studies have been done on animals that show GMO foods may decrease fertility.

Processed Foods

This category of foods takes care of a lot of the harmful substances we place into our bodies like MSG, Trans Fats, high fructose corn syrup, and soda. there really is nothing more sabotaging to healthy eating than processed foods! Not only do they place many different toxins into our bodies (thereby making the liver less efficient at cleaning them out) we again use a lot of nutrient stores digesting them!

While we may never have a “perfect” diet, we can make a conscience effort to cut back our consumption of certain foods so that our bodies can run they way they do best. It’s all about eating for nourishment!

What foods do you stay away from when trying to conceive?

I have a lot of new and exciting things coming up here this fall, so make sure you add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email. I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter! **

Fertility Diet part three: Other Key Nutrients

donielle — Tue, 11 May 2010 10:45:57 +0000

We’ve already discussed nutrients essential for fertility, along with where to find them and today we’ll take a quick look at some other nutrients that may help boost our reproductive health as well. These nutrients differ from the fat soluble vitamins we’ve talked about before. These water soluble vitamins are not stored well within the body (like fat soluble vitamins are) and we must make certain that we consume regular amounts of them.

Vitamin B

This water soluble vitamin is actually a group of 8 vitamins that help to promote overall health within the body. Making sure you get enough B vitamins in your body can help regulate menstrual cycles and help maintain quality of both egg and sperm. Vitamin B6 is especially helpful in lengthening the luteal phase of the cycle.

Foods with ample amounts of this vitamin include:

Liver

Lentils

Beans

Avocados

Kefir

Potatoes

Vitamin C

A powerful antioxidant, vitamin C helps to protect the DNA of both egg and sperm and can help neutralize toxins within the body. It also aids in sperm and semen production, keeping the semen less sticky, or clumpy, and allowing the sperm to move freely.

Foods high in Vitamin C:

red peppers

orange

broccoli

kiwi

papaya

strawberries

Zinc

An essential component of the genetic material within our bodies. A deficiency in zinc therefore can cause chromosomal changes in either partner which in turn causes reduced fertility and greater risk of miscarriage. In women zinc is important in helping your body utilize your reproductive hormones, oestrogen and progesterone. For a man, it can greatly impact the sperm count since zinc is found in high concentrations in the sperm. It is also needed to make the outer layer and the tail of the sperm.

Ways to get zinc:

beef, venison, and poultry

eggs

whole grains

whole fat dairy products

seeds like sunflower and pumpkin

molasses and maple syrup

Looking at the list of foods in which you can find these nutrients, how many of them do you currently include in your diet?

If you don’t, what are just 1 or 2 ways you can work on increasing consumption?

I have a lot of new and exciting things coming up here this fall, so make sure you add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email. I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter! **

Fertility Diet: part 2.2 (superfoods for fertility)

donielle — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:55:18 +0000

If you missed the beginning of the series you can catch part one – Traditional Diets and Essential Nutrients and

part 2.1 Superfoods for Fertility.

Iodine

Iodine, a non metallic trace element, is required by our bodies for making thyroid hormones. As in, if you do not have enough iodine in your body you can not make enough thyroid hormones. When our bodies are deficient in this element, it affects our thyroid, adrenals, and entire endocrine system. Not only is it important in a fertility diet, it’s essential in the prenatal and nursing period as well. Infant mortality rates start to climb in areas known for iodine deficiency, and it’s also been linked to higher rates of miscarriage and still birth.

It used to be prevalent in our soil, but unfortunately we’ve destroyed so many of the nutrients with bad farming practices and chemicals that much of what we currently grow is lacking in key nutrients, iodine being one of them. While it’s not found in our soil near as much, it is still prevalent in seafoods. Our bodies can not make it on their own, so you must consume iodine in your diet.

Fruits and Vegetables grown by the sea, including coconut products

Blackstrap molasses (158 mcg per 100 grams/3.75 oz)

Saltwater fish; haddock, whiting, herring (330 mcg per 100 grams)

Butter from cows fed on iodine rich soil

Dried Kelp (62,400 mcgs per 100 grams)

Spinach (56 mcg per 100 grams)

Milk and dairy products (14 mcg per 100 grams) (at least 20% of iodine is lost during pasteurization so raw is best)

Eggs (13 mcg per 100 grams)

(and while iodized salt is actually quite high in iodine, it’ can be rather hard for our bodies to assimilate)

The recommended RDA is a small 150 mcgs for women and increase to 220 when pregnant and 290 when nursing, but are you even eating foods that contain iodine in them? I recently came across a very unscientific and unmedical theory on how to test for iodine deficiency. You take a small amount of iodine (you can find it at any drugstore and it has a yellow tinge to it) and place a small swab of it on the inside of your arm. If you have enough iodine in your body the test patch will stay there for about 24 hours. And the quicker it disappears, the lower your level of iodine. Interestingly, when I tried this my patch was gone in about 6 hours. As with every area of nutrition, I’m currently researching to find out what this information might mean to me and looking at ways of making sure i get enough iodine into my diet.

On the other side of the deficiency coin, is that to much in your body isn’t a good thing either. And because iodine directly affects your thyroid and hormones it may be something you want to work with a health professional on. Hormones are crazy things and we don’t want to go messing around to much without knowing what we’re doing!

Omega 3 fatty acids

There are 3 different types of omega 3 fats; alpha-linolenic acid (ALA- plant based), eicosapentaenioc acid (EPA – animal based), and docosahexaenioc acid (DHA – animal based). Plant based ALA can be found in:

walnuts

flaxseed

hemp.

Animal based EPA and DHA can be found in:

Egg yolks from pastured chickens {contain two to four times the amount of omega 3’s as conventional eggs ¹}

oily coldwater fish like salmon, herring, tuna, cod, and trout.

These healthy fats have been shown to help increase a womans fertility by regulating hormones and ovulation as well as increasing both the quantity of fertile cervical mucous and the blood flow to the reproductive organs. It is also thought that these good fats help women who are suffering from endometriosis.¹ And a study done last year suggests that women suffering from infertility, on average, have lower levels of omega 3 fats. ² Men who do not have enough omega 3’s in their system may have issues with sperm production since the DHA within these good fats help protect the sperm from free radicals and damage.

So, how often do you eat foods that are high in nutrients for increased fertility? Other the last few weeks we’ve looked at some of the many things our bodies need – where are you lacking?

I have a lot of new and exciting things coming up here this fall, so make sure you add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email. I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter! **

Fertility Diet: part 2.1 (Super Foods for Fertility)

donielle — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:49:57 +0000

**DON’T FORGET TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY TO WIN A SCHOLARSHIP TO THE FERTILITY ECOURSE!!***

In part one of this fertility diet series we talked a bit about the essential nutrients needed for our reproductive parts to work at peak performance. This week we’ll discuss a bit about where we find these nutrients. And like I’ve said before, this is not an exclusive list, I’ll keep adding new data as I come across it!

The Problem in Our Modern Diets

Unfortunately most of us no longer consume the foods that nourish our bodies! At. All. Even the “healthy” and “organic” foods we buy in the stores have been pasteurized and processed so that it damages all the precious vitamins and minerals. The standard American diet is now full of white sugars and flours, chemicals and preservatives, all robbing our bodies of the vital nutrients we actually do consume.

Vitamin D

Again, this important vitamin supports the production of estrogen in both men and women¹ , is needed for insulin production, and is key in regulating cell growth and deciding how those cells grow. Vitamin D is also activated into an endocrine hormone within the body.

And it seems that “primitive” societies knew better than us on how to fulfill their daily requirements for Vitamin D as intestines, organ meats, skin and fat from certain land animals, as well as oily fish are all rich in this important nutrient. When is the last time you had some intestine with your meal?

Yea, that’s what I thought.

Other ways to increase your Vitamin D intake would be to include the following in your diet. (IU per 3.75oz or 100 grams)

Cod Liver Oil – is actually the richest source of vitamin D!(²) (and the good news is, it also contains vitamin A for better assimilation in the body)

Lard/Tallow - (from grassfed and pastured animals) the second richest source of vitamin D.

Pastured Eggs -especially the yolks and from chickens who have had regular access to run around in the great outdoors eating grass, worms, and other insects.

Wild Caught Fish - especially fatty fish like herring

Butter – (from grass fed cows)

Organ Meats – I know -eww right? But they are chock full of nutrients!

Sunlight

The way the animals are raised and fed also has a lot to do with the amount of nutrients you gain from eating products made from them. Animals that are allowed to be out in the pasture are recommended, as the exposure to UV-B rays from the sun allow the animals body to produce more vitamin D. Thus giving more vitamin D to us!

You’ll also notice that while the above mentioned foods are high in Vitamin D themselves, many of them are also high in cholesterol. Now, you’ll have to believe me here a minute as I tell you that cholesterol is not bad for you – in fact it’s very necessary! (I’ll get into the cholesterol debate later) But, vitamin D is actually synthesized from the cholesterol in our body when we are exposed to the sun.

Modern RDA requirements are a measly 400 IU per day. From what I’ve seen from the Weston A Price Foundation as well as other natural/holistic doctors, they recommend at least double that amount.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A can be classified into one of 2 groups. Retinols, which are found in animal products, and carotenoids (beta carotene), found in plant foods. The great thing about retinols is that the body can easily convert this to a usable form of vitamin A. It takes a lot more beta carotene on the other hand to come up with the same amount of usable vitamin A. And infants and children as well as those in poor health (decreased thyroid function, celiac, diabetes) or on low fat diets, already have an even harder time converting beta carotene.

The list of foods below are per 3.75oz (or 100 grams)

Beef Liver (30,000 IU)

Butter and Cream – again, levels will be higher on cows fed growing grass.

High Vitamin Cod Liver Oil (230,000 IU)

Regular Cod Liver Oil (100,000 IU)

Eggs from pastured chickens contain 2/3 more Vitamin A than conventional eggs and 7 times more beta carotene. ¹

The current RDA for vitamin A stands at 5000 IU though the WAPF (Weston A Price Foundation) seems to think that the work of Price showed primitive diets contained almost 50,000IUs per day.³ And as you can see, it wouldn’t be hard to get well over 5000 IUs just by making sure you get a small amount of just one of these foods into your diet each day.

Vitamin E

Again, this is also a fat soluble vitamin, but it’s also an important antioxidant. And being an antioxidant basically means that it deactivates free radicals within our bodies. Vitamin E also has a property in it known as tocopherol. It was given the name after a fertility study was done with rats in 1936 and in Greek this means “to bring forth a child”.

Butter – from grassfed cows

Organ Meats

Grains – vitamin E is found in the wheat kernel which is removed to make white flour. It is also easily damaged during processing and can become oxidized. Freshly ground wheat is always best!

Seeds – sunflowers contain 35mg per 3.75oz

Nuts - almonds contain 26 mg per 3.75oz (90% of which is tocopherol!)

Legumes – varies from 7mg to 28 mg depending on variety

Dark Green Leafy Vegetables

Unrefined (and unheated) oils like olive and sunflower oil

Pastured eggs also contain 3 times more vitamin E than conventional eggs.¹

Current RDA is 15mg for both adult men and women. I can’t find anything else regarding how much we should consume, but it seems to me that a diet of fresh ‘real’ foods and freshly ground grains would be much higher than this.

Vitamin K2

Is a fat soluble compound that assists vitamins A & D, also known as Activator X by Weston A Price. It is found in certain fatty parts of animals that feed on young green growing plants. And the growing grass is the most important part of that statement! What happens is the animals eat rapidly growing plants, which are high in vitamin K1. Part of this K1 is then converted by the animals tissues to K2. And the amounts of Kz within the animal products will then vary widely depending on what the animal eats and when they eat it. Sources include:

Liver

Egg Yolks

Butter

High vitamin butter oil {natural supplement}

Fish Eggs

If you’d like to read even more about vitamin K2, I’d recommend an article written by Chris Masterjohn, “On the Trail of the Elusive X-Factor: A Sixty-Two-Year-Old Mystery Finally Solved”. It’s more complex than what I can ever get into.

So are you noticing any trends yet?

To Be Continued………. (part 2.2 iodine and omega-3’s)

1.Mother Earth News - free range egg

2.Vitamin D is Synthesized From Cholesterol and Found in Cholesterol-Rich Foods by Chris Masterjohn May 5, 2006

3. Vitamin A Saga

I have a lot of new and exciting things coming up here this fall, so make sure you add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email. I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter! **

Fertility Diet: part one (traditional diets and essential nutrients)

donielle — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:38:34 +0000

This series has been on my mind now for a very long time, but there is so much information out there that I’ve hesitated to post it since I don’t want to miss anything. But I’ll do my best to include as much as I can, just know that this is not an exhaustive list and I’ll add more as I come across it.

Traditional Diets

I love the work of Weston A Price for the fact that he researched (and photographed) traditional cultures.

tra·di·tion:

the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation, esp. by word of mouth or by practice

something that is handed down

a long-established or inherited way of thinking or acting

a continuing pattern of culture beliefs or practices

As a dentist here in the United States, he became concerned with how much tooth decay was becoming present in our society. So he traveled the world looking for and researching why other cultures did not have the same problems. What he found was that not only did these people (who’s diets included no processed or refined foods) have no tooth decay or need for corrective braces, they were full of vitality and health. They did not have problems with fertility and pregnancy, cancer and heart disease were unknown, and as a whole they were happy and mentally healthy.

He found that the reasons behind this were because of what they ate and how they ate it.

He also found that eating for fertility was extremely important to them, no matter the country or tribe they came from. In some cultures it was customary for couples to refrain from getting married until after the women had been able to consume these nutrients for a certain number of months when these foods were in season. Many other cultures found it very important for women to eat certain foods before marriage and traveled far distances to provide it for them. And other cultures even held special ceremonies that included many of these foods.

*It intrigues me to no end that although these people had no real knowledge of why they needed certain nutrients (or even what those nutrients were!) they knew from generation to generation how to build healthy bodies and healthy babies.*

Nutrients For Fertility

Dairy and seafoods seemed to be prominent fertility foods for these indigenous people. And together they offer nutrients that without, a women can not conceive; vitamins A, D, E, and K2, iodine, and omega-3 fats. Unfortunately most of us eating a modern American diet are basically eating ourselves into infertility by not consuming the foods that nourish our bodies with these essential nutrients.

Vitamin A: fat soluble vitamin that promotes better cervical fluid and helps ensure follicles develop correctly

Vitamin D: fat soluble vitamin that supports the production of estrogen in both men and women¹ , is needed for insulin production, and is key in regulating cell growth and deciding how those cells grow.

Vitamin E: plays an important role in sperm production, may help normalize hormone production, and is needed for proper absorption of fat soluble vitamins.

Vitamin K2: (referred to as activator X by Weston Price) is important in helping the body utilized proteins by working in combination with Vitamins A&D.

Iodine: a mineral needed for thyroid function and the production of sex hormones² and the utilization of iodine requires vitamin A.

Omega-3 fats: helps regulate hormones, increases cervical fluid, promotes ovulation, and increases blood flow to the reproductive organs.³

To be continued……..

Join me for the rest of the series!

Part 2 – Super Foods for Fertility – where to find these essential nutrients

Part 3 – Other important nutrients

Part 4 – Foods to Avoid

Part 5 – How to Eat and What a Fertility Diet Looks Like

Some of my sources:

1.The Miracle of D

2. Mineral Primer

3. Omega-3 and fertility

This post is linked to Real Food Wednesday

I have a lot of new and exciting things coming up here this fall, so make sure you add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email. I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter! **

Sorry Doctor Oz,

donielle — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:38:13 +0000

but I disagree with you.

A reader sent me a note a couple weeks ago about Dr. Oz’s new book “You, Having a Baby” and mentioned that there was a lot of unfortunate nutritional advice that she knew I’d be totally against. But before I just ran with it, I figured I needed to go check out the book for myself.

So yesterday I headed to the bookstore to see if I could find it. And well…..there is some good information in there along with some not so great advice, and even some advice that contradicts itself. I took 20 minutes or so and skimmed through the book and I’ll outline some of what stuck out to me.

Page 83

+ mentions kefir!

- also mentions eating edamame (soy beans)

- and says to eat low fat cheese

Page 84

+ advises to stay away from artificial sweeteners (quote “Aspertame hangs out in your body for 36 hours. Bleech”)

- But then they advise to use agave syrup instead.

Page 85

+ advises to use more organic produce and even lists the 12 most and least contaminated.

Page 152

+ mentions doulas, what they are and how to find one!

Then on page 286 they break down what foods are “Good Fuels” and “Bad Fuels” And while they do have some very good points on both lists, I’ll list just the ones I have an issue with.

Good Fuels I have issue with:

- lean meat; less than 4 grams saturated fat per serving (where oh where will the baby’s get the fat they need for good brain development)

- low fat yogurt (again – baby’s need fat!)

- soy products (tofu, edamame, tempeh)

- organic skim milk (seriously why would we put babies on low fat diets?! Plus organic milk is normally ultra pasteurized – ick)

The it goes on to totally contradict the advice to eat soy by saying, quote ” You may choose to limit soy milk to 1 – 2 glasses daily because of phytoestrogens; there’s concern that they cause feminization of the brain and other organs, including sex organs.”

The one “Bad Fuel” I have issue with:

- saturated fats; from 4 legged animals and palm and coconut oils (We all need fat! Especially growing babies!)

+ The rest included HFCS, soda, simple sugars, bleached flours, and other items that I do agree with.

They also included a section on infertility and while I know this is a “pregnancy” book, this section was seriously lacking.

Page 382

-List the causes of infertility: Stress, PCOS, and Tubal factors (uh – last I checked there were more than 3 causes!!)

Page 383

- The fixes for PCOS were listed : Metformin and Clomid. Nothing else.

Page 388

- Discusses male infertility and suggests that men eat soy (Umm…..did they not JUST say that soy may cause the feminization of males!!!)

Now, I knew with it being written by conventional doctors, that there would be quite a bit of nutritional information in there I didn’t care for. I’ve read it many times over in the books I bought prior to my first pregnancy. It just saddens me that we’ve come so far away from real, God given foods that we are no longer nourishing our little babies. New studies of low cholesterol diets, like those outlined in the book, have been shown to increase the rates of babies born with autism and behavioral difficulties. (mentioned at the Wise Traditions conference in the Low Cholesterol; A Major New Factor in Autism session.)

This is the most important time in a baby’s life when it comes to development, why would we want to limit nourishment?

I have a lot of new and exciting things coming up here this fall, so make sure you add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email. I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter! **

Is Milk Affecting Your Fertility?

donielle — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Other than the few who are lactose intolerant, we pretty much all drink milk. For years and years, I drank only skim. Anything thicker just made me gag. Plus it’s what the doctors, and heads of all medical communities, recommend that everyone over the age of two drink. It’s been touted as a way to keep our weight down while still providing us the necessary nutrients, like calcium.

But is it having an effect on our fertility?
The problem is, it seems our bodies need fat in order to maintain our cellular structure. And removing the fat from milk has actually been shown to cause an imbalance of hormones throughout the body, causing a failure to ovulate or produce a healthy egg. In a recent study, scientists found that women who ate full fat dairy were found to have a 27% lower risk of infertility. Women who ate low fat milk products twice a day were found to be twice as likely to not ovulate. This study shows that eating healthy fats, as are in milk, is helpful in reproduction. And we’re not talking about going out and eating whatever we want, or stuffing ourselves with cake and cookies. We’re talking about supplying our body with healthy fats. Natural, God given fats, not the ones we humans make ourselves.

The problem with milk today
Cows now produce about 20 times more than what is needed to sustain a growing calf. Yet, this over abundance of milk contains only the same amount of vitamins and minerals, meaning our milk is diluted of nourishment. And I’ve also heard that up to 40% of our milk supply comes from cows that have infections in the udders, called mastitis, and this milk is used for the public. And to counteract the infection, they are routinely given antibiotics. These may antibiotics eventually make their way into the milk as well, though of course it’s only a small percentage of what the cow was given. To make matter worse, much of the milk in stores (and thankfully this is changing!) comes from cows that have been treated with a recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBST). This hormone seems to be linked to early puberty in girls as well as causing hormone imbalances in older women.

So what should we be drinking?
If you would have told me two years ago that I’d be buying only raw whole milk, I would have told you that you were off your rocker! But since my son had a horrible time with digesting pasteurized cows milk, I’ve changed my mind. Exactly two years ago I spent a lot of time researching raw milk as I was afraid of any germs and bacteria in it. I’ve come to the conclusion that not only is raw milk healthier for us, but it can effect our fertility.
The problem with pasteurized milk is that during the heating process, it loses much of it’s beneficial nutrients, nutrients that are already diluted. Most unfortunate for those suffering infertility is the loss of vitamin B in the milk.

A study done in 1934, published in the Journal of Dairy Science, (back when they were first fighting to keep raw milk) showed a loss of 38% of the B complex vitamins. Another study done as a masters thesis at the University of Georgia in 1979 showed a 34.4% loss of vitamin B6, a 33.8% loss of thiamin (B1), and a 24.1% loss of folic acid. These losses were due just to heating the milk.(source)

Another study was done (didn’t write the year-sorry!) on rats fed either raw or pasteurized milk. It was shown that the heated milk was not capable of supporting the reproductive systems in these animals. Two female rats were fed a diet of sterilized milk for approximately 8 months. During this time they were each mated 15 times to male rats that had either been fed a raw milk or sterilized milk diet. No pregnancies were shown on any of these 15 occasions. Once a female was switched to a raw milk diet for 11 weeks, she was able to get pregnant when mated with a male, also from the raw milk group. (source)

And finally, as a very unscientific study, the farmer I receive my raw milk from has many stories of her own. One being goat milk fed to orphaned puppies. A woman was buying raw milk from a different farmer to feed the pups and one by one they were slowly dying. She found my farmer and started buying milk from her, thinking that it was bad milk she was buying previously. Upon my farmer talking with the woman, it was found that she was heating the milk so it was warm when the pups were fed. This small thing proved to be fatal to the poor dogs and when she stopped heating the milk, the puppies started to thrive. My thinking is, if heated milk can’t sustain a puppy, why should we expect it to nourish our own bodies?

What’s a gal to do?
Personally, I won’t touch pasteurized milk anymore. I did take me quite awhile to get used to raw milk, and I have to admit, I still don’t pour myself a tall glass of it, but it’s all we buy. If you must buy pasteurized milk, at least buy full fat. Even better is to buy organic, in order to stay away from antibiotics and rBST. (Though make sure it’s not ultrapastuerized! That’s a whole other can of worms) And consider making yogurt or kefir out of it. This process at least returns some of the beneficial bacteria and nutrients back into the milk that have been lost due to heating. Also maybe consider consuming cheeses to meet your dietary needs. Many vegetables can also be used in place of milk for calcium consumption as well.

If you are finally ready to hop onto the raw milk train, check out Real Milk. This site not only has great information on why raw milk is healthier, but also a list of farms in your area where you may be able to buy raw milk. (it’s how I found my farm!) Personally I love the fact that I can see the animals out grazing on pasture when I stop by for my milk. I get to see the entire production, and I know exactly what the animals are being fed.

Things to look for in a farm

Cleanliness. Make sure all aspects of the barn and grounds are clean.

Room to roam. The milk has more nutrients in it if the animals are allowed to free roam and eat on pasture

A farmer open to questions. You want to be able to ask how and when the animals are pastured, what they eat, if they are ever fed grain (as some do in the winter), and what happens if the animals get sick or contract mastitis.

Referrals. Most raw milk farms have plenty of folks who are more than willing to give a great referral as well as a lecture on how awesome raw milk is. If you are still unsure, a referral can ease your mind.

While I try not be an extremist in any area of nutrition (because I know not everyone is ready and needs more time), I do recommend raw milk whole heartily! I hope this post gives you something to think about and even if you can’t stand the idea of raw milk, replacing skim with full fat milk is beneficial to your fertility and well being. Healthy fat is not your enemy!

*Along with milk, make sure you replace that sugar filled, low fat yogurt with a whole milk plain yogurt. Use honey to sweeten it and add in fresh fruit if you’d like. Much healthier than sugar!

Anyone else glad they made the switch to Raw? How did you finally come around to the idea?

What would you tell someone who is still “on the fence”?

This post is linked to:

Real Food Wednesday

*This is an updated and expanded post I wrote last September.

I have a lot of new and exciting things coming up here this fall, so make sure you add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email. I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter! **

Boost your fertility with vitamin D

donielle — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:00:00 +0000

*Originally posted on May 22, 2009

As the sun seems to be hiding a bit more these days and the fact that it’s getting colder here in Michigan, it seems like a good time to cover vitamin D again. Plus, as an added bonus, it’s great for the immune system!

What is it?
Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin and exists in several forms. Some of these are basically inactive in the body and have limited ability to function.

Why is it important for fertility? Well, you need it in order for your body to produce sex hormones. And without the right amount of hormones in your system, you can suffer from pcos, PMS, and infertility. Vitamin D is also key in regulating cell growth and deciding how those cells grow.

A study was done by the Yale University School of Medicine (source) with 67 women suffering from infertility. Only 7 % of them had normal vitamin D levels! 7%! The rest had either insufficient levels or an actual clinical deficiency.

Dr Lubna Pal, from Yale, said: “Of note, not a single patient with either ovulatory disturbance or polycystic ovary syndrome demonstrated normal Vitamin D levels; 39 per cent of those with ovulatory disturbance and 38 per cent of those with PCOS had serum 25OHD levels consistent with deficiency.

“Given the pandemic of Vitamin D insufficiency, if indeed our observations are substantiated, aggressive repletion with Vitamin D may emerge as an alternative approach to facilitate ovulation resumption with minimal to no risk for ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome or multiple pregnancy.”

Those are some pretty large percentages too! Almost 40% of the women with ovulation problems had clinical deficiencies! Obviously, vitamin D is important to our reproductive system.

How you get it
Food is the best source of vitamin D, and the easiest way to get it is to eat fatty fish, eggs, and grasssfed beef products (especially dairy). If you do have a hard time getting it in your diet (or don’t like fish or are wary of toxic mercury), supplementing with cod liver oil is also helpful in making sure you’re getting enough. (another great reason to take cod liver oil is the fact that it has the right ratios of vitamin A and D in it1) And just make sure if you buy supplements that the ones you buy contain vitamin D3 and not D2 which actually does not raise the blood levels of vitamin D.

And as most of you know, you can also get vitamin D from the sun. About 15-20 minutes of exposure (without sunblock as it blocks the ultraviolet light needed for vitamin D production) a day can be very beneficial. The sun actually causes your skin to produce vitamin D3 which is then converted by the liver and kidneys to the active hormone form of vitamin D. With proper sun exposure, your body can actually produce up to 10,000-25,000 IU of the vitamin.

Vitamin D: a natural fertility booster that gives us a good reason to eat fatty foods and play in the sun!!

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