The power of completely focusing on the task at hand also applies to eating. Eating should be a sacred time, a time to connect with yourself, your body and the very means of your nourishment — your food, so you can get the most out of it for the ultimate benefit of your reproductive health and prospective child. This might sound way over the top but it actually makes a whole lot of sense. Isn’t it true that when you are not focused on a task and are distracted by your surroundings, no matter how hard you try, you will not complete the task as well as if you are totally focused? Why do you think that when it comes to eating and getting the most benefit from your food this principle would not apply?

Here’s a little revision, and some great tips, to help you digest and assimilate your food more completely and make better building blocks for healthy sex cells, which eventually could create a perfectly well- formed, balanced and healthy little person.

• Avoid distractions while eating e.g. watching TV or reading magazines and newspapers — you will tend to eat more than you actually need;
• Avoid drinking with your meals because it dilutes stomach acid and digestive enzymes;
• Chew your food really well;
• Eat every 3 hours;
• Never skip breakfast;
• Avoid soy, gluten and dairy;
• Avoid processed, packaged and dead foods;
• Avoid fried foods;
• Finish eating at least three hours before going to sleep;
• Avoid microwaves

 THe Absolute ‘Non-Negotiables’ About Food

• Base your meals on organic, fresh, unprocessed vegetables and proteins — nutrient rich foods;
• Eat only fresh, organic fruits that are in season, but do not have more than 2-3 pieces daily;
• Ensure your foods are fresh and as close to their natural state as possible. Do not eat anything that comes out of cans, boxes, wrappers, packages etc. In other words, avoid most branded products. This will eliminate much of the worry about how healthy pre-packaged things really are, whether they contain harmful additives, and so on…
• Avoid genetically modified foods (GMOs) completely! Most processed foods and an increasing number of non-organic foods have some genetic modifications. The negative and damaging impact of these man-made changes not only affects human health and fertility, but also the environment, due to the destruction of fragile ecosystems, soil pollution and more. Organic and biodynamic produce is best on both counts!
• If you must buy any packaged foods, avoid all preservatives, additives, colourings, flavourings and artificial sweeteners (even in lollies and chewing gum, which you are better off not eating anyway). In essence, any long, unrecognisable names or numbers on food labels. These chemicals are extremely damaging to health and fertility and can also cause foetal abnormalities;
• Cook your vegetables lightly to preserve their nutrients; vitamins are very sensitive to heat. In addition, only use the following cooking methods: —steaming, grilling, roasting, baking, stir-frying (with a little coconut oil only), shredding, eating raw, or casseroling;
• Do not fry or boil your foods, as this damages all nutrients and can dramatically reduce your fertility;
• Avoid heating all vegetable oils as they become damaged, carcinogenic and negative to fertility. Olive, flaxseed and walnut oils have the best fatty acid profiles, but should only be used in salads. When vegetable oils are heated, they are converted into damaging trans fats. Research shows that each 2% increase in the consumption of trans fats decreases fertility by 73%! So think many times before you let any fried foods enter your body (even if only very, very, very occasionally);
• For heating or cooking purposes, coconut oil or ghee is the best fat to use. They both contain a healthy type of saturated fat, which does not become damaged and carcinogenic in cooking. Scientific research demonstrates many health benefits from these fats, including fertility improvement;
• Ensure any meat you prepare for eating is well cooked and NEVER eat raw fish (or raw meat) as the infections they can carry can mean big problems for your fertility;
• All your meat (especially chicken) and eggs MUST be organic. Many of the growth promoters used in rearing ‘non-organic’ animals are oestrogenic. In addition, pesticides and herbicides in their environment and even the water they drink can also be highly oestrogenic. These compounds contribute to major endocrine disruption, leading to hormonal imbalances, including sperm defects, and oestrogen dominance conditions in women, including endometriosis and fibroids. This is potentially a very big problem for your fertility and the development of the reproductive system and sexual organs of your prospective child;
• Eating fish can be a double-edged sword. The essential fatty acids found in fish are very important to fertility but the mercury and other chemical substances such as PCBs (from industry by-products), which potentially enters the body with each mouthful, has a devastating effect on fertility. The solution involves two steps:
• Avoid large fish such as tuna, swordfish, king mackerel, flake, shark and others listed here as well as all crustaceans, oysters and other seafood (due to high levels of pollution): www.oceansalive.org/eat.cfm?subnav=healthalerts;
• Rely on good-quality fish oil supplementation to obtain the amounts of essential fatty acids your body needs (choose a high DHA:EPA ratio, very important for hormonal production and brain development);
• If eating fish you are best to choose small, deep-ocean fish (but definitely not coastal). Some good options include: wild salmon, trout, sardines, herring, John Dory, halibut, monkfish, and red snapper;
• Avoid all other foods to which you suspect you are allergic.

Harvard University published a study in November 2007, with close to 18,000 participants, which showed that a ‘fertility diet + lifestyle’ improved fertility by 69%! So, following these recommendations may well be all you need to make your dream of a healthy baby come true. Be diligent and stick to it as if your life depended on it. Your optimum fertility does!

Excerpted from Eat Your Way To Parenthood: The Diet Secrets of Highly Fertile Couples Revealed (GoKo Publishing 2008) by Gabriela Rosa. Available from www.NaturalFertilityBreakthrough.com.

In 2002, the Center for Disease Control published a survey which identified 7.3 million U.S. women and their partners being affected by infertility. This represents approximately 12% the reproductive-age population in the United States.

Various biological reasons are identified as a possible cause of infertility and include:

• failure to produce and release viable eggs

• failure for the fertilized egg to implant in the uterus

• blocked fallopian tubes

• low sperm count

• vaginal Ph incompatibility

• thyroid pathology

• history of pelvic inflammatory disease

• uterine fibroids

• endometriosis

• genetic factors

At the US Federal Source for Women’s Health Information website the following are risks of infertility:

• age

• smoking

• excess alcohol use

• stress

• poor diet

• athletic training

• being overweight or underweight

• sexually transmitted infections

• hormonal imbalances or health problems

Couples experiencing infertility now have numerous medical approaches available to them to address this condition, including in vitro fertilization, hormone therapy for both men and women, as well as surgical and microsurgery procedures. There are also numerous natural or non-clinical lifestyle changes and a whole person health approach for addressing infertility.

A study conducted from 1990-1993 at the University of Surrey, in England, published in the 1993 Journal of Fertility and Sterility, recorded 367 couples with a previous history of infertility, after making changes in their lifestyle, diet and nutrition had an 81 – 83% success rate in conceiving compared to the success rate for assisted conception, which is approximately 20 percent.

The University of Surrey pioneered the study that examines the fundamentals of an individual’s health on conception. Of the study couples, 37% were infertile, 38% had experienced between one and five miscarriages, which did not include other participants with histories of low birth weight, stillbirths and/or birth defects.

After following a program that included improved dietary and nutrition changes, elimination of toxic elements, lifestyle and stress reduction counseling 81% of the previously infertile couples conceived, and 83% of the women who miscarried had a healthy birth within the three years after the trial without miscarrying again.

In addition to the Surrey study, according to Rahul Sachdev, M.D., a specialist in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, relieving the stress associated with infertility vastly increases the change of conception. Dr. Sachdev, who recommends yoga therapy states, “Women who are infertile, especially in the long term, are extremely stressed out. One study has shown that the stress levels of an infertile woman are actually similar to those of someone just told they have HIV.” He states that he “has no doubt that stress can lead to infertility. What is controversial,” he goes on to say, “is the question of whether or not stress relief creates fertility.”

Dr. Gary Schwartz, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Yale University, finds that essential oils used in aromatherapy can affect the nervous system to reduce stress and blood pressure. Infertility problems often result in significant emotional stress. Dr Schwartz finds that aromatherapy is a recommended therapy to counter stress and enhance relaxation.

Also, in studies published in the Journal of Fertility and Sterility in 2002, noted Cornell University reproductive endocrinologist Zev Rosenwaks, MD, found a clear link between acupuncture treatments and brain hormones involved in conception. Their research identified that acupuncture increases production of endorphins, a brain chemical that plays a role in regulating the menstrual cycle and enhancing conception.

These are a few of the natural approaches available today to enhance infertility outcomes that may be helpful to the one out of ten US couples experiencing fertility problems and are having difficulty conceiving.

- Dr. Georgianna Donadio

Higher levels of perfluorocarbons in the body are associated with increased odds of early menopause for women aged 42 to 64 years, according to researchers. Women in this age group with high levels of perfluorocarbons also had significantly lower concentrations of estrogen vs. women who had low levels of the endocrine disruptor.

Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) are man-made chemicals used in a variety of household products, including food containers, clothing, furniture, carpets and paints. The broad use of PFCs has resulted in widespread dissemination in water, air, soil, plant life, animals and humans, even in remote parts of the world. PFCs are known to have multiple adverse health outcomes, including cardiovascular risk and immune system impairment. A probability sample of US adults found measurable concentrations of PFCs in 98% of the participants tested, according to The Endocrine Society.

“The current study is the largest ever to be done in the endocrine-disrupting effects of perfluorocarbons in human women,” Sarah Knox, PhD, of the West Virginia University School of Medicine, said in a press release. “Our data show that after controlling for age, women of perimenopausal and menopausal age in this large population are more likely to have experienced menopause if they have higher serum concentrations of PFCs than their counterparts with lower levels.”

The study included 25,957 women aged 18 to 65 years. All were recruited from the C8 Health Project, which comprised a cohort of more than 69,000 adults and children who were studied because of PFC contamination from drinking water in two US states. Knox and researchers ascertained menopausal status of the women and then measured serum concentrations of PFCs and estradiol.

According to the results, there was an association between PFC exposure, decreased estradiol and early menopause in women aged older than 42 years. The researchers also found an inverse association between PFC levels and estradiol in women of child-bearing age, but this association was not statistically significant.

The causality between PFC exposure and onset of menopause remains unclear, Knox said.

“Part of the explanation could be that women in these age groups have higher PFC levels because they are no longer losing PFCs with menstrual blood anymore, but it is still clinically disturbing because it would imply that increased PFC exposure is the natural result of menopause,” she said in the release.