Infertility: may it be soon, and may it be forever

be_here_now_by_mivthevampire-d39u6ybRecently one of my most dear friends relayed to me her every day prayer for my husband and me “may it be soon, and may it be forever.”

No matter where you are on your fertility journey this one prayer is the one silently uttered in the hearts of each person, and so eloquently expressed by my friend. The difficult part however is the relative nature of it all. When is soon, and how will I know it’s forever?

And so for me, and for all of the “we” who make up those journeying through IF, seeking what’s on the other side, whether motherhood or a content life with a key role in the “Auntie Tribe,” I share one thought, just one simple thought, from one of my favorite songs by Ray LaMontagne:

“Be here now, be here now
Be, be here now, be here now”

Don’t let this day pass you by. Don’t let this moment slip from your grips without you savoring its sweetness. Don’t let tomorrow steal one glance, one smile, one hug. Be here now.

Trip over joy because you do not have a thousand more serious moves, you only have to surrender to today, and to trust that all the rest will be here soon, and forever.

“Tripping Over Joy”

What is the difference
Between your Existence
And that of a Saint?

The Saint knows
That the spiritual path
Is a sublime chess game with God
And that the Beloved
Has just made such a Fantastic Move
That the Saint is now continually
Tripping over joy
And Bursting out in Laughter
And saying, “I Surrender!”

Whereas, my dear,
I am afraid you still think
You have a thousand serious moves.

-Hafiz-

The 2012 Dirty Dozen Plus and the Clean 15

The 2012 Dirty Dozen Plus and the Clean 15: When Buying Organic Does (and Doesn’t) Make Sense

Apples are one fruit you should buy organic whenever possible, according to an environmental group.Worried about pesticides and produce? Wondering if it’s worth it to go organic? The Environmental Working Group has released its 2012 guide to the most- and least-contaminated cropsout there — its “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean 15″ lists — and this year there are a few new items to watch out for, including certain types of baby food.

Related: Arsenic found in brown rice syrup, organic foods, baby formulas

Apples, celery, and sweet bell peppers top this year’s “Dirty Dozen,” which has been expanded to the “Dirty Dozen Plus” in order to include green beans and leafy greens like collards and kale. (You can read the entire report here.) Though they don’t meet traditional criteria for the Dirty Dozen, green beans and leafy greens are often contaminated with organophosphate insecticides. “These insecticides are toxic to the nervous system and have been largely removed from agriculture over the past decade,” the EWG said in its report. “But they are not banned and still show up on some food crops.”

Related: organic meat may have higher parasite risk

Pesticides aren’t necessarily just on the surface of the food, Chensheng (Alex) Lu, Associate Professor of Environmental Exposure Biology at the Harvard School of Public Health told Yahoo! Shine in an interview. “If you look at apples, for example, they often spray from March to late June. After that they don’t spray anything,” he said, explaining that in many cases the fruit grows with pesticides already in it, thanks to pesticide seed treatment programs where seeds are soaked in pesticides before they’re even planted. “It started with corn, but now is used with a lot of different kinds of produce,” he said.

According to the EWG, 96 percent of celery samples, 96 percent of peach samples, and 88 percent of spinach samples contained residue from one or more pesticides. Up to 15 different pesticides were detected on a single sample of grapes, 93 percent of apple samples had traces of two or more pesticides on them, and samples of lettuce sported 78 different pesticides. Cucumbers, a newcomer to the Dirty Dozen Plus, turned up 10 different pesticides on a single sample.

The group also took a look at commercial baby food for the first time. “Department scientists analyzed about 190 samples each of prepared baby food consisting of green beans, pears, and sweet potatoes,” the report said (it did not name specific brands). Green beans prepared as baby food tested positive for five pesticides, while 92 percent of pear samples had at least one type of pesticide and three samples tested positive for Iprodione, a probable carcinogen which is not registered with the EPA for use on pears. Sweet potatoes, which are long-time members of the “Clean 15″ group, had nearly no pesticide residue at all.

“Federal testing of pesticide residue in baby food was long overdue, as infants are especially vulnerable to toxic compounds,” said Andrew Weil, MD, Founder and Director, Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. “Now that it has begun, the results are highly disturbing. It is bad enough that baby food contains pesticides at all; the fact that pears contain a likely human carcinogen is an outrage.”

Weil recommends that parents purchase organic baby food if they’re not able to prepare their own. “It is vital that an infant’s developing brain and nervous system receive only uncontaminated, nutrient-dense foods,” he said.

“For baby food, I would probably recommend that parents take the time to prepare their own baby food using either organic produce or produce they buy from a reliable source,” Harvard’s Dr. Lu agreed.

While buying organic produce is often the best way to avoid pesticide contamination, it’s not an option for everyone, especially people who are already struggling to make ends meet. The EWG also notes that “the health benefits of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables outweigh the risks of pesticide exposure.” Still, here are the items that you should try to buy organic (or from local farmers markets, or grow in your own garden) whenever possible:

The Dirty Dozen Plus:

  • apples
  • celery
  • sweet bell peppers
  • peaches
  • strawberries
  • imported nectaries
  • grapes
  • spinach
  • lettuce
  • cucumbers
  • domestic blueberries
  • potatoes
  • green beans
  • kale, collards, and leafy greens

Conventionally grown items on the “Clean 15″ list are generally low in pesticides. “More than 90 percent of cabbage, asparagus, sweet peas, eggplant and sweet potato samples had one or fewer pesticides detected,” the report says. “Of the ‘Clean Fifteen’ vegetables, no single sample had more than 5 different chemicals, and no single fruit sample from the ‘Clean Fifteen’ had more than 5 types of pesticides detected.”

The Clean 15:

  • onions
  • sweet corn
  • pineapples
  • avocado
  • cabbage
  • sweet Peas
  • asparagus
  • mangoes
  • eggplant
  • kiwi
  • domestic cantaloupe
  • sweet potatoes
  • grapefruit
  • watermelon
  • mushrooms

A recipe that will make your belly, and your fertility, happy: Mango, avocado, and crab spring rolls

Today I share a very healthy, extremely yummy, recipe from FIVE AND SPICE. Proof positive that creating a healthy baby ready body can be fun, and appetizing. Enjoy!

Spring Rolls with Mango, Avocado, and Crab (makes about 16 rolls)

  • about 16 medium rice-paper spring roll wrappers
  • about 4 oz. cooked crab meat, gently shredded apart with your fingers
  • 1 large mango, peeled and cut into long thin strips
  • 2-3 ripe avocados, peeled and cut into slices
  • 3-4 cups thinly shredded savoy cabbage
  • several handfuls of fresh cilantro leaves
  • a squeeze of lime juice
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 Tbs. honey
  • 2 Tbs. rice vinegar
  • 2 Tbs. orange juice
  • 1 minced chili pepper
  1. Toss the cabbage with a good squeeze of lime juice.
  2. Submerge a spring roll wrapper into warm water for 15 seconds, until it is completely soft and pliable. Using both hands, lift it out and spread it flat on a non-sticky surface.
  3. Pile some cabbage, crab, an avocado slice, and a mango slice on the wrapper.  Lift the edge of the wrapper over the filling and tuck it over into the beginnings of a roll, you need to stretch it a bit, but it’s a delicate balance to stretch it to its max while not accidentally tearing it. Fold in the flaps from the adjacent sides to close those edges, then continue to roll it up tightly – it’s like rolling a burrito or a wrap – and seal it shut.
  4. Place on a platter and continue with the remaining wrappers and filling.
  5. To make a dipping sauce, whisk together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, orange juice, honey, and minced pepper.