Infertility is a growing problem in our country. Why is this? The true cause can be from any number of nutrient deficiencies such as amino acids, essential fatty acids, etc. It can be from eating a poor diet most of one’s life, a diet lacking in the many essential nutrients necessary to keep a body working well overall. Not having enough exposure to sunlight thus limiting ones D3 can be a factor. Consuming too many harmful foods such as wheat, sugars (including agave), alcohol, coffee, starchy foods, chemicals in foods and unfermented soy all can play a part. Then add to these other environmental exposures including, but not limited to, new car chemicals, new homes and new furnishings among others.
In Dr. Pottinger’s study involving cats he found that the cat’s fertility started to vanish when they were fed processed foods. The longer they ate the poor food the less healthy they became. Every succeeding generation had poorer health until they could no longer reproduce. He discovered that genes can be altered by what is eaten. However, there is NO condition that cannot be changed or improved by diet.
Our poor diet is a major problem that is affecting today’s high infertility. Fast food has definitely played a role in this problem. People are eating poor quality protein. Most men and women are deficient in magnesium (read “The Magnesium Factor” by Mildred Seelig and Andrea Rosanoff) and D3. Most people are deficient in vitamin A which is found in liver. Most men and women have a high toxicity level. The consumption of alcohol causes the sperm count to drop. Eating too much sugar and not eating enough GOOD FAT can lead to infertility problems. Remember, your body needs healthy fats in order to make hormones! (Those low fat diets are damaging our bodies. Refer back to my blog entry regarding good fats vs. bad fats.) Trans fats are in any form of hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats so avoid all of these! Most people eat foods heated in microwaves so that any value that may have been in the foods prior to heating has at the very least been lost.
It always takes time to turn the body around. Remember, any damage that exists in your body that has impacted its function and has created deficiencies did not happen overnight. If you are contemplating getting pregnant now is the time to begin strengthening your body through a healthy whole foods nutrient dense diet as well as finding out what nutritional deficiencies you may have and addressing them through supplements in addition to whole foods. Detoxing may be necessary and you would want to do this prior to becoming pregnant. Some points that can assist you on your journey to becoming pregnant are:
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- Low fat diets and vegetarianism promote infertility!
- Change to high fat dairy products to increase fertility (per studies. Eliminate eating dairy if you have allergies to it.)
- Remember. most of the healthiest foods have no ingredients label – fresh fruits and vegetables, grass fed beef, free range poultry and eggs, wild fish, whole grains, raw nuts and raw seeds, etc.
- There is no such thing as soy milk, rice milk or almond milk because they don’t produce milk for their young. This is mislabeling.
- Avoid reduced fat food and reduced cholesterol food.
- If you need coffee as a pick up you have a problem. Explore why!
- Learn which fish is highest in mercury – wild is preferred.
- Stop now using the microwave.
- Eat grass fed beef.
- The healthiest sweeteners are Stevia , Yacon, and Luo Han Guo. (I am personally only familiar with Stevia but have heard about these others in my training.)
- The healthiest fats/oils are butter, coconut oil, palm kernel oil, avocado oil, extra virgin olive oil, walnut oil and sesame oil and only if pressed at low temperatures.
- Reduce your stress.
- Moderate exercise.
- Stop eating gluten for a few months and see if you feel better! Food sensitivities or allergies can be causing inflammation in your system and you may not even be aware of them. Gluten is a common food sensitivity along with dairy and soy.
- Remove all electrical cords from your bed. No electric blanket or water bed heater. These must be unplugged, not just off! The reason for this is that electromagnetic and electric fields can cause infertility.
Finally, if you know that infertility is an issue then it is important that both the man and the woman are investigated. Both partners must be on board and supportive of each other. All required changes should be done on both sides. Low sperm count or sperm mobility is a major issue and must be worked on. The reference ranges on lab work for such has been dropped 40% from 50 years ago so if the test says it is normal it well may not be!
