Fertility Friendly Diet

So as promised, here is a post about a fertility-friendly diet, (although it is pretty late!)  As well as some products and resources to check out!

A fertility friendly diet serves the purpose of making sure that from pre-conception through pregnancy, you body is receiving the most nutrients possible. It helps to encourage ovulation and May even lower your risk for miscarriage or birth defects. But regardless if you are trying to conceive, pregnant, or waiting until the right time to start a family, a fertility friendly diet can help you be the healthiest you.

I’m not a nutritionist so whatever I say should always be checked with your doctor. However I feel that this type of eating   will create the healthiest you and that can only mean good things in the way of fertility and baby making.

Main guidelines when deciding what to eat:

·      GO ORGANIC!!! With everything, you should be buying organic. Hormones in meat and dairy can through off your natural hormone balance. Pesticides can wreak havoc on both male and female fertility. Not to mention what side effects exposure to them can cause.

·      Fatty acids are good! They can help regulate your menstrual cycle and fish is a great lean protein.

·      Grains should be consumed in their whole form. This prevents sugar spikes in your system (very important if you are suffering from PCOS).

·      NO SOY!!! This is a tricky one for me when I’m vegan. I use tofu as a staple and have had to totally limit myself. I also switched from soymilk to almond milk and I honestly prefer it!

·      No refined sugar or juice unless fresh squeezed.

I’ve attached an article that explains all of these in greater detail.

A super important part of getting ready for pregnancy is to take a pre-natal vitamin. My Doctor told me it should be taken up to three months prior to trying to conceive. I am not very consistent with them but overall; I have been taking pre-natal vitamins for over three years.

My favorite brand is Prenatal One from Rainbow- light. I was able to find them at Earth Fare and Whole Foods. I like this brand because they are an all natural and vegan vitamin. They were also created with a pregnant stomach in mind (or like me, a sensitive one) they are formulated to be gentle on the stomach. I have tried many different vitamins that have made me nauseous; this is the only one where I don’t notice any negative side affects.

Other prenatal vitamin requirements are to have at least 1000mg of Folic Acid. The last prenatal I was on had less than that and after talking to my doctor I switched.

Well that’s all for this post! Thanks for being patient with it, and comment with any questions.

 Fertility Diet Info

Occasional vegan.... always organic!

Hi!

I want to start posting more blogs about fertility-based resources. I plan to post one later today or tomorrow about a fertility-friendly diet, but first I wanted to lay the groundwork about my diet choices and the events that led me to them.

Some backstory about me is that about 5 years ago, after experiencing some horrific stomach cramping and taking a trip to the ER I was preliminarily diagnosed with Cohn’s disease. Cohn’s is a chronic disease that affects the digestive system, particularly the intestine.

Now here is where everyone will think I’m Cray; I never followed up with a specialist. Why? Because I didn't feel like it was ever necessary. Ever since that hospital visit I have kept a strict eye on my diet and have only ever had a few “flare-ups” as they are called. None of which came close to what I experienced when I went to the hospital. Further more, the majority of treatment concerning Cohn’s disease is figuring out your "trigger foods" and staying far away. So that's what I've done.

Fast-forward to 2010, when I decided to give a vegan diet a try in order to help me lose weight for my upcoming wedding. The differences in my body were astounding! I slept better, felt better, had more energy, lost weight like it was my job and had absolutely no stomach issues! It was like a dream.

I educated myself on the vegan lifestyle through a book called "Skinny Bitch". Written by two sassy broads whose motto is "stop eating crap, and start looking fabulous". I skipped a lot of the chapters about animal cruelty, I didn't need to be told how bad the conditions for animals were, and I had a pretty good idea. What really changed me was the explanation and encouragement for organic foods and products.

So I kicked my diet coke habit, stopped buying normal produce, and went all-natural on all of my cleaning supplies.

I will truly never go back to buying regular produce if I can help it, and there will never be a non- organic piece of chicken or cheese on my table! I feel better when I'm organic and you know what? It tastes a hell of a lot better too!

I dumped being vegan after the wedding due to my obsession with dairy and chicken. I mean, I was born and raised in Buffalo NY, You come out of your mom at the hospital, and the first thing they do is hand you a chicken wing and a beer!! (While telling you to go watch some Bills football!!) I’ve bounced back to it a few times but I don't think it will ever be a permanent lifestyle for me. It's just far to complicated and frustrating when I want to go out and order a meal at a restaurant like a normal person. (It’s almost impossible to do this as a vegan, even most salad dressings contain milk product.) A lot of the products and recipes are staples in my life though; I will talk more about that in the next post.

So now in preparation for what will (hopefully) soon be an IVF cycle and pregnancy, I am turning again to a vegan diet to get some body weight off of me so that I can have the healthiest pregnancy possible. I’m only 5’2” and so I need to lose about 20lbs to hit my goal of having a healthy bmi. And if our cycle doesn’t happen until the fall, At least I’ll look good in a bikini this summer!

I’ve linked a copy of the book Skinny Bitches and will be posting more resources in the next post.

Lena~

 http://www.skinnybitch.net/

Flyer!~ (For real this time)

Blog Flyer

Hello!

So as I have said before the world of blogging is very foreign to me. More importantly the world of computer graphics/ programs/ lingo/ and basic skill are not my forte.

But I want to share this flyer that I have created for the infertility support group I am leading. I would LOVE some feedback about the graphics, font, margins and even the group mission. Anything that anyone would like to contribute would be incredibly appreciated!

FYI: I removed the contact info because it included my co-leader and I'm sure she wouldn't be happy having that released! I also put gibberish where the date and location should be because well.... I get paranoid about posting on the Internet.

Lena~


Click on the link below and open the document labeled sisterhood blog version

https://files.acrobat.com/#content