Ivy League Press
SMASHWORDS EDITION
Our Dedication
We dedicate this book to all of you, now standing on the threshold of parenthood. We ask only that you believe in yourself, believe in your power as a couple, and believe in your ability to bring into this world a beautiful, healthy & beloved family.
We have helped thousands of couples do just that – and we know we can help you too!
Niels H. Lauersen, M.D.,
Ph.D
&
Colette Bouchez
ILP
Eat - Love - GET PREGNANT
A Couple's Guide For Boosting Fertility& Having A Healthy Baby
Copyright 2011 Niels H. Lauersen & Colette Bouchez
Smashwords Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without express written consent from the publisher or author. Violations will be fully prosecuted by every extent of the law. For further information contact: Info@IvyLeaguePress.com
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Eat - Love - Get Pregnant may be purchased for business or promotional use or special sales. For information please contact Info@IvyLeaguePress.com or visit http://www.IvyLeaguePress.com
This book is not intended as a
substitute for medical advice from your physician. The reader should
regularly consult with a physician in matters pertaining to her
health &fertility, particularly in regard to symptoms that may
require medical attention. The authors or Ivy League Press or
Smashwords cannot be responsible for any results obtained or derived
from information in this book. The information in this book is not
considered medical advice and is offered only as a guide to getting
optimal care.
First Edition Published 2011 Print Edition
Table of Contents
Introduction:
Eat
– Love – Get Pregnant:
A
Breakthrough Couples Guide To Increasing Fertility
Working
As A Team: What It’s Important –
Why
This Book Is Different & How It Can Help You
Chapter
One
Understanding Your Fertility
What
Every Couple Needs To Know Today
Life Begins With Hormones – How Your Brain Helps You Get Pregnant – Introducing Sperm To Egg – When Pregnancy Doesn’t Happen: What Blocks A Woman’s Fertility and How To Fix It - What Blocks A Man’s Fertility – The Good News You Can Get Pregnant!:
Chapter
Two
Eat Smart & Get Pregnant Easier
How
Food Nutrients Can Boost Your Fertility
Foods That Boost Fertility and How They Do It – Fruits, Vegetables and Fertility - The 6 Secret Fertility Foods – The Nutrient Connection To Unexplained Infertility – What To Eat To Protect Fertility - Top 20 Foods That Can Help You Get Pregnant
Chapter
Three
Comfort Carbs, Healthy Fats and Tasty Proteins -
More
Fertility Foods That Might Surprise You!
Super Protein Power – Beer, Peanuts & Sperm: A Warming - How Ice Cream Could Help Increase Your Fertility – Comfort Foods & Cravings:The Fertility Connection - How Sugar Affects Fertility - The Carbohydrates That Hate Sperm - Fats That Can Boost Your Fertility and What To Avoid - Omega 3 : Super Fertility Booster – Trans Fats and Fertility - Feed Your Fertility and Nurture The One You Love
Chapter
Four
The Fertility Power Boosters :
The
Vitamin Supplements That Help You Get Pregnant
Understanding Vitamins & How They Work - The Six Vitamins You Both Must Have – How Vitamins From The Sun Can Help You Get Pregnant – Take A Beach Vacation and Get Pregnant Faster! - Vitamin E and Fertility – An Extra Nutrient Boost For Male Fertility - Vitamins & Diet: An Inseparable Couple
Chapter
Five
Nature’s Recipe For Boosting Fertility
Herbs
and Supplements That Can Help You Get Pregnant
8 Natural Fertility Boosters for Women – The 4 Most Important Herbs for Male Fertility – Omega 3 Supplements: Good For Male & Female Fertility – How Flax Seed Can Help You Get Pregnant – CoQ10: The Fertility Nutrient – Fertility Blend and Other Support Supplements: What You MUST Know
Chapter
Six
Fitness and
Fertility
Getting
Your Body Ready For Conception
How Weight Affects Fertility – Are You Too Skinny To Get Pregnant? – Hormones, Weight and Female Fertility – Weight and Male Fertility – Belly Fat: How It Affects Male and Female Fertility - Hot Testicles, A Beer Belly and Male Fertility – Boxers Vs. Briefs – Body Mass Index and Fertility Risks –Writing Your Fertility Prescription - The Exercises That Can Increase Fertility – Metabolism and Fertility – Exercise and Sex: What You Must Know!
Chapter
Seven
Sleep, Relax and Get Pregnant Faster
How
Stress Affects Male & Female Fertility – & How To Combat
It!
How Stress Affects Fertility – Stress and The Anti-Fertility Hormone – Women, Work and Infertility – The Stress of Trying To Get Pregnant – Stress and Miscarriage: New Links – Everyday Stress: How To Keep It From Harming Your Fertility – Discovering and Combating Your Silent Stressors – How Sleep Affects Fertility - Working The Infertility Shift: How Nightwork Affects Conception - Fertility Stress Relief: East Meets West – How Yoga Helps Male and Female Fertility – The Power of Prayer, Chanting and Meditation on Fertility – Reduce Stress and Get Pregnant Faster: Here’s How!
Chapter
Eight
Every Day Ways To Increase Your Fertility
The
Lifestyle Choices That Can Affect Getting Pregnant
Sounding The Smoke Alarm: Cigarettes and Fertility – Men, Smoking and Fertility –Secondhand Smoke and Getting Pregnant – How Smokers Can Increase Their Fertility Odds – Martinis, Beer, Wine and Conception – Alcohol and Male Fertility: Which Drinks Do The Most Harm - Reversing Alcohol’s Effects: What To Do Right Now – How Caffeine Affects Fertility - How Much Caffeine Is Safe For Fertility? – Prescription Drugs That Can Block Fertility – Pain Medications and Female Fertility : What You Must Know – Baby Aspirin: The Secret Fertility Remedy – Recreational Drugs and Fertility: What’s Safe, What’s Not – Steroids and Fertility: What Every Man Must Know
Chapter
Nine
The Secrets To Making Love and Making Babies
What
To Do To Get Pregnant Faster
Finding The Right Time To Make Love – The Secret To Using Ovulation Prediction To Help You Get Pregnant – How Your Body Temperature Predicts Ovulation – Body Cues That Help You Get Pregnant – How To Properly Use an Ovulation Predictor Kit To Get Pregnant - How Your Saliva Can Tell You When You’re Most Fertile – The Secrets To Using Fertility Monitors – Ovulation Prediction Advice
Chapter
Ten
Your Complete Guide To Baby-Making Sex
The
Do-s and Don’ts That Can Help You Get Pregnant Faster!
Having Sex Making Babies: How To Make It Happen Faster! – The Surprising Finding on Wild Sex and Getting Pregnant – Orgasm and Getting Pregnant: What Every Woman Must Know – Morning Sex vs. Night Sex: Which Is Better For A Fast Conception? – What To Do After Sex To Insure Conception – Can You Have Too Much Sex? – The “Scent” of Fertility – Allergy Drugs, Sex and Getting Pregnant – Fertility Sex Do’s and Don’ts - Oral Sex and Fertility: An Important Warning – Sex Toys and Getting Pregnant: What You Must Know – Lubricants, Massage Oils and Getting Pregnant: What To Use, What To Avoid – Can Douching Harm Fertility? Viagra and Conception: What Couples Must Know – How To Conceive a Girl – How To Conceive a Boy – Keeping The Passion Alive: What To Do.
Chapter
Eleven
Let’s Talk: Conception and Conversation
How
Your Emotional Relationships Affect Your Fertility
How Emotions Affect Conception – Intimacy, Communication and Conception: What Every Couple Must Know – Dealing With Fertility Anger: What To Do – Getting Pregnant and Breaking The Cycle of Guilt Just When You Think The Magic Is Gone ...
Chapter
Twelve
Take Charge of Your Fertility and Get Pregnant Fast
The
Steps Every Couple Can Take To Increase Their Fertility
Taking Charge of Your Fertility :Where To Begin – Easy Solutions To The 5 Most Common Medical Problems To Affect Female Fertility – Endometriosis and Getting Pregnant – Thyroid Disorder and Conception – Getting Pregnant with PCOS – How Infections Influence Fertility –Wheat Allergy and Infertility – The Medical Problems That Impact Male Fertility – Eat, Love and Get Pregnant: The Keys To Success
Website Resources & Helpful Information
INTRODUCTION
Discovering you are pregnant, and giving birth to a child, are two of life’s greatest joys. For a man and woman to share their love in this special and unique way is not just what makes the world go round, it is what makes our individual world the special place that it is. To share our love not just with our partner, but with our children is, indeed, a gift that is beyond compare.
For some of you reading this book, giving and receiving this special gift will be easy. Within a few months of “trying” you will be blessed with the news that you are pregnant – and your life will never be the same again. It will be much more meaningful, beautiful and joyous.
For others, however, things may not go exactly as planned. For some it may simply take a little bit longer than normal to conceive – you probably know by now that Mother Nature has her own time-table, and it’s never the same for any two couples!
For still others, however, the “pregnancy timetable” has begun to extend much farther than you could have imagined. Week of hopefulness turn into months of trying and still no pregnancy occurs. And you begin to wonder: “Could something really be wrong – will I ever get pregnant?”
But no matter what point you are in your pregnancy journey – just starting out, trying for several months, or unsuccessful at trying for 6,8, 10 months or more - reading this book is the action that can and will change your life.
•If you are just beginning your journey towards parenting, what you will learn in this book will not only save you time and help you conceive faster and easier, but also help insure you will have a healthier and smarter baby.
•If you have been trying for a while – and getting a bit frustrated because you’re not getting pregnant, this unique guide will shine the light on the simple, easy ways to identify the small lifestyle and nutritional changes that can speed up the process – and get you quickly and safely on the road to conception, and having a healthy baby.
• If you have been trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant for an extended period of time, and have grown weary and frightened that you will never conceive, this book will help you assess and evaluate your personal pregnancy obstacles and teach you how to remove them and improve your fertility– so you can conceive, and give birth to a healthy, happy, smart baby sooner than you realize.
How can I make you these promises – and be so certain they will work? Because the guidelines featured in this book have already been tested and proven to work on thousands of couples at my own Park Avenue fertility center in New York City – and at the clinics of many of my colleagues around the world.
Certainly, if you or your partner have a serious, physiological problem standing in the way – such as blocked fallopian tube or the inability to manufacture healthy sperm – then the information in this book will be extremely helpful, but it may not be quite enough to complete your journey to parenthood. For this you may need some medical treatment to overcome the specific medical problems that could be standing in your way. And the good news is that everything you will discover in this book will help maximize your fertility in ways that will help encourage the success of any medical treatment you receive.
That said, I can promise that for the vast majority of you reading this book, the information you will discover - on diet, lifestyle, nutrition, natural and Chinese herbal formulas, as well as how to solve the simple medical problems that stand in the way of pregnancy – can and will make the difference between infertility and fertility. And when it comes to giving birth to your beautiful new baby, well these same suggestions will help ensure you will have the smartest, healthiest, best baby possible!
Indeed, throughout the course of my 40 year career in medicine I have treated tens of thousands of patients just like you –and I have delivered more “miracle” babies to couples who thought they could never conceive than you can possibly imagine! And with each new “miracle birth” came a new story of struggle and frustration, of anger and fear – as many of these couples tried, on their own and sometimes with other doctors to get pregnant.
And while each patient is a unique and special individual, year after year I could see the success of the treatment plan – as described in this book - unfolding as one, by one, patients who could not get pregnant, or whose every pregnancy ended in miscarriage, were able to give birth to healthy, beautiful babies.
As time went on and new research appeared, I was pleased to see that the natural approach which I had personally studied and developed for all these years really did work! Moreover, as new research began to appear, providing even more evidence on the power of natural treatments to encourage pregnancy, I began to incorporate these new findings into my treatment plan as well . The end result was a program that could help even more couples to conceive - even when they were told by other doctors there was no hope.
Finally, earlier this year, I decided to make this successful program available to everyone – and the idea of Eat, Love, Get Pregnant was born. I chose this title because of the simple, yet powerful nature of this plan – a program that is so easy to follow, yet so effective that it will benefit every couple planning to conceive.
A Breakthrough Couples Guide To Getting Pregnant
But as proud and as happy as I am to bring you not just the latest research, but the proven aspects of a program that has already helped thousands of couples conceive, I wanted to add still something more to this book – something I found was lacking in nearly all fertility and pregnancy books. And that is, the importance of couples working together, as a team, supporting one another and deepening their bonds of intimacy - and the important role that this too can play in a successful conception. Indeed, what many couples find difficult to realize is that in the course of trying to find the road to parenthood, they detour off the path that led them to each other to begin with. I have, in fact, seen many loving, soul-mate relationships all but crumble under the weight of trying to have a baby.
But perhaps more important was the recognition that a couple, working together, within the bonds of love of intimacy, towards a common goal can have a powerful impact on each partner’s body chemistry – and impact so strong that it has the ability to impact their fertility in myriad ways. From hormonal activity controlling ovulation to brain chemistry controlling sperm production, you would be astounded at all the ways in which your relationship affects so many aspects of your health and your fertility.
For all these reasons, I have created Eat, Love, Get Pregnant to be a true “couples” guide to getting pregnant – a plan that was created to be read and shared by the both of you. It is a lifestyle plan that incorporates not just your individual bodies, but your relationship as a whole, including how you eat, how you play, and how you share your love.
Certainly you will find sections of this book that apply just to male fertility or female fertility, with specific suggestions according to gender. But what you will also find, as a theme running throughout this book is the importance of your relationship and your love, as it relates to getting pregnant.
For this reason it is my hope that not only will you and your partner read this book together, but that Eat, Love, Get Pregnant will help strengthen the bonds between you – and help you to always remember the real reason you wanted to have a baby to begin with: To share your love for one another by creating another wonderful human being to share your lives.
Chapter One:
Understanding Your Fertility
When it comes to getting pregnant, I am a firm believer that lifestyle – including diet, nutrition, and stress control - can be your biggest assets, or your greatest downfall. Indeed, most couples never realize just how big a role their lifestyle plays in every aspect of their health – including their fertility.
And so, as this book unfolds, chapter-by-chapter you will learn not just the ways in which your lifestyle can affect your fertility, but how to harness the power of the lifestyle changes to give your fertility a super boost. Not only will the secrets in this book help you and your partner maximize your physical health in ways that will have a positive impact on your fertility, but they will also have a direct and immediate impact on many aspects of your reproductive health and on the steps it takes to conceive quickly and have a healthy baby.
But before you and your partner begin that journey, it’s important that you both take a few minutes out to learn a little bit about the “natural science” of getting pregnant - including how sperm and egg meet and what happens when they do!
It is my hope that having this basic understanding will not only allow you to make more use – and more sense – of what you read in the remainder of this book, but also allow you to use these suggestions in a way that will most benefit you and your partner’s specific fertility profile.
So without further ado, let me begin our journey to parenthood with some important basic information on just how your fertility functions and how together you and your partner work together to create a brand new life.
Life Begins With Hormones
If you’ve ever suffered a bout of PMS, or even if you’ve just felt cranky and bloated a few days every month, then you have already experienced the power of some of your three key reproductive hormones: Estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. While you and your partner have these same 3 reproductive hormones coursing through your bodies, you have them in much different amounts!
For example, while you have lots of estrogen ( the egg-producing hormone),some progesterone and a very little bit of testosterone in your body , your partner has the opposite equation. He has lots of testosterone (the sperm-making hormone) , and very little estrogen and progesterone.
Another important difference between the two of you: In women, levels of these hormones fluctuate up and down during every monthly menstrual cycle – while in men, hormone levels remain constant. Why is this difference so important?
Because hormone levels remain constant in men, it means that sperm is continually being produced every single day. This means that anytime a man is intimate with a woman he has the potential to create a baby.
Women, on the other hand, have a completely different type of reproductive system at work – one that is in fact rooted in these hormonal fluctuations. Certainly, you may not always be happy about the way those fluctuations sometimes make you feel – they are, in fact, the reason why women experience PMS and men do not – but he fact that these biochemical ups and downs do occur is really your fertility blessing in disguise. Because the truth is, without the production and fluctuation of estrogen and progesterone, conception could never occur!
How Your Brain Helps You Get Pregnant
As important as these key reproductive hormones are, leading the way for these fluctuations to occur are a series of other natural biochemical events - all steps, by the way, that are necessary to get pregnant.The goal of all this natural biochemical activity is to not only stimulate and control the fluctuation of estrogen and progesterone, but in the process help your egg develop, grow and be released from your ovary in a process known as ovulation. In fact, only after this occurs can your egg meet up with your partner’s sperm to make pregnancy happen.
While some of these important bio chemicals are made in your ovaries, some of the key ones are actually produced and released by your brain. Or, at least stimulated by the release of brain chemical signals. In fact, your brain is really where the whole process of getting pregnant actually begins!
The most important of these brain chemical signals include the following compounds:
1. Follicle Stimulating Hormone or FSH - Secreted by the pituitary, a tiny gland located inside your brain, the job of FSH is to send a signal to your ovaries to produce an egg. While every woman is born with a lifetime supply of egg follicles ( the estimate is that there are about 400,000 follicles inside your ovaries from the time you are born) without stimulation from FSH, they would never mature into an egg.
2. Luteinizing Hormone or LH - Also secreted by your pituitary gland, this hormone instructs your matured egg to leave the ovary in the process known as ovulation, and directs it to travel down the fallopian tube where it can meet with your partner’s sperm allowing fertilization to occur.
Together these two hormones are known as “gonadotropins”. While there is some FSH and LH in your body at all times, these levels fluctuate. Moreover a significant amount is released during the first half of your menstrual cycle – when your egg is maturing, developing, and eventually being ovulated. This is followed by a dropping off of both hormones after ovulation. To help orchestrate the timing of this rise and fall is a third hormone. It’s known as:
3. Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone or GRH. Secreted by the hypothalamus (a tiny gland located in your brain just above the pituitary gland) the job of GRH is to direct the release of the proper amounts of FSH and LH into your bloodstream at the proper time.
The job of all of these hormones is to help orchestrate the rise and fall of the two main reproductive hormones directly involved in making eggs and helping those eggs to become fertilized, implant and eventually grow into a baby. These key hormones are:
4.Estrogen - Manufactured primarily inside your ovaries, levels rise and fall as result of a direct signal from the brain hormone FSH, which in turn helps orchestrate egg production. A surge in estrogen around the time of ovulation also provides more vaginal lubrication which in turn can increase your desire for sex, and help your partner’s sperm travel more easily through your vagina and cervix. And both of these things help encourage conception.
5.Progesterone – Manufactured by the corpus luteum - the shell that your ovulated egg leaves behind - the job of this hormone is to work with estrogen to help prepare your uterus to receive a fertilized egg, and help it to be nourished and grow.
How Your Body Prepares You For Conception
Now that you are familiar with key hormones involved in getting pregnant, it’s important to know something about how they all work together! Indeed, like the finely tuned harmonies of a great musical group, your entire network of reproductive hormones work together to se the stage for conception to occur.
The entire process goes something like this:
•At the start of each monthly menstrual cycle, your GRH messengers sense that your estrogen levels are low – a sign that you are not pregnant. This in turn sends a signal to your pituitary gland to step up in the production of FSH, which is necessary to stimulate both estrogen and ultimately, egg production.
•As FSH production increases, many follicles inside your ovary begin to develop. As days pass, however, usually only one pulls ahead of the rest in growth and development. Eventually it becomes your “egg of the month” – the one that will be released and available for fertilization. At the same time the growth of this egg causes your ovaries to produce more estrogen, and the level rises quite quickly and dramatically. This serves two purposes. First, it helps the egg to mature to the point where it can be fertilized. And second, it also stimulates the lining of your uterus to thicken, so that in the event your egg is fertilized, there will be a thick, spongy “nest” to receive it!
But equally important, when estrogen levels rise and reach a specific point, it sends a signal to your brain that your egg is ready to be released. This in turn causes the release of the brain hormone LH – which as you remember is the what prompts your “ripe and ready” egg to pop from your ovary in a the process known as ovulation. This is key, since it is only after ovulation occurs that your egg can meet up with your partner’s sperm so that fertilization can take place. In fact, failure to ovulate is one of the key reasons many women have problems getting pregnant.
•As soon as ovulation does occur, however, the shell which housed your egg turns into a tiny gland known as the corpus luteum (also known as the “yellow body”) , and begins producing progesterone. Together with estrogen – which is still surging – these two hormones work in consort to prepare your uterus to receive a fertilized egg.
The Final Step: Introducing Egg To Sperm!
While this finely tuned biochemical and hormonal network is intrinsic to getting pregnant, none of this would matter if your egg could not hook up with your partner’s sperm. And while it may seem this is just a matter of ‘ chance ‘, the truth is, the “set up” is very much intentional! There is, in fact, a purpose- driven introductory process that occurs between sperm and egg – think of it like the beginning of your relationship with your partner, where, step by step, one date at a time, you eventually fell in love!
Indeed, the preparation for the big “ sperm and egg date” actually begins the moment your egg begins to mature and gets ready for ovulation. When it does, petal-like fingers that sit at the far end of your fallopian tube reach up and begin massaging your ovary, creating a kind of gentle suction that works to coax your egg to pop from its shell and slide into the portion of the fallopian tube connected to your ovary. This long, narrow corridor which leads directly to your uterus is actually the meeting place where sperm and egg “hook up” – and it’s where natural conception actually occurs. (This is one reason why the health of your fallopian tubes is so intrinsic to getting pregnant – they provide the actual environment for sperm and egg to get together, and the healthier and problem -free that environment is, the easier it will be for egg and sperm to unite. A little later on you’ll learn some important natural ways to encourage a better fallopian tube environment so that egg and sperm have the optimum conditions under which to unite. )
But getting back to that egg-sperm ‘date’ – what can also help increase the chances that a connection is made is directly connected to your partner’s sperm, millions of which are being produced every single day. In fact, unlike a your body, which produces just a single egg every monthly, your partner’s body is busy churning out sperm 24/7, every single day. Indeed, every time your partner ejaculates into your body, he is releasing thousands of sperm, all of which compete to be “the one” to fertilize your egg.
But while there may be thousands of sperm available for conception, it’s important that they begin making their journey into your body at the right time – just before, or just as- your egg is being released. And this is where the concept of ‘ “good timing” plays a key role in getting pregnant. How and why does this work?
Once your egg has ovulated, it remains fresh enough to be fertilized for just 24 hours or less. So that means if your partner’s sperm does not “hook up” with your egg in that time frame, the chance for pregnancy dramatically declines. In fact, one of the key mistakes couples make when trying to get pregnant is waiting until ovulation to begin making love. If you do this, then there is barely enough time for your partner’s sperm to meet up with your egg before it begins to disintegrate and the window of conception opportunity is lost . Or if conception does occur at this late stage, often the resulting embryo can be “defective”, which often results in a miscarriage.
On the other hand, because sperm can live in a woman’s body for up to 5 days – and still be fresh enough to fertilize an egg - making love up to 5 days prior to when you are expected to ovulate will help insure your partner’s sperm are ready and waiting for your egg the moment it arrives! And this dramatically increases your chance for a quick and healthy conception! (Later in this book you’ll learn some key ways to know when you are going to ovulate, and predict the day and time up to 5 days in advance!)
But even assuming you do make love at the right time – beginning before ovulation occurs - you may be wondering how sperm knows exactly where to go to hook up with your egg. The “mating call” so to speak, begins with your cervical mucus, which opens channels that allows the sperm to move forward through your uterus to your fallopian tubes.
But one of the more interesting newer discoveries made about the “egg sperm “ mating dance was the recognition that inside the head of each sperm is a sort of biochemical “radar” that literally picks up a signal being silently emitted from your developing egg . That natural “come hither” signal actually pulls sperm right to your egg ! I like to think of this as a kind of “silent” mating song that helps naturally draw sperm and egg together the same way two soul mates are destined to meet!
What’s interesting to note, however, is that as complicated as this may sound, the whole process can take place rather quickly . Studies have shown that when a man is healthy and strong, eats well and gets the proper nutrients, he makes sperm that are healthy and strong enough to swim from the vagina to the fallopian tubes in as little as ten minutes!
Once this meeting of sperm and egg does occur there is, however, still one more biochemical process that must take place before conception can happen. Namely, one of partner’s many sperm must penetrate and enter your egg – a step that allows your DNA to combine with his DNA and begin to form your baby. To make this happen, all available sperm immediately attach to the outer shell of your egg. This process initiates still another chemical step – this one causing the release of a substance located in the head of the sperm that is designed to break down the outside shell of the egg allowing entry.
Although all the sperm are competing for the chance to be “the one” that gets inside, much like your mate who worked to win your heart, generally one sperm works a little harder and a little faster than all the rest, enabling the entry process to begin. Once this occurs, much like supportive teammates on the football field, the other sperm stop their “drilling” process and pull away from the egg – thus giving the “lead sperm” a chance to gain entry. (The other sperm, by the way, swim away from your egg and within a few days die off and are biochemically dissolved by fluids in your body).
Once the strongest sperm gains entry into your egg, the fertilization process begins, occurring inside your fallopian tube. After sperm and egg combine an embryo is formed and the cells begin to divide - first into two cells, then four, then eight. While this is happening, the cilia, which are tiny hairs that line the inside your fallopian tube, begin slowing moving your developing embryo towards your uterus - which by the way is another reason it’s important to keep the environment of your tubes healthy and open.
With that distinct sense of natural timing in play, your embryo should reach your uterus or “womb” when it is approximately in the 8 cell stage (or about 3 days after fertilization) – the time when it is easiest for your baby to attach to the newly thickened lining of your uterus so it can be nourished by your body and begin to grow and develop. To ensure that this nourishment phase continues – not only now, but throughout your pregnancy - both estrogen and progesterone levels remain high. This in turn signals your brain to keep FSH and LH production at a minimum – which also prevents any new egg follicles from being stimulated into growth and development. This is why your menstrual cycle stops and you cannot get pregnant during this time.
If, however, for any number of reasons fertilization does not occur, levels of both estrogen and progesterone drop rapidly. It is this rapid drop in hormone levels that causes the spongy lining inside your uterus break down and be shed. This shedding process becomes the basis of your menstrual bleed.
Once that bleeding stops – within about 7 days – your body is once again ready to start a new cycle wherein you once again prepare to grow and release a new egg, and another chance for conception occurs.
When Pregnancy Doesn’t Happen: What Goes Wrong
If you’re like many of my patients, you may be wondering why making love at the ‘right time” doesn’t automatically lead to pregnancy every time – and why it can take so long to get pregnant.
First off it ‘s important to remember that no matter how much medical science has learned about the magic of conception there is still some indefinable “magic” involved. Sometimes, even when all conditions are right for pregnancy – a healthy egg is made and ovulated at the right time, and a hearty group of healthy sperm is ready and waiting to pounce – still conception might not happen. It’s this indefinable impact of Mother Nature that ultimately reminds those of us in the science world who is really in charge!
But that said, there are also a number of biological, even medical reasons why conception does not occur each and every time you have intercourse – even at the right time of the month.
What Blocks A Woman’s Fertility
The first and easiest explanation is that not every woman ovulates every single month. While regular ovulation is more likely when you are in your teens and early twenties, you may be surprised to learn that by your mid to late twenties, ovulation can be a bit irregular. This is particularly true if, like most women you have a full, multi-tasking life, a less than optimal diet, and your life is filled with stressed!And one of the key secrets you will discover in this book is not only how your diet can help encourage a more regular ovulation, but also how to use specific stress reduction techniques and small changes in other lifestyle factors to encourage more frequent and regular ovulation.
These same factors, by the way, can also influence how sperm behaves, so even if you are ovulating regularly, your partner may not be producing a ready supply of mature, healthy sperm – or the sperm that are produced may not be “energetic” enough to swim upstream and ch your egg. Some can even lose their way entirely, and never even reach your fallopian tube! And this is where simple changes in diet and lifestyle can make a huge difference in helping your partner produce more, better, more energetic and heartier sperm, which will also encourage conception odds.
For some couples, however, there can sometimes be a bit more serious problems getting in the way the way of conception - some of them so silent you might not even know they exist – until you try to get pregnant.
In the woman, the most common of these “fertility glitches” can include problems creating an egg, releasing an egg, or having a clear “corridor” for egg and sperm to meet. . While you can read more in-depth information about how and why these problems occur in my fertility book - Getting Pregnant: What You Need to Know Now – for the moment, here is a quick run-down of some of some of the key ways these problems can prevent you from getting pregnant.
1. Blocked fallopian tubes - This can result from a biological problem such as endometriosis (a menstrual related disorder – see below) or a sexually transmitted infection that may have been contracted many years before and has lived “silently” in your body for quite some time. This is often the case which Chlamydia, one of the leading sexually transmitted infections linked to fertility problems. Moreover, either infections or endometriosis can lead to the formation of “adhesions” or scar tissue, which ultimately form blockages that can trap sperm or egg, prevent an egg from entering the tube, or even block sperm and egg from meeting. If the scarring is not too severe, treatment involving some type of laser surgery can remove the blockages and free the tubal pathways, so getting pregnant can be much easier.
2. Ovarian malfunction - This can mean a reduced ability of your ovary to produce a healthy egg, or the inability of that egg to leave your ovary during ovulation. This can be the result of a hormonal snafu, or, commonly related to a condition such as PCOS – poly cystic ovary syndrome. In this condition the ovaries fail to function normally, so eggs are not readily produced or released. Often this is treatable with medication and dietary changes (see Chapter 12).
3. Uterine Blockage – This can be a malfunction of the shape or size of the uterus itself , or, as is much more often the case, the result of fibroid tumors , scar tissue or adhesions resulting from previous surgery, or polyps inside the uterus that are interfering with implantation. Most often fertility-sparing treatment involves removal of the fibroids or polyps, and/or treatment with medication, which in turn can help restore your fertility so you can get pregnant .
4. Endometriosis: This is a menstrual related disorder that causes an overgrowth of uterine tissue either within the uterus itself, or other areas of the reproductive system, including the fallopian tubes or ovaries. This excess tissue can form blockages or create adhesions in any of these organs, block ovulation as well as create a hormonal imbalance that interferes with fertility. Endometriosis can be treated with medication or with surgery, as well as with diet and lifestyle changes. ( See Chapter 12 for a more thorough look at this common condition and how it affects fertility.)
5. Hormonal Deficiency – This is a wide sweeping problem that can include everything from a metabolic malfunction – such as thyroid disorder that alters the production of FSH and LH - to an ovarian problem that curtails the production of estrogen or progesterone, or impacts the amount or consistency of your cervical mucus. It can also be caused by an over production of other hormones – including the stress hormone cortisol – that in turn can impact the production or timing of all the hormonal steps essential to conception. The bottom line: You may not produce eggs, or the eggs you produce may not be ovulated or released, or the lining of your uterus may not be thick and spongy enough to properly nourish an embryo. In all cases diet and lifestyle changes, and sometimes hormonal therapy, can make a huge difference when it comes to getting your reproductive life back on track.
What Blocks A Man’s Fertility
When it comes to men, physiologic problems blocking fertility include any condition which hampers the production, maturity and growth, or release of his sperm. This can be the result of blockages or infections in the epididymous (the area of a man’s reproductive system where sperm are made), the vas deferens, (the area where sperm mature, grow and are released) or within the penile system itself, which helps transport sperm from his body into your reproductive system. In nearly all instances, however, seeking treatment with a urologist ( a male fertility specialist) can dramatically improve a man’s sperm profile.
Turning Back The Fertility Hands of Time
Science has known for quite some time that as a woman ages, she makes fewer, and lesser quality eggs . And we also know that this can translate into a reduced chance for getting pregnant - beginning at around age 35.
Now however, we also know that age affects men and sperm production as well. In fact, as a man ages, he experiences not just a reduction in the amount and quality of the sperm he produces, but that age also impacts the ability of whatever sperm is made to successfully navigate through a woman’s body and find and fertilize and egg.
So while your age may impact your fertility at a faster and more dramatic rate than it impacts your partner, by no means is he immune from the age-related effects on fertility.
For this reason, if you or your partner, or the both of you are over age 35,it’s imperative that you follow the advice in this book as closely as possible. While you may not be able to turn back the fertility hands of time, the advice I offer can and will help optimize and maximize your fertile potential, so that as a couple, you will have a much greater chance of getting pregnant quickly and easily – regardless of your age.
The Good News: You Will Get Pregnant!
As complicated –or even discouraging - as all of this may sound, there is also some good news to report. As many opportunities as there are for things to go wrong while trying to get pregnant, there are equally as many opportunities for you to take control and make them go right! And one of the key ways to do that is via the diet and lifestyle changes you will find throughout this book. Not only will they help set the stage for a faster, easier, healthier conception, but at the same time improve your health in ways that will offer you myriad benefits – many of which can also help turn even the most devastating fertility odds completely around!
Moreover, other important factors you will also read about in this book – such as the impact of stress reduction on fertility as well as the fertility benefits of cultivating and keeping a loving, warm relationship with your partner - will also help turn your fertility around, faster and easier than you might realize.
Of course there is no one “magic bullet” or “magic change” that does everything! Instead, all of the small changes work together in harmony to bring about the big changes in your fertility. Remember, a healthy body is a fertile body – so when you do good things for your body and your overall health, your fertility benefits as well!
At the same, I would be remiss if I did not mention that, for a small percentage of you reading this book, a physiologic barrier to pregnancy could exist – one that will require a medical intervention to “level the playing field” and correct the underlying physiological roadblocks to conception.And, indeed, if you have been trying to get pregnant for more than 12 months, or, if you are over 35 and have been trying for over 6 months, it’s probably a good idea to see a fertility specialist and have some basic tests to see if there is a problem that might require treatment. If this turns out to be true, the earlier you seek that treatment, the faster and easier it will be to get pregnant.
And again, if you do find out you have a problem, you should turn to my fertility book “Getting Pregnant: What You Need To Know” and the accompanying website “GettingPregnantNow.org “which have helped tens of thousands of couples find their solution to getting pregnant, and can help guide you as well !
But what’s most important to remember right now is that even if you or your partner are diagnosed with a problem and will require fertility treatments, or as is more often the case, both of you seem okay, optimizing your fertility with the diet and the other lifestyle changes featured in this book, can and will make getting pregnant quicker and easier – and will help keep you on the right track for a healthy conception now, as well as helping to protect and extend your fertility well into the future.
Chapter Two:
How Food Can Boost Your Fertility
It’s hard to open a magazine or go online without seeing a story about diet. Indeed, it sometimes seems that everywhere we look food is playing an increasingly important role in our health and our lives. And I’m not just talking about weight control!
Indeed, over the past decade and especially these last few years there has been an amazing amount of research showing that what we eat – as well as what we avoid eating – can have an enormous impact on helping us not just avoid disease, but in some instances even reverse it. And nowhere is this adage more true than when it comes to fertility.
Today we have the research to prove what I and so many of my European colleagues have believed in and lectured about for decades: Diet and fertility go together like peanut butter and jelly - with certain foods, and some specific food combinations, having an almost uncanny power to bring about baby making success. Sometimes they can be so powerful they help turn a couple from infertile to fertile in just a matter of months.
Indeed, having grown up in Denmark, in a family that was very aware of the power of healthy eating, I learned early on the importance of good nutrition. Having received both my undergraduate and medical school education in the capitols of Europe – where diet has always remained a health priority – my feelings about the importance of good nutrition continued to capture and hold my attention. When, in the 1970’s I came to America to practice medicine , I brought with me not only the idea that diet and fertility were unmistakably intertwined, but that by tweaking the diets of my patients – and in some instances suggesting some major food changes - I could help make a difference in how quickly and easily couples were able to conceive.
And so, long before it was fashionable to create a “fertility diet”, I had done so – based not on just research, but on my personal knowledge of nutrition, coupled with my own intuitive feelings about what the body needs to work at optimum levels. I am proud to say that many of my earliest theories – and the recommendations I made to patients for many years - not only resulted in many healthy and happy pregnancies, but have also been proven via research at many of the world’s most prestigious universities. From Harvard, Yale, Columbia and Stamford in the United States, to the top medical schools in France, Germany and England, scores of researchers have worked every day to bring us more and more proof that when it comes to getting pregnant, your diet can play a major role.
But it’s also important to realize that it’s not just women who are affected by what they eat. Diet matters for men too. Indeed, while your baby will be conceived, develop and grow inside your body, one half of the success of your pregnancy, and your baby’s health, is dependent on your partner’s sperm – the health of which can and often is directly related to what he eats. So it’s not just your pre-conception diet that matters, but your partner’s diet that makes a difference as well.
So whether you are just thinking about getting pregnant, or if you and your partner have been trying for some time to conceive and haven’t had any luck, or perhaps you have been able to get pregnant but have suffered the pain of one or more miscarriage, I am happy to tell you that , as a couple, making small but simple changes in what you eat can make a huge difference in helping your parenting dreams come true.
The Foods That Boost Fertility: What To Eat Right Now
Today, nearly all couples are aware of the need to eat healthier during pregnancy.
For example, most pregnant women know the importance of including foods rich in the nutrient folic acid in their diet – which helps prevent a group of serious birth defects.
But in truth, it wasn’t really until the 1980’s that we had proof this was so! Indeed, the links between a healthy pregnancy and a healthy diet are much recent than people realize.
In much the same way, it wasn’t until the last several years that we began to see not just the importance of eating right during pregnancy, but also the role that diet can play during the pre-conception period as well. We now know, for example that if a woman is short on certain important nutrients while she is trying to conceive, she may not ovulate regularly, or the eggs she does create may not be healthy enough to be fertilized.
Likewise, men who come up short on certain key nutrients may see the results in sperm that are slow to move, are weak or cannot swim straight, and often too few in number to fertilize an egg!
The flip side of this food coin: We also have strong proof showing that both men and women who take the extra steps to fortify their fertility through a healthy diet not only get pregnant faster and easier, but also have healthier babies. While food certainly can’t fix every reproductive problem, it can and does play a major role in maximizing your fertility . So, whether you are trying on your own to conceive, or you’re already working with a fertility doctor, paying attention to what you eat, and eating the right combinations of foods, can bring you that much closer to realizing your parenting dreams!
So what should you eat to maximize your fertility and encourage pregnancy? The first stop on the fertility food train is at the Farmer’s Market – where you’ll find the very fertility foods that your Mom told you to eat more of from time you were a child: Fruits and Vegetables.
Fruits, Vegetables and Your Fertility
Over the past decade, and particularly during the last several years the research concerning the health benefits of adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet has been nothing short of astounding. Proving
once again that Mom was definitely right when she cautioned us to “Eat all your vegetables or no dessert” , the health benefits of all sorts of produce can no longer be denied.
From adding much-needed fiber to our diet, to providing us with the vitamins and nutrients we need to help fight heart disease, diabetes, even cancer, the benefits of eating 5 fruits and veggies every day is now considered one of the best preventive health measures men and women can take.
But apart from the fertility benefits that come from simply having a healthy body, we also have discovered that fruits and vegetables, particularly some specific types of produce, can have some direct effects on a number of key factors involved in the process of making a baby . From impacting the hormones involved in healthy egg production and eventually ovulation in women, to influencing factors involved in the sperm manufacturing process in men, to helping overcome a somewhat illusive group of problems known collectively as “unexplained infertility”, we now that fruits and vegetables will make a huge difference in many areas of your reproductive health.
But how and why does this happen – and which fruits and vegetables are likely to do you the most good? It all starts with understanding a few basics about good nutrition – and how these factors are intimately entwined with your fertility.
And that understanding begins by exploring a series of natural compounds known as “phyto-nutrients”- naturally occurring chemicals that are present in some specific fruits and vegetables, and are now believed to play an intrinsic role in not just helping the body maximize good health, but also improve your fertility profile.
Indeed, while virtually all produce has health value, providing a good source of both fiber and a variety of nutrients important to overall health. But when it comes to your fertility it is, in fact, the fruits and vegetables that are high in “phyto nutrients” that may play the most important role in helping you get pregnant.
By learning more about what these compounds are, how they work, and where to find them, you can begin to create your personalized fertility food plan – a diet that will help you and your partner boost your overall reproductive health and even help combat some specific fertility challenges.
PhytoNutrients and Getting Pregnant: What You Need To Know
One of the unique things about the plants that yield our fruits and vegetables is that they don’t possess the same kind of natural “warning” system about impending dangers that both humans and animals have . For example, I’m sure you’re familiar with the adrenalin fueled “ fight or flight” response – that natural surge of adrenalin that occurs when we are in danger, giving us the strength to “fight or flee” our attackers. And while it may seem that the ability to do this is a product of modern living, the truth is, these natural biochemical responses were programmed into our DNA millions of years ago.
Unfortunately, however, plants don’t possess this same “fight or flight” chemical process. But fear not – because Mother Nature provided something equally as effective – a natural chemical warning system that protects them from danger. That system is a natural chemical network known as “phytonutrients”.In fact, in the plant world, the sole purpose of phytonutrients is to protect plants from assault – be it from insects, a fungus, or even many of the very same environmental threats that can harm you, including the damaging rays of ultra violet light from the sun. And herein lies one of the keys as to how phytonutrients can protect you as well.
By tapping into this same powerful natural network of protection, phytonutrients can give your body the very same advantages , helping to counter the effects of cellular damage that occurs from not just exposure to environmental toxins such cigarette smoke and air pollution, but also the effects of stress and the impact of a diet loaded with junk food, too much alcohol, and not enough “healthy” foods.
The Power of Phytonutrients – And Why They Work
For a great many years, researchers believed that the health benefits of eating fruits and vegetables came solely from their vitamin content – specifically the “antioxidant vitamins” such as C, E and beta carotene. And in fact these nutrients are still important – and you'll learn why in just a little while.
But over the past decade, and particularly in the last five years, researchers have uncovered an even greater benefit to eating these foods. And that is the benefits provided by phytonutrients – factors which researchers now believe are even more important to good health than the vitamins and minerals these foods also provide.
Indeed, in one very interesting study researchers actually caused intentional damage to a strand of DNA – the basic genetic compound that forms the basis of all life. They then treated that broken strand of DNA with different types of phytonutrients as well as with vitamin C. Using a computer to analyze the results they found the combination of phytonutrients did a better job at repairing the DNA than the vitamin C alone.
But how does this relate to your fertility? Every time your body experiences an environmental, dietary or lifestyle assault, there is the potential to damage the DNA necessary to create healthy eggs, and allow these eggs to be fertilized. By tapping into the powerful, natural protection that phytonutrients provide, you can prevent at least some of that DNA damage from occurring . It may even help to repair damage that has already occurred. Either way, the end result is a natural boost to your fertility.