Are you having a tough time trying to conceive, and think you are running out of options. Let me tell you, you’re not out of options and you are not alone.
I would like to share in a series of articles, some of my own experiences in my quest to have children.
Before I begin, I would like to encourage you to educate yourself about the female and male reproductive system and the health of your own body. This is something that I did and it serves many purposes, it helped me make wiser decisions, it made me feel more in control, it made me aware of what is helping me to become pregnant and what is not. We are truly bless to live in the internet age, with a multitude of information out there that we can learn from. And believe me the more you learn the more question you will have.
I have also learnt to question the advice and information I am given and not just accept the view of professionals as the only way, especially with Western Medicine. There is not a right or wrong way, it just has to be the right way for you, and you need to be comfortable with your decisions. I’ve learnt there is a lot of things that I can do to boost my chance of becoming pregnant whether it being naturally, or with some help. The real focus for me is to make my body as healthy as possible, starting with a healthy diet.
My Journey thus Far
In the beginning, my partner an I had been trying to conceive naturally for about 12 months without any success. I also had a limited window of opportunity to get pregnant with my biological clock ticking, so we were advised to get help with IVF. Over the course of the next 15 months we had 6 embyro transfers and 2 IUI’s (due to canceled cycles). We have tried things from IVF, Bowen Massage, Acupuncture and Natural Medicine.
We came to a point were we relised we had what they call “unexplained infertility”. Apart from having one blocked fallopian tube there was no reason why we shouldn’t be able to conceive naturally or especially with IVF help. So I started to take on more responsibility as to where I was at and decided to get my body as healthy as possible and in balance.
So in this article I would like to focus on how a Healthy Diet can really boost our chance of becoming pregnant.
Building a Healthy Diet for Pre- Conception
Let me tell you, if I had my time again this is the one of the first places I would start in my quest to have children. If you really study what you put in your body you might be quiet surprised at the many ways you could improve your diet.
The sound advice that was give to me was to focus your diet around foods which are “close to the earth”. Which means to replace some of the not so healthy foods with whole fruit and vegetables cooked or prepared in a natural way.
Fruit and Vegetables are Nutrient Rich and are also low in carbohydrates, and if your body is lacking in certain Vitamins Minerals level, it may be what is holding you back. Although its too easy to think that just by popping a Vitamins Supplement will balance things up there are other properties in natural food which help you access as much of the Vitamins and Minerals that is available to your body. I noticed in my own body that I was sometimes feeling lethargic, and by changing my diet I was able to really notice the different in my energy levels.
After a lot of consideration I even decide to go as organic as possible, there are many things done to our food that we buy in the supermarket, to increase production or shelf life, that we can be ingesting more than we anticipate, such as chemicals and growth hormones.
Also a lot of Fruit and Vegetables are harvested early and not allowed to mature on the plant, as they are stored for long periods before sale at the supermarkets. So they don’t have as much time to develop the essential nutrients and flavor.
Before you freak out and think you can’t possibly touch another bit of produce from the supermarket it is important to keep things in perspective. I don’t think its possible to just go cold turkey and switch to organic, more so just reducing how much foriegn substance enter the body. There are many things you can do to help such as washing the produce in vinegar and water to clean off any pesticides or foreign substances.
There are many places you can buy organic Meat, Fruit and Veges from that you probably aren’t aware of. I know how the cost of the organic produce can turn a lot of people off going organic. So you can also start your own Vegetable garden and grow your own produce. This is something that I personally did and would highly recommend (I can see it now I’ve inspired a wave of new vegie gardens around the world)…. lol.
It is also worth sitting down to organize how you will prepare your meals as it can be hard to change cooking habits, you can also search the internet for some recipes if needed. The way you prepare & cook your meals can make a big difference.
So this is the path that I have taken, and am feeling the benefits already. Stay tune for the next article on “My Journey to having Children”.
Belinda O
Tags: biological clock, embyro, fallopian tube, healthy diet, internet age, iui, male reproductive system, natural medicine, unexplained infertility, western medicine