Can Kiwifruit Help with Fertility?

We received kiwifruit in our veg box this week, which reminded me of this article from Thats Life magazine about a woman who ate kiwifruit to combat antibodies that can cause miscarriage instead of taking the asprin she is allergic to.  

It gives me hope because not only did she conceive four times in her 40s, but her successful pregnancy was at the age of 43.

As a kid, growing up in New Zealand, chinese gooseberries (as we knew them in the 70s) were really common.  

I remember visiting friends working as fruit pickers at the orchards in Te Puke showing me the sorting shed which was quite an introduction into mass processing and where any fruit too small or funny shaped were available to the workers to take home with them for free.  Cue kiwifruit in every meal on that trip. 

Yum.

Zespri, the New Zealand kiwifruit export marketing board, has information on the nutritional benefits of kiwifruit which turn out to be quite the powerhouse - and some interesting recipes which I might try.  

I'm not too sure about those golden kiwifruit though, I'm sure those didn't exist when I was growing up...

L.
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Sweet Potato, Kale and Quinoa Fertility Superfood Salad

Fertility super-food salad

"Every woman I know who has eaten sweet potatoes every day on my recommendation has either had a baby or is pregnant at the time of writing, having conceived within four months of being on the sweet potato-rich diet!"

So says Sarah Dobbyn on page 121 of The Fertility Diet.  She also says that sweet potatoes contain sixty minerals compared to the three in white potatoes and are much lower on the glycemic index.

I thought it was yams, but there are rumours on the TTC forums that sweet potatoes are so good for fertility it increases the chance of conceiving multiples.

Mr Duncan and I don't tend to eat that much in the way of white potatoes and substitute the weekly allocation in the veg box for something else every other week or more.  

Low GI is good for Mr Duncan's blood pressure diet and although I'm not sure I'm up to eating sweet potato every day, or up to having multiples, it seems like a good food to add to my arsenal, so I ordered some for this weeks veg box.

The weather is still nice and warm, so tonight I wanted something a bit lighter than your average roast sweet potato dinner.  Given I had a fresh delivery of kale and quinoa in the cupboard I thought I'd make a super-fertility salad for dinner.

Fertility Focus

Avocado is high in Vitamin E which helps increase sperm mobility and keeps sperm from clumping together.
Kale is full of antioxidants, vitamin A, vitamin K and is a good plant source of calcium.
Quinoa is a plant based form of protein, and contains all nine of the essential amino acids needed for cell renewal.
Sweet Potato is full of antioxidants, vitamin C and Vitamin A which is good for both cervical fluid and the development of your folicles

Ingredients

• Kale
• Quinoa
• Sweet Potato
• Avocado
• Cashew nuts

Method

1.  Soak the cashew nuts in water.
2.  Put the oven on to 180 degrees C.  

3.  Wash and chop the sweet potato into bite sized cubes.  

4.  Place on a baking tray, drizzle with a little olive oil, and toss so that most of the sweet potato is coated.  

5.  Bake in oven for about 20 minutes, raising temperature to 200 degrees for the last five minutes if you want a bit of brown/crunch.  

6.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.
7.  Boil the quinoa for 10 minutes/according to package instructions.  

8.  Rinse and allow to cool.
9.  Wash and shred the kale then use your hands to 'massage' it, so it softens.
10.  Peel and chop the avocado into cubes.  

11.  Rinse and drain the cashew nuts.
12.  Toss all ingredients in a large bowl with a little balsamic vinegar.

It was delicious!

L.
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Hope from the Daily Mail. Again!

Yesterday's cashew and herb pesto on toast

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As an Amazon Associate I will earn from qualifying purchases from Amazon.

Normally I avoid the Daily Mail with its fixation on scandal, celebrity "baby bumps" (Is she?/Isnt she?) and doom and gloom for 40+ fertility.  

It just bums me out.  

I'm sure there didn't used to be such a focus on pregnancies and babies in the media when I was growing up.  

Or maybe in the absence of the internet, I just didn't have access to such stories in the media that made it into my home.

In any case, only a couple of weeks after its last story of hope, this one hit my attention with a classic Daily Mail headline: 'Is everything we thought we knew about older women and fertility WRONG?'.  

It tells the stories of a number of women who had children naturally later in life and highlights a not-so-new book by researcher Jean Twenge, 'The Impatient Woman’s Guide To Getting Pregnant'. It cites the fact that Twenge discovered the oft quoted research regarding the decline of women's fertility as they age, was based on church birth records in rural France in the 18th century.  

I'm sure my lifestyle is very different from that of the women studied.

I certainly did not get pregnant within 6 months of trying in my late 30's, but I did get pregnant twice in my early 40s and hope that I can do again.

It kind of makes me want to buy the book... which is probably the whole point of the article in the first place.

I'll post a review if I do.

L.
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Review: The Fertility Diet, Sarah Dobbyn - Maximize Your Chances of Having a Baby at Any Age

The Fertility Diet

The Fertility Diet
How to Maximize Your Chances of Having a Baby at Any Age
Sarah Dobbyn
Simon & Schuster UK, 2012 

As an Amazon Associate I will earn from any qualifying purchases you make from Amazon.  However I didn't when I purchased and reviewed this book over a decade ago.

  

I have to admit, what attracted me to this book is its subtitle.  Age is not necessarily on my side in my attempts to conceive and carry a baby to term and I am keen to maximise my chances where I can.I already eat a pretty healthy diet and follow the usual lifestyle advice for women who wish to get pregnant.  I eat organic, home-cooked food, gave up coffee, alcohol etc and follow the advice on sites like Naturally Knocked Up and Wellness Mama.

The Fertility Diet was recommended to me on Amazon.  I wasn't convinced I needed to read it.  But it nagged at me so I checked out the reviews which ranged from 'the woman is crazy' to 'I got pregnant at 42 because of this book'.  

 

So I tried to find a copy of the book in the library catalog to no avail.  Though my google skills did uncover a comment by the author on a ttc forum claiming to have conceived and birthed a child when she was 44.  This gave some credence to the claims about maximising your chances at any age.

Sigh.

So I ordered it.  

 

Even as I am giving away books to charity shops before we move to Australia, I am replenishing the shelves...

What is The Fertility Diet all about?

Actually, the author covers many, many different aspects of TTC.  In addition to the usual nutrition/lifestyle/exercise/environment advice she also looks at fertility blockers, detoxing and aspects of natural living. 

It's not just about what you eat.  Each chapter concludes with an 'action plan'.  These are steps to put the recommendations in that chapter into action in your life.

I enjoyed the initial chapters about the 'Ingredients for Baby Making' and 'Pushing Snooze on the Biological Clock'. They give a rundown on

• the biological conditions for conception,

• how aging affects these and

• how aging can be slowed down,

citing various research studies. 

These chapters give me good hope.  From this perspective, my fertility age is probably not the same as my chronological age.  I had an inordinately healthy childhood which established a lifetime of good eating habits.

I found the chapters on the Fertility Diet itself quite boring with lists of various foods and their benefits, without the backup of research references.  They did, however, reinforce that I've been eating the right sort of foods to maximise my chances (and that I know way too much about the subject).

I don't have any specific fertility issues (other than age), so I skipped through those chapters.   Except the one on miscarriage, though I didn't learn anything new to prevent losing another baby.

 

Was it worth buying The Fertility Diet?

I am glad I bought it.  It gives me hope and reassurance I am maximising my chances of a healthy conception.  I learned that I pretty much follow the Fertility Diet in my day to day life. 

My recipes are also more interesting and taste better than the ones in the book :-).

What are my main take-aways?

I will take on board several ideas from the book.  As a result of reading it I will

• eat more raw foods, 

• start using digestive enzymes and 

• aim for better quality sleep.  

Getting more natural sunlight can be an effort in London when you work full-time, but I'll work on that too.  

It will be easier in Australia.

I will also stop drinking tonic water as quinine is apparently associated with miscarriage.  This is a bit of a pity.  Tonic is my non-alcoholic drink of choice when out with friends or colleagues.

I'll leave the suggestions on colonic irrigation, lunaception, drinking sole and taking loads of additional supplements - for now.

We'll see how it goes.  Fingers crossed!

L.
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Book Review: 30 Something and the Clock is Ticking, Kasey Edwards

30 Something and the Clock is Ticking

30 Something and the Clock is Ticking
What Happens When You Can No Longer Avoid the Baby Issue
Kasey Edwards
Mainstream Publishing Company, 2011

A self proclaimed feminist and career woman, Kasey is startled to find herself blurting that she wants a baby to her boyfriend of a year after returning from a 10 day Vipassana Meditation retreat.

They agree to revisit the subject in a year, at the ages of 32 and 34 respectively, there is lots of time.  

However at a routine checkup a few weeks later Kasey discovers she has a number of fertility issues and doctor recommends IVF within the year if she wants to have a child.

With candour and humour, Kasey elects to take on the baby issue in her own terms.  

Does she in fact want to be a mother?  

What life would she be choosing for herself if she did?  

Is she still of value to her partner if she is infertile?  

Is she of value in her career if she's not?  

If she does want to be a mother, would she be a good one?  

Kasey worries that taking on the invisible and poorly valued identity of mother in our society could bring back the black dog of depression from her past.

Researching the academic literature and the lives of her friends, Kasey weighs the pros and cons, like the Management Consultant she is, in order to make a rational recommendation to herself and finds herself re-examining her own ideas about motherhood and marriage.  In the end the choice is emotional, not rational and in the final chapters she shares the challenges of trying to conceive under a deadline.

I picked this book up at the library while looking for some prescribed reading for an essay I have to write, and read it in one sitting.  I found it to be both entertaining and educational.

The life Kasey paints of motherhood is not pretty - it involves a lot of effort and sacrifice for little appreciation and very small, but ultimately worth it, reward. 

 

Kasey also goes into the injustice of the gender pay gap and the 'mommy path' career women are sidelined into once they admit parenthood is on their agenda. 

Ultimately, trying to have it all means navigating a minefield of compromises and what it looks like is unique to each woman.

I could relate to Kasey's desire to decide and take action before time ran out and maybe its the educated, career oriented circles the author moves in, but I was surprised by the stories of her fellow female dinner party guests and the situations they found themselves in with regard to becoming parents.

On a side note, this is the second book in a row I've just picked up off the biography shelf for casual reading that has detailed the benefits of vipassana meditation.  

Some years ago I sat next to a man on a flight from New York to London who was just returning from a vipassana retreat.  He spoke in detail about it and I thought it would either benefit or kill me.

Maybe the universe is trying to remind me something.


L.
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Lentil and Parsley Fertility Salad

Packed with fertility goodness

Ever since I read The Fertility Diet I've been trying to increase the amount of raw food in my diet.  

I dont want to go 100% raw, it seems too extreme and directly contradicts some Traditional Chinese Medicine advice from my acupuncturist, but I figure now the weather is finally warming up I can aspire to making my meals at least 50% raw.

The book also recommended parsley as a good herb for fertility, benefiting the kidneys, liver, adrenals and uterus.  

I'm usually a fan of parsley but the pigeons won the war over the parsley in my garden so I only have a small indoor plant.  

We recently discovered the local mediterranean grocer sells enormous bunches of parsley for only 80p and is a nice 20 minute post-prandial walk through the park away, so I've been experimenting with making parsley salads that aren't tabbouleh to keep things fresh.

Fertility focus

Lentils are a good source of folic acid, full of iron and provide a non-meat form of protein.

Parsley has high levels of vitamin K and both iron and vitamin C (which helps the body absorb iron.

Sunflower seeds are rich in zinc, selenium and vitamin E and essential fatty acids.

Ingredients

• Brown lentils
• Parsley
• Spring onion
• Tomato
• Sunflower seeds

Method

1.  Soak sunflower seeds.

2.  Soak, rinse and drain lentils.  

3.  Simmer lentils in fresh water for about 20 minutes, until cooked.  

4.  Rinse with cold water, drain and allow to cool.

5.  Chop parsley, spring onion and tomato.

6.  Drain and rinse sunflower seeds.

7.  Mix it all together and enjoy!

I served the salad with grilled chicken thigh and courgettes sautéed in garlic and olive oil.

Al Fresco dining

Lamb and Butternut Tagine with Tabouleh

Melt-in-your-mouth meat

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With regard to fertility, red meat confuses me a little.  

Meat was never something I enjoyed eating.  

When I was a toddler and ate red meat, it would make me ill, so my parents stopped giving it to me.  

As a teen, I claimed I was allergic for school camps, but when I ate at a friends house before sleepovers I would try to eat what I could out of thanks and respect for the meal being provided.  

One night my friend laughed at me saying she thought it was funny that I pushed my meat around the plate, only ate about half and then spent the rest of the night turning green.  I wonder if her parents thought I had an eating disorder - I was skinny enough.

In any case I stopped trying to eat it after that. 

When I started seeing my acupuncturist in January, hoping to balance my cycle after my miscarriage, she diagnosed me as blood deficient according to TCM.  She suggested eating some red meat would help with balancing that and therefore improving fertility.  

I was very happy to take her advice - especially as I conceived within six weeks of seeing her.  

Other sources eg The Fertility Diet suggests a fully vegetarian/almost vegan diet would be best.  

As a compromise I have promised Mr Duncan that we can buy red meat once a week, but I try to cook it with lots of veg so we're only consuming smallish portions.

So I still had half of the butternut left that needed using and half a can of chickpeas left over from the curry on Wednesday so I asked Mr Duncan to pick up about 300 grams of organic lamb to make a tagine.

Fertility focus

Butternut Squash is rich in beta-carotene which your body converts to vitamin A and also contains zinc and selenium which is important for ovarian and sperm health.
Chickpeas are a good plant source of protein.
Apricots are a good source of beta-carotene.
Lamb is a source of protein, heme iron and zinc, though go easy on quantity as too much meat will upset the alkaline balance you're trying to achieve.
Parsley (in the tabouleh) is recommended in The Fertility Diet by Sarah Dobbyn as one of the best foods for promoting fertility with high levels of vitamin K and both iron and vitamin C which helps the body absorb iron.

Ingredients

• 300 gms lamb (we used neck)
• Ras el hanout - this is basically a mix of your best morroccan flavoured spices.  I had a small jar I received as a gift to use up, but otherwise I'd have mixed together my own from whatever I had in the cupboard.
• Coconut oil
• Onion
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Chicken stock
• Butternut
• Chickpeas
• Handful chopped dried apricots

Method

1.  Chop up the lamb into small chunks and rub with the spices.  

2.  Leave in the fridge to 'marinate' in the spices for at least two hours.
3.  Set the oven to 180 C. 

4.  Heat a teaspoon of coconut oil over a medium flame in an oven-proof lidded pot (I used our camp oven from the Landy, but we're planning on buying one from Le Crueset).

5.  Brown the lamb in batches and remove to a plate.  

6.  In the same pan sweat the onions, garlic and ginger.  

7.  Return the lamb and add the chicken stock.  

8.  Bring to a simmer, cover with lid and put in the oven to cook very slowly for 45 minutes.

9.  After 45 minutes, stir and add the butternut, chickpeas and apricot - add a splash of water if it is too dry to nearly cover the butternut.  I mixed the butternut under the meat at this point so didnt need any more moisture.  

10.  Return to oven for another 20-30 minutes.  

11.  It is ready when the butternut is tender, the meat should fall apart.

I served this on quinoa with home made tabouleh.

 

Butternut Squash, Spinach and Chickpea Curry with Chapati

Home made chapati

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I've been reading The Fertility Diet by Sarah Dobson.  And although my usual eating style is very close to her suggestions I want to further increase our intake of healthy whole foods and cut down on Mr Duncan's consumption of meat.

This week we got a butternut squash and some spinach.  

Now I love making pumpkin soup with any orange coloured squash and steamed spinach is one of my favourite side dishes but we have loads of spices to use up before we leave for Australia so I decided it was time for a curry.

Fertility focus

Turmeric is good for stabilising blood sugar levels which helps with managing weight and hormone balance.
Home made Chicken Stock is recommended in The Baby Making Bible by Emma Cannon for nurturing fertility
Chickpeas like all legumes are a good plant source of protein.
Butternut Squash is rich in Vitamin A and also contains zinc and selenium
Spinach, like all leafy greens, is rich in iron, folic acid and vitamin K
 

Ingredients

• Coconut Oil
• Onion
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Tumeric
• Garam Masala
• Butternut squash
• Chicken stock
• Chickpeas
• Coconut milk
• Spinach 

I made this for two (though it turned out to be three servings) with half a butternut squash, half a tin of chickpeas and about 100mls coconut milk.

Method

1.  Heat a teaspoon of coconut oil in a wok and sweat roughly chopped onion until softened.  

2.  Mix in finely chopped garlic and ginger then add turmeric and garam masala.
3.  While the onion is sweating, peel and chop the butternut squash into bite sized chunks.  

4.  Add the chopped butternut to the wok and fry off a little until all covered by spices and onion.  

5.  Pour in enough chicken stock to just cover the squash.  

6.  Put on a lid and let it simmer for about 15 minutes until the butternut is nearly done.
7.  Add coconut cream and chickpeas and simmer uncovered until the sauce thickens enough to cling to the back of your wooden spoon.  

8.  Stir in chopped spinach until it wilts.

I served this with home made chapatis based on a very cut down version of this recipe - basically half a cup of flour, a dash of olive oil and water, rolled very thinly and dry fried for about 45 seconds on each side.

L.
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Hypnotherapy for fertility blocks II

Nightfall in Namibia

So after I made the appointment with the hypnotherapy practitioner I found out that Mr Duncan had 'failed' his medical for the Australian visa we have applied for.

Also that the baby I lost at 15 weeks in May had Trisomy 13 and they wanted to test us for translocation - in case either of us had passed the chromosomal defect on. 

Given one of my motivations for making the appointment in the first place was to discover if there was something in my mind stopping my body from holding on to my babies, this was actually quite a relief.

I'm not proud.  

I had a total meltdown the night before the appointment and turned up tired, emotionally exhausted and hungover.  I also felt guilty as I'm supposed to be healing my body, not getting drunk to avoid dealing with my overwhelm.  

So while I had a clear intention which I discussed with the woman when I made the appointment, I was just a complete mess when I turned up.

It didn't help that the therapist thought I was there for past life regression.  

But given the new information and new stressors, my original concern that I was somehow letting go of my babies because I had 'blocks' to holding them to term was no longer valid, we agreed to just let the session flow...  

A bit touchy-feely for me, but I was in no condition to argue.

I shouldn't have worried. This is what came up for me:

My subconsicous mind is

1. afraid of not being good enough, not able to have a baby
2. afraid I might not be able to take care of a baby
3. concerned there wont be enough money to give the baby the life it deserves
4. worried I dont deserve it

The therapist asked to speak to any parts of me that needed to be heard.

There was a part of me calling itself 'Malevolent' who is extremely disdainful. 

Malevolent is strong and has a masculine voice.  

Malevolent just gets on with it and takes care of stuff that needs taking care of when Lisa is overwhelmed.  

Malevolent resents having to do this and gets its revenge by making Lisa worry.  By causing Lisa physical pain like the frozen shoulder that mysteriously materialised after my last miscarriage.

Malevolent doesnt trust Lisa to take care of herself even though she's now an (extremely) capable adult.

There was also a part of me who was very little and vulnerable.  She couldnt tell us her name, she was too shy and spoke very quietly.  Maybe she was 3 years old, she wasn't sure. 

No one was taking care of her.  

Who was going to take care of her if Lisa had a baby?

Most interesting!

In the session, the therapist dealt with all of the concerns that came up and then invoked mother earth metaphors to lead me into a future progression of a successful pregnancy (note, not birth).

It all took less than 1.5 hours and I went home to sleep the rest of the day.

I've been feeling a bit more sane since.
 

Hypnotherapy for fertility 'blocks'?

Last week I made an appointment to see a Counsellor/Hypnotherapist.  

I have been worrying, given how difficult it was to get pregnant in the first place, and the two consecutive miscarriages, that somehow my mind/body connection was working against me.  

That maybe I was blocking myself somehow and preventing myself from having a baby.

Why would I think that?

I had an unconventional childhood.  

By the standard of todays more child-centric world I think my sisters and I were probably quite badly neglected but this was the 70s and no-one intervened -  although it was clear that neighbours and the parents of friends were keeping an eye on us.  

In retrospect I can see my mother was depressed and overwhelmed bringing up three small children on welfare after her husband left her for another woman.  

She was a diabetic with a drinking problem and her way of dealing was to not deal.

Block it out and blame everyone and everything else.  

Do not take any responsibility for anything at any cost.  

In the absence of anyone else taking responsibility (my older sister would get angry that my mother wasn't acting the way proper Mothers' were supposed to and storm out, my younger sister just cried) I took a lot on my shoulders.  

I dealt with stuff, but resented it and clearly remember swearing to myself I would never allow myself to be in the same situation - responsible for children without the wherewithal or money to keep them safe and happy.

I studied and practiced hypnotherapy when I lived in New York in the early 2000s. 

In sessions with former clients who came to me for their fear of public speaking, the root of that fear would most often be a time when they were young and said something that people laughed at which made them feel embarrassed.  

They would swear to themselves they'd never put themselves in a situation which made them feel like that again which manifested as the fear of speaking in public.  After resolving this conflict in our sessions the fear would be gone.  

You see the parallel?

So I was looking for something quite specific.  

There are many hypnotherapists who can give you relaxation and guided visualisation sessions but I wanted someone proficient in more interactive techniques.  

It was really tricky to determine from the websites I reviewed whether or not the practitioner had the skills I was after.  

Eventually I phoned one who offered past life regression - not because I wanted that, but because regression requires the interactive skills I was looking for.

Unfortunately he was a out to go abroad for some time, but referred me to a colleague who I called and made an appointment with.