Food and Fertility 

Food like imagery, or dream reading is a tool. A tasty, sweet or sour, crispy or chewy, liquid or solid tool. Another pair of shears to clear the trail. It was through my work with food that I took my first radical step toward self-reliance. For many of my students, food is most readily recognized as an agent of change.

"Whatever you do,", I tell the women in my workshops, "don't ever go on a fertility diet. Or, worse yet, an infertility diet." Being on a diet implies a world filled with delicacies that everyone except you can enjoy. Diet is almost always connected in our minds with temptation, deprivation, sacrifice, or even punishment -- not quite what you're looking for when you're already feeling excluded and sorry for yourself.

To think of our way of eating as some sort of diet handed down by experts can be wildly confusing. Just about every nutritionist, acupuncturist, homeopath, and medical doctor will give you a different version of the perfect diet. A raw food enthusiast will tell you that eating cooked foods is an addiction, and suggest you join a twelve-step program for cooked-foodaholics; your macrobiotic counselor will caution against eating anything raw, your chiropractor will say absolutely no meat, and your Chinese doctor will tell you to eat lamb. Oh, yes, and none of them will be happy to see you eat white rice and clarified butter, except perhaps that famous Ayurvedic healer who comes to town only once a year and is reputed to have cured everything from repeated miscarriages to the common cold.

So here, once again, if you choose to engage the help of experts, or diet books, allow them to become nothing more than a resource, a voice of support. If to any extent they pull you away from doing your own thinking and consulting your Inner Authority, they're cutting you off from the most reliable guide of all.

Excerpt adapted from the Ally In the Cupboard chapter of the Fertile Female (Adell Press May, 2007), an in depth discussion of the relationship between diet and fertility.

Below are some of our favorite recipes. But more than recipes the Cooking Corner is about our relationship to food and approach to food preparation.

Freshness, cleanliness, purity, all attributes we should strive for in the foods we eat. All the ingredients listed below should be Organic whenever possible.

• Organic fruits & vegetables are becoming more and more common. The quality, price and variety have improved dramatically in the last couple of years and access is not limited to health food stores.
• Organic eggs are a clear favorite of ours, as the freshness is usually superior to their non-organic counterparts and the price is not that much higher. They are readily available in many local supermarkets.
• Organic Oils are harder to find and usually expensive but I've seen reasonable prices during "SALES" at Health Food Stores.
• Organic Dairy Products (Milk, Butter, Yogurt) are also now available at local supermarkets. And although we do not encourage the consumption of dairy, if you must it's better to go organic.

Food Tip: Eat Your Garlic but Let It Rest Before You Do

My mother used to rub a clove of raw garlic into our toast and add raw crushed garlic into our soup. Nutrition experts everywhere are coming up with studies that show just how wise she was. Garlic contains important nutrients that strengthen the immune system, helps detox our system. (Particularly helpful if you suffer from yeast infection) It contains magnesium, vitamin B6, selenium, all of which are key for conception.as well as healthy pregnancy. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University found that crushing garlic and letting it sit for 10 minutes helps preserve more of its healthful properties. To get the maximum benefit eat garlic raw or cooked lightly.

A few common sense guidelines:

Replace empty calories with foods that supply you with nutrients.

Eat combinations of foods that are easy to digest.

Follow the principles of Natural Hygiene. (see "Cleaning the Refrigerator" in Inconceivable, and

Ally in the Cupboard in The Fertile Female)

Eat lots of fiber. (without enough fiber, the body may reabsorb estrogen)