ACUPUNCTURE |
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| Lifestyle and Nutrition for Fertility Part I Habits and Foods that Injure Fertility In my Oriental medicine fertility practice, I am continually educating my clients about how diet impacts fertility. This article is intended to provide you with some general guidelines for optimizing your nutrition and lifestyle, thereby positively affecting your fertility. I will share with you a combination of Oriental medical theory as well as recent scientific findings related to diet. The typical western diet is filled with substances that directly impair the reproductive capacity of both men and women. This article will focus on lifestyle patterns and foods that injure your fertility. Initially it can be overwhelming to review your diet, shift away from certain foods, and actively incorporate others. I encourage you to be realistic about how many changes to make at one time. Above all remember this: You have the power to make decisions about what you put into your system and thereby improve your fertility. A friend recently asked me what I think is the most deleterious factor impacting fertility. My immediate response: Modern lifestyle. Our lives are increasingly filled with packed schedules, time urgent tasks, and pressures to keep up the pace with all kinds of societal expectations. This lifestyle has a harsh impact on fertility. Many people have heard references to Yin and Yang or have seen the familiar Tai Ji or Yin/Yang symbol. It is a circle made of equal parts black and white. If the Tai Ji were to spin rapidly, the halves would blend so well that you would cease to be able to identify which part of the symbol is black or white. The Tai Ji reflects upon the wise and perfect balance in your body when you are in optimal health. Yin/Yang theory is a basic tenant of Oriental medicine. Yin and Yang substances comprise your body. These not only complement but also rely upon one another for your optimal fertility health. One way to conceptualize Yin and Yang is to think of opposites for example: cold/hot, dark/light, low/high, thick/thin, etc. These opposites not only attract; they depend upon one another. Contemporary life embodies the Yang of daily hustle bustle but frequently is deficient in the Yin of rest and rejuvenation. Allotment for recuperation and quiescence is not a luxury or a sign of weakness. It is a necessity. Yin and Yang depend upon each other for survival. Indeed this balance is an absolute requirement for your fertility. How do Yin and Yang imbalances impact you physiologically and reproductively? Being “on” all the time places your body into what is called a sympathetic state. Your nervous system has two divisions: the parasympathetic and the sympathetic. Not surprisingly these divisions also mirror Yin and Yang. The parasympathetic is Yin and the sympathetic is Yang. If, for example, you are a person who loathes breakfast, skips regular meals, lives on coffee, and has a stressful job, there is sympathetic pattern that will play out in your system. First your brain will register stress in your body. Your hypothalamus, which is part of your brain and integral in fertility function, alerts your pituitary gland that you are under duress. Your pituitary gland next signals your adrenals. Your adrenal glands are equipped to pump out the hormones cortisol and DHEA. If you remain highly stressed for extended periods of time, your adrenals become fatigued and function inefficiently. When this occurs the adrenals continue manufacturing cortisol, but they will be unable to make equal supplies of DHEA. Excess cortisol levels cause: Additionally, irregular meals cause drops in your blood sugar. Low blood sugar levels are yet another physiological condition that signals your adrenals to release cortisol. You can see that high cortisol levels impair your fertility as well as create circumstances that further challenge your quest to have a baby. The solution is to eat regularly scheduled, balanced meals and build time into your life for adequate rejuvenation. There is no pill, herb or supplement that bottles rest. Incorporate proper sleep into your life. The rule of thumb is to be in bed by 9PM and asleep by 10PM. Why? Your parasympathetic nervous system and liver do their work in the nighttime hours. Depriving your body of precious repair time will inevitably injure your fertility and overall health. Erratic sleep and eating patterns negatively impact your brain, specifically your hypothalamus. With respect to your fertility, the hypothalamic/pituitary/ovarian (HPO) axis is paramount. This axis is a precise communication of hormones between your brain and your ovaries. It is widely documented that stress disturbs the HPO. Do your part to keep your HPO balanced. Remaining in a sympathetic dominant state also imbalances your body’s pH. The sympathetic (Yang) state is associated with a more acidic pH. The parasympathetic (Yin) state is associated with a more alkaline pH in your body. The problem with being too acidic is that the delicate enzymes in your system work within very narrow pH parameters. Disruption of pH causes poor cellular function and accumulation of cellular waste products. Specific foods contribute to an overly acidic pH in your body. These days information pertaining to "alkalinizing" the body is readily available from many sources. For the purposes of this article, I will not address the topic at length. Instead I will provide for you a list of common acid-forming and alkaline-forming foods. Being that much of today’s diet is inherently acid forming, make efforts to choose from alkaline forming groups as much as possible. I will add that abstaining from coffee and tea is of incalculable benefit to your fertility. Not only does coffee acidify your body, from the standpoint of Oriental medicine it also directly robs energy from your fertility organs. Alkaline Fruits Acidic Fruits Alkaline Vegetables Acidic Vegetables Miscellaneous Alkaline Foods Miscellaneous Acidic Foods Alkaline Grains Acidic Grains Read labels to learn exactly what you are eating! A good rule of thumb is that if an ingredient lists is more than five items long, and has things listed that sound like they should be in a chemist’s lab experiment, it’s probably not the best choice for you. Preparing your own food as much as possible is recommended. In doing so, you know exactly what ingredients are involved. You can also make choices for higher quality ingredients when you are the cook. Cut out or severely limit intake of boxed, canned or prepared foods. Stay away from fast or instant foods. These contain high amounts of sodium and sugar. Excessive amounts of sodium and sugar disarm your natural satiety trigger and cause food cravings. As I’ve previously stated: You have the supreme power to decide what foods you put into your body. Making solid thoughtful decisions in this realm will support and enhance your fertility. Namaste and be well. Karen Reynolds, R.N., M.S., L.Ac.
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