My thoughts on infertility

My thoughts on infertility: (this is my own personal experience and what worked for me, I was TTC for 3 years, and I know that TTC is a hard, painful, very personal journey and different things work for different people) -
I know that eating avocado everyday for 4 months before I conceived my son really helped in the conception.  Avocados are a known uterus healer.  I also ate watermelon everyday, as it is a known overall body healer.  I was basically 80% raw foods (see my page) before my conception - this was after 3 years of TTC.  I conceived on January 13, 2009, on the 16th day of my cycle, 3 months into my raw food journey.  My husband and I were also drinking fruit and green smoothies which I believed also helped.  I was drinking raspberry leaf tea every day.  As well as taking certain vitamin supplements.  I figured if I wasn't willing to sacrifice all my favorite foods, then I wasn't doing everything I could to try to conceive.  I wanted a child, and was willing to change my lifestyle in order to achieve pregnancy.  After all, your lifestyle completely changes after the baby is here anyway.  Then I had to sacrifice even more foods and treats after the baby arrived to be on a colic-free Breastfeeding diet.  The first 20 weeks of my pregnancy really helped with that though as I could only eat 8 foods total (fruit, tomatoes, organic bread (didn't know about the gluten thing at the time), rice, oatmeal, potatoes, ham, watermelon) without being nauseous. I really wish I had known about quinoa at the time, I believe it would have helped.  So all these weeks of sacrificing food - before conception, during pregnancy, and now during breastfeeding - well, lets just say it gets easier over time.  But I still miss pizza. :)


My thoughts:  Its easier than you think to live without gluten, breads and grains.  I think the thing I miss most though is delivery pizza.  :P  But now there are gluten free pizza breads so that you can make your own pizza as a special treat, etc.  Check out my Breastfeeding diet page for more ideas on how to live a gluten-free lifestyle.
The hardest thing of course to give up is white sugar.  Some say it is easier to give up cocaine than it is to give up white sugar.  I still haven't given it up completely - I have fallbacks on caffeine free sodas, cake and donuts.  I didn't even like donuts before I started eating healthy, and now, every now and then, I'll crave one.  I've probably eaten a dozen donuts this past year, which is weird for me.  The main thing about indulging white sugar cravings is to be careful with it, don't go overboard.  And try a piece of fruit first, or eat a meal.  Sometimes when I get really hungry is when I start craving things that I know that are bad for me - so just don't get really hungry.  Also, don't go to the grocery store hungry, and don't buy things to bring home.  If you are going to indulge a craving, go out for it, don't bring it into your house.



Here's an interesting article on infertility:  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/02/23/can-foods-contribute-to-infertility.aspx 


And here is a good beginner plan for a gluten-free diet:  http://www.mercola.com/nutritionplan/beginner.htm



I read a bunch of natural fertility books - each one has different tips and strategies - and they are all interesting.  I'll post more on that later.  Here is my previous page on fertility books.