Fertilehealthy

I am so stiff today! I cleaned and scrubbed my house from top to bottom yesterday. Now I wonder if I should allow hubby and the cats inside the house so that they can mess it up again…

My father always says that Cape Town has only two or three perfect days each summer. Yesterday was one of them. There was no wind (halleluja!) and it was hot, but not scorching. Today, however, is overcast and cool and I even saw some spitting rain earlier. So much for having a picnic at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens this afternoon.  I wanted to emulate my blog theme!  (All the pictures in this post are from Kirstenbosch, which is literally just around the corner from here.)

It seems that Barack Obama is planning on turning the White House green. I’m happy to hear that… it’s up to each of us to do our bit.

There is another great video of an interview with Dr. Fuhrman that I would love to post here, but unfortunately I can’t.  I can only direct you to it.  Take a few minutes learn some more about natural foods and weight loss.

How many of you read Dad Gone Mad?  He’s given me a lot of smiles and even belly-laughs over the past year.  This week he asked the question, “What is the currency of blogging?” and came to the conclusion that it’s comments.  Bloggers love comments.  They connect us with our readers.  They make us feel validated, appreciated and supported.  I know that we’re often pressed for time when reading blogs, but DGM has issued the following challenge:  For the rest of the month, let’s take part in

Operation:  Comment Your Balls/Boobs Off (depending on your gender)

(Please note, I am paraphrasing DGM here!)

I think it’s a wonderful idea and have already started spreading the love.  It’s the season for giving.  Let’s give to one another.

Talking about giving, Big Girl has awarded me some bloggy bling.  I really appreciate the recognition.

To keep it going, I have to do the following:

1.  Pass it on to five fellow bloggers (always hard for me, since there are so many excellent blogs that I read).

• Pamela from An Ordinary Life
• Pattie from Attitude Changes Everything
• Fat Bridesmaid
• JM from Finally Getting Fit
• Dani from Kickin’ Away the Pounds NinjaKitee Style 

2.  Tell you about 5 of my addictions:

• oatmeal for breakfast
• the delicious summer fruits like peaches, nectarines and apricots that are in season now
• blogging
• reading
• CNN (but now that we don’t have TV anymore and the US Presidential election is over, I’m almost cured)

3.  Link back to the person who gave me this award.  Thanks Big Girl!  You rock!

Why is it that we can spend up to a year preparing for our wedding and months planning a vacation, but when it comes to having a child all we do is stop contraception and make like rabbits?  Did you know that horse breeders prepare brood mares for a few months before allowing a stallion near them?  They do this to get the best and healthiest foal possible.

There are a lot of good reasons why we should prepare our bodies (and by “our” I mean both partners) for pregnancy.

Female:

-  Pregnancy takes a lot out of the body.  For instance, the kidneys have to work almost twice as hard due to the increased blood volume and if they are not in good shape you may get pre-eclampsia or even full eclampsia, putting your own life and the life of the baby at risk.  Having a body that is in excellent health at the outset will make pregnancy more comfortable and safer for you and your baby.

- Even when availing yourself to ART (Assisted Reproductive Technologies), having your body in tip-top condition will greatly improve your chances of conceiving and maintaining a pregnancy.

-  If you are used to eating healthy and exercising before conception, you will be more likely to continue to do so during pregnancy and afterwards.  This will have a positive effect on your weight gain during pregnancy, the speed at which you lose your pregnancy weight, your milk supply and your emotional state after birth.  It will also greatly reduce your chances of suffering from Post-Natal Depression.

Male:

-  Sperm takes about 70 days to form and mature.  During those 70 days the little swimmers are very vulnerable to harmful substances from food and our environment.  Eating a nutrient-dense diet and making lifestyle changes will raise sperm counts, as well as the motility and quality of the sperm.

Both partners:

-  A superior diet and lifestyle will raise libido, which is of course a good thing when you want to make a baby.

-  Most of the fertility problems experienced today are lifestyle related.  A good nutrition and lifestyle plan can be up to four times more effective in helping achieve conception and a live birth than ART, at virtually no extra cost.  But more importantly, you will be healing the problem!

-  Excess weight needs to be lost before conception.  A healthy diet and lifestyle will get you to your perfect weight.  This will improve your chances of conception exponentially, but also make your pregnancy so much easier and safer.

Your baby:

-  When parents have learned good habits and gotten rid of their bad habits before conception, they are more likely to maintain a healthy lifestyle and feed their children wholesome foods instead of junk.

- An embryo is formed when a cell from the male partner (sperm) and a cell from the female partner (egg) come together.  Those cells carry our DNA and are only as healthy as the bodies where they come from.  Everything we put into our bodies (also the air we get when we exercise) affect our cells.  Cells are living organisms and they need to be fed, watered and oxygenated via our blood.  When we eat foods and substances that are toxic to the body and neglect to eat the foods that supply micronutrients, our cells and their DNA, get damaged.  We end up making babies with cells that are not all that healthy.  The child may seem fine but will have genetic predispositions for a whole range of health problems and diseases.

This knowledge is by no means new.  In the 1930’s Dr. Francis M. Pottenger, a dentist from California conducted what is known as the Pottenger Cat Study. 

He took 900 cats and divided them into four groups, which he fed different diets - varying the amounts of processed foods.

The cats that were fed the healthiest, most natural diet with no processed foods remained disease free, healthy and active.

The cats eating the least natural, most processed diet developed all kinds of health problems.  By the end of the lifespan of the first generation, many had been struck with degenerative diseases and had become quite lazy.  The second generation developed those problems, along with a few more, by the middle of their lifespan.  The third generation started getting sick in their youth.  Many were born weak and blind and didn’t survive long.  The ones who did survive had brittle bones and suffered adverse personality changes.  Males became more docile while females became more aggressive.  They had trouble reproducing.  There was no fourth generation.

I don’t know about you, but this sounds a lot like what is happening in the wold today and it scares the living daylights out of me.   I know humans are not cats,  and the process may take more than three generations, but consider this. Our grandparents got sick late in life, right?  And then, a lot of people in my generation’s parents were struck down in middle age with disease.  These days children are getting the diseases that only old people used to get.  One in four couples have trouble conceiving. 

If we are to be good parents, we should have the courage to change our bad habits and do what it takes to make sure that our children inherit the best possible genetic material from us.  Pottenger found that the damage could be reversed in one generation if the poor quality food was eliminated and replaced with good quality natural, whole food.

How long should one take to prepare for pregnancy?

Some doctors say four months, some say six, but Mary-Ann Shearer recommends at least a year.  Let’s be realistic, you’re not going to accomplish all that much in 4-6 months.  We’re talking about healing a lifetime of abuse here.  I’m taking the whole of 2009 to prepare.  At the end of 2009 I will assess the situation.  A lot will depend on where I am weight wise and fitness wise.  I have wasted the last two years instead of preparing.  I now know that there really are no quick-fixes or short cuts and I’m prepared to do what it takes.

How do we prepare?

Remember that parenting is a team-effort and so is preparing for becoming a parent.  If your partner is reluctant to participate, it may not bode well for his commitment as a father.  Negotiating this could be an excellent school for developing the communications skills you’re going to need when you’re a parent.

You may not require all of the following steps, but you will certainly need most. We’ll be looking at each of them in detail in the weeks to come:

- Detoxification

- Natural, whole foods diet

- Daily exercise

- Eliminating adverse lifestyle factors such as smoking and the use of recreational drugs.

- Implementing healthy habits

-  Eliminating negative emotions and cultivating positive ones (the mind/body connection)

-  Herbs and supplements

-  Complementary therapies

Preparing for pregnancy is not a punishment or sentence for crimes you commited against your body.  It is a wonderful opportunity to heal not only your body, but your emotions and your relationships.  You will not be the same person after one year.  You will be much better, inside and out. 

And if this looks hard… consider that the hardest thing you’ll ever do is to be a parent.  But it could also be the most rewarding.  Healing is the same.

I have always been a rebel. Maybe because I was an over-controlled child I just had to break free. Free from the mind-numbing boredom that was school, free from the constraints that my gender and parents laid on me, free from the sheep-like behavior of my contemporaries. As a teen I was never part of the pack - I was either leading the pack, or hanging out with my best friend, who was different to say the least.

My smoking and partying lifestyle was definitely a fine example of rebellion. As was my first marriage. But the ultimate act of rebellion was gaining weight. I remember innocuous remarks by my parents during childhood that made me think that I was fat. I was certainly bigger than most kids, but not fat. During puberty my dad would repeatedly tell me that I would become very fat if I continued eating that much. I guess something inside me said, “You want to see fat? I’ll show you fat!” And boy, did I ever!

Looking back now, I can see that I was a typical rebel without a cause. I was rebelling for the sake of rebelling. There was no purpose to it. And the one who suffered for it was me, not them (whoever they may be). I’m almost 40 and still undoing some of the damage and overcoming some of the problems my rebellion has caused.

But you know, once a rebel always a rebel. And being a rebel is not necessarily a bad thing. It can just mean marching to the beat of a different drum. It can mean living a very fulfilling and inspiring life. These days, I’d like to think that I’m a rebel with a cause.

- I rebel against the food industry that is more concerned about their bottom line than the size of my bottom or my health. I do this by eating only fresh produce and whole foods, preferably from local markets or CSA’s.

- I rebel against the medical establishment’s fascination with drugs and technology by healing my body through nutrition and lifestyle changes. I read the books of doctors, like Drs. Caldwell Esselstyn, Dean Ornish, Joel Fuhrman and John McDougall, who know that the body is an amazing organism, fully capable of healing itself if given the right tools.

- I rebel against the diet industry’s obsession with weight and deprivation. Yes, I weigh myself, but I also take my measurements and note the positive changes in my body. My aim is to be lean and heavy (with muscle) rather than light and flabby.

- I rebel against the media’s misinformation and ubiquitous advertising by not watching television, listening to the radio or reading magazines.

- I rebel against our culture’s obsession with youth and beauty. I am almost 40 and I have just begun! There will be no slowing down here. I’m going to love my wrinkles.

- I rebel against the notion that I am too old to start a family. I will be a mother.

-  I rebel against parents who are so ignorant that they feed their children in a way that will make them fat, exposing them to a childhood of ridicule and a lifetime of disease.

- I rebel against the statistics that say that I’m going to have breast cancer or cervical cancer (I fit the profiles perfectly), lung cancer (from having smoked most of my adult life), diabetes (I’m on a rather slippery slope) and heart disease. Not that the statistics are wrong, but because I am aggressively healing my body.

- I rebel against the condescending notion that one can make small changes in lifestyle and get big, miraculous results.

- I rebel against what is taught in schools and universities about nutrition, because I know who pays for those teaching materials and research has proven most of it wrong. Down with the Four Food Groups! Eating like that will make you fat and sick.

- I rebel against the fact that some drugs, like caffeine and sugar, are socially acceptable, while cigarettes, marijuana, heroin and crystal meth are reviled. They should all be regarded for what they are - mind-altering substances that wreak havoc in our bodies.

- I rebel against the fact that most people do not know what constitutes good nutrition and do not want to learn, even as they are drowning in misery and defeat.

- I rebel against my own weakness and self-sabotaging behavior. I will overcome this and I will succeed.

- I rebel against the fact that agri-business is destroying our farmland. If farming practices do not change drastically very fast, the USA will run out of topsoil in roughly 50 years. That will mean famine in our children’s lifetime.

- I rebel against the fact that our food choices are destroying our planet. Eating animal foods contribute more to global warming than all the cars, truck, ships and airplanes in the world.

- I rebel against the fact that our food choices are contributing to world hunger.  We are growing food for animals that only the rich can afford to eat, instead of growing food for people.

- I rebel against the fact that our love of animal foods is destroying the rain forests, the lungs of our planet, hand over fist and depleting our water resources.

- I rebel against the fact that animal anti-cruelty laws do not apply to animals grown for food.  They are kept in the cruellest and most deplorable conditions.  I take some consolation from the fact that they are avenged by the degenerative diseases humans suffer as a result of eating animal products.

- I rebel against the fact that the biotech industries have lobbied, and got, legislation that doesn’t allow genetically engineered food and foods containing growth hormones to be so labelled.

- I rebel against the fact that biotech companies have managed to patent seed, while buying up smaller seed suppliers, so that our future food supply is now in the hands of a few people who have displayed no scruples or ethics in the past.

- I rebel against the fact that the exorbitantly expensive and overburdened healthcare system is in fact only a disease-care system.

- I rebel against the fact that fast food is cheap. They should be subjected to the same taxes and levies as cigarettes, in order to pay for health care.

Okay, I have gotten progressively more worked up as I was writing. I am an angry rebel!

I only have this body. I have to do my best for it, especially after abusing it for so long. I know that I can not only arrest the damage, but I can become vibrantly and exuberantly healthy and one day die in peace, not pain and misery.

We only have this planet. We have caused incredible damage to it in the last 100 years. Some of it will never be reversed. But we can save it, not by making small changes to slow down the speed at which we are damaging it, but by making sweeping changes. Otherwise our children will have no home.

I know I can’t change the world. But I can change my world and my life. I can heal my body, lose weight and have children after being infertile for 20 years. And maybe then I can inspire someone to start questioning the way things are in today’s world. I can add my voice to a growing group of people who are concerned about the greed and exploitation of not only the earth, but of our health and lives. I can vote with my wallet by avoiding the products that cause harm and buying the ones that heal and sustain.

I am a rebel with a cause.  My whole life has been leading up to this…

I was going to write a review of Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s book Eat to Live today. I’ve been on the program for just over three weeks and it’s changed just about every aspect of my life… I have MUCH more energy, my skin is beautiful, my body shape is changing, I’m losing weight, I sleep better, snore less, I have a positive attitude, my digestive system is in tip-top condition, I’m more clear-headed, I have an appetite for life, I’m not retaining water, I have no cravings, I don’t feel hungry and my libido has increased (fortunately my husband’s following the program too!).  I get about five times more done in a day than a month ago.

But instead of a review (which I will do soon, I promise), I got an e-mail from Dr. Fuhrman with this video, outlining why and how the program works.  If you can do with any of the above changes, check out the video!

You can also read some success stories on Dr. Fuhrman’s website from people who have reversed heart disease, cured their constant headaches, asthma, chronic sinusitus, diabetes, lupus, arthritis, proriasis and many other conditions, lost weight, got fertile and changed their lives.

You don’t have to be addicted to food.  You don’t have to be sick.  You don’t have to be fat.  You don’t have to be tired.  You don’t have to be in pain.  You don’t have to live half a life.  The choice is yours.

I’m running around like a mad thing today, so I thought I’d post the recipes of two fabulous salad dressings that I’ve made in the last few days.  They’re healthy and easy to prepare.

Creamy Caesar Dressing

2/3 cup silken tofu or medium firm tofu
¼ cup filtered water
¼ cup lemon juice
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, peeled
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp salt
1 tbs capers

Puree all the ingredients in a blender until smooth

Tofu Mayonnaise

1 cup tofu
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs vinegar
½ tsp salt
¼ cup olive oil or sesame oil

Blend everything except the oil for a few seconds.  Without turning off the blender, slowly pour in the oil.  As soon as it’s mixed in, turn off the blender and transfer the mayonnaise to a suitable container and refrigerate for at least an hour.  Lasts up to a week in the refrigerator (but not in my house!).  This is delicious for making coleslaw and potato salad.

Talk about dressing, my clothes are definitely getting looser. I love it!