Fertility Breakfast and NBC News

BREAKFAST OPTIONS
Topic I wanted to write about briefly today: breakfast. First, to be good to your blood sugar levels, it's important to have it, not to skip it. Second, the best kind of breakfast includes protein and fiber, and NOT processed sugar, so please don't even think about croissants, muffins or even bagels. Unfortuneately, sugar gets added to almost every cereal product too, in case that's what you're used to eating in the morning.

So what can you eat? And still be on a fertility diet? Here are some ideas:

• Whole grain oatmeal with raisins, walnuts or fruits and a dabbling of honey
• Eggs in all forms: scrambled with veggies, fried in healthy olive oil, and served with non-wheat, no sugar toast (for the toast, check out the Resources page of our website).
• Pancakes - gluten-free and sugar-free pancakes. I love Kamut pancakes made by Arrowhead Mills.
• Crepes made with rice flour and filled with fruit or, for salty, a mushroom sauce.

That's for starters. Let's get a little more creative, though and add in Asian dishes, such as:

• Fried rice with veggies and/or lean meat
• Noodles with veggies and/or chicken pieces

Yes! For breakfast! It's great to get your day off to a healthy, wholesome start!

Fertiltiy Diet: What, No Wheat? No Dairy?

WHY NO DAIRY? WHY NO WHEAT?
Because the reporter questioned it, I thought I would address it. Why is wheat and dairy prohibited on our diet when trying to conceive?

The arguments I have for taking either out of the diet are similar for both. Let’s start with wheat.  There are a few reasons it’s off the list.

1. It’s hard to digest. When trying to conceive, we want to ease the work of our digestion—which is the most labor-intensive function in the body—so as to have more energy available to nourish and heal other parts of the body, particularly our reproductive system.
2. A high percentage of people have a sensitivity to wheat and don’t even know it. This can lead to a host of problems, such as bloating, inflammation, fatigue. It can also affect thyroid function, which is important for fertility. It also means your body is working even harder to digest this food, and again, we want to ease the work of our digestion when trying to conceive.
3. Wheat can have a more acidic effect on the body when we need to maintain a more alkaline pH balance for health and fertility.

I offer similar reasons to stay off dairy:

1. Dairy unquestionably is hard to digest.  (http://fertilekitchen.blogspot.com/search/label/dairy)
2. Many adults are unable to process lactose, the sugar in milk, making it even harder on our bodies. Others still have a sensitivity to lactose.
3. Finally, there are a number of studies that link dairy to fertility issues, and for me that’s enough. Why take a chance?

Everyone is different and reacts differently to various types of foods. The guidelines we offer in our book are just that: guidelines.  Our guidelines are backed by research and are what worked for us; but nevertheless I believe it’s important to choose for yourself what makes sense to you to follow.

I also feel that if there is any chance a food item will cause an issue with fertility, just take it off the list, no questions. Why take any chances? Our time is so limited. Why not do all you can to optimize your fertility. Why not be able to say you did everything you could? That was important to me.

Here are some links:
http://shrinkingfibroids.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-avoid-wheat.html
http://www.endometriosiszone.org/content/congress_ASRM2003-mills.htm