All I want is Food and Creative Love

 Eating for Fertility Part I

in celebration of National Pregnancy Month!

Pardon the Rusted Root reference (all I want is food and creative love) but considering food and love have been bedfellows for centuries, I thought it was appropriate. Food and love, sounds like a fresh new relationship, doesn’t it? You know, the blissful ones, sharing chocolate cake, gazing at each other with honeymoon eyes.

So, say you’re past the honeymoon eyes phase and onto the seed germination phase….conception…baby making. Does one have to do with the other? Does it even matter what passes your lips? You betcha it does!!

What you eat BEFORE you get pregnant is important!

Hundreds of years ago, before people really knew what vitamins, minerals and nutrients were all about, people attributed qualities such as shape (ie: foods in the shape of sexual organs such as oysters and figs) or the food’s ability to make your temperature rise (e.g. chili peppers or curry) to increased potency or fertility.(P.S. That’s a picture of a fresh fig, one of my favorite fruits!) Aphrodisiacs aside, diet really can affect your ability to conceive. Positively and negatively. And believe it or not, there’s actually a bit more to aphrodisiacs than the shape and temperature of the food!!

Overly strict dieting and excessive exercise that results in extreme weight loss may result in loss of ovulation. On the other spectrum, too much eating resulting in obesity may also inhibit fertility. The diet of both men and women trying to conceive should be well balanced, consisting of whole foods rich in folic acid, Vitamin D, Vitamin E and Zinc. There are simple changes you can make to your diet to boost your fertility and bring your body into optimum baby making shape.The fun part is the food and creative love….aphrodisiacs!After conducting a little research on traditional aphrodisiacs and their nutritional content I found the correlation between tradition aphrodisiacs and preconception health to be uncanny! The ancient ones who ate whole foods rather than processed, chemicalized foods always got it right. Just check out a of the aphrodisiacs on the list below:Avacado: The Aztecs called the avocado tree “ahuacuatl,” which means “testicle tree” (avacados hang in pairs on the tree). Avacados provide nearly 20 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins and folic acid, all of which are essential for preconception health!

Banana Flower

Bananas: Do I really have to articulate why a banana is an aphrodisiac? Besides the banana flower’s amazing phallic shape, bananas are rich in potassium and B vitamins, necessities for sex hormone production. Bananas also provide 452 milligrams of potassium, 33 milligrams of magnesium, and just over 2 grams of fiber. They are high in potassium and a respectable amount of magnesium as well.

Chocolate: See, there really IS a God and the Aztec’s called chocolate the “nourishment of the Gods.” Not only is chocolate a superfood, it contains more antioxidants than red wine! So if you really want more bang for your buck, try sharing a glass of Cabernet with a small piece of dark chocolate.

Oysters: have been linked with love and sexuality for hundreds of years. The ancient law of similarities reasons that their similarity to female genitalia dictates they may in fact possess sexual powers!! Similarities aside, oysters are full of vitamins and minerals like A, B1, B2 ,C and D, calcium, iodine, iron, potassium, copper, sodium, zinc, phosphorous, manganese and sulphur and the all-important omega-3 fatty acids.

Pineapple: has been traditionally used as a homeopathic treatment for impotence. It’s an excellent source of the trace mineral manganese, vitamin C and a good source of vitamin B1, copper, dietary fiber and vitamin B6.

Other aphrodisiacs include almond, arugula, asparagus, basil, broccoli rabe, carrots, fennel, figs, garlic, ginger, honey, licorice, mustard, nutmeg, pine nuts, raspberries, strawberries, truffles, vanilla, and wine.

In Part II of Food and Creative Love: Eating for Fertility and I will provide a few recipes to boost your fertility while tickling your taste buds! When I first researched and wrote this blog entry, I had so fun doing the research and learning about it that I turned it into a workshop.  One of the most awesome things ever, is that a 41 year old woman that attended this workshop (last fall) is now pregnant and due in October!