Improving diet for fertility: making the right choices


        IMPROVING DIET FOR FERTILITY: MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICES

Variety is the key to enjoying your food and eating for health, fertility and pregnancy. You need to choose your food carefully, because healthy food means healthy babies. Most supermarkets now stock quite a lot of organic produce. But you can also try shopping at health food shops and organic farm shops, some of which offer a mail order service.

Fruit and Vegetables
Buying organic produce will enable you to avoid pesticides, DDT and Kepone. These contain xenoestrogens which are oestrogen-like compounds that can upset the delicate male and female hormone balance. Although DDT is banned in the UK, it is still used in some developing countries and can therefore enter our food chain through imported produce. Organic food also contains more of the valuable nutrients which are essential for fertility. You should include plenty of organic fresh fruit and vegetables in your diet. Fruit is very versatile and can be enjoyed at any time of the day.
Dried fruits make a nice change, but you should avoid any that contain the preserving agent sulphur dioxide which is also used as a bleaching agent in flour. Sulphur dioxide occurs naturally but is produced chemically for commercial use. It is suspected of being a factor in genetic mutations and also of irritating the alimentary canal.
Supermarket dried fruits, such as mixed fruit, raisins and sultanas, often have mineral oil added to them to give them a shiny appearance and keep them separate. Try to avoid this kind of oil, as it can interfere with your absorption of calcium and phosphorus. As it passes through your body, mineral oil can pick up and excrete the oil-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) which you really want to retain.

Grains
If you only have a limited amount to spend on organic produce, then buy organic grains if nothing else. This is because grains are very small and can absorb more pesticides than other foods.

Breakfast Cereals
Shredded Wheat and Puffed Wheat (and supermarket own brands of these) are sugar-free. There are also a number of good no-added sugar mueslis and cereals available from health food shops and supermarkets now.
Muesli contains raw flakes of various grains and should be soaked for a minimum of ten minutes before eating, but soaking overnight is definitely best. Soaking enables the phytates (which can block the uptake of minerals from food) to be broken down properly.

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WOMEN’S HEALTH

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