So Far So Good... and a Mini-Lesson on Fertility, Nutrition & Exercise

So here's an update on my "a bit more natural approach" to infertility over the past few weeks... so far, so good :) I've been enjoying my "green juice" and "green smoothies," which have definitely helped me get a healthy serving of some powerful super food greens, as well as other antioxidants.

Antioxidants greatly help in countering the negative effects of free radicals - which we all have floating around in our bodies and which are responsible for causing damage to your body at a cellular level. Therefore antioxidants help promote healthy cell development and regeneration, for example in egg and sperm development (which is obviously important for both women and men when TTC). Each food obviously has it's own benefits and effects, but in addition to antioxidants, some of the other main vitamins and minerals that are needed to help promote fertility include:

- Follate aka Folic Acid... which is an obvious one

- Zinc... used to create genetic material and help with healthy sperm production in males (preventing chromosomal abnormalities)

- Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids... help promote healthy hormone development and healthy brain development in your growing baby (once pregnant)

- Iron... low iron or iron deficiencies may impact ovulation (or contribute to anovulation - not ovulating)

This by no means is an exhaustive list, as there are definitely other vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that help with healthy fertility, but these are among some of the ones I've been focusing on... in addition to the vitamin regimen my fertility doctor (we'll call him Dr. M's) has me religiously on. This regimen consists of prescription grade prenatal vitamins, calcium, CoQ10, and a twice daily supplement powder (that you mix into water) called Pregnitude. It's definitely a lot, given that you have to take into consideration that certain ones have to be taken at certain times, with certain amounts of water, within certain restrictions regarding food, etc. - but nonetheless, a small price to pay for this miracle baby that will be coming our way soon (I'm speaking positive affirmations here!).

I've also been incorporating a pilates routine into my workouts that helps promote fertility. This series of pilates moves is supposed to help specifically with any types of adhesions, endometriosis, fibroids, scar tissues etc - and while I don't have endometriosis, I did have some issues with scar tissue and some minor adhesions that were blocking one of my tubes, so I'm hoping this can help keep any of that from forming again (especially post-surgery). 

This routine specifically is fairly simple (even if you've never done pilates before) and doesn't take a ton of time... I think the video is about 17-18min, and a couple of those minutes are the intro., so really about 15min. or less.  

Here's the video from Jessica at Happy Hour Mama (check out her website or her YouTube Channel for other pilates workouts)...

One thing that's made a big difference for me, and really helped motivate me to get back into doing some pilates (and a bit of yoga too), is the point that she makes in her video about the positive detoxifying effects of pilates. 

I try to stay fit and active and try to workout at least 4-5 days a week, but like she mentioned, my issue has been that a lot of my workout routines have consisted of more static movements (running, strength training, high intensity cardio sometimes); so what I was missing was a lot of the deeper movements, including extending, bending, twisting, etc, that pilates helps provide... and that help more effectively detox your body and organs. So it's really a win - win.. positive effects on your body and exercise to help lengthen and strengthen your muscles (and help promote weight loss as well!)

Alright, I'm going to get down from the pilates soap-box bandwagon, but just end by saying that's it's something to look into if you happen to be interested.

Other than that, I'm just here enjoying the patter of rain that we're getting at the moment :)