By Guest Blogger on Friday 3rd February 2012

For centuries, the female menstrual cycle has been shrouded in mystery; a taboo subject, seen as unclean or a ‘curse’.  But it shouldn’t be like that.  Every woman has a right to know what is happening in her body, and the empowerment that comes with this knowledge is amazing.

Let’s look at some of the basics.  A woman’s menstrual cycle starts on the first day of her period and ends on the day before the next period starts.  There is a general assumption that the cycle lasts for 28 days – but in reality, only 5-10% of women have a regular 28 day cycle.  Another assumption is that a woman will ovulate in the middle of her cycle, usually taken to be day 14.  But if your cycle isn’t the textbook 28 days, then it is unlikely that you will ovulate on day 14.

The cycle is split into 2 phases.  The first phase – often called the pre-peak or follicular phase – starts on day 1 of the period and ends on the day of ovulation (referred to as the peak day).  The second phase – known as the post-peak or luteal phase – starts on the day after ovulation and ends on the day before next period starts.  The average length of the post-peak phase is 13 days, but this may vary for each individual.  However, this phase is generally very consistent so once a woman has worked out what her typical post-peak length is, it will only vary by a day or so every cycle.  This gives her a very reliable indicator of when her period is due.  In contrast to this, the pre-peak phase can be very variable in length, so this is what makes cycles irregular.

The key to being able to work out the length of these two phases is being able to identify when ovulation takes place.  There are a number of ways of doing this, ranging from ovulation predictor kits, taking temperature and monitoring changes in the cervix but by far the most simple and reliable method is to observe changes in cervical mucus.  A woman can do this by observing the tissue when she wipes, every time she visits the bathroom.

Changes in the mucus are governed by events that are happening in the ovary, as follows:

Every cycle, an immature egg is selected in one of the ovaries and a follicle will develop around the egg.  As the follicle gets bigger, it produces increasing amounts of the hormone oestrogen.  At the point of ovulation, the follicle bursts and releases the egg, which passes into the fallopian tube.  The follicle breaks down and becomes a corpus luteum.  The level of oestrogen drops and the corpus luteum produces another hormone called progesterone.  These two hormones cause significant changes to happen in the lining of the uterus, preparing it to receive and sustain a new life.  However, they also have an impact on the cervix, which is an organ at the opening, or neck, of the uterus.

The increasing level of oestrogen stimulates the cervix to produce a mucus discharge that starts off as a cloudy, white, sticky fluid, then progresses to become clear in colour and stretchy in consistency.  The woman is also likely to experience a sensation of lubrication when she wipes.  If you were to look at this mucus under a microscope, you would see that it is arranged in parallel strands.  These effectively act as swimming lanes and allow the sperm to swim through the cervix, into the uterus and out into the fallopian tubes ready to fertilise the egg.  The mucus also makes it a sperm-friendly environment and allows the sperm to survive inside the woman’s body for 3 – 5 days.

The woman will then notice a dramatic change and her cervical mucus will either dry up or revert to being sticky and cloudy again.  This coincides with the fall in the level of oestrogen and the rise in progesterone.  The last day that a woman experiences any mucus that is clear, stretchy or lubricative is known as her peak day.  This generally correlates with her day of ovulation, but as it is possible to ovulate before or after the peak day, she must consider that she is fertile as soon as she observes the start of her mucus symptoms until 3 full days after the peak.

When a woman’s observations are recorded on a chart she is able to quickly build up a picture of her cycles, identifying her fertile and infertile times.  This information can be used by the couple in two ways – either to help them to achieve or avoid a pregnancy.  However, it is much more powerful than this because charting will often reveal information about the woman’s gynaecological health.  Certain markers, such as the length and characteristics of the menstrual flow, the quality of the mucus and the length of the post-peak phase can indicate potential hormonal imbalances and physiological issues which may require medical treatment and lifestyle changes to address.  Stress can also have a huge impact on a woman’s cycle; the body recognises that it would not be good to have a pregnancy during a time of stress so it effectively puts ovulation on hold…resulting in a vicious circle.

The tools are there for you to work with your body, understand your fertility and regain control over what is happening to you using natural, ethical and holistic methods.  Embrace your cycle and unleash the power that it holds for you.

Sarah Finch FCP is a practitioner teaching the Creighton Model FertilityCare System.  She is based in Reading, Berkshire,UK and works in conjunction with the LIFE FertilityCare Clinic in Leamington Spa, which provides NaPro (Natural Procreative) Technology treatment.  For more information, please visit www.natural-fertility.org.uk.

What methods do you use to track your cycle?

You can have your cake and eat it too! There is no more pleasurable way to indulge than with scrumptious, rich yet highly nourishing desserts. ‘A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips’ – we’ve all heard that one before, right? With these cakes, rather than simply satisfying a moment of gustatory enjoyment, you are also bringing in a fresh stock of vitamins, minerals and enzymes into your body. A power cake if you will.

Not to diss great tasting, beautiful looking ‘regular’ cakes…but, well, yes, I’m going to! Underneath that pretty exterior they are full of anti-nutrients which actually sap your store of vitamins, minerals and enzymes which are summoned to break them down and make sense of the processed, refined food stuffs you’ve just ingested so that it can transform them into something useable for the body, neutralise their harmful effects and/or eliminate them. That’s a lot of work. Work makes us hungry. So we reach for more.

Raw ingredients in their natural food state come ready packaged with the enzymes* required for their digestion and actually bring your body vital nutrients. Don’t go overboard, they still contain a significant amount of natural sugars and sugar, at the end of the day, is still sugar. They are to be eaten as treats, little mouthfuls of pleasure every now and then. The idea that cakes are a ‘treat’, to be had on special occasions has been somewhat lost in modern living when stress, busyness, feelings of loneliness and emotional eating have us reaching for the closest substitute to actually feeling what we are feeling.

But I digress, back to the cakes (which, by the way, are ridiculously easy to make and, bonus, you can’t burn them!)…

Here‘s the so-easy-it’d-be-rude-not-to-make-it recipe for the Chocolate Orange Cake.

Those are goji berries on top and some orange zest shavings. If you're wondering what the chocolate looking sauce on the banana in the background is, here's how you make it: 1/2 cup cacao powder, 3/4 cup maple syrup, 4 teaspoons exra virgin olive oil

This Cashew ‘Cheese’ Cake is the most amazing alternative to using dairy. To make the strawberry coulis: blend 2 cups strawberries, 1/2 cup pitted dates in a food processor until mixed well. Divine!

I challenge any healthy eating nay-sayers to hide their delight when taking a bite out of one these cakes. How about arranging a raw cake tea-party for a group of friends? What’s your favourite ‘healthy alternative’ dessert recipe?

If your mouth is watering just reading this recipe or you’ve already run out, bought the ingredients and blended it up, please share it with your friends on facebook and twitter using the icons at the top of this page or by forwarding this post (just think – they might make it for you next time you’re invited over for dinner…)

* enzymes are damaged when cooked over 42 degrees. Our bodies have a limited stock of enzymes.

I’m often asked what the major breakthroughs were on my journey to eating a super healthy diet, what tipped the balance so that I live this way every day. I was thinking about this as I washed the dishes last week and realised that I could pinpoint 7 major changes from which all other changes seemed to stem. May this post encourage and inspire those of you who think that a change of diet is radical and nigh on impossible.

It goes without saying that to let something new in, whether physical or emotional, one needs to let go of some of the old stuff that’s holding us back. More often than not we don’t realise what we’re holding onto and what’s holding us back until something is said, done, seen, heard or experienced that brings that all-important ah-ha moment that propels us onward and upward.

Like many women, I always had a troublesome love/hate relationship with food, enjoying it, then beating myself up about it, weighing up my various options before biting into whatever it was I’d decided on, eating around a craving until I finally had to cave in and eat that too. I definitely enjoyed eating and never managed to diet. That said, the ‘fat’ feelings, guilt, self-blame that came with it just wasn’t serving my happiness at all. To be honest, it’s just boring to analyse food before you eat it, after eating it, simultaneously judging yourself before and after. Along with the liberation of my food complexes came the liberation of a few extra brain cells which I can now use to my full benefit and enjoyment!

I’ll stop rambling and get to the point. Here’s what I let go of:

• Should eat healthily: eat this, not eat that etc changed to want to eat this, not that because it makes me feel better
• Rules: this has got to be one of the most boring aspects of ‘healthy’, which is quite simply why I don’t do it. Rigidity leads to cravings and constant battles with that part inside of you that wants the forbidden fruit (our first sister on this earth showed us that that’s impossible, even for the ‘purest’ of us!). I love chocolate. Always have. Always will (well, who knows, but I’m guessing that’s not going to change any time soon). So, instead of banning chocolate, I upgraded and made sure I only ate 70% + dark chocolate. Guess what? I don’t crave it anymore (due to a balanced diet, not just the upgrade). I eat it out of choice when I feel like it. To drive this point home a little more, I was a ‘Mars a day helps you work, rest and play’ kinda girl. I do not even bat an eye-lid walking past a Mars bar now and could not imagine even taking a bite out of one. That, my friends. Is a miracle!
• Results. Focusing on certain foods according to how much weight you might or might not put on keeps the focus on, you guessed it, the weight. I ditched my bathroom scales. I started to feel how I felt in my body instead of what was looking back at me in the mirror and what I though other people were seeing. I got rid of my ‘agent’ and came out as me.

One of the first things I tell my clients when I start working with them is that it’s what you start by putting in that’s going to make a massive difference to your health and ultimate success in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Putting good stuff in automatically leaves less space for the ‘bad’ stuff. Over time, the balance tips significantly and ta-da! you’re eating at least 80% health & energy rockin’ stuff and 20% ‘oh, is that’s what’s available to me right now’ guilt-free enjoyment. Eating this way allows you to eat foods you wouldn’t usually without any guilt attached as you know that this is an exception to the rule, rather than the other way around. It’s what you do most of the time that counts, not what you do some of the time.

Here’s what I added in:

• 2 liters of pure water a day. Before I ‘became healthy’ I was a camel. Seriously. I can’t remember ever going to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Only the Universe knows how I made it this far without cracking and flaking into a heap of dust on the floor.
• made friends with a juicer. My brother and I used to live together. He bought a juicer. I am not a gadget woman. That thing looked scary to me. No joke. Brother Charlie went on holiday. He came back and my first words were ‘I’ve made friends with the juicer’. Although said juicer is now in Germany, it has been replaced by a just as loved cousin and we remain firm friends. Amazing.  Or a blender, I could have started with a blender. But I just happened to start with a juicer. Getting those vitamins and minerals in in one glass makes a massive difference.
• I made my own muesli. For someone who practically used to wake up with a spoonful of boxed cereal in her mouth (Rice Crispies as a child, Special K, Fruit n’ Fibre as an adult) before being able to face the day, this was a massive change. I didn’t like muesli. Not at all. I made my own. I thought it was the most delicious food on earth. Why? Because I had lovingly made it. It is so simple, believe me, but to me this was massive. It made me realise that preparing healthier options does not have to take more time or effort. If I can ‘cook’, anyone can cook.
• learnt to cook quinoa. Keen-wah? Yes, keen-wah, that’s how you pronounce it. I had no idea what it looked like. I could barely cook pasta correctly. I bought a pack, read the instructions. It’s now one of my favourite foods. It (and it’s fellow gluten-free cousins such as buckwheat and millet – I still haven’t mastered the amaranth yet) allowed me to ditch the gluten and find a flat stomach. Another miracle.

Of course I have made many more changes but these stand out as making the biggest impact on me at the start of my journey. It’s all about placing one foot in front of the other. One change here and there leads to massive leaps in faith, effect and benefit. With the appropriate knowledge and support anyone can do it. You deserve the best. Like I did, and do. The power of food over our entire lives is really quite astonishing.

I’d love to hear about your major health breakthroughs. What is the one thing that really helped you to eat a healthier diet and improve your health?

There’s a lot of conflicting information and confusion around fat, with health warnings on the one hand and health benefits on the other. This post will give you some background into this large topic to give you a basic understanding of what’s what. 

What is fat?
Otherwise known as lipids, fats are made up of saturated and unsaturated fats. All fats are actually a combination of these, just in greater or lesser concentrations.

Why do we need fat?
Fat is essential for our health and well-being. Here are some of the main reasons:

• We need them for our bodies to be able to absorb and use essential fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, K
• They provide essential fatty acids (EFAs). A bit about these later on
• Help make hormones
• They form our cells’ membrane (think of it as our skin). Without this, our cells cannot function optimally, ensuring that essential nutrients move in and waste moves out of the cell. This is fundamental for every aspect of our health
• Our brains are our fat richest organ at about 60% fat
• They provide an energy source for our body (not the primary one, that’s provided by carbohydrates)
• It provides essential protection in the form of ‘cushioning’ for our body. Everybody needs a little padding to protect our skeleton and organs and help to keep us warm
• Required for growth and development
• Contribute to satiety levels (feeling of fullness after eating)

What are Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs)
These are essential because they cannot be made in the body so must be obtained from our diet. The ideal ratio of omega 6:omega 3 is 2:1 but out modern diets have tipped to an imbalance of up to 20:1. Omega-6 is a pro-inflammatory whereas omega-3 reduces inflammation.

Omega-6 is found in vegetable oils (sunflower, safflower, corn, canola, soybean) as well as animal fat, nuts, soy, commercially baked and processed goods.
Omega-3 is present mainly in oily fish (salmon, herring, sardines, mackrel), fish oil (as a supplement), walnuts and flaxseeds (canola oils is high in omega-3 but also contains a high amount of omega-6 which does not make it a suitable source of omega 3).
We need both omega 6 and 3 for health, but you can see from the above food groups how modern diets greatly favour omega-6, leading to imbalance and inflammation in the body and a host of illnesses such as depression, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, ulcerative colitis, stroke, cardiovascular diseases (inflammation is the route cause of all disease in one way or another).
The health virtues of vegetable oils may have been heralded in the not so distant past, but this is certainly an example of getting ‘too much of a good thing’. As with everything all in life, health is a question of balance and it is essential to:

1. supplement with omega-3 oils and food sources
2. reduce your consumption of omega-6 fats and oils

Trans fats
When it comes to the good, the bad, these are the downright ugly of the fat family. Trans fats are what is, among nutritionistas, known as a ‘franken-food’. The practice of hydrogenating liquid oils began so that they could have a longer shelf life and withstand food production processes. Trans fatty acids are the result of this hydrogenation and are found in many packaged, processed foods and snacks such as margerine, microwave popcorn, fried foods, industrially baked goods (think: doughnut etc). You definitely want to stay away from transfats which are linked to heart disease, diabetes and other degenerative diseases. Research shows that consuming them may reduce fertility by at least 73% and stunt the growth of fetuses in the womb. As well as being the first country to impose a fat-tax, Denmark was also the first country to ban transfats in 2004 and has since reported a 30% reduction in cardiovascular disease.

Why ‘low fat’ replacements are no good
Low fat diet options may have a reduced fat content but they have also been stripped of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, instead supplemented with artificial replacements which your body does not recognise. This makes it harder for your body to break them down and put them back together again in a form that it might be able to use.
Low fat diets mean a reduction of our good HDL cholesterol resulting in a higher level of ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol.

What’s the deal with cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a type of fat that is found in animal products (eggs, meat, dairy, fish) and it is also made in our liver (a clear sign that our bodies need some fat – our own physiological nature does not work against us). We actually need cholesterol to make hormones, vitamin D and bile which helps our bodies to metabolise dietary fat.
There is ‘good’ cholesterol and ‘bad’ cholesterol. HDL is the good guy, LDL is not. A healthy level of HDL in the blood helps to protect us against heart disease whereas high levels of LDL increase this risk.
As well as dietary (omega-3 helps to lower LDL cholesterol) and hereditary factors, exercise is important in helping to maintain healthy cholesterol levels in our blood. So get off the sofa, get your groove on or go for a jog!

Find out about which fats and oils to use in cooking here.

By Guest Blogger on Friday 27th, 2012

Why is Mother Nature Pushing the Pause Button?

Many do not soul search until something that truly matters is threatened. But the great fact is this; you are a caterpillar ready to become a butterfly. Did you know that under all of your fertility struggles there is still progress being made on your behalf? Even though you cannot see it the most powerful of changes is occurring because any growth that emerges from deep within you is fertile energy. “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over…” don’t give up before the miracle, before you emerge a butterfly. We all have wings but we don’t all use them. Now, we are being asked to fly.

About More Than You Think

Where we have been on this journey, ‘thinking’ has become our worst enemy and, fertile Living shows us how to make it our greatest ally. We all need time to reset and refresh and “reboot.” And when we don’t do it for ourselves, nature finds a way to do it for us. And now, we are asking more from life so life, as it seems, is now asking us to meet her halfway with a new way of being. “The pause” does not mean barren, only fallow. There is nothing *wrong* here, just that in her wisdom, what if Mother Nature has pushed the pause button on our behalf until we rest enough to become ripe and juicy? Mother Nature knows best and knows the exact ingredients needed for this perfect baby cake, whether we like it or not.

Under it all, we are all energy. Science tells us that what is seen by the naked eye is 4% of the known Universe. The remaining 96% is unseen, and so only 4% of your fertility process is the manifested baby. You have 96% that is unseen available to you, energy working tirelessly on your behalf, behind the scenes, within the core of you. What makes up this “energy” is a combination of your beliefs, your thinking, your heart and emotions, your ambition and desires, your attitude and outlook, your unique one-of-a-kind soul and spirit. It is all moving toward creation, even now. What you are learning to do is tip the scale to lean more toward life than you ever have before.

Through the depths of our pain dol we reach the height of our joy. The most precious of jewels found deep in the earth have been through great fires and trials. You are also of the earth, and your treasure is being unearthed even now. Like the diamond, this pause, when used to its full advantage, will carve us out, season us, soften us, and bring to light that which must fall away, that wasn’t strong enough to stay, that wasn’t serving your DNA or the life of your child. Our struggle is proportional to how tightly we are holding on to that which we are being asked to let go of. Even our child, if we are holding on too tightly. Whatever it is, rest assured it is not serving you. Mother nature only serves the highest good. It is not personal. But when we need a “makeover” she is sure to help us get there one way or another.

Know the difference: If there is no permanent tissue damage, know you are fallow, not barren. Mother Nature in her innate wisdom is pushing the pause button for you, for a reason that can only serve to improve your ability to show up as a viable option for growing and nourishing a life. Any farmer knows a field must rest between crops to allow the soil to become rich again, just by allowing it to be still to let nature take its course. If we rush or force it and do not honor nature’s timing, the soil will be too depleted to bear fruit (barren). We will be wasting our life force energy forcing something that wasn’t organically ‘meant to be’ until a few months from now perhaps, when we have allowed earth and life to work their magic; all elements and chemicals are aligned, perfectly combining in a proper way in its proper time.

According to Bruce Lipton and Epigenetics, this is very real. We DO have power to help our fertility by changing the environment of our cells. That means healthy in all areas of living, inside and out. Not much probably needs to shift, but as we become aware of what is fertile and not fertile in our behaviors, attitude and way of life, we grow in the direction of our dream.

Do you know, without a shadow of a doubt you are going to be a mother? Start here. Let your inner guidance and inner knowing be your strength. Think for yourself, trust what you know.

There is nothing wrong with how or what we create – just as long as we do. Some have children, others learn they were meant to create empires. It is the way nature balances out the population. How we contribute good to the planet and what is the best way to do that becomes our higher question. Trust your inner knowing, clarify the true, deeper calling within you, and never give that up. The Universe does not offer up a desire to us without giving the means to see it through to fruition. We are just being asked to look at it through a different lens is all, and this new lens could very well make all the difference. Like a filter, this new lens purifies what passes through it to allow only the best qualities through.

What if the answers to infertility not only lie with omitting GMOs and toxins on the outside, but what of the inside? What if the quality of our inner life helped to spark and ignite this little star we are trying to birth? For example, everyone wants to feel happy, connected, free and supported. Have you lost touch with any of these? Are you remaining connected with your inner peace, creative flare, playfulness, open heart or kind nature? What if we are being invited to unwind from a behavior or attitude that is not so good for us or, more importantly, for our child? Only you can know what that is for yourself, but the very act of awareness toward self-care, service and nurturing can yield wondrous results when it comes to ‘activating’ our fertility.

I believe in my deepest heart that the wisdom of earth and the universe is speaking directly to you in such a way that only you have the key to unlock it for yourself through the simplest of acts. Simple and good, are the cornerstone to a pure life.

Elisabeth Manning is a spiritual human potential coach with backgrounds in Child Psychology, energy medicine, and addiction recovery. She carries a special passion for assisting parents in creating the ideal environment for nurturing a child’s highest potential by birthing the best version of themselves, first.

Women. It’s no secret that our moods and energy levels fluctuate throughout the month according to our hormonal cycles.  Rather than feeling under siege, powerless ‘against’ them, what if you could work in partnership with these waves, with your body in order to bring increased energy and flow into your life? Imagine a life where you could be your best on any day of the month according to what your body and mind need at that particular time. What this means for your happiness and success is huge!

There is a way that we can live in harmony with our cycles: by listening to our bodies and knowing where we are. This was inherent wisdom for our ancestors but modern woman has, by and large, chosen to ignore these monthly cycles by living each day like the next, pushing through and blaming ourselves when we feel low on energy or not on top form. No wonder this leads to emotional crisis, meltdowns and feelings of inadequacy or failure. Here is how you can follow nature’s lead throughout the four main parts of your hormonal cycle in order to tap into your inherent femininity and thrive throughout the month:

Menstrual phase (days 1-7): this is when we are most pensive and experience low physical and mental energy. This is a time of rest and minimal activity. Avoid caffeine and give yourself a well-earned break. Use this time to evaluate and look over the past month, to look inwards and consider how you feel about the last few weeks – what went well, what you could do differently next time, what you have learnt, what do you want for the month ahead etc.

Follicular phase (days 7-14): is when your eggs are maturing.  This is when you are at your most creative and motivated so it’s a good time to plan and start new projects, activities or adopt new healthy eating habits. This is also a time of high energy and positive thinking. Get active, go for a jog or join a zumba class! Harness that natural motivation to feel really good about yourself. Eat little and often during this phase.

Ovulatory phase (days 14-21): this is when an egg is released to allow for conception to take place. Many women feel sharp or achy twinges on the left or right side of their lower pelvic region where the ovaries are located. You may also have noticed that this is a time when you wear more dresses, skirts, low cut tops and figure hugging clothes! This is because this is the time of the month when feel most sensual, caring and are most communicative (makes sense really, this is the time when nature wants us to to make babies!). Use this time to have important conversations, clear up any outstanding issues that need to be discussed or make an impression – try timing any first dates, public speeches or workshops for this time. This is also a good time for social arrangements and get-togethers. You may feel the urge to bake and prepare nurturing foods for those around you. Go wild, let that domestic goddess out to play!

Luteal phase (days 21-28): is when your uterus lining thickens to create a nurturing environment should conception take place and if not, this lining is shed during menstruation.  At this point in your cycle your energy is lower, you feel more anti-social and are naturally more inclined to want to rest your body and mind. If feelings of frustration come up, go for a gentle jog or try some gentle exercise such as yoga.  This is a time when you are most detailed oriented. Use this opportunity to work on projects that require attention and precise planning. This is also a good time to Spring clean and get those niggly jobs done from your to-do list. Eat little and often to manage blood sugar levels.

Task: Now, Ladies, go do it, the world needs you!
Using the information above, plan the next couple of months in accordance with your hormonal cycle and see the difference. Learn to love your body and its cycles and work with it to help you feel and be your best by going with the flow and accepting where you are at on this particular day.

If you found this post useful, do all of (Wo)mankind a favour and share it with your sisters! Let us know how you get on with this new ebb and flow – has it made a difference in your life, do you feel more at peace with yourself and your fluctuating emotions and energy levels?

By Guest Blogger on Monday 16th, 2012

A couple of months ago my boyfriend and a group of colleagues went off to Cologne, Germany, to represent their company at an international trade fair for a week. Here’s how Dominic kept up his healthy eating habits whilst staying in a hotel:

I knew that it was going to be hectic and – though business-wise perfectly organized – that the catering would most likely not be on the priority list. I was not wrong: our daily lunch ‘ration’ consisted of a packaged salad with heavily processed ham and cheese and a good old German pretzel (‘old’ – dry and rock solid). I had a pretzel as I used to love them back in the days (alas, refined flour and other foods just don’t taste as they used to now that I eat a 100% organic, fresh and whole foods diet), but the salad put me off before even touching it. Luckily I came prepared!

The week before leaving for Cologne I ordered a small travel blender online – one of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time. Small, efficient and perfect to make tasty smoothies on the go! The first thing I did after checking-in at my hotel was to locate the closest health food shop / supermarket selling organic fruits & vegetables. At first I was a little concerned about storage as I didn’t have a fridge in my hotel room, but as it turned out I didn’t need one. I prepared my 3 daily meals in my hotel room/bathroom.

I discovered an organic health food shop in one of Cologne’s train stations where I could stock up on rice milk, oat flakes and dried fruit  for breakfast (to escape the hotel buffet which was along the same lines as the lunch time salad-pretzel-no-nutrient-trap) which I ate out of the cup part of my travel blender. Bonus: as well as a nutritious breakfast you save time by not going down to the breakfast buffet so get a longer lie-in.

For lunch: banana, avocado, apple, fresh spinach leaves, bottled water and a touch of lime. The perfect smoothie which kept me going until dinner time.

When it came to dinner it was a little more difficult as I didn’t want to live of nothing but smoothies every day for a week. I ate out with colleagues a couple of times and on the evenings I had to eat alone I decided to avoid the pizza and kebabs and bought olives, carrots, bell peppers, dip and live yogurt to eat in my hotel room. Interestingly enough I found that I wasn’t that hungry in the evenings – a sign of how nutritious my smoothies were.

As you might have noticed, all of the ingredients mentioned above do not need any refrigeration (except the yogurt, which I bought on the way home) and could easily be stored in my hotel room. If you do need to keep ingredients cool you can either fill the bath or sink with cold water and ice or you can put your ingredients in a plastic bag and hang it out the window (be safe about this!). One doesn’t have to go as far as I did when it comes to eating healthily when on the road, but I decided to treat this week as an experiment to see if it could be done on a practical level. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be so easy: preparing the smoothie and cleaning the equipment took less than 5 minutes! With a bit of advance planning, you can keep up healthy eating habits on the road:

Here’s what you need:

• a travel blender (you can get good ones on Amazon for around £20-30. Make sure you buy one where the cup comes with a lid so it can be used ‘to-go’)
• a pocket knife (to chop the fruit and vegetables)
• some dish washing liquid and a sponge (to clean your blender, although you could get away with using really hot water)
• a spoon (if you intend to make your own cereal)
• It’s useful to have big coat pockets, if somewhat a little strange to find yourself walking around town with a couple of smoothies in your pockets!

For more healthy eating road trip ideas read this post.

What are your tried and tested healthy eating on the road tips?

By Guest Blogger on Friday 13th, 2012

The 4 S’s for Pregnancy Success! Number 1: STRESS

OK, so you may think that stress isn’t really a key to pregnancy success.  You’re right – stress in its many forms can often be harmful to our overall health and well-being, including of course your reproductive health and your fertility.  So what we’re talking about here is stress management or stress reduction – or better still, stress elimination!!

Let’s look at why dealing with stress is an important key to pregnancy success, and shouldn’t be ignored.

Research shows that stress can have a harmful effect on fertility, and that using mind-body relaxation techniques can improve the chances of conception. And the science behind this is that stress hormones such as cortisol inhibit the body’s main sex hormone (GnRH) which subsequently suppresses sperm count, ovulation and sexual activity. Plus stress also increases levels of a reproductive hormone called GnIH.  This hormone puts the brakes on reproduction by directly inhibiting GnRH as well.*

What that all means is that stress is bad news for your fertility.  And while the damage wrecked by stress hormones goes on hidden within your body, there are much more tangible effects of stress that you may notice in day to day life.

For example, have you ever been so stressed, perhaps by issues at work that getting your period has felt like the last straw and you’ve broken down?

Or have you felt so disheartened and stressed by repeated negative pregnancy tests or failed treatments, that the thought of picking yourself up and trying again has felt almost impossible?

And who could blame you for feeling this way.  Infertility is stressful, and it’s definitely not easy to keep going with a positive mindset and optimistic outlook.

However, what I’m suggesting – and this is why this is the first of my S’s to pregnancy success – is that it’s essential to find a way to manage stress, before it has a real negative impact on your fertility.

So ask yourself if you have a way of managing stress right now.  And I don’t just mean reading a book to escape for an hour, or taking a long bath.  You know these will only give short term relief, and not provide the deep level of relaxation and emotional healing that is required to quieten down the stress hormones.

EFT is a fantastic technique to use to turnaround negative thoughts and feelings to positive.  It can help eliminate stress by reducing the emotions that are triggered in you such as anxiety, worry, and fear, and encourage your own natural positive, rational and healthy thought and feelings to come forward.

So what is EFT and how does it work?

EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques, and is one of the most effective techniques for emotional support through infertility.  Based on the same energy system as the 5,000 year old science of acupuncture, EFT is an extremely cutting edge and amazingly effective part of a new concept called Energy Psychology.  This technique works by tapping on specific stress release points on the face, upper body and hands while focussing on the issue and saying reminder words and phrases.  The theory is that by tapping on these points linked to the Chinese meridians we are rebalancing the body’s energy, and can then respond to stress in a more rational and logical way.  I see EFT help uncover innate resilience and strength; something that is often well hidden by a layer of anxiety and other emotions that have been learned from our experience of life so far.

It is stunningly simple and used correctly with an experienced practitioner it can help bring about a total shift in emotions – from negative to positive, hopeless to optimistic. How useful would you find that right now?

Although many people are sceptical of EFT and wonder how a simple tapping technique can bring such positive and long term results, once experienced first-hand they are won round and EFT soon becomes a much valued technique, that literally puts you back in control of your emotions.

Let me leave you with one thought.  It’s how The Stress Management Society defines the cause of stress:

“Stress is caused by two things. Primarily it is down to whether you think situations around you are worthy of anxiety. And then it’s down to how your body reacts to your thought processes.”

Do you know what is exciting about these facts about stress?  The fact that it isn’t something that happens TO you; it’s a reaction that you have internally.  And that means that YOU are in control of your reaction to stress.  Wow!

This blog was the first is a series of blog posts by Sarah Holland at Fertile Mindset titled ‘The 4 S’s to Pregnancy Success!’.  To read the other 3 as soon as they’re published, to learn more about EFT, and sign up for news and support from Sarah visit http://www.fertilemindset.com/blog

Added by Caroline: You can also purchase Sarah’s Overcoming Infertility with EFT e-book following this link and Sarah’s Fertility Audios which contain a huge amount of information from top fertility experts by following this link.

*References for research: Domar, A., Clapp, D., Slawsby, E., Dusek, J., Kessel, B., Freizinger, M (2000) Impact of group psychological interventions on pregnancy rates in infertile women. Fertility and Sterility Vol. 73, no.4 April; Elizabeth Kirby, University of California, Berkeley

/diˌtɒksəfɪˈkeɪʃən/ [dee-tok-suh-fi-key-shuhn]

The purpose of detox programs is to educate and guide y’all on how to facilitate the elimination of these toxins at a cellular level and out of the body. If they hang around, they float around in your blood messing with your pH, get stored in your cells, lead to inflammation, minor symptoms and eventually chronic illness. Imagine fish in a tank. The fish are your cells. How healthy do you think they’ll be if they are swimming around in old, murky water full of nasty bacteria? That’s right, they’ll get sick and die. When your cells are in bad shape so are you. You are your cells. All however many trillion of them that make up your tissues, organs, skin, hair etc.

Modern life bombards us with stressors from all sides. What to do? Helping our bodies cope with these and eliminate them leads to increased physical and emotional health and longevity. Taking part in a specialist-led detox program motivates you, keeps you on track and teaches you the essentials of both short term intensive and ongoing daily detoxification.

What, how, why, when to detox? Read more here, here and here.

Try it,.Clean up your act and feel the difference! Join us on one of our fabulously informative, fully supported detox programs!

Has this post helped you understand the important role that detoxification plays in your overall health?

It’s raining…it’s snowing…it’s windy…in any case it’s bloomin’ cold outside!…and you’re all cosy indoors, that open fire roaring and crackling away (imagination, my friends, is a wonderful thing)…all you need now is a wonderful winter warmer.  Here are two of my favourite dairy free options. Both recipes have a mild taste, not too sweet, not too strong. I think they’re just right. They can be made using any non-dairy milk of your choice – nut milks, amaranth, quinoa, gluten free oat, rice, coconut.

serves 2

The Real White Chocolate Cuppa

Why do I call this a real white chocolate cuppa? Well, that’s because it’s made with cocoa butter – minus the milk powder, hydrogenated oils and whatever else commercial white chocolate has added to it. This is the real deal my white chocolate loving friends, the real deal.

- Grate 2-4 T cocoa butter into a pan with 1 liter dairy free milk of your choice (I use almond or oat milk but prefer oat milk for this)
- Warm up, but do not boil or you’ll loose the qualities in the raw cocoa butter
- Add 1 t vanilla powder
- Add 2 T coconut palm sugar
- Give it a blitz in the blender for that creamy, frothyness we love in a good hot chocolate.

Maria’s Chai Tea

This recipe was sent to me by my lovely client Maria who insists that this is the best chai recipe in the world!

We make this without the black tea simply because we don’t have any at home – we’re herbal tea drinkers. Although, in Maria’s words “if you add a bit of black tea to the boil it’ll taste more like the real mccoy and following my bible / ayurvedic book – ‘ayurvedic cooking for self healing’, usha lad and dr vasant lad – the cardammom will help neutralize the effects of the caffeine, up to you lah (as they say in Singapore)“.

In case you’re wondering about being able to leave the sweetener out, here’s Maria’s answer “in ‘chai cases’ you MUST add some sweetener, I normally add a tad of molasses”.

What are your favourite dairy free, refined sugar free winter warmers?

* PLUS 2 new additions (30/1/12):
- grated cocoa butter, coconut flakes, vanilla essence (blend it all to make it smooth and frothy)
- grated cocoa butter, cinnamon powder, nutmeg (blend as above)