Lots of women want to get pregnant fast. They rely heavily on knowing their ovulation period through charting their period, knowing their daily basal body temperature, testing with ovulation predictor kits and so on, but they often forget one of the most basic factors for getting pregnant. That is, having a healthy diet.

Diet is known by many as cutting food intake to remain thin, but it’s a common misconception. A healthy diet is taking the right foods in the right amounts. Having a healthy diet to increase fertility can have a positive impact on women who want to be fertile.

Know Your Ideal Weight

It’s not healthy being obese or underweight, especially if you want to get pregnant. It can have a profound effect in your reproductive health.

Most obese and undernourished women experience irregular menstrual cycles, which can affect a woman’s ovulation. A woman who does not ovulate regularly will have difficulty in getting pregnant because they can’t track when their most fertile days are.

So it is important to have a healthy diet if you want to get pregnant easily. It’s helpful to cut out smoking, drinking and taking prohibited drugs entirely. You also need to have enough nutrients, vitamins and minerals in your body. Exercising regularly also helps. Doing these things should increase your fertility.

Whole Grains

Meals composed of whole grains like brown rice, whole wheat, oats and other carbohydrate rich foods are essential to include in your healthy diet. These foods can give you a ton of energy and other important vitamins such as B and E which are needed to induce better cell production, hormonal balance and promote healthy eggs and sperm as well.

Protein Rich Foods

Another essential food for your diet to increase fertility are dairy products, specifically the full-fat variety. These foods are rich in calcium which helps to develop your nervous system, your bones and your healthy blood.

Compared to low fat products, these products can boost a woman’s fertility by eating the right amount of it daily. Also don’t forget to include fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines in your diet. These fishes are full of omega 3 and omega 6 which are usually known as good fats that can improve your blood flow in the reprodcutive system as well as boost the quality and speed of sperm.

Eating lean red meat can also aid in enhancing your fertility by preventing anemia, ovulation problems and lack of red blood cells.

Green Leafy Vegetables Are Healthy for You

Eating green leafy vegetables supplies your body with folic acid. This nutrient is essential to create healthy sperm and can defend the ovaries to avoid having neural tube defects during the early term of pregnancy. It also has iron and vitamin C, two items that enhance the quality of sperm and keep you healthy.

Eating the foods mentioned above in the right amounts is a very healthy diet to increase fertility and can also boost your wellness. Don’t forget to avoid having vices like smoking and drinking. Having a healthy lifestyle can help you with your conception goal.

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This has been a guest post by pregnancy coach Amy King. You can visit her web site by clicking one of the links in the article above.

Whether we recognize it or not, our opinions about diet and nutrition are all shaped by a certain philosophy, point of view, or a mixture of several of those. The way we have learned what we know affects how we look at what we eat and what we think a healthy lifestyle is.

From what I have known through their blog posts and emails – Ryan, Kelly and I have many similar opinions and several differing ones when it comes to diet and nutrition. It is one of the reasons why I enjoy writing for The Health Blog – I think that three different (but smart and cool, hehe) writers make for healthy and interesting discussion.

Tonight, I thought I would share some links and people with you that have been and are shaping what I think a healthy lifestyle and diet is. So when you read my posts in the future, hopefully you will understand better where I am coming from. Even if you think I’m crazy for telling you that vinegar is poison, I hope you will give me a chance and read some of these links anyway, and judge for yourself. :)

The common thing you will find among all these people and links is that they all prescribe to a scientific philosophy of health called Natural Hygiene. Natural Hygiene in a nutshell is the belief that your body is an amazing creation that is capable of healing and cleansing itself with proper care and diet. With Natural Hygiene, no one food or nutrient is a magic panacea for any particular disease or condition. Rather, if you correct your diet and go back to whole, natural foods, then your body will be able to heal itself.

1) Dr. Graham and Professor Rozi Graham from foodnsport
As I fumbled my way through the raw food world, my search came to a screeching halt when I found Dr. Graham and his wife, Rozi. Their teachings make so much sense to me and I have found so many satisfactory and wise answers from them in a crazy world of raw food “gurus” who try to sell you supplements and teach you to make all kinds of crazy “raw” concoctions that look and taste just like cooked food.

Dr. Graham is a Natural Hygienist and his philosophy is so simple, logical and scientific that it has left my husband and me with no doubt that he is a worthy mentor in our pursuit for good health. Dr. Graham also hosts a forum on Vegsource.com, a major vegetarian site, where he graciously and responsibly helps many people. Dr. Graham just came out with a break-through book called, “The 80-10-10 Diet” which I have almost finished reading. It costs $30 and is available from his site. It is the best $30 I’ve ever spent. I wish I could buy one copy for every friend and family member.

2) Nora Lenz from Rawschool
I check in on Nora’s site from time to time also. Although she hasn’t been a natural hygienist/raw foodist as long as Dr. Graham and his wife, they have very similar hygienic philosophies and Nora’s raw transformation story is very inspiring. She hosts a yahoo group (you can find the link on her website) and helps many people there too.

3) Dave Klein, Living Nutrition magazine.
Living Nutrition magazine comes out 2-3 times a year. I have several copies in my house and it has been a great resource for me. I like simple, truthful and scientific, and the articles in Living Nutrition magazine embody this. Dave Klein, the editor, healed himself of Crohn’s Disease by adopting Natural Hygiene principles years ago and now spends his life trying to help others regain health also.

4) This is a testimony I read a couple of days ago from a guy named Ric
who got himself out of major depression and schizophrenia by going on Dr. D’s 80-10-10 diet: http://www.vegsource.com/talk/raw/messages/99928774.html
Ric’s discovery of the connection between heavy grain comsumption and mental disease may make you uncomfortable or even shock you. It was a very inspiring story to me.

There are tons more but this is plenty to get you started. Thanks for reading and I hope you will take a few minutes to check these links out! Happy Friday, everyone.

The American Medical Association (AMA) has recommended that the FDA revoke the “generally recognized as safe” status of salt. According to this recent AMA press release:

“Cardiovascular disease remains the number one killer of Americans. People who reduce dietary sodium intake are taking an important step in preventing future health problems,” said AMA Board Member and practicing cardiologist J. James Rohack, MD. “We hope these recommendations will encourage food manufacturers and restaurants to modify their current practices of adding unhealthy amounts of sodium to their products.”

The FDA is also called upon to impose new limits on sodium in both processed and restaurant food. The AMA is recommending a 50% reduction in allowable sodium, as well as a program to help educate the public about the health benefits of long-term sodium reduction.

Last year the consumer advocacy group, Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), filed a lawsuit with similar demands. But the FDA has been dragging its feet, citing technological barriers and poor sales as the causes. For more information, check out the CSPI’s report, “Salt: The Forgotten Killer [pdf].”

A new record was set this year in Nathan’s Famous July Fourth International Hot Dog Eating contest. A Japanese man named Takeru “Koby” Kobayashi managed to cram 53.75 hot dogs down his gullet in 12 minutes. That’s 4.5 dogs per minute! And, if you were wondering, yes, that includes the buns!

CalorieLab was kind enough to figure out the Nutrition Facts for this massive meal (short by a quarter dog, for reasons unknown):
16,532 calories and 2.3 pounds of fat. Mmmmm.

If that’s not enough to make your head spin (and stomach turn), consider this: Koby weighs in at a mere 144 pounds, and this was his sixth consecutive world championship. How does he do it? Moreover, why? There is no cash prize, just a huge trophy and gawdy belt. The official Nathan’s Famous website describes their contest participants “among the finest athletes in the world.” I don’t know about that, but it is a tremendous physical feat / freak show, and Koby is certainly getting more than his 15 minutes of fame.

Back in the 1960’s the world record was “only” 18.5 hot dogs. In 1996, it was set at 24.5 dogs. This year’s winner ate more than double that amount. I really don’t understand how these competitive eaters are capable of this kind of [dare I say] evolution.

Kobayashi says he trains by eating cabbage and drinking a lot of water. Even with extensive preparation, wouldn’t the sheer weight of the contest food rupture any stomach? Remember, we’re taking about 12 pounds of meat in 12 minutes! How are their digestive systems able to handle that much food at once? How do they avoid gaining significant weight? Or do these competitors –you know– throw it all up afterward? Either way, it just seems so incredibly dangerous.

Now, you’ll have to excuse me. I’m late for my skydiving session. *Kidding*

For a list of other competitive eating records, check out the IFOCE.com website. Take notice that 100-pound Sonya Thomas graces the list a whopping 23 times.