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How to eat right to achieve your optimal fertility level By Dr. Xiaomei Cai |
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Recently, I have been asked how diet can enhance fertility. It is great news that our patients have realized that in addition to taking multivitamins, getting acupuncture treatments and drinking herbal tea, proper diet also plays an important role in our health in TCM. This awareness of the importance of a healthy diet has been my philosophy over the past twenty years of medical practice. By taking herbal tea, our patients have learned that every living thing, whether it is an animal or a plant, has its own energetic property. We need to have the herb and food in similar energy groups in order to get the maximal result from TCM. According to TCM, diseases occur when there is an imbalance in the flow of Qi, such as when one’s defense system is too weak or pathogenic factors are too strong. The cause of infertility is due to imbalance that is caused by excess, deficient, or stagnant Qi. It involves four organ systems: kidney, spleen, liver, and heart; and four vital substances: Yin, Yang, Qi, and blood. In order to have an optimal outcome from the TCM approach, one should always cooperate with his or her practitioner. A Yang deficient person (prone to coldness), in addition to taking Yang tonic herbs, should also eat Yang energy food to heat up. And vise versa: A Yin deficient person (prone to heat and dehydration) should have Yin energy food for heat-clearing and re-hydration. In another situation, if there is no obvious Yin-Yang imbalance, then one should eat all Yin and Yang food whether it is red, green, white, yellow and black. As you know, a general suggestion to achieve pregnancy is to avoid alcohol, coffee, refined sugar, and cold food during menstruation. Beside the Chinese property herb tea, you may also benefit from taking prenatal vitamins, fish oil and flax seed oil, which contain essential fatty acid omega 3 and omega 6; consuming organic white meat, nuts and beans, as well as roots, such as yam, beet jacamars, carrots, and plenty of other vegetables, and especially foods that are black and red, which are raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, seaweed, black sesame seed and black bean. For Yin deficiency people who are experiencing symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, dry skin, dry mouth, dry vagina, excess thirst, earlier menstruation, light and short periods, hyper energy, anxiety, poor concentration, many dreams, insomnia, etc, consider eating wheat germ, barley, amaranth, millet, rice, asparagus, black beans, kidney beans, red beans, string beans, mung beans, pea and chickpeas, bean sprouts, carrots, corn, cucumber, lettuce, lotus root, mushroom, seaweed, shitake mushrooms, spinach, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, apples, bananas, cantaloupe, fig, honeydew, melons, pear, mulberries, almonds, black sesame seeds, clams, crab, mussels, duck, eggs, jelly fish, goat milk, oysters, salmon, soy milk, turkey, tofu, aloe, honey, olive, and rosemary. Avoid spicy food, roasted nuts, deep fried food and crispy, dry, and pungent food. For Yang deficiency people who are experiencing symptoms such as cold abdomen, or cold hands and feet, fatigue, are sleepy, overweight, have abdominal bloating, low libido, late and heavy periods, abdominal cramps or low back pain during their periods, prefer heating pads, have depression etc, need to have food such as cherries, Chinese chives, garlic, leeks, raisins, raspberries, string beans, sweet onions, beef, black beans, black sesame seeds, chestnuts, chicken, egg yolks, lamb, oysters, salmon, scallops, shrimp, animal kidney, walnuts, black rice, oats, quinoa, spelt, ginger, anise, cinnamon, clove, fennel, dill, cumin. Cook these foods whenever possible, and avoid sweets, dairy products, and icy beverages.
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