The Better Baby Book (15 page)

Sweeteners and Sugars

Healthy sugars cost more than white granulated sugar, but the benefits are massive. Using them at home is not hard to do, and there is plenty of recipe help available online.

Since most processed and restaurant food has corn syrup or granulated sugar, avoiding these is less convenient but very achievable without a lot of effort. Choosing food wisely is a habit but not a chore.

Sweetener and Sugar Hints

• Watch out for hidden sugars in salad dressing, tomato sauce, and other canned or bottled foods.
  
• Xylitol works anywhere sugar would work, except it won't caramelize.
  
• If you're new to xylitol, use it sparingly at first and give your body a week or two to get used to making the enzymes you need to digest it.
  
• Many sweeteners like agave are promoted as healthy because they raise insulin less. However, they contain large amounts of fructose, the most damaging sugar. Agave has more fructose than corn syrup does.
  
• We exclusively use xylitol or stevia at home and keep a little raw honey for special occasions.
  
• Xylitol should come from American hardwood, not from corn.
  

Cooking

Learning to cook at lower temperatures is not hard to do, but for many people it represents a change in habit, and, of course, cooking more slowly takes longer.

Cooking Hints

• If the food looks blackened or browned, you've damaged the proteins and nutrients, which can cause inflammation.
  
• Grilling can be acceptable if the food is far enough from the coals or gas to cook gently.
  
• Remember that meat from grass-fed animals takes about one-third less time to cook than meat from conventional factory-farmed animals.
  

6

Fertility

The same recommendations we make throughout this book for a healthy pregnancy also boost fertility. Detoxing, eating the right diet, taking the right supplements, and reducing stress boost fertility and make a healthy baby; so do drinking clean water and breathing clean air; making sure you're free of disease; avoiding caffeine, tobacco, and alcohol and simply wanting to have a baby. So in our program, addressing fertility isn't much different from preparing for pregnancy and being pregnant.

Our diet boosts fertility because it's low in sugar and high in healthy fats. The low-sugar intake is important for fertility, because high sugar intake keeps your insulin level high, which disrupts your hormone levels and interferes with fertility in a number of ways. Chromium, magnesium, and N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) supplementation can help the body to recover from high sugar intake. Eating plenty of healthy fats is important, because women need plenty of energy to sustain a pregnancy. Without it, conception can be difficult, and sometimes ovulation stops.

At the same time, obesity can contribute to infertility. Unhealthy synthetic trans fats can cause ovulatory infertility even if eaten very sparingly (as low as 2 percent of one's total caloric intake). That's just one medium-size order of french fries from your local fast-food restaurant. Also, keep an eye on foods that promote inflammation, like grains, dairy, and oils high in omega-6. Inflammation can create an environment in the body that makes conception difficult.

There are a few key fertility supplements besides the chromium, magnesium, and NAC that we just mentioned: vitamins B6, B12, and C; calcium; coenzyme Q10; glutathione; folinic acid; omega-3, including alpha-lipoic acid; selenium, and zinc.

L-Arginine and L-Ornithine

L-arginine and L-ornithine are amino acids that play a special role in sexual function and fertility. They work together inside the body and often come packaged together in supplement formulas. They are best known for stimulating both the release of human growth hormone and the creation of nitric oxide in the body, which is important for good blood flow. Naturally, good blood flow supports good sexual function.

In men, L-arginine works as a natural alternative to Viagra. If used for two weeks, L-arginine will increase sperm count and motility by 250 percent. In women, L-arginine causes increased cervical secretions and mucus during the ovulatory phase, and the increase in blood flow leads to enhanced sexual arousal. In one study, women who had failed to conceive for six months to three years began supplementing with L-arginine. By the end of the study, 33 percent of them were pregnant.

L-ornithine is a nonessential amino acid that's made during the breakdown of L-arginine in the body. It serves to build muscle, reduce body fat, increase human growth hormone levels, and boost energy. Also, too much L-arginine can be damaging. L-ornithine does a great job of regulating L-arginine and nitric oxide inside the body.

The body can't use L-arginine and L-ornithine very well if they're taken with lots of sugar.

The Truth about Oral Contraceptives

The use of oral contraceptives (“the Pill”) interferes with the body's natural chemistry and hormone levels. It also promotes mineral imbalance in a mother and can even harm the babies that are conceived after a woman stops using the Pill.

The evidence supporting the harmful side effects of oral contraceptives is overwhelming. Aspiring mothers who used the Pill in the past have a higher risk of miscarriage, and since the Pill compromises the immune system, these women are more likely to develop food allergies. Children born to mothers who just stopped taking the Pill are more prone to birthmarks, congenital heart anomalies, skeletal abnormalities, cleft palate, neural tube defects, spina bifida, reduced IQ, and learning difficulties like dyslexia and ADHD. We recommend you give your body as much time as possible without birth control pills before starting a family, at least six months if possible.

Oral contraceptives work by deliberately interfering with a woman's natural hormone system to prevent pregnancy. Oral contraceptives usually contain synthetic versions of the hormones estrogen and progesterone. A healthy woman's levels of natural estrogen and progesterone rise and fall during her menstrual cycle, with higher concentrations occurring toward the end of her cycle.

When a woman becomes pregnant, her estrogen and progesterone levels remain high throughout the pregnancy. This prevents the ovaries from preparing to release another egg. Oral contraceptives work by keeping estrogen and progesterone levels high constantly, confusing the body into thinking it's pregnant all the time. Originally, oral contraceptives contained estrogen only, but this led to irregular bleeding. Progesterone was added to the pill, resulting in the commonly prescribed combination pills, which mostly solved the irregular bleeding issue.

When a woman is taking oral contraceptives, normal menstruation is completely suspended, including ovulatory cycles and bleeding. Contrary to the common myth that the Pill regulates a woman's period “like clockwork,” the bleeding that women experience when they stop taking the Pill for a few days each month is
not
normal menstrual bleeding—it is withdrawal bleeding that frequently involves painful cramps and an inflammation response due to prostaglandin release.

Mineral imbalance is a common result of oral contraceptive use. Zinc and manganese deficiency and excess copper levels are characteristic. As a pregnancy goes on, these mineral imbalances typically get worse. The consequences can include problems during gestation, postpartum depression, and lactation. Zinc deficiency coupled with excess copper can lead to premature birth. Severe manganese and zinc deficiency have been found to eliminate maternal instinct completely in laboratory rats: the normal loving attention that a mother rat displayed toward her pups was absent.

Postpartum depression makes the mineral imbalance even worse, interfering with the body's use of chromium, magnesium, manganese, iron, and iodine and disrupting the metabolism of vitamins B and C. Children of mothers who had these imbalances during pregnancy have displayed difficulties with sexual development. If you've used the Pill and you're going to get your mineral levels tested, pay careful attention to copper, manganese, and zinc.

Another high-risk contraceptive method is the intrauterine device, also known as the coil or the IUD. The coil is a device that a doctor inserts into the womb. It is usually made of toxic substances like plastic, copper, or plastic-coated copper. Its continual presence in the womb prevents pregnancy most of the time, but it's been known to cause extreme complications. Cramping, pain, ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous abortion, uterine bleeding, blood poisoning, bowel obstruction, cervical infection, pelvic infection, infection of the fallopian tubes, dysplasia, cancer of the uterus, perforation of the uterus, and cases in which the device became embedded in the uterus have all been observed. It's a formidable list!

The bottom line is that using any contraceptive method other than the diaphragm, the condom, or the rhythm method can have serious consequences. Even many condoms are made of toxic materials, so take care in selecting a safe brand.

No matter what your doctor or health-care practitioner tells you, oral contraceptives are unhealthy and pose significant health risks. If you're using them, we recommend stopping and then getting your mineral levels tested by a holistic physician. If you've used oral contraceptives in the past, getting a mineral-levels test is important for general health even if you're not planning a pregnancy right away.

The Importance of a Healthy Thyroid

A healthy thyroid is key to a healthy pregnancy. The thyroid, an important component of the endocrine system, is located in the throat area. It sends messages throughout the body about a variety of bodily functions, especially metabolism. Although thyroid disorders include both hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) and hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid), hypothyroidism is by far the more common disorder. The symptoms include one or more of the following: fatigue, weakness, weight gain and difficulty losing weight, coarse and dry hair, dry and pale skin, hair loss, cold intolerance (you feel cold in climates in which others are comfortable), muscle cramps and aches, constipation, depression, irritability, memory loss, decreased libido, and an abnormal mentrual cycle. Unfortunately, many of these symptoms are also associated with pregnancy, and the cause can be confusing for doctor and patient alike.

In many cases, a lack of the nutrients required to produce the thyroid hormones T3 and T4 contribute to hypothyroidism. Supplementing with iodine and L-tyrosine can help a lot. Hypothyroidism can also occur as the result of an inflamed thyroid gland (a goiter), which renders much of the gland incapable of producing thyroid hormones. It can also occur if you have an autoimmune disorder in which you produce antibodies that attack the thyroid gland or if the thyroid gland has been removed altogether.

If you haven't had your thyroid level tested recently, we highly recommend getting it checked by a holistic or an antiaging physician. After our first child was born, Lana got her thyroid level tested and discovered she had mild hypothyroidism. Before getting pregnant with our second child, she had her thyroid level corrected.

Working with a holistic or an antiaging physician is key. Many allopathic (conventional Western medical) doctors will test only TSH, which can be normal even if the important thyroid hormones—T3 and T4—are out of range. Even though only a few people have overt hypothyroidism, many people have “subclinical” hypothyroidism, which doesn't show up on the conventional test but is still not healthy and may even cause unpleasant symptoms. Holistic and antiaging doctors usually know that “fine” isn't “great,” and they'll work with you to optimize the levels of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4.

Research indicates that a baby's well-being and intelligence are related to the mother's thyroid health. Overt and subclinical hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism have been linked to miscarriage, premature birth, and preeclampsia. Researchers in Maine who observed more than twenty-five thousand women found that 19 percent of the children born to mothers with untreated hypothyroidism had an IQ below 85, while only 5 percent of mothers with healthy thyroid levels had children with such a low IQ. People with an IQ of 85 or below find school and general life tasks to be more difficult than most other people do.

Overall, we found ourselves to be much healthier and happier after we had our thyroid levels corrected. There's some debate about the safety of taking thyroid hormones during pregnancy. Nonetheless, pregnancy is when thyroid problems are more common than usual. It's our position that hypothyroidism is a greater risk than supplementing with bioidentical thyroid hormones during pregnancy. If you're concerned about the risks of taking thyroid hormones during pregnancy, you can always optimize your thyroid level before getting pregnant and then reduce the thyroid hormones before you conceive. If you need to stay on thyroid supplementation during pregnancy, as Lana did with our second child, you should have your thyroid levels checked regularly.

Sickness and Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Diseases, especially sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), can compromise fertility and harm your baby. Making sure that both the father and the mother are free of diseases, especially STDs, well before conceiving is essential to having the healthiest baby possible. The most common diseases to check for are AIDS, hepatitis B, gardnerella (a vaginal infection), mumps, listeriosis, influenza, genitourinary infection, urinary tract infection,
Candida
overgrowth, chlamydia, mycoplasma (in the cervical mucus), gonorrhea, herpes, syphilis, and pelvic inflammatory disease. When you're planning for a pregnancy, it's best for both partners to get a complete genitourinary examination, even if you both believe that you don't have anything. This is especially true if you're having difficulty conceiving.

Fertility Treatment: Not Just for Women

We all know that babies begin when a sperm meets an egg. When people think of fertility treatment, they tend to focus on making healthy eggs without giving much thought to making healthy sperm. To have the healthiest baby possible, it makes sense to focus on both. Not only do we want to have healthy eggs and an ideal womb environment, we also want to ensure that the sperm are healthy and well formed. Building above-average babies starts with above-average eggs and above-average sperm.

Although the mother's job is considerable and gets the most attention, the father has two key responsibilities that, if neglected, can work strongly against any effort the mother makes:

There are three things that determine sperm quality: count, motility, and morphology. A normal
count
is at least twenty million sperm per milliliter.
Motility
is the number of sperm making functional use of their flagella and moving forward, or “swimming.” At least 50 percent should display progressive movement.
Morphology
concerns the shape of the sperm. At least 14 percent of the sperm should be formed normally, which means that the sperm cell does not have an unusually large head, does not have two heads, has healthy cell proportions, and displays progressive motility.