Books
Introduction
The principles of how to eat
Acupuncture
Your menstrual cycle
How emotions impact on health
Emma’s Butternut Squash & Chestnut Risotto
IVF store cupboard
"A brilliant book from a woman who knows what she's talking about. I adore Emma Cannon." Sophie Dahl
Emma Cannon brings her fusion health approach to pregnancy with this essential new book. Blending the ancient wisdom of Chinese medicine with conventional Western medical practice, Emma shows how you can nourish your body and mind for a healthy, happy pregnancy and motherhood.
You and Your Bump gently takes you through each stage of pregnancy, with advice on:
Your healthy and lifestyle, good nutrition and the link between emotional and physical well-being
Baby development and changes to your body
Common pregnancy conditions and treatments, with complementary Eastern and Western approaches
Preparing for labour and postnatal care
With delicious health-boosting recipes and yoga exercises to reduce stress and strengthen the body for labour, this is a must-have guide to all mums-to-be.
"An inspiring guide to pregnancy that understands your emotional needs and nurtures your physical body" Brigid Moss, Red
Introduction
People come to me for different reasons. Some want to ensure the healthiest possible ‘fertile ground’ in which to grow a baby naturally; others, who are about to embark on IVF treatment for the first time, want to do the best they can to improve their chances, while those who are on their second or third attempt at IVF are looking for help to make it work. And some come simply with unexplained infertility.
Part of my motivation for writing this book came from my desire to give my patients and my readers advice on what they can do to enhance their fertility. Indeed, the question I am most frequently asked by my patients is ‘What can I do to help myself?’ My view is that there is always
something you can do to help yourself and that the very act of taking matters into your own hands means that couples often feel more assertive and more positive. I am not talking about false hope here, I believe that we can have hope when we discover that we
do have options and that there
are positive steps we can take throughout the fertility journey.
My integrated approach to health and fertility is always with one aim in mind, and that is to optimize a patient’s overall health and wellbeing in order to enhance their fertility and maximize their chances of getting pregnant. And this is what I will offer you in this book – a personalized baby-making plan that you can follow – it has worked for countless patients in my clinic and it can work for you too.
The four-month plan can help you:
- understand your body better and discover what ‘fertility type’ you are; this gives you the knowledge you need to help get your body in balance and ready for conception
- balance your hormones
- improve the quality of your cervical mucus (essential for successful fertilization)
- improve and thicken the endometrium (lining of the uterus) to prepare for an embryo to implant
- manage gynaecological conditions such as PMS, ovulation problems, endometriosis, PCOS and embryo implantation issues
- prepare for IVF and learn what you yourself can do to help support you through the procedure
- promote egg quality, prepare for egg transfer and aid fertilization and implantation in IVF
- learn to manage and overcome stress through other complementary therapies
It can help your partner:
- improve sperm quality – count, motility and morphology
- improve overall health
- become more connected with the baby-making process
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The principles of how to eat
I am not a food fascist; food is one of life’s great pleasures. If you eat and cook fresh food, your diet will be healthier and you will also probably be more likely to lose weight and be healthy than if you eat processed ‘low-fat’ or ‘diet’ foods.
Obviously it is essential to be in good health for conception, but I think there is a misunderstanding over what actually constitutes a ‘healthy diet’. My rules, which are based on the principles of Chinese medicine, are as follows:
- Eat well, eat light, live longer.
- Eat foods that are in season.
- Eat slowly – chew your food properly to aid digestion.
- Eat for your type (you will learn about your type over the next couple of chapters, and I have included recipes and recommendations accordingly).
- Don’t eat too late at night; you won’t be able to digest your food properly or sleep.
- If you can afford organic food, that’s great; if not, stick to buying locally grown produce rather than food freighted from abroad – or grow your own!
- Try not to study, watch TV, read a book or discuss work while eating. In Chinese medicine it is the function of the stomach to digest both thought and food. If you do both at the same time, you are taking the energy away from the digestive function.
- Eat a good breakfast, e.g. porridge made with water.
- Chicken soup is restorative and nourishing (see page 50 for my recipe).
- Don’t flood your system with gallons of water – drink when you feel thirsty.
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Acupuncture
Acupuncture works on the principle that the body’s optimum function is achieved when there is a balanced flow of energy, or Qi, along the meridian points of the body. This energy can be put out of balance, or disturbed, by any number of factors – including illness, stress, emotional trauma, bad diet and even the weather – and that in turn can affect physical health.
Among other things, channels can be ‘blocked’ and your Qi can become depleted, which can, in turn, cause health issues, such as infertility. One explanation for how acupuncture might work is that when we stimulate acupuncture points we stimulate the pituitary gland which directly affects the function of the ovaries, adrenal and thyroid. There is evidence that by needling the body more beta-endorphins are released and this may encourage the body’s innate healing process; it certainly makes the recipient feel good. In my experience, acupuncture appears to have a regulating effect on women’s hormones and changes in the menstrual cycle can be noted within one or two menstrual cycles.
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Your menstrual cycle
Obviously, your menstrual cycle is your reproductive system and in Chapters Four to Seven we will go through the cycle in detail, working on optimizing each of the four parts of the cycle to get you in fantastic health to conceive.
It is said that a good practitioner of Chinese medicine can tell everything about a woman’s health from her menstrual symptoms alone. The menstrual cycle dictates almost everything it is to be ‘female’ in both Western and Chinese medicine. The hormones that facilitate the cycle, like a wheel kept in motion by water, determine your mood, the way you look, feel, behave, and even the way you dress.
Fertility patients, more than anyone else, need to be in tune with their menstrual cycle. They need to know what is in the realms of normal and what is not.
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How emotions impact on health
Emotional wellbeing is a particularly interesting area in fertility, especially when you have a case of what Western medicine terms, ‘unexplained infertility’. In Chinese medicine, intense or difficult emotions are considered to be a cause of physical problems and even disease. Increasingly, I am finding that I do a lot of work in this are in my clinic.
Rebalancing your emotions may play a large part in your fertility journey; Chinese medicine sees a direct connection between the Heart and the Womb (there is a lovely yoga exercise in the Appendix that concentrates on reconnecting the two).
Some patients have experienced an obvious trauma, but may not have fully realized the impact that this has had on their life and health. It’s certainly the case that, in an effort to get on, many people underplay issues in their lives that bother them – even if they have upset them quite fundamentally. You may even find, when you think about it, that your chief symptom first appeared during a period of emotional uncertainty.
However, emotional stress does not have to come from acute trauma. It can also evolve from low-grade and consistent exposure to difficult emotional situations – a difficult or bullying boss, caring for a sick relative or medical problems, for example. These can have a ‘wearing down’ effect.
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Emma’s Butternut Squash & Chestnut Risotto
Because the flow of Qi is very important here, I thought I’d give you my own favourite Qi-building recipe. Chestnuts are warming and good for yang and Qi. Butternut squash is also good for the Qi and cumin and thyme and warming for Cold types.
Serves 5
Knob of butter
4 medium leeks, trimmed and sliced
1 tsp ground cumin
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
900g butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cubed
375g Arborio risotto rice
1 litre hot vegetable stock
1tsp fresh thyme sprigs
250g chestnuts
Salt and pepper
Fresh Parmesan shavings
- Gently heat the butter in a saucepan and cook the leeks, cumin, garlic and squash for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally; they need to be soft but not browned.
- Stir in the rice until it is coated, then turn down the heat and add the stock, a ladle at a time. All the liquid must be absorbed before adding more. Add half the thyme and the chestnuts (broken into smaller pieces) with the last ladle of stock.
- Season and serve with Parmesan shavings.
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IVF store cupboard
- All green foods are helpful.
- Dandelion tea.
- Nettle tea for the blood.
- Green tea: contains catechins, which help protect the liver.
- Essential fatty acids: eating oily fish is also good for the liver.
- Nuts and seeds – great for snacks, as they are high in protein and they are good fats.
- Beans, soya, lentils – all high in protein.
- Tofu.
- A good supply of chicken stock – homemade if possible (see page 50).
- Chlorella, spirulina, Omega 3 and folic acid supplements and whey protein.
- Plenty of water, but try to avoid plastic bottles.
- Ginger is a perfect yang tonic as it aids digestion, settles the stomach, reduces nausea, boosts energy and soothes premenstrual cramps.
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