Haas Sara - Fertility foods: 100+ recipes to nourish your body

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FERTILITY FOODS

Text copyright 2017 Elizabeth Shaw and Sara Haas

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN: 978-1-57826-703-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

C OVER AND I NTERIOR D ESIGN BY C AROLYN K ASPER

Printed in the United States

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

DISCLAIMER: This book is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any medical condition, including infertility. This book is a list of recommendations based on scientific research, published guidelines and personal experiences. Though we cant guarantee that following the recommendations laid out in this book will lead to pregnancy, we can guarantee that if you do follow them you will lead a healthier life, which wont hurt your fertility!

Contents

Part 1:
THE RECIPE FOR NUTRITION AND FERTILITY

Part 2:
FERTILITY FOOD RECIPES

Foreword

I met these two remarkable women like many people meet nowadayson the internet. As fellow health food bloggers, were part of a large network of people who share a common passion for food and the amazing power that it has to affect our health.

Having treated many pregnant patients in the emergency room over the years, one commonality Ive noticed is that women often view pregnancy as the ideal time to make positive changes in their lives. Whether it is quitting smoking, being more physically active, or eating healthier, women have a natural instinct to do whats best for their babies.

When I was researching my book Natural Pregnancy Cookbook , I was humbled by the power we have as women to affect not only our own health, but also the health of our developing babies. What I learned from reading Fertility Foods is that you can start even earlier. You can prime your body even before conception using the power of food. By no means are the authors guaranteeing pregnancy by reading this book. Rather, they are helping to empower you and teaching you how to fuel your body with the right nutrients so that you are stronger, healthier, and ready when (using their own words) the bigger plan comes along.

In this groundbreaking book, the authors set out to explore the relationship between food and fertility. The information and recommendations presented in this book are honest, comprehensive, and backed by science. They break down which important nutrients you need to nourish your body to make sure its in the optimal condition to fuel your fertility.

And who better to write this book than these two women, with their impressive list of credentials? With their expertise in both the nutrition and culinary worlds, Liz and Sara have both accomplished so much professionally, whether it be through teaching students, consulting, serving as nutrition experts at the national level, or being public personas on the radio and TV. What strikes me the most is their common passion for sharing their knowledge with others. And now theyre doing that once again by writing this book and sharing their personal journeys.

The overall sense you get when reading this book is one of friendship and camaraderie, reassuring readers that theyve been there, too. They offer helpful advice not only as nutrition experts, but also as women whove gone through fertility struggles themselves.

In addition to the wealth of nutritional information provided, this book also provides valuable tips about basic culinary techniques and food safety, as well as how to stock a healthy kitchen. And finally, it offers a wonderful and diverse collection of nutritious recipes to suit any taste. From breakfast to dinner to sweet treats, theres something for everyone. Whether youre trying the Carrot Cake Pancakes , Umami Burgers or Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond BonBons , theyll show you how to create healthy, nourishing meals and have fun doing it. The recipes are easy and approachable and they all include a fertility focus detailing why the dish is important to fuel your fertility and give you the energy you need to feel your best.

Infertility can be an unpredictable, bumpy ride with lots of twists and turns. The authors want to take the stress out of an already stressful situation and put the reins in your capable hands. They want to empower you to make smart nutrition choices so that you can nourish yourself properly and prime your body with wholesome, delicious food. So sit back, relax, and take some time to curl up with this book. It will feel like youre catching up with two old friends. And I bet youll be amazed at how much you learned, too.

Dr. Sonali Ruder
Board-certified Emergency Medicine physician, creator of the popular food blog T he Foo die Physician and author of Natural Pregnancy Cookbook and Natural Baby Food

Authors Note

I know God will not give me anything I cant handle. I just wish that He didnt trust me so much.

Mother Teresa

D o you ever feel this way? While you may accept the challenges your life presents, you still have to wonder why it has to be so tough, why your burden seems overly burdensome.

Dont worry; youre in good company. We all share Mother Teresas sentiment at times. Early on in our lives, we dealt with our challenges differently; we put in hard work and endless effort, and in doing so, we found success. Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that we found ourselves working so hard at everything. Eventually, we came to equate hard work with success. After all, it seemed applicable in so many areas of our lives. School, sports, friendshipsalmost everything followed the rule that anything is possible if you work hard enough.

So you can imagine our surprise when we found out that this great life skill doesnt apply to infertility.

We firmly believed that if we worked hard enough we would get pregnant. So we worked really hard at whatever we thought we could do to improve our odds of getting pregnant. We bought books about infertility; we stopped eating our favorite foods; we changed exercise routines ... basically, we did everything we could think of to become more fertile.