190 Diet Wise
For more information on this vital topic of pre-conceptual care,
contact The Foresight Association. Their address is in appendix E.
Fertility
While we are on the subject, many couples experiencing infertility problems
find the answer in diet and nutrition. Food intolerance may be keeping the
body functions below par. Sometimes the food intolerance directly interferes
with the proper absorption of vitamins and minerals, such as zinc, which
are essential to optimum fertility. We call this malabsorption and you can
read more about it in Chapter 20.
One of my celebrated cases was a woman who got pregnant
after twenty years of trying; she was mainly allergic to milk and her health
improved dramatically after I took her off it. The result was a howlingly
funny headline in a major UK Sunday newspaper. It said, “I Got Pregnant
After The Milkman Stopped Calling.” It was quite a shock; the lady in
question had consented to a press interview in good faith. Her picture duly
appeared in the center pages, all smiles, with the new baby. All should have
been well, except that some smart young sub-editor got the idea for this
headline and it took a lot of arguing from me to convince her I had not
connived in a trick. Only copious assurances and flowers saved the day.
Following the elimination diet plan and taking adequate nutritional
supplements is probably the best advice to give infertile couples, when no
obvious disease factors are present. Remember both would-be parents need
to take these steps, not just the woman.
If the risk of having an allergic child is very high and breastfeeding seems
impractical or impossible for any reason, soya milk is a relatively safe
alternative. There are many different brands of this product, and some
are better than others. Soya milk, you will realize, is an even less natural
substance than cow’s milk; therefore it will hardly surprise you to learn that
the incidence of allergy to soya is rapidly on the increase as it is used more
and more frequently. There is also an on-going debate, whether it interferes
with full natural growth.
Believe it or not, it is possible to follow the entire plan given in this book
using the elimination and challenge of foods on a breast-fed child via the
mother’s diet. If she herself follows the diet outlined in Chapter 11 and
the fractious, difficult or sickly infant recovers, she can then find out which
foods were to blame by reintroducing them one at a time into her eating