Taking a TCM Approach to Your Diet to Enhance Fertility
Description: Today we will be covering one of my personal subjects in life, food! Food therapy has always been part of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It can be really easy to initiate your own healing simply by eating for your current TCM disharmony. I will share with you some easy life solutions and three different approaches that you can start with your very next meal. Food has a lot of ties to our belief system, our past, and emotions we have yet to feel. Changing the way you eat can seem very overwhelming, so today I invite you to just pick a few from these three ideas that suit you and your life.
Takeaways
[4:56] Many of us have some body image issues, myself included, that we’ve worked really hard to overcome and I don’t want you to get stressed with the idea of cutting things out or calorie counting. That’s not what today’s episode is about.
[6:01] I would rather encourage you to make positive small changes that feel right to you rather than your feeling like your eating is one more thing you have to try and be perfect at. The implications of your DNA occur one full year before you get pregnant.
[8:25] Even a 2% change a day has a cumulative effect. It’s important to start small and adopt habits and a diet that feels positive and nourishing.
[10:24] The first approach is from Daoshing Ni, from his book The Tao of Fertility. He thinks of the menstrual cycle as a season, and there is a systematic way to eat accordingly along with the phases.
[12:10] The second is a general list of what not to eat, and a meal order solution like Green Chef or Hello Fresh. This is great for the on-the-go person that is working too much or overwhelmed by the idea of shopping and cooking. However, it can get pricey, especially if you cave and order take out when you have organic food sitting in your fridge.
[13:09] Third is the pattern diagnosis of TCM by symptoms that tell you how to eat based on TCM. This will often help you feel the best the quickest and make your overall constitution stronger helping you to achieve optimal fertility. It can be difficult if you both of you have completely different imbalances or constitutions. It’s a win if you love strict rules. It gives a list of don’ts and dos.
[14:20] In the Tao of Fertility approach, you think of your menses as the season of winter. Shedding, ending and contracting. The week after your period is like spring where plants and flowers are budding and blooming, and the ovulatory phase is summer. The luteal phase is akin to autumn, where the temperature is beginning to drop. During the first two weeks of your “seasons”, you want to incorporate foods that will strengthen your egg quality and energy. This includes grains, high protein foods like eggs, meat and beans. It’s important the food is warm for digestion. If you feel extra fatigued and weak during menstruation, you want to eat a lot of blood-nourishing foods like bone broth. The second phase after ovulation shifts to leafy green vegetables and berries.
[25:44] Always choose full-fat instead of fat-free. Often times when they take the fat out, they replace it with sugar and other unhealthy additives.
[29:22] I go through the patterns of foods and symptoms depending on the body types, symptoms and deficiencies. You can also download the food quiz here on the website for a further dive into what you should be eating for your specific constitution. I RECOMMEND PRINTING IT OUT, MARKING IT UP WITH YOUR NOTES AND REPEATING EVERY 3 MONTHS SO YOU CAN SEE HOW FOOD HAS CHANGED YOUR RESULTS!