Eating for fertility

We often hear a lot about "eating for two" and eating well in order to have a healthy baby. And while there is no doubt that this is important, we rarely hear about the importance of eating a healthy diet to support fertility. In the past, mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and other elders would pass down their knowledge about what foods would support fertility and a healthy baby. Around the world, it has been traditional for parents-to-be, pregnant women, nursing women, and growing children to eat special or "sacred" foods. These foods often included butter, liver, egg yolks, and seafood, especially fish liver and eggs. Dairy (cream and butter) and seafood were common fertility foods in traditional cultures. Modern science proves what older generations and traditional peoples instinctively knew: these foods provide essential nutrients to support conception. A woman cannot conceive without adequate quantities of vitamins A and D, iodine, and omega-3 fats. Grass-fed dairy provides all four, especially the fat-soluble vitamins, and seafood offers omega-3 fats and iodine. While our modern culture tends to focus almost exclusively on the woman's health, these special foods were meant for BOTH parents-to-be. Special foods were considered very important for men as well as for women.

Dr. Weston A. Price, a Cleveland dentist who traveled the world in the 1930s studying traditional peoples and their diets, documented fertility foods amongst a diversity of cultures. In his book, "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration," he wrote about the stellar health of isolated non-industrialized people who only ate real, unprocessed, and nutrient-dense foods. Price studied their teeth and general health. He found that all traditional societies consciously made provisions to ensure healthy future generations. Price noted that "Many (so-called) primitive people have understood the necessity for special foods before marriage, during gestation, during the nursing period and for rebuilding before the next pregnancy." In Kenya, the Maasai only allowed women to marry when the cows were eating fresh green grass so as to ensure the best quality milk. In Swiss villages, spring-grass butter was the special food for fertility. Peruvian tribes high in the Andes Mountains made long journeys to secure kelp and roe (fish eggs) to support fertility and healthy babies.

So what's the point of knowing the diets of traditional cultures and the work of Dr. Weston A. Price? It offers important lessons for modern women and couples who are seeking to have a child. In order to support fertility and a healthy baby, pay very close attention to your diet. It's crucial to stop eating processed and refined foods such as sugar, candy, chips, artificial sweeteners, and white flour, and start eating lots of real, whole foods - including pasture raised and grass-fed meat, wild seafood, healthy fats, pasture raised eggs, and organic vegetables and fruits. Even if you are not planning to have a child soon, it's never too early to start on a healthy diet for fertility and pregnancy.

Butter is best!

For decades, butter has been demonized by nutritionists, dietitians, and other diet dictocrats. When I was growing up in the eighties I remember that my mom started buying margarine because she believed the dietary directives about margarine being healthier than butter. I was never a big fan of margarine and was pleased when a few years later my mom decided we would switch back to the real stuff. In recent years, we've learned the truth. Margarine and those other imitations butters are full of bad stuff like trans fats, artificial flavors, preservatives, and other toxic substances. Butter is starting to make a comeback, but the stigma is still there. Many people are still afraid to eat butter or too much.

Don't believe the hype! When nutritional information gets confusing, just think about what's real and traditional. People around the world have been eating butter for thousands of years and we only recently started eating fake fats like margarine, "Smart Balance," "Earth Balance," and other pale imitations. And it is only recently that we started having problems with high rates of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. The ironic fact is that, while butter consumption in the United States has plummeted post-World War II, chronic disease rates have risen dramatically. We do not know all the reasons for these epidemics, but butter can't be to blame because the trends are going in opposite direction.

Butter is one of the best foods that you can eat. It's a nutritional powerhouse -- and it makes almost everything taste better! We have been lead to believe that butter (and other saturated fats) are linked to heart disease. In reality, butter contains many nutrients that protect us from heart disease. It is one of the best and most easily absorbed sources of vitamin A which is needed for the health of the thyroid and adrenal glands - both play a role in maintaining the proper functioning of the heart and cardiovascular system. Butter contain lecithin, a substance that assists in the proper assimilation and metabolism of cholesterol and other fat constituents (it's worth noting that this is completely different from soy lecithin, a common additive in processed foods that should be avoided). Butter also contains a number of antioxidants that protect against the type of free radical damage that weakens our arteries. Vitamin A and E, both found in butter, play a strong antioxidant role. Butter is also a very rich source of selenium, a vital antioxidant.

Butter is a good source of many trace minerals, including copper, zinc, iodine, and chromium. The vitamin A found in butter is important to maintain a healthy immune system. Vitamin A and D in butter are crucial to the proper absorption of calcium and other minerals and therefore necessary for strong bones and teeth. True Vitamin A is found only in animal foods like butter. You might have heard that there is Vitamin A in orange, yellow, and green vegetables; however, it's really pro-vitamin A or beta-carotene. Beta-carotene must be converted in the body into vitamin A and the conversion can be difficult, especially for babies, children, the elderly, and people with diabetes or thyroid disorders. Vitamin A is fat-soluble which means that it needs fat to be properly absorbed. So butter those carrots, if you want to get the full nutritional benefits.

And don't worry, butter will not make you gain weight. The short and medium chain fatty acids in butter are not stored, but in fact are used for quick energy. Fat tissue in humans is composed mainly of longer chain fatty acids which come from monounsaturated and polyunsaturated oils as well as refined carbohydrates.

When choosing butter, it's best to buy grass-fed, raw (unpasteurized) butter. Raw butter is difficult to obtain, but worth the effort, so I recommend trying to find a local source through the Real Milk website. Raw butter has the "Wulzen" factor. This hormone-like substance prevents arthritis and joint stiffness, ensuring that calcium in the body is put into bones rather than joints and other tissues. The "Wulzen" factor is destroyed by pasteurization and therefore only present in raw butter and cream. Grass-fed butter is your next best choice. When butter comes from grass-fed cows, it contains high levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a compound that gives excellent protection against cancer and also helps the body build muscle rather than store fat. Grass-fed butter can often be purchased at the farmers' market or your local natural foods store. Imported European butter is often a good choice, though less environmentally-friendly. Kerrygold butter from Ireland is very good quality, as is Organic Valley's special pasture butter (in the gold foil wrapper). If you can't get grass-fed or organic butter, even your average supermarket butter is acceptable. It will still have a good nutritional profile and is certainly far superior to the rancid vegetable oils that fill our supermarket shelves.

So don't fear butter. Make it a daily part of your diet and you will reap the benefits of good nutrition and superior taste. As the legendary French chef Fernand Point once said: "Butter! Give me butter! Always butter!"

Summer fun: sun, skin, and vitamin D

We've heard for years that ultraviolet light from the sun causes skin cancer, and so we religiously slather our squirming children with sunscreen from April through October (or perhaps even in the winter!). However, considerable research from the past decade has found that the real culprit for life-threatening types of skin cancer may be some unusual sources: trans fats in the diet (which interfere with enzyme systems and the production of cancer-protective factors by the body--and remember, these come from regular heated vegetable oils as well as packaged foods!), chemicals in sunscreen (which have been proven to cause skin cancer), and other toxins which are stored in the skin; in fact, a lack of sunlight may even be to blame! It is worth noting that 90% of skin cancers (like squamous and basal cell carcinomas) are not life-threatening and can be treated successfully in an outpatient procedure. The other 10% are melanomas which have the potential to spread to the rest of the body; these are most likely to occur on areas of the body "where the sun don't shine," not in places where a sunburn has occurred. In fact, there is a correlation between all kinds of cancer and residing in northern latitudes where people get less sun--and therefore make less vitamin D.

Exposure of skin to sunlight during mid-day hours during the warmer months is very important for vitamin D production (at latitudes above 34 degrees there will be a "vitamin D winter" in effect during a significant part of the year; at this time people will not be able to produce vitamin D). Assuming you have fair skin, the more of it you expose the more vitamin D you will produce since it is formed by the interaction of sunlight with cholesterol in the skin. It is not necessary for skin to change color to produce sufficient vitamin D, but it is important that it be exposed. Use of sunscreens above 8 SPF and covering up with clothing will block vitamin D production. As we age, our bodies are also less efficient at converting sunlight to vitamin D, so it becomes even more crucial to consume plenty of D-rich foods. In addition, people with dark skin are less efficient at producing vitamin D as they evolved to live in areas with lots of UVB exposure; including extra D in the diet (such as high-vitamin cod liver oil) will be very important for these individuals as well.

In summer, exposing your whole body (assuming you have pale, untanned skin) to direct sunlight for 30 minutes will result in the production of 10,000-20,000 IUs of vitamin D. There are natural mechanisms in place to ensure you do not produce excess vitamin D, regardless of sunburn (though obviously sunburn should be avoided). When on the beach, use a hat, protective clothing, and an umbrella to avoid burning and drink plenty of fluids to replenish lost electrolytes (homemade ginger ale is a great beach beverage!). I would not recommend most commercial sunscreens, and definitely not baby oil (which is a petroleum by-product). Try a safer brand of sunscreen like California Baby SPF 30+. Of course, sun over-exposure may cause premature wrinkling, sun spots on the skin, and other pesky side-effects. So use common sense, listen to your body, and enjoy your summer!

For a great article on treating sunburn naturally, click here.

A nutrient-dense foods primer

Eggs are truly one of nature's most amazing foods. When sourced from a healthy, happy hen raised on lush pasture, eating an omnivorous diet like nature intended, these perfectly-wrapped golden gems are nourishing, sustaining, a great first food for babies (yolks only!) -- and they don't even require refrigeration or cooking. Yes, shocking I know! but true.

Of course, sourcing good eggs is what matters most, not how you cook (or don't cook) them before enjoying them. (It's worth mentioning here that we don't recommend eating raw egg whites, but the raw yolks can be added to certain foods and drinks for a nutritious boost.) The picture on the right is from a conventional $1.29/dozen egg from the supermarket. The lack of nutrition in this egg is obvious, as the yolk can barely be called yellow and the white is watery. This is the kind of egg that scrambles into something so uninspiringly pale, it doesn't seem worth eating.

The egg on the left is from a hen eating an incredibly nourishing and delicious diet of fresh grass, clover, earthworms, bugs, table scraps, a little cracked corn, and even the occasional reptile! This diet - combined with lots of sunshine - makes for a yolk that is incredibly rich in vitamin A, as apparent by the deep orange color. Chickens eat lots of greens, which are filled with beta-carotene, convert them to vitamin A, and pass along this amazing nourishment to us. What a miracle of nature!

We recommend certain places for sourcing your nutrient-dense pastured eggs:

Traditional Nutrition Guild
Millport Amish Farm - at Union Square Greenmarket on Wednesdays, across from Barnes & Noble
Evolutionary Organics - at USQ Greenmarket on Wednesdays and Saturdays (the eggs sell out quick!)
Grazin' Angus Acres - very pricey, but delicious (USQ Greenmarket on Saturdays)
Raindance Farm - available through special buyers' clubs currently only in Brooklyn

You can expect to pay from $4-8/dozen for eggs like this, with the price most often right around $4-5. Eggs are delicious for summer breakfasts or light dinners, as omelets or frittatas with fresh herbs or greens, grated raw milk cheese, unrefined sea salt (we recommend Celtic), and of course a bit of fresh or cultured cream blended with the eggs before cooking in grass-fed butter.

So how is this post about eggs a nutrient-dense foods primer? To begin with, eggs are a perfect example of how we can (sometimes) get a lot of information about the benefits and flavor of a food just by looking at it. This comparison reminds us that we need to use our SENSES to pay attention to our food: how it looks, how it smells, how it tastes, and the way it feels in our bodies. Truly nourishing foods are different than your run-of-the-mill grocery store options -- and they offer superior nutrition that's well worth the few extra dollars you may have to spend.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Wise Ways Cooking School blog! If you've found us, you're probably exploring ways to eat better, to cook more nutritious meals, and to improve the health of your family.

In this day of ubiquitous "natural" foods suppliers and "holistic" health information, the three things I've just listed are used all too often as platitudes by many people, organizations, professionals, and companies. But here at Wise Ways we mean what we say.

When we talk about ways to eat better, we are referring to the traditional diets and preparation methods used by healthy isolated communities for hundreds -- if not thousands -- of years, and discovered by Weston A. Price in the first half of the 20th century.

When we mention preparing more nutritious meals, what we mean is that we're grounded in teaching people how to eat real foods, sourced from local family farms and from the sea, and how to use traditional preparation methods that maximize the nutritional value and digestibility of each food -- as well as the flavor! Some of these methods include fermentation, culturing, soaking/sprouting, marinating, slow cooking, and raw preparation.

And when we say we're all about improving the health of families, we really mean it. At Wise Ways we have a special focus on the early stages of life, from helping couples prepare their bodies for conception, to teaching parents how to transition their little ones to that first bite of solid food. From preventing and addressing food allergies, to overcoming pickiness, to packing school lunches, to helping parents prepare a nutritious whole foods formula when breastmilk is unavailable, we are dedicated to serving families and parents-to-be with real health and nutrition information, instruction, and support. We even offer a special 10% discount to all childbirth and pregnancy professionals - because we know you can make a big difference in the lives of your clients by passing along the information we have to offer at an incredibly important and sensitive time.

You can stay up-to-date by checking the class schedule page of our website, by signing up for our mailing list, and by referring to the calendar listing in the right-hand column on this page.

We hope you will get involved, keep in touch, and let us know how we can offer guidance and support in your transition to a traditional foods diet.

~Hannah