A plan for parenthood

• Lisa Wachsmuth
• March 13, 2008
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Getting fit and healthy

Getting fit and healthy: a plan for parenthood. Having a better lifestyle can greatly improve your chances of falling pregnant, discovers Lisa Wachsmuth.

Fancy a slice of shark's fin, camel hump stew or a bowl of hot chilli peppers?

The power of such so-called fertility foods has been extolled since ancient times, though there's scant evidence that they actually work.

Even in modern times, many old wives' tales link food with fertility. What you eat pre-pregnancy can even affect gender, at least according to a popular myth that if you stick with salty snacks you will get a boy, while those after the fairer sex should give in to their sweet tooth.

But there's no one magic ingredient that will ensure you fall pregnant, according to Wollongong naturopath Sharyn Hocking. Although, she says, a combination of certain foods and lifestyle choices can significantly affect hormone levels and improve fertility in women with ovulation problems.

Hocking, who has been practising naturopathy at Wollongong's Lotus Health Centre for the past 19 years, runs a conscious conception program for those women - and men - wanting to make the leap into parenthood.

"About 10 per cent of my clients come to me for fertility issues. Of those, there are two types. There are those who are having problems falling pregnant. They may have been trying for over a year, or have had repeated miscarriages," Hocking says.

"Then there are those people who are planning a pregnancy and are thinking about their health and their baby's health."

Hocking carries out a thorough investigation of diet and lifestyle of both partners.

"The important thing is that both the mother and father need to be involved - men contribute half the DNA, it's not just a women's issue - so both need to look at their diet and lifestyle," Hocking says.

"That's why it's important for couples to allow three to four months to make changes before they are planning to conceive, because sperm takes 116 days to form and ova take 100 days to mature." Continued...

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