Page 30 - summer2016

Healthy • “Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is the most their exposure to toxic elements in the environ-

fertility is at a common endocrine disorder among women ment, including cell phone radiation. 12,13
Healthy fertility is at a premium, it seems;

of reproductive age.”
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premium, it more and more couples are faced with the sad-
seems; more • “PCOS has been known to be associated ness and concern that comes with the inability
and more with irregular periods, infertility, increased to conceive.

Indeed, infertility is widespread. Nonethe-
pregnancy complications . . .”
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couples are less, rather than leave couples stranded with
faced with • “Endometriosis is a common gynecological their fertility concerns, this article will provide
the sadness condition affecting 10-15% of the female an overview of natural strategies to address
these challenges, strategies that are consistent
population.”
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and concern with the work of Weston A. Price, the Weston
that comes • “Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory A. Price Foundation and my own experience.
with the disease, which is especially found in women In order to accomplish this, however, it is es-
with subfertility problems with an incidence sential to understand what healthy fertility is,
inability to of up to 30%.” so that readers will be better able to judge what
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conceive. constitutes unhealthy fertility. So let’s start with
• “The prevalence of endometriosis was some fundamentals of human fertility and the
47% (104/221 women) in infertile women techniques by which couples can monitor their
with normal ovulation and normospermic own fertility.
(normal sperm) partners.”
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HUMAN FERTILITY
• “An estimated 7 million American couples Anyone who is somewhat familiar with
per year seek infertility care in the United the inner workings of the human reproductive
States. A male factor contributes to 50% of system must stand in awe of its intricacy and
cases. . .” complexity, undoubtedly due to the Creator’s
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perfect design. From the time of puberty to old
It stands to reason that infertility in men age, for example, a man’s reproductive system is
and women nowadays is the result of our fast- capable of producing sperm (part of this perfect
paced, stressful culture, highly processed foods design), which means he is essentially fertile for
with inadequate nutrition and the long-term many decades. On the other hand, the Creator’s
use of the pill for both birth control purposes design of a woman’s fertility manifests as wax-
and/or for most of those familiar, but abnormal ing and waning cycles beginning at menarche
fertility-related problems that cause women so (the onset of menses). A woman is born with all
much anxiety. Consider what direct damage the the immature ova or eggs (inside her ovaries)
pill can do to women’s fertility: by changing the she will ever have, quite the opposite of a man’s
nature of the mucus-producing cells located in capacity to produce sperm continuously from
the cervix, thus affecting the proper type of mu- puberty onward.
cus production critical for sperm migration and
the ability to conceive, by depleting women’s THE FEMALE CYCLE
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bodies of several B vitamins (riboflavin, B , Approximately once per month, one (or
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B and folate), vitamin E and Coenzyme Q , more) ova develop inside specialized sacs called
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vitamin C, magnesium and zinc, all of which follicles in the ovaries (see Figure 1). During this
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are necessary for healthy fertility, and by dam- maturation process the follicle(s) also produces
aging the beneficial gut flora. These adverse estrogen—the female hormone responsible for
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changes do not include the well-known myriad building up a nutrient-rich uterine ‘bed’ or lin-
of mild-to-severe health side effects such as a ing for a possible fertilized egg to implant and
40 percent increase in breast cancer in women for activating specialized cells in the cervical
who have not had a full-term pregnancy, stroke canal to produce mucus—a fluid necessary for
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or even death. Men’s fertility is also affected by promoting fertility. As time passes and the re-
30 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2016 Wise Traditions