•Gou Qi Zi or Goji berries (lycii berry or wolfberry fruit)—a large handful. (Choose the less bright red ones to be sure no colorants have been added.) In TCM, Gou Qi Zi is believed to nourish the blood and kidneys, lower blood sugar, have antioxidant properties, prevent fat build-up in liver cells, and help regenerate liver cells.
•Shan Yao (dioscorea or Chinese wild yam)—3 pieces. In TCM, Shan Yao is believed to nourish digestion, nourish kidney and reproductive energy in men and women, regulate menstruation, lower blood sugar, soothe mood, aid sleep, and benefit overall blood and qi energy.
•Huang Qi (astragalus root)—3 pieces about the size of a tongue depressor. In TCM, Huang Qi is considered an overall tonic that regulates blood sugar and enhances sleep, energy, and libido, as well as the immune system and metabolism.
•Bai Shao Yao (white peony)—2 pieces. In TCM, Bai Shao Yao is thought to nourish the blood, soothe the liver, soothe abdominal cramps, and nourish nutritive (yin) energy. It is used to help with endometriosis, ovarian cysts, and menstrual cramps, and to regulate menstruation.
•Hong Zao (dried Chinese red jujube dates)—3 pieces. In TCM, Hong Zao is believed to calm the nervous system, inhibit cell mutation, protect the liver, improve energy, and have an antihistamine action, which benefits the immune system.
•Fu Ling Poria—3 pieces. In TCM, Fu Ling Poria is believed to aid and strengthen digestion, decrease water retention, reduce stomach acid, calm the heart, soothe the nerves, and sometimes help with insomnia.
When the chicken is cooked, slice off most of the meat for dinner, but cut the leftover meat into bite-sized pieces and store in the fridge. Put all the bones and skin into the stock pot and bring to a boil. Lower to a high simmer so there is minimal bubbling, and cook for 12 hours.
If you need to leave the house, you may need to take it off the stove and store it in the fridge while you’re gone. Alternatively, you may leave it simmering in an electric crock pot for 12 hours.
With a slotted spoon, take out all of the chicken pieces, herbs, and vegetables, and place them in a sieve over a large bowl to collect any stock that drains from them. Discard the pieces from the sieve and strain the rest of the stock through the sieve.
Drink a cup per day. Or cool and pour into separate containers to freeze and use for cooking or as a soup base.
To make chicken soup, heat the stock and boil with 2 peeled and diced carrots, 2 cut celery stalks, and 1 diced onion. Add some parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Before serving, add in cut up chicken bits from the roasted chicken.
Eating for fertility: What not to eat
Keeping your body fit to receive an embryo and grow a healthy baby is not only about what you put into your body but also about what you keep out of it. The most important foods to avoid include:
•Sugar, especially refined white sugar, but also fruit juices. Sugar of all kinds can cause blood glucose to spike. This can increase insulin resistance and cause ovulatory issues and impede fertility.16 Research has shown that sugar is more addictive than cocaine in its effect on the reward centre in the brain—the more you eat, the more you want.17
•Artificial sweeteners, as they increase inflammation and can negatively affect the growth of eggs, especially for women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS; see Chapter 6).
•Prepackaged, factory-canned, and boxed foods with long expiration dates, which includes things like commercial chocolate bars, boxed mac-and-cheese, and canned pasta with tomato sauce. Packaged foods are convenient but are also filled with chemical flavourings, colourings, artificial ingredients, preservatives, and fillers. Even the packaging itself is sometimes questionable (for example, plastic contains carcinogens, and there is some concern they may be released when heated).
From a TCM perspective, the above guidelines are common sense for anyone wishing to maintain a healthy inner environment. The following suggestions are more specific to improving fertility.18
•Fast foods and fried foods that contain excessive trans-fatty acids (TFA), which can potentially increase insulin resistance.19 This, in turn, can increase weight and impede ovulatory function, decreasing fertility potential. TFA are widely known to be unhealthy fats.
•Gluten-containing foods, which may disrupt hormone function, increase inflammation, tend to be higher on the glycemic index (which lists foods according to their impact on blood sugar), and increases body fat, which can disrupt ovulation.20 A diet with too many foods high on the GI can also increase insulin resistance, which I will discuss more in Chapter 6. If you are sensitive to gluten, a diet high in gluten can cause inflammation and activate autoimmune disorders (see Chapter 7), which can contribute to miscarriage.21
•Meats containing growth hormones and antibiotics, which can disrupt your natural hormonal balance.
•Fruits grown with pesticides. Eat organic as much as possible, since toxins can disrupt hormonal balance, but particularly avoid fruits such as peaches, pears, apples, grapes, celery, spinach, and strawberries if they’re not organic. Refer to the most updated list created by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which ranks pesticide levels on produce tested by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.22
•Alcohol. If possible, abstain altogether. I often see women who drink moderately, and if they have a negative pregnancy test, they have a drink; that is unlikely to affect their chances of conceiving in the future. However, a Danish study showed that women over thirty who consumed more than one drink per day were more likely to have fertility issues than women who consumed less than one drink per week.23
•Coffee and caffeine-containing teas and sodas. It’s best to reduce caffeine intake to less than 200 mg per day. Research has shown that two cups of regular coffee or five twelve-ounce cans of caffeinated soda can double risk of miscarriage.24 However, it’s difficult to assess how to keep within that 200-mg limit when another study found that twenty different commercial espresso coffees exceeded the maximum safety limit in just one cup (they contained from 200 to 322 mg per shot).25
•Dairy products, which contain insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), especially when taken from high-producing milk cattle.26 IGF-1 at high levels can increase insulin resistance, which can in turn affect proper timing of egg maturation, especially for women with PCOS (see Chapter 6).
•GMO soy products. Even for non-GMO soy products, do not exceed sixty grams (that’s three twelve-ounce glasses of soy milk) per day. Soy contains phytoestrogens (plant-based estrogens), which can upset hormonal balance.
Eating for fertility: How and when to eat
There is more to healthy eating than what you physically stick into your mouth. It is just as important to nourish your mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being as to eat a healthy diet. In TCM, this includes how and when you eat (and don’t eat). My aim is to put joy back into your eating experience while boosting your fertility. (NOTE: If you have celiac disease, are lactose intolerant, or have any known food allergies or intolerances, you will want to stay away from whatever you react to.) The following simple guidelines will help you look and feel better inside and out:
•Eat lightly cooked vegetables, as they are readily digestible (partially digested by the cooking process) but not overcooked to the point of losing nutritional value. Steaming or stir-frying vegetables lightly helps your digestion and enables your body to extract nutrients more effectively.
•Chew your food thoroughly. Breaking food down before it goes into the stomach helps the process of digestion.
•Try