Archive for December, 2009

Choices in Fertility: Shades of Grey

Friday, December 4th, 2009

The fertility world is painted in shades of grey—answers to challenging questions are nuanced, and many times the right answer for you may be in opposition to your partner’s. At each juncture there is a decision to be made that can stretch personal boundaries or pose ethical dilemmas.

Should I use ART’s or try natural conception? How far am I willing to go down each path to keep my own mental wellbeing? What are my beliefs about fertility drugs, donor eggs or adoption, and how many medically stimulated cycles am I willing to include as part of my treatment plan? These choices bear no absolute rights and wrongs, and they’re all theory anyhow against the backdrop of the trying, waiting, hope, and dejection of another unsuccessful cycle.

To this end, most reproductive centers offer some sort of counseling. Many of my clients have benefited greatly from these services to help with the grief from unfruitful IUI/IVF attempts or pregnancy loss. Their availability usually maxes out at 1 or 2 sessions, however, which is why continued mental health counseling with a licensed practitioner is so important. But these therapies still often don’t tend to employ a very holistic approach, focused on longterm wellbeing, which is where Holistic Health Counseling can be of benefit. I have coached many couples in various stages of their fertility journey, and understand the complexities of the decisions they face and the need for sustained self-care.

Much can be done from a holistic nutrition approach, not only to enhance fertility, but to truly promote the physical health and emotional wellbeing of the parents-to-be. As a Holistic Health Counselor, I’m here as a guide.

If this resonates with you, please contact me for a free 15 introductory session so we can discuss your concerns and how I can help.

The Skinny on Gluten-Free Advertising

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

When most of your diet suddenly becomes taboo, like when you learn you can no longer eat wheat, it’s natural to feel deprived and crave foods to placate the loss.

TV commercials and billboards bank on your feeling feel this way, and in fact create the problem they claim to be the answer to. Food companies thrive on crafting need and desire, and the antidote, of course, is consuming their products. 

Marketing gluten-free food is a slightly different game, since the deprivation problem already exists for those of us who can’t eat gluten. But many gluten-free food manufacturers still attempt to remedy our pain through the most enticing and potent fare possible: devil chocolate cake, shortbread cookies, pasta, breaded chicken nuggets… It’s hard to say no when you feel life is unfair for not letting you eat anything you want.

Especially when the message is everywhere you turn for support. Thumbing through a “health” focused magazine, you’d think treats were the staple gluten-free diet foods. Like the old USDA food pyramid: 8-11 servings of bread and pasta, sugar at the top, and a pile of food allergens in between. You certainly won’t get healthy or thin or improve your quality of life on this stuff.

Loaded with sugar, chemicals, starches, and bleached, refined “safe” grains, gluten free treats-manufacturing companies don’t have your health in mind. In my humble opinion, these highly addictive, void-of-nutrition non-foods trade one kind of poison for another.

But when has health-promoting ever been sexy or exciting? We must learn to see through the smokescreen of gluten-free advertising.

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