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Volume 5 Issue 5

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Abby's Magazine - Volume 5 Issue 5| Page 61 Several oral and vaginal suppository products are available on the market. 4. Autoimmunity: Because celiac disease is also an autoimmune condi on, this can change the body's ability to tolerate foreign cells including your partner's sperm – or the baby. Addi onally, celiac, both as a result of autoimmunity, and the selenium deficiency that it can cause, is associated with hypothyroidism, which can interfere with ge ng pregnant. If you have an autoimmune condi on, gluten may be a culprit. Go gluten free, follow the 4R program below, and connect with a Func onal or Integra ve Medicine Doctor, or licensed Naturopath skilled in natural fer lity treatment and gut health. So, What Can You Do? The bo om-line is you've go a' go on a gluten free diet (GFD) for at least three months, preferably six, to maximize the poten al benefit. Three to six months might seem like a really, long me when you feel that your fer lity clock is cking, but I promise you, with the experience of 30 years of working with women trying to get pregnant, and pregnant moms, that the healthier you are when you become pregnant, the be er your chance of an op mally healthy pregnancy – and healthy baby. During this me, as hard as it is to do, pu ng your fer lity urgency on hold while you op mize your gut health and overall well-being can bring a breath of fresh air and energy into your eventual concep on, and might just allow you to let go of some stress. It's a great me to revitalize yourself! This is really, important because stress itself affects your fer lity hormones by also telling your body that there's an emergency going on! I've seen the fer lity challenge enough to know that everything can get affected – even a lovely sex life can become fraught with tension, anxiety, and disappointments. So, use this me to also get juicy with your mate, and have some fun with your sex life again. I've seen amazing babies come from taking breaks like this! How to Go Gluten Free and Optimize Your Digestive Health Going gluten free is some mes as simple as elimina ng all food products that contain wheat (including all wheat flour and most breads, pastas, cereals), rye, and barley. There are some great websites out there to help you along, for example, Gluten Free School. If you are highly symptoma c to gluten, you might want to also remove all the poten ally cross-reac ve foods from your diet, too, especially corn. If you have celiac, or even suspect that you do, you might need to take one addi onal step – avoid accidental environmental contamina on through foods being prepared for others in the same kitchen you're using (dish towels, cu ng boards, sponges) and checking your cosme cs for gluten – shockingly, many contain gluten products – so read labels. Many people make the mistake of assuming gluten free products are automa cally healthier than those containing gluten. Gluten free "junk food" is actually just as unhealthy because it is o en loaded with empty calories, and the same extra sugar and salt in any pastries, cookies, pasta, etc. So be careful – quite a number of people actually gain weight when they go gluten free because of gluten free food binging! The best thing is to remove the gluten, and switch over to simple whole grains like millet and quinoa, and wild rice (brown rice can be healthy but concerns have recently been raised on the amount of arsenic in all rice grown in the US, so while you're trying to get pregnant, keep brown rice to not more than a couple of mes/week). In addi on to going gluten free, I highly recommend doing the 4R Program I've laid out for you here to op mize your gut health and heal inflamma on. If you get pregnant on the 4R Program, no worries simply discon nue the supplements when you realize you've conceived. It's that simple. But stay gluten free – this is a perfectly safe thing to do during pregnancy – you can get your nutri on from other healthy, non-gluten containing grains. Going gluten (and stress!) free may be all your body needs to regenerate your gut, cool down the inflamma on, and become less autoimmune reac ve. One of my fer lity pa ent couples decided to take a "get healthy" vaca on and voila! They came back feeling great – and with a belly bump! May their pregnancy success be yours, too!

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