Good Food Energy

When patients come to see us at the clinic for the first time, a large part of the consultation is taken up with dietary questions. This is not so that we can catch you out or tell you off but so we can assess which, and how many, nutrients are going into your body and how much energy you are giving your body from your food.

Remember, the body has to do many, many things - important ones like keeping your heart beating and your lungs breathing as well as staying upright and avoiding danger. Reproduction is the last thing on your body’s ‘to do’ list so the more energy you can give it the better. It needs excess energy in order to have some left over for conception and pregnancy. Not only that, but what you eat now, as potential mother and father, will absolutely influence the health of your child.

In Chinese Medicine theory, every person is born with a certain amount of energy which they inherit from their parents. We’d call that genetics now, ie. your inherited constitution. Some lucky people are born with tonnes of energy and others spend a childhood susceptible to coughs and colds and are probably the ones left to the end when picking sports teams (I speak from personal experience here).

The individuals born with strong constitutions, in the extreme, are those cited who never do exercise, smoke and drink as much as they want and still live until they’re 99. More generally, they are the ones who can work & play long hours and not suffer physically.

But all’s not lost for the less robust. Chinese Medicine explains that you can make up for inherited deficiencies by eating well, and taking care of your body in terms of resting and keeping warm. In fact, you can really improve on what you were born with by being informed about food intake and making choices that will help you to thrive.

Fresh, unadulterated food is what you’re looking. And, given that we live in a cooler country here in Scotland (but also in the UK as a whole), we need to take in more warming foods to aid digestion and nourish the body. Things like stews, soups and baked potatoes. Freshly made curries are also great with lots of warming spices such as cinnamon, ginger and chillies.

The Chinese used to advocate lots of red meat and food made with bone marrow to ‘nourish blood’ (ie build iron supplies in the body) but for veggies and vegans, eating lots of dark coloured foods such as kidney/black beans; puy/beluga lentils; dark leafy veg such as spinach, watercress, kale, coriander and (my fave) dark chocolate (75% +) also does the trick. All of those foods are rich in iron, magnesium and full of healthy fibre as well as protein in the beans and lentils.

I can personally vouch for the difference this can make. In the days when I lived off not much, but mainly pizza and pasta, I was constantly ill and tired, despite being 20 years younger than I am now. Today, I try much harder to make eating well a priority. I don’t eat big portions but little and often, which seems to suit me. Others do better on three good sized meals per day.

It’s up to you how you do it, but upgrading your diet is the most proactive, positive thing you can choose to do to improve fertility and general health. If you struggle to eat well then wise & informed supplementation can help you foward as well.