Pregnancy and Nutrition

Posted by: admin Post date: January 18th, 2010

Nutrition is very important before getting pregnant is one thing, but when it does happen, it is important to keep up up with the right foods, vitamins and minerals to maintain a pregnancy for the entire term.  Without the proper diet, there could be complications that affect the outcome.

The good news is that it isn’t very difficult to maintain the extra energy necessary, particularly during the second trimester when you should be eating about 300 more calories each day.  Since you need the extra energy for your body to help grow the new baby, it doesn’t take much to add that amount of calories.  For example, a glass of whole milk, a slice of cheese and a handful of grapes is about 300 calories and that’s all you need for the entire day.

It’s not just the calories, but what the calories are made of that makes for good nutrition.  You need protein which contains amino acid, an important item for your baby’s tissue. Protein is easy to come by in the form of yogurt and cheese and milk.  Three servings a day should do it.

You’ll also need calcium for the baby’s bones, vitamins C which cannot be stored in your body and iron for the benefits to the blood and flow of energy through the body. All of these can be found in fresh fruits and yellow and green leafy vegetables which should be included with each meal.  For Vitamin E and B are found in legumes and whole grains such as brown rice, whole wheat bread and beans.  These will help with constipation often associated with pregnancy.

Male Infertility

Posted by: admin Post date: December 29th, 2009

There is a difference between men, not just in the way they look or act or speak, but in their ability to reproduce. That doesn’t mean they aren’t romantic enough, although that may also be the case, but male infertility covers almost as wide a variation as women infertility.

Some men have an anatomical anomaly that makes it difficult to get their sperm up into the vagina to fertilize the egg.  After all that is their job, but due to a physical abnormality, such as the opening of the penis on either the top or bottom for example, make it more difficult for the brainless little swimmers to find their way to the promise land.

Sperm are notoriously stupid and often go in the wrong direction.  Sometimes they need a little help – unlike salmon that swim upstream, these blind orphans do better on the downhill. Most of them aren’t strong enough to make it at all, since the female’s defense mechanism tries to kill off the foreign invaders, and the few that do, still need to find a fertile egg in which to hook up.  The one thing a Buddhist does not want to ever do is come back as sperm – too short a gig.

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But if that’s not bad enough, there is also impotency or the inability to get or maintain an erection.  No erection – no penetration; and that means no production of sperm during an attempt at coupling.  So the odds are against pregnancy from just these simple facts.

There is also the problem of sperm age, temperature, endurance as well as mental problems with the male ego that can create a problem we suggest as male infertility.  But fortunately there are male infertility tests that can determine the likelihood of a man being able to reproduce.

Female Infertiity

Posted by: admin Post date: November 21st, 2009

There is a difference between male and female infertility, but without testing, no one will be sure where the problem lies.  For a woman the circumstances that create the perfect environment to conceive has more to do with biology within the body than the chemistry between a woman and a man.  The menstrual cycle is the key, but there are many other problems that can prevent pregnancy including Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PIC) for short.  PID can be caused, again, by a number of different condition including previous abortion, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Herpes, Pelvic Tuberculosis, or even a ruptured appendix.

So after a women gets through the testing for the above items, there is still Endometriosis or cysts that form on he lining of the uterus or fallopian tubes.  There is more detailed information about women infertility as well as some of the causes of infertility available, but there are also other conditions to look at as well.  One of these is polycystic ovarian syndrome in which the ovaries produce a large amount of testosterone, the male hormone.  Another is onset of early menopause, a condition that happens to women under 40 years of age.  Then of course, there is fibroid and eating disorders and a slew of other problems that can exist and prevent women from getting pregnant.