14 Days Fertility Challenge

Hi ladies,

A couple of days ago I have discovered the following website of an Oz naturopath Gabriella Rosa specialising in fertility, and she is holding a 14 Days to Optimal Fertility Challenge starting on May 25th. There are heaps of free resources on her website too, useful articles, q&a's, success stories, podcasts from fertility teleclasses etc etc...and at the end of the challenge there is also a free online seminar (I think it's around 9:30 pm on Wednesday night early June). Some of this information you are probably already familiar with but it sounds very empowering and covers lots of things from diet to exercies, to herbs and supplements and what doctors aren't telling us about IVF and ICSI.

Anyway, thought you might like to check it out. I have signed up and am looking forward to participating in the challenge. I find it very positive for me personally, very empowering reading/listening from time to time all the 'basics' and 'best practices' of making a healthy baby.

Even though most of this is probably more applicable to those trying to conceive naturally I think it doen't hurt those of us doing ART to follow some of these guidelines in the months leading to IVF. As you all know it takes 120 days for sperm and egg to mature so even if we have to go through IVF it is best to prepare our bodies in the best possible way to improve our chances.

Let me know if any of you decide to join in also, we can then have our own discussions about what we've learned and support each other in whatever tasks Gabriella gives us during there 2 weeks =)

I just did DI this morning but have signed up anyway, you never know what usefull bit of info I might learn

Awesome thanks, I've signed up. I will post this in the TTC thread too in case others are interested.

Sounds great, I'm signing up now! Thanks for posting in the charting thread LR :)

I've just joined up too, looks great and I'm all for learning something that might be helpful!

Yeah, interesting ah?

I have heard about this before, that it's best to reduce the number of chemicals we use and go natural. I have recently won a home cleaning set from Earthwise so am using that in the laundry and bathroom, but I do still have the toilet duck and window sprays, and dettol for washing the floors....we have the Robocan on the wall for dealing with pests too....and I try to only switch it on when we get quite a few of them, not ALL the time. But definitely there's more that I can do to rid the house of chemicals....

I guess I've been a bit lazy and haven't gone to the extent of mixing my own qhite vinegar and bi-carb solutions.... I know about them, but not the exact proportions etc...

Yeah, what did you ladies all think. Are you gonna do what Gabriella said? Shall we all go around our places and get rid of stuff!

Ohh, I have also started googling that miessence brand for facecare/body/haircare mineral make-up stuff...you can buy in in NZ too, some sites even do free shipping, so I might try some of that.

It really does suck having to throw away all the current stuff though, aye? I have nice shampoos and moisturisers and stuff...feel very tempted finishing them off and THEN buying the new organic stuff.

But on the other hand, how much longer can I go on poisoning myself with all this crap!?

I don't know, I think it's bit too much to ask to get rid of all of the household cleaners, shampoos etc. I try to use only organic brands but I'm not going overboard on it.

Hey ladies, make sure you go on to Gabriella's facebook page too, there is a lot of activity there, discussions about coffee and chemicals, cosmetics, diet etc.. I'm not posting anything there as I don't want all my facebook friends to see what i'm up to, but interesting to read what others have to say!

What did you guys think of the third newsletter about the 4 important tests? Has anyone done the thyroid test? I don't think either my GP or the FS mentioned it....and Gabriella says you should get it check out even if you have no symptoms :-/

Yes Tiff, it WILL show up on your facebook account is you click 'like' on Gabriella's. That's why I don't 'like' it but just search for her page (or there is a link in her newsletters) and scroll through to read the comments (it's a public page so no security), so you don't have to sign up or add her as a friend or anything, just read her wall from time to time to see if there is anything interesting :)

hmm...interesting about your naturopath.... did she then tell you want to do/supplements to take to improve it?

How are you ladies all going? Who has cleared their houses of all the chemicals? I'm still half and half on that....am trying not to use the sprays etc too much, but haven't gotten rid of them all either...

What about cooking oils etc? What do you use? I see Gabriela is recommending coconut oil, anyone tried that?

And did you see her recommendations on fruit, only 2 pieces a day and no dried fruit (raisins, prunes, apricots.....uhh...i have those everyday! ) Not sure what else to do for snacks then if fruit is bad (too much sugar) and I can't have dairy (Gabriela doesn't recommend it either), carrot sticks with hummus, but then it's against Brad's no carbs diet. Ah it all seems too hard at times! All worth it in the end though.

Oh, and we removed the phone out of the bedroom and unplugged the stereo, now I only plug it in when I wanna listen to the radio in the mornings while getting ready for work. Still have the cellphones in the room at nite (for alarm etc) but now DH turns all his wireless options off, so it's just used as a clock rather than the phone.

what have you done guys, any advice you've taken on board?