As I was reading holistic books to find answers on how to nourish the body well to enhance fertility, I read a few books written by medical doctors outlining a new discipline in medicine called Nutritional Medicine. I was very impressed by the logic they presented in these books as to why degenerative conditions occur. I was also impressed by their health model that outlined how to enhance human cells with diet and supplements. In these books I found a natural treatment that made a lot of sense.
Let me share with you what I learned, because if this makes sense to you, then you'll be motivated to do what I have done to balance all chemicals in my body leading to optimal health.
Nutritional Medicine
The Nutritional Medicine approach includes principles that are of great benefit to fortify fertility. These principles support the following:
- better digestion and assimilation of foods through the use of probiotics and enzymes;
- better nutrition through nutrient rich food supplements and;
- increased protection against free radical damage (oxidative stress) through whole food antioxidants.
Tens of thousands of people have used this health model to help themselves from many chronic degenerative conditions. Additionally, many of the studies and books written by Nutritional Medicine doctors give us the scientific reasons behind why this specific health model and the supplements used have helped with a wide variety of health-related conditions along with fortifying fertility.
Today there is a very large number of alternatives, allopathic and naturopathic doctors practicing the Nutritional Medicine approach to health.
Why Does Nutritional Medicine Work?
Nutritional Medical physicians believe that most degenerative conditions have their origin in the malfunction of the digestive tract and the liver's elimination processes. In other words, illness can be directly related to problems of the digestive and liver detoxification systems and their related influence on immune, nervous and endocrine system functions. Therefore, when the health of the digestive and liver detoxification systems is addressed, the body is given the opportunity to reach optimal health. A Nutritional Medicine doctor will first recommend addressing the health of the gastrointestinal tract (GI). Once the GI tract is normalized, then the liver detoxification system should be supported and strengthened.
Today, through the efforts of Nutritional Medicine doctors, we have hundreds of clinical studies and scientific research that confirm what many of us have heard so often from folk medicine practitioners: "Stomach problems are the cause of all ills" or "Death begins in the colon."
Jeffrey Anderson, M.D., wrote an article called "How Problems with Digestion Can Cause Illness Anywhere", and in this article he explains why you should address the health of the gastrointestinal tract first, no matter what degenerative condition you want to address. He explains that "new information on the dynamics of the body make it clear that conditions in the digestive tract affect the entire system" (Trent Nichols, Optimal Digestion, 1999, p.125).
The "...degradation of the gastrointestinal environment is one of the primary points at which health is lost. What we now know is that the same toxins associated with GI dysfunction are frequently absorbed and distributed to other parts of the body. First they place a burden on the liver and the immune system. If liver overload occurs, there will be spill over, and some of the toxins will be passed on to other organs or tissues " (p. 125).
"Often, it's a weak link in the system that will be hit by the damage - an organ that can be anywhere in the body that is most likely to be vulnerable. The vulnerability may be inherited, caused by physical injury, toxic exposure, or poor diet" (p.125).
Len Saputo, M.D., in his article, "Harmful Flora", also believes that if the gastrointestinal tract goes out of balance and the liver detoxification system breaks down, our entire immune system can malfunction in three ways. First, it can be weakened and the result called an immune suppression disease. Second, it can overreact and become hyper responsive to normal stimuli. Third, a malfunctioning immune system can cause auto immune reactions, where antibodies target our own tissues (p.60).
Jerry Stine, M.D., in his article, "How Digestion Works", explains that the gastrointestinal tract is the largest immune organ in our body. Eighty percent of all our protective immune globulins are produced in the digestive tract (p.16). When this large, strategically placed immune system member (the GI tract) isn't working well, our defenses are lowered and once our barriers are down, it becomes more difficult to defend against invaders.
Nutritional Medicine Strategies to Reverse Degenerative Conditions, Including fortifying fertility:
Nutritional Medicine doctors including, Dr. Jeffrey Anderson, Dr. Len Saputo and Dr. Jerry Stine, believe that cleansing and supporting the GI tract and the liver can and will clear the body of any obstacles against fertility.
- First you detoxify the GI tract.
- Then get the liver detoxification system working.
- And finally clean up the downstream consequences, which includes the toxins in the tissues and cells.
Nutritional Medicine doctors believe that you can't deal with the downstream conditions (symptoms in the body), until you've treated the upstream problem(s) in the gut and liver (p.132). When you clean up the upstream issues and the liver, then the downstream consequences tend to disappear.
Nutritional Medicine Solution - Natural Fertility Boosters. The 4Rs Solution:
Remove
Abnormal kinds/amounts of intestinal microorganisms (parasites, bacterial pathogens, small intestinal overgrowth such as yeast, and food antigens). This can be done by repairing "leaky" intestinal membranes.
Replace:
Hydrochloric acid, enzymes, and fiber deficiency can be addressed and replaced with friendly bacteria, digestive enzymes and fiber supplements.
Restore:
Symbiotic bacteria and GI bacteria through the use of full spectrum friendly bacteria (L. acidophilus, B. bifidus, L. planetarium, L. salivarius, L. bulgaricus, etc.).
Repair:
Replace or augment with nutrients necessary to support healing of intestinal lining, plus adequacy of calories, and adequacy of fiber. Support the liver detoxification system through the use of antioxidants and food based nutritional supplements (pp. 181-182).
The 4 R's are a great process for fortifying fertility.
The Difference is in the Quality Of The Nutritional Fertility Boosters
There are a multitude of allopathic and naturopathic doctors practicing Nutritional Medicine today, and they recommend supporting better digestion, better nutrition, and better protection against oxidative stress. However, when it comes to supplements, most Nutritional Medicine doctors recommend standard man-made supplements in their isolated, single, separated or chemically-manufactured form, such as zinc, copper, vitamins B, C, E and beta carotene, to reverse degenerative conditions.
I don't believe vitamins and minerals should be taken in single and chemically-manufactured forms. For example, vitamins are intricate, interrelated, integrated, and united organic nutritive groups. Nature made them as an indistinguishable part of foods for the benefit of human health. Vitamins are inseparable as working nutrients from trace elements, minerals, proteins, and other elements.
Chemists have attempted to isolate and identify some of the components of these food complexes, labeling the seemingly "active" elements as vitamins or other nutrients. Yet there is no possible way that even the sum of the parts is equal to the whole. It is only the whole food, intact and unaltered, that works as a nutritional source and therefore is the best degenerative processes in the body treatment. The isolated parts are not recognized by the body as foods. In large amounts, these isolated chemicals function more like drugs, which stimulate or suppress biochemical functions, instead of providing nourishment for the cells to carry on their vital activities.
Natural, food-source vitamins are enzymatically alive. Man-made, synthetic vitamins are dead chemicals. Human health requires "live" biochemicals. It is simply a matter of chemistry versus biochemistry.
I think Nutritional Medicine doctors are "right on the money" when it comes to explaining why degenerative conditions occur, but when it comes to the solution which is their supplement program, they are mainly providing the typical man-made and chemically-manufactured supplements. However, I recommend the use of whole food supplements for fortifying fertility because it is based on the philosophy that "Food is the best medicine."
Searching for the Ultimate Fertility Boosters:
There are certainly better alternatives than man-made supplements; i.e. organic whole food supplements. Whole food supplements are far superior in their quality and effectiveness for fortifying fertility because they are produced in their natural and complex configuration. Why whole food products work better is based on the philosophy that the human body is a marvelously designed living organism with the ability to grow, regulate, repair, and defend itself when given natural, high quality, full spectrum nutrients.
I don't know of too many companies that produce high quality whole foods supplements. However, I came across one company that has been in the whole food supplement business for over thirty years. I was so impressed with their philosophy of producing whole food supplements that I paid a visit to their manufacturing facility. I was very impressed with everything they do to preserve the quality of their whole food supplements from the time the foods are harvested to the time they are introduced to the public as supplements. I attribute a large percentage of the success in fortifying human cells leading to improved fertility to the use of these wild-crafted, organic and natural whole food supplements.
Today I'm a distributor of this company’s products. Since my philosophy has always been that "food is our best medicine," I found their supplements to align with my philosophy. I have been marketing their products for many years. Hundreds of thousands of people have been helped with these whole food products. I'm not surprised, because when it comes to healing the body, there is nothing more powerful than supplementing with whole foods, especially if they are wild-crafted and organically grown.
If your goal is to find a natural treatment for fertility, may I recommend that you follow this health model which is the same as the Nutritional Medicine health model with the exception that I recommend the use of wholefoods and not man-made supplements:
- Support digestion and assimilation of foods through the use of probiotics and enzyme supplements. Learn more about probiotics and fertility.
- Nourish through food-based supplements (consuming nutrient rich foods such as wheat grass, bee pollen, micro algae...etc.). Learn more about amino and fatty acids for fertility.
- Repair and protect against free radical damage (oxidative stress) through the use of whole food antioxidant supplements (wheat sprouts, red algae, wheat grass, etc.). Learn more about natural fertility vitamins.
With the use of the following natural fertility supplements you can improve the GI tract environment, decrease the burden of the toxins and thereby take the stress off the liver. With less toxins there is less need for a constant high level defense effort and everything in the body just starts to work better. Dr. Jeffrey Anderson summarizes the whole concept of fortifying fertility when he said: "you can't deal with the downstream problems (symptoms in the body) until you have addressed the upstream problem(s) (i.e., malfunctions in the gut)" (Nichols, p. 132).
To learn more about the specific recommended natural fertility supplements click on the following:
- Probiotics and Enzymes to Improve Fertility
- Vitamins and Minerals to Improve Fertility
- Antioxidants to Improve Fertility
Contact me with your questions, or click here if you're interested in a free assessment.