Why Are We Losing Our Fertility? How to Reclaim Our Right to Reproduce with Holistic Healing Tool – Do you know anyone who has struggled to conceive? Almost all of us have at least one family member or friend whose dreams of childbirth have been delayed or put on hold altogether.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control, low fertility rates among women aged 15-49 are currently around 13.4% and infertility affects 8.5% of women in this age group. In one-third of infertility cases, it’s the male of the couple who is unable to conceive. 12.2% percent of women have sought out fertility treatments.
Birth rates have dropped drastically since 1950, as shown by United Nations data, partly due to cultural shifts around women and their role in the household. But, with the rates of infertility treatment increasing alongside a drop in fertility rates, it’s clear there’s more going on.
What is Taking Our Fertility Away?
As with so many things in the body, there’s no single answer to the question of why our reproductive systems are not operating at full capacity. In his book Life-Changing Foods, respected global health authority Anthony William writes specifically about some of the factors which detract from our fertility. I’ve seen the truth of these play out in my many years of working with couples to support them as they prepare for birth.
One factor is a cultural trend to avoid pregnancy for young women. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a 19, 27, or 36-year-old woman choosing not to conceive, but that avoidance of pregnancy sends a message to the reproductive system that it should not create life. Our bodies are responsive to our state of mind.
When preventative measures like “the pill” and other contraceptive tools are involved, a sort of training of the reproductive system not to produce a baby can take place. In a way, a situation is created where the reproductive system is depleted in the same way a battery can get low. It may take some time for a woman’s body to recharge her “reproductive battery” when she decides it’s time to conceive.
Another roadblock to fertility in women is a disrupted endocrine system. When a woman’s adrenal glands are weak due to stress or consuming caffeine, her body’s ability to produce progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone – all fertility-related hormones – is hampered. Mounting research, like this published National Library of Medicine article, links high-stress levels with infertility. When a woman’s body is under stress, adrenaline can act as an anti-fertility steroid.
Certain foods weaken reproductive health. Foods high in adrenaline, like factory-farmed meat, can weaken fertility, just like adrenaline from stress. Eggs, GMO foods, aspartame, MSG, natural and artificial flavors, gluten, and soy can all contribute to conditions like PCOS and endometriosis.
Do your best to avoid antifertility toxins like pesticides, herbicides, and toxic plastics, which mess with our hormones. Shop organic as often as you can, be selective with your clothes shopping (many new clothes are sprayed with harmful chemicals), and avoid scented laundry detergents, commercial perfumes, and chemical air fresheners.
Male infertility is at least one-third of the problem, as we mentioned. When it comes to healthy sperm, we have to talk about mineral deficiencies in men – especially zinc. It’s crucial for men to restore their zinc and mineral reserves with fruits, vegetables, greens, and mineral-rich herbs like nettle, red clover, rosemary, and lemon balm. Abstaining from masturbation also helps to replenish healthy sperm.
The Truth About the Overpopulation Myth
There is a belief that our planet is quickly reaching a point where it cannot sustain more human life. The truth is, if we continue on our current path, soon we’ll have an underpopulation problem instead of an overpopulation problem.
As more and more couples struggle to conceive, birth rate numbers will plummet and we will start to grow concerned for the future from a whole different perspective than we’re accustomed to in the news. There are steps we can take to avoid that future and rebuild our fertility now.
Reclaiming Our Right to Reproduce
Medical intervention in the form of tools like IVF is often seen as the only option when couples have trouble conceiving, but there is much we can do to restore our body’s God-given right to create life.
The main problem is that we aren’t given the tools we need to regain our reproductive health without medical intervention. If we can start by reconnecting with our own bodies, restoring our reproductive energy, removing harmful toxins that get in the way, and consuming nourishing foods that actually encourage our bodies to generate life, we can use modern medicine’s techniques as a final option when all else fails.
Recharging your reproductive battery.
This simple but effective technique, taken from Life-Changing Foods by Anthony William, can enliven your fertility. Imagine a cord from an unlimited energy source plugging into your reproductive system. Visualize every aspect of your system – from your ovaries to your fallopian tubes to your uterus – charging up with this unlimited energy source.
Heal your adrenals.
Managing stress, avoiding adrenaline-spiking foods like coffee, chocolate, and energy drinks, and eating every 1-2 hours to prevent blood-sugar drops (which trigger adrenaline in the bloodstream) are powerful ways to prepare the body for pregnancy.
Fertility foods.
Eat foods that strengthen the body’s ability to create life, like fruits, which are high in life-supporting glucose, phytochemicals, antioxidants, and trace minerals. Bananas, avocadoes, cherries, mangoes, and especially berries are wonderful fertility foods, as well as sprouts, leafy greens, raw honey, glucose-rich vegetables like potatoes, and reproductive superstar herbs like red raspberry leaf, nettle leaf, and red clover.
Avoid toxins.
- Detox your home by bringing in scent-free and natural cleaning products.
- Detox your kitchen by washing your produce and consuming organic when you can.
- Detox your water by avoiding cheap plastic containers.
- Hydrate to flush out toxins you can’t avoid.
The Greatest Gift:
Creating Life, I began my career as a health practitioner in the birthing world. Conception, pregnancy, labor, and postpartum are topics I am extremely passionate about, and as a mother of three beautiful daughters, I know what a gift creating life can be for mothers and fathers. Nobody should have the gift of creating life taken from them.
I will raise my girls with greater knowledge of their bodies than I was raised with, and I hope to inspire many other women to do the same. As we reconnect with what our bodies truly need, we will return to the natural wisdom that kept us strong through past generations, wisdom that will keep us strong for generations to come.
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