BABY PICTURE: Can you find the baby in the picture.

One of my friends posted this in facebook. I think it's beautiful. Can you find the baby in the picture?

Ten Tips to Kick "Start" your PCOS diet

TEN TIPS TO KICKSTART YOUR PCOS DIET

1. Eat low Glycemic Index (GI) carbohydrates such as vegetables and whole grains. It is very important for women with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) to completely avoid refined carbohydrates including sugar, white flour, whole wheat flour and products made from them eg: pasta, breads, desserts, lollies, soft drinks)

2. Keep your blood sugar stable with a daily schedule of meals and snacks every three to five hours that includes some protein and good fats (for example some nuts/nut butter, seeds/seed butter, hardboiled egg, hummus dip). Protein foods take up to 5 hours to digest while carbohydrate foods digest within 30 minutes.

3. Eat at least five servings a day of vegetables including two of leafy greens

4. Have a daily serving of legumes like black beans or lentils.

5. Enjoy grass or pasture fed (organic) meat up to three times a week

6. Eat at least three daily servings of fruits like berries --which have a lower glycemic impact each fruit as part of a meal or with a protein.

7. Limit or eliminate milk and dairy as these can aggravate internal dampness. If you do have dairy have only non- homogenized full fat milk

8. Pay careful attention to portion sizes in order to moderate glucose load and minimize insulin resistance

9. Add one or two Tbsp of cinnamon on cereal each morning to help decrease insulin resistance.

10. Include pre-biotic and pro-biotic foods which promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the intestinal tract. Pre-biotics are found in whole grains, onions, bananas, garlic, honey, leeks, artichokes and some fortified foods. Pro-biotic foods are found in fermented foods (sauerkraut, live culture yogurt, kim chi, miso).

10 Fertility Myths

The Truth about the dos and don'ts for falling pregnant. An article featured in the Herald Sun, Sunday Magazine.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/lifestyle/sunday-magazine/fertility-misconceptions/story-e6frf039-1226144786980
www.angea.com.au

Mum

Sadly my Mum passed away on the 4th September.

Mum, Judith this a celebration of your life and what an amazing woman you were.

Mother Teresa put it like this "in this life we cannot do great things, we can only do small things with great love. This is how Mum lived. She did everything with great love.

THE SPIRIT OF MUM

Mum, she loved and she loved fully

She touched the hearts of all those she met and knew.

She lived in the spirit of her heart

She lived fully

She had a loving relationship with all of life

Her love unconditional

She saw the preciousness in life and love.

The light could be seen in the brillance of the heart spirit sparkling in her eyes.

Her smile was infectious, warming and inviting

Her words of wisdom I will truly miss - yes Mum you were always right

A survivor, a brave fighter, she conquered breast cancer.

She lived through the changes in life with grace, wisdom and compassion

She moved through life from one change to another growing her spiritual being

She touched each moment of this changing life and allowed herself to be there fully

She has taught us all the value in times of great change is the currency of our heart- the ability and understandings of the heart to live and love.

Her love was the source of all energy that created and connected us all here today.

Out of love, she led all of us here today, to create peace around her, to honour the sacred in her life, to bless whatever she encounters and to wish her well.

In the end she knew that to love and let go were the same thing

Her last wish was for us to be a family again. Reunited as one

Mums wish finally granted.

Now she doesn’t have to fight anymore.

Mum was everything to dad, grant and i. Now a piece of our world is missing. Her warmth, her presence will never be forgotten. For mum will always live in our hearts.

The rain has stopped, the clouds have drifted away.

The weather is clear again

If your heart is pure, then all things in your world are pure,

Then the moon and flowers will guide along the way.

As the mystics say in the body of Buddha and the body of Christ

Is even the limited things of the world are filled with inexhaustible sweetness and purity.

Thank-you for making me strong, for giving me the strength to carry on. I will miss you Mum, my best friend, the person in my life who inspires me to a better woman. I love you Judy Cheeks xx

What you need to ask your Fertility Doctor

Amanda Waaldyk will be running an information afternoon on Saturday 17th September from 12 - 2pm about what you need to ask your Fertility Doctor. The talk will cover the "essential tests" you need to get from your Fertility Doctor.  This is for patients new to IVF or for those who have had failed IVF cycles.
Bookings are essential. Please call the clinic on 9510 3700 to secure your place.

The Advantages of Acupuncture during IVF treatment and Natural Fertility

Acupuncture works in the following ways:

1. Acupuncture can increase blood flow to the reproductive organs, which dramatically improves a woman’s response to hormonal therapy.

2. Acupuncture has been shown to regulate hormone levels by moderating the release of beta endorphins levels in the brain, which improves the release of gonadotrophin releasing hormone by the hypothalamus, follicle stimulating hormone from the pituitary gland and oestrogen and progesterone levels from the ovary.

3. Acupuncture reduces stress and a hyperactive sympathetic nervous system response.

4. Acupuncture has been speculated to moderate cyclooxygenase and prostaglandin levels in the uterus, reducing uterine motility to improve implantation rates.

5. Herbs nourish the blood, whilst acupuncture moves qi, which facilitates the movement of blood. It has been claimed that some herbal formulas produce high clinical pregnancy rates as well as improve the general wellbeing of patients.

The following descriptions below will describe how acupuncture can integrate with Western Medicine. Each point is directly linked to the points above.

1. There needs to be adequate blood flow to the developing ovarian follicle. This is essential to the initiation and maintenance of normal human pregnancy. Doppler ultrasound evaluation of uterine and ovarian blood flow has demonstrated that improved blood flow in either vascular system is associated with improved fertility outcomes. Women who respond poorly to ovarian stimulation for IVF have compromised blood flow to their ovarian follicles.

2. There are 4 phases in the menstrual cycle. During each phases various hormones are released. The most common cause of infertility is hormonal imbalance.
3. From a Western Medicine perspective, people who are under stress release the hormone cortisol in the brain. Cortisol alters the brain’s neurochemical balance thus changing hormone levels and disrupting the pituitary balance, which is the key to the reproductive cycle. Because of this delicate balance between the hypothalamus, pituitary and reproductive glands, stress is capable of preventing a woman from ovulating entirely.

4. For IVF transfers and implantations the endometrium needs to be of particular
density and thickness for successful implantations and fertilization. The uterus therefore needs to be in a relaxed state.

5. The menses is based on the condition of the blood.

If you would like to know more you can read the clinic study on the "impact of acupuncture on in vitro fertilization outcome". Click the following link or paste:
http://www.eufom.com/Articles/acupuncture%20&%20IVF2.pdf

Did you Know?

Did you know the difference between female and male fertility? The Wall Street Journal published some very interesting research recently, which suggests that although women are born with a limited reserve of eggs, the female egg contains original genetic component, as she ages, that was created at the very start of a woman's life. Male sperm, on the other hand, whilst in abundance, runs the risk of genetic error because it is continually renewed as the man ages.