Book review -- The Tao of Fertility

When I first found out I had fibroids, I would not have been willing to read a book related to fertility or go to a clinic specializing in the topic. In fact I think that one of the reasons I have fibroids is due to the high-stress period in my late 30s and early 40s when I was having difficulty finding The Guy. At that point, thinking about fertility was very distressing as I knew someday I wanted children, and that my fertile years were not unlimited, but that I was lacking an important necessary ingredient – the right man. However, I know now that acupuncturists who work on fertility have a lot of experience with fibroids, and I wish now that my first step in my fibroid journey had been to find someone with this specialty.

Now that fertility is my focus, and I have been cleared by my gyn to TTC, picking up a book on fertility by a Chinese medicine expert seems like a natural thing to do. However I understand how some readers of this blog might be in a different situation, such as where I was a few years ago.

At any rare, it turns out that Tao of Fertility has some good input for fibroid fighters. In the beginning he spells out the Chinese medicine approach in a way that is very well-written and easy to understand. It’s perfect for someone who doesn’t have any prior knowledge of this topic and who might have trouble “getting it” -- I’m going to have my husband read it! The book also outlines a detox program and general diet suggestions that are good ones for fibroid fighters –just go easy on the meat and eggs and wheat included.

The most interesting part of the book for me is a simple 10-step Qi Gong practice that targets the reproductive system, and also is quite easy. He says that patients have shrunk their fibroids using it. One thing I have been thinking that I really need is more routine and discipline – so I am going to try to start doing this regularly. (As readers may recall, I took a Qi Gong class this spring that I enjoyed but have to admit that with everything going on in my life lately it’s been hard to practice on my own. I want to start doing it again, but at the same time I like the one from this book as it’s specifically focused on reproductive issues. If I can really get organized, I’ll do both!)

The book also has a simple 5-point acupressure practice, also intended to be done daily, that looks like it’s worth doing. Especially if you are not getting acupuncture regularly.

Several of the case studies involve women who had fibroids along with their other fertility issues. Each one of the cases studies finishes with the miraculous ending of the patient getting pregnant and having a healthy baby. Of course he’s not going to share any failure stories, and wants to showcase his best cases, but to be honest something about these case studies I found rather irritating. To be honest I had trouble relating to them -- either it seemed like him just boasting about how he worked magic on a difficult case, or someone whose lifestyle was so clearly out of whack even I as an amateur could have given them useful advice (e.g. cut back on the excessive running if you want to get pregnant! Duh!) But they do offer some hope and make for interesting reading.

In the appendix there is mention of a new group of acupuncturists who specialize in reproductive issues. This could be a good resource. http://www.aborm.org/ Interesting that this is becoming enough of a specialty to have its own group!

In sum, if you are planning to try to conceive soon or want to preserve your fertility for the future, this book would definitely be interesting and useful. As a fibroid shrinker not interested in fertility (e.g. don’t plan to have children or are approaching menopause), the central fertility emphasis might be annoying but it still might have useful information for you.

Fresh Choice

Last time I went to one of those salad bar restaurants, it seemed like all they were pushing was bread, pizza, pasta and sweet desserts, and that the salad was almost an afterthought. So I had resisted my husband's suggestions that we try Fresh Choice, a chain with outlets here in California as well as Texas and Washington State. But today, fresh back from a business trip and too tired to shop or cook, I said ok.

To my pleasant surprise, it ended up being a good place for fibroid shrinkers. My husband called first and was told that 61% of their food is organic, and signs in the store show that much of it is locally sourced. I started with a bean soup, then a big salad with beets and daikon. Instead of salad dressing I dumped a lot of salsa on top, which worked well and cut out a lot of fat. I had some saffron rice with the pomodoro pasta sauce on top, squash ratatouille and a baked sweet potatoe. We got a piece of Alaskan wild salmon for an extra $1.99. A nice selection of fresh fruit too. Overall plenty of vegetarian and vegan choices. There was still a lot of pasta and bread and sweets, but I found it easy to overlook them with so many other selections.

At just under $10 per person before the salmon, easy on the pocketbook too.

one more progress indicator

My lipoma, the fatty lump on my waist that grew at the same time as my fibroids, has been shrinking further. It's about 1/3 of its original size, and it is a lot softer too. Hoping this is a leading indicator!

further progress report

IKW left the following questions as a comment:

I'm wondering how you are doing and I'm wondering how much this diet has changed your body. How much weight have you lost since you started? I'm in awe of your will power and determination.I keep an eye on your blog regularly and find it inspiring!

When is your next ultrasound to determine how much the fibroids have shrunk?

Would like to answer. How has this diet changed my body? I definitely have lost weight, in fact when I saw my husband's mother at the rehearsal dinner the first thing she said was "you've lost weight!" (last time I saw her was mid-December just before I started this whole campaign). I still really need to do more exercise and get toned up (this whole wedding thing combined with moving and also a lot of work has left me little free time) however I can fit back into most of my clothes.

I don't have a scale at home and am not into weighing myself. I think I had gotten up to something like 140 or maybe even the low 140s -- a lot for my small-boned 5'4" frame. I happen to be in a hotel room in Tokyo at the moment and there is a scale so I just weighed myself and converted the kg to pounds and I am 134 pounds. So not as much as I thought in terms of weight loss but it's something. Weight loss per se is not my direct goal, but I would like to get back to being more toned even if I don't get back to the 122-125 lbs that I consider my most flattering weight.

One thing I have noticed however is a big reduction in my cellulite. They say that cellulite is a bunch of accumulated toxins, and one thing I have been doing for sure is getting rid of toxins! I'm thinking, once I can start getting more exercise, my legs are going to be awesome!

Here is my ultrasound plan. My husband and I are TTC, and will be trying again this month. If I don't get pregnant this month, will have an ultrasound next cycle, which means it would be about a month from now. Will keep you posted, and thanks much for asking -- it makes me feel a lot less lonely in this fibroid shrinking quest!

much shorter period!

I think/hope I'm making progress. Reason I think so is that my period this month was so much shorter than usual -- just 4 days of heavy flow followed by two with just some spotting. I'm in shock, as typically my period is 7-8 days long. Wow, maybe something has shifted...

Tao of Wellness hot herbal cereal

I'm reading The Tao of Fertility currently and will report later on its relevance to fibroid-shrinkers.

Meanwhile, my interest was peaked by mention of a hot herbal cereal that the author sells in the clinic's online store. I showed the ingredients to my acupuncturist and she said it would be good for me. She also mentioned that if one goes to a Chinese market there will be many such items that are somewhere between food and medicine.

I'm happy to try anything that is healthy and will add some variety to my diet. This sounds particularly yummy, plus it contains Fu Ling (Poria) which is good for fibroids (often used in conjunction with cinnamon, so maybe I will sprinkle some cinnamon on this cereal!)

fibroid shrinker goes to Hawaii -- part 3 -- eating: be prepared!

Exhausted from my wedding and all the preparations, and not having eaten satisfactorily for several days (more on that later), went immediately to Kauai, Hawaii for our honeymoon. I didn’t really have time to prepare, and once I got there realized I had overlooked an important aspect of getting ready for the trip – I hadn’t packed any food! And it turned out that eating in Hawaii was more difficult than I had expected.

I guess I’m just spoiled having a Whole Foods a short drive away, and all the places near my home I have been able to scout out that offer organic and hormone-free meats. In Kauai, I found a variety of difficulties, many of which probably apply to any kind of travel but some Hawaii-specific.

1. Local fish laden with mercury. One of the big pleasures for most visitors to Hawaii is enjoying the fresh local fish. However, a bit of research uncovered that most of the local fish in Hawaii have very high mercury levels, as they are large fish that swim in the deep ocean. These include Ahi, Ono, Opah, Mahi Mahi and Shutome (for more information, Google any of these names and the word "mercury". The only two local fish with low enough mercury levels for me were OpakaPaka (crimson snapper), and Kona Kampachi (farm-raised under controlled conditions).
2. Nobody has even heard of hormone-free meats. My husband dutifully asked at each restaurant if the meats were hormone-free; in most cases the response was complete puzzlement. Occasionally we would be told that the steak was hormone free. But even if it’s hormone free I’m not supposed to eating steak anyway! One day however I got so frustrated and felt so protein-deprived that I acted on a local’s tip that Kalapaki Beach Hut uses hormone free beef in its burgers and went there (it's not mentioned on the menu, but the person behind the counter confirmed the hormone-free status). Not that I should really be eating burgers but I had to do something.
3. Few vegetarian options. Between the local fish being off-limits and the meat not being hormone free, eating out was rather challenging. Particularly frustrating was that at the beginning of the trip, when we were in the southern part of the island which is more touristy, Steve had booked us at all the restaurants that sounded like romantic honeymoon destinations, such as Roy’s, Tidepools, and The Beach House. Which were big on steaks and local fish and would only have one or two obligatory vegetarian options, one of which typically had cheese and thus would not work for me. Roy’s had a mushroom dish that was good, and Tidepools had a nice tofu steak (I decided I would have to eat some tofu during this trip in order to get enough protein). But it’s very frustrating to look at an entire menu and only have one thing on it that you can order! Kind of ruins the celebratory honeymoon mood. So does feeling hungry all the time. And don't even ask about the luau we went to! Not much food for me there! I did find two excellent vegetarian restaurants that really worked for me: Blossoming Lotus and Postcards. (When I returned, my acupuncturist was excited to hear I had eaten at Blossoming Lotus, evidently it's famous and they have a cookbookthat I will put on my wishlist). Also in a couple of Asian restaurants I used calamari as my protein and that worked alright.
4. Chocolate lava cakes everywhere. It’s hard enough to avoid eating chocolate without having that particularly yummy treat, the chocolate cake with the warm gooey center, on literally every single menu. Seems like it’s obligatory in Hawaii to have a molten chocolate cake. And often other than that there were not many other dessert options, certainly very few fruit based ones that I could consider eating.
5. Eating on a hike or other outdoor trip. We went on several hikes by ourselves and also two day-long adventure excursions. Really there is not very much from this fibroid-shrinking diet that is easily packable and truly satisfying for a hike. (Wish someone would invent a lentil and rice based snack bar!) And one does feel like an oddball nibbling on rice cakes when the trip leaders break out the sandwiches, chips, soda, and cookie lunches and everyone else digs in with gusto. It’s also a big burden to be worrying about food and schlepping it. When I’m at home I can prepare something like a lentil pilaf to take myself but that’s hard to do when traveling.
6. Small health food stores. On the southern part of the Island where we were for most of the first week, there was virtually nothing health food wise – one store in Koloa Town that was closed with no note on the door explaining when they would open again, and a teeny poorly stocked one in Lihue called Vim and Vigor that I would not recommend. When we moved North the situation In Kapa`a and Hanalei there’s one called Papaya’s that’s good , in Kapa`a there was another one called Hoku Whole Foods and in Kilauea there is a Heathy Hut that I also liked (people who ran it particularly charming). Papaya’s had bulk food bins which included reasonably priced delicious local dried plums that I loved. I stocked up on lentils and rice and the days I ate that for breakfast I felt so much better.

One of the meals I enjoyed most on our trip was when another couple staying at the same bed and breakfast invited us to share a meal with them. She’s a dietician, and had bought quinoa and kale and some fish. I used the rest of my rice and some of the dried plums and cooked them together for a pilaf (yummy) and chopped up some of the tropical fruit we had been using as trail snacks to make a fruit salsa. Everyone else ate Ahi and Ono as their main dish but I was ok with just the sides.

I’m convinced that the way to go on a trip like this is to stay in a place that has a kitchen (like a rental cottage) and bring a bunch of basic ingredients from home and then stock up on vegetables after arriving. And be prepared to spend some time cooking – not necessarily what everyone wants to do on their vacation but it’s better than feeling hungry or being crabby every time one goes to a restaurant. Understanding will also be required from one’s travel companions on the time needed for cooking, and not eating out every meal.

I wish I had thought about it more before leaving. I will be sure to on my next vacation. Don't mean to be complaining about my honeymoon as it was lovely, but the food issue was certainly a challenge.

my updated regimen

Visited my acupuncturist today and we fine-tuned my regimen. Here's what I'm taking now:

All month:

Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega, 2x day
Thorne Siliphos, 2x day. My acupuncuturist was very excited with this product, it's milk thistle that has been processed in such a way that it is directly uptaken by the liver. And it's gentle enough to take even if I may be pregnant.
Apex Energetics sublingual DHEA, 10 drops under tongue in morning
Solgar Vitamin E 400 IU, one per day
Theramedix DGX digestive enzymes, one with each meal
Megafoods Iron-Free One Daily, one per day
Standard Process Catalyn, 3 at lunch and 3 at dinner
Standard Process Magnesium Lactate, one at each meal
Standard Process Calcium Lactate, 3 at each meal
4 square inches of Noni fruit leather (see my previous post on this)
6 tablets of Green Magma (I plan to write more about Green Magma in the future. Go with the tablets, the powder is hard to get down!)

During first 10-12 days of my cycle, when I know for sure I am not pregnant. These are the herbs for fibroids that are contra-indicated when pregnant.

One tablespoon twice per day of a powdered mix of San Leng, Mu Dan Pi, and Dan Shen, in hot water (except during the heaviest days of my flow, due to contraindication with Mu Dan Pi)
3 capsules twice per day of Zhi Bai Di Huang Wan capsules by Evergreen (except during the heaviest days of my flow, due to contraindication with Mu Dan Pi)
Solaray Tumeric 300 mg capsules, one with each meal

more on noni

Noni works best if you take it on an empty stomach. So does iron. Iron also absorbs better if you take it with Vitamin C. There is lots of C in noni. So I am taking my noni leather with iron on an empty stomach!

article on conceiveonline.com

Poking around on the net, I just came across the website for Conceive magazine, which is about -- you guessed it -- conception. In their article they have a very well-done article on fibroids and fertility. You need to sign up to see it (free) so I can't post a link. www.conceiveonline.com

fibroid shrinker goes to Hawaii -- part 2 -- Hula and Tahitian dance

Went to a Tahitian/Hula dance show today and boy did those gals shake their hips! Very reminiscent of belly dancing, but some different moves. It occured to me, this has got to be good for pelvic blood flow, and indeed this article agrees.

Inspired, I bought two videos, Island Girl Dance Fitness Tahitian Cardio and Island Girl Dance Fitness Hula Cardio. (It seems that the Tahitian dance is the one where they really move the hips quickly, whereas the hula is slower and more rhythmic). This Island Girlseries looks a bit cheesy, but what the heck it's just for fun!

fibroid shrinker goes to Hawaii -- part 1 -- noni leather

Hello everyone, from Kapa`a Hawaii where I am on my honeymoon! Lots of things to share with you all.

Will start with one discovery here, noni fruit leather. I had heard of noni before, and to be honest was always a bit skeptical because it seems to be one of those nutritional products that is very expensive and over-hyped. However, my interest was piqued by a small flyer I found for organic noni fruit leather made here on the island of Kauai where I am staying. I sent my acupuncturist a quick email asking her if she thought this noni stuff was worthwhile and she said yes.

So I picked up a 2 oz. package of the leather. Much more practical than buying the juice -- no bottle to shelp around plus no refrigeration needed which is important since I travel a lot. And it seems more cost-effective too. I like the fact that it's organic and only contains noni, not a lot of extra stuff. And they use a low temperature process that preserves more enzymes unlike the juice which is pasteurized, plus it seems that it would have more nutrition than just the juice since pulp is used to make the leather. Here's a link to their homepage, and the page for ordering.

It's not necessarily tasty, but is not bad, a rather astringent taste. If you don't want to taste it, you could just cut the leather into small pieces and swallow them.

Noni is a traditional medicinal plant of Polynesia and has historically been used as a folk medicine in Asia and Hawaii. There is some debate about the truth behind the various health claims currently made for it, this page nicely summarizes some of the arguments for noni benefits.

On a whim, I googled "noni fibroids" and found a lot of web pages. There are some anecdotal reports of people completely getting rid of their fibroids using noni, but these usually seem just as self-serving as all the similar miracle stories on the enzyme websites. This article mentions the effect of noni on the pineal gland, thus regulating the hormones and the reproductive system. A further look on the internet just seems to turn up a lot of hype and not much concrete on the effects for fibroids. However, it doesn't sound like there is anything harmful about the noni. Plus it's a powerful alkalizer, and being more alkaline is good for fibroid shrinkers. So I am going to give it a try, taking a few square inches of the leather every day -- it sounds like it can't hurt!