10 Most Important Foods For Women

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What are the 10 most important foods, especially for women?

FOLIC ACID – 400 mg daily, 500 mg if you are breastfeeding, 600 mg if you are pregnant. Get it from green leafy vege, fortified fruit juice, nuts and beans.

CALCIUM – 1,000 mg/day if you are under 50, 1,200 mg if you are 50 or over = 3 servings of low-fat dairy or fortified juice.

IRON – 18 mg/day if you are under 50, 8 mg/day if 50 or over, 27 mg/day if you are pregnant. From red meat, beans, fortified cereal and spinach.

VITAMIN D – up to 70 years of age you need 600 international units per day, over 70 increase to 800 IU, from fatty fish (salmon, trout, mackeral, sardines) or fortified juice.

SODIUM – LIMIT to 1,500-2,000 mg/day (a small teaspoon) and remember, even if you don’t add salt, many processed foods and a lot of restaurant foods contain high levels of salt.

FOODS FOR HEART HEALTH – to remove ‘plaque’ from your arteries – fruit, vege, fat-free/low-fat dairy, whole grains, lean meat and poultry, fatty fish, nuts, vegetable oils.

PROTEIN – fish, poultry, red meat, eggs, nuts – 46 gms/day = 2 servings.

FIBRE – at least 25 gms/day from beans, nuts, fruit, vege, whole-grain bread.

VITAMIN C – 75-85 mg/day from broccoli, red capsicum, citrus fruit.

OMEGA 3 – FATTY ACIDS x 2 servings per day from fatty fish, flaxseed, walnuts.

Supplements are not a substitute for a healthy diet!

Drink plenty of water and get some regular exercise. If your eyes are bright and your hair is shining, chances are your fertility and general health will also be in tip-top condition!

Sourced from the Billings Institute

 

 

Your Cervix Is Amazing!

Ladies and Gentlemen! Has anyone ever told you how amazing a woman’s cervix is?

A woman’s anatomy is hidden inside, causing it’s sophistication and perfect design to go unnoticed but I am here to tell you, the cervix is one of the coolest parts of our body!

cervix

The cervix is an incredible and intelligent gateway between the vagina and uterus. Throughout the month the cervix opens and closes as we become fertile and infertile, allowing sperm to travel up into the uterus with its agenda of implanting an egg.

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When we are infertile our bodies view sperm as possible bringers of infection so our cervix remains tightly closed and sperm die in our vaginas within 30 minutes due to the naturally acidic environment.

When we are fertile our cervix (which I like to think of as a grand hotel with a nice solid door) opens and cervical mucus is released providing small rivers and channels for sperm to swim up. The cervix has small indentations in its walls called cervical crypts, which can be thought of as little hotel rooms. The cervix is so intelligent, it traps sperm that are shaped imperfectly or swimming oddly in the lower crypts while sperm that are healthy and superior are ushered with specific cervical mucus into the upper crypts of our cervix, right next to the uterus.

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A woman can be fertile and secreting fertile cervical mucus for up to seven days, the fertile mucus and cervical crypts hold the optimal sperm, feeding them glucose until the moment we ovulate which is a 24 hour window at the end of our fertile cycle. With the sperm released the cervix begins to close back up, our cervical mucus dries up, our fertility leaves and our vaginas become protectively acidic once again.

This dance happens (for women who are ovulating) once a cycle regardless of sexual activity. There are ways to chart the comings and goings of our fertility and use the knowledge to avoid or achieve pregnancy. Once we master our bodies language of fertility we can monitor our fertility regardless of age or what is happening in our lives (breastfeeding, menopause etc.).

Our cervix is also responsible for keeping itself closed while we are pregnant, protecting the uterus from any infections and helping us hold our babies inside until we are ready to give birth. Once we give birth the uterus opens to 10cm to allow our babies to pass down into our vaginas and into the world and then closes up once again, it is an incredibly busy part of our bodies that deserves recognition.

cervix effacement

Lets hear it for our cervixes!