Preparing for Omicron

We want you to know that we are here to help with specific natural health advice at this time.

Omicron is on our minds today and we are expecting lots of changes over the next 3-6 months as it moves through our communities. The government has been preparing for up to 50 thousand cases per day which seems a staggeringly high number for NZ.

We have been preparing too, getting ready to provide expert naturopathic herbal advice to our community. Attending online seminars with colleagues from other countries with experience in this area has helped us understand what we can do to support patients in the weeks ahead. We fully support medical treatment, monitoring and preventative measures.  Naturopathic treatment does not replace medical treatment for Covid 19 however, we can offer advice in addition to your medical team.

Getting prepared:

Having some key nutrients on hand can be a useful first step. Numerous clinical trials have shown that Vitamin C, Zinc and Vitamin D can influence the severity of viral infections. These can be useful to take now and/or to take at the first sign of infection, alongside specific anti-viral herbs to prepare the immune system. Eating, exercising and sleeping well is the best way you can support your immune system to stay strong at this time.

Support during an infection:

Herbs and supplements can be of great support at this time. Specific remedies can be used depending on how the virus affects you.  You might expect to experience a cough, sinus congestion, fevers, headaches and gut upset.  A key component of our supportive approach is to help the body settle after the infection and turn off the “Inflammasomes” which can lead to further health complications.

Support at the end and after the infection:

At this stage, we focus on a good immune system recovery so that it does not go into overdrive and lead to lingering viral symptoms and fatigue. Your gut may need additional support at this time. Remedies including medicinal mushrooms, probiotics and specific rejuvenating herbs can be used.

 How can I get support if I am unwell or I can’t come into the Clinic?

 We are happy to offer online or telephone consults as needed.

 Any face-to-face appointments can be swapped to online at short notice.  Please contact us if this is the case. Likewise, if we are unwell or having to isolate, all appointments will be moved online. 

Remedies can be collected from our clinics, or we offer contactless delivery.

Book online today  www.nfwh.co.nz.

Anita: email anita@nfwh.co.nz Ph 0272840096 or book online directly using this link

https://anita-roy-chaudhuri.au2.cliniko.com/bookings

Jo: email jo@nfwh.co.nz Ph 0272365864 or book online directly using this link https://app.simpleclinic.net/public/diary/index/LYp

 Before you come for your face-to-face appointments

All our clinics are operating under the red traffic light system.

If you are sick or experiencing symptoms, or those in the household are unwell or isolating, please swap to an online consultation. 

Please scan in, sanitize and wear an appropriate mask on entry.  We will be wearing masks, sanitizing between clients, and ventilating appropriately.

Eating for the next generation Getting your Preconception and pregnancy diet right

Are you thinking about trying for a baby? Then it is time to start thinking about your diet and lifestyle.

At Natural Fertility and Women’s Health we are passionate about the impact of early life nutrition on the health of your children. It is widely accepted that being exposed to positive influences such as a nutrient dense diet and plenty of exercise has a beneficial effect on pregnancy outcomes, while exposure to toxins and stress has the opposite effect. There is a whole field of research devoted to the study of prenatal nutrition on pregnancy called “epigenetics” or how your genes or your children’s genes are affected by your lifestyle choices or other exposures. Literally how you and your partner eat now, before you conceive and during pregnancy can influence not only the health of your children but your children’s children as well.

How you and your partner eat now will decide on your baby’s future health.

Pre pregnancy, some things may be out of your control such as genetics, age and family history. However your diet during and even before pregnancy may have a permanent imprint on your babies health, this is called ‘fetal programming” a scientific idea that proposes that poor nutrition during pregnancy can impair the development of your baby and have long term health consequences including increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and risk of being overweight. Most Interestingly the health and weight of the father may have a long-lasting effect on the health of his unborn child. We know that the children of overweight fathers have children with a greater risk of being overweight and sub fertile. In fact, recent research suggests that Males with excess body fat has a larger impact on baby’s weight long term than the mothers. In addition, eating a nutritious diet can significantly improve your fertility. In fact, a study at Harvard of 17000 women trying to conceive found that women who adopted a healthy diet and lifestyle over 8 months had a 69% reduced infertility rate – or put simply they became more fertile.

You need to adopt a healthy diet and lifestyle at least four months before you plan to conceive. This is because the final maturation of sperm  and eggs takes place over four months. Try to think of the sperm and egg as being the genetic code for creating your baby. It is like a recipe book - they provide the recipe or blueprint for making your baby. This recipe will literally shape your baby’s health throughout its life ! so you really want to make sure you are making it with the finest ingredients.

What do you need to do to give your baby the best start ?

So now you know that eating the right foods could prevent your child from struggling with weight issues, obesity or developing diabetes or heart disease in their lifetime,  are you prepared to make a different food choice?

If the answer is a big YES, then this is what should you focus on first:

1)  Both the Male and Female should aim for a healthy body weight. Having too much or too little body fat (being over or underweight) can affect a women’s ability to have a healthy cycle.

2) Eat food with a lower glycemic index – Choose wholefoods and wholegrain.

3)  Optimize your healthy fat ratios . Limit fats high in unhealthy fats such as chips, chocolate, deep fried foods and biscuits. Include plenty of healthy fats found in nuts, avocado, olive oil and fish.

4)  Make sure your getting enough folic acid for your needs and in the right form before you conceive

5) Avoid Alcohol and smoking.

6) Research shows that the nutrients most lacking in the diets before pregnancy include.Vitamin A, B12, B6, Zinc, Iron, DHA, iodine and Choline. Make sure you have enough of these nutrients on a daily basis.

Although no diet can 100 % ensure you will become pregnant and have children with perfect health throughout their life, I do hope this article has shown you that it has a major impact and one that you as parents to be, can control. However, diet is not a one size fits all approach and if you have specific food intolerance, allergies or are a vegan or vegetarian you may need more tailor made guidelines. If you would like more individualized advice and help getting started with your preconception diet get in touch with one of our practitioners today.

COVID 19 …. SUPPORTING YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY IN THESE CHALLENGING TIMES.

We are a couple of weeks into our lockdown, have got the social isolation, and handwashing sorted but what else can you do to optimise your health and that of your family during this time?

Self-care – this is so important right now.  The most important thing you can do now is nourish yourself, and in so doing boosting your immunity and resilience.   

• Sleep – really work on at least 8 hours per night, with naps and rest periods as needed. Reach out to one of our practitioners if you are really struggling with sleep.  

• Try to reduce your stress – this may mean limiting social media, taking care that what you read is informing and not fear-based.  

• Find time for things you really enjoy – music, painting, drawing, crafts, dancing, reading, writing ….  Things that make you feel relaxed and ‘good’.

• Stay in touch with family and friends – using the multiple platforms out there.  Many can handle ‘group’ chats as well. 

• Spend time in nature, walking, running, biking – enjoy the quiet, the birdlife, autumn leaves and those precious rays of Vitamin D giving sunshine. 

• Use your brain – podcasts, puzzles, crosswords, learn a language or a new instrument (or improve on the one you are already playing). 

• Spend time with pets – those dogs out there are loving all these extra walks.

• Stay intimate with partners – use this time to enrich and work on your relationships.

Immune Support – again so important right now.  You can use this lockdown period to really work on bolstering immunity for the winter ahead, or for the essential workers out there now really is the time to make sure you too are well supported.  What you eat does have quite a dramatic impact on your immune system and of course general wellbeing.  Eat nourishing foods, explore new recipes and ideas.

• Foods to enjoy due to their immune-stimulating properties include garlic, onions, leeks, fresh herbs, lemons, good quality proteins, lots and lots of fresh vegetables, fruit, bone or chicken broths, and soups, slow-cooked meats, stews, fresh juices, and smoothies.

• Foods to discourage include alcohol, refined sugars, white processed foods, and flavorings/chemicals/preservatives/colourings and additives.   Caffeine … for a lot of you that has been a no for some time, for others just don’t go overboard. 

• Drink lots of warm drinks/hot drinks including green tea, as it is thought that the heat stops the virus from taking hold. 

• Herbal medicines are a great option at this time.  It is worthwhile speaking to your practitioner about what may best suit your needs.  Specific herbs that may be of use at this time include Andrographis, Astragalus, Echinacea, Olive leaf, Elder, Licorice, Polygonum, Baical Skullcap, Rhodiola and any of the mushrooms (or combinations of them). 

• Nutritional medicines (to support a wholesome diet, not replace it!) – we are looking here at nutrients that support and healthy and robust immune response. Talk to your practitioner about dosing and what might suit you best.

Zinc – zinc lozenges may be quite effective to help eradicate the virus in the throat before it takes hold. 

Vitamin C

Vitamin A

Vitamin D

Glutathione – improves white blood cell activity to help fight something off.  Liposomal or transdermal delivery best.

• Topical support - try gargles of pink Himalayan salt and water morning and night, or herbal throat spray, or even green tea.  You can also use something like XClear saline nasal spray, or a netti pot with saline to keep nasal passages clean and clear.

  Brush teeth with pink salt before cleaning with toothpaste. 

Pregnant Women - please stay in your bubble and be vigilant.  There is not a lot of information on the impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy and the numbers of women who have contracted the virus and given birth are small.  Evidence on pregnancy outcomes after similar viruses such as SARS suggest that adverse outcomes in pregnancy can occur, most especially preterm birth and intrauterine growth restriction.  The following links may be of use if you want a more extensive update - https://www.rcog.org.uk/coronavirus-pregnancy or https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32105680

Please seek advice from your practitioner before taking any extra herbs or vitamins – this is not a time to self-prescribe. 

Breastfeeding Women - when breastfeeding your body will increase its immune support naturally.  But please support yourself well nutritionally, avoid dieting, sleep as much as you can, limit social contact and practice safe hygiene.  Again with respect to supplements and herbs check in with your practitioner and avoid self-prescribing. 

Newborns - keep those wee babies safe at home, away from others and make sure mum is well looked after and nurtured.  In saying that do get out for walks etc, just maintain social distancing.

Those trying to Conceive - People trying to conceive either naturally or using ART should stick to their bubbles strictly.  If you can delay your cycle it is probably best to do so and spend the time focusing on optimising health and nutrition.  Fertility NZ is running a series of information and support webinars – there is one this Wednesday 8th April at 7 pm where each clinic in NZ will explain how their clinics are currently operating and when they expect operations to resume.  Call 0800333 306 or email support@fertilitynz.org.nz for further details. 

Immunocompromised individuals and older people - these groups are very much at risk and it is imperative they follow strict adherence to social distancing and lockdown.  If you do need to visit a medical centre try and visit at a quiet time and minimise time spent in the centre – it may be that you can wait in your car and get a text when the Dr is free to see you. 

If you are taking herbs and supplements again check in with your natural health practitioner for any possible interactions or particular requirements for yourself.  It is not wise to self prescribe. 

Dating and sexual health - This is a tricky time especially for our youth.  Please stay in your bubble and be creative in the ways you can interact with your partners/peers that does not involve physical contact at this point in time. 

Let’s use these times to reflect on how we can better support society and the environment moving forward.  Bring more thought into our purchases, our waste and our contributions to pollution.  How can we help others – sometimes a quick phone call to someone you care about is just what they need.  Help others where you can – this gives them joy and support but also helps with your connectedness as well. 

These are tricky times, difficult times, but we are all in this together.  Let’s work together, support each other, stay in our bubbles and hopefully, this time will pass soon.

Fertility Week 2018 - Discover your Chances

Fertility Week 2018

www.fertilityweek.org.nz for more details.

Maximising your Chances

Jo Barnett talks about the things you can do to help optimise your chances of conception.

The Use of Genetic profiling for Fertility Issues

It is estimated that genetics are a contributing factor in up to 10 percent of couples who experience infertility or recurrent pregnancy loss, so it stands to reason that genetic testing has the potential to help many of those couples in their quest to have a family.

Genetic testing examines DNA, which has been called the “chemical database” that carries instructions for the body’s functions. It can reveal gene changes or variants that have been inherited that may cause illness or disease, including infertility. Since both men and women can have fertility issues, they can all benefit from genetic testing.

Identifying a genetic cause for your infertility can help you make the right decision on how to proceed by choosing the treatments that are most likely to help.

I am a naturopath who specialises in fertility and offers preconception care programmes for those struggling with their fertility or for those without issues but understand the importance of preconception health when preparing for a healthy conception, pregnancy,,birth and child.

I find genetic testing an invaluable tool for understanding the possible causes especially for ‘unexplained infertility’ or recurrent miscarriages. It is for these cases that you need to dig deeper in order to support couples who have no ‘medical’ explanation for their fertility problems.

When you are able to identify which genetic variants they have inherited and understand the biochemical roadblocks that ensue from these – we are able to try and either bypass these pathways or help build up the cofactors that they need to allow the genes to express themselves in a healthier way which can support their fertility and ultimately help to create healthy embryos. We do this by giving specific lifestyle, dietary and nutrient guidelines that are specific to their genetic profile. This allows for positive epigenetic changes that can result is healthier genetic manifestations which will also be inherited by their children.

An example of this is a couple who had come to me after 11 miscarriages. They had gone to many specialists over the years to try to understand the cause of their miscarriages and had had no answers. They were understandably quite traumatised by their fertility experience. I felt that it would be important to understand their combined genetics so offered them the testing. We discovered that they both had significant methylating issues which means that their ability to utilise folic acid was compromised by up to 70%, along with some of the other B vitamins B2, B6, B12 - although this is an oversimplification of the issue as a whole, it led me to give them specific activated B vitamins to bypass this genetic issue and this allowed them to create a healthy embryo which lead to the wonderful outcome of giving birth to a healthy little girl.

I find it a profound way to address fertility issues. These couples have the opportunity to stand at a pivotal point when trying to conceive a child, and look backwards to their ancestors in order to understand what they have inherited and then be able to adjust their lifestyle, eat specific diets and take certain nutrients to enhance the genetic expression so they have the opportunity to look at the future and pass on healthier variations of their genes to their child and to future generations.