Fertility & Maternity Recipes

Eating nuts while pregnant

Unless you or your partner has any kind of nuts allergies, recent studies showed that consuming nuts during pregnancy may actually lower the risk of your baby developing nuts allergies after being born.

Pine nuts

 

Pine nuts supply all amino acids along with a wealthy source of vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin and niacin, as well as folate and vitamin C.

 

Stir-Fried Chicken Heart & Pine Nut

Ingredients

• chicken heart                            350g
• pine nut                                    50g
• red, green, yellow pepper        1 of each (diced)
• garlic                                        2-3 cloves (chopped)
• ginger                                       5cm (grated)
• corn flour                                 2 teaspoon
• salt (seasoning)
• sugar (seasoning)
• black pepper (seasoning)
• white wine (seasoning)           1-2 tablespoon

 Instructions

1. Wash and rinse chicken heart thoroughly and dry.
2. Mix with 1/2 grated ginger, 1 tablespoon of white wine, corn flour, salt and sugar. 
3. Marinate for half an hour before cooking.
4. Preheat oven at 200C, spread pine nut evenly on a baking tray and bake until light brown.
5. Heat pan with oil, stir-fry chicken heart until light brown, drain oil and set aside.
6. Heat pan again, add garlic and remaining grated ginger. Then, add diced pepper, sugar, salt, black pepper and white wine. Stir-fry on high heat for 5 minutes, then add pine nut. 
7. Fry for another 3 minutes and serve.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published an article last April showing that eating nuts does not cause weight gain or increase the waist line and nuts contain good fibers, unsaturated fats, vitamins, and minerals, which are important things in a good daily diet. The New England Journal of Medicine found that eating nuts increases life expectancy and reduces the chances of getting cancer or cardiovascular disorders later in life.
Read more at http://americanlivewire.com/2014-01-08-moms-who-eat-nuts-during-pregnancy-48034/

Moms who eat peanuts during pregnancy can lower their babies chances of developing allergies to peanuts or other tree nuts. While mothers are pregnant they simply just eat more nuts in their daily diet.
Read more at http://americanlivewire.com/2014-01-08-moms-who-eat-nuts-during-pregnancy-48034/

Moms who eat peanuts during pregnancy can lower their babies chances of developing allergies to peanuts or other tree nuts. While mothers are pregnant they simply just eat more nuts in their daily diet.
Read more at http://americanlivewire.com/2014-01-08-moms-who-eat-nuts-during-pregnancy-48034/

Moms who eat peanuts during pregnancy can lower their babies chances of developing allergies to peanuts or other tree nuts. While mothers are pregnant they simply just eat more nuts in their daily diet.
Read more at http://americanlivewire.com/2014-01-08-moms-who-eat-nuts-during-pregnancy-48034/

Moms who eat peanuts during pregnancy can lower their babies chances of developing allergies to peanuts or other tree nuts. While mothers are pregnant they simply just eat more nuts in their daily diet.
Read more at http://americanlivewire.com/2014-01-08-moms-who-eat-nuts-during-pregnancy-48034/

Moms who eat peanuts during pregnancy can lower their babies chances of developing allergies to peanuts or other tree nuts. While mothers are pregnant they simply just eat more nuts in their daily diet.
Read more at http://americanlivewire.com/2014-01-08-moms-who-eat-nuts-during-pregnancy-48034/

Moms who eat peanuts during pregnancy can lower their babies chances of developing allergies to peanuts or other tree nuts. While mothers are pregnant they simply just eat more nuts in their daily diet.
Read more at http://americanlivewire.com/2014-01-08-moms-who-eat-nuts-during-pregnancy-48034/

Fertility & Maternity Recipes

Add Chicken Hearts to your maternity diet

Does the thought of eating chicken hearts scares you? I hope not and I hope you will re-consider.
The nutritional value in chicken hearts is a phenomenon. Not only is it low in fat, it contains good source of protein, as well as vitamin B12, riboflavin, zinc, selenium and iron.

These are very hard to find elsewhere in such concentrated density. Chicken hearts also provide folate, a natural form of folic acid, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and copper.  Do bear one thing in mind though, buy your chicken hearts from a trust worthy farm where their chicken aren't raised with excessive antibiotics and harmful growth hormones. 
Once you get past your fear in eating the hearts of chicken, they do taste very delicious with the simplest recipes. Chicken hearts have a mild chicken flavour and slightly chewy texture. They don't taste anything like liver or kidney, which many people can't stand.




 

Fertility & Maternity Recipes

Roast Walnut in Golden Syrup

Once your appetite returns. The need to munch on something (possibly something sweet) starts to increase. Why not munch on something healthy? Walnuts contain many good quality nutrients for optimum health , especially Omega 3 which are essential for brain development of the fast growing fetus.

Ingredients

• walnuts    
•  golden syrup

 Instructions

1. Soak walnuts in water for 6 hours to get rid of the bitterness.
2. Drain until all dried.
3. Mix walnuts with golden syrup. (the amount of syrup used depends on how sweet you like it.)
4. Preheat oven at 200C.
5. Spread walnuts evenly on a baking tray. 
6. Bake for 10 minutes or till slightly golden.
7. Cool down and serve.
8. You may make a load of these and store them in an air-tight jar. Enjoy!!!

Fertility & Maternity Recipes

Ox Bone Tomato Soup

Once morning sickness settles, around 10 weeks into your pregnancy, you can try this recipe. It's full of vitamin A, B, C, calcium, phosphorus and potassium. All the goodies you need for you and your little one.
If you know your local butcher well, you can probably get a handful of ox bone for a penny or so. They're full of nutrients and goodness but butchers usually discard them.

Tips: You can substitute Ox Bone with Ox Tail if you prefer.

 

 

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg ox bone      
  
  
• 3 large tomatoes    
• 2 large potatoes
• 2 large carrots
• a small slice of tangerine 
• a piece of ginger
• 1-2 teaspoon sugar
• salt (seasoning)   
• water (2/3 pot)

Instructions

1. Boil ox bone with  ginger for 15 minutes. Make sure water covers all bones.
2. Rinse under tap and drain. Discard ginger and set bones aside.
3. Bring water to boil in large pot, filled water about 2/3 full.
4. Add ox bones together with tangerine and sugar. Cook on low to medium heat for one hour. 
5. Add peeled and chunk chopped potatoes and carrots to pot. Boil for another hour.
6. Add chopped tomatoes to pot and boil for 30 minutes future.
7. Add salt for seasoning and serve.

Note: You can adjust the amount of water you use at the start depending on the amount of ox bones you are using. DO NOT add water half way through cooking since it will dilute the concentration of your soup and alter the taste in the end.

Natural Remedies

Ginger Tea

Ginger does the best job at settling nausea. Try drink this regularly, but NEVER drink too much with empty stomach. Eat a cracker or a piece of bread before drinking. Herbalist suggests using red sugar or honey instead of white sugar.

Ingredients

• ginger (about 5-10 cm long)
• red sugar or honey (1-2 tablespoons)
• water (1-2 cups)

 Instructions

1. Wash ginger with skin on. Chop ginger into large pieces, about 1cm thick.
2. Squash each piece under a knife.
3. Place ginger in water, boil for 10 minutes, add sugar and serve.
4. If you are using honey, let tea cools down till 40C before adding. High temperature alters nutrients in honey.

Natural Remedies

Ginger and Rice Soup

Ginger helps calm down nausea and rice helps settle your stomach.

Ingredients

• fresh ginger   (about 10cm long)
• white rice      2 tablespoons
• water             2-3 cups

Instructions

1. Grate ginger and squeeze as much juice as you can through a sift. Set ginger juice aside.
2. Boil white rice in water on low to medium heat for 1/2 to 1 hour.
3. Filter out all the rice from cooked liquid through a sift.
4. Pour rice water in a cup and add ginger juice.
5. Stir well and drink.

Natural Remedies

Honey-Poached Orange

 Ingredients

• one orange
• 50 g honey
• 1 cup of water

Instructions

1. Soak whole orange in fresh water for 10-15 minutes to get rid of the bitterness on the surface.
2. Cut orange with skin on in 4 quarters or into slices.
3. Put orange, honey and water in pot with low heat.
4. Cook gently for an hour.

Everything Pregnant

Morning sickness is our body reacting to the pregnant hormones. Some people say that people who get motion sickness are more likely to feel nausea during first trimester.

Studies show that about fifty percent women feel some degree of nausea during first trimester and another fifty percent might be fine.  Nausea tends to be at its worst when your stomach is empty, hence the name Morning sickness, but it could strike anytime round the clock really. While you're feeling sick and weak, don't forget that studies show that nausea peaks between 8-10 weeks and generally ease up or disappear totally after first trimester. Just  give your body a little time to get used to being pregnant and churned up by all those wonderful hormones.

If you are the 'unlucky' half, here are some tips that would help you survive:

• stay away from strong odors such as perfume, cooking, garbage, etc. Your sense of smell is greatly enhanced during this stage of pregnancy and any of these smell would trigger nausea.
• never let yourself go hungry, an empty stomach triggers nausea like gun powder. Keep something plain and simple in your handbag, such as crackers, plain bread, a piece of plain cake, etc. I find that drinking soup and eating soup noodles help calming my own (very severe) nausea.
• keep nibbling as much as you can, don't get too full or too hungry. Be gentle to your stomach, treat it like a time-bomb, nurse it like a new born puppy. Keep sipping liquid round the clock, water, juice, or whatever settles your stomach.
• relax and rest as much as you possibly can. Resting helps calming nausea a lot. Just don't forget to feed yourself some crackers before you leave your bed.

There are lots of natural remedies and recipes that are very good at easing morning sickness. I shall talk about it when I get a moment to write.

Everything Pregnant

How can I tell?

Do a pregnancy test!

It's cheap, widely available and mostly reliable. Sometimes you might get a false negative if you tested too early. Just do it again after a few days if your period hasn't arrived.

https://amzn.eu/d/bsnErO6

I have four children and if you ask me when can you truly feel the first sign of pregnancy, I'd say it's implantation. Out of the four times that I fell pregnant, within 3-7 days, I felt unusually exhausted. To the point that I wanted to stay in bed all day to recover. For the first two times, I was oblivious to this as I lacked the knowledge and never really thought much about it. For my subsequent pregnancies, I'd done a lot more research regarding implantation and was more aware of my own body. Other than that, the rest of the early pregnancy symptoms didn't really surface until I was at least 6 six weeks pregnant.  During this time, you might feel like your period is coming at any time. Early pregnancy signs are very similar to PMS. Bear in mind that every woman is different and every pregnancy is different.

If your period is 1-2 weeks late, a home pregnancy test would be quite reliable and you could feel none or all of the following symptoms:

• missed period
• tiredness
• tender, sensitive and swollen breasts
• darkening of areola (area around your nipple)
• food cravings
• frequent urination
• morning sickness (it really means feeling nausea round the clock)
• sensitive to smell
• mood swing
• vivid dreams 

Everything Pregnant

Home pregnancy test

The day finally came when your diligent period didn't come. If you're trying to conceive, I'd say, just wait for a while. Eat healthily and avoid harmful substances like cigarette and alcohol. These things don't do us any good anyway, so you might as well avoid them during preconception stage.
It could take up to 1-5 days for implantation to take place after the egg is fertilized. Women's body increase production of a hormone called hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) after fertilization.

Home pregnancy test detect the level of hCG in our urine to tell if it is positive or not, but it takes time for our body to build up this hormone for it to be detectable. Every woman is different and every pregnancy is different for every woman. Someone might get a position test result on the first day of their missed period while others may take much longer to get the same result.
A negative home pregnancy test at this stage doesn't necessarily mean you are NOT, it means you are stressing yourself out and missing all the fun!!

Just sit back and relax for a change, indulge yourself with your favourite ice cream or doughnut. Excessive sugar is bad and unnatural for us we know, but indulgent is and we all need to treat ourselves sometimes.
If your period is usually regular, and there's no sign of bleeding after a week or so. Then, take the test again and see what you get. It's either CONGRATULATIONS or Yippee, more fun and happy sex with your love one. What have you got to lose? Really!!

Fertility & Maternity Recipes

Let's make the most of that Thai Green Curry Paste you've made. Please note that you can substitute chicken into other meat or seafood for this recipe.

Thai Green Chicken Curry

Ingredients

• chicken thigh                 500g (diced)
• eggplant                         1/2 to 1 (cut into large pieces)
• green beans                    a handful (chopped)
• lemon leaf                      6
• red chilli                         1-2 (chopped)
• basil leave                      2-3
• coconut milk                  3-400ml
• palm sugar or sugar       2-3 tablespoons
• fish sauce or salt            (seasoning)
• Thai green curry paste   2 tablespoons

Tips: Heat pan with oil, pan fry chopped eggplant for a few minutes. Set aside.

 

Instructions

1. Heat pan with oil on low heat, place green curry paste in pan.
2. Place diced chicken in pan and stir-fry. Mix well with curry paste using a spatula.
3. Stir-fry chicken for about 5 minutes.
4. Stir in green beans, lemon leaf, red chilli and basil leave. Stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add coconut milk, little by little and keep stirring.
6. Stop adding coconut milk when curry sauce reach your ideal consistency.
7. Add palm sugar and fish sauce. Stir for another minute or until palm sugar all melted.
8. Serve hot with rice or noodles.

Fertility & Maternity Recipes

I've been blogging about herbs and cooking ingredients that boost fertility, wouldn't it be great if we can combine them all into one delicious cooking paste? It turns out Thai green curry paste is just what we need, it has lemon grass, garlic, ginger, chillies, coriander. That's almost everything I've talked about so far. You can make a load of this paste and store it in a glass jar in your fridge for about two weeks or kept in freezer in small portions.

Tips: You can make Thai Red Curry Paste by replacing green chillies with red chillies.

Thai Green Curry Paste

Ingredients

• 1 stalk lemongrass               (chopped)
• 1-3 green chillies                 (depends how spicy you like your paste)
• 1-2 shallots                          (peeled)
• 5 garlic cloves                      (peeled)
• 5cm piece ginger                  (peeled and sliced)
• 0.5 cup fresh basil
• 0.5 cup coriander                  (chopped)
• 0.5 teaspoon ground cumin
• 0.5 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• salt                                         (seasoning)
• 2 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3-4 tablespoon coconut milk

Instructions

1. Place everything in your blender. Blend for 30 seconds.
2. Add lime juice. Blend for another 30 seconds.
3. Add 1 tablespoon of coconut milk. Blend for another 30 seconds. 
4. Repeat until mixture achieve paste texture.
5. Add salt and chillies according to your own taste and heat tolerance.

Cooking Tips

Preparing Garlic Clove

 

1. Place clove under a knife.

2. Apply pressure with your palm to squash clove gently.

3. Skin can be removed easily after squashing.

4. Chop in big or small pieces as desired.

Fertility Recipe

Why not go crazy with those fertilizing garlic for a change?

Crispy Garlic Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 chicken
• 5 garlic bulbs
• 5-10 shallots
• 1 bay leave
• salt
• Malt Syrup

Instructions

1. Prepare garlic bulbs, shallots, bay leave and salt. Mix together and use it to marinate whole chicken. Spread evenly both inside and outside.
2. Marinate for at least 4 hours.
3. Rinse marinated chicken with hot water. This will cause chicken skin to shrink and become crispy after cooking.
4. Hang up chicken to air dry thoroughly.
5. Dilute malt syrup with water and brush generously on the surface of the whole chicken.
6. Air dry over night or for at least 8 hours.
7. When chicken is dried and ready. Heat large pan or wok with generous amount of oil.
8. Place chicken in pan and turn to low heat. Cook for 15 minutes or until chicken is well done.
9. Keep pouring hot oil over chicken while cooking.

Fertility & Maternity Recipes

Make your own Chicken Broth

I've included chicken broth in quite a few of my recipes, it only feels right to make your own chicken broth if we are aiming for healthy and natural diet. Who knows what have been put into those canned chicken broth and the excessive amount of sodium that comes with the package. The following recipe is enough to make three pints of chicken broth.

Tips: You can easily replace chicken with left over turkey and it's shell after Thanksgiving and Christmas to make a Turkey Broth. Which is just as good and nutritious!!

Ingredients

• 1 large chicken including giblets   (cut into 4 quarters)
• 2.25 liters of water
• 2 large onions    (chopped)
• 3 large carrots    (chopped)
• 2 leeks                (white part only, sliced)
• 1 large parsnip   (peel and chopped)
• parsley               (small amount)
• 1 bay leaf
• 10 ml tomato puree
• salt and pepper   (seasoning)

 Instructions

1. Wash chicken and giblets. Place it in a large pan and cover with water.
2. Bring to boil slowly and remove any scum from the surface with a large spoon.
3. Add all the rest of the ingredients and simmer on low heat for 3-4 hours.
4. You may remove flesh from the bones after 2 hours. Set aside for use in other recipes. Return all the bones back to pan for more simmering.
5. After cooking, turn off heat. 
6. Let it cool over night in room temperature or in fridge.
7. You will find a layer of fat set on the surface the next day, remove it and stock your broth in zipper bags or plastic containers to freeze.
8. Store about 300 ml per bag or as desired.

Fertility & Maternity Recipes

Black Garlic

Black garlic, made from a month-long fermentation process under strictly controlled heat and humidity, was introduced in Korea about five years ago. A natural component in fresh garlic and a derivative of the amino acid cysteine was found in even bigger concentrations in black garlic after the month-long fermentation process. The benefits and nutrients found in white garlic become magnified in black garlic. Black garlic offers extra protection against infections.



White garlic contains antimicrobial, antibiotic and antifungal agents in its active ingredient, allicin. In black garlic, S-allylcysteine assists with the absorption of allicin, helping it metabolizes more easily, which could offer boosted protection against infections and diseases. As well as lowering blood cholesterol, encourage blood circulation and prevent heart disease.

As the popularity of Black Garlic rises, you can now buy them from major supermarket stores as a packaged snack, or you should be able to find them from your local oriental stores if not, you can always place an order online.

Fertility & Maternity Recipes

Cinnamon helps controlling abnormal bleeding during menstruation. Vitamin B6 in apples helps carrying and increasing oxygen level in our body system.

Cinnamon and Apple Tea

Ingredients

• one cinnamon stick / 1-2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• few slices of apple
• honey
• fresh milk

Instructions

1. Boil cinnamon stick or ground cinnamon together with sliced apple for 2-3 minutes.
2. You may sift through the apple slices if you don't want them in your tea.
3. Serve hot with honey and fresh milk if desired. Serve without those is just as nice.
4. Cool and add ice cubes in those hot summer days for a refreshing cold drink.

Fertility & Maternity Recipes

How about a sweet and refreshing homemade corn juice to boost your folic acid intake for the day? Not only is corn juice easy to make, it is sweet and delicious and full of fertility boosting nutrients.

Corn Juice

Ingredients

• 1 ear of corn
• 1 cup of water

Instructions

1. Wash and remove kernels from corn. (you may steam your corn for 5 minute before using)
2. Place kernels and a cup of water in blender.
3. Blend until smooth.
4. Serve fresh or chill as you wish.

Fertility & Maternity Recipes

As I've already talked about in my previous posts. Both honey and ginger have more benefits in boosting your fertility than you can imagine. So why not try this Honey and Ginger tea, not only it's caffeine free,  it's a refreshing and warming winter drink and does wonders to relieve those annoying cold symptoms.

Tips: Hot water damages nutrients in Honey, therefore, use 40C or lower temperature water for this drink.

 

Honey and Ginger tea

Ingredients

• 40C water             250ml
• ginger                   2-3 teaspoons (grated)
• honey                   1 tablespoon

1. Place grated ginger in cup together with honey.
2. Pour warm water in cup and stir.
3. You may sift through all the grated ginger after stirring if you prefer not to eat it.

Fertility & Maternity Recipes

Fertility Recipe

Having lived in Hong Kong, a famous Gourmet Paradise, for a decade, I've tasted quite a few delicacies. The local sweet pudding cafe is one of my favourite places to be on any Friday evenings. Combining fresh ginger and milk for a pudding is so genius that I had to learn to make it at home to satisfy my appetite. And what's better? Is that ginger is a herb that promotes good health to our reproductive organs. It really is a win win situation!!

Sweet Ginger Milk Pudding

 

  Ingredients

• full cream fresh milk             250ml
• ginger                                    60g
• sugar                                      30g

Instructions

1. Peel and grate all ginger.




2. Place grated ginger in a sift and squeeze all the juice out. Extract as much juice as you can.

3. Keep ginger juice in a warm bowl.

4. Heat milk in pot on low heat, stir in sugar when milk is hot. Keep waving the pot while heating to prevent it from boiling. Never let milk reach boiling point.

5. Turn off the heat on the first sign of boiling bubbles. Side side.

6. Prepare two jugs, pour hot milk from one jug to another and keep repeating. Repeat for at least 10 times or until milk cools down to about 80C.

7. Pour 80C milk into the warm bowl with ginger juice. Leave for about 3 minutes. The milk will set naturally.


8. This pudding must be served while it is hot. Texture will turn runny again once completely cooled.

Fertility & Maternity Recipes

Fertility Diet

A few useful herbs that you can include in your daily diet in order to boost his and her fertility.

Ginger

Fresh ginger or dried root reduce inflammation, help cleanse our system, relieve pain and promote better blood circulation to the reproductive organs. Ginger is also known to calm down nausea during pregnancy.

Cinnamon

Herbalist use cinnamon to treat women with abnormal menstrual bleeding related with endometriosis, uterine fibroids, adenomyosis and primary menorrhagia. Cinnamon has been used for centuries as treatment for fertility issues where heavy menstrual bleeding is concerned.

 

Parsley

Parsley is filled with vitamin C and antioxidant. These are essential ingredients to improve poor quality sperm.

Seaweed

Vitamins A, B, C and E are also found in seaweeds, as well as vital minerals that can easily be consumed by our body, including calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, manganese and selenium.

Seaweed is often overlooked amongst fertility boosting foods in the preconception diet. By feeding your system with adequate amounts of seaweed can significantly reduces problems with the thyroid. A small amount of intake on daily bases, about two tablespoons, can help strengthen the liver, kidneys, bladder, and adrenals. These are the parts of our body that play an important role in healthy fertility.

Vitex

Vitex is a very popular herbs widely used in Europe and other Western nations for the support of gynecological imbalances. It helps balancing hormones and promoting regular ovulation.

 

Raspberry leaf

Raspberry leaf promote good health in female reproductive organs. It is widely consumed by women
in their final stage of pregnancy to shorten time in active labor.

 

Flax seed

Flax seed is one of the up-rising product in the health industry. It is high in Omega 3, an essential fatty acid which contributes to the maintenance of normal blood cholesterol level. Protein, promotes growth and maintenance of muscle mass and the maintenance of normal bones. Iron, an agent for oxygen transport in the body and the formation of red blood cells. Zinc, essential for immune system function and antioxidant protection of body cells and tissues from oxidative stress. Calcium, important for the maintenance of normal bones and teeth.

 

Fertility & Maternity Recipes

Fertility Recipe

What's better than a vitamin A rich pudding with all the goodies from eggs and dairy product? You have every excuse in the world to munch on this mouth watering dessert.

Pumpkin Pudding with Maple Syrup

 

Ingredients

• whole mini pumpkin            1
• single cream                         50ml
• large egg                               1
• egg yolk                                1
• maple syrup                          2 tablespoons
• corn flour                              2 teaspoons
• vanilla extract                       2 teaspoon

1. Cut open pumpkin, about 1 inch from the top. Wrap opened pumpkin in cling film to
   
   keep fresh. 
2. Remove all seeds, place cover back and steam whole pumpkin for 10 minute.
3. Remove from steamer, set aside to cool.
4. Scrape a small amount of flesh from inside the pumpkin after cooling, mash it and set aside.
5. Remember to scrape only a thin layer and not too rough.
6. Blend mashed pumpkin, egg, egg yolk, cream, vanilla extract, maple syrup and corn flour until smooth.
7. Pour mixture into pumpkin, place pumpkin lid back. Steam for 15 minutes or until mixture set.

Everything Pregnant

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is an antioxidant that helps protect our body from disease by neutralizing bad radicals in our body. Amongst many benefits such as helping the functioning of our eyes, hair, teeth, gums and the metabolism of fat. It also helps supporting and balancing the reproductive system.

Vitamin A supports women's fertility by promoting better cervical fluid. It helps the body by producing more sperm friendly fluid and helps them live longer inside women's body in order to meet the egg successfully.

Vitamin E

Studies shown that Vitamin E can increase fertility when taken by both men and women regularly, in order to boost their fertility. It is also a powerful antioxidant. Vitamin E can improve the egg quality of women as well as protecting sperm damage from the environment. Vitamin E can be found in eggs, avocado, dark green leafy vegetables and a variety of nuts.

Vitamin C

Studies shown that vitamin C deficiency is linked to infertility in men and women. Increasing your intake of vitamin C can help improve your odds of getting pregnant. Researchers found that antioxidant which can be found in Vitamin C can help improve men with poor sperm quality. A Vitamin C rich diet can help boost your fertility as well as preventing those winter cold and flu.

Vitamin K

• Vitamin K helps preventing miscarriages and can increase sperm quality and motility.
• Red cabbage contains large amount of vitamin K.
• Carrots and tomatoes can improve fertility in men by boosting sperm quality. Studies were done by researchers from Harvard University School of Public Health supported this theory. It is said that cartenoids, found in carrots and tomatoes, which the body turns into antioxidants helps maintaining healthy sperm.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D help our body create sex hormones. Sex hormone regulates ovulation and balances hormone. You can find Vitamin D from dairy, fatty fish and eggs. Vitamin D can also absorb Vitamin D by sitting out in the sun. I'm sure you all know that already!!

Fertility & Maternity Recipes

Fertility Recipe

Seaweed is certainly not on our daily grocery shopping list, but you will find them in your local Chinese, Korean or Japanese convenient stores for sure. 

Seaweed Salad

 

Ingredients

• seaweed                1 cup
• apple                     1 (sliced)
• baby cucumber     2 (stripped)
• carrots                   2 (peeled and stripped)
• salt                        about 2 teaspoons
• water                     2 cups
• white vinegar        3 tablespoons
• sugar                     1 tablespoon

Instructions

1. Blanch seaweed, drain and set aside. (boil in hot water briefly, then rinse with cold water)
2. Make sure seaweed is well drained before serving.
3. Dissolve 1/4 tablespoon of salt in water. 
4. Prepare apple, seeded and thinly sliced. 
5. Soak sliced apple in salted water for 30 seconds. Drain and set aside.
6. Mix stripped carrots and baby cucumber together with 1.5 teaspoons of salt. Rinse away excess salt under cold water after 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
7. Mix all ingredients together. Chill (optional) and serve.

Fertility Cooking Ingredients

Seaweed

 

 

Seaweed, also known as sea vegetables, is a very popular ingredient in Asian diet, especially Korea and Japan. It is known that seaweeds contain a great source of antioxidants and sodium alginate which cleanses our blood and body tissues. Vitamins A, B, C and E are also found in seaweeds, as well as vital minerals that can easily be consumed by our body, including calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, manganese and selenium.

Seaweed is often overlooked amongst fertility boosting foods in the preconception diet. By feeding your system with adequate amounts of seaweed can significantly reduces problems with the thyroid. A small amount of intake on daily bases, about two tablespoons, can help strengthen the liver, kidneys, bladder, and adrenals. These are the parts of our body that play an important role in healthy fertility.

Fertility & Maternity Recipes

Fertility Recipe

Have you ever heard of a nutrient called choline? Not really? Well, it is an important nutrient in your preconception diet. Studies shown that choline can help reducing birth defects caused by genetic mutation. It also helps the development of nervous system, hence very important to the preconception and pregnancy diet.
Egg yolks contain the most choline in our daily diet. Cauliflower has the highest amount of choline amongst vegetables.

How about a classic British Cauliflower Cheese as your side dish for dinner tonight?

Classic Cauliflower Cheese

Ingredients

• Cauliflower 1 (trimmed and cut)
• milk 500g
• plain flour 4 tablespoon
• unsalted butter 40-50g
• cheddar cheese (grated)
• breadcrumbs (a handful but optional)
  
  

Instructions

1. Cook cauliflower in boiled water for about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to Gas Mark 7.
3. Whisk flour in milk, make sure there's no lumps left.
4. Place pan back on low to medium heat, add milk mixture and butter. Keep whisking as the butter melts as mixture comes to boil. Whisk for 1-2 minutes while mixture bubbles and thicken.
5. Turn off the heat, add 2/3 of the cheese and stir well.
6. Add cauliflower and sprinkle the rest of the cheese and breadcrumbs if desired.
7. Bake the dish in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or till golden.