By keeping a calendar handy (or even better a sympto-thermal or fertility/ovulation chart), and marking days of menstruation each month, a woman can easily keep track of her periods, which in turn will help her keep track of ovulation. This can be very helpful for determining fertile days, thus making conception easier to achieve; or contraception easier to manage. Bear in mind that regardless of whether you’re looking to get pregnant or prevent pregnancy, your fertility journey (and treatment) and/or birth control (once you’ve had your babies) will be much more successful if they are customized to your individual needs.

Let me emphasize that every woman has her own inner workings, a biological clock, if you like. Textbooks generally state that every 28 days menstruation occurs, and that ovulation occurs on or around the 14th day of a woman’s monthly cycle. This does not apply to every woman. While there may be people who are on the textbook 28 day schedule like clockwork, there are still many whose monthly rhythms are tuned to a different drum! Some women menstruate every 30 or 35 days like clockwork, because this is what is normal for them. What tends to vary is the number of days that lapse between menstruation and the next expected ovulation; however, it is generally accepted that for most women menstruation does generally occur approximately 14 days after ovulation has finally taken place (unless in cases of luteal phase defects, which can dramatically impair fertility in women — seek the advice of a competent and qualified naturopath to address this, if it’s a problem for you).

While this counting and record keeping is important and helpful, used alone it is not foolproof. The most important aspect of determining your fertile days and keeping up with your cycle is paying attention to your bodily functions, particularly in signs changes especially those in vaginal secretions. That said, let us take a look at different physical and psychological aspects of the monthly cycle (note that whilst changes are expected and most women can experience disconfort before and during menstruation — symptoms are a sign of imbalance, which should be addressed and not simply thought of as normal just because most women experience them!):

First Week: Menstruation

Bleeding ceases, generally followed by a surge in energy levels.

If unpleasant symptoms are experienced, these generally subside when menstruation starts — eg. moods, sleep patterns and eating habits — becoming normal once again (if this is happening for you, seek the assistance of a competent and qualified naturopath).

Vaginal dryness may be present, or mucous will be scant.

Second Week:

As the time of ovulation nears, vaginal mucous may increase, will often become thinner, may appear white or clear. When ovulation occurs, approximately around the 14th day, — the vagina may frequently be “wet,” as the mucus becomes thinner. Sexual arousal and romantic feelings may be heightened, and one may experience breast tenderness, bloating, cramps or moodiness.

Third Week:

Moodiness may or may not subside. Vaginal wetness decreases, as this is the post-ovulation phase. Mucus may thicken or decrease.

Fourth Week:

Some women experience pre-menstrual symptoms, which may include moodiness, bloating, headaches, cramps, fatigue or lethargy, appetite increase or decrease, sex drive may decrease or increase, sleep disturbances or others. If this is happening for you be sure to seek professional advice as it may be a sign of hormonal imbalances, which can decrease your chances of a healthy conception.

Be mindful when examining vaginal secretions, that the mucus becomes thinner during ovulation so the sperm can swim to the egg easily. This is why paying attention to your fluids is crucial in determining your most fertile days as it is your fertile mucus (egg-white like aka spin or spinnbarkeit), which precedes and heralds the approach of ovulation. If you’re serious about charting your fertility, it may be useful to mark the days on which you show symptoms of ovulation as well as the days of your period to help you with conception timing. This will allow you to see more accurately how many days typically lapse between menstruation and ovulation. FertiliyFriend.com is a great charting tool, which will teach you lots about your own cycle.

Understanding a woman’s own unmistakable signs of fertility during my Natural Fertility Solution Program is one of the tools I teach each and every single one of my patients, because this is the one skill that gives you most control over your fertility and conception attempts. It also enables me to clearly understand (when things do not go to plan) where I need to focus my efforts as your practitioner to ensure my patients get the results they are after: their very own happy and healthy baby.

Emotional Freedom Technique is best described as emotional acupuncture without needles. It also works extremely well for physical aspects, such as physical pain. EFT helps to “re-organise” the body and mind, inducing relaxation, which enables a realignment of the body’s energy systems.

Essentially EFT helps one see situations, and experiences with “fresh eyes”, facilitating and being catalyst for a positive change. As it is able to cause powerful shifts in how one feels and behaves in various different circumstances. EFT does not change the way things are, but it does have a powerful effect on how “bothered” one gets about things. The best way to understand it is to experience it.

One of the greatest benefits of EFT is that it is a self applied, tapping technique based on the healing modalities of acupuncture, acupressure and kinesiology (yes, you tap certain points on your face and upper body and so what if you temporarily look a little bit silly—it works, that is what matters!). What these modalities have in common is that they all work to balance the system in different ways and you don’t need to become a master in any of them in order to very simply, quickly and effectively master EFT for self use. In fact the founder of EFT Gary Craig suggests trying it on everything and with the results I have had in clinical practice over the years, I couldn’t agree more.

It is worth applying EFT to whatever may be causing you discomfort right now. The likelihood is that with a little persistence you will see any uncomfortable or unsettling feelings disappear. EFT enables positive cognitive shifts, its genius is that you can pretty much pull up anything that bothers you and turn it “off” on purpose. It also modifies the anxiety/stress response, fostering positive body awareness.

I often see men and women in my practice that are distressed with different aspects and in different stages of their fertility journey, some really are at their wits’ end and this technique is absolutely fabulous for helping to rebalance one’s emotions.

Below you will see a case study with one of my patients and how EFT was able to help her address her fear of childlessness.

Case Study – Fear of Childlessness

(Result in 38 minutes)

Susie*, was a fertility patient who attended one of the EFT seminars with her husband Steve* because the workshop is a compulsory and also very important part of my in-house fertility program.

Susie volunteered to work at the front with me as an example for the group. And as she came up she said the thing she wanted to work on was her fear of not having a baby. Susie and Steve had been trying to conceive for a couple of years without having much luck and she was afraid it wasn’t going to happen.

I started working with Susie on that and her aspects kept changing, so the fear that was at 10/10 was only very slowly going down. Then after a particular round something else popped up for her. She remembered that the fear stared when she was in high school and she remembered herself thinking that being childless was really scary. So we changed the wording for her and instead of saying “Even though I have this fear of not having a baby”, we said “Even though I have this fear of childlessness” which to her meant growing old without a family.

And all of a sudden after a couple of rounds her intensity and anxiety about the whole thing was completely gone and testing, did not bring it back up. A follow up with her a week later and she still reported how great she felt about the idea of having a baby and even not having a baby, although of course she would still prefer to have a child. That gripping feeling had completely disappeared.

The most interesting part of all is that one month later Susie was pregnant! She had a great pregnancy and delivered a healthy baby girl.

* names have been changed to protect their privacy.

Did you know?

Emotional Freedom Technique is one of several helpful tools in the Emotional Freedom Plus System.

The liver is one of the most important organs in the body because it governs approximately 500 metabolic processes to ensure optimum health and fertility. These are categorized into nine main ones and include: Carbohydrate metabolism — assisting to maintain blood sugar levels; fat metabolism and cholesterol balance; protein metabolism including disposing of and re-making blood as well as other body building blocks; storage of blood; bile salts production to assist digestion; storage of vitamins (A, D, E, K, B, C) and minerals (iron, potassium, copper, zinc); production of heat, breakdown and elimination of hormones essential for hormonal balance and detoxification.

The liver is the largest human internal organ and one of the few capable of natural regeneration — as little as 25% of remaining liver can regenerate into a whole liver again. Ensuring the liver has what is required for optimum function is essential for peak general health and fertility.

The way of ensuring optimum liver function is the same (of course) as the approach used to help couples overcome infertility to have a healthy baby, it includes a low toxin lifestyle: a healthy, clean diet; no coffee or alcohol consumption; avoidance of chemicals, recreational substances, smoking and any other things which have been shown to negatively affect general heath as well as adding in other things which can be beneficial — such as the recipe I share with you below.

The Whole Lemon Drink is a recipe that was shared with me by my esteemed colleague and author, Peter De Ruyter. I have used it for various areas of health with excellent results (including and not limited only to digestion and digestive system function).

It’s simple and it tastes great. For improved health, fertility and digestion, all you have to do is drink it twice daily. The other great thing about this natural health and fertility boost is that it is completely safe during the pre-conception period. In addition, whether you are pregnant or trying to conceive naturally, or via assisted methods such as IUI, IVF, ICSI—you can continue this healthy ritual.

The Whole Lemon Drink is ideal for:

• Assisting with hormonal balance
• Detoxification
• Enhanced immune function
• Liver health
• Nourishing and strengthening cells and cell membranes
• Improving and normalising digestive health

Some of the benefits of the Whole Lemon Drink (observed in over 20 years of clinical practice):

• It decreases blood acidity and alkalises the system – despite lemon juice being acidic;
• The oils provide essential fatty acids that boost immune function, benefit cell integrity, and improve skin health (resolving dryness), etc;
• The D-limonene in the lemon peel has anti-cancer properties;
• The pectin in the lemon helps to emulsify oils and chelate toxins from the bowelLemon peel contains oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs) – powerful antioxidants with antihistamine effects;
• Lecithin acts on healing and detoxifying the liver (it’s wonderful to address fatty liver) and nervous system (peripheral neuropathy) as well as the kidneys and brain, and enhances fat absorption;
• Lecithin helps normalise cholesterol and triglycerides;
• The choline in the lecithin and the oils in the citrus skin glands help liver detoxification pathways to work more effectively;
• The drink helps decrease swollen glands, increases energy, as well as lift depression and anxiety;
• It helps with insomnia and increases the appetite (only when it is poor);
• It assists in weight normalisation;
• It frequently raises CD4 cell counts (fighting cells of the immune system);
• It helps to decrease tumour necrosis factor (TNF), inflammation and wasting.

One amazing brew – cheap, simple, safe, and effective!

Whole Lemon Drink Recipe

• 1 whole organic lemon, well scrubbed to remove any wax or residues
• 1 1/2 cup filtered water
• 1-3 dessertspoons coconut oil or preferably liquid fish oil
• 1 heaped dessertspoon lecithin (egg based if possible) or a raw fresh, organic egg if you are not pregnant, trying to conceive or are a man
• 1 capsule of vitamin E (whole into the blender)
• 1 knob of fresh ginger (approximately golf ball size)

Cut lemon into small pieces, combine all ingredients and blend for 30-45 seconds. Strain and discard the pulp. Consume 1/2 of the liquid before or with breakfast and the rest for dinner. Store the remainder in a clean glass container* in the fridge. Always consume the total amount within 24 hours to prevent rancidity and too much oxidation.

* Ideally the glass container should be as full of the drink as possible to decrease the amount of air, which speeds up oxidation.

I attended a lecture last September at Oxford University. Professor Russell Foster, leader of the Circadian and Visual Neuroscience Group in the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology (part of the University of Oxford) set out the importance of rest very clearly: in 1900, most people were sleeping for 8.5 hours per night; today, the average is 6.5 hours. He stated categorically that the developed world is in a state of long-term fatigue. Our bodies are not adapted to this level of over-stimulation and lack of rest and because of this, diseases, both mental and physical, are showing up more and more. Stress-related illnesses like heart disease, high blood pressure, anxiety and panic attacks, insomnia (ironically, being over-tired and stressed can interrupt normal sleeping), and even cancers can be the result of lack of proper rest. Studies at the University of New South Wales have shown that the cells of people who are rest-deprived actually go into an inflammatory state – and in that state, there can be errors in cell-replication, leading to tumours. So, rest is not a luxury – it is a vital part of life.

It is during periods of rest that our bodies have the chance to shed the stresses we accumulate every day. There is also little doubt that for those trying to conceive a child, stress can be a major factor that determines success. This makes perfect sense, of course: if our bodies sense that we are in danger (and that is what stress truly is: a set of danger signals called ‘PCCs’ being triggered repetitively in the body), then Nature may decide that this is not the moment to put the body through the demanding process of conception and pregnancy.

This can all sound a bit alarming – unless we know that there is a solution readily available, and there is. Vedic Meditation has been scientifically proven to be much more restful than deep sleep. It is, if you like, a dynamic form of rest, in which the body rejuvenates itself. Stress is shed rapidly and the fight-flight chemicals in the bloodstream (such as cortisol) are replaced in minutes with bliss chemistry (such as endorphin, serotonin, dopamine and anandamide).

Vedic meditation is a very ancient technique which comes from India and was brought to the West just over 50 years ago. Millions of people now enjoy its benefits. Since its arrival in the West in the late 50s, this easy-to-learn and simple-to-practise technique has been studied by Western methods and the claims that have been made for it over many centuries in India have been verified time and time again. Studies have shown long-term Vedic meditators to be 58% less likely to suffer cancers and 87% less likely to suffer heart disease.