Red Raspberry Leaf is probably the most popular herb among herbalists and Traditional Chinese Medicine experts.

From pregnancy to boosting fertility to nursing or menopausal issues, this herb can benefit women at virtually every stage of life.

Taken in tea form or in capsule form it can have a positive effect on your fertility in several ways:

1. It can tone and strengthen the uterus so when you do get pregnant you will experience contractions that are nice and strong. It’s like building an armor around your baby.

2. It can help balance your hormones. This way you will have a more regular cycle (hopefully between 26-28 days) and a more healthy ovulation that is easier to predict. Ovulation should normally occur about 10 to 15 days into the cycle not later.

3. If you have heavy bleeding during periods then drinking Red Raspberry Leaf tea can stop and reduce the bleeding.

4. Being so rich in valuable nutrients in vitamins, it can directly affect the quality of both the sperm and the eggs.

The herb is considered safe. I recommend only taking it up to your ovulation, not throughout the cycle. Take it either in capsule form or you can have it brewed overnight in a quart of boiling water then strain the leaves, and drink hot or cold, with some sweetener as it can be bitter.

Need guidance on how to improve your fertility? Check out my Pregnancy Miracle program

The post The Amazing Impact Of Red Raspberry Leaf On Your Fertility first appeared on Lisa Olson's Fertility Blog.

The answer is “Yes”. You see, a recent study found that Coenzyme Q10 can directly affect egg quality in women and improve sperm density and motility in men.

Did you know for example that women are prescribed Q10 when undergoing IVF? One of the reasons is that among all of its benefits it can also improve the division of chromosome during fertilization which is such an important stage.

Not only that, it also has antioxidant properties which protect sperm cells as well as provide for proper energy production.

So now that you know how important it is, how much should you take? Well, women can start anywhere from 100-200mg once or twice a day and men can begin by taking between 40-100mg, once a day.

Need guidance on how to improve your fertility? Check out my Pregnancy Miracle program

The post Take This Co Enzyme To Improve The Quality Of Your Eggs first appeared on Lisa Olson's Fertility Blog.

Meet the Fertility Vitamin: Vitamin D!

Alarmingly, you will be shocked to know that as much as 93 percent of women with fertility problems lack adequate vitamin D! In Turkey, when vitamin D supplements were administered to women, the fertility rates increased by about 6 percent.

I thought I was getting enough Vitamin D from my diet and from walking outside in the sun every day. I also took a regular multivitamin. But to my surprise, my doctor told me that my blood level was pretty low, about 12 ng/mL…

Did you know that vitamin D helps to alleviate polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), plays a key role in reducing uterine fibroids and boosts progesterone and estrogen levels in the blood, which dictate the menstrual cycles and enhances the chances of a healthy conception?

Vitamin D also seems to have an alleviating effect on hormonal imbalance that leads to infertility in many women. High dosage of vitamin D when administered to women greatly reduced their estrogen levels.

Progesterone was reduced by 10% and estrogen by 3% per 10mg/nil of serum vitamin D.

Interestingly, vitamin D has also been seen to enhance the success rates of couples undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF).

In fact, you will be amazed to know that in many northern countries, conception rates peak during summer when sunshine gets the body into vitamin D synthesis mode, and dwindle during dark winters when vitamin D formation by the body is considerably lower!

You must, however, stand cautioned. A study carried out in Greece states that overdose of vitamin D levels can reduce the chances of pregnancy.

This can happen in women when they have too much of vitamin D in their body coupled with very low amounts of vitamins A and K.

It is a good practice to determine the vitamin requirements of your body, and then test your existing vitamin D levels to arriving at a baseline of inputs required.

Beginners can take about 1000 IU’s for every 25 pounds of body weight, and then test again.

So you must switch to a lifestyle that induces the mechanism of vitamin D formation in your body. The ideal quantity will be different for different body types, but a good starting point can be 4,000 IU.

Need guidance on how to improve your fertility? Check out my Pregnancy Miracle program

The post 93% of Women With Fertility Problems Don’t Get Enough Of This Vitamin first appeared on Lisa Olson's Fertility Blog.

You might have come across the myriad health benefits of zinc, ranging from an immunity booster, to its renal applications, to its anti-stress and anti-ageing properties. But did you know that Zinc, has proven to be the to-be mother’s best friend?

You and your partner should be gorging on zinc rich foods such as oysters, eggs, whole grains, seeds of sunflower and pumpkin, dairy products, beans and sea-foods in general if you are gearing up for a childbirth.

In women, zinc has the very vital role of utilizing the two main reproductive hormones – oestrogen and progesterone. A lower count of zinc in a woman’s body can cause:

• Disruptions in hormone utility.
• Problems related to development of the ovary.
• Poor quality egg due to lack of protein synthesis.

Recently, an NIH financed study observed that zinc is essential for developing a healthy egg and, ultimately, a healthy embryo and zinc is a co-factor in more than 600 enzymes, some of which have direct consequences on a possible pregnancy!

Zinc is an Essential Element for Male Fertility. Sufficient levels of zinc are also essential to increase sperm counts in men and too little zinc in either parent’s body can result in chromosomal abnormalities, and fetal death. 

The reason for zinc deficiency is not always low dietary intake! One is the inability of the body to process and absorb zinc from natural sources of food and the other is acquiring zinc-depleting habits such as smoking, drinking alcohol, undergoing regular stress or taking oral contraceptives.

Many of us consume certain food items assuming them to be rich in zinc.

For example, wheat is believed to contain zinc, and in its raw, unprocessed state, it indeed does. But once it is refined, polished, and flavored, 80 percent of the zinc is lost in the process.

One must caution oneself against such claims and go for foods that can truly replenish zinc in our systems.

Need guidance on how to improve your fertility? Check out my Pregnancy Miracle program

The post A Mineral That Directly Affects Your Eggs?(You Have To Read This) first appeared on Lisa Olson's Fertility Blog.