Nutritious v New-trick-ious.

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I've just watched the umpteenth breakfast cereal advertisement selling foodstuffs (I love that word) promoted as highly nutritious, full of this and that, promising you can travel to the moon and back and then some. Well, I have one word for all of this. Fib. From now on I am re-labeling these sorts of products as “new-trick-ious”.

These ads are fibbing. They are telling Big Fibs!

It's not just limited to breakfast cereals - these advertising tricks are everywhere. Unfortunately we often believe them and who can blame us? The products always look awesome, and why shouldn’t we believe their claims? However these very fibs are making us extremely unhealthy, contributing to poor diet and unhealthy guts. A result of these choices is one that I see every day at the clinic - decreased fertility in men and in women. With this in mind, I want to talk a bit about food choices. Anthelme Brillat-Savarin said, "Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are" (wiki answers told me so) - what a clever man he was! With this at the forefront of my mind, today I am not so good. This hasn’t really been as a result of a fib, but as a result of my breakfast choice.

This morning I went for breakfast to my favourite haunt. They serve the most lip-licking breaky dish my tongue has ever placed it's buds on. I asked for it to be served on the gluten free bread however they had unfortunately run out. I decided to suck it up and order it anyway, choosing to eat just half the bread serve. I thought this would be okay and that my tummy would be fine. I was wrong. I sit here now, bloated and I am actually in pain - with a stretched, tummy gurgling ache.

So here I sit bloated and I am inflamed. I'm gluten inflamed to the max. My little gut is working overtime to try and process the culprit and as a result I am really tired. When this happens as a one off - my body is fine. I cope okay with gluten in dribs and drabs but to include large portions of this at every meal sets my gut into a crazy spasm. If this crazy spasm is maintained every day, body systems just like the reproductive kind, are compromised.

A chain of events occur from the gut, bowel and beyond. Because the bowel and the uterus are innervated by the same nerve supply, if one be placed under strain (requiring more energy) the other misses out. This yin/yang struggle sees the reproductive organs excluded or substantially deprived .This results in a less fertile woman. Fellas - don't think you are exempt here - your fertility also starts with your gut. Healthy sperm rely on all the good stuff taken from your food. It's equally important both parties are eating themselves fertile.

Not everybody reacts to gluten, although I suspect that the majority of us function better with less of it in our diets. We don't all fit the same bill when it comes to what works best in our diets however, when it comes to fertility, in the clinic we suggest that all our patients follow our fertility eating plan. As health professionals we know that the right combination of essential protein, carbohydrate and fat, is one of the best ways to maximise a healthy gut and therefore gain higher fertility. The gut is the pivot point of our health – once we get this little baby working properly and many of our health concerns are no longer.

Learn from my lesson, don't be tricked into eating foods that are hindering your health. If you're unsure, ask a professional, read up - and educate yourself. Know what the side of the box really means. New-trick-ious food is everywhere. Be vigilant!