Rating: Summary: A Disappointment, Overall Review: The only novel information in the book was on the studies linking a heavy yam diet with increased birth rate. I'd like to try the (true) yams (not sweet potatoes), but I haven't been able to find them (though I've gone to three health food stores). For people with already healthy diets and a reasonable understanding about fertility, the book will probably be a disappointment. Almost half its pages are devoted to recipes for yams, whole grains, tofu and the like. Your money is much better spent on Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. Good luck to all who are trying to have a baby!
Rating: Summary: View the difference between a sweet potato and yam Review: I don't think this book does a very good job a describing the difference between a "sweet potato" (almost did a Dan Quayle) and a yam. Some pictures in the book would have been helpful. ... There are several sources, one in particular with illustrations. I was quite surprised to see that a real yam is black/brown. ...I'm very curious to know how many people have been eating sweet potatoes while thinking they were eating yams.
Rating: Summary: Yams are availabe on the internet Review: First of all, I noticed that most of the complaints posted about this book had to do with people finding the diet impossible or extreme. Yes, for those of us who eat a lot of fast food and junk food, this diet is a big change. However, there's still a big difference between following this diet for the most part and having an occasional "unhealthy" meal, which is what most of us will do anyway (let's be realistic), and eating unhealthy meals every day, or even 2 times a day, which is what probably most of us do now. You will have to sharply limit your restaurant eating to follow this diet. But, limiting fast food and restaurant dining is probably the best thing for your health and your budget anyway. By the way, the author doesn't say meat has to be totally eliminated, but warned against dioxins stored in animal fat. Therefore, very lean cuts of meat are probably fine in moderation (good news for grumpy husbands), and the author even recommended some fish as beneficial. So, don't give up on reading this book b/c of negative comments from other reviewers. And just b/c something isn't on the list of things to eat each day, doesn't mean you can never have it again. That said, yams can be very difficult to find. I am lucky to live in a large metropolitan area, and was able to find an African market. But for those of you without such resources, they can be ordered..... My biggest "beef" with this book is that the author doesn't footnote her sources when she makes her claims, although she provides a bibliography of some of them in the back of the book. No citations is one of those things that drives me crazy--it's poor scholarship. (That's why I give only 3 stars.) Because I'd previously read another book, which is more thorough (see below), and this book didn't contradict it, I could forgive the lack of citations. She goes to some "macrobiotic" extremes in places, but a thoughtful reader will be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. And it does contain information that I had not seen surfing the internet or reading other books. My suggestion if you are really interested in the connection between nutrition and fertility, is to read this book, but also read "Fertility, Cycles and Nutrition" by Marilyn Shannon (ISBN 0-926412-08-6), which is thoroughly documented and goes much more in depth. Shannon wrote her book for users of natural family planning. Anybody who knows how to chart their temps and observe their cervical fluid will be familiar with what she's talking about. The book not only addresses infertility, but also PMS and cycle irregularities. Also, for each vitamin or mineral Fern Reiss discusses, I'd suggest looking up what the best food sources for them are. (For example, brown rice is very high in magnesium but bread doesn't have nearly as much. Fern says "whole grains." You could be eating bread each day for the whole grains requirement and not be getting enough magnesium.) Since I have just started this diet, I don't have a great success story to report yet. But I am encouraged by all who posted reviews with their success stories. I hope with the help of good nutrition, my next pregnancy will not take so long in coming and will go to term, and that all who read these words may have the same good fortune as well. Good reading and good baby-making to all. : )
Rating: Summary: where are the yams!! Review: One of the KEY food items this instructs you to eat, is yams. No not sweet potatoes, which are often mislabeled as yams, but true yams. I have checked my local healthfood store (Whole Foods) and they don't sell them. Neither does my local supermarket store (Safeway). How are you supposed to follow this diet, if you can't even acquire one of the main items. There was some helpful information. However since the diet states you must eat all of the suggestions items and not just one or two, then I guess I can't do it without the yams. Thus, it was a big waste of my money.
Rating: Summary: It works!!! Review: This is a difficult diet to follow, and some ingredients are hard to find. I followed it about 90% of the time this month, and planned to completely follow it every day next month while also pursuing medical treatment. I cancelled my first appt. with a specialist today because I am pregnant! I tried for about a year, so this is very exciting! It is definitely worth the effort!
Rating: Summary: It worked for me!! Review: After several failed fertility treatments, I decided to try the Infertility Diet. Though, it was a little challenging to follow the strict diet, it's far cheaper and easier than IVF. Best of all, after only one month on the diet, I conceived. Try it!
Rating: Summary: practical guide Review: The book offers practical guidelines for improving overall health and nutrition. I found the food choices to be sensible and and not difficult to locate but it takes motivation to change eating habits and preplanning to shop and prepare meals.
Rating: Summary: To complicated Review: I was looking for different explanations how to achieve pregnancy after almost two years of trying with medical help. I always have thought that what we eat is what we get and so I bought this book. But I am really dissapointed by its advice. It is to complicated to follow! The ingredients are not common and if you have to work and eat outside your house every day, this diet is almost impossible to follow. Even the book becomes boring after the first chapters! I really think after this book that the best way to achieve pegnancy trough food is to have a balanced meal and that's it!All the rest has no value!Please save your money, other books are better.
Rating: Summary: Better be willing to overhaul your diet! Review: This book had some valuable information, I'll give it that. But, for the most part, the diet is not something that your average woman will be able to follow. I want to have another baby very badly, but some of these changes are just not realistic. Several of the foods in the diet are close to impossible to get a hold of in your average small town grocery store. And your food choices will be very limited while on this diet. The fertility content of the book is basically verbatim from "Taking Charge of Your Fertility", so if you've read that (a must read!) you will not garnish much else from this book except for the actual diet and recipes. Overall, unfortunately, I felt the money I spent on this book would have been more well-spent on a different book.
Rating: Summary: Helpful...but I wouldn't buy it ! Review: I have been trying to get pregnant with a second child for over a year and a half. After many unsuccessful attempts, I am desperate for other alternatives other than expensive procedures that may not even work. When I purchased this book, I was under the impression that this book would have more information and not recipes. The contents of the book are helpful, however, I think the diet is quite HORRIBLE and unless you have tried everything, I would have only purchased the book as a last resort. With regards to the diet, there is no way that I could get my husband to follow this diet and to try to get him to eat Wheat Germ and Tofu...forget it! Realisticly, there is no way we, as a couple of which the book recommends, would we be able to follow this diet. As I read the book, I had also noticed that some of the segments were just repeated wording from others. Quite frankly, I was very disappointed that I paid so much for this book and I would not recommend it to anyone. When I received the book in the mail, I couldn't believe I paid this much money for a paperback book of which half is recipes! I would have paid less!
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