Some woman get pregnant easily but for others it can be a long and difficult journey. Now I want to start this article off with pointing out that I am not a doctor, but I have researched the subject and I got pregnant as soon as my husband and I started trying. I have combined what I learned with some tips from friends, some of whom did not get pregnant for a while but persevered.
Have Regular Sex.
Sperm can live inside you for seven days. The sperm travels up the fallopian tubes to “wait” for the egg to be released. If you ovulate during this time you can get pregnant at any point during those seven days. The NHS recommend having sex every few days during ovulation.
Find Out When You Are Ovulating.
There is an abundance of calendars and apps to help you figure out when you are ovulating. Having sex when you are not ovulating may be fun but it won’t get you pregnant. The NHS website can help you figure out when you are ovulating.
Take Your Vitamins.
Make sure you are taking folic acid. It is best to take this for three months before you plan to conceive and make sure you take it throughout the pregnancy too.
Stop Smoking.
This is obvious. It has been proven in medical studies that smoking brings on the menopause by at least four years. It is also very bad for your baby. You should not smoke when trying for a baby and certainly not when you are pregnant.
Exercise.
I exercised for an hour five days a week and lost two stone before getting pregnant. It helped that I was also working out for my impending wedding. I went from a size 12 to a size eight. Exercise helped but the other thing is…
Diet.
I ate as healthy as possible. I did not eat a lot of meat and if I did it was organic. I eat a lot of vegetables and drank a lot of water. I cut down on alcohol, only having a glass if at a restaurant or at a special occasion. Read this article for more diet advice. More importantly I…
Quit Sugar
This was hard but I stopped having sugar in my tea. No chocolate, no added sugar, no fizzy drinks. I am almost positive that this was one of the main things that made a difference. Sugar affects your insulin levels and your insulin levels affect your health.
Lie flat for 15 minutes.
Lie flat for 15 minutes after sex to give the sperm a helping hand. I know many people who swear by this.
IVF
Have IVF. Consider IVF if you are over 35 and have been trying for a baby for six months or if you are under 35 and have been trying for over a year. IVF is a wonderful invention, giving many couples the chance at parenthood who otherwise would never have had children. Go to a clinic with a high success rate like
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Tagged Advice, diet, fertility, getting pregnant, How To, how to get pregnant, How To Improve Your Chances of Getting Pregnant, IVF, ovulation, pregnancy, pregnant, smoking, sperm, sugar, tips
When it comes to the fashion industries obsession with waif like models, times they are a changing…well maybe just a dress size or two. In recent months the industry has seen a sidestep in to the usually unmentionable world of FAT! Several leading modelling agencies now have dedicated plus size divisions, recognising the huge surge in popularity of plus-sized fashion bloggers and Instagrammers. According to Public Health England, two thirds of people in the UK are overweight and are in need of taking better care of their health. Candice Huffine became the first plus size model to feature in this years’ Pirelli calendar, has graced the front page of Italian Vogue, and has appeared in i-D and Harper’s Bazaar Tess Holliday’s huge social media following, helped get her signed to modelling agency MILK Model Management who now have a separate division, Curve, which is dedicated to plus size models. Advertisers using slim models for their ‘health’ campaigns have been heavily criticised by the public and media alike. Protein World’s infamous Are You Beach Body Ready? poster campaign backlash is a prime example of this shift in attitudes towards the ideal female body. We asked Dr Marilyn Glenville, Nutritionist, women’s health expert and author of Fat Around the Middle: How to Lose That Bulge – For Good How difficult is it to maintain a super skinny body shape and still be healthy? It is very difficult if not impossible to maintain a super skinny body shape and still be healthy. And for women it is important not to lose too much fat, because then periods will stop and it can affect not only fertility but also increase the risk of problems like osteoporosis because the woman has lost the protection of the female hormones. Do you see women who struggle to lose weight more regularly now? Yes. In my clinics in Harley Street and Tunbridge Wells, I frequently see women who struggle to lose weight. Most of them just want to be a healthy weight and to have a way of eating that becomes a way of life rather than being on a constant diet or having to do fad diets. Many women I see also want to change their body shape as well as lose weight as they know they are carrying too much fat around their middles which increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, cancer (especially breast cancer), heart disease, Alzheimer’s and high blood pressure. Do you think the fashion industry should embrace models who better represent today’s average British woman? I definitely think the fashion industry should embrace models who look like the average British woman. It makes it easier for the average woman to relate to the clothes that the model is wearing and more likely to want to purchase them. If the model is super thin, then the average woman will think they can’t possibly attain that without starving themselves and knows that it is just not realistic for them. Can you be healthy and bigger? This is really dependent on body fat percentage rather than weight. A person’s weight cannot differentiate between fat and muscle and an athlete and a couch potato can have the same Body Mass Index (BMI – a ratio of height to weight) and yet have a completely different percentage of fat and muscle. A woman can be bigger and healthy if she has the correct percentage of body fat (25-31%). Too low, it risks her periods stopping, infertility and osteoporosis, too high then it risks heart disease, cancer and Type 2 diabetes. Want to shift some pounds naturally? Dr Marilyn Glenville (www.marilynglenville.com) has joined forces with luxury health spa Champneys.com, to deliver a series of very special women’s wellbeing weekends this year. These very special one and two day retreats are led by Dr Glenville herself and offer natural solutions and insight into four significant female health issues; Fat Around The Middle, Digestion & IBS, Menopause & Osteoporosis and Fertility. Ah, whiter teeth. They really do make a difference. The professional route tends to cost a bomb though. So what to do? Home whitening of course. No, none of that awful bleach stuff and nothing that will affect your health negatively. We reviewed iWhite 2 Instant Teeth Whitening. On the packet it says it is 100% safe. Here is how we got on… First of all, it is easy to use, if not a little uncomfortable and weird. You just put the pre-filled trays in your mouth for 20 minutes. That’s it. The product can be used for 5 consecutive days. The results? It does whiten teeth. Not sure about 8 shades whiter but definitely whiter. Results will vary from person to person. We do think it removes stains and it also restores enamel. For the convenience, price (£34.95) and results we say it is worth the money. Especially if you have a big event coming up. iWhite Instant Professional Teeth Whitening Kit is available here. The oil is rich in vitamin A, vitamin C and the essential fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6. Vitamin A is known to promote healthy skin cell rejuvenation, so it’s great for skin damaged by scarring. The Vitamin C in rosehip oil reduces the appearance of dark spots and aging spots. The powerful moisturising effects of the oil are ideal for dry or mature skin, which can help reduce the appearance of wrinkles. Purepotions is made from 100% natural and organic ingredients to help soothe and repair skin in a completely natural way, with no parabens or perfumes. The original skin salvation intensive moisturising ointment is suitable for people prone to eczema, dry itchy skin, psoriasis, dermatitis or for any little skin emergency. The original Skin Salvation was first developed in Natalie Balmond’s kitchen 12 years ago, after she found that absolutely nothing would help her daughter’s eczema. She started to read up on herbs and traditional remedies to help with skin problems, and with much determination and experimentation, she developed a natural salve. Made with oils, herbs and essential oils, it became an overnight sensation with people in the UK and around the world inundating her with emails and letters saying how effective it has been. What did we think? We were very impressed. It does fade scars and stretchmarks. Add in the fact it is handmade and 100% natural and we really are fans. Frost loves…. Here are our top health and beauty picks for this month. Cawston Press Juice Three new juices from Cawston Press. Sweet Greens, Sunshine Blend and Radiant Roots. These are a delicious and unique fruit and vegetable blend. They taste great and are super healthy. They are free from added sugar, sweeteners, preservatives and colourings. What more could you want? £2.99 from the chilled drinks cabinet in Tesco.com Proactiv+ A classic for people with sensitive and spot-prone skin. It leaves the skin hydrated whilst reducing the appearance of spots and blemishes. Now new and improved from skincare experts Dr Katie Rodan and Dr Kathy Fields. It’s superior Smart Target Technology is specifically developed to deliver more salicylic acid straight to the pores, leaving skin fresh, healthy and spot-free. Ola Jordan and Nicole Scherzinger are fans. We have tested it and are very impressed with the results. Eye of Horus Husk Brow Define Australian make-up brand Eye of Horus has just launched its own brow offering: the Brow Define. This is a brilliant brow definer. Slimline to make realistic strokes and it lasts. We were very impressed. Even better, the formula is enriched with Castor Oil, known for its hair growing properties. There is a handy brush on the other end to blend and it is long-lasting and smudge proof. It is also paraben-free. Win-win. £15 from beautybay.com Biotrue ONEday Contact Lens New to the market is Biotrue ONEday, a premium disposable contact lens developed by Bausch + Lomb. The Biotrue lens is made from HyperGel™, a new material which helps maintain eye health because it works like your eyes: Biotrue ONEday is available from Asda.com and independent opticians. Which is why I love this book. Emily Oster is an associate producer of economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She has done her research and has the facts. That is the thing with facts: you can’t argue with them. I mean, people will try but the truth is the truth. Let’s start with caffeine and alcohol. Women are told to limit caffeine and not drink during pregnancy. Coffee allegedly causes a rise in miscarriage. But as Oster says: “Women who drink coffee tend to be older so is it the coffee or is it the maternal age?” On alcohol she says: “In continental Europe women drink wine when pregnant and there is no evidence at all that there children are not as smart as American children or have any other health problems. In fact there is no evidence of more foetal alcohol syndrome in continental Europe; if anything, rates are higher in the United States. This is interesting as any drinking is frowned upon in the US whilst in continental Europe before are less judgemental. Ultimately I concluded that these recommendations were not just very cautious, they were too cautious. In moderation, pregnant women should feel comfortable with both alcohol and caffeine. For alcohol, this means up to one drink a day in the second and third trimester, and a couple of drinks a week in the first. In fact, for the most part studies fail to show negative effects on babies even at levels higher than this. By a drink here I mean a standard drink – 120 millilitres of wine, 30 millilitres of hard spirits, 350 millilitres of beer.” Considering that a recent legal test case brought by a council tried to pass a law in the UK to make it illegal for women to drink in pregnancy at all, that speaks volume. Women are not trusted with their own bodies and decisions. As Oster puts it “This feels like pregnant women are not given any more credit than children would be in making important decisions.” Quite. My review of Osters book could go on for thousands more words. Instead I will say: buy it. If you are pregnant, buy it. If you have a pregnant friend, buy if for them. It is the essential pregnancy book. Emily Oster should be applauded for her excellent work and research. This book is groundbreaking, fascinating and practical. I loved it and I could not recommend it more. Steven D. Levitt, the co-author of the brilliant Freakonomics, said this book ‘may be the most important book about pregnancy you read.’ There is no ‘may’ about it. Read it. Every see something float along your vision and wonder what the hell it is? The floating amoeba-shaped things are usually there after looking at a bright light. These are called floaters and if you ever wanted to know more about them then watch this amazing TED-education video from Michael Mauser called What are those floaty things in your eye? Watch and learn. In an empowering move, lifestyle blogger Rachel Hollis posted a picture of herself wearing a bikini in an uplifting photo post on her Facebook page.. She was tired of worrying about the stretchmarks left on her body after three pregnancies with ‘huge’ babies. The picture soon went viral. Looking amazing and with a wide, beautiful, smile the photo of Hollis has been liked over 465,000 times and shared over 62,000 times. Many other mothers are posting pictures of their own mummy tummies below. The photo, along with the inspiring statement has gathered a lot of support from other women. This is what Hollis said: “I wear a bikini because I’m proud of this body and every mark on it…It’s never ever going to be like a Victoria’s Secret model, but I think I look good and my husband wants to make out with me, so I’m doing something right.” I have stretch marks and I wear a bikini. I have a belly that’s permanently flabby from carrying three giant babies and… Posted by The Chic Site on Saturday, 21 March 2015 I have stretch marks and I wear a bikini. I have a belly that’s permanently flabby from carrying three giant babies and I wear a bikini. My belly button is saggy… (which is something I didn’t even know was possible before!!) and I wear a bikini. I wear a bikini because I’m proud of this body and every mark on it. Those marks prove that I was blessed enough to carry my babies and that flabby tummy means I worked hard to lose what weight I could. I wear a bikini because the only man who’s opinion matters knows what I went through to look this way. That same man says he’s never seen anything sexier than my body, marks and all. They aren’t scars ladies, they’re stripes and you’ve earned them. Flaunt that body with pride! #HollisHoliday What do you think? The Rise of The Fat Supermodel: Is The Fashion Industry Embracing Plus Size Models?
iWhite 2 Instant Teeth Whitening Review
Purepotions Scar Oil Review
Rosehip oil has been known to heal scars and stretchmarks for a long time now. Its celebrity fans include Gwyneth Paltrow, Victoria Beckham and Rosie Huntington-Whitely. Supermodel Miranda Kerr says: “Rosehip is full of antioxidants and really works to rejuvenate the skin.” She is not wrong. With that in mine we tried Scar Oil with Rosehip 50ml, £18.99 from Purepotions. This Month’s Health & Beauty Picks
Expecting Better: Why The Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong Book Review
Expecting Better: Why The Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong created a huge amount of buzz when it was released, and rightly so. Women’s bodies are always political minefields. Everything from our breasts to our rights to abortion are subject to scrutiny and sexism. No more so is this true than when a woman is pregnant. Everyone has an opinion on what you should eat, on what you should do. The amount of unsolicited advice is irritating and the amount of judgement from the conception all the way to how you give birth can be overwhelming. God forbid that people live and let live.What Are Those Floaters In Your Eye? The Amoeba In Your Eye Explained
Mother-of-Three Proudly Displays Her Stretch Marks in Viral Picture
