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171 of 180 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not worth $24.95.., October 21, 2003
This review is from: The Infertility Diet: Get Pregnant and Prevent Miscarriage (Paperback)
Apart from the Author (Fern Reiss) repeating herself many times throughout the book (I can count the same sentences repeated over and over again in different sections) - I thought it would have more solid advice than what it contained. I am really dissapointed. I was looking forward to reading this book so much! A couple of examples of why I was dissapointed with this particular book: Example 1 - "Yet another good reason to avoid dairy as well as meat is dioxins." Yes true. Meat contains dioxins - depending on where your meat is from. Fern does not give you advice on where to obtain clean meat (free of dioxins) but instead takes the easy way out and says - avoid. One of the deficiencies that can arise through lack of red meat is Zinc. The author fails to inform us that Zinc deficiency is very dangerous to the development of feotus (particularly mental). Her suggustions are - Consume Pumpkin and Sunflower seeds. However unless you consume 300g daily you will not meet your RDI for Zinc. That's quite alot of seeds! Red meat and Eggs contain an easily absorbed form of Zinc. They also contain many other nutrients essential for pre-conception. So the advice - avoid meat and dairy, is not one I would follow. Focus on purchasing clean meat and eggs - I have, and have not looked back since. Example 2 - Her reccomendation to eat orange vegetables (that contain Beta-carotene) for Vitamin A. Quite alot of people with poor thyroid function CANT convert Beta-carotene into Vitamin A. So if you are relying on carrots and pumpkins to give you Vitamin A without knowing your thyroid status - Don't! She failed to mention that essential point. Example 3 - Page 50 - "Although one study indicates that too strict a vegetarian diet can lead to irregular ovulation, we still recommend sticking to a health whole grain vegetarian diet that goes heavy on the fruits and vegetables, and avoids excess protein." Even though this supposed study shows that too strict a vegetarian diet (which is EXACTLY what she recommends throughout her whole book) can impede fertility, she still insists on it, and YET she rejects everything else (no matter how trivial) that can impede fertility. Is she contradicting herself? Absolutely! Example 4 - She reccomends to "Consume Wheatgerm for Vit E". She also fails to mention that this is bad practice. Wheatgerm easily becomes rancid and rancid oils are dangerous and useless to your body. ALSO, A large part of the diet she advocates includes consumption of wild Yams. If you cannot get hold of these - don't bother buying the book! The only thing that I do agree with in her entire 277 page book is that we all should all ditch processed 'empty' foods. But then again, that information is and should be common sense. This book is certainly not worth its cost. Its good reviews are very overrated IMO. I bought this book based on those reviews and am very dissapointed. Fern has gone through some effort to put this book together and thats why I award it one star. I don't believe it's content deserves more than that though.
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115 of 121 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Yams are availabe on the internet, July 22, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Infertility Diet: Get Pregnant and Prevent Miscarriage (Paperback)
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. : )
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36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed feelings, January 19, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: The Infertility Diet: Get Pregnant and Prevent Miscarriage (Paperback)
I have mixed feelings with this book. I bought the book and have even tried following some of the recipies which are pretty tasty, however some of the ingredients (especially yams and Kelp) were difficult for me to find. However, after much searching I found them. I found some of the info to be too vague! For instance one minute she tells you the benefits of soy and in the next breath tells you not to consume to much! Well, how much is not too much? She recommends eating yams in the first part of your cycle before ovulation and not in the second half and not to consume dairy (or meat) products while trying to conceive but most of her yam recipies have dairy products in them!! Can you say contradictory? I emailed my question about this through her website but it was not answered at all! Another thing is her yam recipies call for 4 yams or 6 yams or 1 yam. Well, I'd like to know where she purchased her yams because the true African yams that I found were 12"-15" long and weighed 8lbs-10lbs. Two tubers (yams) cost me $19.00! Not very practical to use 4 -6 per recipie! I wish she would have put some additional information in the back of her book or keep her web site updated but she doesn't do that either. I tried contacting the author (as was suggested in another review) but all of my questions were not answered or I'd get an answer that had nothing to do (I feel) with my question. Finally after my third e-mail I was told that Fern wasn't in the fertility business anymore. And, if you go on her website it hasn't been updated for quite sometime and the Website is really pushing other business ventures she is now in. It's an o.k. book but don't put all of your hopes into it, like I'm afraid I might have.
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