Dealing with long cycles and conception problems – the natural way

Day 49 and no AF in sight

Rightly or wrongly, I have decided to give two months to dealing with my PCOS and irregular periods the natural way, before resorting to Chlomid, Femara or Metformin.

My self-devised treatment plan constitutes of the following:

Two months – 13^th August until 15^th October 2014

Daily sunlight for 20mins – I have my morning coffee sitting in my bikini in the morning sunlight. Theory: stimulate natural Vitamin D production.

Cutting down on coffee to 1 cup a day – its been proven that excess coffee intake hinders fertility.

Drinking 1 cup of Green Tea a day – this may seem to contradict the above as Green Tea does have caffeine, however Green Tea is claimed to help increase fertile CM and through my own trials this has helped me too.

Cutting down on hard-core exercise. I usually exercise and exert myself to 100% for one hour, five times a week. I have decided to reduce this to max 30mins of cardio, four times a week and try to reduce the intensity. Theory: over-doing it on the exercise has shown to lengthen cycles. (I already have 45+ day cycles!)

No Carbs at Night – Previously I tried this for weight loss (I am slim, BMI 20 but stubborn patches of cellulite/fat) and had good results. Theory: PCOS is linked with insulin resistance and difficulty processing carbs/sugar. Also to balance out my lower levels of exercise! IMO the ‘night’ rule has no impact on cutting carbs, but I find it easier to have a personal curfew for carbs rather than just ‘cut down’

Acupuncture – I have always been intrigued with acupuncture. I took the plunge and went for it and minus a mini freak-out it was fine! I am now going for twice weekly acupuncture in the hope that it will help to stimulate my ovaries and regulate my hormones.

Chinese herbs – I am not so sure about this one, but my traditional acupuncturist Dr Zhang at Tong Ren Tang has prescribed me a course of Chinese herbs to help in balancing my Qi and for warming up my apparently ‘cold ovaries’.

Meditation – I am going to try to do 20-30 minutes of quiet time/meditation a day. Theory: a lot of fertility problems are linked to stress, plus the fact that TTC is an emotional rollercoaster and serious test of patience. I hope that by stilling the mind I can minimize my body’s production of cortisol and adrenalin.

Limiting alcohol intake – not only because of excess calories or potential pregnancy but also that alcohol affects estrogen production & I don’t want anything affecting my body’s hormone production.

So, the bottom line is this, I have been suffering with greasy hair and skin, long cycles, short light spotting of an excuse of a period, skin rashes and a sticky patch in my hair that appeared for a week (!!!) I don’t know whether I ovulate each month but 8 months and 6 cycles of TTC later I’m now willing to try anything!

 Wish me luck! xxx

How to Make Iced Rooibos Tea - ultimate home recipe

Just thought I would share with you my recipe of how to make a healthy, moreish and refreshing pitcher of Rooibos Tea. 

Rooibos is well-known for its health benefits, in fact I have already done a post on its benefits (read more here) (or here). And not only is it good for you and naturally caffeine-free but it is also super tasty and refreshing. 

Anyway here's how I make my iced Rooibos.

Ingredients:

• 2 Rooibos teabags (I recommend Tick-Tock brand as a personal fav.)
• 1.2 litres of fresh water (I use mineral water as we can't drink the tap water here)
• 4 Teaspoons of sugar or honey
• 1 or 2 flavour enhancers from this list:   
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon or even better a stick of fresh cinnamon*
•  zest and juice of 1 lemon or orange*

Directions:

Plop your sugar, teabags and cold water in a large pot on the stove. Add your flavour enhancer (cinnamon is my favourite).

Set the flame to high for five minutes, then turn to low for a further 3-5 minutes. Stir occasionally to infuse all the flavours and melt the sugar/honey.

Do not let the water boil but it should get very hot!

Once 7-10 minutes is up (remember not to let it get to boiling point) turn the heat off but leave the pot on the stove with teabags still in for 30mins or so to come back down to room temperature. 

After that, remove the teabags and any loose large ingredients and at this stage I run mine through a fine sieve to get out the most of the cinnamon grains although you can just leave them in and not drink the dregs which I often do when lazy!

Decant the tea into a bottle it and pop it in the fridge until nice and cold. Serve over a handful of ice blocks to really enjoy!

YUM!

Let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions of how else to spice up the iced tea! 

Trials & Tribulations of a Pilots Wife: Making Mini-me's

Well, Dearest Husband and I have been Trying To Conceive (#TTC for those in the know) our first baby for the past 8 months. Eight Months! This is so not as easy as you think are told during your teens/early twenties and living in the constant fear of birth control failure!

Well, 8 months off Birth Control (#BC for those in the know) and nothing. No Big Fat Positive (#BFP) pregnancy test, just a hell of a lot of let down BFN's.

Thinking about BABIES!

Anyway, I'm sure I can blame this on being a Pilots Wife and living the Pilots Life. Hubby is away 5 or 6
days of the week and women only ovulate once a month. Did you know that the egg only lives for 24 hours!?! Well with sperm living for 4 days or do that gives maybe 4 fertile days a month.

Statistics & facts are definitely not in our favour. Anyway, back to crazy baby-making brain with other OTT women slowly driving themselves insane playing the waiting game and trying to jump their husbands as much as possible. My stats below for those in the know:

30YO, TTC#1, Off BC since Jan, CD35, 14DPO, DTD @ OV, POAS today: BFN, AF due today. Temping, charting & on CM watch.

Besides simply getting busy and down to action if anyone has some miracle baby making advise please let me know.

Signed,
Loopy-Despondent-HopefullyPregnantSoon-Mom2Be

Rooibos Tea: The Benefits by a true believer

I am a through and through Rooibos believer. Armed with Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream and some Rooibos teabags I can tackle anything... 

Having spent over ten years of my childhood in South Africa I have grown up with Rooibos and considered it standard, normal tea. Until I lived in the US and UK that is when I realised that Rooibos was herbal and naturally caffeine-free tea.

So, I now go about my life educating others on the benefits of Rooibos, or as the Brits call it by the English translation, Red Bush Tea. 

A Brief History: Rooibos is a red 'tea', natively grown and harvested in South Africa where it is picked, sun dried, then brewed. Locally it is drunk both "black" (sans milk) or with milk and sugar. Personally I like it stewed for a long while, with milk as a standard cuppa, or iced with sugar and cinnamon.  It has a warm and glowing amber colour.

Benefits of Rooibos

1. It is a pure and natural product: no colorants, preservatives or additives
2. It's calorie free
3. It's rich in antioxidants (fight cancer causing free-radicals)
4. It's rich in Vitamin C
5. It has anti-inflammatory properties (soothing to stomach, colic or skin irritations)
6. It lowers the production of cortisol (the body's stress hormone)
7. It is caffeine free

Well, off to make a brew. Drink up and Enjoy!

sources:

SA Rooibos Association

Health24.com - Rooibos

Goals for June

I am a total lover of goal setting, I have enough time in my life to focus on self improvement and therefore have set the following goals for June:

1. Drink rooibos tea everyday
2. Gym 5 times a week
3. Walk 30 minutes a day

Well so far I haven't quite managed to stick to it. I am about 90% there which for me is good enough. Unfortunately I totally fell off the wagon last Saturday at a free flow 'brunch' function where I drank so much wine it ended in me falling asleep at 4pm and not getting out of bed until 8am the next day. I don't think that much wine or 16 hours sleep is that good for anyone. <SO embarrassing>

Anyway, the outcome of all of this so far is:

• I feel good about myself, confident, sexy, healthy (disappointed in the wine-overdose though)
• My skin is much clearer having recently been overwhelmed by spots and grease due to having stopped hormonal contraceptives, finally it seems to be balancing nicely
• Skin texture is improved 
• I am definitely slimmer and more toned

So far so good on day ten. Lets make this week count and get back on track!

Good luck to all you other goal-setters out there. What are your goals for June? 

Dealing with the "Four Day Schedule"

So my husband is away for four days. This means I am alone for four days. Literally not a soul to speak to.

Here are my top ten activities to keep busy while he is away to avoid going insane:

1) Catch up on all emails, whatsapps, texts, face books, tweets etc. Write to friends or family you haven't heard from in a while and make sure you keep in touch.  Follow me on twitter @imupforlife

2) Go to the GYM! We've covered this already: gym = positive body, positive mind, positive attitude. Check out Pop Sugar Fitness Website or Pop Sugar Fitness YouTube Channel which are both amazing for motivation & have ten minute workouts you can do from Yoga, Treadmill, Weights, Cardio......

3) Go for a walk. Not related to "exercising" but simply related to clearing your mind, having some peace and embracing the alone-time

4) Put down your cellphone. Stop playing Bubble Witch/Candy Crush/Tetris or whatever your poison is. You're wasting your life and getting a headache

5) Cook. Google a recipe you're craving, go grocery shopping and cook up a storm. Cake? Pancake? Curry? Gnocchi? Find something on Pintrest and give it a go!

6) Sort out your computer. This sounds super duper dull but don't you have a load of crap on your laptop? I do. 5 photos of the same thing really aren't needed. De-clutter and organise your life starting with your tech.

7) Sort out your junk drawer. Again this sounds dull but this time its not the act that counts its the feeling it gives you. This is a tip from a book I read which deals with depression. The act of sorting out a stationery/junk/kitchen drawer, as small an act as it is empowers you to sort out the rest of your life. I dare you to try this 'crazy' idea. Worst that happens: you get an organised junk drawer

8) Do the laundry. Boooooringgggg, but it will keep you busy. And if all the washing & ironing is done before hubby comes back it means more Quality Time together coz the administration of life is done.

9) Change the bedsheets. Mmmmm... nothing like crisp fresh linen. This one is for you and your soul. Relish and enjoy laying in fresh bedsheets before the wild animal husband comes back and sweats/crinkles/'dirty's your blissful bed.

10) Lastly, to keep yourself busy, feel good and get ready for hubby's return; Shower, Shave, Pluck, Paint nails, Blowdry, Exfoliate, Tone skin, Fake tan, Moisturize, Whiten, Floss... you get the picture. Get yourself totally beautified. Not just for him, for you to feel good and worthwhile.

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Gym Time: Expats abroad, nothing to do, GO TO GYM!

Living abroad with not many, hardly any, very few friends can leave you little to do on a weekend while Hubby is away at work.

So, what to do... go to gym! 

The simple benefits of gym (in case you need reminding, we ALL need reminding) include:

• its uplifting / mood booster
• healthy
• keeps you occupied both mind & body
• its natural to keep active and I know in my usual sedentary lifestyle if I didn't go to gym I would be considered horrendously inactive.

I go to gym about 4 or 5 times a week usually. Having quit smoking this year I can now achieve this:

One Hour as Far / Fast as you can

CHALLENGE: If you don't feel like working out; just go to the gym. 

Once you arrive you can turn around and leave if you wish. Just Go There. 

(You'll probably stay...)

For my my latest motivation is the Runkeeper app on my phone. Previously I had it on my Android and now on my iPhone. You can set it to auto track steps it is AWESOME. Runkeeper 

My personal challenge for April is to run/walk/cover 100km. Like I said I have a very small/sedentary life so this is a real challenge. 

Off to the gym then! xxx

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