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TTC a Girl LIBRARY
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...l-version.html
Low Everything Diet - Nutshell Version
The full Low-Everything Diet for Pink(LE Diet) is found in the Dream Members section http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...-ttc-pink.html along with a lot of other good stuff!! (plus atomic always answers questions in that section first.)
If you want to understand the scientific reasoning underlying the LE Diet, read this:
Understanding the Trivers Willard Hypothesis
And the LE Diet FAQ is found here: http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...tml#post335985
Before you do the LE Diet, take a sec to revise your thinking when it comes to sway diets. The LE Diet does not involve mineral balancing, pH of foods you eat, and there ARE NO forbidden foods on this diet (there are a few foods that you may want to avoid which I’ll talk about below, but even those are not make-or-break) It’s the overall totals of the day that count, not any magical food http://genderdreaming.com/forum/sway...gic-foods.html
If you can’t let go of those ideas, please follow the link for a thread that will describe how to tweak the existing sway diets to be more in line with LE principles. http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...-ttc-pink.html
In short, the LE Diet is a low calorie, low protein, low fat diet, with nutrient intake kept on the low side and eating in patterns that are more likely to help keep blood sugar low.
Basic guidelines:
1500-1800 calories a day
This is the level of caloric intake recommended by reproductive endocrinologists for safe weight loss while going HT. It is a safe level of weight loss while TTC.
If you’re very tall, are breastfeeding, want to stop weight loss or are losing massive quantities of weight too quickly, bump up to 1800-2000 cals (keeping protein and fat intake within limits and making up the difference with carbs.)
If you are very petite, typically only eat 1500-1800 cals, or have plateaued on weight loss at 1500-1800 and still have more to lose, you can bump down to 1200-1500 cals. DO NOT go any lower than that. Starvation is not an option and is not allowed on LE Diet (in fact, it may actually temporarily raise your testosterone!!)
If you have a lot of weight to lose, please try to resist the temptation to start off at 1200-1500 cals. It’s best to start on 1500-1800 and then see how you go. Cutting back more than you need will wreck your metabolism and make it harder to lose weight in the long run. You can always cut back more later on, but you can’t reset your metabolism right in the middle of your sway.
Calories should come primarily from carbs
If you are very thin to start with or have already lost a lot of weight and are needing to hold steady, it’s good to include lots of empty carbs. (refined, white grains and sugar.)
If you have insulin resistance, PCOS, or are heavy to start out with, you should focus more on fruits, vegetables, and limit grains to 2-3 servings of whole grains a day. The fiber will slow down the rise in your blood sugar and make it easier for your body to digest the carbs. Please read the following link about adjusting your diet if you have blood sugar issues http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...ar-issues.html
40-50 g protein
DO NOT go below this. This is the lower limit of healthy protein intake for an adult woman in her childbearing years. You need this much protein prior to conception.
If you have insulin resistance or PCOS, you should increase protein to 50-60 g. You may also want to increase protein to 50-60 g if you are breastfeeding if you find your milk is not adequate.
20-30% of your day’s calories from fat
This is the amount of fat intake advised from virtually all medical sources as ideal for good health. It’s much lower than most people eat, however.
Depending on how many cals you are eating, this typically works out to be between 25-60 g. The more cals you are eating, the more fat you will be taking in.
DO NOT eat NO fat. You need fat to manufacture progesterone and estrogen that will help you get and stay pregnant. If you’ve gone on a long time without getting pregnant for no apparent reason, please start to eat the highest percent fat. If you are breastfeeding, eat the highest percent fat.
2500-3500 mg potassium MINIMUM
DO NOT go under this amount. It can be FATAL. You can get more if you would like to.
It is quite likely potassium does not even sway anyway, please don’t risk your health for a sway tactic that is utterly unproven and doesn’t even make any sense. BTW, this is the same level of potassium that is recommended on InGender and in the French Gender Diet, but neither of them are very vocal about stressing how important it is that you get that amount of potassium. YOU CAN DIE if you do not get enough potassium, and this is a real risk that can actually occur.
If you are exercising, are tall, or drinking a lot of liquid, aim for the higher range. If at any point you feel like your heart is skipping beats or otherwise weird in any way, increase potassium.
Low Nutrient, not NO nutrient
Vitamin supplements and highly fortified foods should be avoided. The exception is folic acid – you should be taking 1200-1600 mcg a day spaced out over the course of the day. Also, if you legitimately need certain supplements for your health, please take them regardless of how they sway.
Fruits and vegetables are 100% allowed on the LE Diet. If you have a choice between higher nutrient vegetables and lower nutrient vegetables, then pick the lower nutrient ones, but that does not mean you cannot eat higher-nutrient vegetables. YOU CAN!! You would have to eat a mountain of broccoli to reach the level of nutrition in one Big Mac, fries, and a chocolate shake.
Even high nutrient vegetables are really low nutrient foods overall.
If you have insulin resistance or PCOS, you should focus on getting your carb needs from fruits and vegetables.http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...ar-issues.html
Low carb vegetables are free foods meaning you can eat as much as you like, no need to count them.
High carb (sweet or starchy) veg and fruits, count calories but not protein or fat.
High protein vegetables (legumes), count calories and protein.
High fat vegetables (avocado and olives) should be limited but if you have some, count cals and fat.
700-1000 mg sodium
This is by far the least important. I do not believe sodium even sways (and high sodium intake may even sway PINK by harming overall health) but I keep it in the mix because it’s good for overall health and is relatively easy for people to include. If you have to cheat, make it on sodium.
Foods that are probably best avoided
While there are no magic foods, there are some foods that are probably best eaten sparingly or avoided all together, either because they’re somewhat blue-friendly or they make it too hard to stick within your day’s limits, or both.
Any highly fortified food like breakfast cereal.
Garlic, onions, oatmeal, and celery have compounds in them that may raise testosterone.
Fruit and vegetables juices – highly concentrated sources of nutrients
Meat and eggs, especially whole eggs, are highly concentrated sources of protein for very few calories. So after only a small serving, you exceed your protein allotment for the day and have eaten barely any calories whatsoever. Also, they are very nutrient dense foods so even just a tiny serving can give you a big burst of nutrition. They may also have fats in them that your body can use to make testosterone.
Nuts and seeds – healthy fats and lots of nutrients and protein. A small amount is ok.
Beans and peas – high protein. A small amount is ok.
Fish and shellfish – Avoid oily fishes like tuna and salmon all together due to their healthy fat. Whitefish/shellfish are very high in protein and low cal and should be avoided, but are better than the oily fishes.
Full fat dairy – Most swayers will want to use skim products instead. However, if you need fat intake, switching to full fat dairy can be helpful for getting more fat and cals without adding protein - if you were eating skim yogurt, switch to full fat...same amount of protein, but extra fat and a few more cals. Also, those with PCOS or insulin resistance, you should use full fat dairy, particularly yogurt and cheese, because this gives you a much better insulin response than skim does.
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...-ttc-pink.html
also there is a short recipe thread here, more recipes in the Dream Members section http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...-ttc-pink.html
diet suggestions for TTC Pink
ETA - Just a reminder, this is NOT the only diet to follow when you sway. This is more of an attempt to put ALL the diets together into one big diet plan. You DO NOT need to be this restrictive, there are several options available for you.
This IS NOT THE LE DIET. That is available in the Dream Members section along with recipes, meal plans, tips, food guides, etc. for the cost of $1 a month ($12 a year). This is just a way to incorporate some of the LE Diet principles into the IGD and FGD that some people are/were following. You do not need to be this strict at all on the LE Diet.
The purpose of this diet is to make your body think that times are hard and you don’t have access to as many nutritious foods as you normally do, while reducing testosterone levels by lowering protein and fat intake and reducing the amount of phytonutrients in the diet that help to keep testosterone levels elevated. Low protein, low nutrient, low fat, low calorie - that is the goal.
Potassium and sodium are also kept low. pH is lowered by weight loss and supplements more effectively than eating or not eating a few foods could ever do, so a few more alkaline fruits and vegetables are allowed. Everyone should make the effort to lose even just a pound or two, and NO ONE should gain weight while swaying pink. Weight loss will lower your testosterone and lower pH.
Diet should be based primarily around grains, fruits and vegetables, and skim dairy. Every food should be as low in sodium as possible. Protein intake should be kept to a minimum - adult women only need 40-50 grams of protein for optimal health. Most of us eat much more than that anyway, and eating too much protein is worse for the body than not eating enough.
A small bagel has 10 grams of protein so you can see that it‘s actually very easy to get enough. It is possible to develop a form of malnutrition called Kwashiorkor from eating too little protein for long periods, so just aim for 40 grams of protein a day. Don’t worry if you fall a little short one day or go a little over another day.
ALL foods contain nutrients, so always keep in mind that eating unlimited amounts of even the foods on this list may keep you from losing weight/muscle and keep your testosterone elevated. Also, there are no magic foods http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...he-magic-foods so if you find that eating a food not on this list occasionally as a treat, really helps you to stick to the overall goals of the diet - low protein, low nutrient, low fat, low calorie - it is FINE if you eat it once in awhile.
I'll say it again - IT IS FINE TO EAT A FOOD NOT ON THIS LIST, OCCASIONALLY AS A TREAT, AS LONG AS YOU STICK TO THE OVERALL GOALS OF THE DIET. It's even ok if you find a low-protein food not on this list (let's say for the sake of argument, radishes) makes a good everyday food for you. Radishes it is. As long as it helps you to stick to those overall goals - low protein, low fat, low-calorie.
It's best to skip breakfast and also to eat 2-3 meals a day, rather than grazing or snacking all day long. http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...=3764#post3764
Fruits - Apples with skin cut off, pears with skin cut off, cranberries, dried cranberries, and diet cranberry juice (avoid juice blends and cocktails, 100% pure juice is best), green grapes, fresh strawberries. AVOID brightly colored and strong tasting fruits.
Vegetables - Cucumber (skin cut off), green beans (wax beans aka yellow green beans are also acceptible), mung bean sprouts, iceberg lettuce, eggplant with skin cut off, white mushrooms, white corn, spaghetti squash, zucchini with skin cut off. AVOID brightly colored and strong-tasting vegetables.
Grains - white rice, low sodium pasta, homemade low sodium bread. Pasta and flour are sold fortified with iron and B vitamins, that is just something we have to live. Luckily, the type of iron in white flour is not well used by the body, esp. when you’re not eating a lot of Vitamin C. Spaghetti squash may be another option to consider.
Dairy - If possible, find dairy without Vitamin D. If you can’t find it, you may wish to reduce your dairy intake to avoid getting too much Vitamin D. Vitamin D is believed to raise testosterone.
Organic dairy may be preferable because it does not contain growth hormones.
Regardless of what you may have heard elsewhere, ALL dairy has potassium. By law, potassium content does not have to be listed on the label, so just because something doesn’t say ’potassium’ on the label, does not mean there is no potassium in it. Even UHT shelf-stable milk has potassium. Dairy also has a LOT of sodium per serving. Be aware and monitor to make sure you are not getting too much sodium.
Skim milk, fat-free yogurt (sweetened with aspartame is best), low sodium cheeses. Dairy foods have lots of protein, sodium, and other vitamins and should be used with care - remember, the goal is to reduce your protein intake enough to lower your testosterone.
Protein - Protein should be limited. Red meat and oily fish should be avoided all together because they have lots of protein and good fats in them, and it’s best to avoid chicken, turkey, and white fish as much as possible too. Egg beaters or egg white should be used in place of whole eggs when possible, because yolks have good fats and lots of vitamins. Beans are very healthy and high in sodium anyway, so they should be used sparingly, although they’re a good once in awhile treat on a day when you haven’t had much protein or sodium. Nuts should also be avoided due to their high healthy fat content, in addition to their protein.
Soy is somewhat controversial. On the one hand, soy has been shown to lower testosterone, but on the other hand, it IS protein and some believe that it increases estrogen and CM and may sway blue because of this. Soy is probably a great option for DH, if he’s dieting along with you, since lower testosterone and higher estrogen does seem to sway pink in men and men need more protein anyway. And if you find that you’re unable to get enough protein from grains and dairy, soy is probably the best option of all protein sources due to the potential to lower testosterone.
It’s best to meet your protein requirements through grains, vegetable (beans, soy) and dairy sources rather than from meats.
Condiments - Unfortunately, most condiments are very high in sodium and should be avoided. One tablespoon of ketchup has 7% of a day’s sodium for a normal diet, let alone a swaying diet! Even low sodium ketchup/mustard should be avoided due to their phytonutrient content. Low sodium mayonnaise is ok to use sparingly.
Tahini, or ground sesame seeds, is another acceptible condiment. It’s actually quite nutritious and is high in zinc (known to sway blue), but it is a traditional part of a pink sway due to being high in calcium and magnesium, and it’s used so sparingly that it’s probably fine as a part of an otherwise restricted swaying diet.
Strawberry jam (sugar free is best), homemade cranberry sauce, homemade eggplant dips, and small amounts of vinegar and lemon/lime juice are acceptable. However, vinegar and lemon/lime juice may make you more alkaline, even in small amounts. If you choose to use them, monitor your pH to make sure that it doesn’t go up. (if you’re taking supplements to lower your pH, you should be fine.) Homemade plain yogurt based dips and sauces are a good option as well.
Beverages - In addition to 100% cranberry juice and dairy, Crystal Light, Perrier, and peppermint tea are good choices. Caffeine should be avoided. Rice milk is a vegan drink made out of rice - it is fortified with calcium and several other vitamins and does have sodium, but it is very low protein (much less than cow's milk) and is low fat. It may be an option if you find that dairy is adding too much protein to your diet.
ETA - In terms of what ~I personally~ think should have the most priority when planning your diet, I copied this from another thread. Keep in mind that I don't necessarily believe in minerals or pH, I think protein
/fat/calories and keeping blood sugar low in the 2 WW, is more important.
"The problem with swaying websites is that we lay out all the info at once and it can be overwhelming but you don't need to do everything! It's like a menu at a Chinese restaurant, you can pick something from Column A and something from Column B that work for you and your lifestyle and call that your sway! There is no right and wrong way to do it.
In order of what I think is the most important aspects of diet:
1) Lower blood sugar levels IN THE 2WW (if you can't stick to it all the time, make sure you at least try during the 2WW)
2)Losing weight (and this WILL help lower your blood sugar even if you eat 8 meals a day)
3)Lower fat (fat is easier for most people to cut back on than protein, even though I suspect protein may sway "harder".)
4)Lower protein (and lower is lower - if you can't get to 40 G a day, that's OK! If you were eating 120 and you're now eating 60, that's STILL lower. Protein can help with blood sugar)
5)Lower calories (again, lower is lower, going from 2500 to 2000 is still an improvement.)
6)Lower sodium (this is SO HARD for people to stick to that I seriously doubt all the girls who have ever been born on the face of the planet were to moms eating very little sodium)
7)Only after ALL those other things, come the lower nutrients. Eat veggies if it helps you get through the day. A huge plate of veggies is better for pink than a steak and a baked potato.
8)More cal and mag IF you want to and if you can do it without screwing up on the protein, fat and sodium.
Don't feel that you need to do everything. You don't. Making changes in the right direction still sways.
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...-ttc-pink.html
When and how to eat meals to TTC Pink
WHEN AND HOW TO EAT YOUR MEALS FOR TTC PINK
(I wrote this some time ago, can't believe I didn't have it posted out here yet!)
Scientific research indicates that female blastocysts develop best in a lower glucose environment, so we try to keep our blood sugar levels somewhat on the low side (particularly during the 2WW, to limit the amount of sugar present in our bodily fluids such as the fluids in our reproductive tract where the eggs develop for several days before implanting in the uterus. This is the most proven aspect of gender swaying - researchers have actually witnessed XX and XY sucking up different amounts of glucose from the fluids around them and can differentiate between the two genders based on nothing other than the amount of glucose they suck up.
The following strategies will help:
*Skip breakfast when you can, especially right around ovulation and during the 2WW. (The blastocysts have their own food supply during this period and do not need nourishment from you.) This will give you many hours out of the day with no food intake and lower sugar levels, the environment that your newly conceived daughter seems to prefer.
* If you find you absolutely cannot skip breakfast, it is better to eat foods that are either all or mostly protein OR mostly carbs, not both together. When you eat carbs, your blood sugar rises, and protein keeps it higher for longer after eating. Protein alone does not raise blood sugar levels, and carbs alone raise your blood sugar but then your body releases insulin to metabolize the carbs, and your blood sugar drops afterwards.
Protein-based foods, such as cheese or sugarfree yogurt, will not raise your blood sugar terribly high, even though some do have a small amount of carbs in them (milk DOES have carbs and will raise your blood sugar and keep it high for a long time). Pure protein like eggs or chicken will not raise it at all. Since protein takes a long time to digest, you will not be hungry again for a long time.
Quick-burning carbs, like rice cakes, will raise your blood sugar but then your sugar levels will drop quickly as insulin is released, leaving you with blood sugar levels that were even lower than they were before you ate. WARNING - you will get hungrier than ever after your blood sugar crashes, and you may be more likely to cheat.
If you are insulin resistant, it's a bad idea to eat very many carbs because your body doesn't respond normally to insulin. Better for you to keep blood sugar levels low by eating small amounts of protein rather than carbs.
* Do not eat big, huge meals that take several hours to digest, because your blood sugar will stay elevated for a very long time after you eat them. (think Thanksgiving or Christmas Dinner.)
The worst thing you can do is eat a big breakfast (or any meal) with large amounts of both protein and carbs, because your blood sugar will rise high because of the carbs and then stay elevated for a long time due to the protein. It's ok to eat a normal meal with both protein and carbs, I'm talking about the type of meals that lay in your stomach for hours after eating them.
* Do not snack constantly, especially on sugary/high carb foods. If you are eating every 30 minutes, your blood sugar will be rising constantly and will never have a chance to drop after insulin is released.
*Allow yourself to get good and hungry between meals. This insures that you have at least some time during the day when your blood sugar is on the low side.
YES, BUT IS THIS SAFE FOR MY UNBORN CHILD?? - Some well-meaning nutritionists have been heard to say, the most important time for your child’s development is prior to conception. This makes people wonder if it’s really safe to be dieting when you’re ttc.
Throughout human history and even right now around the world, people have conceived and carried perfectly healthy babies with far, far less access to the kinds of nutritious and plentiful foods we can buy any day of the week at our local supermarket. Great minds like Socrates, Confucius, Lincoln, and Einstein, all were conceived with their mothers eating far less of a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, and without eating the massive quantities of animal protein that is currently present in the American diet.
Historically (and even in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, when our mothers conceived US!!), people just did not have access to the same sorts of foods that we have come to take for granted nowadays, and that is why we have an obesity epidemic. People are actually eating way more food than they even need.
You will be only be eating this way for a few months anyway. Once you are out of the 2WW, take a pregnancy test and if you are pregnant, you can immediately begin eating as many nutritious and healthy foods as you can get your fork into.
WARNING - If you are diabetic, hypoglycemic, or insulin resistant (less sensitive to the effects of insulin) or even suspect that you might be, you need to follow the diet and eating pattern that is right for your health, regardless of how it sways.
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/gend...e-%96-how.html
Weight Loss for Pink, Weight Gain for Blue – How to
Weight Loss for Pink, Weight Gain for Blue – How to
One of the most common questions swayers ask is about weight loss/gain, so I thought I’d put all the info in one spot for future reference.
Why do we want to lose weight for pink?
Losing weight does a lot for us in our pink sways. First of all, we shrink muscle mass which lowers testosterone levels, because having and using muscle signals the body to make lots of testosterone (please note – there are some studies out there that show weight loss RAISES testosterone. This is in very obese people and NOT in the average person. Obese people, men especially, sometimes have very high estrogen levels due to their high body fat and their body “gives up” making testosterone and makes estrogen instead. For a woman of average weight, losing weight will loser testosterone.)
Being very heavy can cause T levels to drop, because excess body fat actually makes estrogen. Another benefit from weight loss, is that we also reduce body fat which lowers estrogen (body fat actually makes its own estrogen) and in turn dries up CM. People have reported a lot less CM after having been on the Low Everything Diet, even only after a couple of weeks. We also lower blood sugar levels by quite a lot – just by losing 5-10% of our body mass (which if you’re thin, is not much weight at all) you drastically lower blood sugar levels. Less proven, but still a plausible benefit of weight loss for your sway, is the idea that burning fat/calories for fuel acidifies the body more effectively than any supplement.
Additionally, weight loss and being at a low weight, tend to inhibit fertility overall, as does eating a less nutrient dense diet (by definition, if you’re losing weight, you’re ingesting fewer nutrients than if you’re gaining weight or holding steady.) Role of diet in ovulation problems Losing weight also sends a message to your body that food resources are scarce, which according to the Trivers-Willard Hypothesis, sways pink…we do not know if it sways via the previously-mentioned mechanisms (lowering T and E levels, drying up CM, lower blood sugar, pH), or if there is an entirely different set of mechanisms that come into play. Either way, losing weight is great for your pink sway.
How much should I lose?
You should try to be at your lowest conception weight for sure, and if possible, at your lowest adult weight. If this is undoable, just losing any weight will help. I personally only lost 3 lbs before I conceived my daughter (but this was also my lowest conception weight.) If you have PCOS and/or insulin resistance, it’s imperative to lose weight because it will help get your blood sugar, and in turn, your testosterone levels, down. The Nurses’ Health Study II found that having a BMI below 20 made it 38% more likely that your ovulation would be suppressed. (please see the link above for more about the Nurses’ Health Study II)
Is it possible to lose too much?
Yes, it is possible to lose too much weight and stop ovulation all together. Aim to go no lower than 18.5 BMI (this is the lowest normal BMI) – between 20 and 18.5 BMI should be your goal range. This will be a different number of pounds for each person depending on your height and you can find a calculator to help you figure out your BMI here: Calculate Your BMI - Standard BMI Calculator If you get to that BMI range, and can’t keep weight on, increase calories and emphasize simple carbs (unless you have PCOS or insulin resistance, in which case you should limit carbs overall, and eat complex carbs rather than simple ones). This will not hurt your sway; mice who were fed a carb-based diet still had more daughters than mice fed a high-fat diet even though their BMI and caloric intake was identical. The Nurses’ Study II also found that women who ate more simple carbs had lowered fertility. Striking variation in the sex ratio... [Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003] - PubMed - NCBI
Remember, the caloric goals of the LE Diet are 1500-1800 cals a day. People who are very petite or have a lot of weight to lose can drop down to 1200-1500. People with PCOS/IR, or who have plateaued on 1500-1800 cals a day, also may wish to drop down to the 1200-1500 cal level, temporarily (people with PCOS/IR may find that as they lose weight, their insulin sensitivity improves so much that they are able to eat more calories than they could before and yet still lose weight.) If you are very tall, have lost every pound you can spare, and/or are doing the 60-6/7 exercise recommendations for swaying found here http://genderdreaming.com/forum/gend...h-genders.html you may need to increase calories to 1800-2000. Do not go below 1200 cals for the sake of your health, or above 2000 for the sake of your sway.
How soon before I sway, should I lose weight?
That depends on a few different things. The conventional wisdom espoused on other sites is, you can start the diet 90 days before you start to sway because the egg has a lifespan of 90 days (grows from a tiny seed to a mature egg in that time) and the “egg priming” theory suggests there is some benefit to be gained by dieting for 90 days OR you can start diet 6 weeks out because the French Gender Diet/InGender Diet claim that your mineral levels take 6 weeks to change. I don’t personally believe in either egg priming or mineral levels swaying but just so you guys are aware of these options.
If you have a lot of weight to lose, you’ll need to start diet sooner. If you don’t have much to spare, you may want to hold off starting the diet until 2-3 weeks before your first month’s sway. pH and blood sugar drop very soon after beginning diet (for a thin person), and while testosterone and estrogen do take some time to diminish, the odds are that you won’t get pregnant the first month anyway (see below). You don’t want to waste away to nothing or feel like you need to rush your sway and drop sway tactics that you want to use, in order to conceive more quickly. I do not want ANYONE who is already thin, thinking that they need to do, or should do, a strict sway diet for 90 days before swaying and then spending 6-9 months TTC. That is a recipe for disaster. You can easily stop ovulating if you try and it can sometimes take many months or even years to get your body moving in the right direction again. We have no evidence that 90 days is any more effective than 6 weeks or 2-3 weeks.
If you’re going to start off doing a very strict sway, unless you have a lot of weight to lose (over 30 lbs), you may not want to start the diet strictly until even as soon as 2-3 weeks before your sway. Remember, you will probably not get pregnant the first month swaying; it may take you some time to ******line everything and you don’t want to feel undue pressure to drop sway tactics that you really WANT to include, just because you’ve lost too much weight.
If you already are eating a pretty girl-friendly diet (example, you’re vegetarian/vegan or you’ve been on the FGD/IGD for a few months and have just decided to switch to LE) you may wish to start LE Diet 2-3 weeks before your first month’s attempt. In fact, this is also a valid strategy for anyone who has very little weight to lose…you have the option of going vegetarian/vegan, or following FGD/IGD if you are a believer in minerals, without cutting calories, for a few months before you start to sway in earnest. That way, you potentially can reap some benefit, be it lower T and E levels and reduction in some nutrients found mostly in meat, from a veg/vegan diet, or mineral levels from FGD/IGD.
Do you know you’re higher than normal in testosterone and/or estrogen than the average person? If you have a lot of muscle mass, have PCOS, or have ever had a higher-than-average testosterone or estrogen reading via blood tests, you may want to start diet sooner rather than later, because testosterone and estrogen do take some time to lower.
I’m already really thin. Should I gain weight to lose? AND Should I try to time my weight loss to coincide with my month of conception? Many people have asked if they should try to time their weight loss to peak at conception, or gain enough weight so they will be guaranteed they are actively losing weight when they get pregnant.
Neither of these ideas is the best, for pretty much the same reasons. Firstly, remember, you may not even get pregnant the first month of swaying, so timing weight loss to peak just at the right moment, is extremely difficult. Secondly, T and E levels rise slowly and drop slowly, so all you accomplish with gaining weight to relose, is basically padding your T and E levels so diet is less effective. It’s silly to take a big step backwards when you’re trying to move forward. Thirdly, some people have had more difficulty than they thought they’d have in losing weight – you don’t want to give yourself 6 weeks to lose 20 lbs and then find it’s taking much longer than you thought. Fourthly, never underestimate the potential for an accidental pregnancy. Many people have taken time to gain weight to lose/relose only to end up with an oops baby right at the worst possible second, when they’re heavier than they’d like to be or even actively gaining (this actually happened to me and the result was DS 4). Best to ALWAYS be moving in the right direction, just in case a surprise occurs!! Finally, by trying to time weight loss, you add a huge amount of stress to the mix. Putting a deadline on yourself, planning and thinking about your sway constantly, is the type of mindset that is proven to raise testosterone levels.
It’s much better to lose weight whenever and however you can and then maintain (even if you only l
lose a single pound!) than to be trying to gain weight to lose and/or timing weight loss to coincide with some self-imposed deadline. There is nothing gained by trying to time weight loss (esp. if your plan is to gain weight first) and many risks along the way.
Should my husband lose weight before we sway?
No. For men, higher estrogen (more body fat) lowers testosterone and sperm count and so his being a little on the cuddly side, can help with a pink sway. Somewhat annoyingly, when men lose weight, they often lose mostly fat while preserving or even increasing their muscle mass. Testosterone levels increase accordingly.
Should I have DH gain weight, then?
No. Thin guys tend to add muscle long before they add fat, and so for a thinner man to gain weight, oftentimes only will add muscle and increase his testosterone levels. For a pink sway, it’s best to have DH hold steady at whatever weight he’s presently at.
Is losing weight before pregnancy healthy?
The LE Diet is designed to be in line with the recommendations of reproductive endocrinologists as a safe caloric intake pre-pregnancy for women who want to lose weight before doing HT. The protein (40-50 g a day) and fat requirements (20-30% fat, about 25-60 grams on a 1500-1800 cal diet) are low-normal protein and fat intake (low nutrients does NOT mean no nutrients) and are recommended by WebMD and WHO as safe protein and fat intakes for female health. If you are in the minority of people who need to lower to 1200-1500 cals a day, PLEASE still continue eating the 40-50 g protein and 20-30% of your day’s calories from fat. For people with PCOS or IR, you may bump up to 50-60 g of protein (this will help keep your blood sugar levels under control) but stick to the 1500-1800 calorie range.
If anything, the LE Diet is actually healthier than the diets that many of us consume pre-pregnancy. High protein intake, particularly meat, is not super-healthy as some would have you believe and of course high-fat is not super healthy either. Reducing calories slightly is also proven to be better for overall health. That having been said, lower protein, lower fat, and lower calorie diets do suppress fertility, but remember that’s what we want for pink.
Some people take the diet too far and do not follow these recommendations against my advice. I strongly urge everyone to follow the LE Diet guidelines, for your health, your baby’s health, but also for the sake of your pink sway. If your body perceives a crisis situation where it thinks you’re literally starving, it may interpret that sudden lack of food as an indicator that you are in a circumstance where you may need to fight for survival.
Your body then may rob Peter to pay Paul – shut down/reduce estrogen and progesterone production (because your body “knows” that when you’re starving is not the greatest time for a pregnancy) and switch to producing higher levels of testosterone to assist you in the fight for food. Even if your T level are lower than they once were, it very well may still be higher in proportion to estrogen and progesterone, and that may sway blue. It can be difficult, if not impossible, to totally rob your body of the raw materials it uses to make testosterone, and if you were even able to do that, you’d have rendered yourself infertile by that point anyway because your body would have nothing to make estrogen and progesterone from (all three sex hormones are made of the same raw materials.)
Should I fast to lose a lot of weight quickly?
No, for the reasons I mention above and also because it’s not healthy for you or your baby, to have a super low protein intake, either. That having been said, some people HAVE gotten baby girls while on juice fasts or during periods where they were fasting for many hours out of the day for religious reasons. If you have a lot of weight to lose (in excess of 50 lbs), you may wish to consider a temporary juice fast (you actually get a fair amount of nutrients on many juice fasts) but be sure to include many different juices to maximize your nutrition (remember, low nutrient does not equal NO nutrient). Also, you will need to come off the fast for at least a month or two before you conceive. Rapid weight loss can also cause stored toxins to be released from your body fat, so you need to give your body time for them to be processed and eliminated in order to have a safe and healthy pregnancy.
Fasting for 12-16 hours out of the day (so skipping breakfast and eating 2-3 meals in a period of 8-12 hours), a similar pattern to the daytime fasts performed by some religious groups, is not only ok, but is recommended and studies have shown it sways pink in both humans and mice alike. As long as you stick to the LE Diet and get an adequate amount of calories, you’ll be getting adequate nutrition during the hours you are eating, and this will only help your sway.
Severe fasting around ovulation, juice fasting for months on end particularly if you are already thin or even average, or in an unhealthy way, especially doing things like drinking only Crystal Light or peppermint tea, is NOT ALLOWED. Fasting at ovulation may delay O, rapid weight loss can cause a release in toxins (not what you want immediately before conception) and it’s never a good idea to fast unless you have some nutrients coming in (ie juice fast). To be honest, I really don’t want anyone to fast, even a juice fast, but if you MUST, please keep it in the short term, only if your body mass can easily sustain you, and stick to juices so you are getting some calories and nutrition coming in.
If being very heavy also lowers testosterone and lowers fertility (which it does), can I gain weight instead, or stay overweight if I already am?
Gaining weight to sway pink is not wise because it really takes a LOT of excess weight to sway pink for most people. It could take years to add enough body mass to suppress your fertility. Plus, there are no guarantees – some people can carry a lot of extra weight and still stay fully fertile, and for many people, you only make yourself more blue friendly by adding muscle mass and body fat, plus increasing nutrients overall. Beyond that, gaining weight is not good for your health and especially not good coming into a pregnancy where you’ll be gaining even more. Losing weight is the best option because it’s easy to do, sways for everyone at least to some extent, can be done in the short term, and is good for your health.
Staying overweight if you already are, is a more complicated matter and I must admit I do not have a satisfactory answer to that. If you’re overweight and you’ve conceived boys easily at your higher weight, then it would seem that you’re one of the ones who can stay very fertile at a higher weight. However, it may also be that it has just taken some time for the weight to take its toll. The problem becomes, you have to lose SO much weight to get to a low weight, and it ~could~ be that just by losing some weight, you put yourself in a better position fertility-wise and end up even more likely to conceive a boy than you were to begin with. That having been said, I know of at least a couple people who were overweight and had conceived boys, then lost some weight (not ALL the weight) and then did get a girl, so it is possible. I wish we had more info to go off of. Until we do, follow your gut.
Studies and articles that support weight loss as a method of swaying.
Small weight loss effectively reduces sex hormones linked with breast cancer | Fox News
Maternal Eating Disorders Influence Sex Ratio at Birth
The contrasting effects of ad libitum and restri... [Biol Reprod. 2007] - PubMed - NCBI
Hungry mothers give birth to more daughters : Nature News & Comment
Nighttime fasting may foster weight loss - latimes.com
Diabetes and Weight Loss
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...-rephresh.html
Complete guide to Replens and RepHresh
Guide to Replens and RepHresh AND ACI-JEL (Part 1)
Ok, after reading 6 million (conflicting) posts on Replens and RepHresh and Acijel, I finally feel qualified to write this LOL.
Replens and RePhresh are both vaginal moisturizers that are low in pH. They're made by the same company and are available in the US and Europe at drugstores and worldwide via the Internet. Aci-Jel is made by a different company but does much the same thing and contains acetic acid which some believe sways more heavily pink. To read more about Aci-Jel, click here http://genderdreaming.com/forum/newt...newthread&f=13 Aci-Jel is very similar to Replens in most ways and you should use them in the same fashion. You might find one works better for you. Wherever you read the word "Replens" in this essay, mentally insert the words, "and Aci-Jel"!
REPLENS - Most swaying websites advise Replens for swaying. It has a superlow pH, according to the company it is 3-3.5, according to IG the pH is 2.8. Sounds fab right??
However, Replens was recalled this last fall. In light of this, I started looking more at RepHresh (some of you may remember the situation with Aci-Jel, where it was recalled and then did not return to the market for many months, so I wondered if the same thing might happen with Replens). I found out that RepHresh may actually be BETTER for swaying than Replens is. I'll lay out the details for both and then everyone can make up their own minds about which is better for them.
Replens does have a very low pH, so if you use Replens and then immediately take your pH afterwards, it's gonna look great. Very low. But according to the company that makes it, Replens contains pH buffers of 4-5. pH buffers are chemicals that react with low pH (whether it's the low pH of the Replens, or the low pH of your vagina, or both) to actually RAISE the pH to 4-5. The normal pH of the vagina is 4.5 and so that's what the company designs ALL its products to emulate. The company is not designing their products to sway, so NONE of their products are meant to lower your pH any more than what our vaginas are most of the time anyway. If you're looking for pH lower than 4.5, you're going to have to douche. (Aci-Jel ~may~ not contain these buffers.)
Still, 4.5, that's not too shabby. Replens is also a sticky gel and hangs around your vagina for awhile, unlike douches which wash away, leaving behind CM and semen to take their place. Replens may mix somewhat with CM and semen, rendering them lower in pH than they would be otherwise, but the pH will be an average between the two, not the 4-5 of the Replens alone. Anyone who likes Replens, it's a good option for swaying, especially with O+12. It does lower pH, no doubt about it, although some women find that their bodies try to work against the low pH and end up raising their pH as a result.
The recall on Replens is over with and if your drugstore is still not stocking it, you can fill out this form, find out when it will be back at your local store, and get a $5 coupon. Replens Long-lasting vaginal moisturizer
REPHRESH. People used to use RepHresh for swaying back a few years ago in the same manner that Replens is used by some people now. It was abandoned when some enterprising people armed with pH sticks, realized that the initial pH of RepHresh is slightly higher than the initial pH of Replens (the pH of RepHresh is somewhere between 3.5-5, depending on who you talk to), not understanding that Replens contains the pH buffers that react chemically to produce pH of 4-5 anyway.
The difference between Replens and RepHresh is, that RepHresh is designed to BALANCE vaginal pH at that magic 4.5 number. If your pH is higher, it lowers it to 4.5. If your pH is lower, it will raise it to 4.5. That has scared some people off RepHresh because they think, OMG, I just douched with my lime douche that had pH of 2 and now the RepHresh will RAISE my pH back up again!
But go back and reread that first part. If your pH is higher, it lowers it to 4.5. You know what that means? It means that when the more alkaline EWCM arrives on the scene, which it will, because your entire reproductive tract is ALWAYS churning out more CM especially around ovulation, RepHresh will lower its pH to 4.5. It means when your husband's semen arrives on scene, RepHresh will react with it and lower its pH to 4.5. It will be a 4.5 party going on. WHO cares if the initial pH of RepHresh is slightly higher than the initial pH of Replens? Both of them end up between 4-5 anyway because the company designed them to.
The difference is, RepHresh KEEPS working, reacting with everything it touches to reach 4.5, while Replens gets diluted by CM and semen. The company even advises using RepHresh immediately after sex to restore that normal vaginal pH of 4.5, because some women who are prone to yeast infections or bacterial vaginosis, get a flare up EVERY time they have sex because their pH goes up from the semen. RepHresh is designed to prevent this jump in pH from happening by lowering the pH of everything it touches to the magic 4.5. Including semen.
Plus, because it's a sticky gel, RepHresh lasts for THREE DAYS. Perfect for a cutoff. Replens also lasts three days too, but remember it gets diluted by CM and semen and its pH WILL rise. So for a cutoff, I think RepHresh is best. However, since we don't know how long it will take RepHresh to work, if you're going for O+12, it may be best to use Replens or Acijel (which contains the acetic acid) to lower pH immediately, because the sperm will not be waiting around in the cervical crypts for the egg like they do with a cut-off.
(Part 2)
NOW - onto the directions. Using Replens/RepHresh for swaying purposes is not scientifically tested. I'm just reporting on what makes the most SENSE to me after reading about them. If something doesn't make sense to you, if you think of a better way to do it, by all means, please do what feels right to you. And let me know about it so we can improve! This is all about helping as many people as possible get their DG!!
Both Replens and RepHresh are sold in pre-measured applicators kind of like tampons. I'm not sure if Aci-Jel is sold in applicators as well, but remember, wherever you read the word Replens, imagine that it also says, "and Aci-jel" because they work much the same way, although I am not sure about Aci-jel and vaginal dryness. Acijel may not do anything for vaginal dryness at all in which case you should consider using Sylk as a girl-friendly lube.
How to use Replens and Acijel -
Replens is actually safe to use every day, but the company suggests that for best results, you use it every three days, beginning the day after your period. It will keep your pH somewhere between 4-5 but can get diluted and made less effective, by CM and semen. One nice thing about Replens is that it helps with the vaginal dryness that many of the pink swayers experience and it's girl friendly unlike most lubes.
To use Replens for lubricant purposes, you don't need to use it immediately before your attempt...in fact, you shouldn't. That initial burst of very low pH may kill ALL the sperm. It works best as a lube when used some time prior to intercourse anyway (if you read on any other websites that it doesn't work as a lube, it's because they used it right before DTD and it needs time to disperse). IF you choose to use finger-quantities of Replens simply to lower pH and not for its lubrication, make sure you use it one day in advance of your attempt. Any longer and it will be diluted, any sooner and it may kill sperm.
The amount to use and how often is really open for debate and is probably different for everyone. Some swayers use only a fingertip full, applied near the cervix, every other day, but I personally believe this is based on a lack of understanding the pH buffers, and that the initial pH of Replens is lower than what it will be in the long term. Not to mention the reality that your body will begin to make massive amounts of CM as you near O and that sperm will be deposited throughout your vagina and you don't want any little nooks and crannies with higher pH. An applicator-full will get everywhere, not just around the cervix.
Also, the applicators are easier and more sanitary to use than our own fingers, cutting down on the risk of infection and the overall stress of swaying.
If you choose to use an entire applicator, I would do it three days in advance of when your attempt will be, NOT when O will be. So if you're going for a cutoff, do it three days prior to the day you anticipate DTD. If you're going for O+12, you should use it 2 days before O.
If you choose to use less than an applicator-full, you might choose to push it closer to your attempt - as an example, a person might choose to use 1/2 an applicator 2 days before, or a fingertip the morning of an attempt and then another fingertip an hour before DTD (IF your pH is above 5 - but remember that even if your pH has been very low, it WILL rise around ovulation). Do not use Replens with Pre-Seed. And DO NOT use Replens when there is sperm on scene, such as immediately after an attempt. (use RepHresh for that.)
You may want to play around with Replens in the months prior to your attempt to see how long the Replens-induced lower pH lasts for you. Since many of us find that we have very little CM and our vaginal tissue becomes more delicate after being on the TTC girl diet and supps (thanks to lower testosterone levels), you may find it helpful to use Replens twice a week regardless, to help provide moisture and for your own comfort. Esp. if you're going for frequent release - vaginal dryness when you're trying to DTD every day is hard on everyone's equipment.
If your pH is already very very low (less than 5) AND you have monitored it through ovulation and even your EWCM is very low, you are probably better off staying away from Replens all together and using RepHresh instead. Also, if you're using other things like antihistamine to reduce your CM, douching to wash CM away, and spermicide to lower sperm count, you may want to reduce/not use Replens because it will make it even harder to get pregnant. You CAN use Replens along with douching, but just make sure that you stick to the "full applicator three days before BD/fingertip morning of BD and hour before" idea. You can use just plain distilled water to douche with Replens, because you're only trying to wash away CM and not affect pH.
So, Replens can be a great addition to an overall sway, if only by making intercourse more pleasant and doing so in a pink-friendly way. Plus it has the nice additional advantage of lowering pH.
NOTE - IF you are lucky enough to stumble onto the magical Aci-jel, use it exactly as you use Replens.
How to use RepHresh -
You can use RepHresh exactly as you use Replens, a full applicator-full every three days, beginning the day after your period ends. Or you can use less than that, less often. Whatever works for you. It will react with and lower the pH of everything alkaline that it comes into contact with, like CM and Semen, and even other lubes (although you should never mix any low-pH product with Pre-Seed because it affects sperm negatively). And it will help maintain moisture in your vagina making it easier to DTD.
However, instead of stopping three days before your attempt and then only using fingertips, use 1/2 applicator 12 hours before your attempt, and if you choose to, 1/2 applicator right after after your attempt (yes, this will kill off some sperm, but serves the same purpose of spermicide, lowering overall sperm count, while also lowering pH.) Since we don't know how long it will take for the RepHresh to chemically react with and lower the pH of the semen, it is probably best to use RepHresh with a cut-off rather than O+12.
You may want to play around with RepHresh in the months prior to your attempt to see how long the lower pH lasts. Some people have found their pH actually rises on RepHresh, but this may be temporary and with repeated usage, it may stabilize at 4.5.
Since many of us find that we have very little CM and our vaginal tissue becomes more delicate after being on the TTC girl diet and supps (thanks to lower testosterone and estrogen levels), you may find it helpful to use RepHresh twice a week regardless of whether it increases your pH a wee bit, to help provide moisture and for your own comfort. Esp. if you're going for frequent release - vaginal dryness when you're trying to DTD every day is hard on everyone's equipment.
If you're also doing things like taking antihistamines to dry up CM and also using spermicide to lower sperm count, you may want to go easy on the RepHresh and skip the after-BD dose...may be too much of a good thing. Also, DO NOT use RepHresh along with douching because it will react to the low pH of the douche and cause a rise in pH.
NUTSHELL VERSION - Replens/Aci-Jel: Using a full applicator every three days beginning the day after your period and ending three days before attempt will help lower pH while providing moisture and lubrication esp. if you're doing frequent BD/release. OR just a full applicator three days before attempt for those abstaining BUT test in advance to see if your pH stays low. A fingertip's worth every other day throughout your cycle may help lower pH, but will not help with vaginal dryness. You may use a fingertip the day of your attempt and/or a fingertip an hour before DTD, but only if your pH is above 5. DO NOT use immediately after DTD and do not use with Pre-Seed. Test ahead of time for best results. You CAN use a fingertip of Replens along with lime douching because it doesn't respond to low pH. Or you can just use a distilled water douche to wash away CM if you like.
RepHresh: Use full applicator every three days beginning the day after your period and ending 1 day before attempt, esp. for those doing frequent BD/release, because it will help with dryness in a pH-friendly way. If abstaining, you can forgo using it every three days if you like, and use 1/2 applicator 12 hours before BD and/or the other half immediately afterwards, in lieu of douching (you can use the 1/2 applicator 12 hours befor and after even if you have been using it all month long if you like). RepHresh is best with a cutoff because an O+12 may not give it enough time to chemically react with the semen to lower its pH. DO NOT use RepHresh with a lime douche as it will cause pH to rise. DO NOT use RepHresh with Pre-Seed. Test ahead of time for best results.
WARNING - From the Replens/RepHresh website:
Some women notice a residue or discharge after initial use of Replens (RepHresh). This is caused by the elimination of dead skin cells. Your body naturally sheds dry vaginal tissue that has built up over time. When used on a regular basis, Replens (RepHresh) will help prevent the buildup of dead skin cells and the discharge should dissipate. If the discharge does not dissipate, you may wish to wait an extra day or two between applications. While use is recommended every three days, every woman is unique and you may wish to increase or decrease the amount of time between Replens(RepHresh) applications to maximize moisture and minimize discharge.
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...-ttc-pink.html
Guide to Douching - TTC Pink
Why douche?
The idea that douching could help sway for gender comes straight from Dr. Shettles himself. He believed that an acidic douche could help sway pink, while a more alkaline douche could help sway blue. Even though Dr. Shettles did away with the idea of douching in later editions of his book, the idea has stuck around and it is still one of the cornerstones of a traditional sway.
How to make douches:
Your materials must be scrupulously clean. Boil your equipment and allow it to cool, then use it - every time you douche!!! Wash your hands EVERY time. (Is douching safe? http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...=4882#post4882)
You'll need a storebought douche bag/bottle, a small syringe or eyedropper, a few plastic or glass containers. Do not use metal. If you want to follow up with a lime tampon, you'll need the kind that have a plastic applicator. And a Diva cup if you want to use one. DivaCup.com
To make it easier, keep the ingredients of the douche at room temperature. Once you've mixed the douche, it must be kept refrigerated, but the ingredients are all safe to keep at room temp. Before you use the douche itself, you need to raise it to body temperature by carrying it around in your bra for awhile until it's no longer cool to the touch.
* The easiest douche is simply a store bought Massingill vinegar and water style douche. ShopInPrivate.com - The World's Most Private Store (if you're embarrassed to buy it in a store, you can order it from this cool company that caters to shy people in need of private things.) You'll need one regardless of what douche you choose, because the douche bottles are very handy.
*Another option is a lime douche. (Ingredients - lime, distilled water.) To make a lime douche, mix lime juice with distilled water, trying to reach a pH of 2. Use plastic or glass containers only. Be sure to let it stand 10 minutes before you use it to make sure that it's mixed adequately.
Some people believe that fresh lime juice has some property that makes your sway better, and if you believe that, by all means, use a fresh lime. Just be VERY sure to wash the lime well (you may even want to use diluted bleach water on the rind to kill germs), and sanitize your knife and cutting board with boiling water or bleach and let dry before using - always cut on a dry cutting board.
Others might prefer to use RealLime in the little squirt bottles and this will work too and is certainly easier, although it does contain preservatives. Proceed as above, mix the lime juice with distilled water to pH of 2, let stand for 20 minutes.
If you make it in advance, give it a stir before using it and make sure you raise it to body temperature.
* The final, and most complicated option, is a 7% vinegar douche. (Ingredients - vinegar, distilled water, calcium if desired) Take plain old white vinegar and put it into the freezer in a glass or plastic container (no metal) until a layer of ice forms across the top. Remove the layer of ice 5 times, and your vinegar should be at, or close enough, to 7%. In the interest of full disclosure, I would like everyone to know that a 10% vinegar solution is more effective at killing weeds than Roundup. This is some strong stuff, although you will be diluting it with water.
Traditionally, most people add crushed calcium to the 7% vinegar douche. The pH AFTER adding calcium and distilled water should be 4.
*Adding calcium to douches - Lime juice has naturally occuring calcium citrate. Calcium is believed to help sway pink, and some believe that this calcium citrate in the lime juice may assist in a sway. It may be that adding crushed calcium to douches (esp. vinegar, which doesn't HAVE calcium citrate to begin with) is helpful in some way.
When using vinegar as a douche, if you would like to add some crushed calcium to the douche, just mush up a calcium tablet to the best of your ability and add it to your 7% douche above (it may work in the storebought douche and lime douche also, but was only tested in the 7% vinegar douche.) Let it sit for an hour to make sure the calcium dissolves (pH should be 4, if it's lower, then add some distilled water to dilute it). Add a couple of drops of distilled water to activate the douche right before using it.
The downside to adding calcium to the douches is firstly that it may raise pH, and secondly because it is pretty unlikely that the calcium can even make it up into the Fallopian tubes where the egg is fertilized anyway. Not to mention that you are adding yet another ingredient that carries with it a risk of bacterial infection. So you are risking pH level and infection, for something that may have zero benefit.
*About making your own distiled water - Many of us can buy distilled water by the gallon at your local grocery store for very little money. Making your own distilled water is messy, complicated, every step along the way you run the risk of contamination...it ain't worth it. Remember, part of pink swaying is trying to AVOID stress and obsessivness, and making your own distilled water is both stressful and obsessive, and fraught with opportunities for contamination and just generally screwing it up. If you live in a part of the world where you cannot find distilled water, use bottled drinking water. The ONLY reason why we use distilled water is to avoid the mineral content in the water, which is miniscule in most bottled waters. It's highly unlikely that anyone's sway came down to the mineral content of the water in their douche.
How to use the douche -
1 hour before DTD, use your storebought douche bag/bottle and do a regular, normal amount of douche solution, while lying down. This will lower the pH in your vagina and rinse away CM. Allow any excess to flow out. PLEASE insert the douche slowly and gently, do NOT under any circumstances use any force whatsoever. You will probably want to use a pad afterwards.
Five minutes after BD, check your pH - when dealing with douches, you only need to check pH of the fluid around the entry to your vagina, not around your cervix. If it is above 5, using a syringe or eyedropper, insert 1-3 mL of douche solution. You can either let it run out (lowering sperm count and pH) or keep it inside using a lime tampon. (relying totally on lower pH to sway) OR, you can completely forgo the first douche and simply use this followup douche. Do what feels right to you. If you're using a lime tampon, insert it immediately after this douche.
30 minutes after BD, insert 1-3 mL of douche solution regardless of what your pH is. If you're using a lime tampon or Diva cup, you'll have to remove them to insert the followup douche, trying to keep as much sperm as possible in the vagina. Continue to check your pH every 30 minutes for the next 4 hours IF you're using O+12 timing. If not, you are supposed to check your pH every hour (after the first 4 hours, that is) until you're certain your egg is either fertilized or dead. Even at night. If it's above 5, insert more of the followup douche.
How to make and use a lime tampon
Using the lime douche mix as described above, soak a plastic-applicator tampon while still in the applicator (do not use cardboard, the applicators will disintegrate). Use only a plastic or glass container, and as always, make sure your container has been sanitized with boiling water beforehand. Shake the tampon off so it isn't dripping wet, and insert immediately after BD, keeping as much sperm inside as possible. You're relying totally on pH to sway so you want as much sperm as possible on scene. You will need to take it out and check your pH every 30 minutes, and if it's above 5, use another 1-3 mL of douche. After 4 hours, you can remove the tampon.
Keep in mind that with tampon use comes the risk of toxic shock syndrome. https://health.google.com/health/ref...shock+syndrome
To reduce the risk of TSS, use the smallest size tampon you can find - junior or light days are best. Never use large or superabsorbent tampons because they have a greater surface area that can grow more bacteria. NEVER use tampons dry. Several people have asked about the RepHresh pH tampons (planning to use them dry rather than as a lime tampon) no one should do this, because dry tampons lead to toxic shock syndrome. RepHresh pH tampons can be turned into a lime tampon and/or used during AF if you wish to include them as a part of your sway.
If you ever have a tampon...er...ahem...go missing...here is a hilarious and very informative video that will help you know what to do to get it out of there!!!
http://www.docgurley.com/2008/10/24/...-tampon-video/
Douches and timing
If you're doing a cutoff, the conventional wisdom is that you have to check your pH every hour until you O and insert the follow-up douche if your pH is on the high side. That could be three days with a cutoff. Obviously, that is impractical to the point of undoable which is partly why some people recommend O+12 timing. If you do choose to use this method, check your pH every hour and use more of the followup douche as needed.
How to use a Diva cup with douches
Using a Diva cup DivaCup.com to keep the sperm/douche mixture in place can help raise your odds of becoming pregnant. Use it in place of the lime tampon. After your first followup douche (five minutes after DTD) put the Diva cup in to keep as much of the sperm in place as possible. Every 30 minutes, you should take the cup back out, check your pH, then add another followup douche if need be. Replace the Diva cup, keeping as much liquid inside as possible.
Alternatives to douching -
* Doing NOTHING - nowhere is it written in stone that you HAVE to douche. If you don't want to douche, don't. The vast majority of females that have been conceived on our planet were conceived without benefit of douching! If your pH is superlow, 4 or 4.5, and you have little or no EWCM, you may choose not to douche anyway (even if you had been planning to.) Even Dr. Shettles gave up on douching in favor of just timing, in the later editions of his book.
*Antihistamines - these will dry up your CM so there may not even BE any to wash away http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...ELP-TTC-A-GIRL
*Replens and RepHresh http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...pHresh-(Part-1)
*Spermicide http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...ur-experiences
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...s-aci-jel.html
The ins and outs of Aci-Jel
Aci-Jel (which from now on I will type as Acijel because it's quicker LOL) is sold in Australia and New Zealand and is a cheaper option for those Down Under (although more expensive for those of us stateside.) Unfortunately, Acijel doesn't seem to have a helpful website like Replens/RepHresh and Sylk does. If you live in the US and are interested in Acijel but can't find it, look for a product called "acid jelly". You may need a prescription for it.
The pH of Acijel is 3.9-4 which really isn't any better than Replens. The advantage that Acijel has over Replens is, it contains acetic acid which is believed to be a better sway than other acids. It also contains other ingredients, oxyquinoline and ricinoleic acid, which actually help the acetic acid to work better to lower pH.
It ~may~ also lack the pH buffers that Replens has that raise the pH to between 4-5, but without a website there is no way for me to know that. Unlike Replens/RepHresh, Acijel was DESIGNED to sway pink (it's marketed otherwise because of legal issues). R&R were designed to mimic the natural pH of the vagina which is between 4 and 5. Since it was originally designed as a swaying aid, that makes me think it has no pH buffers like Replens does.
Acijel is used exactly as you use Replens. You can use an applicator-full every three days, a fingertip every other day, and/or a fingertip the morning of your attempt and then one hour before your attempt. See the following thread.
http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...s-and-RepHresh
Warning - Acijel and Replens ~may~ cause pH to spike after using it. Test in advance to see if this happens to you. If it does, DON'T PANIC and don't give up immediately. Try using it every few days over the course of two weeks to see if your body gets used to it. It may simply be the presence of a new chemical in the vaginal area that causes the rise in pH and it may get better over the course of time as your body becomes accustomed to using it. It may be best for swaying purposes if you use it a couple of times per week so your body doesn't get "surprised" by them around O time and end up raising pH right at the critical moment.
Also, some women have noticed increased vaginal discharge when using these products. According to the makers of Replens, it is normal and consists of dead cells sloughing off your vaginal walls. It should go away after a couple of weeks. If you find it continues, back off the frequency you're using it and see if that helps.
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...-ttc-pink.html
Hormones for TTC Pink
Certain hormones that exist naturally in the human body may sway, depending on how much you have and how in balance your hormones are with one another. Different people are born with different body types genetically and have had vastly different life experiences, so all people produce different amounts of hormones, but we can still do things to alter our own unique settings.
For DW, higher levels of testosterone and estrogen seem to sway blue, while lower levels of testosterone and estrogen seem to sway pink. Higher levels of progesterone also sway pink.
For DH, higher levels of estrogen seem to sway pink and higher levels of testosterone sway blue.
One method we have discovered that helps us to track what exactly our hormones are doing is by monitoring our temps. Over the course of a few months, you will begin to notice patterns in your own personal average temperatures. Sometimes your temperatures are lower, and sometimes they are higher. (This is completely aside of the fluctuations in temp that occur on a daily basis due to your menstrual cycle - the entire range of your temps will run lower or higher overall.) A lower-than-average temp range may indicate a rise in boy-friendly hormones, and higher-than-average temp range may indicate a rise in girl-friendly hormones.
Many women have also noticed that they can actually feel and see the changes in their hormones - they are less passionate, less motivated, they may have lower sex drive and less EWCM. Your muscles may be smaller, you may find that your skin either clears up or breaks out, you may have less body hair. Some people have even noticed that their clitoris seemed smaller and less sensitive. It may be harder to have an orgasm. Interestingly, even though men produce 40-60 times more testosterone than women do, women seem to be far more sensitive to its effects and respond to very small changes in testosterone levels.
For men, the changes caused by lower testosterone are much the same, only they may also find that they begin to have some trouble getting or maintaining an erection. This can make certain aspects of ttc more challenging, but it’s actually an encouraging sign that your hormones are getting into a more girl-friendly place.
By dieting and taking your supplements, you are doing a lot to get your hormones into the right zone, but there are still other factors that you can control that can really help to get your hormones into a more girl-friendly zone.
WEIGHT LOSS - There are many reasons why losing weight helps you sway pink. First of all, it sends the overall message to your body that times are hard, and female mammals of every species seem to have more daughters when food is scarce. Secondly, body fat tends to raise estrogen levels, and for women, higher estrogen = more sons, so the less body fat you have, the better. The third reason is that the body becomes more acid when you lose weight and so weight loss helps to lower your pH (see below for more about the importance of pH).
The fourth reason is much more complicated, but may actually be the most important reason of all. You see, when you lose weight, you don’t just lose pounds of fat, you also lose pounds of muscle.
Studies have shown that the more muscle mass a person has, the higher their testosterone levels, so when our muscles shrink, we’re actively reducing the amount of testosterone circulating in our bodies. Though the mechanism of how this works exactly is not known, it seems that the amount of muscle that you use and how frequently and intensely you use it, signals the production of more testosterone. The more muscle you have, the more you use, and then that sends the signal to your body to produce more testosterone. In short, muscle makes its own testosterone, and the more muscle you have, the more testosterone you will make.
In order to shrink your muscle mass through weight loss, quick is best. Cutting your caloric intake by as little as 15% makes your brain think it’s starving, so it begins to cut back on testosterone production. And your body is just as willing to burn off its muscle for food as it is fat, so not only are you making less testosterone because you’re taking in less calories, you’re also making less and less as your muscles shrink.
For best results, you want to lose weight as quickly as you can, while doing nothing to help your body build that muscle mass back up. (Eating a high protein, high nutrient, high cholesterol/good fat diet actually feeds muscle mass and will help maintain it even if you‘re losing weight). So losing weight quickly on a lower protein, lower nutrient, lower cholesterol/good fat diet (such as the IG TTC girl diet) will help shrink muscle mass overall and will help lower your testosterone levels.
NOTE - In men, the situation is even more complicated, first of all because men have so much more testosterone and muscle mass to begin with, so just going about their day-to-day lives they use more muscle and way create more testosterone than women do. And secondly because very few men actually want to lose muscle mass and would be willing to do the kinds of weight loss that it would take for their naturally muscular bodies to begin to lower testosterone levels.
Consequently, for DH, it may actually be more helpful for them to be carrying a bit of excess body fat - in men, higher estrogen levels tend to sway pink which in turn lowers testosterone, and since more body fat = more estrogen, this may be the time for us to accept our husband’s beer bellies and love handles!!
HORMONES FOR TTC PINK PART 2
EXERCISE - Another powerful tool in our arsenal is exercise. The overall goal of using exercise while swaying is to further eat away at your body and shrink muscle mass. Exercise can be a double-edged sword, because exercise of any type has the potential to grow your muscles, especially when coupled with a high caloric intake of nutritious, high protein foods. So, when using exercise, you must be very careful to follow the suggestions exactly, and be totally honest with yourself about how much you are doing and how much food you are consuming.
There are two ways to use exercise to regulate our hormones, and though at first they may seem to be completely opposite of each other, they seem to affect body chemistry in a similar way, and so either strategy can be a very beneficial addition to a sway.
IMPORTANT - Regardless of which strategy you choose, you MUST follow a lower protein, lower nutrient, lower calorie diet and lose weight. If you’re not following the diet and not losing weight, the exercise you do may actually be increasing your muscle mass and inadvertently swaying blue!!!
*The first strategy you can use is to do no exercise at all. In only 3 days of being sedentary, your muscle mass begins to shrink (i.e. use it or lose it), and in 6 weeks of doing absolutely nothing, you can lose up to 60% of your muscle mass. Coupled with weight loss and a lower protein, lower nutrient, lower calorie diet, (6 weeks of dieting in the weeks before TTC) your body will have no choice but to burn away its muscle, and the lack of exercise will make the diet even more efficient because you‘re doing nothing to counteract the muscle loss.
*The second strategy you can use is to overexercise, exercising very intensely 60 minutes a day minimum, 6-7 days a week, WITHOUT FAIL, beginning 8 weeks prior to TTC, while you are eating a lower protein, lower nutrient, lower calorie diet. This is very effective and will help acidify you even further by releasing lactic acid as your muscles are worked. However, if you are not honest with yourself about the amount and intensity of the exercise you are doing, and are not pushing yourself very hard, you run the risk of growing your muscles and inadvertently swaying blue.
It is up to you to decide which strategy is best for you. If you are a very physical and muscular person who has always worked out very hard, it may be better for you to not exercise at all. This is because you’re in such good shape and carrying so much muscle already, that to exercise hard enough to truly tax your body and burn off enough muscle to lower your testosterone will take you way, way more effort and it simply may not be possible for you to do. You may want to give yourself an additional month to make sure that the diet and lack of exercise has shrunk your muscle mass enough.
If you don’t have enough time to dedicate to exercising 60 minutes a day or more, 6-7 days a week, you should probably forgo exercise as well. Doing a moderate amount of exercise sways blue, and if you’re not absolutely certain you can give it your all, it’s best not to exercise at all.
However, if you’re a person who doesn’t really exercise much but has an active lifestyle (such as, a very active job, lots of moderate physical activity due to having small children - going for walks, lifting toddlers 100 times a day), it is probably better for you to find the time to overexercise if at all possible. This is because you’re already doing a moderate amount of exercise (swaying blue) just going about your day-to-day life, and so there’s no way you even are able to do no exercise at all.
Also, if you’re a larger person to start with, you are probably better off overexercising if at all possible. Not only because you have more weight to lose than another person, but also because you are very likely carrying a lot of muscle mass, and just for you to get through the day requires that you use more muscle to move your heavier body weight, so even if you have a sedentary lifestyle, you may be using more muscle than you might think that you are, putting you into the realm of moderate exercise. However, if you are heavy, you might want to give yourself an extra month for weight loss and exercise to work before TTC, simply because you probably have more muscle to burn off.
The best exercise to focus on is straight cardio - walking, running, aerobics without toning. While overdoing any type of exercise does have the potential to shrink muscle mass, exercises involving lifting weights or toning exercises (such as, squats, push ups, abdominal exercises) are actively working to build muscle - exactly the opposite of what we’re trying to do.
*AVOIDING STRESS
The final thing we can do that will help us lower our testosterone levels is to lower stress. Unfortunately, just as everything seems to be in swaying, it’s not that simple.
Some forms of stress actually lower testosterone levels. Stressors such as losing a loved one, divorce, life-threating illness, job loss, failing at an important task, and being victimized by bullies, abusers, or criminals (especially when the abuse is chronic and long-term) all seem to sway pink by lowering our testosterone. Since those things are all beyond our control, and are certainly not anything we would want to have in our lives regardless of how they sway, they’re mentioned FYI only.
However, the kinds of stress that we do have a lot of control over - things like competition, arguing, taking on challenges and succeeding at them, even little things like watching your favorite sports team win a game and finishing projects that we worked hard on, all these things raise our testosterone levels.
Therefore, the months before you begin TTC a girl are not the time to begin a new sport, launch into a new project at work, or enter the Mrs. America Pageant (unless you‘re certain you will lose!!). Instead, spend time doing relaxing, peaceful pursuits that you enjoy - yoga, meditation, prayer, getting a lot of sleep, reading a good book…stress reduction can be difficult to accomplish while you are swaying, because swaying tends to CAUSE stress for a lot of people. If you can help it, try not to take swaying too seriously.
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Lowering testosterone levels
Scientific research indicates that reducing testosterone is KEY if you want to conceive a daughter.
Testosterone is manufactured mainly in the testes/ovaries. The more muscle you have, the more testosterone your body will make, because testosterone helps to make muscle function more efficiently and repair itself more easily. The one fundamental rule of lowering your testosterone levels is, the less muscle mass you have, the lower your testosterone will be.
DIETARY FACTORS -
*Eat less animal protein and fats - your body uses animal protein to build muscle. Meat also has varying levels of testosterone in it, but it is unknown whether or not your body uses this testosterone for its needs, or excretes this source of testosterone and manufactures its own supply. Vegetarians have been proven to have lower testosterone levels and also conceive more daughters. Testosterone is actually MADE out of fat.
Aside from all meats, beware of eating large quantities of dairy and eggs. They contain both protein and fat. If you're incorporating higher calcium into your sway, it may be better to get the bulk of your calcium through supplements and stick with fat-free dairy. Egg beaters or egg whites are better than whole eggs because the yolks have a lot of good fat in them.
*Salmon has been encouraged on other sites, but research indicates that oily fish like salmon and tuna are excellent at RAISING testosterone. Stay away from all oily fish.
*Eat less protein overall - your body uses ALL proteins regardless of their source to manufacture muscle. Watch out for beans, whole grains, and particularly nuts.
*Low fat, low calorie, low nutrient diet - the lower the nutrient intake, the smaller your muscles will be. And less fat means less of the building blocks your body uses to manufacture testosterone.
*Soy - this is somewhat controversial for swaying pink, but research indicates that soy meal produces a significant increase in the level of sex-hormone-binding globulin (chemicals your body produces that control the levels of free testosterone in your system). Soy increases these chemicals, thereby removing testosterone. Some people believe that soy raises estrogen, which may sway blue in women, and also believe that in increases EWCM, however.
Soy is made up of plant estrogens, but just like testosterone in meat, it's not really known whether or not your body can actually utilize hormones that it takes in, in food form, or whether it uses food as a building block to make its own hormones.
Lower testosterone/higher estrogen is believed to sway pink in men though, so it may be a good choice for your husband.
*Alcohol - this is another controversial one. Alcohol raises estrogen while lowering testosterone. So just like soy, alcohol may sway blue for women while swaying pink for men. And wine and beer have a lot of other nutrients in them as well as calories, so may help maintain muscle mass, not what you want to do.
*Coffee/caffeine - Sorry, there are no easy answers here unfortunately. Caffeine in excess has been proven to reduce testosterone levels, but in moderation it has also been shown to make sperm healthier and more mobile. Coffee also raises estrogen levels slightly. Personal note - I find that coffeemakes me more likely to get into competitive situations (see below)
*The following foods should be avoided when you can, as they've been linked to improving testosterone production - avocado, garlic, banana, asparagus, figs, spinach, dark chocolate.
LIFESTYLE FACTORS -
*Weight loss - this is the most important thing you can do to lower testosterone. Whenever you lose weight, you do lose some muscle mass along with the fat. Regardless of what you eat or don't eat, if you're losing weight, you're lowering your testosterone levels. The quicker you lose and the more you lose, the more your muscle mass will shrink.
*Exercise - this is a complicated, tricky issue. If you exercise A LOT, especially while losing weight and eating a low protein diet, you will actually eat away at your muscle mass and lower your testosterone. This is a dangerous method though, because moderate exercise, especially while gaining weight, will make your muscles grow. Proceed with caution - if you cannot exercise intensely 60 minutes a day 6-7 days a week AT MINIMUM, while losing weight and eating a low protein diet, you are better off not exercising at all.
Interestingly, some types of exercise may sway pink for another reason - by heating up the scrotum and damaging the cells that produce sperm. If your husband runs a lot or rides bikes, that's good for a pink sway because it reduces his sperm count overall.
*Reducing stress - Another tricky one. Mild to moderate stress, and any stress that results in success and triumph, actually raises testosterone. But chronic, severe stress releases a hormone called cortisol which uses the same transport mechanisms as sex hormones do. So your levels of ALL sex hormones go down when you're under a lot of stress.
Also, sleep is necessary for testosterone production. Getting less than 6 hours a night may reduce testosterone levels. Not recommending this, but if you're up a lot with other children, it might be a welcome benefit!
*Conflict and competition - ANY conflict or competition in which you are going head to head against another person OR even just trying to succeed at something that is very important to you, has the potential to raise your testosterone levels. Even people who were competing in a chess tournament had huge rises in their testosterone levels prior to the contest, and winners of the tournament had even larger rises.
So while you're TTC pink, it may not be a good time to engage in competition or launch any big projects that you're very emotionally invested in. Researchers found that in a group of monkeys removed from a group living situation and housed in individual cages began to have way more female offspring because the day to day competition for food raised their testosterone levels. In fact, even just the act of swaying itself may cause obsessive-minded people to have a rise in testosterone and inadvertently sway blue. Proceed with caution.
*Smoking - QUIT smoking if you do, and if you don't, don't start. Obviously. But smoking DOES lower testosterone levels.
*Less sex - The less sex you have, the less testosterone you will produce. This is true for both women and men.
SUPPLEMENTS
*Peppermint tea - may reduce both estrogen and testosterone levels, so is best for DW. DH can have it as a drink now and then as well, but it may reduce his estrogen. Use only from AF-O. One study has shown that spearmint tea also works.
*Saw Palmetto - reduces levels of free testosterone circulating in the blood, use only AF-O
*Vitex - only to be used by DW AF-O
*Licorice Root - raises estrogen while lowering testosterone, so best if used by DH.
*DIM - this is a new supplement that is said to lower testosterone. We don't know much about it, but it's made from cauliflower and broccoli and is probably safe. For safety's sake, if you want to give it a try, use only AF-O.
*Dong Quai - probably raises estrogen while lowering testosterone and is not safe during pregnancy, so it's probably better to leave this one alone.
*Black Cohosh - this is one of those scary herbs with lots of side effects that we would probably be better off without. Just throwing it in here so people know about it.
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...ry-o-12-a.html
O+12 Part 1 - The History of O+12
THE HISTORY OF O+12
Once upon a time, in Australia, there lived a woman named Kynzi. She conceived SIX sons in a row, all but the first trying to conceive a daughter using the Shettles method of 2-3 day cutoff for girl, BD right before or at O for boys (the first was just for fun!!) In addition, with sons 4,5, and 6, Kynzi did the French Girl Diet, took calcium supplements, and used vinegar douches. At one of her many ultrasounds, she started chatting with a nurse who told her that in her (the nurse’s) experience, Shettles had a LESS THAN 50-50 success rate. Meaning, not only was Shettles not right, he actually had it backwards.
Kynzi and the nurse did a little investigating. During the 70's and 80's, since Shettles was a highly popular method of gender selection, numerous studies were done to find out if it actually worked. One of these studies, officially named “ A Prospective Study of the Preselection of the Sex of Offspring by timing Intercourse Relative to Ovulation“, commonly referred to as the “New Zealand Study”, actually seemed to prove the opposite of what Shettles claimed, that more girls were conceived the day after ovulation!
The New Zealand Study was published in the journal, Fertility and Sterility in 1984. In that study, couples were instructed to track ovulation and to time intercourse using the Shettles theory.
The couples included in the study (it started off with 185 couples) were instructed by an accredited teacher in the Natural Family Planning method of tracking ovulation using cervical mucus and position, and temperatures, to help pinpoint ovulation. Their urine was also tested for surges of LH (the hormone that triggers ovulation) that would indicate ovulation had occured and these indicators were cross-checked against each other to ensure that the women had actually ovulated when they said they did.
Aspects of the Shettles theory that couples were instructed to try - Abstaining from intercourse all month, until the onset of EWCM or from CD 7. Couples who wanted a son were told to have intercourse on the day after peak CM (indicating ovulation), and couples who wanted a daughter were told to have intercourse 2-3 days before peak CM is anticipated using the previous month’s charts to predict ovulation (I don’t know how long in advance they were charting, but I wish I did!). They were also told to have intercourse only once during the fertile period and abstain until the 5th day after the peak CM.
Aspects of Shettles that couples were NOT instructed to try - Douching, avoiding/encouraging female orgasm, and using a particular position. No other aspects of swaying were used.
Wow, sounds great right? Very interesting! But here’s the problem. Of the 185 couples who started the study, only 33 finished it. The others all dropped out or were disqualified because they broke the rules, by having intercourse too often or at the wrong time, didn‘t get pregnant, or had miscarriages. 33 is NOT a proper sample size to tell us anything reliably. The results of the study did seem to refute Shettles (only 39% conceived their desired gender) and ~seemed~ to show that timing intercourse 3-5 days before ovulation sways blue and 12 hours after ovulation sways pink, but that could have been just sheer luck. A whopping !!!!TWO!!! couples conceived at O+12 - they both got girls but in a sample size of TWO, that data is essentially meaningless. In NO WAY does any of this data prove O+12 works or that Shettles doesn’t, and certainly does not scientifically prove that timing intercourse has anything at all to do with gender ratio.
Also, the self-reported nature of the information is problematic. Couples may say they had intercourse at a certain time but there is no way for us to know this. Determining ovulation by previous charts, as the couples aiming for a cutoff were told to do, is notoriously unreliable, particularly if they had only charted for a month prior to their attempt (that’s why I wish I knew how long they had been charting in advance!) And there are some math errors in the study that are highly concerning and cast doubt on the entire thing.
But, Kynzi was undeterred by the tiny sample size, the self-reported nature of the info, or the math errors. She had actually planned to have her tubes tied because at this point her oldest son was 17 (making her in her late 30’s which as we know sways pink, but I digress) but decided to ride the conception roller coaster one more time to give this new info a try!
After all this Shettles-izing, Kynzi was already expert at charting her cycles and determining ovulation. She decided she would try to emulate the couples in the study and had her husband abstain for her entire cycle (which as we know sways pink, but again, I digress). History does not record if she ate the girl diet, took supplements, or douched, but since she had done so before, I suspect she probably did again.
Then, they attempted their attempt. Attempted, because halfway through DTD a little boy arrived at their door in the grips of the stomach flu and about to throw up (illness sways pink, but I digress yet again). They didn’t even manage to complete the transaction because Kynzi had to get up to take care of him (jump and dump sways pink - there I go again!). The entire family got sick, but after the bug had come and gone, Kynzi somehow, some way, had managed to get pregnant from the very small amount of sperm that had been present in her husband’s pre-ejaculate (low sperm count sways pink ). 9 months later her little girl was born! (the odds of a family having 7 boys in a row is .8%, so it may have just been their "turn" for a girl - ok I‘m done now!)
Obviously, there are a lot of unanswered questions about O+12. People have used it seemingly successfully, but biology indicates that of all the baby girls who have ever been born on the face of the planet, the vast majority of them were conceived with sperm that had been waiting in the cervical crypts prior to ovulation. The design of the female reproductive tract is pretty much tailor-made to keep sperm alive for as long as possible. Sperm live up to 5 days in fertile EWCM while the egg lives at best only 1 day (and usually less, and the older you are, the less time it lives) and EWCM dries up a few hours after ovulation.
Even if we assume that twice as many babies are conceived 12 hours after ovulation (unlikely because most women have an increase in desire PRIOR to ovulation and a drop-off afterwards), statistically it is very, very unlikely that the 3.5 billion women walking around the face of the earth were all conceived from a single shot 12 hours after ovulation.
Part two in this series (the How-to) is found here - http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...How-to-do-O-12
Part three in this series (Advantages and Disadvantages) is found here - http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...ntages-of-O-12
If you would like to know how to combine a cutoff with an O+12, please read this abstaining, frequent release, and mixing cutoff with O+12
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...do-o-12-a.html
O+12 Part 2 - How to do O+12
O+12 is a timing method very popular amongst those trying for a baby girl, where you aim for intercourse about 12 hours after ovulation.
A prospective study of the preselection of the... [Fertil Steril. 1984] - PubMed - NCBI (the ORIGINAL O+12 study)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...t=AbstractPlus (keep in mind that this study was done on women who took Clomid to induce ovulation, and as we all know, Clomid sways pink and timing may have nothing to do with it.)
http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...=7930#post7930 (this explains the history of O+12 and explains a little about how it may or may not work)
http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...ntages-of-O-12 (this explains the pros and cons of O+12 and a little about why I personally don't think O+12 is the way to go for swaying.)
HOW TO PREPARE FOR O+12
Being able to time ovulation down to the hour is the critical element for a successful O+12. If you're not already tracking your ovulation on Fertility Friends, do so. Ovulation Calendar and Ovulation Chart - Fertility Charting
To do O+12, you will need either a fertility monitor and/or a basal body thermometer and opks (ovulation predictor kits).
You MUST practice three cycles in advance (or more) of your attempt, firstly so you are accustomed to charting your temperature, checking your cervix position, and familiar with the various types of cervical mucus. These are the "Three Primary Fertility Signs" referenced in the excellent book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler Welcome to Taking Charge of Your Fertility and they will be the key to pinpointing when you ovulate. Also, it is very helpful to have the information from these first three cycles. If you don't have three cycles to practice, DON'T do O+12, you may end up DTD too soon (in what some believe is "boy timing") or too late (egg will be dead).
In addition to the TPFS, you should also use an ovulation monitor/OPKs, and the data from previous cycles to help you determine when exactly you ovulate. Ovulation pains can help but should not be relied upon.
TPFS #1 - WAKING (Basal Body) TEMPERATURE: Take your temperature first thing in the morning and track the information on Fertility Friend. However, if you are woken up a lot in the night, wake up a different hours every day, drink alcohol from time to time, regularly forget to take your temperature, or even are just really cozy under the covers one day or chilled another, your temps can be screwy. That's why you need to chart, because you MUST observe your temperature trends on a day-to-day basis over a few months, and not just here and there, to truly understand what's going on. Also, be aware that temps don't warn you that you're ABOUT to ovulate, they only warn you AFTER you already have. And, for a very small percentage of women, temping is ineffective (but you can still use CM and position to tell ovulation).
Before ovulation, women's waking temps average between 97 and 97.7. After ovulation, your temps will sharply jump to 97.8 and higher and will stay that way throughout a pregnancy (you can tell if you're pregnant just by your temperature staying high for 18 days after ovulation, and if your temps drop suddenly that is not a good sign even if you have gotten a BFP).
Please note - the temps jumping up indicates that ovulation HAS ALREADY OCCURED. You can't rely on your temp shift to help pinpoint O+12 because by the time the temp goes up, the egg is most likely already dead by that point. That's where OPK's come in (more about that in a minute).
Some people may want to try taking a second temp in the evening to help pinpoint O sooner. This has advantages and disadvantages, because your temps will not be reliable in comparison to your morning temps. Keep the two sets of temps separate and don’t compare the two. They will follow similar but separate patterns and cannot be compared to one another.
TPFS #2 - CERVICAL MUCUS - As you get closer to ovulation you will observe that your cervical mucus begins to get wetter, thinner, and stretchy, like eggwhite. Each cycle will be different, but for all of us, every cycle, the closer we get to ovulation, the more fertile our mucus becomes. Here are links to a couple of amazing, but very graphic sites where you can see actual photos of the female cervix throughout the month and you can see the difference in mucus quality. Cervix Changes During the Menstrual Cycle - The Garden of Fertility http://www.beautifulcervix.com/cervi...tos-of-cervix/
Immediately after estrogen peaks and begins to drop, your progesterone will start to rise (your body assumes with every cycle that you have become pregnant and raises progesterone as a result.) Your cervical fluid will change abruptly. The eggwhite mucus will be replaced by a drier, more creamy CM, and if it was creamy to start with (which is what you WANT to TTC pink), it may even be replaced by a sticky, dry mucus.
The downside of using CM to pinpoint O+12 is that if you are taking supplements, particularly antihistamines, you may not even HAVE any CM to check and you‘ll have to rely on the less-reliable sign of cervical texture to determine O+12. Also, if you are double-ovulating, you may completely miss your first egg because your estrogen will stay high until your second egg has been released. Your first egg may have died by then. Not good if you’re trying for twins.
TPFS #3 - CERVICAL POSITION AND TEXTURE - Throughout your cycle, it is natural for your cervix to move higher and lower in your vagina and to be softer/firmer. (see above links if you want to help envision what these changes look like) Prior to ovulation your cervix will be firm, low, closed, and nonwet, which helps keep any foreign substances from entering the uterus. Around ovulation, your cervix will “SHOW“, that means it will be soft, high, open and wet (thanks to TCOYF for this handy acronym.) in order to allow CM to flow through and pregnancy to occur. This is the least reliable of the primary fertility signs because many things can affect the way your cervix looks and feels. Intercourse, pressure from stool in the rectum, even swelling from checking your cervix too much can all make it harder to judge what is going on. WARNING - Make very sure your hands are scrupulously clean when you check your cervix.
IF you find that your CM and cervical texture do not change simultaneously, go off of the texture of your CM because that is easier to understand and is probably what sways anyway. This is where charting comes in handy because you’ll be able to look back at previous months and understand where in respect to your cycle your cervix/CM seem to change (although again, this COULD happen differently in any given month).
OPKS - These are little test sticks that detect LH (the hormone that makes the egg burst from the ovary)which surges prior to ovulation. You can buy them at many places online, drugstores, and even at the Dollar Store. Start using them about three days before you expect to ovulate and follow the directions on the package to use and read them. WARNING - unlike with pregnancy tests, you do not use FMU (first morning urine) for OPKs. You should test in early afternoon for best results because that’s when the level of LH in your urine is highest.
OVULATION MONITOR - You can use an ovulation monitor to help you determine when you ovulate. This is a post in and of itself so I will just mention it for now. The different brands work in a variety of ways so just go off the directions that come with your monitor.
USING PAST CYCLES TO UNDERSTAND FUTURE CYCLES - IF your cycles are very regular, you can use your past charts to determine when you typically O. This is terribly unreliable, but it can help sometimes when you have very little CM, and it DOES help you learn the ropes of your body - you’ll be able to make the correlation between CM and cervix texture and in retrospect, it will help you understand the pattern that your body seems to follow.
OVULATION PAINS - aka mittelschmerz. Charting and monitoring your past cycles can also help you understand the different types of o pains. You may feel achy and tender before ovulation, followed by a sharp pain, popping, or twinging sensation at ovulation when the egg is released, and then cramping after ovulation as the Fallopian tubes contract to move sperm towards the egg and the egg down to the uterus. O pains will be felt on one side only unless you are ovulating from both ovaries that month. Further complicating matters is the fact that many people have cramps and tenderness in their uterus during ovulation as well. Don’t rely on them, but they can be a helpful secondary sign.
HOW TO DO AN O+12 -
Once you get a positive OPK, that means you will ovulate within 8-48 hours. Research has shown that it’s on average 32 hours after your LH surge (but do not rely on this.) Begin to check your CM and cervix (ovulation pains can help pinpoint O if you feel them but are unreliable.) 12 hours after you ovulate, your cervix will go from soft to hard and your EWCM will change to creamy. That’s O+12! You now have 8 hours to DTD. (Eggs live a maximum of 24 hours and sperm take 4 hours to capacitate before they are capable of fertilization).
Also, you need to lower your husband’s sperm count by either abstaining for a minimum of 7 days and preferably longer - many who choose O+12 have their husbands abstain for the entire cycle - or by doing frequent release (and I mean FREQUENT - every day and preferably twice). You may even want to have him release once the morning of your attempt and DTD again later to further reduce sperm count.
Do NOT DTD again until you’re sure you’re no longer fertile. Use a condom until you have had three high temps on your chart.
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...es-o-12-a.html
O+12 Part 3 Advantages and Disadvantages of O+12
ADVANTAGES OF O+12
It’s easier to keep your pH low for a few hours after your attempt until the egg is either dead or fertilized.
Whatever natural advantage that O+12 may for swaying pink, whether it’s higher progesterone, the dry creamy CM, or whatever.
It makes people feel like they’re doing SOMETHING and are in control of the situation. For some reason, timing feels more tangible to people than diet does when it comes to DTD. Maybe that reduces stress for some people??
For sure beyond a doubt, abstaining DOES sway pink.
It’s easier than diet. (but you should STILL DO DIET.)
You can walk away feeling like you did everything you could.
DISADVANTAGES OF O+12
It’s too hard - The one thing that both Shettles and O+12 agree on is that DTD right around ovulation sways blue. If you get the timing wrong, you will actually end up swaying BLUE. Or, not get pregnant at all. People tend to give up large parts of swaying (all too often, the parts that actually work) when they get a few BFNs.
It’s too stressful - Remember the whole, stress sways blue idea? O+12 is STRESSFUL for people. And it’s the obsessive, tackling a project sort of stress that raises testosterone and totally sways blue. You may lower your odds of success for something that doesn’t even work.
Sets you up for a huge disappointment - By making you feel in control of something that is inherently out of your control, sometimes it contributes to disappointment.
People cheat because of it - Diet is HARD to stick to, people hate douching and using weird gels, supplements might make you sick. I have seen with my own eyes MANY people give up on things that sway hard like diet, and keep O+12 only to conceive an opposite, after months and months of BFN's.
Husbands HATE it - Abstain for 14 days? Are you kidding me?
Too many unknowns - what is it exactly about O+12 that sways? Is it the thick cervical mucus? Is it hormone levels? Low sperm count? Aren’t these things we can accomplish other ways without all the drawbacks of O+12?
Biologically, does not make any sense - Pinpointing O+12 is entirely based on the utterly unsupported conclusion that everyone's cervix/CM change at the same rate of time and that this rate is spot on 12 hours for every woman on the face of the globe. The facts simply do not support this and reading even a few posts where women are desperately trying to figure it out, verify this. Our cervixes harden and CM dries out at different rates for every person and this can be different every month. Plus, the entire female reproductive tract is tailor-made to keep sperm alive for as long as possible. With this design, it's much more likely that the vast majority of women ever conceived (and men too) were from sperm already in the reproductive tract when ovulation occured.
Can interfere with other sway tactics - some people are skipping jellies and antihistamines in order to monitor their CM to do an O+12. They're trading things that actually sway and do so easily without raising testosterone, chasing after something that has no scientific support (see the point directly above.)
Does not guarantee that both X and Y sperm will be on hand to wait for the egg - With a cutoff or even frequent BD through O, you are guaranteed that both potentially-slower X and potentially-faster Y sperm have had ample time to swim to the crypts and wait for the egg. Maybe, like Shettles believed, X really are slower. They ARE bigger, between 1-2% bigger, and no one really seems to know for certain whether that means they‘re slower or not. Bigger things do tend to move more slowly because of friction (the pressure of the CM against the greater surface of the X sperm) and inertia (being bigger means the X sperm need to expend a little more effort to get moving). And/or, maybe X sperm really do live longer than Y (or at least in a hostile swaying environment, they do). Again, there’s conflicting info on both sides but it seems reasonable to assume that a larger cell would be more resistant to damage than a smaller cell. If Shettles was right even a little, you are putting yourself at a big disadvantage with O+12.
Relies TOTALLY on pH to sway - The main reason why people advocate so much for O+12 is because it’s easier to keep pH down for a few hours than it is for several days after a cutoff. This is making a big assumption that pH really sways in the ways that we think it does. IF pH sways in a different way, perhaps by lowering overall sperm count, than cutoff is better because it will give more time for sperm of both genders to die off in low pH. IF pH sways by killing off more Y sperm than X sperm, again, cutoff will be even better because it will give a longer time for Y sperm to die off. IF pH really DOES sway in the ways that traditional swaying says it does (Y sperm are “frozen” by low pH but they will “wake up” in higher pH) O+12 still isn’t that great because if something goes wrong and your pH goes up even for just a few minutes, then the Y sperm will “wake up” and go on to fertilize the egg.
Once the egg is in the building, pH is probably irrelevant ANYWAY - Once sperm “hear” or “smell” the egg (as in, ovulation has already occurred as is the case with O+12) they immediately swim to the egg where it waits in the Fallopian tubes. They don’t hang around waiting to be affected by lime tampons (although lime tampons may sway for other reasons). Around ovulation, every millimeter of your reproductive tract is churning out lots of alkaline EWCM to help the sperm make it to the egg and has been for several days, so even though the low vaginal pH probably diffuses somewhat into the area around the cervix, it is very unlikely that it has any effect beyond there and certainly NOT in the Fallopian tube where the egg is waiting to be fertilized. Any more than swishing with baking soda and then spitting it out will have any appreciable difference on the pH of your stomach acid. So pH is probably WAY more effective with a cutoff where sperm are hanging around the cervical crypts for days.
It makes it much harder to get pregnant - Particularly for older couples. For women who are over 35 or anyone with declining fertility, their eggs may not even LIVE 12 hours past ovulation, let alone 16 or 20. And abstaining for 14 days may make it impossible for older men (or any men with low sperm count or weak swimmers) to produce healthy sperm. And the longer people go on without getting pregnant, the more likely they are to give up on other aspects of swaying that are actually proven to be effective, like diet.
It may not be safe - People will tell you that O+12 is perfectly safe but the fact is, no one knows. There has been some information online that an old egg causes Down Syndrome, but that is likely a misunderstanding between an “old egg” and an older woman’s egg (which can be at a higher risk of Down Syndrome) and so that connection is probably not true. That having been said, there are many, many birth defects that doctors have no explanation for. Abstaining has been linked to an increased risk of birth defects in older men.
FINAL AND MOST IMPORTANT DISADVANTAGE - There is basically NO reliable scientific evidence that O+12 sways in any way. We are talking about ONE study done over 25 years ago with 33 people in it (of which only TWO even DTD at O+12) that relied on self-reported data and had math errors in it, another study that had ovulation induced by Clomid which sways pink regardless of when you have intercourse, and a lot of anecdotal experience that may or may not even be true or accurate.
I've witnessed with my own two eyes, several swayers who struggled to figure out O +12 for months and posted dozens of posts seeking help to do it, who finally got pg and then suddenly became the biggest O+12 experts out there and began dispensing advice to everyone else. Maybe they did manage to get pg with O+12, or maybe their CM and cervix behaved a little differently that month and they actually DTD closer to O than they thought they did. Maybe they even released two eggs that month. There is no way to know without a scientific study where ovulation is accurately pinpointed to the hour using ultrasound technology and until then, I strongly urge everyone to pass on O+12.
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...ff-o-12-a.html
abstaining, frequent release, and mixing cutoff with O+12
Sorry for the convoluted title but those things really do fit together!!!
We have been having a lot of q's on this topic lately so even though this info is in some other essays, I wanted to get it all into one heading to clarify for people.
Abstaining and frequent release are BD strategies we can use to lower our husband's sperm count. Low sperm count sways pink. Contrary to what you may have read, it's not true that X's live longer than Y's do - they both live the same amount of time and die off at equal rates, but for some reason that we don't really understand, lower sperm numbers seem to sway for a girl somehow (even though there are still roughly equal numbers of both X and Y being ejaculated).
Abstaining - Your husband should abstain (and that means NO "helping himself"!!) for 7-10 days before your attempt. Some people abstain even longer, from AF through their attempt. For some guys, this may lower his sperm count TOO much, so if you're abstaining you may want to go easier on other swaying techniques, like douching, jellies and spermicide, jump and dump, and long cutoffs. Even antihistamine to dry up CM may be too much if your husband has abstained for a long period of time. (you need CM on hand to ensure that some sperm are able to survive to make it to the egg)
You can use JUST abstaining as a sway technique - there is no law that says you have to douche or use Acijel or timing or any of it. Diet + abstain is still a fine sway and may be less stressful and not raise testosterone, so if you tend to be an obsessive-type, it may be something to really consider.
If your husband is over 35 or has fertility issues, you may not want to use the abstain technique because it will really lower his count by a lot, and there has been a slight increase in birth defects in babies from guys who had abstained for a long time.
If something goes wrong (such as, a nocturnal emission) it is possible to have your husband start to release 2 times a day to lower sperm count more quickly and you can still salvage the month. However, this is unreliable so you might want to use some additional sway techniques to ensure that sperm count is low.
Frequent release - DH needs to ejaculate every day for 7-10 days and pref. from AF-your attempt, either through masturbation or DTD with a condom (you may even want to use a spermicidal condom - these have very little spermicide and so you can still get pg after using them, but some may be left behind and the chemicals may help your sway in some way). His testosterone will go up less if he masturbates instead of DTD, but then again most guys prefer DTD and there's something to be said for spicing up boring swaying sex a little!!
Frequent release may be difficult for some guys to manage. Sex every day sounds great but it gets old very quick. If your DH is older, it might be too much for him (esp. if he is taking licorice to lower his testosterone). This is another advantage of DTD on occasion with a condom, it helps make it less monotonous. As I mentioned above, it may be a good idea to DTD with a spermicide condom for a few days prior to your attempt - the spermicide is a very small amount and will not keep you from getting pregnant, but the chemicals may sway pink slightly.
Conversely, if he is young or is just a supersperm producer, frequent release can almost seem to encourage the swimmers!! If you try for frequent release, you CANNOT skip even one day or the sperm have a chance to recover.
If something does go wrong and you end up missing a day, it is possible to have DH start releasing twice to lower sperm count more quickly, so you can still salvage the month. However this is unreliable and so you will also want to use some other swaying techniques to ensure that the sperm count is lowered.
Abstaining with a cutoff - This is just abstaining and then having one attempt 2-3 days prior to ovulation. It's probably best not to go overboard with other swaying techniques because the abstaining will already be swaying by a good bit.
Abstaining with O+12 - Exactly as described, this is abstaining and then having one attempt 12 hours after ovulation.
Frequent release with a cutoff - Frequent release with one attempt 2-3 days before ovulation. Note - you must do frequent release for 7-10 days before your ATTEMPT, not ovulation.
Frequent release with O+12 - DH releases at least once a day for 7-10 days, with one attempt 12 hours after ovulation.
Frequent BD with a cutoff OR through O - Another strategy some people have used as part of a pink sway, is a variation of frequent release. You actually BD every day at least once, from AF-O (and you can't fudge it on this, you have to start at the beginning of AF in order to allow 7-10 days of BD prior to the earliest point you might be fertile) either leading up to a cutoff, or straight through O.
If you do decide to BD through O, you will probably want to use some additional sway techniques like antihistamines, spermicides, and/or jellies to counteract the additional EWCM that many women get around ovulation. Also, frequent BD may raise pH so if low pH is very important to you, you'll want to monitor the situation and adjust your pH using one of the jellies.
Mixing cutoff and O+12 - This is only slightly more complicated and may increase your chances of a BFP. First, abstain from AF-a cutoff attempt 2-3 days before O. Then, have your husband release 2 times a day (without exception! Once a day is not enough!) and then try for a second attempt at O+12. If you decide to go this route, it's better NOT to DTD for release, because it may raise your pH and it also may kill off some sperm that are waiting in the cervical crypts. Release via masturbation only.
The Valley of Frequent Release:
If your husband really CAN'T do either abstinence or frequent release (and some guys just can't manage it) then a great compromise is to have him release as much as possible for a day or two (even up to 3x a day for 2 days in a row), using only the last batch for insemination. You could also combine this strategy with an O+12 or a cutoff, or a BD through O - if you wanted to have more than one attempt, you could have DH release 3x one day before ovulation, using the last batch for insemination, and then again 3x on O day, using only the last batch for insemination. This seems to be a good compromise (but may reduce odds of pg). More info and discussion is found in this thread http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...-or-abstaining
BEYOND the Valley of Frequent Release:
For men who already do frequent release (some guys have the habit of cleaning the pipes pretty much on a daily basis and are still fathering boys), it is a good idea to have him increase the frequency to 2x a day, and/or release up to 3 times on the day of the attempt, using only the last ejaculation for insemination. This may reduce odds of pregnancy somewhat. More info is in this thread http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...-or-abstaining
A note about "Deanna's Plan" (SMEP) -
Sperm Meets Egg Plan Deanna's Plan (or SMEP, Sperm Meets Egg Plan) is a pattern of BD that is designed to maximize your odds of pregnancy. Some people say Deanna's plan sways pink, but if true, this is very likely because the people who follow Deanna's plan are struggling with fertility (particularly low sperm count) to begin with.
If you are in a big hurry to get pregnant, Deanna's Plan will def. increase your odds. However, if you are a fully fertile couple, it's not going to sway pink for you and may sway blue! You should DEF. consider using other sway techniques, such as antihistamine, douches, jellies, spermicide, to counteract the higher number of sperm that your DH will both produce and that will be deposited in your reproductive tract.
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...over-35-a.html
articles and studies about why abstain is not good for males over 35
We had a thread about this already but I believe it was in the Dream Members section and I wanted to post it where everyone could find it.
I KNOW there was a thread on IG where this was discussed at great length and I can no longer find it. I suspect it may have been deleted.
There are really three separate variables in the equation - abstinence makes worse sperm (fact), older men's sperm is worse to begin with (fact), and older men father more children with birth defects and serious disorders like autism and schizophrenia to begin with (fact).
Net result : abstain + older dads = too risky for my liking.
Please note, there are other things that can damage sperm and sperm DNA besides age, so if your husband has been diagnosed with poor sperm quality to begin with, drinks alcohol/smokes either reg. or special cigarettes, is obese, works around industrial chemicals/electromagnetic fields/nuclear energy, jogs a lot or bikes a lot, is a deep sea diver/anesthetist/radiologist/fighter pilot, takes drugs either recreationally or for medical purposes, or anything else going on that has you concerned about his sperm quality, you may want to consider choosing either FR or compressed FR instead of abstain. All those things are known to damage sperm.
Articles/studies that indicate abstinence makes poor sperm (the articles are actually talking about the studies, so I am posting them because I find the articles easier to understand for the layman, often have quotes and further information from the researchers themselves, and also because so many studies are impossible to find the full text of.)
Abstinence 'reduces sperm strength' - Telegraph
Will Abstaining From Having Sex Help Improve Sperm Count? (also explains why FR makes fewer but better sperm)
UroToday - Extended Abstinence Reduces Sperm Viability in Infertile Men (states very clearly that long abstain is not recommended for any man, even with normal sperm count so when people on IG suggest abstaining longer than 14 days, beware.)
Relationship between the duration of sexual ab... [Fertil Steril. 2005] - PubMed - NCBI (this is the abstract on the study itself)
Semen analysis in fertile patients undergoin... [Sao Paulo Med J. 2005] - PubMed - NCBI (abstinence causes reduced sperm motility)
Effect of long abstinen... [Int J Fertil Menopausal Stud. 1994 Sep-Oct] - PubMed - NCBI (abstinence means more old sperm - senesence means "old age" aka senile!)
Influence of the abstinence period on human sp... [Fertil Steril. 2004] - PubMed - NCBI (this shows abstains less than a week are ok but very small number of subjects)
Influence of a short or long abstinence period... [Fertil Steril. 2001] - PubMed - NCBI (abstinence may even make sperm count go UP!)
Articles/studies that indicate older men have more genetic damage to sperm and/or lower sperm quality to begin with:
Male Fertility and Age – Does Age Affect Male Fertility
Advancing age has differential effects on DNA damage, chromatin integrity, gene mutations, and aneuploidies in sperm
Relationship between age and semen parameters in ... [Andrologia. 2007] - PubMed - NCBI
Older Men's Sperm Raise Risk Of Genetic Problems In Offspring
Research links older dads to genetic diseases | UniversityPost
Older fathers run higher risk of fetal defects - 28 February 2002 - New Scientist
Articles/studies that show the offspring of older dads have more birth defects and other disorders including autism, bipolar, Down Syndrome, schizophrenia, cleft palate, dwarfism, Turner Syndrome, Kleinfelter Syndrome
(Atomic's editorial note - the sample size in some of these studies are HUGE, tens and even hundreds of thousands of subjects over many years and from many different countries - these risks are real and everyone should take them very seriously. It makes me not know whether to laugh or cry that IG tells everyone to do O+12 based on a sample size of 33 (only 2 of whom DTD on O+12) and then belittles the risks of abstaining for older men abstinence=damaged sperm??? - In-Gender.com)
Advancing age has differential effects on DNA damage, chromatin integrity, gene mutations, and aneuploidies in sperm
Male biological clock possibly linked to autism, other disorders : Article : Nature Medicine
Risk of autism spikes for children of older men
Older Fathers, Lower IQ in Kids?
Children of older dads face higher bipolar risk | Mental Wellness Today | Articles
Schizophrenia.com - Schizophrenia Cause, Father's Age
Research links older dads to genetic diseases | UniversityPost
More bad news for the children of older fathers | Psychology Today
Older fathers run higher risk of fetal defects - 28 February 2002 - New Scientist
Paternal Age Effect: How Old is Too Old?: June 2010 (this appears to be an entire BLOG about the risks of older parenthood)
And one final note - older men may have higher odds of conceiving a girl ANYWAY so why would you up your already higher risks doing abstain??
Why Are Older Parents More Likely to Have Daughters? | Psychology Today
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...nces-here.html
Vitex! FAQ and share your experiences here!!!
Vitex agnus-castus aka chasteberry. It's often recommended for pink swayers and for restoring ovulation, but how does it work? How much should we take and when? Is it safe? Let's take a closer look at Vitex!
How does Vitex work??
Once upon a time, vitex was believed to be an anti-aphrodesiac and a natural method of birth control (and may be when taken in high doses for long periods of time.) But now it appears that the opposite is true. When taken sensibly, vitex actually helps people conceive and restores low libido to normal levels.
In Dr. Susan Love's Hormone Book, she advises Vitex as a way to lower prolactin and raise progesterone and estrogen. On the other hand, herbalist Susun Weed claims that vitex can lower estrogen while raising progesterone. It's probable that vitex acts on the endocrine system itself to balance estrogen and progesterone in the proper ratio - all women need both estrogen and progesterone in the proper proportions for fertility. Herbalist David Hoffman says, "Vitex will always enable what is appropriate to occur." Since Vitex lowers prolactin levels, and prolactin in turn affects FSH, progesterone, and estrogen in women, and testosterone and estrogen in men, it is extremely helpful for many different fertility issues. Vitex is known to normalize irregular cycles and is especially good for people with luteal phase defect. It helps to restore ovulation even while breastfeeding. It is also recommended for PMS, breast pain before your period, helps cure menstrual acne, reduces heavy menstrual bleeding, and may even shrink fibroids.
High levels of prolactin cause hypoestrogenism (not enough estrogen) with anovulatory infertility and a decrease or complete ceasing of menstruation - breastfeeding causes prolactin levels to rise, which is why exclusively breastfeeding works as a birth control method. That's why vitex is a good choice for restoring ovulation while breastfeeding. Lowering prolactin will help restore your ovulation.
High prolactin levels can also cause a loss of libido and breast pain, and intercourse may become painful because of vaginal dryness and thinning of the tissues. In people with overly high estrogen levels, vitex may actually help restore the proper balance between estrogen and progesterone, lowering estrogen in favor of progesterone.
Higher progesterone levels are also believed to sway pink, so that is why vitex is used in pink sways.
Corpus luteum insufficiency, where your body doesn't produce enough progesterone in the corpus luteum to sustain a pregancy, is also caused by high prolactin levels and is treated by vitex.
Vitex also raises levels of LH and mildly supresses levels of FSH, making it an excellent choice for older women who are TTC but may have elevated levels of FSH. It also boosts egg quality for people of all ages (even young women can have elevated FSH levels) because FSH affects egg quality.
It sounds great! How do I take it??
Be sure to get a name brand, reliable source of Vitex and follow the directions on the bottle. Unfortunately, there is no standard dosage of pill/tincture - one company may sell 400 mg, another 1000 mg, and of course tinctures are dosed by the drop. It's probably best to start with a lesser dose and see if it works for you. I personally used the Nature's Way Vitex Fruit capsules, 400 mg tablets. I took a tablet in the morning and a tablet at night to restore my ovulation while breastfeeding (see my personal experience below.)
We recommend that most people take Vitex AF-O only. It is not known whether or not vitex is safe to use during pregnancy and there have been issues with people taking it all month and being unable to get pregnant. However, if you are not TTC, you may choose to take it every day (giving your body a break during your period). It may take up to three months to work anyway (some say as long as 18 months for people who's cycles are really out of whack) so it may be something you want to begin months ahead of time when TTC.
Some people have even found that taking Vitex every day for several months prior to TTC, and then stopping all together and TTC the month after discontinuing the Vitex, helped them conceive baby girls. Just be sure to take a pregnancy test every month without fail even if you are CERTAIN you are not pregnant.
You can take 400 a day, 800 a day, 1200 a day, or anywhere in between
Is vitex safe??
People have taken vitex up to 9 years without any known ill effects from it.
There has been some concern that stopping Vitex cold turkey can trigger miscarriage. Whether this is true or not, we have no way to know, only anecdotes. Vitex does affect your hormone levels, we know for certain. So in light of this, it may be best to slowly wean yourself off of Vitex if you get a BFP while you're taking it, either by reducing the number of pills you take per day over the course of two or three weeks (allowing the corpus luteum enough time to begin churning out a lot of progesterone to sustain the pregnancy), or using progesterone cream to replace the effects of the vitex. WARNING - if you begin progesterone cream, you MUST use it every day as directed without fail for the entire first trimester. DO NOT skip a day under any circumstances or you run a very high risk of miscarrying.
Of course, if you take Vitex in the AF-O only pattern, you do not need to worry about this possibility (some people on another website were taking vitex until BFP and I prefer that people do not do this)
There have been conflicting reports of whether vitex is safe to use during pregnancy. One study in mice/rats indicated that it was, another indicated that it wasn't (of course this study used massive doses of vitex, much greater than any of us would ever take.) If you were taking vitex nonstop and are now worried about the fate of your baby while you're weaning yourself off vitex, it is believed that during the first few weeks of pregnancy, the fetus is feeding mostly off its egg sac at that point and not so much from the nutrients in your body (the placenta has not fully developed yet). It is ~probably~ safe to wean yourself off the vitex slowly. My son was exposed to vitex for two weeks when I was pg with him (see below) and thankfully he seems to be developing normally.
WARNING - Do NOT take vitex with Clomid! They may counteract each other because they work to trigger ovulation in different ways.
I am hoping that people share their anecdotal experiences with Vitex below!
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...-ttc-girl.html
USING ANTIHISTAMINES TO HELP TTC A GIRL
(this is also posted in TTC Girl Best Practices but I didn't want anyone to miss it!)
Over the counter antihistamines like Benadryl (diphenhydramine) and Zyrtec (cetirizine) help to dry out all the mucus in your body, including CM. Thicker, stickier CM helps to sway pink. Zyrtec alone is very effective and does not cause drowsiness, but Benadryl will make you groggy. If Zyrtec by itself works to dry up your CM, you may want to forgo using Benadryl because of the grogginess. Antihistamines are a safer option for swaying than Sudafed is.
Use only the medications that have diphenhydramine or cetirizine as their ONLY ingredient. Some medications have other ingredients that actually sway blue. It's fine if you use generics, just as long as they have ONLY one of those two ingredients and nothing else.
Take the standard, maximum dosage as described by the label, starting 5 days before O. If you choose to have intercourse after ovulation (o+12), you may choose to take the antihistamines on O day as well, if you haven't had a cut off earlier. It may make some people uncomfortable to take antihistamines if there's any possibility that a egg may have been fertilized, and so they may choose not to take antihistamines once ovulation has occured. I would personally not take an antihistamine on O day.
Another option is to take antihistamines every day you usually have EWCM, which can be 5-7 days in advance of ovulation. If you tend to make a lot of EWCM, or if you're taking soy isoflavones to help with fertility or some supplements to boost your egg quality like DHEA and believe that they are causing you to make a lot more EWCM than normal, this may be the right choice for you.
Benadryl and Zyrtec are safe to take together because they act on different parts of the body (confirmed to me by two doctors and a pharmacist), so if you are really making a lot of EWCM, you may wish to use them both. Take Zyrtec 4-6 hours (or longer) before your attempt because it takes a little while to get going but then will last for 24 hours. Benadryl should be taken 1-2 hours before attempt and it only lasts for 4-6 hours, so if you don't attempt in that time frame you will need to take it again.
If you're using Clomid, you need to forgo antihistamines all together. Clomid causes your CM to become hostile to sperm (and sways pink for this reason), and using both Clomid and antihistamines together may be too much of a good thing and make it impossible for the sperm to reach the egg. You may want to experiment on the days leading up to ovulation to see how much EWCM you are even producing.
If your husband produces a lot of very thin semen, you may want him to take an antihistamine to thicken it up somewhat. You can give him Sudafed instead if you prefer, which men seem to tolerate better than antihistamine. This will dry up his semen somewhat and also lower its pH. You can read more about Sudafed here: http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...echniques.html
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...ful-herbs.html
HELPFUL HERBS
Just want to point out that these are the traditional pink sway supps and NOT what atomic suggests.
*Cranberry - 1500-10,000 mg a day. This is based on the ’equal to fresh fruit’ equivalent, not the amount given on the bottle. Try to find a supplement that lists the ‘equal to fresh fruit’ quantity right on the label.http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...echniques.html
Cranberry is a blood thinner and makes some people’s blood clot less easily. If you begin to experience heavy periods or excessive bruising or bleeding, you should cut back on your cranberry intake immediately. Also, if you are taking any other drug that thins the blood, cranberry should be avoided.
Cranberry is not safe during pregnancy, and should not be taken during the 2WW, take only from AF through O. However, during the preliminary 6 week time period, it is ok to take cranberry every day for those 6 weeks if you are certain you will not get pregnant during that time.
*Vitex (chasteberry) - Vitex is taken typically by women who are not ovulating, or are having irregular cycles, but we use it as a part of our sway even IF we have reg. cycles. It may help to sway pink by raising progesterone, so some people with regular cycles have experimented with taking it as part of their sway; however, many have found that it affects a regular cycle in unpredictable ways, making it harder to predict ovulation (this may be how it sways, though, so it may be a good thing if your cycle goes different). Vitex should only be taken from AF-O, even in months you are not TTC; it seems to work best when taken 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. Do not take vitex if you are taking Clomid.http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...nces-here.html
*Saw Palmetto - Make sure to buy only the standardized dosage of 320 mg, and take one pill a day, AF through O only, even in months when you are not TTC. Under NO circumstances take SP during pregnancy or the 2WW. We believe that SP lowers testosterone, lowers estrogen, and raises progesterone. Do not take if you are taking Clomid. http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...depth-how.html
*Lydia Pinkham - This is taken to raise progesterone and regulate cycles, but it may affect normal cycles in a negative way. Take the dosage as given on the bottle. Do not take with Clomid. Take only AF-O.
*Peppermint Tea - Some people are using peppermint tea as a gentler alternative to Saw Palmetto. It may help to lower testosterone and raise progesterone while stabilizing estrogen, but saw palmetto is believed to be more of a ‘sure thing‘ for lowering testosterone levels. If you choose to use peppermint tea, drink 3 strong cups of tea (made with up to 2 bags per cup) per day. It’s also a nice alternative drink now and then, since regular teas, other herbal teas, and coffee all are traditionally said to sway blue.http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...depth-how.html
Do not drink peppermint tea in this amount during the 2WW or during pregnancy. Of course, a cup of peppermint tea here and there is safe during pregnancy, just not in medicinal amounts.
*Acidophilus - Technically, this isn’t an herb but since they sell it in health food stores, you can find it sold alongside the herbs above. It’s a kind of healthy bacteria that lives in your digestive tract naturally and helps discourage the overgrowth of yeast. Acidophilus can lower pH in some people, and raise it in others, so you must test your pH while taking it to see how it affects you. http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...echniques.html
However, even if it doesn’t lower your pH at first, you may want to continue taking it for a few weeks (as long as you are not TTC during that time period) and seeing if your pH normalizes. The TTC girl diet is very yeast-friendly for some people, and douching can also trigger yeast infections. Since it is not a good idea to sway with a yeast infection, taking the acidophilus probably has benefits in controlling yeast regardless of its effect on pH. http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...ast-infections
Use the dosage given on the bottle (different brands have different dosages). Acidophilus is the only herb that is safe to take throughout your cycle and even during pregnancy - it will help prevent you from getting yeast infections and may even help prevent infection with Group B strep.
WARNING - Please be sure to take a pregnancy test EVERY month before resuming your AF-O herbs. Even if you have a perfectly normal menstrual cycle, you MUST take a pregnancy test every month, even if AF arrives. It is possible to have a perfectly normal period and be pregnant, even if it has never happened to you before, particularly if you‘re taking supplements that affect your hormone levels. (And yes, this actually happened to atomic sagebrush herself.) Many of these herbs can cause miscarriage and just to be on the safe side, please take that pregnancy test each month before restarting your herbs!!
OTHER USEFUL DRUGS
*Baby Aspirin - Some people find that this acidifies them very effectively. It also has no nutrients in it, so unlike cranberry and Vitamin C, you are getting the benefits of lower pH without the risk of taking in additional nutrients (some believe that a high nutrient intake sways blue).http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...echniques.html
The dosage is one 81 mg pill, sold over-the-counter as low dose aspirin. It is a blood thinner, so if you are taking any other blood thinners, don’t take baby aspirin. Since cranberry and aspirin are both blood thinners, it is not advisable to use them both together, and if you choose to do so, please be very vigilant for signs that your blood is getting overly thin - bruising, heavy menstrual cycles, bleeding for a long time after a cut. If these signs appear, you must cut back gradually on your intake until the symptoms go away - if you don’t, you’re risking potentially fatal bleeding in your stomach and brain.
Low dose baby aspirin is considered safe in the 2WW and may actually help with implantation and maintaining an early pregnancy. However, later in pregnancy it becomes dangerous for many people, so once you’ve become pregnant you should consult with your doctor about when and how he/she wants you to discontinue the baby aspirin.
WARNING - “Baby” aspirin was once given to children decades ago, but doctors have since learned that aspirin is very dangerous for children (even up to college aged teens) to take. Under NO circumstances should you ever give a child under the age of 21 aspirin.
*Sudafed - Take ONLY straight Sudafed (pseudoephedrine), not mixed with any other ingredient. Do NOT take Sudafed PE. Take one 1-3 hours before you have sex, it will help to dry up your CM. It also may help lower pH a little. (You may want to test ahead of time to see how long it takes to dry up your CM and how long the effect lasts). It is not sold over the counter any more in most states because it’s an ingredient in meth. You will have to ask the pharmacist for it - don’t buy more than a box at a time, or they will get suspicious. http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...echniques.html
If you're doing a cutoff, you'll need to take the Sudafed for your entire fertile period, until you're certain the egg is either fertilized or dead.
WARNING - Sudafed has been linked to bleeding in the brain and strokes, particularly in younger women who used it at higher doses and/or for long periods of time (in other words, exactly those of us who would be using it for swaying). However, many millions of people have used Sudafed with no ill effects for decades. Also, some people have had trouble with Sudafed making them feel strange or jittery. If you choose not to use Sudafed, antihistamines (below) are a great alternative.
*Antihistamines - Antihistamines give the same benefits for drying up your CM that Sudafed does. Two antihistamines that have worked well for people are Benadryl (diphenhydramine) and Zyrtec (cetiridine). Benadryl may make you very drowsy. Zyrtec is a once-daily pill that can be taken starting 5-7 days before O (if you're doing a cutoff, make sure to take it at least one day BEFORE you DTD, eveery day you have EWCM, then every day afterwards until O day. It is up to you if you take it on O day or if you don't - we are not sure how antihistamine will affect the fertilized egg). USING ANTIHISTAMINES TO HELP TTC A GIRL
For Benadryl, use the dose as given on the box 1-3 hours before having sex (test ahead of time to see how long it takes to dry up your CM and how long it lasts). Repeat as needed - if you're not making EWCM, you don't need to take it. If you're using a cutoff, you should continue taking the antihistamines throughout your fertile window.
You can use both Benadryl and Zyrtec together if you are making a lot of CM. They act on different parts of the body and are safe to be taken at the same time.
There are antihistamines that come mixed with Sudafed (check list of ingredients). But since both antihistamines and Sudafed work extremely well alone for drying up CM, it is probably not necessary to use both.
*Clomid - Only available with a doctor’s prescription - under NO circumstances should you buy Clomid from an online pharmacy, it is not safe. Clomid is given to women who are not ovulating - if you are ovulating, it’s not going to help you anyway - although it can also help lengthen the luteal phase. Clomid seems to sway pink 1-3% (and may sway MORE because some of the women who take Clomid, are more "set" for boys due to PCOS) of the time by creating hostile cervical mucus, but may increase the chances of multiples. It is also less effective in older women because it raises FSH levels, so if you’re not ovulating and you are over the age of 35, you may wish to consult with your doctor about injectible drugs to help restore your ovulation. http://genderdreaming.com/forum/gend...91-clomid.html
SUPPLEMENTS THAT MAY HELP PREVENT MISCARRIAGE
Taking the following supplements may improve egg quality and help prevent miscarriage in those who are TTC both boys and girls. However, remember that the best scientific evidence points to the idea that higher nutrient intake sways blue and use your own judgment.
*Vitamin E - 400 IU - Strengthens the outer shell of the egg and helps with implantation.
*Folic Acid - 800-2000 mcg - Strengthens the inner part of the egg, helps with implantation, and helps prevent birth defects. ALL women of childbearing age should be taking a minimum of 400 mcg at the very least.
*Vitamin B12 - 150 mcg - Helps folic acid to work better. Especially important for vegans to take - most other people get a good amount of B12 from diet alone.
* Zinc - 12-15 mg - Repairs any damage to the egg. DH cannot take zinc for TTC a girl, as it sways blue when taken by DH.
*Baby Aspirin - 81 mg of baby aspirin daily can help with implantation and help maintain a pregnancy. Please consult with your doctor as to how and when he/she wants you to discontinue the aspirin.http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...echniques.html
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...echniques.html
How to lower pH via supps - cran, baby aspirin, aspartame and other techniques!!
Let's take a quick look at these methods of increasing acidity of our CM.
Baby aspirin (low dose aspirin):
In the US, they're orange and chewable but are different in other countries. The large white ones are too high a dose.
PROS-
Lowers pH without adding additional nutrients
Safe to take throughout cycle and into early pg (BUT not into the third trimester)
May help baby to implant in the uterus and is recommended by reproductive endocrinologists for this purpose
May help promote heart health and prevent certain cancers
Affordable and can be found everywhere
1 very tiny pill taken 2-5 times a week as opposed to many larger pills
Has been used for over 100 years and is a "known" quantity
CONS - Can cause bruising, extended bleeding time, heavy AF, increase in severity of ovulation pain, and if this happens, slowly taper off on the dosage. Don't quit it cold turkey, just taper back over 2-3 weeks and then stop. The reason to taper back is because your body starts to produce extra platelets to clot blood when you're taking aspirin, and if you suddenly stop taking it, your blood may clot TOO easily and contribute to heart attack and strokes caused by blood clots in the brain AS CAN CALCIUM (if you're young, you don't have to worry about this so much but if in your late 30's-40's or at any age if you are a smoker, take this risk seriously) Stopping it cold turkey may even cause clots to form in your placenta.
May contribute to excessive bleeding if you have a placental bleed or chemical
In rare circumstances, if you continue taking too high a dose, can even cause bleeding in the brain or stomach that may be fatal. If you're having bruising/bleeding, do not try and tough it out, taper your dosage back right away because there are other techniques to lower pH that are safer.
Can cause ringing in the ears
A common allergen, even if you have never had a reaction to it before, you may have a reaction if you begin to take it every day. This makes life very complicated because there are numerous medications that are similar in chemical composition to aspirin that you will thereafter be unable to take.
How to use - Start by taking 1 70-81 mg 2 times a week and see if you tolerate it. If your pH drops on this dosage, great, and there is no need for you to take any more. If your pH stays high at ovulation and you are tolerating the aspirin well with no bruising, you may SLOWLY increase the dosage by adding one aspirin per week - so take 3 per week, then the next week, 4, then the week after that, 5. Don't take more than 5 a week because virtually everyone under the age of 50 has bruising when they take it every day.
WARNING - a LOT of people on Ingender took BOTH cranberry and baby aspirin. I BEG you not to do this and also to spread the word if you go onto Ingender and you see people who are doing this. Because both cranberry and baby aspirin are blood thinners, taking them both is double-risking side effects.
Also, again, on Ingender, people are told to take Sudafed with baby aspirin. This is VERY risky because Sudafed has been linked with strokes (the kind caused by bleeding in the brain, not blood clots) in young women taking them in maximum dosage for several days in a row while on blood thinners. So basically the exact circumstances people use them for with swaying. Please help me spread the word about this very real danger.
Saw Palmetto is also a blood thinner (less effective than baby aspirin tho) so if you're taking Saw Palmetto, be aware that the side effects of baby aspirin may be stronger than they would be otherwise.
FOR DH - You can give your DH a baby aspirin every day (men tend to tolerate blood thinners much better than women do, which may be partly why they have more heart attacks than women do - thicker blood) OR you can give him cranberry (see below), for the best of both worlds.
Cranberry -
You want a name brand cranberry with the fresh fruit equivalent listed on the label.
PROS - Does lower pH fairly dramatically and quickly
We know that people are conceiving girls while on it
May help lower the risks of bladder infection which you might contract while swaying, esp. if you are doing a lot of invasive sway tactics like douching and checking your cervix a lot. Please note, it's not the acidity that prevents bladder infection, it's because cran has compounds that make the cells of your bladder walls less "sticky" so bacteria cannot stick to them and you pee them out.
CONS - Can cause bruising, extended bleeding time, heavy AF, increase in severity of ovulation pain, and if this happens, slowly taper off on the dosage. (I bruised much worse on cran than I did on baby aspirin and I only took cran for 3 days) Don't quit it cold turkey, just taper back over 2-3 weeks and then stop. The reason to taper back is because your body starts to produce extra platelets to clot blood when you're taking cranberry, and if you suddenly stop taking it, your blood may clot TOO easily and contribute to heart attack and strokes caused by blood clots in the brain AS CAN CALCIUM so you may be risking more than you know (if you're young, you don't have to worry about this so much but if in your late 30's-40's or at any age if you are a smoker, take this risk seriously) Stopping it cold turkey may contribute to clots forming in the placenta.
May contribute to excessive bleeding if you have a placental bleed or chemical
In rare circumstances, if you continue taking too high a dose, can even cause bleeding in the brain or stomach that may be fatal. If you're having bruising/bleeding, do not try and tough it out, taper your dosage back right away because there are other techniques to lower pH that are safer.
Cannot be taken during the 2WW because it may cause miscarriage, which leaves you no option BUT to stop taking it cold turkey which may not be safe for you or your baby(see above)
Adds extra nutrients that if you're following a LE Diet, you do not want.
Causes HORRENDOUS headaches and stomach irritation. Seriously, the headaches were unendurable for me
Has no benefits for pregnancy whatsoever and in fact may cause miscarriage and we do not know how long this risk continues after stopping it. Stopping it cold turkey may even up the risks due to clotting in the placenta
It's expensive
Not widely available and you may have to special order it online
Dosage info is confusing and frustrating, varying dramatically between brands
Has only been widely used for the last two decades so it is not a "known" quantity and may have risks that are as of yet undiscovered
WARNING - a LOT of people on Ingender took BOTH cranberry and baby aspirin. I BEG you not to do this and also to spread the word if you go onto Ingender and you see people who are doing this. Because both cranberry and baby aspirin are blood thinners, taking them both is double-risking side effects.
Also, again, on Ingender, people are told to take Sudafed with cranberry. This is VERY risky because Sudafed has been linked with strokes (the kind caused by bleeding in the brain, not blood clots) in young women taking them in maximum dosage for several days in a row while on blood thinners. So basically the exact circumstances people use them for with swaying. Please help me spread the word about this very real danger.
Saw Palmetto is also a blood thinner (less effective than cran tho) so if you're taking Saw Palmetto, be aware that the side effects of the cran may be stronger than they would be
Atomic's editorial note - Cranberry has everything bad about aspirin and then some, nothing good about aspirin, it is expensive, hard to find, and a pain in the ass to figure out how much you're even supposed to take. All in a hunt after low pH which is not even PROVEN to sway and you can get through other techniques anyway. I urge everyone to pass on the cranberry and use other techniques to lower pH.
HOW TO USE:
Take 1500-10,000 mg fresh fruit equivalent, AF-O only during months when you are TTC (you can take it all month during months you are not TTC). It is best to find pills that are smaller in dosage to begin with, and on the label you should see "fresh fruit equivalent" listed. If it doesn't have "fresh fruit equivalent" do not buy it because it's confusing to figure out how much to take.
I advise you start with the absolute minimum dosage, check your pH as you go, and see how you handle it. Regardless of what you read on IG, it is best to take the smallest dosage that lowers your pH and hopefully does not cause side effects.
If your pH drops on this dosage, great, and there is no need for you to take any more. If your pH stays high at ovulation and you are tolerating the cran well with no bruising, you may SLOWLY increase the dosage by adding a pill a day per week - so as an example (and this will vary depending on the dosages of your pills take 1 per day, then the next week, 2, and see if you're tolerating it ok and you'll be able to monitor pH through O. Then you'd take 2 weeks off (if attempting that month), then once AF comes, resume dosage at 2 a day and see how it goes. If you're tolerating it ok and your pH is stayed high at 2 a day the previous month, then bump up to 3 a day and see how you tolerate that. NEVER take more than 10,000 a day.
FOR DH -
DH actually has a lot more leeway with cran than DW does. He can take it ALL month long without having to worry about starting and stopping it after O, so he does not have to risk the issues with blood clotting issues that DW does. Men also seem to tolerate blood thinners better than women do (which may be partly the reason why men tend to have higher rates of heart attack). Also, nutrients don't seem to sway for men the way they do for women, so him getting some extra nutrition will not hurt much of anything. Start with a small dose, see how his pH does and if he tolerates it ok, and go from there.
Aspartame -
Crystal Light, Equal, diet sodas are all good sources of aspartame. Store brands are fine, you're jsut looking for aspartame in the ingredients
PROS -
Visibly lowers pH
We know that people are using it and getting girls, including people who are not even swaying like Halle Berry, who I have read loves Diet Coke and drinks 8-10 a day!!
Can help us round out our sway diets because they are calorie free
You can use a SAFE AND SANE amount throughout your cycle and even into pg according to the FDA
Will not interact with the blood thinners or the hormonal supps
CONS -
Causes headaches, upset stomach, and weird taste in the mouth for many
Can cause feelings of anxiety and jitteriness for some
Can be somewhat expensive esp. if you are in a country where it is not widely sold
Is not sold in every country and may be difficult to find
Has only been on the market for about 30 years and is not really a "known" quantity - but is more "known" than some of the other things we do for swaying!!!
Some people believe it is not safe for overall health and certainly not during pg (but the FDA DOES in safe/sane amounts) and we have had at least two people on this site who got sick from aspartame and I myself had a bad reaction to Splenda, another artificial sweetener deemed "safe" by the FDA.
WARNING - the amount of aspartame advised by the Ingender site is neither safe nor sane and vastly exceeds the amount that the FDA recommends for pregnant women. DO NOT drink the 66-100 oz that IG recommends or I will come to your house and give you a stern talking to! Please stick with the 2-3 12 oz glasses that the FDA suggests. Also, DO NOT ingest aspartame warm as IG recommends. There is NO reliable scientific evidence that ions sway and beyond no evidence that drinking something warm as opposed to cold can sway gender in any way. However, there is some reliable scientific evidence that heating aspartame may cause it to break down into harmful components that are more dangerous than the aspartame itself. Even keeping Crystal Light at room temp may be dangerous in the summer.
HOW TO USE - Drink 2-3 12 oz beverages containing aspartame a day. Or, drink 2 and have a couple Yoplait Light yogurts, or 2 and use a couple packets of Equal on some berries...whatever floats your boat! Juice sticks are something you can carry in your purse for situations where you're out and about...they are tiny packets that can be mixed with a bottle of water and then drunk. Personally, I like the Ocean Spray cran-flavored juice sticks - they have no juice in them but are vitamin fortified with Vit. C so be aware of that.
FOR DH - DH can also use aspartame and ~may~ wish to drink even more than the 2-3 servings per day. Since he is a) probably larger than we women and b) will not be pg any time soon, he can get away with a little more than we can. 4-5 12 oz. servings for DH.
Other techniques for lowering pH include -
Vitamin C - 500 mg a day of Vitamin C helps to make you acidic and this has been recommended by various other websites. However, scientific evidence indicates that lower nutrient intake sways pink and higher nutrient intake sways blue. Vitamin C also thins cervical mucus by drawing in more fluid to it and it's an antioxidant which is good for overall fertility despite the fact that it acidifies. Vitamin C is not your best option for a pink sway and should be avoided if at all possible (some people are allergic to baby aspirin and cranberry and may choose to use Vit. C instead). 500 mg of Vit. C is considered safe during pregnancy and can be continued throughout your cycle HOWEVER since high dose Vit C. (1000-2000 mcg) can cause miscarriages and preterm birth, if you have experienced unexplained losses, you might want to avoid taking any more than the 100% RDA.
Drying up CM via diet and antihistamine - If you dry up your CM, you will allow the naturally low pH of the vagina to "replace" the higher pH of the EWCM (not really replace, because that low pH is always there, it's just that at ovulation the EWCM raises pH dramatically to allow sperm to survive) http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...ELP-TTC-A-GIRL
Weight loss - losing only a small amount of weight can drop your pH quickly. Esp. when you're losing weight on a low protein diet. Your body will burn off your fat and muscle for fuel and the byproducts of this process are highly acidic.
Acidophilus and other probiotics - Microorganisms release acidic by-products that can lower pH. It's good to take probiotics when swaying anyway to help prevent yeast infection. http://genderdreaming.com/forum/gend...nfections.html You may find that when you first take probiotics that your pH actually goes UP at first...if this happens to you, it's likely that you had a minor YI that was making you acidic, and the probiotics are counteracting it. Keep taking the probiotic for a few weeks and the good microorganisms will begin churning out acid on their own to replace what the yeast was doing.
Exercise - intense cardio exercise for 60 min a day or more, 6-7 days a week, will help acidify your body The Exercise Enigma - both genders
Lowering pH AFTER having intercourse - you'll prob want to do this anyway, but if you really can't get your pH down, there's always RepHresh or the other jellies. Complete guide to Replens and RepHresh
Sudafed for DH ONLY - People have been having success lowering their DH's pH with Sudafed. I am more tolerant of Sudafed for DH because the link with strokes was in young women and men overall seem to tolerate medications better due to their larger size. That having been said, use sparingly (don't give it to him at max dosage for many days in a row, just use once a day, about an hour before your attempt) and be very very wary if he is taking large doses of cran, prescription blood thinners, or licorice root (LR can cause higher blood pressure which can make one more likely to develop the type of stroke that causes bleeding in the brain like Sudafed does)
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...-ttc-pink.html
GUIDE TO SUPPLEMENTS FOR TTC PINK
Please note, these are not necessarily the same supps atomic thinks are best for swaying, just a quick overview of some common supps that people take for swaying.
These supplements are designed to accomplish many goals simultaneously. They help to lower pH, reduce testosterone levels, reduce the amount and dry up your cervical mucus, and increase the amount of calcium and magnesium in your CM.
You are looking to find the right supplements for you, to create stickier, drier CM with low pH that is rich in calcium and magnesium.
The amounts of the supplements listed are for safety purposes, regardless of the amount you weigh. More is not better. Do not exceed the amounts given!!!
You should begin to take supplements a minimum of 6 weeks before you begin ttc. It is best to start the 6 week time period during AF, that will enable you to take the AF-O supplements twice, for two weeks at a time during that 6 week period, and then the supps that are safe throughout your cycle for the entire 6 weeks.
Liquid supplements are best absorbed by the body.
SUPPLEMENTS FOR WIFE TO TAKE:
VITAMINS AND MINERALS:
*Folic Acid - THE MOST IMPORTANT SUPPLEMENT OF ALL! Folic acid is taken for the prevention of birth defects and miscarriage. Though it may sway slightly blue as all nutrients probably do, it is vitally important for all women to take, beginning months before they get pregnant.
You must take a minimum of 400 mcg; however, many prenatal vitamins contain 800 mcg. It is considered safe to take in higher quantities of up to 4000 mcg (equal to 4 mg), and if you are predisposed to neural tube defects anywhere in your family history, you should definitely take a higher dosage (after checking with your doctor). If you are taking a very large dose, it is most effective to take smaller dosages several times throughout the day, as excess is excreted in the urine. Some research has suggested that there may be a link between high folic acid intake and growth of some forms of cancer, but since we will only be taking it for a short time period, it is well worth the risk to ensure a healthy child.
Folic acid should be taken throughout the first four months of pregnancy, and after that point, if you are taking very high doses of it, you should wean yourself off of it very slowly. Do not quit taking it cold turkey or cut back drastically, give yourself a couple of months to cut back on the FA by taking less and less each week (you will have to split the pills in order not to cut back too far too fast - do not cut back more than ½ pill in a week‘s time). It is important to wean yourself off and not continue taking it until your baby is born, because some research indicates a link between asthmatic children and very high folic acid intake in the mother during the last weeks of pregnancy.
If you were taking 5 800 mcg tablets, you will have to take 4 tablets and split one of the tablets in half, taking 4 ½ tablets a day. The following week, you would then go ahead and take 4 tablets, until you are down to 400-800 mcg (the amount that will probably be present in your prenatal vitamin). You should continue to take 400-800 mcg in supplement form throughout your pregnancy - do not rely on dietary sources of FA, as it is best absorbed through supplements. And if you have a condition that inhibits the absorption of folic acid, you may want to continue at a higher dose like 1200-1600 mcg throughout your pregnancy. Consult your doctor if you are concerned about such a condition.
*Calcium - 1200 mg a day is safe during pregnancy and can be taken throughout your cycle. Remember, you will be getting at least some additional calcium through your diet - do not exceed 1800 mg of calcium in diet and supps combined, day in and day out for many months. Though your body can probably tolerate more than 1800 mg of calcium, in the long term higher calcium intake may cause kidney stones in some people. It is probably best to aim for more like 1000-1200 mg while pregnant, simply because we don't know. Calcium is best absorbed from foods, so the more you get through your diet, the less calcium supplementation you will need.
If you cannot swallow the large calcium pills, you can chew Tums as a calcium source instead. The chocolate chewy calcium candies are not a good option though, as chocolate contains phytonutrients that may sway blue.
*Vitamin D - You can take 400 IU throughout your cycle to assist with calcium absorption. It is also safe in this amount during pregnancy and may help to prevent preeclampsia. Vitamin D may raise testosterone levels.
*Magnesium - You should not exceed more than 300 mg of Magnesium in diet and supps combined. Be sure to keep a close eye on the amount of magnesium you are consuming in your diet, and then use mag. supplements to make up the difference. Too much magnesium can be dangerous, so err on the side of a little less rather than a little more, if you’re not sure. 300 mg a day is safe to continue during pg, may help to prevent premature labor, and can be taken throughout your cycle.
The first sign that you’re getting too much magnesium is diarrhea. If you develop diarrhea suddenly, cut back on your magnesium supps right away and see if that helps. That is a sign that you may not be able to tolerate as much magnesium as others can, and so you should take less.
You may be able to find calcium and magnesium together in one pill, sometimes with Vit. D included. If you choose to take these, be careful that in trying to get your 1200 mg of calcium, that you are not exceeding the recommendations for magnesium and Vitamin D.
*Vitamin C - 500 mg a day of Vitamin C helps to make you acidic and this has been recommended by various other websites. However, scientific evidence indicates that lower nutrient intake sways pink and higher nutrient intake sways blue. Vitamin C also thins cervical mucus by drawing in more fluid to it and it's an antioxidant which is good for overall fertility despite the fact that it acidifies. Vitamin C is not your best option for a pink sway and should be avoided if at all possible (some people are allergic to baby aspirin and cranberry and may choose to use Vit. C instead). This amount of Vit. C is considered safe during pregnancy and can be continued throughout your cycle.
*Vitamin B6 - Not everyone chooses to take B6 (keeping in mind that all nutrients may sway blue), but it can be helpful for some people with short luteal phases (the period of time between when you ovulate and when AF arrives - it should be minimum 10 days, and better 12-14 days), or who are not ovulating. It may help raise progesterone levels (which some believe sways pink), so some people who have normal luteal phases do take B6. However, the A-Gender company actually has stopped using B6 because they felt they were having too many opposites.
B6 is commonly available in doses of 25, 50, and 100 mg. Don’t take more than 100 mg, and only take the quantity you need to help lengthen your luteal phase. Some people find it helpful to take a smaller amount in the morning and then again at night, as excess is excreted in the urine, so rather than taking one 100 mg pill, it might be more effective to take a 50 mg pill in the morning and then again at night.
B6 has had some side effects in some people - it may delay or move up your ovulation, making it more difficult to use timing in your sway.
Doses up to 100 mg are considered safe during pregnancy and in fact many doctors recommend this dosage of B6 as a remedy for morning sickness. However, if you do choose to stop taking your B6 when you become pregnant, you will need to wean yourself off of it slowly. If you are taking 100 mg, the following week take 80 mg, then 60, 40, 20, and so on (you will have to split the pills to accomplish this). You will probably have at least some amount of B6 in your prenatal vitamin so after weaning yourself to the smaller amount present in your prenatal, you can simply count on your prenatal to continue B6 during your pregnancy.
NOTE - About vitamins and saving money - People have wondered if it is ok to take certain vitamins only AF-O to save money. Some believe that this is ok to do (and in fact some swayers have done so with no ill effects). However, research seems to indicate that it’s never a good idea to quit any vitamin cold turkey. This is your call to make, but be sure that you are taking the folic acid and the B6 throughout your cycle, and don’t stop either of them suddenly.
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...ements-dh.html
SUPPLEMENTS FOR DH
*Licorice Root - 450 mg 3 times a day, only from AF - O (his body needs a break from the licorice root for best results), and it should only be taken for 6 months, then he will need a month‘s break from it (should be timed to include the 2 week break he would be taking anyway, plus an additional 2 weeks. Licorice root will lower testosterone and raise estrogen.
Licorice root has affected the ability of some men to get and maintain an erection. Also, it does carry some risks.
*Other supplements - Your husband should take any of the supplements that you are taking (particularly cranberry, calcium, and magnesium), with the exception of the herbs (he should NOT take peppermint tea, vitex, Lydia Pinkham, Saw Palmetto) Also, keep in mind that zinc sways blue when taken by DH. WARNING - If your husband is already taking a prescription blood thinner, he should not take cranberry or baby aspirin.
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...depth-how.html
Saw Palmetto
SP is a berry from a tree that grows in tropical locations like Florida in the United States. It’s been used medicinally for at least 200 years and it’s likely the Seminole Tribe used it for hundreds of years before that.
How does it work? Welll…not even the experts really know that. It seems to interfere in the process that turns cholesterol into the sex hormones testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone, among others. This we are fairly sure about because on SP, your cholesterol levels go up while your levels of hormones go down…kinda. So whatever it’s doing, is somewhere in the middle of cholesterol and hormones.
Note for those who are unaware of the big three sex hormones (testosterone, estrogen, progesterone) and how they may sway - we are quite certain and several researchers have theorized and have data supporting the idea, that high, yet still normal testosterone levels in both men and women sway blue (testosterone levels raised artificially via steroids in males actually seem to sway pink by shrinking testicles and damaging sperm), less certain but still seems plausible (based on one theory specifically but also because estrogen = EWCM and estrogen can feminize guys and lower their sperm count) that higher estrogen in men sways pink, while lower estrogen in women sways pink (and vice versa).
However, it is not at all certain that high progesterone in women sways pink. One theory claims it does (Google, “William James gender ratio“) and IG has incorporated this into their sway, but atomic is not convinced that a) high or low prog sways either way because I’ve seen people with short/normal LP with both all boys and all girls (I have never had a short LP and I have 4 boys!) b)that even if high prog levels do sway pink, that we should attempt to or even CAN artificially raise those levels by taking supplements - it may be the underlying REASON for high prog in proportion to T and E that sways, not the levels themselves and c) that we even CAN alter those prog levels in isolation without raising T and E levels. All three hormones are made from the exact same raw ingredients and it’s highly likely that our bodies use signals from the environment to decide how much of each to make from those raw materials - in other words, we DON‘T get a big boost of progesterone because there is progesterone in eggs. Our bodies use the fat and cholesterol in egg yolk to make whatever hormones it thinks you need and if it thinks you need testosterone to survive/thrive, it‘s going to MAKE testosterone even if eggs have some nominal quantity of progesterone in them.
Ok now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s look at the big 3 and see what SP does for them.
Lowers testosterone - well not really… We take SP ostensibly to lower our testosterone, but it turns out that SP does not actually lower levels of testosterone in the blood. What it does do is prevent the body from turning regular, garden-variety testosterone into something called “dihydrotestosterone” (DHT) which is the form of testosterone your body uses to perform a lot of functions. If you take SP, this is why it’s CRITICAL to follow an LE Diet approach or use skim dairy with the FGD/IGD and limit eggs, because the diet will help keep your cholesterol levels at least somewhat under control and the one-two punch of reducing your body’s raw materials while the SP interferes in the process of making DHT, will help get those T levels down. And if you lose some muscle mass via weight loss at the same time, even better because muscle is what sends your body the message to make testosterone to begin with. So SP needs to be PART of a larger sway - you can’t just pop a pill unfortunately.
Lowers estrogen - or does it? Some sources have SP listed as an anti-estrogen and in fact it has been shown to lower estrogen levels in the blood and can interfere with estrogen-based birth control pills by blocking their effectiveness. But at the same time, men taking SP have reported breast growth and some women have taken it for the same reason. Plus, I know of at least one person on this site who was taking a larger dose than is usu. recommended and ended up with very high estrogen levels. What is going on? Well, apparently at times, when our body cannot make DHT from testosterone, it decides to take that testosterone and use it to make estrogen instead. Yes, your body makes estrogen FROM testosterone!! And DHT is a form of testosterone that cannot BE converted to estrogen; in fact DHT is kind of a “testosterone bank account“ where it is protected from being converted to estrogen. In effect, you trade one good thing (lowering levels of circulating estrogen in your blood) for one VERY bad thing (your body begins to produce massive amounts of estrogen in lieu of DHT). This is why you sometimes see SP listed as having both estrogenic and anti-estrogenic qualities.
Here’s a simplified version from a weightlifting site.
Saw palmetto = Less DHT
Less DHT = less acne, less male pattern baldness, less prostate enlargement
Less DHT = more testosterone not converted to DHT
DHT cannot convert to estrogen, like regular testosterone can
More testosterone not converted to DHT = more regular testosterone able to convert to estrogen
Thus, Saw palmetto = potentially more estrogen
One crazy fabulous bit of info I saw on a weightlifting site claims that zinc prevents testosterone from converting into estrogen. So while I normally do not advise taking zinc because nutrients tend to sway blue (and DH should NEVER take zinc for pink swaying because he wants high estrogen) if you are prone to estrogen dominance and want to take SP to lower your testosterone levels, you ~may~ wish to take a zinc supp of 8-10 mg a day. Other than tahini, which is a great source of zinc, all three sway diets are rather on the low side for zinc and it‘s not stored well in the body like most other minerals are. Please note, I do not know how if this even works or how this will sway but I did want people to have the info.
Raises progesterone - not really!! IG has SP listed as a “phytoprogesterone” (plant source of progesterone) and claims that it will “gently raise prog levels”. This is totally untrue. First of all (as discussed above) your body does NOT get its hormones from the foods you eat, it manufactures ALL hormones from the fats and cholesterols in said foods. Vegans who never touch red meat (has testosterone) or chicken/eggs (has progesterone) can make AMPLE amounts of these hormones out of plant-based fats like palm oil, coconut oil, and avocado and they have both boys and girls.
Secondly, I have looked into the “phyto” hormone claims made by IG extensively (they also claim that soy is a “phyto”estrogen and therefore raises estrogen) and it turns out that this claim is entirely without basis in fact. Actually, “phyto” hormones can REDUCE the effectiveness of your body’s naturally manufactured hormones in several ways. A) your body may detect these “phyto” hormones and diminish production of its own natural hormones accordingly - so you end up with less of what you WANT for swaying and then your body uses any raw materials to make other hormones instead that you may NOT want. B) your body’s hormone receptors try to bond with the “phyto” hormones, but because they are NOT the same as your body’s natural hormones, the bond is incomplete/ineffective. These “phyto” hormones actually end up BLOCKING and interfering with the function of your body’s natural hormones, rendering them less effective and effectively lowering the amount of work they can do. C) flooding your body with abnormal levels of hormones of ANY type, be they natural or “phyto” can end up creating a situation where your hormone receptors become sort of overwhelmed and quit “listening” even to the natural hormones, just like our bodies can become insulin resistant after a lifetime of eating too much sugar.
So if you’re trying to raise prog, ’phyto”progesterones can be bad 3 times over - you may start making less natural prog and more T and E, the prog you do make will be less able to bond with hormone receptors because the “phyto”prog got there first, and your hormone receptors themselves may become less sensitive to all forms of progesterone. But don’t panic. Remember, we don’t even KNOW that we want high levels of prog for TTC a girl!!! And we DO KNOW that we want less testosterone and may want less estrogen too. I think it’s well worth the risk (esp. taking it for such a short time as we do.)
Safety and efficacy: It does work, we know this 100%, as well as prescription drugs and is even prescribed by doctors in Europe and Japan. It’s been studied somewhat and seems to be relatively safe, altho in the interest of full disclosure I want everyone to know that my FIL took SP daily for years (10-12 years) for his prostate and has now developed ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) which is a fatal disease. It is prob. unrelated but since I had used him as kind of my “canary in a coal mine” with SP safety, I just wanted to let people know this. The limited amount of time we will be taking the SP probably negates any risk, but with all sway tactics, it may behoove you to forgo some of the less-proven, pregnancy-preventing sway tactics such as strict timing and just try to get pg in the span of 3 months or so.
What has not been studied is the effect on a pregnancy and breastfeeding. SP seems to leave the body very quickly (1-3 days at very most and some studies reported it was gone in a matter of hours) and I believe that taking the SP AF-O in the months of our attempt is safe.
I would NOT take SP while BF and I would never ever ever ever take it when BF a baby boy.
Also, everyone, please be sure to take a pg test EVERY month before resuming your AF-O herbs, even if you are certain you’re not pg. Even if you have AF, you can still be pg and this actually happened to me.
WARNING - SP can act as a blood thinner altho it seems less effective than cran/baby aspirin. Take great care when using SP with baby aspirin, cranberry, or any prescription blood thinners you may be on.
WARNING 2 - You can’t take SP with Clomid - more about this in the dosage section.
Other concerns:
For anyone concerned about the environment and endangered species, SP is being collected from the wild using non-sustainable practices and sold illegally by people who have no concern for protecting the environment. This is wreaking havoc with the delicate environment of the area, harming growth of the SP plant itself and SP berries are a very important part of the diet of the endangered Florida black bear among other endangered species. Stick with a name brand SP (it’s safest to do that anyway) that is harvested sustainably.
DOSAGE: 320 mg of standardized extract per day from AF-O. Test for pg every month before resuming the SP even if you are certain you’re not pg (even if you got AF).
IF you want to, you CAN take it for a full 6 weeks prior to beginning your sway (so you would take it AF-AF-O) but I don’t want people going any longer than that. DON’T start taking it months in advance of your sway because we just don’t know how it will affect your body/fertility. Be sure to use reliable birth control and test for pg before you begin taking the SP.
If you’re on Clomid and would still like to take SP, you can take it the entire month before your first attempt AF-AF (be sure to take a pg test first) then stop on CD1 and take your Clomid on CD 3-5 as per your doctor’s instructions.
For DH??? Since SP may have some effect on lowering estrogen, it’s prob. best to stick with licorice root for DH.
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...depth-how.html
Peppermint/Spearmint Tea
If you decide saw palmetto is not for you, another option is peppermint or spearmint tea.
Mint has been used since ancient times both as food/drink and medicinally, across many continents. As herbal supplements go, is quite well studied and affordable and is sustainably harvested (you can even grow it yourself in your yard but be warned, it will take over!). Much less of an unknown than our other herbal supplements are. Dietary amounts (1 cup a day no more than 4 times a week, or 2 cups now and then) are believed to be perfectly safe, even in pregnancy.
I do not advise drinking STRAIGHT mint tea daily during pregnancy – I’m sure we all know many people who have done it safely and you may have even done it yourself, but I personally do not recommend it. Some pregnancy teas have mint in them, but this is in smaller amounts and should be safe. I also do not recommend drinking ANY mint tea or blends during the 2WW if you are already USING large doses of mint tea from AF-O because the hormonal effects will already be built up in your body and it may only take a small amount to continue that effect.
Breastfeeding – it is probably safe to use mint while breastfeeding a healthy toddler older than a year, but I would err on the side of caution and stick to only 1 cup a day (if you’re BF a 4 year old once a day, of course, you may use the full dose). ~Personally~ I would not use peppermint while BF a boy baby but it’s probably fine. I would not use peppermint while BF an infant with any underlying health issues at all or a child younger than 1 year of age. Peppermint has been proven to decrease milk supply even in pretty small amounts, so be on the lookout for any unexplained reduction in milk quantity.
I prefer that you guys drink the tea rather than using mint in supplement forms and particularly avoid straight peppermint/spearmint oils – the active ingredients are so concentrated that you will get too much. If you don't like mint tea, try mint water instead (this stuff is really tasty!) Metromint | pure water + real mint = refreshment beyond flavor.
How does mint sway? Some evidence indicates that mint teas help lower testosterone while still keeping LH and FSH high (one problem with some methods of lowering T, is that LH and FSH may also drop and that interferes with ovulation.) However, at the same time mint lowers testosterone, some evidence indicates that it may raise estrogen, which we DON’T want for pink. That having been said, if you’re losing body fat your estrogen will be dropping regardless and so mint tea may still be a viable choice for you.
Mints may sway in other ways as well – some research indicates that compounds in mint block absorption of nutrients (if you’re anemic to begin with, avoid mint!) and may help lower blood sugar.
How to use mint – Dosage for DW - 3 cups a day, AF-O only. You may want to take it with meals because it contains compounds that block absorption of nutrients from foods and also may lower blood sugar. After doing this research, it looks to me like it is good for DH OR DW and so if your husband cannot do licorice root due to being overweight or having high blood pressure, you may want to give him peppermint tea instead (men WANT higher estrogen and lower testosterone for pink, and mint also appears lowers sperm count/quality as well.) Dosage for DH – 4 cups a day thruout cycle.
Studies:
Elsevier (peppermint reduces androgens in rats)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...78691508004523 (spearmint reduces androgens in rats and may lower sperm count/quality)
Effect of spearmint (Mentha spicata Labiatae) ... [Phytother Res. 2007] - PubMed - NCBI (spearmint reduces hirsuitism in women with PCOS)
Spearmint herbal tea has significant anti-andr... [Phytother Res. 2010] - PubMed - NCBI (appears to refute the above study due to methodological problems)
Detection of estrogenic activity in herbal teas by in vitro reporter assays - Springer (peppermint may raise estrogen NOTE – if you have PCOS, you may also be somewhat estrogen dominant to begin with and so using mint as a way to lower testosterone may aggravate estrogen dominance.)
Peppermint is also commonly said to lower blood sugar levels, but if such a study exists, I can’t find it.
Can peppermint/spearmint cause harm? YES. Pep tea has been promoted as a safer, gentler version of Saw Palmetto but my research seems to indicate that while saw palmetto is more of an unknown (it has not been studied as much as mints have been) overall, it seemed equally safe as mint, if not even a bit more so.
Do not use peppermint/spearmint if you have gall bladder disease (it has been shown to increase production of bile which may aggravate your gallstones). If you have GERD or find that once you start using mint, you suddenly have severe heartburn, you need to stop using it.
Do not use mint if you have any thyroid issues or are taking medication for your thyroid.
Do not use mint if you are anemic, especially if you have given up meats for sway diets – mint will block absorption of the iron in your vegetables.
Mint is known to interact with MANY prescription drugs so if you’re on medication for any reason, please doublecheck with a pharmacist to make sure that it is safe (and let them know you are using more than dietary amounts. Mint should NOT be taken with Clomid because Clomid works by raising testosterone temporarily, and the mint interferes with that.
Mint is closely related to another plant called pennyroyal which was traditionally used to induce abortion and is not safe to use during the 2WW.
Effect of Mentha piperita (Labiatae) and ... [Toxicol Ind Health. 2004] - PubMed - NCBI (reduces iron absorption)
Investigation of biochemical and histopathol... [Hum Exp Toxicol. 2004] - PubMed - NCBI (may harm the liver)
The effect of Mentha spicata Labiatae on ... [Toxicol Ind Health. 2006] - PubMed - NCBI (may harm the uterus)
Investigation of biochemical and histopathol... [Hum Exp Toxicol. 2003] - PubMed - NCBI (peppermint does not seem to harm kidneys bu
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...technique.html
Jump and Dump and the Semen Emitting Technique
Or, J&D and the SET!
These are techniques to reduce the amount of sperm and most importantly, semen, in your vagina. Semen is the male analogue of EWCM, it helps keep a lot of sperm alive and is high in pH. Since we want lower numbers of sperm and lower pH, it's important to get rid of as much semen as possible.
Jump and dump is really simple, you just hop up right after DTD and clean yourself up, wiping off whatever excess semen you can.
The Semen Emitting Technique (from Taking Charge of Your Fertility) is a slightly more complicated version of the same thing, but will get rid of more semen, and therefore sperm. Get up right after BD and go to the bathroom. Using tissues, wipe yourself off as much as you can. Gently push to expel as much semen as possible - no need to get carried away though. Then urinate (it's always a good idea to urinate after DTD anyway to prevent UTI's), while starting and stopping the ****** a few times and contracting your vaginal muscles (Kegels). Wipe away the semen after every contraction. Most of the semen will be gone by the time you're done urinating.
Some old wives tales claim that jump and dump sways for a girl because the Y sperm all fall out and the X stay behind to fertilize the egg. Obviously this is very silly. The point is to get rid of as much semen as possible and thin out the numbers of sperm, since lower sperm count seems to sway pink.
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...om-method.html
The Hole in the Condom method
This is an easy method that will help sway pink by reducing sperm count.
- Use a spermicidal silicone or polypropylene (NOT latex) condom and poke a hole in it with a safety pin. Try to get one with a "reservoir tip". Poke a hole in the TIP of the condom so it will be less likely to tear. (If you get it slightly on the bottom by mistake, don't worry about it. The odds are small that it will break, but you may want to use extra lube to make sure. It's the friction that causes the condom to stretch and tear. Or use another condom if that feels safer to you.)
- You may wish to put a small dab of spermicide about 1/2 dime INSIDE the condom, but this may be too much of a good thing. You can also douche, use Replens/Acijel/RepHresh, and/or even add a bit of additional spermicide with this method, but keep in mind that the more you do to make the environment hostile, the lower your odds of pregnancy will be.
- DTD for a few minutes before ejaculation to make sure the spermicide gets evenly distributed throughout the vagina. Using a lube such as Sylk will help distribute the spermicide, lubricate, and sways pink a little bit on its own too.
- Test beforehand to see how much semen comes out of the tip. Some people have had better results poking the condom OUT of the wrapper. If nothing seems to comes out, you may want to try poking a couple more holes, but each hole poked increases the odds that the condom will fail. And/or have your husband stay inside for five minutes after ejaculation to make sure some sperm have had a chance to make it through the hole. Remember, sperm are very very tiny so even if you don't see any coming out, it doesn't mean they're not there.
- DON'T use the leftover sperm in the condom for TBM. If you're relying on sperm count to sway, turning around and doing TBM with the remaining sperm is pointless.
- It is probably best NOT to take anything to reduce your CM with this technique (antihistamine, Sudafed, Clomid, etc) You may also wish to DTD every day you have EWCM through O to increase your odds of pregnancy. With so few sperm, you will need to enable them to reach the egg with as few losses as possible and the sperm will have little semen to protect them, so this is a rare case for swaying pink where you actually WANT a lot of EWCM. If you're really serious about swaying and want to do EVERYTHING, just be aware it may take some time for you to conceive using HIC without any fertile CM.
- Whether you go for deep or shallow ejaculation depends on how many other techniques you are using. If you're doing a lot that will prevent pregnancy, (drying up CM, using additional spermicide, douching) you will want deep penetration and orgasm very close to the safety of the cervix. If you're not doing anything other than HIC and you have a lot of EWCM, then you can try a more shallow ejaculation if you like.
- If the condom should break, don't panic. Use the Semen Emitting Technique http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...ting-Technique to get rid of as much semen as possible and you can douche or use spermicide to kill off/wash away most of the rest.
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...periences.html
Spermicide for swaying PINK! And share your experiences!!!
The idea that spermicide may sway pink has been around for a LOONG time. I remember my mom talking about it 25 years ago. We all know some friend of a friend who had a spermicide failure and ended up conceiving a baby girl, it seems. Some scientific evidence seems to indicate that spermicide use really does sway pink. Spermicide use and pregnancy outcome. [Am J Public Health. 1988] - PubMed - NCBI FWIW, anecdotally, I have heard of WAY more girls conceived with spermicide/diaphragm failure than boys. Even my OBGYN remarked upon it.
That having been said, there is at least one other study that seems to indicate that spermicides don't sway Vaginal spermicides and outcome of pregnancy: ... [Contraception. 1982] - PubMed - NCBI
Regardless of this conflicting info, since spermicides are perfectly safe to use - the safety of spermicide was verified in the study above and in this study Are there adverse effects of periconceptional ... [Fertil Steril. 1985] - PubMed - NCBI and this metaanalysis Spermicidal contraceptives and poor repr... [Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1985] - PubMed - NCBI (a study of many studies LOL) and they DO lower sperm count which sways pink, I feel that spermicide is a GREAT addition to a swaying arsenal.
One more note about safety - spermicides really have gotten a bad rap over the last couple decades, but the main reason for this is because they don't protect against HIV and because hormonal birth control was more reliable and more profitable for manufacturers. They used to be the method of choice for married couples and are really quite safe. That having been said, you or your DH may be allergic to them. If so, stop using them.
Various types of Spermicides -
Jelly/Gel/Cream/Foam - Contraceptive jelly, gel, foam, or cream (brand names include Gynol II, Ramses, Ortho, Encare, VCF, Lanzas, Gygel, Contragel) come in tubes with applicators like Replens/RepHresh and are usually used with a diaphragm or condom for providing extra protection. (but we won't be ) Most contain nonoxynol 9, but Contragel does not. These products start working immediately - this may be a drawback for swaying (see below). However, their advantage it that you can easily use smaller amounts, mix them with other products like Sylk or Acijel, and better direct where in the vagina the spermicide goes. They can also provide lubrication which as we all know when swaying pink, can be an issue. The spermicidal effect lasts for 30 minutes-1 hour depending on the individual brand, and you are supposed to reapply it if you DTD more than once. The inactive ingredients in Gynol II, Ortho, Gygel, Contragel contain lactic acid, while the Lanzas brand cream contains citric acid, and the VCF foam contains benzoic !!!!!!and ACETIC!!!! acid, so these may also be good for lowering pH at the same time.
VCF - Vaginal Contraceptive Film (brand name VCF) is a thin sheet of film containing the spermicide nonoxynol-9. It melts into a thick gel so it will act as a barrier to immobilize sperm - you are supposed to insert it right in front of your cervix, but you may not want to do that for swaying. VCF must be inserted 15 minutes before intercourse to work effectively and it's good for up to only one hour after initial insertion. The benefits to VCF are that you can use smaller pieces than you are supposed to use, or even that you could insert it a short while AFTER DTD to prevent any more sperm from moving into the cervical crypts. WARNING - the main ingredient of VCF is glycerine which has a pH of 7.
Suppositories/Inserts/Tablets/Pessaries (Brand name Encare) - These are little nuggets of concentrated spermicide (nonoxynol 9) that melt or dissolve into a thick foam that blocks the cervix. The suppository is supposed to be inserted as close to the cervix as possible, which we may or may not choose to do depending on when we use them - you may choose to use one after DTD to prevent any more sperm from going into the vagina. After inserting them, you are then supposed to wait 10-15 minutes, so the contraceptive insert can dissolve into a foamy substance (another rule that may be made to be broken.) Suppositories are believed to be less effective than the other spermicides, because it is hard to know if they have fully dissolved (for swayers, that may be an advantage.) You can't break them up (well you can but it's kinda messy and difficult) so they may be more difficult to use in smaller amounts than other methods - although they are actually the easiest to use overall. WARNING - two of the ingredients in the Encare brand are baking soda and Cream of Tartar - this is to help them dissolve in your vagina but they may make you more alkaline.
How to use spermicide in swaying -
This is kind of uncharted territory here so if you can think of other/better ways to use spermicide, or if you want to share your personal experience with spermicide, PLEASE do!! These are just the strategies that occur to me and is in no way all-inclusive.
You ~may~ wish to avoid too many other methods of swaying when you're using spermicide. It may be too much of a good thing. You NEED to have some sperm, some EWCM, and for your cervix to be open and not blocked by thick foam, to be able to conceive. You must pick a strategy that allows you to reduce your fertility by as much as you are able to, while still enabling you to get pregnant.
Method #1 MIX AND MATCH - Using a small amount of spermicide along with your other products right before and/or DTD. Probably best with the jelly/cream/foams, if you use a tiny squirt of spermicide, like a nickel or even a dime-sized amount, along with the swaying gels/lubes, this may give you some additional benefit. Drawbacks - may kill off too many sperm, or conversely, may not even do anything.
Method #2 - THE WAITING GAME - Using the full amount (or less if you want) spermicide well in advance of DTD. All the different brands of spermicide advise DTD within 30 minutes to an hour of inserting the spermicide - so try waiting 2,3,4, hours afterwards and DTD then.
Method #3 - HURRY UP AND WAIT - Use a suppository or film, but DTD right away (or you could also use a TBM immediately) before it has a chance to dissolve. I believe this would be best at ovulation up through 0+12, NOT with a cutoff because we want the sperm to leave the vagina right away and not hang around in the crypts for too long. I also believe that you should avoid doing anything to dry up your cervical mucus (such as antihistamines or Sudafed) if you choose this method, because you want the sperm to be headed for the egg before that film/suppository dissolves.
Method #4 - AFTER THE FACT - Use a suppository or film but insert it immediately AFTER you have DTD. It will take 10-15 minutes to melt and by that time, some sperm will have swum to safety. You could even try this with the jelly/cream/foam if you insert it shallowly into the vagina and/or if you wait for 5 or 10 minutes afterwards to give the sperm a chance to swim to safety. This method is probably better if you are BD at O or O+12.
Method #5 - DO IT AGAIN - Have intercourse once using a spermicide exactly as designed on the label. Then, DTD a second time at least 1 hour later (or TBM with second ejaculation) WITHOUT using any more spermicide. This will work in two ways, not only because of the spermicide wearing off, but also because DTD twice will lower DH's sperm count.
Method #6 - WITH BARRIER - Use a diaphragm with spermicide or the Today/Protectaid/Pharmatex sponge as directed, but take it out after only an hour. (you are supposed to leave these in for 6 hours after DTD) This seems like a good strategy with a cutoff because you're removing most of the spermicide and leaving behind some of the sperm.
Method #7 - BE PREPARED - Use the full amount of spermicide every day for a week prior to your attempt. Do NOT use any spermicide the day of your attempt. (give it at least 12 hours, so you could do it in the morning if you were going to attempt late at night.) In one of the studies I posted above that seemed to debunk the idea that spermicide swayed pink, they did find that using spermicide in the days and weeks prior to conceiving a child (meaning, the women were actually trying to prevent pregnancy and used spermicide regularly, but got "swept away" or ran out of spermicide and DTD anyway without using anything). This may have been just a coincidence, or there could be something in the residue of old spermicide that sways pink somehow. This seems like a good strategy to try with a cutoff.
Method #8 - HOLE IN CONDOM METHOD http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...ht=hole+condom This seems like a good idea with a cutoff because there will be very little spermicide left behind.
Method #9 - IN NO HURRY - Use the full amount of spermicide as directed whenever you DTD and EWCM is present. 25% of couples will be pregnant in a year (as opposed to 85% who try naturally). If you are a person who tends to stress over swaying and you don't think you can stick to the diet, I don't think you should discount this method.
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http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...cream-how.html
raising progesterone through diet, B-6 and prog cream HOW TO
Some research indicates that higher levels of progesterone may help to sway pink. High progesterone during avian meiosis biases sex ratios toward females (yes, this is in birds which I usually do not use because their reproductive systems are too far removed from humans, but I just thought it was interesting.) However, some research indicates the opposite http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2056485?log$=activity and it may very well be that you need to lower levels of ALL sex hormones to sway pink, while raising them all sway blue. (see the previous study cited and also Elsevier)
Overally, though, traditional swaying lore holds that higher levels of progesterone with lower levels of estrogen and testosterone in females, sway pink.
HOW CAN I TELL IF I HAVE LOW PROGESTERONE LEVELS?
A short luteal phase (less than 13 days between ovulation and AF) especially with spotting before AF is a good indicator of low progesterone, and if you are charting, your luteal phase temps might be on the low side...rather than seeing a big jump between your temps before ovulation and after, your jump might only be a few tenths of a degree different. You can get a feel for this by looking at a lot of other people's charts on Ovulation Calendar and Ovulation Chart - Fertility Charting
Here are some ways to up your progesterone level naturally.
1. Soy. Soybeans contain progesterone's precursor form called diosgenin.
2. Mexican Wild Yam. Also contains diosgenin. Yams and sweet potatoes sold in the grocery store are not the same thing.
3. Fenugreek, turmeric, thyme, and oregano. Said to lower estrogen while raising progesterone, correcting "estrogen dominance".
4. Cow's milk. Cow's milk has high levels of progesterone in it, BUT also contains high levels of estrogen. Also, many of the hormones are carried in the fat, so if you're drinking skim milk, you may not benefit from them. Watch the sodium levels in cow's milk, they're quite high.
5. Egg yolk. Egg yolk has progesterone, but it's not known if the human body can utilize it. High in cholesterol which may sway blue.
6. Vit. B-6 may help raise progesterone. It can affect your cycle either positively (if you are irregular or have a short luteal phase) or negatively (if your menstrual cycle is very regular). Start by taking 25 mg a day and move up from there. Do not take more than 200 mg and it is probably best to err on the side of less. You may want to buy pills that are in small increments and take several small doses throughout the day rather than one big one. Do not quit B-6 cold turkey if you get a BFP, wean yourself off gradually. Small amounts of B-6 are safe to take throughout the first trimester and may actually help with morning sickness. Traditional swaying lore holds B6 as a pink-friendly nutrient BUT the A-Gender company has stopped using it for pink swayers because they felt it was causing too many opposites to be conceived.
7. Poultry - White meat chicken and turkey has naturally occuring progesterone but it is unknown if your body can utilize it. High in protein, so they may sway blue by maintaining muscle mass and raising testosterone.
8. Beef testicles aka "Rocky Mountain Oysters" - They have high levels of progesterone but are loaded with cholesterol, which can help raise testosterone.
9. Reduce stress. Stress may elevate testosterone and estrogen while blocking progesterone.
10. Progesterone cream. Raises progesterone, not only for swaying purposes but also for lenthening luteal phase in women who are having problems with short LP. Can be purchased online or at a natural food store. The cream should contain 20mg of progesterone per 1/4 tsp.
Apply 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. once or twice a day (as with everything for swaying, it's best to start with less and work up from there) over an area of your body that contains fat, like the stomach, thighs, or upper arms. Do not apply the cream to your breasts or face and apply it to a different area every time you use it.
Start using the cream as soon as you are sure you have ovulated (this can be challenging to know because the prog cream might affect your temps). Some sources say to begin it on CD 10/12/14 regardless of ovulation, but if you use it in advance of ovulation, it may prevent you from ovulating. It's best to start using it 2-3 days after you ovulate, otherwise it can act like a birth control pill and prevent you from getting pregnant. If you're not TTC, stop using the cream a day or two before you expect your period (12-14 days after you began the cream), and you should start your period a couple days later.
If you're TTC and think you may be pregnant while using the prog. cream, it is VERY IMPORTANT to continue taking the same dosage of cream EVERY DAY throughout the first trimester. DO NOT skip a day or miss a dose because you will run the risk of miscarrying. DO NOT stop taking it without taking a pregnancy test at 14 DPO every month! EVEN if you get what you think is a period, because you can have something that seems like a normal period but you are still pregnant (this actually happened to me!) DO NOT stop using that prog. cream without a BFN at 14 DPO.
If you get a BFP you should run, not walk to your doctor's office and see what he/she advises you to do. You may be put onto a prescription level of cream.
Some people imagine that they could use the prog cream every day in the months leading up to TTC to raise their progesterone levels really high. I don't know if that's a good idea. Our hormones are in a very delicate balance and we are SUPPOSED to have low progesterone/high estrogen during the early part of our cycle. Those levels of hormones determine the quality of our eggs and whether we even ovulate at all. It's best to use it 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, like Mother Nature intended our cycles of progesterone to be. It will be stored in your fat for later use even at this rate.
Hope this helps!!
