Milk, ghee, and infertility

“Hello,
I remember once hearing Dr. Teitelbaum speaking about women being unable to become pregnant due to lack of whole milk and ghee in the diet.
I currently have a “dairy-free” friend who is having trouble getting pregnant.
I was wondering if Dr. T (or Vaidye) could outline some of the key things that every couple should consider before conceiving (e.g. detox), if unable to conceive, and after conceiving.
Thank you,
– Joseph R.”

Dr Teitelbaum responds:
“When I was younger, women stayed at home while their husbands went out to work. They had as many children as they wanted -­ many had 3, 4, 5, 6 or more. We never heard of the word “infertility” back then. Then, in the early 1970’s women went into the work force, working full-time jobs, while trying to maintain their household duties as well. Then, slowly but surely, women began to experience infertility. Now, it is almost at epidemic levels. So let’s see what happens in the physiology when someone is under stress.

From an Ayurvedic perspective, Vata dosha (remember this is the element in nature of air, lightness, dryness, movement, coldness) goes out of balance when there is too much stress placed on the physiology. Since it is the element of movement, too much movement, such as working too many hours in the day without having enough rest, will throw Vata out of balance.

In particular, the subdosha Apana Vata, that which resides in the pelvic and low back regions, will go out of balance. This is where the uterus and ovaries are located. So when apana vata becomes imbalanced, the uterus and ovaries become disrupted.

So, first you must check and see if the patient has vata disturbed, and especially apana vata.
If so, they must be instructed as to how to keep vata (anda pana, and other vata subdoshas that might be out of balance) balanced. Some things that come to mind, might be (and if she were a patient of mine, we would get much more specific): go to bed by 10:00 p.m., don’t rush during the day, don’t over-extend the senses, such as talking too much or too quickly. Since Vata is the element of coldness and dryness, we would recommend an unctuous diet utilizing warm cooked foods, as opposed to cold or raw foods. Unctuous means that the diet would contain whole milk and ghee.

(There are numerous other considerations we must take into account, but here we are only discussing why someone might need more milk and ghee in the diet to help make them more fertile).

Unfortunately, we are living at a time when low-fat diets are in vogue, partly because modern medicine has convinced us that cholesterol clogs the arteries. We try to re-educate the patients that come to our office so they can see why cholesterol is in fact good for you, if you eat the right kind, which is not channel-clogging, such as warm milk and ghee.

If you combine living in a stressful world with a low-fat or even worse, a vegan or raw foods diet, then Vata dosha will definitely go out of balance increasing one’s infertility.

And one other thing to always keep in mind -­ the female hormones that make you fertile -­ estrogen and progesterone -­ are made out of cholesterol…and so are the adrenal gland stress hormones! So we must give our bodies the raw materials to make these hormones.”

Dr. Marianne Teitelbaum
Cinnaminson, New Jersey
856-786-3330