Our very own Alex Goldberg, LAc, Dipl OM has been featured in the latest November posting on ConceiveOnline.com. He responded to a Conceive reader's question about the role nutrition plays in fertility. The reader specifically requested an explanation of "dampness". So how does nutrition affect fertility?

Nutrition is a very important part of TCM and when explaining it to our patients we usually like to start with the idea of dampness. You can think of dampness as a kind of blockage in your body. Not surprisingly, if the blockage is in your reproductive organs it can make it a lot harder to get pregnant. Dampness can be created by either external or internal factors. Internally, it is directly related to the foods we eat. The main instigators include alcohol; fried, greasy, and spicy foods; cold and raw foods like salads, fruits, and vegetables; and the biggest culprit of them all – dairy, including milk, cheese and butter. With the severe role that blockage already plays in fertility, we generally ask our patients to avoid dairy, and other dampness contributors, as best they can, during the month leading up to and during pregnancy.

You can read the whole article at: http://www.conceiveonline.com/articles/how-do-nutrition-and-acupuncture-work-together-enhance-fertility

We have also been hard at work creating our own proprietary videos on Acupuncture, Nutrition, and Fertility, which were produced by our good friend, an Emmy nominated producer. You can see one of the videos on our home page or here: http://vimeo.com/31466445

Some other things you may not know about us that we have been doing:

1. Alex has been writing a book on weight loss which will be published shortly.

2. For the past several years we have been donating our services to PS 321 here in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

3. We have been teaming up with other local practitioners to hold lectures on fertility at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture.

4. This Spring we are planning a charity event to benefit the ASPCA.