Be Fruitful: The Essential Guide to Maximizing Fertility and Giving Birth to a Healthy Child

by Victoria Maizes, Andrew Weil

From an internationally recognized integrative physician, a thorough guide to fertility that encompasses all aspects of female well-being to help women prepare their bodies for easy conception, pregnancy, and the delivery of healthy babies.

The increase in environmental toxins, processed foods, and stress, as well as the advancing ages at which couples seek to have children, have made it more difficult for women to conceive. In Be Fruitful, Dr. Victoria Maizes, an expert on women’s health and the executive director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, delivers all the information women and their partners need in order to conceive with ease and confidence, and to bear healthy children.

Warm, friendly, and hands-on, Be Fruitful offers a comprehensive self-assessment to help identify any potential physical, emotional, and practical roadblocks that may interfere with conception, as well as clear and easy-to-follow dietary, supplemental, and exercise recommendations proven to increase optimal fertility. Dr. Maizes details how nutrition, mind-body practices, elimination of environmental toxins, and traditional Chinese medicine can all contribute to a successful pregnancy.

Unique in its integrative approach, Be Fruitful acknowledges that wellness comes from caring for the entire person—not just the physical body—a crucial factor for the countless women trying to conceive and committed to transforming their overall health.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Self Help

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 5, 2013

Reviews

[Tara]

Another in my long list of fertility research. I swear, I'm going to get my PhD in Making Babies (ha! Another title of a book I've read!). I spotted this one on the "New" shelf at the library, so I grabbed it. A really great, general overview of just about everything else I've already read (she references tooons of studies - from the Fertility Diet, Alice Domar (who I really love, but hate the titles on her books), etc.

I used to embarrassed about having these books on GoodReads, but you know? It's actually coming in handy as friends are asking me where to start and what books are helpful (vs terrifying).
Actually, this kind of reframe is the best thing I took from this book. I just read one sentence towards the end (there's a chapter on Spirituality!) that struck me. It helped me reframe this entire thing as a "rite of passage", instead of a "struggle". And it's true! I've changed my life in SO many ways since first undertaking this project (writing + publishing a book - because if not before the baby, then when? Exercising + losing weight - to increase my odds. Facing lots of fears and hidden beliefs about parenthood, doctors and well, just my body.)

So! No more shame about reading all this. It's been eye-opening and educational and if there's one thing I value, it's education, so why would this be any different?

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read a lot of fertility books from both western and eastern perspectives. Many of them focus on one aspect of pregnancy preparation (reducing toxins, a healthy diet, exercise, meditation, medication, ART, etc.) I would recommend this one above the others as it does a good job going over all these points from both perspectives. As well, there is just enough information on each topic to be instructive without going into too much detail. Excellent!

[Stephanie Coleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I read this book and then shortly after successfully got pregnant with our last baby after lots of months of trying unsuccessfully. So it works 😅 I appreciated that it had a section on men’s fertility and how to maximize that as well. It reads like a high school textbook but it’s easy enough to understand and implement.

[Catherine Dyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t find the book to have any different information that already available. I found the nutrition part to be a bit misguided, honestly. Overall I found it ok. I did really enjoy the information on vitamins and fish/mercury.

[Sierra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an informative book in some aspects (such as the information about herbs and supplements) but some of the information is outdated which makes me doubt the reliability of using this book to assist with fertility. One such piece of information/advice is that women should eat a scant amount of protein per day. The author claims that a "140 lb person only needs 50 grams of protein a day" and that most of this protein should come from "beans, nuts, and legumes." Animal proteins are the most bioavailable sources of protein for the human body, yet the author dissuades women from consuming animal proteins, even organic and grassfed options. Unsprouted/unsoaked beans, nuts, and legumes do not provide necessary nutrients or amino acids for muscle development and management, neither for a woman nor for her developing child. With this is mind, it is hard not to question the rest of her suggestions and advice about nutrition and pregnancy prep. If you do pick up this book, read it with a critical eye.

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had a lot of great information, and certainly a lot of things I hadn't considered implementing . I recommend this to anyone trying to conceive.

[Diána Czapáry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I genuinly loved it. So so usefull and eye-opening.

[Meg - A Bookish Affair · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you know me at all, you know that I'm a planner. And while sometimes this is too my detriment (there is such thing as overplanning, y'all), I figure when it comes to matters of health, planning is definitely a good thing. I think in long term most of the time so while I'm not necessarily ready to have a child in the near future, I figure it's never too early to start thinking about things. I appreciated that this book spoke about both traditional medical approaches as well as more natural approaches. This definitely appealed to me.

The book was easy to follow along and was fairly well organized. I was especially interested in some of the natural medicine sections as these are much less familiar to me. This book definitely broadened my perspective a little bit.

Maizes gives a lot of different examples of various women and their course of treatment in order for them to conceive and have a healthy pregnancy. For women who are actively trying to conceive, this book would be a good pick. There are a lot of different options and ideas that an individual can pursue that are discussed in this book

On the other hand, medical advice really should be geared to an individual person. Just because something happened to work for you, it doesn't mean that it is going to automatically work for someone else. I think that it would have been good for Maizes to discuss this a little bit more in this book.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I had a chance to meet Dr. Maizes and she’s lovely – very knowledgeable and warm. So it was a pleasure to “hear” her tone in the pages and I liked the organization and writing style. Various subjects from Traditional Chinese Medicine to Nutrition to Spirituality are arranged into their own chapters, allowing the reader to read straight through or skip to areas of particular interest. While I don’t think I will be following anything here as a step by step guide, I did learn quite a bit (whole milk for max fertility!) and really appreciated the wider perspective than a more traditional medical work might provide. There was a lot of discussion in the Spirituality, TCM and even Ayurveda sections about mindfulness and preparing the mind and emotions for pregnancy. I am not sure I’m going to be starting a daily meditation practice, but the idea of making a calm, prepared mental space to allow your body to function at its best really resonated with me. I wish there was more of these ideas in traditional fertility medicine.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone trying to conceive, this is the first book I would recommend. The author has reviewed the research and I appreciate her efforts to present the facts but keep an open mind as to the pros and cons of allopathic methods and other less mainstream but less invasive and expensive recommendations from TCM and Ayurveda, for example. Great book!

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thinking about ttc in the near future, and thought I would arm myself with some knowledge on fertility. Really enjoyed how this book focused on holistic and dietary research, meaning that I can follow best practices from day one and hopefully avoid some strife. Also gave some pointers for men, which I was able to pass onto my guy.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Appreciated the holistic approach of this book. Good starting point for couples struggling with fertility. I was hoping for more information for someone like myself though - women looking to protect their fertility until they are able to start trying.

[Daphne Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Victoria Maizes is a smart, compassionate doctor and that shines through in this useful book on finding a balance between natural and biomedical ways to preserve and enhance fertility. The cover leaves something to be desired but inside you will find some great pearls.

[Kate Bishop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! I would recommend this to anyone who is family planning, newly pregnant, or struggling to conceive. It is great for both males & females. I thought I knew it all until I read Be Fruitful! A must read.

[Deidre · Rating 3 out of 5]

skimmed - not much in here that was new info after reading WomanCode and various other books, but would be good as a starting place for someone who hasn't done a lot of previous reading on the subject.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book when trying to conceive, and it helped demystify the fertility practice and decode some of the jargon my fertility clinic bandied about. An open-minded approach to integrative medicine and fertility.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really anything I hadn't heard before, but there were a number of statistics for alternative/holistic medicine that were interesting.

[Amanda Smothers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting info, but a little overwhelming.

[Janie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like the presentation (it felt like walls of text), and took little from the content.

[Rosana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mandatory reading for future Moms and Dads!

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful and somewhat inspirational. A good combo of perspectives.