Input requested: Fertility and Homemaking books
I'm looking for a couple of books for my "collection" and thought maybe you would have a suggestion or maybe one of your blog readers has a recommendation. I'm interested in one on natural fertility issues-something related to diet and lifestyle rather than "medical-type" procedures. Someone in one of your blogs mentioned about aspirin and ibuprofen causing a fertilized egg not to implant- a book with information like that.Hi, Jill!
I'm also wondering if there is a book you would recommend like "home keeping for dummies" or something along those lines. My mom started working outside the home when I was in middle school and didn't really teach us about running a home - I think there are lots of ladies like this and was wondering if there was a book you've run across with basic info in it for instance-proper ways to freeze foods, planting a garden, tips on doing laundry, etc. Thanks in advance for any suggestions! -Jill
I've not read any books on fertility issues so I'll let me readers help you out there, but on the homemaking books, two that came to mind were Home Comforts by Cheryl Mendelson and Mrs. Dunwoody's Excellent Instructions for Homemaking by Miriam Lukken. Although I have only skimmed both of these, they seemed quite exhaustive to me and very helpful. I hope to go through both with my daughter(s) when they are older. You could probably check out one or both from the library to see if they were what you were looking for before buying. Does anyone else have some great recommendations on homemaking or fertility-related issues books? Do share.
posted by Crystal Paine at 8:17 AM
23 Comments:
Hi! This is my first time to post, but I have been reading your blog for a couple of weeks now, Crystal, and it has been a big blessing!
I have heard really great things about the book, "Taking Charge of Your Fertility". I think you can find it at most bookstores. I haven't personally read it, but I have flipped through it, and it seems to have some great information. I am not sure if the writers are Christians or not, though, and I think they are advocated of natural family planning. It may be something worth checking out! Hopefully someone else will have some better suggestions!
Hope everyone is having a great day!
Melissa, AL
Mommy to two girls: Makaylah, 12/03 and Sophia, 9/05
I would recommend "Fertility, Cycles and Nutrition" by Marilyn Shannon. It's available through the Couple to Couple Leauge (http://www.ccli.org/), a natural family planning organization. It has a lot of good info on how diet and nutrition affects your cycle and how it can help with various fertility problems.
For the mechanics of keeping house, I recommend Flyday's book (don't remember the name). My main gripe with Flylady is she can get a little secular Christian about the "me time". But her routines and notebook are excellent.
For cooking, I really like the original Joy of Cooking. (not the 2006 edition, the one before that). It has recipes, yes, but also cooking techniques, equipment, a huge equivalency list, how to store food, reheat food, and basically how to cook anything! (It even tells you how to skin a squirrel!). The Better Homes and Gardens cookbook is a close second - it has pictures of cooking techniques which are very helpful if you've never cooked before.
My favorite, best resource is a website: www.stretcher.com
It's the Dollar Stretcher website with frugal tips and articles - but there is so much info there - gardening (homestead, beginner, container, winter, apartment); single income living, natural living, how to get rid of pests, decorate your home, make your grocery budget last, plan for retirement - anything a homemaker could want! Their archived library is excellent.
Mama Says
I was going to recommend the same book that Sarah did. I have a wonderful book on homemaking that I got several years ago at Home depot. It was a 3-ring binder kind of book that talked about everything from stocking the pantry to cleaning schedules and laundry etc.
I read Taking Charge Of Your Fertility, and I can HIGHLY recommend it. It is not Christian, but it does not have new age stuff in there either. It is all science and fact. And it works. I was able to chart and know exactly when I was ovulating, and got pregnant on the first try. This was before learning about allowing God to control that. Our last three pregnancies have all been placed in His hands, but I still knew when I was ovulating and at "peak" for pregnancy.
I forgot to mention, if you are looking for the book because you are having difficulty getting pregnant, I would HIGHLY suggest looking into a high or all raw diet. There is a doctor in NY who treats infertile couples with an all raw diet (starting with the female and then the male - BOTH are on a raw diet). They do a cleanse first (which is very dangerous and really should be supervised by a doctor) and then start high raw. He has a 100% success rate with his patients that follow the diet explicitly. Two resources I would recommend then would be Hallelujah Acres (85% raw, 15% cooked) and Alissa Cohen (100% raw). First is Christian, second is not, so you need to be careful, but her recipes are the BEST! She has a forum too where you can ask questions, and I have met a lot of Christians on her forum. Because there are a LOT of new age people into raw, I started a yahoo group from Christian Women who are raw or want to learn more about it. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HealthSeekersForum
Also, Hallelujah Acres has a few yahoo groups as well as a forum on their site.
I highly, highly recommend "Taking Charge of Your Fertility". It is very detailed, and the explanations are scientific yet understandable to the lay person. Again, the author is not a Christian, so you'll find a couple brief comments like "if you sleep with multiple partners this method is not for you". However, overall the book is excellent.
If you are looking more into natural family planning, then I've heard that " The Art of Natural Family Planning", by John F. Kippley is good.
There are lots of resources online too; just Google it and you will be overwhelmed. :-)
This isn't a book and it can have info posted from believers and unbelievers alike:
http://curezone.com/dis/
Click candida and infertility(the basic protocol of wellness with this site is to cleanse and build).
For homekeeping, Mendelson's books are lovely(Home Comforts and Laundry: The Home Comforts Book of Caring for Clothes & Linens). In the typical style of Martha is a book that touches on varied aspects(Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook).
I would echo every one who has recommended Toni Wechsler's "Taking Charge of Your Fertility". It is not new age, but it very 'natural' and scientific at the same time. I learned so much from this. My body is not my enemy, pregnancy is not an illness, and God created ways for me to know exactly what is going on in my body.
As far as homemaking books, I've never found one that was "IT". If I had to build my little resource library, these are the books I'd put in:
Betty Crocker Cookbook (Original)- made from scratch, easily adapted to today's raw or low-fat way of eating.
Julie Morgenstern's books - Organizing from the Inside Out and Time Management from the Inside Out
Emilie Barnes- most all of her books on organization and homemaking
Toni Wechsler - Taking Charge of Your Fertility
Flylady's methods - flylady.com (be discerning)
The Anne of Green Gables series- what? how does this help? By reading literature from days when running the home economy was an essential skill to know, we can learn a lot about how days were organized and how home chores were done. For instance, in one scene in "Anne of Green Gables", Marilla tells Anne to blanch the dishrag before she hangs it up. I took this to mean that before I retire my dishrag for the evening, I need to run it under very hot water. Ever since I began doing that, I haven't had to deal with smelly dishrags. Also, the rhythm of life was a little different then. It was a more contemplative pace that didn't lead to "stressed out" women running around at a frantic pace like we do in today's noisy world.
I recommend Shonda's Parker's books as they talk alot about fertility, infertility and different reasons why that can be. I know also Taking charge of your fertility is good!
Also for homemaking, Emilie Barnes books are top of my list! More hours in my day is great! Also, Sidetracked Home Executives is good also. Don Aslett's books on cleaning are great books on homemaking. I used to have called the Art of homemaking I loved, but it disapeared somewhere and I really miss it! It was an old book from the 40's or 50's and was great!
I'm reading "taking charge of your fertility" right now and it's been very helpful. However, some of the things discussed in the book don't line up with scripture so read with caution. It's a book that has a ton of really helpful information though.
I'll echo the recommendation for "Taking charge of your fertility." I heard great things about it before reading it and every good thing I heard about it was true. Very informative-- what a wonder our bodies are!
I also recommend the Mrs. Dunwoody book that was mentioned. I received it from my mother a few weeks before my wedding and I've been glad to have it as a reference.
For homemaking books, I highly recommend Managers Of Their Chores. This is put out by the Maxwells (titus2.com). I am only 3/4 of the way through, and this book can be for a single person looking to learn what needs to be done (they don't tell you the hows, but my main area of need was the WHAT). This has been a great resource. It has a list of the basics of what needs to be/should be done. Then it has an even more detailed list of what needs to be done.
I also really like Flylady's (flylady.net) ideas for zone cleaning and such, but I agree about watching out. Take the ideas from the web site (all free, no need to buy the book, it really is all there on the web for free) and then implement them without signing up for the emails.
I am currently working on implementing the two (flylady and MOTC) to create a system that will work for us.
I highly recommend Shonda Parker's books Mommy Diagnostics and The Naturally Healthy Pregnancy. God has blessed us and several friends through her books.
Claire in Alabama
Oh, another really great homemaking book is Vintage Homekeeping for the 20th century Christian Woman. I am not exactly sure where to get a copy, but there is an address in here, but I was told it was no good. It is by Karen Johnson. Great little book with a really nice compiling of homemaking instructions from shopping, to sewing and charts to copy.
martha stewart just released a book last year called The Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home. 700 plus pages. Have one. Loads of info.
I also highly recommend "Taking Charge of Your Fertility". It's brilliant, and a must-read!
Yet another fan of Taking Charge of Your Fertility here. It's great if you're having trouble getting pregnant, really teaches you to understand your fertility signs and when you are most likely to get pregnant.
A homemaking type book I haven't seen mentioned is The Encyclopedia of Country Living, by Carla Emery. As the title might suggest, it is more geared toward the agrarian types, but right along the info on how to milk a goat is info on how to plant a garden, how to bake bread, canning, and other stuff your grandmother would have taught you. Probably ought to check it out from the library first to see if it fits what you're looking for, but after checking and rechecking the library's copy, we finally just bought one for ourselves!
I used to read the flylady emails until in one of the testimonials a woman said that her miscarriage was a blessing in disguise and she hadn't really wanted the baby.
The resource certainly has some good ideas, but I am never going there again.
There is some fertility information and two books for sale at http://www.gardenoffertility.com/
There is also an article there about nutrition and fertility.
I would recommend the book "Endometriosis: A Key to Healing and Fertility Through Nutrition" by Dian Shepperson Mills and Michael Vernon. It is a definate "holistic health" book-it goes over everything! I think women who don't have endo would greatly benefit from this book too!
This was almost a week ago, but I wanted to also give a word for the fertility book TCOYF and I also have Marylin Shannon's "Nutrition, Fertility and Cycles" although it isn't as all encompassing regarding women's cycles and fertility. Another little book entitled "Fertility Sings" that was pretty good.
I have dealt with fertility challenges including pregnancy loss so I know the pain and heartache. I would want to also recommend Hannah's Prayer, a website that offers much Christian support and encouragement. They also have a message board I have been a member of for 3 years. www.hannah.org. The Founder of the site, Jenni Saake wrote a book entitled "Hannah's Hope." Just wanted to pass this on!
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