Food and sex of baby

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   I have always been dubious about the diet method in sex selection because I found it unnecessary. I did not change my diet before conceiving either sex of child. In fact, my natural preference was heavily weighted towards the dairy diet recommended for conceiving girls. Maybe that explains the early arrival of my two daughters? I think not; as I did not change my eating habits when I tried for and got my son. I only changed the timing of intercourse,

The French Dr Francois Papa admits that it is a long and gruelling task to change the body's chemical make up through diet but he claims to do it as a means of determining the sex of offspring. On the other hand, I think that the natural secretions of a woman's body at various times in the menstrual cycle_ are more significant. Get the timing right and your hormones will do the rest for you in providing the relevant mucus. Nature's sex selection does not work by so clumsy a method as diet change. So what is this chemical change and how can diet help? Let us turn to France. Trust the French to find the answer in food!

Dr Papa is consultant gynecologist at the Port Royale Hospital in Paris. He worked out a dif1t theory for sex selection based op four vital mineral salts found in the body. These are:

1 For boys: Sodium and Potassium (powerful alkalis based on alkali metals)

2 For girls: Calcium and Magnesium (from Carboniferous limestone rocks)

Sodium and Potassium attract male-bearing androsperm (y). Calcium and Magnesium attract female-bearing gynesperm (X). The clever idea of the diet is to alter the chemical composition of the egg so that it attracts the desired sperm.

FOOD TO GET A BOY

As much salt as possible: salted butter, salted and smoked meats.

All meats, fresh or pre-cooked. Especially beef, since cattle are often treated, before slaughter, with male growth hormone, which is then passed on to the consumers of the beef. Of course, this is rather dubious in the light of the current BSE threat. Other meats may have to suffice.

All fish, and two eggs weekly.

White bread and white-flour crisp bread.

White-flour cakes, pastries and biscuits.

Pasta, rice, semolina (all without milk).

Milk-free puddings and sauces.

Most vegetables (except those forbidden below): sweetcorn, popcorn, parsley, mushrooms, courgettes, endive, avocado, fennel, raw tomatoes, soya beans, peas and beans, chestnuts.

All fresh fruit, particularly Potassium-rich bananas and fresh pineapple.

Dried prunes, raisins, figs, apricots.

Sugar, jam, fruit jellies, sorbets.

Oils and milk-free margarines.

Soups, olives and gherkins.

FORBIDDEN WHILE TRYING FOR A BOY

Milk in any form'- butter, cheese, yogurt. Shellfish, molluscs (mussels etc.). Wholemeal bread.

Salad vegetables: raw cabbage and cauliflower, spinach, cress.

Nuts, cocoa, chocolate, mustard.

FOOD TO GET A GIRL

As much milk as possible (1 1/3 pints or 770 ml per day). Fresh cream, yogurt.

Limited meat or fish (1 1/4 OZ or 125 g per day).

Unsalted butter, unsalted soft cheese.

Milk puddings.

Salt-free wholemeal bread, crisp-bread and pastry, without yeast.

Rice, pasta, semolina, tapioca.

Limited amount of potatoes.

Fresh or, frozen carrots, green beans turnips, aubergines, onions, leeks, peas.

Cucumber, radishes, peppers, cress, celeriac, celery.

Unsalted walnuts, hazelnuts almonds, peanuts.

Fresh, frozen or tinned apples, pears, clementines, strawberries, raspberries. Tinned only pineapples, plums and peaches, all without syrup. Jam once daily, sugar, honey.

Vegetable oils, spices, home-made sauces without salt.

Mineral water.

FORBIDDEN WHILE TRYING FOR A GIRL

Salt and salt substitute. All salted or smoked foods, including salty cheese.

Coffee, tea, tinned fruit juice, fizzy drinks.

Wine, beer, cider, liqueurs, aperitifs.

All meat and fish, except for daily allowance above.

White bread, pasties and biscuits, unless salt-free crisps.

Sweetcorn, popcorn, parsley, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, mushrooms, courgettes, endive, avocados, fennel, raw tomatoes, soya beans, dried peas and beans.

All fresh fruit except those listed above as allowed; dried fruit. Chocolates and sweets.

Bicarbonate of soda and all prepared sauces.

All ready-made dishes whether tinned, fresh or frozen.

Now a word of caution. If you suffer from certain conditions, these diets may be dangerous for you. The salty, boy diet should not be undertaken by anyone who has high blood pressure. The girl diet should not be undertaken by anyone who has kidney stones or high blood calcium levels. If in doubt, check with your GP first.

And make sure that any restrictions you put on yourself don't lead to an unbalanced diet. A plentiful supply of nutritious food is essential just now to you and your unborn baby. When all is said and done the health of parents and baby is of paramount importance. If the diet upsets you in any way, come off it. Dawn Osborne said her cycles had become unpredictably longer since she had been following Mr Hewitt's diet. And the high doses of Vitamin C gave her diarrhoea and made her feel ill. So she stopped. Nevertheless, Dawn and Darren got their daughter by sticking to the correct rules for timing and sperm count. Kristina joins her big brothers, Matthew and James. 