Everyone has something to say about pregnancy. Wading through the mass of information currently available on getting pregnant, being pregnant, and life after pregnancy is almost enough to inspire a woman to skip childbearing all together.

In hopes of reducing the confusion during what it is already a very new and exciting time of life, I’ve done the digging for you and have discovered that there are some simple lifestyle changes – slight adjustments, if you will – that may facilitate the process of getting pregnant. This pre-pregnancy plan can be initiated anywhere from a year to three months before trying to become pregnant – although “pregnancy detox” is really nothing more than clean, healthy living, which can be practiced at any time.

Dr. Joel Evans doesn't believe pregnant women should be passive, compliant patients, who simply listen to everything their health care providers tell them to do for nine months. He believes women—and their partners—should be active participants in the whole pregnancy, from conception to prenatal care to childbirth to postpartum care. That's why he wrote The Whole Pregnancy Handbook: An Obstetrician's Guide to Integrating Conventional and Alternative Medicine Before, During and After Pregnancy with Robin Aronson.