Eat yourself fertile
Like so very many couples these days, we had a struggle falling pregnant. Our story doesn’t even compare to many others but it was still two and a half years of highs and lows and feelings of disappointment. Despite having a few medical issues like polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis that I knew could affect my fertility, the cocky Dietitian in me thought “we’ll be fine! I’m healthy, I’m fit, I look after myself, we should have no problems!”. But we weren’t and we needed extra support, which started our fertility journey. As it turns out though, what we really needed was what I preached all day, every day: a fertility-specific diet and lifestyle.
Our fertility journey runs like many others, which included several fertility interventions. I must add though that this was just our journey and I know of so very many successful pregnancies that came from fertility treatments. It just wasn’t to be for us at that point in time. So after a tough couple of years, we decided to go on holidays to my favourite place on earth, Hawaii. Here we unwound and I got back to feeling myself again and we began to talk about where to go from here.
I started to do some deeper research into the link between diet, lifestyle and fertility. As it turns out, Harvard University had just released the first ever dietary recommendations for fertility following a huge and long-running research study. It showed that certain diet and lifestyle factors could help infertility associated with one of the most common causes: problems with ovulation. Ovulation is where a woman releases an egg mid-cycle to be fertilised by sperm. Further research also confirmed to me the impact of stress and over-exercising on our hormones and fertility. And for men, that sperm quality was affected by diet and lifestyle.
So once we returned from holidays, I really ramped up our eating at home to be more ‘fertility-specific.’ Although we already lived a healthy life, I made sure we were very diligent in reducing our alcohol and red meat intake and ditched any fried foods and processed meats. I made sure to use beautiful extra virgin olive oil in our meals and used only wholegrains and whole milk products. A little slack and sporadic with our supplements, we began to be more consistent with taking our multivitamins, and continued to eat bucket loads of fresh vegetables and fruits. I also pulled back to just one precious coffee per day. Sugary drinks were completely out too so the occasional gin and tonic was out. I also went from doing very high intensity physical exercise to lower impact long walks and light jogs.
A few months later, I got the shock of my life when I found out that we were pregnant. Today as I write this, at 30 weeks pregnant I’m able to look back on my journey and say wholeheartedly that there are many, many factors that affect infertility, some we probably don’t even know about yet. But if you are planning to start a family or if you have been trying for some time, the simplest, no-brainer first step to take is to do an audit of your diet and of your lifestyle and make the recommended changes. You might just find that’s all that it takes for you to fall pregnant.
Harvard University 10 Steps To Improving Your Fertility:
Avoid trans fats – these artery-clogging fats are found in many packaged products and fast foods.
Use more unsaturated vegetables oils – particularly extra virgin olive oil.
Eat more protein from vegetable foods and less from animal foods – such as legumes, lentils, nuts and seeds.
Choose wholegrains rather than refined grains – these include rolled oats and brown rice, they help to regulate blood sugar and insulin levels.
Use whole milk dairy products like full cream milk and yoghurt – temporarily avoid skim milk and low fat diary products.
Take a multivitamin that contains folic acid and other B vitamins – such as a pregnancy specific supplement for women and for men.
Get plenty of iron from fruit, vegetables, beans and supplements but little from red meat.
Beverages matter: mostly water, coffee, tea and alcohol are OK in moderation and stay away from sugared sodas.
Aim for a healthy weight. If you’re overweight, losing just 5-10% of your body weight can jump-start ovulation.
Include a daily exercise plan – Don’t overdo the intensity, and if you’re too lean, too much exercise can work against conception so back off the exercise in that case.
Information from:
http://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/follow-fertility-diet