Fertility Diet: Nutrients You Need

When you’re considering becoming pregnant, the famous phrase you’ve heard before, “you are what you eat,” is true. Your diet affects everything from your blood, cells, to your hormones.

Studies suggest that you should allow three months to a year for dietary changes to take root before becoming pregnant. But, if you’re already in the middle of baby-making, don’t worry… it’s never too late to get a leg up on good nutrition.

What to and Not to Eat When Trying to Conceive

Tame the Caffeine Habit

Experts generally agree that low to moderate caffeine consumption (less than 300 mgs a day or about two 8-ounce mugs of coffee) won’t get in the way of getting pregnant. However, the research on whether caffeine can affect fertility is mixed.

Caffeine constricts blood vessels, slowing blood flow to the uterus and potentially makes it more difficult to become pregnant. For those reasons, if you’re having trouble conceiving or undergoing in vitro fertilization, consider forgoing caffeine all together.

Eliminating all caffeine at one time typically causes nasty headaches. So, when you’re ready to kick the caffeine habit all together, you might want to work gradually. Each day try to replace a little more of the caffeinated drink with a cup of decaf or better yet, water, until you have weaned yourself.

Replace Alcohol for Virgin

Alcohol can harm a developing fetus so you certainly won’t want to drink while pregnant. And while trying to conceive an occasional glass of wine or a bottle of beer won’t hurt your odds of conceiving. For safety, the best time to have a worry-free drink is the day you get your period. Otherwise, we suggest replacing your normal drink with a “virgin” substitute.

Think Yellow, Red, and Green

The prefect multivitamin from Mother Nature is the yellow, red, and green produce. Fruits and vegetables not only deliver a wealth of vitamins and minerals, they also overflow with free-radical busting micronutrients, like phytochemicals and antioxidants. Free radicals are harmful molecules that sneak into the body on the heels of everything from sunlight to car exhaust and can damage the ova, sperm, and reproductive organs.

Purchasing brightly colored fruits and vegetables, like blueberries, red peppers, and kale will give you the most nutritional bang. Be sure to stock up on fresh fruit and vegetables weekly and set a goal to eat about two cups of fruit and three cups of vegetables per day.

Pump Up the Iron

This is especially important for women with heavy periods but important for all Mothers-to-Be. Bleeding every month is a source of iron depletion and you’ll need it once you become pregnant.

Once you’re expecting your baby, your body will have a difficult time maintaining its iron stores as your baby will take the mineral from you. And if all that wasn’t important enough to load up on iron now, if you begin pregnancy with low iron, you could be at risk for postpartum anemia, a condition that affects about 27% of new Moms.

Reconsider Refined Carbs

Though carbohydrates are starting to be more worthwhile in your diet, you should not eat them with reckless abandon. White bread, pasta, and white rice won’t directly lower your likelihood of getting pregnant but they will short change your body.

During the manufacturing refining process, there are seventeen key nutrients that are stripped from grains. Among the nutrients lost are several that boost fertility like antioxidants, Vitamin B, and Iron.

When trying to conceive, you should pack your diet with as many nutrient rich foods as possible and whole grains are one of the best places to start.

Choose Your Fish Carefully

Reports of high mercury levels often have women who are trying to conceive and/or pregnant steering clear of seafood. But, your body needs Omega-3 fatty acids for optimal fertility and fish is one of the best sources.

While mercury is toxic to a developing fetus and can last in a women’s bloodstream for more than a year, not all fish contain the same amount of mercury. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that women trying to conceive can safely eat up to 12 ounces a week of low-mercury fish: shrimp, canned light tuna, catfish, or salmon.

On the other hand, the FDA advises to avoid canned white tuna, fresh or frozon swordfish, tilefish, king mackerel, tuna steaks, shark, orange roughy, Spanish mackerel, grouper, and marlin because they have the highest mercury levels.

If you’re vegan or vegetarian, or simply do not like seafood, try flaxseeds. They are the richest plant-based source of Omega-3 fatty acids and are easy to find in health food stores. Once you buy the seeds, grind them in a coffee grinder and sprinkle them on cereal or toast, or add them to a smoothie.

Avoid Ready-to-Eat

Listeria is a harmful bacterium found in most ready-to-eat meals, soft cheeses, and unpasteurized dairy products. Pregnant women are 20 times more likely than other health adults to get sick from eating listeria-laced food. Those trying to conceive should also be on alert because listeriosis (the infection caused by listeria) can cause a miscarriage early in the first trimester – possibility even before you know you’re pregnant.

Getting Extra Vitamins

Getting all the nutrients your body needs for fertility from food alone is tough to do. To help, start taking an over the counter prenatal vitamin or regular multivitamin.