Whether you’re trying to get pregnant or planning to retreive your eggs for freezing, improving your own health can improve the likelihood of a successful pregnancy. In particular, the foods that you put in your body can help regulate hormone levels and provide the environment necessary for a healthy pregnancy.
While it’s relatively common knowledge that drinking alcohol during pregnancy can harm the growing fetus, there are other foods to avoid if you’re trying to get pregnant, like fast foods and sugary drinks. To give yourself the best chance at getting pregnant quickly, consider making these dietary changes. Our comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about the fertility diet for women.
[Read: How to Get Pregnant Fast]
Are There Foods That Can Help You Get Pregnant?
While there is no real fertility diet, says James Grifo, director of the division of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at New York University’s Langone medical center, good eating habits will help keep your hormone levels on an even keel. Research consistently shows that eating healthy, whole foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and minerals, dietary fiber and plant-based protein is beneficial to fertility.
There’s no particular food that will suddenly solve infertility, but it’s clear that some foods have measurable impacts on both women’s and men’s fertility.
[Read: How to Find a Good Fertility Clinic.]
Fertility-Boosting Foods That Can Help You Get Pregnant
There are some foods that can improve your chances of getting pregnant, including:
— Eggs.
— Fruit.
— Green, leafy vegetables.
— Healthy fats.
— High-fiber foods.
Eggs
For registered dietitian Lily Nichols, eggs are the top food choice for women trying to conceive. They are rich in choline, which helps prevent birth defects, Nichols says. Choline is also found in liver, but most people prefer eggs. Make sure to eat the yolk, not just the egg whites, since the yolk contains most of the choline. Nichols recommends two to three eggs per day, which you could make into an omelet or add to fried rice. Choose pasture-raised eggs because the chickens from which they come feast on nutrient-rich grass.
Other foods that contain choline at lower levels include scallops, shrimp and cauliflower. There are also plenty of choline supplements for sale, but it’s always better to get your nutrients from the foods themselves. You’ll absorb the nutrients better and have the full benefits of all of the nutrients in the food, not just one.
Fruit
Part of any healthy diet, fruit is a health powerhouse. Antioxidants and anti-inflammatory phytonutrients in fruit can reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease and cognitive decline, among other serious chronic conditions. Importantly, they can also improve fertility in men and women. Research shows that women who ate more fruit were able to conceive faster than those who ate low amounts of fruit.
Try adding fruit to at least two meals a day or for snacks. Berries can make great toppings for granola or yogurt, or you can blend them with ice for a delicious sorbet. Both fresh and frozen fruit will provide the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits you’re looking for.
Green, leafy vegetables
Green, leafy vegetables are known for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. However, these vegetables — spinach, collard greens, kale and romaine lettuce — also contain a lot of folate. The word folate comes from foliage, meaning leaves. Folate is the natural form of vitamin B9.
“I would suggest women get a serving of greens at each meal,” Nichols says. That could mean a green smoothie or spinach omelet at breakfast, a salad at lunch and asparagus at dinner.
Other sources of folate include:
— Asparagus.
— Brussels sprouts.
— Oranges.
— Grapefruit.
Healthy fats
Pre-conception is no time to skimp on fats with substitutions like skim milk and low-fat cheese. Unless you’re trying to lose weight, eat full-fat yogurt
and cheese. They’ve been shown to be better for for fertility than low-fat dairy options.
Monounsaturated fatty acids, sometimes called MUFAs, are also healthy fats to include in your pre-pregnancy diet. “Splurge on a good olive oil,” Munson suggests. You can use olive oil in your frying pan instead of butter for a healthier cooking method.
Fatty fish such as wild Alaskan salmon (not farm-raised) and sardines are also a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, Nichols adds. “Since (sardines) are a really small fish, they accumulate a low level of toxins during their lifetime.”
Other sources of healthy fats include:
— Avocados and avocado oil.
— Nuts, like walnuts and almonds.
— Olives.
— Pumpkin seeds.
[See: 13 Best Fish: High in Omega-3s — and Environment-Friendly.]
High-fiber foods
According to a recent analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, eating more high-fiber foods is correlated with lower infertility rates. Fiber can help stabilize blood sugar and insulin levels, which is critical to overall hormone health.
Some high-fiber foods to include in your diet include:
— Fruits, including any edible peels.
— Whole grains, like brown rice, farro and bulgur.
— Chickpeas and other legumes.
— Nuts and seeds.
Foods to Avoid When Trying to Get Pregnant
If you’re trying to get pregnant, it may benefit you to avoid certain foods, including:
— Alcohol.
— Fast food.
— Saturated fats.
— Sugar.
Alcohol
Evidence about the link between low to moderate alcohol consumption and infertility is relatively inconclusive. However, research
has shown that there’s a clear link between heavy drinking or binge drinking and infertility. To give yourself the best chance at becoming pregnant, it’s best to abstain from alcohol or at least to keep your alcohol consumption to a minimum.
It’s also extremely important to avoid alcohol once you know that you’re pregnant.
“If you’re planning to get pregnant, you don’t want to drink,” Nichols says. “It has such a negative impact on fetal development, and it really doesn’t add that much — a little bit of antioxidants from red wine; a little bit of B vitamins from beer. From a risk/benefit perspective, I wouldn’t do it.”
Fast food
Recent research has shown that women who eat diets with more fast food take longer to get pregnant. The research findings also revealed that eating fast food while trying to conceive isn’t an all-or-nothing decision. Women who ate some fast food were less likely to experience infertility than those who ate a lot of fast food, and those who ate no fast food at all experienced the lowest rates of infertility.
Saturated fats
Saturated fats found in foods like red meat, butter and cheese should be limited in any healthy diet. It’s particularly important, though to reduce consumption of saturated fats while trying to get pregnant. Studies even show that men who eat saturated fats have lower sperm concentrations. Instead, try increasing your consumption of omega-3 fatty acids, like fish, and monounsaturated fats, like olive oil and nuts.
Sugar
“If people have a juice or soda habit, (they should) kick that habit,” Nichols says.
Research shows that people who eat higher quantities of sugar, particularly sugar from soda, are less likely to be able to conceive a child. This is because sugar ultimately raises your blood sugar, and if that is consistently high, your fertility decreases.
“Fertility does increase as you move your body toward a normal body weight, whether you are underweight or overweight,” Nichols says. So if reducing your sugar intake also helps you move closer to a normal weight, you’re more likely to be able to conceive.
Fertility and Weight
As Nichols explains, people who are closer to a normal weight given their height and body composition are more likely to be able to get pregnant. Body fat, or adipose tissue, stores lipid-soluble steroid hormones like estrogen that are essential to normal menstruation and pregnancy.
For women who are underweight or experiencing energy deficiency or underfueling, it may be harder to get pregnant because of a lack of body fat. On the other hand, having excess body fat can lead to the body storing excess estrogen, which mimics pregnancy and therefore suppresses ovulation.
While there’s no “perfect weight” for everyone, having a normal period is a good sign of being a healthy weight. Your BMI can tell you if you’re in the “normal” category, but it’s not a great measurement of health because some people have additional muscle mass that can put them in an “overweight” category even if their true body fat percentage is low. It’s best to ask your doctor if you’re not sure what a healthy weight for you is.
Do I Need Fertility Supplements?
The National Institutes of Health recommends that pregnant women consume an additional 400 micrograms of folate on top of the folate they get in a regular diet during pregnancy to support normal fetal development. While this can come from a folic acid supplement, some women cannot take folic acid supplements because of anemia, cancer, kidney dialysis or other health conditions. It’s always best to talk to your doctor about supplements, especially for pregnancy.
Other fertility supplements can help you get necessary vitamins and nutrients more easily. However, more isn’t always better. Excessive vitamin A, for example, can cause head, heart, brain and spinal cord defects.
It’s best to get the nutrients you need from food rather than supplements if possible.
[Vitamin Deficiency: Common Symptoms to Watch For]
Other Tips For Getting Pregnant Faster
Besides eating a healthy diet, other positive health changes can increase your chances of getting pregnant. Getting enough exercise, quitting smoking and taking care of your stress levels can all help your body get ready for pregnancy.
You can also make sure you’re familiar with your cycle and fertility window. Having sex every other day during your six-day fertility window is just as effective as having sex every day during the window, according to experts. But you’ll likely need to track your cycle and make sure you know when that window is to be successful at getting pregnant.
When to See a Doctor
It’s generally a good idea to let your doctor know if you’re trying to conceive or thinking about trying to get pregnant. They can help you evaluate your diet and lifestyle and suggest any changes that might help you get pregnant faster. If you have other health problems like endometriosis or irregular menstrual cycles, genetic risk factors or acute health issues, it’s important to talk to your doctor sooner rather than later.
If you’ve been trying to get pregnant for more than a year but haven’t had a positive pregnancy test, it might be time to see a reproductive endocrinologist, who can help analyze your hormone levels, or a fertility specialist. You can also talk to a registered dietitian if you want to learn how to incorporate specific foods or nutrients into your diet. They can help you with diet analysis, meal planning and more.
Bottom Line
The foods that are likely to help you get pregnant are also foods that are part of many healthy diets. In general, you can get the nutrients you need from food, as long as your purposeful about the foods on your plate. Cutting fast food, processed food, sugary drinks and alcohol out of your diet will likely help increase your chances of getting pregnant as well.
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Fertility Diet: What to Eat If You Want to Get Pregnant Faster originally appeared on usnews.com
