What foods can increase or decrease your chances of getting pregnant? Research on the subject indicates that some foods are better than others at promoting fertility, while other foods may indeed negatively affect your ability to get pregnant naturally.
For example, foods that are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids (such as fish oil and flaxseed) contribute positively to your efforts to conceive, because they reduce inflammatory conditions in the body and promote improved blood circulation. This means that more blood can potentially circulate to the reproductive organs, nourishing sperm, eggs and the uterine lining--all factors involved in conception.
On the other hand, some foods may have a "drying" action on fertile cervical mucus, decreasing the amount of mucus present during ovulation, which in turn can decrease the ability of sperm to swim toward the egg (since less mucus means less medium in which the sperm can travel).
Foods that have drying properties include alfalfa, aduki beans, and certain spices like cinnamon and cayenne pepper.
Further, other foods cause hormonal fluctuations that can disrupt your ability to conceive. Foods like soy for example, has a strong estogen-like effect on the body, and can function in ways similar to the birth-control pill. Not exactly what you want to be eating when you are trying to get pregnant!
Because some of the essential nutrients needed to optimize fertility are difficult to come by in our current industrialized food model (for example, fish are high in healthy omega-3 fats yet it is difficult to eat enough fish because they frequently contain high levels of heavy metals, mercury and unwanted contaminants) you may need to look at nutritional supplementation during the months leading up to your pregnancy preparation.
My top nutritional supplement recommendations for pregnancy preparation include:
1. An organic whole food based multivitamin with 800 mcg folic acid (works as a prenatal and dailiy multi).
2. Evening primrose oil (this can improve the fertilie cervical mucus quality) in the pre-ovulation phase.
3. Molecularly distilled omega-3 fish oil (1,000 mg of EPA + DHA per day in total).
4. Coenzyme Q 10 (CoQ10) for improved energy production and cell vitality--important qualities for sperm and egg!
Much can be done with diet alone, depending upon whether or not you eat organic, the soil quality of the food you eat, and so on. To err on the side of being cautious, I recommend you consider taking these key supplements to cover your bases when you are preparing to get pregnant.
Remember, food is medicine and your body relies on your choices to promote its most optimal health (for fertility or otherwise).
No comments:
Post a Comment