Fertility Diet and Supplements

Fertility Diet and Supplements

Once a woman gets pregnant, she is typically more aware than ever of what she is putting both on and in her body. But what about before?
Certain traditional cultures knew the importance of preparing the body for a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby. They would put both the man and the woman on a certain diet up to a year before they even tried to conceive. These diets were rich in a few key nutrients that radically increased fertility. They also provided an optimal balance of nutrition for sustaining the health of mother and baby.
Lemon_Curd_PreserveDr. Weston A. Price was the man that traveled the world studying these traditional cultures that have been untouched by western civilization. He found that these cultures ate nutrient dense foods, avoided man made food, and suffered from little to no disease. He also found that the woman would eat special foods months before conception and in turn had smooth pregnancies, and strong, healthy babies. They woman took very special consideration of their preconception and pregnancy diet and supplements.
It makes sense doesn’t it? If we take the toxins out of our body, and provide it with the building blocks it needs to produce a healthy baby, it will. Many of the pregnancy complications that are happening to woman today are a result of nutrient deficiency and/or toxicity in the body. That is where a  preconception and pregnancy diet and supplements plan come in hand.
It takes nearly a hundred days for a woman’s egg to mature before it is ovulated and seventy-two days for a man’s sperm to form. This means that a three-month period of optimal nutrition for a couple will produce the healthiest-possible egg and sperm.
Why stretch out fertility diets for six months to a year? Tradition cultures used the first half of that time to detox and heal the body, and the last three months devoted to optimal nutrition.
As women, the more we can do to detoxify, and build up the right nutrients in our bodies, the easier the pregnancy, birth, and recovery will be. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to avoid morning sickness, miscarriage, and stretch marks, symptoms that have become all too common that we should not consider normal.
While preparing your body for the healthiest pregnancy possible, you want to focus on nutrient dense foods. This looks like loading your diet with fresh fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, clean nutrient dense proteins, essential fatty acids, and healing herbs.
I truly recommend the Weston A. Price “Diet for Pregnant and Nursing Woman”. It gives you a good idea of how much and what kinds of foods to eat to ensure you are getting all of the critical nutrients needed for brain, bone, and complete healthy development.What is Important In Pregnancy?

1. Gut Health: All Health Begins in the Gut

The gut and your digestion is the foundation of your whole body’s health.

  • 80% of your immune system is located in the gut. Without a healthy gut, you can’t have a healthy immune system. Without a healthy immune system, you’re open to infections, inflammation, hormone imbalances and autoimmune disease.
  • More serotonin(happy brain chemical) is produced in the gut than in the brain. Many causes of depression and anxiety are a result of gut issues.
  • Your gut interacts with the outside world more than any other part of your body, taking in nutrients from food and keeping out bacteria, pathogens, and undigested food.

So many of the fertility and hormonal issues today are cause by leaky gut or intestinal permeability. This is when we have small holes in our digestive system that allow food and other unwanted toxins loose into our blood stream.

In this day and age, almost all of us have some degree of leaky gut because of the water(chlorine, fluoride, antibiotics), food(GMOs, pesticides), and environmental toxins(heavy metals, parasites) we are exposed to.

This is why it is SO IMPORTANT to do that that help ur gut during pregancy and stop things that are damaging it.

2. A Healthy Microbiome: 

Your microbiome are the millions of bacteria that make up your body. We need to make sure we have an abundance of healthy bacteria because they control everything:

  • These bacteria detoxify your body
  • They protect you from bad bacteria and viruses
  • They absorb the nutrients that you are eating and create vitamins
  • They are your body’s defense and energy system.
  • The healthier your gut, the healthier your body, skin, mood, and life.

Your baby’s immune system is determined by YOUR MICROBIOME- if you want a healthy baby that does not get sick often, you need a healthy micribiome. 

How to Take Care of Gut and Microbiome

  1. Remove inflammatory foods: sugar, gluten, vegetable oils, conventional meat and dairy.
  2. Consume an anti-inflammatory diet
  3. Avoid medications and antibiotics
  4. Consume probiotics and probiotic rich foods

Recipe for a Super Baby: Top 6 Superfoods 

Bone broth 

  • A true healing elixir for mom and baby. It helps promote gut healing therefore nutrient absorption and cellular vitality of the body. It provides valuable minerals that are essential for a healthy baby and pregnancy. It provides collagen and gelatin to aid in bone health, hormonal balance, and healthy hair and skin for mom and baby. And much more. . .

Healthy fats 

  • You will make or break your health depending on the type of oils you consume, especially during pregnancy! Avoid vegetable oils at all costs as they cause major inflammation and imbalance in the body. Your brain and hormones are made from healthy fats. For a better mood, energy, and brain function, eat healthy fats and Omega 3 rich foods at each meal. Healthy fats like brain octane oil also form your baby’s brain.

Leafy greens and vegetables 

  • Provides the body with micronutrients, fiber, chloropphyll, phytochemicals and minerals that are esseicail in making a healthy baby and staying healthy yourself. They help detoxify the body and eliminate exess hormones, purify the blood, and promote a healthy mirobiome.

Top-quality, organic raw dairy products 

  • Most dairy that is available is extremely inflammatory, and damaging to the body. The only dairy I recommend is organic, raw, grass-fed dairy products. When cattle eat grass they become extremely healthy. The grass and green foods are rich in phytonutrient anti-oxidants, omega-3 fatty acids and chlorophyll. The meat and milk of grassfed animals are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids EPA & DHA, CLA, B12, zinc, iron, creatine, L-carnitine.  This milk provides highly bioavailable protein, enzymes, beneficial lactobacillus probiotics, vitamin K2, and other nutrients. Cultured dairy products contain tons of omega 3 fatty acids and CLA that are linked with healthy weight loss and improved muscle mass. It also contains healthy protein & fat soluble vitamins A, E, D3, & K2.

Organic Pasture-raised meat and eggs and liver

  • Despite what you may have heard, saturated fat is NOT the enemy. It is actually what your brain and hormones are made from. Healthy sources of saturated fat are extremely important for fertility! Liver is one of nature’s most nutrient-dense foods on the planet and is amazing to get nutrients stored up in your body before you conceive. Egg yolks also contain certain EFA’a and nutrients like chlorine that are essential for a healthy developed baby. Conventional meat and pasture raised meat are completely different do not have the same nutrient content.

Thyriod Boosting Foods

  • The thyroid is such a key player in hormonal balance and tend to be sensitive during and after pregnancy. Eliminating soy and gluten and adding in healthy fats and eating an anti-inflammatory diet will support your thyroid and maintain hormonal balance throughout the pregnancy.

Foods that support thyroid function are: Kelp/seaweed, eggs, brazil nuts, garlic, fish oil, leafy greens.

Fertility Diet and Supplements

Protein and Soaked Grains

  • Organic pasture raised eggs
  • Wild Caught Fish
  • Organic grass fed liver
  • Soaked lentils and beans
  • Organic grass fed beef, lamb, buffalo, turkey, chicken
  • Soaked and sprouted quinoa, millet, and buckwheat
Vegetables/Fruits 
  • Leafy greens such as spinach, kale, arugala
  • Cauliflower, broccoli, onions, garlic
  • Cucumber, celery, carrots
  • Asparagus, zucchini, peppers
  • All kinds of squash, sweet potatoes, and yams
  • Berries, apples, pears, organic papaya, kiwi, lemons and limes
Fats 

Supplements

    • Cod Liver Oil- A therapeutic grade: Provides fat soluble vitamins A, E, D, K2, EPA, DHA, and Omega-3 fatty acid. These are essential nutrients for a healthy baby, healthy hormones, and healthy skin.
    • prenatal- either a whole foods form or professional therapeutic  grade activated one (I did both) I like Thorne Prenatal or Synergy Prenatal   There are definitely differences in quality of prenatal vitamins. A quality prenatal should have activated forms of the nutrients so your body can actually absorb and use the nutrients. For example- you never want to something that has folic acid in it- this is synthetic and can harm your body more than help it. Look for a vitamin that has folate as 5-methyltetrahydrofolate and b-12 as methylcobalmin. Also look for the minerals to be in chelated form for better absorption. For example zinc, magnesium, and potassium as “magnesium Bisglycinate Chelate”
  • Probiotic: Your healthy gut flora determines your babies immune system, a good probiotic will help with digestion, and create a healthy inner ecosystem for a baby to thrive in. My favorites comes from Body Ecology Products
  • Herbal Tea Blends: Red Raspberry Leaf is an all-around excellent herb to use for pregnancy. It is a uterine tonic, anti-abortive, and helps prevent infection. It aids in preventing cramps and anemia, and also prevents excessive bleeding during and after labor.
  • Also you may want to consider taking extra magnesium and Vit C 
  • Vitamin D: Get your levels tested, this is such an important vitamin (which is actual a hormone) to form the babies bone structure as well as protect you from post postpartum depression and anxiety.  
  • Vitamin C: Helps support immune system and skin as hormones levels are changing and skin is stretching.
  • Collagen- healthy hormones, hair, and skin. 

Avoid During Preconception and Conception Time

  • Vegetable Oils
  • Hydrogenated oils
  • Sugar and artificial sweeteners
  • Conventional factory farmed meat and fish
  • Gluten
  • Processed foods
  • Caffeine
  • Alcohol

Resources

Fernandez L, Langa S, Martin V, Maldonado A, Jimenez E, et al. (2013)), ( The human milk microbiota: origin and potential roles in health and disease. Pharmacol Res 69: 1–10

“Raspberry leaf – Should it be recommended to pregnant women?” Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 15(4): 204-208.)

(Price WA. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration: 6th Edition. La Mesa, CA: Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation (2004).)

(Barger. Maternal nutrition and perinatal outcomes. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health. November 2010.)

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