Home Fertility Diet

[Ryan Claire]

Hey ladies - just curious for any input, advice, experience you all might have had with modifying your diets while TTC. I''d be interested to know if you think it helped or had any impact. Thanks so much.

Did you:
- Cut out things like aspertame (sp?) or non-organic meats?
- Switch to full fat dairy products?
- Eat more organic products and non-meat proteins?
- Add grapefruit or grapefruit juice to your diet?
- Eat pinapple cores after ovulation?
- Add "superfoods" like Royal Jelly/Bee Pollen, Wheatgrass, Maca Root, Herbal extracts, Goji berries, etc?
- Drink Green Tea or take green tea pills?
Or any of the other "tricks" and "secrets" you read on line.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

I cut out caffine and am trying to loose some weight so I'm eating less processed foods/sugar (though I am still eating some

I'm also eating more dairy b/c I'm eating yogurt for brk instead of oatmeal (just needed a change) but it's mostly 2% or 0% (except for every once in a while when I eat the full fat plum and walnut Libertee YUM!!!

I'm a vegetarian who occassionally eats fish, so meat isn't an issue and I avoid artificial sweetners b/c tehy give me headaches and taste yucky.

Other than that I'm not doing anything besides taking vitamins (sometimes gummy, sometimes pre-natal).

I tried eating pineapple with core in Nov when we we first trying but it didn't help.

 

[MustangGal]

I didn''t really change my diet at all, and it took 5 months to concieve. I think it had more to do with getting the BC drugs out of my system than anything else. I was on the pill for 7 years, and we concieved 10 months after I went off.

I DID try all the labor inducing foods when I was overdue, and none of those worked, so I''m not sure how much impact diet changes have on fertility/pregnancy (at least for me).

 

[Mara]

my girlfriend has been TTC for almost a year now and her accupuncturist recommended she go on a ''mediterranean diet'' to help with fertility. i had not heard that before, and not sure what it is exactly (i think mostly lean fishes, meats, rices etc?) but she is trying it.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I quit: caffeine/pop, chocolate, most fish (except wild salmon)

The only other thing I did was take prenatals and extra folic acid.

 

[ChinaCat]

I did nothing at all, BUT:

My friend who was told she would have a very difficult time getting pregnant also went to an acupuncurist who advised her to cut out all caffeine, alcohol and dairy products and to try and eat as much organic food as possible. Not sure about the meat, but probably that as well.

She did and got pregnant within 4 months so she swears by it.

 

[lovelylulu]

It took me a while to conceive - At first, I was pretty diligent about what I ate/avoided - caffeine, alchohol, etc. - but as time wore on, I became more relaxed only avoiding those things at certain times during the month. though, I understand why some people would become more vigilent about their diet . . .

however, the month that I got pregnant I was drinking red raspberry tea with goji berries (FWIW).

 

[Po10472]

Hey, Mara, the mediterranean diet is a diet high in vegetables, fruit and cereals, and low in red meat its also:

raw, unprocessed, or very lightly cooked foods.
very low dairy more goat''s milk
an abundance of green, leafy vegetables
natural flavors
olive oil
no corn (corn starch, corn oil laden foods)

It''s such a clean way to eat and one that I''ve been doing for the last 7 months. I have cut out chocolate/sweets/sugar laden foods and don''t eat bread or carbs like pasta. If I eat carbs its in the form of basmati or brown rice and potatoes. As well as following this diet, I''ve also been taking pre-natal vitamins for the last 3 months, cut out all alcohol and reduced my caffeine to 2 cups of tea max a day as well as increasing my water intake to 2-3 litres a day. So far I''ve lost 31lbs and feel great and I''ve done this mainly in the winter so it will get better once it turns spring and the summer comes round when I can enjoy the sunshine (well rain in sunny Scotland) when I go out walking.

 

[Mara]

wow Po that is great..!! it actually sounds like a good way to eat in general, not just for TTC but for overall health. i''ll have to copy it down for the future.

someone else mentioned accupuncture, one of my other friends who was TTC said she had a handful of friends who swore by that helping as well.

 

[ponder]

I went to my RE early this month and said a silent prayer that she would not mention my diet, but no such luck. I am officially back on her medically advised low carb/ high protien/ high fat diet. High sugar intake is apparently not good when TTC, and I love sugar and carbs. Who doesn''t?

Also, no artificial sweetner or caffeine. Although I did have a margarita last night

.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

I ate my normal diet and drank caffeine (2-3 cups/day). ETA: I started taking PNV several months before TTC.

 

[Pandora II]

Pineapple - I ate tons of it and got KTFU pretty quickly!

 

[phoenixgirl]

I already had a pretty healthy diet. The only changes I made were to start taking prenatal vitamins and to stop taking my Claritin D because I was concerned it would dry up my cervical mucus. I conceived after 5 months off the pill. And then while I was pregnant my healthy diet went out the window because of morning sickness and cravings!

 

[ljmorgan]

How Diet Affects Fertility

I read this story from Newsweek in 2007 before I conceived my first child and was intrigued because some of the advice went against my own thoughts about what wouldn''t be problematic in a diet. At the time I was consuming a lot of "low fat" items -- reduced fat milk and cheese, low cal yogurt, 100 calorie packs, etc. This article hinted that reduced fat items were not the way to go. I did end up cutting them out just after reading up more on the science behind these recommendations.

Fertility is very complicated and while I don''t know how much diet can affect these things, I think that there are some common sense aspects involved. Eat high quality, nutritious food -- eat your fruits & veggies

A multi-vitamin can never hurt, either.

 

[Ryan Claire]

Thanks for all your replies regarding fertility and diets. Obviously a lot of it is common sense but it''s interesting to read what other women have done and not done in terms of their diet while trying to conceive.

Ponder - I think with the high fat portion of your dr. recommendation that Haagen Daz may just make the cut - in moderation of course

Lindsey - thanks so much for the article. It definitely confirmed some of the changes I am making and brought to light some new ones. Transitioning to whole milk products and cutting out low-fat and fat-free has been tough. But hopefully it won''t be for long.

Maya mentioned accupuncture too and it seems like something a lot of the literature recommends that for fertility issues/reproductive health. Has anyone tried it?

If anyone else has any other thoughts or experiences about diet or lifestyle changes while TTC I''d be happy to hear them.

 

[ponder]

Lindsey''s article is a great read. It helped to reinforce what the RE said, although I assumed she wanted me to increase my fat intake b/c I am underweight.

It is kinda hard to eat like she wants me to before conception, b/c in the back of your mind you know this is going straight to your hips. But when you are pregnant you rationalize that the baby needs it and its not going to your hips...yeah right

.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Lindsey - Thank you for posting that link! Very interesting!

Ryan Claire - I have limited accupuncture experience for the treatment of fertility issues. I had 2 appointments in late November, and conceived in mid-December via IUI and with Clomid, though the pregnancy unfortunately was not viable. I wished to continue the accupuncture, because I do find it very relaxing. While relaxation is, of course, not the sole remedy for fertility issues, it is definitely a welcome complement, and one that my RE highly recommends. He said that he does not know why accupuncture works, but he knows that it DOES work. Accupuncture is also supposed to alter hormone levels. I will try to find a relevant link to add to this post tonight.

I REALLY enjoyed the accupuncture and posted a bit about it on here in the TTC thread. If you have any specific questions, please let me know. Some accupuncturists specialize in fertility issues, so if you have several in your area, you might see if they treat fertility issues specifically.

Oh, the only reason I stopped going was because it was very inconvenient in terms of driving time and traffic. I will call another accupuncturist this week. She is closer to my work, and my friend's mom goes there for treatment.