Foods to Avoid when Trying to Conceive
You want to be at your nourishing best self when trying to conceive (TTC for my fertility friends). You want to have the best quality eggs to increase your chance of conceiving & a safe environment for your bubba for the next 9 months. What you eat now will also influence your baby’s future health (this is a pretty interesting post to read more on that here).
So what should we be avoiding (or at least limiting) when your trying to fall pregnant:
Foods High in Saturated Fats
Saturated fats promote inflammation (pro-inflammatory) and usually provide little nutrition eg. bacon, butter, chips, biscuits, coconut oil, chocolate etc. Inflammation in the fluid surrounding your eggs making it hard for them to develop & fertilised!
Alcohol
Yep, although that spicy margs might sound good, drinking alcohol can reduce your chance of falling pregnant (read more on this here). It affects the quality of the eggs, ovulation, fertilisation (ie. the sperm meeting the egg) & it can also increase your risk of miscarriage, which is especially important if you’re in the two week wait & don’t know if you’re pregnant yet. Here is another reminder it’s definitely mocktails for you once you know you’re pregnant.
Fish High in Mercury
Mercury accumulates in the body & limits children’s brain development, including learning abilities, fine motor skills & memory. Some fish are high in mercury, this is generally large fish such as shark (including flake), king mackerel, swordfish & marlin, because big fish eat lots of little fish therefore it builds up on their bodies. Fish is an amazing source of omega-3 fats which are important for brain development just make sure you’re choosing lower mercury, fatty/oily fish such as salmon, anchovies, sardines, atlantic mackerel.
Hormone Disrupters
Foods wraps or stored with plastic containing bisphenol A (BPA) or tinned foods effect your hormones & although there’s no good quality research into this YET, I guarantee there will be in the future. I recommend all women, trying to have a baby or not, to avoid storing & heating foods with plastic, choose glass or stainless steel containers instead & look for BPA-free (this includes the old baked beans!). There are plenty of other hormone disrupters in your day-to-day life but when it comes to food, these are the main ones.
Foods & Drinks High in Sugar
If you’ve been following me for a while you’d heard me talk about how important balancing your blood sugar levels are for hormone health (especially important for women with PCOS or Endometriosis). So, reducing the amount of sugary foods & drinks will help balance those hormones & make conception easier. Cut back on soft drinks (pop/fizz), juice, chocolate, ice cream, lollies, baked goods…be mindful of low sugar alternatives, they usually swap the sugar for something else. Thinking of choosing a sugar free alternative? see my next point…
Artificial Sweeteners
There has been a long debate into artificial sweeteners, but in recent years they’ve been shown to negatively impact our gut microbiome, and mummas gut microbiome influences the babies microbiome which has a role in chronic diseases, heart disease, diabetes & some cancers. Most ‘sugar-free’ alternatives are high in artificial sweeteners and research has shown they can lower your chance of falling pregnant. Also, they are super sweet, eg. aspartame one of the most common artificial sweeteners is 200-300 times sweeter than sugar! Tastes buds adjust to this sweetness & other foods begin to taste bland! (btw this gif never gets old!)
Which of these are you going to make changes on first?
How confident are you with your fertility nutrition knowledge…Take the fertility IQ Quiz in under 2 minutes (you can do it while you wait for your coffee!)? Click here
