The biggest mistakes I see couples making in my clinic when it comes to diet & fertility?
Dieting
Too little or too much body fat can interfere with ovulation. Restricting calories, particularly carbs and healthy fats can be super detrimental to hormonal balance, fertility and ovulation. The body needs to feel safe in order to fall pregnant and a lack of resources can lead to our ovaries checking out. If you are eating a restrictive diet you are also likely missing out on key nutrients needed for egg quality too.
Same goes for extreme dieting when you’ve been told by your fertility doctor you need to lose weight to conceive or begin IVF. It’s important to lose weight in a sustainable and healthy way, ensuring you are getting everything you need to nourish your cells, eggs and balance your hormones. Diets don’t work and are not sustainable long-term. Losing weight too quickly also means that the toxins that are stored in our fat cells which are now being broken down at a rapid pace are released into our blood, which is super detrimental to egg and sperm quality. We need to look at things from a holistic standpoint not a quick fix as weight loss is not the only goal when it comes to getting pregnant.
Not having a diverse enough diet
Nearly all couples I speak to will tell me they eat well and have a balanced diet and where most of my clients aren’t eating badly, there are often lots of adjustments to be made. As they are not trained as a fertility nutritionist, they aren’t thinking in the same way I am and why would they? Eating the same few fruit and vegetables on repeat, missing out on macros or eating the wrong balance of fats are just a few common things I see. Generally, there are some common principles that everyone should be following, but most of the diet recommendations I’m recommending to my clients are targeted around specific imbalances we’ve identified in the body e.g. insulin balance, liver support, gut support and removing trigger foods, addressing low nutrient levels
Thinking you need to cut out all animal products for health and fertility
Eating a plant-based diet for ethical or sustainability reasons is a personal choice and I will always support my client’s wishes, but there’s a growing trend towards cutting out all animal products for health reasons. Where it’s possible to eat a healthy plant-based diet and supplement properly to get everything you need, there’s also a reality that a lot of people’s bodies on a plant-based or even vegetarian diet just don’t cope very well. Especially if they aren’t eating the right things.
I always recommend my clients to be eating predominantly plants but in my experience and opinion, a number of the population will always struggle on a plant-based diet and incorporating a smaller amount of decent quality pasture-raised animal products and oily fish means they are getting all of the key fertility supporting nutrients in the bio-available form.
Due to genetics, gut health and stress levels as well as needing to be super knowledgeable about nutrition and plan ahead, many people on a vegan diet are just not getting everything they need.
Nutrients like iron, B12, iodine, vitamin A, omega-3 which are all super important to fertility can sometimes be low in plant-based eaters. Many of the population also struggle to convert plant-based vitamin A (beta carotene) into the active form ( retinol -found in animal products) due to genetics. Low vitamin A can be super damaging to fertility. The same goes for omega-3 conversions. Getting enough calories on a plant-based diet is also a little harder and can mean that the protein you are eating is getting converted into glucose for calories and can mean you are short on some essential amino acids needed for the body’s building blocks.
4. Eating lots of processed foods
This one goes without saying but has such a big impact. Processed foods tend to be high in inflammatory trans fats and omega-6 fatty acids, additives and low nutrients. Eating a little isn’t going to be the reason you aren’t getting pregnant, so long as for the majority of your meals you’re focusing on nutrient-dense, high-quality whole foods.
Feeling a bit lost and interested in finding out how my personalised 121 approach can help you? Book a fertility strategy call to apply to work with me.