Diet and fertility

[Kari55]

Hi everyone, I was wondering what diet changes have you made to increase yours and partner’s fertility and whether it had any positive effect on the IVF result or natural conception?

[Kari55]

Thanks for this, good reads! I’m interested in the nutrition as a whole eg. Going gluten-free, dairy-free, Paleo, keto and so on. I don’t believe in fertility foods although I read that pomegranate pips might increase the cramps in uterus so probably better to avoid it after ovulation. I’m trying to reduce carbs and eat only unprocessed food but it is impossible to tell whether it would make any difference to my fertility.

[Kari55]

What a fantastic story! May I ask what high in protein foods you had every day?

[Hidden]

Try eggs, organic free range if possible. I had both a chemical and bfp (28+4 today) following a number of weeks eating eggs. Could just be a coincidence, and I was also on the all important progesterone that I needed both times, but was also on the progesterone other months either too early after starting eating eggs, or after stopping with no luck.

For my oh, he eats a lot of dairy, drinks milk etc so he was only allowed semi skimmed milk and reduced down his other dairy, as this can be known to be high in estrogen (makes perfect sense really).

In truth, we made loads of dietary changes, and will do them all again when we try again in the future, but there's nothing that's a magic fix, apart from the drugs maybe! But it is good to feel you have some control over the process. Don't go crazy with it though, my bfp came after a week all inclusive (drinking at least 1 alcoholic drink a day but not getting drunk), food poisoning, and the worst cold I've had in a while! FYI we are both of normal-low bmi.

Good luck with your current/next cycle x

[Kari55 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Jacqui. We have been eating very healthy for 2 years now. My BMI is normal but my husband is underweight due to his recent illness. He is intolerant to dairy. I guess the dietary changes should be adjusted to an individual. I’m eating 1 organic egg every day as well as organic natural yoghurt. From what you and jennymonte are saying the protein is key so I need to make sure I get plenty. Since I completely ditched refined sugar and gluten, my skin is clear for the first time in my life, so even though I don’t believe that pineapple can help with implantation, I strongly believe that overall diet impacts our fertility. Congratulations on your pregnancy and good luck x

[Hidden in reply to Kari55]

Thanks hun.

I agree with you, small changes in diet can have a big impact on the body, from positioning of body fat, to sleep patterns. So one must assume that it can also have an impact on fertility. One thing we both did was eat a kiwi every day. Apparently it helps to balance to ph levels in both sperm and CM. We both did this in case we were off balance (I have a sweet tooth, my oh savoury) and that was causing problems.

Protein is one that has to be managed carefully again because of hormones. We would only eat organic free range chicken due to the supposed build up of female hormones in battery hens. But then there are supposed to be hormones in our tap water, and I could not justify adding bottled water onto an already expensive food bill!

Well done on going refined sugar free! Something I could never do! X

[Kari55 in reply to Hidden]

Great tips, thanks! X