Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Fertility Diet - Can Diet help your chances to fall pregnant?

Fertility Diet - Can Diet help your chances to fall pregnant?
There is much talk lately of whether eating certain foods
can increase your chances of conceiving, but is it true?

Recently I've been reading about Harvard's research into
the link between diet and fertility and it has shown that,
yes, diet and exercise DO play a role in your chances to
conceive.

So let's have a quick look at the overview of what foods
are good to eat:

Carbs

Specifically the difference between good and bad
carbohydrates can impact on your fertility significantly.

Bad carbs - White bread, potatoes and sugary drinks do
disrupt the balance of hormones needed for reproduction.

Good carbs - Wholegrain pasta and breads that are rich in
fiber can improve your chances of conception by balancing
your blood-sugar and insuline levels (which in turn balance
your hormones).

Fats

It is already well known that women who restrict fat from
their diets altogether can have trouble ovulating or may
even stop menstruating altogether. Fats carry building
blocks of hormones and cell renewal.

That's not to say your should start gobbling down lots of
fatty foods though. Bad fats such as Trans fats actually
increase the likelihood of developing ovulatory infertility.

Stick with the good fats and oils, like olive oil and fish
oil. (Especially those high in Omega 3).

Protein

Again it depends on the type of protein eaten as to how it
will affect your fertility. One of the most significant
studies shows that eating plant proteins (such as beans and
nuts which are an excellent source of protein, fiber and
other nutrients) can significantly improve fertility.

Therefore try and include more beans and nuts in your diet
and decrease the amount of animal proteins you consume.

Milk and Ice Cream

Now for some good news! Eating one or more servings of full
fat dairy (such as yoghurt, milk, cottage cheese and ice
cream) can help improve fertility.

So ditch the low fat milk from the fridge and replace it
with the full fat version. The studies showed that the more
low-fat dairy products that a woman consumed, the more
likely it was she would have trouble conceiving.

So go ahead and have that icecream sprinkled with nuts -
it's for your fertility health!

Weight & Exercise

Keeping yourself within a healthy weight range (not too big
and not too small - just right ..) will help you balance
your hormones and improve your conception chances. While we
have all heard of this before, it does make sense that
keeping your weight under control will help guard against
high blood sugar and keep your insulin levels in check.

Exercise also improves your chances for falling pregnant by
increasing circulation, and the better your heart is
pumping blood around your body the better your chances of
getting the right hormones to where you want them and
eliminating all the toxic stuff from your blood much faster.

Exercise is also great for producing natural stress
relievers which we could all use some of when worrying
about trying to fall pregnant!


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