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The Connection Between Diet and Fertility

Team AckoFeb 8, 2024

Are you planning a baby sometime in the future? Then you need to start taking care of your diet from now! Nutrition is a crucial part of preconception care. Having a healthy diet plan is excellent for getting you into healthy habits and preparing your body for a successful conception and pregnancy.

Contents

When should you start your diet plan?
Importance of maintaining a healthy body weight
Diet and conception
What foods to eat while trying to get pregnant?
What foods to avoid while trying to get pregnant?

How does a healthy diet help you?

The main reason for having a healthy diet plan well in advance of planning a pregnancy is to help improve your chances of conceiving naturally. Having a generally healthy lifestyle, including a healthy balanced diet Vitamins and minerals will help keep your body’s systems in check. This includes your reproductive system, your hormones, your body weight, etc.

When should you start your diet plan?

Ideally, you should begin making appropriate adjustments to your diet well in advance of conception, between three to five months. Apart from your regular nutrition, this may also involve supplements, and usually some kind of prenatal vitamin.

Ideally, you should undergo a full check-up to identify any nutritional deficiencies that may negatively impact your fertility as well as your ability to carry a pregnancy to term. Prenatal nutrition and supplements will target both of these concerns, and make sure that important nutrients including folic acid, essential vitamins, and iron are at optimum levels.

Importance of maintaining a healthy body weight

It is imperative that you identify and maintain an ideal body weight if you are trying to get pregnant. Healthy eating not only prepares your body for pregnancy, but also affects fertility in other ways. Extremes in body weight are not conducive to fertility, and having a body mass index above or below the recommended range may make it tougher to get pregnant.

The best thing is to balance calories and activities. Balance your food choices with your physical activity on a daily basis so as to maintain a healthy weight.

Diet and conception

Diet undoubtedly plays an important role before you get pregnant. Additionally, your diet around the time of conception can also have a major impact on the development of your baby.

The first few months of pregnancy are a critical period of development, as the foundations for organs and tissues begin. During this time, the main nutrient supply for the growing foetus comes from the mother’s blood. Hence, a lack of any essential nutrients may affect the health of the growing baby. To ensure the best outcome for you and your child it is important to optimise your diet- both before conception and during pregnancy.

What foods to eat while trying to get pregnant?

Here are some of the foods you should be loading up on when you start planning your pregnancy:

Fruits and Veggies - Consume at least 2 helpings of each at every meal.

Healthy, plant-based fats - found in nuts, avocados, olive oil, and grapeseed oil.

Good carbs – such as fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains.

Lean proteins – Found in chicken, fish, beans, nuts, seeds and tofu.

Legumes – such as beans and lentils.

What foods to avoid while trying to get pregnant?

When trying to maintain a healthy balanced diet, you will unfortunately need to cut down on some of the nicer things you enjoy! These are some of the things you should avoid at this time.

Alcohol

There is no known safe level of alcohol in pregnancy. If you are trying to get pregnant, you should avoid alcohol completely.

Sugar

Cut down sugar levels, and stick to less-processed sweeteners. Concentrated doses of the sweet stuff can throw your blood sugar out of balance, creating problems with insulin and your general hormonal balance.

Trans fat

Trans fat are found in products that contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. This includes fried foods, baked goods, most fast foods, many solid margarines, and vegetable shortening.

Simple and refined carbohydrates

These include items like white bread, pasta, rice, sugary drinks, cakes, doughnuts and pastries, pizza, and potato chips.

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Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only, based on industry experience and secondary sources. It is not a substitute for professional advice. Please consult a qualified expert for health or insurance-related decisions. Content is subject to change, refer to current policy wordings for specific ACKO details.

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