If you’re thinking of getting pregnant, the first thing you’ll want to pay attention to is your nutrition intake. Sufficient and quality nutrition is vital for both general health and fertility. Diet has an effect on fertility. What you eat and how you eat can actually influence how your hormonal system behaves, which will then determine how fertile you are.
While there are certain diets to help you conceive faster, in this article, you’ll find out which foods to avoid because they are generally bad for your health and have a negative impact on your fertility. For a more comprehensive guide on diet and lifestyle do’s and don’ts to get pregnant, you might want to check out the Personal Path to Pregnancy guide.
Refined starches and simple sugars
Refined starches and simple sugars (such as found in bread, processed breakfast cereals, pastries, biscuits, cakes, packed-foods, soft drinks, honey, table sugar, tinned fruits, etc) cause blood sugar levels to fluctuate dramatically. This can lead to hormonal imbalance and affects your fertility. Blood sugar imbalance may also cause daytime panic attacks, waking up in the middle of the night, sweating and heart racing. You’ll also feel sluggish in the day time.
Tips: Avoid sugar in your foods, including honey. Eat plenty of fresh fruits instead if you need something sweet.
Bad fats
Bad fats are saturated fats, which are mostly found in dairy products (e.g. butter), animal fats (e.g. lard), fatty beef, palm oil and coconut oil. Trans-fats (i.e. hydrogenated oils), which are commonly present in packaged foods, margarine, dips and toppings and fast foods, are also bad fats.
Tips: To replace bad fats in your cooking, use in small amounts polyunsaturated oils, such as canola and sesame oil. Use monounsaturated oils, such as olive oil, for your salad dressing. Flaxseed oil can also be used as a salad dressing. These are considered as the good fats. They absorb and store just the amount of fat-soluble vitamins (e.g. vitamins A, D, E and K) you need to maintain a healthy reproductive system.
Coffee
Some studies reported that drinking one or two cups of coffee every day is not likely to hamper your fertility. However, it has been found that a caffeine intake of 300 mg or more every day may make it more difficult to get pregnant, not to mention that the risk of miscarriage will increase as well. In men, on the other hand, moderate coffee consumption seems to improve sperm function.
Tips: Instead of coffee, opt for black or green tea. It is suspected that there may be other ingredients besides caffeine in the coffee that are affecting fertility.
If you want to find out what other fertility-damaging foods to avoid, go to this diet and fertility article.