When Should I start A Fertility Diet? by Emily Davidson
A common question I am asked frequently as a Fertility & IVF Dietitian is “when should I start a fertility diet?” Well, in reality, it's never too early to start thinking about your diet with respect to your future fertility!
After all, you carry your eggs with you from when you were in your mother’s belly, which means that what you eat, drink and expose yourself to over a lengthy period of time, really does add up when it comes to egg quality.
However, when it comes to fertility, things are not always black and white. So, here is my answer, depending on some common issues I see, among women I work with.
If you are healthy with no diagnosis affecting your fertility, I strongly recommend taking 3 months for both you and your male partner, to focus on your nutrition and lifestyle before starting to conceive. This is the amount of time it takes for an egg to mature. So that means the eggs that are starting the process of maturation today, will be released during the ovulation process in 3 months time. So, proper nourishment in the 3 months leading up to an egg ovulating is key to support optimal egg health and build up critical nutrient stores such as iron, iodine and folate which are critical nutrients in early pregnancy. Going into pregnancy deficient leaves you well and truly behind the eight ball, which of course is not ideal for you or your growing baby.
3 months is also the time period you should start a prenatal supplement containing folic acid and iodine. For those of you with men as your significant other, it takes around 72 days for sperm to fully mature, so what your male partner eats and drinks in the 3 months leading up to conception can significantly impact sperm quality too.
If you have a diagnosis that you are aware of that affects your fertility such as:
PCOS
Insulin Resistance
Endometriosis
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Primary Ovarian Insufficiency (POI)
Thyroid issues such as hypothyroidism or Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
History of an eating disorder
Known issue with sperm health or quality
I recommend you start working on your diet and nutrition, as soon as you can, even if you aren't looking to conceive right away. Get started working with a Dietitian after your diagnosis to ensure your diet is tailored to your exact needs to promote optimal future fertility. Prevention is better than cure wherever possible, so ensuring your diet and lifestyle is supporting your unique medical needs well before trying to conceive is key.
Body fat being too low or too high can cause your body to stop ovulating, which is critical when it comes to trying to conceive. If you have a low percentage of body fat due to an active or past eating disorder, or being a competitive athlete, your body will shut down many reproductive processes and often cease ovulation completely. Without ovulation conceiving unassisted just cannot occur. Replenishing body fat stores by eating well is crucial to help reinstate regular ovulation and a regular period too.
On the flipside, if your body fat levels are above where they usually are, or have increased over your lifetime, then working on this well in advance of conceiving is also a good idea. Carrying extra body fat is often a cause of hormone imbalance, as fat can produce its own estrogen, which can lead to anovulation. There's no need to make drastic weight changes, but sustainable and incremental shifts in body fat can help improve the chances of ovulation naturally, and improve the response to some ovulation medications and IVF too. In the case of making significant body composition shifts, I recommend allowing 6-12 months, if not more, to ensure healthy sustainable changes occur and you avoid crash dieting or rapid dietary changes which may be harmful to your health.
Emily is a qualified Dietitian, expert in Fertility & IVF Nutrition and mum to her own little miracle. She is passionate about helping couples to balance their hormones, optimise their diet and lifestyle to improve their chances of conceiving and having a healthy baby. With over 20 years experience in the industry, she has quickly learnt that there’s no one size-fits-all approach when it comes to fertility...each couple's journey is truly unique. Emily is passionate about enabling women to take control of their own fertility and putting the power back in their hands. You can find Emily on Instagram here