“Infertility Foods” to Avoid if You’re Struggling to Conceive

If you ask your OBGYN if there are any fertility boosting foods you should be eating, you’ll likely get vague, generic advice to “eat healthy” and take a prenatal vitamin. Mentioning this isn’t an attempt to bash modern medicine by any means. Western doctors save lives every day. Allopathic medicine is great for emergencies, but it’s far from being true health care that prevents disease and helps people thrive.

In our culture there’s very little emphasis on preparing for pregnancy, but the nutrition of the future mama before conception is critical for the formation and growth of the baby. It even affects your child’s health throughout their entire adult life! 

The fact that this information isn’t readily available is one of the reasons why there’s such a problem with fertility in our country. There simply isn’t a lot of information out there about preconception planning, the best foods for fertility, and how important it is to prepare your body for baby before you even start trying to get pregnant. 

Pregnancy is very demanding on your body, and it’s absolutely imperative that you have robust nutrient stores for both baby and mama. If there are any deficiencies now, you’re sending a message to your body that resources are scarce and you’re not able to take good care of yourself. You want your womb to be as warm and welcoming as possible, and the easiest way to do that is with the foods you eat.

So what do you need to eat and what foods should you avoid in order to have a healthy pregnancy and baby?

Your fertility diet doesn’t have to be complicated.

Women who want to become mothers (or mothers again) need to make sure their body is nourished and balanced before officially trying to get pregnant. Traditionally, both the man and woman would declutter their diet and eat simply and clean for several months before attempting to conceive. Today, women tend to scramble their way toward motherhood without proper preparation. Unfortunately, most couples blindly take the leap toward parenthood and just go with the flow at the expense of their family’s health.

When you want to grow your family, you and your partner both need to be eating a fertility diet full of nutrient-dense foods. The great news is that once you know what foods are the most beneficial for fertility, it’s really quite easy and tasty to get the nutrients you need. The “bad news” is that it seems like today’s modern food industry is doing everything possible to sabotage our health and fertility. 

The Standard American Diet is full of cheap, nutritionally depleted, processed foods that were designed with profits over people in mind. You don’t need to have a degree in nutrition science to know that food manufacturers want us to become addicted to their crunchy, salty, and sugary snacks. They make it easy and convenient to live a garbage in, garbage out lifestyle. And their hormone-disturbing, gut-destroying, inflammation-inducing “foods” leave us over-fed, under-nourished, and jumping from one health crisis to another.

But how are we supposed to know what foods are actually healthy and which ones just have a giant marketing team with a huge advertising budget behind them? And how do you eat specifically for fertility?

The best foods for fertility . . . and the worst.

Filling up your nutritional reserves starts with clearing out the processed and refined foods first. Because sometimes it’s not what you eat—but what you don’t eat—that matters the most. 

The big food companies are masters at tricking consumers into thinking things are healthy when that couldn’t be farther from the truth. They do a great job manipulating us into eating fake diet foods while we obsess over a number on the scale, but eating for fertility has a different goal . . . a baby in your belly.

Foods that are sabotaging your fertility:

Bioengineered and Genetically Modified Foods (GMOs)

Genetically modified foods are marketed as a way to nourish the world, but they’re really just a cheap way to feed both livestock and humans. While some folks with vested interests say GMOs are perfectly safe, some of the world’s most renowned scientists have warned  that they’re dangerous and causing health and fertility problems across the globe. 

The EU has banned the use of GMO products throughout Europe, and the foods that we’re familiar with in the United States (from manufacturers like Kraft®, Kellogg®, Heinz®, Pepsi®, and Coke®) actually have completely different recipes when you buy them overseas. However, here in America, the FDA says that these ingredients are safe for consumption. 

Why would the U.S. continue to allow foods to be made with these potentially harmful ingredients? Follow the money. 

Genetically modified foods are engineered to be resistant to certain pests, reducing the need for pesticides. For instance, Bt corn has been genetically modified to produce a natural insecticide that prevents all sorts of insects from eating and killing the crops. Other genetically modified crops, such as soybeans and corn, have been engineered to be herbicide resistant. This means they can survive applications of toxic herbicides like glyphosate that are sprayed to kill weeds. The original intention behind genetically modified crops was to reduce overall herbicide use, but over time they’ve actually led to an increase in herbicides—particularly glyphosate.

The consequences of consuming genetically modified foods has been debated for years. GMOs were introduced to the food system in the U.S. in 1996, and many farmers raced to buy them, only to immediately begin struggling with high rates of infertility and miscarriage among their pigs and cattle. These conditions were turned back around after switching to non-GMO feed. 

In May 2009, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) publicly condemned GMOs in our food supply, saying they posed “serious health risks'' such as gastrointestinal, immune, and reproductive problems. Their statement boldly concludes, “There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects.” Based on established scientific criteria, “there is causation.”

Other studies contradict this claim and say they’re perfectly safe. When it comes to your fertility,  it’s smart to do your best to avoid them by buying organic and purchasing foods with the Non-GMO Project Verified label.

Vegetable Oils (Also Known as Seed Oils)

The bottles of yellow vegetable oil on the supermarket shelves are labeled heart-healthy, but they are actually detrimental for our health, our heart, and our hormones. These industrial seed oils—that include sunflower, safflower, soy, canola, and corn oils—were never meant for human consumption. In fact, they were originally used as machine lubricants. But like genetically modified foods, they’re extremely profitable.

Seed oils are unstable fats that go rancid quickly and are difficult for our bodies to assimilate. They have a negative impact on fertility in men and women for several reasons, including:

Omega-6 Fatty Acids: Many seed oils, such as corn, canola, and soybean oil, are high in Omega-6 fatty acids. While these acids are essential to the body, an imbalance between Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids in the diet can lead to inflammation which can contribute to infertility.

Hormonal Imbalance: Seed oils may also contribute to hormonal imbalances. One study suggested that vegetable oils could directly affect DNA and potentially lead to fertility issues.

Low Sperm Count: For men, consumption of vegetable oils has been linked with low sperm counts. This is due to the high polyunsaturated fat content in these oils, which could potentially damage sperm cells.

Avoiding seed oils can feel like an Olympic sport. They’re in almost every restaurant meal and processed food on the grocery store shelves. If you’re eating a diet rich in real, whole foods and cooking from scratch at home, they’ll be easy to avoid. Instead of cooking your food in motor lubricant—use real butter, ghee, coconut oil, or tallow instead.

Refined and Processed Foods

This is a large umbrella term that covers refined sugar, refined salt, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, white flour, skim or low fat milk, bleached and deodorized vegetable oils, hydrogenated vegetable oils, synthetic vitamins, natural flavors, and artificial colorings.

These ingredients have no vitality or health benefits, but they’re often marketed as being low in fat, calories, and sugar. Not only are they not nutritious, they can actually do quite a bit of damage to your reproductive health.

Processed foods are linked to fertility issues for several reasons, including:

Trans Fats: Consuming fast food, which is often high in trans-fats, has been linked to ovulation-related fertility issues. Trans fats are known to increase the risk of heart disease and inflammation, both of which can impact fertility.

Low Nutrient Density: Processed foods often lack essential nutrients like vitamins, minerals, and fiber, which are crucial for maintaining healthy reproductive systems. Poor nutrition can affect hormone regulation and ovulation, potentially leading to infertility.

Sugar Content: Processed foods often contain high amounts of added sugars, which can lead to insulin resistance, a condition that can disrupt ovulation and reduce fertility.

Preservatives and Additives: Many processed foods contain additives and preservatives, some of which have been linked to hormonal imbalances and fertility problems.

When you’re trying to get pregnant, you want to avoid any foods that create a cold womb, disrupt ovulation, cause inflammation, deplete the blood, or negatively affect your hormones. The occasional french fry won’t derail your baby-making efforts, but they’re definitely on the list of Foods to Avoid When You Want to Get Pregnant.

Fertility boosting foods:

Eating for fertility is actually quite simple. To help conception come more easily and pregnancy to go more smoothly, your body needs nutrient-dense foods that your body knows how to digest and absorb. Simply put, eat a good amount of protein, a rainbow of produce from well-mineralized soil, and quality carbs.

There’s no reason to cut entire food groups from your diet. In fact, vegans and vegetarians actually tend to have a more difficult time getting pregnant (especially as they age). This is because building your blood is the foundation of fertility and conception. 

Blood Building Foods

Since women lose blood each month when they menstruate, blood deficiency is extremely common and plays a primary factor in nearly all infertility cases.  It sometimes accompanies a Western diagnosis of anemia, but can be present long before a lack of iron is detectable on a blood test. Think of it as a deficiency in the quality of the blood, not just the quantity.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, blood deficiency means that the blood is not dense enough and that there aren’t enough blood cells to carry the necessary nutrients and oxygen throughout the body. Blood deficiency can prevent your uterine lining from forming sufficiently enough to support embryo implantation.

To increase your blood production and nourish your organs for optimal fertility, opt for eating warm foods and drinking room temperature or warm beverages. Another way to build your blood is by adding organic meat from four legged animals like beef, lamb, and bison.

There are many other benefits to including quality animal products in your diet. Foods that are high in the fat-soluble activators, A, D, and K—like liver, egg yolks, whole raw milk, butter, and cod liver oil—were once considered sacred for fertility. Eating these traditional foods will not only help you build your nutrient reserves in order for your body to get pregnant, but will continue to nourish both you and your baby during pregnancy.

Food is Medicine

Eating is at the center of all self care, but today—so many people are turning to synthetic chemicals and medications, rather than food, trying to heal their bodies. For better or worse, what you eat today will directly affect the quality of your eggs 3 months from now . . . so now’s the time to make fertility the focus of all your meals.

Getting healthy BEFORE you get pregnant starts with a one-on-one Fertility Consult. Book yours today here.