There are a few main areas we like to focus on when it comes to optimizing our clients’ nutrition to support fertility. It’s so much more than following a specific diet or including certain foods. We like to take a look at the following areas:

Energy Needs

Ensuring your body is getting adequate nourishment is critical for fertility because it is part of what tells our bodies they are safe, which is required for ovulation. When we aren’t eating enough it can impact our fertility in number of ways:

• Lowers leptin levels–this will then impact insulin and tell your body to store more energy
• Increases stress hormones, which will then impact estrogen and progesterone
  • Estrogen goes up
  • Progesterone gets used up for other processes in the body–fills in the holes
  • Mineral resources get used up
• Slows thyroid function
• Impairs signaling from brain (hypothalamus and pituitary) to your ovaries and can lead to anovulatory cycles
• The potential for nutrient deficiencies increases
• Undereating leads to lower body fat. We need fat for our sex hormones because the backbone of them is cholesterol. If we don’t have enough fat on our body due to chronic undereating, it’s going to be an uphill battle to create the sex hormones we need. Plus all the stress on top of that!

How To Know If You’re Eating Enough

There are two major ways you will know if you’re eating enough. We like to use both since our bodies are not calculators and we can’t just go by numbers.

Signs You Are NOT Eating Enough

• Low/inconsistent energy
• Poor appetite/hunger/cravings
• Anxiety
• Constipation
• Feeling cold frequently
• Difficulty falling and staying asleep
• Hair loss

Signs You ARE Eating Enough

• Stable, reliable energy
• Hunger when you wake up & throughout the day
• Good mood most of the time
• Regular bowel movements
• Healthy hair, skin, and nails
• Fall asleep easily and stay asleep
• Regular cycle with minimal symptoms
• Handle stress well

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You can compare this to food tracking you can do and see if you’re eating enough. We love the app Cronometer.

Nutrient Dense Foods

Prioritizing nutrient dense foods is another important part of our approach. What are nutrient dense foods? Foods that meet the following:

• contain bioavailable forms of both macros and micros
• can easily be broken down by the body
• support adrenal, thyroid, liver, and/or gut function

Important Note: Just because a food has a considerable amount of a nutrient doesn’t mean our bodies can absorb all of that nutrient.

Top Nutrient Dense Foods

Animal proteins and organ meats- provide us with an array of minerals in an easily absorbable form. That’s the key to all of these foods. Not only do they contain an abundance of vitamins and minerals, but they are in forms that are easy for users to absorb. Many foods are touted as nutrient-dense, but those foods contain phytates and anti-nutrients that prevent us from absorbing 100% of the nutrients. One example is raw leafy greens being praised for their calcium and magnesium. They do indeed have these nutrients, but the amount we absorb from raw veggies is minimal. Cooking them helps break down some of these anti-nutrients and makes the nutrients easier to absorb. Animal foods contain more of these essential nutrients and are easy to break down and absorb.

Shrimp, oysters, and cod (and seafood in general)- Rich in zinc, selenium, and iodine: supports conversion of thyroid hormone, liver function, and carb metabolism. Also rich in taurine, which supports liver function and the ability to detox.

Starchy veggies and fruit- are rich in potassium, a magical mineral that helps our cells get adequate thyroid hormone and balances our blood sugar.

Cooked greens and beans are rich in potassium and calcium. These are a great non dairy source of calcium for those that cannot tolerate dairy.

Bone broth, collagen, and gelatin- are specific protein-rich foods containing amino acids like glycine, support gut health and reduce inflammation in the body. Bone broth is also rich in many minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium. If you make your own, you can add extra greens and potatoes to add even more minerals. You can find my recipe for bone broth attached to this lesson.

Dairy products- this may surprise you, but not only is dairy delicious, but it’s also packed with fat-soluble vitamins and essential minerals like calcium and potassium.

Coconut- Rich in potassium (supports thyroid function). Contains saturated fats (stable and reduce stress in the body) and medium chain triglycerides making it very supportive for metabolism. Naturally antibacterial, which makes them especially supportive for long term gut health.

Blood Sugar Conscious

We don’t have to be diagnosed with insulin resistance to focus on our blood sugar. Why should everyone care about their blood sugar when it comes to fertility? There are a few major reasons:

1. Blood sugar imbalances lead to more inflammation. This inflammation impacts our immune system, gut microbiome, nutrient stores, and how our hormones send signals in the body.
2. The more insulin resistant we are, the harder time we have absorbing nutrients into our cells. It’s easy to become nutrient deficient in an insulin resistant state.
3. Insulin resistance negatively impacts thyroid hormone use in the body.
4. Inflammation, thyroid issues, and insulin resistance can all impair ovulation and adequate progesterone production.

Three Simple Ways To Support Your Blood Sugar

1. Get morning light–ideally sunrise and/or UVA rise if thyroid concerns. This helps support a healthy stress response and balanced cortisol levels. We go into all the details about this in the first episode of our free fertility foundations audio series. Listen here!​
2. Eat breakfast within an hour of waking–this supports circadian rhythm, tells your body what time it is, and avoids unnecessary spikes in cortisol. We want cortisol levels to increase in the morning. It’s what gives us energy and gets us out of bed but if we put off breakfast for too long, this will lead to dips in blood sugar and a higher than desirable release of cortisol. A blood sugar supportive breakfast is typically higher in protein and fat and moderate to low in carb (depending on the person). This is one we all have to experiment with to find the best fit for us.
3. Consume large, dense meals that are built around protein. 30-40g works for most women–some will need more.

What About Fasting?

Before we dig in, it’s important to cover that we all fast at nighttime, so while we aren’t recommending to fast during the day, please remember we do fast at night. No matter what, there will be fasting.
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We generally recommend avoiding fasting for women TTC OR move the window earlier in the day. Rather than waiting until 11am or later in the day to eat, one option would be to eat soon after waking and cut off your eating window right before it gets dark out.
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Why? Two main reasons:
1. We don’t want to add unnecessary stress and when we delay eating in the morning it can lead to a higher amount of stress hormones being released. This can throw off stress hormones for the rest of the day and potentially impact progesterone, which is critical for conception and a healthy pregnancy. It can also disrupt circadian rhythm, which is important not only for fertility but for leptin levels. Leptin is a hormone that plays a crucial role in regulating energy balance and appetite in the body. It’s also important for LH secretion, which is critical for ovulation and conception.
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2. If our circadian rhythm gets disrupted from fasting, undereating, or poor light exposure (not getting natural light in the morning or blocking blue light at night), this can impact our fertility. Both high and low leptin levels can impact our ability to conceive. Leptin is the hormone that tells our body how much energy it has stored and if it is safe to ovulate and have a baby. If our brain can’t get that communication, it can impact our ability to ovulate and maintain a pregnancy. Leptin has also been shown to impact LH secretion, which stimulates ovulation. Leptin will also impact blood sugar and insulin resistance, thyroid health, and the immune system, which will all impact our ability to conceive.

We believe nutrition needs to be individualized to the person based on their health history, current labs, cycle tracking, and how they feel. This is what we aim to do in or practice.

I have a free nourishing meal guide that can help you get started with some recipes, you can find that here. And dig more into how to support your blood sugars with this podcast episode!

reminder: i’m currently accepting people into my Nurture Your Fertility program. you can learn more here about the program and fill out an application!