What to eat when you are trying to get pregnant?

No matter what you eat,  you are still not pregnant. Disappointment hits you, as if pregnancy has a specific deadline that you need to achieve.

What you eat may affect your fertility. Eating specific foods may help you become pregnant quicker. This is because nutrients from certain foods may help you to ovulate consistently, stabilize your hormones and maintain reproductive system health.

Nutrients that are known to boost your fertility are folic acid, vitamins, minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, myo-inositol, L-carnitine, L-arginine, prebiotics and probiotics. For men, minerals such as zinc and selenium may help to boost high-quality sperm production. 

Therefore, if you are trying to conceive, eat as much food that contains nutrients to boost your fertility and conception success. Food that are good for your fertility and to boost your conception success as follows:

Fertility friendly foods

1.Dairy product

Dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt may help you trying to get pregnant. This is because dairy products help to boost your ovary to ovulate consistently every month. 

Eating high fat dairy products may help to boost your fertility as low fat dairy products may cause your ovary to not ovulate.  

To boost your dairy consumption, eat some yogurt, drink smoothie with milk, and gnaw on some cheese.  Your ovary will thank you for this. 

2.Lean animal protein.

Lean animal protein such as chicken breast, beef and turkey are rich in iron and proteins to boost fertility. Women who are trying to conceive have a higher chance to get pregnant after taking iron. 

However, limit your meat consumption as excessive meat consumption is related to low fertility. This is even worse if you are having fats on your meat. 

Trans fats and saturated in the meat can contribute to infertility as they block the oxygenated blood flow to the reproductive organs. This creates infertility issues as your reproductive organs cannot perform at optimal level. 

However, if you are vegan or vegetarian, it is recommended to take high protein plant sources such as tofu, tempeh, quinoa and chia seed to supplement sufficient nutrients from meat in your diet. Take supplements to ensure your nutrient uptake is complete. 

3.Fish oil and healthy fish fatty acids

Fish meat with high content of fish oil and omega-3 fatty acids are good to boost your fertility. This is because fish oil and omega-3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory, encourage blood flow, boost ovulation and encourage mature egg production. 

Seafood rich in omega-3 acids and healthy fish oils are salmon, herring, mackerel, sardines and oysters. Other freshwater fish such as catfish (ikan keli), patin fish and tilapia fish. Eggs and omega-3 fortified food are also excellent choices for omega-3 acids. 

If you are vegan or vegetarian, you may need to seek non-meat options that are rich in omega-3 acids. This can be plant sources such as chia seed, pumpkin seeds, walnut and flax seeds. 

4. Complex carbohydrates

Complex carbohydrates such as whole grain and brown rice are the best if you are trying to conceive. Hence, you should ditch your low carb diet by eating high-quality carbohydrates instead. 

To maintain an optimum fertility, your carbohydrate intake should be 60% of food that you consume. Carbohydrate may not necessarily be from rice or grains, it can be sourced from fiber from fruits, nuts, legumes and vegetables.

Carbohydrates are a necessity for fertility because lack of carbohydrates makes your body think it is in starvation mode. Hence, your hypothalamus, the bodily hormonal regulation center in your brain, will send a signal to stop your period. This is done by regulating hormone levels such as estrogen and progesterone.

You end up suffering various hormonal instability issues due to lack of carbohydrates.  

Be selective of which carbohydrates to eat. Reduce the intake of processed carbohydrates such as white flour, cakes and cookies. Processed carbohydrates may raise insulin levels and throw your reproductive hormones out of balance. 

5.Oyster

Oysters can boost up your baby making activity by providing minerals and amino acids to boost your sexual libido. 

This is because the zinc mineral in oyster can help to increase your dopamine level, which helps to make you feel calm and good. 

Oysters are also rich in omega-3, which has anti-inflammatory features and helps to boost egg health. 

Oysters seem to have an aphrodisiac effect both on male and females. Taurine, an amino acid in oyster, helps to improve the adrenal gland function and balance the sex hormone production. 

If you are a vegan or vegetarian, take plant source rich in zinc or zinc supplement for sufficient zinc intake. Food sources rich in zinc are legumes, cashew, nuts, and oats. 

6.Yams 

Yam is a phytoestrogen rich food, which will encourage the secretion of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). The FSH then stimulates the development of ovum cells in the ovary, which will develop to form mature eggs. These mature eggs will later be fertilized by sperm cells. 

The more yams you consume, the higher your chance to get pregnant with twins. This is because the yam is an anti-estrogen food. Anti-estrogen food boosts the ovulation in the ovary by fooling your brain. It makes your brain think that your body lacks estrogen.

Your brain would then secretes more gonadotropin hormone, which boosts ovulation. The result is your ovary produces more than one egg for each period cycle.

7.Berries

Consider having more berries in your diet to boost your chance to get pregnant. This is because berries boost the health of your ovum and sperm cells in males. 

As berries are rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, no wonder it is regarded as a superfood for your fertility diet.

Berries help to protect your eggs from oxidative damage. This is even more important if you are trying to conceive above 30s, as egg quality declines as you are aging. 

For males, the berries help to boost the sperm motility and quantity. More high quality sperms will boost your chance to get pregnant quickly.

All types of berries are healthy for your fertility. The darker the color of the fruit, the higher its antioxidant. Amongst all, we think blueberries and raspberries are the most excellent in terms of nutrient content. Fresh or frozen, both are equally nutritious.