Improve egg quality, fall pregnant and improve conditions for your baby to grow through diet changes.
Is the food that you’re eating affecting your ability to fall pregnant?
So many times, we just accept the fact that we get bloated, have low energy, or just don’t feel like having sex (yes, food can influence our libido!!). We figure it’s just part of being a woman or living in the society we live in.
But what if the food you’re eating is actually inhibiting your fertility and your ability to fall pregnant?
What if you could make some tweaks to your diet to help you feel better AND increase your chances of a healthy pregnancy?
Food intolerances can cause inflammation in your body. And when you’re in a state of inflammation, reproduction is not a priority, because your body is merely trying to operate in the right way.
Our body wants to protect us first. If everything is operating in balance, then our body will focus on reproduction and creating a baby that is healthy and safe.
So how do you know if you have a food intolerance or a food allergy?
A food allergy is easy to pick – you usually have an immediate and visible reaction, like a rash or trouble breathing. Common food allergies are nuts and seafood.
Food intolerance on the other hand is a little harder to pick because your reaction is usually seen from 12 to 48 hours afterward. And because you don’t see the immediate reaction, you can’t associate the way you feel with what you ate. The most common food intolerances are gluten, and the most common reaction is bloating.
Both food intolerances and allergies have a negative impact on fertility because they both cause inflammation.
So how do you find out if you have a food intolerance?
There are 3 ways you can determine the foods you’re intolerant to -
Elimination diet – this is the middle of the road test. It does however take a lot of time, and when our biological clock is ticking, we don’t always want to wait. The elimination diet includes eliminating certain foods for 8 weeks and then reintroducing them over time, using a diet to track your symptoms. You usually eliminate the most common foods that people are intolerant to at the same time i.e. wheat, eggs, dairy, nuts, soy, and seafood. If you still feel bloated you can keep eliminating foods. But hopefully, by this stage you’re not feeling bloated, you have more energy, your sleep has improved and your libido is back. Then you start introducing one food back at a time leaving 3-4 days in between. Track any changes in how you feel with a diary so you know exactly when your symptoms come back again and how you feel after each food is introduced.
Autoimmune Protocol i.e eliminate basically everything diet – this is a complete detox where you eliminate basically everything but fruit and vegetables (and some of those too - tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, capsicum/peppers). Eliminate for 8 weeks and reintroduce one food back every 3-4 days. This is the most extreme, but also very effective.
Functional test through blood – while a more costly test (you have to go through a health professional to do this), it does save a whole lot of time. It’s also a lot gentler on your body rather than eliminating everything reintroducing it again. And the test will give you a list of all the foods you’re intolerant to.
So rather than just accepting that you don’t have the energy or you’re bloated all the time, it’s great news there are things you can do to improve the way you feel……starting today.
AND when your body is in balance it improves your egg quality and improves the conditions for your baby to grow and develop too.
But don’t take my word for it!!
You can hear all about it in my YouTube interview with Anna Reyes who is a certified holistic nutritionist, focusing on fertility and offering her clients 100% customized experience based on the fertility journey, charting, and functional testing results.