How to Increase Your Fertility Naturally

Firstly, focus on your diet. Choose wholesome foods, such as leafy greens, fresh fruits, lean proteins, and healthy fats like avocado and olive oil. Healthy eating enhances reproductive health and may address ovulatory infertility, which accounts for one-quarter of all fertility complications (this is when a woman either ovulates infrequently or not at all).

Consuming the right kinds of foods encourages consistent egg production. Choose tofu, beans, and other legumes for at least one meal a day. Opt for full-fat dairy products such as whole milk and regular yogurt instead of skimmed or low-fat varieties.

Keep your intake of carbohydrates low (and avoid refined carbs) to help maintain a healthy weight and lower levels of testosterone and insulin. Both of these hormones contribute to infertility. Eggs, nuts, and seeds provide omega-3 fatty acids, a compound your body doesn’t produce on its own. Omega-3s encourage egg production and improve blood flow to your reproductive organs.

While pregnant, your body needs more iron than usual due to an increased blood supply. You can ward off anaemia and foster oxygen circulation throughout your body by eating beans, pumpkins, tomatoes, and beetroot.

MAKE LOVE - Regular love-making can offer stress relief for both partners. This aids blood flow to your ovaries and uterus, creating a hospitable environment for fertilization by keeping the egg and sperm viable longer. Ideally, you want to have sex in the three days preceding ovulation. Good nutrition is vital for a healthy body and reproductive system and to help you conceive. Making positive lifestyle changes can help boost fertility and prepare your body for pregnancy. Plus, it’ll help you feel better overall, mind, body and spirit.

BOOST HYDRATION - Drink plenty of water and avoid fizzy, sugary beverages to further boost your chances of conceiving. Aside from improving blood flow, proper hydration ensures your cervix is easily penetrated by sperm as it adds viscosity to your cervical mucus. In contrast, dehydration is detrimental to egg health, making it less likely one will become fertilized or develop into an embryo.

WEIGHT MATTERS - Both underweight and overweight women tend to experience more difficulty conceiving. As a general rule, a body mass index (BMI) of 20–24 is conducive to getting pregnant. Obese and underweight women may have irregular menstrual cycles or none at all. Though it’s certainly possible to conceive when your weight is outside this range, the excess hormones produced by fat tissues affect both ovulation and pregnancy. An overabundance of oestrogen in your body, for example, functions as a type of birth control, tricking your body into thinking it’s already pregnant and skipping the ovulation process. Obesity also raises your risk of developing polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), another potential cause of infertility. In addition, being overweight during pregnancy can have serious consequences for your baby’s health. They’re at greater risk for type 2 diabetes, spina bifida, high cholesterol, and heart defects. At the same time, underweight women also demonstrate a higher incidence of infertility. A BMI under 18.5 signals your body to begin making less oestrogen or none at all. This, in turn, triggers irregular menstrual cycles and fertility issues.

YOUR OVULATION CYCLE - Increase your chances of getting pregnant by keeping a close eye on your ovulation cycle. Eggs remain viable for roughly 12 to 14 hours, while sperm can live inside the female body for up to 5 days. Ensuring they’re both present in your uterus at the same time (or that the sperm is there before the egg) increases the likelihood of fertilization. Options to detect ovulation include tracking basal body temperature, breast sensitivity, and cervical mucus. Or, you can purchase ovulation tracking kits from your local pharmacy and test yourself mid-cycle to determine when an egg is present.

STRESS RELIEF - Mental and psychological health are more closely linked to reproductive health than you might think. The added stress of trying to conceive can cause hormonal shifts that tell your body it’s not the right time to have a baby. Cortisol disrupts communication between your brain and ovaries, which causes irregular cycles. Engaging in mindfulness techniques such as meditation, deep breathing exercises, and cognitive behavioural therapy will help combat stress. Acupuncture has also been found to be beneficial in regulating the menstrual cycles, increasing the blood flow to the uterus and the ovaries, and reducing stress.

UP YOUR VITAMIN INTAKE - Prenatal vitamins are specifically designed to provide everything a growing foetus needs. They’re made with higher proportions of folic acid, which allows your baby’s neural tube to fuse properly during the second and third weeks of pregnancy. Since you may not even be aware you’re pregnant at this point, it’s wise to take folic acid while trying to conceive. Another fertility-enhancing nutrient is vitamin D, which aids in the production of sex hormones in both men and women. A lack of vitamin D results in low oestrogen levels, and nearly 40 percent of women with ovulation dysfunction have a vitamin D deficiency.

PROTEIN RICH ENERGY BALLS

To prepare healthy energy balls, you’ll need the following types of ingredients: Sticky (e.g., dried fruits), Crunchy (e.g., seeds and nuts) and Creamy (e.g., coconut oil or nut butter).

Once you’ve gathered these ingredients, you’ll be able to make just about any kind of protein ball recipe you like. Remember, you also need a food processor to create a finely-textured dough.

Here’s a basic protein ball recipe

• 1 cup of medjool dates
  
• 1 cup of nuts or seeds
  
• 2 to 3 tablespoon of nut butter
  

1. Blend all ingredients in a food processor to form a smooth dough. Roll the dough into small protein balls to the size of your choice.
   
2. To jazz up the basic protein balls recipe, try adding in any combination of these ingredients: Dried fruits like figs, berries, mangos, or apples, spices or flavourings such as cocoa powder or a dash of vanilla.
   

Charlotte Green is a Fertility Coach who supports couples who are TTC with their emotional health and mindset. mindfulfertilitycoach.com

“A challenging fertility journey is a hard path to walk, and it’s made so much more difficult by the feelings of guilt, failure and even shame that can all too often creep in as time goes on. For those on this pathway it is so important to remember that you are not alone.

As a fertility coach I talk with my clients about how they can develop a mindset which better supports and nurtures them. One of the themes we may look at during this process, is how they can begin to become their own best friend.

Why is it so hard to give the same care and love to ourselves that we happily give to others? Maybe because we feel it’s selfish or self-indulgent? But research tells us that the opposite is actually true. When we invest in loving kindness to ourselves we are actually better equipped to support others too.

In his book, The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion, Christopher Germer PhD, describes a study at the University of North Carolina, which found that a group of people who had done 7 weeks of loving-kindness meditation experienced more positive emotions like love, joy, gratitude and hope. The group also showed a steady gain in the number of positive emotions they experienced with each hour they meditated. Interestingly for those around them, this group also gained other resources such as problem solving and positive relationships with others.”

READ Eat Yourself Pregnant by Zita West – also check out zitawest.com/blogs/blog/eating-for-your-cycle.

FIND An acupuncturist at acupuncture.org.uk