The right diet to get pregnant
What you put on your plate can help you conceive a baby. Pulses, oily fish, whole grains, vitamins… Discover the beneficial foods and nutrients to increase your chances of getting pregnant.
How to boost your chances of getting pregnant?
Fertility: the diet to adopt
If we know how much diet affects our health, many studies show that it also influences fertility! When you want a baby, the choice of carbohydrates, dairy products or vitamins is not random… Some foods have the ability to improve the quality of ovulation in women or sperm in men, or even to promote the implantation of the fertilized egg .
Foods to Eat to Get Pregnant Fast: What Can Help?
Are you dreaming of getting pregnant? From now on, it is best to avoid foods with a high glycemic index (GI) , i.e. those that quickly increase blood sugar levels (refined sugar, white flour, potatoes, sodas, etc.). Their consumption will cause a significant secretion of insulin by the pancreas. However, it has been shown that repeated hyperinsulinemia can harm ovulation .
We therefore favor foods with a low GI , such as whole grains and flours , dried vegetables , fruits, vegetables, agave syrup, etc. The good habits you adopt today will be beneficial when you are expecting your future baby. Indeed, consuming the right carbohydrates before and during pregnancy helps prevent the risk of gestational diabetes.
In addition, fibers help slow down the body’s assimilation of sugars or carbohydrates , thus regulating insulin secretion. Also consider flax or pumpkin seeds, blond psyllium, agar-agar or oat bran, which you can add to your raw vegetables or yogurts.
What foods help with fertility? Choose good fats!
There’s no question of banning fat from your diet when you’re trying to conceive a baby! You just have to make the right choice…
A good intake of omega-3 contributes to the proper functioning of our body, and therefore to that of our reproductive system. Whether or not you are “trying for a baby”, it is essential to include these fatty acids in your daily diet. Prefer olive, rapeseed, walnut or flax oil and margarines rich in omega-3 to other fats. Regularly consume oily fish (such as mackerel, anchovies, sardines, salmon, cod liver, etc.), seafood and eggs from free-range or organic hens.
Please note: the omega-3s that you continue to absorb during your pregnancy will contribute to the healthy neurological development of your baby .
Trans fatty acids, in addition to promoting obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer, harm fertility. They are mainly hidden in prepared foods and other industrial products, under the term ” hydrogenated vegetable oils “. Read the labels carefully!
Baby project and food: what dairy products should you have on your plate?
If you really want a baby, ditch the 0% yogurt and skim milk ! According to a study by Harvard researchers, these low-fat dairy products affect the balance of our sex hormones. The result: your figure may be slimmer, but your ovaries will take a big hit.
Conversely, whole dairy products would improve our fertility, provided that they are of good quality. Consuming one to two whole dairy products per day could help restore ovulation. Favor semi-skimmed milk (if you really want to), or better, whole milk, fromage blanc, petits-suisses and non-fat yogurts. Ice cream and cheese are also to be favored, but in reasonable quantities.
Foods rich in vitamin B9: the essential food supplement
Folic acid, or vitamin B9, is essential for women of childbearing age . This precious vitamin contributes to the smooth running of the menstrual cycle, and therefore also to ovulation and conception… The only problem: women of childbearing age do not consume enough of it. This is why it is not uncommon to be prescribed folic acid by your doctor when you are trying to get pregnant. Good news, you can also put some on your plate! Examples of foods rich in folate: spinach, lamb’s lettuce, watercress, lentils , melon, chestnut, oats, buckwheat, quinoa, mussels, clams, brewer’s yeast, walnuts, chickpeas…
Folic acid also has many benefits once the baby is on the way! Administered a few months before conception and during the first trimester of pregnancy , it reduces the risk of miscarriage, protects the child from certain malformations (particularly of the neural tube , called spina bifida) and helps prevent prematurity.
How to stimulate ovulation naturally? A healthy diet to promote ovulation
If there is a diet to favor to get pregnant, there are also foods that are better to avoid, or at least to limit the consumption of. This is the case of prepared and industrial products , which are often too fatty, too salty or too sweet and which contain a large number of additives. This is also the case of fried foods, pastries, red meat and cold cuts, alcohol and coffee.
The watchword: a varied and balanced diet that gives pride of place to seasonal fruits and vegetables, preferably organic to avoid pesticides as much as possible.
