When Should You Start A Fertility Diet?
Fertility nutrition researcher and dietitian here! Just popping by to remind you that it is never too early to start thinking about your fertility diet!
Here’s the thing - you’re born with all of your eggs! You don’t make any more eggs throughout your life, they will simply mature and be released monthly after you hit puberty. It’s a pretty cool and efficient system when you think about it!
Because of this, a lot of researchers will essentially call the entirety of a woman’s life from puberty to menopause the “pre-conception phase”. I don’t entirely agree with this. A lot of women don’t want children, and will never want children, and that’s perfectly fine!!
But I can see why some researchers would refer to this time span as such. Over half of all pregnancies are unplanned, so the importance of the pre-conception phase is often missed. If all women were provided with adequate healthcare relating to fertility (ie. STI testing, regular dental visits, cervical screening, keeping on top of immunisations, yearly blood tests) and the ideal fertility diet was promoted (rather than the disappointing level of false information out there), all women would have the opportunity to have a safe and healthy pregnancy, regardless of whether it was planned or not!
(I didn’t mean to critique the health care system or research dissemination, but I ended up there anyway…)
So aside from this, if you are actively planning a pregnancy, when should you really focus on what you’re eating?
If you’re healthy with no other medical conditions…
3 months is the minimum amount of time I would suggest! (This is as a couple, by the way!)
It takes 90 days for an egg to mature, so the egg that is maturing right now will be released in 90 days ready for fertilisation. So, your nutrition while that egg is maturing is important! This means building up crucial nutrient stores like iron, iodine and folate (these are needed in early pregnancy!)
Going into a pregnancy deficient in some vitamins and minerals isn’t ideal. You can catch up with supplements, but it’s better to get it sorted beforehand.
A sperm cycle takes about 72 days, so if you know someone who has sperm and wants to conceive soon, 3 months is still an ideal time frame!
If you have a diagnosis that affects your fertility…
This changes things!
Think PCOS, endometriosis, IBS, thyroid issues, eating disorders, hypothalamic amenorrhoea, insulin resistance, nutrient deficiencies…
It can take longer than 3 months to rectify any issues and improve the nutrient profile in your body. So I would recommend starting on your fertility diet ASAP with these conditions.
With these conditions, I would recommend starting with a dietitian to help you meet your unique needs!
If your body fat is too high or too low…
At both ends of the spectrum here, your body can stop ovulating. This is obviously a critical process when trying to conceive. Not to alarm you, but you can have periods without actually ovulating, so just because you may be getting regular periods, this doesn’t mean that you are actually ovulating!
You don’t have to make drastic weight changes. But sustainable and incremental shifts in body fat can help improve the chances of natural ovulation, and improve the response to some ovulation medications and IVF too!
In this case, I would recommend giving yourself 6-12 months if you are trying to change your body composition before conception!
Now, if you are trying to create body composition changes, do not crash diet!! No keto or intermittent fasting. Rapid dietary changes can be harmful to your health and can actually cause nutrient deficiencies! So, if this is your goal and you’re struggling on your own, get in touch with a dietitian to create sustainable, healthy changes.
TL;DR: If you are completely healthy with no issues and have done appropriate pre-conception screening with your GP, 3 months is enough! If you have a health condition or nutrient deficiencies to manage, start ASAP. The time frame here is variable depending on your condition/deficiency. If you wish to gain/lose weight, give yourself 6-12 months to create any body composition changes.
Kimberly Lush is an Accredited Practicing Dietitian and Researcher at the University of Adelaide.