3 ways to improve your fertility NOW (even if you don’t want a baby just yet)
Ladies- are you thinking you want to start a family soon (or in several years), and just a little bit worried because you have heard how it can be a difficult journey? If that’s you, you may have a few questions circling around your brain -
🫠Will it be easy to get pregnant or will I be one of those people who struggles to get pregnant?
🫠Will it take me a long time?
🫠 Will I have to seek fertility treatments?
🫠What if I have infertility and don’t know it?
🫠What can I do now to help me when I want to get pregnant?
If you’re not quite ready for a baby yet - but you know you want a family in the future, you are in the right place! And rest assured- you are asking allll the right questions.
AND- I want you to take a deep breath- the trying to conceive journey CAN be riddled with lots of uncertainty and stress, but preparing your body and your mind for the journey to motherhood can make the process of trying to conceive so much easier when that day comes.
Yep- even if you don’t have a partner yet, even if you’re in your early twenties, even if you’re more focused on nurturing a career than nurturing a family right now, now is a great time to work on boosting your fertility, so that when the time comes, you can be absolutely confident that you have prepared your body and your mind for this amazing journey to motherhood.
Want to know how to boost your fertility before you start trying to conceive? There are many things you can do right now to improve your chances of conceiving when the time comes.
Let's dive into three super helpful tips that can boost your baby-making potential! 🌟
Nourish your body with foods that support your fertility 🥦🍌
Before I go further, we must talk about one thing: food can be a VERY triggering topic for many of us who have a history of disordered eating and body image issues. It can be even more problematic when we start to believe that eating THIS or THAT is going to determine if we do or do not get pregnant. If this topic is a struggle for you, it is so important to get support as you work on a nourishment plan that supports your fertility.
Now that I’ve said that, while it’s true that what you put on your plate can have a big impact on your fertility, it doesn’t have to be complicated, and it CERTAINLY does not have to be restrictive. In fact, when I work with clients, I often recommend starting with eating MORE, because if your body is not receiving enough energy from food, it will not prioritize functions like reproduction. Only when you are eating ENOUGH can we then fine tune WHAT you are eating. You may have heard that you need to give up certain foods and food groups to boost your fertility, but this is not the case for most people. it’s most important to first ask what foods we need to ADD into your diet to improve your chances of conceiving.
Start by fueling your body with nutrient-rich foods like fruits, veggies, whole grains, plenty of protein, and yes, LOTS of healthy fats. These juicy goodies provide the vitamins and minerals you need for hormone production and reproductive function. Think colorful salads, delicious smoothies, and tasty stir-fries. And don't forget those omega-3 fatty acids found in fish like salmon or walnuts—they can work wonders for your fertility too!
If you get hungry an hour or so after eating, chances are you need to think less about WHAT you are eating and more about, well, eating MORE!
Your future little one will thank you for nourishing your body with all the good stuff! 🍎🥗
Manage stress to support your fertility with mindset tools that actually work🧘♀️💆♂️
If you’re reading this, you probably already know that trying to conceive can be a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Hope, anticipation, longing, and…possibly disappointment, frustration, even anger.
It probably doesn’t come as a surprise that stress of all types can make trying for a baby a little trickier. Stress has many, many effects on your physiology- and in large doses for longer periods of time, it can prevent us from ovulating. Why? Because the body is actually working FOR you to prioritize survival mechanisms over reproduction.
Yep- if you are stressed, all the hormones in your body can reorient themselves to put making a baby very low on its list of priorities. That’s why sometimes your period is late in times of crisis, or simply when you have a lot going on at work.
In order to ovulate consistently, which is important for health in addition to reproduction, it’s important to manage the psychological and physiological sources of stress on your body.
But before I start to sound like another doctor who tells you to “just” manage stress with no regard for the fact that you are ALREADY doing an amazing job caring for yourself and very little guidance, hear me say this:
It is just about impossible to completely eliminate stress from your life.
However, we can use so many amazing tools to reduce the impact of stress on our nervous systems and the response it creates in our bodies (and on our fertility).
Before you stress yourself out making a list of more things to do, let me encourage you to start small. Here are a few of my favorite ways to calm the nervous system to support fertility:
🧘🏽♀️Set a timer for 2 minutes before you sign in to your work email in the morning. Sit in a comfortable position, breathing, and taking note of the sensations in your body.
🚶♀️Take a 5 minute walk outside during your lunch break- WITHOUT your phone!
💃Turn on your favorite song and DANCE for 3-4 minutes.
and check out this blog for one of my best kept secrets (and a big lesson learned in my personal journey) to create a calm nervous system that signals your body that it’s safe to make a baby.
Get to Know Your Cycle, Girlie! 📅🤓
Knowing how your body works and understanding your menstrual cycle is like having a secret weapon in your baby-making arsenal. The more you know, the better you can plan. So let's get a little scientific here. Start by tracking your cycle—note when your period starts and ends and start learning how to tell when you ovulate. This knowledge will help you identify your fertile window so when the time comes, you know the best time to get busy 😉
There are tons of apps and fertility trackers out there that can help you stay on top of your cycle game. But remember, they are just a tool. They can provide insights into your cycle and help you keep track of important dates, but they CANNOT tell you when you ovulate (even if they give you a cute little prediction window).
The good news is, with a little bit of time getting to know your body, you can learn to track your fertility signs like a champ so you can know if and when you ovulate.
This will save you SO much time and energy when you want to conceive - AND, it will help you to identify any hurdles way before you start trying for a baby.
You might be wondering, can I track my fertility signs if I am on hormonal birth control?
Well, not exactly. Hormonal birth control methods prevent ovulation in most cases and thicken your cervical mucus- so you can’t track this as a fertility sign. What you CAN do is start to pay attention to your body- energy levels, mood, physical sensations. If you are thinking about getting off the Pill and using fertility awareness as birth control until you’re ready to get pregnant, I can help you with that!
Or perhaps you aren’t on hormonal birth control but you’re wondering if you can track your fertility signs if you have irregular cycles. …and you may even be worried that you may not be able to get pregnant naturally if you have conditions like PCOS, endometriosis, or simply don’t have regular cycles due to a nutrient deficiency or stress.
The answer is YES! You can absolutely learn to tell when you’re ovulating even if you have irregular menstrual cycles. In fact, it can be extremely empowering to identify if and when you are ovulating so that you can get pregnant naturally when you are ready to, and also identify if there are any hurdles you need to address AHEAD of time to make your fertility journey as smooth and stress-free as possible.
There you go! Whether you want a baby now or in 10 years, those are three things you can do NOW to help you get pregnant.
By nourishing your body, managing stress like a boss, and getting acquainted with your cycle, you're setting yourself up for baby-making success! But remember that every journey is unique, and conceiving might take some time. If you need more support with any of these things, I’m here to help And would love to chat with you.✨
That's it for now, friends! Go forth and nurture your SELF like the gorgeous future mama you are. 🌠👶
