We spend a lot of time focusing on foods that you should be eating to enhance fertility… But did you know there are foods that you can hinder the chances of getting pregnant? As important as it is to know the best foods to eat when you’re trying to get pregnant is food to avoid when you’re trying to conceive.
Watch the episode of Tips and Tea with The Fertility Godmother below. Denise talked about food to AVOID if you’re trying to conceive.
Video Transcription:
“Hi, welcome to Tea with The Fertility Godmother.
Thank you so much for joining me for Tea with The Fertility Godmother. I want to share some critical food to avoid when you’re trying to conceive.
I’m Denise Noyer-Erez and the people I work with (my patients), they call me The Fertility Godmother and I get to work with women and couples in my clinic in Westlake Village California and all over the world helping them prepare their bodies to get pregnant stay pregnant and have a healthy baby.
And today, stay tuned because we are going to talk about some critical foods that you really should avoid for overall wellness but especially if you are wanting to get pregnant.
So let’s jump right in!
I’m going to do the most important one first… One of the biggest things you are going to want to give up or minimize is processed food…
I like to use an 80/20 rule (sometimes even more) but 80/20 rule if you’ve heard of it before really applies to so many different things in your life. In this case, you want to do 80% trying to be as healthy as possible and then allow yourself some wiggle room. We always want to allow ourselves some wiggle room so we’re not so rigid and tight because then that just sets us up for failure and stress when things are so rigid but in general about 80% of the time I will have you start there you know and work your way up.
You should avoid processed food because of all the chemicals that are used in the production of processed food… the additional salt, the additional sugar, unhealthy fats. Overall, it’s just not as healthy as fresh whole foods or ingredients.
You should avoid chemicals as much as possible.
For example, with canned foods, most of the cans are lined with BPAs. And, even the BPA-free cans have loads of chemicals to create the lining. These chemicals are leaching into your food.
Plastic is another important thing for you to avoid as much as possible and not just for fertility but for overall wellness. Plastic bottles are another thing that you want to really make sure you avoid at least 80 percent of the time because you are ingesting the BPAs. Even the BPA-free plastic bottles are full of chemicals. Then, those get into your water and you’re drinking them, and you think you’re doing yourself a good deed, but the truth is you’re still consuming them and you’re filling your body up with endocrine disruptors.
I’m still in the school that I believe you should have water if you’re thirsty. Sometimes on road trips I don’t carry enough water so I’ll have to stop at a gas station and I’ll try to get a glass bottle if I can but sometimes they don’t have the glass bottles or they’re like little and I like a lot of water so I will get a plastic bottle… so it’s not like I’ve completely eliminated plastic but I am thinking about it and I just really try to make a conscious decision to avoid plastic bottles as much as possible.
I believe that the healthier you are the healthier your eggs are going to be, the healthier your sperm is, the better chance you have of conceiving because your body will be more balanced, the better chance you have of having a healthy pregnancy, and a healthy baby. That’s why I think it’s so important to start preconception care at least 3 months before you start trying to get pregnant. And, paying attention to food to avoid when you’re trying to conceive is a great starting place.
I know if you’re watching me right now, I know you want to do everything you can to make this possible for yourself and to have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.
It may be sounding cliché, but I can’t emphasize it enough. Information is going to be coming out more and more on how these toxins are affecting us in our bodies… Not only now but for generations to come. So now is the time to start doing what you can to become as healthy as possible and avoid some of these products that we know wreak havoc in our systems. They mess with our endocrine system; they mess with our ovaries and uterus and our energy. It’s so important. So, you want to avoid processed food!
What exactly are processed foods?
Anything that’s already made for you except fresh food. There’s a big market right now and it seems like it’s a growing market (and I happen to love it) where fresh foods are prepared for you. I buy fresh salads every day for lunch. I use a service California chef and they make me organic delicious healthy salads and I know that it’s high-quality and it is pre-made. We’re so short on time, I know that’s why people go to processed food, frozen foods, chips, canned foods… because it’s easier and it seems to be faster but it’s not worth it. And, again I’m talking about 80% of the time.
Avoid fast food.
That goes along with processed food. If I feel like I need fast food, if I didn’t prepare it properly, I choose healthy fast-food restaurants or sometimes even grocery stores because they all have prepared food for you, and they have fresh food. But, for fast food specifically, Sharky’s is one of my favorites because they have organic options there. Sometimes I’ll run into Whole Foods or other grocery stores. Most of them have salad bars and other fresh options available. Those choices are going to be so much better for you than having processed food that’s prepared with plastic and chemicals. It’s crazy but the good news is that people are making a stand with their demands in the marketplace. We’re getting so many more options and that’s the only way we can really make a change, hitting these companies in their pocketbook because that’s their bottom line.
Another thing is I want to talk about is dairy.
If you’re researching online, you might be wanting to avoid dairy, but I think that dairy is can be helpful. If you choose to have dairy if you don’t have a problem digesting dairy, it doesn’t make you bloated, you don’t feel inflamed and sluggish afterward, then if you want to have a little bit of dairy (a couple of servings a week or maybe one or two servings a day max) you should choose whole fat dairy.
Whole fat dairy will not only give you more nutrients but it’s going to be less processed and it’s also going to have the fat that you need to help balance out the sugars that dairy has in there.
Whole fat dairy is actually better for you than that nonfat or reduced-fat dairy. And, it tastes better, you’ll feel fuller longer and it really just makes everything better having a little bit of fat.
So those are three things that I feel aren’t really talked about very much.
Hopefully, you aren’t drinking too much especially if you’re trying to conceive and you’ve already ovulated that’s going to make a big difference but if you’re trying to conceive alcohol should not be part of the regimen of your daily routine or your weekly routine too often because even though there are some benefits to having a small amount of alcohol you know too much alcohol is toxic and you want to have a healthy baby and that so you want to really keep the alcohol limited.
Drugs should not be taken when you’re trying to conceive. I mean recreational drugs like marijuana or Cocaine, those type of drugs you definitely don’t want to be on. Hopefully, you know that already and it’s not a problem for you.
Another food to avoid if you’re trying to conceive is sugar. You should limit your sugar intake if you are getting ready for pregnancy.
Those are some things you can do to really help get your body healthy and get you feeling good and resetting. There’s so much information out there. I know you really want to do everything you can and it’s so important to just make some modifications in your daily habits and when you go to the grocery store and it’s just being a little bit mindful. That’s going to help you and you’re going to feel so much more energized and you’re going to feel so much better when you start choosing foods that really nourish your body and avoid these foods in general that are really toxic and wreak havoc on your whole endocrine system. Your endocrine system is what controls your hormones, it controls how you feel.
I hope you found this video helpful those are some things I don’t see talked about too much.
To recap: decrease on the processed foods, eliminate the plastics as much as possible, have whole fat dairy and keep it limited to about maybe two or three times a week would be best once a day a small amount would be the next best, you know watch that sugar and the alcohol. All of those things are really important, but you’ll find that once you eliminate them or you decrease them that you really don’t need that much and you will be feeling so much better! Alright here’s to your health happiness and fertility and please Subscribe to my YouTube Channel, follow me on Instagram, and like us on Facebook!
Oh, I also wanted to share… I am getting ready to do my annual cleanse! I do a cleanse twice a year and I love to start the new year fresh with a nice gentle cleanse. If that’s something you would love, click here to join me! I have amazing fertility cleanse that I put together, I’ve been using it for many years and people love it (even people that have done cleanses before). It’s going to help you! First, we help educate you so that you know what works for your body, and then we help you go through this process where you can reset your whole body so that you get rid of those toxins, you get rid of some of those cravings and your energy is going to be amazing! I’m so excited, I can’t wait!
I’ll see you next time take care of yourself!”
