Are you trying to get pregnant and want to make sure that you're eating what your body needs to
nourish your fertility? Of course, you are, and that's why you're in the right place. In
this video, I'm going to go over the 10 easy snacks that I recommend to members of My Hope
fertility program. If you're excited about this, give me a thumbs up and subscribe to
Fertility TV so that you can be notified when I put out a new video, which is almost every week.
When trying to conceive, it's important to make sure that you're balancing your blood sugar. I
tell you from experience, as I've been helping couples get pregnant for the last 20 years,
locally right here in San Diego at my clinic, and also worldwide through my online coaching
program called Hope Fertility Program. And you might be thinking, can I even
snack if I'm trying to get pregnant? Should I be eating more, should I be doing intermittent
fasting and eating less? These are appropriate questions. Well, there's a lot of information when
it comes to nutrition and fertility, and that's why I always talk about a personalized plan for
everything when we talk about your fertility case, and nutrition is really no different.
My intention in this video is to give you the basics and some good examples so you can
determine what's good for you. I've also created this free guide with more in-depth information
about nutrition and other fertility tips, so go to the link in the description below to get it. It's
free and has a ton of great tips and information for you that I know you're going to love. Okay,
well, let's jump into it because I know that all of you want the goodies now.
Let's think about snacks as your chance to provide a boost of nutrients to your body.
While trying to conceive, it's important to take every opportunity to max out your
personal nutrient levels, right? And give your body exactly what it needs, or in some cases,
even a little bit more. Sneaking in nutrient-dense food whenever possible helps to ensure you get
what you need. Micronutrients are best absorbed when eaten from food, so although a prenatal
vitamin supplement is helpful and can give you a bunch of important nutrients, I like getting
as much of the nutrition from food as possible. And often I talk to members of my coaching program
about increasing their vegetable intake because one of the number one things that I notice is
that we, in general, are not getting enough vegetables. So there are lots of different
ways that you can do that because you can add in an organic dehydrated vegetable powder if
you want to. But that should be an alternative to actually increasing your vegetable intake in
your diet and really should only be done as a means to either compensate for maybe a bad day
or a day that was lacking in a lot of vegetables and so that you're going to add it in at the end,
or as a way to slowly migrate to adding more vegetables throughout your diet,
and you're going to use this as a bridge. So yes, there is a place for supplementation, but I always
want you to be thinking about what can I do in my diet and with food first before I do that.
So I'm going to talk about or break down this conversation into three points,
and then we're going to work on those additional snack recommendations into these points. Okay,
so I mentioned it earlier, we were talking about snacking versus intermittent fasting,
and I get this question all the time, which is should I be doing intermittent fasting, you know,
should I be eating less? And in some ways, I want us to think about it like this, depriving my body
of nutrients. Now, I do think that there is certainly a place for intermittent fasting,
and I think that there are circumstances individually for each one of you that may
be appropriate, but I don't think it's a general thing that everybody should and needs to be doing.
So in general, what I do find is that we're actually undernourished, and we're not getting
enough food in our diet on a regular basis and throughout the day. And what I routinely see
when I am looking at someone's diet plan and diet journal because I ask for diet journals
like a sample of everything that you're eating throughout a few days, what I routinely find is
that we're actually not getting enough calories, that we are undernourished. So I think we really
need to think about this a little bit differently. I want all of you to focus on actually adding in
snacks, so three meals and at least one to two snacks during the day to make sure you're getting
enough nourishment and enough nutrients throughout the day to nourish your body. Because when your
body is deprived, it starts to think that it's under stress, and when that happens, your body
is not going to prioritize reproductive function and hormone regulation and balance. So I want
you all to nourish your body and provide all the nutrients that you need, and snacking can be an
appropriate way to do that. Again, I'm not saying that there's not a place for some of you or for
short periods of time that intermittent fasting might not be appropriate, but in general, I want
you all to add in more food and add in more snacks throughout the day and specifically more calories.
So, point number two, because point number one was snacking versus intermittent fasting. Point
number two is going to be, how do we really put together an appropriate snack for ourselves,
and what does that typically look like? So, every time you snack, I want you to
ask yourself these questions: Is it made from real food? Do you understand the ingredients it has in
it? It's always better if there are no ingredients in the packaging because, you know, in that case,
you're eating real food, so hopefully, it's not even packaged, right? Like it's coming from real
food. There's no ingredient list that you need to read because it means it's not processed. But
in case that it does have ingredients, do you know what everything written on the label is?
Do you know what it means? Do you understand it? These are important concepts that I think we all
need to do a better job of, and something, quite frankly, that I talk to my kids about
on a regular basis because they're constantly wanting to snack. They're off and away from me,
and I'm always coaching them on what they need to look for in the labels.
Snacks need to provide nourishment and nutrients, not just empty calories with some flavoring
because they taste good. And these things taste good on purpose because they want you to buy
more of it. So, I want you to think about your snacks in a different way, okay? And this goes,
by the way, for all meals, but certainly snacks because we're talking about snacks today. Also,
have to be thought of in this way. Does it contain protein? Does it contain fat? And does it contain
fiber or vegetables? I view those things as the same thing. Does it maintain those three things?
Because if it does, we're doing really well, okay? But if it doesn't, then we need to do better about
that and make better changes when it comes to that. So that's how I want you to conceptualize
any meal and any snack. Does it contain protein, fat, and vegetables or fiber? Okay, then we have
a good basis, and we could also say fiber, you know, vegetables or fruit for that matter,
then we have a good basis for a snack or any meal. So, I'm going to put on the screen right now my
ideas for 10 good, healthy snacks that you can start to incorporate right now into your days
and weeks, okay? I'm going to put those on the screen right now for you all to see, but I'm
also going to kind of highlight a couple of them. Hard-boiled eggs are a great snack. They've got
protein; they've got fat. And maybe you pair that with some blueberries or some fruit or
other berries, and you're doing really well, okay? Turkey breast, nice healthy organic sliced turkey
breast, maybe even with some almonds or some nuts and half an apple. This gives you great
snacks. These snacks, if you're eating it this way with protein, fat, and fiber, and using the
examples that I have here, they're going to be filling; they're going to be nourishing. They're
going to provide you with energy and fuel to keep going, which is exactly what a snack should do.
So those were the 10 snack tips that I talked about at the beginning of this video,
but I still have my third point when we're talking about snacks
and eating that I think is also really important. So, are you really hungry, or are you just trying
to calm your anxiety or fill in some time? So, I also think that this is an important question
because earlier I talked about not getting enough calories. Well, sometimes we overeat too. So,
I want to make sure that you are truly hungry, that you need more food and more nourishment to
fuel your brain and your body, versus you're using the food to calm your nerves, calm your anxiety,
your stress, and just filling in time. Something else you need to ask yourself
is if you're often hungry and want a snack is, are you eating enough food during your
other meals as well? Like, do you get enough food and enough calories? I spoke about this
earlier at breakfast and at lunch and at dinner. Or are you not getting enough there and trying to
fill in the empty spaces with snacks because you didn't get enough food during your primary meal?
So, I think this piece is important. The place where I think it's the most important to make sure
you're getting enough food and fuel in your diet is when you actually have the time to do it. So,
I often find that breakfast is super important in terms of getting enough food into our bellies so
that we can kind of make it to lunch because then I find if we don't, that's when we're snacking.
The other time where we might need some additional snack, aside from trying to appease our anxiety
and stress and calm our nerves, might be if you are really working hard right at work,
using a lot of brain power, or just went for a big exercise, a big run, or something like that,
then you're going to need some additional fuel. That's where those snacks really should come in.
Outside of that, make sure that you are getting enough food and at dinner time. We often tend to
undereat as well. So, I want to make sure you're getting enough at dinner, and that you're not
needing a snack about 30 to 60 or 90 minutes later than that. So, make sure you're eating enough at
all the crucial times of the day, getting enough calories spread out in the way I highlighted
before: protein, fat, and vegetables. And then if you do need snacks, that you're filling those
in with good stuff, not bad junk food. So now I want to hear from all of you.
What do you typically do for snacks? Do you eat the way I just highlighted? Do you use some of
the snack ideas that I mentioned earlier in this video? Or do you eat the same sort of like chips
and junk that my son was reading that none of us really understand or know what to do with? Now,
I'm not saying we need to be perfect all the time, but we are striving for that.
And I'm not saying you can't have some, like maybe PL tortilla chips from time to time,
mixed in with some good dipping nutrients, like with some of those ideas that I mentioned before.
But we want to have balance and be shooting for 70, 80, or 90% of the time eating good,
balanced meals. If you are really serious about getting pregnant, head to marks.com discovery
call or use the link in the description below to speak to a real human on my team so we can
identify if having me as your fertility coach is the right next step for you. Until that happens,
please make sure to check out this video on the four hormones you need to test to get pregnant
without IVF before you waste time or money moving forward. I think you're going to love that video
if you haven't already checked it out. Alright, everyone, until the next video, stay fertile.