My name is Dr Emma Gray, and I'm the Lead Clinical Psychologist at the British CBT & Counselling
Service.
And this is the third of ten videos in the series: How to Get Pregnant Fast.
In this video, I am going to look at how to use your diet to supercharge your fertility.
This video is going to give you the highlights, if you want a little bit more detail, you
can buy the book that accompanies this series of the same name, it's available on Amazon
for £6.99 in paperback, or to download on your Kindle—I'll put a link in the description
below.
Okay, so, following a balanced diet is crucial for your fertility because it will determine
the environment that the egg and the sperm grow in, which will ultimately determine the
quality of the building blocks for your baby.
In a recent study that involved over 1500 couples, who followed a preconception diet,
89.8% of those couples conceived, and the miscarriage rate in that group was less than
3%—with the national average being 25%, they're pretty good odds.
Most of those people in that group were over 33, and many of them were in their 40's, so
the evidence is definitely there.
Okay, so, whatever changes you're going to make, you need to make them at least three
months before you actively start trying to conceive.
And I talk about this a little bit more in the first video, but this is the idea that
pregnancy is actually a 12-month process than a 9-month process.
Okay, so, the first step is to detox.
Now, we absorb a lot of heavy metals—magnesium, lead, aluminium—every single day, and these
affect our hormones, and they affect our reproductive system; and they can lead to defects in the
uterus and, also, with the foetus.
So it's a really good idea to remove these before you start trying to conceive.
And there's a substance called zeolite, which is spelt Z-E-O-L-I-T-E, that is a natural
mineral that has been proven to get rid, or eliminate, these metals from the body—and
I'll put a link to that product in the description below.
You can get it in liquid form; you just drop it in some water, it's pretty much tasteless
from what I can gather.
Okay, so, general tips.
I suppose the first thing to remember is to try and avoid processed food wherever you
can.
Try and eat foods as close to their natural state as you possibly can.
Acidic foods, now these are something to avoid because these unbalance the pH of our reproductive
system, and that creates an inhospitable environment for the sperm.
So you want to eat things like non-citrus fruits, vegetables, sprouts, cereals, grasses,
herbs; and avoid things like alcohol and caffeine, and try and keep your intake of meat and dairy
to a minimum.
The other thing to try and eat is something called a cruciferous vegetable, and these
are things like cabbage, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts—so, probably not the most
popular vegetables, but they contain something called diindolylmethane, which increases the
metabolism of oestradiol, which is a form of oestrogen in the body, which is obviously
very good for boosting our fertility.
So, a little bit about organic foods, now.
Lots of experts will suggest that you eat organic foods wherever possible because it
increases the nutritional content, and it obviously reduces your exposure to pesticides.
The research supports this to some extent, but it seems to be that it's what you eat
that makes the biggest difference, regardless of whether it's organic or just normal.
So, it's whether you eat lots of fruits and vegetables that is important—this is what
is going to make the biggest difference to your fertility.
Now, there are also some foods, that I'm going to refer to as 'superfoods', that boost your
fertility—the evidence has shown that they boost your fertility.
So what you want to try and do is eat as many of these, obviously, as you possibly can.
I suppose the most convenient way of packing these into your diet is to put them into a
smoothie.
Now, in the book that I've written, one of the chapters is basically just an A to Z of
superfoods that you can try and include into your diet.
But, for now, what I've done is I've put together a smoothie, and put it in the description,
that you can try—it's quite nice to have for breakfast—to get you going and see what
you think.
Now, when you're making your smoothie, the foods that you put in there should be raw,
but, also, keep that smoothie quite coarse because the more you blend it, the more the
nutritional content diminishes.
Okay, so, as I said, this is just the highlights, if you want more detail you can find that
in the book, 'How to Get Pregnant Fast'.
I hope this was helpful, if it was, please like, subscribe, and share with your friends.
And good luck with your fertility journey.
I'll see you soon.