Eat a proper diet to increase your chances of getting pregnant and to help your baby and body stay healthy during your pregnancy. If you plan on getting pregnant, you may want to begin to make changes to your diet up to a year in advance, according to Baby Center. Add more foods that contain plenty of nutrients such as folic acid and omega-3s and cut down on unhealthy foods, such as sweets and deep fried snacks, alcohol and anything with caffeine.
Iron-Packed Vegetables
According to Jorge Chavarro, lead author of “The Fertility Diet,” women who ate vegetables high in iron were more likely to get pregnant than women who did not. Chavarro conducted the Nurse’s Health Study, which examined the eating habits of 19,000 nurses. He found that women who had slight iron deficiencies had difficulty ovulating and that the uterus of those women was not a healthy place for an embryo to grow. Vegetables that are chock-full of iron include kale, spinach and dried beans. Chavarro recommends that women who want to get pregnant get their iron from vegetables instead of meat. Leafy green vegetables are also a good source of folate, which pregnant women and women who intend to get pregnant need for a healthy pregnancy.
(Safe) Fish
While eating fish regularly when you are trying to get pregnant can help because fish contains high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, eating certain fish when you want to get pregnant can be risky. Some fish contain mercury, which is toxic to you and your potential baby. If you want to get pregnant, eat salmon, catfish and small fish, such as sardines at least twice a week and avoid eating larger fish, such as bluefin tuna or swordfish. Your body needs omega-3s to be optimized for fertility and the developing fetus needs them for his brain to develop properly.
Cereals and Breads Fortified with Folic Acid
Many women know to take a prenatal vitamin that contains folic acid to prevent birth defects. Getting enough folic acid in your diet before getting pregnant may also help with conception, according to “The Fertility Diet.” Folic acid can keep levels of the amino acid homocysteine low. Too much homocysteine in your system can lead to fertility problems, according to Chavarro. Folic acid can also help with ovulation. If you are worried you are not getting enough folic acid in your diet, you can easily get it in supplement form.
Full-Fat Dairy Products
If you want to get pregnant but you have trouble with ovulation, you may want to try swapping out your glass of skim or 1 per cent milk for a glass of whole milk. Trading low-fat yogurt for full fat may also help improve your ovulation as well. Of course, you should go easy with full-fat products and watch how much you eat to make sure you are not adding too much fat or calories to your diet. Trade switching one glass of milk daily or adding a container of full fat yogurt to your diet once a week.
