Fertility Diet:
The Perfect Eating Plan for Pregnancy

Trying to conceive? Kick-start your chances by starting a fertility diet! Eating good nutritious balanced meals will not only help fuel your body with the right vitamins, minerals and sustenance, but it will also help you out in many other ways, such as with weight-loss (if you are overweight), weight gain to your right body mass index (if you are underweight), and should give you other great benefits like healthier skin, a better feeling about yourself and your body will run more efficiently.

Sitting down to a healthy meal could be the solution to your troubles in trying to conceive - find out more in this short video:

When on a fertility diet, try to aim for smaller portioned meals, but eat more regularly.
So you should have breakfast, a morning tea snack, lunch, an afternoon snack than dinner.
Try not to have dessert all the time, make that a luxury, as the worst time to eat is before bed.

So what can you eat on a fertility diet?

Let's start generally, than we will get more specific with the foods you should eat on the fertility diet.
Generally you want to aim for a diet that is rich in fruit and vegetables, high in lean protein, lots of whole-grains and try and have a high fiber diet - this element of the diet will help keep you regular so that your body runs more efficiently.
If you are going to eat carbohydrates (which you shouldn't cut out completely because this is where you get your bursts of energy from) - choose the wholemeal and brown options of each.
For example:
- choose brown or wholemeal bread instead of white bread
- choose brown rice instead of white rice
- choose gluten free or wholemeal pasta
More specifically you want to try and eat the right foods that are jammed packed full of the nutrients and vitamins that a body craves to help make conception easier. And there is a science to it, so trust that some of these suggestions really will help you.
Let's get specific!

When on the fertility diet, try to eat foods like:

- green leafy vegetables - the greener the better! Good choices can also include:
- parsley, - kale, - spinach leaves, - silver-beet, - lettuce, or - bok-choy.
Any green leafy vegetable is full of folic acid, the most essential vitamin for a healthy pregnancy, and therefore also conception. Don't be put off, you would be surprised at the different things you can make with these ingredients!
Suggestions for meals could include making mince rissoles and you can put alot of parsley through them with wholemeal breadcrumbs and some beaten egg to hold it all together. Use spinach leaves and lettuce to form part of a salad on the side!
Ever tried spinach and fetta pizza? It's delicious! I pour a whole packet of spinach over the top of mine and layer it right up with the leaves!
Silver-beet tastes great boiled, and if you can't stomach it mix a little bit of grated cheese through it (which will melt) and it's delicious! (only use a couple of tablespoons of cheese!) you can have it as a side dish to your favorite meat - be it lamb, beef or pork!
- Eat lean meat, beans and pulses - the idea is to load up on protein and iron. It's important as a woman to have high levels of iron. If you have low iron levels than it can affect your ability to ovulate properly and even impact on your ovaries and the way they function.
Combining a main meal with meat and a side dish with a salad and beans is one suggestion.
- Eat dairy! Dairy is vital for strong and healthy bones. If you do get pregnant, your baby will be using alot of the goodness your body supplies, so you need to make sure you have enough going in to fuel your body so that you don't deplete yourself of vital nutrients.
Some women who have poor calcium intake find their teeth aren't as good as they were before pregnancy, so make sure you don't full into this category.
You can get calcium in alot of snacks like yoghurt, cheese (which you can have with crackers)

What should you avoid on the fertility diet, if eating to conceive

Likewise there are foods you should aim to avoid. Unfortunately, if you like a lot of takeaway, if you enjoy ready-made processed foods and like to get a sugar kick, than this information is going to upset you! You can choose to ignore it, but you are only cheating yourself!

When trying to conceive and following the fertility diet, avoid the following at all costs:

- sugary foods and sugar - doughnuts - no! packets of crisps - no! chocolate - no! candies and lollies - no!!!
- sugary drinks - this includes softdrinks - you wouldn't believe how much the calories add up too! Imagine eating 11 teaspoons of sugar in one hit... that's about what you are drinking in a can of soft-drink!
It's not just the sugar that you need to be worried about it's the artificial sweeteners they put in them too! They can contribute to your fertility problems, and worse, lead to miscarriage in some instances.
- deep fried foods - these are a big no-no. Basically they are full of trans-fats the can cause endless problems, not just fertility related. Not only that, it's a good way to put on alot of weight!
Anything fried should be avoided, and this includes seafood too because of the way mercury levels in seafood change once fried. Too much mercury and impede your ability to ovulate, and therefore conceive.