3 IVF Nutrition Tips

One of the biggest things I see all of the time in the IVF nutrition world is recommendations to eliminate or cut back on certain foods. Especially things like added sugars, processed foods, carbs, and caffeine. The problem with this restricting approach to food is it leaves you feeling deprived and let’s be honest, IVF is hard enough as it is, you don’t need to be feeling deprived like you can’t enjoy a slice of pizza without feeling guilty like that’s the reason you aren’t pregnant yet.

So let’s talk about three tips you really NEED to know about IVF nutrition.

1. Focusing on what you can ADD in to your daily eating patterns is far more effective than focusing on what you think you should eliminate or cut back on. Shifting the focus to what you can add is a more empowering approach to IVF nutrition. Using this approach you are able to continue eating all of your favorite foods, yup those with sugar and processed ingredients, while adding other foods that have bonus nutrients that will support your body and optimize your IVF outcomes.

   • Some simple things you can focus on adding into your daily eating pattern are fruits and veggies— think fun and enjoyable ways. Like smoothies, roasting veggies in the oven (or air fryer), or making a salad with dressing and cheese you enjoy.

   • Adding in more fats can also help with hormone production, add in full fat dairy, salad dressings, olive oil, or avocado to sandwiches and salads.

2. Balance your meals with carbohydrates, protein and fat. Believe it or not, your body NEEDS carbohydrates every single day. Especially when you are on the IVF journey. Carbohydrates are your body’s main source of energy. Without this source of energy your body is forced to create the glucose it needs to do its every day functions from fat and protein. This process isn’t the ideal pathway for your body to get energy which creates additional stress on your body. It also can produce a starvation reponse within your body. Human body’s are designed to survive a famine.

   However, when your body is in the starvation response, it is directing all of its energy and resource towards survival. And unfortunately, your reproductive organs are not essential to your daily survival, so energy gets taken away from hormone production and your reproductive organs. Essentially, your body is like “hey, we are in a famine, now is NOT a great time to make a baby because we don’t have enough food.” We don’t want your body to do this during IVF. Instead we want your body to have the energy it needs to put extra resources into your hormone production and reproductive system.

3. You don’t need to be taking a meal full of supplements. There are a litterally thousands of fertility supplements and chances are you may be taking quite a few if you are on the IVF journey. Whether your doctor recommended them or not, you likely have done some research or read a few books that recommended a whole bunch of IVF supplements from CoQ10 to N-Acetyl-cysteine (NAC). And because you want to make sure you are covering your bases, you went out and purchased all of them and started taking them.

   But I’m willing to bet at some point you are wondering why in the world are you taking all of these supplements and is it really worth it?! Unfortunately, it may not be. Blanket recommendations that are made on websites and books can be dangerous because the quantities may be too high for you or the supplement may not be needed at all. Even if you meet the diganosis and treatment pathway it recommends to take the supplement for. If you have found yourself taking a bunch of supplements, I would encourage you to get individualized support to determine what you actually need based on your situation. This is something I offer in my IVF Nutrition Blueprint Session, a 90 minute session to review your IVF nutrition and supplement plans based on your unique situation.

   • To get you started, the most important supplements to take are a prenatal and a fish oil. Many of the other supplements are high doses of antioxidants which may have harmful effects at high levels. You can also get plenty of antioxidants from the food that you eat, such as fruits and veggies.

   • If you decide to add in additional supplements, I always recommend my clients add one supplement at a time and start with a low dose. This allows you to monitor how your body responds. If you have side effects, this may be a sign that your body doesn’t need that particular supplement.

And remember, no one food, meal, day, heck even week of eating is going to be make it or break it when it comes to your IVF cycle. You can’t eat your wait to a cycle with poor outcomes, my friend, thats just not possible. ♥