Baby making foods

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Howdy my beautiful blogosphere friends,

I recently had a request from a lovely reader on the subject of baby making: to write about fertility boosting foods and general health thoughts surrounding this topic. I'm so glad I was asked this question because it's something I enjoyed conducting loads of personal research on when planning the conception of little Arie; who thankfully is as healthy as I could ever ask. I believe that taking the time to really nurture myself before and during pregnancy has paid off; with a brilliant birth experience and a happy, healthy little man. 

So, if you are interested, here are three of the major things that I incorporated into my lifestyle prior to falling pregnant. I will just add that for Grant & I it took 6 months of trying before a success. Everyone is different, and it can be a very disheartening road for many women, but I believe that prayer and connecting to a higher power is the best way to navigate the journey :)

I will also add that I AM NOT A DOCTOR, nor a qualified health professional. I am simply someone who is passionate about researching health and nutrition and incorporating my findings into my own life. Below are the resources, ideas and foods that I personally implemented.

Natalie Kringoudis

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Thank God for Natalie Kringoudis! I think for a start, this woman's website offers the best holistic approach to baby making you can find. It's easy to grasp, comprehensive, and Nat herself is just gorgeous; inside and out. She is incredibly passionate about what she does (author, speaker, Doctor of Chinese medicine and owner of 'The Pagoda Tree'; a natural fertility and acupuncture clinic in Melbourne) , which is the first sign you're onto someone good.

Natalie's website offers a wealth of information on fertility, ovulation, and general health and wellness. I personally loved her E-book Fertilise Yourself  and HIGHLY recommend it if you are desiring to bring a little munchkin into the world. Her info on food particularly challenged my previous beliefs about saturated fat; which is in fact INCREDIBLY important for fertility and overall hormone health.  

For fertility friendly food choices, I chose to incorporate all of the principles discussed in Fertilise Yourself. She has some great, practical lists of foods to avoid, and foods to stock in the pantry for boosting fertility. She also talks about the importance of sunshine and vitamin D (something we all need more of).

Maca Powder

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Maca is a Peruvian root vegetable that has been grown and consumed in the Andean mountains for thousands of years. It's a known adaptogen; meaning it has the ability to help the body adapt to stress and make it more resistant to disease, and is has specific endocrine adaptogenic qualities; making it especially great for regulating hormones and mood; due to its effect on the hypothalamus and pituitary gland; both known as the "master glands of the body.

 With stress being one of the primary obstacles to fertility, adaptogenic foods such as this are really helpful. The month previous to falling pregnant with Arie, I was taking a teaspoon of this in water every morning. I could never say that this was the reason it happened when it did, but who knows?

Maca is also super high in phytonutrients, enzymes, up to 20 essential fatty acids, amino acids, protein,  vitamins and minerals.   

It's very well known for being a sex drive booster (believe me, I can attest to this and so can my husband! TMI I know), for both men and women. I found that after having Arie I didn't have much of a sex drive due to all the prolactin (breastfeeding hormone) floating around, however once starting to incorporate a teaspoon of maca into my smoothie each morning I've noticed a marked increase; much to the excitement of Grant.

Start by adding 1/2 a tsp to a smoothie or in a g lass of water and work your way up. I usually have 1 tsp a day, but you may find you thrive on more, or less.

Maca has an interesting taste, but combines well with raw cacao and other superfood powders in a smoothie. Browse the web for recipes.

Questioning Gluten

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I've been doing a bit of research and reading about gluten for the past couple of years and one of the things that I've heard on the lips of various nutrition experts is the possible link between gluten and fertility/hormonal issues. 

Now clearly, there isn't a definite link, because I know plenty of people who eat gluten and have fallen pregnant, but when looking at the research I think it's definitely worth thinking about. I personally got rid of the gluten (especially any refined wheat), not just because of the fertility link, but because the more I research, the more I believe it's contributing to a range of modern day illnesses. I got back onto it a little during pregnancy by eating spelt sourdough, but have yet again eliminated it all together; feeling much better for it.

I have heard Cyndi O'Meara describe it from an anthropological nutrition perspective and she basically shows us that the modern day high carb low fat diet is only a very recent phenomenon that our DNA has only been adapting to for a short time, compared to thousands of years of eating higher protein, higher fat, lower carbohydrate diets (when refined grains didn't line supermarket shelves and you actually had to refine the grain by hand). In particular, the wheat grain that approximately 95%  of the world eats today was only hybridised in the 90's, and has a completely different biological structure to what the human body has been consuming for thousands of years (see up for a chat pod cast below). Our DNA simply hasn't adapted to the onslaught of copious amounts of modern gluten filled food (If you would even call it 'food'). 

The over consumption of modern grains, combined with a low fat diet (thanks to the agricultural industry derived food pyramid) are believed to be a combination that is key in not only the rise of infertility, but also of the immense uprising of auto-immune conditions, and neurological disorders including Alzheimer's. 

Fertility expert Nat Kringoudis also highlights Gluten as a food on the 'out list' in her E-Book fertilise yourself, as it interferes with nutrient absorption and places a burden on digestive health. This is critical as the body works in an instinctive way to prioritise the health of the mother before conceiving a child, so it will in a way be distracted from baby making processes in favour of healing the body of the inflammation caused by gluten consumption.

To find out more on why you might like to question your gluten eating, listen to these pod casts:

Episode 230 of Underground Wellness: Interview with Dr Perlmutter (Author of Grain Brain)

Episode 60 of Up For a Chat: Cyndi O'Meara Live at the wellness summit 

Or read Grain Brain by Dr Pelmutter

These aren't specifically aimed at fertility (Cyndi talks a bit about it) but the more you understand what these guys are saying the more you will understand how it is affecting the health of the whole body, which obviously correlates with endocrine health.

And for specific fertility-gluten linked info, check out this post on Green Med Info

Overall, apart from the above, I implemented a diet filled with mainly raw and some cooked veggies, some fruit, some high quality organic grass fed beef or lamb, some fish, fermented foods, sea vegetables like arame and dulse for iodine, oils from avocado's and nuts, cold pressed coconut oil and grass fed rendered fats like tallow for saturated fat, olive oil, superfood smoothies, veggie juices, and for 'pregnancy vitamins' I took Changing Habits green powder, colloidal minerals and probiotics.  

Hope this helps!


In the meantime, have fun making babies! ;)