I know this isn’t great news for anyone let alone when you are going through the misery of a fertility journey.
Life is pretty tough when you are trying to conceive at the best of times.
However it’s good to understand a bit deeper why the likes of vino and other stimulants should be reduced or avoided all together and then you can make your own mind up.
The good news is, it’s only for a season of your life and not forever.
Most of these substances need to be avoided during pregnancy so just maybe you are doing yourself a favour anyway by weaning yourself off of it gradually as you prep your body to be baby ready.
The cold truth is that the substances listed below cause stress to our cells, full stop.
Alcohol – did you know that just by drinking four drinks, yes just FOUR, your oestrogen levels can sky rocket by over 60% and knock your hormone balance considerably.
Obviously when TTC you are trying to balance your hormones for optimum hormone health.
Look at your alcohol consumption and see where you can decrease and avoid.
Caffeine – research shows that caffeine consumption is associated with a lower chance of conception per cycle.
Look at how much you are drinking per day.
Is it 3-4 cups a day? or 1-2 cups per day? Consider how much coffee and tea you drink daily.
You don’t have to cut it out all together but perhaps reduce your consumption gradually and if you can stay at one small coffee a day or change to decaf.
Once pregnant caffeine is not advised so best to get used to caffeine free for this period of your life.
Don’t go cold turkey and just cut it out as that can cause headaches and a detox reaction even when you just drink one cup a day.
If you don’t like herbal tea, there are heaps of caffeine free options out there that taste like coffee or tea and have great benefits for your body.
Once you have your baby you will then need the caffeine hit to help with the sleep deprivation 😉
Sugar – highly processed sugar such as breakfast cereals, white rice, potatoes, white bread, and soft drink.
Studies show that up to 78% of women who consumed a high sugar and simple carb diet were most likely to experience ovulatory infertility.
Simply reducing your refined sugar consumption can improve egg quality in general and improve healthy ovulation. There are heaps of ferrility diets available online to find healthy sweet or carb alternatives.
Tobacco – we all know that smoking is bad for you. From a reproductive health point of view research studies show that it lowers your luteal phase in the second half of your cycle that will dramatically decrease your chances of conception.
No studies are available as yet on vaping but best to be avoided.
Beauty and cleaning products – the chemicals that provide the scent in these products are similar in shape and size to our hormones and so they can disrupt the balance and expose us to too much Oestrogen. Check out some natural alternatives, there are heaps available in the supermartket.
BPA/besphinol products – There is damning evidence from studies that show how BPA is a synthetic form of oestrogen and extremely damaging to everyone’s health. For those TTC it diminishes your egg quality and really messes with your hormones. Most plastics these days are BPA free however they have replaced BPA with besphinol that can be just as damaging. It really is best to detox your kitchen from plastic and go glass and eco/organic containers that will minimise your exposure to BPA and besphinol. Again doing this now and having an awareness of the damaging effects of plastic will help you and your baby’s health going forward.
Remember none of these restrictions are forever and will not only increase your chances of conception but also a healthy pregnancy and set you up to survive the early parenting years of sleep deprivation.
Oh and by the way all of the above applies to men too, so you are not alone ladies!!!!
