An Anti-inflammatory Diet for Fertility and Pregnancy
Inflammation is believed to be one of the root causes of many imbalances in the body. The stress of inflammation is indicated as a contributing factor in several infertility diagnosis including PCOS, endometriosis, recurrent miscarriage, poor sperm and egg quality. So it makes perfect sense that when you are ready to get pregnant, this diet can help to resolve any inflammatory responses in the body that could be preventing conception or impacting your health during pregnancy.
Even before tackling the dietary principles, it is important to take a close look at how stress may be impacting your life. It has been long known that cortisol, a stress hormone, is a leading cause of inflammation in the body. Choose activities that provide peace and relaxation each day can help to heal conditions of inflammation. This can be anything from a foot soak, a massage or even a funny movie at the end of the day. Something that helps you to unwind. Also, choose exercises you enjoy that replenish you, while detoxifying and reducing stress. Swimming, walking, dancing, yoga and gardening are all low impact exercises that get your blood flowing. One recent study on the benefits of stress reducing yoga has shown that a regular practice may have the capacity to reduce inflammation in the body, measured by C-reactive protein (CRP).
Along with stress reduction and gentle exercises consider adopting these anti-inflammatory dietary tips:
Avoid sugars and artificial sweeteners– especially in soda and processed candy
Limit caffeine, coffee (prefer green tea and herbal teas), alcohol, red meat, burnt food
Eat an abundance of colorful fresh fruits and vegetables for the bioflavanoids- especially dark leafy greens.
Cook with anti-inflammatory herbs or sprinkle on food: ginger and turmeric.
Consume a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in water each day
Limit nightshades
Enjoy herbal Teas like Organic Fertility Tea, Yogi detox, licorice, chamomile
Eat Omegas at every opportunity. Favor Omega 3’s and reduce omega 6 oils (corn, soy, canola, safflower and sunflower oil)
Foods containing a high ratio of omega 3 oil: Menhaden, salmon, cod liver, cod, shrimp, tuna, pink salmon, king crab, Mackerel, flax, flaxseed (sprinkled on salads or oatmeal in the morning) hemp, hemp nuts, canola, walnut, & pumpkin, pumpkin seeds.
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13 Comments to “An Anti-inflammatory Diet for Fertility and Pregnancy”
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I’m just curious what “nightshades” is referring to? Love the article!
Kyla
@Kyla: Nightshades are the group of plants including tomatoes and eggplant.
Hi Kyla and Kate, Here’s a list of basic nightshades: Potatoes, tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, tamarios, pepinos, pimentos, paprika, cayenne, and Tabasco sauce. You can reduce alkaloid content by 40-50% by cooking nightshades.
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I want to know if you have any more recipes on anti inflammatory ?
Hello Nicole, there are many anti-inflammatory recipes in the Cooking for Fertility Cookbook: https://fertilefoods.com/shop/cooking-for-fertility-cookbook/ as well as in the gluten free recipe section: https://fertilefoods.com/gluten-free-recipes/. Please let me know which ones you enjoy the most! Kathryn
Hi Nicole, the recipes in the Cooking for Fertility cookbook follow the anti inflammatory guidelines. You might also check out eye green smoothie recipe and northwest salad recipe which are two of my favorites! Let me know what you think.
Hello. My immune system is killing my embryos and was put on a organic, gluten free/anti-inflammatory diet.. Was tested and have elevated Natural killer cells.
I am a little confused because most of the gluten free products i encounter, contain inflammatory ingredients. lt completely defeats the purpose..
for example, I can’t eat gluten free bread, because one of the ingredients is corn starch which causes inflammation… I Can’t eat a salad because every organic/gluten free dressing i find, contains 1 or more inflammatory ingredient….
Is there a specific brand you can recommend for a *organic gluten free anti-inflammatory* salad dressing?
Thank You and Love the article. 🙂
Hi Melissa, this is a really good question because we often correlate gluten free with healthy but it is not always the case. I like to make my own salad dressing and my favorite uses apple cider vinegar which is great for helping to reduce inflammation. Have a look at the northwest salad recipe for instructions on how to make it and let me know what you think!
Tomatillo only has an IF factor of -4. Enjoy
Hi. I am very put off by the list for nightshades. I’m a vegetarian and I can’t imagine cutting all of those out of my diet while trying to conceive. I have endometriosis and want to incorporate the anti inflammatory diet into my daily routine but this is really tough!
Hello Brie, That is one thing that is tough about generalized nutrition recommendations. While the nightshades are considered one of the foods that you might try to eliminate, due to your dietary considerations it may not be appropriate for you. I would suggest choosing a few things from this list that seem reasonable and keeping the nightshades in your vegetarian diet.
Hi – you have canola in both the “high in omega 6” category as well as the “high omega 3” paragraph. Is that correct?
Hello Reese, yes this is true. Canola oil has approximately a 2:1 ratio of omega 6: omega 3 so it has a significant amount of both. I hope this helps! Thank you for your question!