Have you or anyone you know struggled with fertility challenges? If you’re going through this right now, I empathize with you. While I haven’t been through it myself I have plenty of friends who have struggled to get pregnant over the years. I’ve seen first hand how stressful and emotional the entire fertility process can be not just for women but in men as well. Fertility can be a journey that can feel lonely and confusing and be challenging on relationships.
While there are several different paths to fertility, the one I would begin with if I was experiencing infertility is lifestyle habits. Specifically, what I like to call the Fertility Trifecta (i.e. the Wellness Abundance Trifecta).
If you’re not looking to get pregnant, don’t stop reading now. There’s lots of good stuff here that will help improve your overall health. So, keep reading…
Your body’s ability to grow a human inside of it at any time is actually a sign of a healthy, thriving body. Even if you’re like me and not looking to bring another human into the world, being fertile is something to strive to in your reproductive years. Plus, the lifestyle habits you create now to boost your fertility will help you navigate perimenopause and menopause almost effortlessly. And, let’s be real, I think every woman wants to age gracefully and breeze through the inevitable changes our bodies go through later in life.
So, what is this Fertility Trifecta of which I speak? Well, it’s actually very simple (yet not always easy to implement): whole food nutrition, frequent movement, and good quality rest.
Ready to dive into all the juicy details? Let’s do this!
Whole Food Nutrition
Now, with nutrition it’s super easy to go down the rabbit hole of supplements especially if you’re working with a fertility practitioner. Often times practitioners will create a protocol to help with any nutrient deficiencies that includes supplements.
Here’s the thing about supplements: they’re meant to be taken if you don’t eat enough whole foods with the nutrients you’re deficient in, or if your body doesn’t absorb those nutrients properly. In my professional opinion, the first line of defense for nutrient deficiencies should be whole foods. If there’s any nutrients you’re deficient in and you don’t like any whole foods with those nutrients, then supplements are great.
Two supplements that I take daily are magnesium and collagen. These are nutrients that are difficult for me to get enough of through my whole food eating style.
Now, let’s chat about whole foods. I think it’s pretty obvious that your body thrives on whole, real foods such as veggies, fruit, meat (especially red meat), seafood, eggs, and nuts. Creating an eating style that focuses more on whole foods is a great way to build a foundation for a nutrient-dense eating style for when you’re pregnant and passing nutrients on to your developing baby. And it can be super helpful after your little one comes into the world with your recovery from pregnancy.
The challenge is moving away from processed foods and incorporating more whole foods. Being super strict right out of the gate can be difficult and isn’t always the best strategy for most people. I did this when I was training for my first half marathon. I was super motivated to dial in my nutrition to support my training efforts. If you can find the motivation within yourself to be strict in the beginning, go for it. Just be sure you have a solid strategy in place to help you stick to it.
For most people, slowly moving away from highly processed food and focusing more on whole, nutrient dense foods that you enjoy is a better strategy. Once you slowly start to add more whole foods into your eating style, you’ll have more consistent energy levels, sleep better, your mood will improve, and you’ll simply feel better overall. Focus on how you’re feeling after eating a nutrient-dense meal and use this as your motivation to keep moving forward.
Frequent Movement
I think it’s safe to say we all understand that frequent movement is a key component of a healthy body. With that being said, too much intense physical activity can inhibit weight loss, decrease fertility, and put too much stress on your heart muscle and the rest of your body. Finding the sweet spot for your lifestyle and fitness level is key to creating an exercise routine that you can stick to and that’s effective.
When someone asks me what the best exercise routine is my answer is always the same: the one that you enjoy doing that includes cardio, strength training, and recovery. One of my favorite aspects of being a fitness coach is helping my clients personalize their exercise routine. I even do this with my group fitness classes. If you’re struggling to find the motivation to exercise, you’re most likely choosing workouts that you don’t enjoy.
If you feel anxious or unsure about exercising, work with a professional to make sure your form is on par to avoid injury and get the most out of your workouts. This is the number one reason my clients come to me for help. It’s super important to make sure you’re doing the movements correctly to not just avoid injury but to get the most out of the movement.
Good Quality Rest
We all have some form of stress in our lives. Your fertility challenges can be causing a strain on your relationship with your partner. You could feel a little (or a lot of) jealousy when a friend or family member shares that she’s pregnant. You could feel pressure from people in your life to have a baby when they don’t know you’re trying and it’s not working out at this time. Even when your little one arrives, you’ll experience different stressors in your life. These are just some of the mental stressors that you may experience.
Then there’s the physical stressors from workouts. When you do a strength training workout whether it’s with your own bodyweight or lifting weights, your muscles get micro tears in them. These tears need time to heal and repair to grow more lean muscle mass.
Sleep is one of the best ways to recover from any stressors in your life. This is the time when your body’s recovery systems kick into high gear and goes to work to realign any systems that aren’t working properly. For example, if you’re struggling with insulin resistance (your body’s ability to process carbs efficiently) your body will make sure your stress hormones (cortisol) drops to a healthy level to enable your body to process carbs more efficiently. This will also help you squash any sugar cravings before they start so you reach for whole, nutrient-dense foods rather than the ones filled with sugar.
While sleep is definitely super important, there are several other ways you can rest and recover from daily stresses. Going for a walk, journaling, meditating, stretching, having coffee or lunch with a friend, intimate time with your partner, and reading a good book are all ways you can relax.
This is a topic that comes up a lot with my coaching clients. As women, we tend to put other people’s needs before our own. It’s in our nature to be the nurturing one. The problem with this is we take on too much and, before we know it, we’re experiencing mood swings, weight gain, and the fluctuation of our energy levels throughout the day; it feels like we’re on roller coaster. It doesn’t have to be this way.
When you implement the Fertility Trifecta (a.k.a. Wellness Abundance Trifecta), you’re investing in yourself and creating a healthy baby-making body. When you invest in yourself you’ll be a better parent and partner. This in and of itself will help you create abundance in other areas of your life.
Check out our podcast episode on this topic here.