6 Lifestyle Changes You Can Make Today to Improve Your Fertility

At the Midwives of NJ, we are vitally aware of the importance of the Pre-Trimester, the period prior to conception, where your Epigenetic Environment can be prepared to conceive a child.

Here are 6 changes you can make today to improve your fertility and the health of your future child!

1. Cut one processed food out of your diet each week. Consider starting with cookies, or chips, or crackers.   Processed foods have added refined sugar, synthetic preservatives, hydrogenated oils and genetically-modified ingredients.  Processed foods can lead to inflammation and even affect hormone balance, both of which contribute to infertility.
2. Increase plant-based foods. Eating a diet rich in vegetables and fruit will assist with natural detoxification and provide you with many essential nutrients and vitamins for your incubator (body). Challenge yourself to eat every color of the rainbow per day!
3. Eat as much organic food as you can afford.  Non-organic foods are often sprayed with pesticides that are Endocrine (hormone) disruptors. Imbalanced hormones can affect fertility and the health of a pregnancy. Check out EWG.org for a list of the Dirty dozen ~ the 12 foods you should always eat organic!
4. Take a walk outside. Walking outside has many health benefits. It provides the opportunity for Vitamin D absorption, aids in stress reduction and helps your lymph system detoxify your body.
5. Meditate/Pray. Meditation promotes balance and physical well-being. Meditation and prayer have been proven to reduce inflammation and promote hormone balance as they reduce circulating cortisol, heart rate, and breathing. When circulating levels of cortisol are optimal, hormonal balance is improved.
6. Start making healthy lifestyle changes NOW!! The health of maturing sperm and ova (eggs) is influenced by the nutrients and toxins in their petri dish (their parent’s bodies). Healthy eggs and sperm improve the likelihood of a couple conceiving and of having a healthy child.