By: Lauren Mahesri, RDN

If you're trying to conceive, you're likely priming your body and environment to help your chances of getting pregnant - from non-toxic cleaning products to clean beauty, and especially your diet. Since diet can influence pregnancy even 3 months before conception, following a fertility diet helps ensure your nutrient stores are primed and your egg quality is optimized.

In this blog post, we’ll cover how nutrition can improve fertility, which nutrients and foods to prioritize, and how whole-food options like Nunona can optimize your fertility journey.

How Nutrition Impacts Fertility

The food you eat before pregnancy can have a powerful impact on fertility. It helps balance hormone levels, improves egg quality, and supports a healthy uterine lining. This happens through a variety of nutrients - calories, carbs, protein, vitamins, and minerals - that work together to support your reproductive health. 

Certain micronutrient deficiencies, like vitamin D, vitamin C, B12, and folate, can especially impact fertility1. Although these nutrients are critical, many women don’t reach the daily recommended amounts, even on a prenatal pill2. 

Choosing the right prenatal vitamin can feel overwhelming, which is why Nunona makes it effortless to get the nutrients you need. It’s a real food prenatal vitamin made with the highest nutrition standards, organic ingredients, and a gentler alternative to synthetic pills.

Key Nutrients in a Fertility Diet

Although overall diet balance is important, there are a couple key nutrients that play a specific role in getting your body ready for pregnancy.

• Folate supports regular ovulation and improves egg quality, which can lead to quicker conception1.

• Vitamin B12 also helps improve the quality of the egg and embryo1 to help sustain a healthy pregnancy. B12 can even promote healthy ovaries before becoming pregnant3.

• Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in healthy fats improve fertility by promoting egg maturation and embryo implantation1.

• Protein from vegetarian sources supports metabolism, maintains muscle mass, and promotes fertility by stabilizing hormones and insulin levels better than animal proteins1.

• Low glycemic index carbohydrates are carbs that minimally impact blood sugar, often because of their fiber, protein, or fat content that helps slow their absorption. Healthy blood sugars support hormone balance and reduce insulin resistance, which can negatively affect fertility4.

Considering the variety of nutrition needs, it’s especially important for pregnant women and people trying to conceive to think about their entire diet rather than a single supplement. Instead of relying on just a pill with synthetic nutrients, Nunona provides a more holistic solution with a blood sugar-balancing, nutrient-dense addition to a whole-food diet.

What to Eat When Trying to Conceive

Let’s translate the science into fertility boosting foods! If you're focused on improving egg quality, conceiving faster, or just thinking about pregnancy, this grocery list is for you.

• High Fiber, Low Gylcemic Index Carbohydrates: Quinoa, steel-cut oats, lentils, chickpeas (or hummus), kidney beans, black beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, oranges, berries, plums, cherries, peaches, whole grain pasta, brown rice, nuts, seeds

• Plant-Based Proteins: Lentils, chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, edamame, tofu, tempeh, chia seeds, hemp seeds, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, walnuts, peanuts, cashews, pistachios, nutritional yeast

• Healthy Fats: Chia seeds, hemp seeds, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, pecans, walnuts,  tofu, edamame, soybeans, avocado, olive oil, mackerel, salmon, sardines, herring, trout

• B-complex Foods: Salmon, sardines, trout, mackerel, eggs, nutritional yeast, fortified cereal or bread, spinach, kale, asparagus, brussels sprouts, broccoli, avocado, lentils, chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, peanuts

Getting Your Prenatal Through Real Foods

Getting all of these nutrients can feel overwhelming, which may make you consider turning to a prenatal pill. However, nutrients are better absorbed from real food2 because it contains the right enzymes to digest and fully utilize each nutrient - which doesn’t happen in pill form. 

That’s where Nunona comes in. They’re a comprehensive, real food, organic prenatal supplement with 27 micronutrients that are critical during pregnancy.

Even before pregnancy, Nunona gives your body the right nutrients to optimize egg quality, build your nutrient stores and create a strong foundation for a healthy pregnancy and future baby. 

Incorporating a nutrient-rich fertility diet with Nunona can help you prepare your body for pregnancy in a delicious, convenient and enjoyable way. 

References

1. Gaskins AJ, Chavarro JE. Diet and fertility: a review. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2018;218(4):379-389. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2017.08.010 

2. Bailey RL, Pac SG, Fulgoni VL 3rd, Reidy KC, Catalano PM. Estimation of Total Usual Dietary Intakes of Pregnant Women in the United States. JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(6):e195967. Published 2019 Jun 5. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.5967  

3. Agbalalah T, Robert FO, Amabebe E. Impact of vitamin B12 on the reproductive health of women with sickle cell disease: a narrative review. Reprod Fertil. Published online July 1, 2023. doi:10.1530/RAF-23-0015

4. Skoracka K, Ratajczak AE, Rychter AM, Dobrowolska A, Krela-Kaźmierczak I. Female Fertility and the Nutritional Approach: The Most Essential Aspects. Adv Nutr. 2021;12(6):2372-2386. doi:10.1093/advances/nmab068