Coping with Infertility

Lesson 2: Initial Testing and Diagnosis

You Really Are What You Eat

Do you drink coffee, espresso, tea, cola, milk, water or some combination of the six? Do you eat more pasta, fruits, vegetables, red meat, fish, or dairy? Is your favorite food chocolate, potato chips, cookies, or some other sugar loaded junk food?

What you eat and drink could be not only related to your body fat percentage but also to your overall health and fertility. In this section, we will look first at what you drink, and what you should drink and why. Then we will move on to the different food groups, and how many servings of each you should have daily. To wrap up this section we will look at the foods almost everyone loves, junk foods.

The following drinks all contain caffeine.

• Coffee – 100 mg per 5 oz (brewed)
• Espresso – 100 mg per single shot
• Tea* - 70 mg per 6 oz
• Cola – 45 mg per 12 oz
• Milk – 0 mg
• Water – 0 mg

So why should you be concerned about how much caffeine you consume each day? Believe it or not, consuming as little as 300 mg of caffeine daily can reduce a woman's chances of conceiving by as much as 30 percent! Even if you only consume 100 to 200 mg of caffeine daily, your chance of conceiving is still reduced by about 10 percent.

Reducing or eliminating your daily caffeine intake can have a positive effect on your fertility, not to mention that you will be healthier as well.

(*Some teas are very good for you, such as Green, Black, and Oolong, and it is best if a woman drinks between 3 and 5 cups daily. Green tea in particular contains antioxidants and is actually very good for you.)

What you eat at each meal could be working against you. Ideally, your preconception diet should consist of the following.

• 2 Calcium rich servings daily
• 2 Lean meat servings daily*
• 2 Fruit servings daily
• 5 Vegetable servings daily
• 6 Grain servings daily* (pasta, bread, cereals, etc)

This is a 'map' that all women should follow, but it is adjustable to your own needs. *If you are a vegetarian, you are not going to eat 2 servings of meat daily, no matter how lean it is. The same thing is true if you have PCOS and are trying to eat fewer carbohydrates and more proteins. In that case, you will probably consume about 4 servings of grains daily and 3 or 4 servings of lean meats, legumes, and other proteins.

Now, what about those wonderful things to eat like chocolate, cookies, potato chips, and other sugary and fatty foods? I will be the first to admit that if the Hostess Company ever created a chocolate fudge covered Twinkie I would be first in line to buy a box. As much as I, and many others, love junk foods, these should be eaten very sparingly. This does not mean that you can't eat another cookie, or chocolate bar, but just that one chocolate bar every few days is enough.

In order to have a good body fat percentage and to get your body as prepared for a healthy pregnancy as possible, you must eat and drink right. But it does not end here. In the next section, we will look at vitamins and minerals and how they help keep your body healthy and prepared for pregnancy.

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