Fat, Carbs and the Science of Conception
Equally important, you'll need to do some dietary readjusting to keep your calorie count and your waistline from expanding. Whole milk has nearly double the calories of skim milk. If you have been following the U.S. government's poorly-thought-out recommendation and are drinking three glasses of milk a day, trading skim milk for whole means an extra 189 calories a day. That could translate into a weight gain of 15 to 20 pounds over a year if you don't cut back somewhere else. Those extra pounds can edge aside any fertility benefits you might get from dairy foods. There's also the saturated fat to consider, an extra 13 grams in three glasses of whole milk compared with skim, which would put you close to the healthy daily limit.
Aim for one to two servings of dairy products a day, both of them full fat. This can be as easy as having your breakfast cereal with whole milk and a slice of cheese at lunch or a cup of whole-milk yogurt for lunch and a half-cup of ice cream for dessert. Easy targets for cutting back on calories and saturated fat are red and processed meats, along with foods made with fully or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Once you become pregnant, or if you decide to stop trying, going back to low-fat dairy products makes sense as a way to keep a lid on your intake of saturated fat and calories. You could also try some of the nondairy strategies for getting calcium and protecting your bones. If you don't like milk or other dairy products, or they don't agree with your digestive system, don't force yourself to have them. There are many other things you can do to fight ovulatory infertility. This one is like dessert—enjoyable but optional.
The Role of Body Weight
Weighing too much or too little can interrupt normal menstrual cycles, throw off ovulation or stop it altogether. Excess weight lowers the odds that in vitro fertilization or other assisted reproductive technologies will succeed. It increases the chances of miscarriage, puts a mother at risk during pregnancy of developing high blood pressure (pre-eclampsia) or diabetes, and elevates her chances of needing a Cesarean section. The dangers of being overweight or underweight extend to a woman's baby as well.
Weight is one bit of information that the participants of the Nurses' Health Study report every other year. By linking this information with their accounts of pregnancy, birth, miscarriage and difficulty getting pregnant, we were able to see a strong connection between weight and fertility. Women with the lowest and highest Body Mass Indexes (BMI) were more likely to have had trouble with ovulatory infertility than women in the middle. Infertility was least common among women with BMIs of 20 to 24, with an ideal around 21.
Keep in mind that this is a statistical model of probabilities that links weight and fertility. It doesn't mean you'll get pregnant only if you have a BMI between 20 and 24. Women with higher and lower BMIs than this get pregnant all the time without delay or any medical help. But it supports the idea that weighing too much or too little for your frame can get in the way of having a baby.
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Member Comments
Posted By: Darwinia @ 04/04/2008 1:30:45 AM
Comment: Sorry the last comment I made should have posted 1/17/08 ish but the system wouldn't let me..... To date: tried the food recommendations and liked the chages I saw overall (it's not much different than a medditeranean style eating plan.) Also went on Progesterone due to my "age" and pretty much got pregnant a month after starting both. Whose to say which helped the most but I am now over 3 months along...yea!
Rockaway apparently didn't read the article at all......and the stuff about body size???? please list a study conducted long term that verifies the underweight/overweight fertility issues. I've seen anectdotal work but nothing truely serious. I know plenty of examples from both sides of the fence who have gotten pregnant easily (under 35yrs old). Lets try to stick to the science being discussed unless people want to provide 1 deg sources.
Best wishes to everyone dealing with ovulatory infertility and looking for answers....
Posted By: Darwinia @ 04/04/2008 1:16:03 AM
Comment: Some more to add.....running is not unhealthy when pregnant or trying to get pregnant. I mentioned it only in that my asthma makes me uncomfortable. Comfort is the key- if your exercise of choice is comfortable while pregnant and you see a Doc regularly, continue to do it. Many of my running friends were fine well into their 7th month.
PCOS is not covered under this article/research. JUST general ovulatory infertility.
This article is from a well respected group of scientists conducting multiple research studies. Please go to http://www.channing.harvard.edu/nhs/publications/2005.shtml to get an idea of some of their other journal published work. You can also find the questionnaires used for their studies on the site. This 'fertility and diet' article first appeared in the November 1, 2007, issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology (a journal.) It's not just someone's opinion and, as the author states, they were trying to provide solid research data to verify or refute the dearth of opinions and unsubstantiated advice out there. It's the first of it's kind to look at fertility and diet over such a long time period.
Fertilityfile.com (while not the blog referred to below) gives lots of info (including an opinion on this article) from the perspective of a reproductive endocrinologist. Check it out if you have time.
Also wanted to clarify my choice of 'Dawinia'- a pointed response to 'evolutionist'- but NOT meant in the false scientific vein of social darwinism. Darwin's paradigm shattering contribution was that life has and will change through time- period.
In response to eandj62204 - 'Chemicals' are a worth while option for some us looking at our clock and considering IVF or other treatments. Please don't judge us. I would take a chemical any day of the week to prevent another miscarriage and save my child.
Posted By: skinnyminny2 @ 03/31/2008 1:41:12 PM
Comment: Being too thin decreases fertility, too. I'm 25 lb underweight with very little body fat and have not had a period in over a year.
It's easy for me to stay like this because it's the fat ones who get ripped on, not us skinnies.