A clean, organic, whole-foods diet is the most important step you can take towards reclaiming your fertility and improving your chances of conceiving. The To Make a Mommy Fertility Diet is based on the diet I followed immediately before getting pregnant. I absolutely believe it was the number one step I took that helped my eggs grow healthy and strong. Additionally, after only one month of following an optimized diet, I felt absolutely amazing. I was energized, excited, and enjoyed eating healthy, nourishing food. After one month I stopped craving sugar and truly enjoyed eating massive amounts of vegetables!
NOTE: This is the diet that worked for ME! You need to figure out the diet that will work for YOU! You are different than me. Check out my free e-book on how to figure out the perfect fertility diet for YOU here!
Here are six reasons why you should commit to a fertility diet today:
1. You will become healthier than you have ever been in your whole life.
2. You will save money from not eating out.
3. You need to learn to make healthy, homemade meals anyway before you have babies.
4. You will have more energy than you’ve had since high school.
5. You will be super healthy before you get pregnant which will increase your chances of having a healthy pregnancy.
And finally . . .
6. YOU WILL MAXIMIZE YOUR FERTILITY. Seriously. The internet is filled with stories of women who completely changed their diets and got pregnant. Including women in their fifties. I’m not kidding. It’s time to do this!
Read all my posts on my successful Fertility Diet here!
If after reading the diet described below you are freaking out and thinking “She’s crazy! I can never do this! It’s too much for a normal person!” just stop and remember some important things:
- Although you should eat like this for your entire life you only HAVE to eat like this for three to four months in order to optimize your eggs. If you want to pound three lattes a day after you’ve had your babies, do what you must.
- This is SCIENCE. ALL of this is evidence based- this is not touchy feely hippy advice.
- It could work!!! And if it doesn’t, you’ll probably be the healthiest you’ve ever been Maybe your body is just waiting for you to start eating healthy before it feels comfortable growing new life. Or maybe your “baby in waiting” wants you to overhaul your diet before they make their grand entrance. I personally feel part of my miracle was discovering a diet that made me truly healthy BEFORE I had my babies!
Even though there are many foods you must eliminate, the overarching theory behind the diet is to NOURISH. Thus, there is no limit on quantity- eat as much organic vegetables as you can!
Every time you consider consuming a food or beverage ask yourself, “Will consuming this take energy away from my ovaries, eggs, and womb, or will it help create more energy for my reproductive organs?” Things like caffeine, alcohol, and sugar, deplete our reproductive energy, and worse, poison our reproductive processes. Foods like bone broth, leafy green vegetables and nourishing grains like quinoa PROVIDE energy to our reproductive processes.
Please know that although this diet was perfect for ME, I am not assuming it will be perfect for EVERYONE. Read my post and download my free e-book on Your Perfect Fertility Diet: How to Tailor the Diet to YOUR Needs and YOUR diagnosis!
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The diet overview is below. I will be blogging individual posts about each aspect to give you the full detail behind why it is so important and how to make the change easier.
- Eliminate: Sugar, Sweeteners (honey, agave, high-fructose corn syrup, etc.), Soy, Processed Food, Caffeine, Refined/white carbohydrates (pasta, white bread, white rice), Alcohol, anything with Trans Fats
- Consider Eliminating: Dairy, Gluten, raw, and cold foods such as uncooked vegetables or icy smoothies.
- Consume limited amounts of: organic meat, fish, organic fruit (aim to keep sugar levels low, i.e., berries=good, bananas=bad), organic starchy vegetables (potatoes, sweet potatoes, squashes, carrots)
- Consume plenty of: Organic vegetables (especially leafy greens), organic/free range eggs, Legumes, Whole grains (Quinoa, Brown Rice), Seaweeds, healthy fats (avocado, olive oil, nuts, seeds), filtered water
- Consult your Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture Practitioner for a tailored Chinese medicine diet to suit your personal needs or use the diets suggested in The Infertility Cure by Randine Lewis.
- Supplement with: fertility superfoods tailored for your needs, like wheat grass + spirulina (what I used for my issues) in a Fertility Smoothie
- Have a daily herbal infusion of red raspberry leaf, nettles, and oatstraw (or tailor the herbs to your needs)
- Vitamins: A whole food prenatal, a probiotic (should buy refrigerated at health food store, I use this one), Omega 3 fatty acids (fermented Cod Liver Oil is good), and Calcium + D + Magnesium. Check out my posts on my thoughts on fertility supplements here!
- After careful research consider: CoQ10 or other supplements tailored to your needs!
This diet probably doesn’t come as a surprise to you. You’ve probably seen similar diets on other fertility websites or in fertility books. The main differences between my diet and the others are three-fold:
- I ask you to completely eliminate alcohol, caffeine, white carbs, and sugars. Many diets simply say “reduce.” Well, “reducing” didn’t work for me. I had to go all-in. Science backs this up. Even a small amount of sugar (found in sweeteners, carbs, or alcohol) can trigger an insulin response which can hurt egg health for up to 90 days! Additionally, research has shown that even just a half cup of coffee a day can lead to decreased birth rates. I’ll be blogging about each of these individually and why it is so important to completely give them up to optimize fertility.
- I ask you to consider eliminating dairy and gluten. Research shows that many, many people have food sensitivities and intolerances that they aren’t aware of. Long-term exposure to food sensitivities can provoke an immune reaction in the body which can lead to problems with ovulation, egg quality, and early miscarriage. If you have any of the symptoms of a food intolerance or if you have any kind of identified immune issue related to infertility (or multiple unexplained early miscarriages), I would suggest completely eliminating dairy and gluten. I knew I had a sensitivity to dairy, so I completely eliminated that, but not gluten. If you have an diagnosed gluten intolerance, however, it can absolutely make you infertile. The best way to be sure is to just eliminate both dairy and gluten.
- I want you to limit your supplements. Don’t go crazy. Unfortunately many websites and books are filled with all sorts of wonderful super herbs and pills for fertility. Soon you wind up with sixteen powders and twenty pills a day! For most healthy women, all you need to do is nourish yourself to optimal health. Leafy green vegetables are your friend. For SOME women with SPECIFIC diagnoses, other cures may be helpful. For example, Vitex is often recommend as a miracle herb for fertility. It is- but only for certain types of infertility. I have always had a very regular period, so I would never take Vitex because it might mess that up, even if it might also help with egg health. Do extensive research before committing to a supplement! Check out my posts on my thoughts on fertility supplements here!
One of the reasons I am calling this the “Ultimate Fertility Diet” is because it is inherently an anti-inflammatory diet, which is going to be important for anyone struggling to conceive. When your body is suffering from inflammation, your fertility is reduced. To tame the inflammation we have to avoid the most inflammatory foods- caffeine, alcohol, trans fats, sugars, white carbs, and processed foods. For many people gluten and dairy are also inflammation-causing foods (not not for all), and that is why they often need to be eliminated.
It is also an Ultimate Fertility Diet because it eliminates all the foods that research has shown hurt fertility- trans fats, alcohol, caffeine, sugars, and soy. It also includes foods that have the nutrients needed for optimal fertility- leafy greens, beans, nuts, seeds, organic lean meats and fish, and free range organic eggs.
For many women, this diet will be all they need to get pregnant quickly, whether they are trying naturally or through IUI or IVF.
I think it is important to mention that for some people, especially those who have severe autoimmune disorders, this anti-inflammatory fertility diet will simply not be enough. Many women find success with the Auto-Immune Protocol Diet, which is very similar to Paleo and Whole 30 Diets. It is basically the my diet here, but you also remove all known gut irritants including all grains, beans, nuts, seeds, nightshades, and eggs. Then you do a gradual reintroduction to identify foods that are causing issues for you.
To find out more about how to tailor this Ultimate Fertility Diet to YOUR needs and YOUR diagnosis, go now to my post on Your Perfect Fertility Diet and download my free e-book!
Below in the Amazon block, I’ve picked for you my favorite prenatal vitamin ( a whole-foods based vitamin that makes it easy for your body to absorb the nutrients), my favorite wheat grass and spirulina powders to add to your fertility smoothie, and the book I referenced, The Infertility Cure by Randine Lewis, that will help you understand your Chinese Medicine diagnosis and look up a diet that is specific for your particular situation.
Are you ready to make a major commitment to your baby journey by starting the To Make a Mommy Fertility Diet? What do you need to do to commit? If you aren’t going to commit to it, what is holding you back? Which parts of the diet would you like me to blog about sooner rather than later to help you understand why you need to make that decision and help you figure out how?
I’m always pinning recipes that are fertility diet friendly to my Pinterest board Clean Eating for Fertility. Check it out and follow me on Pinterest!
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Anna Rapp is a fertility journalist and non-toxic living expert. When Anna Rapp was struggling with infertility and recurrent early miscarriage, she was diagnosed with diminished ovarian reserve, High FSH, low AMH, low follicle count, endometriosis, and an MTHFR mutation. Despite being told donor eggs were her only solution, Anna used her graduate training in research methods and analysis to read everything she could find on fertility and egg health. Ultimately, she lowered her FSH and got pregnant naturally (twice). She blogs about how she did it and encourages her readers to take charge of their fertility journey and get happy, healthy, and pregnant!
I have been doing this diet for about 2 months, it definitely wasn’t easy at first, but after about 2 weeks, my husband and I were both on board! Not only will it make you feel more healthy in general, you also have a positive mental state knowing that you are doing everything you can to enhance your fertility!!!!! I hope to have good news soon! 🙂
Ashleigh,
I’m so glad you are feeling more healthy in general and you feel like you are in charge of your baby journey! Best wishes, and let us know when you get pregnant so we can share your story in a blog post!
baby dust!
xo Anna
OH MY GOSH!!! I just found your blog and I’m freaking out! You’ve inspired me. My husband and I have been trying to get pregnant for awhile now and it’s maddening. I am super addicted to sugar and I’ve decided today that I’m going cold turkey. Thank you for your inspiration!
Yes!!!!! Ditch the sugar!!!! It’s not forever, just for now!! You can have it again when you get pregnant ???!! Stay the course and don’t be tempted to cheat!!! Woohoo!!
Hi Mia, I am not sure if you will read this seeing how long this was posted. But I am just now discovering her blog and your comment spoke to me. Why? because I see a baby in the photo. Blessings and would love to hear your story.
Hey Anna!
Thanks for all the wonderful resources you’ve gathered here for us. I’m quite pumped to get started. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on Spelt as a Gluten grain. I’ve read multiple sources saying it’s just as bad as the other wheat (gluten-rich) grains but at the same time I read that it’s not nearly as bad.
I saw your diet recommends cutting off Gluten but eating Sprouted Spelt. Please help me with some clarifications.
Thanks.
Hannah
Hi Hannah!!
Great question! Here’s the deal. When I got pregnant with my miracle I was eating organic whole grains, including things like sprouted spelt and other things that contained gluten. At the time, all the advice I could find was only to quit gluten if you had Celiacs. I had the Celiac test and was negative.
TODAY most fertility coaches recommend everyone struggling to get pregnant completely ditch gluten and dairy. This is because they are the two foods MOST likely to be causing inflammation in the body. I agree. The fact is, I got lucky. I could have easily had a sensitivity to gluten and not gotten pregnant.
I have been gluten free for two months now and I’ve realized something very important. Because I don’t eat a lot of “gluten-free” substitute products I am forced to eat less carbs!! And, now we know (if you see my Macros post) that we need to keep our carbs under 40% of our daily diet we cam greatly increase our egg and embryo health. So– do women quit dairy and gluten and get pregnant because they’ve reduced inflammation or because they’ve reduced carbs? (Dairy has high sugar/insulin response). Who knows? Who cares? Let’s get pregnant!
In the future I do plan to reintroduce foods like organic sprouted spelt because I am not anti-grain and I felt so nourished eating it. Right now the main flour I am using for cooking and backing is organic blanched almond flour.
Best wishes!!! I’ll try to clarify in the post!!
Anna
Hey Anna, Thank you very much for the informative and detailed response. I decided to ditch anything Gluten or Gluten-ish all together to be on the safe side. Thank you once more.
Cheer,
Hannah
Hi Anna, which brand of seaweed did you eat.
You did a good job on this topic and You have given us such a great and useful suggestions and information. You made a good site it’s very interesting one.
Hello Anna! Thank you so much for sharing all of these wonderful resources and congratulations on your success and path.
Do you have any thoughts on my current macro ratios for trying to conceive? I want to ensure my current training phase and nutritional needs are working for me, not against me!
Macro break-down for context: 125 g protein // 65 g fat // 310 g carbs
Hi Laura! I can’t help individuals, because I’m not a trained or licensed anything :-). But check out my post on macros, in case you missed it -> https://www.tomakeamommy.com/tracking-macros-for-fertility-fat-protein-carbs-ttc/
I already follow a low-glycemic eating plan (and am also gluten free because of stomach issues) with no simple carbs and lots of whole foods, but you’ve definitely convicted me to eliminate dairy. We’ve been trying for about 5 cycles to conceive (which I know isn’t that long compared to others but it feels like forever with long cycles) and perhaps dairy is part of that. I already drink almond milk so now it’s just the cheese and butter to go (sad face). But that would certainly be worth it if it makes a difference. Thanks for all the great info!
Yes! I hope this pushes you over into super fertility!!! Good job taking care of yourself so well! And- don’t forget the mind-body work and eliminating the toxins!!
Baby dust,
Anna
Thank you for this blog post. I have been reading all I can on fertility diets. I have, in the past, done whole30 and a Candida cleanse. I lost too much weight and it wasn’t sustainable because I was missing proteins and fats. Thank you for all of your info.
Johanna,
You are so welcome!! Yes, you have to keep a ton of healthy fats and protein in your diet!!! Best wishes and baby dust!
Anna
Thank you so much for all of this! I just found you by accident and your story sounds like exactly what I am going through! We are now at 2 years of trying with endometriosis and low AMH and now have an appointment to talk about IVF. This has all inspired me and I have just ordered a ton of your recommendations and am totally going to give this a 100% try! Thank you 🙂
You’ve got this GIllian! Baby dust and good luck at the RE!!!
Hi Anna
M from.India m 34 now..in Feb 2018 I convinced my first baby through IVF …but on 2 April ..I had a natural Misscarge..
Now my main worry is tht before IVF I was having PCOS …but in IVF tht is not imp. N now b even don’t have any embryo left..now m ready to go through tht stress again.e n me n my husband want to try naturally now… But I m worried abt PCOS..I don’t wether it’s still there..
Now will it will happen naturally …
Age is a factor also making me upset…
Waiting for your reply
Love Ashwini
Ashwini,
I am so happy for your first miracle, and I am so sad for your miscarriage! I hope you can figure out your diagnoses and get healthy and pregnant!! If you are very anxious remember to do the mind-body work- meditation, visualization, yoga, etc. It is the best way to get happy on your journey! Baby dust!
Anna
Thank you for all your advice!! I’ve completely changed my diet. I started with a FSH of 78 and dropped to 13 in 2 months. Your blog has given me so much hope. I’ve read a few of the books referenced and follow all your recommendations. Thank you!!
That’s awesome!!!!! I’m so glad!! Hoping your baby is soon to follow- keep us posted!!
Its sounds great.. thanks for sharing
Hi Anna,
Such a great blog! Thank you for inspiring us and providing information during TTC. I am not able to download Fertility Diet ebook. Could you please help. I mailed you already yesterday.
Thanks!
Hi Anna,
Thank you for incredible blog! I have a big confusion about safe and clean seafood. I am told to avoid shell fish. What other fishes are good to eat? Internet is driving me crazy!!! I am going through IVF currently.
Thanks,
Peggy
Hi Anna!
I am so thankful to have found your blog! I had a miscarriage in July and have not been able to get preganant since. I began very loosly following your diet plan in February but have decided to do ALL THE THINGS for the next 4 months! I am having a difficult time meeting my protein benchmark each day. I find the more meat I eat, the easier it is to get enough proteins without dairy and without overdoing it on carbs and sugar. I really don’t want to have to eat so much meat each day (especially red meat). I am, of course, eating eggs each day, adding vital protiens in my daily smoothy, and drinking my daily cup of homemade bone broth, but I’m still not getting there without meat! What other kind of foods do you recommend?
Thank you!
Nicole
Thank you for your blog! I really love the infertility cure book! Do you recommend a certain diet for the Men? My husband loves coffee, sugar and carbs. Just curious to how to get him involved.
Thanks
Ana
Yes, but girl I need to write it up in a post, haha!! Get him off the coffee, or at least minimize it. Lower the sugar and carbs, and up the leafy greens. You don’t have to be as crazy with the macros with the gentlement. Caffeine and alcohol are the biggest (Assuming he doesn’t smoke). Lots of veggies. Healthy fats and proteins! Check out the site, Don’t Cook Your Balls, funny title, but good info!!!
Do you have any recommendations for women with low AMH? I read through your fertility diet and eat for your diagnosis and didn’t see any mention of it. Thanks for the great resources!
Hi! Ok, so this was so interesting (and thanks for posting!), but I was surprised you said to cut out sweet potatoes? I just read in an article that popped up in my feed (https://www.ez.insure/2020/02/the-best-foods-for-a-healthy-vagina/ – which I read because who doesn’t love a good lady health refresher?) that sweet potatoes have been linked to aiding in fertility and strengthening uterine walls. Is it ok to keep eating them? They’re my fav! Thanks again!
Hi Annie! So I just say minimize sweet potatoes- I certainly ate them, I just didn’t eat a ton. I think where a lot of people mess up is when they start eating clean they replace the bad foods with a ton of fruit and sweet potatoes when they should be replacing it with a ton of greens, healthy fats, and lean proteins. That doesn’t mean no fruit and no sweet potatoes, it just means watch your serving sizes and don’t let them be a crutch. Does that make sense? Also balance your plate- a meal of chicken, mustard greens, and a side salad, can totally handle a small serving of sweet potatoes. But a meal of lentils and brown rice CANNOT handle a side of sweet potatoes. Does that make sense?
Anna thank you so much for your amazing blog!
I wanted to ask about the recommendations for a tailored diet for my needs – I’m dealing with PCOS and Hashimoto’s (I am medically treated and my thyroid is balanced). Regarding Hashimoto’s disease, you have recommended that to eliminate beans, nuts, eggs (and more), and I find it difficult to balance my diet (taking together with the recommendation for PCOS), especially how to get good sources of protein. Do you have any advice?
Thanks!
Hi Anna, thank you very much for this blog and the support it gives to many of us. I want to ask about royal jelly, I was recommended to take it but you mention about the sugars like honey can trigger insulin. Do you have any thoughts about it? Thank you!
Hi Anna, I still confuse whether these diets only for women or your husband eat too? I mean did you prepared or cooked the same this fertility diet for husband too? Thanks,
hi Anna, pls how do i take this drink with the herbal tea and smoothies? i mean timing(morning or eveninig)
Hi Anna
You’re blog is super helpful! I’ve been trying to up my protein, as usually I don’t eat a lot of meat – but other than that my diet is pretty close to what is expected of a fertility diet. Without the meat, however it’s hard to get the daily protein up above 25%! I’m concerned at the inflammatory impact of the additional meat, but I’m wondering what are the alternatives? I eat plenty of eggs, avos, salmon, nuts, etc.
Thanks!
Hi Anna, you mentioned that women with DOR get pregnant naturally, much more than getting pregnant through IVF. May i know the reason behind it? I have DOR and endometriosis, and took 6 months of dinogest/Visanne. Should i try IVF immediately or should i try natural conception once i go off Visanne?
I’m part of your Facebook group and not sure if you and answered my question or not but I’m really curious about soy. I see you say to avoid soy, but if I’m get it organic and don’t have an estrogen dominance (actually quite the opposite). Should then be okay to consume? Not sure about the research but I’m most interested in tofu and edamame. Thanks for your thoughts.
HI Anna,
I am 51, I have started your diets and change in supplements, I have just done a home test for FSH and there was a slight light positive to the test stick and my cycle has become irregular from 4 weeks to 7 weeks, do you think there is any hope i can conceive naturally, I have started to try to lower my FSH with your diets but in past I have suffered with miscarriage. I do suffer with Inflammatory Arthritis,
can you help
Anna- thank you for all this. We just went through our 4th miscarriage and are devastated. I’m 41 so feel defeated about my age and trying to ward off the negative thoughts. We don’t seem to have a problem getting pregnant but staying pregnant is the issue. You’ve given so much great context and info here and will try to incorporate a lot of it into our lives with the hopes of success.
Question- and not meant to be negative, but truly asking from a stress level perspective- during the times you were trying/ got pregnant, did you work? Did you work as in a regular full-time job (I’m sure your blog and provided info have taken up loads of hours)?
I have a full career in finance that is very demanding and stressful and feeling like that is another obstacle but not one I can really alleviate.
Thanks so much in advance for the response.
X
Great Article. Thank you for sharing this informative post.
I’m not sure if you’ll see this, but thank you for all of these incredibly detailed and helpful resources. I have fibroids and also deal with a lot of inflammation during my period as well as bowel related pain occasionally at different points in the month. My FSH and AMH levels were normal when tested, as was my progesterone level. I just went through one failed FET, and now I’m considering giving my body a break for a few months and going natural. Do you think I have to completely eliminate sugar from my diet? Specifically, fruit that has higher levels of sugar in it. While I do enjoy dark chocolate with some nuts/sea salt in it, I could eliminate that if necessary. But I generally feel really good when I eat a variety of fruit. I am based in the UK/Europe and tend to eat seasonally.
Nam,
I think it really depends on what’s going inside your particular body, and I have no idea what that is! For some of us, its important to reduce or eliminate the higher sugar fruits, and to eat all fruits in smaller portion sizes, and potentially with protein. A little bit of very dark chocolate is much less likely to spike your blood sugar than a banana. Good luck as you make your decisions!!
Anna