Fertility Diet Secrets: What to Eat to Get Pregnant | Dr. Mark Hyman

First, let's discuss the key nutrients that you need to support fertility and their role in conception and how to optimize your levels by prioritizing certain foods as staples in your diet. And men, you got to listen up, too. These nutrients aren't just for women to focus on. They're just as important for men to incorporate into their diet as well. Welcome to the Doctor's Pharmacy and another edition of Health Bites. I'm Dr. Mark Hyman. Now, we often hear the phrase you are what you eat, but many of us don't stop to think about it beyond general wellness. Most of us don't realize that our hormones even our fertility, which is declining, depends on what we eat. So let's stop and think about it for a moment. Did you know that your diet influenced the expression of your DNA and the functionality of every single one of the trillions of cells in your body? Did you know that food serves as the building blocks for our cells, our tissues, and hormones? It's true. Our cell membranes are made from fat. Our hormones are made from cholesterol and amino acids. and their production and functionality is directly influenced by our blood sugar and insulin levels. Now, food and the nutrients that make it up also serve as the raw materials that create new life. So the phrase you are what you eat is more important than we originally thought, especially when it comes to our fertility and our reproductive health. Now, the data fully support the link between bad diets and infertility and healthy diets and improved fertility. We know this, and we have the research to back it up. And couples who follow an anti-inflammatory whole foods diet have significantly better fertility outcomes than those who follow the standard American diet. And it makes sense. Do we want our reproductive function to be regulated by Oreos and ice cream or wild-caught salmon and blueberries? Yet conventional medicine fails to recognize this, turning to expensive IVF therapies before basic nutrition and lifestyle interventions. Now, sometimes fertility treatments are necessary, but the results I've seen from doubling down on diet and nutrition and addressing the root causes of infertility has yielded incredible results for my patients. Many, many of them have gotten pregnant when they were told they could not. Now, today we're going to explore the specific nutrients and the dietary strategies that support fertility and how you can use food as medicine to make informed dietary choices that lead to better fertility outcomes. Now, key nutrients and their roles in reproductive health are important to understand. First, let's discuss the key nutrients that you need to support fertility and their role in conception and how to optimize your levels by prioritizing certain foods as staples in your diet. And men, you got to listen up, too. These nutrients aren't just for women to focus on. They're just as important for men to incorporate into their diet as well. And one of the most important nutrients for optimal fertility and having a healthy baby and to prevent miscarriages is something called folate or folic acid. Folate is essential for DNA expression, for DNA repair, and for something called methylation, which is crucial for regulating which genes are expressed and for regulating cell division and many, many other things. And this involves many things that have to do with fertility, such as the growth and development of cells, which is key for the neurodevelopment of the baby and the creation if you're deficient in folate, for example, it, like I mentioned, it can lead to neural tube defects, to hormonal imbalances. It can increase something called homocysteine, which also affects infertility. Now, low levels also decrease the success of fertilization. So you're less likely to fertilize an egg. Now, what can you eat? Well, folate-rich foods, beef, liver, yum, I like it actually, spinach, kale, arugula, black-eyed peas, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, avocado, broccoli, mustard, greens, eggs, beets, citrus food, walnuts, almonds and sunflower seeds. You can eat your way to fertility here. But often you might need a supplement with something called methylfolate, which we'll talk about in a bit. Now, omega-3 fats are also a key part of your health and they're an essential fatty acid. They're a key part of your cell membranes throughout your body. So they're your membrane that's around your cells. Basically the baggy holds the cell contents. in part are made up of these omega-3 fats, which you can only get from your diet. This includes your reproductive organs and cells, and it helps also when you have enough of the omega-3s, it helps your cellular response to sex hormones. So your body responds better to these hormones than the receptors, including estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. So, and you need to have good cell membrane function to be fertile, and many of us don't. They also are great anti-inflammatory properties. of omega-3s, which creates a healthy environment for conception. Omega-3s can increase blood flow to reproductive organs. And for men, by the way, there's a lot of benefits, including better erections. It's great for sperm production. It positively affects sperm quality, sperm count, sperm motility, meaning they swim better, semen volume, and testosterone levels. So all around, omega-3 fats are great. So not bad for a can of sardines or a little fish oil, right? Women actually, it helps with the uterine lining and good blood flow, which helps you to have a good thick endometrium or uterine lining for implantation of the fertilized embryo. Now, Omega-3 rich foods are great. You can get those, for example, that have high levels of EPA and DHA from small fatty fish that are low in mercury. I call it the smash fish salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines and herring. Also, you can get it from plants like ALA, walnuts, chia seeds and flax seeds, although it's not converted well to EPA and DHA, so you need to take the preformed. If you're a vegan, you can take preformed DHA from algae, which is a great source, but it does give you the full EPA. Also magnesium. We're looking at red cell magnesium on those tests as well. And magnesium is important because it's involved in over 600 different enzymatic reactions in the body that play a key role in fertility, including DNA regulation and repair. It's important for healthy egg and sperm development. It reduces inflammation. It regulates hormone production. It helps balance estrogen and progesterone, and it improves insulin sensitivity, which is the root cause of so much infertility, especially through PCOS or polycystic ovarian syndrome. And this problem affects 8 to 13% of reproductive age women. So it's really common and it's a common cause of infertility. In fact, Walter Willett from Harvard wrote a book called the Fertility Diet, where he talks about the role of insulin resistance in infertility. And I've seen this very many times, and you correct the insulin resistance and you correct fertility. Now, 70% of women who have this problem are not diagnosed and it's the leading cause of infertility out there. Now, iron is important because it helps reduce hemoglobin, which is the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout your body. Now, why is this important? Well, it's key for reproductive health, for immune system function, for producing energy, which is really important for the energy manning process of volume ovulation. And if you're menstruating woman, you're more prone to iron deficiency because and even anemia because you're getting blood loss during your period. If you have heavy bleeding, it can be worse and so forth. And when you have low iron, that impairs ovulation and fertility. Now get this, 35% of women less than 50 years old are iron deficient. This is from the Lancet. It's a lot of people, a third of women are iron deficient. It's less of a problem in men because they don't bleed. And there's a lot of iron-rich foods out there, but nutrient-dense animal protein. Now, animal protein covers a lot of the nutrient basis. It's not just iron, it's got a lot of nutrients for fertility and including zinc, selenium, B vitamins, B12. We're going to cover their role in fertility next. So high quality, clean protein, usually between 0.7 to 1 gram per pound of ideal body weight. And just to be clear, you know, like 30 grams of protein is about four ounces. So if you're thinking about, you know, how many grams of weight you are, let's say you're 100 pounds or 120 pounds, you know, 30 grams would be four ounces. You need that. you know, three times a day, four times a day to get enough. And you can get from grass-fed beef, lamb, venison, low mercury, wild caught, sustainable fish like we talked about the smash fish. And that also is rich in a lot of nutrients, right? The fish has got omega-3s, vitamin D, selenium, clams and oysters are great. They have B12 and zinc, pasture raised omega-3 enriched eggs are a great source as well. Egg yolks have B12, B6, folate, omega-3s, poultry and pork have thiamine and zinc. So, Animal foods are great. High quality protein is great and it's full of other nutrients that also support fertility. Now, while we're on the topic of high quality protein, I want to mention why it's important to focus on optimizing your protein intake first. See, adding more protein will help you optimize your diet quality and nutrient density. It also makes you feel full. It promotes what we call satiety, making it harder to overeat sugar and sweets. When you look at, for example, vegans who eat low levels of animal protein, they tend to crave more carbs and sugar and sweets, and that's a problem. things like lentil peas are great. Some people can't tolerate the beans, but they can be adapted to over time. But the problem is you can't get enough. You need two cups of beans to be equal four ounces of chicken. So it's just nobody's gonna eat that much beans, a lot of beans. But you can use high quality protein powders, sprouted peas, pumpkin seeds. You can supplement with branching amino acids. You need to get the right amino acids in the right amount to actually help with protein quality. Don't rely on vegan meat substitutes for protein. They're not meat, they're fake meat, and they're ultra processed science projects. They're inflammatory, there's no nutritional benefit except what they sort of quote fortify the foods with. I wonder why they have to fortify foods, right? Because they're so impoverished in the first place. Now B12 is also important for sex hormone production. It's really important for ovulation, for regular menstrual cycles, for testosterone production in males. It's essential for sperm and egg quality for cell division and even early fetal development. Now, deficiency in B12 can cause a lot of problems, right? It can cause problems with implantation of the egg into the uterus, with the development of the fetus. It can drive other problems like low sex drive. It can cause high homocysteine levels, which also are associated with reproductive issues. And you can get B12 from food like animal protein, which is the only bioavailable source. Vegetarians and vegans must supplement. There's no way around it. You can take methylcobalamin, but you cannot get it from plant foods. There are some people you say you can get from different plants, but you just may not be getting a reliable amount. So I think you've got to be very careful with that. Selenium is also important. That's an essential micronutrient that helps fight inflammation. Now, what can you get selenium from? Meat, seafood, Brazil nuts. About, you know, four Brazil nuts a day usually cover your cover your selenium needs. So that's great. Now, what else do you need to know about to maintain and optimize fertility? well, gut health, your gut microbiome plays a huge role in hormone regulation and fertility. Now, researchers are discovering there's a lot of roles for gut microbes and optimal gut health and how it contributes to obesity, to PCOS, to hormone imbalances, and lots more. So it's important to tend your inner garden, and I always talk about that, but it's really important to learn how to take care of your inner garden. And you need gut supporting foods, things like fermented foods that are have probiotics in them. There are other things that are great in there like fiber and great probiotics. Prebiotic foods are important like fruits and veggies and you get 8 to 12 servings of non-starchy fruits and veggies. Certain gluten-free whole grains can be helpful. Cruciferous vegetables also really important for the gut health because cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, collards, kale, brussels sprouts, collard greens, they help to regulate excess estrogen in the body. They help with estrogen dominance, which is something that is happens commonly as women enter their later reproductive life where they get higher estrogen than progesterone, either relative or absolute. And that can help lower maybe glucuronidase, which is a really important compound that's produced by certain bacteria in your gut that can actually lead to higher estrogen levels and more problems with cancer and fertility. So there's a lot of really important things to, to kind of consider. Also, there's another class of foods that are great for your gut, which is the garlic family, garlic, onions, leeks, shallots, they're anti-inflammatory. Certain gluten-free cold grains can add fiber like amaranth, teff, buckwheat, like Himalayan, tartary buckwheat. I like my Himalayan, tartary buckwheat sprouted powder, which is great. I put it in my smoothie. Wild rice is great. Oh, it's technically not a grain. Black rice, quinoa, all they're fine. Fermented probiotic rich foods are great. Sauerkraut, goat or sheep yogurt, kefir, kimchi, natto, tempeh, empM Miso, all these are great for helping your gut health. So you really need to learn how to take care of your inner garden. And you might even need to take probiotic supplements. Now, if you have a messed up gut, it's important to work with somebody on this. If you have leaky gut or irritable bowel, you want to work with a good functional medicine practitioner to fix it. And you need to learn how to do that with the 5R program, which is avoiding the, minimizing the foods that create problems using pre and probiotics and gut repair tools. All right, so once you've dialed in your nutrition and you're focusing on eating specific foods to support your hormones, your reproductive health, your sperm and egg health, it's really important to clean up your diet, not just add the good stuff, but take out the bad stuff and reduce your intake of more problematic foods that cause insulin resistance, oxidative stress and inflammation, which definitely reduce fertility and cause impaired fertility. And what are those foods? No surprise if you're listening to me, right? Ultra processed foods, basically foods that contain ingredients that you wouldn't have in your kitchen and that are made in factories and are deconstructed science projects. You do not want to eat those, even though they may look like food, they're not actually food by definition. Refined grains, refined flours, added sugars, all bad. Potato chips, crackers, pretzels, candy, microwave popcorn, muffins, donuts, sandwich bread. I mean, it's not even really bread. Cookies, flavored yogurts, puddings. These foods, why are they bad? Well, they contribute to the epidemic of metabolic dysfunction, which affects 93% of the population and is somewhere on the trajectory of insulin resistance. They lead to oxidative stress. They reduce the chance of fertility. They increase PCOS. They cause sexual dysfunction, erectile dysfunction, and poor blood flow. Yep, that's true, guys. That's what happens when you drink. and it contains a lot of forever chemicals, these endocrine disrupting chemicals that you don't want to be having in your body, like BPA and others. You want to get rid of all those. Those are very much significant endocrine disruptors. We call this whole class of chemicals endocrine disruptors because they disrupt your hormone system. They also contain a lot of bad stuff, chemical additives, artificial sweeteners, emulsifiers, thickeners that all contribute to inflammation through damaging the gut lining leading to a leaky gut. They also often contain low quality fats like trans fats and inflammatory oils like soybean oil, sunflower, canola, vegetable seed oils, GMO corn, soy, all that crap. Sugar sweetened beverages, definitely a no-no because that'll drive in some resistance including sodas, diet soda, although artificial sweeteners work in a different way. Fruit juice, green juices, unless they're truly green juices, a lot of them are just jacked with pineapple juice and sugary fruit stuff, which is just as bad. Of course there may be more antioxidants and other good stuff in there, but it's a lot of bad stuff. Obviously don't have soft drinks, lemonade, iced teas that are sweetened, alcohol, sports drinks, meal replacement drinks, protein drinks like Boost, Fairlife, Core, protein powders, Slimfast, they're all garbage. There are good plant proteins out there. There are good animal protein products out there, but just be careful. And also be careful with the plant milks. They can be flavored. sweetened, they can have emulsifiers, thickeners, they can be some good ones, but make sure they're just simple ingredients like almonds, water, salt, for example. Energy drinks definitely do not have those. Those are full of colors, dyes, artificial sweeteners, flavored coffees. I mean, you go to Starbucks, you're getting tons of sugar, probably as much sugar as a can of Coke or sometimes more, depending on what you're getting. Fruit juices, creamers that are weird creamers, just stay away from all that. Also, you want to stay away from conventional dairy. dairy is a hugely hormonally disruptive food unless you're eating sheep or goat cheese, which is less. Most conventional dairy has antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, a lot of hormone disrupting compounds in them. And it's one of the things for women who have menstrual issues or hormonal issues, I very strongly recommend they avoid caffeine. It can be fine, but be careful of too much. It can wear out your adrenal glands. Alcohol, definitely not a good thing for fertility. it affects your obviously liver and your ability to regulate hormones through your liver can cause dysregulation of estrogen, testosterone, many other hormones. And now alcohol and consumption in men can lead to lower testosterone levels and higher estrogen levels, which can cause all sorts of issues like lower libido, fertility issues, you can increase breast size in men, it can cause loss of hair in the body, it's just not a good thing. So what are the practical dietary adjustments for enhancing fertility? Let's go through them a little bit. one by one here. What are the practical tips for creating a diet that's incorporating fertility boosting foods into your everyday meals? Build your meals around protein and veggies and fiber, which makes you feel full and less likely to overeat. Try food stacking. Start the day with protein and fat for breakfast. You can have a savory breakfast, you're gonna have a protein shake. That's really fine to do. I mean, I don't know why we've sort of in America gotten to a place where we think sugar for breakfast is a good idea, but it's the worst possible thing that's ever happened to us. So what can you have for breakfast? What does that mean? Well, eggs are great. They're rich in vitamin D, B12 and protein. They're great for hormone balance. You can have an omelet with spinach, tomatoes, added folate, vitamin C. You can have poached or hard-boiled eggs. I like, for example, shashuka, which I buy the kind of jarred version and I put the eggs in there and put in the oven and cooked in like 10-15 minutes pretty quick. Don't eat those quick cooking oats. Get rid of those. if you're going to eat oats, only have steel cut oats, but you want to add protein and fat. So flax seeds, chia seeds, almonds, nuts. You can also put in some butter in there, grass fed butter, or some other kind of oil like flax oil. You want to get protein, fat and fiber in there. Chia seed pudding is a great breakfast. Coconut yogurt, berry smoothie with protein powder. I like that one. It's my favorite. What about snacks? Well, I don't really snack that much, but if you're hungry, nuts and seeds are great. A handful of almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds are great snacks that have zinc, selenium, lots of good fats. Meat sticks are great. I like the Maui Nui, Paleo Valley, they're great. Raw veggies and homemade hummus is an option. Low glycemic fruit is fine. Berries, apples, cherries, citrus fruits. What about lunch and dinner? Well, salads are great. You can put a base of leafy greens like arugula or just dark leafy greens, mixed greens. You can use spinach or kale to increase folate intake. You can add avocado for healthy fats. Sprinkle some sunflower seeds for vitamin E. and I basically use olive oil. So you get a fat salad with nuts and protein and fat, and you can even add a can of sardines or salmon on there. It's also great. You can include fatty fish like salmon, mackerel. I get some canned salmon or mackerel. I love that with my salad. That helps boost your omega threes. It helps sperm quality and your reproductive health. Now, if you're having desserts or treats, fine, but choose something that's kind of good for you, like dark chocolate, like 70% cocoa as a treat. has lots of antioxidants, improves mood, doesn't give you too much sugar, and it helps benefit your hormones. Melt dark chocolate and coat blueberries, raspberries, or almonds. You can freeze them to make a healthy dessert. Or you can sign up for my recipe newsletter, Mark's Kitchen, which always have healthy recipes and desserts like fudgy almond butter brownies, chocolate olive oil mousse with candied walnuts, yum, yum, yum. There's going to be a link in the show notes for the recipes and to sign up for my Mark's Kitchen newsletter. featuring new recipes every week delivered straight to your inbox. And you can go to my website, drhyman.com to sign up as well. My new cookbook, Young Forever Cookbook has a ton of recipes in it as well. And we'll put the link in the show notes. For women, it's important to supplement to fill nutrient gaps. For example, a prenatal vitamin is important even before you get pregnant. You're just preparing to get pregnant, which is, there's a lot of them out there like Thorne's Grape. has a great product, prenatal vitamin. It's got methylated B vitamins, folate, 5-methylfolate, not folic acid, which is the crappy form that's not well utilized by the body found in most prenatal vitamins. 40%, 35 to 40% of the population has a mutation in a gene called MTHFR that affects your ability to utilize the synthetic folic acid, which is found in prenatal supplements. So you don't, you're not even getting the benefit. You want to take the preformed methylfolate. It also needs methylcobalamin or B12, the right form, Omega-3s are really important, at least 1,000 to 2,000 milligrams of EPA and DHA every day. It's a great product. I like the Omega-3 Rejuvenate from Big Bold Health. For men, you also want to take stuff, not just the women. It helps fertility for men too. So you guys aren't out of the picture. So a multivitamin mineral, vitamin D, Omega-3s, good levels of a multivitamin, folate, B12, zinc, Really important to get your food, the right foods, not eat the wrong foods, to take the right supplements and to optimize your metabolism to actually help you achieve a healthy pregnancy. Really important. We have a lot more control over our hormones and our regulation of our reproductive life than we think. It's important for you to take control of that. And that's really why I did this podcast today. I hope you found it helpful. And whether you're just getting started on your health journey, whether you're actually trying to have a baby or one day want to have one in the future, by understanding how different foods and nutrients affect your hormonal balance and reproductive health, you can make better choices that support your reproductive health and fertility. 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