If you can’t get pregnant on a regular meat based diet this article is for you.
The cat’s out of the bag! After decades of meat and dairy propaganda, vegetables and fruit have been given the praise they deserve. Full of antioxidants, phytonutrients, fibre, water, minerals and vitamins how could they not? But can you get pregnant on a vegan diet?
You may have heard that vegetarians and vegans have lower rates of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and obesity. But what about infertility? According to a recent Harvard study eating more fruit and vegetables in place of meat increases fertility! Susan Levin, director of nutrition education at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine says “It’s no surprise to me that you’re going to find it (vegan diet) leads to less infertility”.
But what about dairy and eggs? Vegetarians eat eggs and dairy but vegans don’t. A vegan diet consists of fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, nut and seed oils, grains and legumes. There are no animal products and this means no dairy, no eggs, no meat and no fish! For decades we’ve been hearing about the importance of meat and fish three times a week, an egg a day and a glass of milk. These foods contain complete protein, vitamin D, iron, B12, calcium and lots of other nutrients. How can they be bad for fertility?
In addition to the beneficial nutrients animal products contain saturated fat which is a perfect storage place for environmental toxins, pesticides, dioxins and hormones. Saturated fat and insulin resistance go hand in hand. Insulin resistance interferes with reproductive hormones and ovulation. Insulin resistance is also one of the hallmarks of PCOS – the leading cause of infertility today. Lack of ovulation (or very irregular ovulation) and poor egg quality is the result of PCOS.
Animal products predispose your body to acidity. An acidic body makes a perfect feeding and breeding ground for bacteria and other pathogens. This in turn increases you immune activity and saps available energy from your reproductive system. An immune system on high alert can also harm sperm and developing embryos. Not to mention how many miscarriages can be contributed to infections.
A crucial nutrient for egg and sperm health is calcium. When the body is over-acidic it’ll leach calcium out of your bones to neutralize the acidity. This in turn leaves your calcium stores depleted which is not desirable when you’re trying to conceive.
Is it safe to continue with a vegan diet while pregnant?
The short answer is yes. The American Dietetic Association recently revised their position about vegan and vegetarian diets during pregnancy stating that they are safe.
A word of caution
There are many unhealthy vegans and vegetarians out there too. Eating pasta and bread with vegetables (and copious amounts of cheese for vegetarians) every day does not make up a healthy diet! I’ve seen many cases of unhealthy vegetarians in my practice over the years.
However if you can’t get pregnant on a regular meat and three veg diet, you should consider a healthy vegan diet. To be a healthy vegan you need to be organized, well informed and you need to follow six simple rules;
Six simple rules to get pregnant on a vegan diet
- Combine your protein sources. No vegetable protein source contains all the essential amino acids. Therefore you need to combine them. Combining grains with nuts and seeds, or legumes makes up complete protein. You need to ensure that every day you consume some legumes, grains, nuts and seeds.
- To date no vegetable source of usable B12 has been found. This is a crucial vitamin you mustn’t become deficient in. The solution – B12 supplements or injections. Unfortunately that’s the name of the game, if you want to be vegan you need to supplement with B12. However don’t fret, it takes years before a deficiency can develop and you only require minute amounts. A good quality prenatal vitamin will cover your B12 requirements. And there are many vegan products enriched with B12. If you become a veteran vegan have your B12 levels checked from time to time to make sure you’re not deficient – yes even if you supplement every day – better safe than sorry!
- Eat iron rich foods such as avocados, prunes, apricots, lentils, black beans, almonds, chickpeas and wheat germ. The good news is vegans and vegetarians with a well planned and balanced diet have no higher incidence of iron deficiency and anemia than meat eaters.
- Vitamin D is another concern for vegans as no vegetable source contains it. What’s the best source of vitamin D – the sun! 10 Minutes of sun on your skin a day will give you all the vitamin D you need. Just make sure to avoid the hottest time of the day and that you are not wearing sun screen. Early morning and late afternoon are the best time to get your dose of vitamin D without getting burned.
- Eat organic! If you are going to exclude animal products which are the richest source of pesticides in our diet, you don’t want to reintroduce them by eating sprayed fruit and vegetables. By going vegan you will notice that you are saving a lot of money too. Meat is expensive. With this surplus of cash you can now afford to eat organic fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds.
- Don’t go overboard on soy! Studies show that soy does not impact fertility in fertile couples. However infertile couples need to be cautious with soy. If you are going to consume soy make sure it’s GMO free, organic, made from whole soy beans and fermented. The only truly safe soy product is tempeh. Tofu in small amounts and not everyday is OK too.
Now take a trip to your nearest organic store and explore the vegan food options! The switch to vegan diet may not only improve your fertility but also make you shed the excess weigh, clear your skin and brighten your eyes!
What are your thoughts? Are you a vegan or vegetarian already? If you can’t get pregnant on a regular diet would you give vegan diet a go? Do you think a vegan diet can help you get pregnant?
© 2010 Iva Keene and Natural Fertility Prescription
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I think there are so many opinions out there about what food to eat, you can go with whatever feels right for you.
Being an EFT (energy practitioner) I read Angela Wu’s book (http://healwithheather.110mb.com/amazonf.htm) who looks at food in terms of energy. She also looks at your tongue (pale? you are too cold – need to eat energetically warm food). She has lists of food in her book.
She does go with the general (no gluton, no sugar, no dairy, no processed foods) which is common to most experts.
But she says: don’t eat raw food. It takes energy for the body to digest raw food and that energy is needed to make a baby. (My homeopath said the opposite: eat raw food!)
Also she does advocate meat for “cold” people like me.
The thing I didn’t follow that was too difficult was eating chicken only after ovulation (it has a constricting energy, and you want to be “open” before conception.)
Well you may think I am crazy, but after all the Western clinical stuff her book really made sense to me.
Thanks Heather! I fully agree, there needs to be a balance in our lives and in our diet. There is a lot to be said about energetics of food. It’s definitely something that should be taught more. However the general trend in western societies is overconsumption of animal products. So replacing a couple of meals with vegan alternatives will not hurt anyone. Raw vegan food has many health benefits such as living enzymes. To digest food our body needs enzymes. Each food contains all of the nutrients required for easy digestion. When the food’s been processed (cooked) the enzymes die and some nutrients become damaged. In order to digest that food now, you body needs to use it’s own enzymes and stored nutrients. So many foods are rightly named ‘anti-nutrients’ such as white sugar. However there are down sides to raw food too. One is it’s cooling energetic principle and the other is phytic acid, commonly found in raw vegetables, which can block absorption of zinc and iron. So the best solution is to have a balanced diet with a variety of foods prepared in a variety of ways (just not fried!). I don’t think you are crazy! It does make a lot of sense to apply energetic principles to what we eat. Thanks for the link!
Hi,
I want to ask if you have ever heard about Prenatal Vitamin Rainbow Light. I have been browsing to find any organic vegan/vegetarian vitamin for myself. I want to get pregnant and make sure that I can get the right vitamin. I am vegetarian for about 2 years. If the Rainbow Light is recommended, I would like to buy. Also I may want to get Men’s Multivitamin Rainbow Light too for my husband. Since both vitamins contain B-12, Zinc, B6, and other minerals and vitamins and I thought it will be great for both of us.
I want to know do you know about the vitamin.
Thank you so much.
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