Health Discussion

mathwiz

Hey guys! I thought we could make a list of things we have changed in our diet in order to conceive easier. I'm sure a lot of you already know that diet has a huge impact on your ability to conceive. So I figured we could make some bullet points of the changes each of us made and maybe we can learn a thing or two from each of our diets! Me and DH have been TTC for about a month now. He is 19 I'm 20. Here's all the changes we've made in our diets. Sorry about English, it's my second language.

- started taking a pre-natal multivitamin 
- locally grown organic fruits and veggies and cook a lot with them
- raw milk from a trusted source as well as free range eggs 
- make yogurt or kefir out of the milk
- bee pollen
- iodine (I have a slightly slow thyroid, nothing major though)
- extra folate and thiamin as I've just got off bactrim for a UTI and bactrim depletes those 2 nutrients
- about 3g-4g of vitamin C a day (produces estrogen and progesterone)
- Salad everyday
- significantly reduced vaping (went from needing a hit every hour to needing a small hit every 3-4 hours. not perfect still, i know)
- Using natural cleaning products like white vinegar and baking soda. 
- EPO which is found in my omega 3-6-9 supplement (1200mg I believe)
- not working as much as I used to, as it stresses me out. Trying to keep my cortisol levels down. 
- Reduced coffee intake and sugar intake.
- I'm extremely conscious about getting all my vitamins, minerals, probiotics, prebiotics, fats, protein, carbs, etc. through natural sources. I only just started it though so it's not a fully formed natural habit yet. 
- Drinking filtered water (Seychelle brand because it filters out flouride)
- Paying attention to not use pthalates, glyphosates, or other xenohormones
- going out to balcony for vitamin D. Going on walks with DH 1-2x per week.


Here's what I noticed after all of this:
my allergies are completely gone. my face is cleared up of any acne and soft as a babies butt. I used to have just creamy not stretchy CM (TMI sorry) but now after all these changes, in my fertile window I have stretchy CM. So happy about it! My period has become not as heavy as it used to be, I get very lubricated when dtd (sorry TMI again!).
I'm also more "regular" not just with my cycles. They used to be between 30-32 days, now it's been clockwork 28 days. I also found I have more energy to do things around the house and just generally a better mood. I used to be kind of monotone and apathetic sometimes but I've become super happy all the time! Anyway, I should be O-ing in a few days so me and DH are dtd every day to see what happens. Let me know how you ladies are feeling, how your health is doing and FX for everyone!

mathwiz

Oh I also forgot to mention that I've noticed I've been praying to God more. For the past 20 years I have not been a religious person and neither has DH been. On paper we are both catholic but neither of our parents brought us up to be religious. In fact, they brought both of us up to be more atheist. But for the first time I found myself praying to God more and more. I'm very scientific minded yet I havent been able to make sense of this. I have absolutely no idea what caused this but I guess you can think of it as a kind of relaxing meditation practice. Pretty interesting and I'm not mad about it. 

fantasyflyte

@mathwiz welcome! FYI, we have a pretty structured board here, we generally discourage one-off posts. I highly recommend reading the rules and info post here: https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12685680/the-ultimate-ttgp-guide-newbies-read-this-first

You can introduce yourself in the Newbies thread here: https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12761300/newbie-intros-w-o-7-5

You can post about health habits here: https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12761266/healthy-habits-w-o-7-5

And you can post in one of the dailies depending on where you are (waiting to ovulate or in the two week wait):

WTO today: https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12761287/wto-wednesday-7-7

TWW today: https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12761288/tww-wednesday-7-7

There's lots of other assorted threads that may also apply to you, and we always encourage lurking for a bit if you're not certain of how/what to post.

stormageddon-darklordofall

bows22

mathwiz said:

Hey guys! I thought we could make a list of things we have changed in our diet in order to conceive easier. I'm sure a lot of you already know that diet has a huge impact on your ability to conceive. So I figured we could make some bullet points of the changes each of us made and maybe we can learn a thing or two from each of our diets! Me and DH have been TTC for about a month now. He is 19 I'm 20. Here's all the changes we've made in our diets. Sorry about English, it's my second language.

- started taking a pre-natal multivitamin 
- locally grown organic fruits and veggies and cook a lot with them
- raw milk from a trusted source as well as free range eggs 
- make yogurt or kefir out of the milk
- bee pollen
- iodine (I have a slightly slow thyroid, nothing major though)
- extra folate and thiamin as I've just got off bactrim for a UTI and bactrim depletes those 2 nutrients
- about 3g-4g of vitamin C a day (produces estrogen and progesterone)
- Salad everyday
- significantly reduced vaping (went from needing a hit every hour to needing a small hit every 3-4 hours. not perfect still, i know)
- Using natural cleaning products like white vinegar and baking soda. 
- EPO which is found in my omega 3-6-9 supplement (1200mg I believe)
- not working as much as I used to, as it stresses me out. Trying to keep my cortisol levels down. 
- Reduced coffee intake and sugar intake.
- I'm extremely conscious about getting all my vitamins, minerals, probiotics, prebiotics, fats, protein, carbs, etc. through natural sources. I only just started it though so it's not a fully formed natural habit yet. 
- Drinking filtered water (Seychelle brand because it filters out flouride)
- Paying attention to not use pthalates, glyphosates, or other xenohormones
- going out to balcony for vitamin D. Going on walks with DH 1-2x per week.


Here's what I noticed after all of this:
my allergies are completely gone. my face is cleared up of any acne and soft as a babies butt. I used to have just creamy not stretchy CM (TMI sorry) but now after all these changes, in my fertile window I have stretchy CM. So happy about it! My period has become not as heavy as it used to be, I get very lubricated when dtd (sorry TMI again!).
I'm also more "regular" not just with my cycles. They used to be between 30-32 days, now it's been clockwork 28 days. I also found I have more energy to do things around the house and just generally a better mood. I used to be kind of monotone and apathetic sometimes but I've become super happy all the time! Anyway, I should be O-ing in a few days so me and DH are dtd every day to see what happens. Let me know how you ladies are feeling, how your health is doing and FX for everyone!

mathwiz said:

Oh I also forgot to mention that I've noticed I've been praying to God more. For the past 20 years I have not been a religious person and neither has DH been. On paper we are both catholic but neither of our parents brought us up to be religious. In fact, they brought both of us up to be more atheist. But for the first time I found myself praying to God more and more. I'm very scientific minded yet I havent been able to make sense of this. I have absolutely no idea what caused this but I guess you can think of it as a kind of relaxing meditation practice. Pretty interesting and I'm not mad about it. 

This is a joke right?

stormageddon-darklordofall

@bows22 Is there a full moon coming?  There's gotta be a full moon, right?  Cause like, I legit couldn't say what I wanted to here, or I'd get banned again. 

inthewoods23

@stormageddon-darklordofall nope, full moon isn't until the 23rd. However tomorrow is the new moon so that's gotta mean something.

kiki047

This reminds me of the convo I was having with @bumblebee0210 about the "do everything" attitude which I find really triggering. No, I don't eat exclusively organic veggies or drink raw milk, but I do virtually everything else on that list (except the vaping, I don't smoke - never have - or even drink alcohol more than 1 a week or every other week). And I'm still infertile AF.  I'm also not 19-20 years old anymore, oof. Maybe if I had've known then what I know now... nah, I'd still be IF. 

The lesson to be learned here is be healthier, make good choices, move your body, take quality prenatal vitamins. Period. Regardless of whether you're TTC or not. I do firmly believe that our fertility starts with our health, first and foremost, and that we "ought" to make better, healthier choices not only for our own good but for the good of the planet and our environment, but stuff like this also feels a little shame-y to those who maybe aren't in a financial position to eat only organic, locally grown, non-GMO, free range, pesticide-free, etc etc food. Or who don't have the luxury of working less due to a demanding career. 

I do not disagree with the methods, they are all important, but let's use this as a basis for conversation and not a checklist of THE things that will make us more fertile. Oh, and let's have that convo over in this thread. 

bows22

@kiki047 I love that you responded so nicely, but I really want to be mad about someone half my age on month 1 of TTC telling me I need to eat salad every day to get pregnant, so can we be mad instead? haha

b_1029

@bows22 I’m just stunned that many changes have been made on cycle 1 when they’re so young! I don’t think I made any major changes to my diet or anything until like month 6 or so of ttc. Go big or go home, I guess?

kiki047

@bows22 oh don't worry, I'm still bitter AF lol. 
@b_1029 but also, been TTC for only a month but have seen all those changes already? I feel like we're missing some context here. Also, all of those "symptoms" that magically resolved themselves all point to other underlying conditions. Possibly PCOS or other hormonal imbalances. Like fuck, I think I still considered myself a teenager at 20 lol, I was definitely still a hormonal mess. If I had eaten less crap and actually took a vitamin or two in university I might've had better skin and more energy too. 

I've done low carb/keto as well as extremely (dangerously) low fat diets and actually felt pretty great on both when we cut out 100% of processed foods and added sugars but oh hell we're not meant to live that way. It was disordered eating at its most extreme and mentally it did more harm than good.