Could sugar really be negatively affecting your fertility?
When it comes to nutrition, there is no magic one ingredient to improving fertility but if you and your partner want to make one change to your diet to improve your overall fertility, reducing your intake of refined sugar is it. To put it simply, sugar is a major hormone disruptor. Eating refined sugar found in refined carbohydrates and saturated fats will affect your blood sugar levels and is full of empty calories. These foods lead to an imbalance in blood sugar which negatively disrupts your reproductive system amongst other processes in your body.
When you are trying for a baby, you want to avoid your blood sugar spiking low and high. Low blood sugar, which can be caused by skipping meals, exercising to excess or diabetes, can cause the body to respond by releasing stress hormones, namely cortisol and adrenaline. The body thinks it is under 'attack' and is quite rightly responding. This response can affect a women's progesterone levels which is essential for our menstrual cycle especially implantation and early pregnancy.
High blood sugar is dangerous as it can cause your insulin levels to rise in an attempt to control the blood sugar. Raised insulin is not good for our fertility, as it can cause damage to egg quality and sperm count and volume. Keeping blood sugar levels under control is very important for optimum fertility and improving the chances of pregnancy naturally and through IVF. Not to mention, too much refined sugar is linked to weight gain and obesity. A healthy BMI, between 18.5 - 24.9, is proven to falling pregnant faster. If your BMI is higher than this, lowering it by even a few points can have a beneficial impact.
How to manage your blood sugar levels?
The key is to keep your blood sugar levels steady throughout the day to stop cravings, spikes and your hormones spiralling. Eating foods ranked with a low glycemic index (GI) means they are slowly digested, absorbed and metabolised causing a lower and slower rise in blood glucose. Low GI foods rank under 55, compared to high GI foods ranking 70+. Opting for a healthy, well balanced diet will mean you are getting in lots of fruit, vegetables, lean protein, good fats and whole grains. By ditching processed foods, high in trans fats you will be helping your fertility, foods to limit are white bread, biscuits, cakes, crisps, ice cream, chocolate, pizza, fries and sweets.
Of course it is impossible to be perfect with our nutrition 100% of the time and it is important to enjoy a treat such as a glass of wine or some chocolate, but the key is to make it a treat. If you are craving certain sugary foods you do not need to deprive yourself, but make sure you are balancing and controlling how much you eat. Having an 80 / 20 balance to eating well is a healthy and sensible approach, allowing yourself 20% of the time to have the odd treat. Life is for living, but whilst trying for a baby maybe try eating an alternative sweet treat to benefit your overall health. Eating this way is more likely to help you fall pregnant quicker and have a healthy pregnancy and baby. Healthy alternative options to curb sugar cravings include dates or dried apricots, mangoes or cranberries. Dried fruits will settle your sweet tooth and are rich in fibre and many nutrients, win win. Instead of eating processed cereals with added sugar, you can opt for a drizzle of honey. Although, honey is higher in calories than refined sugar, 1 tsp is not going to cause much harm and it has many nutrients including B vitamins and is better for you when compared to eating a sugary treat. Switching fizzy, caffeinated drinks and energy drinks for water infused with fresh fruit such as lemons, cucumber or oranges is another good alternative. It is all about making little tweaks to improve and protect your fertility. This will help optimise both you and your partner's chances of pregnancy.