If you want to get pregnant easily, you must consider your eating habits and the kinds of foods that you consume on a daily basis. Balanced food diets can help your body, especially your reproductive system to function better. But with a vast amount of food diets out there, you can still get confused with the types of foods essential for your fertility.
In this two-part article series, we will discuss how you should eat to improve your chances of getting pregnant. We will also provide an informative list of fertility recipes and meal plans to help you with cooking your meals.
Are you on fertility treatment?
If you are on fertility treatment, it’s better to consider what to eat and what not to eat. Some studies say that the foods you eat are related to the rate of pregnancy. Therefore, if you didn’t think about the nutrition etc. before, it’s time to review it.
How you should eat to improve your fertility
Based on the book The Fertility Diet: How to Maximize Your Chances of Having a Baby at Any Age, the author Sarah Dobbyn wrote that a diet composed of 70% raw plant foods will bring about the fastest results in terms of general health and fertility. So, it is well-recommended that at least 50% of your daily intake be raw fruit, vegetables, seeds, and nuts.
You can see how important to eat raw plant foods for pregnancy.
In order to accomplish that, you should eat salads and uncooked vegetables. The volume of the fiber bulk of the salad will stretch your stomach and the sensitive stretch receptors will signal to the appestat center in the brain that you are already full much sooner than if you were eating only a calorie-dense, cooked food meal; this will lead to the consumption of fewer calories overall.
List of fertility food recipes and meal plans
In this section, we are glad to provide you several food recipes and meal plans for fertility that we gathered from various websites.
Chunky Gluten-Free Granola
Prep Time: 10 mins.
Cook Time: 20 mins.
Total Time: 30 mins.
Ingredients
4 cups organic gluten-free rolled oats
1 cup nuts/seeds (I use slivered raw almonds, chopped walnuts, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and whole raw almonds)
2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Optional: 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Dash of salt
Optional: 3 tablespoons coconut sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup raw organic honey
3 tablespoons organic pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons organic molasses
1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
Optional: 1/2 cup dried fruit
1 large egg white, whisked well until frothy
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 °F.
2. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or baking sheet liner and set aside.
3. In a large bowl combine organic oats, nuts/seeds, and flaxseed meal, with cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice (if using), a dash of salt, and optional coconut sugar if added.
4. In a small saucepan heat the oil, honey, vanilla extract, pure maple syrup, and molasses. Once the mixture starts to boil, take off the heat and pour over the nut mixture. Mix well.
5. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the egg white until frothy. Add to the granola mixture and mix well.
6. Pour onto a baking sheet and bake, until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. Watch carefully to avoid burning. Add the dried fruit of choice and stir well.
7. Let cool, without mixing, and once cool break into clusters and store in an air-tight container for 2-4 weeks.
Recipe Notes
*I generally add the dried fruit as I eat. When mixed in during baking, and then stored I have found that the dried fruit gets hard after about a week. If you are serving the granola right away, feel free to mix them in.
**Adding whisked egg whites to the granola helps create clusters and make it extra crunchy!
Breakfast Burrito
Prep Time: 25 mins.
Cook Time: 13 mins.
Total Time: 38 mins.
Ingredients
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/2 small red onion, diced (1 cup)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 cup drained, rinsed canned black beans, preferably low-sodium
1/4 teaspoon chili flakes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 eggs and 4 egg whites
1/3 cup (about 1 1/2 ounce) shredded pepper Jack cheese
Nonstick cooking spray
4 (10-inch) whole wheat tortillas (burrito size)
1/4 cup reduced fat-free sour cream
1/4 cup salsa
1 large tomato, (4 ounces) seeded and diced
1 small avocado (4 ounces), cubed
Hot sauce
Directions
1. Heat the canola oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the onions and peppers until onions are softened and peppers are slightly charred about 8 minutes. Add black beans and red pepper flakes and cook until warmed through another 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a dish.
2. Whisk together eggs and egg whites then stir in cheese. Spray skillet with cooking spray, and reheat the skillet over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and add eggs, scrambling until cooked through about 3 minutes. Spread each tortilla with 1 tablespoon of each sour cream and salsa, then layer with 1/4 of the black bean mixture, 1/4 of the scrambled eggs, some diced tomato, and 1/4 of the avocado. Season to taste, with hot sauce. Roll up burrito-style and serve.
Rice and Lentil Salad
from The Bon Appetit Test Kitchen:
4 to 6 Servings
Prep Time: 15 min
Total Time: 40 min
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups French green lentils, rinsed, drained
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups steamed brown rice or brown basmati rice, cooled
1 tomato, halved, seeded, chopped
1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro plus sprigs for garnish
1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion (from about 1/4 onion)
Avocado wedges (optional)
Lime wedges
Direction
1. Place lentils in a saucepan and add water to cover by 3″. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, adding more water if needed to keep lentils covered, until lentils are tender, about 20 minutes. Drain; spread out lentils on a baking sheet and let cool.
Meanwhile, whisk lime juice, oil, garlic, cumin, and sugar in a small bowl to combine. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Combine cooked lentils, rice, tomato, chopped cilantro, and onion in a large bowl. Pour dressing over and gently mix to coat well; season to taste with more salt and pepper. Top with avocado, if using. Garnish with cilantro sprigs and lime wedges for squeezing over.
Conclusion
So these are some recipes that you can try at home and share with your loved ones as well. In the next article, we will have more recipes and meal plans for you!
