For some couples, the road to becoming parents can be full of challenges. By using a holistic fertility approach and natural treatments, couples facing fertility issues can boost their fertility naturally and increase their chances of conception. This article will help you discover how nutrition, the mind-body connection, supplements, and other lifestyle factors can help you reach your goal of parenthood.
Holistic fertility is a system of reproductive medicine that focuses on an individual’s physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing, while also considering factors such as egg and sperm quality, as well as hormonal health.
Addressing the mind-body connection is a part of natural fertility that is significant to both one’s overall well-being as well as to fertility. By looking into the mind-body connection, couples can see what emotional and psychological factors may be negatively impacting their ability to conceive. In addition, mind-body therapies can be incredibly helpful in lowering stress, improving overall emotional health, and promoting relaxation. Fostering emotional, mental, and spiritual health helps to bring balance to your physical body, which then can lead to improved fertility.
An integrative fertility approach offers a combination of alternative medicine therapies and conventional medical treatments. A holistic approach not only allows you to benefit from increased natural fertility but also allows for a healthier individual overall. When considering an integrated approach, treatments can include:
In addition to the alternative therapies listed above, couples should consider seeking conventional care. Lab analysis, hormone labs, sperm quality and quantity tests, ovarian and uterine imaging, and hysterosalpingograms are a few ways that conventional testing can help. Testing can provide answers for the couple having difficulty conceiving, as well as point the couple in the right direction for a treatment solution.
Underlying conditions to consider when trying to get to the bottom of fertility problems include inadequate caloric intake, hypothyroidism, subclinical hypothyroidism (often found on a full thyroid panel; not just TSH), pelvic inflammatory disease, autoimmune disease or other diseases of the immune system, blocked fallopian tubes from inflammation, irregular blood sugar levels contributing to PCOS, uterine fibroids, sexually transmitted infection, luteinizing hormone defect, primary ovarian insufficiency (POI), and ovulatory infertility.
The alternative treatments bulleted above can also help to improve the likelihood of pregnancy with assisted reproductive technology, such as in vitro fertilization.
Proper nourishment plays a crucial role in natural infertility treatment. Eating nutrient-dense, whole foods can help improve hormone levels and support reproductive system health, both of which are vital for conception. Proper supplementation can change nutrient status, which can therefore improve natural fertility in women and also semen parameters in men.
Many nutrients are essential when considering fertility, but foods high in folate, vitamin D, vitamin A, iodine, omega-3 fatty acids, and iron, can be especially beneficial. Consider eating foods such as grass-fed meat and pasture-raised eggs, pasture-raised or organic chicken, whole milk organic dairy (preferably raw), leafy greens, legumes, avocado, fatty fish, wild-caught seafood, seaweed, walnuts, and flaxseeds. Avoid trans-fat, refined sugar, and processed foods. Trans-fat foods like margarine and shortening should be eliminated from your diet. Another highly inflammatory food is seed oils. They have been labeled as “Vegetable oil” by marketing firms. But don’t be fooled, they are industrialized oils from seeds and they will contribute to a high inflammatory burden. These oils include:
Diets that include the following have been shown to enhance natural fertility outcomes in both women and men:
Fertility supplements such as a quality food-based prenatal, vitamin D, beef liver, and omega-3 fatty acids can greatly improve hormonal health and fertility. Omega-3s are especially important for ensuring proper brain development in your baby’s brain. Women should be tested for iron deficiency, and if found deficient, should increase iron-rich foods or consider a quality iron supplement, such as iron chelate as it doesn’t bind one up and is more absorbable. We also recommend taking iron with Vitamin Co for better absorption.
Women should avoid folic acid both in fortified foods and in prenatal vitamins, as this synthetic version of B9 can be harmful for many women. Instead of folic acid, women should look for the active folate form of vitamin B9, usually in the methyl folate form, 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, or look to get their B vitamins through food such as liver. This is because an adequate intake of folate is still incredibly important in preventing birth defects such as neural tube defects like spina bifida. It is important to start this before you get pregnant as neural tubes develop in the first trimester.
Consulting a Naturopathic Doctor to determine which supplements are right for you can make a huge difference in your conception journey. Because of soil degradation and an emphasis on processed foods in mainstream diets, we are often not getting adequate nourishment from our food. Therefore, adding supplements to your daily regimen can greatly enhance your natural fertility and improve your chances of conception. It’s important to have a professional on board because some vitamins can be toxic to a fetus and some forms of vitamins may not be absorbed well.
Get started on your holistic fertility journey now!!
In addition to eating a nourishing diet and taking fertility supplements, changing your lifestyle can have a profound impact on your ability to conceive. Decreasing stress, including moderate exercise, and ensuring proper sleep are all factors that play a crucial role in maintaining adequate hormone status, and supporting overall reproductive function, and reproductive health. Simple lifestyle changes like ensuring you’re getting enough restful sleep can have a direct impact on hormones and egg and sperm quality.
Stress management strategies, like meditation, visualization, journaling, yoga, and deep breathing can help relieve stress and boost fertility by enhancing hormonal balance and overall well-being. Consistent meditation, for instance, can significantly reduce stress levels. This then allows the body to produce more adequate reproduction hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone.
The stress management fertility treatments mentioned above help to shift an individual’s body into parasympathetic mode. This is important because conception is more likely to occur when the body is more often in a parasympathetic state (rest & digest), as opposed to a sympathetic state (fight or flight).
In addition to meditation, other helpful stress management strategies that can enhance fertility include:
Regular exercise is crucial for both men’s and women’s long-term health and fertility. Consistent exercise supports hormone balance, improves mood, and promotes overall health. Participating in regular exercise, such as yoga, walking, biking, moderate weight lifting, swimming, and tai chi, while also maintaining proper caloric intake, can significantly optimize fertility.
Exercise also improves blood flow to the reproductive organs. Increased blood flow to the reproductive organs provides them with more oxygen and nutrients necessary for optimal function. When trying to get pregnant, women should include exercise or movement into their daily regimen. However, it is also important to not over-exercise. When trying to conceive and using a holistic fertility approach, women should consider that too much stress on a woman’s body, even in the form of exercise, can inhibit conception.
Consistent and adequate sleep is critical for maintaining healthy reproductive hormone levels and for supporting natural fertility. Ovulation, menstruation, and conception are all greatly affected by restful sleep and the circadian rhythm. Improving sleep patterns to include going to bed and waking at consistent times, sleeping in a dark room, as well as ensuring you’re getting at least 7.5 hours of sleep a night can boost fertility by:
Creating more melatonin. Melatonin helps to protect the quality of a woman’s ovarian eggs.
Lowering cortisol levels, which then greatly affects estrogen and progesterone
Creating more consistent ovulation and menstruation
Encouraging health and well-being
Complementary therapies, such as herbal medicine, acupuncture, homeopathy, and Biotherapeutic Drainage should be considered to improve pregnancy outcomes. Complementary therapies can address underlying root cause imbalances, promote overall well-being, and increase your chances of pregnancy success.
Acupuncture can optimize fertility by balancing the energetic meridian system. This allows for increased blood flow and nutrients to the reproductive system. Acupuncture can help to regulate irregular menstrual cycles as well as regulate hormones, which can then have a balancing effect on ovulation.
Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine can also help the body heal chronic health issues that may be the root causes of fertility issues. Acupuncture will also help reduce the ill effects of stress on the body and help people sleep better and feel relaxed during day-to-day stressors. Private sessions and community acupuncture can both be helpful with this but we do recommend private sessions plus Chinese Herbal medicine for specific fertility concerns.
Herbs are another important therapy to consider when taking a holistic fertility approach. Herbs can help to balance the endocrine system, which has a direct influence on fertility. An example of this is Ashwagandha. In men, Ashwagandha has been shown to increase sperm count, sperm quality, and sperm motility.
Herbs can be a pivotal tool in your fertility journey and can truly make a difference in improving your ability to conceive. However, like any therapy or medicine, it’s important to consult with a health professional about taking the right herbal formula and dose for you. When using herbs to help you conceive, consider that your situation may be unique. Just because something is natural doesn’t mean it is safe for everyone or the right thing for you. Seek advice from a Naturopathic Doctor experienced in holistic fertility who can help you with your specific case.
By addressing the subconscious and clearing out any subconscious pregnancy blocks, mind-body therapies can help maximize the effectiveness of holistic fertility treatments.
One way to enhance mental and emotional health around fertility is to address past traumas, anxieties, and fears, especially if there are traumas or fears related to getting pregnant. Lessening the burden of traumas, anxieties, and fears on your nervous system will have a positive impact on cortisol and hormone levels. This positive impact then affects fertility-related hormones, such as estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.
Some of the effective mind-body therapies that can help with fertility include:
Homeopathy is a safe modality that doesn’t interact with drugs or other Western medicine procedures and therefore it is a great choice for someone on their fertility journey. While we never recommend doing a detox while pregnant, we do use Biotherapeutic Drainage with single and combination homeopathic remedies to help women and men detox before conception.
Drainage is a safe way of working with the body, mind, and spirit, to help open elimination pathways and release the negative effects of trauma on the body. Toxicity is another reason many people are chronically ill or unable to conceive. Doing drainage protocols as part of your preconception plan can be extremely helpful for a successful conception and pregnancy.
Selecting the right fertility specialist or Naturopathic Doctor can be a life-changing part of your journey to parenthood. A holistic fertility specialist can offer a complementary and root-cause approach to care, using both functional testing and holistic treatments to enhance fertility and improve the chances of a successful pregnancy. A comprehensive understanding of you as a whole person, as well as understanding your full history are both important for creating a personalized, integrative fertility plan.
When choosing a holistic fertility doctor or clinic, consider factors such as the doctor’s approach to care, the experience of the practitioner, and the types of holistic therapies used.
To know if a holistic fertility clinic or doctor is the right fit for you, consider if the doctor or clinic offers:
Choosing the right Naturopathic Doctor or holistic fertility provider can help you to change the trajectory of your fertility outcome, all while supporting you on your fertility journey.
Creating an individualized holistic fertility plan requires open communication and collaboration between provider and patient. During your care, maintain effective communication by:
Your doctor will guide you on what he or she believes is the best treatment route for you. However, the decision to partake in treatments or make lifestyle changes is ultimately up to you.
In summary, holistic fertility is a comprehensive, whole-person approach that looks to enhance the physical, emotional, and spiritual health of couples to improve fertility and pregnancy outcomes. Patients can improve their fertility by considering proper diet and nourishment, supplementation, stress management, mind-body therapies, exercise, and other complementary therapies. Finding the right holistic fertility provider that aligns with your values and needs is essential to creating a proper plan. With the right guidance and plan, individuals can navigate their fertility journey with hope and confidence.
Holistic remedies for fertility can include eating a nourishing diet, taking quality vitamin and mineral supplements, homeopathy, herbal supplementation, mind-body and stress management techniques, as well as other complementary therapies like acupuncture.
You can boost your fertility naturally by making lifestyle changes and taking natural supplements. Lifestyle changes include modifying your diet to ensure you’re eating nourishing whole foods, keeping a healthy body mass index, and maintaining movement or exercise every day. You can also boost fertility naturally by reducing or eliminating caffeine consumption, avoiding excessive consumption of processed foods, eliminating soda, and avoiding or decreasing alcohol consumption. Even moderate alcohol consumption can cause decreased semen quality and can possibly affect sperm motility. It is also important to note that while marijuana is legal in many states it can also decrease sperm count and cause deformity to sperm shape.
Adequate protein intake throughout the day is critical for hormonal health. Natural supplements to consider are quality food-based prenatal, omega-3s, and beef liver, amongst others, based on the individual’s needs. For female fertility, some herbs to consider when wanting to increase natural fertility include vitex, maca, ashwagandha, and Shatavari. For male natural fertility, some herbs to consider include maca, Tribulus Terrestris, and ashwagandha.
Holistic therapy for getting pregnant is an approach that considers the whole person. This includes looking for the root cause or the reason for difficulty conceiving. Holistic therapy also emphasizes a natural approach, although collaboration with conventional medicine or doctors is also welcomed.
The first step to getting pregnant fast naturally is to understand why you are not getting pregnant, or the root cause reason for reduced fertility. This can be a physical cause such as a deficiency or a hormonal imbalance. It can also be a mental emotional root cause factor that is affecting the endocrine system and therefore causing cortisol and estrogen and progesterone to be imbalanced. If fertility problems do not exist, then the fastest way to get pregnant naturally would be to understand your ovulation timing and to attempt to conceive during your most fertile window, which is typically the days leading up to ovulation.
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