how changing my diet changed my fertility

While I was deep in the pit of infertility, I used to search the internet for success stories. I never really considered putting myself through a lot of medical testing and procedures to get pregnant. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it just wasn’t the path for me. I always figured it would be too expensive and that if I was meant to have a child, I would, interventions or not. I also felt that God intended me to learn something from the experience, even if I wasn’t exactly excited about learning whatever it was he was trying to teach me. So, I searched for stories of women who were able to get pregnant on their own. After awhile, I stopped looking. It was too painful to allow myself to hope that it might happen.

When my first marriage was in the beginning stages of its demise, after about 3 years of trying to conceive, I decided to finally see a doctor, mainly just to get some answers and find out if there was really anything wrong. I think it was also a last ditch effort to try to save my marriage. My doctor told me he thought I might be insulin resistant and prescribed a blood sugar regulating medication. He told me to try it for 3 months and if I wasn’t pregnant by then, we would move on to something else. The medication made me very sick to my stomach and things finally reached a point in my marriage that it was pointless for me to take it anyway. It was over. No baby and I had to start from square one.

Fast forward to a few years later. I was remarried to Michael and we also had been trying to conceive for close to 3 years with no luck. My ex had gone on to have 2 children after we divorced, so if there was ever any doubt that the problem was with me, it was laid to rest by then. I was broken…in more ways than one.

One day, I was online looking for a recipe. I had some odds and ends around the house that I wanted to use up, and was trying to find a yummy way to use them all together. I ended up on a recipe that I found on Mark’s Daily Apple. I started reading and I kept reading and reading. Mark’s site talked about the Primal diet and the many health benefits of eliminating grains, sugar, and processed foods from your diet.  It made sense to me.  It sparked something it me and I decided to give it a try.  I was tired of being sick and tired.  I was overweight, depressed, tired, and just done.

I’m an all or nothing kind of person when it comes to food.  I’m prone to be either super-strict on a diet or completely gluttonous and just let myself go.  I tried to ease my way into this new way of eating, but that only lasted for a day or two.  I needed to cut out all the bad stuff completely or not at all, so on day two or three I eliminated sugar, grains, and most processed foods from my diet.  I also stopped eating white potatoes, beans, and peanut products.  My main goal in making these changes was to lose weight and hopefully feel better but, as I read more about the benefits of eating this way, I started to wonder if it might improve my fertility.  I kept a journal of what I ate every day and started tracking my cycles again…just to see.  That was in mid-February.

A few days after starting the diet, I went to an acupuncturist to see if that could remedy the debilitating headaches that had plagued me for years.  I also secretly wondered if that might impact my fertility.  I had read that it could help, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.  I didn’t want to be disappointed again.  The acupuncturist had me complete a lot of paperwork and asked me a lot of questions about my health.  He also came to the same conclusion that the fertility doctor had years ago.  Insulin resistance.  Pre-diabetic.  He advised me to eat more protein and fat and less carbs and starchy foods, something that I had already started to do. The treatment was wonderful and I wish I could have afforded to return on a regular basis.  But, I never went back.  I didn’t need to.  In mid-April, I started to feel “off”.  Even though I didn’t want to allow myself to hope, I started to wonder if I might be pregnant.  I started tracking my temps again and though it was late in my cycle, my temps were consistently high.  I decided to stop after work one day and buy a pregnancy test.  Part of me expected to see a blank white space staring back at me, but another part of me just knew.  Sure enough, two blue lines showed up on the test.  I couldn’t believe it, so I quickly used the other test that came in the 2-pack.  It was also positive.  I remember falling down on my knees and sobbing, thanking God for this miracle.  I never thought I would be able to have my own child…and finally…it was my time. After two months of following a Primal diet, I was pregnant.  And those debilitating headaches?  They were gone.

I often tell people that changing my diet helped me to get pregnant…and I believe that it did.  But I don’t want to dismiss God’s hand in all of this.  Like I said earlier, if it was His intention for me to get pregnant sooner, I would have.  My timeline wasn’t the same as His.  He had a lot of work to do in me first.  I had to let go of the demons of my past and start loving myself.  After the heart wrenching divorce and picking up the pieces again, I had finally stopped feeling sorry for myself and decided to take care of myself.  I had wallowed long enough.  I wanted to be healthy, physically and emotionally, regardless of whether or not I became a mom….and going Primal was part of that.

Seeing the impact of a Primal diet on my health made me certain that I wanted to stay Primal during my pregnancy and beyond.  I managed to do that for the most part.  I had occasional cheats, but I really did my best to stick with it and I still eat Primal most of the time.  With the holidays just winding down, I really need to get back to strict Primal, especially since we are trying for Baby #2.  🙂

I know that changing to a Primal diet isn’t the answer for everyone, but if you are struggling with unexplained infertility, PCOS, irregular menstrual cycles, or other hormonal imbalances, why not give it a try?  Fortunately, there is a lot of new research emerging that supports the idea that grains, sugar, and processed foods can really impact fertility, and I am so glad to see the information getting out there.  Here are just a few other sources for information on this.  You can also do a Google search for “paleo and fertility” or “primal and fertility” and find tons of stories from other women who got pregnant without any medical intervention, after changing their diet.

Is Wheat Making You Wait for Babies? by Dr. Kelly Brogan, M.D.

Primal Nutrition and Fertility by Mark Sisson

*Please note that I am not a doctor or nutritionist and I am only speaking from my own personal experience.