Should I Change My Diet to Get Pregnant?

Our Parsley Health doctors get a lot of questions from women about optimizing their fertility and preparing for a healthy pregnancy.

We want to help our patients get to their healthiest, happiest selves before they even get pregnant. That’s why we recommend making a few changes to your diet to prepare your body first.

At Parsley Health we guide patients through a 30 day elimination diet cutting out common inflammatory foods like gluten , dairy , grains and sugar. Often women are shocked at how their sleep and energy change when they change their diet, not to mention that they lose weight and their menstrual cycles become regular. We also help you restore nutrients you are low on like magnesium , B vitamins, and vitamin D .

Detoxification is a process that really begins month two of our program and can take as many as 3-6 months. It includes reducing exposure from heavy metals like mercury from seafood and metal dental fillings as well as using natural supplements like B-vitamins, liver-stimulating bitters and even metal binders to lower the body’s total toxin burden.

It also includes resolving digestive issues – if you’re not pooping regularly or have a lot of gas and bloating  then you’re not detoxifying regularly either.

We recommend resetting and refreshing your whole body with our popular 7 day detox .

When it comes to supplements, our doctors are a little pickier than most. The things we want you to keep are probiotics , magnesium, fish oil and Vitamin D.

You will also want to start a high quality prenatal. We like Xymogen’s prenatal essentials, a new prenatal started by my friends at Ritual and recently we launched our own Parsley Health prenatal pack .

A good prenatal has the right kind of B-vitamins for you (the methylated kind if you have MTHFR genetic variations), high quality sourcing of ingredients, and appropriate levels of key nutrients like DHA fatty acids which feed the baby’s growing brain, Vitamin A, Iron and Folic acid. Do not buy supplements at the grocery store, or take the samples your OB gives you for free.

We know it seems overwhelming, but the key to getting pregnant, and staying healthy throughout your pregnancy (not to mention once you become a mom) is starting to optimize your health before you even get pregnant.