One of the best pregnancy tips is to know what foods to avoid when you’re trying to get pregnant. Whether you’re coping with infertility or just want another baby, make sure you’re eating the right foods! Peas, for instance, is a food that can prevent you from conceiving a baby.
“[Some foods] may delay or in some cases even prevent you from conceiving,” writes Niels Lauersen, MD, PhD & Colette Bouchez in Getting Pregnant: What You Need To Know Right Now
A natural chemical in peas (m-xylohydroquinone) can prevent pregnancy – and peas are being studied as a possible natural contraceptive! For more pregnancy tips, read Getting Pregnant: What You Need To Know Right Now (pictured) – it’s a practical, reader-friendly, helpful book. And, here are several foods to avoid when you’re trying to get pregnant….
Pregnancy Tips – Foods to Avoid When Trying to Get Pregnant
1. Soybeans and soy foods. The plant form of estrogen (phytoestrogens) in soybeans won’t help when you’re trying to get pregnant – and it’s especially important to avoid high soy consumption if you’re coping with infertility. “For those trying to conceive, the excess estrogen activity is enough to induce a hormone imbalance that may affect egg production and ovulation,” write the authors of Getting Pregnant.
Decrease your soy intake six months before you start trying to get pregnant, and remember that soy is “hidden” in foods such as tempeh, oils, flour, milk, and texturized vegetable protein (TVP).
But — make sure you get enough protein! Learn how protein increases female fertility.
2. Frankfurters, bologna, salami, and lunch meats. The nitrates and nitrites in these foods make them good to avoid (not good to eat!) when you’re coping with infertility or trying to get pregnant. The preservatives (nitrates and nitrites) in these meats aren’t as potent as once believed – they were once thought to have reproductive cancer-causing effects! They may not cause cancer, but they are good foods to avoid when you’re trying to conceive.
3. Peanut butter and spinach. These are foods to avoid when you’re trying to get pregnant because of their ability to deplete calcium – which is a mineral that is essential for your baby to develop and grow.
4. Soda, high-sugar fruit drinks, and candy. Excessive sugar can lead to low blood sugar, which can upset levels of reproductive hormones.
5. Coffee, tea, chocolate, cola and some medications. Excessive caffeine can not only reduce your chances of getting pregnant, it can increase the risk of miscarriage. When you’re trying to get pregnant, drink tea in moderation – and stick to decaffeinated tea! In Getting Pregnant Lauersen and Bouchez write, “Cut out caffeine when you can, and when you can’t, minimize consumption by taking into account your total daily intake from all sources.”
6. Painkillers/stimulants/diet pills and caffeine. Extra Strength Excedrin, Maximum-Strength Midol, Vanquish, Anacin, and Amaphen are pain relievers that may contain significant amounts of caffeine. No-Doz is a stimulant that has caffeine, and many diet pills also contain caffeine…these aren’t foods to avoid if you’re trying to get pregnant, but they’re definitely factors that can affect your fertility levels! Single does or short-term use of caffeine-rich products won’t cause infertility, but they are good things to avoid when you’re trying to conceive.
If you have any questions or thoughts about these foods to avoid when you’re trying to get pregnant, please comment below! Or, read How Food Affects Female Fertility for more info.
~ Resources for Getting Pregnant & Fertility ~
If you're trying to conceive a baby, learn about getting pregnant easily and naturally.
Are you or your partner coping with low fertility levels? Try FertilAid for Women or FertilAid for Men.
And don't forget about vitamins and minerals, which are essential to a healthy pregnancy! Make sure you're taking the right Pregnancy Plus Prenatal Vitamins.
It says that Spinach is good as it contains iron and iron and folic acid is good for both pregnant and expecting /planning to conceive woman.Then y to avoid spinach just for calcium?
That’s a great question — there is definitely a contradiction there. But, both are true facts about spinach:
Spinach depletes calcium, yet it’s high in iron and folic acid.
If you’re trying to get pregnant or already are pregnant, I’d suggest talking to your doctor or fertility specialist about his/her recommendations about how much spinach could deplete calcium. The book I read doesn’t give an amount.
Another suggestion is to include a little bit of spinach in your diet, but focus on other foods that are rich in iron, folic acid, and calcium.
Folic acid shouldn’t be difficult to get enough of, since most doctors and fertility specialists recommend a supplement.
I guess some foods have their benefits and drawbacks — like soy! Too much soy is bad for fertility, but low to moderate amounts is good for fertility and health.
I hope this helps — and thanks for pointing out this contradiction about spinach! I hadn’t noticed it before.
All best,
Laurie
Laurie, I’ve been subscribing to your Quips and Tips for Successful Writers blog for a while and was always tempted to read this one talking about infertility, but this is the first time I visit this blog (my husband and I have been trying to conceive, but visiting this kind of blog made me ’scared’, if you know what I mean). Apparently it’s useful (just like this post), I should have come here before.
I did not know that most foods mentioned here on this post are ‘obstacles’ to getting pregnant. Thanks for the information, Laurie
Diar,
Thank for for subscribing to Quips & Tips for Successful Writers — I’m glad to have you on board!
Yes, I know exactly what you mean about being hesitant, reluctant, or just plain old scared to visit an infertility blog. I felt exactly the same way when we first discovered we were dealing with inferility…it’s tough. But, when you’re ready, then you’ll be ready — it may not have been the right time to visit infertility blogs before.
I wrote an article on overcoming the fear of infertility; if you ever want to read that, just let me know. I’ll post the link here.
Take care,
Laurie
Laurie, it would be nice to read said article. My husband and I have just been married for almost 5 months, so we still don’t know whether it’s just a matter of time or there really is a ‘problem. Still, would be good to be ready. Thanks again, Laurie
Nice compilation ! But in my opinion you should basically avoid the really bad things like smoking or drinking alcohol…
Diar,
Forgive me for not responding earlier! Here’s the link to the article about overcoming fear of infertility:
5 Tips for Overcoming Fear of Infertility
I welcome your questions or thoughts, and I promise to respond quicker next time…
Laurie
i have been trien to get prego forever. my husband i have nothing wrong with us are healthy. im 20 and hes 37. the dr said we are fine, weve cut out caffine stress everything were supposed to please help
Dear Dee,
I know how frustrating it is — my heart goes out to you!
Some couples struggle with “unexplained fertility.” In fact, about 30% of couples who can’t get pregnant have absolutely nothing wrong with them…which is why it’s “unexplained.”
I suggest trying different things, which you haven’t tried yet. Some couples coping with infertility have been helped by yoga, or acupuncture, or positive thinking, or even just going on vacation for 2-3 weeks! I don’t know what will work for you, but I encourage you to visualize a healthy pregnancy, and try different ways to achieve that goal.
Here are some articles that may get you thinking:
How Acupuncture Affects Fertility
Fertility Yoga Tips for Couples Trying to Conceive
5 Tips for Creating a Vision Board for Fertility
I’ve also asked acupuncturist and herbalist Kristen Burris to give us her thoughts…
And, let me know if you’d like links to articles about improving male fertility (sperm count, motility, production, etc).
Also — have you asked another doctor for a second opinion? It might be useful to have a round of fertility tests done by a specialist, just in case there’s something your doctor is missing. I can give you a link that describes all the tests in a full fertility workup, which might help you see what’s involved in testing. Let me know if you’d like this.
I wish you all the best in trying to get pregnant!
Laurie
Unexplained infertility is the easiest aspect of infertility for an acupuncturist and herbalist to treat. The reason being is we have no physical obstructions to contend with during treatment. The disharmony that is happening in either you or your husband, or perhaps both, should be simple to re-adjust with some acupuncture and herbal medicine.
Both you and your husband should seek out treatment from an acupuncturist and herbalist whose expertise is infertility. My husband and I practice together and he sees all of the husbands and I treat the wives. This way each sex feels more comfortable talking about personal health history like: “what color is your menstrual blood” and so on and so forth. When a couple is experiencing unexplained infertility the focus tends to inexplicably on the woman. This can inhibit your conception because it could in fact be a deficiency in your husband that isn’t being picked up on laboratory tests. Our medicine picks up on imbalances that are more subtle. Western medical tests pick up on obvious imbalances within the body.
I agree with Laurie that some basic tests like hsg to see if your tubes are blocked or checking your thyroid to see if you have hypo-thyroidism should be done as soon as possible if you have been trying for longer than a year. However, it is not necessary to have these tests done prior to seeing an acupuncturist and herbalist but the more information you have offer the better.
Good luck!
hi this is ravi .i got married on august-08 from that time we are tring to make us parents ,but my wife have problem of irregularity periods once three months she is getting now she is taking medication ,that time when i tested my sperm count it was 69 mil/ml now it is came down to 34 mil/ml is there any problem will come at my end?-come to her if she is taking a harmones tablets she will get periods.to come out of this problem pls guide us with a natural diet.And i am working pharmaceutical manager i need to travel by bike on and average 30 km/day
Spinach is not a great food for iron absorption…because although it contains iron, it also contains high amounts of oxalic acid which prevents it’s absorption. It is still a brilliant vegetable for other key nutrients like B5, Vit K, etc, but you should get your iron and (calcium) elsewhere!! I had been eating bags of spinach a week and had a low ferritin level on a blood check!!
Thanks, Zoe. I’ve read that beans and meat are better sources of iron. And indeed, at some times of the month I crave hamburgers that are still bloody….not spinach!