Healthy eating for fertility, unpacked – your nutritionist-approved toolkit for 2024

Your healthy eating for fertility toolkit

What do we need to know about eating for fertility, in 2024? Turns out, it can be as simple as forgetting the trendy diets, and focusing on paring things back – with a clear plan in mind.

For this, we spoke to Janet Padfield, Registered Nutritional Therapist at TFP Fertility UK for insights into her toolkit.

Designed to optimise egg and sperm quality, enhancing your chances of conception, and delve deeper into specific challenges like PCOS and endometriosis, understanding how tailored fertility nutrition can make a difference.

Covering the latest in fertility nutrition 

Watch as Janet covers off:

• Basic principles for fertility nutrition
• Avoiding fads
• Optimising egg & sperm quality
• PCOS, endo and nutrition
• Plus, much more…

If you’re looking for more support, speak to the amazing team at TFP Fertility UK for personalised advice.

From detoxes and specific eating plans to buzz-worthy superfoods, it can feel like there’s so much to wade through (and invest in), to get set with an optimised fertility diet.

So, what are the basic principles to factor in? Get your pared-back fertility wellness toolkit here, created with TFP Fertility UK.

Transcript

Eloise Edington

Hello, good evening everyone. Thanks to those who joined. I am about to be joined now by Janet Padfield, who is a registered nutritional therapist from TFP Fertility UK, a leading fertility clinic in the UK. She will be sharing her wisdom around eating for fertility, providing a nutritionist’s guide and toolkit for how you can prepare nutritionally for getting pregnant, treatment, and more. Hi to those joining; nice to see you. I’m going to invite her in now.

Hopefully, tech will be on our side and we can get started. Today, we’ll be talking about everything to do with the basic principles of nutrition and fertility. Here we are—hi Janet, hello, how are you? Are we live?

Janet Padfield

It’s lovely to see you. How are you?

Eloise Edington

Yes, I’m very well, thank you. Good, good. Hi to those joining. I’ve given an introduction to the topic we’ll be discussing, as well as TFP Fertility UK. Please introduce yourself as a registered nutritional therapist, and we’ll get started with some great questions we have for tonight.

Janet Padfield

Okay, so I am Janet Padfield, founder of Apples Inc. Nutrition, and I have been a fertility nutritional therapist since 2014. I’ve helped many people with fertility, and I also work extensively with hormone balance, including stress hormones, thyroid hormones, menopausal health, PCOS, endometriosis, blood glucose, and more. I specialize in hormones and love talking about food.

Eloise Edington

Fantastic. We are very fortunate to have you with us this evening, and thank you to TFP Fertility UK for setting this up. We have an article with you that’s live on our website, so people can head to our link in bio to read more on this topic. Today is the last day of January, renowned for fresh starts, healthy living, and healthy eating—all of which can be good but also stressful when it comes to living versus preparing for fertility. That’s why we’re here today to talk about the holistic side of treatment with TFP Fertility UK.

First of all, could you explain your essential principles for fertility nutrition, in your opinion?

Janet Padfield

Keeping it simple is key. You can read a lot online that sends you down rabbit holes of specialized things you “have” to do, but actually, just eating a good basic diet that includes protein, fiber, some healthy fats, and a little carbohydrate that’s low in sugar is most important. Keeping alcohol, ultra-processed foods, and takeaways to a minimum is also key. Think Mediterranean style—meat, fish, lots of vegetables, a bit of carbs. Keep it real, close to nature, and simple.

Eloise Edington

Absolutely. What about eating out in restaurants? How do you navigate a menu?

Janet Padfield

An occasional “blip” on an eating plan is totally allowed. If you only go out once a fortnight or once a month, eat what you want off the menu. If eating out is more regular—like once or twice a week—choose dishes close to nature. For example, if it’s mostly burgers, have the burger without the bun, add a side salad and chips. For a Sunday roast, that’s meat, potatoes, and vegetables, which is great. If there’s fish with rice and vegetables, that’s perfect too. Just keep it close to nature.

Eloise Edington

For anyone watching, if you have any questions while we’re speaking, please feel free to ask Janet. We also have questions from readers. Another thing about the basics: what about washing fruit and vegetables bought from the supermarket?

Janet Padfield

There are endocrine-disrupting chemicals in pesticides, herbicides, and plastics, which can mimic estrogens and cause imbalance. To avoid these chemicals, there’s a list called Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen, updated annually, which lists the cleanest fruits and vegetables in the UK and those with more pesticides. If your budget allows, prioritize buying organic for the Dirty Dozen. Otherwise, wash and peel your fruits and vegetables thoroughly. A quick rinse isn’t enough—soak them in water or scrub them with a brush.

Eloise Edington

Great, good to know. We often hear the term “fertility cleansing”—it seems to be a bit of a buzzword at the moment. Do you have thoughts on this sort of DIY home detox?

Janet Padfield

Please don’t do a detox. It’s unnecessary and quite extreme. Our liver is a wonderful organ that works 24/7 to get rid of everything we don’t need. There’s no need for a detox if you give the liver the nutrients it needs, avoid extra toxins like alcohol, caffeine, artificial sweeteners, and ultra-processed foods, and focus on fresh fruit, vegetables, and water. Your liver will take care of the rest.

Eloise Edington

Water is a great point. How much should we be drinking daily?

Janet Padfield

The “two liters a day” rule isn’t based on any science, so listen to what your body needs. Start with two liters and check your urine output. You should be passing urine every 1-2 hours, with a color like pale apple juice, except first thing in the morning. Teas, coffees, and herbal teas all count toward your water intake. If you’re very active, sweat a lot, or are in a hot environment, you may need more; if you’re sedentary and petite, you may need less. Everyone’s different.

Eloise Edington

Thank you for clarifying that. Let’s talk about egg quality. This is a hot topic for fertility. Improving egg quality or helping egg quality—how long does this take, and what impact can nutrition have?

Janet Padfield

It takes around 90 to 100 days for an egg to mature and ovulate, so consistently eating well over those days is best. It’s about ensuring good nutrition throughout the egg’s development. Ideally, we’d work together for three months before someone tries to conceive. Of course, this isn’t always possible, but consistent, good nutrition during that time is essential.

Eloise Edington

And what about men and sperm?

Janet Padfield

The same time period—around 90 to 100 days to create healthy sperm. Consistent intake of nutrients like zinc and vitamin C is crucial, so fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and things like lentils and pulses can be helpful for sperm health as well.

Eloise Edington

What about reducing the impact of PCOS through nutrition?

Janet Padfield

Everyone’s different, and there are several types of PCOS, so I recommend working with a professional if possible. However, sugar is the number one enemy for PCOS. You don’t need to cut out all carbs, but refined sugars should be minimized.

Eloise Edington

That makes sense. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask. What about endometriosis? Can nutrition help?

Janet Padfield

Nutrition isn’t going to reverse endometriosis. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but endometriosis is an inflammatory condition, so reducing sugar and other inflammatory foods can be helpful. Eating as close to nature as possible and reducing convenience foods can support hormone balance.

Eloise Edington

When you’re consulting patients at TFP Fertility UK, do you see many with endometriosis or PCOS?

Janet Padfield

Yes, I work with both but see more with polycystic ovaries. Both can impact fertility, and stress often worsens these conditions. I look at diet, but also stress reduction, as well as dietary changes that can reduce physical stress on the body.

Eloise Edington

Can diet support progesterone levels?

Janet Padfield

Yes, nutrients like zinc and vitamin C are helpful for progesterone, but it’s often about the estrogen-to-progesterone ratio rather than just low progesterone. Reducing exposure to endocrine disruptors can also help.

Eloise Edington

When it comes to fertility treatment, implantation is a key concern. How can nutrition support implantation?

Janet Padfield

I feel like a broken record, but there’s nothing fancy needed—just good, consistent nutrition, especially plant foods that are non-starchy. Avoid inflammatory foods like sugars, alcohol, and artificial sweeteners.

Eloise Edington

If someone isn’t great with vegetables, would you suggest making fresh smoothies?

Janet Padfield

Yes and no. I’d start by exploring what vegetables someone does like. Juicing breaks down fibre, which is vital for gut health, and releases sugars quickly, which can spike blood sugar levels.

What vegetables do you like, and is there a way of maybe making them in a way that’s more tolerable to you? Could we make them into a tomato sauce or, you know, kind of to have with some pasta and things like that? So, again, it’s close to nature, and the juices are just that little bit too far away from nature, really, for them to be really beneficial. 

Eloise Edington

Really, really good and interesting to understand, thank you. Someone has asked if there’s anything in particular for hypothyroidism? Hypo or hyper?

Janet Padfield

Hypo, so that is a low thyroid!

If I was working with a client who had an underactive thyroid, I would want to know why they have an underactive thyroid. There’s lots of different reasons your thyroid isn’t necessarily producing enough thyroid hormones. It can be something called Hashimoto’s, which is an autoimmune condition—a very inflammatory thing. So, we would look at a very anti-inflammatory diet based on that. It could just be that you’re not quite getting enough of the nutrients needed to make the thyroid hormones, so if that was the case, we’d be looking a little bit around that.

For other people, it could be that they are making enough, but they’re just not converting the T4 into its active form. So, we would then be looking at getting rid of the toxins and all that kind of stuff that might be blocking that conversion. 

With an underactive thyroid, a lot of people fall into the trap of having lots of hot drinks throughout the day because they’re often quite cold, and actually, tea has got a huge amount of fluoride in it, which can block the thyroid hormones. Quite often, just cutting down your tea can really help. 

A lot of people do a lot of juices and smoothies. If you’re having any sort of green veg raw in a smoothie, like kale or spinach, that’s a complete no-no for anybody with an underactive thyroid, as they have goitrogenic properties that block your body’s ability to make thyroid hormones. I’d also be looking at how you’re taking your thyroid medication because you need an hour’s gap between your medication and the first time you eat food. There’s so much that can support thyroid health, but, again, consistent, good eating can help quite a lot with that.

Eloise Edington

Brilliant, thank you for clarifying that. I hope that answers the question.

Endocrine disruptors are said to be a number one cause of infertility. Can diet and nutrition have an impact here?

Janet Padfield

Absolutely. I mentioned earlier about washing fruits and vegetables because of the pesticides and herbicides, as they’re endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Next, look at food storage. A lot of us store leftover foods in those takeaway cartons we all have in the backs of our cupboards. Even if you go for BPA-free plastic, BPA is a massive endocrine disruptor, but all plastics are pretty bad. BPA-free just has the worst part taken out. I would look at using silicon food bags, beeswax wraps, or parchment paper instead of cling films or foils. I’d store and heat leftover foods in glass or Pyrex containers to reduce toxins from food plastics.

Outside the kitchen, you start looking at cleaning products and body care products. Are you wearing gloves when you’re washing up and cleaning? Are you aware of the chemicals? Are you a candle burner? Are you spraying air fresheners all the time? All of these have a huge number of these endocrine-disrupting chemicals. So, certainly with food and nutrition, look at the kitchen, and then you can start looking wider than that.

Eloise Edington

Makes complete sense. What about gut health impacting fertility?

Janet Padfield

Yes, absolutely. We have a microbiome, our own little ecosystem that lives in our digestive system. We actually have more bacteria in our microbiome than we have cells in the human body, so we are more bug than we are human. It’s incredible! They’re important—they’re actually more important than us. They can totally live without us; we cannot live without them at all. They’re pretty much the hub of our immune system. They help us break down and absorb nutrients from our food and eliminate toxic waste from our body. 

We have good and bad bacteria that live in there, and it’s crowd control. As long as you’ve got more of the good bacteria than the bad, things are generally okay. But any constipation, diarrhea, bloating, food intolerances, churning, or cramps can indicate something isn’t right in your digestive system. In terms of fertility, what doesn’t help is dysbiosis, where you have non-beneficial strains causing problems and maybe not enough of the good ones. 

Old hormones, especially estrogen, that are put into the digestive system to be eliminated can actually get reactivated by these bacteria. Then, they have to go back into the system to be made safe again by the liver, which can cause a massive hormone imbalance, putting you in an estrogen-dominant state. We need the digestive system to work well to eliminate as many toxins as possible.

The good bacteria feed on fruits and vegetables. The bad bacteria love alcohol, sugars, and junk food, so you want to starve them of those and nurture the good ones as best as you can. Stress is awful for gut bacteria. The good guys don’t like stress, so even 10-15 minutes of relaxation daily can really help your gut health. If things don’t feel quite right, absolutely seek help—there’s so much that can be done for digestive support, especially when clearing out old hormones.

Eloise Edington

Amazing advice, thank you so much. Last question—what are the three must-dos for anyone over 35 or 40? Anything different nutritionally you’d suggest?

Janet Padfield

There’s not a massive difference. Again, consistency is key, but it’s just a little bit more important as we age. The closer you get to 40, your body does change a bit; you don’t tolerate sugars quite as well, and you start to lose muscle mass naturally around 40. My top three things would be to absolutely be as consistent as you can with the eating plan—not so it feels like a diet with an expiry date, but just wholesome foods as consistently as possible. 

I’d prioritize protein and make sure you’re having that palm-sized piece of protein at every meal or snack. Finally, focus on gentle exercise, not overly stressful exercise, and relaxation to support overall de-stress and nutrient intake at that point.

Eloise Edington

Amazing advice. Thank you so much, Janet, for your time tonight; it’s been really insightful.

You’re welcome, and I urge people to head to our link in bio to get in touch with the TFP Fertility UK team for holistic fertility support. We’ve also written an article with you around fertility nutrition, so head to the ribbonbox.com to read that as well. Thank you very much, and thanks to those who joined this evening.

Janet Padfield

Thank you very much for having me.

Eloise Edington

Thanks, J. Thanks, everyone. 

Bye!