Personalized fertility nutrition – a look behind the evidence-based lifestyle program designed to improve your outcomes

We know that picking foods that help with fertility can be overwhelming. There are so many vitamins and types of foods that are recommended to help your body be best prepared for conception – how are you meant to keep track of it all?

You might even be at square one, googling fertility blogs to find out which foods boost fertility.

We tracked down the brilliant Michelle Strong, an RHN Registered Holistic Nutritionist and the Co-founder of myMindBodyBaby, a personalized, evidence-based game plan designed to improve your fertility outcomes.

She tells us more about how personalized nutrition-based plans can improve every part of your fertility journey and help with conception.

Over to Michelle.

Welcome, Michelle! Can you give us a little introduction to who you are and what you do?

I’m Michelle, a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and co-founder of myMindBodyBaby.

Being a food nerd and clinical nutritionist for the past 13 years taught me a lot, but nothing like struggling with infertility for 2 long years.

Since then, I’ve shifted my focus to helping those on their personal road to motherhood. I know the emotional and physical toll the process can take and now after having gone through a healthy pregnancy and delivery, and I want to help.

Why can being on a fertility journey feel so hard?

It sucks. There, I said it.

If you are a part of the almost 16% who struggle with infertility, then you are likely to have also experienced all the feelings of this painful journey: frustration, anger, bitterness, jealousy, heartbreak, elation, isolation, disappointment— lack of control.

While I felt all of the above many times over, it was the lack of control that really got to me.

As an A-type, first born, go-getting nutritionist, the whole idea of not being able do something I wanted to do consumed me – overwhelmed my thoughts.

Can you tell us a bit more about your personal story?

It probably started off very similar to a lot of others.

I got married, started trying to conceive, and then, realizing a year later that it was not happening, sought medical support.

Fast forward through cycle monitoring, fertility medications, too many blood draws and ultrasounds to remember, plus failed IUIs at our fertility clinic. We finally landed on IVF.

For me, this process was literally life-changing. How did I get here? After transferring our one and only embryo, I learned I was pregnant.  Unfortunately, it ended up as an ectopic pregnancy requiring life-saving, emergency surgery.

This traumatic event left me feeling completely empty and like all the control and planning I had done was just swept away in one fell swoop.

How did myMindBodyBaby come about?

What I took from the experience was the drive to make this somehow easier for those going down their own bumpy fertility road.

Could I make a difference? Could I give women a shred of control back amongst the whirling chaos that is infertility?

myMindBodyBaby was born out of the shared infertility experiences of my business partner (Lyndsey, our resident fitness expert) and me.

myMindBodyBaby is an online platform that delivers evidence-based nutrition, fitness and mental well-being tools and programs designed specifically for women who are trying to conceive and who are looking for more – more trusted resources, more fertility nutrition and fitness direction, more mental-emotional support and more control

What kind of programs and support can we expect?

Our programs include comprehensive evidence-based nutrition protocols and meal plans, day-by-day fitness directives and workout videos, plus mindfulness tools from in-house experts. There are unique programs for each stage of the (in)fertility journey.

For those just starting out, there is the Preconception Guide with 12 weeks of nutrient-dense meal plans, fertility-friendly workouts and mental well-being support.

One of our most popular programs is our PCOS Guide. This one provides women with the know-how of a PCOS fertility diet to better manage their PCOS symptoms, with the goal of better quality of life and eventually getting pregnant. This provides PCOS-friendly recipes, meal plans and effective workouts to help manage PCOS symptoms and support your fertility.

Can the programs also help if we’re having fertility treatment?

Our doctor-recommended Treatment Prep and Cycle Monitoring guide, IUI and IVF programs are gaining traction within fertility clinics. These are designed to help women navigate these treatments with grace, all the while feeling good that they are doing everything in their power to make their cycle successful.

Each program comes with meal plans (+grocery lists), specific fitness recommendations depending on the treatment and of course mental well-being tools and resources to help manage stressors.

Why is personalized fertility nutrition so beneficial?

It’s simple. Research has shown that lifestyle choices can impact the ability to conceive.

That alone helps so many women – the peace of mind that comes with knowing you are taking back some control and doing what is in your power to take advantage of fertility help, advice and support.

For example, a diet rich in hormone-balancing, nutrient-dense foods can support egg health and increase your chances of success. Regular, moderate exercise not only also helps support fertility and encourages beneficial blood flow, but it is also amazing for helping reduce stress and increasing mood-boosting endorphins.

Mental well-being tools provide you with mechanisms to support your mind and help reduce anxious thoughts and stressors. In society, we certainly don’t talk enough about how we manage the links between fertility and mental health.

Want to learn more? Hop over to myMindBodyBaby – you can book in for a fertility review straight away, or take their lifestyle assessment quiz.

You can also follow Michelle on Instagram @mymindbodybaby, to help helpful content like this added to your morning scroll.

Next on your watch list: Eating for fertility, unpacked – your nutritionist-approved toolkit for 2024