As we continue on our series of nutrition and how it effects your fertility, today we are going touch on the importance of opting for fruits lower in sugar.
Have lots of berries, they are rich in antioxidants and tend to be lower in naturally occurring sugars. Apples and pears are a bit lower in sugar as well. Pomegranate seeds are wonderful and full of antioxidants. Use higher sugar fruits sparingly and have them when you are having protein and fat to keep your blood sugar and insulin stable. Have a bit of banana in your smoothie, but make it 1/3 rather than an entire banana that typically contains around 22 grams of natural sugar. Be sure that smoothie contains plenty of low sugar fruit, protein and fat as well.
Eat fruit when it is in season as well, in the summer have a bit of melon, mango and pineapple etc. Just enjoy it with a bit of fat and protein (think cantaloupe wrapped with prosciutto..yummm!). If you’re going to have dried fruit, have a very small amount and again..have it with lots of protein and fat as in a nut or seed mix.
WHY?
We need to keep our major hormone (insulin) as level as possible so that our other hormones can stay within range with ease, balancing insulin helps balance our stress hormones as well as our sex hormones. In addition to harming fertility by raising insulin levels, excess sugar even in natural forms can lead to inflammation that is counteractive to the delicate hormone balance necessary for fertility.
Have more questions about your fertility? Please call us to schedule a consultation and to begin taking control of your fertility. We’ve helped many, many women conceive naturally even with the most challenging fertility issues, including the dreaded “undiagnosed infertility.”