The Fertility Diet

*Side note: we're moving to our new place in T-3 days...things are about to get crazy!

I've been asked to adhere to a strict fertility diet, which will (supposedly and hopefully) help my system grow healthy, good quality eggs. And, since we're spending a small fortune on this venture, it behooves of me to follow their guidelines. Which, as you'll see, outright contradicts itself at one point. Before we started eating this way (Jason is so kind to eat what I'm eating {well, mostly} so I'm not alone in this sad little diet plan), we treated ourselves to burgers and fries and ice cream. It was a good day. So, what exactly am I eating these days?

• Mostly organic or locally sourced, to avoid excess nasty hormones/pesticides entering in to my body, including: chicken (as often as I can find it), eggs, fruits and veggies. So, our grocery bill has seen an uptick these last few weeks. 
• BPA-free canned goods (which includes pasta sauce in glass containers). 
• Wheat-free as often as I can (and since I'm already eating mostly gluten-free these days, that's not hard).
• Less dairy, especially what is considered "cold dairy", ie ice cream (boooo), yogurt (although Kefir brand is okay, because it's so high in active cultures...spoiler: it's gross), and milk (we've temporarily switched to almond milk for cereal). I've been eating small portions of cottage cheese, though, for the benefit of the protein.
• Lower sugar fruits, to try and help control my insulin resistance issues due to the PCOS: blackberries, raspberries, nectarines, cantaloupe, watermelon.
• Leafy greens, such as broccoli, kale, swiss chard, red leaf lettuce.
• Prenatal vitamin every day and lots of water.
• No caffeine, no alcohol, and no soda (I don't drink caffeine and I don't drink soda so again, easy peasy for me).
• Cut down on the sugar intake in general, so sweet treats are far and few between these days.
• Salty snacks and Gatorade (when I start taking the meds) to help absorb the excess fluid in my body due to the bloating from the medications...and this is where the diet contradicts itself. I've read other IVFer's blogs online where they've eaten Chinese food to help ease their bloating and it really helps! See, ordinarily, if you're not horribly bloated, all the sodium would CAUSE bloating, but since my body is going to be so bloated from the hormones in the meds, the high volume of sodium will actually help ABSORB the water and thus decrease the bloating and most importantly, help keep Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome -- which can be seriously serious, especially for women like me with PCOS -- at bay. I'll be drinking a lot of fluid to help pee it all out, too. So, once I start on the meds, I've been given the green light to eat a crappy, high-sodium meal now and again. Hooray!
• Specific approved "fertility diet" foods include: broccoli, strawberries, oatmeal, salmon, tomatoes, spinach, brown rice, pineapple (limited), kale, sweet potatoes, melon, walnuts, eggs, hummus, chicken, olive oil for cooking, and avocados. 

And there you have it. A typical breakfast for me is gluten-free oatmeal with cinnamon, a tiny bit of brown sugar, walnuts and almond milk. Lunch has been hard boiled eggs, rice cakes with peanut butter, a nectarine, blackberries, and cottage cheese with pickled cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes, and sometimes hummus with raw veggies for a snack. Dinner ranges from a lean meat (chicken or turkey), rice or potatoes, and a veggie, to a gluten-free pasta dish with a veggie and salad. If I have dessert, it's a gluten-free cookie or popcorn.

I know this may seem restrictive and it certainly is, but I'm willing to do whatever they suggest if it will help our success rates. In all honesty, I've been eating pretty close to this way for a long time now, in conjunction with the recommendations my heart doctors (lean meats, no caffeine) and other infertility doctors have made (low sugar, no soda, leafy greens) over the years, so this isn't too hard for me. But of course, now that I've been on this diet, I've been craving bagels and cream cheese, Mexican food, pizza, etc. I've already decided that my salty "cheat" meal once I start the meds will be Thai food. Yummmm. Counting down the days!

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What's next? I stop my birth control this Sunday and await my cycle. On cycle day two, I head up to the clinic for a baseline ultrasound and then begin injection medication on cycle day three. Which means we are mere days away from officially starting this process. For reals. Wow.

Holy moly, this is really happening!!