The Fertility Plan

Not ready to get pregnant just yet? You’re in good company. With growing numbers of high-achieving, career-oriented women, couples are delaying children until both future parents are established in their chosen professions. However, infertility can strike even the healthiest of couples. Here are a few simple things you can do now to help increase your chances of getting pregnant later:

Fat intake – Eat a diet plentiful in health, unsaturated fats, such as those found in olive oil, avocado, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and peanut butter.

Regular health check-ups – Be in the know about your overall body health, not just that of your reproductive organs. Diseases that impact the metabolism or thyroid can also affect fertility, so be on top of your health in general. Get tested regularly to ensure that you do not have any diseases that could interfere with fertility.

Birth control – Consider going on an oral contraceptive to decrease risk of pelvic inflammatory disease or endometriosis, which can be devastating to chances for conception.

Smoking – This one’s easy. Don’t smoke! Ever.

Check on your eggs – Next time you go in for a gynecological exam, ask for an ‘antral follicle count’, which estimates the amount of eggs you have left. As you get older, you may want to consider freezing your eggs, which, while costly, is available thanks to a new technology called vitrification, if your antral follicle count is low.

Men, don’t think you’re exempt from this plan! While the above tips were mainly for the ladies, research has demonstrated that men who wear tight underwear, consume large amounts of alcohol, smoke, or have poor diets may experience a negative impact on their partners’ fertility.