Dinner’s on the table: bonk appetit
Source: timesonline.co.uk
March 25, 2005 Author: Jane Clarke
-
.."LIE BACK AND FORGET FOOD FADS Don’t join the food police. Telling off your partner for eating fast food is more likely to get you a night on the couch than a night in the sack."
-
I always encourage people concerned about fertility to look at their diet because this can have a huge impact on their desire to have sex in the first place. Your libido, and how you feel about your body emotionally, and how much energy you have to actually do it, are key things not to overlook. Also, certain key nutrients can influence the health of your sperm, your eggs, how fit your body is to carry a baby to term, and many other aspects of fertility.
Looking at how we nourish our bodies is a gentle, non-invasive way to deal with something that, once doctors get involved, can lose its spontaneity and become encased in guilt. It is empowering to look at how you can improve your chances of getting pregnant through diet.
SEXY, NOT SLEEPY, APERITIF The type of food you eat before sex can have an impact on how successful your romp is. If you choose a big bowl of pasta or mashed potato, the starch overload may make you too sleepy. I’d go for a meal that includes a concentrated source of protein, such as chicken with roasted vegetables, omelette, or steak and salad. But that’s not an excuse to ditch the carbs. When you’re not planning to have sex, look at the overall balance of starch and protein, as it’s important to have both in your diet. Not only can high-protein diets disrupt your sleep but if your starch intake is so low that your body produces ketones, your breath will stink; hardly conducive to a good sex life. Remember to mix protein with starch. Being a high-protein diet insomniac will deplete your body in the long run and make you feel run down, so in the name of maximising fertility, bring in some starch; Italians didn’t get their reputation as great lovers by eating beansprouts!
THINK “O†FOR ORGANIC Ideally, I’d choose organic meat (including poultry) to avoid over-exposure to the hormones that non-organic meat can contain, which may antagonise any natural hormonal imbalance. For the same reason, I’d keep soya intake down, too, if you don’t eat it regularly. Its natural phyto-oestrogen content can mimic oestrogen’s effects and unsettle our fragile “conception-hormonal†balance. Also, chemicals found in soya can lower sperm count and quality.
QUANTITY AS MUCH AS QUALITY Feeling bloated — worse still, full of wind — can really put one off having sex, so go easy on the cream, pastries or spices. Eating smaller meals more often tends to work better with an active sex life than going for long periods not eating much and then having a big meal in the evening. Try to shift more of your food consumption to earlier in the day. If you’re able to have a good lunch, something lighter in the evening such as a good soup and some cold cuts could leave you with energy for afters. And your weight will stay in check, too.
CAREFUL WITH CAFFEINE Although research is mixed, I suggest keeping caffeine intake down to a couple of cups of tea or coffee a day — especially men, because caffeine affects the mobility of sperm. (A sperm must flick its tail 800 times to move one millimetre.) Caffeine is thought by some to delay conception — several studies say women who drink coffee find it three times as difficult to conceive within a year as those not drinking it. So give it up if you can. If you’re watching the caffeine during the day and find yourself lacking energy at night, chocolate can be an ally, since it is high in phenylethylamine, which stimulates the production of feelgood and energetic endorphins. Why not indulge in a little good-quality, high cocoa-bean content chocolate therapy?
S IS FOR SELENIUM Over the past few years, selenium has shot to the forefront of fertility research. Worryingly, selenium levels in European soil, and consequently in most food that we eat (vegetables and vegetable-eating animals being its richest dietary sources), are far lower than, for example, in the US. Indeed, in a study of Scottish men, selenium supplements were shown to increase significantly the sperm cells’ ability to swim, indicating that they had been selenium-deficient. However, we don’t know enough about how much selenium we need in our diet to recommend supplements (although experts think it’s about 60 micrograms a day for women and 75 men). So I’d advocate boosting your intake of the most concentrated dietary sources of selenium instead. These include brazil nuts (254 micrograms per 100g), dried mushrooms (110 micrograms per 100g), lentils (40 micrograms per 100g cooked weight) and tinned tuna (80 micrograms per 100g).
VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE Zinc and vitamin C are both linked with fertility and libido, so it’s vital to have a well-balanced diet rich in fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds and pulses. Zinc deficiency has been shown to cause low sperm count and mobility, which means eating plenty of fresh figs when they’re in season, seafood such as oysters, lean red meat and crumbly cheese such as Wensleydale. Vitamin C has been found to increase sperm production, thereby improving chances of conception — so think about plenty of freshly-squeezed fruit juices; green leafy vegetables such as spinach and broccoli; and blueberries, kiwis, pomegranates, and the aptly named passion fruit. Cook foods lightly; eat as much raw food as you can, and as quickly after cutting and peeling as possible, to minmise the amount of vitamin C lost on exposure to the air.
FAT IS A FERTILITY ISSUE The body needs essential fats — omega 3 and omega 6 oils — which are contained in oily fish such as salmon (preferably organic or wild), sardines, fresh tuna (tinned is fine, but contains fewer omega oils), herrings and mackerel, hemp oil, nuts and seeds. They’re critical for both female and male fertility, regulating fluidity of cell membranes and allowing cells to function efficiently. Seeds and nuts (wholewheat products such as wholegrain bread, oat biscuits and porridge are other options) are also rich in vitamin E, good for ensuring a healthy blood supply to the genitals. Conversely, hydrogenated and partially-hydrogenated oils, trans-fats (in crisps, margarines — declared on labels, luckily) and saturated fats (in fatty meat and dairy) are to be kept low, as they block the absorption of the essential omega fats.
LIE BACK AND FORGET FOOD FADS Don’t join the food police. Telling off your partner for eating fast food is more likely to get you a night on the couch than a night in the sack.
