The Fertility Diet

Summary

Dr. Natalie Crawford explains that diet can influence fertility by affecting inflammation, insulin sensitivity, gut bacteria, and hormone metabolism. She emphasizes that there is no single fertility diet for everyone, but that everyday food and lifestyle choices may support reproductive and overall health.

Key strategies and tips

• Prioritize gut health and fiber. Crawford describes the gut microbiome as important to inflammation and hormone metabolism, including estrogen processing. She recommends getting at least 25 g of fiber a day, mainly from fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
• Eat plenty of varied plant foods. Include fruits and vegetables at meals, and “eat the rainbow” to get a range of nutrients and antioxidants. Crawford cautions against avoiding fruit solely because it contains natural sugar.
• Make plant proteins a regular choice. Options include beans, lentils, legumes, tofu, and edamame. Crawford says meat is not necessary for a healthy fertility diet and describes soy as a useful food rather than something to avoid.
• Choose animal proteins thoughtfully. She suggests eating fish no more than three times a week when trying to conceive, citing potential mercury exposure; limiting red meat to about once a week; and using eggs as another protein option. Her proposed meal pattern includes a meatless Monday and, on other days, no more than one serving of meat per day.
• Favor unsaturated fats and less-processed carbohydrates. Nuts, olive oil, and avocados provide fats used in hormone production. Crawford recommends choices such as brown rice, whole-grain bread, and sweet potatoes over more refined alternatives.
• Limit added sugar and ultra-processed foods. Keep sugary drinks, artificial sweeteners, and highly processed foods as occasional rather than everyday choices, while leaving room for treats on special occasions.
• If eating dairy, consider full-fat options and notice how you feel. Crawford says people’s responses differ and suggests limiting dairy if it appears to trigger symptoms.
• Consider a short elimination-and-reintroduction trial if you have infertility. Crawford suggests that some people may try avoiding gluten and dairy for 30 days, then reintroducing them and observing their response. She explicitly says this is not a universal recommendation.
• Track symptoms and personalize changes. A food-and-symptom log may help identify patterns such as bloating, fatigue, gas, bowel changes, low energy, or difficulty sleeping.
• Hydrate with water and reduce other inflammatory exposures. Crawford recommends filtered water as the main drink and names alcohol, smoking, and marijuana as exposures to avoid or limit.
• Support nutrition changes with lifestyle habits. Adequate sleep, stress management, and regular movement—including building and using muscle—are presented as relevant to insulin sensitivity and inflammation.

Crawford frames these strategies as ways to support health, not as guarantees of conception. She notes that fertility and hormonal health involve more than diet alone.

Presenters and sources mentioned

• Dr. Natalie Crawford, host of the As a Woman podcast
• A 2022 study that Crawford describes as finding a higher rate of gut microbiome abnormalities among women with infertility
• The Fertility Formula, a book by Natalie Crawford, MD