Regular readers of the Juno blog may well be thinking that we’re obsessed with food in our posts! We’re not really but the fact is that diet can be key when you’re trying to get pregnant.

Let’s look at blood sugar as an example. If you’re eating a good, wholesome diet, your blood sugar levels are balanced, you have energy and you sleep well. But if your diet is full of highly processed food, lots of sugar and quick fix carbs, blood sugar levels fluctuate. This can cause you to feel irritable and headachy, and more importantly, can contribute to infertility.

Insulin is the hormone which converts sugar and starch into energy for our bodies to use or store. High levels of insulin cause too much sugar to be released in the blood, leading to sugar rushes and slumps. Eventually we become insensitive to the insulin, and this increases levels of male sex hormones. The effect of this for women is that the ovaries produce too much androgen which results in follicles developing too fast, then shutting down before they produce eggs.

By eating a diet that’s as unrefined as possible, making sure you always eat a little protein with whole grains, and not forgetting lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, you’ll slow down the release of insulin. This will rebalance your blood sugar levels and could help get your fertility back on track.