Fertility Diet: part 2.1 (Super Foods for Fertility)

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In part one of this fertility diet series we talked a bit about the essential nutrients needed for our reproductive parts to work at peak performance. This week we’ll discuss a bit about where we find these nutrients. And like I’ve said before, this is not an exclusive list, I’ll keep adding new data as I come across it!

The Problem in Our Modern Diets

Unfortunately most of us  no longer consume the foods that nourish our bodies! At. All. Even the “healthy” and “organic” foods we buy in the stores have been pasteurized and processed so that it damages all the precious vitamins and minerals. The standard American diet is now full of white sugars and flours, chemicals and preservatives, all robbing our bodies of the vital nutrients we actually do consume.

Vitamin D

Again, this important vitamin supports the production of estrogen in both men and women¹ , is needed for insulin production, and is key in regulating cell growth and deciding how those cells grow. Vitamin D is also activated into an endocrine hormone within the body.

And it seems that “primitive” societies knew better than us on how to fulfill their daily requirements for Vitamin D as intestines, organ meats, skin and fat from certain land animals, as well as oily fish are all rich in this important nutrient. When is the last time you had some intestine with your meal?

Yea, that’s what I thought.

Other ways to increase your Vitamin D intake would be to include the following in your diet. (IU per 3.75oz or 100 grams)

• Cod Liver Oil – is actually the richest source of vitamin D!(²) (and the good news is, it also contains vitamin A for better assimilation in the body)
• Lard/Tallow - (from grassfed and pastured animals) the second richest source of vitamin D.
• Pastured Eggs -especially the yolks and from chickens who have had regular access to run around in the great outdoors eating grass, worms, and other insects.
• Wild Caught Fish - especially fatty fish like herring
• Butter – (from grass fed cows)
• Organ Meats – I know -eww right? But they are chock full of nutrients!
• Sunlight
  

The way the animals are raised and fed also has a lot to do with the amount of nutrients you gain from eating products made from them. Animals that are allowed to be out in the pasture are recommended, as the exposure to UV-B rays from the sun allow the animals body to produce more vitamin D. Thus giving more vitamin D to us!

You’ll also notice that while the above mentioned foods are high in Vitamin D themselves, many of them are also high in cholesterol. Now, you’ll have to believe me here a minute as I tell you that cholesterol is not bad for you – in fact it’s very necessary! (I’ll get into the cholesterol debate later) But, vitamin D is actually synthesized from the cholesterol in our body when we are exposed to the sun.

Modern RDA requirements are a measly 400 IU per day. From what I’ve seen from the Weston A Price Foundation as well as other natural/holistic doctors, they recommend at least double that amount.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A  can be classified into one of 2 groups. Retinols, which are found in animal products, and carotenoids (beta carotene), found in plant foods. The great thing about retinols is that the body can easily convert this to a usable form of vitamin A. It takes a lot more beta carotene on the other hand to come up with the same amount of usable vitamin A. And infants and children as well as those in poor health (decreased thyroid function, celiac, diabetes) or on low fat diets, already have an even harder time converting beta carotene.

The list of foods below are per 3.75oz (or 100 grams)

• Beef Liver (30,000 IU)
• Butter and Cream – again, levels will be higher on cows fed growing grass.
• High Vitamin Cod Liver Oil (230,000 IU)
• Regular Cod Liver Oil (100,000 IU)
• Eggs from pastured chickens contain 2/3 more Vitamin A than conventional eggs and 7 times more beta carotene. ¹

The current RDA for vitamin A stands at 5000 IU though the WAPF (Weston A Price Foundation) seems to think that the work of Price showed primitive diets contained almost 50,000IUs per day.³ And as you can see, it wouldn’t be hard to get well over 5000 IUs just by making sure you get a small amount of just one of these foods into your diet each day.

Vitamin E

Again, this is also a fat soluble vitamin, but it’s also an important antioxidant. And being an antioxidant basically means that it deactivates free radicals within our bodies. Vitamin E also has a property in it known as tocopherol. It was given the name after a fertility study was done with rats in 1936 and in Greek this means “to bring forth a child”.

• Butter – from grassfed cows
  
• Organ Meats
• Grains – vitamin E is found in the wheat kernel which is removed to make white flour. It is also easily damaged during processing and can become oxidized. Freshly ground wheat is always best!
• Seeds – sunflowers contain 35mg per 3.75oz
• Nuts -  almonds contain 26 mg per 3.75oz (90% of which is tocopherol!)
• Legumes – varies from 7mg to 28 mg depending on variety
  
• Dark Green Leafy Vegetables
• Unrefined (and unheated) oils like olive and sunflower oil
• Pastured eggs also contain 3 times more vitamin E than conventional eggs.¹

Current RDA is 15mg for both adult men and women. I can’t find anything else regarding how much we should consume, but it seems to me that a diet of fresh ‘real’ foods and freshly ground grains would be much higher than this.

Vitamin K2

Is a fat soluble compound that assists vitamins A & D, also known as Activator X by Weston A Price. It is found in certain fatty parts of animals that feed on young green growing plants. And the growing grass is the most important part of that statement! What happens is the animals eat rapidly growing plants, which are high in vitamin K1. Part of this K1 is then converted by the animals tissues to K2. And the amounts of Kz within the animal products will then vary widely depending on what the animal eats and when they eat it. Sources include:

• Liver
• Egg Yolks
• Butter
• High vitamin butter oil {natural supplement}
• Fish Eggs

If you’d like to read even more about vitamin K2, I’d recommend an article written by Chris Masterjohn, “On the Trail of the Elusive X-Factor: A Sixty-Two-Year-Old Mystery Finally Solved”. It’s more complex than what I can ever get into.

So are you noticing any trends yet?

To Be Continued………. (part 2.2 iodine and omega-3’s)

1.Mother Earth News - free range egg

2.Vitamin D is Synthesized From Cholesterol and Found in Cholesterol-Rich Foods by Chris Masterjohn May 5, 2006

3. Vitamin A Saga

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