Is your digestion affecting your fertility?
June 27, 2022
Is your digestion affecting your fertility?
The answer is yes, 100%!
Our digestive system play such an important role in our lives. It breaks down our food into useful nutrients so that our body can use it to produce energy, for cell growth and repair. You can have a 100% healthy diet, but if you are not absorbing the nutrients, the body still cannot perform optimally. When you’re growing a baby it takes up a lot of nutrients and energy from your body. It is even more important to make sure your digestive system is working happily.
Inflammation and Digestion
Anatomically, our digestive system sits very close to the reproductive organs. If there is inflammation present in your digestive system, your fertility can be impacted. Therefore, we always ask you if you suffer any digestive complaints such as bloating, diarrhoea, constipation, and lack of energy even though you are coming in for fertility support.
The role of cholesterol in fertility
Interestingly, cholesterol is the precursor for our steroid hormones. That means, our body converts cholesterol into oestrogen and testosterone. When your body is low in cholesterol, your hormonal levels are going to be impacted. That is affecting your fertility. In saying that, if you are seeing slightly evaluated cholesterol and low oestrogen, it is not necessarily a bad thing. Your body may be trying to make more cholesterol so that it has more resources to convert to hormones.
Digestion and Immunity
Our immunity plays a very crucial role in the early pregnancy. During pregnancy, your immunity needs to be altered so that your body doesn’t see the foetus as a foreign object and starts to attack it. It is now found that 70-80% of immune cells are located in our gut. If the gut is not working optimally, your immunity is going to be affected and so will your fertility be.
How to keep my gut happy?
Eat warm and cooked food
In Chinese Medicine, we love to describe our digestive system as a cooking pot. When you eat warm and cooked food, it takes less time to heat them up and it is easier for the body to digest. Whilst eating cold and raw food, it takes longer time and extra effort to break down the nutrients. When you are already suffering digestive complaints, it is even more important to be careful with your eating style.
- The more variety, the better it is
There is huge variety of microbiome living in our gut and each microbiome feeds on different foods. Every nutrient plays a role in a different step of cellular production. Therefore, it is important to have a balanced diet so that you are not missing out on any nutrients.
- Eating the five colours
In Chinese medicine, a lot of emphasis is put on the colours of the food. The five colours (red, white, yellow, blue/green and black) are all beneficial to different organ systems. We always encourage to incorporate the five colours throughout your meals to help strengthen your body systems.
Do you need help with digestion and fertility?
If you feel like your gut problems may be affecting your fertility it is a good idea to come in for a consultation and get some support with that. This is important for males as well as females. You can book your appointment online here or you can give us a call on 0414 067 874.