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Improve your nutrient stores and cycles before you conceive
If you’re ready to embark on the incredible journey of motherhood, there’s no time like the present to prepare your body for the most vital role it will ever play—the creation of new life.
In Real Food for Fertility, we explore the power of nutrition in optimizing your fertility and ensuring a healthy start for your future child.
Pregnancy demands an incredible amount from your body
Imagine your body as a bank account, and pregnancy as a time of massive withdrawals from your nutrient reserves. To thrive during pregnancy and beyond, you must invest in your nutrient stores today. The preconception window is a time to focus on saving (or coming out of nutritional debt) so you’re well prepared for this next stage.
In Real Food for Fertility, we show how preconception nutrition and lifestyle choices not only support your health and vitality but also lay the essential groundwork for your baby’s development. From promoting optimal egg and sperm quality to regulating your menstrual cycle and reducing the risk of pregnancy complications, the benefits of this investment are priceless.
Why does preconception nutrition matter?
- Supports optimal egg and sperm health
- Regulates the menstrual cycle and supports hormonal balance
- Supports healthy cervical mucus production (key for the survival of sperm on its journey to fertilize the egg)
- Ensures ample endometrial development (for the early embryo to securely implant)
- Promotes the formation of a functional placenta with robust vasculature to transfer nutrients from mother to baby (this is a delicate dance reliant upon a healthy egg, healthy sperm, a healthy endometrium, and a healthy mother)
- May reduce the risk of certain pregnancy complications by better supporting the body’s physiological adaptation to the stresses of pregnancy
- Buffers nutrient losses during pregnancy and mitigates the often lower nutrient intake in early pregnancy (due to nausea and food aversions)
- Lowers the risk of nutrient depletion postpartum
If that isn’t reason enough, consider this: Improving nutrient intake before you get pregnant has an even greater impact on pregnancy outcomes than solely changing what you eat during pregnancy.
But this book isn't just about nutrition
We delve into topics like the menstrual cycle, fertility awareness, birth control, stress management, toxins, artificial reproductive technology (like IVF), and the most common reproductive health challenges affecting your fertility — and your partner’s fertility.
Let Real Food for Fertility be your roadmap and trusted companion as you take the first step toward building your family. In a world where more couples are facing fertility challenges, your nutrition and lifestyle can make all the difference.
Coming Feb 14th!
"I so appreciate the way Lily and Lisa have already contributed immeasurably to the field of women’s health and fertility. So I’m not surprised that they’ve done it again."
As someone who has devoted my life to empowering women with practical knowledge about their bodies, I so appreciate the way Lily and Lisa have already contributed immeasurably to the field of women’s health and fertility. So I’m not surprised that they’ve done it again. Even though this book is impeccably researched and packed with scientific principles, it is an eminently approachable guide for women wanting to consciously prepare their bodies for the best possible chance for a healthy pregnancy and head start for their baby.
- Toni Weschler, MPH, author of Taking Charge of Your Fertility and Cycle Savvy
What’s covered in
Real Food for Fertility:
- How your nutrient intake and lifestyle choices affect your menstrual cycles, hormone balance, risk for fertility challenges, and more
- Why common fertility nutrition advice is often ineffective — and sometimes detrimental to overall fertility
- What both ancestral practices and modern research suggests is optimal for female and male fertility when it comes to macronutrients, micronutrients, meal timing/spacing, and much more
- Specific recommendations for nutrient-dense foods to emphasize as well as foods/ingredients to avoid to support both female and male fertility
- Examination of popular diets and their effects on fertility, including the Mediterranean diet and vegetarian or vegan diets
- How to use your menstrual cycle as a vital sign and apply fertility awareness to improve your chances of conception
- Considerations for coming off of hormonal contraceptives (such as ‘the pill’) in advance of conception and the importance of planning for post-pill nutrient repletion
- Detailed information on egg and sperm quality (there’s a chapter on each!)
- Specific information about navigating common fertility challenges, including: polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA), thyroid issues, endometriosis, fibroids, recurrent miscarriage, and much more!
- Recommendations for lab tests and supplements to help you and your provider develop a customized plan
- How to mitigate the harmful effects of toxins on fertility
- A complete preconception checklist to easily organize and apply the information from the book
- A week of delicious fertility-supportive meal plans and corresponding recipes for you and your partner
"Real Food for Fertility is a must-have book for any couple preparing for pregnancy."
Real Food for Fertility is a must-have book for any couple preparing for pregnancy. Lily and Lisa have a deep understanding of nutrition and the menstrual cycle — and their insight goes beyond conventional advice on fertility. This book really moves the needle on fertility!
— Lara Briden, ND,
author of Period Repair Manual and Hormone Repair Manual
"Real Food for Fertility will help you understand exactly why you must start using food to optimize your cycle and hormonal health long before you want to conceive."
Real Food for Fertility will help you understand exactly why you must start using food to optimize your cycle and hormonal health long before you want to conceive. The evidence-based guidance provided in this book is not only essential knowledge for any woman trying to conceive but also should be required knowledge for all practitioners who support women on their fertility journey.
— Alisa Vitti,
author of WomanCode and In the FLO, Creator of Cycle Syncing®
"Without question, optimal fertility requires sufficient nutrients. "
Without question, optimal fertility requires sufficient nutrients. Lily and Lisa have consolidated thousands of years of deep wisdom, combined with the latest research, to distill down an easy-to-follow template that helps maintain or restore fertility.
— Robb Wolf,
New York Times–bestselling author of Wired to Eat and The Paleo Solution
"I am so grateful that Lily and Lisa have birthed this into the world. What a gift!"
This book is an invaluable resource for women and their partners who are TTC, and practitioners alike. I will be giving a copy to all my fertility clients! I am so grateful that Lily and Lisa have birthed this into the world. What a gift!
— Brittany Estrada Anderson,
RN, WHNP-BC, Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner
"As a dietitian who advocates for real food, I enthusiastically endorse Real Food for Fertility to both men and women preparing for pregnancy."
Humans have known for thousands of years the profound impacts of food on fertility and the health of our future babies. People often come to me for recommendations on how to eat to prepare for a healthy pregnancy, but up until now, there really hasn’t been a comprehensive book on the subject. Real Food for Fertility provides the evidence behind an ancestral approach to preconception nutrition. As a dietitian who advocates for real food, I enthusiastically endorse Real Food for Fertility to both men and women preparing for pregnancy.
— Diana Rodgers,
RD, author, and Executive Director of the Global Food Justice Alliance
"Lily is a powerful advocate for truth in a time when misinformation about nutrition, especially in regard to fertility, runs rampant."
Lily is a powerful advocate for truth in a time when misinformation about nutrition, especially in regard to fertility, runs rampant. Brilliant and with the credentials to match, her no-B.S. approach to nutrition will change — and maybe even save — your life … and improve your chances of conception! Listen closely to what she has to say.
— Max Lugavere,
health and science journalist and New York Times–bestselling author of Genius Foods
Fun facts about this book
From the earliest stages of planning this book all the way to completion, the process of writing Real Food for Fertility was a collaborative effort.
- Writing this book took more than 3 years, during which time both of us launched practitioner training programs:
- Lisa’s program is on fertility awareness: Fertility Awareness Mastery Mentorship
- Lily’s program is on prenatal nutrition: The Institute for Prenatal Nutrition® Over 10,000 studies were reviewed to write this manuscript, and over 2,300 studies are cited in the finished book (you can download our full reference list here)
- Real Food for Fertility went through over 12 rounds of edits
- We chose a painting of an embryo on the cover (painted by Lily!) to visually represent fertility surrounded by the fertility-supportive foods we highlight within the book
