Tips to add in vegetables for fertility and pregnancy
In our last blog post, we highlighted why adding fruit to daily meals and snacks can be valuable for fertility and pregnancy. Here’s a little recap just in case you missed it – there are no superior fruits, and all fruits provide benefits to your fertility journey (aka eat bananas if you like them!)
As we continue to dive into busting diet culture myths around specific groups of food, we’re adding vegetables to the discussion today! If you’re thinking “okay duh, everyone knows vegetables are beneficial” I encourage you to keep reading! I promise this blog post will dive a little deeper and provide some clarity around how to add in vegetables (that you enjoy) for fertility that follows HAES and an intuitive eating approach.
Try Adding in Different Colored Vegetables
The phrase “eat the rainbow” actually has some scientific meaning behind it -- different colors in food represent different nutrients.
Red: lycopene, is a type of carotenoid pigment responsible for the red color in fruits and vegetables. It possesses antioxidant properties and may reduce the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. Red fruits/veggies often are high in vitamin A, vitamin C, and potassium.
Orange and yellow: beta carotene, another type of carotenoid that can be converted to vitamin A which also has antioxidant properties and may decrease certain cancers and eye disease. Orange and yellow fruits/veggies are often high in potassium, vitamin A, and vitamin C.
Green: chlorophyll is what makes fruit and veggies green. Leafy greens are great sources of iron, folate, and magnesium which are important for fertility and pregnancy.
Purple and blue: anthocyanins have been shown to possess antioxidant and antimicrobial properties and support brain and eye health.
White and brown: anthoxanthins are in fruits/veggies like cauliflower, onions, white potatoes, and parsnips and have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Research shows it may help with Alzheimer’s disease.
While all vegetables provide beneficial nutrients for fertility, leafy green vegetables are especially great because they are higher in folate and iron. These nutrients are super important for fertility and pregnancy for various reasons. Iron is essential because women lose iron every month during menstruation. Folate is needed to make genetic material, but it also helps prevent neural tube defects in infants.
Frozen and Canned Vegetables
Contrary to popular belief, frozen and canned vegetables are just as nutritious as fresh vegetables! Frozen and canned vegetables often have more nutrient availability because they are being picked and frozen/canned as soon as they’re picked off the plant.
Having access to and being able to afford fresh produce is a huge privilege that not everyone has. Using canned and frozen vegetables is a great way to add in more produce throughout your meals and snacks. I love adding frozen-steamable vegetables to meals because all you have to do is pop them in the microwave for a few minutes. Canned vegetables are awesome for recipes because it takes most of the prep work away.
Recipes you might like using canned vegetables:
Busting Diet Myths — Starchy Vegetables
Just like in the previous blog post on fruits, diet culture tries to create superior vegetables because of the starch content. These starchy vegetables provide nutrients that are useful to fertility and pregnancy no matter what their carbohydrate content is!
One popular conversation is the debate between white potatoes and sweet potatoes. Diet culture has put sweet potatoes on a pedestal when in reality, white potatoes provide a lot of nutrients as well. White potatoes contain fiber and more potassium, vitamin C, and folate than sweet potatoes do. One-color potato is not superior to the other color potato, they both provide different nutrients just like other vegetables!
Regardless of the carbohydrate content in vegetables, all veggies are wonderful to add to meals and snacks to support fertility and pregnancy. Click here if you need a reminder of why carbohydrates are our friends.
Tips to make vegetables tasty and satisfying
Finally, I’ve got 2 tips on how to make your veggies taste even better:
Choose vegetables that are in season! When they are at their peak, they are their most flavorful and most nutritious. They also don’t have to travel long distances to get to the grocery store, which means their picked riper and have a lower carbon footprint as well.
Add a flavorful sauce, butter, or oil. You can drizzle on top after your dish is prepared or toss into the pan while cooking. These flavorful additions will not only make your veggies taste wonderful, but the fat in the sauce, butter, or oil helps to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins that are in the vegetables and adds to satisfaction factor.
One final takeaway - eat the vegetables that you enjoy! Canned, frozen, roasted, steamed, boiled, sautéed -- the options are endless and all will be beneficial in your fertility and pregnancy journey.
For more information on adding in nourishing foods for fertility and pregnancy, check out my new program Fully Nourished Pregnancy! If you’re looking for more individualized support in intuitive nutrition for fertility and pregnancy, I’d love to support you. Apply to work with me for 1:1 coaching!