What Are The Best Foods To Eat When Trying To Conceive
As studies have found that high levels of insulin appear to inhibit ovulation, it is wise to avoid eating refined carbohydrates, such as white bread, white rice and cakes, which our bodies digest quickly and turn into blood sugar. Instead, stick to more complex good carbs, which contain plenty of fibre, such as wholegrains and beans. These carbs are digested more slowly, having a more stabilising effect on insulin and blood sugar.
When trying for a baby, it is therefore important to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet that has plenty of good quality protein, fruit and vegetables and is low in saturated fats and high in fibre. Lean organic poultry, quinoa, beans, seeds, nuts and tofu provide a healthy source of protein for women trying to conceive.
Can you get all the vitamins you need to get pregnant in your diet?
Even if you are consuming a healthy, nutritional, well-balanced diet, you still may want to take vitamins or fertility supplements to fill in any nutritional gaps in your diet that may help you conceive and, if you do become pregnant, are important for healthy foetal development.
Steam And Grill To Boost Your Vitamin C Intake
As with other water-soluble vitamins, the way you prepare and cook foods can affect the vitamin C content5.
Boiling can destroy some of the vitamin C within the foods youre preparing. To retain as much nutrient quality as possible, its best to steam or grill your vegetables5. Or better still, eat them raw in salads.
Herbal Remedies For Miscarriages
If you are trying to have a miscarriage, you need to know a few things about vitamin C and miscarriages. First of all, herbal remedies like the use of vitamin C should not be used as a method of birth control as it doesnt work all the time and you may find yourself pregnant when you didnt intend to be. Any type of herbal remedy for inducing a miscarriage should be done under a doctors supervision so that further methods of causing a miscarriage can be done if the vitamin C treatment doesnt work.
Vitamin C is generally considered to be nontoxic even in high doses however, there are people who have developed toxicity from taking excessive doses of vitamin C so you need to be aware of the signs of vitamin C toxicity and should take measures to avoid this type of toxicity.
If you are still set on using vitamin C to cause a miscarriage, there are some things you should take into consideration when trying to have a miscarriage using this remedy. If you are trying to avoid having a miscarriage, you still need to know about vitamin C and miscarriages.
Here are some things that make sense to know about regarding vitamin C and miscarriages:
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Vitamin C Does Not Always Cause Miscarriages
Taking vitamin C is not a foolproof way of achieving a miscarriage. Some women will have an incomplete miscarriage, which means that the pregnancy has ended but some fetal tissue is remaining inside the uterus. If this happens, you may have to have a dilatation and curettage in order to remove the remaining parts of the fetus that have attached themselves to the inner uterine lining. If youre using vitamin C exclusively to achieve a miscarriage, you may still become pregnant and will have to use some other method of achieving a miscarriage.
Where To Get Your Vitamin C For Fertility
Food Serving the amount of Vit C/mg Recommended Daily Intake %
- Rosehip seeds 1 cup 541mgs
- Papaya 1 medium 168.08 mg 224%
- Bell Peppers 1 cup 117.48 mg 157%
- Broccoli 1 cup 101.24 mg 135%
- Brussels Sprout 1 cup 96.72 mg 129%
- Strawberries 1 cup 84.67 mg 113%
- Pineapple 1 cup 78.87 mg 105%
- Oranges 1 medium 69.69 mg 93%
- Kiwifruit 1 medium 63.96 mg 85%
- Cantaloupe 1 cup 58.72 mg 78%
- Cauliflower 1 cup 54.93 mg 73%
Other good food sources of Vitamin C are kale, cabbage, bok choy, grapefruit, parsley, and turnip, beet, mustard, and collard greens.
While whole food sources will always be best, supplementation may be helpful if you struggle with digestive issues and vitamin and mineral absorption. Work with your holistic health provider to find the best dose for your diet and lifestyle.
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How To Use Vitamin C
Lemon contains a good amount of vitamin C. Taking lemon juice in your diet can prevent pregnancy. However, consuming lemon juice in excess during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage.
- Vitamin C is also taken as emergency contraceptive pills. However, the tablets to be taken should be pure vitamin C and not with additives.
- Eating fruits rich in vitamin C such as papaya, pineapple, sugarcane, orange is another way of unplanned pregnancy.
Frequently Asked Questionsexpand All
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Birth defects, especially neural tube defects
Folic acid, also known as folate, is a B vitamin that is important for pregnant women. Folic acid may help prevent major birth defects of the fetuss brain and spine called neural tube defects .
When you are pregnant you need 600 micrograms of folic acid each day. Because its hard to get this much folic acid from food alone, you should take a daily prenatal vitamin with at least 400 micrograms starting at least 1 month before pregnancy and during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Women who have had a child with an NTD should take 4 milligrams of folic acid each day as a separate supplement at least 3 months before pregnancy and for the first 3 months of pregnancy. You and your ob-gyn or other obstetric care provider can discuss whether you need to supplement with more than 400 micrograms daily.
Iron is used by your body to make the extra blood that you and your fetus need during pregnancy. Women who are not pregnant need 18 mg of iron per day. Pregnant women need more, 27 mg per day. This increased amount is found in most prenatal vitamins.
Calcium is a mineral that builds your fetuss bones and teeth. Women who are age 18 or younger need 1,300 mg of calcium per day. Women who are 19 or older need 1,000 mg per day.
Give you energy
Supply energy for your fetuss development
Promote good vision
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There May Be Unexpected Side Effects To Taking Vitamin C
Vitamin C may be a natural substance but that doesnt mean that you wont have any side effects from taking vitamin C or that it is completely safe to take. Common side effects of vitamin C consumption in high doses has the potential to cause insomnia, hemorrhaging, tiredness, headache, rashes, kidney stones, gas, constipation, abdominal cramping, diarrhea, and hot flashes.
Can Vitamin C Prevent Pregnancy :
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Women Vitamin C And Progesterone
Vitamin C is also helpful for women, particularly if progesterone is low. When women with low progesterone take 750 mg of vitamin C per day, 77% of those women saw an increased level of progesterone, leading an increased rate of pregnancy vs. 11% of women in the study with no treatment resulting in pregnancy.
In the study, 53% of women with luteal phase defect experienced a lengthening of their luteal phase versus 22% of women without vitamin C supplementation found that their luteal phase was longer.
As with any nutrition, the best way to get vitamin C is through whole, colorful, and nutrient-dense foods.
A Guide To Female Fertility Vitamins
Not all couples trying for a baby are will fall pregnant straight away. In fact between 10-20% of women who would like to become pregnant wont get pregnant within the first year of trying. Whilst this can be due to underlying problems, it can often simply be a combination of not knowing the best time to try paired with an unbalanced lifestyle. Nutrition and physical health play a significant role in female fertility and, as such, there are a number of vitamins that can give your chances a significant boost.
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Vitamin C Boosts Your Iron Absorption
Vitamin C helps the body absorb non-haem iron, the type found in plant sources such as spinach and chickpeas. Eating good sources of vitamin C with plant sources of iron during pregnancy can increase your daily intake considerably7. To get the most out of your diet, include fruit and iron sources within the same meal, whether its adding chopped fruit to a salad or having a whole fruit for dessert7.
An adequate intake of iron is essential to support your increased blood volume and reduce the risk of iron-deficiency anaemia, and to help build up your babys iron stores to support their learning and growth for the first 6 months of life2. Read more about the importance of iron in your pregnancy diet.
What Can An Overdose Do
An overdose of vitamin C can also make your vagina extremely acidic. An acidic region is unhealthy for sperms. If your vaginal area is very acidic, the sperms cannot live. Acidity kills the sperms immediately. The sperms need an environment which is more alkaline than acidic. Vitamin C increases the acidity and reduces the alkali of your body. This prevents conception chances.
Watch Video: Can Vitamin C Prevent Pregnancy?
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Foods And Beverages To Avoid During Pregnancy
What do you expect your grocery list to look like when youre expecting?
You definitely want it to include items within all of the main food groups for your babys growth and development, shares Tanuja Rajpal, M.D., MSA, a board certified OB/GYN. After all, the baby depends on the mom.
As you browse down the aisles and load up your cart with lean meats, vegetables, fruits, dairy and grains, Dr. Rajpal recommends that women look for foods high in:
- Calcium such as almonds, kale and cabbage
- Folic acid such as spinach, beans and citrus fruits
- Iron such as tofu, lentils and quinoa
- Vitamin C such as kiwis, mangos and papayas
Eating a balanced diet is essential during pregnancy, says Dr. Rajpal, but there are certain foods that women should avoid altogether, as they can be detrimental to both you and the babys health. She warns moms-to-be about the potential health risks associated with the following foods and beverages during all three trimesters:
How To Take It
The best way to take vitamin C supplements is 2 – 3 times per day, with meals, depending on the dosage. Some studies suggest that adults should take 250 – 500 mg twice a day for any benefit. Talk to your doctor before taking more than 1,000 mg of vitamin C on a daily basis and before giving vitamin C to a child.
Daily intake of dietary vitamin C is listed below.
Pediatric
- Men over 18 years: 90 mg
- Women over 18 years: 75 mg
- Pregnant women 14 – 18 years: 80 mg
- Pregnant women over 18 years: 85 mg
- Breastfeeding women 14 – 18 years: 115 mg
- Breastfeeding women over 18 years: 120 mg
Because smoking depletes vitamin C, people who smoke may need an additional 35 mg per day.
The dose recommended to prevent or treat many of the conditions mentioned in the Uses section is often 500 – 1,000 mg per day.
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Does Vitamin C Help Prevent Pregnancy
Vitamin C is believed to prevent pregnancy but theres no evidence to confirm the same. Vitamin C contains ascorbic acid. Consuming it in more than the required amounts is believed to hamper with progesterone levels, an essential hormone required to carry the pregnancy to the term. This hampering leads to the uterus being unable to support conception progesterone helps prepare the uterus for the implantation of the egg, and the lack of progesterone can prevent implantation and hence, conception.
However, there is no reliable scientific information to confirm that Vitamin C intake can prevent pregnancy or terminate the chances of pregnancy. Furthermore, too much Vitamin C consumption can cause diarrhoea and stomachache.
The Scientific Evidence That Vitamin C Induces Miscarriages Is Not There
As of the current time, no clinical studies have been done on the use of vitamin C or ascorbic acid to induce a miscarriage. The only evidence youll find is anecdotal evidence from herbalists or from people who have successfully used vitamin C to cause an intentional miscarriage. It doesnt mean that drinking orange juice in the morning will cause you to have a miscarriage and it doesnt mean that you should count on vitamin C to cause a miscarriage should you become pregnant. There is no credibility to the claims youll find on the internet to indicate that the taking of vitamin C results in a miscarriage.
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Vitamin C Or Cranberry For Uti
While cranberries contain vitamin C, this isnt believed to be the reason why they prevent UTIs. No one knows the exact mechanism of action of cranberry juice in the prevention of UTIs but it is believed to interfere with the adherence of bacteria to the inner lining of the bladder. Early studies didnt standardize the number of protective proanthocyanidins in the cranberry supplements. Its the PACs that appear to exert the greatest effect on UTIs.
Recently, new, more concentrated supplements have been appearing on the market that have achieved better results in preventing UTIs than cranberry juice or your regular cranberry pills.
A review study on cranberry juice in 2008 concluded that cranberry juice did reduce the incidence of recurrent UTIs however, more recent reviews have shown no significant reduction in symptomatic, recurrent UTIs. While the protective effect of cranberry juice is equivocal, it doesnt cause antibiotic resistances like low-dose antibiotics do and may work to prevent UTIs to a limited degree.
Try Increasing Your Intake With These Vitamin C
- Porridge topped with sliced strawberries
- Sliced red peppers dipped in hummus
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Regarding Usage Of Vitamin C 72 Hours
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Can It Cause Miscarriage
If you are already pregnant, Vitamin C can induce miscarriage as well. Vitamin C is able to weaken the grip of the fertilized ovum on the uterus. If the egg cannot attach to the uterine wall, it can cause miscarriage. The acidity of Vitamin C interferes with the production of estrogen hormone. It creates an imbalance in the sex hormones of your body and cause miscarriage. Vitamin C is therefore a natural emergency contraceptive if it is taken before ovulation starts.
Read more: Early Signs of Miscarriage
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Vitamin C For Uti When Pregnant
While it is still open for debate whether vitamin C could help pregnant women to prevent UTI, we know that ascorbic acid could be useful for fetus development. According to one study, cardiac, hematologic and skeletal problems in fetuses can all be avoided when the pregnant mammal ingests ascorbic acid as shown in animal models.
In another trial of more than a hundred pregnant woman, the participants were instructed to take 100 mg ascorbic acid daily for three months.
The control group had twice as many positive cultures compared to the group of women who were taking ascorbic acid daily. The results allowed the researchers to conclude that ascorbic acid can help prevent UTIs.
However, the urine cultures were obtained three times per month at a pre-scheduled time, and the study did not specify how many women experienced UTI symptoms on top of the positive cultures.
Moreover, when I reached out to the researchers, they were unable to comment on whether or not the women included in the study have had recurrent UTIs prior to the study and if the women with abnormal cultures were reintroduced in the study after the treatment. Without this information, its difficult to further evaluate the studys claim.
What Are The Other Impacts Of Vitamin C Overdose
Besides miscarriage, another serious concern of vitamin C overdose during pregnancy is scurvy. Scurvy is a condition characterized by muscle pain and bleeding or swollen gums due to vitamin C deficiency. Babies born to mothers taking around 6,000mg or more of vitamin C may suffer from rebound scurvy because there is a sudden drop in the level of vitamin C post-delivery .
Deficiency of vitamin C during pregnancy is also believed to increase the risks for preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication characterized by high blood pressure. However, the research to support this subject is minimal .
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