I’m all about fertility superfoods – I created a whole series on them! – and I’m gonna let you in on a little secret about incorporating them into your day to day life … smoothies. Seriously. It’s the easiest way in the world to get all that goodness in your body on a daily basis.
If you’ve been following me for awhile, you know that I’m a major fan of daily smoothies. Not only are they delicious, easy to make and easy to drink, but it’s so simple to pack them full of good-for-you ingredients that can help boost your fertility.
The trouble with most smoothies that women are making are they are a total sugar bomb. No protein, no healthy fats, no superfoods. Those smoothies aren’t what I’m talking about here. In this blog post, I break down exactly how to build the ultimate fertility smoothie. I tell you exactly what foundational ingredients need to be in there, my favorite superfoods to help boost your fertility health, and allllllll the different add-ins you can use to switch up the flavor.
It’s taken me forever and a day to dial in my ultimate superfood fertility smoothie, but if you stick around long enough, I might even share that recipe with you ;).
Alright, here we go!
Obviously, step one: start with your base ingredient – your liquid.
Honestly, use whatever floats your boat. It can be as simple as filtered water, but I’m a fan of using my own homemade nut milk (or the MALK store-bought brand makes a super clean option) or real coconut milk (I love the Aroy D brand). Avoid nut milks or oat milks that contain a slew of added ingredients, like canola oil, carrageenan, synthetic vitamins & minerals, sweeteners, and gums.
Whatever you choose – by mindful of the sugar content! Juices and coconut water tend to have high sugar levels, so I advise avoiding them. And, for those women looking to boost their fertility, I always recommend cutting out non-organic dairy products.
Babies are made of protein and fat, and you need plenty of both to nourish yourself, make healthy eggs, get pregnant, and sustain a healthy pregnancy.
There’s two options for adding a sustainable protein to your smoothies: protein powder and/or whole food sources of protein.
When choosing a protein powder, I recommend avoiding ones that have added refined sugars, any vegetable oils, gums or additives, or other questionable ingredients. I also recommend avoiding whey protein as well, unless you know for certain its from grass-fed, organic raised cattle. Most whey protein powders are horrendous. They use whey from the by-product of cheese making from conventionally raised cattle and we already know all the consequences that come from consuming non-organic animal products. My favorite protein powder if you consume animals is Pure Paleo Protein Powder—it’s a dairy-free, bone broth based protein powder from organic, pastured cattle, and it packs a whopping 26 grams of protein per serving.
If you’re looking for a plant-based protein powder, look no further than PurePeaPlus + Greens*. This non-soy, plant-based protein powder also includes a full serving of greens + superfoods!
Whole Body Collagen is my favorite daily smoothie (and tea!) addition. Collagen proteins from clean, grass-fed animals provide the same kind of nutritional boost, gut-healing, skin renewing that you get from bone broth. Studies show that collagen improves bone health, gut health, skin & hair health and helps build & renew body tissue (think building a baby!).
If you’re looking to avoid protein powders, there are plenty of whole food protein sources that you can choose from (you can even mix and match!):
* you’ll notice a Prop 65 Warning on this product. It’s actually on many, many supplements, or should be if companies are complying with regulation. Here’s the scoop with the warning label – Proposition 65 is a California law that requires a warning on any products containing qualifying levels of over 800 substances, such as pesticides, heavy metals, and even Vitamin A at certain levels. The highest per serving lead level found in any Designs for Health product is less than you might find in a 4 oz serving of lettuce. Unfortunately lead is everywhere in our environment and is impossible to avoid in many natural, plant-based ingredients. That’s because lead is found in the soil where the plants are grown and, therefore, it is present in virtually all plant-based foods.
As the State of California’s own Proposition 65 website states, “A Proposition 65 warning does not necessarily mean a product is in violation of any product-safety standards or requirements.” All supplements are subject to the Prop 65 Warning Label. The ones that do not list the warning label are simply not complying with regulations.
If Prop 65 was required to be listed on food – all food items grown in soil would be required to have the label … but food is excluded from labeling regulations in this regard.
I hope this is helpful and makes sense and rest assured the greens powder is safe to consume.
As I mentioned, babies are made from protein and fat, and women looking to optimize their fertility need alllllll the healthy fats. Smoothies are a quick and easy way to incorporate healthy fats into your diet!
Additionally, healthy Omega-3 fats help lower inflammation in the body (very important for endometriosis and repeated miscarriages), increase blood flow to the reproductive organs, and improve cervical mucus. They are also crucial to the healthy development of any little embryos that take root during the two week wait. Don’t skimp on your Omega-3s!
The fats you want and where to get them:
Omega-3 essential fatty acid boosters for your smoothies: walnuts, cold-pressed walnut oil (NOT for cooking!), flaxseeds, and chia seeds.
Omega-6 essential fatty acid boosters for your smoothies: flaxseeds, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, and sunflower seeds.
Omega-9 essential fatty acid boosters for your smoothie: avocados, almonds, pecans, cashews, hazelnuts, and macadamia nuts.
Healthy saturated fat (helps the body assimilate the Omega 3s): coconut oil, MCT oil, coconut butter, coconut milk, and coconut cream, grass-fed butter, grass-fed ghee.
Whenever possible, it’s ideal to choose in-season, organic greens. The beneficial leafy greens include veggies such as romaine, kale, spinach, collards, watercress, arugula, cabbage, beet greens, chards, and dandelion greens.
These greens support fertility by creating a healthy sperm-friendly alkaline environment and by providing crucial minerals, antioxidants, and vitamins that are crucial to growing healthy eggs and sustaining a full-term pregnancy.
I recommend at least 2-4 servings of greens a day, and it’s so easy to throw a couple of handfuls of greens into your smoothie to get those servings! One serving is equal to 1 cup raw, or ½ cup cooked dark green leafy vegetables.
As a note – I don’t recommend raw kale for anyone suffering from thyroid disorders.
When you aren’t able to get fresh from the market greens, you can use Paleo Greens powder – an organic superfood greens powder that contains NO grains, legumes, alfalfa, corn, gluten, fructose or artificial sweeteners. Unlike other greens products, there are no inexpensive fillers or bulking agents such as fiber, whole grasses, pectin, rice bran, and/or flax, which account for 40% to 60% of the content of most other greens products.
This is my favorite step! There are so many amazing superfoods to help optimize your fertility, and you can pick and choose which ones to add.
Now, don’t get too crazy – add only 2-3 per smoothie, and pick the ones best suited for your needs.
And, as always, listen to your body. If your body doesn’t tolerate a superfood, stop using it!
Here are a few of my favorite fertility superfoods:
Spirulina is a blue-green algae that has been consumed for thousands of years by many cultures. The Aztecs gave it to their runners and warriors for strength and endurance.
Spirulina is a true superfood as it is densely packed with vitamins such as vitamin A (in the form of carotenoids), B vitamins, iron, minerals, antioxidants, chlorophyll, and phytonutrients that help to alkalinize the body and nourish the eggs. It’s also a great source of protein.
Unlike most vegetable sourced protein, spirulina is over 50% “complete” protein. The nourishing, regenerating, immune supporting, balancing, and immense benefits of spirulina make it an incredible fertility superfood.
In women, Maca works by controlling estrogen and progesterone in the body. Estrogen or progesterone levels that are high or low at the wrong time can keep a woman from becoming pregnant or keep her from carrying a pregnancy to term. Taking maca can help to balance the estrogen-to-progesterone ratio, which is essential for getting pregnant and a healthy, full-term pregnancy.
You can read more about why Maca is a Superfood for Fertility here!
Royal Jelly has been shown to promote balanced hormones by supporting the endocrine system. It’s also been shown to reduce symptoms associated with hormonal imbalances by raising estrogen levels, and increasing egg quality. Royal Jelly is the food fed only to the Queen bee who makes up to 2000 eggs per day! Because Royal Jelly has the propensity to mimic estrogen, it is similar to phytoestrogens, which have been found to protect the body from xenohormones and estrogen dominance.
Bee pollen has many vitamins and is thought to increase ovarian function, egg health, and overall fertility. Never take bee pollen if you are allergic to bees or bee products.
There are all kinds of ingredients you can add to your basic smoothie to add flavor and adjust it to your personal taste. Here are a few of my favs:
It’s really easy to go overboard on sugars, often without even realizing it (I’m looking at you delicious fruit!). But here’s the deal – to balance your hormones, maximize your egg quality, and optimize your fertility, your insulin response needs to be even steven. Which means, no sugar shocking your body with a smoothie full of 2 bananas, a whole mango, and 1/2 a pineapple.
If you’re someone who expends A TON of energy and can handle the extra carbs, then feel free to up the fruit & starchy vegetables but again – know what your body needs.
Ideally you want to choose fruits with low overall sugar and a high-antioxidant or fiber content – think apples, pears, and berries. Limit your total fruit consumption to 2-3 servings a day, or 1-2 if you have PCOS and need to control your blood sugar levels more closely.
Ok, now that you guys have stuck it out and made it through this blog post, I’m gonna treat you to my absolute favorite, go-to, daily superfood fertility smoothie!
Are you ready? Here we go!
Base
Start with a ½ cup of liquid (water, homemade nut milk, real coconut milk*)
*if using coconut milk, only add ¼ cup + ¼ cup water
Protein
One serving of Pure Paleo Protein Powder or Organic Pure Pea Plus +
1 scoop Collagen powder
Fat
¼ cup chia gel (recipe below) +
1-2 raw pastured egg yolks +
2 Tbsp coconut oil or MCT oil +
¼ – ½ avocado
Greens
2 large handfuls organic spinach +
1 Tbsp Paleo Greens powder
Superfoods
1 tsp – 1 Tbsp organic maca powder +
1 Tbsp spirulina powder +
1 tsp Royal Jelly
1 tsp bee pollen
Flavor Boosters
This changes daily, depending on what I’m craving, what’s in my pantry, and what my body is telling me, but here are a few of my recent go-tos:
Place all ingredients into a blender, blend and enjoy!
Chia Gel
⅓ cup chia seeds
32 oz filtered water
Add chia seeds to water in a quart size glass mason jar. Shake thoroughly several times and then store in the refrigerator until thick and gel-like.
To find out more about Superfoods for Fertility, check out my blog series below:
Superfoods for Fertility Blog Series : Chia Seeds
Superfoods for Fertility Blog Series : Maca Root
Superfoods for Fertility Blog Series : Egg Yolks
Superfoods for Fertility Blog Series : Wild Caught Fish Seafood
Superfoods for Fertility Blog Series : Bone Broth
Superfoods for Fertility Blog Series : Liver
Superfoods for Fertility Blog Series : Fermented Foods
Superfoods for Fertility Blog Series : Butter & Coconut Oil
If you want to maximize your fertility, adding fertility smoothies to your diet is just one of the many ways to do so. For help devising a comprehensive plan to increase your fertility health and improve your chances of getting pregnant, join The Fertility Code, my 12-week fertility course.
This essential fertility course is for anyone who is struggling to get pregnant, or thinking about getting pregnant soon. The course covers allllll the fertility topics: egg quality, ovarian reserve, miscarriage, ovulation, cycle tracking, low progesterone, IVF, prepping for egg retrieval + embryo transfer, thyroid health, toxins, and much more.
The Fertility Code is an evidence-based, on-demand, fertility course that will prepare your body for easy conception and a healthy pregnancy. It has helped hundreds of women get pregnant, and stay pregnant, and it can help you too.
And if you want to get a baseline of your fertility health before getting started, take my quiz! After you complete it, you’ll receive a detailed report from me explaining your results. Or, if you want to have a more in-depth conversation about your specific concerns, feel free to schedule a consultation. I can’t wait to chat!
Sarah Jane Sandy is a certified nutrition therapist, and a fertility and women’s health expert. She has helped hundreds of women increase their fertility naturally and go on to have healthy full-term pregnancies. Learn more about her own fertility journey here. To send Sarah a message, complete her Contact Form.
Curious about your fertility health? Take this simple quiz to find out what factors may be harming your fertility, and learn what you can do about it!
