What to eat/drink during Ivf

[Pinkheels]

Hi all
I've been trying to find out what's best to eat/drink during IVF- I'm currently having a short flare cycle so began stimms yesterday. The Internet is full of all sorts of ideas and suggestions but wanted some ideas from others on what they've been told. My last cycle was a bfn and even though it's probably too late to have in impact, I feel like focusing on clean eating will help me cope by giving me a bit of a distraction (if that even makes sense). I've been eating plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds the last couple of months and trying to reduce processed foods- but not sure whether trying to eat a high protein diet will help or hinder? What do you all think?

I stopped drinking coffee and coke and no more chocolate for me.

To avoid caffeine all together.

No alcohol of course.

I have tried to avoid diet products due to the chemicals in them and I'm sure I read sugar is better for you when compared to diet lemonade or whatever.

I tried to eat more protien such as eggs: scramble, egg mayo swiches, boiled with salad, beans on toast. Lots of raw nuts: Walnuts, Almonds, Brazil, Hazel nuts.

Lots of salad as I'm really not a greens/vegetable person.

Drink lots of water during the day and a glass when i get up and before I go to sleep.

Avoid fish with mercury.

I have been taken my folic acid, and additional selenium, zinc and iron tablets

I read somewhere about eating avocado helping (google it). It doesn't say how much but I had one or 2 a week. It's to do with the good fats it contains.

You ask if eating a high protein diet will help or hinder. I didn't produce many eggs and at first IVF cycles produced embryos that were very poor quality. I couldn't increase the quantity, but I read this study which very clearly showed a diet high in protein (> 25%) increased the pregnancy rate from 31.9% to 66.6%. I am a facts and figures person and liked doing IVF things based on actual research rather than other peoples opinions, and this study showed this diet made a whopping difference to the success rate. The Dr mentioned in this article and his colleagues have their patients do a high protein low carb diet for 3 months prior to IVF so like you say, it may be a little to late to have a major impact, but surely it would still help as even though your eggs are exposed to your circulation for 3 months prior to ovulating, the time when your eggs are doing their major growing is now.

It isn't specifically listed in this link, but another study on high protein/low carb said that when the protein was increased to greater than 25%, the pregnancy rate shot up to above 60% and that when the carbs were also reduced to below 40%, the pregnancy rate went up again to 80%.

My first IVF cycle produced an embryo that didn't even survive until day 2. I was vegetarian so then started adding vego sources of protein and my next IVF produced an embryo that survived to day 2 but was only 2 cells instead of 4. I then gave up 14 years of being vego and ate fish daily. My second last IVF produced two top quality day 3 embryos that resulted in an early m/c and my last cycle produced only 4 eggs of which 2 fertilised, but both were top quality at my day 3 transfer and I finally got my BFP. I used a website called Calroie King where I entered all my food and it told me my protein and carb percentages. It was a bit of an effort but like you say, I found it a welcome distraction and felt like I was doing something pro active.

Look up Zita West, she is an expert on this

Echoing the ladies above - just to add that my consultant told me to eat lots of protein whilst stimming, so it's def fairly established advice amongst the medical community

ARGC tell their patients to drink a pint of milk a day! I'm not at ARGC and milk makes me absolutely boak, so a whole pint is so not happening. The only way I can do it is by chocolate milk like a child!!!

And goes without saying, drink tonnes and tonnes of water. I've been guzzling it till the cows come home because the stims give me epic bloating and raging thirst - which has abated a little since my dose was dropped. But v important to keep extra well hydrated.

Hi ladies, I'm going to indulge my crazy...I started down regging today. Is it too late to make dietary changes...as in will it make any difference at this late stage.

This is unfortunately not how I planned to prepare for ICSI...meh

meh not too late - lots of protein will help a lot once you start stims. Keep hydrated, again once you start stims - but yiu can get headaches downregging so keeking drinking will help that. If it helps at all, yep ARGC recommends pint of milk a day (any type of cow's milk but I found high protein drinks easier at times, 20g of protein in small bottle, it's the protein they want you to have as well as the fluid so you can substitute) they want you drinking MASSES of water. Up to 3.5 litres. Helps the follicles. And eat little and often - max of 2-3 hours between eating during the day.