Everywhere you look, the ketogenic diet is gaining in popularity. And for good reason!
The keto diet offers incredible benefits to weight loss and overall health. But for those trying to conceive a baby…
The keto diet provides amazing benefits related to fertility!
If you’re struggling to conceive and thinking about a keto diet, what are you waiting for?
Every diet is difficult to start at first, but with the right supplements you can boost your weight loss and start reaping the fertility benefits.
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Why You Need Keto Supplements
If you’re trying to conceive I’m sure you’re already taking a prenatal vitamin.
But when making the switch from a traditional carb fueled diet to a fat fueled diet (like keto) you eliminate certain foods.
Those foods not allowed on the keto diet lower the amount of nutrients you receive.
Along with certain nutrients being lowered in your diet due to the lack of carbohydrates, you also need to think about the keto flu.
The keto flu occurs when you start the keto diet.
When your body switches from running off carbs to fat you may feel sick the first couple weeks.
Although the keto flu may be unpleasant, it’s only temporary.
With supplements, you can reduce your symptoms related to the keto flu.
On top of filling nutritional needs and reducing the keto flu, added supplements to your diet will help you jump into ketosis!
If you are in need of further information about what ketosis is and the keto diet in general, read my article The Keto Diet And Your Fertility Health.
Keto Supplements For Fertility
1. Sodium
Unlike other diets, adding extra salt to your foods while on the keto diet is actually encouraged.
So why would you need to add extra salt to your diet on keto?
Because salt is lost with water. At the beginning of the keto diet, you will lose water weight.
With an extra loss of water weight comes a loss of sodium.
Sodium is essential for your body to maintain a proper electrolyte balance and encourage nerve and muscle function.
The best way to make sure your body is maintaining a proper sodium level is by adding extra salt to your food and drinks.
For the keto diet try Himalayan sea salt!
Himalayan sea salt is considered the best salt to add to your diet because along with sodium it has calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium and copper.
How Does Sodium Help Boost Fertility?
While you know sodium is essential for maintaining electrolyte or fluid balance, when it comes to fertility sodium helps with proper hormone production.
Without a healthy amount of sodium in your body hormone production goes down and decreases your chances of conceiving.
2. Magnesium
This is another nutrient that’s essential for electrolyte balance.
Magnesium helps the body function by:
- Nerve and muscle function
- Maintaining a normal heart rhythm
- Increases immunity
Magnesium can be found in foods like avocadoes, almonds, pumpkin seeds, and high-fat yogurt.
Although these foods are allowed on the keto diet, they are allowed in moderation.
Too much almonds and pumpkin seeds will add up to too many carbs.
For instance, one cup of whole almonds is equal to 31 grams of carbohydrates.
Just one cup will take you close to your overall carb count for the day, depending on your macronutrient ratio.
How Does Magnesium Help Boost Fertility?
For men, a combination of magnesium and zinc is found in seminal fluid.
Studies have shown that infertile men have low levels of magnesium.
The magnesium deficiency is at even lower levels with men who suffer from prostate problems.
For women, magnesium helps calm muscle spasms for fallopian tubes.
Muscle spasms in the fallopian tubes can cause infertility.
For those trying to conceive, magnesium is crucial for decreasing the risk of miscarriage.
During pregnancy, magnesium is more important than ever.
Magnesium can help control insulin levels so there’s no sudden drops in blood sugar.
If you experience low blood sugar during pregnancy the symptoms are nausea and vomiting.
With proper magnesium levels, you can ease nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.
Magnesium is not only important for preconception, but during pregnancy as it lowers the chances of…
- Gestational hypertension
- Premature labor
- Fetal growth retardation
- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
So making sure you’re not deficient in magnesium when your trying to get pregnant is essential for your fertility health and your future baby’s health!
Magnesium Supplements
While you can still get magnesium from keto allowed foods, it’s a safer bet to take a magnesium supplement.
One of my favorite magnesium supplements is Natural Vitality Magnesium Calm Supplement.
This is a powder form supplement with a variety of flavors that can be added to a variety of foods.
If you don’t like the powdered from of magnesium there are always magnesium gummies and magnesium pills.
Related Articles: 7 Essential Vitamins For Women To Boost Fertility
How The Keto Diet Can Benefit Your Fertility For The Better!
9 Supplements To Maximize Male Fertility
3. Potassium
Yet another vital mineral for the body’s delicate fluid balance. You probably hear that if you’re low on potassium you need to eat a banana or potatoes.
Well unfortunately, bananas and potatoes are high in carbohydrates. So these two foods are a not allowed on the keto diet.
For most people, 4,700 mg’s of potassium is required daily.
When you lower your carb intake, your potassium intake can go down as well.
I found this out first hand when I first started the keto diet.
I suffered from keto flu and also had blood work done months later that revealed I was not getting enough potassium through foods.
Then I added potassium keto supplements and immediately started to feel better!
Potassium is essential for:
- Nerve function
- Helps support a healthy cardiovascular system
- Muscle strength
- Enzyme activity
- Balances the body’s pH balance
How Does Potassium Help Boost Fertility?
For men, potassium is an vital building block for the production of semen. For women, there is a link between potassium and ovarian cysts.
Those with ovarian cysts may have low potassium levels.
To lower the development of ovarian cysts, add potassium to increase your chances of conceiving.
Potassium Supplements
For potassium the easiest way to consume this vital mineral is through potassium pills.
But many pills like Keto Vitals Electrolyte Capsules provide you with potassium, calcium, sodium and magnesium all together!
If you don’t like pills, try a powder form that includes magnesium, potassium and zinc!
4. Greens Powder
Greens powder is essentially a powder form mix of vitamins and nutrients from vegetables and plant compounds.
It contains the powered form of plants like broccoli, wheatgrass, kale, spinach and more.
Don’t worry though, on keto you can still eat a variety of vegetables that are non-starchy and low carb.
But with the keto diet’s emphasis on high-fat content, sometimes vitamins and minerals from plant sources can be lacking.
Greens powder is an easy way for those on keto to get their daily dose of vegetables.
How Does Greens Powder Help Boost Fertility?
Super Greens is a greens powder that’s organic and vegan friendly with a variety of plant compounds that can aid your fertility.
Some of the ingredients in Super Greens plant based supplement include:
- Spinach– Rich in a multitude of vitamins and other nutrients, but most importantly, iron and folic acid. Both nutrients help with overall reproduction and fetal wellbeing including preventing neural tube defects.
- Chlorella– Green algae that helps the body detoxify.
- Barley Grass– High in folic acid, protein, amino acids and enzymes that promotes overall sexual health and function of reproductive organs.
- Wheat Grass– Balances pH levels for a healthy environment for sperm and ova; improves cell and organ structure to enhance overall fertility.
Plus so much more!
5. L-glutamine
L-glutamine is an amino acid that aids in you digestive and immune health.
But L-glutamine does one better for the body. It also acts as an antioxidant!
With the keto diet, fruit and vegetables are decreased because many contain too many carbs.
But many fruits and vegetables contain the necessary amino acid L-glutamine
L-glutamine is important for removing toxic free radicals from the body and supporting cellular growth.
How Does L-glutamine Help Boost Fertility?
L-glutamine has a specific function when it comes to fertility help. Some women who suffer with digestive tract issues also experience menstrual cycle issues.
With digestive tract disorders, flare-ups will lead to a decrease in hormone production causing abnormal periods.
As we all know… Without a normal menstrual period, there is a decrease in conception.
If you suffer with digestive and menstruation issues, then L-glutamine may help by regulating your digestive track and reducing flare-ups.
In turn, with less flare-ups periods may return to normal.
Along with reducing digestive tract issues, L-glutamine also helps build lean muscle mass, curb sugar cravings and help maintain a healthy weight.
Because of this, a healthy weight will help regulate periods as well.
6. MCT Oil
Like greens powder, MCT oil makes it easy for keto dieters to get enough fat intake. MCT means “medium-chain triglycerides.”
MCT is able to be used readily for energy compared to being stored in the body.
MCT Oil for keto is primarily used for getting immediate energy, and producing ketones to get the body in a state of ketosis.
There are two ways to get MCT into your diet: Supplementing with MCT oil or adding extra coconut oil to your foods.
Although MCT oil is a convenient way to get fat intake and jumpstart your ketosis, coconut oil offers many fertility benefits.
How Does Coconut Oil Help Boost Fertility?
Coconut oil can be added to your keto diet instead of MCT oil because of its high medium-chain triglycerides.
Coconut oil provides the following benefits for fertility:
- Balances hormones
- Improves lubrication to make conception easier
- Controls blood sugar levels to maintain a healthy weight
- Naturally antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal
7. Omega-3
Omega-3 are long-chain triglycerides. Although the keto diet doesn’t lack in fat intake, some keto foods are high in omega-6.
Omega-6 can cause inflammation. Because of this, omega-3 needs to be supplemented to reap benefits like:
- Decreasing depression
- Decrease inflammation
- Lower triglyceride levels
- Decreases LDL cholesterol and body fat
The best way to get an adequate amount of omega-3 is by supplementing with fish oil.
A fish oil supplement comes in both pill or liquid form depending on your preference.
How Does Omega-3 Help Boost Fertility?
For men, omega-3 is found in sperm which helps promote sperm maturity and viability.
Studies found that high levels of omega-3 improve sperm motility and morphology (shape).
For women, a diet high in omega-3 improves egg quality.
But studies also found a link between omega-3 and maternal age.
As women age, reproductive health decreases.
With a lifelong intake of omega-3 fatty acids, reproductive health was shown to be prolonged.
Other research studies found that omega-3 can lower Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) levels.
With the decrease in FSH levels, women could experience advanced reproductive health.
For those women with fertility problems related to inflammation, increased omega-3 helps to lower the risk of endometriosis.
Related Articles: 7 Herbal Supplements To Boost Fertility In Women
9 Things Decreasing Your Chances Of Successful Implantation
6 Methods For Tracking Ovulation To Get Pregnant Fast
8. Vitamin D
Amazingly, one third of Americans are deficient in vitamin D. On a keto diet, you are at risk of low vitamin D.
Overall, vitamin D provides the following benefits:
- Helps the body absorb calcium and magnesium
- Strengths bones
- Supports cardiovascular health
- Helps create healthy testosterone levels
- Supports immune health
While you could lay out in the sun for hours… It’s probably better to just take a quality vitamin D supplement.
How Does Vitamin D Help Boost Fertility?
Some research studies found a connection between high vitamin D levels and increase pregnancy rates.
When examining two groups of women the study found that those with normal vitamin D levels for four times likely to get pregnant from IVF treatment.
Further studies also found an increase in higher pregnancy rates for women with normal vitamin D levels who received donor eggs.
Along with higher pregnancy rates, normal vitamin D levels increased live birth rates for women going through fertility treatment.
Vitamin D is a vital nutrient for everyone. But when it comes to fertility, vitamin D is proving through research studies to help increase pregnancy and live birth rates for women undergoing fertility treatment.
9. Calcium
Everyone knowns that calcium is responsible for strong bones.
However, calcium also helps in blood clothing and for muscle contraction.
A keto diet still includes many foods with calcium including broccoli, fish and high-fat dairy.
But many people get their calcium from milk products like whole milk or yogurt.
Those tasty calcium filled dairy products come with a heavy carb count of 12 g per serving.
Carbohydrates add up quickly when you are on a keto diet!
Unless you’re a fan of sardines with bones and broccoli, then odds are your probably need a calcium supplement.
Many calcium supplements come with vitamin D to aid in absorption.
How Does Calcium Help Boost Fertility?
For women, calcium is needed to help trigger embryo growth.
This mineral also helps provide an alkaline environment in your reproductive tract. Which sperm are drawn toward.
The more calcium within the reproductive tract, the better sperm is able to swim and penetrate a waiting egg.
10. Systemic Enzymes
Systemic enzymes are similar to digestive enzymes, but they’re able to function throughout the body, not just the gut.
Basically, systemic enzymes create a balance within your body.
These incredible enzymes are able to decrease inflammation, fibrosis, pain and circulatory issues.
For the keto diet, systemic enzymes are important to maintain regular bowel movements.
At the beginning of keto, the stomach goes through a variety of upsets from constipation to diarrhea.
This is due to the increased amount of fat in your diet.
Even after you’ve said goodbye to the keto flu, constipation can still be troublesome at times on keto.
To maintain an overall balance within your body and promote regular bowel movement, systemic enzymes would be beneficial.
How Does Systemic Enzymes Help Boost Fertility?
Systemic enzymes have the amazing ability to breakdown toxins within your body causing inflammation.
Such causes of infertility like endometriosis, ovarian cysts and uterine fibroids are caused by inflammation.
To reduce the pain and inflammation associated with these fertility issues, try adding systemic enzymes to your supplements!
While it helps reduce inflammation, systemic enzymes can also break down scar tissue in such disorders as PID, uterine fibroids, and ovarian cysts.
Along with doing this, it improves circulation by removing excess toxins from the blood.
This will supply better blood flow to the reproductive area which will help your reproductive system get the necessary oxygen and nutrients it needs.
Extra oxygenated red blood cells also helps balance other fertility issues like PCOS, heavy or dark period blood, endometriosis, uterine fibroids and ovarian cysts.
Final Thoughts About Keto Supplements For Fertility
In all honesty, I feel the keto diet is an amazing diet that offers a ton of health benefits from weight loss to fertility.
Although it can be difficult getting through the keto flu and staying in ketosis, hard work and determination pays off!
It’s important to know as much information as possible before starting the keto diet. Why?
First, you can know if the diet is right for you and your goals. Second, you can know the limitations when it comes to food and supplements.
Like any diet, keto does require supplementation.
As I said above, I was on keto and did not supplement my potassium and I ended up with low levels.
I deeply regret this one! I needed to supplement from the beginning.
While the keto diet may not be for everyone, there are some great benefits to it in terms of boosting fertility.
If you’re trying to conceive, you may want to give it a try for a few months and see how things go!
On top of starting a keto diet, make sure you’re getting enough of the above 10 nutrients in your diet through food or supplementation.
Whether you’re receiving these 10 nutrients from food or supplements, they’re guaranteed to help boost your fertility if your have troubles conceiving.
Always remember though to discuss all major diet changes with your primary doctor or your fertility doctor to see if keto is a diet you can benefit from.
Not every doctor or person is on board with the keto diet movement.
I for one am a fan of keto and eating less carbohydrates in general.
After I have my second baby I fully plan on going back on the keto diet!
Are there other nutrients you supplement in your low-carb lifestyle?
Works Cited
The 5 best supplements for keto
Eat your greens daily for fertility and health
How vitamin D affects your fertility
Can L-glutamine affect your menstrual cycle?
How do omega-3 fatty acids improve fertility?
Using supplements on keto: The top 16 and why you need them
What vitamin and mineral supplement do you need on keto?
The fertility benefits of coconut oil