Whole30 & IVF

[Piscfish]

I purchased the whole30 ebook recently and was surprised at some of the healthy food that I think is healthy is fact not so healthy. After reading the book, I'm eager to start the program but I have some questions.

My husband and I have been trying to conceive for at least 2 years now. We tried the acupuncture, Chinese herbal and still no good news. We decided to go with in vitro (IVF) and will begin the process at the end of November. If I start the whole30 program now, it will coincide with my scheduled IVF start date. My question is, is it ok to have both happen at the same time? I am just thinking of all the pill and hormone shots I'll be undergoing with IVF.

Also, I just bought NatureMade Prenatal vitamins and am wondering if this is ok with the whole30 program.

Thanks

[Tom Denham]

Hormone shots would alter your experience some, but many people find eating a Whole30-style diet helpful in their efforts to conceive. You should have a positive experience doing a Whole30 even with some influence from the IVF process. 

 

You would have to read the ingredient label of your vitamins to see if there are any off-plan ingredients. Many vitamins include soy or dairy and that would be a problem. Vendors change ingredients periodically, so we can't say your vitamins are okay because we never know when they might change the ingredients. 

[AmyS]

I wish you the best!  I did IVF ten years ago, and I still remember all the dratted shots.  For sure, IVF makes your hormones go wackadoodle.  But hey, that's gonna happen no matter what you eat.  I had never heard of Whole30 or Paleo or anything like it ten years ago, but I can imagine that it could be a positive part of this pretty stressful experience.

 

That said, I remember having insanely nutso cravings when I was going through my IVF.  There was certain food I couldn't possibly stand and other stuff I couldn't live without.  I may or may not have subsisted almost entirely on Denny's breakfasts featuring scrambled eggs smothered in ketchup. 

 

So - watch for really super odd food cravings, and deal with them as best you can.  I think, looking back, that my body wanted lots of fat, protein, and carbs.  I imagine I could have (had I had any clue about Whole30) eaten lots of eggs scrambled in ghee with sweet potatoes on the side.

 

The biggest issue to consider, in my experience, is how the IVF process takes over your life.  I did mine in the days before everyone had "an app for that", and I had a black three ring binder that was completely filled to the brim will all the information I needed.  And the shots took time out of my day.  And the discomfort from hyperovulation kept me from feeling like being active.  And the lupron injections made me pretty horrified at how my belly looked (finally petitioned the insurance company to pay for the one that doesn't make you look like you've been hit with a baseball bat - phew).  All that to say that the process itself is pretty intense.  When you get down to the days surrounding retrieval and transfer, it's especially intense, with once-a-day doc appointments, etc.

 

The point of all of that is to say that if you embark on a Whole30 and end up determining it's too new and too much for you to do with an IVF, you can certainly keep elements of the plan that are simple enough to manage during this process.  And, of course, foods you can stand to eat.

 

By the way, do they still do that accupuncture protocol right before and after transfer, that at least ten years ago was reported to increase pregnancy rates?

 

I wish you the best.  It's intense.  Go easy on yourself through the process. 

[Piscfish]

Thanks, Tom, for your confirmation.

Amy - thanks for your encouragement!! This is my first IVF treatment and I hope I only have to go through once! *cross fingers*. The clinic offers acupuncture if the patient wants it but it's not mandatory. To be honest, I am not sure what will happen to me once I start the process. So, until then, I am trying to be compliant with the whole30 guideline.

[keightlynn]

My husband and I have to do IVF as well.  I'm really scared about the hormones and everything I have to take & the fact that apparently it tends to cause a lot of weight gain.  I'm also scared about how it will affect me emotionally because I can't even handle birth control pills without becoming an emotional wreck.  We don't have the money yet to do IVF but we are saving up and are hoping to do it this coming winter or spring.  One of the reasons I'm doing the Whole30 is because I want to be in the best possible shape I can be going into it.  Both because I want to feel my best & I want my body to be ready to give us the best chance of success.  Fertility treatment sucks and even more so to those of us who are invested in our health this way.  I mean, honestly, I can't imagine much more anti-natural/paleo than injecting massive amounts of artificial hormones into our bodies, but it's just a sacrifice we have to make to reach our dreams of having a baby.  I HATE that our baby has to be conceived this way, but it is what it is and I'm grateful modern medicine has made it possible for us to have the chance at conceiving a child.  All I can do is give my body the best possible nutrients before and hopefully the best possible nutrients after to help heal from the whole IVF process.  Ugh and don't even get me started about how unfair it is that we are here with loving parents wanting this baby so badly & doing everything to make our bodies the best for our baby meanwhile it seems like everywhere you look there is a 16 year old puffing on cigaretts and eating a bag of cheetos with a big pregnant belly.....but life isn't fair.

 

Good luck with your IVF cycle.  Eye on the prize, it will all be worth it when you get to bring that baby home.

[AmyS]

The hormones put you in menopause first, and then they cause you to hyperovulate, and then depending on your protocol they do various things to your uterus to make pregnancy more likely.  It's possible they can cause weight gain, but that's certainly only one of a pantheon of things you'll go through.  And the weight does come off later - it's largely inflammation from the body going through a time warp at warp speed, backwards.  Of course, if the IVF works, the weight comes off a bit later. 

 

When I was gong through infertility I got to the place where I couldn't go to the mall or to very many public places.  It was too painful to see how people treated their children, and how many people seemed to have had their children by accident.  I was too constantly grief-stricken and furious to deal with that.

 

I wish you both the best.  IVF is an incredible process.  I do wholeheartedly wish you both success.  If it helps, my twin daughters turned ten in September.  (And, to my utter surprise, I have found myself in that parental experience of losing patience with them in public places.  Who knew?)

 

Big hugs all around.  Eat well, and know that you're amazing and wonderful and fantastic.  And best wishes on your IVFs.