Meal Planning for Fertility and Reproductive Health

Optimal nutrition is a foundation of health especially in the reproductive years- from preconception, through pregnancy and postpartum. There are MANY key nutrients that become particularly relevant during the energy and nutrient expensive journey of creating and sustaining a NEW life.

I find it helpful to have frameworks to follow and goals to have to assure you are meeting those needs AND simplifying your life when it comes to cooking and meal planning.

Success with nutrition and keeping yourself and your family nourished requires SYSTEMS- just like any other complicated daily to-do. When we implement and maintain these systems- things become easier and far more efficient.

I was diagnosed with celiac disease when I was 17 so having home cooked food 99% of the time has always been a non-negotiable for me. That means I have had to get really good at figuring out how to feed myself and my family sustainably, and of course, nutritiously.

I’ve become highly efficient in the kitchen and grocery stores, with monthly meat and dairy pick ups, home gardening, food preservation and more. So I wanted to share a really simple framework for meal planning that I utilize every week to plan out the 4 main dishes I will be cooking for dinners.

Food doesn’t have to be complicated or gourmet to be nutritious- I love trying new recipes but I have many tried and trues that I lean on regularly for ease sake.

I can cook 4 large meals per week and have it feed us 7 dinners and a few lunches. Here is how I decide what I will cook and some important nutrients I am getting with each meal.

MEAL ONE

A meal made with organ meat- I don’t love organ meat so I usually hide it in a ground beef dish. Meatballs, meatloaf, tacos, marinara meat sauce are all places I stash a good amount of liver pate and minced up heart. This is usually a pretty big meal so there are definite leftovers for lunches or another dinner. Organ meat is particularly dense in MANY nutrients especially choline, iron, copper, zinc, Vitamin A, Vitamin K2, folate and lots of other B vitamins. Heart organ meat is particularly rich in taurine and CoQ10- both extremely supportive of healthy eggs and ovaries and hard to get elsewhere. Organ meat is one of the richest food sources of Vitamin D- and especially in winter months, food sources of Vitamin D become essential.

MEAL TWO

A meal (or sometimes two) made with seafood- I try to eat a big piece of high quality salmon every week and usually aim for an additional serving or two of seafood, ideally in the form of shellfish (clams, mussels or oysters) but sometimes it’s just a can of sardines or some white fish (I love a good crusted white fish!) Fatty, cold water fish and bivalve shellfish are necessities for a well balanced diet. They are our main sources of omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA and incredibly rich in minerals like Selenium, iodine, zinc, choline and more. Getting enough healthy omega-3s without eating seafood regularly requires supplementation.

MEAL THREE

A meal with slow cooked bone in and/or skin on meat- this provides lots of collagen and amino acids such as glycine, lysine, carnitine and creatine that are all hard to get elsewhere and very important for overall health and reproductive success. The easiest is chicken thighs but I love a good oxtail stew or short rib recipe. **Similarly, I make a large batch of meatstock with meaty bones and chicken feet every single week and drink it daily or mix it into meals for extra collagen + nutrients. Meat stock is used in the GAPs diet and is profoundly healing. Read more about meat stock in my other blog post here.

MEAL FOUR

A meal that is super quick and simple (but also contains plenty of protein) - I often make a sheet pan dish with pork sausage, or an asian stir fry with beef or chicken. We occasionally eat tempeh or tofu as my husband really enjoys it. Again, I usually make this meal pretty big so it feeds us two full dinners. I’m always aiming for a good balance of macronutrients with this meal (ie: plenty of fat and protein and a quality, low glycemic carbohydrate) but this meal is usually pretty heavy on the colorful veggies and is often a Friday night meal that uses up tons of left over veggies in the fridge.

Also note while I am focusing on the bulk aspect of the dish (the animal protein) all of these meals are accompanied by a generous serving of colorful seasonal vegetables, herbs and/or fruits and always have an additional fat source. All of these meals do have a carb but that is not the center of the meal as many carb sources are not particularly nutrient dense, so I do not build the meals around the carbohydrate, but around the protein.

I hope that framework helps you in creating your weekly meal plan to meet your nutritional needs- whether you are trying to conceive, pregnant or postpartum!

As for breakfasts and lunches- planning and routine comes in handy here as well. But that is a post for another day.

I do spend a lot of time in the kitchen- but I love it and it is a non-negotiable for me to be well fed. I think of my time in the kitchen as holy - tending the hearth of my home, body and family.