Foods with evidence for fertility
What to add, what to cut.

Eight foods worth adding

This list comes from the same research behind the principles of fertility nutrition, the Nurses' Health Study II and the Mediterranean diet studies. Most foods on it connect directly to one of those principles:

• Salmon: a source of omega-3. Fish belongs in the group to eat 3 to 5 times a week.
• Spinach and kale: dark leafy greens, a plant source of iron, which lowers the risk of ovulatory infertility.
• Lentils and beans: plant protein and plant iron at once. Replacing part of your animal protein with them in a few meals a week is linked to a lower risk of ovulatory infertility.
• Avocado: monounsaturated fat, which has a protective effect.
• Walnuts and almonds: monounsaturated fat and plant protein.
• Extra-virgin olive oil: monounsaturated fat and the base of the Mediterranean pattern.
• Berries: whole fruit, a low-glycemic choice from the base of the pyramid.
• Chia and flax seeds: also on the book's list of foods with specific evidence.

The inverted fertility pyramid

The pyramid turns the usual priorities around: the base is what you eat most, the top is what you eat least.

No food group is cut out. Put together, this is essentially the Mediterranean pattern (fish, olive oil, vegetables, whole grains), which the book calls the best summary of fertility nutrition: no restrictive diet needed.

This is one chapter. The map has 42.

This list is part of Chapter 21 of Map to the Positive, at the start of Station III (Optimization). The chapter explains the seven principles behind it, the study of more than 18,000 women they come from, and the Mediterranean pattern that sums them up. Station III goes on to advanced supplementation, sleep and stress, exercise and his fertility.