Sports Nutrition + Better Sex = Welcome to Functional Medicine Fertility
What do sports nutrition and better sex have to do with fertility?
Sports nutrition helps enhance performance, whether on the field or in the bedroom. The basics of sports nutrition are part of functional medicine fertility.
What is functional medicine fertility? It’s using the science of functional medicine to identify the root cause of imbalances in the body—hormonal and nutritional imbalances, genetic predispositions, chronic conditions or low energy levels. All of these things impact fertility. If we optimize your athletic performance, reduce and slow the aging process, and improve your libido we can also boost fertility.
Does nutrition affect fertility?
In sports nutrition we utilize nutritional biochemistry to optimize performance. Tom Brady has become the GOAT (greatest of all time) not just in his sport but in his modeling of how sports nutrition and lifestyle medicine can support peak performance.
At age 43, the reigning quarterback has made headlines with his seventh Super Bowl win with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This Super Bowl moved Brady ahead of Pro Football Hall of Famer Charles Haley for the most Super Bowl titles won by a single player in NFL history.
So, what’s the main key to his longevity as a player, the edge he achieves beyond his physical workouts? His diet. Football players, especially the lineman, have historically been notorious for eating junk food to fill up on calories and pack on the pounds. Brady, on the other hand, has made a science out of nutrition for peak performance.
So, what does Tom Brady eat? His book on the TB12 diet shares that he eats 80% veggies/fruits/grains (no gluten and no processed grains), and 20% protein. His grains are not white—no potatoes or bread—but rather seeds and nuts. The guy pounds the electrolytes, which are very important for absorbing nutrients and recovery. He avoids the nightshade family of vegetables, which includes tomatoes, eggplant, mushrooms, potatoes, and zucchini. And of course, no sugar, dairy, alcohol or coffee.
He’s not the first athlete to credit his diet with changing his game. Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic was often a finalist, but becoming the number one seed eluded him for years. Then he went gluten-free and he has detailed how 12 months later, he became the number one player in the world in 2013. In February 2021 at age 33 he won his 9th Australian Open title, his 18th Grand Slam victory.
Being at the top of your game isn’t just for sports—it’s for fertility. I utilize some of the basic principles of sports nutrition in my personalized fertility protocols because performance isn’t just a sport. How you feel sexually, your body’s ability to ovulate, your guy’s sperm quality and quantity can all be changed and improved not only to have better sex but also to improve your fertility game.
Can exercise and nutrition increase fertility?
In anti-aging medicine, we look at how we can slow and, in some cases, reverse the aging process by altering the biochemistry of the body to support your body's ability to produce energy and better hormonal health.
There have been a lot of breakthroughs in this area in recent decades, as we have realized that cellular aging is basically because the body is not getting what it needs or is worn down by stress, bad food, overwork, lack of sleep and exercise and not getting nutrients to match your genetic and lifestyle needs.
Overtime, this shows up as wrinkles, premature graying of the hair, poor sexual performance, low libido, and all the things we don’t look forward to when we think of the word “old.”
What do sports nutrition and anti-aging have in common? They are part of the recipe for fertility functional medicine which seeks to optimize energy production in the body to reduce cellular damage. By slowing the aging process, you have better health today. Your chronological age might be 43, but your biological age (real age of your body) is younger (i.e. Tom Brady).
How well each part of the body is functioning, the cellular health, the nutrients, the energy production of your body, the health of your organs all factor into biological age. Your biological age determines the health of your eggs and your husband or partner’s sperm.
There are foods, supplements and time-honoured techniques such as hot and cold therapy that can be used to reduce the progression of aging.
How to get in the mood when trying to conceive
Ever not feel in the mood? Tired? Sluggish? Depressed? Exhausted?
We all have a reason to be all of these things during COVID-19. The pandemic has taken a significant toll on the health of everyone and women have also shared a disproportionate burden of hardship from economic and emotional causes to work balance at home. In all of this, self-care is often lost but couldn’t be more important.
Sex is important for your health. Regular sex is good for your immune sytem, stress level, blood pressure, sleep, heart health and even your bladder control.
Sex can tone the pelvic floor for women and reduce risk of incontinence or leaking. Sex can serve as exercise, just a lot more fun than running on a cold winter morning. :) The benefits of increased blood flow, relaxation and stress reduction all in one place. The better your health, the higher your sex drive.
As I’ve written about previously, food, supplements and exercise can improve your sex drive. In order to have your hormones be optimized (which helps you get into the mood), to ovulate and to be in shape for the cardio portion, you need to be healthy!
You don’t need to be a professional athlete to eat well and have better sex. The bonus—all the benefits of sports nutrition, anti-aging medicine, and better exercise—is that they support better libido.
What’s special about functional medicine fertility?
Whether you are trying to have kids older or just having trouble getting pregnant or staying pregnant or just wanting to make sure your body is in tip top shape—functional medicine fertility can help you.
Functional medicine is the one evidence-based approach that can fully customize a health plan to support you in achieving fertility, maintaining pregnancy, and caring for the health of you and your newborn.
It’s unique because the idea behind functional and integrative medicine is to explore the root cause(s) of your infertility and other health and wellness challenges. To discover the real, underlying causes and what the symptoms are a manifestation of.
In the case of fertility, a functional medicine approach is important because it offers a whole new toolbox to help improve your chances of conceiving. Many women experience fluctuation in hormone levels, problems after being on birth control, endometriosis, PCOS, low estrogen levels or ovarian dysfunction when trying to get pregnant. It can be used with conventional testing but adds important new pieces of information, rather than just undergoing fertility treatments and lab testing non stop.
Nutrition and functional medicine
Nutrition is a cornerstone of functional medicine. This is because vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants each play a role in helping our bodies work optimally and preventing chronic disease.
Over the last decade, we’ve begun to understand that personalized nutritional medicine is the ideal. At my practice Simplina, we figure out what you need and take a blend of functional medicine, functional nutrition, and personalized medicine to custom create an ideal blueprint to optimize your health.
My clients often say, “I feel so much better!” My client Jenna said on her first appointment she felt like a 3/10 and within a month she felt like a 9/10. Her husband felt better too!
It doesn't have to take long to feel better, but it does take a commitment to changing your lifestyle. Habits, especially around food, are some of the hardest to change. What we eat today is dependent on what we ate as children, how food was used in our home (chocolate chip cookies as a reward?), the food culture in our home as it relates to our family, where we were raised and our ethnicity.
Yet, how you eat today can change. And that change, can be life changing in not just increasing your fertility odds, but improving how you feel everyday. One of my favorite things to say to my client’s is, “The side effect of working with me is that you are going to feel better.” It’s one of the things I love about being a functional nutritionist. :)
Back to sports nutrition…. The goal of sports nutrition is to support an athlete to have the best possible performance in their sport. In fertility, we want your body and your partner’s body to be ready to perform optimally, too.
Optimal nutrition, energy, hormonal balance, and body function = better fertility.
Take the first step in upping your game.
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Annina is a PhD, Registered Dietitian, Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist and Board Certified in Functional Medicine specializing in nutrition and functional medicine for fertility, pregnancy and new mom and baby. She has 7 years of practice experience and has co-authored several books on infant, child nutrition and obesity prevention.