So you want to get pregnant fast, but you and your partner are struggling with infertility? You are not alone.
Infertility Defined
Infertility is super common—infertility affects 1 in 10 couples at any time, making it one of the most common diseases for folks between the ages of 20 and 45.
Infertility is defined as “the inability to conceive after 12 months of unprotected intercourse.” This means that a couple is not able to become pregnant after 1 year of trying. However, for women aged 35 and older, inability to conceive after 6 months is generally considered infertility. Miscarriages are another common occurrence of infertility happening in about 1 in 10 couples as well.
If this is you, it’s important to know the most common causes of infertility along with these 10 clinically-tested strategies to get pregnant fast using a functional medicine approach to infertility.
Top Causes of Infertility
First things first, in order to understand why I recommend the following top 10 strategies to get pregnant fast using a functional medicine approach to infertility, it’s important to understand why infertility can happen.
The cause of infertility is multi-factorial. In fact, contrary to popular belief, in approximately 40% of infertile couples, the male partner (not the female) is either the sole cause or a contributing cause behind infertility.
Hence, generally speaking, about one-third of infertility cases are attributed to male factors, and about one-third of infertility cases stem from factors that affect women. For the remaining one-third of infertile couples, infertility is caused by a combination of problems in both partners or unexplained.
Infertility particularly happens more quickly as the woman gets older. For a healthy woman in her 20s or early 30s, the chances of conceiving each month is 25 to 30%. However, by the time a woman is 40 years old, the chances are only 10% or less.
Aside from age, some other common causes driving infertility include:
- Cigarette/tobacco smoking
- Weighing too much or weighing too little
- Irregular or abnormal periods
- PCOS
- Dysglycemia (blood sugar imbalances, insulin resistance, hypoglycemia)
- Poor gut health (dysbiosis, leaky gut, SIBO)
- Endometriosis and/or unaddressed autoimmunity
- Fibroids
- Eating sugar, industrial seed oils (canola, grapeseed, vegetable oil), trans-saturated fats or processed foods (like gluten and conventional dairy)
- Eating disorders/restrictive diets (such as fasting too much or not eating enough carbs)
- Diets low in antioxidant rich foods (veggies) and essential fatty acids (especially cold water fatty fish and other omega 3’s)
- Low arachidonic acid (from plant-based diets lacking meat, fish, eggs, butter, shellfish)
- Endocrine disruptors and toxic exposures (history birth control pills, BPA in plastics, mycotoxins/molds)
- Overtraining or sedentary lifestyles
- Oxidative stress (excess or chronic stress)
Common Infertility Treatment Options
Unfortunately, many of the “root causes” behind infertility go undetected by gynecologists and infertility doctors who often simply look at the problem (infertility) and band-aid it with a solution in a pill or IVF form—especially targeted at women.
Even though 40% of infertility cases stem from the male partner (not the female), female patients often bear the brunt of the infertility treatment load via a few options:
- birth control pills
- bioidentical hormone therapies
- IVF treatments
All this, while the male may continue on with eating his takeout pizza, smoking his cigar or chewing tobacco and maintaining a screen-based lifestyle (ie. Sedentary). Although the “pill for the ill” approach certainly can work and may have a time and place (individual-dependent), the success rate of IVF is really just a coin toss (50/50).
However, what could happen for a couple’s outcomes if they really leaned into, first, dotting their “i’s” and crossing their “t’s” in addressing the multi-factorial underlying root causes behind infertility?
Enter: functional medicine for infertility.
Functional medicine is an approach utilized by select healthcare professionals that aims to both understand and treat the root causes of disease and health imbalances rather than the symptoms.
Sarah’s “Get Pregnant Fast” Story
Sarah, 33, came to me as a patient wanting to get pregnant fast.
She had been married to her college sweetheart and partner, Mike, for almost 7 years and the process of “trying to get pregnant” was wearing on them both.
During her late 20’s, she didn’t think too much about it—just figured that getting pregnant would happen when it would happen…until it didn’t. To date, Sarah had tried changing her diet, taking supplements, meeting with fertility doctors and IVF treatments…but nothing was working!
That is, nothing was working until, we sat down together, had a pow wow, took a ‘deep dive’ into her nutrition and lifestyle habits and current stressors (physical and mental).
What we discovered through some functional lab testing and her case review blew her mind, including:
- Unaddressed PCOS, along with “dysglycemia” (blood sugar imbalances from under-eating)
- Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth
- B12 anemia (from a long term history of a plant-based diet)
- Imbalanced hormones from her teen history of birth control pills and disordered eating
- Poor quality, broken sleep and disrupted circadian rhythms
In short: Sarah’s body was simply out of balance—not just “infertile.”
“Why didn’t any doctor ever ask me these questions or look for these answers?!” she said.
In order to address Sarah’s underlying imbalances, we leaned in to these top 10 strategies to get pregnant fast, using a functional medicine approach, and within a matter of months, Sarah and Mike were at the doctor getting their first ultra sound.
When given the right tools, your body innately wants to heal itself. My functional medicine practice is aimed at finding those “right tools”, like these 10 strategies to get pregnant fast.
10 Strategies to Get Pregnant Fast: A Functional Medicine Approach to Infertility
Without further ado, 10 strategies to get pregnant fast (in no particular order).
#1. Eat Enough
In a fat-phobic and intermittent-fasting-carb-counting-obessessed culture, we are made to believe that overindulgence and overeating is “the” problem. However, under-eating (be it, under eating calories or under eating macronutrients—like carbs, fats, or proteins) can send the body into a state of “fight or flight.” The LAST THING the body wants to do when it is not certain whether or not it will have enough energy to support your energy needs alone is to make a baby.
#2. Sleep Like a Boss
One in three people are sleep deprived—either waking up during the night (broken sleep—even to pee) or sleeping less than six-and-half hours per night. Sleep is a nutrient for hormone and circadian rhythm balance as well as whole body repair and detoxification. Some of my favorite tactics for optimizing sleep quality include:
- Nix screens and blue light at least 1-2 hours before bed (and wear ‘blue blocking’ glasses at night, along with turning your screens into ‘nightshift’ yellow or red mode with a program like f.lux)
- Sleep in a completely dark, pitch black room (black out shades or an eye mask) and keep it cool (ideally 68 degrees or below). I also love ChiliPad to regulate body temp at night.
- Eat your last main meal of the day at least 2 to 3 hours before bed. If you have hypoglycemia tendencies, consider sipping some bone broth, collagen stirred into tea or a protein shake in water before bed to prevent nighttime waking.
- Eat 20-30 grams protein within the first 1-2 hours of waking up every morning (this sets the tone for your blood sugar and circadian rhythms for the entire day)
- Monitor your HRV with an Oura Ring or Whoop Band to correlate stressors in your life that are impacting your sleep (knowledge is power)
If you’re still not sleeping optimally (despite trying), work with a functional medicine practitioner to figure out why (Is it a liver/gallbladder issue? Blood sugar imbalance? SIBO? Mold exposure? etc.).
#3. Treat Your Body Like a Plant (Eat All 3 Macros)
Like a plant needs water, sunshine and rich soil, the human body requires protein, fat and carbohydrates (namely veggies, starchy tubers and fruits) to function properly. Therapeutic diets (such as vegan, keto, carnivore) can serve a time and place. Additionally, depending on our genetic microbial makeup, ancestry and health history, our specific needs and tolerances may vary (for example, I don’t tolerate heavy intakes of red meat in my diet due to my history of colitis and lyme, yet poultry and fish digest better), but the bottom line is that we need the least processed, most balanced diet possible with these three main macronutrients for optimal fertility.
#4. Balance Your Blood Sugar
Dysglycemia (both hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia) is a stressor to your body. Blood sugar is basically energy for all cellular function and energy (ATP) in your mitochondria. Balanced blood sugar (eating enough, absorbing enough and feeling stable during the day) signals to your hormones (especially cortisol, “I’m ok”). When blood sugar goes up too high or dips too low, then cortisol (stress hormone) goes with it. And we all know what stress (cortisol) does to the body if it’s chronically disrupted (not nice things).
Balancing your blood sugar goes hand-in-hand with many of the strategies listed here and it is something a functional medicine practitioner can guide you individually to both monitor and optimize. Some simple at-home blood sugar balance tactics include:
- Eat 20-30 grams protein within the first 1-2 hours of waking up every morning (this sets the tone for your blood sugar and circadian rhythms for the entire day)
- Sleep 6.5-8 hours each night
- Eat protein with each meal
- Move your body daily (without overtraining)
- Address dysbiosis in your gut microbiome
#5. Love Your Gut
Your gut is the gateway to health! (Fertility included). You have trillions of gut bacteria in your biome (more than cells in your body). If you have underlying SIBO, dysbiosis (bacteria or fungal imbalances) or a bacterial or gut infection (parasite, lyme, etc.), then your gut bacteria cannot balance your hormones, blood sugar, mitochondria or circadian rhythm optimally.
Additionally, if you eat the same exact foods daily, restrict your diet excessively or lead a gut-disrupting lifestyle (overtraining or sedentary, poor sleep, lack of human connection/social relationships, overwork, toxic exposures), then there is a good chance you at least have some dysbiosis on your hands.
A functional medicine approach helps patients pinpoint what habits and factors are driving gut imbalances to then correct them using food, lifestyle and smart supplementation (probiotics and prebiotics included, customized for your needs).
#6. Kick Plastics & Toxins
Toxins are known ‘endocrine disrupters’—especially BPA (plastics in water bottles, cooking utensils and tupperware), chemicals in tap water, non-stick pans, conventional cleaning and beauty supplies, EMF’s, antibiotics and pesticides/fertilizers used in the vast majority of our food sources today. Clean up your toxic burden by swapping out the toxin load with similar, more natural solutions, such as:
- Glassware and stainless steel tupperware and water bottles
- Filtered water
- Natural makeup like W3ll People or Ilia
- EMF blocker canopies, shutting your WiFi router off while sleeping (and phone on airplane mode), and keeping devices off your body (not in your lap or pocket)
- Shopping organic and local as often as possible (support your farmers!)
Check out sites like Think Dirty and the EWG to go ‘deep’ on all things toxins.
#7. Break the Mold
Mycotoxins and mold are endocrine disruptors (they don’t play nice to your hormones). If you’re living or working in toxic mold day in and day out, you’re breathing spores in and possibly contributing to the reason why your body feels out of balance. Mold is an entirely big topic of its own. If you are curious as to whether this could be you, check out my mold detox story here. As a functional medicine practitioner, mold is definitely a stone I do not leave unturned for my clients now.
#8. Ditch Overtraining
The last thing your body wants to do if it’s running from a bear in the wild is pause and get pregnant. Likewise, it feels the same for you if you are overtraining. Overtraining looks differently for different folks. Some people they are training too many hours. Others are training too frequently (too many sessions or days). And others are training too intensively or under-recovering (not eating or sleeping enough to support training).
This is where a heart and head check comes into play. Where are you at with your training? Is it holding you back? Inside you know the answer.
I TOTALLY GET IT. I love working out, and in the same breath, have finally found freedom and peace with it using my unique functional medicine body love + food freedom perspective. Let’s connect if you need or want some guidance and support here.
#9. Rule Out Food Intolerances, PCOS, Autoimmunity & More
A functional medicine approach to infertility may integrate functional lab testing to rule out other underlying “root cause” issues driving infertility. Tests or assessment may include:
- Reputable food intolerance testing (most food intolerance tests are not accurate)
- Complete hormone testing (serum, saliva, urine)
- Autoimmunity screening
- Gut microbiome analysis
- Micronutrient testing
- Toxicity testing (mycotoxins, metals, glyphosate, etc.)
#10. Get Your Dude to “Man Up” to Better Health
Infertility is a two-way street. Often times, I see the female partner “doing all the things” while her guy is still smoking weed or chewing tobacco, sitting in front of a screen 12 hours per day, not exercising or downing brewskis (beer) and pizza every weekend or the opposite, he’s overtraining and under-recovering—intensive marathon or CrossFit training, intermittent fasting and avoiding carbs like the plague. Forty-percent of infertility cases are attributed to the male—not the female. A healthy weight, healthy blood sugar, a healthy gut and properly managed stress levels are just as essential for your man.
There ya go, 10 strategies I’ve seen countless clients and testimonials use to get pregnant fast from a functional medicine approach. While there are more that I can teach you, these are a good “starter” base.