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One of the more important factors in being able to conceive is your own general health. The healthier you are, the more likely that you will be able to conceive. Many people automatically assume that a vegetarian diet does not provide a proper mix of nutrients and that it impedes the body's ability to conceive. They are wrong. A well-balanced vegetarian diet should not have a discernable impact upon your ability to conceive.

Planning Your Diet

Poor nutrition can adversely affect your ability to conceive. Vegetarians, as well as the meat eaters, should strive to eat a well balanced diet. With proper planning, a vegetarian diet can meet all your preconception nutritional requirements. A well-planned vegetarian diet can also meet all your nutritional and caloric requirements once you become pregnant.

• A vegetarian nutritionist or a registered dietitian can help you plan a well-balance vegetarian diet that is compatible with your lifestyle choices.

The Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine has compiled a list of guidelines for a healthy and well-balance vegetarian diet for preconception and throughout the pregnancy. They specifically point out that although seldom a problem, vegetarians should be vigilant to ensure that they are consuming sufficient quantities of calcium, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, and Iron.

• Calcium intake is usually not a problem for vegetarians, or even for vegans. Vegans are very strict vegetarians that not only do not eat meat, but they also refrain from eating products containing eggs or milk. Many plant foods such as sunflower seeds and broccoli are high in calcium. As well, most soy-based products such as tofu and soymilk are also good sources of calcium.
• Vitamin D is lacking in most diets. The human body, however, is able to synthesis its own Vitamin D from sunlight. Simply exposing your body to sunlight for about 30 minutes, a day, will be sufficient for your body to produce all the Vitamin D you need. Take care not to over do it – you don't want to burn.
• Vitamin B12 is rarely present in plant foods. However, many foods such as breads and cereals are routinely fortified with Vitamin B12. Yeast is also a good source of B12. It can also be taken as a dietary supplement.
• Iron is found in abundance in the vegetarian diet. However, after conception, your doctor may recommend that you take a dietary supplement to compensate for the additional iron requirements caused by the pregnancy.

As with the general population, all women should take a folic acid supplement.

While a vegetarian diet will not decrease your fertility levels, in some instances it may have the effects of delaying conception.

• Vegetarian women, on average, have low levels of body fat. This may make them a candidate for amenorrhea, which simply means that the menstrual cycle has ceased or is delayed. The menstrual cycle will return to normal once body fat levels are increased.

• Research indicates that Vegans, vegetarians that eat only plant products, may have longer menstrual cycles than the general population. Consequently, ovulation is delayed. This does not mean that they are less fertile, merely that they have fewer chances each year when they can become pregnant.

• Soy is good for you and it is a mainstay of many vegetarian diets. Yet, a few scientific studies have found that too much may actually decrease your fertility levels - maybe.

Soybeans contain a plant-based form of estrogen called phytoestrogens. Ingesting too much of this may decrease the frequency of ovulation thereby making it more difficult to conceive. However, in the studies conducted, an individual would need to ingest very high quantities of soy, such as three glasses of soymilk a day, for a month, in order for the soy to begin affecting the menstrual cycle.

In Japan, where soy based products are important components of the diet, there has been little evidence that soy impedes conception.

Animal studies seem to indicate that the phytoestrogens in soy may also cause infertility in males. There has not, however, been much study done on the effects of environmental estrogens on human, male fertility.

• If you are experiencing fertility problems, you may want to consider removing soy from your diet for a few months to see what happens. If you do, just be sure to substitute it with another source of protein.