Fertility Smoothies: 5 Best Ingredients

You should know 3 things about me: (1) My Vitamix is my favourite kitchen appliance (2) I prefer smoothies over juices and (3) Chinese medicine (TCM) is my favourite naturopathic modality. Certain foods that we incorporate in our diet can actually help optimize our fertility. Let's talk about some TCM problem areas when it comes to fertility and how to correct them with ingredients to blend in our fertility smoothies!

YIN

Yin acts to cool, nourish, and moisten. When it becomes deficient, we tend to become warm and dry. This usually happens when we're overworked, our diet isn't nourishing our cells, sleep and exercise are low priority. Doesn't this sound like every busy woman that we know?

SIGNS OF YIN DEFICIENCY:

• Unusually warm body temperature

• Little to no vaginal or cervical mucus (yes, you should be paying attention to this)

• Scanty periods

• Increased sex drive

Blueberries are great yin boosters because they are dark in colour, chock full of nutrients, and don't stimulate your body. Add a handful of blueberries to a base of leafy greens and water and you got yourself the perfect yin boosting smoothie. Check out another one of my yin boosting smoothies!

YANG

Yang is the opposite to yin, it's warm and active. When it becomes deficient we start to become cold, and it usually happens when we're eating too much cold food, we live or work in a cold environment, and we're not getting enough sleep (notice a theme?). When we're too cold, our energy tends to stay still and it can't move throughout the body to warm us up!

SIGNS OF YANG DEFICIENCY:

• Miscarriages

• Infertility

• Pale menstrual blood

• Watery period

• Decreased sex drive

Ginger is warm, spicy, not to mention yellow - making it a fantastic yang food. To make the perfect yang smoothie, use fruit that is stored at room temperature because if your smoothie is too cold, you're not going to achieve that yang boosting action.

QI

This is the energy that circulates throughout our body, and keeps us going! When it comes to fertility we need the qi to move the egg from the ovary all the way to the uterus. When our energy can't move and becomes stagnated it's usually due to stress.

SIGNS OF QI STAGNATION:

• Painful periods

• Irregular periods

• Painful breasts

• Abdominal cramps

Lemon juice is the sour little kick that we need to get everything moving! Stagnation can be kicked to the curb with a little sweet and a little sour. Pairing the lemon with pineapple and mango can lead to the best qi boosting smoothie.

BLOOD

Blood nourishes the uterus, something that we want because it creates the best environment for your baby to grow. Deficiency can happen when we're not eating enough protein (specifically animal protein), our periods are too heavy, and we're incredibly stressed and experience feelings of anger and frustration.

SIGNS OF BLOOD DEFICIENCY:

• Scanty periods or no period

• Cold hands and feet

• Brittle nails

Beets are deep red, which helps build the blood. When it comes to nourishing our blood we want foods rich in phytonutrients. Adding carrots and spinach will help create the best blood deficiency smoothie (without having to blend a steak).

ESSENCE

Essence is directly related to our ability to reproduce. The lower our essence is, the harder it is to get pregnant. It becomes lowered through our monthly periods, the number of children we're already had, as well as life's general stressors!

SIGNS OF ESSENCE DEFICIENCY:

• Delayed or late puberty

• Irregular periods

• Amenorrhea

• Under developed secondary sexual characteristics (ex: breasts, body hair, hips)

• Poor response to fertility drugs

Almond butter is terrific because nuts contain all the nutrition needed to grow a plant. Foods that nourish us will help build essence - so if you're making a smoothie with high quality and whole ingredients, it's going to do a lot of good in your body.

Next steps

Did you notice that you were deficient in any of these 5 areas? These area-specific fertility smoothies are great to add to your daily routine! When you're ready to take it to the next step and correct these deficiencies, book an acupuncture appointment. Acupuncture can effectively target these areas and optimize your fertility so that your journey is happy and simple as possible.

PS. Now that you have a semi-solid plan, please sign up for my monthly newsletter called The Flow for more informative and useful content like this! I want to make sure that you have a good flow! (PS. You also get 4 free smoothie recipes to support your cycle! How sweet is that?)

Source: Treatment of Infertility with Chinese Medicine by Jane Lyttleton