Is Coffee Really All That Bad For Your Fertility?
There is so much information about what to do and what not to do while trying to conceive that it can often be very confusing and thus cause unnecessary stress on an already stressful journey.
I always tell my clients that it comes down to a unique, bio-individual approach. But, there are some clues to pay attention to your body and how it handles caffeine and coffee in particular. For instance, do you notice breast tenderness before your period? This could be a sign of too much estrogen and often coffee can play a role in this. Do you notice that you don’t have much or any cervical egg white fluid around ovulation? This could also be a sign that coffee is not your friend during this ttc journey.
Coffee is a diuretic and can dry up fluid in the body. We need to be properly hydrated and actually absorbing the water into our cells instead of it flushing out so quickly. I often have clients who drink a ton of water and yet they are constantly showing signs of dehydration. Signs of poor cervical fluid, dizzy upon standing, dry skin and constantly having to pee can be signs of not properly absorbing all of the water you are drinking. How to help mitigate this would be to add a pinch of sea salt, like Celtic Sea Salt or Redmond's Real salt into each glass of water. The salt acts as a natural electrolyte to help shuttle the water into your cells where it can be utilized.
Now let’s go back to coffee and caffeine. There are soooo many different types of coffee on the market and what you purchase really does matter when it comes to consuming your coffee. Coffee is a naturally fermented product and if not properly processed it can be very moldy and also sprayed with numerous chemicals. Try your best to source from a quality purveyor, one that has been tested for toxins and mold. Kion and Purity are great tasting coffees as well as high quality and clean. On the fertility journey we are always trying to reduce our toxic load and getting a good quality coffee would be one great step.
Another thing to consider is how you drink your coffee as this can also affect your fertility. Do you drink coffee first thing in the morning without drinking any water beforehand or having any food? This can spell disaster for those on the fertility journey. This automatically starts your day off by spiking cortisol which is your stress hormone and disrupting your blood sugar for the rest of the day. It can set you up for disrupted hormones and sugar cravings for the rest of the day.
Now you might not be noticing any of these side effects and that is because the body is very adaptable and resilient. But, this is still causing low grade stress in your body, day after day, month after month and year after year. Our bodies were meant to handle bouts of stress but were never meant to handle constant low grade stress on a daily basis. A solution would be to drink at least one full glass of water first thing upon waking to rehydrate your body after its nice long sleeping fast. The next very important step would be to have some food, ideally in the form of protein with that cup of coffee. This slows down how fast the coffee goes into your bloodstream and it is much more gentle on your body. If you include a good source of fat in your clean coffee such as cream, half and half or other quality fat this will slow down the absorption of caffeine even more allowing you to have a nice source of energy that is sustained longer instead of a terrible crash afterwards.
So the key takeaways would be that coffee and any form of caffeine can have a negative affect on your fertility unless you follow these simple rules and pay attention to signs that your body is always giving you.
Hydrate with water first thing upon rising instead of with coffee
Drink good quality mold and toxin free coffee like Purity or Kion
Drink your coffee alongside your breakfast, ideally with protein and fat for breakfast
Add some quality fat to your coffee like cream, grass fed butter, coconut milk etc. (do not drink it black or with added sugar)
Take note of any signs your body is giving you after the caffeine consumption: do you have nice sustained energy or do you crash shortly after? Do you rely on coffee to make you wake up or to go to the bathroom… this could be a sign your body is too addicted to coffee as a stimulant. Do you notice less cervical fluid around ovulation with your coffee consumption? Do you notice breast tenderness before your period or irritability when you drink coffee?
Interestingly, there is a specific gene that certain people have that allows them to process caffeine much slower than others so that the coffee does not affect them like it can with other people. These people can drink coffee anytime, even late into the evening. But it is still a good idea to drink good quality coffee to reduce your toxic load.
So tell me, who do you drink your coffee?