Optimising nutrition is vital to support women throughout all life stages. Good nutrition has a role in supporting and improving general health, assisting in managing hormonal and reproductive concerns, and improving outcomes and symptoms of reproductive conditions.
Nutrition plays an important role in fertility, and is important to consider during your pre- and post- natal journey. Nutrition status, health and diet in the lead up to and at the time of conception can impact pregnancy outcomes. A healthy diet during pregnancy can help to give your baby the best start in life, with research showing that the first 1000 days of life, from conception to 2 years is key for life long health and wellbeing of your baby. Our Accredited Practising Dietitian can assist with advice in the following areas:
Fertility:
- Nutrition preparation for IVF or other reproductive technologies
- Achieving healthy body weight for conception
- Managing/regulating fertility hormones via nutritional means
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
PCOS is a complex hormonal condition whereby the ovaries have a number of cysts, or partially formed follicles, which each contain an egg. These rarely grow to maturity of produce eggs that can be fertilised. Women with PCOS commonly have high levels of insulin that don’t work effectively, or male hormones known as ‘androgens’, or both. The cause is not fully understood, however family history and genetics, hormones and lifestyle play a role.
Women who have PCOS may experience irregular menstrual cycles, amenorrhea (no periods), excessive facial or body hair growth, acne, scalp hair loss, reduced fertility (difficulty becoming pregnant), mood changes, obesity and sleep apnoea. You don’t have to have all of these symptoms to have PCOS.
It is important that all symptoms of PCOS are dealt with long-term, to avoid associated health problems. Management of symptoms involves lifestyle modifications (eating a healthy diet and doing physical activity), weight reduction (even 5-10% weight loss has proven beneficial) and medical treatment (with hormones or medications).
Our Accredited Practising Dietitian can help you understand how diet impacts insulin resistance, which foods need to be avoided, strategies for keeping insulin levels stable and how regularly to eat. She can also assist with weight loss.
Pregnancy:
Pregnancy is a demanding time for the body and you will need to eat a little more energy (kilojoules) each day than what was needed before pregnancy. You will also have greater nutrient needs for protein, iron, iodine and folate. Therefore good nutrition in pregnancy is more about the quality of food eaten than the quantity. Our Accredited Practising Dietitian can help advise you on:
- Optimal nutrition during pregnancy and breastfeeding, including twin pregnancy
- Healthy pregnancy weight management
- Managing nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (morning sickness)
- Gestational diabetes
- Food safety during pregnancy
Post Natal Nutrition
Our Accredited Practising Dietitian can help advise you on:
- Nutrition optimisation for recovery following birth
- Optimal nutrition for breastfeeding
- Weight management