Recurrent Miscarriage & Infertility

How to Prevent Pregnancy Loss and Recurrent Miscarriages

Part Three: Natural Ways To Increase Your Chances Of Having A Healthy Pregnancy – Page 2

Take the Foundation of Health Quiz to see if your habits are promoting or impeding your optimal health and subsequently, your fertility. Please note that when we are discussing fertility, we are aiming for OPTIMAL health, not JUST GETTING BY health. This 4-part questionnaire will help you identify lifestyle factors that form the foundation of optimal health.

To complete the questionnaire, review each section and its corresponding statements. Determine whether each statement accurately describes your lifestyle habits. Circle Yes/No accordingly for each statement.

Section One: Nutrition

Do you eat a nutrient dense diet on most (5 or more) days of the week?

1. I eat 10 servings of fruits and veggies daily (aim for one pound per day):  Yes  |   No

2. I eat fatty, wild (ocean caught) fish, like salmon, sardines, and anchovies at least 2 to 3 times a week:  Yes  |   No

3. I avoid industrial seed oils (safflower, sunflower, grape-seed, corn, canola):  Yes  |   No

4. I favor healthy fats (avocados, nuts, olive oil, coconut oil, grass fed butter, and ghee) several times a week:  Yes  |   No

5. I don’t eat sugar-laden, processed foods such as foods that contain high amounts of sugar, and fructose corn syrup. Also, processed foods such bread, pasta, cereals, cakes, cookies, crackers, chips, and breakfast bars:  Yes  |   No

6. I eat high quality foods like grass-fed organic meat, wild fish and local organic produce:  Yes  |   No

8. I have minimal daily caffeine intake (1 single 8 ounce serving or less a day):  Yes  |   No

9. I avoid artificial sweeteners, artificial colors, additives and “natural” flavors such as Sweet and Low, Aspartame, Nutrasweet, and Splenda:  Yes  |   No

10. I mainly drink water, carbonated water, herbal teas, and unsweetened beverages (without sugar or alternative natural or artificial sweeteners):  Yes  |   No<

11. I eat full fat dairy products and avoid “low fat, skim and nonfat” products:  Yes  |   No

If you answered YES to 8 or more questions you are doing well. If you scored 7 or less, you need to work on optimizing your nutrition factor.

Section Two: Exercise

Are you optimizing your fitness health?

1. I exercise 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week:  Yes  |   No

2. I do not feel tired or fatigued after I work out:  Yes  |   No

3. I spend the majority of my time at work walking around and not seated:  Yes  |   No

4. I take 5 to 10 minute breaks each hour to walk around and stretch:  Yes  |   No

5. I have a varied workout routine, with a mix of cardio, strengthening, and mind body workouts like yoga or pilates:  Yes  |   No

6. I break a sweat when I work out and incorporate intensive bursts of activity within a workout:  Yes  |   No

7. I do not over-exercise or over-train my body (have constant injuries, feel very fatigued after exercise, train for 2 or more hours several days of the week):  Yes  |   No

If you answered YES to 5 or more, you are doing great. If you scored 4 or less, you need to optimize your exercise factor.

Section Three: Sleep

Do you experience enough sleep that restores your energy?

1. I experience problems falling asleep:  Yes  |   No

2. I experience problems staying asleep:  Yes  |   No

3. I usually go to bed after 10pm:  Yes  |   No

4. I frequently get fewer than 8 hours of sleep per night:  Yes  |   No

5. I am easily fatigued:  Yes  |   No

6. I have energy highs and lows throughout the day:  Yes  |   No

7. I frequently experience a second wind (high energy) late at night:  Yes  |   No

If you answered YES to 4 or more questions, your sleep is not adequate or restorative to your health and you need to optimize your sleep factor.

Section Four: Stress Reduction

Are you adequately addressing stress levels in your life?

1. Things I used to enjoy seem like a chore lately:  Yes  |   No

2. I suffer from depression or have recently been experiencing feelings of depression, such as sadness or loss of motivation:  Yes  |   No

3. My ability to handle stress has decreased:  Yes  |   No

4. I find that I am easily irritated or upset:  Yes  |   No

5. I have had one or more stressful major life events (ie: divorce, death of a loved one, job loss, new baby, new job, abuse history):  Yes  |   No

6. I tend to overwork with little time for play or relaxation for extended periods of time:  Yes  |   No

If you answered YES to 4 or more, you need to work on your stress factor.

As discussed above, this questionnaire is a helpful tool to help you determine which of your lifestyle factors needs to be addressed in order to achieve optimal health and ensure a successful pregnancy. A Functional Medicine practitioner will take you a step further to help you truly understand how these lifestyle factors are impacting your overall health, causing imbalances, and most importantly, what you can do to correct them. However, even if you do not work with a Functional Medicine practitioner to address and correct these problems, there are several strategies that you can follow on your own to help balance your body and potentially reverse infertility.