Fertility Nourishment During IVF: What Should You Eat During IVF?
Gentle Support For a Tender Season
Going through IVF has a way of making every choice feel important, especially what you eat. Suddenly you're wondering if you're getting enough protein, taking the right supplements, eating the right fats, or missing some special super-secret fertility food everyone else seems to know about. (I’m lookin’ at you, McDonald’s French fries.)
I know that feeling well. I spent five years navigating infertility and IVF, including multiple losses, retrievals, transfers, and reproductive immunology before eventually having my twins.
That experience is part of why I believe so strongly in intentional fertility nourishment. During IVF, I focus on a nutrient-dense diet with adequate protein, quality fats, thoughtfully chosen carbohydrates, and foods rich in nutrients that support egg and sperm health, hormones, thyroid function, and early development.
Nutrition cannot control every part of IVF, but it can be one meaningful way to support your body through everything treatment asks of it, particularly in a process that often feels like we have zero control.
What Is a Fertility-Supportive Diet?
A fertility-supportive diet is a way of eating that intentionally provides the energy, protein, fats, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients involved in reproductive health.
When I design individualized meal plans based on labs from your RE and other providers, I want to know whether you are eating enough overall. I want to know where your protein comes from, what kinds of fats you regularly eat, whether your meals support stable blood sugar, and whether you consistently eat foods rich in the nutrients that matter during preconception.
I also want to know:
Do you have PCOS or insulin resistance?
Endometriosis?
Diminished ovarian reserve?
Thyroid concerns?
Recurrent pregnancy loss?
Male factor infertility (or have you explored this possibility)?
Unexplained infertility?
Are you ominvore, vegetarian, or vegan?
Have you already been through several retrievals?
Are you preparing for your first transfer or your sixth?
There is a foundation to fertility nutrition, but there is no reason every person going through IVF should eat exactly the same way.
Fertility Nutrition Starts Before Retrieval
In case you didn’t know, egg development does not begin when you start stimulation medications. The egg that eventually reaches ovulation or retrieval develops over a few months. Sperm development also occurs over a period of months. That is one reason I like to think about fertility nutrition as preparation rather than something you suddenly start the week of an egg retrieval.
When time allows, the months leading into IVF give us an opportunity to look at your overall nutrient intake, correct known deficiencies, assess your prenatal and supplements, support blood sugar and metabolic health when relevant, and make sure you are consistently eating enough protein, fats, and nutrient-dense foods.
However, it does not mean you missed your chance if your retrieval is next week. You start where you are. If you do have several months before treatment, we can use them intentionally.
Protein Is a Fertility Foundation
Protein is one of the first things I assess with fertility clients because amino acids are involved throughout the body, including in processes related to reproductive and metabolic health.
Protein-rich foods can also bring a lot of fertility-relevant nutrients with them:
Eggs provide protein along with choline, iodine, selenium, and other nutrients.
Seafood can provide protein, DHA and EPA, iodine, selenium, B12, and zinc.
Meat can contribute highly bioavailable iron, B12, zinc, and other nutrients.
Full-fat Greek yogurt and other dairy foods, if you tolerate them, can provide protein alongside iodine and other nutrients.
Beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, tofu, and tempeh can also contribute protein and important nutrients.
Rather than having very little protein all day and a large serving at dinner, protein can show up throughout the day. That might look like eggs at breakfast, Greek yogurt as a snack, salmon at lunch, or meat, poultry, beans, or another protein at dinner. And I individualize the exact amount rather than turning it into a universal number for every IVF patient.
Quality Fats Matter for Fertility
Fat is not something I want fertility clients unnecessarily restricting. Dietary fat provides energy, helps us absorb fat-soluble nutrients, and supplies fatty acids involved in cell structure and reproductive health. Cholesterol and fats also play important roles in hormone physiology.
In real food terms, that means foods such as egg yolks, avocado, olives and olive oil, nuts, seeds, full-fat dairy when tolerated, and fatty fish have a place in a fertility-supportive diet.
I am especially interested in omega-3 fats from seafood. Salmon, sardines, trout, herring, oysters, mussels, and other lower-mercury seafood can provide DHA and EPA alongside nutrients such as iodine, selenium, B12, and zinc. If you don't eat seafood, we address that differently rather than simply ignoring those nutrients.
And yes, you can eat the egg yolk. (Please, please do!)
Carbohydrates Need Context, Not Fear
Carbohydrates are another place where fertility advice can become overly simplistic.
To be clear, I very much care about blood sugar regulation. It can be particularly important for someone with PCOS, insulin resistance, or other metabolic concerns. As you move into pregnancy, insulin resistance can show up as well, so it’s always good to look at this head on before you even get there.
The best way to start with carbs is looking at what you are eating and what you are eating it with. Fruit with Greek yogurt or nut butter gives you a different meal than fruit juice by itself. Sourdough with eggs and avocado gives you more protein and fat than toast alone. Rice with salmon, vegetables, and olive oil is different from a bowl of plain rice. Potatoes with meat and vegetables can absolutely fit into a fertility-supportive diet.
For many people, pairing carbohydrate-rich foods with protein, fat, and fiber makes meals more satisfying and supports steadier blood sugar. If there is a specific metabolic issue, we can get more individualized from there.
Fertility Nutrition Is Also About Nutrient Density
One of the reasons I care about food quality during IVF is that preconception is a nutritionally important time. You are building nutrient stores for pregnancy while also supporting the final stages of egg and sperm development. Some of the nutrients I pay particular attention to include folate, choline, iron, B12, zinc, iodine, selenium, DHA, vitamin D, magnesium, and vitamin A.
Don’t worry. You don’t need to memorize every nutrient or calculate every meal. We can get a lot of these naturally from food:
Eggs are one of my favorite fertility foods because they provide choline, protein, and several micronutrients.
Seafood adds DHA, iodine, selenium, zinc, and B12.
Meat and other animal proteins can provide iron, zinc, B12, and other nutrients in highly usable forms.
Leafy greens and other vegetables provide folate, fiber, potassium, vitamin C, and a wide range of phytonutrients.
Fruit provides vitamin C, potassium, fiber, antioxidants, and polyphenols.
Nuts and seeds can contribute minerals, fats, fiber, and plant compounds.
Ideally, we are creating a diet with enough nutritional depth that you are not relying on a handful of supplements to do all of the work. That said, we do the best we can with what we have access to.
Your Prenatal Vitamin Is Part of the Plan
When a fertility client tells me she takes a prenatal vitamin, my next question is, which one?
Prenatals are not all the same. Consider it alongside what you’re getting from whole food:
How much folate are you getting?
What about choline?
Is DHA included?
What form and amount of iron is in it?
Does it contain iodine?
How does your vitamin D intake compare with your labs?
Are you also taking separate supplements that contain some of the same nutrients?
This becomes particularly important during IVF because supplement routines can grow quickly. You may have recommendations from your fertility clinic, reproductive endocrinologist, reproductive immunologist, acupuncturist, nutrition professional, books, podcasts, and fertility communities.
Before long, your kitchen counter can look like a supplement aisle. While some people do need more targeted support for one reason or another, more isn’t always better. Sometimes what you need is a thoughtful review of the whole picture:
Is there a nutrient deficiency?
Is there a specific fertility concern?
Are we addressing something found in your labs?
Has your fertility specialist recommended it?
Is it already included in another product?
Does it make sense for your diet and medical history?
There are also fertility supplements that should not be casually added without appropriate testing or medical guidance.
During IVF, your fertility team should know everything you are taking, including herbs and products that seem harmless because they are "natural." TCM plant medicine from an LAc is incredibly powerful. I want to help you understand the nutrition side and identify questions to bring back to your medical providers, not to override your treatment protocol.
Eating During Stimulation
Stimulation can change how eating feels. As the ovaries enlarge, some people experience bloating, constipation, pressure, or early fullness. You may not want a huge plate of food even though your body still needs nourishment. This is where smaller, nutrient-dense meals can work well.
You might have eggs with avocado and sourdough, Greek yogurt with berries and nuts, a smoothie with protein and nut butter, salmon with rice, soup with shredded meat and vegetables, cottage cheese and fruit, or meatballs with roasted vegetables and potatoes. You can make the meals smaller and more frequent without making them nutritionally empty.
Hydration matters as well, but your clinic's recommendations should guide you if they have given specific instructions related to your medications, retrieval, or risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome.
After Egg Retrieval
Retrieval recovery varies. You may feel relatively normal quickly, or you may feel bloated, constipated, tender, tired, and less interested in food.
This is one of those times when it’s nice for food to be easy. If you can, have meals available before retrieval. Soup, cooked proteins, eggs, yogurt, fruit, potatoes, rice, smoothies, and other foods you know you tolerate can make the next few days simpler.
Your clinic should always be your first call if symptoms after retrieval are significant or worsening. Nutrition is supportive here. It is not a substitute for medical assessment.
Preparing for Embryo Transfer
Transfer is where food can become especially superstitious. When you have invested this much time, money, energy, and hope into creating an embryo, it's easy to feel like you need to do everything perfectly before and after transfer. I know what it is like to wonder whether there is one more thing you could eat, take, avoid, test, or change that might finally make this transfer the one that works.
Here’s what I want to say: no food can guarantee implantation.
That being said, this doesn’t make nutrition irrelevant. It means we keep the focus where it belongs: on building a nutrient-dense foundation, supporting your overall health, addressing individual needs, following your treatment protocol, and preparing nutritionally for a possible pregnancy.
My friend, eat the pineapple if you like pineapple. It’s delicious.
When IVF Gets More Complicated
My own fertility journey eventually went beyond standard IVF. After years of treatment, reproductive immunology became part of my care. That experience is one of the reasons I am careful about telling someone with infertility to simply eat better, reduce stress, or take a particular supplement.
Sometimes there is more going on. Sometimes it takes time to find it. Sometimes you find something, and there still is not a simple answer. And sometimes you do everything you reasonably can, and the outcome still doesn’t give you the outcome you worked so hard for.
I eventually had my twins after five years of IVF, multiple losses, and a fertility journey that included reproductive immunology and asked far more of me than I ever anticipated. I am incredibly grateful for where that journey led me, because now I can serve women so much better with sincere empathy and empirical knowledge. But I do not look backward and believe that every unsuccessful cycle happened because I had not yet found the right food, supplement, or wellness routine.
That would be an unfair burden to place on myself, and I will not place it on my clients either. If you are not getting pregnant successfully and holding onto the baby, it’s not your fault. Let’s look at it as information that helps us move forward the right way so you do!
A Failed IVF Cycle Is Information, Not Proof That Your Body Failed
When an IVF cycle does not go as expected, there can be useful questions to ask:
If it was a retrieval, what happened between the follicle count, eggs retrieved, mature eggs, fertilization, early embryo development, and blastocyst development?
If fertilization or embryo development was lower than expected, has sperm health been fully evaluated?
Do you have questions about the stimulation protocol, follicle growth, trigger, or timing?
If transfers have failed, what has your physician evaluated on the uterine side?
If you've had recurrent losses, what additional investigations have you discussed?
Those questions belong with your reproductive endocrinologist and medical team, but you deserve to understand your treatment and participate in those conversations. An unsuccessful retrieval or transfer should not automatically turn into a list of things you supposedly did wrong. IVF has many moving pieces.
A Little Reminder: Sperm Health Is Part of Fertility Nutrition
Fertility treatment can become incredibly focused on the woman undergoing injections, monitoring, retrievals, and transfers.
Biologically, that is only part of the picture. Sperm contributes half of the genetic material to an embryo. Sperm development also takes months, which gives male partners a meaningful preconception window too. Depending on the situation, the fertility team may evaluate count, motility, morphology, and sometimes additional factors such as DNA fragmentation.
From a nutrition perspective, many of the same foundations apply: adequate protein and energy, nutrient-dense foods, seafood and omega-3 fats, zinc, selenium, antioxidants, sleep, movement, and attention to lifestyle exposures.
Since sperm is part of creating the embryo, I do not believe fertility preparation should automatically become one person's responsibility.
What to Focus on During IVF
A fertility-supportive diet during IVF should give you a strong nutritional foundation while leaving room for your individual diagnosis, treatment, and life.
Start by making sure you are eating enough.
Build meals around quality protein.
Include nourishing fats rather than restricting them unnecessarily.
Choose carbohydrate sources that work well for you and pair them with protein, fat, and fiber.
Eat a variety of nutrient-dense foods, including eggs, seafood, meat or other protein sources, vegetables, fruit, full-fat dairy if tolerated, nuts, seeds, beans, and lentils.
Pay attention to the nutrients that are especially important during preconception and early pregnancy.
Review your prenatal instead of assuming all prenatals provide the same thing.
Be thoughtful with supplements and involve your fertility team.
If you have several months before retrieval or transfer, use that time to build these habits rather than waiting until treatment begins.
And if your fertility journey becomes more complicated than you expected, keep asking questions.
Looking for Fertility Nutrition Support During IVF?
IVF asks a lot of you, and figuring out how to nourish yourself can feel like a full time job.
Whether you're preparing for IVF, between cycles, heading into a retrieval or transfer, or simply wondering whether your current fertility diet and supplements are actually supporting you, we can look at the whole picture together. We'll review your nutrition, treatment history, supplements, relevant labs, symptoms, and real life, then focus on the changes that make sense for you.
As a Specialist in Prenatal Nutrition, I’d like offer thoughtful, evidence informed nutrition support that helps you care for your body through the fertility process without making you responsible for everything you cannot control.
Ready for support that meets you where you are? Book your initial fertility consultation.
