Chinese medicine dietary and lifestyle tips to support fertility

It can be hard to feel sure about what exactly you should eat and do when trying to conceive. There is a lot of information out there, and some if it is conflicting. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is thousands of years old and has much to offer in this space. Healthy Qi (our basic life force) and Blood is important when we are trying to conceive – good-quality Blood is essential for the development of healthy follicles and optimal endometrial lining for implantation. Diet, exercise and emotional wellbeing are important factors when we are preparing to conceive.

Diet

We recommend eating warm and well-cooked foods - avoid cold foods and drinks. A varied diet of fresh and delicious foods that are warm and well-cooked will help the Spleen transform food into Qi and Blood. In TCM, the Spleen is responsible for digestion and the regulation of Fluids. It’s also important to eat at regular intervals – avoid skipping meals.

Savour your meals and eat in a relaxed manner. Avoid eating in front of the TV or while scrolling or driving. This will also help to prevent over-eating. Aim for a variety of flavours – including sweet, sour, salty, bitter and pungent. Yes, you read that right – eating sweet foods is important. A small amount of sweet foods, like sweet potato and dried goji berries, strengthen the Spleen. Too many sweet foods will impair its function. Balance is key.

Focus on pasture-fed meats, free-range eggs, good-quality grains (rice, amaranth, buckwheat, corn, millet, quinoa, sorghum, teff), legumes, lentils, vegetables and fruits. We also need to consider good fats – these include coconut and olive oil, butter, avocado, salmon and almonds.

Eating enough protein every day is also very important. Proteins are the fundamental building blocks of our body. When we’re in a rush and haven’t planned ahead, it’s easy to grab quick carbohydrate-based foods. Spending time each week to plan meals for the week ahead is an important way to make sure our meals are balanced with enough protein and fat. According to Steph Lowe, Nutritionist at The Natural Nutritionist, eating adequate protein by 10am is particularly important for women to maintain blood sugar control, satiety and cravings. Vegetarians and vegans may consider supplementing with a suitable protein powder.

According to Joelene Brighten, a Naturopath and Nutrition Scientist, women should aim for 1.1-1.4g of protein per kilogram of body weight. So, if you weigh 75 kilograms, this means you should aim to eat between 82g and 104g of protein per day.

During perimenopause (age 35 onwards), aim for 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram of your ideal body weight. Online macro calculators are handy tools that can help you calculate the protein component of different foods.

In TCM, protein is important in building Qi and Blood, which are important factors in maintaining regular periods and ovulation.

Here is an example of a daily meal plan:

Upon waking: Warm water with a little lemon or lime juice

Breakfast at 8am: Sourdough toast with butter, eggs, avocado, tomatoes, rocket

Morning snack: Green tea with a walnut and goji berry bliss ball

Lunch at 12pm: Slow-cooked paprika chicken, rice, roasted zucchini

Afternoon snack: Berry chia pudding with one scoop of protein powder

Dinner at 6pm: Soup with chicken bone-broth, chicken breast, bok choy, ginger, garlic and spring onions

Exercise

Exercise is an essential part of good health and in supporting fertility. Regular exercise helps to promote the flow of Qi and Blood, maintain hormonal balance and manage stress and weight.

Aim for one to three sessions per week at a moderate to vigorous level. This may include running, sprinting, CrossFit, biking, high-impact aerobics and reformer Pilates. Balance out higher intensity exercise with gentler exercise that incorporates stretching. This includes walking, yoga, mat Pilates and light gardening.

It is recommended that women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) engage in vigorous exercise and strength training to improve insulin resistance (Arabzadeh et al 2025).  Regular vigorous physical activity can improve insulin sensitivity, which helps the body use insulin more effectively.

Supplementation

If you’re eating well, or don’t have access to the foods mentioned in this article, and are feeling out of balance, it may be necessary to supplement. Also, many Australian soils are deficient in essential minerals, which then impacts the quality of our food.

A high-quality prenatal supplement, ideally prescribed through a naturopath or nutritionist, is also important. We know that nutrients like calcium and iron are vitally important for the health of the pregnant woman and her baby.  

Conserving Kidney Jing

Another important factor when considering fertility through the TCM lens is Kidney Jing. Kidney Jing, or Kidney Essence, influences our ability to conceive, as well as our vitality and longevity. Kidney Jing is concentrated in the brain, bone marrow, ova (eggs in women) and sperm in men.  Our Jing naturally declines with age, and this is what leads to declining egg and sperm quality and quantity (generally from the mid to late-thirties onwards).

When we don’t eat or sleep well, exercise too much and work too hard, we draw on our Kidney Jing reserves. For both women and men in the West, our fertile years are often spent working and playing hard. It’s a time when we’re focussed on climbing the ladder, buying a house and saving for the future. Ironically, we may be working hard in order to have financial security when we’re pregnant, asnd when children are young. However, drawing on our Kidney Jing reserves can impact our fertility. We can keep our Jing topped up by eating well, breathing deeply, spending time in nature, sleeping well, exercising regularly and appropriately and balancing activity with rest.

When we are trying to conceive, we MUST turn our focus inward. Rest, meditate, have a massage, cry, see a therapist. Your body knows if your life is chaotic and stressful, and if you’re burnt out. Our reproductive system shuts down when it senses its environment isn’t ideal to conceive.

We’ll end with some words from Jane Lyttleton, renown TCM practitioner:

“Jing is considered to be very precious; it is the life spring sourced in our deepest origins, a substance or energy inherited from our parents. In that sense, it is a finite bundle which must be conserved because it is not so easy to replenish it once spent. Healthy Kidney Jing is vitally important for fertility”.

References:

Arabzadeh, E., Khalilinejad, M., Gholami, M., 2025, Impact of exercise training on insulin resistance and metabolic pathways in polycystic ovary syndrome: A review, Science & Sports.