For optimal prenatal health, working women should prioritize their well-being before conception. Let's explore dietary considerations for preconception care. What should working women avoid during preconception? Spicy foods: While some prefer light meals, others favor bold flavors. Experts advise expectant mothers to minimize spicy foods during preconception, as these...
What White-Collar Women Should Avoid During Preconception Preparation
Spicy Foods: When it comes to diet, some people prefer light meals, while others favor bold flavors. Experts advise expectant mothers to minimize spicy foods during preconception, as these can disrupt normal digestive function—causing stomach discomfort, indigestion, constipation, or even hemorrhoids.
As the fetus grows during pregnancy, it naturally impacts the mother's digestive function and bowel movements. Continuing to consume spicy foods at this stage can severely impair the mother's ability to supply nutrients to the fetus and may even complicate delivery. Therefore, both prospective mothers and fathers should discontinue spicy food consumption during the three months preceding conception.
High-sugar foods: During preconception, expectant mothers should be particularly cautious and avoid high-sugar foods to prevent sugar metabolism disorders and reduce the risk of developing diabetes. Continuing high-sugar consumption after pregnancy may lead to gestational diabetes.Gestational diabetes not only jeopardizes the mother's health but also severely impacts the healthy development and growth of the fetus. In severe cases, it may lead to premature birth, miscarriage, or stillbirth. Pickled foods: Pickled foods contain high levels of nitrites, benzopyrene, and other substances that are detrimental to health.Pregnant women with allergies should especially avoid these foods to prevent irreversible harm to the fetus. Research also indicates that consuming pickled foods during pregnancy may cause miscarriage, premature birth, or even fetal deformities.
Caffeine-containing foods: Women preparing for pregnancy must be cautious and avoid foods containing caffeine. Excessive consumption of coffee, tea, and other caffeinated beverages and foods can adversely affect female physiological health. Research indicates that caffeine, as a substance capable of influencing female physiological changes, can alter the ratio of estrogen and progesterone in the body to some extent. It may also indirectly inhibit the implantation and development of a fertilized egg within the uterus.
Canned Foods: Canned foods typically contain significant additives during production, such as artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. While these additives may not affect most people, frequent consumption by pregnant women can be detrimental to health. Moreover, canned foods offer low nutritional value. High-temperature processing destroys vitamins and other nutrients, and regular consumption may impair the fetus's ability to absorb nutrients.Therefore, canned foods should also be avoided during preconception planning.
Alcoholic Beverages: Research indicates that alcohol consumption is a major cause of birth defects and intellectual disabilities. This occurs because alcohol freely crosses the placenta into the fetus, resulting in fetal blood alcohol levels matching those of the mother.Alcohol severely damages the brain and heart. If a woman drinks during pregnancy, her baby's IQ may fall below average, and the child may exhibit sluggish reactions, intellectual disabilities, or even mental retardation. For the baby's health, expectant mothers must avoid alcoholic beverages during preconception.
5 Habits White-Collar Women Should Avoid During Preconception Planning
1. Keeping Phones in Pants Pockets
Many men carry phones in pockets or clip them to belts. Experts warn that prolonged exposure to electromagnetic radiation from phones in pockets can impair sperm motility and reduce sperm count.
Solution: Place it on a table or hold it in your hand.
2. Prolonged Driving or Sitting Extended driving or sitting compresses the pelvic area, reducing blood supply and oxygen levels. This diminishes energy and nutrient delivery, leading to decreased sperm function.
Office workers often experience severe premenstrual and menstrual pain due to prolonged sitting. Combined with lack of exercise, this impairs blood circulation.Some cases of qi stagnation and blood stasis may also cause lymphatic or blood clots, blocking fallopian tubes. Prolonged sitting combined with constitutional factors can even lead to endometriosis—all contributing to infertility.
Countermeasure: Stand and move for 5 minutes every 45 minutes; engage in 30 minutes of daily physical activity.
III. Wearing Tight Jeans
Men should avoid excessively tight jeans, especially synthetic "boxer briefs" with poor breathability and heat dissipation. These tightly encase the scrotum in an enclosed environment, restricting airflow and fostering bacterial growth that can cause genital tract inflammation. They also hinder the scrotum's ability to dissipate heat, restrict blood circulation, and impede venous return in the spermatic cord—all detrimental to sperm production and nutrition.Over time, this can lead to infertility and reduced blood supply. Especially during hot summers when the scrotum naturally relaxes, overly tight jeans disrupt the optimal temperature needed for scrotal function.
IV. Malnutrition and Picky Eating
Sperm production requires essential nutrients, making spermatogenesis closely tied to nutritional status.This doesn't necessarily mean consuming turtle meat or eel. However, incorporating lean meats, eggs, fish, and vegetables into the diet to ensure adequate protein, vitamins, and trace elements is essential. Individuals with picky eating habits often face deficiencies in certain nutrients.
Countermeasure: Ensure balanced nutrition.
V. High Work Pressure
Psychological factors and personality traits significantly impact reproductive function in both men and women.Research on neuroendocrine functions indicates that women enduring prolonged psychological states of tension, anxiety, and fear may experience autonomic nervous system dysfunction. This can disrupt sex hormone secretion, leading to reproductive disorders such as anovulatory cycles, oligomenorrhea, infrequent ovulation, amenorrhea, or functional uterine bleeding. It may also cause tubal spasms,thickened cervical mucus, and impaired sperm penetration. Statistics indicate that approximately 60% of women with neurotic disorders experience varying degrees of menstrual irregularities, reducing normal conception rates.
For men, prolonged mental tension and poor mood can cause the cerebral cortex to inhibit hormones in the gonadal axis, leading to decreased sperm production capacity.