Boost your fertility by eating the right foods; Fitness.

Byline: By Diane Parkes

COUPLES planning for pregnancy can do a good deal to help boost their chances by eating the right foods according to a new book out this week.

Written by midwife, acupuncturist and nutritional advisor Zita West, Plan To Get Pregnant looks at all aspects of fertility and emphasises the importance of a healthy diet.

Zita, whose client list includes actresses Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett and Davina McCall, says there is much that mums-to-be and dads-to-be can do to eat to conceive.

But she stresses that the key is to maintain a balanced diet and not be caught up in food fads.

"When women start trying for a baby, and especially when they are having difficulty conceiving, they can easily become obsessed with what they eat," she says.

"They start going on all kinds of unhealthy diets that needlessly exclude certain foods and encourage others, with no hard evidence that this approach will help them to conceive.

"The aim is to have a healthy diet that leaves plenty of room for getting enjoyment from food. The fundamental key is learning, or re-learning, to eat sensibly."

Zita's top tips are: Make sure you eat things as close to their natural food state as possible, avoiding processed foods, refined sugars and 'low-fat' options.

Eat foods that are in season and fresh, ideally shopping for fruit and vegetables every couple of days.

Eat a wide variety of foods with different colours and a wide range of vitamins and minerals.

If you have any food intolerances see an expert before eliminating something from your diet.

Have three meals a day with healthy snacks inbetween if necessary.

Drink at least two litres of water a day.

And there are certain foods which help give fertility a boost. For instance, did you know: Orange fruit and vegetables such as peaches, apricots, carrots and mangoes contain vitamin A which helps to produce male and female sex hormones.

Nuts, seeds, eggs and wholegrains help male and female fertility because of their vitamin E.

The zinc in lean meat, sardines, broccoli, eggs, oatmeal, spinach and dried apricots aid egg and sperm production.

Selenium in brazil nuts, meat, fish, eggs, sunflower seeds, butter and oats support male and female fertility as well as aiding healthy sperm.

Useful information

See Zita West's Plan to Get Pregnant (DK, pounds 14.99). Zita is holding a workshop at Birmingham Radisson SAS Hotel this Friday between 10am and 6pm. For more information conttact 0207 224 0017.