Charise later suffered a miscarriage and lost that child. But “miraculously,” she conceived for a second time and gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Johann wanted to understand the unexpected connection between this innovative diet and their newfound fertility, but I didn’t have an explanation. So early in my career, I did not know myself how Charise suddenly got pregnant. I just did not understand the profound link between diet and fertility. From a practical perspective, it didn’t really matter: I simply explained to patients that sometimes a bit of weight loss and a “detox” might help them bring home a little bundle of joy.
Nadia, Mozambique, 2005 (28 years old)
By age 30, I was a successful “dietician” in Mozambique. Everyone in town knew “Dr. Nadia” because I had helped many people lose weight and control their diabetes with my prescribed “Base Diet” and an occasional “detox.” But I followed none of these diets myself. I kept on eating my candies and drinking my Coke. In late 2008 when my husband and I started trying to conceive, my diet was catching up with me and I started to gain weight. My lifelong acne problem was getting a bit worse. My doctor reassured me that I was thin and healthy and in good shape to have a baby, but month after month my period showed up. I would cry for days afterward and feel miserable. By the end of 2009, I realized I must be infertile. I was devastated.
By early 2010, I had gained close to 30 pounds (13.6 kilograms) but my Body Mass Index (BMI), which is a standardized measurement of weight, was still within the normal range. My acne was terrible and my hair started falling out. Blood tests showed that my androgen (male hormone) levels were high, and an ultrasound revealed numerous cysts in my ovaries. I had stopped ovulating and, therefore, could not get pregnant. I suspected I had PCOS, and my doctor confirmed it. Because I looked thin, however, my doctor overlooked all the other symptoms and simply prescribed clomiphene citrate, a type of fertility drug. I went home and just cried. All I could think about was how much I wanted a baby. I was also upset because I didn’t think my doctor was doing much to help. My husband assured me that we would get through this together, and his confidence gave me the strength to take matters into my own hands.
From my professional experience, I knew fertility improved when women lost weight because I had seen so many of my clients become pregnant. My weight wasn’t an issue in my lack of fertility, I thought, but I started to follow the strictest of my own diets anyway. If that’s what I had to do to get pregnant, I would do it. This extremely low-carbohydrate diet, sometimes called a ketogenic diet, meant no more candies, no more Coke, no more bread.
In the first month, I lost 5.5 pounds (2.5 kilograms). Then my acne cleared up and my menstrual cycles normalized as I began to ovulate. The night before I took my next pregnancy test, I lit a candle. I was calm and positive. I asked for nothing, but I wanted a baby. In the morning, I took the test. And after 30 seconds of agony waiting for the result, the test was . . . positive. I was so grateful and relieved, and I immediately called my husband at work. He was ecstatic. Though he had never let on before, he admitted he had been very concerned about my physical and emotional well-being. Infertility takes a large toll on many people’s work, family, and social lives. It can also drain financial resources for those people who choose to pursue IVF or other fertility treatments; I had considered IVF but it was too expensive.
While I had become pregnant, I still didn’t quite understand the key role of nutrition. I threw my low-carb diet right out the window and returned to eating my candies and usual diet of small, high-carb snacks many times a day. I developed serious complications during the pregnancy, including high blood pressure and liver damage, which eventually required me to deliver the baby by cesarean section at 38 weeks. That’s when my first daughter, beautiful Zinzi, came into our lives.
Unfortunately, I continued to suffer from high blood pressure and postpartum depression. One of the medications my doctor prescribed, amitriptyline, caused me to gain 20 pounds (9 kilograms) on top of the baby weight I was still carrying. Two years later, a large ovarian cyst ruptured, requiring urgent surgical removal. I was still on high blood pressure medication and having trouble sleeping. Despite my health problems, I wanted to have another baby.
When my husband and I tried to conceive a second time, the torturous journey began all over again. My doctor prescribed clomiphene once more, but by this time my BMI was in the overweight range and my health was much poorer than when I became pregnant the first time. I was eating my candies, and drinking my Coke, and taking my fertility medication. Six agonizing months later, I still was not pregnant. I remember crying constantly and feeling an overwhelming sense of doom that I would never be able to conceive again.
I stopped taking the fertility drugs and visited my friend Dr. Carolina, a Mozambican gynecologist. She told me flat out, “Of course you won’t get pregnant, not even on clomiphene. You are insulin resistant!” Until that very moment, insulin resistance related to PCOS had never crossed my mind. Much later, I realized that the low-carbohydrate diet I followed at the beginning of my first pregnancy reduces insulin, thereby improving insulin sensitivity and treating the source of my problems. But at the time, all I knew was that Dr. Carolina was right and she gave me hope. I began to take metformin, a medication to increase my insulin sensitivity—and I got pregnant the very next month.
Pateguana family, July 2018, Toronto, Canada
Pateguana girls, July 2018, Toronto, Canada
I experienced major complications during that pregnancy, likely because I didn’t follow my low-carb diet. As soon as I gave birth to my beautiful second daughter, Zuri, I began to follow a low-carb diet again. A couple of months after she was born, I lost all my excess weight, came off all my medications, and saw my skin clear up and all my other PCOS symptoms disappear. My irritable bowel syndrome, food cravings, and mood swings also vanished. Adopting a strict low-carbohydrate diet—along with intermittent fasting—made a big difference for me. Today, over six years later, I still follow a low-carb diet along with intermittent fasting. I have not taken medication for hyperglycemia, hypertension, or depression again. I have no more symptoms of PCOS or irritable bowel syndrome. This lifestyle has been very sustainable for me, and I hope the same for you.
In 2013 my family and I returned to Canada, and three years later I met Dr. Jason Fung at a medical conference. I had followed his work for a few years on social media, and I knew that he and Megan Ramos had started the Intensive Dietary Management (IDM) program in Toronto, not far from where I was living at the time. Soon after, they invited me to bring my professional experience to their team, and I still proudly work with the IDM/Fasting Method program today. I am very fortunate to have Dr. Fung contribute his medical and scientific expertise to these pages.
Today, my passion in life is not only helping women get pregnant, but also assisting them to lose weight and take control of their health through natural dietary measures. I have learned many things about diet and fertility through my own journey and the journeys of the clients I see in my naturopathic practice, and I’d like to share that information so that you do not go through the same