1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:04,760 Welcome to Grounded Wellness, your go to podcast for 2 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:07,880 simplified and trusted information on how to live a 3 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:10,160 more non-toxic and holistic life. 4 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:13,000 We're your hosts. I'm Bethany McDaniel, founder of 5 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:16,440 Primarily Pure, biohacking enthusiast and mom of three. 6 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:19,760 And I'm Courtney O'Connor, holistic esthetician with over 7 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:23,480 15 years experience in the healing power of touch and 8 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:26,520 holistic skin care rituals. When it comes to women's hormone 9 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:30,320 health, many symptoms are brushed off as normal despite 10 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:33,200 their significant impact on our overall well-being. 11 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:37,160 That's why I'm so excited for today's conversation with Lisa 12 00:00:37,160 --> 00:00:41,120 Hendricks and Jack, author of The 5th Vital Sign co-author of 13 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:44,560 Real Foods for Fertility, and a leading expert in menstrual 14 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:46,960 health. In this episode, we'll explore 15 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,240 how understanding your menstrual cycle can help you live more in 16 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:53,520 tune with your body, and why it's time we rethink the way we 17 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:55,400 view our periods. Let's dig in. 18 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,319 Lisa, welcome to the Grounded Wellness podcast. 19 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:06,880 We're so grateful to have you on today's episode. 20 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:08,800 Thanks for making the trek down from Canada. 21 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,200 Thank you so much for having me, this is so much fun. 22 00:01:11,320 --> 00:01:14,600 So a lot of women discover primarily appear on their 23 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:19,600 journey to conceiving and so I would love to jump right in on a 24 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:23,720 topic just to help offer them support and hope and advice on 25 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,360 this journey. So we'd love to hear what are 26 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:28,960 some of your top tips for fertility? 27 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:34,120 I mean, of course, coming from the background of cycle turning, 28 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:36,840 I feel like especially when women are starting to conceive, 29 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:41,160 there's so much confusion around when is the best time to try, Am 30 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:43,200 I ovulating? So I really feel like one of the 31 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,280 first things that we should be focusing on is obviously 32 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:50,080 learning to track our cycle. And I mean, the way that I teach 33 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:54,280 it can be very involved. So without having to go all the 34 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:57,480 way into the rabbit hole, I feel like even just learning about 35 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:01,320 the role of your cervical fluid. So, you know, cervical fluid is 36 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:03,280 it can look like a clear stretchy fluid. 37 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:06,320 It can look like creamy hat, you know, white hand lotion. 38 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:10,600 And for anybody who's not on contraceptives, you may have 39 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,280 noticed that there's sometimes in the cycle that you feel kind 40 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,080 of slippery or wet down there. You might notice something on 41 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:17,680 your underwear. You might notice that there's 42 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:21,000 times when you're wiping and you know, the toilet paper just kind 43 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:23,040 of slides. And so I think it's really 44 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,960 helpful just as an intro to know that when you've you know, after 45 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,240 you've had your period and you start to see those types of 46 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:33,960 observations, that is your fertile time, that's your 47 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:36,400 fertile window. And when you're trying to 48 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:40,880 conceive, the best time to try would be when you actually are 49 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:45,120 observing that cervical fluid in the pre ovulatory phase, and 50 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:49,280 especially if you ever do observe that kind of clear raw 51 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:53,640 egg white type cervical fluid. So just from that standpoint, I 52 00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:56,240 feel like that one piece of information is a really helpful 53 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:59,280 place to start because of course, we're all taught that 54 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:02,240 the cycle's always 28 days, that ovulation always happens on day 55 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:04,240 14. So a lot of women are always 56 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,800 kind of focused on that specific time frame and date. 57 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:11,320 And depending on how your cycle unfolds, your fertile window 58 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:13,360 could be earlier than that or later than that. 59 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:15,240 And so for some women, they might be missing out on the 60 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:18,000 opportunity. So I would say that's a very 61 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:20,520 practical and useful standpoint because what I always say is 62 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:25,280 that the timing isn't everything because, you know, for some 63 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:27,840 couples they are timing correctly and it's still not 64 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:30,160 happening. But without correct timing, you 65 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:32,680 don't have anything. And that's why we can use 66 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:34,760 fertility awareness as a method of birth control. 67 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:36,560 Mm hmm. So I mean, in terms of the 68 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:38,640 fertility conversation, obviously there's a lot more 69 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,040 that you can do. I know Lily and I talk 70 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:45,240 extensively about the role of nutrition as a way to really 71 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:46,720 support your body through fertility. 72 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:48,560 So I'm sure we'll get into that quite a bit. 73 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:51,360 And there's a number of lifestyle factors to focus on. 74 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:55,600 And I would also say that we want to focus also on the male 75 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:57,400 partners. So there's a, there's a whole 76 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:00,080 lot to that conversation, but just as a a good place to start, 77 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,440 I feel like just being aware of that. 78 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:05,640 And then it's not all about you. We should also be applying some 79 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:07,200 of those principles to your partner as well. 80 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:10,200 I love that and we'll definitely dig into some of those 81 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:13,320 nutritional tips and how to invite your partner into that 82 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:16,160 process as well. And I know it primarily appear 83 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:18,000 being a non-toxic skin care company. 84 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:21,040 One of the things we often educate our community on is the 85 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:24,320 reality of xenoestrogens and topical products and wanting to 86 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:26,840 help minimize endocrine disrupting ingredients in 87 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:29,680 personal care products. So if you don't mind touching on 88 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:32,600 that even a little bit too and how products we apply or even 89 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:36,760 period products and how can also impact fertility? 90 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:39,280 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, one of the really 91 00:04:39,280 --> 00:04:42,520 interesting things when you get into tracking your cycle is that 92 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:45,400 you can kind of see. So if you were tracking let's 93 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:47,960 say your cervical fluid, if you were tracking your basal body 94 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:51,920 temperatures, you start to get like a lay of the land and a 95 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:55,560 healthy cycle tends to range somewhere between about 24 to 35 96 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:57,680 days with an average of about 29 days. 97 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:01,840 And as you are in that pre ovulatory phase, you would 98 00:05:01,840 --> 00:05:04,520 expect to see several days of mucus leading up to ovulation. 99 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:07,640 After ovulation, you would expect a healthy luteal phase to 100 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:10,760 be about 12 to 14 days. And so once you kind of have 101 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:15,240 that general sense, then you can start to see if something is 102 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:18,640 disrupting your hormone balance. And that could be specific 103 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:21,400 observations that you're making or it could even be certain 104 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:24,000 symptoms that are cropping up at different times of the cycle. 105 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:28,880 And so, you know, when you start to realize that almost all of 106 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,640 the products that are not intentionally non-toxic contain 107 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:36,480 toxic chemicals, a lot of people don't necessarily think of their 108 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:38,560 skin as an organ. You know, anything you, it's put 109 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:41,200 on your skin, you should also be comfortable eating because it's 110 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:43,320 basically the same, right? It's being absorbed into it. 111 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:46,080 And so a lot of women when they are tracking their cycles and 112 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:48,920 they start to have certain concerns or different complaints 113 00:05:49,280 --> 00:05:52,440 if they are then switching to non-toxic products. 114 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:56,760 I mean, I've heard clients share experiences where maybe they 115 00:05:56,760 --> 00:05:59,760 were using menstrual products that were not organic. 116 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:02,800 And so if you didn't know, you know, there's a lot of different 117 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:05,840 chemicals and non organic tampons and pads and, and things 118 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:09,320 like that, who had, let's say, you know, period pain or 119 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:11,120 different issues that they were experiencing. 120 00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:14,480 And some women find that just by switching, it goes away. 121 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:17,720 So whether it's just balancing hormones in the more general 122 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:21,240 sense or the more specific sense of noticing a significant impact 123 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:24,840 in your hormonal balance. And then as it as it pertains to 124 00:06:24,840 --> 00:06:28,200 fertility, I mean, we have a whole chapter on toxins and how 125 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,200 that can have a negative effect on follicular development, sperm 126 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:33,600 development. So it's really important. 127 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:37,040 And one last thing I'll say on that topic is, you know, I 128 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:39,480 remember before I had my first son and working with clients 129 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:41,080 like who are trying to get pregnant, but they're not 130 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:43,080 pregnant yet. One of the questions I often ask 131 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,520 is, you know, would you still be using the same product if you 132 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,400 were pregnant now or would you use this product on your infant 133 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:52,680 so when you become a mom, I know for me, I went out and bought 134 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:54,960 all this, you know, brought different laundry detergent. 135 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:57,360 And so the question would be, well, why are you still using 136 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,000 it? Oh yeah, I feel like so many 137 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:03,480 women especially find primarily pure once they find out they're 138 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,000 pregnant because it's like no longer just about you, but it's 139 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:09,560 about this little life when even in that preconception phase, 140 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:12,080 like starting to make those changes even before the little 141 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:15,520 one is there is so important. Well, of course. 142 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:19,400 And I mean, if you think about it, part of the benefit of 143 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,000 reducing your exposure to these toxic chemicals is that now your 144 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:26,160 body doesn't have the additional burden of having to remove it. 145 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:29,960 And it allows your body's natural detoxification processes 146 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:32,560 to be even more effective. You know, because if you're 147 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:34,960 constantly bombarding yourself with all of these different 148 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:37,920 products, your liver is having to kind of do that. 149 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:40,360 And your liver is busy, your liver is always working. 150 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:43,160 So if you're giving it all this extra work to do, there's other 151 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:45,800 things that are also important that may not be happening. 152 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:48,560 So very important in terms of balancing hormones and 153 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:52,000 optimizing fertility. Do you have any helpful tips to 154 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:57,440 help mitigate the negative effects of toxins in fertility 155 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:01,440 and preconception health? I mean, I think the first step 156 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,360 is to, I think the first step is awareness, as I'm sure you 157 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:08,560 appreciate, you have to actually learn about the, the, the stuff 158 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:11,280 that's in your products. You have to start to understand 159 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:13,840 that even though it's really nice to smell like strawberries, 160 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:17,480 whenever you have products that have these artificial fragrance, 161 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:20,400 you really have to start to, to be aware of that. 162 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:25,720 So in terms of, you know, to how to mitigate, once you're aware, 163 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:29,440 then you can start to reduce and the awareness piece can be 164 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:32,600 really overwhelming because it, you can really go down a rabbit 165 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:34,760 hole with it. It's all of the things you put 166 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:36,760 on your skin. It's all the things you use to 167 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:39,559 wash your clothes. It could even be off gassing in 168 00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:41,360 your carpets. It could be the stuff that comes 169 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:45,800 off your, your mattress, it's the pots, the nonstick pans it 170 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:49,040 like, so if you really go there, it can feel very overwhelming. 171 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:51,920 So, you know, once you become aware, then we have to kind of 172 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:55,280 like calm down and start to think of practical ways to do 173 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:56,800 it. So for a lot of my clients, it's 174 00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:01,120 now that you're aware as you run out of these products, you know, 175 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:03,560 once it you've reached the end of the bottle, you look for a 176 00:09:03,560 --> 00:09:07,040 natural alternative, you look for natural skin care brands, 177 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:10,320 you look for natural cleaners and those types of things. 178 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:13,000 And like little by little, you can sort it out. 179 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:15,680 And just to give a little bit of context, you know, I've, you 180 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:17,880 know, it's been a while, but I've, I've gone through this 181 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:21,040 process myself and it took years. 182 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:24,760 And some of the last things that I was doing recently would be 183 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:27,000 the whole house water filter. Like that wasn't the first thing 184 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:28,520 that I did, right? Because there's another thing, 185 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:30,720 right, Your water. But you know, you kind of 186 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:35,040 gradually make these changes and don't expect, I mean, some 187 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:37,000 people are super type A. If you want to do it all in a 188 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,920 month, good luck. But I think the rest of us 189 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:41,600 typically take some time to sort it out. 190 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:45,520 I love that we do as well try to make it more digestible and 191 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:48,360 sustainable and practical because it can be so easy to 192 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:51,160 feel overwhelmed by all these changes that need to be made. 193 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:54,000 So where would you recommend would be the best place to start 194 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:57,960 if someone has been wanting to conceive or feeling discouraged 195 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:00,920 or overwhelmed by all this awareness that they're gaining, 196 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:03,440 What do you have? Like start here. 197 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:07,240 Well, I think one thing I usually say when we get into 198 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:10,160 this conversation is kind of like the number one endocur 199 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:12,680 disrupting thing that no one ever just mentions in the 200 00:10:12,680 --> 00:10:14,320 conversation would be hormonal contraceptive. 201 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,200 So certainly, you know, if you think about it, you know, even 202 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:19,680 though your lotion contains these, you know, estrogens 203 00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:22,280 products, like unless you brought it from primarily pure, 204 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:25,760 right, it wasn't designed specifically to stop you from 205 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:29,120 ovulating, which the pill was. So I think, you know, there's 206 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:31,520 that. But beyond that, I think just 207 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,400 start to be aware of the things that you use every day. 208 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:37,960 So scented stuff, you know, still to this day, you go and 209 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:41,400 visit friends and you get in an Uber and you're just blasted by 210 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:43,680 the stuff. And so raising the awareness of 211 00:10:43,680 --> 00:10:46,200 those kinds of things, I would say the stuff that you use every 212 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:49,720 day, the things you use to wash with your laundry detergent, you 213 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:52,640 know, stuff that's going to go on your sheets, just start 214 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:55,000 there. Your skin care products, because 215 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:58,240 again, you're putting it on all over everywhere. 216 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:00,560 So I think that would be the first place. 217 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:04,040 And then gradually start to look it up. 218 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:05,400 Like there's so much more I could say. 219 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:08,480 You could also talk about how you store your food and reducing 220 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:11,440 plastic exposure. And like, there's so much, but I 221 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:13,760 would just say pick one thing and start there. 222 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:15,960 It's perfect. Thank you so much for that 223 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:19,240 helpful insight. It's a great and so as a Mama of 224 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:22,720 three, I would love to hear too how you prepared for your 225 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:25,880 pregnancies through this fertility awareness and cycle 226 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:28,800 tracking. Well, so as you mentioned, I 227 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:31,240 have three children. My eldest is 12 and then my 228 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:35,080 middle is 9 and my baby is 2. So I would certainly say that I 229 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:38,520 certainly learned along the way and there was much that I didn't 230 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:42,800 know when I was pregnant with my first, but ultimately I did. 231 00:11:42,880 --> 00:11:45,440 I have been tracking my cycle for over 2 decades. 232 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:49,560 And so I mean, that piece of it was so ingrained that I was able 233 00:11:49,560 --> 00:11:52,240 to take it for granted. So what I mean by that is in my 234 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:54,880 20s, I was tracking my cycle to avoid pregnancy. 235 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:58,600 And so in that respect, when I was ready to conceive, my 236 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:01,880 husband and I would just like do it on the days we weren't doing 237 00:12:01,880 --> 00:12:04,920 it before, right? So that part of it was was 238 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:06,320 really reassuring. And I think what was really 239 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:10,320 helpful about that is when you do track, you do know quite 240 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:12,040 soon, you know, if you're pregnant. 241 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:14,360 And so you know that aspect of it. 242 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:17,240 I don't know that there was much preparation with with regards to 243 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:19,560 the fertility worse piece, because I already have that 244 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:22,880 education knowledge. But in terms of preparation, 245 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:25,760 there's a lot of things that that we did. 246 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:29,400 I mean, of course, the way that we eat and prioritizing a lot of 247 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:31,960 the foods that Lily and I talk about in real Food for 248 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:33,920 fertility. So, you know, we talk a lot 249 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:36,000 about organ meats. We talk a lot about fish and 250 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:37,880 seafood. So I mean, organ meats are 251 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:41,320 really nutrient dense. There's just, you know, iron, 252 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:46,200 vitamin AB, vitamins, choline. It's such a rich, it's almost 253 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:49,720 one of the ways to think about liver, for example, is nature's 254 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:51,640 multivitamin. You know, if you ever wondered 255 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:53,920 200 years ago, they didn't have vitamins. 256 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:57,120 So what were people doing right? They were eating these nutrient 257 00:12:57,120 --> 00:12:59,520 dense foods. Fish and seafood are great 258 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:03,120 sources of, you know, sink and vitamin B12 and, you know, 259 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:06,520 obviously the omega-3 fatty acids that really play a role in 260 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:08,000 supporting against sperm quality. 261 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:12,280 So there's a lot of just, it's not to say that I wouldn't want 262 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:14,480 to give the impression that my diet is so perfect. 263 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:19,280 I mean, but at the same time, we always emphasize these key foods 264 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:22,280 and the approach that I think that we take is you want to 265 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:24,840 incorporate as many of those as possible. 266 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:28,200 Full fat dairy products. I've been getting my raw milk 267 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:32,600 for, you know, I think it's, I started to get it when my second 268 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:34,680 was born. So almost 10 years. 269 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:36,400 This would be 10 years since we've had that. 270 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:39,280 And one of the things that I think is really important is 271 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:43,280 that, you know, even when I was, we were preparing for a second 272 00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:46,520 baby, I mean, I don't know that I was so on my husband or 273 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:50,320 anything, but he really took a specific, he took steps to 274 00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:54,640 reduce his alcohol consumption. And so I think a big piece of it 275 00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:57,160 too is for both of you to do this together. 276 00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:01,200 And it's often, I mean often, not all of the time, but 277 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:05,720 sometimes if you as the woman are cooking these foods, often 278 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:08,160 he's just eating them as well. So sometimes it's really easy. 279 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:11,640 But I think, you know, for us, that was a huge part of what we 280 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:12,880 did. And obviously we were really 281 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:14,920 intentional given how deep we are into this work. 282 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:19,640 So for my second child, we started eating this way a year 283 00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:22,480 before we started trying. And similarly with Isabella, 284 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,160 because it's part of how we eat all the time anyways, but we 285 00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:26,320 just kind of ramped it up a little bit. 286 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:31,240 Would you mind on that note, speaking more about nutrition's 287 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:33,760 impact on the sperm and egg quality? 288 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:36,040 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, what's really 289 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:39,520 interesting when you dive into the research about how the sperm 290 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:41,240 develops and how the egg develops. 291 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:45,200 So for women, you know, we're born with all the eggs that we 292 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:47,520 ever have. So when we're born, we have 293 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:50,240 anywhere from, you know, half a million to a million eggs. 294 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:52,880 And then over time, that number kind of gradually declines. 295 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:56,640 So the eggs are there, but they're not ready to go. 296 00:14:57,040 --> 00:14:59,360 So there's a process of follicular development that 297 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:02,280 takes place. And the research is interesting 298 00:15:02,280 --> 00:15:05,640 because kind of the most significant, you know, part of 299 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:09,000 that development takes place during about that three month, 300 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:12,520 you know, three to six months prior to when you're actually 301 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:15,520 ovulating that specific egg though that developmental 302 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:17,040 process. You know, some of the studies 303 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:20,400 suggest that it starts even 7-8 months before that. 304 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:24,480 But that kind of most significant period of time that 305 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:27,240 this follicle is most susceptible to those nutrient 306 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:29,640 inputs would be that kind of three to six month period. 307 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:33,240 So in terms of the, you know, and with sperm quality as well. 308 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:37,040 So the research tells us that it takes about 74 days for the 309 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:41,600 sperm to develop and to mature. So one way to think about that 310 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:46,040 is if your partner were to ejaculate today, that sperm is 311 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:48,880 going to be a result of whatever was happening three months 312 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:52,280 prior. So when this is released, look 313 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:54,720 at your calendar, look three months prior and think to 314 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:56,560 yourself, what was I doing at that point? 315 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:00,360 And that is really the largest contributor to the egg and sperm 316 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:03,840 quality. So with that in mind, I mean, we 317 00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:06,760 one of the reasons that we really focus on this concept of 318 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:11,320 like preconception nutrition and taking time before in a, in a 319 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:14,320 perfect world, ideal, if you have the time, you know, at 320 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:17,240 least three to six months of focused nutrition is how we're 321 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:18,960 really going to support egg and sperm quality. 322 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:23,120 And in terms of how that plays out, I mean, when these 323 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:27,200 follicles are developing, if you, you know, one of the 324 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:30,280 challenges with that is, is commonly talked about as women 325 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:32,920 get older would be the increased rate of chromosomal 326 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:35,760 abnormalities or DNA issues or things like that. 327 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:39,480 And we can have some control over that by focusing on 328 00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:42,680 nutrient dense foods, focusing on antioxidant foods to really 329 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:47,320 minimize the effects and support the optimal development, the 330 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:51,560 optimal chromosomal splitting that has to happen in order. 331 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:54,360 And it's really a miracle if you think about everything that has 332 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:56,120 to go right. Yeah, for this. 333 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:59,040 And so it's just really essential and it's specifically 334 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:01,240 in that kind of three to six month period leading up to it. 335 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:03,920 So fascinating. And I feel like that's quite 336 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:08,079 empowering too, because it's like it's, it's also not like 337 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:10,920 decades that have led to that. So it's like, OK, we can still 338 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:13,800 make these changes now and see that benefit and that positive 339 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:17,880 impact in the near future. So on that topic of nutrition as 340 00:17:17,880 --> 00:17:21,400 well, love that you brought in the Oregon meats and more of 341 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:25,480 that ancestral way of eating, which is something we educate a 342 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:28,800 lot about at Primary Pure. So I would love to also kind of 343 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:32,480 look at some maybe fertility myths versus your perspective on 344 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:34,880 fertility and really how to optimize that. 345 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:38,720 And looking at some of maybe the more popular diets, even maybe 346 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:41,720 touching on vegetarianism or veganism. 347 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:47,760 And then even what are some like conventional nutritional advice 348 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:51,400 that's given that may not actually be as effective? 349 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,880 I mean, I feel like there's a lot of nutritional 350 00:17:55,880 --> 00:17:59,440 recommendations and research that we share in real food for 351 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:02,800 fertility that that differs from the guidelines in a lot of 352 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:04,880 different ways. I mean, one of those 353 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:07,680 recommendations, for example, would be the protein, the focus 354 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:10,520 on protein. So, you know, in the book, we 355 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:14,240 talk extensively about protein and the role it plays in 356 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:17,680 follicular development and in normalizing the menstrual cycle, 357 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:21,160 even in ensuring that our bodies are the correct temperature, 358 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:24,880 even in thermogenesis. And so, you know, the, the, the 359 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:29,480 recommended daily allowance for a lot of nutrients and for 360 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:33,520 protein and for a lot of things, it wasn't really designed to 361 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:36,200 represent what would be optimal for fertility. 362 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:39,520 So some of the research that we share would indicate that, you 363 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:44,280 know, the ideal protein intake is anywhere from 1.5 to, you 364 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:48,400 know, 2.2g per kilo of body weight, which is significantly 365 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:51,440 higher than the RDA. And I think one of the great 366 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:55,240 things about the approach of looking at the menstrual cycle 367 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:57,360 charting and actually see what's happening. 368 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:01,160 So of course, I teach charting in a specialized way so that you 369 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:02,840 can really get a sense of what's going on. 370 00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:05,160 You kind of get into the nitty gritty, the mucus and the 371 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:08,560 temperature, and that gives you essentially a kind of a 372 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:10,920 reflection of what's happening hormonally. 373 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:14,440 So, you know, with the protein recommendations, there's a lot 374 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:17,480 of different thoughts on that. And so, you know, there's some 375 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:19,360 people that would be in alignment with that 376 00:19:19,360 --> 00:19:21,480 recommendation. It's certainly in alignment with 377 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:24,400 the recommendation for women who are athletic because obviously 378 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:27,360 the recommendation would be higher and there would be some 379 00:19:27,360 --> 00:19:30,240 who might say, well, that's like too high or whatever. 380 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:33,280 But ultimately, if you look at what's happening in the cycle, 381 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:37,560 what we've seen is that if I'm working with somebody and 382 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:40,560 they're struggling with progesterone issues, which tend 383 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:43,800 to show up in the cycle as a short luteal phase or even 384 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:48,720 premenstrual spotting or low body temperature, Or maybe their 385 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:51,520 cervical mucus is really scant, indicating that maybe their 386 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:55,320 estrogen levels are optimal to be actually stimulating that 387 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:59,360 cervical mucus production. You know, when you add 388 00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:03,080 sufficient protein, when you add sufficient fat, I mean, it's so 389 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:05,680 interesting that the fat conversation is so controversial 390 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:08,760 because we know that our, you know, ovarian hormones, 391 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:11,080 estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, are literally 392 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:13,200 synthesized from cholesterol. So it's interesting that we have 393 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:16,240 to have this conversation and that there's so much controversy 394 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:19,480 about including sufficient fat. But again, when you look at how 395 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:23,480 the cycle responds to incorporating sufficient protein 396 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:26,120 of that and high quality carbohydrates, you see for 397 00:20:26,120 --> 00:20:30,600 yourself that it really allows women to produce enough hormones 398 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:33,120 to, for their body temperature to get in alignment, for their 399 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:36,760 luteophase to be long enough and often for some of those PMS 400 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:39,880 symptoms to reduce. And so that would be, you know, 401 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:42,680 I'm touching on kind of the, the myths around protein of that. 402 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:46,480 And then you mentioned some of the controversial dietary 403 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:48,200 things. I mean, it's, there's so many 404 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:52,280 diets and certainly there's a camp out there that would say 405 00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:55,000 that a vegetarian or vegan diet would be optimal for fertility. 406 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:59,000 However, I would argue that the, the research wouldn't I, I don't 407 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:01,400 think the research matches. There's some really interesting 408 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:06,480 research that Lily pulls into chapter 2 of Real Food for 409 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:10,920 Fertility and really going into not only the concept of protein 410 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:14,000 just full stop, but the quality of protein as well. 411 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:17,440 And so there is research to suggest that, you know, 412 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:21,160 incorporating animal protein specifically can have a unique 413 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,840 positive impact, whether that's, you know, there was an 414 00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:26,400 interesting study that she shared where they were looking 415 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:29,760 at PMS symptoms among women and based on the differences between 416 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:32,880 their protein intake and the women who were consuming the 417 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:35,440 animal protein had fewer symptoms. 418 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,040 And so there's, there's different research that would 419 00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:40,600 indicate that, you know, there is we we need to have a 420 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:44,480 conversation about animal protein and, and, and how 421 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:47,720 beneficial it is. And, and then we have to look at 422 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:49,960 the menstrual cycle as the evidence. 423 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:53,400 So what I can say, just what I've seen over the years working 424 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:56,800 with lots of women looking at menstrual cycles is that, you 425 00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:01,000 know, when we're really limiting all animal products, like no 426 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:02,960 animal products at all. So if we're going more on the 427 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:07,000 beacon end, it seems like there's often a limit to where 428 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,520 we can get to if we're trying to optimize hormone balance. 429 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:12,080 So it's almost like you have to kind of go into it. 430 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:15,480 And again, I'm looking at the menstrual cycle, looking at 431 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,400 optimizing hormonal balance, looking at optimizing luteal 432 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:20,720 phase function. There just seems to be a limit. 433 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:23,240 And often when women are starting to incorporate those 434 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:25,400 animal foods, we see incredible shifts. 435 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:30,400 So again, it's not about take my word for it, it's about look to 436 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:33,640 see what the research has to say and then also look at how the 437 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:37,960 cycle responds. And that is really going to be 438 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:42,360 the true test of of all of this. I love that. 439 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:46,120 I love that you keep going back to the cycle and letting that 440 00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:48,280 speak to you. Obviously your first book, The 441 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:51,720 5th Vital Sign and how it really is that marker of health. 442 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,960 And so really tuning into our bodies and looking at the 443 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:57,040 messages it's sending us. So I think that's really 444 00:22:57,040 --> 00:22:59,560 valuable of like making these changes and then tuning in to 445 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,240 see how you're seeing that impact overall. 446 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:07,400 And so we've obviously spoken a lot on the female perspective 447 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:09,440 for fertility. And so I would love for you to 448 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:16,000 speak to how can we also focus on the male side of things and 449 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:17,960 inviting our men into this conversation. 450 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:21,240 It's not just solely based on women's bodies, but obviously 451 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:23,760 optimizing fertility for men as well. 452 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:27,640 Well, I mean, you had asked about different fertility myths. 453 00:23:28,120 --> 00:23:30,960 And I feel like one of the myths, if we want to call it 454 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:34,040 that, is that the fertility issue is a woman's issue. 455 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:36,880 And if there's something happening, if conception is 456 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:40,480 delayed or if you're struggling to conceive, that it must be an 457 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:43,520 issue on her side. And so again, when we look at 458 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:49,600 the stats, you know, 30% of fertility issues are solely 459 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:53,080 related to male infertility. And then up to 50% of the time. 460 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:56,280 So half of the time, if there is a fertility issue, there's at 461 00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:58,040 least a male contributing factor. 462 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:01,280 And I mean, it's so interesting because if you think about it, I 463 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:04,760 mean, he's contributing 50% of the genetic material. 464 00:24:05,120 --> 00:24:07,880 And there's just so much interesting research about how 465 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:12,120 important his contribution is. So there's research to suggest 466 00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:15,920 that, you know, if his sperm is of poor quality or if there's 467 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:19,880 DNA damage or, you know, other various chromosomal 468 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:23,320 developmental issues that it can negatively impact the 469 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:27,320 development of your placenta. And there's, you know, even 470 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:30,520 research that talks about the quality of his sperm have an 471 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,760 impact on your child's likelihood of developing certain 472 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:37,160 childhood diseases. So I feel like in in terms of 473 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:39,360 bringing your partner into the conversation, we just have to 474 00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:41,240 first start to raise that awareness. 475 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:44,160 And as soon as you say it, it's like, Oh, yeah, that makes that 476 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:47,320 makes perfect sense, right? Another thing that I'll say 477 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:49,960 about it is that after working with a lot of different women 478 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:53,720 who are trying to conceive, when I do have clients whose partners 479 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:57,920 have been tested, their results have been tested, they're often 480 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:02,400 like almost 100% of the time told that his results are fine. 481 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:07,280 And so that's a big topic that we tackle in Real Food for 482 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:10,120 Fertility. We have this really extensive 483 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:12,440 sperm chapter. There was a time when I wanted 484 00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,000 to write a book about sperm. So instead of that, we wrote 485 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,320 this chapter. So it's kind of like full jam 486 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:20,640 pack full of information. But that's one of my biggest pet 487 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:24,880 peeves because basically we have the the sperm guidelines that 488 00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:28,200 were set in 2010 by the World Health Organization. 489 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:32,200 And, you know, it's really interesting to look at the study 490 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:36,120 that was the foundation and basis for that recommendation. 491 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:42,040 And so, you know, they took approximately 2000 couples who 492 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:45,280 were trying to conceive and they were testing their sperm 493 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:47,080 quality, like the male sperm quality. 494 00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:49,800 And so, you know, they had all these couples trying to 495 00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:52,880 conceive. And so all of the couples that 496 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:57,120 were successfully able to conceive within one year, they 497 00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:59,400 measured all of the sperm qualities of the men. 498 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:03,280 And so if you look at the study, they put them on a graph and 499 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:08,600 they organize them by centile. And so if you're looking at the 500 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,320 graph, you know, like back to math class, you have like the 501 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:14,320 5th centile, 10th, 25th, 97th or whatever. 502 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:16,160 So now you have the picture in your mind. 503 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:19,280 And in order to set those guidelines, they took the lower 504 00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:21,360 5th centile. And that is what represents 505 00:26:21,360 --> 00:26:24,840 normal according to the World Health Organization guidelines. 506 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:27,520 So it's really interesting because when I pull out the 507 00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:30,440 study, you know, in a session and I show the client, they're 508 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:31,600 always like, what do you mean? Why? 509 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:34,960 And so I think that when you're setting a standard guideline, 510 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:38,040 they would have different requirements for public health 511 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:40,880 than we might for looking at what would be optimal. 512 00:26:41,120 --> 00:26:43,520 So the first thing to understand is that those guidelines were 513 00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:47,760 never set to be optimal. And so they were set for a 514 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:50,720 different reason. And I think they have to make 515 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:53,160 these decisions because if they're setting it at a certain 516 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:55,640 point, it means that if a person is lower than that, they're 517 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:57,960 going to, you know, recommend medical attention. 518 00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:01,640 And I think there's some concern maybe on their part that if they 519 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:04,120 put it too high, they'll be too many false positives. 520 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:08,080 We also talk a little bit about how those guidelines have 521 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:10,200 changed. So there have been, I think, 522 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:13,680 four or five different iterations of those guidelines. 523 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:17,840 And so in 2010, it was like they made it a little bit lower than 524 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,120 it had been before. So the implications of that are 525 00:27:20,120 --> 00:27:22,120 that there were men that previously would have been 526 00:27:22,120 --> 00:27:24,280 identified for screening but now are not. 527 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:29,080 But all this is to say that, you know, for women who've been 528 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,240 trying to conceive and if their partner was tested and they were 529 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:36,400 told that they were fine, what we argue for, you know, in Real 530 00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:39,640 Food for fertility is that you have this lower guideline that 531 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:43,320 is not optimal. And then if you look at studies 532 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:46,160 that are trying to determine what is actually optimal, 533 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:48,320 they're going to ask a different question. 534 00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:52,080 So there was this one study and essentially they were looking 535 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:56,600 at, OK, at what point is the negative sperm quality starting 536 00:27:56,600 --> 00:27:58,840 to have a negative impact on time to pregnancy? 537 00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:01,160 So it's a very different question because they're trying 538 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:03,600 to say, you know, if you think about it after a certain point, 539 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:07,080 if he has like 600 million sperm, is it really helping you 540 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:08,760 to get pregnant faster? Like there's probably a point 541 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:12,160 where it doesn't have an impact. And so they identified a 542 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:16,600 specific marker of when it is it starts to have a negative 543 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:20,160 impact. And so their marker was about 48 544 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:22,120 million sperm per milliliter, like in terms of the 545 00:28:22,120 --> 00:28:27,200 concentration, about 12% normal morphology. 546 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:31,080 So the sperm that actually just looks normal and about 63% 547 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:33,280 motility. So that was what they identified 548 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:36,280 as like beyond below this, we start to see a reduction or like 549 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:39,480 an increased time to pregnancy. And the World Health 550 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:45,200 Organization identifies 1515 million sperm per milliliter and 551 00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:49,040 they identify 40% motility. And these words like you just 552 00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:51,640 say the words, oh, motility, whatever it means the sperm that 553 00:28:51,640 --> 00:28:54,280 are moving. And so it's like 60% aren't 554 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,800 moving. And then the morphology that 555 00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:59,960 they list is 4%. And so again, 4% means out of 556 00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:05,360 104 have a normal appearance and 96 have an abnormal appearance. 557 00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:08,600 So basically you have these low parameters that the, so if you 558 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:11,680 had to test and your partner was told he's fine, he meets those 559 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:15,720 guidelines and we have what this study identified to be optimal. 560 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:19,680 And so in the middle we have this Gray area and that's what 561 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:21,800 we're trying to point out. Like that's the whole point of 562 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:24,880 this all what I just said. We want to be aware that there's 563 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,840 this Gray area where it doesn't mean your partner is not 564 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:30,400 fertile. You could get pregnant, but the 565 00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:33,360 implications of his sperm being less optimal or that it could 566 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:36,200 take you longer. So that's where the nutritional 567 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:39,160 components come in. That's where these strategies 568 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:41,640 come in. That's where that time frame of 569 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:45,120 a minimum of three to six months come in because your partner 570 00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:47,800 could be fine. But like we're talking about 571 00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:50,320 your children here. No one wants fine. 572 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:53,040 We want optimal, we want the best possible health for our 573 00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:54,960 children. And so armed with this 574 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:58,000 information, we can actually make a huge difference. 575 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,360 And it's wild, like, you know, I've had the, the, the pleasure 576 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:03,480 of seeing clients kind of follow through with a lot of these 577 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:05,640 things. Do the sperm test initially or 578 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:09,080 have that initial amount work at this for several months. 579 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:13,280 And the one great thing about sperm that is different from egg 580 00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:16,440 quality, we can't just go and take an example, you know, is 581 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,520 that you can actually see the positive improvements and it can 582 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:24,120 be very exciting and it obviously then can improve your 583 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:27,200 chances of conception as well. Fascinating. 584 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:30,920 I know I appreciate all the research and the background and 585 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:33,360 just all that detail. I know our our community does as 586 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:35,400 well. So thank you for just unpacking 587 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,920 all that More. So would the ways to optimize 588 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:43,760 male fertility be essentially the same for women in those 589 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:47,400 product and lifestyle swaps and incorporating more animal based 590 00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:50,200 proteins? And is there anything different 591 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:52,120 than men that men should be focusing on? 592 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:56,520 Well, I think overall there are definitely these kind of 593 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:59,800 foundational tenants that apply to both parties. 594 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:03,200 So obviously increasing the quality of the foods that you're 595 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:06,320 consuming. You know, we called the book 596 00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:09,160 Real Food for Fertility. It's obviously part of Lily's 597 00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:11,880 series Real Food. But if you think about what does 598 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:15,880 it mean real food, it means food that is as close to natural as 599 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:17,840 possible. So obviously, you know, we're 600 00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:20,440 not purists to the point that you can ever buy anything in a 601 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:22,680 package. But just to have that concept 602 00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:26,320 of, you know, what does it mean to have processed food or highly 603 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:27,960 processed food? And how does that affect the 604 00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:32,320 quality of the food? So if you have, you know, flour 605 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:36,440 or sugar, for example, you could put it out on the table and we 606 00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:39,280 wouldn't be able to tell what grade it came from or the sugar, 607 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:42,560 like what what plant it came from because it's so highly 608 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:44,640 processed. So you can think about that when 609 00:31:44,640 --> 00:31:46,560 you're trying to think about what is real food. 610 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:48,960 If you know what it is, you can look at it and you can 611 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:52,280 understand where it came from. You know, starting with that 612 00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:56,000 aspect, looking at the quality of your food and then starting 613 00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,400 to incorporate. So I would say, you know, that's 614 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:00,600 part of the foundational aspect of it, incorporating some of the 615 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:03,600 foods that we've talked about that are highly nutrient dense. 616 00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:08,640 Of course, for both male and female fertility play a really 617 00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:11,560 important role. And I think some of the unique 618 00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:15,560 aspects that men can focus on. You know, often when I think 619 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:19,040 about improving male fertility, I feel like I always think about 620 00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:22,360 this analogy of like, you know, what if, if you're driving a 621 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:25,080 car, you know, you have the, the gas and you have the brakes. 622 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:29,080 So the brake would be, you know, smoking all the pot, the 623 00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:30,760 marijuana products, there'd be smoking cigarettes. 624 00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:33,640 There's a lot of evidence to suggest that that has a negative 625 00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:37,520 impact on sperm quality. There is evidence that suggests 626 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:40,760 that, you know, sauna or hot tubing, like having the 627 00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:43,360 testicles hot a lot has a negative impact. 628 00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:46,240 So there are specific things we want to look at for men. 629 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:48,680 And those would be my example of like taking your foot off the 630 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:52,720 brake, because sometimes when you have a really poor sperm 631 00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:56,840 quality test, sometimes there are very specific kind of red 632 00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:00,320 flags that are like, oh, well, maybe if we improve this habit, 633 00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:02,840 then that would improve it. And then in terms of putting 634 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:06,280 your foot on the gas, that comes in terms of the diet and really 635 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:09,640 prioritizing key nutrients. So we know that vitamin A plays 636 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:14,560 a really crucial role in sperm production to the point that 637 00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:20,120 there are research studies that have looked at kind of 638 00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:23,280 interfering with vitamin A metabolism in men as a 639 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:26,000 contraceptive. So, so there's animal studies 640 00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:29,040 that would indicate that vitamin A is like the on and off switch. 641 00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:31,920 So that's where like the liver or the cod liver oil kind of 642 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:35,080 piece comes in. You know, folate plays a key 643 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:38,720 role in sperm development. Zinc plays a key role, vitamin D 644 00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:41,600 in both male like, and all of these nutrients play a key role 645 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:43,680 in both male and female fertility as well. 646 00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:48,040 So just really prioritizing that I think on both sides. 647 00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:51,880 And I mean, I could go, but I'll kind of pause, pause there. 648 00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:55,640 So helpful. I think it's great too, just to 649 00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:59,760 give these practical pieces of input for both parties. 650 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:01,880 And I'm it like it takes 2 to tango. 651 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:05,600 And so empowering both the women and the man and taking those 652 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,840 proactive choices to optimize, as you said, optimize. 653 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:13,719 So circling back to the pill, which you mentioned is one of 654 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:18,320 the first places to start for a woman who is in that process of 655 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:24,120 wanting to conceive, when would you suggest having it removed or 656 00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:27,480 stopping taking the pill in preparation for pregnancy? 657 00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:31,080 I mean, I feel like with that question, this is something I 658 00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:33,840 could talk on for for such a long time. 659 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:38,000 I think the first thing I'll say is that there's not necessarily 660 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:40,639 one answer for everyone because there's a couple different 661 00:34:40,639 --> 00:34:43,120 situations. But in terms of the pill, I 662 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:46,520 think what what I like to do is I like to actually go to the 663 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:50,600 research because what can happen is when you learn about some of 664 00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:52,880 the negative aspects of hormonal birth control. 665 00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:56,080 So especially the conversation about the side effects and how 666 00:34:56,080 --> 00:35:00,000 it can have a negative impact on mood and on sex drive and, and 667 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:02,400 nutrient deficiencies. I mean, we know that it's 668 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:07,200 associated with like causing deficiency of B vitamins like 669 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:09,800 folate and B, like these are the vitamins that we need in order 670 00:35:09,800 --> 00:35:13,360 to have a healthy pregnancy. So there are some kind of 671 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,040 general aspects of it that that everyone should be aware of. 672 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:18,800 And I think that the most important message that I like to 673 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:21,960 share about the pill is that, you know, there's no evidence to 674 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:25,720 suggest that the pill has a permanent negative impact on 675 00:35:25,720 --> 00:35:27,320 fertility. So I feel like that's good news. 676 00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:30,680 So although I'm very critical about the pill, I don't want to 677 00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:33,720 be kind of overstating this issue. 678 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:36,800 But with that said, there is enough information in the 679 00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:40,760 research to show that it does create this temporary negative 680 00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:43,520 effect to this temporary sub fertility when a woman comes off 681 00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:45,240 the pill. And that's certainly exacerbated 682 00:35:45,240 --> 00:35:47,760 by long term use. And the research typically 683 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:51,440 defines long term as two or more years, which is interesting 684 00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:53,560 because when when I say that people are always like, what? 685 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:56,360 Because a lot of women are using the pill for five years, 10 686 00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:58,040 years, 15 years. I had a client who used it for 687 00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:01,120 30, right? So, so that's something to 688 00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:03,000 consider. So what we can learn from the 689 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:06,360 research. And this is a whole topic. 690 00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:09,920 There was this paper that recently came out recently, like 691 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:12,480 2024. And it was this whole, I feel 692 00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:15,120 like it was this whole damage control thing because they were 693 00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:18,680 kind of, you know, all of these health influencers have been, 694 00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:20,360 you know, talking negatively about the pill. 695 00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:22,120 And so we're here to set the record straight. 696 00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:26,800 And so they kind of like glazed over a lot of the the issues to 697 00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:29,520 try to minimize them. But when we look at the 698 00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:33,640 research, one of the ways to look at how the pill impacts 699 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:38,520 fertility is to look at the time to pregnancy studies. 700 00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:41,640 And those are studies that have women who are on contraception 701 00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:45,000 and then they come off and they kind of compare them to women 702 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:48,040 who hadn't taken contraception and see like, how long is it 703 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:53,560 taking them to conceive? And so I take issue with some of 704 00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:56,360 these studies because they're often presented in a very 705 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:59,200 specific way. So most of these time to 706 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:02,400 pregnancy studies, basically they take these women off the 707 00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:07,240 pill and then at the year mark, they look at how many of them 708 00:37:07,240 --> 00:37:10,160 got pregnant. And then they say, oh, you know, 709 00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:13,200 80 something percent got pregnant in a year. 710 00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:15,480 So it's, it's good. We're like, it's, it's fine. 711 00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:19,160 It's the same as regular, you know, conception rates. 712 00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:21,840 So we're good to go. But when you look a little bit 713 00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:27,120 deeper, those studies exclude anybody who had any type of 714 00:37:27,120 --> 00:37:29,120 cycle issues. So if you had irregular cycles, 715 00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:31,600 if you were put on the pill for period pain, if you were put on 716 00:37:31,600 --> 00:37:35,240 the pill because you had, I don't know, like you didn't have 717 00:37:35,240 --> 00:37:37,320 a cycle at all, you're not included in the study. 718 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:40,760 And we know that there's a lot of non contraceptive reasons 719 00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:41,960 that women are being put on the pill. 720 00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:45,440 So first of all, if you were on the pill legitimately to quote 721 00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:48,200 regulate your cycle, which we could talk about, then that 722 00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:52,160 study doesn't apply to you. Furthermore, those studies look 723 00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:56,480 at the 12 month mark period and full stop, they don't look at 724 00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:59,960 well, how like how many months? Like was there like did they 725 00:37:59,960 --> 00:38:02,720 conceive in month 2 or did they conceive in month 6 or did they 726 00:38:02,720 --> 00:38:05,760 conceive in month 9? And these are very important 727 00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:09,200 questions because of what literally happens when women 728 00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:12,400 come off the pill. So when you have lived your 729 00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:18,000 whole life under the lie that we can get pregnant every day and 730 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:21,040 under the immense fear of an impending pregnancy, and you've 731 00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:24,080 basically spent your whole life like trying to avoid pregnancy, 732 00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:26,240 right? At all costs, you're under the 733 00:38:26,240 --> 00:38:28,400 impression that when you come off the pill, you're going to 734 00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:32,440 get pregnant immediately. And so by month, maybe month one 735 00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:35,080 or two, you might be like, OK, but by month three, you're 736 00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:37,560 already freaking out. By month 6, you're at the 737 00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:40,200 fertility clinic. And by month 12, you might have 738 00:38:40,240 --> 00:38:43,160 already done some procedure. Like this is how this plays out 739 00:38:43,160 --> 00:38:46,000 for women. So one of the studies that I 740 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:49,760 shared, I think I shared it in both books, was the study where 741 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:51,760 they actually broke it down month to month. 742 00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:56,000 And so they had women who had used condoms. 743 00:38:56,400 --> 00:38:58,520 They had women who would use like the regular kind of 744 00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:00,760 combined synthetic estrogen progestin pill. 745 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:05,160 They had women who came off the hormonal IUD and they had women 746 00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:08,000 who also use the shot and the implant and when they broke it 747 00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:10,960 down month to month, the women who had stopped using condoms so 748 00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:13,840 non hormonal methods like their cycles didn't need to go through 749 00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:17,320 any type of transition. Four months was the average time 750 00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:20,480 to conception the combined pill 8 months. 751 00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:25,480 So double the time, average time to conception the shot, 18 752 00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:29,720 months, which I mean, the shot is not my favorite. 753 00:39:29,720 --> 00:39:33,120 It certainly does have the the kind of longest, most 754 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:35,160 significant suppressive effect on ovulation. 755 00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:39,440 But that study is very telling because in that study, it took 756 00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:41,800 the women who were on the pill twice as long on average to 757 00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:43,520 conceive. Now, of course, some women get 758 00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:45,840 off the pill and they conceive immediately and some women dope. 759 00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:48,640 But that's one of the studies that shows that there is this 760 00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:52,400 temporary suppressive effect. And I would say that some of the 761 00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:55,920 scary stats, there's a couple scary stats that I've shared 762 00:39:56,120 --> 00:39:58,920 like the the the stats that kind of make people the most nervous. 763 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:03,680 And so one of those is the effect of the pill on ovarian 764 00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:07,320 reserve parameters. And so women who are on the pill 765 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:09,720 across the board have lower ovarian reserve parameters. 766 00:40:10,240 --> 00:40:13,920 And that includes ovarian volume and includes AMH levels, anti 767 00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:16,360 malaria and hormone and antral follicle count. 768 00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:19,600 And I mean, if you think about it logically, well, of course it 769 00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:21,880 does because what does the pill do? 770 00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:24,520 So different formulations and different hormonal 771 00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:27,920 contraceptives have different, you know, like modes of action. 772 00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:30,720 But generally speaking, like if we're talking about just the 773 00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:33,360 combined synthetic estrogen progest, and I always make a 774 00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:35,520 point of saying it because it's not the same estrogen, right? 775 00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:39,960 But the those, the primary mode of action of, of, of those is to 776 00:40:40,240 --> 00:40:42,480 depressed ovulation and that's why they work. 777 00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:46,960 So this is part of the strategy. And they do that by interfering 778 00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:51,240 with the hypothalamic pituitary ovarian communication that's 779 00:40:51,240 --> 00:40:53,880 happening. So they shut down ovarian 780 00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:56,840 function. So then logically, if we're just 781 00:40:56,840 --> 00:41:00,680 stopping that function, then they're not, they're not in use. 782 00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:04,120 So it does make sense that those ovarian parameters, ovarian 783 00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:05,440 reserve parameters are suppressed. 784 00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:09,240 So the scary stat is that the ovarian volume in women on the 785 00:41:09,240 --> 00:41:13,840 pill has been shown to be, you know, up to 50% less, meaning 786 00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:16,360 that the like shrinks like, right? 787 00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:17,840 Like that's why it's the scary stat. 788 00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:22,120 So, you know, again, that information, when you look at 789 00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:26,000 the studies that are looking at this, there's no research to 790 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:27,960 indicate that those changes are permanent. 791 00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:30,400 So of course, when you bring it up, people are like, Oh my God, 792 00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:34,880 shrink it, the ovaries. But again, so there was a, a 793 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:37,640 really interesting study that looked at this and it was a 794 00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:41,840 fertility preservation study. So sometimes when you want to 795 00:41:41,840 --> 00:41:44,040 find out the research, you have to go to where the money is. 796 00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:47,160 So of course, fertility preservation is when you have a 797 00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:49,880 woman who is, you know, concerned about her future 798 00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:53,360 fertility and she's trying to either save egg, you know, 799 00:41:53,520 --> 00:41:56,920 follicles, egg follicles, or she's trying to save embryos. 800 00:41:57,320 --> 00:42:00,320 And So what they were finding was that women who were doing 801 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:02,760 this, if they're, if they just stopped taking contraceptives 802 00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:05,720 and immediately go in for the procedure, they weren't getting 803 00:42:05,720 --> 00:42:08,760 as good of a yield. And so they did the study to 804 00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:11,720 see, OK, well, if you come off the pill and just do it right 805 00:42:11,720 --> 00:42:14,960 away versus if you wait, then is it going to improve? 806 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:17,360 And so in those studies, they saw that if you, you know, 807 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:21,200 waited six to seven months or more, the AMH values would 808 00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:25,400 improve, the overall parameters would improve, and the OOH site 809 00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:28,560 yield was better, too. So then what do you think the 810 00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:30,480 researchers suggested? They said, oh, well, if you're 811 00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:33,040 doing fertility preservation, then it would be a really good 812 00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:36,760 idea to wait. You know, come off the pill 813 00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:38,760 about six to seven months before you want to do the procedure, 814 00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:41,760 and you'll get a better yield. So just think about this for a 815 00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:43,880 minute. You know why doesn't that advice 816 00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:48,280 carry over for women who are trying to conceive naturally, 817 00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:51,400 right? So this is the longest answer to 818 00:42:51,400 --> 00:42:52,680 your question, right? The long answer. 819 00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:56,680 Right. But ultimately the first part of 820 00:42:56,680 --> 00:42:59,360 the answer would be, okay, so now we understand that there is 821 00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:02,200 this temporary period of sub fertility postpaid. 822 00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:06,040 It doesn't mean that you can't get pregnant, but it's like, I 823 00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:09,480 have insurance for my car. I don't expect to get into an 824 00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:12,600 accident, but I know I could. So I have this insurance so that 825 00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:15,680 I'm prepared if I do. And so I feel like the approach 826 00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:18,320 that we should take when we're thinking about when to come off 827 00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:21,440 contraception is to be aware that there's this temporary 828 00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:23,760 period of self fertility so that we can plan ahead. 829 00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:26,240 Because nobody tells you this. The amount of women that I've 830 00:43:26,240 --> 00:43:29,560 spoken to who you know, I'm getting married in the fall or 831 00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:31,480 my partner and I are planning to get pregnant next year. 832 00:43:31,640 --> 00:43:35,040 So I made an appointment with my doctor to ask if I should come 833 00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:38,800 off the pill. And I'm always like, OK, so you, 834 00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:42,360 you like put on your clothes. Like you took a shower that 835 00:43:42,360 --> 00:43:43,360 morning. You put on your clothes. 836 00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:46,840 You drove across town to have your doctor tell you like, no, 837 00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:48,160 you don't need to come off early. 838 00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:50,320 If you, if you come off now, you'll just get pregnant right 839 00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:51,640 away. Don't worry about it. 840 00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:53,960 You can just, and this is like the standard thing I've heard 841 00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:57,560 over and over again, but there was something inside of you that 842 00:43:57,560 --> 00:43:59,240 caused you to ask that question, right? 843 00:43:59,240 --> 00:44:01,600 Because there was something that was like, maybe I should give 844 00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:05,240 myself a little bit of a break. So I really think that since no 845 00:44:05,240 --> 00:44:07,560 one is talking about this, we have to go to the research. 846 00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:13,480 And so minimum, I would say six months, but you know, ideally I, 847 00:44:13,560 --> 00:44:17,600 I feel like 12 months should be the minimum, but that, that's my 848 00:44:17,600 --> 00:44:19,800 perspective on it. And the second part of it is 849 00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:24,160 that, you know, if you were put on the pill for a specific 850 00:44:24,160 --> 00:44:27,760 issue, if you know that you didn't have regular cycles, if 851 00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:31,240 you know your period pain was super extreme, if you know that 852 00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:37,200 you weren't cycling at all, then I would say 18 months to two 853 00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:39,080 years. And that means coming off the 854 00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:41,040 pill when you're not trying to get pregnant, like when you're 855 00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:45,200 still actively avoiding finding another alternative so that you 856 00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:48,120 can actively prevent pregnancy until you're ready. 857 00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:52,880 But giving your body time to normalize and also taking the 858 00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:55,880 time to just to see the lay of the land. 859 00:44:55,880 --> 00:44:57,960 Like maybe you've been on the pill for eight years. 860 00:44:57,960 --> 00:45:00,200 Maybe you've been on for 10. You don't even know what your 861 00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:03,000 normal cycle is like. You know, this would give you an 862 00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:06,520 opportunity to track your cycle and start to see what's going 863 00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:09,040 on. Observe your cycle. 864 00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:13,120 Go through that transition period without the added stress 865 00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:14,920 of also trying to conceive at the same time. 866 00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:18,680 I love that. And I think too then kind of 867 00:45:18,680 --> 00:45:24,120 moving into obviously the pill is often prescribed to not 868 00:45:24,120 --> 00:45:26,600 balance these symptoms, but more to mask them. 869 00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:31,960 And there's so many symptoms of our period and our menstrual 870 00:45:31,960 --> 00:45:36,120 cycle that leads to that prescription. 871 00:45:36,280 --> 00:45:40,240 And so I would love to kind of turn the conversation into that 872 00:45:40,240 --> 00:45:45,040 perspective now. And so looking at what like, how 873 00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:48,440 can we begin to reframe our periods, especially for women 874 00:45:48,440 --> 00:45:51,760 who are suffering with these more severe symptoms like you've 875 00:45:51,760 --> 00:45:54,960 just mentioned? And how do we optimize our 876 00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:58,080 health instead of just enduring those symptoms and that 877 00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:00,080 discomfort or masking it with the pill? 878 00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:03,320 It's such an important conversation. 879 00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:07,320 I think one of the ways is to start recognizing that your 880 00:46:07,320 --> 00:46:11,240 cycle and your period, it's not only important when you're 881 00:46:11,240 --> 00:46:13,880 trying to get pregnant. I think we have to start 882 00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:16,480 understanding that as if, you know, if you're a woman of 883 00:46:16,480 --> 00:46:20,520 reproductive age, your cycle is a part of the whole picture. 884 00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:24,400 And essentially, you know, This is why I titled my first book 885 00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:28,320 The Fit Vital Sign because it is that's exactly what it is. 886 00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:31,560 So a vital sign and some of the most common that we're familiar 887 00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:34,280 with would be like your blood pressure or your heart rate or 888 00:46:34,280 --> 00:46:37,440 your respiratory rate. And so we all know that if your 889 00:46:37,440 --> 00:46:39,920 doctor measures your blood pressure, that there is a normal 890 00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:44,440 range, and if it's too high or if it's too low, it also 891 00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:47,040 provides a doctor with some idea of what could be causing it to 892 00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:50,240 be too high. So I think the first thing is to 893 00:46:50,240 --> 00:46:54,280 have a different understanding of our cycle as when we think of 894 00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:57,480 it in this light, then instead of thinking it's separate from 895 00:46:57,480 --> 00:47:00,720 yourself and it's just problematic for no reason, you 896 00:47:00,720 --> 00:47:04,760 start to understand that if your cycle is really off, if you are 897 00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:08,560 having irregular cycles or if you do have really intense pain, 898 00:47:08,880 --> 00:47:11,200 that's your body's way of trying to communicate with you. 899 00:47:11,200 --> 00:47:12,880 I mean, your body can't like e-mail you, right? 900 00:47:13,280 --> 00:47:15,840 So it can't communicate with you in that way. 901 00:47:15,840 --> 00:47:19,200 So your body communicates with you through symptoms and when we 902 00:47:19,200 --> 00:47:22,400 start to understand that those imbalances are a reflection of 903 00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:24,760 what's happening, that's the first step. 904 00:47:24,840 --> 00:47:27,920 And then the second step is to learn about what are the things 905 00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:31,640 that we can do to support hormonal balance so that we can 906 00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:33,600 bring it back. I think that's one of the 907 00:47:33,600 --> 00:47:36,640 challenges is that, you know, when you're at the beginning of 908 00:47:36,640 --> 00:47:39,200 this journey until you start kind of diving into the rabbit 909 00:47:39,200 --> 00:47:42,720 hole and learning more about it and finding resources to really 910 00:47:42,720 --> 00:47:46,000 support your body's natural function, you might just feel 911 00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:47,880 like, well, this is always going to be this way. 912 00:47:47,880 --> 00:47:51,120 There's nothing I can do. And many of us have have been 913 00:47:51,120 --> 00:47:52,720 told that. I mean, you might go to your 914 00:47:52,720 --> 00:47:55,080 doctor and you say, look, I'm only ovulating. 915 00:47:55,440 --> 00:47:59,080 Like when I was I had AI had a photo shoot. 916 00:47:59,760 --> 00:48:02,200 This is it this week. This has been a busy week. 917 00:48:02,200 --> 00:48:06,840 I had a photo shoot this week. And so I went to this, I went to 918 00:48:06,840 --> 00:48:10,280 Mac to get lipstick. And so, you know, what do you 919 00:48:10,280 --> 00:48:11,760 do, right? I'm talking to the girl, the 920 00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:15,040 counter and she tells me that she gets her period once or 921 00:48:15,040 --> 00:48:18,280 twice a year. And you know, and this is this 922 00:48:18,280 --> 00:48:21,040 happens to me all the time because everywhere if someone 923 00:48:21,040 --> 00:48:23,080 asks me what I do, right? So this is like one of the 924 00:48:23,160 --> 00:48:25,760 gazillion times has happened. But basically, you know, this is 925 00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:27,360 my issue. I went to the doctor and they 926 00:48:27,360 --> 00:48:29,400 were just like, go on the pill. And she's like, I didn't want to 927 00:48:29,400 --> 00:48:32,600 go on the pill because, you know, I feel like there's 928 00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:35,560 actually something wrong. And so this is a part of the 929 00:48:35,560 --> 00:48:36,720 conversation. We have to shift. 930 00:48:36,720 --> 00:48:39,800 So many women have had that experience where they, they know 931 00:48:39,800 --> 00:48:43,040 that there's something wrong and they're just being told to go on 932 00:48:43,040 --> 00:48:47,640 the pill. But what the pill does is the 933 00:48:47,640 --> 00:48:51,240 pill it, we talked about it, it suppresses ovulatory function. 934 00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:54,960 And so I like to teach with analogies. 935 00:48:54,960 --> 00:48:56,320 So I have to ensure this analogy. 936 00:48:56,320 --> 00:48:59,560 So, you know, if I had like a summer house, which would be so 937 00:48:59,840 --> 00:49:04,360 fun and you know, I go up there and you know, there's like water 938 00:49:04,360 --> 00:49:07,720 all over the place because I have a leaky pipe or like my 939 00:49:07,720 --> 00:49:12,240 pipe burst or whatever the case. So the pill is like this 940 00:49:12,240 --> 00:49:14,800 situation where I just shut off the water. 941 00:49:15,600 --> 00:49:18,720 I didn't actually fix the pipe though, so I shut off the water. 942 00:49:18,840 --> 00:49:22,960 I get the people in to help with the water remediation or 943 00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:26,920 whatever, and then I go back home and the following summer I 944 00:49:26,920 --> 00:49:28,640 go back up there. Well, what happens if I turn on 945 00:49:28,640 --> 00:49:30,360 the pipe if I didn't fix the pipe? 946 00:49:30,680 --> 00:49:33,880 So I feel like, yeah, the first step is to start to understand 947 00:49:34,320 --> 00:49:37,720 that the cycle is actually part of us. 948 00:49:37,800 --> 00:49:39,640 It's reflecting what's happening health wise. 949 00:49:40,240 --> 00:49:43,240 And like you said, the pill just is masking these issues. 950 00:49:43,240 --> 00:49:46,520 And one of the challenges is that some of the issues that 951 00:49:47,040 --> 00:49:50,400 that show up in the menstrual cycle can imply really 952 00:49:50,400 --> 00:49:53,720 significant things. So for example, if somebody has 953 00:49:53,720 --> 00:49:57,000 is not cycling at all, so a woman of reproductive age, she 954 00:49:57,000 --> 00:49:59,880 used to have her cycle and she just doesn't have a period for 955 00:49:59,880 --> 00:50:04,360 six months or more often that's, you know, caused by hypothalamic 956 00:50:04,440 --> 00:50:09,200 amenorrhea, which is characterized by under nutrition 957 00:50:09,200 --> 00:50:11,600 over exercise and stress, like a combination of those. 958 00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:15,400 So basically you're not getting even enough nutrition to to to 959 00:50:15,480 --> 00:50:18,520 ovulate like to support normal hormone function. 960 00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:23,400 And if a woman has that condition and it goes on for a 961 00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:26,920 long period of time, I mean, she can develop early onset 962 00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:29,600 osteoporosis. Like this is a serious issue. 963 00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:33,360 And so when we go to the doctor and they put us on the pill as 964 00:50:33,360 --> 00:50:38,280 the first port of call, that like, that is not like, I don't 965 00:50:38,280 --> 00:50:39,960 think that's the appropriate response. 966 00:50:39,960 --> 00:50:43,480 I feel like we should be assessing her dietary intake. 967 00:50:43,480 --> 00:50:46,640 We should be looking at this more significantly because she 968 00:50:46,640 --> 00:50:49,600 could bring her period back through a process of nutrition 969 00:50:49,600 --> 00:50:51,680 and, you know, identifying what's happening with her 970 00:50:51,680 --> 00:50:54,640 exercise, looking at her stress, looking at all of these factors. 971 00:50:55,040 --> 00:50:57,680 And then she doesn't have to develop osteoporosis. 972 00:50:58,320 --> 00:51:03,520 Or we could put her on the pill and just ignore it and and then 973 00:51:03,520 --> 00:51:06,680 what does she do later on if she wants to get pregnant? 974 00:51:08,560 --> 00:51:12,160 Wow, I think that's so fascinating as well because it 975 00:51:12,240 --> 00:51:14,680 invites in that long term perspective. 976 00:51:14,960 --> 00:51:17,480 I think so often we're just in that short term temporary 977 00:51:17,480 --> 00:51:20,920 mindset of those quick fixes really. 978 00:51:21,120 --> 00:51:24,640 And often we educate a lot on holistic health and healing. 979 00:51:24,640 --> 00:51:29,080 And, and really it's it's been months or years that have 980 00:51:29,080 --> 00:51:33,320 contributed to these imbalances. It's going to take time to 981 00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:36,480 restore them. And so looking at some of these 982 00:51:36,480 --> 00:51:39,800 imbalances in the body, what would you say then are actually 983 00:51:39,800 --> 00:51:43,320 markers of health looking at the menstrual cycle and what are 984 00:51:43,320 --> 00:51:46,600 signs of a healthy cycle? Yeah. 985 00:51:46,720 --> 00:51:48,640 I mean, I alluded to a few of them. 986 00:51:48,640 --> 00:51:51,440 So I mentioned that a healthy cycle typically somewhere 987 00:51:51,440 --> 00:51:55,240 between 24 to 35 days average of about 29 days. 988 00:51:55,640 --> 00:51:58,600 So I think it's helpful to to note that the cycle doesn't 989 00:51:58,600 --> 00:52:01,760 always have to be exactly 28 days for it to be healthy. 990 00:52:02,640 --> 00:52:05,400 If we if I take you through the different phases of the cycles, 991 00:52:05,440 --> 00:52:08,360 if we start with the period, the first day of your true flow 992 00:52:08,360 --> 00:52:10,560 would be the first day of your period, the first day of your 993 00:52:10,560 --> 00:52:13,240 cycle. And, you know, a healthy period 994 00:52:13,240 --> 00:52:16,440 typically is averaging about four to five days and we would 995 00:52:16,440 --> 00:52:19,280 expect it to start kind of moderate to heavy and then, you 996 00:52:19,280 --> 00:52:21,920 know, gradually taper off. There can be some changes in 997 00:52:21,920 --> 00:52:24,080 flow. But you know, you would expect 998 00:52:24,080 --> 00:52:26,560 I, I, I usually say the period should be like a sentence. 999 00:52:26,560 --> 00:52:28,640 It should have a beginning, a middle and an end, and then it 1000 00:52:28,640 --> 00:52:31,040 should be over. And so if you're having bleeding 1001 00:52:31,040 --> 00:52:34,120 that's going on for days or weeks, if you're having kind of 1002 00:52:34,120 --> 00:52:37,160 bleeding throughout the cycle, it's not uncommon for women to 1003 00:52:37,160 --> 00:52:38,640 have spotting leading up to their period. 1004 00:52:38,640 --> 00:52:41,720 But those situations are not optimal, and we should be 1005 00:52:41,720 --> 00:52:44,480 looking at those. And, you know, one of the things 1006 00:52:44,480 --> 00:52:47,040 about the period is that it's also very common for women to 1007 00:52:47,040 --> 00:52:48,760 experience pain with their periods. 1008 00:52:49,120 --> 00:52:52,880 And although it's common, again, I'm always here with my 1009 00:52:52,880 --> 00:52:55,760 analogies. Imagine any man in your life who 1010 00:52:55,760 --> 00:52:59,680 had such severe pain in his penis that for several days of 1011 00:52:59,680 --> 00:53:02,000 the month, he maybe couldn't even go to work. 1012 00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:06,680 No one would say that that's OK. You know, I think the only time 1013 00:53:06,680 --> 00:53:10,720 that we think about pain as being kind of an acceptable part 1014 00:53:10,720 --> 00:53:12,560 of it, a natural process, would be childbirth. 1015 00:53:13,120 --> 00:53:16,840 And so that's something that that we should talk about. 1016 00:53:16,880 --> 00:53:20,520 You know, while it's common for women to experience pain, you 1017 00:53:20,520 --> 00:53:23,920 know, I, I delved into the research on periods. 1018 00:53:23,920 --> 00:53:26,520 I wanted to have a really good understanding of what was 1019 00:53:26,520 --> 00:53:29,200 happening there. And so a period is a normal 1020 00:53:29,200 --> 00:53:32,920 inflammatory process by which we shed the functional layer of our 1021 00:53:32,920 --> 00:53:36,000 endometrium. And so in order for that process 1022 00:53:36,000 --> 00:53:38,760 to happen, there is a certain amount of inflammation that has 1023 00:53:38,760 --> 00:53:41,840 to take place in order for this lining to be shed. 1024 00:53:41,840 --> 00:53:46,040 And so from that perspective, when they compare women who have 1025 00:53:46,040 --> 00:53:48,720 kind of moderate to severe period pain to women who are 1026 00:53:48,720 --> 00:53:51,640 not, the women with the severe, you know, moderate to severe 1027 00:53:51,640 --> 00:53:54,680 period pain are having upwards of four times the level of 1028 00:53:54,680 --> 00:53:56,960 prostaglandins, which is an inflammatory marker. 1029 00:53:57,280 --> 00:53:59,800 So just by looking at the research, I mean, if there's a 1030 00:53:59,800 --> 00:54:02,120 difference between the women who don't have pain in the women who 1031 00:54:02,120 --> 00:54:04,160 do have pain and they have higher inflammatory markers, 1032 00:54:04,560 --> 00:54:07,920 then even just at the most basic level period pain would be an 1033 00:54:07,920 --> 00:54:11,520 indication of, you know, more significant inflammation in 1034 00:54:11,520 --> 00:54:15,520 these women all the way up to a more severe condition like 1035 00:54:15,520 --> 00:54:19,440 endometriosis, which is a really severe, chronic debilitating 1036 00:54:19,680 --> 00:54:22,040 issues. So back to like what's normal. 1037 00:54:22,040 --> 00:54:26,480 I would say we, and it's funny because sometimes I get pushed 1038 00:54:26,480 --> 00:54:30,600 back from from saying that, you know, pain isn't normal and 1039 00:54:30,600 --> 00:54:32,480 menstruation, cause a lot of people say, well, it is normal, 1040 00:54:32,840 --> 00:54:35,440 it's common. But I think again, our body is 1041 00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:38,320 trying to speak to us and if we don't listen to the whispers, 1042 00:54:38,320 --> 00:54:42,280 they become screams. So, you know, and a lot of women 1043 00:54:42,280 --> 00:54:46,240 with moderate pain where it's not so severe can achieve a 1044 00:54:46,240 --> 00:54:48,880 complete resolution of that by focusing on reducing 1045 00:54:48,880 --> 00:54:51,720 inflammatory markers. Some women that have more severe 1046 00:54:51,720 --> 00:54:54,440 and intense pain, it's going to be more of a process. 1047 00:54:54,440 --> 00:54:57,520 Like you said, if it took all these years for this process to 1048 00:54:57,520 --> 00:54:59,960 develop, it's not just immediately going to resolve 1049 00:54:59,960 --> 00:55:04,160 overnight, but most women can experience some relief of their 1050 00:55:04,160 --> 00:55:08,080 period pain and that would indicate that it's a normal 1051 00:55:08,080 --> 00:55:11,000 process going awry. So, you know, and once so to 1052 00:55:11,000 --> 00:55:13,840 kind of keep this going, so I just talked about the period. 1053 00:55:13,840 --> 00:55:16,200 So to kind of get into that first half of the menstrual 1054 00:55:16,200 --> 00:55:20,480 cycle, signs of health, first of all are that the cycle is 1055 00:55:20,520 --> 00:55:23,640 ovulatory. And in order for the cycle to 1056 00:55:23,640 --> 00:55:27,840 fall within that 24 and a 35 day period, you know, ovulation has 1057 00:55:27,840 --> 00:55:31,480 to happen somewhere between days 10 and about 22 or so. 1058 00:55:31,960 --> 00:55:34,760 And so we would look at kind of the quality of that follicular 1059 00:55:34,760 --> 00:55:36,400 phase. We would look at, you know, are 1060 00:55:36,400 --> 00:55:38,880 you making cervical mucus? In a healthy cycle, we would 1061 00:55:38,880 --> 00:55:40,640 expect two to seven days of mucus. 1062 00:55:40,640 --> 00:55:42,960 Are you having at least one day where you're making some of that 1063 00:55:42,960 --> 00:55:46,400 clear stretchy cervical fluid that looks like raw egg whites? 1064 00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:48,520 And we could also look at your mood. 1065 00:55:48,520 --> 00:55:50,840 How are you feeling? You know, what's what's going 1066 00:55:50,840 --> 00:55:52,800 on. Once you've ovulated, then 1067 00:55:52,800 --> 00:55:54,800 that's when your body starts to produce significant 1068 00:55:54,800 --> 00:55:57,240 progesterone. And so in a healthy luteal 1069 00:55:57,240 --> 00:56:01,200 phase, we would expect it to last about 12 to 14 days. 1070 00:56:01,680 --> 00:56:04,760 And you know, in a healthy luteal phase, you're producing 1071 00:56:05,040 --> 00:56:09,600 significant progesterone and it kind of it goes up and it peaks 1072 00:56:09,600 --> 00:56:11,160 at mid luteal if you don't conceive. 1073 00:56:11,160 --> 00:56:15,960 And then it gradually, which is the keyword lowers and, and then 1074 00:56:15,960 --> 00:56:19,160 you get your period. And so one of the signs of 1075 00:56:19,160 --> 00:56:21,680 hormonal imbalance, especially that we can see in the post 1076 00:56:21,680 --> 00:56:24,560 ovulatory phase would be, you know, women who have a sharp 1077 00:56:24,560 --> 00:56:26,800 drop in their progesterone where it's kind of stopped like kind 1078 00:56:26,800 --> 00:56:28,120 of coming down before it should be. 1079 00:56:28,360 --> 00:56:31,560 That's associated with increased PMS symptoms in really severe 1080 00:56:31,560 --> 00:56:35,600 cases, PMDD, it's associated with that spotting that you see 1081 00:56:35,600 --> 00:56:39,200 before your period. So there's a lot that we can 1082 00:56:39,200 --> 00:56:41,640 gather just by paying attention to the cycle. 1083 00:56:41,640 --> 00:56:44,320 And again, this is going back to that concept of the vital sign 1084 00:56:44,320 --> 00:56:48,480 where when you understand your cycle that way, then first of 1085 00:56:48,480 --> 00:56:50,920 all, it demystifies a whole lot because now you kind of know 1086 00:56:50,920 --> 00:56:53,840 what's going on. But you can really start to see 1087 00:56:55,280 --> 00:56:58,880 how you can kind of tell if your hormones are balanced or if 1088 00:56:58,880 --> 00:57:01,200 they're not. And it's a really, I think it's 1089 00:57:01,200 --> 00:57:03,560 a really powerful way to kind of gauge your hormone health. 1090 00:57:04,320 --> 00:57:08,760 Definitely and I feel like so many of us, at least I feel like 1091 00:57:08,760 --> 00:57:11,280 in our generation weren't raised with this education. 1092 00:57:11,600 --> 00:57:15,320 Like honestly I'm 38 and only a few years ago did I come to 1093 00:57:15,320 --> 00:57:18,360 realize oh I have 4 phases in my cycle. 1094 00:57:18,680 --> 00:57:21,440 How? How am I in my mental late 30s 1095 00:57:21,440 --> 00:57:23,240 and only just learning this information? 1096 00:57:24,120 --> 00:57:27,200 And so I think this is a very empowering conversation that I'm 1097 00:57:27,200 --> 00:57:29,520 so excited to share. Even if women have been familiar 1098 00:57:29,520 --> 00:57:31,920 in tracking their cycles and aware of their phases, I think 1099 00:57:31,920 --> 00:57:34,720 it's just a good reminder of just really tuning in with our 1100 00:57:34,720 --> 00:57:38,920 bodies and using our menstrual cycle as this 5th vital sign and 1101 00:57:38,920 --> 00:57:43,400 not as something to like be annoyed by or to disregard. 1102 00:57:43,400 --> 00:57:46,600 But when we really look at it as a marker of our health, it can 1103 00:57:46,600 --> 00:57:48,600 be very empowering and very transformative. 1104 00:57:49,280 --> 00:57:50,600 And can I say one thing about that? 1105 00:57:50,600 --> 00:57:53,520 Because, you know, and I want to acknowledge like some women do 1106 00:57:53,520 --> 00:57:56,720 have a, a really rough go at their menstrual cycle. 1107 00:57:57,240 --> 00:58:00,440 So for some women, like it is annoying, it is uncomfortable. 1108 00:58:00,440 --> 00:58:05,160 Some women have really extreme pain and just a lot of different 1109 00:58:05,160 --> 00:58:07,360 symptoms. And so, you know, I don't want 1110 00:58:07,360 --> 00:58:10,160 to paint this picture that it's all rainbows and sunshine. 1111 00:58:10,160 --> 00:58:15,080 But again, if we look at it as that this is your body's way of 1112 00:58:15,080 --> 00:58:16,760 communicating to you. Because I think the biggest 1113 00:58:16,760 --> 00:58:19,600 issue in women who've had a lot of these negative experiences is 1114 00:58:19,600 --> 00:58:22,120 that they really have to struggle to find the answers. 1115 00:58:22,120 --> 00:58:25,520 They really have to struggle many times to have a doctor take 1116 00:58:25,520 --> 00:58:28,360 them seriously. The stats on endometriosis are 1117 00:58:28,360 --> 00:58:31,320 just ridiculous. On average, it takes a woman 8 1118 00:58:31,320 --> 00:58:36,680 to 12 years to get a diagnosis. There was this study that I kind 1119 00:58:36,680 --> 00:58:40,760 of allude to in in the endometriosis section. 1120 00:58:41,000 --> 00:58:42,760 The study was a qualitative study. 1121 00:58:42,760 --> 00:58:45,560 I always find it kind of fun when I find a qualitative study 1122 00:58:45,560 --> 00:58:48,800 where they're actually talking to the people and hearing what 1123 00:58:48,800 --> 00:58:51,640 they say. Anyways, so they called the 1124 00:58:51,640 --> 00:58:54,400 study that one doctor because it was a thing. 1125 00:58:54,400 --> 00:58:57,160 The theme that kept coming up, they interviewed all these women 1126 00:58:57,160 --> 00:59:01,280 who were ultimately diagnosed with endometriosis and many of 1127 00:59:01,280 --> 00:59:04,120 them taken, you know, for a decade or, you know, to get 1128 00:59:04,240 --> 00:59:05,680 someone to listen to them to get. 1129 00:59:05,920 --> 00:59:08,920 And it was, they would always say it was that one Doctor Who 1130 00:59:08,920 --> 00:59:11,400 told me, have you heard of endometriosis? 1131 00:59:11,400 --> 00:59:14,720 Or that one Doctor Who took them seriously and actually pushed 1132 00:59:14,720 --> 00:59:16,480 them to get those additional testing. 1133 00:59:16,480 --> 00:59:19,680 So I just want to kind of say that because it it's it's hard. 1134 00:59:19,680 --> 00:59:22,880 It's not easy. But if we reframe why you're 1135 00:59:22,880 --> 00:59:25,760 having the symptoms, then at least gives you some hope that 1136 00:59:25,760 --> 00:59:28,360 you can find the answer. A. 100%. 1137 00:59:28,800 --> 00:59:32,760 So Lisa, I know that you often speak to your custom protocols 1138 00:59:32,760 --> 00:59:36,440 and obviously working directly with a woman and seeing how 1139 00:59:36,440 --> 00:59:39,840 their cycle is speaking to them. Yet do you have any general 1140 00:59:39,840 --> 00:59:43,840 holistic recommendations for more of these unwanted or 1141 00:59:44,000 --> 00:59:49,000 unwelcomed period symptoms such as mood swings and period pain, 1142 00:59:49,000 --> 00:59:52,240 which I know you mentioned lowering inflammation markers or 1143 00:59:52,240 --> 00:59:54,880 even hormonal acne. Would love to just hear your 1144 00:59:54,880 --> 00:59:57,920 perspective on any holistic support that would be 1145 00:59:57,920 --> 01:00:00,120 beneficial. Yeah, and I mean. 1146 01:00:00,760 --> 01:00:04,240 I know that you mentioned like one of the benefits about diving 1147 01:00:04,240 --> 01:00:07,480 into the menstrual cycle is that we can really customize based on 1148 01:00:07,480 --> 01:00:09,240 what's actually working for the cycle. 1149 01:00:09,600 --> 01:00:12,800 But one of the things that I tend to like to focus on are 1150 01:00:12,800 --> 01:00:15,640 what I often refer to as the foundational factors. 1151 01:00:16,040 --> 01:00:19,560 Because when we kind of start there, we can often reduce some 1152 01:00:19,600 --> 01:00:24,000 of the the symptoms or even just the intensity of them and really 1153 01:00:24,000 --> 01:00:27,120 focus on what's what's happening. 1154 01:00:27,120 --> 01:00:32,600 So for example, many women under eat protein specifically in fat 1155 01:00:32,880 --> 01:00:36,440 and I know in real food for fertility, there's a variety of 1156 01:00:36,440 --> 01:00:40,720 places where we share just really interesting research on 1157 01:00:40,840 --> 01:00:44,360 how you know, the the link between women who are under 1158 01:00:44,360 --> 01:00:46,960 eating protein or fat specifically and how it can 1159 01:00:46,960 --> 01:00:50,840 disrupt ovulatory function. So I think one of the most 1160 01:00:50,840 --> 01:00:53,960 consistent themes that I've seen working with clients is that, 1161 01:00:54,240 --> 01:00:57,200 you know, many of us are just, you know, inadvertently under 1162 01:00:57,200 --> 01:00:59,560 eating. It could be in effect from the 1163 01:00:59,560 --> 01:01:03,680 90s to focus on calories and, and a lot of women are really 1164 01:01:03,680 --> 01:01:07,320 concerned about weight loss. And that's a whole conversation 1165 01:01:07,320 --> 01:01:11,000 about how to approach it. But I think the questions we 1166 01:01:11,000 --> 01:01:13,560 have to ask in terms of balancing hormones and, you 1167 01:01:13,560 --> 01:01:16,960 know, overcoming certain period issues, as you mentioned, for 1168 01:01:16,960 --> 01:01:20,160 me, it always comes down to what is the most important thing for 1169 01:01:20,160 --> 01:01:23,280 this client right now. Because if your biggest concern 1170 01:01:23,280 --> 01:01:26,960 are those hormonal imbalances or you're having really severe kind 1171 01:01:26,960 --> 01:01:31,440 of PMS, sometimes even bordering into PMDD territory where it's 1172 01:01:31,440 --> 01:01:33,480 having a negative impact on your days. 1173 01:01:33,800 --> 01:01:36,600 If you're trying to conceive and you have really significant 1174 01:01:36,600 --> 01:01:39,760 concerns about your cycle, then I think the first thing we need 1175 01:01:39,760 --> 01:01:42,760 to do is really look at some of those foundational factors. 1176 01:01:42,760 --> 01:01:45,800 So, you know, one of the things that we've already talked about 1177 01:01:45,800 --> 01:01:47,760 is just the importance of getting enough protein. 1178 01:01:48,320 --> 01:01:52,200 And again, you've, you kind of brought up how many different 1179 01:01:52,200 --> 01:01:54,840 diets there are. And now everyone has their own 1180 01:01:54,840 --> 01:01:57,240 curated social media. Well, I didn't grow up with 1181 01:01:57,240 --> 01:01:59,600 social media. You know, I graduated from high 1182 01:01:59,600 --> 01:02:02,440 school in the year 2000. And so I didn't have a cell 1183 01:02:02,440 --> 01:02:04,160 phone at all. And social media didn't come 1184 01:02:04,160 --> 01:02:09,200 into play until far later. And now everybody's phone has a 1185 01:02:09,200 --> 01:02:13,000 different curated feed. And so everybody has all of 1186 01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:15,400 these different ideas about what it means to be healthy. 1187 01:02:15,880 --> 01:02:18,240 And one of the things, I mean, I could take this in a lot of 1188 01:02:18,240 --> 01:02:21,200 directions, but one of the the things that I always kind of 1189 01:02:21,200 --> 01:02:25,440 pick on is that a lot of us follow these male influencers 1190 01:02:25,800 --> 01:02:30,000 who talk about these ideal ways to eat, but maybe aren't the 1191 01:02:30,000 --> 01:02:34,680 best for the female body, right? And so in terms of, you know, 1192 01:02:34,840 --> 01:02:39,160 those foundations, I would say ideally what we recommend is to 1193 01:02:39,160 --> 01:02:43,200 have three meals a day to start your day with breakfast, so not 1194 01:02:43,200 --> 01:02:45,640 to skip breakfast. So we could talk a little bit 1195 01:02:45,640 --> 01:02:48,840 about the intermittent fasting influence if you want, but in 1196 01:02:48,840 --> 01:02:52,360 order to support hormone function, what the research 1197 01:02:52,360 --> 01:02:57,080 would indicate and what we found is that we want to really have 1198 01:02:57,080 --> 01:02:59,600 that nutritional foundation. So three meals a day with 1199 01:02:59,600 --> 01:03:03,040 sufficient protein, fat and high quality carbohydrates. 1200 01:03:03,320 --> 01:03:06,120 It sounds really simple. And I know sometimes you say 1201 01:03:06,120 --> 01:03:08,720 that and people are like, but it's not about what you know, 1202 01:03:08,720 --> 01:03:11,120 it's about what you're doing. I mean, anyone who's listening, 1203 01:03:11,360 --> 01:03:13,760 think about the last seven days, How many days did you have 1204 01:03:13,760 --> 01:03:16,320 breakfast? And when you did have breakfast, 1205 01:03:16,360 --> 01:03:18,480 you know, did you have sufficient protein in that? 1206 01:03:18,880 --> 01:03:21,160 And I mean, one of the ways to check to check if you had 1207 01:03:21,160 --> 01:03:23,520 sufficient protein in that in your breakfast was like, how, 1208 01:03:24,200 --> 01:03:27,280 how long were you satiated? So I mean, I grew up eating 1209 01:03:27,280 --> 01:03:30,160 oatmeal every day for breakfast. I'm not anti oatmeal, you know, 1210 01:03:30,440 --> 01:03:33,160 but you know, I, I had the experience of eating my oatmeal 1211 01:03:33,160 --> 01:03:35,120 for breakfast and being hungry 30 minutes later. 1212 01:03:35,360 --> 01:03:39,480 So, but when we're talking about supporting hormones, it's 1213 01:03:39,480 --> 01:03:42,360 incredible what a difference that can make. 1214 01:03:42,720 --> 01:03:46,760 There's even studies that show that women who eat breakfast 1215 01:03:46,800 --> 01:03:49,560 have a lower risk for, you know, period pain where there's, 1216 01:03:49,560 --> 01:03:52,120 there's studies that kind of link the breakfast aspect. 1217 01:03:52,400 --> 01:03:56,120 There's stories that show, you know, women with PCOS who just 1218 01:03:56,120 --> 01:04:00,480 start their day with a higher protein breakfast, that it helps 1219 01:04:00,480 --> 01:04:02,960 to normalize some of those cycle issues. 1220 01:04:02,960 --> 01:04:05,760 So, so that would be one of the first things I would say, let's 1221 01:04:05,760 --> 01:04:08,200 look at the nutritional aspects. And you're not going to have 1222 01:04:08,200 --> 01:04:10,280 balanced hormones if you're skipping meals, you're not going 1223 01:04:10,280 --> 01:04:12,840 to have balanced hormones if you're just not eating enough. 1224 01:04:12,840 --> 01:04:16,280 And we also have to look at your activity level because again, 1225 01:04:16,360 --> 01:04:20,120 you know, if I pause and talk a little bit about a stereotype, 1226 01:04:20,720 --> 01:04:23,080 So stereotypically, a lot of men when they're working out, 1227 01:04:23,080 --> 01:04:25,640 they're trying to bulk up. So a lot of men when they work 1228 01:04:25,640 --> 01:04:29,360 out are going to incorporate more protein or more calories. 1229 01:04:29,800 --> 01:04:32,360 And women, stereotypically, we're often trying to lean up. 1230 01:04:32,680 --> 01:04:35,720 So it doesn't even occur to us that we might need to eat more 1231 01:04:36,200 --> 01:04:37,680 even though we're moving our body more. 1232 01:04:38,440 --> 01:04:42,160 And you see this in the cycle. So again, you know what I 1233 01:04:42,160 --> 01:04:44,840 typically see. So let's say, for example, you 1234 01:04:44,840 --> 01:04:47,160 mentioned the hormonal acne and you mentioned the mood swings. 1235 01:04:47,480 --> 01:04:49,920 So if I have a client that might be struggling with some of those 1236 01:04:49,920 --> 01:04:53,960 issues, it's not uncommon if we look at the menstrual cycle to 1237 01:04:53,960 --> 01:04:56,400 see that she's struggling with her luteal phase. 1238 01:04:56,400 --> 01:04:59,920 And that could either be that it's too short or it could be 1239 01:04:59,920 --> 01:05:02,760 that she's seeing some spotting, or it could be that she just has 1240 01:05:02,760 --> 01:05:06,560 some really heavy intense PMS symptoms that are specifically 1241 01:05:06,560 --> 01:05:09,560 around that time. And so before I jump into 1242 01:05:09,920 --> 01:05:12,720 magical supplement territory and all that stuff, there's a place 1243 01:05:12,720 --> 01:05:15,160 for supplements. Of course, we want to get those, 1244 01:05:15,400 --> 01:05:18,520 excuse me, we want to get those foundations really strong. 1245 01:05:18,520 --> 01:05:23,040 So, you know, it sounds, it sounds easy, it sounds simple, 1246 01:05:23,040 --> 01:05:26,360 but it's not. And I can even jump into some of 1247 01:05:26,360 --> 01:05:28,440 the very common trends and habits that we see. 1248 01:05:28,680 --> 01:05:30,880 One of the kind of controversial things, and I think we were 1249 01:05:30,880 --> 01:05:34,080 talking a little bit about this before we started recording is a 1250 01:05:34,080 --> 01:05:37,280 caffeine consumption, right? So it's, it's, it's 1251 01:05:37,520 --> 01:05:41,000 controversial, I would say because it's very common, it's 1252 01:05:41,000 --> 01:05:43,360 very acceptable and people love their coffee, right? 1253 01:05:43,720 --> 01:05:47,800 And again, if you drink your coffee every day and your cycle 1254 01:05:47,800 --> 01:05:50,800 is totally fine and you have no hormonal issues, like no 1255 01:05:50,880 --> 01:05:53,920 hormonal concerns, no fertility issues and we don't have to talk 1256 01:05:53,920 --> 01:05:55,560 about it. Like that's great. 1257 01:05:55,760 --> 01:05:59,200 Do you do you think, but when I'm working with clients, it's 1258 01:05:59,200 --> 01:06:02,080 if we also have these hormonal imbalances that we just should 1259 01:06:02,080 --> 01:06:05,480 have a conversation so that you can be a little bit aware about 1260 01:06:05,480 --> 01:06:08,360 how coffee or caffeine consumption could be 1261 01:06:08,360 --> 01:06:11,920 contributing. And so one of the ways that I, I 1262 01:06:11,920 --> 01:06:14,960 see caffeine contributing to hormonal imbalance is a bit of 1263 01:06:14,960 --> 01:06:19,560 an indirect function because if you are drinking coffee first 1264 01:06:19,560 --> 01:06:23,360 thing in the morning and pushing breakfast till 10/11/12, 1265 01:06:23,360 --> 01:06:27,000 whatever, then you need to be aware that caffeine is an 1266 01:06:27,000 --> 01:06:28,800 appetite suppressant. So this is something that I've 1267 01:06:28,800 --> 01:06:31,880 seen very, very consistently where you know, you have a 1268 01:06:31,880 --> 01:06:34,480 suspicion that your client is under eating because you're 1269 01:06:34,480 --> 01:06:38,120 looking at their menstrual cycle and their food diary and maybe 1270 01:06:38,120 --> 01:06:40,560 they're either intentionally or unintentionally skipping 1271 01:06:40,560 --> 01:06:42,520 breakfast. And coffee is not breakfast, for 1272 01:06:42,800 --> 01:06:46,480 the record. And so again, I've seen huge 1273 01:06:46,480 --> 01:06:50,240 shifts where my clients are kind of like they do the experiment, 1274 01:06:50,240 --> 01:06:53,840 they cut out the coffee for a cycle, they end up sleeping 1275 01:06:53,840 --> 01:06:58,200 better and all this stuff after the week of feeling horrible 1276 01:06:58,520 --> 01:07:02,000 from the coffee withdrawals. But what tends to happen is they 1277 01:07:02,000 --> 01:07:05,240 naturally are all of a sudden hungry now in the mornings. 1278 01:07:06,320 --> 01:07:09,040 So that's the whole piece of it. We can talk about sleep quality. 1279 01:07:09,360 --> 01:07:13,200 I mean, if you're not getting good quality sleep, your 1280 01:07:13,200 --> 01:07:16,920 hormones will be balanced. And then once we address and 1281 01:07:16,920 --> 01:07:19,640 there's there's others, I mean, obviously we touched on 1282 01:07:19,800 --> 01:07:21,880 xenoestrogen exposure, chemical exposure. 1283 01:07:21,880 --> 01:07:24,560 So you know, that would be one of the foundational factors as 1284 01:07:24,560 --> 01:07:26,360 well. Really looking at your products 1285 01:07:26,360 --> 01:07:29,840 and your exposures, venomizing, pesticides, all of those kinds 1286 01:07:29,840 --> 01:07:32,280 of things, especially as it relates to fertility. 1287 01:07:32,280 --> 01:07:35,240 There were some really interesting studies on male 1288 01:07:35,240 --> 01:07:38,680 fertility. So the studies often show a 1289 01:07:38,800 --> 01:07:42,000 positive effect for men eating leafy greens and high 1290 01:07:42,000 --> 01:07:46,120 antioxidant foods and and also citrus fruits because of the 1291 01:07:46,120 --> 01:07:49,480 high antioxidant quality. But the studies where the men 1292 01:07:49,480 --> 01:07:54,720 are eating pesticide laden leafy greens as opposed to organic 1293 01:07:54,920 --> 01:07:58,400 show a specific benefit to eating organic to reduce the 1294 01:07:58,400 --> 01:08:00,920 pesticides. So, you know, there's a lot of 1295 01:08:00,920 --> 01:08:03,360 these different foundational aspects that we want to focus 1296 01:08:03,360 --> 01:08:05,920 on. And then once we have that in 1297 01:08:05,920 --> 01:08:08,760 line, what's really interesting is you often see a general 1298 01:08:08,760 --> 01:08:12,400 overall improvement absolutely in mood and all of these things. 1299 01:08:12,400 --> 01:08:16,399 And then if you still have some of those lingering symptoms, 1300 01:08:16,399 --> 01:08:20,120 like if it brings you 60% of the way there or 80% of the way 1301 01:08:20,120 --> 01:08:23,520 there, then we can look at introducing some key supplements 1302 01:08:23,920 --> 01:08:26,680 and looking deeper to see if there's other contributing 1303 01:08:26,680 --> 01:08:28,560 factors. Like for the acne piece, maybe 1304 01:08:28,560 --> 01:08:31,399 we need to look at, you know, there's some studies that show 1305 01:08:31,399 --> 01:08:38,439 that zinc supports right normal, like reducing acne and obviously 1306 01:08:38,439 --> 01:08:40,520 looking at gut health and different factors. 1307 01:08:40,840 --> 01:08:46,040 And you know, with with PMS symptoms, boosting progesterone 1308 01:08:46,040 --> 01:08:50,880 further, focusing on magnesium, focusing on key nutrients. 1309 01:08:50,880 --> 01:08:53,800 Even vitamin C has been shown to support progesterone production 1310 01:08:53,800 --> 01:08:56,479 luteophase. But what I always go back to is 1311 01:08:56,479 --> 01:08:59,080 that if you start with the supplements without addressing 1312 01:08:59,080 --> 01:09:01,840 the foundations, you may get some benefit, but you're not 1313 01:09:01,840 --> 01:09:04,920 going to get the full benefit if you start with the foundations 1314 01:09:04,920 --> 01:09:07,319 and then use supplements. The hint is in the word 1315 01:09:07,319 --> 01:09:09,120 supplement. You're supposed to supplement 1316 01:09:09,120 --> 01:09:11,200 what you're doing and if you have the nutritional 1317 01:09:11,200 --> 01:09:16,880 foundations, if you are improving the micronutrient 1318 01:09:16,960 --> 01:09:19,439 intake as well as getting sufficient macros. 1319 01:09:19,439 --> 01:09:22,040 So the macronutrients, the protein, the fat, the 1320 01:09:22,040 --> 01:09:24,279 carbohydrates, we need that. Those are the building blocks 1321 01:09:24,279 --> 01:09:26,880 that we need in order to make hormones, in order to normalize 1322 01:09:26,880 --> 01:09:28,960 all of this. The micronutrients are what we 1323 01:09:28,960 --> 01:09:30,880 need to make everything function properly. 1324 01:09:31,319 --> 01:09:33,200 It's what we need to optimize the egg quality. 1325 01:09:33,200 --> 01:09:35,439 It's what we need for all of these different functions in the 1326 01:09:35,439 --> 01:09:37,319 body. So that's the foundation and 1327 01:09:37,319 --> 01:09:41,479 then we can add supplements. And truly what I found is that 1328 01:09:41,479 --> 01:09:44,399 that's when you really see the best overall result. 1329 01:09:44,840 --> 01:09:47,560 And so it does take time and work and effort. 1330 01:09:47,640 --> 01:09:50,040 I can sit here and talk about, oh, just eat breakfast, 1331 01:09:50,040 --> 01:09:52,439 whatever. But a lot of my clients are 1332 01:09:52,439 --> 01:09:56,360 super busy and we spend a ton of time strategizing around, well, 1333 01:09:56,360 --> 01:09:58,640 what can that look like? What are some of the options? 1334 01:09:58,720 --> 01:10:02,680 You know, you're super busy. How can you organize this? 1335 01:10:02,680 --> 01:10:07,120 Like can you pre plan what you're going to have on hand in 1336 01:10:07,120 --> 01:10:09,720 your office? So a lot of it is the practical. 1337 01:10:10,080 --> 01:10:12,960 I hear what you're saying, but I don't have time to XYZ. 1338 01:10:12,960 --> 01:10:16,760 How can I do this and make this a real part of my life on a 1339 01:10:16,760 --> 01:10:19,880 regular basis? Do you have any practical tips 1340 01:10:19,960 --> 01:10:23,880 to help busy woman, busy Mama to actually put these into 1341 01:10:23,880 --> 01:10:25,600 practice? Yeah. 1342 01:10:25,640 --> 01:10:28,560 I mean, one of the things is that it depends on what your 1343 01:10:28,560 --> 01:10:31,160 life looks like, and it also depends on how much of A 1344 01:10:31,160 --> 01:10:34,840 priority it is for you. So one thing I know for sure is 1345 01:10:34,840 --> 01:10:39,520 that no one has time. I mean, what woman do you know 1346 01:10:39,520 --> 01:10:42,200 over the age of 20 that just sits around all day and has all 1347 01:10:42,200 --> 01:10:45,240 this time, regardless of whether you have children yourself or 1348 01:10:45,240 --> 01:10:48,600 whether you have a family, you have friends, you have nieces, 1349 01:10:48,600 --> 01:10:51,000 nephews, you have job, you have right? 1350 01:10:51,000 --> 01:10:53,600 Like all of us have are busy. None of us have time. 1351 01:10:53,600 --> 01:10:55,640 So the first of all, the first thing is like, we just have to 1352 01:10:55,640 --> 01:10:58,640 acknowledge that there's not going to be this like sky 1353 01:10:58,640 --> 01:11:00,760 opening, like time. That's just going to open up for 1354 01:11:00,760 --> 01:11:02,520 you. You have to decide that it's 1355 01:11:02,520 --> 01:11:04,560 important. And then the second part of it 1356 01:11:04,560 --> 01:11:08,200 is you have to kind of look at the reality of your mornings or 1357 01:11:08,200 --> 01:11:10,160 your evenings and think like what is doable. 1358 01:11:10,160 --> 01:11:12,720 So you know, some of our, you know, some of my clients over 1359 01:11:12,720 --> 01:11:16,240 the years, they'll do a shake and that'll be the way for them 1360 01:11:16,240 --> 01:11:18,760 to get it in. Some of my clients will do 1361 01:11:18,760 --> 01:11:21,560 leftovers. So leftovers are a wonderful 1362 01:11:21,560 --> 01:11:25,040 option for breakfast because you can get in your protein. 1363 01:11:25,040 --> 01:11:27,560 And I think it also shifts like who decided that breakfast was 1364 01:11:27,560 --> 01:11:30,720 like a croissant and a bagel? I mean, I always from a 1365 01:11:30,720 --> 01:11:32,800 practical standpoint, even if we're not like, can we just 1366 01:11:33,040 --> 01:11:34,720 pause from the nutritional benefit? 1367 01:11:34,720 --> 01:11:36,160 Can we just talk about the practical aspect? 1368 01:11:36,480 --> 01:11:39,200 I'm a busy woman. I'm like, there's all kinds of 1369 01:11:39,200 --> 01:11:41,080 stuff going on. I don't have time to be hungry. 1370 01:11:41,080 --> 01:11:45,920 Hangry all the time I don't have time to be right like you we, we 1371 01:11:45,920 --> 01:11:49,960 have to think about breakfast as an actual meal and I think that 1372 01:11:49,960 --> 01:11:53,080 is really helpful so and and that helps us to get out of 1373 01:11:53,480 --> 01:11:54,960 thinking that it has to look a certain way. 1374 01:11:55,160 --> 01:11:57,760 So if you made soup the night before, you could have a little 1375 01:11:57,760 --> 01:12:00,280 bit of that with a little bit of the protein that you had if you 1376 01:12:00,520 --> 01:12:03,000 so we have to be creative. A lot of my clients will do 1377 01:12:03,040 --> 01:12:06,880 eggs, they'll, you know, boil a bunch of eggs and have them like 1378 01:12:06,880 --> 01:12:08,600 hard boiled egg or soft boiled egg or whatever. 1379 01:12:08,920 --> 01:12:13,680 So, you know, and I'm sure that in the show notes page, I mean, 1380 01:12:13,800 --> 01:12:16,920 there's like Lily has some great, great articles with, I 1381 01:12:16,920 --> 01:12:19,360 think she literally just released an article with like 25 1382 01:12:19,360 --> 01:12:21,200 breakfast ideas and half of them aren't eggs. 1383 01:12:21,560 --> 01:12:23,480 So for people that don't necessarily want eggs, right? 1384 01:12:23,680 --> 01:12:26,120 So there's a lot of different things that you can do. 1385 01:12:26,880 --> 01:12:30,160 I think the best thing, I can't sit here and say this is what's 1386 01:12:30,160 --> 01:12:32,240 going to work best for everybody, but I've shared some 1387 01:12:32,240 --> 01:12:34,960 ideas that I've, I'm sure I've sparked some, some kind of ideas 1388 01:12:34,960 --> 01:12:38,200 for everyone who's listening. And I feel like just take 10 1389 01:12:38,200 --> 01:12:43,000 minutes and write down, you know, 5 things that could work 1390 01:12:43,000 --> 01:12:46,240 for you and don't, they don't need to be perfect. 1391 01:12:46,240 --> 01:12:47,760 They don't. You don't have to take a picture 1392 01:12:47,760 --> 01:12:49,800 of it and put it on Pinterest. It just has to work. 1393 01:12:50,200 --> 01:12:53,200 And ideally it would have sufficient protein and be 1394 01:12:53,200 --> 01:12:55,040 balanced. Balanced macro nutrients, 1395 01:12:55,040 --> 01:12:56,720 protein, fat and some carbohydrates. 1396 01:12:57,800 --> 01:13:01,640 I love that because I feel like too, when we prioritize that 1397 01:13:01,800 --> 01:13:05,920 breakfast and these habits and practices that you've suggested 1398 01:13:05,920 --> 01:13:09,760 and mentioned, I feel like it actually allows us to be more 1399 01:13:09,760 --> 01:13:12,560 productive during the day. And I feel like it just saves 1400 01:13:12,560 --> 01:13:15,960 time because then we're not scrounging for snacks or 1401 01:13:16,040 --> 01:13:18,840 whatever we can find and then we feel pretty terrible come mid 1402 01:13:18,840 --> 01:13:20,720 afternoon. Like, I feel like this is 1403 01:13:20,720 --> 01:13:23,520 actually setting us up for success, to feel better, to show 1404 01:13:23,520 --> 01:13:27,520 up better and just, yeah, live a more vibrant life. 1405 01:13:28,120 --> 01:13:30,680 And one other thing that came to mind, I mean, I was focusing on 1406 01:13:30,680 --> 01:13:33,720 breakfast, but you know, strategizing with clients over 1407 01:13:33,720 --> 01:13:36,200 the years, it's lunchtime. The question is like, do you 1408 01:13:36,200 --> 01:13:39,000 have anything on hand? Like do you have anything for 1409 01:13:39,000 --> 01:13:41,920 when the days don't go perfect? Because also we have to 1410 01:13:42,000 --> 01:13:44,080 recognize that every day isn't going to be perfect. 1411 01:13:44,080 --> 01:13:46,320 And sometimes you're going to literally have to fly out the 1412 01:13:46,320 --> 01:13:49,040 house and you won't have time. So sometimes it can be helpful 1413 01:13:49,040 --> 01:13:51,880 to think, OK, so should I buy some beef jerky? 1414 01:13:51,880 --> 01:13:54,520 Should I buy like some cheese and put it in my fridge in the 1415 01:13:54,520 --> 01:13:56,080 office? Like is are there other things 1416 01:13:56,080 --> 01:13:59,640 you can do to kind of plan so that you have just to make it 1417 01:13:59,640 --> 01:14:01,480 easier for yourself in the moment? 1418 01:14:01,800 --> 01:14:03,760 And again, it doesn't have to be perfect. 1419 01:14:03,760 --> 01:14:06,200 This is a process. You just want to start somewhere 1420 01:14:06,480 --> 01:14:08,440 and you'll see what works. So what doesn't work? 1421 01:14:08,480 --> 01:14:11,200 And gradually it'll become easier. 1422 01:14:11,840 --> 01:14:14,640 Definitely. OK, Lisa, as we kind of close 1423 01:14:14,680 --> 01:14:20,040 out our combo today, I feel like a lot of our listeners are Mamas 1424 01:14:20,200 --> 01:14:23,440 with their own little girls or little boys, and I know you have 1425 01:14:23,520 --> 01:14:26,800 three of your own. I would love it just for you to 1426 01:14:26,800 --> 01:14:31,680 share how you are raising up your children with this 1427 01:14:31,840 --> 01:14:36,000 awareness of their bodies or what you plan to put in place 1428 01:14:36,000 --> 01:14:38,480 with your daughter. And how can moms in our 1429 01:14:38,480 --> 01:14:42,680 community start to educate their children on this whole 1430 01:14:42,680 --> 01:14:45,240 conversation that we've been talking about today? 1431 01:14:45,520 --> 01:14:48,560 Oh, I love that question. It's so funny because my, my 1432 01:14:48,560 --> 01:14:51,280 son's already. So how about I share this one 1433 01:14:51,280 --> 01:14:53,160 story with you 'cause I, I think it's funny and then we'll get 1434 01:14:53,160 --> 01:14:56,720 into it. So when I started, well, back in 1435 01:14:56,720 --> 01:15:00,680 the day, there's a company and they make this product called 1436 01:15:00,680 --> 01:15:02,120 the Wondrous Vulva. Puppet. 1437 01:15:02,600 --> 01:15:04,720 What is it called? Wondrous Vulva. 1438 01:15:05,080 --> 01:15:06,320 Oh, Puppet. OK, cool. 1439 01:15:06,400 --> 01:15:08,600 So. They make these teaching tools 1440 01:15:08,600 --> 01:15:10,800 where it's and so look it up, you'll find it. 1441 01:15:12,080 --> 01:15:14,760 I'm not affiliated with them, so this is just like just me saying 1442 01:15:14,760 --> 01:15:16,920 it. But they have these like full 1443 01:15:16,920 --> 01:15:20,360 size like pillow type vulvas that you can use for training 1444 01:15:20,360 --> 01:15:22,760 purposes and like to educate and things like that. 1445 01:15:23,120 --> 01:15:26,560 And I've wanted one for such a long time, but I didn't get one. 1446 01:15:26,560 --> 01:15:28,920 And this Christmas I was like, you know what, it's my 10 year 1447 01:15:28,920 --> 01:15:32,000 anniversary for my podcast. I'm going to get myself a bubble 1448 01:15:32,400 --> 01:15:34,600 puppet. So it comes in the mail. 1449 01:15:36,760 --> 01:15:41,440 And your son finds it first. I open it out and my my eldest 1450 01:15:41,440 --> 01:15:45,040 is like, what is that? And of course, I'm like, it's a 1451 01:15:45,040 --> 01:15:51,040 vulva and he's just like mom. So I feel like that's a good 1452 01:15:51,040 --> 01:15:53,800 entrance into the. Yes, OK everyone just buy this 1453 01:15:53,800 --> 01:15:56,520 wonders Volvo puppet and start the conversation. 1454 01:15:56,520 --> 01:15:59,960 Yes, the reason that I bring up this Volvo puppet example is 1455 01:15:59,960 --> 01:16:03,520 just to illustrate that one of the ways that I'm raising my 1456 01:16:03,520 --> 01:16:08,480 children is by being open about the body parts and talking, 1457 01:16:08,480 --> 01:16:11,440 giving, talking about them, using the correct terminology 1458 01:16:12,000 --> 01:16:15,080 and answering questions as they can come up. 1459 01:16:15,280 --> 01:16:18,240 And let me tell you, even last week there was some very 1460 01:16:18,240 --> 01:16:21,960 interesting questions that my eldest has been asking now, 1461 01:16:21,960 --> 01:16:24,880 because of course, he's just about to be in junior high. 1462 01:16:25,360 --> 01:16:28,680 And even questions that make me uncomfortable even though I'm 1463 01:16:28,680 --> 01:16:30,840 quite comfortable talking about all of these topics. 1464 01:16:31,160 --> 01:16:35,400 But I just have made this commitment to myself that when 1465 01:16:35,400 --> 01:16:39,400 the questions come up, I need to answer them and you answer them 1466 01:16:39,400 --> 01:16:43,440 in a way that's age appropriate. And I do my best to educate. 1467 01:16:43,440 --> 01:16:51,080 And so for example, you know, my eldest son is in grade 7 and, 1468 01:16:53,200 --> 01:16:55,440 and this is the age like he's 12. 1469 01:16:55,440 --> 01:16:58,040 And so this is the age when girls start to get their 1470 01:16:58,040 --> 01:17:01,360 periods. So we had a whole conversation 1471 01:17:01,360 --> 01:17:04,680 about, we've had many, but one of the conversations we've had 1472 01:17:04,680 --> 01:17:08,160 about periods is for them to understand what it is and, you 1473 01:17:08,160 --> 01:17:10,720 know, for them to know that it's normal and natural. 1474 01:17:10,960 --> 01:17:14,120 And, you know, I'm the kind of mom that was like, okay, so you 1475 01:17:14,120 --> 01:17:18,000 know about periods and it's difficult sometimes for girls to 1476 01:17:18,000 --> 01:17:20,120 navigate this in those early years. 1477 01:17:20,560 --> 01:17:23,000 And so if you ever have a girl in your class where you see a 1478 01:17:23,000 --> 01:17:26,200 little something, you're going to be the mature one who doesn't 1479 01:17:26,200 --> 01:17:27,480 laugh at her. You're going to be the one 1480 01:17:27,480 --> 01:17:30,080 that's like, periods are normal. And you know, so, you know, 1481 01:17:30,080 --> 01:17:31,840 that's kind of tongue in cheek. That's kind of my style. 1482 01:17:31,840 --> 01:17:35,200 But I would say that it's, it's not one conversation. 1483 01:17:35,200 --> 01:17:38,080 It's conversations that happen on a regular basis. 1484 01:17:38,440 --> 01:17:40,400 They know a little bit about what I do. 1485 01:17:40,840 --> 01:17:46,760 My younger, my youngest son, I like because of course, in my 1486 01:17:46,760 --> 01:17:49,360 house, words like cervical mucus and all kinds of stuff for all 1487 01:17:49,360 --> 01:17:50,960 the time. And he's like, you know, what's 1488 01:17:50,960 --> 01:17:54,120 that? And like, right, because he's 9. 1489 01:17:54,440 --> 01:17:58,320 But it's just they, whether they like it or not, they are around 1490 01:17:58,320 --> 01:18:00,920 this all the time. And I know that it's really 1491 01:18:00,920 --> 01:18:03,600 going to benefit them. And As for my daughter, I mean, 1492 01:18:03,600 --> 01:18:07,480 she's 2 1/2. So we have a little ways to go. 1493 01:18:07,920 --> 01:18:10,320 And one of the things is that I've been in the field long 1494 01:18:10,320 --> 01:18:16,080 enough to have seen what happens even for women like myself who 1495 01:18:16,080 --> 01:18:17,200 have a lot of knowledge around it. 1496 01:18:17,200 --> 01:18:21,160 So sometimes depending on your daughter, you might think I'm 1497 01:18:21,160 --> 01:18:23,400 going to do all this stuff in the throw her period party. 1498 01:18:23,840 --> 01:18:26,760 And like, she's mortified and she wants you to not be like 1499 01:18:26,760 --> 01:18:28,240 that. And she might even try to hide 1500 01:18:28,240 --> 01:18:30,320 when she gets her period because she doesn't want her mommy to 1501 01:18:30,320 --> 01:18:34,560 throw her like. So I think with all of that kind 1502 01:18:34,560 --> 01:18:38,080 of experience that I've seen, I, I plan to kind of take the same 1503 01:18:38,080 --> 01:18:42,600 approach of being open, being honest, providing information. 1504 01:18:42,640 --> 01:18:46,520 And I mean, I hope that she'll be open to it. 1505 01:18:46,520 --> 01:18:50,200 But I also remember like those years are a little bit awkward. 1506 01:18:50,280 --> 01:18:52,160 Your whole body is changing things. 1507 01:18:52,160 --> 01:18:55,880 So much is out of your control. You just like, I mean, at least 1508 01:18:55,880 --> 01:18:58,960 with the charting aspect of it, you can predict your period. 1509 01:18:58,960 --> 01:19:01,760 But that's something where a lot of girls, they, it's so out of 1510 01:19:01,760 --> 01:19:03,320 their control. Like for some girls, that's why 1511 01:19:03,320 --> 01:19:05,400 they go on the pill because they don't want to be surprised and 1512 01:19:05,400 --> 01:19:09,360 they don't want to, you know, to get their period too soon. 1513 01:19:09,360 --> 01:19:11,720 And I think for women who are listening, who have young girls, 1514 01:19:12,280 --> 01:19:14,960 one of the ways I think that can be really helpful to talk about 1515 01:19:14,960 --> 01:19:18,480 the cycle is to talk about it in a positive way, to share about 1516 01:19:18,480 --> 01:19:21,480 the different phases of the cycle, like we touched on, and 1517 01:19:21,480 --> 01:19:24,640 to talk about how your energy and mood can be different and to 1518 01:19:24,640 --> 01:19:27,320 normalize that. So one of my favorite ways to 1519 01:19:27,320 --> 01:19:31,400 talk about the cycle is inspired by the work of Alexander Pope 1520 01:19:31,400 --> 01:19:34,560 and Shawnee Hugo Wurlitzer. They wrote the book called Wild 1521 01:19:34,560 --> 01:19:36,360 Power. And in that book, they talk 1522 01:19:36,360 --> 01:19:39,040 about the seasons of the menstrual cycle and liken it to 1523 01:19:39,040 --> 01:19:43,240 the seasons of the year. And so you know, your, your pre 1524 01:19:43,320 --> 01:19:45,840 ovulatory phase when you're leading up to ovulation is like 1525 01:19:45,840 --> 01:19:49,200 the inner spring because if you think about it, I mean, your 1526 01:19:49,200 --> 01:19:51,600 follicles developing your ovaries to ovulate, that's very 1527 01:19:51,600 --> 01:19:55,440 much like fruit trees flowering and you know, the fruit 1528 01:19:55,440 --> 01:19:58,520 preparing for ripening. And then ovulation is like the 1529 01:19:58,520 --> 01:20:01,320 inner summer. And you know, every woman isn't 1530 01:20:01,320 --> 01:20:04,000 the same, but generally speaking, a lot of women feel a 1531 01:20:04,000 --> 01:20:07,320 lot of that creative energy in that spring phase and the summer 1532 01:20:07,320 --> 01:20:11,040 energy when you know, they, they feel more outgoing. 1533 01:20:11,040 --> 01:20:13,680 So generally speaking, a lot of women resonate with that. 1534 01:20:14,560 --> 01:20:16,640 Once ovulation takes place, you're kind of moving into the 1535 01:20:16,640 --> 01:20:20,560 autumn, like the fall. And so that the burst of that 1536 01:20:20,600 --> 01:20:23,160 summer energy is kind of coming to a close and we're kind of 1537 01:20:23,480 --> 01:20:27,560 moving into the winter. So for some of us, we don't want 1538 01:20:27,560 --> 01:20:31,240 to do as much of the outgoing work or maybe, you know, and it 1539 01:20:31,240 --> 01:20:33,640 kind of explains, I think for a lot of women, why they might 1540 01:20:33,640 --> 01:20:35,040 feel a certain way. They might feel hard on 1541 01:20:35,040 --> 01:20:40,760 themselves because maybe they they don't feel as energized in 1542 01:20:40,760 --> 01:20:42,760 these other phases as they do in the summer phase. 1543 01:20:42,760 --> 01:20:45,080 And they might feel bad about that because the expectations 1544 01:20:45,080 --> 01:20:46,240 that we're always supposed to be on. 1545 01:20:46,600 --> 01:20:49,440 But understanding the shifts can be really helpful. 1546 01:20:49,440 --> 01:20:52,000 And then of course, the winter would be when you're on your 1547 01:20:52,000 --> 01:20:55,000 period. And so it can kind of give you 1548 01:20:55,000 --> 01:21:01,360 permission not to, I don't know, not to want to run a marathon 1549 01:21:01,360 --> 01:21:04,240 when you're actively bleeding or and some of us need that 1550 01:21:04,240 --> 01:21:07,520 permission. But going back to talking to our 1551 01:21:07,520 --> 01:21:11,360 daughters about this, this can be really helpful for them to 1552 01:21:11,600 --> 01:21:14,040 feel like they have some control and some agency and help them 1553 01:21:14,040 --> 01:21:16,320 better understand the different changes that they're going 1554 01:21:16,320 --> 01:21:18,800 through. And I also think that cervical 1555 01:21:18,800 --> 01:21:21,640 mucus is a great thing to talk about with young girls because 1556 01:21:21,640 --> 01:21:24,800 again, if you don't talk about it, it could just be this gross 1557 01:21:24,800 --> 01:21:26,440 stuff that's on your panties, right? 1558 01:21:26,440 --> 01:21:29,160 And the concept of vaginal discharge. 1559 01:21:29,160 --> 01:21:32,160 And it can feel very yucky if no one explains to you that 1560 01:21:32,160 --> 01:21:34,840 actually this is a really good sign of health. 1561 01:21:34,840 --> 01:21:37,240 When you're making mucus, it means your hormones are healthy. 1562 01:21:37,520 --> 01:21:40,360 It means you can know when you're when you're ovulating. 1563 01:21:40,840 --> 01:21:42,920 And it also means you can predict when your period is 1564 01:21:42,920 --> 01:21:45,680 coming because literally just by tracking when you have mucus and 1565 01:21:45,680 --> 01:21:49,760 when it when you have it and when it stops, your luteal phase 1566 01:21:50,240 --> 01:21:53,400 when you're healthy is kind of stable, kind of constant. 1567 01:21:53,400 --> 01:21:55,800 And so you can have a good idea when your period is coming just 1568 01:21:55,800 --> 01:21:58,360 by tracking that. So I feel like those are some, I 1569 01:22:00,000 --> 01:22:02,120 don't know, some practical ways you can talk to your daughters 1570 01:22:02,120 --> 01:22:04,800 about it. And it doesn't, I get the 1571 01:22:04,800 --> 01:22:07,560 question sometimes about, you know, do you think, when do you 1572 01:22:07,560 --> 01:22:09,680 think we should teach fertility awareness to our daughters? 1573 01:22:09,680 --> 01:22:13,160 And I think that there's a way to bring cycle awareness without 1574 01:22:13,160 --> 01:22:15,240 going straight into sex and contraception. 1575 01:22:15,240 --> 01:22:17,960 I think we can bring that cycle awareness first and then when 1576 01:22:17,960 --> 01:22:20,920 it's appropriate, we can certainly talk about the more 1577 01:22:20,920 --> 01:22:24,400 contraceptive or conceptive conception aspects of it. 1578 01:22:24,400 --> 01:22:29,040 So, so much, so much we can do. I thought that's so valuable. 1579 01:22:29,040 --> 01:22:33,240 And I know, again, as I mentioned, I was 35 when I 1580 01:22:33,240 --> 01:22:37,000 learned we had phases and just learning more about my body and 1581 01:22:37,000 --> 01:22:39,080 my cycle. So I think it's so empowering to 1582 01:22:39,080 --> 01:22:42,000 be able to raise up this next generation to have that 1583 01:22:42,000 --> 01:22:44,320 awareness earlier on. So thanks for sharing. 1584 01:22:44,400 --> 01:22:49,600 So Lisa, from your perspective, why do you think that our modern 1585 01:22:49,600 --> 01:22:54,840 healthcare system really shuts down women when they come in 1586 01:22:54,840 --> 01:22:59,320 with these imbalances and symptoms, rather than wanting to 1587 01:22:59,320 --> 01:23:03,160 truly help them find a cure for the cause of these, really just 1588 01:23:03,160 --> 01:23:07,120 wanting to put this kind of Band-Aid on their symptoms? 1589 01:23:08,080 --> 01:23:10,720 I mean, I think that there's a couple of reasons. 1590 01:23:10,760 --> 01:23:15,480 I think first and foremost, we have to understand what our kind 1591 01:23:15,480 --> 01:23:17,480 of traditional medical system is. 1592 01:23:18,040 --> 01:23:21,320 So we have to kind of understand the concept of allopathic 1593 01:23:21,400 --> 01:23:26,040 medicine, which is essentially that the the foundation of our 1594 01:23:26,040 --> 01:23:29,400 contemporary medical system. And it's quite literally a pill 1595 01:23:29,400 --> 01:23:32,440 for every I'll the modern medical system. 1596 01:23:33,480 --> 01:23:35,480 And I know some people might disagree if I say this, but 1597 01:23:35,480 --> 01:23:37,600 ultimately it is symptom management. 1598 01:23:37,680 --> 01:23:41,040 So although today we're highlighting some of the issues 1599 01:23:41,160 --> 01:23:43,720 with Women's Health in particular, this is a theme in 1600 01:23:43,720 --> 01:23:46,960 all areas of health. I mean, if your blood pressure 1601 01:23:46,960 --> 01:23:49,400 is high, you're given a pill. If your cholesterol is high, 1602 01:23:49,400 --> 01:23:51,600 you're given a pill. At the end of the day, this is 1603 01:23:51,600 --> 01:23:54,360 what our medical system is. So I think the first step is 1604 01:23:54,360 --> 01:23:56,600 actually acknowledging what it is. 1605 01:23:57,000 --> 01:23:59,600 So because I've been in this field for a long time, maybe 1606 01:23:59,600 --> 01:24:01,880 I've gone through all the stages, like brief, you know, I 1607 01:24:01,880 --> 01:24:05,040 don't know. But when the the problem comes, 1608 01:24:05,040 --> 01:24:06,760 when you expect something different. 1609 01:24:06,760 --> 01:24:09,720 So I think one of the big challenges is that when women 1610 01:24:09,720 --> 01:24:12,360 learn about this information and they learn about their cycle and 1611 01:24:12,360 --> 01:24:15,040 they start charting their cycle, it's like they expect their 1612 01:24:15,040 --> 01:24:17,880 daughters to or doctors to throw a party or something. 1613 01:24:18,360 --> 01:24:20,880 So then they go to the doctor's office and, you know, they bring 1614 01:24:20,880 --> 01:24:23,120 their charts and, you know, look at what I'm doing. 1615 01:24:23,320 --> 01:24:26,600 First of all, the doctor didn't learn in medical school how to 1616 01:24:26,600 --> 01:24:30,000 read a fertility awareness chart unless they specifically took an 1617 01:24:30,000 --> 01:24:32,080 elective that would allow them to do that. 1618 01:24:32,480 --> 01:24:37,080 So if if someone brought me an EKG and was like, oh, you know, 1619 01:24:37,160 --> 01:24:40,560 read, tell me about my EKG, I would have to say I'm not a 1620 01:24:40,560 --> 01:24:42,800 medical doctor. I don't know how to read an EKG, 1621 01:24:43,440 --> 01:24:45,080 but certainly you can go to your doctor to read it. 1622 01:24:45,080 --> 01:24:48,160 So I think we have to first have a clear expectation. 1623 01:24:48,320 --> 01:24:50,680 And again, I love teaching with analogies. 1624 01:24:50,680 --> 01:24:55,160 So just imagine if I went to, what's a good example? 1625 01:24:55,160 --> 01:24:59,000 If I went to Walmart and I'm like at the teller, like the 1626 01:24:59,000 --> 01:25:03,040 regular cashier and I'm yelling at her because I want her to 1627 01:25:03,040 --> 01:25:07,640 change the tires on my car. So someone would videotape me 1628 01:25:07,640 --> 01:25:09,360 and put me on TikTok and be like, what is wrong with this 1629 01:25:09,360 --> 01:25:11,760 person? So obviously if I want someone 1630 01:25:11,760 --> 01:25:13,960 to change the tires on my car, I need to go somewhere where 1631 01:25:13,960 --> 01:25:17,200 that's what they do there. And so I think the first thing 1632 01:25:17,200 --> 01:25:20,360 is that we really have to understand as women what our 1633 01:25:20,360 --> 01:25:23,240 medical system is, and we have to learn about how doctors are 1634 01:25:23,240 --> 01:25:25,960 trained. And, you know, on my podcast, 1635 01:25:25,960 --> 01:25:28,000 I've had the pleasure of interviewing many doctors. 1636 01:25:28,360 --> 01:25:31,800 And when I would interview doctors, especially years ago, 1637 01:25:31,800 --> 01:25:34,520 like I had this question too, I was like, well, what's going on? 1638 01:25:34,520 --> 01:25:36,000 What are you being taught in Med school? 1639 01:25:36,000 --> 01:25:38,960 Tell me about it. And so overwhelmingly when I 1640 01:25:38,960 --> 01:25:42,040 interview doctors, what they tell me is that in medical 1641 01:25:42,040 --> 01:25:45,680 school, first of all, they're not taught about like they're of 1642 01:25:45,680 --> 01:25:48,240 course taught about the Physiology and anatomy, but 1643 01:25:48,240 --> 01:25:50,400 they're not taught about the fertility awareness method. 1644 01:25:50,400 --> 01:25:53,440 And literally they are taught that when there are cycle 1645 01:25:53,440 --> 01:25:55,840 irregularities, the pill is the like, that's what they're 1646 01:25:56,120 --> 01:25:57,760 taught. I think having just 1647 01:25:57,760 --> 01:26:01,280 understanding that that is where they're they're coming from and 1648 01:26:01,280 --> 01:26:02,400 that is what their knowledge base is. 1649 01:26:02,400 --> 01:26:05,240 And that is how they're taught. It helps us to understand. 1650 01:26:05,240 --> 01:26:10,200 So then the question is, can you really blame them because their, 1651 01:26:10,520 --> 01:26:14,000 their modality isn't designed to be looking at the root cause. 1652 01:26:14,360 --> 01:26:18,400 And so that's difficult because then it puts the pressure and 1653 01:26:18,400 --> 01:26:23,520 responsibility back on you. If, if you don't want to be put 1654 01:26:23,520 --> 01:26:27,240 on the pill, if you don't want that approach, then you may have 1655 01:26:27,240 --> 01:26:30,560 to then consider putting a care team together. 1656 01:26:30,560 --> 01:26:32,520 So the way I always talk about it is I call it my boardroom 1657 01:26:32,520 --> 01:26:36,200 analogy where you know you are at this the the head of the 1658 01:26:36,200 --> 01:26:38,440 table and you have your doctor there. 1659 01:26:38,440 --> 01:26:41,600 But if you decide that I want to prioritize my hormone health, I 1660 01:26:41,640 --> 01:26:44,400 want to optimize my nutrition, I want to learn how to track my 1661 01:26:44,400 --> 01:26:46,480 cycle. Then in addition to your primary 1662 01:26:46,480 --> 01:26:49,280 care doctor, you might also need to have a nutritionist. 1663 01:26:49,600 --> 01:26:52,640 You might also need to have a holistic coach or a fertility 1664 01:26:52,640 --> 01:26:55,400 awareness coach. You might have to have more 1665 01:26:55,400 --> 01:26:57,960 people on your team to actually address your needs in the way 1666 01:26:57,960 --> 01:27:02,080 you want to. And it's just, I don't know, you 1667 01:27:02,080 --> 01:27:04,080 can just bang your head against a wall if you just spend all 1668 01:27:04,080 --> 01:27:05,400 your time being upset with doctors. 1669 01:27:05,640 --> 01:27:07,240 We have to learn about what they do. 1670 01:27:08,000 --> 01:27:10,920 We have to, you know, we, we need doctors. 1671 01:27:11,120 --> 01:27:14,640 I've had clients who are so, so anti establishment that they 1672 01:27:14,680 --> 01:27:17,120 proudly say like, I haven't seen a doctor in 10 years. 1673 01:27:17,120 --> 01:27:18,880 And I'm like, I don't know if that's the way to go. 1674 01:27:20,240 --> 01:27:22,600 I feel like we have to just acknowledge what it is that they 1675 01:27:22,600 --> 01:27:27,440 do and and then find a way to really navigate and get our 1676 01:27:27,440 --> 01:27:29,600 needs met. And sometimes people need to 1677 01:27:29,600 --> 01:27:33,240 hear that your doctor was trained in medical school in a 1678 01:27:33,240 --> 01:27:35,400 certain way and they don't know everything. 1679 01:27:35,840 --> 01:27:38,880 Doctors that I've interviewed, they tell me that they get like 1680 01:27:38,880 --> 01:27:42,480 an afternoon of nutrition. So if you want like in the 1681 01:27:42,480 --> 01:27:44,880 whole, however many years that they do it. 1682 01:27:44,880 --> 01:27:47,480 So your doctor is not your nutritionist unless they also 1683 01:27:47,480 --> 01:27:49,640 have that certification. They're not your fertility 1684 01:27:49,640 --> 01:27:52,240 awareness coach. They're not your, you know, you 1685 01:27:52,240 --> 01:27:55,160 have to kind of, and if you want a doctor that specializes in 1686 01:27:55,160 --> 01:27:57,880 root cause medicine, then you want to find an MD that has 1687 01:27:57,880 --> 01:28:00,120 trained in that functional medicine approach, right? 1688 01:28:00,360 --> 01:28:02,720 So we have to start being a little bit more critical about 1689 01:28:02,720 --> 01:28:05,480 who we're seeking care from. It's so good. 1690 01:28:05,480 --> 01:28:08,080 I think that's such a great reframe and like setting that 1691 01:28:08,080 --> 01:28:13,040 expectation of going to someone who is trained in that modality 1692 01:28:13,040 --> 01:28:15,400 and putting together your care team. 1693 01:28:15,560 --> 01:28:17,840 I love that it takes a village in every way. 1694 01:28:17,840 --> 01:28:20,080 Elisa, thank you so much for joining us today. 1695 01:28:20,080 --> 01:28:23,920 I feel like this conversation was insanely insightful and I'm 1696 01:28:23,920 --> 01:28:26,000 personally super grateful because I'm getting married this 1697 01:28:26,000 --> 01:28:29,000 year and this fertility conversation is very relevant 1698 01:28:29,320 --> 01:28:31,400 and really excited to dig into your book. 1699 01:28:31,480 --> 01:28:36,440 And just learn more in a very specific way in this season. 1700 01:28:36,680 --> 01:28:39,640 And I know our community of Mamas and women and men are 1701 01:28:39,640 --> 01:28:42,160 going to have so many takeaways from our conversation. 1702 01:28:42,480 --> 01:28:45,520 And could you tell our listeners where they can learn more about 1703 01:28:46,000 --> 01:28:49,120 what you do, your work and just to follow along with your 1704 01:28:49,120 --> 01:28:50,600 journey? Yeah, absolutely. 1705 01:28:50,600 --> 01:28:52,120 So first of all, thank you for having me. 1706 01:28:52,120 --> 01:28:55,320 This was so much fun. It just has been a great 1707 01:28:55,320 --> 01:28:57,040 experience and it was really nice to get to meet you. 1708 01:28:57,560 --> 01:28:59,760 And you can find out more about what I do. 1709 01:28:59,760 --> 01:29:02,680 I mean, I'm on Instagram at Fertility Friday, so I hang out 1710 01:29:02,680 --> 01:29:05,560 there. I have my podcast, the Fertility 1711 01:29:05,560 --> 01:29:08,280 Friday podcast. We are in. 1712 01:29:08,800 --> 01:29:11,920 We've just celebrated our 10 year anniversary, which is wild. 1713 01:29:12,360 --> 01:29:14,800 So there's over 500 episodes to dig into. 1714 01:29:14,840 --> 01:29:17,840 So I mean, you can just type Fertility Friday into your 1715 01:29:17,840 --> 01:29:22,040 favorite podcast player and there's another organization 1716 01:29:22,040 --> 01:29:23,880 that took Fertility Friday as well. 1717 01:29:23,880 --> 01:29:26,960 So I'm the pink 1. So when you search so you'll see 1718 01:29:27,040 --> 01:29:29,040 a lot of pink and then you'll know that it's me just. 1719 01:29:29,240 --> 01:29:31,320 Like your book? Just like the book. 5th vital 1720 01:29:31,320 --> 01:29:33,120 sign. So my first book, the 5th vital 1721 01:29:33,120 --> 01:29:36,680 sign, my second, well, my second book is the fertility where it's 1722 01:29:36,680 --> 01:29:38,720 mastery charting workbook. So I had a paper charting 1723 01:29:38,720 --> 01:29:41,200 workbook that I made and real Food for fertility just came out 1724 01:29:41,200 --> 01:29:44,720 last year. So lots of great content to dig 1725 01:29:44,720 --> 01:29:48,600 into for the, if you're wanting to kind of just get a, a sneak 1726 01:29:48,600 --> 01:29:51,400 peek, you can get the 1st chapter of Real Food for 1727 01:29:51,400 --> 01:29:54,640 Fertility for free over at Real Food for fertility.com. 1728 01:29:55,400 --> 01:29:58,160 And just some fun facts about this book. 1729 01:29:58,160 --> 01:30:02,600 I mean, we surveyed just thousands of papers in the 1730 01:30:02,600 --> 01:30:06,960 writing of the book and we've cited over 2500 citations. 1731 01:30:06,960 --> 01:30:11,200 And so when we were deciding on printing, we had to decide what 1732 01:30:11,200 --> 01:30:13,360 we were going to do. But all these citations, if we 1733 01:30:13,360 --> 01:30:16,240 had included the citations in the actual book itself, it would 1734 01:30:16,240 --> 01:30:19,120 have been 700 pages instead of 400 pages. 1735 01:30:19,600 --> 01:30:22,720 So fun fact, if you're reading the book and you're wanting to 1736 01:30:22,720 --> 01:30:25,760 grab those citations, you can find more information on our 1737 01:30:25,760 --> 01:30:28,640 website because we actually had to put them separately as a PDF 1738 01:30:28,640 --> 01:30:32,040 download. So all this is to say that one 1739 01:30:32,040 --> 01:30:35,880 of what I've realized is one of the reasons why people gravitate 1740 01:30:35,880 --> 01:30:39,640 to my work and Lily's work is because we we do, we spend a lot 1741 01:30:39,640 --> 01:30:42,560 of time reading all of these complex research papers and we 1742 01:30:42,560 --> 01:30:46,000 just have a knack for distilling that information in a really 1743 01:30:46,000 --> 01:30:48,120 accessible form. So even though it has enough 1744 01:30:48,320 --> 01:30:51,560 data for it to be like a textbook, you know it doesn't 1745 01:30:51,560 --> 01:30:52,600 feel like that when you're reading it. 1746 01:30:52,600 --> 01:30:55,840 Yes, I've so appreciated your analogies and really breaking 1747 01:30:55,840 --> 01:30:58,200 down sometimes more complex concepts. 1748 01:30:58,440 --> 01:31:00,320 And so I feel like you've just been overflowing. 1749 01:31:00,320 --> 01:31:02,800 So naturally all the information was done you hold within you. 1750 01:31:02,840 --> 01:31:04,520 So thank you so much. Thanks again.