8 Ways to Support your Fertility Holistically

From a fertility standpoint, understanding your hormones and giving your body time to prepare well before you’re ready to start trying to conceive can help to support a healthier pregnancy and a healthier you!

Hormones control just about everything in your body from how well you sleep, to your reproductive health, and even blood sugar balance and how your body responds to stress.

Hormones are basically just chemical messengers that tell your body what to do. When they are in balance, they keep you focused, happy, and healthy. But when they are out of whack you can start to experience symptoms a variety of symptoms such as: 

* irregular menstrual cycles

* fatigue

* low sex drive

* mood changes

* digestive problems

* infertility

* significant PMS

Although many of these symptoms are common, they’re not necessarily normal! And an imbalance in one can have a domino effect on all the others which is exactly why I’m always preaching Dr. Joel Evans words “you can’t have balanced hormones without a balanced life!” 

So whether it’s your first baby, or you’re adding to your existing family, the 6-12 months prior to pregnancy are the perfect time to start optimizing your lifestyle to support a healthy mind, body, and pregnancy.

Here are 8 Ways to Support your Fertility Holistically:

Start Tracking your Cycles

A lot of women have been on birth control for years so getting back in touch with your cycle is a really good place to start in understanding your hormones and your fertility. Your hormones rise and fall throughout the month and understanding these fluctuations gives you a lot of really great information.

When Tracking your cycle, day 1 is your first day of bleeding. The first half of your cycle is called the Follicular phase because you’re making follicles. At the end of your period. Your estrogen levels decline and start to tell your body to produce FSH and start growing an egg. 

Growing follicles make estrogen so these levels  start to increase again. Estrogen makes the lining of your uterus nice and fluffy so it’s ready for implantation and helps make your cervical mucus more friendly for sperm.

Mid-cycle, your estrogen levels surge which triggers the release of LH and ovulation. The corpus luteum, which is the leftover tissue from ovulation makes progesterone and you get a rise in body temperature. A healthy luteal phase is about 12-16 days. And if you’re not pregnant this cycle starts all over again!

These days, there are so many great apps (like Clue or Flo) that allow you to track all of this information.

OPtimize Your Blood Sugar

Stable blood sugar is one of the secrets to healthy hormones. An easy way to keep your blood sugar well controlled is to include a combo of healthy fat, fiber and protein at each of your meals and snacks. A protein packed breakfast will start you off on the right note, eggs with avocado and greens is never a bad idea!

Eat a Hormone Healthy Diet

While there are many things that impact hormonal health, an important one is the food you eat everyday. Focus on eating a hormone healthy diet full of healthy fats and proteins and a variety of colorful fruits and veggies. Here are a few fertility favorites!

• Leafy greens

• Wild caught Fatty Fish

• Organic Eggs

• Fermented Foods

• Avocado

• Nuts and Seeds

Minimize your intake of pro-inflammatory foods such as refined sugar and carbohydrates, gluten, dairy, refined oils, non-organic meat, and processed foods.

Optimize your Sleep!

Create boundaries around technology. Try putting your phone away at least 2 hours before bed, or turn it onto airplane mode while charging at night. Ccreate a soothing nighttime routine, nothing fancy. Try a warm epsom salt bath, a few stretches, journaling, a cup of calming tea...just something you enjoy to wind down and lower your stress hormones in the evening. Most importantly, find a routine that works for you and stick to it.

Support your Nervous System

If you are chronically stressed out and anxious, incorporating meditation, yoga or deep breathing into your daily routine can be a serious gamechanger. Movement is super important too, but now is not the time to start training for an ironman, you may even consider decreasing the intensity and duration of your activity and focus on more low-impact and restorative exercises such as yoga and walking. Bonus points if you can take your movement outdoors to get a dose of nature too.

Decrease your Exposure to Toxins

Environmental toxins can seriously disrupt your hormones, and they’re everywhere! But, no need to stress yourself out about it, just try to minimize your exposure when and where you can! Switch to natural skincare and domestic products, eat organic as much as possible, avoid heating or storing food in plastic containers and consider investing in a water filter. Check out the environmental working group website EWG.org and their skin-deep app for even more ways to decrease your exposures.

Supplement Smartly

If you’re not already, starting a quality prenatal vitamin is a good idea. You want to look for one that has methylated B vitamins, and has appropriate levels of important nutrients for a baby’s developing brain like Omega 3 fatty acids, Vitamin A, Iron and Folic acid. Vitamin D, fish oil, and a probiotic to support a healthy gut are also good to consider. Work with your provider to find out what’s right for you.

Update your blood work

Work with your provider to look at markers of ovulation and ovarian reserve, thyroid function, and hormones including ones like cortisol, DHEA, and insulin, which can can impact your fertility. Genetics markers that may have implications for pregnancy like MTHFR, and screening for common inherited diseases may also be helpful.

All of this information provides a comprehensive look into your overall health and fertility and ideally will empower you with a better understanding of your reproductive health in order to make the best decisions for yourself and your family.

Think of this time as an amazing opportunity to improve your overall health and well being, identify and address underlying health issues, and focus on you!

There’s no better way to head into pregnancy than that.