EP 275 What really is egg quality? And Four Ways to Improve it!

I'm sure you've been hearing a lot about egg quality if you're searching the internet and trying to figure out how you can improve your fertility health.

In this episode, I'm going to be talking about what egg quality is and four different ways that you can improve it. So egg quality refers to not only the chromosomal health, but it also corresponds to something called mitochondrial health. 

I will be covering:

• What contributes to egg quality

• Ways you can improve egg quality

• Why the digestive system is so important

• Research that shows certain exercises that improve mitochondrial function

My fertility book “The Way of Fertility” is going to launch soon and I would love to have you on the launch team!!! You’ll get to read it first! The application is more formality! https://www.michelleoravitz.com/TWOF-launch-team-application

For more information about Michelle, visit www.michelleoravitz.com

The Wholesome FertilityFacebook group is where you can find free resources and support:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2149554308396504/

Instagram: @thewholesomelotusfertility

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewholesomelotus/

Transcript:

[00:00:00] So I'm sure you've been hearing a lot about egg quality, especially if you're searching the internet and trying to figure out how you can improve your fertility health. And you've probably even seen the book, It Starts With The Egg, which I highly recommend if you haven't already read it, it has amazing, amazing information. And today I'm going to be talking about what egg quality is and four different ways that you can improve it.

So egg quality refers to how chromosomally normal an egg is. And it also, besides just the chromosomes, it also corresponds to something called mitochondrial health. And mitochondria is It's an organelle in the cell, so it's basically a part of a cell, and it's considered the powerhouse that produces something called ATP, and ATP are basically energy units. And through ATP and the energy, if you [00:01:00] want to compare it to Chinese medicine speak, it really comes down to qi.

It's like life force vitality, basically, and how do we produce it? I will talk about that and how to really protect it and support it. So. So Chinese medicine, we talk a lot about qi and a lot about the energy and a lot of the ways that we do support qi. One of the ways is through nutrition. So there's many different ways to really support it. And it's found that mitochondrial health declines with age, as well as oxidative stress. So, you'll find a lot of times oxidative stress increases with age.

So, a lot of the anti aging market focuses antioxidants. So antioxidants basically means that it's protecting the cells from oxidative stress. And the mitochondria really is at the heart of it. And the mitochondria can be [00:02:00] protected through these antioxidants. So the antioxidants can protect the mitochondria. And then it provides more energy units in the cells. And then when that is the case, it will help the cells to develop more correctly. So it'll give the energy basically to the cells to fix themselves. So even eggs that end up being really good quality, they're not necessarily always perfect. It's just that if it has a lot of energy And it is able to basically correct itself.

So that's why there's always this kind of controversy with checking or testing embryos because sometimes they can start out not being 100 percent normal. But part of the process that it goes through is that as it grows, it can normalize itself. And in order to do that, it really has to have robust energy to do so.

So in a sense, really, technically speaking, you can actually. [00:03:00] Decrease or reverse your biological age through choices that you make with your nutrition, with your lifestyle, with the movements you choose, the exercise you have, and your mindset. Lowering stress. I mean, there's many different things that you can do to improve your overall energy and I'm going to be talking a little bit about chi and mitochondria because it's kind of like one in the same.

It's just described in a different way. So there are definitely things that you can do to support it. So I'm going to be covering four and number one. Okay. It all starts with nutrition. Nutrition is really important when it comes to Chinese medicine. The spleen and the stomach have a very important role and they play a role in the digestive system.

And each organ or organ pair has a direction. And in Chinese medicine, the spleen and stomach are in the center. [00:04:00] So a lot of different ones will be like east, west, south, north. And The spleen and stomach are the center, and that is actually very symbolic because they're really the center and the heart of everything as far as post Heaven qi, which is basically the energy that we have and create after we're born.

The pre Heaven qi, and I've talked about this before in past episodes, is all about genetics. However, now in modern day science, we know that there's something called epigenetics and our choices and what we do with our food choices and our lifestyle choices can impact how our genes express themselves. So the same way that it impacts how our genes express itself, it also impacts the genetic protection of our cells.

Our cells are just tiny little versions of ourselves. And a lot of those make up who we are. [00:05:00] So it really comes down to our cellular expression. So if we can do that for our own cells, of course, the important cell is our egg cell. But it also for men is the sperm cell. So a lot of what I'm saying for women.

does actually also apply to men with sperm health.

So nutrition is very, very important when it comes to fertility health and protecting our egg health and supporting it because number one, it is really the source of where we get our chi. It's the source of where a woman builds blood and both of those are really important when it comes to fertility health because reproductive health requires a lot of energy.

And the proof to it is that egg cells have hundreds of thousands of more mitochondria than regular cells. Regular cells can have a couple of thousand, [00:06:00] depending on the importance of the cells. So the heart cells a little bit more than a regular cell in the body, but an egg cell has the most.

We're talking really, really a lot of mitochondria because it's important for it to be equipped with a ton of energy in order to produce new life. And this is why I always talk about The energy that a person has is really, really important. And when a person's energy stores are depleted, it can impact fertility health because the body's not going to prioritize reproduction.

It's going to prioritize survival. And I say this over and over again, because it is such an important point to keep in mind. So when it comes to eating, it's important to really consider number one, your gut health and eating more antioxidants and. I'm kind of throwing in an extra one, the gut health, the gut health really is a reflection of your spleen and stomach condition and it's important because everything that I'm going to be talking about really, as far as the [00:07:00] nutrition goes, depends on your gut health.

So if the gut health is optimal, it's able to really transform the food into energy. So number one, Eat more antioxidants. So antioxidant rich foods are super important. So I'm going to give you a couple of examples of antioxidant rich foods. So something you probably have heard before, a lot of people talk about it, but things like berries are probably higher on the antioxidant level.

When it comes to fruits, so things like strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, you know, all those dark colors and pigments in the food come from antioxidants, so berries are really important, but then also ones that are not as common, things like acai, tea, tea, Has been shown actually in CCRM.

They have their own acai Supplement and they did a study to show that it improves egg quality. So that's really [00:08:00] huge and that's something that you can include in your diet and then foods rich in beta Carotene such as carrots and sweet potatoes are really important and dark leafy greens so you'll see like dark leafy greens such as spinach And chards, and also beets are really important. Now, keep in mind too, beets are root vegetables, and what does that mean? They grow in the earth, and earth is an element that is connected to the spleen and stomach. Earth also has spore based probiotics. And that's actually where spore based probiotics come from, comes from the soil.

So that's really, really important if you want to help nourish that energy of digestion. So beets are really important and they also give a groundedness to your energetic being. So you really do feel more grounded. When it comes to Ayurvedic medicine, they always talk about the different doshas that [00:09:00] people have, doshas or body types, and they also have elements.

And the dosha that is vata, which is a little bit more air, it doesn't have as much grounding benefits from something like beats because they are getting more earth energy. So earth energy is always going to support your spleen and stomach, which is always going to support the wellbeing of your digestive system.

Another thing that has tremendous amounts of antioxidants is dark chocolate. So you can get raw cacao that is not processed. And that doesn't have added sugar or dairy, and you can mix it in and make certain foods that are healthier that don't have sugar. So there are ways to get it without having to get the sugar, which you'll typically find in like chocolate bars or more chocolate.

 Then something that is often skipped is animal proteins or animal sources of antioxidants. So wild salmon is very [00:10:00] rich in antioxidants. And beef liver as well, which is high in vitamin A and also is a great source of CoQ10.

So getting that antioxidant rich diet is really going to support egg health and It's going to support the mitochondria. 

So, number two, is really exercise, but I'm going to focus a little bit more on yoga and just a little note about exercise and movement. Yes, exercise and movement is super important when it comes to getting your energy and the chi and also supporting mitochondrial function. But it's important to note that too much exercise can have an adverse effect on your mitochondria and too little movement.

It also has an adverse effect. So it's really important to keep it balanced. And one of the best ways to do that is through yoga. I'm a big fan of yoga. Yoga has been around for thousands of years. It also incorporates breath work, which is important to support [00:11:00] ATP production, but I'm going to talk about that in a bit.

And yoga. Also helps calm the nervous system, which also helps our bodies rest deeper so that they're able to create more energy. And there's been studies that show that yoga can improve mitochondrial health and not just that, but it also has been shown to reduce autoimmune inflammatory arthritis. So if it's able to reduce inflammation through arthritis, think about What else it can do? It could probably do that with a lot of other things and especially The fact that it is able to help with the autoimmune specifically inflammatory arthritis and what I've seen is that when you're working on the nervous system, you can also work on the immune system and regulating your nervous system is important to support your immune system as well and how it functions because our [00:12:00] bodies really have these signals and those signals do speak to our bodies or our cells And our cells communication, when it's confused between our bodies versus something else outside of us, that's information. It's our cells information and how it processes it and how it translates it.

So if our nervous system, which is really a communication system in our body is regulated it would really impact your immune system as well and how your body processes information and what it perceives as either friendly or unfriendly. And when it gets regulated, it makes sense that yoga would help with that as well and calm it down. Because since it calms the nervous system, I find it fascinating that it's also calming an inflammatory arthritis that is derived from an autoimmune condition. So [00:13:00] this can also be due to the fact that when you're doing yoga, you're also breathing because a lot of times you inhale to certain poses and exhale to certain poses. 

So yoga is a great way to truly balance the body, but it also can help with mitochondrial health, which reflects in egg quality. So number three ATP which is the energy units in mitochondria are actually produced, with the help of oxygen. So breath work can also help. And I highly recommend something called the breath of fire. And the breath of fire is very difficult to explain through the podcast. So what you could do is you can actually just YouTube, look in YouTube and see, because then you'll have a lot of people describing what it is, but it's a diaphragmatical breath that you do for a long time.

You can do it [00:14:00] from either a minute to five minutes. Some yogis do it for a very long time. And what it does is it helps your digestive system.

It's called skull shining because it also creates clarity in the mind. And it helps in the area of the abdomen, which is, well, the location of the eggs in the uterus. So digestive system and the pelvis, they're very similar, very close together.

And they also work really well together. So they're important. And a lot of times when I have people come in for acupuncture, I treat both. 

When I treat the abdomen, I put points for both digestive system, as well as reproductive health in the pelvic area. If you don't want to do breath of fire necessarily, that's okay. You don't have to necessarily do a specific type of pranayama. All you have to do just to make a difference is to breathe really deeply in and out consciously. And you can do that for a few minutes where you're breathing all the [00:15:00] way in. Holding your breath and then breathing all the way out slowly. And you can count, count it to anywhere from four seconds to eight seconds, or as much as you're able to, to slow down your breath, but also to increase its capacity. So you're kind of increasing the lungs capacity to support oxygenation.

What I also suggest is to do this outside if you can, to really do this with. Outdoor air that makes a big difference. There's a quality in outdoor air that cannot be beat and you're getting like fresh oxygen Preferably if that outdoor air is in a place where there's lots of green And trees and you're getting quality oxygen and finally number four is sunlight, specifically early morning sunlight. So sunlight is amazing for many different reasons, but number one, it improves vitamin D levels, which are super important for mitochondrial [00:16:00] activity and function and deficiency of vitamin D has been linked to unexplained infertility, as well as recurrent miscarriages, which would make sense that.

To be deficient in vitamin D is probably impacting the quality of the egg and the sperm. So this is good for both men and women. Really everything that I'm mentioning here can also be applied to sperm health as well.

So, sunlight not only improves vitamin D, but it also increases the production of cellular melatonin. So, melatonin, often we hear as the sleep hormone, however, it also works as an incredible antioxidant, very potent in the cells. And that antioxidant in the cells has been shown to help with Improved mitochondrial function, And it's also found in the follicular fluid, which is produced by the ovarian and granulosa cells. [00:17:00] And melatonin seems to play an important role in the regulation of follicular development and ovarian function.

So obviously plays a very important role , when it comes to egg quality.

So that concludes the four top ways that you can improve your egg quality and I really wanted to, in this episode, explain to you really what it is, what egg quality is as best as possible in a way that you can understand that it really comes down to anti aging. And so the same things that people would use for anti aging could benefit egg quality.

And obviously those are just four, but there's so many other things that you can do to improve your egg quality. So I hope you enjoyed this episode and if you want more information and perhaps get some more free fertility content. You could visit my Instagram, which I'm very active there.

And my handle is at thewholesomelotusfertility. And if you [00:18:00] do like these episodes and are enjoying this, podcast. I would really love it if you can rate and review this podcast on Apple music. And if you think somebody can benefit from it, please do share.

So thank you so much for tuning in today, and I hope you have a beautiful day.

EP 274 Why Meditation Can Support Your Fertility Journey and How to Overcome Common Obstacles to the Practice

I cannot underscore enough the power that the mind can have in impactingour bodies. Acupuncture works on the mind from our meridians and energetic flow, but the mind can also impact the body’s energy flow as well.

In this episode I will cover what meditation is, why thinking that it’s not for you is simply a thought that the mind constructs when it’s uncomfortable,and how to overcome that!

My fertility book “The Way of Fertility” is going to launch soon and I would love to have you on the launch team!!! You’ll get to read it first! The application is more formality! https://www.michelleoravitz.com/TWOF-launch-team-application

For more information about Michelle, 

visit www.michelleoravitz.com

The Wholesome Fertility facebook group is where you can find free resources and support:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2149554308396504/

Instagram: @thewholesomelotusfertility

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewholesomelotus/

Transcript:[00:00:00]

Welcome to the wholesome fertility podcast. I'm Michelle, a fertility acupuncturist here to provide you with resources on how to create a wholesome approach to your fertility journey.

So on today's episode, I'm going to discuss a little bit more about meditation. And I'm also going to discuss something that typically happens in meditation and it is a deterrent. It's a deterrent for you to continue meditation. It's something that happens often to many people and it causes people to stop meditating.It also causes people to think. Meditation is not for me. I'm also going to discuss why it's important when it comes to your whole body's energy flow, not only your body's energy flow, but of course what reflects[00:01:00]overall health, your fertility health. So how can meditation help? There have been links that show that meditation mindfulness can impact fertility, health, reproductive health, and yourbody overall.

And it also helps your sleep, which is incredibly important for your bodyand also help your, your digestion. So not just body, but fertility health. So all of those things are important for your hormone balance. So in so many different ways, meditation can be incredibly powerful. It also taps into our inner terrain as I love to call it our inner terrain. So in Chinese medicine, we deal a lot with blockages and energy flow. And one of the ways that we can access really the body's energy flow, not something that's always talked about is through our awareness and our meditation. I've literally just through my awareness, my[00:02:00]meditation, my visualizations, sitting there with my mind have released major blocks or like, uh, knots in my back just by watching it.

Dr. Joe Dispenza talks about how he healed his body through visualizations. It's incredibly potent and powerful. It's something that science is starting to catch upon our minds and how powerful, just how powerful our minds are. When we do ge tinto a state of meditation, there's many different ways to meditate. What we're doing is we are starting to learn to master ourselves, really it's a form of mastering ourselves, it's a form of self mastery and it helps us become aware and bring ourselves to the present moment. In the present moment, when our mindsare aligned in that present moment, we talk about alignment, I talk about it a lotmyself.When you're aligned and you are in the present moment.

You are more vital than when your[00:03:00]mind is off somewhere else. And you can see that just as an example of how effective you are when you're focused or when you're multitasking, for example, or thinking about something else. You're spread too thin. And your mind is being divided and compromised and not in the present moment. 

When you are in the present moment, most people talk about like the state of flow. There have been a lot of books written about it and psychologists have talked about it. The state of flow that happens to athletes or artists when you're really focused on that present moment. And ultimately what meditation does is it trains your mind to come into this, the present moment and how it does that is by number one awareness because you can't train your mind to go into the present moment if it's not aware that it's not in the present moment and that actually happens a lot.

I know it sounds almost obvious, but it's very, very[00:04:00]often that, for example, we're driving. Maybe an hour. We literally cannot even recall what we were seeing. We're like from where we left and then all of a sudden we have arrived and we have no idea what happened. Where did that time go? How, like, how did it even happen? You don't even remember the ride because your mind was going off on something because you've taught yourself how to drive and your subconscious mind took the wheel. It's automatic. It knows what to do. And it's just, it's done it so many times it's become like automatic.

And so when your subconscious mind takes over, your mind can wander off into all kinds of different places away from the present moment. And you're totally fine, you get there safe, you know how to do it, your body knows how to do it, you almost train your body, your body is your subconscious mind. So that's pretty much how that happens. So when it comes to meditation, there are many different ways, but they[00:05:00]pretty much do the same thing.

And so it's all about finding one type of anchor to focus on. So you can focus on either a mantra. or even body sensations, or a breath, your breath. Many times, a breath or a mantra is typically what is most commonly used. So, say you're focusing on the mantra calm. You'll repeat that word in your mind, and they say not to do it like a metronome, just to kind of have it go in and out. Almost organically. So whenever your mind, so your awareness, the awareness aspect is what catches your mind when it's going off. So your awareness catches your mind when it's planning or like leaving the present moment into some other story or something that happened looking into the future or thinking about the[00:06:00] past ruminating and your awareness is what's going to catch that.

And what you do is you gently bring it back to that mantra or to the breath. So you're pretty much just training. It's almost like riding a horse. You're taking, you're taming this horse, which is your mind and you're making it, you're bringing it back gently, not making it, you're bringing it back gently to.Whatever it is that you're focused on, that object of focus, which could be a mantraor it could be the breath. Or sometimes what I like to do, and you can start out on meditation like this, is just interoception, which is body awareness, becoming aware of your body sensations. You can scan your body.

That's something that sometimes people like to do. You could focus on your uterus. You can focus on the heart. Anything that you feel, and what's great about interoception is it actually through your awareness helps you to realize what's happening inside your body. And when you are aware[00:07:00]of what's happening inside your body, you can utilize your breath, like the sensation of your breath and your awareness and your attention into that area and almost like breathe into that area and release it. So you can almost feel that internal blocks within your body centers. So you can feel it, um, where the chakras are, if you're familiar with chakras, but it doesn'teven have to be chakras. It could be really anywhere in your body that you're feeling almost like a stuck feeling or something that'snot moving.And by breathing into that area and putting your focus and your state of mind, youknow, kind of your awareness. You're over time going to release it. It's just naturally what happens because you're bringing that divine intelligence, kind ofthat intelligence, but you're using in a way that's focused to release that area.

So over time that impacts your body, it actually has a very calming effect on your body. And if you just do something where it is an object of focus, like the breath[00:08:00]or a mantra. What you're doing is you're training the mind and it can be uncomfortable at first. Any new habit that you're doing is always going to be uncomfortable if that is not where your mind is used to. It's going to want to go where it usually goes because that feels comfortable. So whenever you do something new, that could be very triggering. So getting into meditation, when I was talking about like getting that. That resistance that we get,that a lot of people get, that makes them stop meditating.

What can happen is you get the sensation, right? The sensation is that your body's like, I don't like this. Or your mind's like, I don't like this. And your body's going to feel it. It's going to start feeling edgy from sitting still. And it's going to say, this doesn't feel right. This doesn't feel like natural for me.

And that not feeling natural is going to open up a resistance and that resistance is actually going to impact your thought about it. And your thought will conclude, you know what? Meditation's just[00:09:00]not for me. I'm not built to meditate. And it will convince you that. And I've seen, and I've talked to, and I've actually been one of them. People who have started out thinking meditation is not for me because they thought that they had to like not think about anything or that they felt really uncomfortable.

And then ultimately, if they still stayed with it, eventually they break through and then they realize They're getting benefits from the meditation. So my personal opinion is Meditation is for everybody who decides they want it so it could be for everybody and I'm not saying that you have to do it. But if you do give it a chance

Eventually, just like exercising is good for the body. I mean meditations good for the mind and the body eventually it will provide some benefit. And part of it is, is because it's training the mind to come back into the present moment. So when you're saying a[00:10:00]mantra and you're focusing on the mantra and you're becoming aware of the mantra, when are you saying the mantra? You're saying it now. And so when your attention is focused on that anchor, that anchor, like a mantra, or a breath is happening in the now. So you catch yourself, but you gently bring it back. You don't force yourself. You don'tget mad at yourself. You just let the mind go where it goes. It's, there's a saying called monkey mind, and it describes.

Meditation or like the, what happens in meditation and the mind will jump from one thing to the next. So when you see monkeys go from one branch to the other, that's how each branch is a different thought. And your mind will go back and forth and all over the place. And that is the nature of the mind. So you're not really supposed to stop thinking because it's almost impossible. And you're going to feel. Like a failure, if that's the case, because you can't really[00:11:00]stop thinking. Your mind's always going to go in that direction. It just likes to sway. It's almost like a branch is swaying in the wind. It's just going to go back and forth and it's always going to do that. But what you could do is over time, train it to come to the present moment. And when you're doing that, and it's not about stopping something else, typically. That doesn't work when you're trying to stop something. So like a negative with a negative, you don't really cancel something in your mind or like a state of being what you could do is redirect. So the same thing with habits.

If you like to, I don't know, have wine. I always say, just have chamomile tea instead, do something to substitute it or redirect it somewhere else rather than just have a void. Because that usually doesn't work. The mind wants to focus onsomething or it wants to get directed somewhere else. So when you give it something else to focus on or you redirect it, then it'll eventually fall in line and then it will start to be more in the present[00:12:00]moment.

When you become in the present moment and it starts to, you start to get more into that place, it really is a state of alignment because when your attention is focused on the now you're bringing more vitality to the moment. Because you're aware ofyour body or aware of your state and it becomes more alive and that vitality impacts your body. I like to talk a lot about the mind and I'm sure you've heard me talk about it a lot. The reason is, is because acupuncture, you know, what I do is basically we work alot on energy. But by working on the energy in the body, it impacts the mind, but it's kind of like a double sided thing. It's a relationship. The mind can also impact the energy in your body. So you can actually, without necessarily getting acupuncture, although I do really highly recommend it because it is powerful. There's been a lot of, uh, amazing things that I've seen. Incredible things.

One that I[00:13:00]shared on Instagram a while ago, I actually pinned it on my reels. It shows the blood before and after acupuncture. Mind blowing because it'ssomething that the textbooks have always said. And now, interestingly enough, on so many levels, science is catching up to what it really does, what Chinese medicine has been talking about for many years. And they talk about it.They literally say that the blood moves, it moves the blood and it increases Qi. And you can see the blood vessel, like you could see the blood cells becoming more spherical and also moving, like moving a lot faster. It's like they're coming to life. 

It's incredible. So back to what I was saying, not only can you do it through the body, but you can also do it through the mind. You can impact the body through the mind by visualizations, by sensations, by becoming more aware. So your awareness by itself is intelligent. Your awareness by itself kind of[00:14:00]aligns you to that divine intelligence. That really iswhat designed your body to do its thing.

And the way acupuncture works is reallyto start that up to wake up that divine intelligence and to create balance and harmony so that your body isable to self heal and do its thing. Do what it was designed to do, which is self heal and self regulate. Typically the body always knows how to do that, but sometimes it has to go in an uphill battle for many years. Because of lifestyle choices, whatever it is, and this is why we create, we establish that harmony by doing acupuncture, but you can establish that harmony through your own awareness, just by being present. So, have you ever been on a really great vacation where nothing else matters? Now, was it really that nothing else matters, or was it that you just said the[00:15:00]conditions where I am allowsme, or I'm giving myself permission now to fully let go mentally because of the conditions, the conditions that you placed on your life and saying, well, in order to feel really relaxed, I need X, Y, and Z to happen. I need to be by a beach. 

Does that necessarily have to be the case? Sometimes imagining a beach can have the same impact on your body. Just imagining the waves, hearing them in your mind can have an impact. So imagining something has been shown to have the same impact on the body. As the actual real thing.

So an example is, and I always use this exercise a lot of times when I do in person workshops, is for people to imagine a lemon and squeezing that lemon and like really tasting that lemon. What happens? They start to salivate. Did they really have a lemon? Why did they start to salivate it? Why did their body respond as if they already had[00:16:00]lemon?That they really squeezed it in their mouth? That's the question. Like, can you just make your your mouth salivate that way? No. The imagining of the lemon automatically created almost like an instinct in the body, so.That is just one really, really clear cut example of how powerful the mind is. So when you're bringing thatdivine intelligence and really.

Realizing that your mind is intelligent and your awareness, it's not even your mind, your mind's a tool, but it's your awareness, your consciousness, and bringing it to full alignment into the present moment is incredibly powerful for the healing aspects of your body. So, with Chinese medicine, of course, we go through the body, we go through the channels, and that impacts the mind, but that doesn't mean that Impacting the mind doesn't also impact the body. I've treated people where[00:17:00]physically I'm helping them a lot. You know, I'll treat them with certain patterns, but their mind habits and their thought patterns are so strong that even though they'll feel better if they leave for a little while, they'll go back to the same thing. This is one of the things that actually inspired me to certify in hypnotherapy.I'm very interested in the mind, obviously, but like, that was something that I wanted to learn because I said, why is it that even though we're getting better physically, it just keeps going back to the same thing. And then I'd hear in the language, the same repetitive. Words. And that means that obviously what you speak about is what you think about.

So it just reflects the same repetitive thoughts and beliefs. And was it those beliefs that kept putting people in the same position and, um, having the same conditions over and over again. And I love to give the example of the people with.

Dissociative[00:18:00]personality disorder where they have different personalities come out that they've seen allergies shift like people having hives from orange juice and then the hives disappear with the different personalities and then also eye color changing. I mean, it's crazy, but it really impacts the way the body expresses itself Like, why is that? It's not like their genetics are changing. What is it? It's like the brainthoughts and the beliefs and the patterns can completely shift what your body is acting like. So that to me is another example of how powerful our minds are.

And one of the best ways to go into this default. State and default, not in a negative way. Really default meaning going back to our own nature is by our awareness. Just our awareness by itself is intelligence and by staying aware, we're also[00:19:00]being receptive and we're allowing our own mental antenna to connect to that divine intelligence. And I know this because I've been meditating. I know this beyond. Even things that I've read in books, it's a knowing that you can only know through experience. 

And it's something that is very hard to really explain in words, but I'm trying. And it's something that I highly recommend you try. And what I often recommend if you do want to start a meditation practice is you don't have to do this like for 20 minutes a day. You could start out with literally two minutes a day, no more. And what you do by doing that for two minutes, You can handle anything, even if it's uncomfortable for two minutes, just sitting there and making your object to focus your breath. Or justpaying attention to your body sensations, which again, similar to the breath and the mantra, they're happening in the present moment.And so doing that, kind of[00:20:00]tuning in and being in a receptive, aware state of becoming aware, becoming aware of your mind going off and then come bringing it back gently and just continuously encouraging it to come to the present moment, whatever that object of focus is, and just sitting with it when you do that over and over again, over time for two minutes a day. You are going to basically convince your mind that this has become your new habit. So I highly recommend doing this at a time that you're doing something else already. Cause everybody has some kind of repetition or some kind of habit that they do. So your habit could be having coffee in the morning or tea or exercise after exercising or taking a walk. There's always something that you do every single day and it could be in the beginning of the day or at the end of the day, anchor the two minute meditation to that specific habit. So it could be before or after something that you do. It could be before or after having that tea in the morning [00:21:00]o r after the exercise or before that exercise or anchor it to something that you do every single day. When you anchor a new habit to an old habit, That's another way to get your mindon board. And when your mind gets on board, it's very similar to starting an exercise routine. Once you get into it, you start to crave it. It becomes part of what you want to do. It becomes part of your habit. And when you're doing that, you actually get your mind on board. Then, once you have that repetition, and I always start with two minutes a day, the reason being is because you could do anything for two minutes. It's not like that big of a deal. It doesn't request too much from you. And then it gets your mind intothe habit of doing it every day. And then, little by little, you're going to naturally want to increase that time.

You might even want to after, like before the two weeks, and I would say like do it for two weeks. Another thing that I would highly suggest if you're[00:22:00]really not familiar with meditation, you want to find out a little bit more. This is something I suggest often for my patients to do with their partners is to watch on Netflix. Headspace series, and it's a series that is amazing. It's little cartoons that describe the meditations. It's short enough. It's a little cartoon. It's entertaining. It describes the science behind a lot of these meditations, and it'll take you through a different meditations for each episode. And at the end of each cartoon, they take you through a guided meditation of that which they just explained. So that's something that I highly recommend. So I hope you got value from this. I highly recommend starting or at least trying to start a meditation practice. I can't tell you how much it's changed my own life. I can't tell you how much I've seen incredible benefits with the patients that I work with that started meditating.[00:23:00]

So I know that it could be a little challenging at first. Know that, keep that in mind so that you realize that you're going to get through it, just like any challenge. When you get through a challenge and your mind knows that it can overcome, it gets stronger, and it stays, you know, that type of pattern gets stronger and stronger, and you also prove to yourself that you can overcome. So, I hope you got value from this episode, and thank you so much for tuning in.

Have a beautiful day. So that concludes today's episode. You can find all of the links mentioned on the episode notes. If you're enjoying these episodes, please take a moment to share and leave a review. Reviews mean everything to podcasters and I really enjoy hearing from my listeners.

You can also find me on my website at www.thewholesomelotus. com or email me at info at thewholesomelotus. com. I love hearing from my listeners. If you're interested[00:24:00]and want updates as well as a free ebook on my top 10 fertility boosting habits, you can visit my fertility page on www.thewholesomelotus.com.

I thank you so much for listening in and hope that you have a beautiful day.[00:25:00]

EP 273 Five Game Changing Ways to Support Your Fertility Ways

In this episode, I will be discussing five simple ways you can improve your fertility health! A lot of these have to do with calming the nervous system, which can regulate hormones, digestion, as well as the endocrine system.

I will be covering:

• The benefits of yoga and how that can support your nervous system

• Why breath work is vital to your energy

• When the best time is to be intimate with your partner

• The ultimate practice of self love!

Links mentioned in this episode:

Queen of Thrones Discount: https://shop.queenofthethrones.com/thewholesomelotusfertility.

Coupon code: LOTUSFERTILITY10

Studies:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7153865/

https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(15)01885-3/fulltext

https://archive.news.indiana.edu/releases/iu/2015/10/immunity-sexual-health.shtml

For more information about Michelle, visit www.michelleoravitz.com

The Wholesome FertilityFacebook group is where you can find free resources and support:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2149554308396504/

Instagram: @thewholesomelotusfertility

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewholesomelotus/

Transcript:

[00:00:00] On today's episode of the Wholesome Fertility Podcast, I'm going to share with you five game changing ways to support your fertility health. And these five different ways are really powerful, so stay tuned.

 Welcome to the Wholesome Fertility Podcast. I'm your host, Michelle Orvitz. I have a lot of people that have listened for a while, but I know that some people are new.

 So, I am a fertility acupuncturist. I specialize in fertility. I have a background in Ayurvedic medicine as well, and studied hypnotherapy, love the body and mind, anything that really has to do with fertility. If you have been listening for a while, nothing would make me happier than to hear from you on either a DM on Instagram at thewholesomelotisfertility or sweet review or rating on the podcast because of course that helps a lot of people learn about the podcast and see if it's going to [00:01:00] be helpful for them on their fertility journey and I love doing this.

 I really enjoy getting feedback from you guys. So I hope you enjoy this episode.

 On today's episode, I'm going to share 5 ways that you can support your fertility health. Ways that I personally think are super powerful. You're also going to learn some interesting things that you probably have not heard about before. And I will list a few studies as well that are very interesting. Things that I thought were definitely valuable for people to know.

 So first up, is yoga. So I'm a huge fan of yoga and there's a lot of reasons for why. Well, it's personally impacted me and my life and I have felt the benefits that it has on my nervous system and how I'm able to function and I see the benefits that it has on my patients and my clients.

 And there's also science behind it. So yoga is a practice that has been around for thousands of years. And [00:02:00] many people don't realize that it actually is a branch of Ayurvedic medicine. I have a background in Ayurveda. When I studied it, I was surprised to find out that it was really a branch of Ayurvedic medicine.

 So Ayurvedic medicine as a whole, an umbrella, encompasses the physical therapy, which is yoga and yoga was typically done in preparation for meditation so that it can calm the nervous system and allow the mind to be more settled. So doing practices like yoga, settles the mind and creates more calm overall in the person who is practicing it.

 One of the benefits is that it can improve blood circulation all over the body. And a lot of these yoga postures specifically for fertility health help with opening the pelvis and the hips and creating more flexibility. And when you create more flexibility, you're also creating more energy flow and blood flow, which is super vital for fertility health.

 So that's just one way that yoga is so beneficial for fertility health. Another [00:03:00] way that it's beneficial is in studies, it's been shown to improve heart rate variability. So if you're not familiar with what that is in heart math, which is a heart math institute. You can Google it to find out more. It's really fascinating research that shows that the heart rate variability, which is basically how the heart adapts to stressors and is able to basically go from like being really active to really calm.

And it's also associated with the rest and digest mode or parasympathetic nervous system, which is a really important aspect of the nervous system that allows us to go from a heightened sense of urgency or stress.

 So, heart rate variability is also associated with physiological, endocrine, and emotional balance. So, this means it has a role in helping balance hormones and creating homeostasis, which is typically the yin and the yang. 

 So when your body is able to get to this rest and [00:04:00] digest mode, or it's able to get that homeostasis. or yin and yang balance, then it's able to heal itself and it's creating a restoration in the body and that creates more harmony and it helps your not only your nervous system, but it can also help regulate your immune system because there is also a correlation between the nervous system and the immune system.

 So a lot of the things I'll be talking about today really do actually impact the body. The nervous system for fertility health and really for overall health and remember, fertility health is a reflection of overall health.

 So number two, which is very much related to number one is pranayama, which is an ancient Indian practice and it's connected to yoga refers to breath control.

So breath control, there's many different ways that you can do this and many different ways that you can apply pranayama and each way. incredibly has its own indication. So it's almost like used like medicine and it can impact the body and the nervous system and it can also detoxify the lungs. It can also improve your [00:05:00] digestive health.

There are many different types of pranayama that can be very beneficial for the body. It can calm the nervous system. Another thing that can calm the nervous system and that helps with your body's ability to restore itself. And it also. So for the body's own repair, hormonal regulation, so that it's able to support the energy of the body, which energy is extremely important when it comes to reproductive health because it takes a lot of energy for the body to conceive and support new life.

So pranayama or breath control, or increasing the oxygen in the body also or it's something called Qi, which is life force vitality. And I've talked about this before . But Qi is a Chinese medicine term or Chinese term that refers to the body's overall energy. And when we increase that Qi, there's many different ways where we can increase it. But one of the ways is through pranayama through oxygen intake, not only in Chinese medicine, but it's been shown to help. the mitochondria, which are the energy units in the cells to generate ATP. [00:06:00] So it's important to get that oxygen and to be able to do it consciously, because most of the time people don't breathe enough or they don't really use the capacity of the lungs in a proper way to maximize the benefits.

And it's actually something that I often suggest to some of my patients and clients that have been told to decrease the amount of exercise that they're doing because sometimes over exercise or exercise addiction, which I've seen a lot, can impact reproductive health, and it's important to keep exercise in balance and in check so that you're not overdoing it, and what I find is that you're people get really upset because they feel like exercise is their one way to release stress. And one of the ways that exercise helps in relieving stress is because it forces you to breathe. So one of the ways that I say, and it is an addiction, believe it or not, even though it seems like a good addiction, it's an important thing to keep in balance because sometimes too much of a good thing isn't really great.

So one of the tools that I give my patients and clients is to [00:07:00] do breath work, if they feel that stagnation building up from being used to exercising too much. So instead of exercising too much, and I always suggest doing something instead, rather than creating a complete void. So instead of that, what they could do is they can increase the amount of times that they do breathing exercises during the day. So one of my favorite methods of breathing exercises is called breath of fire. So breath of fire or skull shining is a type of breath that can increase and support well, what they call is the fire in the digestive system or in the abdomen area, which is really important.

And it's probably one of the biggest ways that acupuncture helps really well. So it improves that circulation. And you do literally feel like your abdomen's on fire when you do this correctly. And so breath of fire is a really, really amazing type of pranayama. And you can do that. And then there's also alternate nose breathing, which basically you [00:08:00] alternate from the left and right hemisphere of your breath.

So you inhale from the left side, hold it, exhale from the right side, and then inhale back from the right side, and then exhale to the left side, and then back and forth like that. And what that does is it actually helps balance the left and the right hemispheres of the brain. And this has been shown in studies to also improve the tone of the parasympathetic or the rest and digest aspect of the nervous system.

And again, the nervous system is incredibly important. And typically in modern day life, we are using more of the fight and flight sympathetic nervous system. So it's important to regulate it and balance it by calming the nervous system down as well, because when you're doing that, that is when your body is able to repair itself. It has so many more benefits, including your digestive system and for your body's hormone balance. Like I mentioned before, it also helps to lower cortisol, which is really important because cortisol tends to compete with [00:09:00] progesterone, so we don't want that. And it lowers progesterone, which is a really important hormone to help with conception because it supports the luteal phase, which is when conception begins.

So on to number three, and that is again, another nervous system regulating technique, which is self massage. It is something that you can do for yourself. It is one of the most unused gifts that we have. We have hands and we can massage our own bodies. I know it's much nicer when someone else is massaging you, but you could still benefit from massaging yourself. And it actually, as a matter of fact, is another Ayurvedic technique, something that has been done for thousands of years, and it's called Abhyanga.

 So Abhyanga, self massage or self anointing, is when people use oil and self massage. Now, you could use oil or you can use moisturizer. Most people get out of the shower and they use moisturizer. You could use that time. And take advantage and instead of just putting [00:10:00] on the moisturizer or the oil, you can start massaging yourself.

So self massage is incredible. And what I usually suggest is remember the saying, all paths lead to the heart. So always massage towards the heart because that is how you're going to move the lymph and so if you start from a distal point, You just go towards the heart and if you start from the bottom of the ankles you go up into the groin area, so you're going towards the lymph the lymph nodes and then you could also massage your abdomen which is amazing for your digestion, and it's also amazing for your pelvic blood flow, which supports your uterus and your uterine lining and your ovaries.

 So great for your body, great for reproductive health. Self massage also calms the nervous system and self massage also improves sleep. You could also do this before you go to sleep. A lot of times I suggest for my patients to massage your abdomen. You don't have to always [00:11:00] do a full body massage like you do after you get out of the shower, but you could do an abdominal massage. And you go counter, which you could do in a clockwise fashion. And honestly, there is, I mean, I can give you specifics on how to do this, but it's so instinctive. You could really literally just push in your area of your abdomen and feel areas that feel stuck and massage them, release them. The more you do this, the more intuitive it becomes.

 And you're going to get more in tune with your body. So you can go around the belly button clockwise, or you could just focus on the area between the hip bones or above the pubic bone and start to feel the areas that feel stuck. And what you're going to find is it actually really relaxes you. And it feels amazing.

And you can also include calming essential oils if you'd like and make this a routine, a ritual before you go to sleep. to calm your nervous system. Again, it's all about calming that nervous system. Expression of self love.

 Number four, castor oil packs. I'm sure you've [00:12:00] heard about the benefits of castor oil packs. Castor oil itself is amazing at helping move stagnation. So Chinese medicine, we often suggest it for things like endometriosis or fibroids, or just really to move the circulation around the pelvis to support fertility health. The best time to use the castor oil pack is during the follicular phase after the period.

So not during the period, but you could start it when you're like spotting at the end of periods. So you're no longer in a full blood flow, but you're starting to spot, so it's tapering off. You can start doing the castor oil packs. But if you're actively trying to conceive, I would stop right before ovulation.

And that just during that small window is when you would use the castor oil packs. And how you use them is typically you'll find kits and they'll have a flannel cloth where you use the castor oil, which I recommend getting in a glass jar and also organic. So you put it in there, you put that on your abdomen, you cover it with [00:13:00] something just to keep it from getting messy, and then put a heating pad on top of that.

The one I recommend the most, and it is literally the best one I found so far, because it contains it and keeps things from getting messy and you don't need to put any other plastic wrap on top of it to keep the oil from getting out is called Queen of Thrones. And I have a unique discount code for that if you'd like. And you can find that in the notes.

So whenever you putting some warmth on your abdomen and having some circulation moving around that area, it also works to calm the nervous system. I would even suggest doing both self massage. and then also applying the castor oil pack.

You could start with the castor oil pack and then do a self massage right before you go to sleep. So kind of like end the day that way. That is the best way you can do it. You can even fall asleep with a castor oil pack on you during the window that I mentioned. Sometimes I'll do that. I'll put the castor oil pack with a queen of thrones. So I wrap it around. I put the heating pad on. [00:14:00] When I'm ready to go to sleep, I just leave it on and I fall asleep.

And last but not least, number five, I'm going to say sex and you're going to say, okay, well that's obvious, but I'm not talking about sex just in the fertile window. I'm talking about sex during the fertile window and outside of the fertile window.

And I'm going to tell you exactly when. So avoid sex during your period. Why? Because it's important for the sperm of your partner to be contained. And sometimes so that it's extra robust and strong on the beginning of the fertile window, which is five days before your ovulation. So every other day from five days before ovulation, the day before ovulation, day of ovulation, day after, and then also into the luteal phase when you're not fertile.

 And I'll tell you why. Number one, it's going to help strengthen the connection with your partner, and it's going to take away the pressure of intimacy only during the fertile window, or timed intercourse, and I know I'm giving you a little bit [00:15:00] more of a time still, but doing so takes away that Uh, so that's the first thing, but what it also does is that it prepares the body to conceive.

 When you're intimate more times, your body regulates its immunity so that it's able to accept, especially during the luteal phase, it calms the immune system so that it's able to accept something that's typically considered a foreign invader, which is Sperm and also the embryo itself. So their body's immune system lowers and it's able to accept the implantation of a new life form.

There's been studies that show this. So I'm going to list that in the notes as well. And it's also been shown to improve progesterone levels in the luteal phase. So that's huge. And then let's not forget the nervous system. It also works amazingly to calm the nervous system. 

We've all felt it. And that is one of the best [00:16:00] parts of being intimate with your partner. It feels amazing.

So getting back into that state, into that flow, allowing yourself a little bit of a break from that fertile window and the baby making and making it more of the connection with your partner is just the best. And it's super beneficial for your connection as well.

So there you have it. That includes my five game changing practices. that you can do to boost your fertility health. 

EP272 The Impact that the Circadian Rhythm, Inflammation, and Liver Health Have on The Menstrual Cycle

Allison is a Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner and Integrative Health Practitioner based out of Vancouver British Columbia. She is a fellow of the American Acupuncture and TCM Board of Reproductive Medicine (ABORM) and a member of the Obstetrical Acupuncture Association (OBAA). With additional training in fertility and reproductive health as well as her personal experience with stage 3 endometriosis, Allison is particularly passionate about treating endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain.

Website: https://www.seaofqihealing.com/

Instagram: @sea_of_qi_healing

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sea_of_qi_healing

For more information about Michelle, visit www.michelleoravitz.com

The Wholesome FertilityFacebook group is where you can find free resources and support: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2149554308396504/

Instagram: @thewholesomelotusfertility

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewholesomelotus/

Transcript:

Michelle:[00:00:00]Welcome to the podcast, Alison. Allison:Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Michelle: Well, I'm so excited to have you on and I thoroughly enjoy your Instagram, by the way. Allison: Oh, thank you. Michelle: you guys got to check out her Instagram. I have it in the episode notes. You have so much great information. Allison: Oh, thank Michelle: You're, you're really knowledgeable about your topic. Allison: Yeah, I, love doing any kind of, I love the social media part. I love educating. I love trying to have like a fun humorous spin on it too. So I have fun with my social media. Michelle: Awesome. So for the listeners , I would love it. If you can give us a bit about your background and how your own personal journey really got you to the work that you're doing. Allison: Sure. So I'm an acupuncturist and integrative health practitioner based out of Vancouver, B. C. And I have, special interest in kind of fertility, reproductive health, hormone health, menstrual cycle stuff.

I was kind of thrown into that field of work upon graduating school. And[00:01:00]that's kind of when I fell in love with it, when I started learning more about the menstrual cycle and hormones and fertility. Allison: And I realized how much there is to know and how, how many, People who menstruate don't know about their hormones and fertility and so I thought it was such an important aspect of health to to educate more on and it wasn't until a few years into my practice that I was actually diagnosed with my own kind of hormone issues as well. Allison: So that's when I was diagnosed with gynecological condition and Andever since then, I've just been obsessed with learning everything I can about endometriosis and hormones and trying to help people that are kind of in the same shoes that I am.

Michelle: So,so tell us, well, how, how did you actually get into it? Did you, did you work for somebody who specialized in fertility? Michelle: When you got out of school, Allison: Yeah, so the clinic that I wanted to work at that I was kind of interning atin transitioning[00:04:00]into that was their kind of their their bread and butter. So they did a lot of fertility and women's health. And so upon graduating and starting to work there, it was just kind of part of my education of like all my program. Allison: You know, extended learning and mentorships and stuff were under people that specialized in fertility, so I had this, like, really great knowledge base and, you know, experience right off the bat, which was really crucial for specializing in this, and it was, yeah, it really, really helped a lot.

Michelle: that's awesome And so I know that we hear a lot of common myths I mean one of the things I think that was eye opening for me is like Menstrual cycle like pms and all of the things that we have are actually not normal Even though they're common you don't realize this until you learn what you learn And that's when you're like, oh my god, this is actually not normal and it's It's an imbalance and we can work on that. Michelle: Like it almost feels like we just accept it as reality. So I'd love it if you could talk about some of the common myths[00:05:00]that you see and like, let's bust them. Allison: Yeah. I feel like that's a really huge one that like PMS and period pain is normal. And like to an extent, likea little bit of PMS, like a little bit of menstrual discomfort to an extent can be normal. I mean, your body's doing, you know, a very physical thing, but if there's like really severe PMS, that's really disrupting your quality of life.

Allison: If there's really painful cramps, that's impacting your ability to go out with your friends or work or any of that, that's a, that's absolutely a sign that something is wrong, that there's a hormonal issue, there's inflammation, there's something else going on that we need to look further. And you're right, we are just kind of like programmed as women as like, this is just how it is. Allison: We just, you know, suck it up and get on with our day and that's just kind of how I feel like a lot of us, especially my generation, we were just kind of programmed to do that. This is just a part of being a woman and this is a normal part of being a woman. But in fact, our period and it's kind of like our monthly report card of how everything in her body is doing.

Allison: And[00:06:00]it's such a great visual of like okay, these are my PMS symptoms and this is kind of what it's telling me. And then this is how my periodis. And this is what it looks like. And this is what it feels like. And that's also telling you so much information about your hormones. And I think that's kind of what I really love about Chinese medicine too, because even. Allison: If things are like, you know, normal, according to Western medicine, like I have a lot of patients with really bad cramps that go to their doctor and they're like, well, everything in your blood work is normal. Your ultrasound's normal, but they're still having like debilitating pain. And that's when I think like Chinese medicine. Allison: is really powerful because we'll obviously see like, Oh, you've got no tons of liver cheese stagnation or blood stasis, or I'm seeing so many symptoms of coldin the uterus. And it's almost like really, it's just really empowering. I feel like for the patient too, where it's like, no, we don't see everything like checked off as normal, even though your blood work and ultrasound is okay. Allison: I mean, that's really great too. But for Chinese medicine, we're always looking at[00:07:00]this deeper underlying pattern and all these subtleties. And it's kind of painting this picture of the imbalance.

Michelle: Yeah, totally. It's it was really eye opening for me because I had one patient with severe PMS to the point where she was like, I have to avoid people because I'm just not like a kind person around that time. And she was just, and she was actually a friend of mine and I was like, you know what, I'll help you. Michelle: No problem. And so she started coming in And one time she wasn't trying to get pregnant and she was like, she thought she was going to be late because she was like, I'm not getting any of my symptoms and I'm supposed to get them right around this time. Something's off. And then all of a sudden she just gets her period. Michelle: She goes, what? She's like, I just got my period. And I'm like, exactly.I'm like, Allison: I love that. Michelle: G is flowing really freely right now. That's why.Allison: Yeah. That's like the magic of Chinese medicine. Michelle:Totally! Allison:The surprise Michelle: total flow. Yes,[00:08:00]exactly. It's like the flow, Allison: Yeah, your period should kind of sneak up a little bit on you. Yeah.

Michelle: Yeah. I mean, you do feel, you know, you definitely like feel your body's cues and the same thing with ovulation. When you get really in tune with your body, it is important to be able to like pick up on the details, but it shouldn't be so severe to the point where you can't, like you said, you can't deal with normal life events. Allison: Mm hmm. Yeah, definitely. Michelle:So what are some of the most common things that you see when itcomes to the menstrual cycle irregularities? Regarding fertility,Allison: Yeah, so there's a lot of different patterns and that's kind of the really funpart about Chinese medicine is that we're kind of like little detectives and we're like piecing together every symptom and kind of painting this picture of what's going on internally with the patient. So I mean, like each organ system has its own characteristics and they all kind of play a role in fertility and overall health.

Allison: Because we don't really[00:09:00]think of in Chinese medicine as, Oh,the reproductive organs are just their own specific thing. It's kind of the wholebody has has a, has a play in it. So like what you're talking about, the liver chi, the liver chi is so tied to menstrual health. I am working with liver chi day in and day out when I'm working with fertility and endometriosis and hormone health. Allison: So the liver chi is like really, really important to makesure that everything's moving smoothly in the body and that's emotionally and physically. And then like the spleen chi and stomach chi in the digestive system is also really important because we want to make sure that your body is able to get all the nutrients that it needs and there's not a lot of inflammation there. Allison: We want to make sure the blood is moving really smoothly, like blood stagnation, cheese stagnation digestive deficiencies. I see that a lot. And then the kidney organ system is also really tied to fertility in Chinese medicine because it's kind of like, gives you that kind of DNA deep level energy to the egg cells and the sperm cells. Allison: And so making sure that those are really healthy because a lot of poor lifestyle or[00:10:00]genetics can impact the kidney energy system. So we always want to kind of help support the kidney energy with fertility. Michelle:Yeah, for sure. What I find really interesting and hopeful about really how Chinese medicine talks about the kidneys and talks about like the essence is, is that there's like pre heaven and post heaven. And so yes, pre heaven, we can't really do much about because that's pretty much what comes from our parents.

Michelle: But post heaven is really how we choose to live our life. And we've seen that we can actually reverse age like biological age through the choices that we make. And I find that to be great. It's very empowering to know that your choices can make a difference on your body. Allison: Absolutely. Yeah. And I think that kind of goes back to where I really feel like Chinese medicine is such an empowering medicine because there's so much that you can do, diet, lifestyle, herbs, supplements, acupuncture, all those things really can have such a huge positive impact. And it's kind of like, yeah, I love the pre heaven and post heaven. Allison:We are[00:11:00]kind of given what we're got with like our basic genetic blueprint, but our post heaven essence is like epigenetics, where we have the huge percentage of, you know, influence over our health, no matter what our genes are saying and we have so much influence over that that part of it, and I think Chinese medicine plays a huge role in that.

Michelle: And do you find that there is a correlation because I mean, listen, we're living in a, a very toxic life, like the environment, everything's just like around us and the foods that we eat, the extra ingredients that they put in it's it's the reality is that you really have to be careful on what you expose yourself to, what kind of cosmetics. Michelle: and the endocrine disruptors, I feel like that really bogs down the liver and It weakens its ability to do its job. And then sometimes I'll see things like Fibroids or certain things kind of popping up because the body's not able to likereally clear up the toxins. Michelle: And sometimes I'll find that the[00:12:00]person is working in an environment that has more toxins than normal. And so we have to kind of work extra, a little extra to release that or clear that out. And even for IVF, I like to do that as well. Right after retrieval do some kind of like very mild, you know, nothing too harsh But like mild liver detox to just help the body release the excess hormones, you know Because I really feel like that aspect of it can really impact the way the reproductive health expresses itself.

Allison: Yeah, I completely agree. I think there's a lot of, a lot of things in our world right now that are impacting our liver. And we are, as Chinese medicine practitioners, seeing that reflected a lot in liver cheese stagnation. And I think that's why there's so much PMS and period pain and infertility kind of that's pretty rampant because we are seeing, like I don't think I have a single patient where their liver didn't need like a little bit of support in the Western sense and in the Chinese. Allison: medicine sense.[00:13:00]So yeah, I do love that you that you do pay attention to that. And especially like post IVF or something, when all those medications you're it's really working the liver and not that those are bad medications at all because they're really useful and they're doing really wonderful things for patients to help reach their, their goals. Allison: But yeah, you're right. I do think there is a place where we can kind of help support the liver, especially post IVF. Michelle: Yeah for sure. So as far as endometriosis, I know that like gut health is really, really, really important when it comes to endometriosis. So the inflammation, how that impacts leaky gut. So what are some of the correlations or like the patterns, not necessarily just with Chinese medicine, and you could talk about that as well, but like just some of the links that you've noticed or the things that tend to go hand in hand.

Michelle: With endometriosis. Allison: Yeah, that's a really good question. I love that you asked that because endometriosis is such a full body disease, like it's not just[00:14:00]something that's happening in the pelvis. So yeah, the gut connection is huge. I find that to be honestly, like one of the biggest roots of something that we need to focus on and kind of like rectify with a lot of my patients with endometriosis because the gut is such a foundational pillar of health. Allison: And so if there's anything going on there with like leaky gut or microbiome or their subclinical gut infections or SIBO or whatever is going on, then we really need to work on. Kind of correcting the dysbiosis because not only does that create a lot of inflammation, but there's also such a huge microbiome and bacterial component to endometriosis.

Allison: Like, there's so much research coming out about how people withendometriosis have different vaginal and uterine microbiomes. And all of our microbiomes in our body are connected. So I really do feel like if we focus a lot on gut health and working on any kind of issues that are super apparent there, then it makes such a huge difference in like overall inflammatory levels, which are totally going to[00:15:00]help with a lot of the endosymptoms and the endo pain. 

Allison:But also kind of helping with the microbiome component is really important for fertility because we do know a good vaginal and uterine microbiomeis super important for fertility, but I also find it really helpful for endosymptoms. And then I also love looking at the nervous system because I find that if we're kind of like, if we've got some like circadian rhythm dysfunction, because we're not sleeping well or we don't have good sleep hygiene or if we're just kind of continuously operating out of fight or flight mode and we're just never in parasympathetic mode, that's going to totally cause a lot of inflammation in the body and that's going to absolutely affect your endometriosis.

Allison: So those are two things that I find. a lot of people with endo can benefit from working on. And that's, yeah, correcting any gut dysbiosis and really working on gut health. And then also really working with the nervous system. Like we really need to work on this chronic stress epidemic and like having a good circadian rhythm. Allison: I've been doing a[00:16:00]lot of, I've been like looking a lot into like the cortisol awakening response lately. I've been really nerding out about it and how it's how your cortisol levels like really need to have that initial spike in the morning. And not only for you to like feel good and get out of bed, but also it's areally important indicator of like inflammatory levels in your body.

Allison: And there's also a really important autoimmune component. And we do know that endometriosis has this kind of auto-immune overlap with it. And so any of my patients that I am hearing like, Oh, how do you feel like when you get out of bed? Like, how long does it take you to kind of feel alive in the morning? Allison: Once you get out of bed, if it's like, Oh, two hours and five cups of coffee. I definitely know that there is some cortisol awakening response that we need to kind of work on in order to like really help with the immune and inflammatory stuff. So, yeah, those are a couple of things that I'm always looking at for my endo patients.

Michelle: That's really great information. Vaginal microbiome I think is huge because I actually was at a mega spore[00:17:00]biotic on the microbiome labs.They had a little conference and I listened to a lecture by Dr. Jolene Brighton and she was talking about the vaginal microbiome and

Allison: Oh, I love her.

Michelle: She's amazing.Michelle: She always has great information. She just always delivers. And so she talked about that and she said that in, in Spain, they'll always check the vaginal microbiome. And especially when people are doing IVF and transfers specifically. And I had one of my patients going to Spain. Michelle: A lot of people go to Spain. I mean, they save money. The only thing is they lose money with the flights and everything, but they're really good doctors and like the clinics are great. And so what they do is they actually have, I'm almost like always on a protocol to check their vaginal microbiome. Michelle: They always check it before transfers and they have these women going on vaginal suppositories for the microbiome to support it. And I had. A recent patient who was like advanced[00:18:00]maternal age and she's pregnant. But she was on the suppositories.

Michelle: They were checking and making sure because they said that she was mentioning that there's a link between, I guess, imbalanced vaginal microbiomes, a little different in the sense that it's. Like, you don't want diversity. You want it to be more like a specific type of strain. She was saying that there's a connection between a poor balance of the vaginal microbiome and recurrent miscarriages, unexplained infertility and failed transfers. And that's huge. That's so important. And nobody really checks here. Like. In our world, North America. Allison: Yeah. Well, actually in Vancouver, where I am, there's one clinic that does for some patients. And I, I have like the past, yeah, the past year. So I've been having a lot more patients do some microbiome testing. They'll do the swab. It's called the Emma Ellis. I think that they do it here. In in a couple of the clinics and they'll do the probiotic suppositories.

Allison: And I honestly like tell my patients to go get them[00:19:00]too and jerk them where they can find them because I think it's always a benefit. Like it's not, it's such a harmless intervention. It can only help like and it's, they're so easy to do. It's so affordable. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and it does improve transfer results and pregnancy rates and everything, and so, yeah, I'm, I'm a huge fan of 

Michelle: no brainer.

Allison: testing for fertility.

Allison:Yeah,

Michelle: Yeah. It's a no brainer. And I think that it's so important and I, I'm so glad you brought it up. And I'm glad to know that some places are doing it places. I haven't seen it yet. I haven't seen that to be like really. And I've been actually running it for some of my patients. But I'm glad to

Allison: Oh, nice.

Michelle: People are starting to do that.

Michelle: That's great. And then as far as a nervous system and circadian rhythm, that's huge because it's kind of like, I always look at it almost as like the second-hand is going to impact the hour hand. So like the second hand could be like our 24-hour cycle versus our 30 day cycle or[00:20:00]infradian rhythm. So the circadian rhythm impacts the infradian rhythm.

Michelle: So it's important to have a good circadian rhythm. Interestingly, if I lookback, I had, I also have a history of We all started as patients, a lot of us. So I have a

Allison: Yeah, right? Ah. Michelle:I did was I, I used to have the worst circadian rhythm. I used to not beable to wake up in the mornings. Michelle: Like I would, if left to my own devices, I would stay up until like, I would sleep until 2 PM some days when I was like younger in my twenties, andthen I'd. I'd stay up till two, three, four sometimes. I mean, I was just completely off and I don't know, I always blamed it on college or whatever, but it was just definitely my rhythm.

Michelle: It was just the way my body was. And now I'm much more regular just over time. And it kind of synchronized with like my, menstrual cycle. So is that something that you see often?[00:21:00]Allison: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, and it always kind of goes back to like, Chinese medicine roots of like, we, we need to sync with nature. Like, when the sun's down, that's our yin time. That's not the time to do a lot of work or exercise. That'sthe time that we're supposed to be slowing down. We're supposed to be asleep. 

Allison: Like, I'm always coaching my patients, like, I want you in bed. by 10pm, 11pm at the latest. I do not care if, like, you're naturally a night owl. Like, that is the kind of ideal Chinese medicine bedtime. Because we really do get those better hours of sleep in the earlier hours of the night. We get that deep, restful sleep. Allison: And it really does make a huge difference. I've been, yeah, personally, like, really prioritizing regular sleep cycle the past couple years. And it's been, like, revolutionary for me for how I feel like mood and energy, but also I my endosymptoms and I also had an autoimmune disease. And so it's been really helpful for that. Allison: So I think it's really easy to overlook the basics of like, well, I'm gettingmy eight hours, even if I'm going to bed at 2am or,[00:22:00]you know, sleep, I'm getting enough, I'm getting about six, seven hours. That should be enough. But it's like really irregular times. Like your body can't really cope with that.

Allison: And I think it's really important that we go back to these like. Super basic principles of like, are you sleeping on time? Are you eating at regular intervals?Are you doing regular movement? Like these really basic things, these small habits really add up to make such a huge difference in health problems and especially even like super complex chronic health problems.

Allison: It can be really revolutionary. Michelle:Oh yeah. And there's definitely studies that have been linked to irregular periods and also infertility when it comes to having night shifts. So like night shift hours, it really impacts the reproductive health. So it's really fascinating because it's not just the hours. It's really when it's the, when. Michelle: not just the amount. Allison: Mm hmm. Michelle: So I studied Ayurvedic medicine. That was also very eye opening when it comes to like really understanding the rhythms of nature and how[00:23:00]our bodies synchronize and also the elements of food and really understanding like how our bodies do better.

Michelle: It's almost like really understanding the time cycle of the day and optimizing it. And when it comes to intermittent fasting. Fasting itself is actually really, it could be very beneficial if done right. And I want to say that like really,really in strong words, if done right, because I personally, from what I understoodand how much I've, I've learned as far as the sun goes, like the sun helps our acne, which is our digestifier. Michelle: So if we, the best time to eat really is during the day. So breakfast lunch, lunch should be the largest meal of the day and that's when you should have those difficult to digest proteins and have that like during that time because at that time the sun is at its highest Where the day is the most young it could be and so you want that young energy that[00:24:00]fire to be supported by nature's rhythms to help your own digestive fire and And then what you could do if you want to fast is fast at night versus in the morning.

Michelle: And that's what a lot of people do. They'll fast in the morning and it's been shown that it could possibly not be great for women because it's been mostly studied on men and they have a completely different rhythm. So that's something that I always suggest. If you really do feel that you need to fast for a little bit and have like a little break digestive wise, it's better to do it when the sun goes down. Allison: Yeah, I completely agree. And I do feel the same about fasting. Like, I, to an extent, I like fasting, like, you know, a good maybe 12, 13 hours, maybe 14 hours for some metabolically flexible people, but I've always been a huge component of breakfast just because, in Chinese medicine, like, the stomach channel, time, is in that morning, and that's kind of always when historically theysay that's a great time to eat,[00:25:00]and I feel like, yeah, this huge intermittent fasting kind of craze can be good to an extent and when utilized properly, but I'm always going to go back to, like, what have we been doing for 2, 000 years that has been working really well?

Allison: Like, I think there's a lot of parts to Chinese medicine where yeah, a lot of the health trends and health fads are just not going to resonate, and that's kind of,like, always my good reminder of like, okay, well, let's go back to what nature and what has been working for humans for, you know, thousands of years.

Allison: Right.

Michelle: think about like the light cause like light light hygiene, cause you want to call it, you want, you want to get exposure to light early in the morning so that your body knows. Cause that's how our bodies respond. Our bodies really respond to light. So I always kind of, I always prescribe this, like go early in the morning, get some sunlight while it's safe early, early. Michelle: And then of course, obviously protect your skin if you're skin sensitive and especially later on, but like early in the morning, it's easier. For your body to process.[00:26:00]I almost kind of compare this in my mind as like a hose of water. So you want water. When it's trickling, it's much easier to drink.

Michelle: And then like in the middle of the day, when it's like shooting out, you're, you're going to choke. It's too much. So it's better to have it early in the morning. We're able to really get the vitamins. And I remember my grandmother always telling me early morning sun will give you the most vitamins. Michelle: That's how she explained it. The most nutrients. And she was right. She was right. She said that. She's like early morning sun. That's what you want. And so, and not only that, it also anchors the circadian rhythm and then also getting moonlight. So like not having the fake light, dimming the light at night, and that could really, so that's why I would say like light hygiene is to kind of dim it at night so that we go back to our roots.

Michelle: And this is just, it's what nature has intended for us. Allison: Yeah. Yeah. I completely agree. All of that. I mean, it's always a good reminder to go back to[00:27:00]nature of, like, the super basics. When it's dark, like, it should be dark. It should be quiet. It should be in. It should be asleep. And then, yeah, during the daytime, that's when things are active, including our digestive system. Allison: Like, it seems, yeah, nature was designed for it to be pretty clear to us,like, what we're supposed to be doing. Michelle: Yeah. For sure. And what are your thoughts about taking melatonin supplements?

Allison: think it can be helpful. I mean, I am not a huge and high dose melatonin. So I'm more of like the one to three milligrams because that's kind of akin to what is naturally produced in the body. There are a lot of there's some research that shows that a high dose can be good for endometriosis, like even up to 10 milligrams because of its antioxidant effect.

Allison: But I, I've, I've only had it be helpful for a small group of patients, like not a lot. So it's not my favorite one to go to because I just, I don't think that it's going to be hugely beneficial for the circadian rhythm. But I do find it[00:28:00]helpful for some patients and I love it as like a general antioxidant. Allison: If your levels are kind of low because you know, we're not, we have so much light in the night time and stuff. So our bodies are naturally kind of, I bet a bit melatonin deficient. If it's, if you're taking a decent dosage of like one to three milligrams and it's really helping you sleep and you're noticing a huge difference, awesome.

Allison: But I also see a lot of patients where it doesn't do a lot for them or it makes them feel groggy. And so I think it's a really case by case dependent. Like if it works for you and you're on a good dosage, awesome. If it's not, like I'm not too hard pressed, like there's a lot of other alternatives. I like, I love a lot of adaptogens and stuff. Allison: too, that can kind of help reset their circadian rhythm too. So, yeah, it's not my absolute favorite go to but there is like some really good research with it for fertility and egg quality because of its antioxidant effect. So I don't hate it. Michelle: Yeah. Well, the great thing is, is that getting that early morning sunlight induces cellular melatonin. So it actually brings that out of you, so it is a great way to get that,

Allison: that is true.

Michelle: natural light,[00:29:00]but also through light therapy. So light therapy can help that as well. Michelle: So is there anything else that you're like passionate about, excited about that you're like learning about recently that you're finding is really helpful for your patients? Allison: Besides the cortisol awakening response, which I've been really nerding out about and just like cortisol in general, I find it's such an underrated hormone and people are either like, Oh, we want to squash it or we want to raise it. But that's like so much more complex and intricate than that. So I've been really kind of diving into that and like some more Dutch test stuff.

Allison: I find, I am always just learning, I love learning so much about estrogen metabolism and methylation because I find that a lot of patients who are struggling with reproductive health stuff and fertility and especially endo and stuff a lot of them are, we're just not metabolizing and methylating estrogen correctly. Allison: And so it's, that's causing a lot of symptoms. And so I've been really kind of doing a lot of research into that, which I've been finding so interesting. So yeah, I feel like that's kind[00:30:00]of, yeah, liver, cortisol, all that kind of

Michelle: stuff, liver stuff again. So what, what have you.

Allison: Always back to the liver.

Michelle: Yes. What have you seen is effective for estrogen metabolism.

Allison: yeah, well, it depends, like, at which phase people are having the issues. If it's, like the metabolizing into the 4 2 OH, or if it's, like, the actual methylation process, because there's different, you know, supplements and herbs that all, I'll recommend. So that's why I really love testing. So we can really like see exactly where the issue is, or if it's in phase three estrogen metabolism, where we really need to focus on the gut health again because there's too much beta glucuronidase, that's recirculating estrogen levels and stuff. Allison: And so there's different things that we can do for that. But yeah, I just love like, The basic things that your liver needs is like magnesium, B vitamins enough protein, enough iron. Like there's some really basic stuff that I think, if a lot of if we're just really focusing on through like healthy nutrition and stuff, then alot of that stuff can be helped.

Allison: [00:31:00]So we don't, honestly, we don't even need like, crazy amounts of supplements and herbs if there's these issues going on. Sometimes your body just needs like a really basic levels of magnesium and B vitamins and hydration and amino acids and stuff and then all these things can kind of work efficiently. Michelle: Yeah. Sometimes I find just warm water and lemon on an empty stomach every day because lemon is like the sour taste for the liver. Just something like that. It's such a simple, it's so simple. It's almost too simple that people think it's like, how could this work? It's too simple,

Allison: Yeah.

Michelle: Amazing that I find.

Allison: Yeah, that's kind of how I feel about like castor oil packs, too.

Michelle: Yeah. Oh, yeah. So talk about those because that that's actually really effective I find and moving like the lymph and moving that stagnation. Allison: Absolutely. Yeah, I'm a huge fan of castor oil packs, especially like after my patients have endosurgery where they have laparoscopic abdominal surgery to remove the endo lesions. I love using[00:32:00]castor oil packs post operatively to help like reduce scar tissue formation and to really help with the healing process and the blood circulation and lymphatic movement and everything.

Allison: So castor oil packs are basically you apply castor oil to the abdomen or liver and then you place a heat pack on it and you kind of just relax with the heat. To as the oil kind of seeps into your skin and does all the magic that it needs to. And it is such like a simple intervention just like warm lemon water in the morning that I find is just such an easy thing to do. Allison: It's really cost effective, it's really relaxing. Like it doesn't take a lot of effort. You can do it like while you're watching tv. Like it's a really easy thing to kind of incorporate into, into your life. But I do find it really, really helpful for like reducing period cramps, helping people to recover post abdominal surgery for liver detoxification.

Allison: Like done regularly, it can, you know, have a lot of really positive impact.

Michelle: for sure And what are your thoughts on when to do it on the menstrual cycle because I do hear like conflicting perspectives on when[00:33:00]you should do it and then you can also move it at certain times to the liver rather than the abdomen. Allison: Yeah, that's true. Yeah, so I'll never recommend it during menstruation, or like at least during your heavy days because I do think it can cause a little bit too much blood circulation and that just might increase the bleeding. And then I'll never recommend it after ovulation if you're trying to conceive.

Allison: So if there's any chance of pregnancy, we kind of just want to like take care of that like precious area. We don't want to do anything to moving or detoxing. Like that's even like a point in the menstrual cycle where I won't do too many abdominal points. Like I kind of just like let your body do what it needs todo. Allison:Like it knows how to do it. I'll do a lot more distal stuff to kind of help with blood circulation and hormone balance and whatever we're working on. But yeah, anytime that there's any chance of pregnancy, I like to leave the lower belly alone.

Michelle: No, it's true. I, I do the same thing. Actually. I do like right after ovulation. I tell them not to do it and they're like, and it pretty much[00:34:00]minimizes the window to like, after period, you know, in between that point, but I, usually like to be a little more conservative on that as well, unless you're trying to prepare your body ahead of time. Allison: I'm definitely on the cautious side. Michelle:Yeah, me too. You might as well. Yeah, totally. So this is great. Great conversation. I'm sure we can keep talking about all kinds of topics and questions.And so if people want to work with you, so you do Dutch testing, you do sometesting and you do some online work.

Allison: Yeah, so I'm CFG healing on all the social medias and my website. I'm seeing patients in person in Vancouver and Burnaby, British Columbia, and I do see a small amount of patients virtually. So if you're elsewhere and want to work with me, we can do some telehealth.

Michelle: Fantastic. Well, Alison, it was awesome speaking to you. And thank you so much for your insight and information. And guys, I[00:35:00]definitely recommend you check out her Instagram because it's like loads of information. You're going to learn so much. I'm learning so much because I love really collaborating and talking to other practitioners because you can always learn something new. Michelle: That's what I find. You just can always learn something because everybody has a different perspective. Allison: Yeah, that's so true, and I'm an avid regular listener to your podcast, and I could say the same. I always learn so much from you and all the people that you interview, so thank you for doing what you do.

Michelle: Oh, that's awesome. Well, I admire you. So that's really nice to hear that coming from you. So thank you so much, Alison, for coming on today.

Allison:Thanks, Michelle.

EP 271 Can Sound Vibrations Have the Potential to Encourage Conception?

Can the music you listen to strengthen or weaken your body’s vitality andtherefore fertilityhealth? In this episode I will discuss how powerful vibrations are and how choosing specificsounds consciously can bring about a healing response in our bodies. Many of these soundshave the potential to be tools in harmonizing our heart coherence and improving fertility health.

This episode covers:

How vibrations impact the body

Messages in the water

Impact of classical music on body and mind

The power of chanting

How words change the patterns in crystals

Studies on vibration: 

https://peerj.com/articles/830

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29705448/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2018/04/15/neuroscience-explains-why-you-need-to-write-down-your-goals-if-you-actually-want-to-achieve-them/?sh=2583ef827905

The Hidden Messages in the Water: https://amzn.to/3RrtsQh

Hypnosis Membership: https://www.michelleoravitz.com/Fertilitymindsetmembership

For more information about Michelle, visitwww.michelleoravitz.com

The Wholesome Fertility facebook group is where you can find free resources and support: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2149554308396504/

Instagram: @thewholesomelotusfertility

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewholesomelotus/

Transcript: [00:00:00]On today's episode of the Wholesome Fertility Podcast, I'm going to talk about something that recently research has been catching on to and it is really, really fascinating information and it's really about vibrations and music and sound and how sound has a healing effect on the body and can that possibly be something to consider when trying to conceive.

Welcome to the Wholesome Fertility Podcast. I'm Michelle, a fertilityacupuncturist here to provide you with resources on how to create a wholesomeapproach to your fertility journey.

So I've been interested in this for a while. It's really fascinating. I remember when I first heard about how music impacts the body,[00:01:00]really, how music impacts the water crystals from a Soro Emoto. He did research on water crystals. So he basically, he would take a drop of water. And look at it under a microscope and then put the microscope in an area where it would have a freezing point and he would watch how it crystallized and basically what type of crystals it would make and he would take pictures of it.

And he first started to do it with polluted and toxic water compared to water from that was distilled in water from natural sources like waterfalls and looked at different types of water and how they would crystallize and just saw the geometriccrystals and wanted to see the difference. And then what happened was he endedup One time adding sound vibration to see how that impacted[00:02:00] water andit was fascinating what he saw and you can look at this It's called the mess thehidden messages of water You can google it and you'll find all kinds of images to show you and he also has a book so you can go to Amazon and search up MasaruEmoto.

He has a book called The Hidden Messages of Water. There's even a movie on it and they show exactly how they do this research. So it's really, really fascinating. That was the first time I got really blown away by this. So he found that classical music. Generates different type of beautiful crystal line patterns, incredible intricacies, just gorgeous.

It looks beautiful, it looks symmetrical, and it has a lot of intricacies and patterns that just look vibrant. And then he compared that with heavy metal music. And that was really fascinating because it[00:03:00] actually showed very distorted crystalline formations. And I don't know about you, but my husband loves heavymetal, and I cannot listen to it for, like, if I listen to it for a couple of minutes, I start to feel completely frazzled.

My energy feels like it's going all over the place. I can't focus. And what's interesting is classical music has also been shown to improve your psyche. It helps slower anxiety and also helps with focus. So it helps with students, for students to listen to classical music. It actually has been shown to help them when it comes to studying and information retention.

So that by itself is fascinating. And I've talked before about how the heart houses the mind and the heart, if it feels imbalanced, can cause anxiety. The fact that this helps water and the fact that it helps with anxiety for me,[00:04:00] just as a Chinese medicine practitioner, makes me think that perhaps this is also helping the rhythm of the heart.

You know, I've talked about heart math and how there's a coherence that happens. So when music is coherent, There's a coherence and almost a formula that is underlying its design. Could that possibly impact our organs, our cells, and ourheart, our rhythm? Because it is a rhythm that we're listening to.

Could that impact that coherence? I don't know. There was no study done on that specifically. Or maybe there was and I'm just not aware of it. But that is something definitely to consider because it sounds like it really impacts our own internal rhythm, just like we are so sensitive to light and light helps our rhythm, the light of nature helps our rhythm, our circadian rhythm, how can sound waves and the rhythms that it It[00:05:00]impacts or the, the vibrations that it gives off, how can that impact us?

And that's definitely something to consider. So I actually have a personal experience with sound waves and music, and this is because I helped my daughter. Do an experiment. She did a scientific experiment, a science experiment in herclass. And this was when she was in elementary school. And we took three different plants.

Okay, everything was the same. Same type of bowl. Same type of soil. We just, everything was the same. And we took radish, it was radish seeds. And for some reason, I think it was radish. It, for some reason, the reason why we picked it was because it grows really well. And it was like, we looked it online and it said thatthat was something to use, if you were to use an experiment like this.[00:06:00]

And everything was exactly the same, same size, same, everything same amount. We even put the seeds exactly the same distance from each other, put them inexactly the same spot outside, let them grow. Um, but actually the second we started putting the plant, the seeds in the plant, what we did was we took each plant.

And move them to the back of the house, this like, room. And in that room, one plant would get classical music. The other plant would get heavy metal music. And the third plant would get nothing. And what we saw was incredible. So over time,we would do the same thing. We would just take the, all plants back, even the one that got nothing.

But we just put new music and at the end of, I believe it was about six weeks or something like that, it was like a[00:07:00] good, a couple of weeks we've been taking pictures. We were taking pictures as soon as it sprouted and really tracked it. What we found was that the one with classical music did the best.

The one that was with heavy metal music did second best and the one with novibration at all did the worst. So it was interesting because some vibration, even if it's not ideal vibration, does something. And what they found too is the same thing happened when, um, Dr. Omoto, I believe a lot of kids did this in kindergarten.

It was like a, an experiment that they did. The teachers did with them and they took rice and they would take rice and one rice, they would say, I love you. The other jar of rice, they would say, I hate you. And then the third, they ignored completely. And it was the same thing. The one that got ignored. Did the worst,[00:08:00]it molded like black and the one that said that you said, I love you to ended up doing amazing.

And it would actually like went into this golden, it was like a golden yellow fermenting. So it was a good, healthy ferment, fermenting process. And so that was definitelyinteresting that the one that was ignored did the worst. And you think about how people would prefer negative attention over no attention.

It makes you think about that as well, because it must be giving some kind of energy, even if it's negative, it still must be some kind of energy or some kind of force versus nothing at all. And I thought that was interesting as well. So even, even the vibration of words can impact how things respond. So words are vibration. You talk about music, music is vibration, but words are[00:09:00]vibration as well. The words that you, as you are speaking, you hear and the words that you're even thinking have a vibration. Just think about the thoughts that you have and how that impacts your body. And I've talked about that as well. Just like the thought itself can impact your body.

So, speaking of words, what wasreally, really fascinating, so we're talking about saying the words and actuallythinking the words. What was really fascinating is that Dr. Omoto also had littlevials where he would store water. So, one part of his experiment was based onmusic.Another one was on type of water. And then what he used as sort of like his controlwater to start with was distilled water. And it had a very specific geometric shapethat was very basic. It looked basic. It looked like, um, a hexagon. And then whathe would do was he would expose[00:10:00]that to music. And then he would see the difference, but then he also exposed it to words. And each word would emit a different type of crystal. And the crystal with positivewords would be really beautiful. And the crystals that were negative words, andsome of the negative words weren't even that drastic. It would say like, you fool.And that's not like a curse word. It's just. It's putting somebody down, but it's not acurse word, but even that would come out distorted.So this is what's really fascinating to me, is that he wouldn't even say the words. It wasn't even the vibration of the actual sound of the word. He would write them down on the vial. So just the written aspect of the word had a vibration. It must have in order to impact the crystal of the water because water responds tovibration. So[00:11:00]that is just insane to me. I mean, it's so fascinating how just writing down words, and I've talked about this before because I feel like. When you are manifesting or trying to really set an intention, I always recommend writing the act of writing because when you're writing the word and you're, you're almost inscripting it into your mind, and that's why I think that writing a letter to your spirit baby could be so powerful because that is something that you can actually be. 

Use and you can also take part in so when you're actually moving your hand thinking about it moving your hand and inscripting it and it becomes almost real when you're actually inscripting it in paper. It has another type of level of impact and it's been shown that when you do write things down. First of all, when you're studying and[00:12:00] you're writing something down, it actually gets more into your consciousness and your subconscious mind. And also, writing goals down has been shown to improve the chances of them being accomplished by something like 40%. So all of those things are really fascinating, things that we've been told, just the power of words, but then toactually see that there are studies that prove those things to be true. So what I do want to bring up is that just like heavy metal music has been shown to be not quite as compatible with water crystals, and we are probably 60 to 70 percent water, and a lot of water is yin, and yin is the feminine energy, and yin is really whatsurrounds a baby in a womb, and lots of our cells need water, and our cells react as well, or they can hold that[00:13:00]vibration within them.

Therefore, our bodies do respond to music. I want you to be aware of the fact that alot of music that is out there may not be heavy metal, but there's a lot of music that is out there that may not be quite as compatible with the body and could. Some ofthe music out there that's more mainstream. Could that be another level to environmental toxins?

And I'm not saying this to make anybody worried about another level of something that they have to worry about, but it's something to consider to consider whether it's strengthening you or weakening you, or is it really helping you? And what I'm going to say is that there are certain types of music that you can listen to that can help support your body and it helps support your energy.

And these are ones that specifically that have been[00:14:00]shown to help. An done of them, like I mentioned is classical music, but the other one is called solfeggio frequencies. So it's a type of frequency and sound that can actually help impact your body in a positive way. And you can find them online. I mean, if yougo, if you have like, I believe Spotify might have them, but I think you can findthem even with Pandora.

And iTunes music, and you can also find them, I believe, also on YouTube as well. So there are definitely really, really good frequencies, but you can also find the Schumann frequency, the Schumann sound, which is basically the Earth's heartbeat. And that too can help. Another thing that I would suggest, if you want, you can also get certain music that chant ancient mantras, mantras that come from India or Tibetan Buddhism. Those mantras have also been[00:15:00]shown to help.

And what's interesting is I saw recently just with the OM mantra that it creates a certain vibration and they put water on a plate. And had that sound vibration amplified from the OM mantra, just people chanting OM and what that produced was incredible fractals that look like these amazing mandalas, which actually kind of look like crystals if you think about it. Very similar, um, symmetrical, beautiful, intricacy, and it kind of makes you think about how sacred geometry works. The Flower of Life is a really, really great one. I have a Flower of Life meditation. It has basically visuals of a kaleidoscope while it'sguided through, and that is on my hypnosis membership.

That's one[00:16:00]of the things that I have on there, but it is super powerful because if you look at the flower of life, it is basically, it looks like a much more geometrical aspect of an embryo. So it's really fascinating. Because you could just take this down a whole rabbit hole, but yes, become aware of what you're listening to, the vibrations, and at least experiment with different types of music and start playing it around your house or even listening to them, but I feel like it's important to play it out in the environment because your body If you're just listening to it, you're just putting in your ears.

But when you're actually bathing in it and you're feeling that vibration on your body, then I feel like that's even, that's a whole other level of sound vibration that can impact you. But also you could start doing something called seed mantras. You can go online. There's a mantra really for every[00:17:00]chakra. You can do each one from chakra one to all the way to your crown chakra. Um, try different ones, try different sounds. Ohm if you can't think of anything else, just even ohm and start humming. Because what they found is by humming, you canstimulate your vagus nerve and the vagusnerve is so impactful for so many important.

Aspects of our body and one of them being digestive health and sleep and it really calms your nervous system, so it has tremendous benefits to activate and thecurrent world that we're living in and just also the patterns that we're part of andlike just the the schedule the Information overload can really impact the nervous system.

And I feel like unless you're being proactive about balancing that out, then most likely you're going to get imbalanced just by living in[00:18:00]this world. Unfortunately, hopefully one day it's going to start to become a little more compatible with our bodies, but that is just what it is. So it's important to really educate yourself and kind of learn different tools and ways to counteract. All of the stressors that we're dealing with and the stressors can come in so many different ways. So I thought this would be an interesting episode to talk about because this is a whole other dimension that can work for us or against us depending on what it is that we're exposed to. So I thought vibration might really be impactful and I feel like I guess my guess is that it's probably really good for fertility to listen to things like classical music or at least solfeggio frequencies at least a couple of times a day or even once a day, something, or even chanting.

Sometimes if you're driving, just chant. Turn off the music for a little[00:19:00]bit and just chant. Chant OM and try chanting it a couple of times. Number one, it is going to slow down your breathing. When you slow down your breathing, you slow down your mind, you calm your mind and you get more grounded. So chanting forces you to, to breathe slow and deep, but the vibration happens within side your body and it vibrates to all of yourselves. So you feel afterwards like you're getting an internal massage. So I highly recommend trying to chant Om for a minute. Just repeat it up until. You get to a minute and then pause and just get quiet afterwards and feel how your body feels. It will feel incredible. It feels like an internal massage that is subtle and it's acompletely different type of feeling.

And it also helps, I think after, after chanting, it's interesting that they used to do this right[00:20:00] before yoga and after yoga, but it also helps your, it kind of increases your body awareness and your interoception, which is really importantfor meditation to like really tune your internal awareness of your body, your cells,and kind of like the mechanism that happens behind the scenes. So I highly recommend trying that out. Just do an experiment. See how you feel and see how that impacts your psyche, how that impacts your body, and even how it impacts your sleep. Or even relationships. I don't know. I think, I would imagine it helps everything. So, I hope this works for you. If you find anything interestingto note, reach out to me.

DM me on Instagram and you can find me at thewholesomelotusfertility. Just DM me and then let me know you listened to this episode and that you tried it out[00:21:00]and Whatever interesting things that you noted.

So thank you so much for tuning in today. I hope you have a beautiful day.

 So that concludes today's episode. You can find all of the links mentioned on the episode notes. If you're enjoying these episodes, please take a moment to share and leave a review. Reviews mean everything to podcasters, and I really enjoy hearing from my listeners. You can also find me on my website at www.thewholesomelotus.com, or email me at info@thewholesomelotus.com.

 I love hearing from my listeners. If you're interested and want updates, as well as a free ebook on my top 10 fertility boosting habits. You can visit my fertility page on www.thewholesomelotus.com.

 I thank you so much for listening in and hope that you have a beautiful day.[00:22:00]

EP 270 The Role Heart-Brain Coherence Could Have on Your Fertility

On today’s episode, I’ll be covering how recent research from HeartMath institute shows us what Chinese Medicine has been teaching for centuries, and that is that the heart houses the mind. I will also cover why that matters when it comes to fertility health!

In this episode I will go over:

-Why you can’t control emotions directly (and what you can do to shiftthem over time).-How to use biofeedback on your heart brain coherence for free on anapp.

-The importance of your heart state and why it behaves like a littlebrain.

Links:

For more information about Michelle, visit www.michelleoravitz.com

The Wholesome Fertility facebook group is where you can find free resources and support: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2149554308396504/

Instagram: @thewholesomelotusfertility

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewholesomelotus/

Transcript:

[00:00:00]Welcome to the Wholesome Fertility Podcast. On today's episode, I'm going to talk about something that I find really fascinating and I've actually gotten into something called heart math, but I'm going to discuss also the connection between the heart and the uterus and why the heart is something that often gets overlooked.

Emotions often get overlooked when it comes to the fertility journey. Many times when somebody's undergoing fertility challenges, they'll go immediately to what foods they should eat, what kind of supplements they should take, etc. But so much in the, literally, no pun intended, the heart of it really needs to go to The emotional state of the person from a Chinese medicine perspective and from my perspective as a practitioner I see that because that's one of the things that I look at when I'm treating people So I'm gonna give you kind of my perspective as a practitioner and I'm also gonna give you some[00:01:00]data and research and science That's out there something called heart math Institute, which I'll be Explaining a little bitmore in a bit But it is really important not to miss the state of the heart because thestate of the heart impacts the uterus directly by a vessel called bowel my I've discussed this before as the heart uterus connection and basically the heart's role onthe uterus is to open the uterus and when the heart is imbalanced, it can impact therole.

Cause just think about anything. If something has a role, anything, and it has otherthings that are stressing it, thenit's just not going to do its job as well as it wouldhave if it feels more balanced and whole. So, I'll explain exactly like really theenergetics of the heart. So, when I talk about energetics of the[00:02:00]heart, I'mreally talking about a TCM perspective, a traditional Chinese medicineperspective.

And it's different than if you went to a cardiologist and they said, Oh, something's wrong with your heart. Nothing necessarily is physically wrong with the heart. You could still have an energetic imbalance with the heart and that have nothing todo with. like a physical manifestation or something going on like physical that really needs to get treated emergently.

So I want to throw that out there again. Also, this is not medical advice. This is not something that should be used as a medical diagnosis, but I thought that it was veryimportant to address. And then you can also look into some of the resources thatI'll be mentioning. So the heart in Chinese medicine is considered to be housing the mind.

So the mental state of a person is very much connected and linked to the part. So[00:03:00]the heart immediately responds to any mental conditions. And if you've been in a situation where you've had anxiety, you may realize or feel that you have heart palpitations or you're nervous about something, you'll feel it immediately in your heart. What's interesting is, is that We've always been taught that as traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, that the heart houses the mind and that there is this connection. But new research from the heart math Institute, interestingly enough, is also showing that there is a connection. There's this connection and communication that happens between the heart and the mind. So what they're finding is that the heart actually sends signals to the brain. So what state your heart is in and your heart almost has like neurons the way it functions and it's almost like another brain Really? So it's fascinating to just think about because[00:04:00]most of the time you don't really think of the heart as having that much of an impact, but it can actually similarly to the gut when they talk about the gut microbiome.If you have a lot of Candida, for example, if you have certain dysbiosis where there's an imbalance in the microbiome, whatever that microbiome wants, it will signal to the brain for you to eat. So say you have a lot of Candida, um, Which likes sugar, it's going to cause you to crave sugar. So it's kind of fascinating how we think we're in control. And then we have these organs that are actually communicating with our brain, telling the brain what it wants. And so it sort of overrides our own logic and our will in a sense. So there is this really strong connection between the two. And the non top of it, the heart has a really important role on the uterus. So, therefore, having that connection between the heart and the brain, and then the heart and the[00:05:00]uterus, one can deduce, and obviously I'll be talking also about the research, that the mental state, really getting into control of the mental state, can impact your uterus. Ultimately, and that there is this connection between the heart and the mind and having this coherence.So coherence when something is in coherence and the heart math institute, they talk about that a lot heart coherence and when your heart is in coherence, which what that means is that it's organized, it has a pattern that's rhythmic and it's more consolidated where it's not as erratic. If you're stressed, what they see is that if you're in a stress mode or if you're in a mode, really, that's depleting of energy that is going to impact the way the coherence shows up in your heart.

So the coherence gets impacted by your state of mind and vice versa. It[00:06:00]also impacts your state of mind. So there are certain exercises that they found, one of them slowing down your breath. And they found that doing these exercises can increase your heart coherence and therefore increase your brain coherence and that altogether over time impacts something called the heart rate variability and which, just to explain it in layman's terms, is that heart rate variability means that it can basically stretch itself and adjust accordingly to certain situations easily.Basically what it means is that it's more adaptable and over time when you do these exercises that really come down to our own intention, our breath work and our, where we're putting our energy and our focus. And also thinking about positive things that you love. So having a state of thinking about what you love in your life,[00:07:00]which points to why a gratitude journal is so important, is because it's putting your focus on what you have, and it also puts your focus on something that really fills your heart.And all of us can find something. So that's something that, over time, Is a practice.It's called a practice for a reason is because the more you practice, the better you become, and the more you train your mind to focus on those things. And when you get into that state, you really do become a magnet for more of those things.And you get into a state of receivership. So a lot of what I'm saying. Is really things that I've seen with my own patients, these are observations I've made and I think that it's really helpful to, for anybody who's going through the fertility journey to hear and also kind of a little bit of, um, uh, pre announcement, I am in the works of finishing up a book. And I'm very excited about it. It's called the way of fertility. And it talks[00:08:00]really about the energetics of fertility. And I'm very, very excited about it because it's a lot about what I've seen. It's a lot about what ancient medicine has been teaching us. And if you look at really ancient teachings, ancient medicine, they've always been pointing to very similar, like a lot of different teachings point to the similar things.And really what it comes down to is having a state of living in the accordance with the way. With a DAO, which is nameless, but it's this state of harmony that gets created when things are in balance. And when that happens, it doesn't even necessarily have to rely on what you're eating or doing. It really has to do with how you're being, your state of being and state.

And, and it tends to be a really hard thing to control because it's not something that we can observe with the senses that we're, we use a lot, which are the hearing, smelling, tasting, seeing, it's a different type of.[00:09:00]sense. It's something that's more interoception. Basically what that means is that feeling inside of your body, what is going on and what heart math does.It's so fascinating and I actually highly recommend getting Um, a device. It's about 150 bucks, but it's worth it. It connects to the app, the heart math app, or you don't have to actually get the device. If you want to start the only app of theirs that you can test your coherence is the global, the global coherence one. And that is more where you're joining groups, but nobody really knows who youare. It just, all it does is measure your heart coherence, but it does so in a way of where you're putting your finger on the camera and then you connect with that and that it actually does, um, check your heart rate variability and your heart coherence through that.And so that's one free way if you want to just check it out. It won't [00:10:00]work on the just straight up heart math where they have the different exercises, But it works on the group one. So you could definitely take a look. The group one also has video lessons and it explains everything. The reason I get so excited about this is because I just completed a certification for heart math and I'm just blown away.I mean, there's so many levels of like learning about the body and the mind and now. we have so much research and so much coming out that have really been proving what has been said all along. It's basically proving what Chinese medicine says, which is that the heart houses the mind and the connections.I mean, the heart housing the mind means without the heart, you don't have. A held mind, basically. And so when the heart is not in a stable mode, how can it hold a mind? And there are certain people, which is fascinating. I'll, I'll mention this. My husband's an ER doctor. I've mentioned that[00:11:00]before. So you've been listening to the podcast.You probably know. And what he actually mentioned, this is fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. He had mentioned that when people talk about people dying of a heart of a broken heart. There's actual science that shows that there is no medical reason, no like common medical reason for why the person would have aheart attack, meaning there's no blockage, there's no like specific reason that is typical for people getting heart attacks, so it's not like a blockage or a clot or like You know, arteries getting like calcified or, you know, all the typical reasons why a person would normally have a heart attack. They don't have that reason. They actually have a completely clear heart and that the only explanation would be that they're impacted by a very tremendous loss. Soit just goes to show how important it isto[00:12:00]acknowledge that and realize that and so with feelings I want to mention We're not really built to control our feelings. When the feelings happen, they happen. It's almost like trying to control the wind. When the wind happens, you just let it happen. You allow it to happen. If you try to stop it or resist it, it actually makes it worse. So that's why whenever I talk about validation a lot, because validation is super powerful. It's important to validate your feelings. And I remember a teacher telling me this was a health teacher in my middle school years, which happened to be really hard for me. It was around the time my parents got divorced and it was a really hard time. And I remember her mentioning. feelings aren't right or wrong.They just are. And I was like, wow, this is incredible. This really, really speaks tome on so many levels. And so that was something very powerful. And I just want to mention this to you. Like there is no right or[00:13:00]wrong way to go through the fertility journey. To feel through the losses and most of the time the losses happen from my understanding from a lot of my patients and obviously every case is different.But a lot of people say they go through it alone. So it is really important to find a good community. And I've actually two of my patients who I absolutely adore.They both came to me. They're both really close friends. They actually met meFairly recently, but they felt this really strong bond together and, um, they talk about each other like they're sisters.It's just amazing. And they're both going through the same thing and they're both expressing to me, Oh my God, if I didn't have her, I don't know what I would do.It's just like nobody else gets it. So to have that person in your life that truly gets it is priceless. And unfortunately not[00:14:00]everybody has that.However, nowadays, there are a lot of communities out there where people feel so hurt and so seen and this is for pregnancy loss or people going through the fertility journey and I'm not talking about just like some of the Facebook groups and you have to be really careful because sometimes I've heard from a lot of people that it can bring them down and they hear bad news and so it really depends on what it is, you know, getting clear on like what it is that makes you feel better.

And finding the group that resonates for you. And sometimes it is just venting, needing a place to vent and have that. What I mean by bringing them down is when they're seeing like people get getting pregnant and then losing it and then it gets into their mind, Oh my God, is that going to happen to me?You know, those kinds of things. So you really have to know yourself and knowhow certain things are impacting your heart, your heart state, how it feels. And really interoception is this[00:15:00]golden key of connecting with your body.And one of the best ways to strengthen that is really getting quiet and heart math isa wonderful way as well.And you could do that a couple of times a day or just even once a day for five minutes. And start out. So the amazing thing about it is that it's like biofeedback.The device connects, you, you basically put it on your earlobe. It's super easy, not complicated at all. And if you get the device, you could also do it with your finger.Um, so I'd mentioned that, but if you do get the device, it's really, really easy touse. You literally put it on your earlobe. And what's amazing about it is that it is a form of biofeedback, which basically. It teaches your mind, when you're aware of what's happening to your heart, to pretty much control the heart. And the tool that you do that with is a breathing, a certain type of breathing rhythm. And it also tells you, it[00:16:00]has a little, like, I don't know if it's like circle, each one is a little different. So you'll see, but it'll basically have a tool that shows you, you inhale to one end and then you exhale to another end.And you just follow this circle or meter, you know, everyone's a little different andyou follow that. And as you're breathing, you're breathing from the heart area. Soyou just imagine as if your heart is breathing and you go in and out and then youfocus on emotions of love. You bring yourself back to a place in your life.Maybe it's when you met your partner or something that really, really resonated, oreven like connecting with your pet. Something that makes you feel that warm and fuzzy feeling. Getting to that state and when you do that, you start to, it's pretty much meta meditation, which is loving kindness. It's very similar to that.

And then you do that every single day. At first you start out with your eyes closedand you focus on this[00:17:00]and you measure your coherence. But over time,you may not even need the device. You could be out somewhere and dealing withsomething that might be triggering or stressful. And during that time. You get into the state, you'll know how to connect with that again.So you start to breathe like that on your own because over time you practice and it's something that you can bring up. It's an emotional state that you can actually start to bring up and control. And that's the fascinating thing about it. So as I mentioned before, emotions are really, once emotions get triggered or they're active, it's very hard to put them back in the box.So you just let them. Do their thing, let them feel them. Doesn't mean to scream at people or anything like that. Obviously control yourself to some extent. If you're out in public, find a space, maybe take a couple of deep breaths and kind of be with yourself and, or if you can. Just acknowledge them, talk about them,[00:18:00]feel them, be with them.It's okay. Like just really validate and go through those emotions. Once that happens, one of the things that you can control, so it's not so much emotions, but what you can control. And this is something that happens over time is number one, your awareness of what thoughts were you having that contributed to those emotions having.like happening. And most of the time you will find that there's certain thoughts that can make you feel those emotions. So for example, I'm really impatient. So whenI'm driving, I get really like frustrated with the drivers here in Miami and What aremy thoughts my thoughts are I have to be somewhere and and so I start to stress myself out and I feel my Heart increasing. So this is just an example I'm just giving you some random example so that you understand like how thoughts really do come into play and One evidence is of that is why? Can you[00:19:00]have ten different people with the same exact situation? But they'll have 10 different reactions to them. Some people will get sad.Some people will get angry. Some people will just not care. Everybody has a different response. What is it that's different about them? It's probably, well, it is, it's their thought or perspective on the situation. And that is one thing we can't control. So when we do have emotions and they're active, you allow yourself to go through that.

You accept it. You don't resist it.You allow it to be, but one of the things that youcan do over time is control where your mind is going, and that will empower you, especially when you're dealing with challenges. So one of the ways that I find. That helps with that is a gratitude practice because all it does is it really Trains your mind over time to focus on what you do have so the small wins You know the small tiny wins my AMH increase something even if it's not like a full big one[00:20:00] Something that happens, just celebrate those wins. And then if your body does something that you're excited about, like you ovulated or the menstrual cycle is starting to get a little more regular. I have one patient where her menstrual cycle is starting to regulate, but she hasn't gotten pregnant and she's going through the same disappointment every single month, every time she gets her period.And we talked about it. I talked about validating that and allowing herself to have that good cry. And it's important to feel the feelings. And yet she told me, I know that this happened. It was really disappointing, but I'm really happy because my period is better. Like I'm seeing improvements in my body, which tells me that things are going well.So those are small wins. They're tiny little wins, but ultimately. One of the things that I find really powerful is just doing a gratitude journal and slowly moving your mind into a state of thinking about things that make you[00:21:00]feel good. AndI highly recommend starting this HeartMath practice and looking into the different exercises.You can find also tons of videos about it if you're interested and you want to learn more on YouTube. Just Look up HeartMath or go to the HeartMath Institute website and they have products. They have apps again You could start out with free. I recommend if you can invest in the device, but you don't have to have the device So there are definitely many ways to do that.But what it does is it really ultimately nurtures the state of your heart and ultimately The heart is the way through to the uterus. So I'm seeing it from a TCM perspective and how I see my patients getting impacted from the acupuncture and also from lifestyle changes. I see how they get impacted And I see how the[00:22:00]emotion component of it is really, really important.

It should not be ignored. It is an important thing, and ultimately because you deserve to feel well. You deserve to feel good in your body. You deserve to not suffer. So, these are little tools, but again, if you are suffering, there's no right or wrong way. Like, It just is. So, just like feelings aren't right or wrong, they just are. However you are in this state is just how you feel, and that's okay. Like, once you have those active emotions, just allow them to be. Pemo Chodron, she's, uh, an author and Buddhist monk. And she talks a lot about sitting with your emotions.And one of the books that I love also by Michael Singer is the untethered soul.He talks about leaning into what is leaning into the emotions that you're feeling.And I find that to be incredibly powerful because it's[00:23:00]when you allow yourself, it's when you don't resist what is. that it frees you. It really frees you and it allows the emotions to move. So you're not holding them in place, you're just allowing them to be.And you're honoring that. You're honoring the state that you're in. So, really it's two fold. It's doing the practice and guiding yourself little by little and really becoming aware of your emotional state and how that impacts your heart. And noticing also, like, how does your heart feel? Sometimes you will literally feel apressure on your chest if you're feeling anxious.And again, when you're feeling that just be with it, but the awareness of what that can teach you in that moment showing you how your body's reacting is huge.Because it shows you, it starts to teach you how your body responds and how yourbody sends you signals when it is in certain states. So I hope this was beneficial for you.I[00:24:00]do feel like it can really empower you once you really understand that inner terrain. I talk a lot about that. And it's because it is, hands down, one of the most powerful things you can do. Not only for your state of being, but also for your body. Your body will respond to your emotions and your state and yourthoughts are what controls the emotion.So that's kind of like the steering wheel. If you guys ever want to, you can DM me on Instagram. That's always a good place to find me. And my Instagram is at the wholesome lotus fertility. And you can DM me. I have a lot of people, actually, alot of listeners reaching out to me there. I also give a lot of free fertility content on there, so it's a good place to go.Lots of good tips on diet, supplements, lifestyle, mind tips, all of that. And thankyou so much for tuning in today.

Have a beautiful day.

EP 269 | are fad diets & unaligned nutrition impacting your fertility health?

Kaely McDevitt is a Registered Dietitian specializing in nutrition for women's health. She owns a virtual private practice where she and her team help their clients reclaim their energy, optimize fertility and overcome hormone symptoms through personalized nutrition. Having experienced the pitfalls of a conventional approach to women's health firsthand, Kaely is passionate about empowering women to build health from a place of connection: to self, to nature and to community.

Links:

Kaely’s Gift: https://kaelyrd.kartra.com/page/foptin

Instagram: @kaelyrd

Website: https://www.kaelyrd.com

Doors are closing soon for my Wholesome Fertility Transformation Program! Join us today! https://www.michelleoravitz.com/Fertility-Transformation-Group-Coaching

For more information about Michelle, visit www.michelleoravitz.com

The Wholesome Fertility facebook group is where you can find free resources and support: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2149554308396504/

Instagram: @thewholesomelotusfertility

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewholesomelotus/

Transcript:

Michelle:[00:00:00]Welcome to the podcast.

Kaely: Thanks so much for having me, Michelle.

Michelle: love to have you on love to talk to dietitians, nutritionists, and I would love for you to share your backgrounds and how you got into women's health and fertility.

Kaely: Sure. Yeah. So I'm a registered dietitian and I went that path with my career thinking that I would work in sports nutrition. It's what I was passionate about at the time. I kind of grew up as an athlete and as fate would have it, I dealt with a whole bunch of hormone health issues while I was in school, becoming a dietitian and was spending all of my free time outside of school trying to understand more about how the female body worked, how the menstrual cycle worked, the influence of hormones on nutrition and ultimately had a bit of a crisis of faith of what I was learning because it really wasn't helping me optimize my hormone health.

Kaely: A big part of my story was actually some pretty significant symptoms related to birth control. So shortly after getting my credentials, came off birth control,[00:01:00]navigated that whole chaotic season of my life of getting back into hormone balance. And when I looked up from that, I realized how a lot of women, friends, family members even, were hungry for nutrition for women's health specifically.

Kaely: Because almost no nutrition research is ever done on women. So pivoted away from sports nutrition to women's health a little over a decade ago, and have been running a virtual private practice where my team and I help women all over the country end hormone symptoms, optimize fertility, get pregnant, and really just feel at home in their bodies again.

Kaely: And I'm very thankful for that pivot because I can't imagine working in another space.

Michelle: Amazing. I love it. I find working with women personally, like so rewarding, especially when it comes to fertility health, it's really amazing because the thing is, you know, what you're talking about is so important food is like at the center of everything, but here's the thing. I think what a lot of people think.

Michelle: Is that their symptoms are just[00:02:00]genetics or it's just something that they have to deal with and little is talked about. How our choices and food choices can make a difference. And the thing is part of like having a choice is really knowing what to look for because sometimes you don't really know that you even have a choice.

Kaely: Yep, totally.

Michelle: And when you talked about, you talked about birth control, that's like abig thing too, because I think that that's another aspect. I mean, that's really beenmy story is that I didn't realize that I had a choice with my regular periods and theonly choice I was given. By professionals that I turned to was the birth control pill for many, many years until, and I always knew intuitively that there must besomething else that's out there that's better because I'm like, there's just no way that this cannot be fixed.

Michelle: And I knew that it was a bandaid because obviously if you take it off, it's right back to what it was. And the doctor told me that. So I remember thinking like, this[00:03:00]just doesn't make sense. However, I didn't have a better option at the time. So a lot of people are in that same position. They really don't think that there's a better option.

Michelle: And a couple of things with the birth control pill, number one is that when you're on it for a long time, it can impact. Your body's nutrients and how you process nutrients that can impact your gut. I mean, there's so many things So I want to start with that because I mean there's so much to unpack but like I want to start with that what have you seen like that?

Michelle: The pill does to the body What are the things that it depletes? What are the things that you like to address? After a person's been on the birth control pill for so many years.

Kaely: Yeah, absolutely. So we don't have a ton of research on this yet. I think it's growing slowly. But what I've seen in practice and even experienced personally was a depletion and a lot of really important nutrients. So at the time that I came off birth control, I was working for a corporate wellness[00:04:00]company that did Micronutrient testing for their corporate clients, which was a little unusual for the time, but really cool.

Kaely: And so I'm like, I'm a dietician. I'm following all these food rules that I was running marathons. I thought I was gonna have this like beautiful report come back and it came back and I was deficient in more things than any of the clients that I had been helping. And it was a big aha moment for me to start digging into the influence of birth control on nutrients.

Kaely: And what I've continued to see over the last 10 years in practice is a big depletion in our B vitamins. So kind of the whole B complex, a lot of antioxidants are lower too. So we'll see things like vitamin E, vitamin C and selenium be lower post birth control. Magnesium and zinc are commonly lower post birth control.

Kaely: And when we think about the nutrients involved in ovulation, in fertility, in being able to carry a pregnancy, I mean, everything that I mentioned is part of that. It's part of energy production and protecting an egg and[00:05:00]follicle health.So those not only can contribute to a lot of the symptoms post birth control, but definitely have an impact on, on fertility post birth control too.

Michelle: Yeah. No doubt. And what about as far as gut health have you seen with a birth control pill?

Kaely: Yep. So we see a change in the microbiome with hormonal birth control use, and it's a shift away from gram positive to gram negative bacteria, which can influence the way that we recycle estrogen in the body. So it can contribute to that state of estrogen dominance. We see an increase in like the gap junction between cells in the gut or a common term for that would be leaky gut.

Kaely: So more likelihood to have systemic inflammation, more likelihood to have inappropriate reactions to food post birth control. And then another big area thatgets taxed while on birth control is the liver, gallbladder, and kind of greater biliary tree. You know, the liver is already an[00:06:00]extremely busy organ and it is having to work over time to process and filter the hormones coming in from birth control.

Kaely: And those hormones influence the contractility and the composition of the bile, so we see that whole biliary tree impacted by birth control too, which of course influences the way that we're able to get excess hormones out of the body, the way that we're able to absorb fats from our food and our fat soluble vitamins.

Kaely: So those would be the main areas. So nutrients, gut and then liver and gallbladder health.

Michelle: And what are some of the protocols? And I'm sure similar to my work. Every person is unique, so the protocols are gonna change depending on the person and the condition. There are symptoms as well and like just how their body reacts but typically if somebody's been on the birth control pill for a very long time what are some of the things that you suggest for them to do?

Kaely: Yes. So we'll start with food, right? Being in the nutrition space,[00:07:00]we always want to start there. And I always say that nutrient dense whole food diet is non-negotiable when we're talking about coming off of birth control and recovering from However long that season of life was so sticking with food and in the real form as often as we can.

Kaely: So good quality proteins, nice pigmented produce, healthy fats alot of just micronutrient rich foods to help accommodate for the deficiencies that came from the pill. So we would start with that, the foundation of the diet. We'd work on supporting the gut. So looking at the types of fibers in our diet, potentially leveraging some probiotics support.

Kaely: In my experience, spore based probiotics have been really helpful at trying to adjust the changes that happen post birth control. And then I love to bring in some liver gallbladder support too. So maybe we'll do things like castor oil packs or bitters or bring more bitter foods into the diet to help get that good bile flow going again.

Kaely: Those would be my kind of three areas to start with.[00:08:00]

Michelle: And, okay, so let's talk about spore based probiotics, because a lot of people listening might not realize the difference between the probiotics. And I, I personally love them as well. I think they're great. And just talk about the differences and why that would be more beneficial over the typical probiotics that you'll find.

Kaely: Sure. Yeah. So spore based probiotics are delivered almost identical to how we would find them in nature in the soil, which I think is a cool and important detail here. So they're going to be encapsulated inside that spore, which means they have protection from our digestive process. So they're a lot less likely to get broken down by stomach acid in the stomach and actually make it to their target site, which is the large intestines.

Kaely: One of the main complaints of your kind of run of the mill probiotics is that they're either not even viable, you know, at room temperature, or that once they'reingested into a body that is warm and has stomach acid and digestive enzymes, itgets broken down and denatured.[00:09:00]So the spore based probiotics, in my experience, have just been a lot more effective at actually changing the terrain of the large intestines and actually a lot better tolerated to what, which is what I've seen because they're making it to the large intestines and not the small intestines where they might contribute to some symptoms.

Michelle: Right. For sure. And for SIBO, that's like the big one because sometimes people with SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, don't really do well with the type of probiotics we used to use because they already have too much bacteria so that it can also exacerbate it.

Michelle: So. Yeah, I personally love spore base because it goes right to the targeted area and I've seen a lot of amazing results with my patients as well.

Kaely: Absolutely.

Michelle: And then another thing that you brought up, which I thought was really interesting is the bitter taste. So it's interesting because we do take a lot of supplements sometimes and those supplements are, have[00:10:00]certain bitters are supposed to be good for your liver. However, The taste of bitter is also part of the medicine, tasting it.

Kaely: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, we've got those taste receptors all over our tongue and they're not there for no reason when they interact with bitter compounds in foods. They're actually stimulating our digestive juices and, you know, ancestrally speaking, bitter foods would have been a lot more common. I think the modern human palate has been refined to the most degree of comfort.

Kaely: So we've like stripped the bitter stuff out of our diet. We like cut the things out of our food that we don't want anymore. And so we're missing out on that interplay of bitter foods and how that actually really supports digestion and even blood sugar. So bringing in things like fennel seeds, like that's a really nice DIY bitter is just chewing on a couple of fennel seeds as we're preparing our meal, we could sip some diluted apple cider vinegar and water.

Kaely: We could have a splash of cranberry juice and some sparkling water, or we could even[00:11:00]just start to bring in more bitter foods into our day to day, like adding some arugula into our salad mix instead of just spinaches or lettuces. Bringing more citrus zest into things instead of just the fruit. So I think that bitter influencing or including more bitter compounds in our diet as a whole is great.

Kaely: And then we can also use bitter tinctures to actually interact with those taste receptors right before meals.

Michelle: Yeah, it's it's something that for sure we've like really veered from because we do like our certain tastes. And I think about like Indian restaurants, sometimes you'll find that they have a bunch of, well, they're coated in sweetness, but they have fennel seeds and they have a bunch of seeds for people to have.

Michelle: Like at the beginning of the restaurant, so you could take a little bit, putit in your hand or take it afterwards and it helps the digestive process, which Ayurveda is based on really using a lot of spices, to help digestion. And I think that's another[00:12:00]thing that we lost more modern times.

Kaely: Yep. Absolutely. We've just like restricted and restricted the acceptable range of flavors to very bland things and lost out on that.

Michelle: And also, I mean, another really important aspect is just all of the excess ingredients and fillers and You know, something that is really terrible for a microbiome, which is like thickeners that they use in a lot of processed foods. And it can really make a huge impact on your microbiome, which impacts how you absorb those nutrients.

Kaely: Absolutely. We have a lot of fake foods now in addition to losing out on the nutrient density of food. So we're hungrier than ever for nutrients, even though we're getting more and more processed foods.

Michelle: And I tend to see a lot of people with lower progesterone symptomssuch as like mid cycle[00:13:00]spotting or like a shorter luteal phase. What are some of the things that you've seen and what have you, how have you approached that? 

Kaely: Yeah, we see a ton of low progesterone in our practice. And actually something that I've said for a number of years now is that it feels like we have an epidemic of low progesterone. And that's because we only make progesterone if we ovulate. And we only ovulate if the body feels safe and has the raw materials that it needs to.

Kaely: And, I'd argue that, you know, the lifestyle of the modern woman isn't conducive for safety or nutrient availability either. So, a lot of the main symptoms that we see, like the ones you mentioned, you know, a short luteal phase symptomatic periods, and that's because progesterone helps balance out the effects of estrogen.

Kaely: So, without enough of it, we tend to have heavier, more painful, clottier periods. We see fertility issues because progesterone is necessary to carry a[00:14:00]pregnancy, so whether it's not conceiving at all or early miscarriages we see a lot of sleep and digestive symptoms in the luteal phase with lower progesterone.

Kaely: And then because there's such a close relationship between progesterone and the thyroid, we see a lot of hypothyroidism as well with low progesterone.

Michelle: And also people can in fact, ovulate, but still have low progesterone.

Kaely: Absolutely. Yep. And it's all in relation to how much estrogen, right? So we could have true low progesterone or just low progesterone relative to the amount of estrogen at that time.

Michelle: So if it's like estrogen dominance.

Kaely: Right.

Michelle: And did you have you ever noticed, see, this is actually something interesting. I had a guest on talking about the menstrual cycle and she talked about how the corpus luteum, which means yellow bodyis yellow because of the, betacarotene..[00:15:00]And so she said that sometimes she will give like a therapeutic dose of beta carotene.

Michelle: And I started using it in my practice and I have seen impacts. Now I wouldn't use it for everybody. I also kind of look at it as sort of a more young You know, yin and yang, it's more of like a heating, usually progesterone and kind of the second half of the menstrual cycle is more of a yang phase, which is like amore warm energetic phase of the cycle.Michelle:But if you look at also foods, and I've learned this with Ayurveda, some of the warming foods have warmer colors, which is kind of interesting in its own but what are your thoughts on that and have you worked with that in your practice?

Kaely: Yeah. Yeah. I, I definitely agree. And I think, you know, vitamin A or betacarotene is one piece of that puzzle, but there's so the corpus luteum is soantioxidant rich or an antioxidant meeting because of the[00:16:00]mitochondrialdemand on that area. So we see a lot of benefit from vitamin a, we see vitamin E being really helpful and then some antioxidants like selenium can be really helpful for that too.

Kaely: But yeah, I think if we look at warm foods highly pigmented foods, they tend to be really rich in those nutrients that we're targeting. So I think it makes a lot of sense from like an Ayurvedic perspective too.

Michelle: Yeah, and I just think about egg health. I mean, cause ultimately, you know, egg health, it's like the follicle itself. And then that impacts, you know, if you have good healthy eggs, that's going to impact the corpus luteum. I mean, it's like the follicle with the egg, but it's all one part, it's a whole. And so when you're addressing all of those things, it's going to impact.

Michelle: All of the different aspects, really, of the menstrual cycle. So as far as fertility goes, what are some of the common symptoms that you[00:17:00]see? The, like the most common symptoms that you'll see with the people that come into your practice.

Kaely: Yeah, so for most of our clients that are seeing us for fertility, we've got probably about half of them are on the like proactive side of things they want to start trying to conceive soon, or maybe they've just recently started and realize they wanted to do some like proactive conception planning and make sure that their nutrients

Kaely: And then the other half have been trying to conceive for some time, so maybe they have had no successful pregnancies or maybe they've had recurrent miscarriage. We also serve clients that have been through assisted reproductive technologies without success and want to explore things in the functional nutrition space. 

Kaely: So we kind of see the whole gamut between, you know, just preparing for that season of life and then those that have been in the trenches[00:18:00]of infertility and want to explore some other options.

Michelle: In our pre talk, you were talking about the downfalls of nutrition. What are some of the things that you see in general, like in society? That are impacting people's ability to truly, like, process and then get stronger from within.

Kaely: Yeah, I, this is one of the things that I get most soap boxy about because I just personally really relate to it having gone to conventional schooling for nutrition and just seeing firsthand really what's being taught there and, and see how it didn't play out favorably for my own hormones. But if we think about, you know, the women in childbearing years now grew up in like the eighties, nineties.

Kaely: 2000s. And there was a new diet being marketed to women, like every other day, something completely different each time we went through a season of like really low fat being the main focus, low fat, low calorie. Then we went through really low carb being the focus and cutting out, you know, even[00:19:00]things like fruits and some starchier vegetables.

Kaely: We've just been through a lot of extremes all the while having the message that thinnest is best. For women. So when we take it back to the foundation of fertility, like we've talked about already, this is safety in the body and abundant energy. You know, we can't support a new life. We can't even support the hormone production and ovulation without those things.

Kaely: So if we're consistently under eating either from just a caloric perspective or cutting out large amounts of macronutrients, whether it be carbs, proteins, or fats, you know, we can't expect fertility to happen. Unhinged at that point or uninhibited at that point, because we lack safety and nutrient availability.

Kaely: And then even just maintaining really unrealistic goals for body composition for women can be a big hindrance for fertility as well. You know, stored body fat is. safety net. So if we have really, really low body fat as females, which would[00:20:00]be the recommendation on your average grocery store tabloid we're going to run into some fertility issues too.

Kaely: So I just think between the diet culture and body image messaging that most women grew up with paired with the fact that almost no research in the nutrition space is done on women because we have the variables of hormones that make a laboratory setting, really difficult. We have, you know, half the population that is struggling to figure out how to eat in order to support their own physiology and that confusion and kind of applying what we're seeing other people doing or applying what men are doing has led to a lot of hormone infertility issues.

Michelle: No doubt. I see that with intermittent fasting, too, because it was mostly tested on men. And nobody really checked on women and what I've heard is that if you were to do that, because there are some benefits of fasting to not do it all the time, maybe to do a periodically to kind of like reset the system.

Michelle: But another thing too, is that I[00:21:00]see, you know, besides sometimes people being really underweight and not having the energy stores, but. Sometimes people have the energy stores, they become overweight, but they're not, it's not because they're eating a lot. It's just their body's not able to process that energy.

Michelle: And perhaps they're not getting the nutrients they need to get the energy to break down the energy, if that makes sense.

Kaely: Right. Absolutely. Yep. Yeah. That's that whole, you know, predicament of the modern human eating more food than ever, but being nutrient starved. You know, we're, we have access 24 seven access for the most part to really calorie dense foods, but they're not nutrient dense and we need both in order for that system to work well.

Michelle: Yeah. Because if you don't have both, then you're not able to even use the energy that you do have. It just doesn't, it doesn't process. It doesn't translate.

Kaely: Yep. And something that you mentioned with the intermittent fasting and just, you know, if we want to leverage the[00:22:00]benefits of fasting in women, you know, we do it in a, in a different way than we would with men. We would do things, you know, for shorter duration or for specific seasons. And I think that hits on a really big point for nutrition for women's health.

Kaely: And that's having to acknowledge that we're cyclical beings. And that it's okay that we need to change our approach to food, to exercise, to the way we're living our lives based on what's going on in our cycle. And I know this is something that you speak on often. It's one of my favorite things as well.

Kaely: You know, our culture thinks that we should feel the exact same way andshow up the exact same way every single day. But if you're a cycling female, I mean, you're going through four different seasons every single month and those have different demands.

Michelle: Absolutely. And so what have you seen? I know how I see it from kind of a little bit more of a Chinese medicine perspective, but I'd love to hear your takeon like the different seasons and because I just love this topic. It's so much fun.

Kaely: I love it too. And I think it's so liberating.[00:23:00]Yeah, it is. I remember feeling like so much relief when I realized that it's actually really normal that my motivation is not the same every single day. I remember feeling like I should show up as the same version of me all the time as a, as a business owner.

Kaely: And even in, you know, my relationships and that's not the case. So what we see in our clients or just a general overview of this, you know, the, the menstruation or period phase being winter leading into spring, which is the follicular phase and the building up of estrogen and then ovulation being summer, kind of like peak.

Kaely: And then coming into fall in the luteal phase and then back into winter and the hormone environment of each of those seasons influences the way that we metabolize our food and even the way that we keep blood sugar stable. So what we find to be most supportive from like a purely nutritional standpoint.

Kaely: Is that we actually do better with a little bit more carbohydrate in that follicular phase. So kind of[00:24:00]spring season leading into summer because estrogen keeps us insulin sensitive so we can handle more carbohydrates more efficiently. And that can support that increased like external energy output that comes with the spring and summer seasons or follicular inovulation.

Kaely: And then once we move into the fall season, so we start to have progesterone produced after ovulation, and progesterone actually helps us metabolize fats a little bit better, and then it stimulates our thyroid. So our metabolic rate and actually internal heat is highest in that second half of the cycle, but we're not quite as sensitive to insulin anymore.

Kaely: So we finda little bit less carbohydrate in that season, a little bit more fats for the satiety. And then we even find reducing the intensity and even volume of exercise in that second half being really important too, because our external energy output tends to be lower in the fall and coming into winter.

Kaely: And[00:25:00]then during the actual period, we see this so often in our clients, and I definitely live this personally, if we don't allow for a true winter. Like a true couple days of actually just resting and not putting our foot on the gas pedal and not forcing workouts, even if we don't feel well. If we skip that wintering, we see that impact the energy and output of the next cycle.

Kaely: So if we can really honor the winter, slow down, take care of ourselves,listen to ourselves, we feel so much better throughout the subsequent cycle.

Michelle: I just love that you just said that. It's so true and I, when I finally got to the point in my life where I honored it. For myself because I was I would work out throughout my period and and now I get to this place where I actually honor it and I don't and I give myself a couple of days where I'm just like allowing myself to rest and once you accept it because it's always habit.

Michelle: You know, you get[00:26:00]into habits and you almost have to change your your definition of what things are, because in your mind, it's like, I have to do things in order to be productive and that's my reality. And then when you start to realize, I can also listen to what that reality could be and listen to my body and what my body's telling me.

Michelle: And when you start to really honor that, it's a game changer. I mean, I'll say that it's a game changer.

Kaely: Yeah. Oh yeah, I totally agree, and when I finally started to honor thatmyself, it was like a huge lightbulb moment, and it just changed things for me, you know, personally and professionally, if I could actually fill my cup during that winter, things just played out so much better.

Michelle: Yeah. And I see it also just with how we eat, you know, and just like eating past our feeling full or not eating enough and just kind of holding out because we want to be thin and, you know, we, you discussed that before, but[00:27:00]it's just not listening to our body. Our body is so intelligent. Also, the mindfulness of eating is a big one. 

Michelle: It's just, if you chew your food more, just that alone can make such a difference on how you're able to process it and getting all those enzymes from your saliva. It's like the simple things. We have teeth. For a reason,

Kaely: Hmm. Yeah. And like eating away from some kind of other distraction, like the TV screen or your computer for work or scrolling emails or social media on your phone, it is, it's always the simple stuff. And I think at the end of the day, if we really want to feel amazing as women and support fertility, it's just getting back in touch with the amazing innate wisdom that the body has.

Kaely: And knowing that the entire, like, diet and like, body image culture isdesigned on you being disconnected from that. So, it's literally an act of rebellionto do it differently, and it's it's really how things will change[00:28:00]in the women's health space.

Michelle: It's the best kind of rebellion you can get into. And

Kaely: Yes.

Michelle: I'll tell you this, like another thing that is that the spleen and stomachthey, they have a very important role. I mean, they, they are the role for our digestive system in our body from a TCM traditional Chinese medicine perspective.

Michelle: And the spleen, one of the functions of it, or it's connected to a lot ofthinking. So when we think too much, and it's funny, cause when I was. studying this, the guy, our first teacher when we first started said, your spleen is going to get crazy, you know, and your digestive system is going to get impacted by all the memory and all of the studying that you have to do in this course.

Michelle: So just keep that in mind. You might need to start like working on it,taking extra herbs tosupport that. And. What you said was so important because when you're eating and you're watching TV or your mind's going somewhere else, then you're taking that energy, that mental energy[00:29:00]that could go towards your digestion somewhere else.

Michelle: So it's interesting that we say that, but it's even separate from traditional Chinese medicine. People say that or realize that, but this is a thing in Chinesemedicine. It really is like your mental energy gets taken away from your digestive system. And if your digestive systems off, it will impact your, your gut microbiome impacts.

Michelle: We know this through science, your brain activity and how you canthink and function. So I find it fascinating when. Modern daytimes, like the thingsthat we discover really do correlate and have a connection with what traditional Chinese medicine has been talking about for so many years. And Ayurvedic medicine as well.

Michelle: Pretty cool.Kaely:Yeah, that's really cool. Thank you for sharing that. I also, I'm just fascinated when you see the same themes in really different schools of thought. So that's really cool.

Michelle: Yeah. But it comes down to really listening to our[00:30:00]body because our bodies are so intelligent. I mean, it's before we were able to rely on any other person to tell us. You know, animals don't have that. They don't go to doctors if they're out in the wild, you know, they have, they have their instinct because their bodies have to tell you, like, it's a survival thing.

Michelle: Your body has to tell you, you have to have that communication. However, our minds can overpower a lot, like our thinking brain can overpower alot of that. So coming back to yourself and your senses and your connection with your intuition. And your own body awareness to let you know, I think even if you have that down, you can even figure out what you're sensitive to, like what kind of foods agree with you, don't and most people do, they don't just don't realize it or they don't listen.

Kaely: Yeah, completely agree with that. And it's something that we often work on kind of right in the beginning of serving a client is trying to get more in touch withthat[00:31:00]intuition and build that autonomy muscle, because it really does take some practice and agood Question that we like to ask, and if you're listening and curious where you fall on this, it's taking inventory of the, like, health decisions you make, and asking yourself how many of those decisions are coming from someone else's recommendation, or a list, or an idea of what you should do.

Kaely: And I know when I was kind of early on in my hormone health journey myself, I was thinking like, wow, I'm eating these foods that I actually don't feel great when I eat, but I'm eating them because someone else decided that they were healthy. Or I'm limiting my intake to X.

Michelle: My God. Yes.

Kaely: Yeah, you know, we're doing, we're outsourcing all of those decisions andignoring the fact that we actually don't feel well, or we actually aren't seeing theoutcomes that we want to see, but we're like, somebody else said this was healthyand what I should do, so I'm gonna do it.

Kaely: So I would just spend some time evaluating that. How many of thosedecisions come from someone outside of you, and are they in complete opposition with[00:32:00]how you're feeling, and where can we start to honor that? Because Like you said, you know, your body knows. It's so smart. It's so wise. And it has really great ways of communicating its needs.

Kaely: We've just got to get back into the practice of listening to that.Michelle:Yeah. No doubt. I mean, even spinach. I mean, there's certain things thatare great for some people, but for other people, they just don't do well with it. And they can, you know, totally ignore that cause they're like, no, but that's supposed to be really good for you. It's your vegetables. It really, it could be the best thing ever for person A and for person B it's like the worst thing ever.

Michelle: So it really depends on your, how your body's responsive to that specific food. Even bone broth, which I love, there are certain people that tend to have higher histamines when they take it. So it impacts them in a really adverse way. So it, it truly, truly depends because for some people, for many people, it's like liquid gold.

Michelle: I call it, it's really great for the[00:33:00]body. It has amino acids. It's really building and has good fats, healthy fats and great for your with collagen for your gut. But for some people, they just don't dowell with it.

Kaely: Yeah, we are all very unique in that sense and that's where kind of blanketed one size fits all nutrition gets us in a bad way because it plays out so different from person to person.

Michelle: Yeah, for sure. So well, this is great information. I really enjoy talking to you. I think nutrition is so key. It's really, really important for anybody who's trying to conceive. And for people who want to find you or would like to work with you, how can people find you?

Kaely: Yeah, so you can find me. I mostly on Instagram. So my handle is Kaley RD, so K-A-E-L-Y-R-D, and my website is the same. So you'll find information on our general philosophy and ways to work with us there. And then I believe I sent you[00:34:00]guys a link if I didn't already I will right after this call Michelle, but We've got a free six part email series on Pregnancy prep process and it outlines kind of key nutrients to be thinking about in that season some good books the typeof testing that would be helpful to do in the 6 to 12 months before conception time frame and They're just things that we've gathered over the years that can really helpPrepare someone mind body spirit for the conception journey and just a real proactive approach to that.

Kaely: That's totally free

Michelle: Awesome. Well, I appreciate that. Thank you so much for bringing thatto our audience. And I loved having this conversation, Kaylee. It's definitely a passion of mine and really is just so important. So thank you so much for coming on today.

Kaely: Thank you so much for having me. This was a blast.