Fertility 101: Creating a fertile foundation

The work I do with women and men tends to take place further along their journey of getting pregnant, something I am working on by creating greater awareness so that couples can address their fertility issues before they invest in IVF and are then financially, emotionally and physically worse off.

Whether you have been trying naturally for over a year, had a set of blood tests and got less than great results, endured failed IVF round(s) my questions are; have you addressed the basics of fertility?  And if you’re starting out wanting to get pregnant then are you ready to create a fertile foundation for you, your fertile success and your future baby’s health?

An article in the National Geographic (cited at the bottom) recently talks about the declining fertility worldwide, including men’s sperm health and summarises that environmental and lifestyle factors are to blame such as, exposure to endocrine disrupters  (which mimic or interfere with the body’s hormones), pesticides, smoking and obesity.  This was not the case 40 years ago, these statistics and levels of toxic load are new things.  Monsanto bought Roundup to the market in 1974 and in 1985 the Environmental Protection Agency classified glyphosate as a Group C Carcinogen, meaning it has “suggestive evidence of carcinogenic potential.”  This however did not stop the wide use of the toxic chemical and it is still the number 1 weedkiller used in public spaces such as our parks and school grounds. If we correlate the use beginning in 1974 and fast forward to now and compare it to declining fertility health and the wide use of such chemical - the two go hand in hand.  Throw in the wider use of plastics which disrupt our endocrine (hormone) system, society as a whole moving or exercising less, drinking alcohol, smoking and vaping more to combat the stress that our modern society’s inflicts then there is little hope for a healthy fertile foundation to conceive.  I haven’t even spoken about the next level of trauma and childhood experiences lodge in our unconscious mind that is also effecting our ability to conceive. 

With the above factors against us; it is imperative to create a solid foundation to begin our journey to conception.  I’m all about empowering ourselves and not being a victim to our external environment but taking care and ownership of our internal environment (health).   

Here is a comprehensive list of how to create a fertile foundation; 

The 5 pillars of fertility starts with:

Exercise - In order to maintain a healthy weight and ensure our detox pathways are open we must move our bodies. Cardiovascular exercise is crucial to helping our bodies sweat and release unwanted toxins in our body.  Keeping a healthy BMI is also important and is achieved partly by exercising but also the diet that we are consuming.

Diet - The supermarkets are 85% filled with highly processed foods that are of little good to our bodies.  The food that is nutritious to us is either covered in pesticides and or very deficient in nutrients due to the degradation of our soil.  As a starter, we need to eat a good balance of meat and vegetables and if budget allows, organic is always best.  

Nutrient levels - With soil considerably more deficient in minerals and vitamins compared to 100 years ago, so are our bodies.   A good place to start is simple blood test to check vitamin and mineral levels and supplement where there are deficiencies in order to create a more balanced platform to support your fertility journey and then pregnancy further down the road.  

Stress - This is a huge one for helping achieve pregnancy - high levels of cortisol has a massive influence on testosterone (male reproductive hormone) and while there is much evidence to suggest high cortisol is linked to infertility, there is also evidence otherwise and is thus in conclusive to to the varying methods of testing and analysis.  The bottom line is, a body flooded with high levels of cortisol has a knock on to general health and oxytocin (the love hormone) cannot exist in a cortisol filled body.  When cortisol is present the body is in a fight or flight mode and again isn’t an environment to conceiving.

Toxic load - Whether is drinking alcohol, smoking (vaping included) or highly processed food, we have to look at the toxins that we are putting into our already burdened bodies.  Through the passive receipt of toxins in our air, land and water, there are the primary sources of toxins that we choose to ingest as mentioned (alcohol and smoking, processed foods), the secondary load which occurs in things like the plastics we use.  There is, what seems like, a full on assault on our bodies and we can only control what we can.  A good water filter is a great idea, organic food (if budget allows), reduction of plastic in and around our food and water and abstinence of ultra processed factory foods.

If we can address these before we embark upon reproductive technologies, we may well give ourselves a better chance to overcome infertility.  If you are somebody reading this who has addressed all of the above and are still battling infertility, I would suggest looking at the unconscious programming that maybe disabling your hormonal system and disconnecting your mind and body.  Check out my Fertile Mind and Body programme here.