As a women's health practitioner specialized in holistic nutrition and functional lab testing, I work with many women who long to become mothers and have healthy and safe pregnancies. Fertility is something that many often put aside in their health journeys until they realize something is wrong. Our current culture unfortunately influences this likelihood by pushing preventative measures of conception over learning and nurturing our own bodies, so that when women are ready to try for a baby, they often are starting at ground zero for learning about their own reproductive health and patterns. This leaves many feeling stuck and hopeless, but I'm here to tell you that (even if it's slower than you'd like) there is often great hope for you!
Regardless of motherhood goals, I beleive all women should be focusing on their fertility in order to stay their healthiest, strongest, and youngest selves. Bodies that are able to prioritize reproduction and become hospitable places for new life are typically all-around healthier bodies.
These top tips fertility are definitely not an all encompassing list, but a great place to start. Always work with a practitioner to dig deeper into your body's specific needs!
Here's why and how: Many women get off of their hormonal contraceptive and realize they are not ovulating, creating adequate enough progesterone to carry a baby, or are now plagued with estrogen dominance-type conditions like cysts or endometriosis after years of hormonal contraception. These various conditions can take a long time to heal from, and because most expect to immediately try for a child once they come off of their contraceptive, this can be incredibly discouraging and defeating. There are great methods to tracking your cycle and preventing pregnancy for the years before you're actually ready to conceive.
1. Cervical Mucus Tracking and Basal Body Temperature Tracking. Often known as the Creighton Method, tracking cervical mucus changes throughout the month gives you a window into your pattern of fertile days and non-fertile days. Natural Family Planning method also teaches how to use basal body temperature to track ovulation and other reproductive changes throughout the month. Most women are shocked to find out that you only have SIX days of fertile capacity per month (and yet men are fertile 24/7, 365 days per year and women are the ones on birth control all month long? Just food for thought!) A good friend of mine specializes in teaching women how to track their cycles if you've never done so before. You can find her here: https://www.flourishfertilitycare.com/about
2. Track with a fertility tracking device like Inito or Mira. If you're nervous about the personal responsibility and effort it takes to track mucus and temperature, then there are devices you can use to track for you using a daily morning urine sample. I personally have used and recommend the Inito tracking device that measures daily amounts of estrogen, progesterone, and LH to confirm ovulation and fertile days. It's a wonderful tool to use all year long OR when you're just learning to track your cycle with natural biomarkers and want to confirm that you're tracking correctly. Get the Inito Here
3. If you find you're not ovulating regularly or having strong luteal phase progesterone, it's worth working with a practitioner to utilize diet, lifestyle, and supplementation to ensure these things happen! My biggest sadness with women's medical care right now is that women are referred directly to IVF as their only option when they don't even know if they are ovulating or not! (Nothing against IVF as an option for some, but it does not have to be the first stop if you haven't figured out your body's natural patterns or lack of patterns yet). If you are not ovulating, I recommend starting with egg supporting foods, balancing your stress hormones, and working with a practitioner to find specific supplementation to support this process.
**Because you may not see consistent patterns for a few months of beginning a new tracking routine, you may want to consider using an extra form of protection like condoms for the first few months when trying to prevent pregnancy.
When talking about hormonal balancing, so many women skip directly to estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. If you've been trying to conceive for quite some time, you may even get blood work done at your OBGYN, where they will most likely say all looks good with these three hormones. However, starting at the sex hormones is missing an entire level of the hormone cascade. Stress (or steroidal) hormones, Cortisol and DHEA, MUST be in balance before fertility is prioritized in the body.
I recommend testing a Diurnal cortisol pattern (4 samples in one day) to see your stress levels throughout a day. You can do this through urine, blood, or saliva. My favorite and easiest way to do it is with a Saliva Hormone Panel that will also measure DHEA. If you find you're running in fight or flight mode, your body will not be prioritizing reproduction and that's a great place to start.
Prioritize balanced stress hormones by reevaluating if heavy or intense exercise is too much for you, incorporating stress relieving tactics throughout your days, sleeping 8-10 hours per night, and consuming adequate protein, B vitamins, and vitamin C to support your adrenal glands.
Diet is so important when talking about fertility! Focus on these things:
Eat for your hormones:
3. Care for your Gut Health: It may seem disconnected, but internal stress from a disrupted gut microbiome, lack of absorption, and infection all matters in the quest for fertility.
4. Clean up your Products:
Avoiding these chemicals can promote better reproductive health.
A great resource is the EWG website, where they have many quick checklists to take with you to the grocery store, Sephora, and more: https://www.ewg.org/consumer-guides
5. Supplement:
In addition to dietary changes, supplements can play a helpful role in promoting healthy hormones and fertility:
1. For estrogen detox and estrogen dominance: Only recommended if you know high estrogen is preventing ovulation or causing poor implantation in the luteal phase (can be found through tracking your cycle).
2. For poor ovulation or annovulation:
3. For progesterone insufficiency:
4. For recurring miscarriages or recovery post-miscarriage:
5. For Stress Hormones and Blood Sugar Balancing
Always work with your doctor or a medical professional to decide what is best for you! *Not medical recommendations.
6. Test instead of Guess:
Want a deeper perspective and a specialized approach? Work with a practitioner that can dig into root level causes. Functional lab testing for fertility includes Saliva Hormone Panel or DUTCH tests, GI-Map, Organic Acids Urine Test, Hair Mineral Test and more. Schedule a free 15 min phone call here to discuss lab packages and programs for your specific needs.
Bloodwork to ask a doctor alongside functional testing includes:
- Vitamin D
- Thyroid panel
-Omega 3
- A1C and fasting glucose/insulin
- Ovarian Reserve (FSH, AMH)
- If testing hormones at a doctor's office, ask them to do it in your expected luteal phase to get adequate progesterone (Day 19 of your cycle is typically a great day to test)
7. Pray, Live, and Don't Wish Away Your Current Season.
Doing all of the above to care for your body while you're wanting a baby can be stressful and hard. So, remember that while you're waiting for a miracle, you don't have to miss out on your current season. Ultimately, conception and new life is at the hands of our Father and Creator, so although we have responsibility to treat our bodies with care to the best of our abilities, it is God who decides who to put on this earth and when. While you're waiting, don't miss out on what He's teaching you and showing you in the meantime.
Have more questions? Check out my recently published book, Wilted Women; Cultivate a Healthy Body and Stand Tall Once More for in-depth answers on all things hormones, gut health, diet, and lifestyle through a biblical and scientific perspective. Check it out on Amazon here!
Curious about digging deeper into your own health?
Book a free 15 min phone call with me to see if functional nutrition is the right thing for you!
Always rooting for you!
- Allie CHN, FDN-P
Allie is a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner located in Birmingham, Alabama. She helps women across the country online and in her hometown office dig deeper into their root health issues and find holistic healing!
No information in this blog should be considered medical advice. I do not diagnose or treat disease. Taking any recommendations should be considered an opt-in model of self care.