Denormalizing Fertility
Did you know…
Fertility is down by 50% since the 1960s.
Sperm count is down over 60% since the 1970s.
What on earth is going on?????
Getting pregnant should be easy.
Stop birth control. Have sex. Get pregnant.
That’s what the mainstream media tells us happens. That’s what our parents tell us happens.
Did you know that everything now is really working against us and our fertility?
Little did we know that that small birth control pill can wreak major havoc on your reproductive health!
Why is this small pill prescribed to women at such a young age?
Why would these doctors prescribe endocrine disruptors to very young girls without a second thought?
Why don’t doctors discuss a sugar-free diet to eliminate painful periods and acne instead of pushing birth control?
A woman’s cycle should not be dreaded every month due to cramps and mood swings. That’s not normal! MOST of the time these symptoms are caused by diet and environmental toxins such as household cleaning items, candles, and perfume (all of which are endocrine disruptors).
There are endocrine disruptors/toxins ALL around us. None of this is discussed as a solution!
Instead, we’re simply funneled to our nearest pharmacy for the “solution” (which exacerbates the problems!).
Endocrine disruptors are natural or man-made chemicals that may mimic or interfere with the body's hormone production and regulation processes, better known as your body’s endocrine system. The pituitary gland, a part of the endocrine system, produces our luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone. These hormones contribute to and regulate ovulation.
Without ovulation, you can’t get pregnant (naturally).
Continuous exposure to endocrine disruptors, even in small doses, will wreak havoc on your sex hormones!
Why would anyone promote items that mess with your sex hormones????
COMMON ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS
Perfume and makeup
Did you know…
Your skin is your largest organ.
What you put on it matters.
Products applied to your skin are absorbed very quickly and can enter your bloodstream. Perfume has phthalates, parabéns, and “fragrance” in it.
Parabens can act like the hormone estrogen in the body and disrupt the normal function of hormone systems affecting male and female reproductive system functioning, reproductive development, fertility, and birth outcomes. The average “fragrance” is known to have 14 hidden chemicals in it.
Have you noticed on a lot of shampoos, lotions, shaving creams, and perfume have “fragrance” listed on their ingredients lists? Have you ever wondered what that “fragrance” is made of? Why don’t companies want us to know what’s in those “fragrances”?
Go look at your own shampoo, perfume, or lotion that you use every day…check the ingredients lists for “fragrances”… If you find that listed in the ingredients, you’re micro-dosing yourself with endocrine disruptors. Daily.
The manufacturers of these products know what’s in them, and their effects, and they’re still allowed to produce and sell these products.
Consider this: Johnson and Johnson had to pay $8.9 billion in a recent lawsuit over their items that contain talc, such as the baby powder used in our daily routines, for causing ovarian cancer in women. The product contains asbestos, a known carcinogen. J&J neglected to mention the risks of the ingredients in their product.
Does that sound familiar to the “fragrance” listed in all of our beauty products?
Most of us don’t question what we put on our bodies.
How many of us read and researched each and every ingredient in the products we apply to our largest organ?
We see an ad on TV that says “This product will reduce wrinkles” or “This product fights aging symptoms” and we rush out and buy it.
Little do we know, that could be effecting our fertility.
Candles
Who doesn’t love Yankee candles? I know I had a huge collection of Yankee candles from a very young age that I lit on a regular basis.
The different scents or fragrances were the big draw to those heavenly-smelling Yankee candles.
Did you know the fragrances added to some of these candles can also contain phthalates, which are known endocrine disruptors? Phthalates help make artificial scents last longer.
They have been found to promote fertility issues as well as cancer.
Cleaning Supplies
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals are found in almost every commercial cleaning product. We want our house to be clean and smell good, right?
Well, that comes at a price.
There are synthetic fragrances in all of these cleaning products. As I’ve mentioned, that fragrance has many chemicals in them which disrupt our hormones. Fertility troubles appear to be the least of our worries when we recognize that these products contain multiple known carcinogens.
But that’s another topic for another blog post.
Fertility Industry
Why didn’t I know about these things when I was younger?
Why didn’t my fertility doctors mention the harmful effects of the products I was using on a daily basis?
Follow the money.
As of 2021, the fertility industry brought in $21.13 billion. It’s expected to grow to $90.79 billion in the future.
I’ve known ONE doctor in my almost 11-year fertility journey that mentioned diet to me. He is the only doctor I know that wants to help women get pregnant naturally without having to go through the devastating route of IVF.
“First, do no harm.”
Knowing what I do now, I look back and see that my fertility doctors did not practice this phrase, known as part of the Hippocratic oath. So many of my doctors immediately pushed me towards in vitro fertilization (IVF) without questioning my lifestyle.
IVF costs thousands of dollars.
IVF is mentally taxing.
IVF requires medications to be administered via pills and shots, all of which amount to thousands of more dollars.
IVF should be the LAST and FINAL resort after necessary lifestyle changes have been made.
I wish I had thought this way earlier in my fertility journey. IVF should not have been my third step after timed intercourse and IUIs.
I should have eliminated toxins first.
I should have gone on an anti-inflammatory diet first.
I see hundreds of women struggling through IVF. They share thoughts such as “This is such an expensive process”, “Why didn’t I get more eggs retrieved?”, and “Why isn’t my doctor doing more??”.
Why aren’t we, as women, doing more? Why aren’t we doing ALL that we can before we seek fertility treatment?
IVF drugs are hormone disruptors BY DESIGN. Sometimes this leads to a baby, sometimes it doesn’t.
Long-term, fertility drugs are known to have damaging effects on the female reproductive system.
“In recent decades, increasing infertility has also increased the use of ovulation-stimulating drugs, gonadotropin, and repeated ovulation hormones, and fertility medications, which has raised concerns about their possible long-term carcinogenic effects, especially on the ovary, because of the promoting polyfollicular ovulation.”
The vast majority of IVF patients have unexplained infertility, however, there is a small percentage of women that have no other option than to go through IVF. Women that have blocked or damaged fallopian tubes can’t get pregnant without IVF. However, they can still improve their egg quality and prepare their bodies for the best possible IVF outcomes!
Diet for fertility
As many of you know, I’m a huge advocate for the carnivore diet for fertility. 80% of unexplained infertility can be linked to inflammation.
Carnivore is the anti-inflammatory diet.
“But, it’s too difficult to go on an all-meat diet!” I hear it all the time!
Let me tell you, IVF is so much more difficult.
Why wouldn’t you want to avoid spending tens of thousands of dollars?
Dr. Robert Kiltz, the owner of the CNY fertility clinic in New York State, has had wide success with his patients going on a carnivore diet before they go through IVF. He preaches that “Inflammation is the cause of all disease.” By adopting a carnivore way of eating, egg quality is improved and inflammation is eliminated, which results in better transfer rates. A lot of women get pregnant prior to fertility treatment thanks to the healing benefits of the carnivore diet!
He said “The number one tip to get pregnant is simple: lots of butter! Fat acts as an anti-inflammatory to suppress inflammation. Cholesterol is the number one precursor for sex hormones.”
Dr. Kiltz wrote a book called Kiltz’s Keto is Carnivore: A Guide For a Fertile Life & Beyond. You can purchase it here: https://amzn.to/44D4Xnp. I own a copy of this book and have found it to be a very useful resource for understanding how the carnivore diet combats inflammation in the body.
(As a side note, the above link is an affiliate link that supports my blog! I’ll never link to a product I don’t own and/or use myself!)
In conclusion, if you’re trying to conceive, eat ALL of the meats and fats!
Am I being harsh? Maybe. However, this topic is something I’m VERY passionate about. I’ve been on this fertility journey for over 10 years and I so wish someone had smacked some sense into me early on. Instead, I blindly trusted doctors, never did my own research, and caused more harm than good that I’m now trying to reverse!
Can the damage be reversed? Yes. However, it will take time though which is why it’s best to start as soon as possible.
How do you start today?
Start by removing toxins and adopting an animal-based diet that can lead to healing and, ultimately, a healthy pregnancy!
