I hope this note finds you feel well, both mentally and physically. Congratulations on taking your first steps to better health, vitality and chances of conception naturally! I am honored to walk with you on this journey and I encourage to you reach out to me anytime you have questions, concerns or exciting things to share via the blog comments or on the lady potions Facebook page.  I truly believe that having a trusted source of information and someone you can share with during this process can make a huge positive impact. As you will see as we continue to work together, I believe in a team approach that is filled with educating you about diet, meditation practices, exercise, emotional intelligence, and customized herbal therapies. It is my hope that this document will serve as a helpful and encouraging reminder of things you can do to benefit your health and the health of your potential offspring each and every day. These suggestions can and should be applied to your partner when appropriate to aid in their health as well. After all, it does still take two to make a baby!

Nutrition-“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be they food. “ Hippocrates

This is the single most important contribution you can make to your own health and your future offspring. It’s all too often that I see simple diet changes making drastic impact on the fertility of a woman or man, especially in “unexplained” fertility cases. Good digestion and nutrient absorption are the corner stones to fertility in both men and women. Here are some general guidelines and recommendations to get you started.

·      Try to make half the plate Veggies or a combination of veggies and fruit at every meal. This does not mean simply adding salads to every meal. A variety of cooked, organic and in season when possible fruits and veggies should be the foundation of your diet. 

·      If the above is seemingly impossible for you for whatever reason you might consider taking a powdered veggie supplement such as Green Dreams available here. This will ensure proper nutrient and vitamin content needed for proper cell division and growth. This is especially important if you are in the habit of skipping meals. There is even a chocolate and berry version for those of you who simply have an eversion to veggies.

·      Build healthy blood through the addition of foods like eggs, avocados, seeds (chia, flax, sunflower and pumpkin) and nuts (with the exception of peanuts), unrefined coconut, and full fat organic grass fed dairy (as long as there is no intolerance or allergy). Healthy blood encourages good circulation to nourish egg follicles and to build healthy endothelial lining. You would go out of your way to make your baby's first nursery the best it could be, but your womb is really babies first home so lets make the most of it!

·      Healthy proteins that are organic, wild caught as opposed to farm raised, and grass fed without the addition of hormones and or antibiotics are always advisable.

·      Try to choose non-gluten grains such as quinoa, rice, rolled oats, millet and buckwheat. 

·      Try to include daily one of the following foods that possibly help with creating healthier eggs and gene expression in as little as 90 days: eggs, super greens, berries, dark leafy veggies, salmon, pumpkin seeds ginger, maca (high grade), royal jelly, and brazil nuts.

·      Try to avoid microwaved foods, prepared frozen foods, fast food, GMO’s, and non-grass fed organic meat sources.

·      Check out the book Feed Your Fertility by one of my mentors for more detailed information and studies. 

·      consider a probiotic daily with 50-100 billion cultures, especially if you have a history of digestion problems, gas and bloating.

·      consider digestive enzymes with certain foods like wheat and dairy when you indulge, or if you know you are sensitive or intolerant.

Toxicity- what we ask our bodies to digest both physically and emotionally has a great effect on gene expression and a general ability for the body to tolerate stress or unmet needs.  I suggest the following when possible.

·      Check you products, make ups, soaps, nail polish and tanning agents for phalates and other known endocrine disruptors and do away with or make substitutes for more natural products. If you’re not sure ask!

·      If you feel like your body has been put through the ringer in regards to any combination of IVF pharmaceuticals, unordinary amounts of stress, too many libations like alcohol, smoking (anything), or sugar please consider taking 1 month off of actively trying to conceive and cleansing the body with prescribed herbs and juicing recommendations unique to your Chinese diagnosis of disharmony. If you aren't sure what your diagnosis is you can find out through a detailed interface with me here.

·      Emotional toxicity- If you know certain people, conversations, or situations are causing you great stress consider some alternate solutions or check out our stress reduction techniques and emotional intelligence techniques over on the blog.

·      I find Non-Violent Communication by Marshal Rosenburg to be one of the best books available to help us become more effective communicators in emotionally charged situations with others and more importantly with ourselves. I can't think of a more emotionally charged conversation than one dealing with fertility challenges. Trust me when I say this book is a lifesaver! 

Exercise- I encourage you to stay active most days of the week for 20-45 minutes a day in one sitting our broken up if necessary. This will help with emotional wellbeing as well as staving off insulin resistance, which can be a detriment to successful conception.

·      Try to reserve any heavy physical activity or those with excessive pounding for cycle days 4-14.

·      Try not to sweat excessively when actively menstruating, especially when bleeding heavily. Light exercise is best during this phase of your cycle. Think Yoga minus the inversions. 

Supplements- Supplements can be a fantastic way to quickly change things like digestion, circulation problems, immunity issues, and hormone clearance and binding.  They are powerful medicines therefore, I strongly encourage you do a one on one consultation to find out which ones would benefit you so you only put in your body what is absolutely necessary.  I recommend the Pure Encapsulations brand for its micro availability and commitment to quality. A prenatal vitamin is imperative if you are trying to conceive, as is DHA.

Chinese Herbs- My mentor Dr. Hammer used to say, "The most dangerous place in the world is a health food store. Most of us go in there with just enough knowledge to potentially cause a whole lot of harm." These are powerful helpers for building and discharging healthy linings, promoting egg quality and ovulation, and regulating hormonal levels without actually adding hormones to your body.  They can also help to increase sperm count and positively affect morphology and motility. But, they should always be prescribed! There is another saying in Chinese herbalism that is translated to the following. Same disease, different formula, different disease, same formula. In traditional chinese medicine, it is the pattern of disharmony or phenotype of the disease that dictates the formula rather than the disease itself. It's an eloquent diagnosis system that takes into consideration not just the symptoms of the disease, but the terrain of the person that has it as well. I spent years mastering Chinese Herbology so you wouldn't have to, so take advantage. I promise to teach you why you are taking it, for how long, and how much, so there is no guess work. You wouldn't let your mechanic do your hair, so why would you let Dr. Google tell you what herbs to take for fertility?

BBT charting- If you haven’t already, please begin charting your daily BBT’s on the application of your choice and upload your charts as part of your female fertility consultation. You do not have to do this at the same time every day. Simply make a note if you wake up more than 2 hours later than usual. If BBT becomes a stressor, please let me now and we will find other methods. Please try to look at it as another diagnostic tool, without attachment to the outcome that it may bring down the line.  

Meditation- From time to time I will guide you through meditation with visualizations or mantras to help relax you and deepen your body’s ability to slip in to parasympathetic nervous system (the part also known as rest and digest) on the blog.  If this is a stress reduction practice that you enjoy I encourage you to start a daily practice with me by clicking the meditation tab on this site or through sound cloud at https://soundcloud.com/hillary-talbott.

I sincerely look forward to working with you!

Hillary