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Episode 083: Reduce Toxin Exposures to Improve Fertility · The Brilliant Fertility Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Brilliant Fertility Podcast.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Katie Rose, and this podcast exists to help illuminate the path ahead of you.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: With expert interviews, clinical pearls, and real client success stories, my intention is to bring you hope for what's possible on this journey and to give you tools and resources to navigate the ups and downs on the road before you.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you find this podcast helpful, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite listening platform.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I have a big request.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a minute, can you leave us a five-star review?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: And let us know what did you learn, what did you come away with?
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Did you leave with that spark of hope?
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: This helps more people like you find the podcast.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: My mission is to support as many humans as possible on their path to become parents.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: And by you sharing and subscribing, you're part of that mission too.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so grateful for you for being here.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about the impact of fragrance, not just on fertility, but on other systems in the body.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's just one small piece of the environmental exposures that we will have in our lifetimes and only one subset of chemicals that can have an impact on fertility.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I know this world can get like really overwhelming.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you can, well, I have become quite obsessive at times about how to reduce the exposures because it's it's not something that you can fully eliminate.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Lord knows I have tried, but we have to be able to look at what we can reasonably as individuals have influence over in the exposures that we have for environmental toxins.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: And what do we need to kind of be able to breathe in a sigh of relief about and go, okay, I'm not going to obsess over that one so much anymore?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then how do we act as good stewards of the future generations to make sure that our world can be a safe place to grow up in and reduce the amount of exposures that we get in our air and our water and our food sources?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think if um if we think that we are the only one taking on the world, that's a pretty fast way to burn out.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: So remember that we are in this together, that we can start with the small changes that feel empowering and liberating for us as individuals, and also gather community because there are so many people who want a safer, healthier planet as well.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And that leads to better pregnancy outcomes, healthier children, healthier humans and creatures all around.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: So in extending the conversation about environmental toxins beyond just fragrance, what are we talking about?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about plastics, uh volatile organic compounds that are off-gassed by furniture and carpet and new cars and toxic metals.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like goodness, you I we could easily spend days on this.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I have been to conferences that last for days just around environmental toxins.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: And my husband hates when I go to those conferences because I come home in a rampage, and all of the sacred rage about what industry and capitalism has done to our planet and what we can do about it, and what we need to chuck in the trash, and what's not actually safe to chuck in the trash, and like okay, it takes me a while to like settle down from those.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: But I first just want to like celebrate the fact that this is being acknowledged more in the mainstream.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: You may or may not have realized there's a new documentary out on Netflix called The Plastic Detox, and it follows Dr.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Shanna Swan, who I've mentioned before, she's the author of the book The Countdown, which describes how we've seen this decline in sperm count in men over the last 50 years and how there is a lot of connection to the phthalates that men are exposed to.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: And she's a reproductive epidemiologist.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: So she has spent her entire career really studying this.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And now that it's gathering momentum, Netflix put out this documentary that follows six couples who had been labeled as unexplained fertility.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: And she does basically like a lifestyle audit, like a plastic audit of what they're being exposed to in their homes and their food, their water source, their clothing, et cetera.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not going to give any spoilers to this, you'll have to go watch it.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've definitely seen mixed reviews in Reddit about this, but I think so much of that will depend on if you come from like a super nerdy science-y background, how much you might appreciate the research and data element versus if you're just really wanting to connect with the humans on this journey, then you know, parts of it may feel like, why was that necessary?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I really feel like all of it is necessary to tell the whole story about plastics and regulation and industry and you know, why we as humans are paying the price for this exposure.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then I want to talk about what are some practical, inexpensive things that you can do starting today to reduce your exposures to chemicals that can make an impact on your fertility in a positive way.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's just start there because I think we all need so much more ease in our lives.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: And one easy thing that you can do is swap out your water bottle, your plastic water bottle, for glass or stainless steel.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: I love the insulated stainless steel water bottles because if I leave it in my car for an hour when I run an errand, it's not boiling hot when I come back.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And these can often be found now at thrift stores because as the trends go in and out and people collect new colors of these tumblers and Stanley cups and whatever, it's like I see so many of these at thrift stores.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, I am a thrift store person, in part because of my existential anxiety about consumerism and plastics.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: But you can easily find a reasonably priced stainless steel water bottle.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that there you go, that's going to cut down on a big chunk of plastic exposure because if your water is sitting in plastic, and especially like the big bulk water bottles that have been sitting in a warehouse for Lord knows how long, who knows if that warehouse was temperature regulated or if the water got really hot.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: If it did get hot, then you can guarantee that plastic is leaching into the water itself.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that doesn't mean like never drink those because sometimes it really is the only option.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: And we have to hydrate.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: But if we can cut back on that or reduce it as much as possible, it does make a difference.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to say that I'm perfect in that arena.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: We have water bottles in the office because I want my patients to be hydrated before and after acupuncture.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: And if they've forgotten their water or they have to use the drinking fountain that was a mandatory install on a new build, that drinking fountain water tastes terrible.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I don't trust unfiltered tap water very much either.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes we're weighing all of these things and there's just no perfect decision.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: But you can make a difference by gradually moving away from plastic products, and the water bottle is a big way to do that.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and even at home, like I'm always drinking out of a ginormous mason jar.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we only have like a couple of plastic items left in our home repertoire of like food storage or plastic cups.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: And part of that reason is like I've made this gradual change over about 12 years.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, even by the time that I was ready to start having children, it was mostly out of my kitchen.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I didn't do it all overnight because for many of those years I was a poor medical student.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just became more mindful about where else I could limit my plastic exposures.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: So another area, and this will be our second tip, is don't store your hot food in plastic or reheat your food in plastic.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: So if it's just not an option to swap out all of your food storage to glass or stainless steel, wait till your food cools down before you put it in the container and put it in the fridge or the freezer.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then when you're reheating, like let it thaw just a little bit so that you can then put it in the glass or in, you know, the whatever you're cooking it in in the oven, if it's a metal sheet pan or a glass container, because we again we don't want that heat from the plastic destabilizing the plastic and then allowing those particles to get into your food source.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: And hopefully that's a pretty simple shift that we can make.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Another shift that is 100% free, which I love, is to take your shoes off when you come inside your house.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: There is a lot of junk out there on pavement, and that can include byproducts of petroleum, so gasoline, and not to mention like other, you know, like animal urine feces.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: I don't like to think about it because I have literally had a child who has like licked the bottom of his shoe before.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of conscious parenting had to come into that moment.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: But this is another area where we can limit what is spread throughout our home by just taking our shoes off before we come inside.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: It can be that simple.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: The next area, and this might be the one that I have the most trouble with.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: And this is looking at our clothing.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: So much of our modern clothing is actually made from plastic, even if it doesn't feel plastically, right?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like it can feel super soft, like our um polar fleeces and you know, these rayon polyester products that can look really stylish, but ultimately they're made of plastics.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: And this is not ideal both for our body coming into contact with these materials for long stretches of time, especially if we are getting hot and sweaty, and um as as the product starts to break down more after like multiple washes, then you know, it increases our exposure further.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And it almost feels like it's ubiquitous.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what the heck are we supposed to do with this?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: And like, you know, everything, especially our athletic gear, is all made of these versions of plastic.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like, oh my god, am I just supposed to like throw out all my clothes?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: And what impact does that have on the environment?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: So this is an area where I have negotiated with myself that we're okay not to be perfect.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And in general, except for when it comes to work wear like my scrubs, I don't buy new products that are made of plastic byproduct.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that has been really challenging.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: That has left me with a lot of research and waiting for sales and a lot of back and forth over, like, oh my goodness, with these, you know, the natural products are often more pricey.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: The 100% cotton, organic cotton, wool, cashmere, bamboo.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, these products tend to be more of an investment.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so buying higher quality pieces when they're available, when there are sales, having to wait, have that delayed gratification.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's not my favorite thing.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: And yet it has actually saved me a lot of money because I'm no longer just buying whatever I see that's cute whenever I want, because I'm checking the labels, I'm checking to see how it's manufactured, and and it's taken a lot of energy.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that there are people out there who are documenting their process with that.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: So if I find better resources, I will absolutely share them so that we can do less of the mental carrying of all of this.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: But it is important.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so where I do kind of veer my energy towards clothing is looking for higher quality products that are made from natural fiber materials and spending less and buying less.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: And it's been challenging but satisfying.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for me as an individual, it's made a big difference in like how I feel about my contribution in all of this.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's also been really challenging as a parent.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that many of my listeners are still waiting to become parents, and so that element isn't coming in as strong of a motivator in this moment, but for me, it's like, you know, our kids' toys are like primarily made of plastics, and right now there's this trend in these like tiny little resin animal creatures.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: It started as ducks, and now there's like all sorts of little animals, and like they're simultaneously really cute, and also like the bane of my existence because that part of me that struggles with existential anxiety is like, oh my god, these are gonna end up in a landfill in two years and like never fully compost and is just gonna leach into our water source as plastics, and like, oh, okay, then the spiral continues.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I've had to start having these conversations with my kids about like those are cute.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: And if you receive them as a gift, um, that's great.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: We will enjoy them as much as we can enjoy them, but I am not choosing to buy these things.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: I am making a conscious choice to limit the amount of plastic that I bring into our home and that I am actively participating in the purchase of.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: And this also goes for what else is coming into your home.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because furniture, carpet, if you are in the middle of a new build or remodel, so many of the materials that are used, use plasticizers or chemicals that act as um preservatives or stabilizers that release these volatile organic compounds.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you may remember from a few months ago, I attempted to order a new couch for the office, and I didn't quite do my due diligence on the first couch that I tried.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: So when it arrived, it was beautiful.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: I unboxed it and it was just like the the perfect looking color material that I was hoping for.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: But my God, it is it just stunk.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: It stunk so bad, like this ripe chemical smell, and it almost was like like created this humidity and this like kind of small, like my little womb office that I'm creating for my hypnotherapy sessions and my uh new patient intake sessions.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I had like a very strong intention of what I wanted it to look like and feel like, um, but I did not want it to be a poison death trap.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: So when that couch came and it just immediately gave me a migraine and gave me a headache, and I was like, okay, we got to get this outside ASAP.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then I did a little more digging into the company, and um, you know, it's unfortunate that there isn't more regulation around this because when you search in a search engine, like non-toxic couch, which is what I had searched for, this company comes up.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: And and I didn't do the due diligence of checking their certifications or doing a deep dive into reviews.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and of course, you know, larger companies will bury the bad reviews, they'll let all of the five-star reviews come to the top.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: I get it, we we run a business, but like also there's some real gold in those old reviews that people had had similar issues as I had had.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: And since I know I'm the canary in the coal mine, I was like, okay, I am not going to be exposing my people to this.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: So thankfully their customer service was great.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: They did give me a full refund.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they came and picked the couch up.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't have to disassemble anything.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it was unfortunate because it just takes time, but it was a really valuable learning experience for me and a reminder to get this information out far and wide so that we aren't unintentionally being poisoned and having this impact our hormones and our fertility and and just our ability to function optimally in the world.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: So the couch I ended up going with that I did do my due diligence for is by a company called Sabai, S-A-B-A-I, a woman-owned company out of North Carolina.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm super happy with the product itself.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't quite the color I was going for, but sometimes we have to make little compromises when it comes to safety and health.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: And overall, I'm just so pleased to have something that I know is safe.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so, as you are buying new furniture for your home, I want you to know that there are some standards that you can look for to help you choose safer products.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it will carry a little bit extra from a price standpoint.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: I did not find that with Sabai, it was a very reasonably priced piece of furniture.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you want to look for the OITEC certified OTEC, or I think it's OTEC or OITEC.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm not quite sure how to pronounce it, but the OTEC certified or the green gold certified are two things that you can look at.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: And also don't be afraid to write to these companies and ask what product they're using for the filling of their furniture and for the material.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's really challenging to find like 100% natural fiber material for the cushion covers, but just understanding like, has this product been tested?
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Is this likely to off-gas?
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: How was it manufactured?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um can give a better idea that it's actually safe to be in an enclosed environment and to have you know small children around it as well.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because even if you're not quite there yet, the hope is that at some point you are going to be holding your tiny baby on that piece of furniture.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: And we want this to be safe for them as well.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, when it comes to building products, so if you are in the midst of remodeling or building a new build, that we, you know, we just went through this with our office, I worked with a company called Originate Natural Building Supply.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: They're local to Tucson, which is super lucky for me because I can go into their showroom and see the samples and look at the materials, but I know that they work with people all over the country to source safe building supplies.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: And they were so helpful for me because even like I didn't realize that the mud that goes over drywall has a stabilizer or a plasticizer in it that keeps the material moist and easy to use, but is also off gassing VOCs into the environment.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so being counseled on that, being given options that were safer, that had zero VOCs.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: um didn't raise the price tag on anything for us.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: It just gave us options that were safer, which was just phenomenal.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm really grateful to have had that opportunity to work with a company that was really knowledgeable about safe interior environments.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I think they also do a lot with exterior as well.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: We just didn't necessarily have to utilize them for that.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope that today's conversation just gave you a little bit more traction when making choices that absolutely can impact your hormones, can impact your fertility, but really your overall health and the health of the people around you as well.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I am just gonna plead that you shared this episode far and wide because I know that this area is a little bit murky and can be overwhelming and uh often when you are the one sharing it out of your mouth, someone else might be less likely to listen but maybe if they hear it from me, it'll it'll come through in a different way.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are one of those listeners who hasn't really taken this stuff seriously in the past, I hope that this gives you an invitation to do so.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: I know we didn't get into a lot of like the nitty gritty science behind this, but after spending years, years and years and years focusing on fertility I mean we're we're 13 years in practice but really 10 years that I've been devoted to fertility care.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is one area that I don't know that I've talked enough about because it it's one of the more heartbreaking for me to know that we have had so many opportunities to turn back the effects of environmental exposures and not gotten them not gotten you know bills passed that would have made a difference in certain populations being more exposed.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: So my last invitation for you would be to call your representatives you can use the Five Calls app to find the topics that are near and dear to your heart and your local representatives, your senators, your congressmen and ask them to make the environment a priority not just for the benefit of planet Earth, but if not for your fertility and your future children and their health and I think if we can really all band together on this, we're gonna see more and more positive change.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately in recent months we've seen some rolling back of some of the protections that we had around our water sources and you know what's allowed to be dumped from some of these larger corporations.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's alarming and I'm trying not to spiral too much about it.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: So do the small things that add up every day share far and wide make your calls all of it makes a difference and and next time I promise we'll have a more fun episode a more hopeful episode one that can maybe bring you a little bit more light and laughter and today I'm I hope that you can find something that does give you some light and laughter if if I was a little bit doom and gloom around this area.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's definitely like my Debbie Downer topic.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: I I can't can't sugarcoat that but I need to get it out there more because it is one of the most important things that we can do as humans.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay I love you I'm sending you just beams of hope and empowerment and clean water and clean air and good health and happy ovaries and good qualities for all the ingredients of your fertility recipe.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time all my love