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3 Reasons You've Gotta Eat Breakfast for Fertility · Nourished Fertility

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  Hey y'all, and welcome back to the Nourishing Women Podcast.
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  I'm your host, Victoria Myers Fertility, registered dietician and period recovery
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  specialist here to help you get your cycle back and get pregnant naturally.
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  And today I'm coming in hot.
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  I am so pumped about this episode.
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  I recorded it for you knowing that you needed a little breakfast pep
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  talk, because listen, if you're still out here skipping breakfast or
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  just grabbing a sad little protein bar in the car, we need to talk.
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  Eating breakfast isn't just a nice to have.
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  It is a fertility power move.
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  So today I'm going to give you three real reasons why you've got
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  to eat breakfast if you're trying to get your peer back, balance your
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  hormones, or grow your family in 2025.
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  So let's dig in, shall we reason number one.
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  Your body needs safety first, fertility second.
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  Let's be real.
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  Your body is always scanning the scene, deciding is this
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  a safe time to make a baby?
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  And I know that feels weird to be like my body's always doing that, but yes, that
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  is ultimately what a period is all about.
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  And if you're skipping breakfast, it's getting the message, oh,
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  that we must be in a famine.
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  Abort mission.
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  It's not a safe time.
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  Your metabolism, your ovulation, your estrogen levels, they all rely on
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  consistent fuel throughout the day.
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  So starting your morning with food tells your body like, Hey girl, we're safe.
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  We've got energy.
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  We can continue to focus on reproduction because remember.
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  The moment your body senses famine or survival is going to shunt, focus away
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  from the reproductive system because it's just not essential to survival.
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  That's just the hard truth of the way your body functions.
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  So that makes sense if you really think about it, like if you're running
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  from a tiger, uh, you know, creating human life or even pooping for that
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  matter, it's just not as essential to survival as your lungs breathing, your
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  heart beating, that kind of stuff.
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  And when you eat breakfast, you trigger an insulin release, and
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  that's actually a good thing.
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  Insulin is not always a bad thing, and insulin is part of the hormonal
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  communication system that helps regulate GNRH or go Togo Trappin releasing hormone.
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  Remember, in previous episodes we've discussed, this is a very.
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  Very important.
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  Hormone is the hormone that is released by the hypothalamus to kick off your
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  reproductive cycle and without proper insulin signaling, GNRH pulses can slow
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  down or stop altogether, and then that means no FSH, no LH and no ovulation.
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  And then there's leptin, a hormone made in your fat cells that helps regulate
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  both hunger and reproductive hormones.
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  Morning meals helps raise leptin levels and signal to your hypothalamus
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  that you've got enough energy on board to support a pregnancy without
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  adequate leptin, which happens when you're undernourished, your brain
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  simply won't prioritize fertility.
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  So yeah, breakfast is that powerful, but let's keep going.
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  Reason number two, cortisol is spiking in the morning, and we need to balance that.
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  Now, cortisol, your stress hormone is naturally highest in the morning.
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  That's not a bad thing.
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  It helps you wake up and get going, but when you don't eat first
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  thing, it's going to stay elevated
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  and high cortisol means low progesterone and low estrogen specifically.
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  Let's dig into that chronic elevated cortisol.
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  It has a sneaky wave messing with your cycle.
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  I'm not sure if you knew this, but it competes with progesterone for precursor
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  hormones like Pregna alone actually called the pregna alone still, and your
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  body starts making stress hormones and.
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  Instead of reproductive ones, this is one of the many ways
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  that your body starts to shut.
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  Focus away from reproduction when it sees it as an unsafe time to get pregnant,
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  survival, famine, and stress levels.
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  And when you throw not only cortisol, but then adrenaline into the mix,
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  hello that you know, jittery.
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  Fasting state morning coffee, feeling you're just adding
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  more fuel to the stress.
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  Fire.
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  High adrenaline can also block digestion and nutrient absorption,
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  which makes things even worse.
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  This is why we highly recommend eating breakfast before your coffee, or at
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  the very least, adding fat and protein to that coffee, like whole milk,
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  heavy cream and collagen, and this is going to buffer that blood sugar
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  crash and reduce that cortisol spike.
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  Eating breakfast within 30 to 60 minutes of waking helps stabilize
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  your blood sugar too, which is going to keep your nervous system calm.
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  Stable blood sugar levels means stable hormones, and for many of my clients,
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  this one shift alone of eating breakfast within 30 to 60 minutes of waking
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  and eating it with or before coffee.
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  That shift alone helps reduce anxiety, improve energy, and
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  yes, bring ovulation back online.
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  Part of that is related to reason number three.
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  You've got to eat breakfast for your fertility, and that's because ovulation
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  demands energy, not restriction.
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  Ovulating, that gorgeous hormonal dance of creating and releasing
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  an egg takes serious energy.
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  As we've discussed numerous times here on the show, fertility and energy
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  demanding processes, one of the most energy demanding times of a woman's life.
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  And if you're under fueling.
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  In the morning, your body's gonna say, Nope, not today.
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  You might miss that crucial ovulatory window entirely.
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  So if you're wondering why your ovulation is irregular or missing altogether,
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  take a look at your breakfast habits.
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  It's not just about food, it's about telling your body.
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  You have enough overall and honestly, if you're skipping breakfast, it
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  Becomes nearly impossible to meet your caloric needs for period recovery.
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  And without enough energy consistently throughout the day,
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  your hypothalamus simply won't send the signals needed for ovulation.
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  So if you want to ovulate cycle and conceive naturally,
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  breakfast has just gotta be your non-negotiable.
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  Moving forward this will give your body all that it needs in this very
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  energetically demanding time of creating a fertile body from follicle
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  development to ovulation, maintaining a luteal phase that supports implantation.
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  All of this, it just requires a lot of calories and minerals
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  and consistent nourishment.
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  So I hope you can see through these three reasons why it is absolutely critical.
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  You've gotta eat breakfast moving forward.
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  You've got to eat breakfast.
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  And hey, if you struggle with your relationship with food, this would be a
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  wonderful opportunity here to explore.
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  Like why is eating breakfast so challenging for me?
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  You know, I hear a lot from my clients that they, before they started working
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  with me, often avoided breakfast because it felt like the longer
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  they could delay eating, the more they could be in control of food.
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  But in reality, that often leads to really chaotic and.
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  Overeating later on in the day.
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  Um, and I know controlling food makes you feel in control of your life, but
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  that is definitely something to reflect on if that's how you feel about food.
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  And it's why with our clients, we have them work on their relationship with
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  food and their bodies for that matter as they're doing the work to get their
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  periods back and get pregnant so that this doesn't become like this vicious
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  cycle that like every time you're trying to get pregnant, you have to like
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  deal with these issues all over again.
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  Let's heal this right here, right now, so that you're fertile now.
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  Yes.
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  And you can get pregnant now.
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  Yes.
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  But also so that future pregnancies are supported, postpartum is supported.
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  It's going to help so much for the rest of your life.
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  Okay, so what should you eat for breakfast?
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  The goal is carbs, protein, and fat.
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  As always, at a meal, we want to be eating all three macronutrients.
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  This is not a time for just fruit or just coffee.
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  We really need adequate fuel here and are really, really support a strong,
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  big fertility friendly breakfast option.
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  Okay, so here are a few ideas for you.
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  Number one, you could do two to three eggs with two slices of sourdough
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  bread and half of an avocado.
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  Another idea is a cup of whole milk, Greek yogurt with half of a
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  cup of granola and one cup berries.
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  Uh, number three, one cup oatmeal with collagen peanut butter, banana chia seeds.
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  Two hard boiled eggs or chicken sausage on the side.
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  Now, if you were actively struggling right now with hypothermic amenorrhea, I
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  actually recommend a little bit different eating during that time versus if you are
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  having consistent ovulation and cycling.
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  You know, your body's doing that on its own and you're just
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  actively trying to get pregnant.
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  That actually looks a little bit different because in pure recovery, um, emphasizing
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  the carbs a little bit more as well as the fats where once your period is consistent
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  and regulated, we actually get our clients back on a little bit higher protein
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  diet, around 30 grams of protein mil.
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  However, I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing that if you
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  actually don't have a period because we really need to emphasize.
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  Carbs and fat primarily because those are the two most important
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  nutrients to getting your body to ovulate and cycle therefore conceive.
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  So as always, everything's just a little tailored to you and what specifically
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  your body needs, and if you need help with that or if you're struggling to
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  eat more, know that you're not alone.
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  So many of my clients feel that inner tug of war knowing
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  that like, Hey, I need to eat.
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  I know that, but I still feel guilty.
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  And that's why we do this work together.
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  If you're nodding along like, yep, that's me.
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  Come get the support you deserve through our exclusive program,
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  premier Period Recovery for Fertility.
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  We'll walk you through a tailored plan step-by-step.
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  So breakfast becomes something that you look forward to,
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  not something that you fear.
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  Please know at the end of this episode that you were not broken.
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  You just need nourishment and starts off with that first bite of the day.
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  Alright girl, go eat your breakfast.
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  Let's make 2025 the year your body thrives and the year you can get pregnant.
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  Thank you so much for listening to today's episode.
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  Until next time, know that a nourish body is a powerful one.
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  See you back next week.