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TTC and Pregnancy with Olivia Small · Mocktail Minutes

0:21
Baylee: Hello everyone.
0:22
Baylee: Welcome to Mocktail Minutes.
0:24
Baylee: This is Bailey.
0:25
Brianna: And this is Brianna.
0:27
Baylee: Today I am drinking another poppy, but it's a different flavor.
0:30
Baylee: We have a cherry limeade today.
0:33
Baylee: So, it
0:34
Brianna: Oh
0:35
Baylee: me of Sonic.
0:36
Brianna: yeah.
0:37
Brianna: And today I'm a little bit earlier, I have the further foods vanilla collagen in it.
0:43
Brianna: So kind of give it like a little bit of flavor, a little bit of extra protein.
0:47
Brianna: But today we have a special guest.
0:48
Brianna: So Olivia, do you want to introduce yourself and tell everyone what you're sipping on?
0:52
Olivia: Yeah, so I'm Olivia Small.
0:54
Olivia: I'm a registered dietitian and also an MM coach.
0:58
Olivia: I'm drinking right now an iced coffee with just a little bit.
1:02
Olivia: I put like my inositol in there just as like a way to kind of get it in in a fun way.
1:08
Olivia: But a mocktail that I've been doing recently that I've really liked is not pineapple, watermelon juice.
1:15
Olivia: And there's a new spindrift flavor like a mojito spindrift flavor.
1:19
Olivia: So watermelon juice and the mojito spindrift is such a fire combo.
1:24
Brianna: Ooh, that sounds delicious.
1:26
Baylee: I have to try that.
1:28
Olivia: Yeah.
1:28
Olivia: Look out for it if you see it.
1:29
Baylee: Yes.
1:30
Baylee: It's so fun getting to have all of our little, like MN family on here, just having different guests that we've all met each other through metabolism makeover, and now we get to bring it to, I guess, our like MN for mocktail minutes.
1:43
Olivia: Yeah.
1:44
Olivia: Oh my gosh.
1:44
Olivia: That's cute.
1:45
Olivia: Yeah.
1:45
Olivia: And I think it's so cool.
1:46
Olivia: Like how diverse the group of MM coaches is, you know, like all of us have like a different interest and even though we all kind of have MM as like part of our, I don't know, part of our repertoire too.
1:59
Olivia: We all have a different journey and path that we're really passionate about.
2:03
Baylee: And you are like the pregnancy nutritionist.
2:06
Baylee: That's what you go by on Instagram.
2:07
Baylee: So how did you get to that point?
2:09
Baylee: What made you decide to go into pregnancy area?
2:12
Olivia: Yeah.
2:13
Olivia: So when I came out of my dietetic internship, my, well, my first rotation in my internship was actually with WIC, which is normally like a very undesirable rotation, I'd say, but I had a great time.
2:25
Olivia: I thought it was awesome.
2:26
Olivia: It was my first exposure to breastfeeding and like women, infant, children, nutrition.
2:32
Olivia: So outside of like the one class that we take in like our dietetic training.
2:37
Olivia: So yeah.
2:37
Olivia: I thought that was really awesome.
2:39
Olivia: And it definitely shaped the trajectory of my career.
2:43
Olivia: So when I graduated, when I finished with my dietetic internship, I happened to find like one of the only prenatal nutrition education jobs in Columbus where I'm from.
2:54
Olivia: So I snagged that one up and kind of same thing.
2:58
Olivia: I loved it.
2:59
Olivia: I became a lactation counselor through that job.
3:01
Olivia: So now I do not only prenatal nutrition, but also lactation work.
3:06
Olivia: So I loved that.
3:07
Olivia: And then while I was going through that journal, like in my professional life, I was also taking like weight loss clients on the side and that's kind of how I came across Metabolism Makeover.
3:17
Olivia: But I realized at one point that my true passion really is prenatal nutrition, breastfeeding really helping and supporting women during such an important time in their lives and then also their baby's lives.
3:29
Olivia: So I really just kind of realized I wanted to merge those two things together and kind of take my professional passion that I'm doing my day job, if you will, and transfer that to the information that I'm really passionate about sharing online.
3:43
Brianna: I love that.
3:43
Brianna: I feel like it's so needed too, because like working with metabolism make over clients they're kind of like on the know, like they kind of get that.
3:51
Brianna: Like nutrition is like an all the time thing.
3:53
Brianna: Right.
3:53
Brianna: But I feel like sometimes we get a lot of new clients that are like, should I not do this because I'm about to be pregnant or I'm pregnant or I'm postpartum.
4:01
Brianna: So like, maybe it's not the time for me.
4:02
Brianna: And I think it's so important.
4:03
Brianna: Like women kind of feel like they just put their everything on pause while they go through that stage of life instead of like.
4:09
Brianna: If you focused on yourself and what you need during that stage, it would just helps everything.
4:15
Olivia: Yes, completely.
4:16
Olivia: And for all, yeah, I love the way that you said that too, like really in the beginning, like trying to conceive, but also postpartum, like I love MM as a framework to really help women feel more empowered and supported in what they're doing and what they're eating and Steer clear from all of the like, you know, diety dogma stuff that none of us here like, and we want women to stay far away from.
4:39
Olivia: So I love kind of being able to merge them both and really empower women no matter where they are in their reproductive health journey.
4:46
Olivia: But there's something that you can learn using MM.
4:50
Olivia: So it's definitely, I'm glad that it brought us together and I'm glad that we can share it with all the people that we're connected to.
4:57
Brianna: Okay.
4:58
Brianna: So I know we have a couple of questions for you today.
5:00
Brianna: So we're doing like a bunch of, we're doing a couple of episodes around like hormones and we have birth control.
5:07
Brianna: And so we really wanted to focus on, the trying to conceive or pregnant moms out there.
5:11
Brianna: So how far in advance to trying to conceive, should you prep your body?
5:16
Brianna: If you will.
5:16
Brianna: Yeah.
5:17
Olivia: Yeah, so it can be a tricky question because there's a few factors to consider.
5:21
Olivia: I like to explain it first from the sense that conception is happening on a cellular level and egg and sperm are like very delicate little cells in our body and they're really easily damaged by like suboptimal conditions like inflammation and oxidative stress.
5:40
Olivia: Those are kind of like the big things.
5:41
Olivia: So when we're talking about really supporting those very important cells, we're talking about like their cellular life cycle.
5:49
Olivia: And for eggs, it takes about 90 days.
5:52
Olivia: for an egg to fully mature to the point where it is, coming out for ovulation.
5:57
Olivia: So 90 days to really optimize egg health.
6:01
Olivia: And then sperm ranges somewhere between like 70 and 90 days.
6:05
Olivia: So about the same timeframe, we want to be giving an absolute minimum of three months towards really preparing the body for conception and like that trying to conceive phase.
6:18
Olivia: The other part of this that I like to kind of bring up, and you mentioned it there too, like breast or breast, Oh my gosh, I've got breastfeeding on my brain now birth control.
6:26
Olivia: So hormonal birth control, we need to consider, you know, how long you've been on it.
6:31
Olivia: How long is it going to take for you to reestablish your cycle after coming off of birth control?
6:37
Olivia: And it really is.
6:38
Olivia: It's so individual.
6:39
Olivia: You can't really say how long it's going to take for one person versus another.
6:44
Olivia: And there is some data to say that different forms of birth control have different lengths of time associated with them as far as that reestablishing period goes.
6:53
Olivia: So I like to say for birth control, you know, really give it a good six months.
6:58
Olivia: And that can be scary for some people to come off like before they're ready to become pregnant, but If you stop birth control, like right before you're ready and you have that period where you really do need to reestablish your your hormones and rebuild your uterine lining, like that can take a lot of time and that can be really disappointing and frustrating if you're like ready to get pregnant, but your body is not quite there yet.
7:25
Olivia: So I say, you know, three to six months at the minimum, sometimes more depending on the person.
7:31
Brianna: I like that you brought up sperm to
7:34
Olivia: Yeah,
7:34
Brianna: feel like a lot of women just think of like, okay, what do I need to do?
7:37
Brianna: And it's like really put on the women.
7:39
Brianna: And we have like a client not too long ago that was like stressed out.
7:43
Brianna: Cause she's like, I'm still not conceiving what's going on.
7:46
Brianna: And I was like, is your man?
7:48
Brianna: Okay.
7:48
Brianna: Like, have we checked out his health?
7:50
Brianna: Cause it's not just females, you know, so
7:54
Olivia: No, and actually to your point there, I like to throw out the numbers on that because it can really be surprising.
8:01
Olivia: So I think a lot of times we really do think it is just the woman, but the data says 30% of the time, it's really a female oriented issue.
8:09
Olivia: 30% male derived issue for infertility, 30% of the time it's both partners, and then 10% of the time it's kind of unexplained infertility.
8:18
Olivia: So the man and the woman really play equal roles in the cases of infertility.
8:24
Olivia: So it's definitely something that we need to be doing together because it takes two to tango.
8:30
Olivia: So
8:32
Baylee: I like those numbers.
8:33
Baylee: I've never heard of that before, but that's good to kind of put it in perspective that way.
8:37
Baylee: And I liked how you brought up kind of that timeframe piece of things because I feel like that is something we all discuss with each one of our clients because we all want to know, like, how long exactly is it going to take to reach this goal?
8:50
Olivia: yes.
8:50
Baylee: We have no idea we can give you a range, but at the end of the day, we are all different people.
8:56
Baylee: We've all been through different things.
8:57
Baylee: Our body's going to react differently.
8:59
Baylee: So it's very hard to give like set numbers.
9:04
Olivia: Yeah.
9:04
Olivia: Yeah.
9:05
Olivia: So being flexible and really kind of setting those expectations I think is super important so that everybody is kind of on the same page.
9:11
Olivia: I completely agree.
9:13
Baylee: So when we're in this period of trying to conceive, what nutrients would you say to kind of focus on pay more attention to prioritize?
9:22
Olivia: Yeah.
9:22
Olivia: So there's definitely a few that like immediately come to mind and I'll, I'll go through those in a second.
9:28
Olivia: I'm going to start with another kind of, it depends situation because again, the uniqueness of every person.
9:33
Olivia: And Yeah.
9:35
Olivia: All of the factors that contribute to your health really are going to dictate what focus we need to be putting on different areas of your health and which nutrients you need to really optimize those areas.
9:47
Olivia: So, making sure that our underlying health conditions, like if they have digestive issues or thyroid issues, that those are supported.
9:55
Olivia: Cause the recommendations that I would give to somebody who has PCOS might be really different from somebody who has like IBS.
10:02
Olivia: So really making sure that you have those conditions optimized as like your baseline.
10:07
Olivia: And then there's definitely a variety of nutrients that are good just for kind of the foundation, I guess, of fertility.
10:14
Olivia: So those are going to, I'm going to start with like the, the antioxidants.
10:19
Olivia: Because when I said earlier, we're talking about egg and sperm health.
10:23
Olivia: Because those are cells and they're really small, they're very subjected to oxidative stress.
10:29
Olivia: So the antioxidant rich minerals and vitamins are the things we want to really leverage.
10:33
Olivia: So those are things like vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc and selenium are four big ones.
10:41
Olivia: The other thing I like to be sure we're optimizing just in general for fertility is vitamin D and iron, which those two are personalized.
10:51
Olivia: So I recommend getting those levels tested and then treating accordingly.
10:56
Olivia: If you do have a deficiency in either of those areas, I will throw out though, kind of a couple numbers around vitamin D, because that one can be a little bit tricky.
11:05
Olivia: And not all providers are really well versed with, what is really optimal.
11:09
Olivia: So for fertility, I like to see vitamin D in the range, like in the 50s range.
11:14
Olivia: And so if you're below that, you're probably going to need more than what you're getting in just like a regular multivitamin, which is like maybe 400 to 600 IUs of vitamin D.
11:24
Olivia: You're probably going to need like 1, IUs.
11:27
Olivia: So definitely make sure that you are getting an idea of what your baseline is and then getting those levels tested to make sure that it's coming up accordingly.
11:37
Olivia: And then just a couple other ones.
11:38
Olivia: So a few minerals that I like to point out iodine for thyroid health, which is really important for certain people early in pregnancy within those first few weeks of the first trimester.
11:50
Olivia: And then Magnesium involved in hundreds of enzymatic reactions that go on without her throughout our body.
11:56
Olivia: A lot of people are not really getting in enough magnesium.
12:00
Olivia: So I like to make sure magnesium is optimized and then the most well researched to nutrient in the realm of trying to conceive in pregnancies, folate or folic acid.
12:11
Olivia: So we want to be getting in that.
12:13
Olivia: To prevent neural tube defects, which happens really before some women that development happens before some women even know they're pregnant.
12:20
Olivia: And then the last one that I would really emphasize is choline.
12:23
Olivia: So choline is kind of like the new vitamin on the block when it comes to prenatal nutrition.
12:28
Olivia: Plays a big role, kind of works in a relationship to or kind of alongside folate.
12:33
Olivia: So really important for the job that folate's doing.
12:37
Olivia: But it also plays a role in our placental development, which is really key in early pregnancy to keep pregnancy going and hormones produced.
12:44
Olivia: So choline's another one that I like to point out as well.
12:48
Brianna: are good ones.
12:50
Brianna: How does PHFF or blood sugar balance look different during pregnancy?
12:55
Olivia: Yeah.
12:55
Olivia: So the first trimester is definitely by far the most challenging timeframe to really adopt the PHFF approach.
13:04
Olivia: And that's because the most common food aversions that I see are meat.
13:08
Olivia: chicken eggs, even raw or cooked vegetables.
13:12
Olivia: So that really kind of checks off a lot of those boxes and makes it really hard to get in enough protein during that timeframe.
13:19
Olivia: And then conversely, the starchy carbs, the fruits, the crunchy, salty snack foods, those are.
13:26
Olivia: usually the things that we want most, which in the classic PHFF approach, we're really trying to be mindful of limiting.
13:33
Olivia: So when we're talking about first trimester, I tell my clients that we're really in survival mode at that point.
13:40
Olivia: So we're just trying to get in.
13:43
Olivia: like nutrition and keep it down so that you can have energy to get through your workday to take care of your other kiddos.
13:51
Olivia: Like we're really trying to make sure that we're getting in just enough food and we're not, losing a significant amount of weight or being, super, super fatigued.
13:59
Olivia: So I recommend not forcing yourself to eat the things that you feel like you should be eating.
14:04
Olivia: And just do your best to, leverage some of the other options for getting in proteins and healthy fats.
14:13
Olivia: So it's going to be a bit of an experiment to see what works for you, but those are generally things like nuts and seeds, nut butters, avocado.
14:22
Olivia: Yogurt, cottage cheese, smoothies can be a really great help for some people.
14:27
Olivia: I mean, this is a timeframe where, you know, protein powder, collagen, peptides can be really helpful to get in some extra protein.
14:35
Olivia: Sometimes I even do like chicken salad or egg salad, hard boiled eggs, rotisserie chicken, or even like chicken or turkey deli meat.
14:43
Olivia: Like that's something if you're keeping it in.
14:46
Olivia: the right time frames and you, like, feel comfortable consuming that during pregnancy, which, you know, a lot of people, including myself, during my pregnancy, you know, that's something that I do to help make sure that my protein needs are met.
14:58
Olivia: Those can be really helpful.
14:59
Olivia: And then in the second trimester, when you're starting to feel a little bit better, We want to experiment with adding in more of those like staple protein foods that you may have been, you know, really averse to and then kind of feeling that out as well as just getting into kind of the rhythm of Following more of like a modified PHFF, I guess is what I kind of teach my clients.
15:22
Olivia: So including a starchy carb or fruit at each meal, instead of doing just one or two a day, we want to be getting them in regularly.
15:31
Olivia: So we're getting in that extra nutrition and extra energy, but then also trying to add in those proteins and healthy fats so that we do maintain that balance.
15:40
Olivia: Blood sugar balances, as we know, beneficial for everyone.
15:43
Olivia: In early pregnancy, it can, or throughout pregnancy, I guess, it can really help keep appetite satiated, prevent overeating of, like, empty calorie foods, which can contribute to excess weight gain it might even help reduce your risk of gestational diabetes later in pregnancy too.
15:59
Olivia: So that's kind of the, the transition, I guess, from the first to second trimester is really kind of the most tricky aspect of, of using PHFF.
16:09
Olivia: Yes.
16:10
Baylee: I would say it can be kind of a hard adjustment period for some too, especially if they've been doing or working with us for a while.
16:16
Baylee: They've been doing PHFF and now they're trying to adjust to maybe eating more, eating more carbs.
16:22
Baylee: And it can be a little bit scary.
16:24
Baylee: At the same time.
16:26
Baylee: And nervous, like, am I not eating the right things?
16:29
Baylee: Am I eating too much?
16:30
Baylee: There's so many questions that go along with it.
16:32
Baylee: So it is important to note there that is another adjustment period.
16:36
Baylee: What we eat it can change at different stages of our life
16:39
Olivia: Right.
16:40
Brianna: And I think reassuring women that like, it's okay.
16:43
Brianna: Those first like 12 weeks for some people, it really sucks.
16:48
Brianna: And I see a lot of people being really stressed.
16:50
Brianna: Like, oh my gosh, I'm having such bad food aversions or I'm so sick.
16:53
Brianna: I can't keep anything down, but I'm not doing pH of a perfectly.
16:56
Brianna: And I love that.
16:57
Brianna: You're giving women the go ahead to like, Hey, let's survive right now.
17:01
Brianna: This is a season.
17:03
Brianna: Everything's going to be okay.
17:04
Brianna: This don't have to be perfect.
17:07
Olivia: Yes.
17:08
Olivia: I, yes, that is 100% my approach because like I've had so many clients who are like, you know, I really needed to hear that.
17:16
Olivia: And so I will scream it from the rooftops.
17:19
Olivia: It's definitely a season, you know, the vast majority of women will improve by the end of the second trimester and then continue to improve.
17:27
Olivia: So let's just make the adjustment, get through each day and we'll be able to add things in later.
17:33
Brianna: This is permission.
17:34
Olivia: Mm hmm Yes.
17:36
Olivia: Yes.
17:36
Brianna: think that's what women want.
17:37
Brianna: They want to be told like, okay, it's okay.
17:40
Brianna: Somebody told me it's okay.
17:41
Olivia: Yes.
17:42
Olivia: Yes.
17:43
Olivia: 100%.
17:44
Baylee: And kind of going along with this.
17:46
Baylee: I know like with pregnancy, a lot of times comes cravings.
17:49
Baylee: So what is your tips or advice around pregnancy cravings, what to do about it?
17:53
Baylee: And also blood sugar balance.
17:56
Olivia: Yeah.
17:57
Olivia: Oh my gosh.
17:57
Olivia: That's a really good segue.
17:58
Olivia: So this is definitely, it can be a challenge.
18:02
Olivia: And I kind of, I like to really start first with like, let's In like, I don't know, maybe today's culture around pregnancy, it can definitely be looked at as a time where you can just eat anything because we're eating for two, we're growing a baby, like the rules kind of go out the window, nutrition goes out the window, like I can eat whatever I want.
18:23
Olivia: So there's definitely some of that mindset that I think can kind of make it So I really like to kind of put that out there first.
18:33
Olivia: I definitely believe that we should find the middle ground.
18:37
Olivia: If you really do feel like you have a craving that you are, really desiring, then by all means, let's include it, but let's try and include it in a balanced way where we're really trying to leverage like best of both worlds.
18:49
Olivia: And I love coming back to blood sugar balance and appetite whenever I talk about cravings because nine times out of 10, we're craving things like carbs or in pregnancy, a lot of times like fruit, which is super healthy foods to crave.
19:05
Olivia: Sometimes we're craving like junk foods and things, but like, regardless, a lot of those foods fall in the carb category.
19:10
Olivia: And so they're not really going to help us feel very full and satisfied.
19:14
Olivia: So I like to really leverage okay, well, let's think about how we can include whatever that craved food is.
19:20
Olivia: in a balanced way.
19:21
Olivia: So your blood sugar stays stable.
19:23
Olivia: And so you actually satisfy your hunger at the same time to, you know, really kind of, I don't know, like wrap up that snack and move on with the rest of your afternoon.
19:34
Olivia: So if you come into my office and you're like, I am literally obsessed with flaming hot Cheetos, I'll be like, that's okay.
19:41
Olivia: Like, let's grab a snack plate, put some flaming hot Cheetos on there, but then also grab some cheese.
19:46
Olivia: Some olives, some veggies to make, you know, a really balanced snack instead of just taking the bag to the couch and, you know, eating the whole thing in one sitting.
19:55
Brianna: And then being hungry and like an hour.
19:57
Olivia: And then being hungry in an hour.
19:59
Olivia: So it is definitely that balance between like, let's satisfy the craving, but let's do it consciously to make sure that we're not, you know, completely ignoring the way that the body works and the way that nutrition works and all of those things.
20:14
Olivia: So it can definitely be really tricky.
20:16
Brianna: Yeah.
20:17
Brianna: I like how you brought up the eating for two thing.
20:19
Brianna: I think in my experience, I feel like so many women are used to dieting and they're used to heavily restricting.
20:26
Brianna: And then what happens is they get pregnant.
20:28
Brianna: And so they're kind of like, thank goodness I can eat whatever I want.
20:32
Brianna: But then also like biology kind of takes over and you're like.
20:36
Brianna: I'm gonna eat and you, when you're so used to restricting and not having a healthy relationship with food, it's almost like you have no control over it.
20:44
Brianna: Like, it's like some monster that's going to come out of the closet and you're just going to feel so overwhelmed and out of control the whole time because now your body's not going to allow you to restrict like you were at
20:54
Olivia: Oh my gosh, that is literally such a great point.
20:57
Olivia: And I think you're completely right, like that is for sure a place that so many women are coming from.
21:04
Olivia: And again, like we talked a little bit about like food aversions and like sickness, but there's the other side of that coin.
21:11
Olivia: And even as early as first trimester, some people really do feel like ravenously hungry.
21:16
Olivia: So it's like, how do we navigate all of that?
21:20
Olivia: If you don't have a good relationship with food or a good relationship with body or a good, you know, foundation before you're completely right, it can make it even more challenging to find any sense of control.
21:33
Olivia: So it is really tricky.
21:35
Olivia: So kind of figure out how to navigate those.
21:37
Olivia: But again, it kind of depends on everyone's like underlying factors.
21:42
Olivia: Like it's not going to be the same.
21:44
Olivia: So being able to talk to somebody like an MM coach or a dietitian and really kind of talk those cravings out and like where they're coming from.
21:52
Olivia: And I think that that's the most beneficial way to really approach it if you're struggling.
21:57
Baylee: Yeah.
21:57
Baylee: And when you mentioned mindset, so Brianna and I, we always, I feel like almost every episode we bring mindset up and at some point everyone's going to realize how important mindset is if we just keep talking about it, but it.
22:11
Baylee: foundational to everything.
22:13
Baylee: So I'm really glad you brought that piece up as well.
22:17
Baylee: Now you had kind of mentioned like inflammation too.
22:20
Baylee: So I guess going into that, what else besides nutrition should we focus on during trying to conceive and pregnancy?
22:28
Olivia: Yeah.
22:29
Olivia: So I would say like there's three key like lifestyle factors that I really like to leverage during like trying to conceive time frame, sleep, stress and movement.
22:42
Olivia: And they all kind of intertwine.
22:44
Olivia: But the first one I think really kind of going off of your point, stress, unregulated stress, uncontrolled stress is definitely an area Of our health can, that can impact our menstrual cycle that can impact our, you know our egg health on a cellular level and just interfere with our hormone balance as a whole.
23:04
Olivia: I like to describe the impact of the different hormones kind of like a train and like our reproductive hormones are like the caboose of the train.
23:15
Olivia: So things like estrogen, progesterone, et cetera, and, and all the cars ahead of that train.
23:21
Olivia: Starting at the front, there's insulin, then there's cortisol, then thyroid, then those reproductive hormones in the back.
23:29
Olivia: So if we're really trying to optimize our health for pregnancy, we have a lot of the cars in the front that we have to get through before we can get to that back end of the train.
23:39
Olivia: So we really need to make sure that these earlier areas are optimized and stress and cortisol really can impact the health of our body on the cellular level, can drive up inflammation.
23:53
Olivia: And this is really the more like technical terms for this would be like hypothalamic pituitary adrenal access and how those influence the different parts of our body significantly, like the ovaries and their job to That their job in the sense that there are the ones that are secreting estrogen and then creating that egg, which is going to then release progesterone.
24:16
Olivia: So really trying to make sure that we talked about blood sugar, which is the insulin train, or, and then we've talked about really trying to make sure that we have some good foundational, I guess, tools in place for helping manage stress.
24:29
Olivia: I.
24:30
Olivia: Don't think it's realistic to say that you can eliminate it completely, but I just like to make sure that everybody has at least some go to things that they can do on a regular basis to kind of leverage self care to make sure that we're not having that unregulated, dysregulated stress that can really kind of You're welcome.
24:48
Olivia: interfere with things on a cellular level.
24:50
Olivia: So really trying to make sure that we've got some, some key things in play there.
24:55
Olivia: And then knowing to like sleep dysregulated sleep or getting poor sleep can interfere with our blood sugar balance and our digestive health.
25:04
Olivia: So that's something that we want to really Try and optimize to help keep our body out of the pro inflammatory state.
25:11
Olivia: And then the last lifestyle factor that I really like to leverage while trying to conceive is movement.
25:16
Olivia: Exercise is something that we know is really beneficial during pregnancy, but because of all the things we've kind of talked about that come along with pregnancy, it can be really hard to start.
25:26
Olivia: up movement during that time frame.
25:28
Olivia: So I really like to use the trying to conceive time frame, like the fertility window to experiment what types of movement that feel good to you, that are sustainable to you, so that you can really get a good regimen in place and just allow yourself to maintain movement.
25:45
Olivia: with some modifications and flexibility as far as like how frequent and how intense during your pregnancy but keep getting into a good routine with movement that you can carry on throughout your pregnancy too.
25:57
Olivia: So sleep stress and movement will be my three areas.
26:01
Baylee: Yeah.
26:01
Baylee: I love that.
26:02
Baylee: And I know as far as exercise with pregnancy, some people are a little nervous about that.
26:07
Baylee: So I always say number one, talk to your doctor, but number two, what we've learned is that if you already, like you were saying, if you already have a routine, you're usually pretty safe to continue with that.
26:16
Baylee: Now, if you don't, and now all of a sudden you're going to decide to work out four or five times a week, that might overdo it too much.
26:23
Baylee: And you probably won't feel great.
26:25
Baylee: I'm starting it right now.
26:26
Olivia: Right.
26:27
Olivia: Exactly.
26:27
Olivia: Yeah.
26:28
Olivia: Yeah.
26:29
Olivia: A hundred percent.
26:30
Olivia: So I definitely agree.
26:32
Olivia: Like talk to your doctor, figure out what's comfortable or what's safe for you to do.
26:35
Olivia: If you are in that place where you're like, Oh my gosh, I, you know, don't have something in place, but it would be something good to, to leverage during that timeframe.
26:43
Olivia: But yeah, I, I agree.
26:45
Olivia: It's definitely, there's a lot of fear around it, but we just know like the benefits are so.
26:51
Olivia: So great.
26:52
Olivia: So trying to get in something, even if it's just walking, like we really leverage like neat movement and M M like, if anything, just getting out and doing some neat movement will be like, we'll do wonders.
27:04
Baylee: Yes.
27:05
Baylee: Yeah, don't forget about the walking.
27:06
Baylee: Walking is always a good thing to add in no matter what.
27:10
Olivia: Yes, exactly.
27:12
Brianna: I feel like it's so underrated, but,
27:14
Olivia: So underrated.
27:16
Brianna: yeah.
27:16
Brianna: So I guess lastly, what we have, cause I'm.
27:20
Brianna: I know you work with clients.
27:21
Brianna: So is there anything or is there some encouraging things that you would say to someone who's been trying to conceive for a while and maybe they feel like they're in a rut or it's not happening as soon as they thought it would or yeah.
27:34
Olivia: so I would say the thing that really comes up for me is like support, support system.
27:41
Olivia: So really trying to find the community of people that can keep you in a positive space.
27:48
Olivia: And that's just mainly because I feel like trying to conceive and also having difficulty trying to conceive.
27:56
Olivia: can be really isolating and really lonely.
27:59
Olivia: And it's not something that we really talk about very much.
28:01
Olivia: So finding like an Instagram page to follow or something of this work can really help keep you, I think in a place where you feel a little bit less alone and that there's other people who are going through the same thing as you and then seeing how they navigate this process in this time can be really encouraging.
28:20
Olivia: So that's definitely one thing.
28:22
Olivia: That I would really leverage.
28:24
Olivia: So kind of the social aspect of it, but then also understanding that there's a lot of, if you've like tried one thing for a long time, like maybe you're just working with like your OB on a fertility, maybe try and expand the people who are on your healthcare team.
28:41
Olivia: Cause there's a lot of people in a lot of like health professionals in the fertility space that don't really fall in like that standard approach, even like myself, like dietetics, nutrition, like, we're not, it's not like you walk into an OB and they're like, I'm going to refer you to my dietician.
28:57
Olivia: That doesn't happen.
28:58
Olivia: So if we are.
29:00
Olivia: You know, in a place where we're frustrated, like maybe like, let's try to check out some of the other practitioners out there who might be able to help.
29:07
Olivia: So what, that might be like a dietician, it might be a chiropractor, a therapist, genetic counseling, or like acupuncture, like let's kind of figure out maybe a different way that we can approach this so that we can really keep that fire going and so that you don't feel like you're, up against the wall.
29:25
Brianna: Yeah.
29:26
Olivia: This, like, might be controversial, but just this week I saw that Kourtney Kardashian announced her pregnancy, and I've been kind of, like, following her journey over the last, like, I don't know, couple years or whatnot, but she's kind of gone through this phase with her new husband, where They've been trying to conceive.
29:45
Olivia: I mean, she's over 40.
29:47
Olivia: I don't know how old he is, but like they went through some field rounds of IVF and then they stopped IVF altogether.
29:53
Olivia: And we're kind of like, I'm just going to focus on supporting health, pinpointing ovulation and timing sex and just kind of focus on that.
30:01
Olivia: And then, you know, there could be details I'm missing, of course, but they ended up having a successful pregnancy after, months and months and months of trying and kind of figuring out what methods work best for them.
30:12
Olivia: And then just trying to, make the most of the process.
30:15
Olivia: So I don't know.
30:16
Olivia: I, I always think it's pregnancy is literally such a miracle.
30:20
Olivia: And after working in this space and really learning about fertility and how critical so many of these things have to happen to really get that conception to really to, to occur.
30:33
Olivia: It really is such a miracle.
30:35
Olivia: There are certain things that we can do to really help and support the body from different areas and modalities to help achieve that overall goal.
30:43
Olivia: But the timeline is definitely a challenge.
30:46
Olivia: And that's really tricky because, you can do rounds of IVF, you can work with all the people, but it's impossible for us to really say how long it's going to take.
30:54
Olivia: So I think as long as you feel like you're moving in the right direction and you've got the right people around you, that's, you know, the best advice that I can give.
31:03
Baylee: Mhm.
31:03
Baylee: We were just talking about Courtney Kardashian's announcement yesterday when we were at dinner and I was thinking the same thing because so I watched the show and it was interesting because they were going through all the IVF like you were saying and it was almost like their whole life was getting just consumed about stressing about not being able to get pregnant.
31:22
Baylee: And that's a really good factor to focus on is that sometimes we're thinking about something so much That could be something that's contributing to the reason why we're not getting there because it's that stress again coming into play.
31:34
Olivia: Yeah.
31:35
Olivia: A hundred percent.
31:36
Olivia: And like, she even talked a little bit about like the body image impacts, like the, the way that like her body changed because of the hormones and like that emotional toll that that took on her and like thinking about, yeah, how are all of these things impacting that overall goal that you're working towards, it might be one tool might be really great for one person or one couple, but it's just not the right thing for another.
31:56
Olivia: So I think the uniqueness of everyone's journey is something that needs to be considered.
32:01
Olivia: So.
32:02
Olivia: Thank you.
32:03
Baylee: Definitely.
32:04
Brianna: I didn't know she was pregnant.
32:06
Brianna: I'm like, gotta go watch
32:07
Baylee: Oh my gosh.
32:07
Baylee: Catch up.
32:08
Olivia: Literally, this is like hot news So Rihanna, oh my gosh.
32:12
Olivia: No, you're not too far behind.
32:13
Olivia: It was like hot off the press.
32:15
Olivia: So,
32:16
Brianna: Oh, funny.
32:17
Brianna: No, I think this has been really encouraging, really enlightening.
32:20
Brianna: I think we're going to have a lot of listeners really enjoy this episode because you're right.
32:25
Brianna: We don't really talk about.
32:26
Brianna: This sort of season of life too much, but it's so important.
32:29
Brianna: And it's something that a lot of women go through or choose to go through.
32:33
Brianna: So,
32:34
Olivia: Yes.
32:35
Olivia: Yeah.
32:35
Olivia: And I,
32:36
Baylee: like nine months.
32:37
Baylee: We see a bunch of babies booming.
32:39
Baylee: We'll be like, it was the talk.
32:42
Brianna: this is it.
32:42
Brianna: Then was the talk.
32:43
Olivia: yeah, those mm babies, either months or minutes or
32:47
Baylee: Yeah.
32:48
Olivia: the intersection of those two, we're going to have a baby boom.
32:52
Baylee: Well, yeah.
32:52
Baylee: Thank you so much for coming on.
32:53
Baylee: Like Brenna said, this was super helpful and I think lots of people are going to enjoy this and find it super encouraging.
33:01
Olivia: Awesome.
33:02
Brianna: Do you want to tell everyone where they can find you and how they can work with you, all that good stuff?
33:09
Olivia: Yeah.
33:09
Olivia: So the easiest way to find me is Instagram.
33:12
Olivia: I am the.
33:13
Olivia: pregnancy.
33:14
Olivia: nutritionist on IG.
33:16
Olivia: And then I've got like a link in my bio where you can kind of navigate to my website.
33:20
Olivia: I'm kind of in a transition period because I, myself, I'm pregnant and I'm trying to kind of figure out what my business looks like over the next, you know, few months.
33:28
Olivia: But for right now, if you're vibing with the information that I share, the best way to, to remain connected and kind of see what my, my future holds as far as additional services is just follow me on Instagram.
33:40
Brianna: Awesome.
33:41
Brianna: And we'll, we'll make sure to put your handle in the show notes.
33:43
Brianna: So everyone can click it and find you.
33:46
Olivia: Yeah, sounds good.
33:48
Olivia: Well, thanks guys.
33:49
Olivia: This was fun.
33:50
Baylee: You're welcome.
33:51
Baylee: And yes, we will talk to everyone next week.
33:54
Baylee: Have a great rest of your week, I guess.
33:58
Brianna: Bye.
33:59
Baylee: Bye.