Latest / The Home of Fertility with Liz Walton & Helen Zee / Fertility and Health Insights with Melissa Kovacevic Exploring Seed Cycling and Hormonal Balance

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Fertility and Health Insights with Melissa Kovacevic Exploring Seed Cycling and Hormonal Balance · The Home of Fertility with Liz Walton & Helen Zee

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Fertility, health and Coming Back to the Self, an opportunity to go deeper into your journey of life, and all this can encompass with your host, liz Walton.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: This podcast follows the threads of life and the journey of fertility on every level emotional, physical, spiritual and the consciousness we consider our health and what that means in our lives today.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: And we bring all of this together with, coming home to ourselves, the conscious and unconscious journey of life and how we traverse this in the best way possible.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: I am so grateful and humbled you are here.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: So good morning, good morning everybody, and good morning Melissa, so it's wonderful to have you here today.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: How are you today?
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: I'm good, how are you?
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's a pleasure, thanks.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: I know you're so busy for carving out this time to chat to me today, so I'm really excited.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: We get to share your knowledge, your expertise as a functional nutritionist, but also the product seed cycling that you have created.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: When it comes to hormonal health and fertility and how to support that in our body, you know and create the best, I suppose the best vehicle for optimal health, for not just our own health.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: You know, to become, you know, wonderful, for fertile, feeling fertile and, and moving on from that as well, you know it's a whole sort of body understanding and healing.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: So let's start from the beginning.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Melissa, tell me a bit about you.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Who is Melissa and how did we get to the seed cycle?
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: How did we get to so?
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: For those of you who don't know, my name is Melissa Melkovacevic and my background is in functional nutrition and I'm also an EFT tapping practitioner.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: And I guess, starting right from the beginning, I started studying nutrition.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: My only purpose, or like reason to do it, was because I was obsessed with losing weight.
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: That was like all I wanted in life and I'd been on every single fad diet and I was like if I lose, if I study nutrition, I'll learn how to lose weight.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: And of course, I learned so much more than just how to manage my weight and I really started to understand and my perspective shifted into food as medicine.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: And then, a little bit later down the track, I decided to start my own business.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: So I started Functional Health Canberra and I worked with mainly women, but also men, on helping them heal their own relationship with food and their bodies.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: And I use the combination of functional nutrition and EFT because what I realized while I was studying nutrition and my perspective was shifting when it came to my own beliefs and behaviors around food.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: There was this huge missing piece, which was my unconscious mind and the beliefs I had around food and my body.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: And so this is where I knew I can give someone the best meal plan or we can know all there is to know about nutrition, but if we don't understand what the beliefs are and understand how our minds work and use and I was using AFT, but using there's so many amazing modalities that you can use to support that mental health side of things you know we're just not going to get to the goal.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: So that's where I started working with clients and it was probably a year or so down the track where I had this.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: I was listening to the women that were coming to see me and there was this commonality of symptoms and the commonality was hormones and I wasn't interested in hormones.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: Hormones weren't sexy.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: You know this was seven years ago when, like, gut health and microbiome was really trendy.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: So we were doing all these things to heal the gut but we weren't getting better and things would get.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: You know, things would get a little bit better.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: But my goals and my expectations for my clients were always like really high.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: It wasn't just getting them to eat whole foods, I wanted them to feel vibrant.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: I wanted them to be at their ideal weight.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: I didn't want to hear that they were having, you know, massive food cravings and PMS symptoms and fertility struggles and menopause symptoms.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: So this is where I started researching and I came across the concept or the practice of seed cycling.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: And so seed cycling has been around for a really long time and often recommended by naturopaths, nutritionists, functional medicine doctors.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: I hear a lot of people who have come to me who have said, oh, my acupuncturist recommended it, leigh Brighton, who's a hormone specialist in the US, and Elisa Beattie, who wrote the book In the Flow, who really, I guess, backed the resurgence of seed cycling in the modern world.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: And so this is where I started teaching my clients how to seed cycle and we saw it was this missing puzzle piece.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Symptoms got better Within one of my first clients.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: After three months or so of seed cycling she felt pregnant and I remember she came in and she's like it was the seed smell and at that point I didn't know much about seed cycling for fertility and I was like, maybe great.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: But now you know, I get messages every week of women who are falling pregnant and and have said the seeds have helped.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: And now I understand how the seeds are actually helping in terms of supporting a regular cycle, supporting healthy ovulation, which we can get into, into, um, and you know, with everything, like there's no magic bullet or one one thing.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: But it seemed like we were doing all the other things.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: We were really using whole foods, we were supporting the nervous system, we were moving, uh, moving, they were moving their bodies and uh.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: And then we added seed cycling in, uh, and yeah, it all came together.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: That's amazing.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: I love that and this is such a road of learning and growing and how it all unfolds.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: So the seed cycle has become, and for me it's been great to see the seed cycle from.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: You know, this little infancy, and you're just getting growing bigger and bigger and I just love it.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: So tell me how?
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: What do you mean by food as medicine?
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: and medicine is food yeah, so this concept has been around for a really long time, and it's really the concept that nutrition plays a central role in the prevention, management and treatment of health conditions, and when we're talking about food as medicine, it can also be called functional foods.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: So there are specific foods that have properties or nutrients that go beyond just the role of energy, and so seeds fall into that category.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: Turmeric is a really well-known one, mushrooms medicinal mushrooms.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: So it's really using these functional foods at specific doses, and seed cycling is so great because we're actually using at specific times in our menstrual cycle as well to encourage that cyclical rhythm which I just found so clever to begin with.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: And yeah, food as medicine as well as a root cause approach are just two of the most important things when it comes to health and healing, and I've seen it work time and time again.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Of course, of course, and that must be just so wonderful to know.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: It's supporting the body to come back into balance Now.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: So we looked at food as medicine.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Now how does seed cycling, you know, support hormonal health, or is it best now to get?
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: I know you've got a few slides.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Is it best to get into slides or explain some of that first?
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: yeah, let's get into slides because I think it's nice to have a visual, so I'll just I will share my screen here we go and let's present that.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: Okay, can you see that?
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm gonna skip through these.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Oh, actually, I did.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: Um, this is one.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: I might go back one.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: Uh, so this is this is the presentation that we share with GPs.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: So we're doing a lot of GP trainings at the moment, uh, and we start off by going through what the issues are and what we're seeing.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: Uh and uh.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: This is quite shocking to a lot of people, uh and um, you know, even GPs aren't fully aware of the stats when it comes to hormone health.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: So, globally now, 90% of women will experience at least one PMS symptom at some point in their lives.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Pcos 8 to 13% of women are diagnosed, and you know when we're doing our own research and case studies, you know, we hear last year we interviewed 500 women and all but two said they had some form of issue relating to hormones.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: The stats around infertility as well.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: One in six people worldwide experience infertility at some point in their lives, and you know.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: So these are huge issues and this is where you know that.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: No wonder, when I was listening to what my clients were telling me, like that commonality of hormones, hormone issues was coming up To understand how the seed cycle and how seed cycling works.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: We need to understand how our menstrual cycle works and it's crazy to me that through all my study, through all my obsession with health and holistic health, I never knew and never learnt about our actual menstrual cycle.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: So it would be really interesting, like for those listening and even for you, liz, like when did you first start to understand, as women we have this 28-day infradian rhythm?
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Well, for me, I just assumed, because this is how we're taught and obviously I'm a bit older, I'm in my 50s now I didn't pay much attention until, of course I had to pay attention.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: So I had no idea.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: And then, of course, when it started to not work and still not work, and still not work, then I was like, ok, well, why is it not working?
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: So it was really through me falling down and everything not working that I started to then look at my cycle.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: And you know, for me, growing up, when I was, you know, coming into menstruation and whatnot, you know, I was kind of taught from the beginning to hate it and to dislike it and to pretend, you know, and hope and wish it wasn't happening, you know, and so it was, you know.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Again, it's interesting how I was brought into this and so I want to.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: You know, I've got a daughter now who's nine years old, to be able to make that a completely different relationship with her body and her cycle.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Now, so, yeah, I didn't know anything.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and I was the same.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: You know, know, I thought my menstrual cycle was this you know, a couple days here when I was bleeding and I didn't understand, and, yes, you know, when I started to want to fall pregnant, then I started to understand ovulation signs.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: but even then, you know, I didn't know much about it, and it was only through seed cycling because I had to learn this to seed cycle that I started to understand how important our actual menstrual cycle is and that we have these four phases and we have very different nutrient requirements, energy, exercise requirements, and also emotional requirements, or emotional we, you, it feels like we're four different people in each phase.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: And you know there's another graph which I don't have here, but a man's hormones operate on a circadian rhythm, so they're the same every day.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: So it's like this graph that goes like this every day, whereas for us, you can see, while we're bleeding in our menstrual phase, uh, you know, our hormones estrogen and progesterone are quite low, and then, as we move into our follicular phase, estrogen really starts to rise.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: And for a lot of women, this follicular phase is when we can feel our best.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Um, energy is high, we, it's like get shit done phase um, and it can feel, you know, our, our food, um intake can be quite, um can be lower, and you know we don't have as many cravings.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: And then our peak, which is our ovulation.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: This is where we can feel really shiny and confident and bright and, again, that's where you've got that estrogen and progesterone.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: They're really running the show.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: And then in our second phase, in our pre-menstrual lateal phase, this is where we have more cravings, this is where our energy can be lower and it can really be if we're still trying to work at that same pace of that follicular phase.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: It can be really, really hard in this lateal phase because you can see like estrogen really takes a dip in that first couple of days after ovulation and then kind of rises a little bit, but nowhere near the follicular phase, and then progesterone is starting to rise as well.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: And so what we're seeing we work with over 150 now naturopaths, nutrition nutritionists, functional medicine doctors who do testing and what we're seeing for a lot of women is we're making too much estrogen and that's causing that estrogen dominance and then that's having that flow and effect in the body not producing enough progesterone and progesterone's like our calming hormone, our sleep hormone, and so in the second phase, if you're not having this beautiful peak and rise of progesterone, it can be really really hard.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: This is where our mood is can be impacted.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: You know, for me, I wasn't producing enough progesterone and I, in that second phase, I was so irritated.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: You know, I used to say to my husband I just need to be like locked in a padded room for a couple days because, like I can't, everything that you're doing annoys me.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Everything I'm doing, like you know, it was really extreme and it's just so nice to.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Yes, my, my energy is not as high and I'm, and I do need more food and I need more rest in this time, but I'm not having that like extreme irritability because my progesterone is where it needs to be.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: So the reason this is so important, besides from just that body literacy, is to seed cycle.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: We're actually having the specific seeds at the specific times when your body needs it to help with the production and elimination of these hormones, and this is why we're seeing such results yeah, and that makes it so understandable.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: What I like is just like oh, I now understand why I used to get so crabby yeah, yeah, and you know a big part of it as well is that, as women, we were just told, like, suck it up.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: You know it's part of being a woman.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: Like you know, periods suck, they're annoying.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Um, yeah, you will feel like crap.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: You know, for me, I had a hormone and migraines and I was just didn't even think I could do anything about it.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: It wasn't even a thought.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: It was like this is just part of it.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: But you know, these are those symptoms are common, but they're not normal and they're all signs, um, that there's something going on.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: And so, you know, a lot of the conversations that we're having with women now is like, don't just suck it up, like, listen to your body.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: And you know, unfortunately, if you do just put up with the symptoms and you have that imbalance later down the track, it can lead to really serious health consequences.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: Um, so you know, it's not something just to be like oh, I'll deal with that when I want to fall pregnant, um, or you know, I'll deal with that later.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Or you know, it's only a couple days.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: You know, for me it was like the migraine was only two days a month.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: So, you know, once it was over, I was just not really thinking about it, but it was.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: It was a huge sign for me that there was um that I was having issues with estrogen and progesterone production and elimination yeah, so there was a bit of an imbalance.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: This is where, as you said before, it's using those functional foods to create more balance in your body, because we can now understand it with more information and knowledge yeah, yeah, and it's really just giving your body that support it needs to detox that excess estrogen or, you know, it might be produced more to boost those progesterone levels again, like just to sync, to help that cyclical rhythm.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: You know, because our bodies aren't trying to work against us, you know, and it's just incredible that when we use nature and the power of food and nutrients that our bodies need, how things go can go back into balance.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Yes, awesome, brilliant, it's so awesome.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: So, in terms of seed cycling I mentioned before, it's a natural, nutritional, naturopathic technique.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: It has roots in Chinese medicine, in ayurvedic practices, and it's using food as medicine.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: In terms of what I love about the roots of Chinese medicine is that in TCM, there is this concept of using seeds to generate seeds when it comes to fertility, so I find that just so beautiful.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: I really like that using seeds to generate seeds oh my gosh yeah okay and how it actually works, because you know I get to this point.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: People like what seeds are you actually talking about?
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: And so it's really simple.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: It's four key seeds.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: I always say like seeds that you probably already have in your pantry.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: We do want to make sure they're certified organic, and that's really important, particularly when it comes to supporting hormones because of the endocrine disrupting chemicals, uh, that are found in the herbicides and pesticides sprayed in non-organic seeds.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: And the other two things that are really important when it comes to seed cycling is that we're grinding up the seeds, and this is so the body can access that nutrients which are inside the seeds.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: The grinding process also helps to remove any any anti-nutrients and makes it easier to digest as well, particularly the smaller seeds.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: So the sesame seed and the flax seed if you have them whole, they just go straight through you, so your body's actually not accessing any of the nutrients.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: And then the other really important thing is the dosage.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: So we're using a therapeutic dose that has been used in some of the study, or all of the studies that are available for seed cycling at the moment, and so we're having that.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: So you know people will say to me oh, can I have extra?
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: Or you know, there's some seeds in my muesli as well.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: Is that fine?
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: But having that therapy goes of the ground seeds at the specific times is what we want to be doing for seed cycling, and this is the way it works.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: So you'll see here that, from day one of your cycle to day 14 or around ovulation, you're having phase one, which is flaxseed and pumpkin seed, and, in terms of some of the superstar nutrients in these seeds, you're getting more than 100% of your recommended daily intake of omega-3s magnesium, manganese, zinc, iron and selenium as well, and what I love about it is that these are coming from nutrients that our bodies recognize.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: And so, in terms of a lot of people say well, I don't have a regular cycle, or I'm going through perimenopause, I'm on the pill.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: This is where we're using some of this ancient wisdom and we're seed cycling with the phases of the moon.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: I do think this is why seed cycling was kind of put in the woo-woo world for a while, because you know, as soon as I say like full moon, I'm on your moon, people either are like I don't know when that is, or like, oh, this is all a bit weird.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: But you know, throughout history women have used the moon to support fertility, to regulate their cycles.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: We used to bleed together on a new moon and ovulate on a full moon, and so this is really helping to mimic a cyclical menstrual cycle rhythm if you don't have one, and so if you're in your menstrual years and your cycle's regular, then that's your dominant rhythm.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: If not, we're using the moon phases because that's the next dominant rhythm.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: So we're having phase one from a new moon and then phase two, which is the sunflower seeds and sesame seeds.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: We're having that from ovulation back to day one, or you're having that from a full moon.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: The phase two seeds are just so beautiful.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: Like you've got over 47% of your daily vitamin E and this is what I think women say, like oh my gosh, my skin feels so bright, I'm having less breakouts Magnesium again, calcium, iron, selenium, zinc and these nutrients are really supporting that progesterone production, which is what we want in that second phase.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: The other really great thing about the seeds is the fibers, and so this is where women will say, oh my gosh, I feel less bloated, I'm going to the bathroom more regularly, and that's great because that's helping that detox as well.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: And then, in terms of this is so I can share this with everyone.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: We go into a lot of detail on the actual studies and the individual nutrients and and gps just love all this.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: I did have one gp who said to me when I was going through all this um, they said, oh, so do you fortify the seeds with these nutrients?
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: And I said, no, no, nature does that for us.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: wow, that's so interesting, isn't it?
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: A doctor would say that's no, this is actually nature.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, interesting.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: And again, you don't know what you don't know, do you?
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: You know it's good to know.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's just yeah.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: It's surprising to some people how many nutrients and you know, I just believe that there's more than we could ever even understand.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: Nature's so clever In terms, even understand um, which is so clever in terms of dosage, um, so we're using one tablespoon of each of the seeds each day, um corresponding with your menstrual cycle, and this is based on the work of dr brighton and the seed cycling studies.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: This is for seed cycling, so this is a study for PCOS.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: So if you are interested in how seed cycling helps with PCOS, this is a really great study to have a look at.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: And then we also do our own case studies as well.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: So this, we love to just gather as much data as we can.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: We work with our practitioners on that.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, this is kind of this is the data that we can.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: We work with our practitioners on that, um.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, this is kind this is the data that we're collecting, so this is available to everyone as well.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: And there's quite a few uh really great fertility case studies in there, um, so you can really have a look at um.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: You know what, what other uh, I guess additional therapeutic techniques were included, how long it took um in terms of the benefits, but what we are seeing is at least three months of seed cycling, particularly when it comes to that hormone modulation and regulating the cycle.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: So what we see within.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: Often, a woman will come to me and her cycle will be irregular, so we start on the moon phases and then, within three months, we start to see a pattern, a regular cycle, and that's when, then, we switch over to seed cycling with their own menstrual cycle.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: Within the first month, women will say my skin feels brighter, my digestion feels better.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: But, really, like, three months is what we want to give it.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: It's not a quick fix and where do people find some of these case studies?
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Is this on your website?
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: Where do people go if they want to find it?
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: yes, so there is a page on our website called um seed cycling, research and science, uh, and so we were always updating that.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: I thought I had some of our testimony in here, but I don't.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: Um, so I'll get out of that, but hopefully those slides were useful just to give, like a, a visual yeah, no, very useful.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: I think just being able to see that that cycle right at the beginning was was, um, for me, extremely interesting of how you have your estrogen and progesterone and what you might feel and why as well.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: So, um, um.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: So just going back to something you said before so if you've got pcos, um, how has that, uh, supported some women with pcos, just in case there might be somebody people listening later that study was incredible and this is why we're doing so much work with GPs and the unis and and different training organizations as well because that study showed that within three months there was a 36% reduction in cyst degeneration, which is just huge.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: So in that study study there was a metformin group, a seed site metformin is a drug used to treat the symptoms of seed cycling a seed cycling group and a control group, and the seed cycling group saw um 11.5 kilo weight reduction.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: Uh, it saw improvements in the hormones.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: There was bloods and and ultrasounds done and that cyst degeneration so and the results were better than the metformin group and so that's really exciting in terms of our own case studies.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: We're really seeing a lot of improvements in skin.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: We're seeing a lot of improvements in regulating cycles as well.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: We work with a lot of clients with endometriosis and we're seeing again like that supporting the cycle skin.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: We're seeing reduction in PMS symptoms, period pain as well and again, like those beautiful nutrients the magnesium, the zinc giving your body those nutrients, it's really supporting that, that estrogen and progesterone which is then having that flow on effect wow.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: so that's really interesting because, um, what I'm learning is just there seems to be so many women, um, suffering with endometriosis and I mean I've got a couple of clients as well, and you know people as well, I know and it's, you know, it's really quite, you know, so invasive, so painful and emotionally huge.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and you know, with endometriosis and PCOS, you know, and even PMDD and some of those other conditions, it's really, you know what the women that I've seen who are really starting to thrive and come out of it.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: They're building their team, you know.
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: They're doing seed cycling, but they're also managing their nervous system.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: They've got a kinesiologist or, you know, an osteo or a chiropractor.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: They've got, you know, they're working with a naturopath.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: I've got a really good specialist and that can take years to find someone who really understand and is willing to to offer a holistic approach.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: And so, you know, it's never just one thing and, yeah, it's a lot of building that team and trying different things and seeing what works.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but we're seeing adding seed cycling in.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: We're seeing some really, really positive results uh, that's just so awesome.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: Um and um, there's a few people now with endometriosis that I need to let them know.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: You know just having this extra knowledge and understanding, so any other say testimonials or things that would be handy for you to share with, knowing that this is going into a group or on a fertility journey, is there anything else that could be shared, shared for information for them?
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: yeah, I guess, go to our website that has a lot of information and some of the stories.
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: We also share a lot on social media.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: I'm getting messages every day and really, you know, for me, when I started this, I remember saying to my husband it feels like it's a little box of hope for women who have just struggled.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: And you know a lot of women who have felt gaslit, who feel like there aren't any solutions, and so this is what I want to give.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: I want to give hope and, yeah, I love to share the studies and the research and you know the nutrients, but it's the real stories that really bring us hope.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: So that's what I love to share on our socials.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: And you know, I've had emails and messages and photos sent to me of, like, ultrasounds and positive pregnancy tests and you know so many women saying, oh my gosh, mel, it was the seeds.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: And I believe that when we are really supporting that healthy menstrual cycle, healthy ovulation, cervical mucus fluid, that's why we're having those really positive results when it comes to fertility.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: But I will say I would never want someone to put off going to see a specialist if they were concerned about their fertility and like, oh, I'll try seed cycling.
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: No, no, you, you go see your specialist, you go find the build that team um, you know, work with the specialist, but add seed cycling in as well.
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: Um, because, like, as you know I say over and again, it's not just one thing.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: Um, this is what functional nutrition is.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: It's like really looking at it as at a it as a holistic picture.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: And the seed cycle, I suppose, is that tool, it's another tool in your kit bag that can support balance health, hormonal health, and it's that that can really support fertility and creating the best eggs.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Like you say the best cervical mucus, you say the best cervical mucus, you know the best form for conception.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: So, if you want to finish on a top tip, or a couple of top tips, what would you like to share?
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: Oh, a top tip on speed cycling or in general or health, I don't know what comes to your mind.
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: I should have asked you before, instead of just taking uh, giving this to you now, just as we finish on, I don't know, you know my focus.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: Uh, the last couple cycles has been on slowing down like not rushing for the sake of rushing and gosh, it feels so much better, like I found, like, even when I didn't need to, I was rushing, like rushing the kids out the door, rushing to do this, rushing to do that, and you know it's a lot on our nervous systems and you know, I'm just I think that my huge yeah, my top tip is like support your nervous system and for me that's, uh, slowing down and like catching myself when I'm rushing for the sake of rushing yeah, do you know what I feel like?
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: I hear you, um, it is so busy and I feel that I'm I'm needing to almost go back to basics for myself and just like come on, liz, you know I need to support my own nervous system, so I think this is great, you know, for all of us today, you know, on any journey of life, to slow down and support our nervous system, because that's when our body can, I suppose, be supported in its best way.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: Hey, yeah, yeah, no, thank you.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for this time, thank you so much for this chat and for sharing, and, um, I'll make sure that we put this recording into the group and share see this recording with you, and how are the best ways of connecting and contacting you?
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: yeah, you can send me a dm on facebook, instagram.
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: Uh, send us an email through the website.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: Um, yeah, lots of different ways.
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: We have a 1300 number as well, and we do offer mini seed cycling nutrition consults as part of the seed cycle as well.
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: So, you know, if you have, if you want to speak to someone, if you have a client who wants to just understand how to start seed cycling or how it's going to work for them, you can book in a little mini consult.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: There's also a lot of resources on the website but, yeah, just reach out, brilliant will do.
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: And for all of your social media.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: It is the seed cycle, isn't it?
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: It's not just seed cycle, it's the seed cycle.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, beautiful mel, you take care, sending lots of love and, um, yeah, let's look at slowing down thanks liz, thanks everyone thank you for listening to this episode of fertility, health and coming back to self.
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the podcast and consider leaving me a review, which will help me to reach others who may benefit from this information.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: Feel free to get in contact at lizwaltonorg or via social media at lizwalton underscore, fertility coach, and, if you feel called to, I would love you to share this podcast with anyone you think this could be a healing for, as an elixir for the soul.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: I'll see you next time.