Welcome to another episode of the Fertility Confidence podcast. I am your host, Dr. Kelsey Duncan, naturopathic doctor, and the founder and creator of the Fertility Confidence method. 

In today’s episode, we are delving deeper into our discussion on Insulin, the overlooked and under-discussed hormone that does, in fact, have an impact on our fertility. 

This is part two of this conversation focusing strongly on Insulin resistance, what we can do post-testing, and laying the foundations with our three most powerful tools - nutrition, movement, and sleep.

I do want to preface this episode by stating that we are talking in general terms today, that it is important for you to talk to your healthcare provider first before starting any supplements or changes in your health routine. This episode will support you in taking some of these questions or info back to your practitioner that you are working with, or if you want to work with my team to help you understand, please reach out to us via the contact information shared in these show notes.

Here are the main topics of today’s episode:

• Refresh of Part One
• Lay the foundations
• Nutrition
• Movement
• Sleep and the hormone, Leptin
• Supplements and Vitamin D testing

My sincerest thanks for pressing play today. Join our growing community of strong, hopeful women, each on their own fertility confidence journey; as well as those that are listening to gain the knowledge and understanding needed to support them via the Fertility Confidence Instagram @fertilityconfidencemethod or through our Facebook group Be Hormonally Confident with Dr.Kelsey. 

If you could do me the honor of hitting the subscribe button, leaving a review, and sharing the podcast with a friend that needs to hear these conversations, I would be forever grateful.

Curious about how you can work with me and my team? Book your free clarity call here. 

Quotes

• “With insulin, nutrition, and movement, or our two most powerful tools.”

• “ To keep your hormones balanced you want lean proteins, healthy, fat, complex carbs”

• “Make sure you're actually having adequate portion sizes to reach your caloric requirements because too few calories will actually do more harm than good.”

• “ If you're having a fruit, or if you having a carb, pair it with a fat or protein to actually help your body digest that sugar more effectively. So we'll have less of those glucose-insulin spikes.”

• “ A study in 2014 found that women who spent three hours per week walking had a significant visceral and subcutaneous fat loss, as well as a significant reduction in fasting glucose HOMA IR. …so they lost weight, improved their blood pressure and their insulin resistance”

• “I found numerous studies done, more done in men than in women, but the consensus being that less than six hours of sleep per night greatly increased the risk of diabetes and insulin resistance. And the treatment of getting more sleep actually helped to improve insulin resistance.”

• “So if you have the nutrition, if you have the movement nailed down and you are sleeping consistently and well each and every night, Then we can talk about supplements, but I really want you to work on these foundational pieces first”

• “I really do hope people will start getting Vitamin D testing once a year at minimum, if not twice a year, I typically recommend testing twice a year in spring and right before winter”

• “To recap, you are going to eat whole foods, establish a nutrition plan with lots of lean protein, healthy fat veggies, complex carbs, some fruit, and a little bit of dairy. You are going to walk for a total of three or more hours every single week, you are going to prioritize your sleep because not getting enough sleep is not doing you any good in a wide variety of ways, but definitely, with your insulin resistance and your hormones, you're then going to talk to your healthcare provider and figure out if and what supplements may be right for you or your body and you're going to have your vitamin D tested”