Fertility Confidence Podcast

In this week's episode I had the pleasure of interviewing Joanne Verkuilen, founder and creator of the amazing platform Circle + Bloom.

Joanne Verkuilen is the founder of Circle + Bloom which aims to share the incredible power of the mind-body connection. Her various programs and guided meditations are designed to empower anyone on their journey. Diagnosed with PCOS and the possibility of infertility as a late teen, she did struggle to conceive. She had two very different pregnancy experiences but it ended with two happy, beautiful children.

When her friend Stephanie also started having fertility problems and seeing what she went through, this gave Joanne a business idea. Thus she created Circle + Bloom back in 2008. Exploring the connection between the mind and body, she created a meditation program for both infertility and cancer. Her company grew fairly into the scale that it is today and has since helped over 50,000 women worldwide.

We covered a bit about her story with fertility and the spark that brought Circle + Bloom to life, how meditation may be an importance piece missing on your journey, and she even mentioned some top secret projects that C+B are working on right now!

My clients know that I am a huge supporter of using meditation to help you through this rollercoaster, and I have been using and recommending Circle + Bloom meditations programs since the very beginning of my practice.

You can check out the Circle + Bloom programs here: https://circlebloom.com?ref=9454

And find them on Instagram: @cirlce_and_bloom

Do you suspect your estrogen is high or have you been told you are estrogen dominant? If so, this episode is for you.

I'm going to make you question if that diagnosis is appropriate for you and your fertility journey because oftentimes this concept of "estrogen dominance" is being thrown around a little prematurely. Before you go messing with your estrogen, let's be really sure that's the case.

In this episode of the Fertility Confidence Podcast I break down:

• How estrogen works in our body
• When to test and the importance of proper timing for proper treatment
• Why you need to be careful lowering this beautiful hormone
• When this idea of "too much" may actually be true
• What's the most important step in working to rebalance your estrogen

We had this conversation over in my free Facebook community, Be Hormonally Confident, and if you aren't already a member please come and join us.

If you've been struggling on your fertility journey, you don't need to go this alone any longer. Come join me for my 5 Strategies to Build Fertility Confidence Masterclass that happens live on Tuesday at 12 PM EST to get practical tips and strategies around why what you're currently doing isn't working and what your next best steps are moving forward.

Register at http://kelseyduncan.click/live-training.

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 going back to an older recorded Facebook Live session on progesterone. This hormone does not go unnoticed in the fertility world.

I find if anything, it's sometimes the only hormone people are concerned about or asking about or questioning when there's actually. A lot of hormones that we won't get into today can play a really big role. And even though I say that I'm definitely not discounting the impact that progesterone can have on your fertility journey.

It is the big luteal phase hormone, the hormone that helps to trigger that pregnancy piece, the hormone that needs to rise and, and stay high to actually. Withhold and sustain pregnancy into the early week. So progesterone does play a really large role. In staying pregnant and in those early weeks of pregnancy.

So it's not something that we want to sleep on. That's for sure. So what I talk about in this live is how can we get a proper assessment done? Progesterone is important for how to actually properly track our cycle so that we can see what is the health of our luteal phase. So progesterone is that mean luteal phase hormone.

If you're not properly tracking your cycle if you're just doing OPQ. We don't actually know really what's going on in that luteal phase. So that's always a really important first place. Let's just start. And if it's low. What the heck are we going to do about it? We have a few different reasons. When I see low progesterone with clients, I'm like, okay, what maybe is going on here?

What issues are we having? How then can we properly support the body? So I hope you guys enjoy this little chat about progesterone. If you have any follow-up questions, please come and hang out with me inside. Be hormonally confident. I'll leave the link in the show notes or come find me on Instagram at fertility confidence method.

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.

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.

• "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"

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 talking about Insulin, the overlooked and under-discussed hormone that does, in fact, have an impact on our fertility.

This is part one of this conversation focusing strongly on Insulin resistance, what it is, how and why it develops and which options we have to test and address. So please do join us again next week for a deeper discussion into what we can do post-testing for Insulin resistance.

Here are the main topics of today's episode:

• What is Insulin?
• Insulin resistance - is anybody home?
• How and why insulin resistance develops?
• PCOS and Insulin resistance
• Test, don't guess

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.

• "Insulin is produced in the pancreas in response to glucose entering the bloodstream. It's like the cellular gatekeeper, to use glucose as fuel.

• "Insulin is not bad, it has to be there. What makes insulin a potential issue is when insulin resistance starts to develop"

• "What happens when insulin resistance starts to develop? It's almost as if glucose is knocking and knocking and knocking on the door. And after that 10th annoying knock, insulin is just going to stop answering. That cell is now resistant to that signal. It's no longer listening to the way that it should."

• "It's pretty common for women with PCOS to also be insulin resistant but it's not a diagnostic requirement ... meaning not all women with PCOS have insulin resistance and not all women with insulin resistance have PCOS"

• "If you've been told you have PCOS, but nobody has properly assessed for insulin resistance, please, please do. You may be missing a huge piece to treatment, especially fertility treatment."

• "One of the biggest impacts insulin resistance can have is on ovulation, elevated levels of insulin in the bloodstream. Around the ovary, it can impact follicle, maturation and increase ovarian production of testosterone and higher levels of androgens around the ovary."

• "High levels of insulin impact the maturation of the placenta, the health of the placenta, which is crucial in that first trimester of pregnancy."

• "Insulin resistance inflammation is a physical body stress and can cause hormonal disruption."

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 talking through my thoughts on Acupuncture and fertility. This discussion is an overflow from a live I did within the Be Hormonally Confident Facebook group a few weeks ago.

At the end of 2019, I brought my practice completely virtual and I brought the Fertility Confidence Method to life in the online space. For two reasons, one, I wanted to be home with my baby. My daughter wouldn't take a bottle, It was really hard and I felt like it was just the right time for me to make a change. And the second reason was I knew that I could help more women outside of my community.

And while I gain so much from working virtually and helping a farther-reaching community of women, I do miss performing acupuncture in my physical clinic practice. This is because I use acupuncture a lot to try to help women ovulate, so helping to stimulate ovulation. There is so much research to support the physical aspects and physical benefits of acupuncture in terms of ovulation rates, lower miscarriage rates, better cervical fluid production, better embryo development during IVF, better implantation rates, better pregnancy clinical pregnancy rates.

And there are so many benefits to this practice as a conjunctive therapy. Studies have shown us that there is a benefit of acupuncture that goes beyond the physical body, we're now talking about stress management, about anxiety, about mood, about mindset. That is worth its weight in gold in my opinion.

Here are the main topics of today's episode:

• Why I advocate for acupuncture
• Acupuncture and fertility
• Specialization and due diligence
• Importance of research
• Cycle sinking
• Beyond the physical benefits
• Effect of acupuncture on psychosocial outcomes

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.

• "I use acupuncture a lot to try to help women ovulate, so helping to stimulate ovulation and we do see a ton of benefits in terms of improving ovulation for all women.

• "As a naturopath, I feel that I got to merge the eastern and western approach in building a care team around you, of people with, with some different opinions and different approaches so that we know we're touching on each and every angle for you."

• "Doing your due diligence and finding someone that is well versed in fertility to get you results. The research is there. The research is heavy. It's well supported … We want to read the research with a very critical eye because the goal is a baby, the goal to shorten your cycle or lengthen your luteal phase."

• "In one study...they found that the women who received the acupuncture had a 42.5% clinical pregnancy rate, whereas women who didn't receive acupuncture had a 26% pregnancy rate. That's almost double"

• "The second study actually had more acupuncture appointments, and older in terms of their age, demographic and pregnancy outcome, they saw 34% with acupuncture and only 16% in the non-acupuncture. So again the pregnancy rate doubled, actually more than doubled in terms of the acupuncture actually helping with clinical pregnancy rate."

• "The cool thing with acupuncture is you're going to get different points based on where you're at in your cycle."

• "A study in 2011, the effect of acupuncture on psychosocial outcomes for women experiencing infertility. what they actually looked at was anxiety and infertility-related stress. Those were the outcomes that they were studying and what they found was the women in the acupuncture group reported significant changes in the fertility problem inventory with less social concern, less relationship concern which we know can be incredibly difficult on the fertility journey. There were also trends toward a reduction in infertility stress on other domains and trends toward improved self-efficacy"

• "We have a lot of research to support the physical aspects and physical benefits of acupuncture in terms of ovulation rates, lower miscarriage rates, better cervical fluid production, better embryo development during IVF, better implantation rates, better pregnancy clinical pregnancy rates."

• "Studies have shown us that there is a benefit of acupuncture that actually goes beyond the physical body. We're now talking about stress management, about anxiety, about mood, about mindset. That is worth its weight in gold in my opinion."

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, I am speaking to Nora Deborra about how nutrition can help power your cycle. Nora and I both agree that laying that foundational groundwork is key to accomplishing so many goals with your health.

Nora is a preconception health coach, a holistic nutritionist, and a yoga instructor who helps women prepare their bodies for pregnancy and have a healthy baby after the age of 30.

Through her signature program, holistic pregnancy prep, she teaches women how to naturally achieve their best health before pregnancy so that their minds and body are in the most optimal state to get pregnant when they are ready. When she's not coaching, you can find her indulging in gourmet burgers, sweating in a yoga class, or on long hikes with her Husky.

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.

Show notes links

• Nora's Website: www.naturallynora.ca

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 talking about the two-week wait, that luteal phase we, as women, go through every single month. We will discuss how to give this difficult season the care and attention it deserves through understanding and building what I call our 'survival kit'.

Here are the main topics of today's episode:

• What is the two-week wait?
• Two week wait survival kit - tools and strategies
• Top Four Suggestions
• Taking time to breathe
• Positive pastimes
• Connecting with Nature
• Refresh passions from your past

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.

• "So we hear this time and time again, of how stress negatively impacts the fertility journey, but how do we stop stressing about it? We can't honestly, I think we honestly can't and I never expect someone to come in and just stop thinking about it or stop worrying about it or stop stressing about it. We need to support you and your body where you're at, so we want to build out your two-week wait survival kit."

• "The first thing that you can consider … Basically taking some time to just breathe. Check-in with yourself, actually process through the emotions versus pushing them away."

• "So acknowledging what comes into your brain, allowing yourself to sit with it for a minute, see what that means to you, and letting it go."

• "EFT Tapping ...As a way to help move energy, move like stagnant energy through my body, set expectations, set affirmations, um, I've found it incredibly helpful for me and my FCM clients have really enjoyed the addition of EFT tapping into their protocols. Kind of originates from a TCM Background. And we can focus on moving negative energy out and tapping positive energy in"

• " Number two is to plan some fun activities and visits. The two-week wait is one of those places where it actually might be beneficial for you to plan some things to distract yourself. Get you out of the house to get you out of your head, to have some fun, to forget for a minute that you're literally counting down the minutes until you can take a pregnancy test."

• "Sometimes we've got to learn to say no, sometimes we got to learn. To honor our energy and our capacity in that moment. So if you do plan distractions and then the time comes and you're like, yeah, no, that's like 100%, not something I want to do right now. Don't do it. Never force yourself to do something you don't want to do. So take it with a grain of salt, figure out what feels right for you and cycle to cycle."

• Number three is to connect with nature. So we have lots of research to support spending time in nature improves mental health. We can use this as a tactic to calm your nervous system and to actually help reduce the anxiety that you might be feeling during that two-week wait"

• "Number four is to pick a hobby that you miss. So something that you made me feel like you haven't had a lot of time for. Something that you've maybe let fall to the wayside a little bit, something that used to bring you a lot of joy"

Show notes links

• Circle + Bloom meditations https://circlebloom.com
• Expectful App https://expectful.com
• Calm App https://www.calm.com

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 talking about Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH), why it is not the be-all and end-all of your fertility success, and the benefits of a synergistic approach to your fertility journey.

Here are the main topics of today's episode:

• What is Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH)?
• Why AMH does not dictate clinical pregnancy success
• AMH and AFC (Antral follicle count)
• A synergistic approach to your fertility journey

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.

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 talking about Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and their impact on your hormones and your fertility. What are they, how do they impact you, and ways to decrease your exposure to EDCs, in particular through your personal care products.

• What are ECDs (endocrine disrupting chemicals)?
• Impact on hormones and fertility
• Exposure to EDCs and our control over this
• Environmental exposures
• Big three offenders - fragrance, phthalates, and parabens
• Smart and effective ways to reduce exposure to EDCs at home
• Doing your research, without going down a rabbit hole
• Fertility Confidence team resources and community discussions to support you
• Beautycounter (more info below in shownotes)

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.

If you're listening to this episode prior to April 27th, 2021, Beautycounter are having an amazing 15% off friends and family sale. If you're joining us after April 27th, and you're looking at making some healthy swaps head over to Instagram, find me @fertilityconfidencemethod, send me a DM and let me know you're interested in making that clean beauty swap, I have a special discount code waiting just for you to make your first purchase to get started. And I'd love to help you find some products that are going to be right for you that fit in your budget and that are going to make your skin fantastic as well.