Getting Pregnancy Ready

What is the Freedom  Fertility Formula?

Meet Dany Griffiths. Dany is my coach and mentor in the training I have been doing over the last year to become a Freedom Fertility Specialist. Drum roll…..I have now graduated and hopefully will make an awesome Freedom Fertility Specialist.

Dany is passionate about the emotional impact of fertility, which came about initially from her desire to support her best friend using Hypno-fertility. Dany found she had a huge interest in emotional well-being and developed the Freedom Fertility Formula to help women get to a place of strength, where they have the ability to cope with the rollercoaster of their fertility journey.

Becoming a Freedom Fertility Formula Specialist

Dany teaches her trainees to firstly listen so that the woman’s voice and pain are heard. She then provides strategies to support them to move forward and work on the mind-body connection. She recognizes that the one thing that women struggling with infertility wants -  is the ability to cope with the day-to-day.

The Emotion Module of the Freedom Fertility Formula

This module focuses on understanding your emotions and taking the right action, using your feelings, to guide you. Dany believes that taking the time to consider your feelings, consciously, means that you can then move forward in the best possible way.

Dany talks about positivity and the importance of adding back joy into your life to help them avoid putting life on hold. Maintaining an even keel, acknowledging the bad days, and having a duvet day is absolutely fine.

Imagining your Goal

At the start of the Freedom Fertility formula course, Dany very much encourages her clients and trainees to focus on the individual rather than the end goal of a baby. However, towards the end of the Freedom Fertility Formula the conversation turns to the desire to have a baby. At this point and in a safe and secure space, Dany encourages women to fully embrace what it is they want and connect fully with this desire. This can be difficult and challenging for both the specialist and client, but Dany views this as the pathway to healing.

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We're talking periods, STIs, fertility education, miscarriage, and where to get the information you can trust when thinking about your future fertility.

Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss an episode, plus you can now sign up to become a Patreon of The Fertility Podcast. You'll be getting even more support from Kate and Natalie every month with a live get-together, have a say in who is interviewed on the podcast, and also get to chat live with experts.

Click here to join today 

Continuing our series of The Early Years we chat with Amone Gbedamah co-founder of We Are The Hood, a brand new journal for girls aged between 8-14, aiming to change the way young girls experience puberty. Amone and co-founder Maria Purcell’s mission is to remove the secrecy, stigma, and taboo surrounding periods and replace this with knowledge, empowerment, and ultimately….. celebration.

As women, we can probably all remember the day we got our first period. The secrecy, and often the anxiety, that having your first period induces! Who do you tell? What do you do? Pads or tampons? It’s a minefield.

Why is it that being educated about periods at school, is often shrouded in secrecy and shame? The girls are removed from the boys for these discussions, further increasing the shame felt by young girls. This first experience needs to change and this is exactly what Amone and Maria are on a mission to do.

Amone tells us how the inspiration to create the journal came about and gives us a tantalizing insight into the structure of the journal. The co-founders were careful to ensure that the journal is educational – covering the basics such as anatomy, periods, nutrition, myth-busting, and also advice on the different types of sanitary protection available. However, they also wanted to provide the opportunity for creativity, mood, and period tracking, as well as real-life stories from inspirational women.

The journal also includes an all-important guide for parents, which will hopefully help parents to feel more comfortable talking about periods with their daughters. Kate is well aware that some parents prefer not to openly discuss these issues with their children, fearing that this knowledge can have negative connotations, and asks Amone if they have come across any negativity from parents.

The journal is available as a hard copy and as a digital copy. Parents can preview the content before purchasing the book, by purchasing the digital content to look through this first before deciding to share it with their daughter.

Excitingly, going forward, We Are The Hood has plans to create journals for other age groups, ultimately spanning the lifespan of the woman.

The journal is available to purchase via their website - but also on amazon, Etsy and Instagram.

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This week on the podcast we’re talking poo!

Well to be exact…….gut health and your fertility. Meet Dr. Cecilia Kitic the founder of The IVF Project and Dr. Sue Reed who is a Dietician and microbiologist. Both ladies join us from Australia. 

How to eat for good fertility

Sue tells us how infertility can be associated with an unhealthy gut, particularly increased inflammation and low diversity of bacteria in the gut. She recommends focusing on good whole foods and steering clear of refined and processed foods.

Whole grains are hugely important for a healthy fertility diet. They contain all our essential nutrients, antioxidants, and prebiotic fiber. Examples are whole grain pieces of bread, brown rice, and even popcorn! Sue recommends 48gs of whole grains per day. For PCOS focus on the low glycaemic index carbs.

Cecilia says that it doesn’t have to be expensive to ensure you’re getting the right good quality foods. Both Cecilia and Sue help their clients in buying the right food to optimize their fertility.

Sue says even eating frozen veg and fruit is a great way to get all your nutrients in. These foods are frozen very quickly after being picked and therefore contain an abundance of our essential nutrients. Meal planners or batch cooking is another way of keeping costs down.

What about dairy?

Sue encourages her clients to eat dairy as it is chock full of all the vitamins, minerals, and the all-important calcium, that you would miss out on if you excluded this in your diet.

How can you find out about your gut health?

It’s easy to get your gut tested by doing a simple poo test. Our feces are actually really complex but by testing you can easily see what’s in there but equally what’s not.

Sperm health and the gut

Cecilia explains that if your gut is healthy and you have a good bacterial diversity then testosterone is at an optimum level. However, a poor diet can reduce this diversity and be damaging to sperm health.

To supplement or not to supplement?

Sue feels that many women go overboard on supplements and that vitamins and minerals from our food is the best option. Clearly all women should take folic acid and vitamin D, and also Omega 3 if they don’t generally get this from eating oily fish.

The benefits of exercise over-supplementation

Cecilia firmly believes that exercise should always be used to improve energy and vitality as opposed to supplements. Exercise is the best anti-inflammatory and this is especially important for women with PCOS and to help reduce DNA damage of the egg and sperm.

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It's Fertility Week in the UK, and throughout the week the TTC community are talking about the many different ways we are affected when dealing with infertility.

Fertility Network UK the leading fertility support charity is focusing today on Mental Health using the hashtag MentalMatters and a former guest on this podcast Kelly Da Silva is sharing her experiences of being childless not by choice. Kelly spoke to Kate and me in a previous episode about feeling at peace with the situation and you can hear her conversation be sure to visit FNUK's website to find out more about what's happening this week.

In the fertility podcast world today I'm sharing an exclusive episode which is part of a new podcast series I have made called The Agora Journals - conversations about empowering the freedom of reproductive choice for everyone, featuring a wide range of individuals and couples on their road to parenthood with wisdom, compassion and honesty.

This first episode is a conversation with Carole Gilling-Smith. Medical Director of The Agora Gynaecology and Fertility Centre in Hove, East Sussex. The clinic specialises in diagnosing and treating the causes of infertility and welcomes people from all walks of life to support alternative parenting.

The clinic offers specialised programmes for same-sex couples and single women who wish to conceive using donor sperm. Carol talked about how she set up her clinic Agora in Surrey as a desire to create the perfect clinic to experience for patients and is interested in fertility education and believes strongly that we should be educating young people about fertility in schools but also for people in their 20s before they start thinking about making a family. She works with the LGBTQ community to help them in the different ways that can make a family and importantly get the communication right with this group of patients.

is a key part of the clinic's work and Carol highlights that at the time when an individual is considering transitioning, is generally not the time that they are also considering their fertility? It is important to start having these discussions and consider fertility preservation before commencing hormone treatment, to avoid later regrets.

Carole explains the fertility preservation care and processes that transgender individuals receive at the Agora and that the Agora are very sensitive to their specific concerns. The Agora Clinic is leading the way in Fertility Care for the Trans community and actively celebrates alternative families. More clinics are beginning to open their doors to this community. We talk about the support that The Agora offers individuals and couples in terms of counselling and other resources they share with patients on how and when to discuss their stories with their children. Carole recommends that these discussions start with their child from a young age.

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Professor Adam Balen talked through the new PCOS guidelines, with regards to diet and also the issues around Clomid, explaining he prefers to use Letrozole.  One of the most common misconceptions he says he still hears is women who have been told they won't get pregnant because they have PCOS.

When it comes to being overweight it, most women can improve their fertility by a 5-10% reduction in body weight.

Adam talked about how a lot of women end up having IVF when they have PCOS and don't need it. He spoke about Ovulation Induction kits as well as explaining more about a Laparoscopy and thankfully we've moved on from Ovarian drilling - which you will also hear him and Kate discuss.

Adam also talked about the downside of Metformin being used by women with PCOS and he explained how GPs don't understand what PCOS is and mistakenly think you have to have severe symptoms however we recognize it is a spectrum.  You don't need all of them just 2 - such as menstrual disturbance and the Rotterdam Criteria 

We also touched on the ethical issues - which we will aim to discuss more in a future episode.

Things to consider: PCOS runs in the family - 1st-degree relatives so there's a 50% of your mother's sister's daughter having it. Talk to your sister. Get screened.

We need to understand normal! Adam mentioned the videos from Fertility Forum which you can view here 

You can also watch some animations from the Fertility Education Initiative here 

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Meet Amy Bennie, Trustee and Chair of the Daisy Network. Daisy Network is a charity dedicated to providing information and support to women diagnosed with Premature Ovarian Insufficiency.

We discussed what is Premature Ovarian Insufficiency (POI)  -  a term used to describe where the ovaries stop working before the age of natural menopause. Some women with POI can be as young teenagers. Daisy provides support and medical advice, local support but also aims to raise awareness among medical professionals.

Sadly POI occurs in 1:100 under 40, 1:1000 under 30, and 1:10,000 under 20, however other women may also be diagnosed following cancer treatments for example.

It can be difficult to diagnose POI and may be incorrectly diagnosed initially. Symptoms include periods not starting as a teenager, periods stopping, noticing menopause symptoms such as mood swings, night sweats, anxiety, tiredness, etc. Diagnosis is obtained by taking an FSH Blood sample and repeat 4 weeks apart

Like fertility, POI or menopause is not routinely discussed in schools, and therefore there is a lack of awareness. Treatments for POI include HRT or the Combined Oral Contraceptive pill. HRT replaces the estrogen that is lacking and helps to protect bone density.

Daisy offers a variety of different support networks such as medical support, local support for meet-ups, and connecting with other women suffering from POI, a Private Facebook group. Daisy also has an annual conference called Daisy Day.

Daisy Network aims to be the first point of call for women who are diagnosed and encourage early referral from medical professionals once diagnosed.

Women who are diagnosed with POI are more likely to conceive with egg donation and IVF. All the Daisy Network team are volunteers. The charity fundraises through their annual conference and by members who do fundraising events such as climbing Kilimanjaro and 100k walks. The majority of POI is spontaneous but it can be hereditary and therefore this makes it difficult to detect and more research is needed to understand POI more.

HRT and breast cancer risk – for POI HRT replaces hormone levels that have been lost and does not increase the levels and shouldn’t increase the risk of breast cancer. Most recent studies did not consider POI and therefore do not relate to a woman suffering from POI.

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Henrietta Norton talked about how even as early as seven years old she was experiencing digestive issues and tiredness. Her periods were dreadful and as we hear all too often she just accepted this was how it was going to be. 

It wasn't until her early 20’s that she went to a nutritionist and had a light bulb moment as it was at this point that she understood how much our food and lifestyle can affect our hormone balance

Henrietta spoke about how she was diagnosed with all sorts of different conditions and each time, the common theme was extreme menstrual pain

In her work as a nutritional therapist and in her talk at The Fertility Show, Henrietta will be speaking explaining how important it is to realize, not what to cut out but that it's about what you need to put in. She describes how we are an interconnected web of systems and how you can’t treat one without looking at the others. 

We also spoke about 'Stress and mindfulness' and how whilst they can often be seen as buzz terms in today's society, stress can be more than running around, working hard as it means different things to diff people. 

Henrietta talks about the 'window of preconception health' and how important this is. She explained how 'Preconception is a hugely energetically hungry process' which I thought was such an insightful thing to share and something that a lot of us probably don't realize. 

She explained how if you don’t have enough of the nutrients to support your mitochondria you will be feeling really tired.  We also spoke about how Fertility preservation starts when we start menstruating

You will hear tips on where to start regarding supplementation and how Omega 3 is really important for Men and Women. For the man as well as it increased mobility and motility

You will also hear from  Dr. Sandeep Mane who has set up  Origin International Fertility Center in India. He was in charge of surgical skills training at the Royal College, London where he trained numerous doctors from all over the world. Dr. Mane has set up a clinic and will be speaking about the emphasis he puts on the mind and spiritual approach in his clinic. How important it is for patients to understand what is going on with them, to know what treatments and tests they have had previously and why they didn't work. 

He wants to ensure people are able to cope with every stage of their treatment, so works with the mind as well as the scientific processes needed from assisted reproduction in his practice. His talk will be explaining more about his work and how he believes this approach is a significant part of the future of fertility treatment. 

To get tickets to The Fertility Show and to find out the full speech schedule click here 

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Meet Author Toni Weschler, who wrote her epic manual Taking Charge of Your Fertility over 20 years ago as she wanted to help women understand how to chart their cycles. She wanted to teach the fertility awareness method and educated women that cervical fluid is to the woman what seminal fluid is to the man

Toni spoke to me about how she got into working in women's health and when she started writing her book it became the most intellectually challenging thing she has done taking her five years to research and write, as it was for three different audiences.

Toni explained she wanted to speak to practitioners, people who are trying to get pregnant, and people who are trying to avoid getting pregnant and how that caused quite a headache with the language she would use. For example, if a woman or a couple was reading the book to understand more about natural birth control when I was discussing when a woman was fertile or infertile..I’d say it was unsafe. But if a woman was trying to get pregnant, that wasn’t a very helpful term, also for PCOS - it’s treated differently depending on whether you are trying to get pregnant or avoid pregnancy…

 Toni has also written a book called 'Cycle Savvy' - the smart teenage guide to mysteries of your body which is about being empowered and savvy about your cycle and once you understand everything about it you can use that information for a myriad of situations.

Her aim for that book is that she wants every teenager to come away with the power within their own body to utilize the information to make decisions eg. use natural birth control or use this information for pregnancy achievement and not go through years of infertility...

 Toni spoke about her mixed feelings about fertility apps expressing concern if any woman uses an app when they only fill in when they get their period and the app tells them when they will be fertile, she said to ditch them!  

She talked about the estrogen surge and how it's important to understand that once your temperature rises it’s too late and that the most imp thing to observe is your cervical fluid, which should be a slippery and clear type of substance. However, the exception of this is women with PCOS due to irregular cycles. 

Toni explained how her book came out just before the internet took off and my number was in the yellow pages and she had a woman called to say thanks for all that she had done and had Toni see the messages on the 'Message boards'.Toni had no idea what the woman was talking about, as and I had to have her explain that people had been posting comments. 

The email was barely a thing - so her PO box was flooded with letters, with every single woman saying I can’t believe I didn’t know this sooner… how is it my doctor didn’t tell me this. 

This is the episode I mentioned in my chat with Toni, where the lovely Amber aka Preggars Kitchen reviewed her book and explained how much it changed her life 

To win my copy of Toni's book visit my Instagram  for details 

Meet Angela Heap, a Nutritional Therapist who is working in fertility having come to it from her own experience of PCOS and Prolactinoma as she found she wasn’t helped by conventional medicine.

Angela grew up in Hong Kong, had a very healthy lifestyle came back to the UK at 18, and started to experience migraine, it was at this point in her life she started to pay more attention to what was going on in her body.

She started to look into genetics and found out she had some of the genes such as insulin mutation genes that would predispose her to PCOS. She also has a family history of glaucoma

Angela has spoken around the world on her studies and in 2013 talking about it, in the US

and discovered people like Amy Yaskos and Dr. Ben Lynch  - epigenetic and nutrigenomics and she started looking into it more.  Angela explained how you can change things but only if they are expressed.

We spoke about the tests you can do yourself such as 23andme

and she explained how when you do these types of tests, it’s worth going through them with someone who understands, as you can get quite scared about them.  The test is telling you a predisposition, it’s not saying you're actually going to get a certain disease.

She also explained how Google heavily invested in 23andme  and is very interesting, which is something I didn’t realize. It’s important to understand the time frame involved when trying to make lifestyle changes and Angela explained

“I always say this when I speak to people - it's about a long preparation period. You wouldn't do a marathon without all the training, you wouldn't just jump into that... It's exactly the same for preparing for a baby because it's your family line. It's not just that one baby you're trying to get because you want to complete your family it's your family line and it's quite important to make them as healthy as you possibly can".

Angela has worked with people with egg health and has had some great results working with people with IVF to the point that the fertility consultant has asked the patient what they have been doing as they had expected the patient's eggs to have degenerated.

“What you do prior to conception is the most consequential thing you can do”

Angela has also been invited to Parliament to discuss Micronutrients related to how in the UK they’re going to be fortifying folic acid. She also explains about the MTHFR gene and how we ingest folate and it doesn’t just get into the cell it has to be broken down

15 or 25% have the MTHFR gene, so it’s not just a straightforward case of taking folic acid when you are trying to conceive. She has specific opinions about off-the-shelf preconception supplements. "Going along to Boots or Superdrug and just picking up, you know standard prenatal's isn't the way forward. Any medical professional would say "I'm not just going to assume - let's test and find out" and that's exactly the point I'm coming to at. Let's look at some of your genes and see if there's some variance there that may be causing some issues and then we can have that conversation”.

Angela’s advice is to always look at people who are specialists in fertility who have been trained in nutrition as she says there are a lot of doctors and nurses on Instagram who hasn’t been trained, giving advice on supplements, and they haven’t been trained. Work with someone who knows what they are talking seek out professionals who are functionally trained. For more information on Angela, You can follow her on Instagram here  

Angela made reference to the following people and organizations:

 Oscar Serrallach

LifeCodeGX

Ben Lynch

Amy Yaskos