Struggling to Conceive? – The Top Fertility Killers You’re Overlooking with Dr. Kelsey Duncan

Struggling to Conceive? – The Top Fertility Killers You’re Overlooking with Dr. Kelsey Duncan

In this episode of “Hormones, Metabolism, and You,” Dr. Cassie Smith welcomes Dr. Kelsey Duncan to discuss the rising rates of infertility. They explore underlying causes such as hormonal imbalances, lifestyle factors, and environmental toxins. Dr. Duncan shares her holistic “Fertility Confidence Method,” emphasizing the importance of comprehensive lab testing, gut health, and foundational pillars like sleep, nutrition, movement, and mindset. The conversation highlights the need for personalized care, community support, and proactive health advocacy, offering hope and practical strategies for couples navigating fertility challenges.

 

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Guest info and links:

After being told at a young age that I’d likely struggle to get pregnant, with no support or guidance offered to me at the time, I made it my mission to offer better healthcare to women.

I believe women deserve the information to make informed decisions, the support they need to be successful, and the confidence in knowing they are doing everything within their power to make a baby.

Using my 3 pillar Fertility Success System we’ve helped bring hundreds of babies into the world using evidence-driven medicine and supporting you regardless of where you are in your fertility journey.

When I’m not helping couples, you can find me spending time with my 2 kids, watching trashy reality tv when they go to bed, and spending time up north by the water.

Connect with Dr. Duncan:

IG: @fertilityconfidencemethod

Youtube

Fertility Confidence Podcast

Website

Fertility Confidence Method

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Blog/Transcription:

0:03 Thank you for joining me on this week’s episode of Hormones, Metabolism, and You. I’m your host, Dr. Cassie Smith.

0:08 I’m a functional endocrinologist based out of Oklahoma City. This week, I wanted to talk about fertility issues. I

0:15 brought on a very special guest who specializes, she’s a naturopathic doctor in just fertility issues. About one in

0:22 four women struggle with fertility. Now, I talk about this in my book. I have several chapters on fertility. the

0:27 fertility rates in the United States were the lowest they’ve ever been in 2022 and then they got even lower in

0:32 2023. So, it is something that people are struggling with and the question is why? And so, I brought on Dr. Kelsey

0:39 Duncan and we talked about why is infertility on the rise? Is it that it really is more common or is it that

0:45 we’re talking about it more? Like what is going on? Is it that we have more diseases? we have more illness, our

0:50 adrenals are, you know, stressed. Our hormones aren’t being made, our guts are a wreck, or is it that we’re just now

0:56 realizing and talking about it? So, we talk about that. We talk about how traditional medicine overlooks fertility

1:03 issues. So, what are things that are overlooked in traditional medicine that could be keeping you from having a baby

1:09 successfully that are very simple things like optimizing your thyroid appropriately, your insulin levels, your

1:16 gut, things like that that a lot of times traditional medicine doctors just don’t even check the right levels

1:21 because they don’t know how. They’re not taught or they don’t know how to interpret them. So, we do a deep dive into labs and things that are overlooked

1:28 from a fertility perspective so that you don’t end up in these, you know, fertility clinics where you’re spending

1:34 $50 and $100,000 without having a proper workup prior cuz that’s what really kills me. We talk a little bit about

1:39 PCOS and then she tells us about her fertility confidence method and some of

1:45 like the four basic pillars she looks at when she’s helping people become fertile. So, sleep, nutrition, movement,

1:52 um, are some of the things and then mindset that she really looks at. So, we just kind of walk you through some of those things like some basic things that

1:58 we need to be doing before we even think about getting pregnant because if we’re not doing those things, it’s going to be

2:03 very difficult to not only conceive but to keep a baby. And so, I hope that you find this episode informational. Dr.

2:10 Kelsey Duncan. After being told at a young age that she’d likely struggle to get pregnant with no support or guidance

2:16 offered to her at the time, she made it her mission to offer better healthcare to women. She’s based out of Canada and

2:22 she believes women deserve the information to make informed decisions, the support that they need to be successful and the confidence in knowing

2:29 that they’re doing everything within their power to make a baby. She uses a three-pillar fertility success system

2:35 that’s helped bring hundreds of babies into the world using evidence-driven medicine and supporting you regardless of where you are in your fertility

2:41 journal, your fertility journey, not journal. When she’s not helping couples, you can find her spending time with her

2:47 two kids who are 9 and six, watching trashy reality TV when they go to bed, and spending time up north by the water.

2:54 So, let’s dive into this conver this conversation about infertility because it is something that’s very common. And

3:00 if you’re struggling with this, know you’re not alone. We’re going to talk about a lot of safe spaces here. And please make sure you share this with the

3:07 with anyone who would find it beneficial. So, thank you so much for joining me today on this episode, Dr.

3:14 Kelsey Duncan. She’s also known as the fertility confident method on Instagram.

3:20 So, I wanted to bring you on so you could chat with our listeners about fertility. I know that’s what you do. I

3:27 have lots of questions about fertility. I want to cover, you know, why is infertility on the rise? What are some

3:33 of the common infertility things that maybe are overlooked in traditional medicine that you see and that we can

3:38 help with? We may talk a little bit about the gut. So, we have lots of great things I want to talk about, but first, can you just kind of tell our listeners

3:45 like what you do on a day-to-day, like how you got here, why is this your passion? Yeah, I love that. Well, first,

3:51 thank you for having me. Um, naturopathic medicine sort of fell into my lap in a weird way. My journey

3:59 started with cystic acne and then kind of flowed into this interesting segue

4:05 into the fertility world on my kind of like last ditch effort to heal my acne.

4:11 I was going to try an IUD and through that process I had a very traumatic

4:17 experience and was told that I would probably struggle to get pregnant and

4:22 that was kind of it. There was no real like explanation, no counseling, no

4:28 coaching. I was 22, I was young. It wasn’t something on my radar in that moment. But I was already in the natural

4:35 medicine world at that point. And so my brain kind of took me on this journey of

4:41 like, okay, what would I tell a future patient if this was the experience that they had? And the first thing was, well,

4:47 we don’t really know anything. I’m just going off of kind of crappy off-hand

4:52 comment. So, let’s figure out is there a legitimately an issue and what is the root cause and what can I do now to

5:01 actually make that not be my story? And so unlike the majority of my clients and

5:07 my patients, I had this interesting warning red flag moment when I was very

5:13 young that made me focus on my fertility for years before I even actively started

5:20 trying and very fortunately was successful. I have two amazing kiddos at

5:25 home. But it really opened my eyes like through my journey in my teens with acne and then this kind of being like the

5:32 cherry on the cake of just how women are so poorly treated in our mainstream

5:39 medical model and not just in the fertility space but any sort of period concern is usually just brushed off,

5:46 normalized, given the birth control pill. Nothing’s really dug deep into

5:51 figuring out like why is this actually a problem? And the funny thing is working in the fertility realm, all of those

5:57 women that had complaints in their teens are typically the women who are actually struggling to get pregnant in their 30s.

6:05 And so if we took those complaints seriously and actually found the root cause earlier, we could likely decrease

6:13 the amount of couples who are struggling to get pregnant andor help women plan appropriately at a younger age if having

6:20 kids early isn’t on the table for them. So, it really triggered my belief system in like what is the root cause? There’s

6:28 infertility is just an ICD10 code. It’s it’s barely a diagnosis. There’s a

6:33 there’s a reason we aren’t getting pregnant. And and it’s not just a female issue. You know, men are 50% of the

6:40 equation. So, we need to dig deeper and figure out what is actually the reasoning behind you not getting

6:47 pregnant. So we fertility confidence method kind of takes a bit of a two-strand approach so to speak meaning

6:53 we work with couples all through their fertility journey depending on where they’re at. We have couples who are

6:58 years into trying who’ve had multiple failed rounds of IVF and other medicated

7:04 cycles looking for support. And we have couples who have just started trying who are being proactive who are who have

7:10 concerns but are getting brushed off in the traditional medical model and are are seeking answers and support. So my

7:16 role is to basically help them be a detective and help them advocate for

7:22 themselves in the traditional model because in my world as a naturopathic doctor it’s still not one or the other.

7:28 There really should be a synergistic approach between traditional care and alternative care and we have the

7:35 research especially in the fertility space to support that. And so by helping

7:40 our clients and educating them and bringing them the literature and supporting them and having these conversations, we’re able to have more

7:47 collaborative care and hopefully quicker success rates. I love that. So I love that story. I think that typically the,

7:54 you know, the people that I meet that are doing amazing things in the world have a good purpose, a good story, a good drive. And I completely agree. Like

8:01 I had a lot of acne as a teenager, had a lot of issues with irregular menstrual cycles. You know, I was just given birth

8:07 control when I was a teenager, like, oh, this will fix everything. And then when I turned 30 and I get off my birth

8:13 control, oh no, you really have insulin resistance and you have PCOS and your hormones are a nightmare. And it’s like,

8:18 nobody told me that from 13 to 30 or 14 to 30. And so I think that yes,

8:24 educating people and instead of just like bandating issues, trying to figure out why did you have acne? Why were all

8:31 these things happening is really important. And you know, I would love your take on this. I don’t know if

8:37 fertility, infertility is really on the rise or if it’s just more talked about

8:43 now. I think it is on the rise though if you look at how many people are having issues conceiving. And the scary thing,

8:50 you know, I talk about that this in my book that’s coming out. 2022 fertility in the United States hit an

8:56 all-time low ever. It was even worse in 2023 and then even worse in 2024. So

9:03 more and more people are struggling with this. They’re struggling with having children, being able to conceive. And I

9:09 think it’s because, you know, for 20 or 30 years now, we’ve been in this society with bright lights and high cortisol

9:16 levels and eating terrible food and fillers and dyes. And then now we’re asking these people to reproduce. And

9:22 there’s lots of reasons your body is like, eh, maybe not the best thing to do right now, right? You know, it almost is

9:28 like that sensing like it doesn’t sense that we’re safe. It’s almost like it’s sensing that there’s a lot of danger.

9:34 So, I would be curious. Do you feel like infertility is on the rise? If so, why?

9:41 And what are you seeing when people are coming to you with infertility? Is it just people are stressed and not eating

9:46 well? Or are you actually seeing pathologic and like medical conditions related to it? Yeah, I think to kind of

9:53 answer your first question around like is this actually a bigger problem or are we just talking about it more? I do

10:00 think it’s a combination of both. Yes, rates are rising. Yes, we have even in

10:06 the last decade, you know, we used to spew the statistic one in six of couples

10:11 have troubles getting pregnant and now we’re starting to be see it’s more like one in five. And so we’re already even

10:17 in a short period of time noticing enough of an increase in the stats that we’re seeing that quick change. We have

10:23 great literature with male fertility and over since the 60s or the 40s or

10:30 something watching a very steep decline in sperm health and our ideas of what is

10:37 good has drastically declined in the male fertility realm. So I think we’re

10:43 hearing about it more. I think there’s more availability for testing. So,

10:50 because of that, we’re getting better statistics. For example, my parents um

10:55 were young when they had me. They waited a couple of years. They wanted a third child. My mom couldn’t get pregnant.

11:02 They drove 2 hours to this fertility clinic. My mom said it was like the only one in Toronto. There was no other

11:08 option. And this was back in like the early ‘9s. And they she’s like I

11:14 remember they we did like some blood work and they told us that we should do IVF and at that time it was going to

11:20 cost like $8,000 which is laughable now because that’s nothing compared to what it costs now but that wasn’t an option

11:26 for them on the table. But she said you know nobody I knew nobody else at that

11:32 point that even thought about going that route. It was just oh we can’t get pregnant. We can’t get pregnant. there’s

11:38 so in in those years the statistics aren’t going to be as clear, right?

11:44 Because we’re not investigating whereas now we are and more and more couples are seeking support and so we’re getting a

11:50 better understanding. Um but to go with your point of like our environment

11:56 that’s a very big change now compared to 20 30 50 100 years ago. Our environment

12:03 is completely different. We are definitely a more high-string population

12:10 now than we likely were in some areas of the world more than others. We have

12:16 Wi-Fi and all kinds of new technology that we really don’t have good total

12:21 long-term data about. Our soil and our food quality is different. Our

12:27 convenience and processed foods is much higher, much more accessible. So, I

12:33 think there’s a lot we still don’t know about how our environment is negatively

12:39 impacting our fertility. And I also think that we don’t have enough

12:44 conversations when we’re younger about how our choices could influence our

12:50 fertility in the future. Um, cuz some of it really is genetics. And if we’re

12:56 taking care of our bodies, if we’re eating well and we’re sleeping and we’re exercising and we’re we’re we’re

13:02 nourishing ourselves and we’re managing our stress and we’re doing that in a way that, you know, we’re still enjoying our

13:09 our early 20s in that time period, but we’re still making smart impactful decisions. We’re keeping those genes

13:15 from potentially turning on and we’re lessening our potential for autoimmune conditions that can influence fertility.

13:22 we’re lessening our potential for hormonal disruptions that can influence our fertility. So, there’s a lot to be

13:28 said about what we don’t know. I think at the end of the day in terms of how

13:34 our world has changed and I think there’s a lot of speculation and we could probably talk for hours about the

13:40 potential impact and I I don’t think it’s one specific thing. My belief is

13:46 that it’s a culmination of all the tiny changes coupled with higher amounts of

13:52 stress coupled with longer use of birth control and longer time to diagnosis for

13:58 women. So like your your story is a very common one I hear. Periods weren’t

14:03 great. When we were 13, 14, we went on the pill. We stayed on the pill for 15

14:08 20 years. Everything was fine. We had a regular bleed, no complaints. come off the pill because we want to get

14:14 pregnant. Period’s gone. Period’s weird. There’s now we’re like, what the heck is

14:20 going on? And now we’ve got years we might need to take to fix that that we’re just prolonging that experience.

14:27 Yeah, I think that’s a good good way to explain all of it. That and just like over time, you know, I go back to to Dr.

14:34 Jill. I love Dr. Jill. I I’ve interviewed her before, but she does a lot of toxic mold, heavy metal stuff,

14:40 and she talks about our capacity as humans being this big bucket. And as we

14:45 get toxins, our bucket fills with water and where our body is supposed to process toxins and negative exposures

14:52 and things like that by removing them. And so then the water would come out of the bucket. But if you’re being exposed

14:59 quicker, then you can get rid of things, then eventually your water starts overflowing and that’s when you start having issues. And we do a really good

15:06 job in this country of covering things up, bandating them, not educating people, keeping them sick because it’s a

15:12 big business. I know you’re in Canada, so I can’t say for you, but in the United States, unfortunately, healthcare

15:19 is a complete and utter train wreck. We’re working on trying to fix it. I’m super excited about the recent

15:25 nomination for surgeon general with Casey Means, but I mean, healthc care is

15:31 just like it’s a big business. It’s like they want you to be sick and so the best way to keep you from asking questions

15:37 and keep you sick is to give you the birth control to give you, you know, because then you have to come back to get your birth control refilled. It’s

15:42 not to like, oh, let’s talk about your diet as a 13-year-old. Are you eating a bunch of crap that gives you acne? You

15:48 know, it’s let’s give you something so you have to come see a doctor every year starting at 13 until you’re older. Like,

15:54 that’s ridiculous, you know? And so, I I think there are a lot of problems, but

15:59 that’s definitely one of them. And it is really rewarding when you meet someone like yourself. And that’s why I love

16:05 doing this podcast when people just ask why, you know, like no, I don’t want to go with mainstream. I want to know what

16:11 I can do to fix myself. And I think there’s so much power in that and we’re moving towards that which is awesome.

16:16 But I do feel like there are higher rates of infertility and we’re talking about it more and it’s really really

16:22 important. And you know PCOS, I mean there’s so many different types of PCOS

16:28 now. I wrote about that in my book. Like there’s about six different types of PCOS. There’s actually a post pill PCOS,

16:34 which is what I’m pretty sure that I got. Although I may have had a combination of like an adrenal type PCOS

16:39 and thyroid issues as well because I wasn’t the super heavy overweight person with soaring insulin levels. But it’s

16:47 just very interesting. Infertility is just like you said, I feel like a lot of

16:52 times doctors are just like, “Oh well, you’re infertile. Oh well.” Or it’s like, “Okay, fine. let’s just shell you

16:57 into this infertility clinic that cost $100,000 to get pregnant. And the number

17:02 of people that I have seen that have gone through those experiences, which are not wonderful because they’re, you

17:09 know, changing your hormones with medications and they’re expensive. Before somebody even used their brain

17:15 and like looked at their thyroid, asked them questions, things like that is

17:20 really kind of scary, you know. Yeah. Yeah. It’s totally scary. And it’s, you know, not all clinics are the same. And

17:27 I’ve already mentioned like I’m not against fertility treatments, needing the medications, doing IVF. I think

17:34 everyone has to make the right decision for them and their bodies. What I am against is kind of exactly what you just

17:40 said of yes, we might need those clinics and I recommend my clients go and have

17:45 assessments done, get their foot in the door so that if we need it, like we’ve got it there in our back pocket and we

17:52 still need to ask the questions and investigate like taking let you ovulate

17:59 if you have PCOS and you have insulin resistance and elevated testosterone like sure Clomid or Clomophine or

18:06 electrol or famra, they might push your body to ovulate. But if the insulin

18:11 resistance is still present, you’re still at a high risk of miscarriage.

18:17 You’re still at a high risk if you are able to get pregnant and carry of gestational diabetes and preeacclampsia.

18:24 There’s other complications than just not ovulating that still need to be

18:30 managed. So maybe we need the medication, yes, eventually to help get your body to ovulate, but we still have

18:37 to work and fix the environment in which we are trying to get pregnant. And that’s not just PCOS. That’s true for

18:43 many female factor diagnoses. It’s like, sure, maybe we do need IVF, but let’s

18:49 make sure we’re walking through that door with a body that’s fully capable of

18:55 carrying a pregnancy. We’re reducing your rate of miscarriage with working on the foundational aspects of health and

19:02 lowering inflammation and doing those things before we need the treatments. And that’s where the system is broken is

19:08 it’s just hopping you on this conveyor belt of okay, we’re going to try a few rounds of medicated time intercourse.

19:14 We’re going to try a few rounds of medicated IUI. Those haven’t worked. Okay, IVF’s now your only option. But

19:22 through that entire conveyor belt system, they might not once have asked, “Are you taking any supplements?” They

19:28 might not have looked any deeper than an AMH and basic hormone levels. They might

19:33 not have done any sort of deeper dive into microbiome or autoimmune conditions

19:39 or other sperm male factors that could be playing a role or talked about diet or stress or exercise or how you’re

19:45 sleeping. We’re just moving people along this checklist, but the checklist has holes. And so that’s where someone like

19:52 myself can come in and say, “Okay, cool. We’re in the checklist now.” That’s fine, but let’s make sure we’re actually

19:58 filling the holes so that you hopefully don’t make it to the end of the checklist and still have nothing to show

20:04 for it. That’s the important part. Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. It’s so

20:09 frustrating when that’s, you know, the gamut that you get put through, but nobody talks to you about the easy

20:16 things like sleep and stress and food and exercise. And

20:21 we have research. We actually have legitimate like peer-reviewed data on how sleep can impact fertility

20:30 for both men and women and and supplements and nutrition and exercise

20:35 and stress. Like so many times I’ll have clients come out of their fertility clinic appointments and they they ask

20:40 their doctor, “What else can I do?” And their doctor’s like, “Nothing. Nothing. There’s nothing else you can do.” And I’m like, “Ah.”

20:47 And luckily, you know, they already know that’s not true, right? But for all of the people who aren’t in the world on

20:55 social media about reading about all the other options, who are just in the mainstream model and my heart breaks for

21:01 them because they they are missing very vital pieces that ultimately investing

21:08 finances into themselves and their own health will likely save them money down

21:14 the line, time, heartbreak. they might not even need to make embryos, you know,

21:21 like there’s just so many factors on the table where if especially when I have couples come to me years in and they’ve

21:28 done all of that and then I find out that like they’ve had barebones blood work, they’re, you know, taking a a

21:34 prenatal and that’s it. Their husband hasn’t done anything. It’s like, well, you guys have missed we’ve skipped a lot

21:41 of steps here. And and that’s not your fault, you know, like we’re let’s grieve that, but it’s also not your fault that

21:47 you weren’t getting proper care. And and this is where building a care team

21:53 around you becomes so important because we need to acknowledge that not all

21:58 doctors are experts at every single thing. The clinic is good at what they’re good at, and that is using

22:05 medication to support your body and doing some physical investigation like

22:10 the ultrasounds and things like that, but they’re not the place to go to talk

22:16 about foundational health. That’s not what they learn, and that’s okay. So, how do we fill in the gaps? You work

22:23 with other providers. You build a team around you of people who are specific

22:28 for your needs because your your care and your plan should always be built by

22:34 what your body specifically needs. You know, you’ve already said there’s multiple types of PCOS. We’re not going

22:40 to treat every single person with PCOS exactly the same. We need to know what

22:45 their unique fertility identifiers are and build out a care plan that might

22:50 involve multiple different types of practitioners to get them feeling their best version of themselves. Yeah. And

22:56 that’s even when we’re not talking about infertility, right? So like just in general to be healthy, everyone’s plan

23:03 is going to be different. So like I hate that when people come to me and they’re like, “Well, I have PCOS, so I’ve been on Metformin and that’s what I’m

23:09 supposed to take.” And like and I’m like, “Okay, well, did anyone talk to you about diet?” “No.” “Has anyone talked to you about aositol?” “No.” “Has

23:16 anyone talked to you about sleep or movement?” “No.” “What about your insulin?” Like, it’s just like, “Oh my god, we’re missing so many

23:22 opportunities,” I guess we would say. And then, you know, my question is like, especially if it’s somebody who doesn’t

23:28 look like they have PCOS, that’s not like a typical PCOS, or it’s like, “Okay, well, do you have thyroid issues?

23:33 I don’t know. Do you have adrenal issues? I don’t know.” Or my favorite is like, “They said I might have PCOS, but they didn’t really know, so I don’t

23:39 know.” And I’m just like, okay. So, so we’ve continued to have these metabolic derangements and hormonal derangements

23:46 for years and nobody thought like maybe we should really figure out whether this person has PCOS or not so that we can

23:51 help tailor a plan for them to make themselves better. And so it is just very frustrating because it’s it’s it’s

23:59 going to be impossible almost to become fertile and pregnant and keep a viable

24:04 healthy pregnancy unless you have a plan or like a metabolic layout of yourself,

24:10 right? So like for me for example, I had Graves and then Hashimoto’s. I know that I am predisposed to thyroid issues and

24:17 antibodies. So, I know that if I don’t sleep well and take my LDN and eat well, then my antibodies flare up and my

24:24 periods get irregular and I feel terrible. You know, I know that I have insulin issues. And so, if I want to eat

24:30 like, you know, an idiot, then I don’t feel well. I get really sleepy. I get really bloated. Like, my ringer my my

24:37 ring will tell you when it doesn’t come off if I’m not eating how I’m supposed to be eating. So, like, but it took me

24:42 years to know all this. I know that I’m predisposed to having like leaky gut and sp uh SIBO and and things like that with

24:49 my gut because I’m also a very like type a stressed out type of person. So, I’ve worked on that. Like I work on a lot of

24:55 like meditation, positive thoughts, um you know, manifesting, yoga, like but

25:01 they’re all pieces to the puzzle, right? And so, and and I’ve been through the fertility journey, unfortunately, good

25:08 and bad. And I can tell you that walking into a fertility clinic at 36 and just being like, “Oh, take all these shots.

25:14 It’ll be fine.” Which make you feel insane clinically, I can vouch. And then

25:20 also doing that when you’re not healthy, when your insulin’s not right and your thyroid’s not right and your cortisol is

25:27 messed up and you’re not sleeping well, like it not only does it not work, it makes you even sicker and then trust the

25:34 system even less. And it’s just really a frustrating process for everyone instead

25:39 of really focusing on like how do we give this person the tools to fix all of

25:45 these things, right? So that then when we do try to help them get pregnant, they have a safe, good environment. Does

25:51 that make sense? Totally. Yeah. My dream is that in all fertility clinics, they

25:57 will have to do some version of fertility confidence method while they’re waiting for their referral. like

26:03 let’s teach people the basics, the foundational pieces before we even walk

26:10 through the door so that they can do their job better. Like their their statistical rates of pregnancy will go

26:16 up. People will be healthier. People will get through the process easier. And I I bet you 25% of the people that have

26:25 an appointment that are waiting won’t need it because they’ll end up getting pregnant while they’re waiting just with

26:31 the foundational aspects and the root cause pieces that they need to to dive

26:37 into. And some clinics are some clinics are doing a better job at having those

26:44 conversations. And and here in Ontario, some of our fertility clinics have naturopathic doctors on staff. They

26:49 don’t have to work with them. it’s like an option that you can book in with them they when we share files and yada yada

26:57 but there’s more and more conversation happening I think both in Canada and the US of like okay this is what you’re

27:05 telling me to do but women are getting smarter to say well you still haven’t

27:10 told me why like to circle full circle moments at back to the beginning like you still haven’t actually told me why

27:16 and if you you don’t have your why we likely haven’t dug deep enough yet. And

27:23 there’s always going to be an aspect with some clients, a very very small small proportion of them where medicine

27:30 just hasn’t quite caught up from a testing perspective that we might not actually be able to figure it out if

27:36 there’s some sort of deeprooted genetic and I would even argue like autoimmune

27:42 issue because there’s still a lot of like ambiguity in that arena in terms of health that like maybe are what we have

27:50 available to us and what is even financially an option for you, we still

27:55 can’t find the answer, but we can likely make some assumptions with the information that we have. And so, we’re

28:02 often counseling our clients who have, you know, been around the block for many, many cycles and have been told

28:07 they have unexplained infertility and that everything looks fine. It’s like, well, no, we need to look a little bit

28:12 deeper. And that’s where we start having the conversations around the immune system. And, you know, thyroid

28:17 antibodies is something that’s not routinely checked yet. like one in ten women have thyroid issues. Like it’s

28:25 very very common and and once you have one autoimmune condition, you’re at mega

28:30 risk of developing others. We’re not screening women for celiac disease. We’re not screen regularly screening

28:36 women for any sort of autoimmune condition in the fertility space yet. We’re watching them have recurrent

28:43 miscarriage and telling them, you know, that it’ll all work out in the end. So,

28:48 I think there’s just there’s more of that testing needs to catch up for some people, but there’s also a lot of women

28:55 and men walking around who think they’ve had all the testing done and that nothing could be found when there’s

29:01 still doors to be opened. Yeah. Two things to add to that. Insulin levels.

29:06 So, I see a ton of people who have had an A1C and a fasting glucose and they’re like, “Oh, I’m fine.” Even though their

29:12 fasting glucose is a little high and maybe even their A1C, none of that matters. You need to know what your insulin level is because I see people

29:18 with insulin levels in the 60s, 30s, 50s with normal glucose and A1C. If your

29:26 insulin is that high and you conceive a child, you have right then at that exact

29:31 moment predisposed that child to being much more likely to developing diabetes. We’re already at high risk in America.

29:38 If you as a mom have insulin resistance, you pass 100% of your mitochondria to

29:44 your baby. So congratulations. If your insulin’s high and you get pregnant, you’ve pretty much determined for your

29:50 child that they are going to have insulin resistance issues because of the genetic predisposition we already have.

29:57 So that’s not fair to your child or to you. And nobody’s checking that level. And so that’s one thing that really

30:04 drives me baddy too is like I tell my girls all the time that have insulin levels like that, let’s work on this

30:09 before we get pregnant because it’s not fair to genetically imprint that on your child before they’re even born. And the

30:15 other one is free T3 levels. So thyroid is very important when you’re pregnant

30:20 because your baby doesn’t have a working thyroid until it is 18 weeks of gestation. So your baby is getting all

30:26 thyroid hormone from you. I see this all the time. thyroid and progesterone levels I think are two of the top

30:33 thyroid progesterone and insulin are the top three level top three reasons people have miscarriages and if your thyroid’s

30:39 not functioning well because you have high insulin or for whatever reason you’re inflamed and your body’s not

30:45 actually making active thyroid hormone which is T3. So your body has to make

30:50 TSH and then or your body has to make T4 and then that’s converted to T3. If you don’t have enough T4 to cross the

30:56 placenta to get to the baby so it can develop or enough T3 so that you personally as the mom have energy, then

31:03 you have a problem. And so many OBS and mostly all of them and fertility clinics check a TSH and they just like hang

31:09 their hat up. And that is completely malpractice, ridiculous, awful, and

31:15 infuriates me because you’re not doing anyone any favors. And so those are some lab labs too that I think are just

31:22 really important that we completely miss and just that in itself in addition to

31:28 gut testing like we were talking about like getting your gut right. I mean I would say more than 25% of people are

31:34 going to end up having babies if you just fix those things instead of charging them $50,000 and giving them in

31:41 vitro. Just my two cents. But can you tell us some of your So you said

31:46 fertility confidence method. What is this method? Like is this like some big secret or can you tell us like what are

31:53 some of the steps? This is my big secret that we’re supposed to be doing. Yes, let me share you my big secret. So I am

32:00 of the belief of we need to dig and dig and dig until we find the root cause and

32:07 the foundational health pieces. So I take our clients through a a bit of a three-step process. So we start with

32:14 discovery. We want we want to know why you you usually come to work with me because someone’s told you something and

32:21 you still don’t have answers. Or you’re seeking support and your doctor’s like, “Oh, you’re young, you’re healthy, keep

32:26 trying, come back in a few months and like we’ll see what happens.” Or you’ve had treatment cycles that have been

32:32 unsuccessful and now you’re going, “Well, why would I take the next step if

32:37 we still don’t actually know why this isn’t working?” You have questions and so we want to know the answers to those

32:43 questions. And nine times out of 10, you’ve had a very basic look at what

32:50 levels would look like in blood. Some of my clients, their partners haven’t even been tested or a big problem I see is if

32:57 there is a female factor or male factor diagnosis. Like let’s say we know you have PCOS, we know you have

33:04 endometriosis, we know your partner has low sperm count. Once they find one

33:09 thing, they typically stop looking. And fertility is very multiffactorial.

33:15 So, we always want to make sure we’re covering all of our bases and and we’re we’re digging deep. So, we want to

33:21 uncover what the root cause is and then we’re going to build you a personalized care plan based on your own unique

33:27 fertility identifiers. We then put all of our clients through what I call the accelerator process. So, this is kind of

33:32 our foundational aspect. So, we’re going to walk you through how do we eat, how do we move our body, how should we be

33:40 sleeping, how should we be managing our stress, how we should be doing this in a way that honors our cycle and our rhythm

33:46 of our hormones and not just, you know, adding to your to-do list. And this has

33:51 been a really big transfer of like verbiage for us as a company over the last couple of years is like I don’t

33:57 want to be the person that tells you to do these 105 things to get pregnant. I believe and our motto for 2025 is that

34:05 you don’t need to be perfect to get pregnant. And a lot of the clients we work with are are like me. They’re high

34:11 achieving driven women, type A. Give me all the things you want me to do, Kelsey, and I’ll do it to a tea. And I

34:18 know you will. But sometimes we have to actually take a slower approach in this

34:23 world and teach you how to slow down and how to nourish your nervous system and

34:28 not just give you more and more and more and more things to do and pile it on your plate. So we we want to teach our

34:35 women, you don’t have to be perfect to get pregnant. Here’s how we honor our cycle. Here’s how we can like tweak our

34:41 nutrition and tweak our exercise to actually go with the eb and flow of our estrogen and progesterone. Um and and in

34:49 that process start to pull out inflammatory foods, do a little like gut check assessment like how are you

34:56 feeling? What do your symptoms look like? Should we not eat that anymore? Do

35:01 we feel the same? Can we do a little kind of like semi- elimination trial and

35:07 error kind of get a lay of the land. Especially for people who have never really explored that option before. It’s a good way to kind of see like, well,

35:13 what is my gut health actually like? because I’ve kind of eaten the same way my whole life and I don’t really know is

35:19 this good or bad. Um, and then we follow along and we optimize. So, we’re always

35:24 rechecking levels, checking in with them. I do a lot of I think what makes fertility confidence method different

35:30 than a lot of the other practitioners you’re going to work with is I’m very hands-on. So, I run a daily office hour

35:37 with my clients. So, they can come and speak directly to me and ask questions. We usually spend about an hour,

35:43 sometimes it’s two if we’ve got lots of people and lots of questions. Um, we have an amazing community space because

35:50 community medicine is so valuable and this is such an isolating and lonely

35:55 journey and you shouldn’t feel like you need to go through it alone. And um, I think that’s one of my favorite aspects

36:01 and something we get a lot of positive feedback on. So, it’s very different than going through the fertility space

36:08 in mainstream medicine because you’re going to get all the handholding and all of the support and all of the I believe

36:15 you and none of the brushing off. So, a lot of times I’m sharing research with

36:21 our clients and saying, “Bring this back to your doctor. Share it in this way. let’s push for this test or let’s push

36:28 for this medication to try or let’s get a second opinion or let’s actually just

36:34 pause on the fertility clinic for a hot minute and because we’ve now found XY Z

36:40 that we want to work on and do that and so figuring out for each couple what

36:45 that looks like for them and then walking them walking them through the process with me and my team we have an

36:51 amazing nutritionist mindset coach we’re always bringing in fun expert speakers.

36:56 We have a relationship therapist that comes and speaks to our community every other month because that’s another big

37:03 the mindset piece, you know, we haven’t talked about that today, but it’s another big aspect. The physical body is

37:08 so important, but the mental health aspect and and the mindset piece with fertility, I think, is equally as

37:15 impactful from a treatment perspective. And and we also see that in the literature. We have research showing

37:21 women who do virtual CBT or therapy or

37:26 um join support groups while going through the fertility process have lower levels of depression and anxiety and

37:34 typically have higher pregnancy rates from that as well. So finding your whether it’s fertility confidence method

37:40 or some other safe space for you, finding your community I think is so important. Yeah, I completely agree. So

37:48 finding your community, working with a provider who understands, you know, how things work as a whole. Do you guys So

37:55 do you do a lot of like blood tests? Do you do a lot of gut testing? You do do

38:00 all of that? Yeah, the fertility world is very centered around blood work. If we’re I’m a very researchbased

38:06 practitioner. So when we’re talking research, we typically look at blood work. Um, we do a lot of uterine

38:13 microbiome testing, um, which is still very like newish and controversial in

38:20 the fertility space, but, uh, there’s enough research for me and we’re seeing it more and more. We actually just had a

38:26 really exciting pregnancy in our community last week with someone. We’ve been working together with her for 3

38:32 years. She was doing IVF and prior to doing a transfer, she was like, “I’ve

38:38 heard you talking about the uterine microbiome and doing testing for like a year, Kelsey. I haven’t done it yet.

38:43 Should I do it before my transfer?” And I was like, “Oh my god, yes, absolutely, 100%.” And it came back with very

38:50 disregulated levels of uterine bacteria. And it took us almost 6 months to clear

38:56 it. And her very first transfer was successful. And I really do think if we hadn’t done that testing, she likely

39:03 would have been in for a string of heartbreaks and failed transfers and having to start back over and do more

39:09 retrievalss all because this microbiome piece was likely there that whole time.

39:15 And so we end up doing a little bit of like yeah functional testing. We do some

39:20 gut testing. We’ll do some adrenal testing if if that sort of fits with our client’s needs. We’re starting to

39:27 explore HTMA and getting just a little bit more of a deeper look in terms of

39:32 minerals and things like that that we can help with. So, it all depends kind of client to client, but blood work for

39:38 anyone that’s listening is always the first sort of place to go. And typically

39:44 what your doctor’s recommending is usually not the whole story. So, we have a little mini course. It’s called

39:50 Fertility Labs 101. It’s 17 bucks and it’s the exact workup that we request

39:55 all of our clients do. And it’ll explain to you like why are we running these and

40:01 what are the actual optimal levels that we’re looking for because the reference range is just population average and we

40:07 know the population is pretty crappy at getting pregnant right now. So we don’t necessarily want to compare to reference

40:14 range. We actually want our levels to be optimal. And so we walk you through optimal numbers based on the data for

40:22 both Canadian and American units for both men and women so that if you’ve had labs done, you can compare and see what

40:28 you’re missing and what your numbers mean. or if you haven’t had labs done, then it’s a good list of like what to

40:34 push for with your doctor. And and obviously, if you’re in the US, you have the flexibility to private pay really

40:40 easily and get labs done on your own or work with a functional medicine practitioner or a naturopathic doctor,

40:46 what have you. Yeah, I love that. And it’s so true. Like with our practice, I have a really good system where I have

40:52 set up something with a place called Quest Diagnostics. It’s everywhere in the United States, but they give our

40:57 patients really discounted lab pricing, which is so nice. So, I was actually just looking at it last night. I require

41:03 new patients to do about 38 labs. That’s what I want. I look at, you know, cholesterol and lipoprotein and insulin

41:10 and all sorts of things. And I may be adding leptin to that too now. But, I mean, to get all of these labs, it’s

41:15 like 38 or 40 labs is like $400. maybe 420 which is I mean if you ever if you

41:23 live in the United States and you get a lab bill ever you see the just astronomical prices that they charge for

41:30 ridiculous things. So, I agree like making sure that you get all these labs. A lot of times doctors don’t order it

41:36 because they don’t know how to code it or they say it won’t get covered by insurance or you know whatever. They don’t know how to interpret it. But it

41:42 is very important to have those labs. And I personally think when you’re struggling with fertility issues, it’s

41:48 also very important to have a gut microbiome. I don’t know a lot about vaginal microbiomes. I’m very intrigued.

41:53 But gut microbiome, I mean, if you don’t have a good gut microbiome, you are going to have a leaky gut. And if you

41:59 have a leaky gut, you’re going to have high insulin and you’re going to have stress and it’s just not going to be

42:05 good when you’re pregnant. So, I completely agree with that. I think making sure you have the right labs, you

42:10 have the right provider who understands what they’re doing, the right safe space, health coaches, you know, I have

42:17 a great health coach uh community, all those things are really, really

42:22 important. And it is a very like sad, lonely place to be. So, I do think, you

42:27 know, talking about it more is also helpful because there’s so many people who go through it and think, “Oh, well,

42:33 nobody else is going through this.” And for people who are listening, I want you to know about one in four pregnancies in

42:39 the United States end in some sort of miscarriage. A lot of times people don’t even know they had a miscarriage, right? Like their period is late or it’s really

42:46 heavy, but it’s about one in four uh people that are that conceive and are

42:52 pregnant are actually having miscarriages. So if you’re listening and you’re like, “Man, I don’t want to talk to anyone about this. Nobody would

42:58 understand.” A lot more people would understand than than you think. So yeah,

43:03 it’s just I I feel like it’s not talked about a lot because maybe in the past it was taboo to talk about it or maybe

43:08 women felt like it was their fault or maybe people just said it was our fault,

43:13 but it takes two people to make a baby and sometimes sperm is the problem as well. So I think just making that space

43:21 available is super important. and then making sure that you know when you do

43:26 get pregnant all the things you need to do to be able to to stay healthy. So, what are some of your tips for that?

43:33 Like, do you have some pretty basic tips that people can maybe follow if they’re looking to get pregnant or wanting to

43:39 stay pregnant around like exercise, food, nutrition, sleep, anything like that? Do you have some core things that

43:45 you tell people? Yeah, the four sort of foundational pillars that we talk about

43:50 are sleep, movement, nutrition, and mindfulness. So, the good thing is is

43:56 when you’re actively working on improving your body to improve your chances of conceiving,

44:02 you’re going to roll a lot of that into pregnancy as well. We’re not going to just revert back to how we were before.

44:09 And so you’re setting yourself up for success with pregnancy. Because typically once you’re pregnant, your brain is automatically going, I have to

44:16 be, you know, really on point here because now I have someone else inside me that’s going to be in my environment.

44:23 So, we kind of want to take that mentality ahead of time. And I would say like one sort of tip for each pillar.

44:29 Um, balancing your blood sugar like is so incredibly crucial for a wide variety

44:35 of of reasons. And like what Cassie said around even if you’ve done a hemoglobin A1C or fasted glucose and your numbers

44:42 are normal, you still can have insulin resistance. So absolutely yes, we want to look at that. But imbalanced blood

44:48 sugar can have such a trickle down effect in the fertility space in terms of egg quality and and insulin and other

44:54 hormones and your thyroid and your cortisol. Um same goes with with men. We

44:59 actually I two podcast episodes ago, so maybe two weeks ago, um, I talked about this on my podcast, how insulin

45:05 resistance can impact men and women. So I think balancing your blood sugar, so regular meals, protein, fiber, fat with

45:13 every meal and paying attention. Like I think one of the easiest things you can do is actually just track your food for

45:19 2 or 3 days and be curious. Don’t be judgmental. Just be curious like where

45:25 am I starting from? because we can’t make different decisions until we know

45:32 that there’s a different decision to be made. So, you’re doing your best with the information that you have right now.

45:37 And when you get new information, we can adjust and pivot. And we don’t want to scorn ourselves like, “Well, I didn’t

45:43 know that was bad. You didn’t know.” Cool. But now, you know, so what else can we do to improve things? And and

45:50 tracking and just seeing how much protein am I getting? Ideally, you’re getting over 100 grams a day, if not

45:56 more. Especially if you’re exercising and resistance training. We’re getting enough fiber. You’re getting enough

46:02 healthy fat. We’re not crossing over crazy amounts of sugar. Like, let’s just it let’s just be a detective and be

46:08 curious and see. And then one small change at a time is really the best way to do it with sleep. Sleep is so

46:16 important. The research is so cool for both men and women with fertility, but

46:21 generally for both, we want to see more than 7 and 1/2 hours of decent quality

46:26 sleep every night. And if we’re not allowing ourselves that time in bed, that’s a big piece. If we’re scrolling

46:33 on our phone and watching TV and not having good sleep hygiene, but then complaining about being tired, like

46:38 those are really simple things. Yes, habits are hard to break, but at the end

46:44 of the day, it really is a simple thing to change. And so, giving yourself the opportunity to get good sleep is the

46:51 best first step. Everyone should be moving their body. And if you’re not right now, if you don’t have a regular

46:57 exercise routine, if you have a very sedentary job, walking is exercise. And

47:03 it’s so valuable to your body. And just walking can lower your insulin. And just

47:09 walking can improve your cortisol. And you don’t have to get a gym membership

47:14 and spend two hours in the gym lifting weights every day to deem that exercise or to be healthy. If you’re just getting

47:21 out for a 30 minute walk, that is more than adequate. And sometimes we have to shift that mindset of well that’s not

47:29 what I used to do so therefore it’s not good enough. Whereas now it’s like well that’s what I can do and that’s better

47:35 than nothing. And so just starting really low and slow. If you if you’re not an avid exerciser already, but

47:42 you’re curious and you know the health benefits, just just walk. Just set a really low goal and work up from there.

47:49 Even if you start at 10 minutes and we just slowly work up week to week of getting a little bit more, a little bit

47:55 further, a little bit more steps, that’s going to make a world of difference. And then working on your mindset. You know,

48:01 it’s so easy to feel like your body is broken and to feel alone and to feel

48:09 like it’s never going to end and why is this happening to me and why is, you

48:14 know, Suzanne pregnant after trying once and I’m not and there’s lots of ways we

48:20 can make this journey feel a lot heavier and working on how can you grieve

48:28 through this process and work through and process The emotions is going to help you have not just the longevity to

48:35 keep trying, but to have the capacity to advocate and the capacity to take care

48:42 of yourself and be able to to wake up every day and make right the right choices. Whereas, if we’re stuck in a

48:49 state of constant grief that we’re not dealing with, then being healthy becomes

48:55 harder. And so really working on the mindset piece, whether that’s you needing to seek out therapy, whether

49:01 that’s support groups, whether that’s you getting into a good routine at home with self-care or meditation, what

49:08 everyone’s journey with mindset is is very different and what resonates with you and finding something that you not

49:15 just enjoy, but actually helps your nervous system. Like I’m not a huge

49:20 meditator. It’s not something that my body seems to like really super benefit

49:27 from, but I love tapping. I love doing a bit more of like an active meditation. I

49:34 I’m happy to just sit and do breath work versus like a silent still sort of like

49:40 corpsey meditation. So figuring out what your vibe is because a lot of times people can be like, “I tried that. It

49:46 didn’t help me.” me, it’s like, well, a, how hard did you try in a polite way and

49:52 b, maybe that wasn’t for you, and that’s fine. Let’s find you something else. So, that’s kind of like, yeah, those are the

49:58 basics. Like if you can start picking away at some of those things, you’re it seems so bloody small, but it all adds

50:06 up and snowballs into you now being able to dig deeper and make bigger changes

50:13 and tweak and ask for more things and advocate and understand better. Oh, this

50:19 is I actually feel good. I I actually wasn’t feeling that great 6 months ago when I was treating my body like this.

50:26 So, what does that mean? and start to kind of uncover other avenues that we can go, okay, that’s curious. Maybe we

50:32 should pull on that thread and see what else comes of that that might help us understand why you aren’t getting

50:39 pregnant. Yeah, I completely agree. So, just going back to you are one person

50:44 and you’re one journey is is different than others. So, thank you so much for

50:50 all of your wisdom and what you do for people, Dr. Kelsey. I appreciate that. I

50:56 want to end by asking you like four quick questions and then I’ll let you kind of tell everyone where they can

51:03 find you and what we can do to kind of serve and uplift you. So the first

51:09 question is what is one food that’s most beneficial and why? Oh my gosh. One food

51:17 that’s most beneficial. I am going to go with avocado. Okay. I feel like it

51:23 option. Yeah. It’s fatty. It’s fibery. Women typically are lower in fat and

51:28 fiber. It’s really easy to hide in a smoothie. It’s really easy to put on other things. Like the only downside

51:34 with avocado is it’s obviously short usage window depending on where you live

51:40 in Ontario. Get good ones. But yeah, I don’t have a lot of like great avocado

51:45 experience where I live, but like I wish I did. My husband gets so mad. He’s like

51:52 Yeah. like he like tries to like pick them so that they’re perfect and when he cuts into them if they’re perfect he’s like this is a great avocado. Like he

51:58 gets all animated and excited. But yeah. Um okay. So avocado. What is one thing

52:04 that anyone can do to benefit their health that’s completely free? Oh my god, sleep. I’m so obsessed with sleep

52:10 right now. I think like I kind of go in phases with what I think is the most important. It usually es and flows with

52:17 what I feel is most important in my own personal life. But going through, you know, my my youngest is six and she’s

52:24 never been a great sleeper and she’s just finally sleeping and I feel like I’m finally after, you know, my my

52:30 oldest is almost nine, so 9 years of child rearing. I’m like, “Oh, this is what like regular sleep actually feels

52:37 like.” Like that’s very interesting. And we’ve just I think we become such a

52:43 society where it’s just normal to live off 5 hours of sleep. And people are like, “I’ve always been like that and

52:48 I’m fine.” And I’m like, “But are you though?” Like, “Are we really or

52:54 could we be better?” So, I think sleep is so not talked about enough and so

53:01 valuable for not just fertility but mental health and and your hormones and how everything inside you works.

53:09 Couldn’t agree more. Sleep is very important. People, what is one thing that you wish that you would have known

53:15 about your health 20 years ago that you would have done differently? Oh my gosh. I really like it’s funny. I have no

53:23 regrets with how my journey played out because I’m doing something that I love

53:29 so much and feel so passionate about and feel very strongly like I’m doing

53:34 exactly what I’m supposed to do. And so it’s hard to look back on my health journey that got me here and be like,

53:40 “Oh, I wish I did that differently.” But I wasted so many years trying every

53:46 single type of birth control to give me clear skin. And it never did. And yet I

53:51 kept trying it because that’s what the doctor told me to do. That was my only

53:56 option. And if I could have like my brain back when I was 13 and just start

54:02 being more curious and asking questions ahead of like before all of that, I think my journey would have been very

54:09 different. But I also feel very strongly like I would have had a very different

54:14 teenage experience not going through that. So I would probably choose that.

54:20 Okay, that’s very fair. And then the last question is, is there one book that you feel like has changed your life or

54:26 that’s very impactful? Changed my life or like a fertility book that I recommend either. Just a book that’s

54:33 very impactful. You know, a book I recommend actually quite a bit is a book

54:38 called Is Your Body Baby Friendly by Dr. Alan Beers. I read this book I don’t think I had Nyla, so seven or eight

54:45 years ago maybe. I remember it was very early on in my career. where I was working with a couple who were getting

54:51 pregnant every time they tried and having a miscarriage every single time and it was my first real experience with

54:57 recurrent pregnancy loss and everything, you know, bare bones that we were doing looked good. She was doing all the right

55:04 things. The clinic really wanted them to do IVF and we just kind of all all of us kept saying like, well, what how is that

55:10 going to fix the problem? Like why? And I remember coming across this book and it really outlines the immune aspect of

55:19 fertility. And I would say like reading that book changed my career and how I

55:25 approach care with clients who have recurrent loss, who have unexplained infertility, who have recurrent

55:31 implantation failure with IVF. And it’s still, it’s sad that even 7 years later after reading this book, I tell clients

55:36 in these situations, definitely read it. It’s a hard read. It’s not an easy like

55:42 it’s not written for normal like coffee and tea consumption. It’s something that

55:48 I pull out regularly and go okay what is that again? It brings you back to school

55:53 like immunology days. But he does a pretty good job like trying to explain it in lay terms I feel. And it has given

56:01 so many of my clients like light bulb moments and hope of like oh I thought I

56:06 was at the end of the line. I thought I had no other options left, but look at all these things that we can still look

56:12 into and do. And it really has, yeah, a changed the way I approach challenging

56:17 cases and changed the way I’ve researched and dug more into the immune system aspect of things. So, that’s

56:23 probably my like lifealtering book for me clients. Is your body baby friendly?

56:29 So, we’ll link that in the show notes as well. So tell our listeners like where

56:35 they can find out more about you. I know you said that you have a program. You have a fertility labs 101 program. I

56:42 know that you’re on Instagram, which is how I found you. Fertility confidence method. Is there any other way that that

56:49 we can serve you or find you or do things to help you spread your word?

56:54 Yeah, that would be awesome. So, fertil um fertility confidence method on Instagram is probably one of the top platforms that we’re on, but I also host

57:01 my own podcast called the Fertility Confidence podcast. There’s tons and tons and tons of free support,

57:08 resources, tools, strategies, labs, amazing guest experts there. So, if you

57:14 are in your fertility journey or if you’re listening and you have a friend or family member that you know is struggling, sharing the podcast with

57:20 them is probably one of the better resources because they can then pick and choose what they want to listen to. They

57:26 can binge. They can really figure out who I am. If working together makes sense, but that’s not what the podcast

57:33 is about either. It’s really a way for you to start to build out your own tools and strategies and care plan based on on

57:39 what your body needs. So, Fertility Confidence podcast on any of your favorite platforms and I’ll send you the

57:46 link for Fertility Labs 101 and I can make you guys a little coupon code for that as well. You can throw in there.

57:51 Awesome. Okay. Well, thank you so much for your time and for what you do. I really appreciate it. Thanks for having

57:57 me. Of course. I thought that episode was very fascinating with Dr. Kelsey

58:03 Duncan. I like that we were able to talk about fertility and hopefully if you’re

58:08 somebody who is struggling with fertility, this made you feel better or more hopeful in your journey to know not

58:14 only that there are lots of people struggling with this, but that there are safe spaces you can go to get help with this. And a lot of times there are

58:20 things that are just overlooked in traditional medicine unfortunately that could be optimized to help you in your

58:26 journey. So, please make sure that if you know anyone this could benefit,

58:31 share this podcast episode with them. They, you know, it may be life-changing to them. It may be that they just need

58:37 some different labs or they need a different mindset or they just need a different provider to help them in their

58:42 fertility route. So, I would greatly appreciate you sharing this. Also, make sure that you’re following us anywhere

58:48 that you get your podcast episode so you don’t ever miss an episode. Please leave us any sort of review. I would

58:54 appreciate that. Check me out on social media, Instagram, Tik Tok or Facebook. I love it when people comment on my post.

59:00 Let me know what they want to hear about. Let me know what questions they have. I do a lot of webinars as now

59:06 webinars, Q&As’s as well now. So, if you’re on our mailing list, our email list, then you’ll get information about

59:12 that. I try to post it on social media as well. Modern Endocrine is licensed in 39 states now, probably 50 by the end of

59:19 the year. We are so happy to help with any medical issues that you have. You can learn about becoming a patient on

59:25 our website. We would love to help you do one-on-one, you know, health coaching

59:30 and training and and help you get through whatever you’re going through. We have an amazing gut health program. I

59:36 am so proud of it. We can do that in any state that you live in. We have a phenomenal 4-month program where we help

59:42 you reset your gut. It comes with, you know, a stool test. You get access to an

59:48 app where I teach you every day. And we’ve been changing a lot of lives with that. So, if you’re interested in that,

59:53 you can just buy a gut health test, a GI map on our website and then we’ll be in contact with you and we would love to

1:00:00 help you in that journey as well. Thank you so much for your time this week. I hope that something that you learned

1:00:06 will impact your life for the better. Join us next week on the next episode of Hormones, Metabolism, and You have a

1:00:12 great week. The information presented, including any materials discussed, referenced or

1:00:18 linked within this podcast, are for general educational purposes only, not

1:00:24 the practice of medicine. No doctor patient relationship is formed from you listening to this podcast or utilizing

1:00:30 any of the information provided. I am a doctor, but I am not talking to you as your doctor. The information provided is

1:00:38 not intended to diagnose or treat health problems or take the place of the professional medical care provided by

1:00:44 your doctor. If you are experiencing any health problems, including problems you believe have been touched upon in any

1:00:51 respect within this podcast, you should consult your doctor about the problems without delay. You may ask your doctor

1:00:58 whether he or she believes the information I have provided would be helpful to you, but you should still

1:01:03 consult your doctor immediately and follow his or her medical advice as your treating physician. I’m just here to

1:01:10 provide you basic knowledge about the issues we discuss so you are more aware of them and can better discuss them with

1:01:16 your doctor. That’s why we call it back to the basics. Join me on the next episode as we continue our journey.

1:01:25 You

 

Disclaimer:

The information presented including any materials discussed, referenced, or linked within this podcast are for general educational purposes only, not the practice of medicine.

No doctor-patient relationship is formed from you listening to this podcast or utilizing any of the information provided.

I am a doctor, but I am not talking to you as your doctor. The information provided is not intended to diagnose or treat health problems or take the place of the professional medical care provided by your doctor.

If you are experiencing any health problems, including problems you believe have been touched upon in any respect within this podcast, you should consult your doctor about the problems without delay. You may ask your doctor whether he or she believes the information I have provided would be helpful to you, but you should still consult your doctor immediately and follow his or her medical advice as your treating physician.

I’m just here to provide you with basic knowledge about the issues we discuss so you are more aware of them and can better discuss them with your doctor.

That’s why we call it Back to the Basics. Join me on the next episode as we continue our journey.