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Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark
The Preconception Bible For Men and Women | Ann Shippy, MD
01:01:35
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- [00:00]
A
What we're doing, what we're eating, what we're putting in and on our bodies could affect multiple generations down our family line.
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B
The genes can be influenced and marked with the sperm and the egg to create either health problems in the future child and maybe even multiple generations. We know that things like plastics and phthalates and pesticides can influence gene expression even to the baby's future fertility.
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A
If you're thinking about getting pregnant or even just planning ahead, this episode is your preconception bible. Today we're diving into what to do and what not to do before trying to conceive for both men and women. My guest, Dr. Anne Shippy is a board certified functional medicine physician and founder of Every Life well and Every Baby well. With years of experience helping patients optimize their health through science based personalized care, Dr. Shippy brings a wealth of knowledge on fertility, pregnancy and long term wellness. Watch this episode in our brand new Jevy studio on the real Alex Clark YouTube channel or culture Apothecary on Spotify. The show is free, but one of the most impactful ways to support us so that we can stay a free show is by pausing right now before the episode starts and leave a five star review on Spotify or Apple. Join the cute Servitus Facebook group to discuss this show and meet like minded women and send this episode to the couple in your life who wants to have a baby in the near Future. Please welcome Dr. Ann Shippy to Culture Apothecary. Dr. Shippy, I got in so much trouble online for reacting to a video of this guy and he was talking about how the person that you end up with their gut microbiome matters, how they eat, how they live their life. It can affect your gut microbiome. You're swapping all kinds of stuff once you're in a relationship or married or whatever. And I said, I agree, this is why it's so important, you know, in the dating stage. And ideally, you know, I believe my audience believes we're dating for marriage, that you are choosing a partner if you can. You're choosing a partner who kind of shares your health philosophy so that you can kind of avoid this hurdle later. And I was slammed. I was slammed for this. Am I off base that caring if you, if you can help? Because some people come to their health realization later in life, so that's different. But if you know all this in the dating stage, do you agree that you should ideally find somebody who shares these values on health?
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B
Exactly. Especially if you're thinking about having children at some point, but just you want to find somebody that cares about their body as much as you care about your body, because these habits are passed on to each other. And we do share microbiomes. Like, there's lots of good data that shows that even kissing, you have a big swap. But when I do microbiome testing, so we look for bacteria, parasites, and yeast, and for sure, certain bacteria get passed back and forth. So something called H. Pylori, it's a bacteria that hangs out in the upper part of the gut, the stomach and esophagus, that can increase the risk for cancer and reflux and inflammation. When I find it in one partner, it's often in the other one. And it's probably not just that they ate the same food that passed it, but they're probably passing it back and forth. So I always ask the partner to take the supplements and things that help to reverse the H. Pylori. And the same thing for fungal. If we. If I'm doing a gut microbiome test and somebody has a bunch of Candida or other fungi or yeast in their guts, then often the partner does too.
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A
And H. Pylori, that can attribute to infertility issues. Right.
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B
Indirectly. And that it increases inflammation. And anything, anything that can increase inflammation can throw off the hormone cycles. And the body's message about, okay, is this a good time to actually get.
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A
Pregnant now so another partner's health can drag down the fertility of another?
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B
Yes. I hadn't thought about it that way. I need to rewrite my book so I can put that in there, because I didn't say it that way, but I, you know, I try to put things more optimistically. Right. Like, I think if both partners are really working on their health and, and being willing to look at things like the microbiome and other things that they can pull it up together.
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A
Let's talk about preconception. How does preconception health influence not just fertility, but actually the lifelong health of the child?
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B
So I started to write this book 10 years ago, and there was a little bit of information about a field called epigenetics. I didn't get started actually finishing the book until two years ago. And in those 10 years, and even, especially in the last two years, there's so much research that's gotten done about epigenetics, which is how genes are dialed up and dialed down. So by working on all of these health issues, you can actually help to create a positive epigenetics for the baby. So what we now know is that they, The Genes can be influenced and marked with the sperm and the egg to create either health problems in the future child and maybe even multiple generations, or dialed to a more beneficial state for the baby and for multiple generations.
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A
So what we're doing, what we're eating, what we're putting in and on our bodies could affect multiple generations down our family line.
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B
Exactly. Especially when it comes to a topic that's near and dear to your heart. Environmental toxins. We know that things like plastics and phthalates and pesticides can influence gene expression even to the. The baby's future fertility.
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A
The baby's future fertility. So could this be contributing then to the infertility crisis that we're finding ourselves in?
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B
Absolutely.
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A
That it's stuff that my grandma was exposed to is what I'm now dealing with.
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B
And the best model for this is a medication that was given probably in your grandmother's time called Destination. And they were massive fertility issues. So it couldn't be missed for the future, especially daughters. But I think it can also be for sons as well.
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A
What are some signs that chronic inflammation could be preventing you from getting pregnant?
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B
I believe in testing, but it can be symptoms such as digestive issues like feeling bloated or feeling a little achy in your joints or having headaches. All of these things can be like indirect markers for inflammation.
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A
But.
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B
But I really like to test. There's tests that you can do through a traditional lab testing, things like a high sensitivity crp, a fibrinogen, a ferritin. But there's even more advanced technology that you can even dial it in even more. And I write about that in the book. So you can really look if you want to know, okay, do I have inflammation? And I've just kind of gotten used to it, and I think this is normal, which often happens because you just kind of acclimate to feeling inflamed. Testing is a great way to really. No.
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A
Okay, can you tell us one of the tests that you suggest in the book?
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B
I really love to do a lipid peroxidase. So that's a marker for how well your mitochondria is clearing inflammation. And so when that's elevated, and it's a very easy test to do, you just have to find a doctor that will order it for you or through the specialty labs. And what's great then is if you find you have elevated inflammation, you can do some of the things that I talk about in the book, like working on dialing in your diet more your microbiome, clearing the toxins and Watch your inflammation levels go down. It's so empowering because you can actually take action on these things and not just feel like, oh my gosh, I'm stuck with this, am I going to be able to have a healthy baby? But you can, you can. All of these things can be addressed.
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A
What are some ways to live a low inflammation life? Like day in the life?
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B
The most important thing we can do is eat clean food. Like if, if you think you're going to get by with eating unhealthy food and be able to make the leaps and bounds that you want to with your health is really, really hard. I mean people do try to get around it with supplements and peptides and meditating and all the things, but starting out with a really clean diet. And I find that most people actually lower their inflammation by doing a gluten free and dairy free diet, even if they aren't particularly sensitive to it, like have a reaction to it that they can see. So eating clean vegetables, the organic vegetables, the nuts and seeds, the healthiest meat you can find, if you have most of your diet that it will automatically start to lower inflammation. And then we want to eliminate the toxins as best we can. And I know you talk about that a lot, that's just so, so important. But they're hidden in so many places. So if you can actually do testing on that, that's helpful as well.
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A
Where are some of the places that toxins are hiding?
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B
They are hiding in our. Definitely in our food. In the packaging.
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A
The packaging of the food?
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B
Yes.
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A
What does that mean?
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B
So a lot of food comes in plastics. Like our, our meats wrapped in plastics. Our. Any of the frozen foods are in plastics. Canned water actually has a plastic lining. Any canned food, there's a plastic lining there. The bottled water is a huge one. So if we can get like for water we want to try to filter the water or drink it out of glass rather than drinking it out of the plastic bottles or the cans. The takeout containers for takeout food. After watching my patients with. Have you heard of PFAS before? Of course, yeah, those are the, the non stick chemicals. Yep. So when I watch the PFAS levels in my patients, I pretty much quit having takeout because they're. Almost all the takeout containers have some type of nonstick coating on them.
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A
Right. So if you're cooking with nonstick pans or your door dashing constantly, you might have higher forever chemicals in your body.
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B
Absolutely you will.
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A
And that's interesting because I interviewed this last February. I interviewed the Attorney who worked on the, the famous Teflon case. I don't know if you ever saw the movie Dark Waters.
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B
I did.
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A
Okay. So I interviewed the real attorney that that movie was based on. The mark Ruffalo plays. Yeah. So if you are like, what is she talking about? With forever chemicals and Teflon pans and nonstick, you've got to watch that interview. It is so excellent. Yeah, that's a huge thing that people don't realize. And people are like, I don't really get why this is such a big deal. And my response to that is, well, why don't you get a pet bird? Because anyone who has pet birds knows that it is ingrained in them that if you have a bird in your house, you can never ever on non stick pans because the fumes from the Teflon will instantly kill your bird. That bird will start freaking out and will just drop dead. And so if that is happening to a bird, what do you think is happening to us when we're breathing that in a bird? Just as a teeny tiny little body, you know, but it's accumulating in us too. So I don't want to breathe that in either.
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B
And I do think a lot of times our pets are, you know, if you have a pet of any kind who's not healthy, that's an indication that you need to look at what's going on in the environment.
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A
I've talked to Dr. Karen Becker, who's a holistic vet, and that's another huge topic too is, is everything that you're doing for yourself and your children, if you're leaving out your pets, I mean, I just think that's so cruel and human and inhumane to do. They, you know, are a living creature too, that God created that we, if we're welcoming them into our home, we need to be taken care of. And the pet cancer rates and diabetes and all of their health issues are right in line with the pet ultra processed food industry as well. Like your dog is not supposed to live off ultra processed kibble forever. Human beings are not supposed to live off ultra processed kibble essentially forever. Right. And then we're wondering why is infertility. I believe it's rising 1% every year.
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B
So now it's one in six couples experience infertility, which means not getting pregnant in over six months. Um, and then the, the male sperm count over the last 50 years has dropped by 50% and it's accelerating. It's over. It's about 2.4% now. So it's actually getting worse.
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A
I think this should be a new deal breaker for women. We're not, I mean, you know, a couple times a year is fine, but we're not dating men who doordash. That's my new rule. Because his sperm is cooked.
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B
Okay, this is so important. The, there's a new study that came out just a few weeks ago that they, it was brilliant the way they did it and I, if I had looked at the study design before they did it, I would said have said it's not going to show anything. They took men and for three weeks they had them eat highly processed foods and they checked their hormones and they checked their sperm counts. And then they had another group of men that ate basically whole natural foods on the high processed foods. In three weeks, it dramatically dropped sperm count.
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A
In only three weeks?
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B
In only three weeks.
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A
So basically guys have three weeks to.
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B
Turn it around but then on the alternate it took three weeks to start seeing the improvement. So when I think about this for men and wanting their time capsule that the sperm to be as healthy as possible for their future child, I prefer more than three weeks. But just to get people started, if you can at least do three weeks before you even start trying and get that 74 days of the sperm developing also really good, it can make a huge difference. I prefer six months or 12 months to really get the best sperm. But even three weeks of eating super clean can make a huge difference.
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A
What else can men be doing today to improve their sperm health and give their kids the best healthy start in life?
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B
I really recommend doing at least least three months of a very careful detox. So I make recommendations in the book on this. So it's something called liposomal glutathione which enhances our own processes for detoxification, help them methylate with supplements that are good for methylation. So that's another detox process in the body and it's just helping that to work better. And then also a little bit of a healthy binder that actually pulls the toxins out through the gut. So it's, it's kind of sciency in the book. But I think for those people that want to just know, here's what you need to do. There's a list of the things that help and then for the people that want to understand, well, wait, how is this actually working in my body? It gets a little nerdy.
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A
Oh, that's all right. Give us a, give us like a summary of it.
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B
Well, so if you think about detoxification, it's Like a series of dams that the body is, you know, kind of running the toxin through to finally getting out to of the urine or the stool. Or sometimes we sweat out the toxins too. Right. With a sauna supporting the liver to actually be able to do a very complex process of detoxification, depending on what the toxin is, and then moving it through with other substances that we make in our body, but just really supporting them with additional nutrients. Then there are also some supplements and foods that are really good for lowering inflammation and boosting sperm count.
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A
Okay, what are they?
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B
So the glutathione that I mentioned, something called astaxanthin, inositol, the B vitamins, there's a whole long list.
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A
And this is specifically for men.
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B
It's really fascinating though, because these same things are also really good for women.
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A
Okay.
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B
Got some great researchers globally that are looking at these things. The studies that were just looking at sperm were different than the things that we're looking at the eggs. But there was such an overlap. And then one of the other things that is really fun and exciting is the mitochondria. So the little organelles inside our cells that make energy when we feed those with nutrients that help them to be healthier. Things like NAD and carnitine CoQ10B vitamins that also really boosts sperm and eggs ability to conceive.
- [16:39]
A
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B
I didn't put it in the book, but I've done research for, for particular patients and you know, sometimes there are medications that you really need to take, but if you can avoid medications completely, I think it's much better to do that because most medications have some side effect profile. The other thing for men is to cut out alcohol, THC and any other recreational drugs. There's definitely data that shows you shouldn't drink alcohol for those that three to six months before conceiving.
- [19:28]
A
No alcohol three to six months before conceiving.
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B
That's my opinion.
- [19:32]
A
Not even beer?
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B
Not even beer. That's my opinion. Based on looking through the data.
- [19:36]
A
You're saying this in the middle of football season? Dr. Well, but I think it's a.
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B
Fair request because we expect women to not drink for nine months. It's really 40 weeks. And probably it's better for women to not be drinking right before conception either. But I did find good data to show that for sperm health it's better for men to not have alcohol.
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A
You've talked about histamine intolerance being linked to fertility issues. What can you tell us about that?
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B
Histamine issues are something that I really just used to see before COVID when people were exposed to environmental toxins like toxic mold. Since COVID I think we have an epidemic of histamine issues. Getting scraped from the inside out with spike protein has upregulated almost everybody's immune system more than before COVID And definitely, I think post vaccine, probably for some people, amped it up even more. So histamines can cause things like heartburn, headaches, skin rashes, allergies. So many different symptoms. So you might just be writing it off to something else. If you're having more pets since 2020, these histamine responses can interfere with some of the hormone signaling, so it can throw hormones off for a lot of people so we can get it back into balance. But it's a good thing to look at and consider if you're having any of those symptoms and help your body to reduce. So I also discuss that in the book. There's a low histamine diet and some supplements like quercetin. And then just helping your body to detoxify will a lot of times help that histamine pathway to get better.
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A
What does a low histamine diet look like? Like what sorts of foods?
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B
Yeah. So the things to avoid and to have a low histamine diet would be things that are aged or fermented, which, for me, it's like all my. My favorite foods.
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A
Sauerkraut, girly.
- [21:35]
B
Sauerkraut and pickles and olives and strawberries are another one that throw. Fall in there. And then leftovers. Kind of one of the ways that I manage my time is to, you know, do some cooking in advance and then eat on it for a couple of days. Well, I don't do that anymore. Since COVID I try to eat things within 24 hours.
- [21:59]
A
Hold on a minute now.
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B
I know. I. Sacred territory. I'm.
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A
No, I'm like, I've never heard this in my life. So eating leftovers could be increasing histamine issues for somebody.
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B
Yes.
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A
How does that work?
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B
So the histamines build up in the food over time. So I. So for me, myself, I find if I eat something within 24, 36 hours, it's fine. But if I get much past that, I will notice more of a histamine response.
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A
Oh, my gosh. That just might have cracked the code for so many people struggling with infertility if they're constantly living off leftovers. I mean, I don't know, who knows?
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B
Doordash, and then, yeah, you're door dashing.
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A
Then you're eating the leftover doordash. It's literally my hell. If somebody is suffering from Chronic migraines or chronic allergies, could those problems actually be sabotaging your chance at getting pregnant?
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B
Absolutely. I think about any symptoms in the body are just, it's like a thermometer on what might be going on. So if we can look at what the root cause of some of those things are and address them, then that can make a huge difference with fertility.
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A
What do you think the functional medicine answer is to chronic migraines?
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B
Histamines. Pretty much every patient that I see will have a histamine overload of some kind. And so the migraine is something tipping the body over with a release of histamines and causing the symptoms. So when we think about these mast cells that are creating the histamines, the things that can really dial them up would be stress. So if you go through a big stressor, if you've got a low grade infection. So like the H. Pylori or Candida or hidden parasite, an exposure to an environmental toxin. So my patients that are dealing with toxic mold or, or even these other toxins that we're just talking about building up in the body, food allergies. So for my patients that are gluten intolerant or dairy intolerant, that can be dialing them up. So we look, we look at all of those things and start to address them and then the migraines go away.
- [24:07]
A
Could histamine intolerance also be a nutrient deficiency?
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B
Okay, so nutrient deficiencies can definitely be causing your histamine intolerance. Because to clear histamines, and there's methylation pathways and other pathways that are basically fed with nutrients. So B vitamins, folate, can make a huge difference to helping with the histamine intolerance.
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A
What do you think is the most common mistake that couples are making when trying to conceive?
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B
Well, what I want each couple to know that I think it's not really a mistake, but they just don't know that they can do so much in this preconception period. So they just like, okay, we're ready, we want to start trying. Whereas I really think they need to do some preparation in advance. They need that 3, 6, 12 months of getting their diet dialed in, supporting their mitochondria, cleaning up their microbiome, decreasing their toxins, managing their stress, getting good sleep, getting exercise, managing their blood sugar. Like it's a lot, but it can if just that effort can improve their fertility. But then also that time capsule that I was talking about for the guys. So like even getting their exercise dialed in, like building muscle Makes the sperm healthier.
- [25:24]
A
Oh, really?
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B
Yes.
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A
Okay, good.
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B
So, like, I know a lot of people are, they're just in survival, right? Like getting through and like just trying to get fed and do their basic activity activities of life. And we'll sometimes put off the eating healthy and getting the exercise and finding time to meditate or pray or all the things. But it can make such a huge difference in their physiology to really prioritize their sleep and to get exercise and to meditate. It's amazing for fertility.
- [25:59]
A
Can you really boost your fertility in just three months?
- [26:02]
B
Yes. Let me tell you a story. I had a 47 year old come to see me at the beginning of the year. She had met the love of her life and really wanted to have a baby with them. So she, and she had heard about me. So she came in and she, she was willing to wait a little bit. I said, you know, let's take a month and get a bunch of labs and see where you are, make sure it's safe for you to get pregnant. So we found some things where her, some of her toxins were high, her microbiome was a little bit off, some of her hormones were off. So we took three months and we optimized her health, diet, all the things, the supplements. She was supposed to come back in and do a little testing, but they had one night, she's 47. One night where they're like, oh, we're celebrating something and she got pregnant.
- [26:46]
A
You're joking.
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B
No. It's like, I've been holding my breath. She's five months now, so. And she feels great. She feels amazing.
- [26:55]
A
And this is her first child she's had.
- [26:57]
B
She had one okay.
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A
A while back.
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B
A while back. And just, you know, really wanted to grow her family.
- [27:04]
A
Good for her.
- [27:05]
B
So. So this whole idea that women's like, I really want people to know this because this is so in the narrative right now, this idea of advanced maternal age. Geriatric pregnancies. Get so upset about this because I see women having healthy babies into their mid-40s, no problem when they've really tuned up their bodies and their partner has too. The latest research that just came out looking at egg aging used a new technology. Compared to other technology that's been used in the past, eggs don't age very much at all. Compared to other parts of the body, they looked really good. So it's more the environment in your body and less that you have old eggs. I think you quit ovulating the eggs at a certain point when the body's like okay, I'm done. So in the menopause time frame around 51, most people are, like, done. But up until then, you can create a healthy body, a healthy baby, if your body's super healthy and your partners. So we now know, too, this time capsule of the sperm can influence the health of the pregnancy. It can. If the sperm isn't very healthy, it can increase the risk for preeclampsia, placental problems, and miscarriages. So you really want to have a partner, both partners that are really optimizing things before you start trying.
- [28:41]
A
I'm not talking about women who all their hormone levels are normal and good or whatever, but for a woman who's in her mid to late 40s that's trying to conceive, and her progesterone has already started to lower, and so she's supplementing progesterone. Do you think doing that when your body is kind of getting this mode hormonally of like, okay, we're ready to enter the next chapter, and then you kind of force a pregnancy in there, do you think that can have a negative impact on women's hormones or no?
- [29:09]
B
I do have people check their progesterone in that early stages, because I do think a little bit of progesterone can be helpful for some women. Another story had a woman who had had some infertility issues. She came in, I worked with her for her first two pregnancies. She had a little low progesterone, so we supplemented a little bit. She was in her mid and late 30s for those two pregnancies. Then at 42, accidentally, like, we really turned. We did the same thing that's in the book Postpartum. Like, we really tuned her up. So 42. She's, like, feeling great. Like, totally in as good a place as ever with her health and feeling amazing. Had a little oopsie, got pregnant, and she thought, oh, I don't know if I really want another baby, but I might miscarriage without the progesterone. So she was like, okay, I'm just gonna let nature take its course. Her progesterone was great. She now has the third very healthy baby.
- [30:08]
A
Wow.
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B
And so even at 42, when you'd think you might need that extra progesterone, she didn't need it because her body was working so well.
- [30:21]
A
I can never forget the smell of my best friend's house from childhood. It was one of those older homes that smelled so specifically mildewy and stale. Like, every shirt, every blanket, every pillow smelled like a swamp Decided to move in. Let me tell you something. Your house should not have a smell. If it does, you're doing something wrong. Next time that you have a guest over, ask them, hey, does my house have a smell? This is where Jasper comes in. This is the first air scrubber built specifically for home use. It's got commercial grade power, the same tech they use to scrub, scrub, smoke, mold and disaster zones, but with a sleek, simple design that's actually going to fit in your space and look beautiful. It's one perfect size. Big enough to clean your air, small enough to not scream. I have a respirator in my living room. It's smart too. Sensors detect PM 2.5 particles. Dust, pollen, mold, spores, you name it. VOCs from paint or cleaning products, gone. Pet odors, smoke, cooking, smells, gone. And it's backed by a lifetime warranty. So you're not just buying an air scrubber, you're buying clean air for life. This is the best air scrubber on the market. I have been using this for about a year now. Absolutely changed my home. The air in my place feels so crisp and clean, like my windows are open 24 7. Stop living in a swamp. Go to Jasper Co J A s p r.co and use code ALEX for 400 off today. It is the last day to get 400 off your Jasper. Tomorrow Code Alex will only get you 250 off. Okay, Jasper Co with code Alex for $400 off for one day only. J A S P R do Code Alex after the day that this episode comes out. By the way, just so you know if you're listening later, pays to listen first. It will be $250 off. Last month my neighbor kept putting off a routine checkup. I'll wait until next week, he said. Well, that next week turned into a month and then a hospital visit and then thousands of dollars in bills that insurance barely touched. This is the reality for so many of us. Health insurance is confusing. It's expensive and not designed to help you when it matters most. Last year alone, one in five Obamacare claims got denied. Crowd health changes the game. I spoke to Andy, their CEO, and it's insane how transparent they are. No networks, no confusing claims, just people helping people. You get telemedicine, visits, prescription discounts, access to local cash pay doctors, which are the best kinds, and the chance to support others in the community. When you need help, the crowd comes through. Stop letting bureaucracy dictate your health. Let crowd health help with your health care needs. Get started today for just 99 per month. For your first three months by using code culture@joincrowdhealth.com Crowd health is not insurance. Learn more at joincrowdhealth.com Code culture. So what is the regimen that you Recommend? Women over 40 who are looking to get pregnant.
- [33:17]
B
Get on healthy diet, like do as close to paleo as you can. Gluten free, dairy free, lots of nutrient dense foods, you know, good proteins, good. Lots of phytonutrients, fruits and vegetables and some really high quality fats. And cut out all the crap. Then do at least three months of detox with the things in the book. The liposomal glutathione, the binders, the methylation and the other things. Whatever your budget will allow. Take some really nice antioxidants. I think there's so much fear on this topic now. Pretty much every woman that I talk to that's wanting to have a family at some point, there's fear because they've had friends or family.
- [34:03]
A
What everyday chemicals and products are secretly sabotaging fertility?
- [34:07]
B
There are many of them and if we can test, that's great. It's the pfas that we talked about. It's the phthalates and plastics that are in our skin and hair care. Gonna call you out on your nails a little bit.
- [34:18]
A
What's wrong with my nails?
- [34:20]
B
There's chemicals in those. Oh, I know.
- [34:23]
A
So you're telling women that are trying to get pregnant also no nail polish.
- [34:27]
B
No nail polish.
- [34:28]
A
Really?
- [34:29]
B
Yeah.
- [34:30]
A
Talk a little bit about that.
- [34:31]
B
Anything you can kind of smell that has an odor is gonna have chemicals in it.
- [34:36]
A
I'm getting called out. My audience is loving this. They're like, yes, getter. It's always us. Get her.
- [34:42]
B
Well, you don't know because it's, it's just such a part of our culture. Yeah, right. Yeah. So it's like for now, like, if you're planning to get pregnant, don't do the nail polish.
- [34:51]
A
Oh my gosh.
- [34:52]
B
And then do some detox to get some of those chemicals out because some of them will have built up in your body. Get the healthiest skin and hair care that you can. When you think about the toxins that's going in through our lungs, through the things that we're breathing. If you can smell it, it's probably a chemical through our skin and hair and nails and then in our water and food. Anything we ingest.
- [35:16]
A
That's crazy.
- [35:19]
B
Sorry.
- [35:19]
A
That's crazy. No, I love it.
- [35:21]
B
I think it's important.
- [35:22]
A
Yeah.
- [35:22]
B
Because we just, we don't even think you could Notice I don't. It's not very attractive. No, I can't get myself to do it anymore now that I've seen the data.
- [35:32]
A
Yeah. Yeah, that's fair. Environmental toxins like glyphosate are more common than we realize. What should people living near farms that are struggling with infertility know?
- [35:43]
B
That is really disturbing move. If you can definitely be gone when they're spraying the planes, like, do not be in that area. I've watched people and I have people that fly in from all over the country, and the people in those vicinities, like, it's a thing just goes into your system and definitely can be a source for not just infertility, but, like, getting pregnant and not realizing that that's part of the time capsule getting passed on to the baby and the sperm and the egg. So you really want to be doing the prevention. And that's an easy test to get. I mean, you can measure. Almost everybody can get a glyphosate test now very easily. I had an experience that was really profound in Tanzania last year. I got to meet with the Maasai tribe. So, you know, they're hunter gatherers, and I just happened to have a conversation with a physician who had, you know, he had gone away from the tribe and then come back to help take care, to do med school and then come back, and somehow we just, like, got an opportunity to talk. And so I was asking him, like, what are you seeing and as far as medical problems in your tribe? And their women are really, really struggling with these issues like preeclampsia and placental issues. They're starting to see autism there and things that they've never seen before. Would they change? We met with the Hadzibi tribe and then drove about three or four hours to the Maasai tribe. It was field after field after field of glyphosate corn. So I don't know. I mean, I haven't had the opportunity to, like, go back and measure glyphosate in the tribe, which hopefully I would love to do someday. I've stayed in touch with the doctor, but he's. He was, like, so distraught because they don't have hospitals, they don't have much medical care to help these women. So they're actually seeing a much higher death rate in their, like, compared to what it used to be in childbirth.
- [37:45]
A
What does blood sugar have to do with struggling to have a baby?
- [37:47]
B
Elevated blood sugar increases inflammation, and then it also messes with hormones by doing that. The biggest reason to know how your blood sugar is doing. I love for people to wear one of the continuous glucose monitors where you can see what's going on for at least a two week period and use that to help you get it as tight as possible. Especially for men. That's part of that time capsule that gets passed on to the baby. So if you're dealing with some blood sugar issues, then that can influence the health of the baby. It can make them more predisposed to having diabetes and blood sugar issues and weight issues.
- [38:22]
A
Oh, weight issues too.
- [38:23]
B
Yeah. So we really want to be as close as we can be, both men and women, you know, a good weight range, so that those epigenetic things that happen when you gain weight don't get passed on to the baby. It's part of why we're seeing obesity in babies now.
- [38:41]
A
We're seeing obesity in babies.
- [38:43]
B
The weight of babies is increasing.
- [38:45]
A
Like when they're born.
- [38:46]
B
Yes, when they're born.
- [38:47]
A
What kind of health impacts could that have?
- [38:49]
B
Huge. I mean, it definitely sets them up for issues with diabetes and blood sugar issues.
- [38:56]
A
Oh my gosh.
- [38:56]
B
And partly cardiovascular.
- [38:58]
A
This news on top of Harvard just coming out and saying now they believe that nearly 70% of American adults are obese.
- [39:07]
B
It's getting set up. Preconception. So this is why I really like. I so want this book to get in everybody's hands before they start or grow their families because it's just so critical. Yes, there's so much we can do with the babies once they're born to help them to be healthier. But, you know, based on what I see in my practice and over 500 references in the book, because I just spent two years really climbing through the research to support what I see happening. And it's so critical for our future generation to be healthier. And I, I want to be hopeful because what I see happening is that when this whole idea with the advanced maternal age, you know, over 35, you're going to have less healthy children. I don't see that. I see women having their healthiest children when they've done the work up front, especially if their partners will tune up their bodies to have super healthy babies.
- [40:04]
A
What supplements do almost all people benefit from taking?
- [40:08]
B
Everybody needs B vitamins. Mitochondrial support is amazing. So things like CoQ10 carnitine, nad it can get expensive. So I want to be careful about what I say because you can do so much with even just a little antioxidants like green tea and curcumin can make a huge difference in how the body's Working.
- [40:35]
A
Okay.
- [40:36]
B
Phosphatidylcholine.
- [40:37]
A
What's that?
- [40:38]
B
It's like a game changer for having healthy babies. Ooh.
- [40:41]
A
Okay, tell us more.
- [40:43]
B
So phosphatidylcholine is a special form of choline. Over 50% of people are deficient in choline. So we men, it helps the sperm to be healthier. For women, it not only helps the egg to be healthier, but it helps to grow a healthier baby because we need phosphatidylcholine. We need choline to build healthy cells. So.
- [41:06]
A
You know what? This is interesting. Let me ask you something. I cannot eat eggs, so I'm not eating any eggs. So would this be a really good option for me?
- [41:14]
B
I'm gonna send you some.
- [41:15]
A
Yeah, look at that. Okay, good.
- [41:18]
B
Okay. So it comes in two forms. There's a liquid form that doesn't taste very good, but it's super potent. And. And, like, gets absorbed really well. And then it comes in a capsule that's like the size of a fish oil.
- [41:29]
A
Am I gonna get pregnant just a guy looking at me or maybe.
- [41:33]
B
Oh, no. Like, that's kind of. I write about this in the book too, because sometimes you get so fertile, your traditional ways of birth control don't work.
- [41:41]
A
Oh, really?
- [41:42]
B
Yeah. I've had a few people get pregnant with the pull out method that had worked for like a decade, but once they did the protocol, they're like, it's quit working.
- [41:51]
A
Okay, well, that's good to know for, you know, people that are trying to avoid getting pregnant that way that are listening. Exactly. Okay. Okay.
- [41:56]
B
That.
- [41:56]
A
I love that tip about the choline. That's really huge.
- [41:59]
B
It's really huge.
- [42:00]
A
Okay, and tell us the name again.
- [42:02]
B
Phosphatidylcholine. It's probably the most important thing before and during pregnancy for women.
- [42:10]
A
How do you know which supplements are effective, clean, and worth the money?
- [42:14]
B
That's a hard one. That's part of what I've done with my brand and with the website, because they're not all created equal. There's knockoffs for everything. And you really, really want to get pharmaceutical grade because you want it to be what it says it is. And, and. And so there's some designations on the labels that will tell you, like, the light level of quality, so the type of facility it was made in. And then look for pharmaceutical grade.
- [42:41]
A
What supplements do you like for seasonal allergies?
- [42:44]
B
Oh, that's such a good one. So after you cut out gluten and dairy.
- [42:47]
A
Okay.
- [42:48]
B
Because that's usually a driver Especially dairy. Even a little bit of butter for me can turn me into a faucet. But if I don't eat gluten and dairy, I don't have any issues. There's a product called His Assist or dehis that has a combination of things that help to calm those mast cells down. So things like quercetin and resveratrol are really great. And then low histamine diet and then the DAO enzymes, we call them histamine support that help to break down the histamines in food. In case you do want to have a little. Oh, I forgot tomato earlier. Tomato's a big one unfortunately, because it's in everything.
- [43:28]
A
Okay.
- [43:30]
B
That DAO supplement can help to break it down a little bit so you're less sensitive. And then I, I also think that meditation can really be helpful because you're calming your nervous system down. I find that people that meditate, that whole histamine response gets settled.
- [43:48]
A
Is there anything that you like for inflammation to take?
- [43:51]
B
The liposomal glutathione. So it's a form of glutathione that gets readily absorbed. Liposomal curcumin and then mitochondrial support. It's so interesting how the things that I mentioned earlier, like the Coq 10 and NAD will also helping those mitochondria to clear the inflammation better are super, super helpful. And then I really like to look at the gut. So 70% of our gut or our immune system is in our gut. So a lot of times by doing the gut supplements, so like glutamine, probiotics, licorice root can really help the gut to heal and to reduce inflammation that way.
- [44:34]
A
Why do you think that people who are just gluten intolerant should also avoid dairy?
- [44:39]
B
A lot of people that are really attached to their dairy. Oh, the raw milk, Any dairy.
- [44:46]
A
It's only on my wallpaper. Dr. Shippy.
- [44:49]
B
Oh, no.
- [44:51]
A
Are you anti raw milk because you just think it's causing too many issues?
- [44:54]
B
I think it's inflammatory, yeah.
- [44:55]
A
Just milk in general.
- [44:56]
B
Milk in general. So when we. And again we can do run little mini experiment experiments. We can look at what the inflammation markers are. We can look to see how your immune system is responding to dairy. And I just find that most people that have inflammation from gluten also have inflammation from dairy. The the best way to check for this is through a lab called Vibrant Laboratory. And they have a dairy panel. It's very extensive. So it checks for like 15 different components of dairy. So you can sort out if you really do have a Dairy allergy or not.
- [45:33]
A
You ever look at the laundry pile on the chair tm you know, the one in your bedroom that's become a laundry mountain and think, I'm gonna let it marinate for another day? That's me. I call it fabric based procrastination. And to fuel it, I need chips. Real chips. Not the seed oil fried sadness that makes you bloated before you hit your second sock. That's why I eat masa chips. They make tortilla chips the old school way. Three ingredients, organic corn, sea salt, and 100 grass fed beef tallow. That's it. Before big seed oil ruined everything in the 90s, this was how chips were made. With actual flavor, not industrial chemicals pretending to be food. Masa chips are crunchier, they're heartier. They don't break in your guac like fragile little trust issues. You feel light. You feel satisfied, alive enough to maybe fold a T shirt. So go to masachips.com and use code real Alex Clark for 25 off your first order. That's masachips.com could real Alex Clark for 25 off your 1st order. Or grab a bag at Sprouts. You ever look in the mirror and realize your matte foundation is basically mummified your face like, congratulations, you're 35 and auditioning for a role as the dusty librarian ghost in a Netflix horror show. Listen, as we age, matte foundation becomes the enemy you do not want. Okay, there's like two of us that get oily, but most of us don't. Your skin is not oily anymore. It is begging for moisture. A glass of water, Maybe a therapist. That's why I switched to Adele natural cosmetics and their moisturizing foundation. It's totally clean, non toxic. Handcrafted in small batches in central Texas by a Christian conservative family. This foundation feels like wearing nothing at all. And it evens your skin tone. It nourishes it and gives you a radiant real skin finish. And get this, they even have a virtual color matching tool on their website so you don't accidentally order mummy beige. So go to Adele Natural Cosmetics.com use code ALEX for 25% off your first order. That's Adele Natural Cosmetics.com code ALEX for 25 percent off your first order. And don't forget the foundation brush for liquid foundation. That is like the number one thing. You guys are skipping the brush. The brush makes it chef's kiss. How would having the MTHFR gene affect fertility?
- [47:36]
B
Oh, it's huge. So MTHFR impacts so many things so this epigenetic process that I talked about, where genes are getting dialed up or dialed down to influence how they're being expressed, is huge for methylation. So methylation is a really important process that helps your body to do that. So if you have mthfr, you're not going to methylate very well.
- [48:02]
A
How do you know if you have it?
- [48:03]
B
There's a great panel that I really love through doctor's data where you can look at MTHFR and other genes in that methylation process. Mtr, mtrr, cbs. It's a very complex process and MTHFR is just one of them. So MTHFR makes an enzyme that helps you convert folic acid into a form that is actually usable for the body to. Basically I think about methylation as a bunch of cogwheels spinning together and if one cogwheel gets jammed, the whole thing gets jammed. And so that MTHFR causes it to get jammed and we can bypass it with methylated folic acid and we can measure that process too. It's so fun because we can lay out the genes and then we can lay out this complicated process that's happening and see what we need to do to actually improve the process and make it work better.
- [48:58]
A
So, Dr. Shippy, if you eat super clean, you've eliminated endocrine disruptors from your home, you are in line with your circadian rhythm, you're sleeping, you're not stressed, all of your labs are clear and you still can't get pregnant. What then?
- [49:12]
B
I would look for, look at what's going on with your microbiome. I would look for a low grade infection going on someplace and really do the inflammatory markers and an extensive toxin testing mold, toxic mold is a big one. Just had. I've got amazing stories on this, like the turnaround with infertility by addressing mold. One particular couple had done IVF before. They came to see me because the husband basically hardly had any sperm. And then the wife came to see me. We figured out they were in mold, helped them to detoxify, and now they have two additional children and they didn't.
- [49:51]
A
Have to do ivf.
- [49:52]
B
No IVF and healthy, healthy kids.
- [49:54]
A
See, this is what's so frustrating to me about IVF is that it's just like nobody looks into these types of things. Like this couple didn't need to spend 20, 30 grand, they just had to get rid of mold.
- [50:05]
B
Right, exactly. Just had a, a patient where they, they did a very extensive workup to optimize the fertility, had a little bit of Mold showing on their initial, initial test. And then, you know, just really didn't want to deal with mold. So they didn't. And then they ended up miscarrying. So I think it's like, if you know that you've had any leaks in your house or humidity issues, it's really, really worthwhile either testing yourself for the mycotoxin levels or testing your house with a really good test. There are very extensive tests for. For dust that you can do yourself very reasonably. It's called the dust test or envirobiomics, to just get a picture of whether there's mycotoxins, the toxins that mold makes in your house. And really, I mean, if people can do it preventively, like, you might be fine, you might be able to get pregnant, but then the impact on the baby. I've had people where they had their fertility was fine, but then their babies got sick and, you know, autoimmune issues, the panspandas, and also autism linked with the mycotoxins. So just to make sure that you're bringing the baby into a clean environment, I really suggest making sure that there's not mold in the house.
- [51:33]
A
I will never forget this girl online in a forum said something about how her. She has a toddler and her hair is just not growing. She's like almost three years old or something, and, like, her hair is not growing. She's basically bald when her hair does grow, just starts to fall back out. And I commented back and just said, you need to test that baby's nursery in your home for mold. And she was like, no, that's not it. Like, I. I really want, like, a supplement or something else to be taken. I'm like, you need to test.
- [52:04]
B
How did you know?
- [52:05]
A
Because it's just like, these people that have their kids that have these bizarre symptoms, and it's like one person in your house, I'm like, there's. It's just interviewing people like you. It's interviewing people like you that now.
- [52:16]
B
By doing these reviews.
- [52:18]
A
Can I have an honorary one?
- [52:19]
B
You probably know more about these kinds of things than most doctors, because we're not taught this in medical school.
- [52:24]
A
I know. It's so sad, too. And so this girl, she's like, well, no one else in my family has symptoms. I'm like, please, just get a cheap test on Amazon. So she does. The baby's crib was infested with mold that the baby slept in every night. Was. This baby was so sick. I mean, it looked like she had alopecia or something. And so then she's like, okay, well, now I guess we have to clean this mold out. I'm like, so anyway, it's. I don't know what it is about the mold thing that so many people are like. I don't know if it's a. They just feel ashamed, like they feel like they dirty or there's something wrong with them or it says something about you if there's mold in your house. Let me tell you something. It says nothing. There are brand new builds that have mold. There are old homes that have mold. It has nothing to do with. I mean, yes, there are some mold that'll pop up if you're not clean or whatever, but for the most part, it's not. It's like structural problems causing mold. And so you don't know. It's a builder issue. And you've got to look into this or, you know, you've got something up with your air conditioning that's causing problems. It's like, just.
- [53:29]
B
Just test it.
- [53:30]
A
I don't know why everyone is so resistant to it, but I just feel like there are way more of us that are struggling with chronic mold issues than we even realize.
- [53:39]
B
It's a huge issue. It's. It's really an epidemic that, you know, that's one of the areas that I treat a lot is people find me that have had mold and want to get. Get better from it.
- [53:52]
A
And so what's your detox protocol after that?
- [53:55]
B
Exactly what you said. Like, a lot of times the new builds are even worse than older buildings. Like, probably buildings in there that were built in the 80s and 90s where it was more craftsmanship, might actually be better than the more recent builds. So the first and most important thing is to fix the mold. Like, a lot of times people think, oh, I'll just run an air filter. I'll spray things. But it's really, really challenging to get better or to prevent problems when there's still an activ problem going on.
- [54:29]
A
I mean, you're setting yourself up or your kids up for a lifetime of chronic disease and issues. Right, Right. If you don't fix that.
- [54:37]
B
So some of these same things that actually work for preconception are great for mold. So the liposomal glutathione, taking some of the phosphatidylcholine, where it just really supports the mitochondria and the cell membranes to. To get the toxins out of them, taking some gentle binders, and everybody's so different when they're in mold. On what Binders they can take from charcoal to modified citrus pectin to clays can be really helpful to help the body pull it out and then liver support. So things like milk thistle and other things that help with the detoxification pathways. It's very, very possible to get better things like hyperbarics, infrared saunas, if you have access to them, can speed things along. And then there are also some IVs that can be super helpful to like send the cells through a car wash.
- [55:27]
A
So what is your process when you've got a new patient for uncovering hidden infections or toxin exposures that standard docs often miss?
- [55:35]
B
The challenge for this is that a lot of the tests that I do aren't covered by insurance.
- [55:40]
A
Right?
- [55:40]
B
So it's people that are willing to pay cash go outside the insurance model to get, to get this testing. But there we have amazing tests that usually insurance just doesn't recognize yet. So the technology advances are incredible. So we can look at the toxin levels, we can look at the very, very detailed markers for inflammation, we can look at how the mitochondria are functioning. It's really, really fun. We can. One of the really fun things is new technology for checking sperm. So the traditional model where they're just checking the count and the morphology and the motility, now we can look at some of the epigenetics of the sperm. It's called Sperm qt. So what's really fun is when we look at where we're starting and then we do 3, 6, 12 months of optimizing and we see the epigenetics improve along with the count and morphology and all of those things. Super fun.
- [56:41]
A
Tell us about your book.
- [56:43]
B
Okay. It's called the Preconception Revolution and it comes out in a few days and I really hope it's going to change this conversation. On preparing for pregnancy, we, we need to know that it really makes a difference to commit to that time. And I love it when couples do this together to create a healthier baby and to not have to worry about this whole infertility conversation that's happening.
- [57:04]
A
So if you're married and you know that you want to have kids, ideally, how soon before wanting to get pregnant should you start your preconception journey?
- [57:12]
B
As soon as possible. When I was writing this book, I was like, okay, what's the ideal time? And I was like, okay, at least a year to really get everything fine tuned. Our kids are our greatest teachers, right? So I have two boys, they're 24 and 28 and was having dinner with my 28 year old the other night. And he's like, you know, mom, I think I want to run these tests. I'm talking about this all the time with them just so they know what I'm up to. He's like, I really think I want to do some of these tests so that I can make sure I'm protecting my fertility because I know I want to have kids and I know my partner's going to really want me to take care of this.
- [57:51]
A
And someone in my audience is your son's wife. I'm just telling you right now, this is, they're hearing this, they're like, this is my dream husband.
- [57:57]
B
Oh my gosh. And so he, he's like, this is going to be important for us, for me to do the work and I want to do it. I want to start now. He's wanting to be four, like have family in four or five years. So he's putting it off a little bit. So I think it's protective to get started now. If you know these things now and the things that you can be doing to help your body be healthier and protect your fertility, that makes sense. I Also, with my 24 year old son, he had some things going on a few months ago and he wanted to check his toxin levels. He eats organic, he avoids plastics, he, you know, he takes glutathione. He was doing all the things, but we were kind of shocked. His atrazine came back high. That's a pesticide. Like, where is this coming from? We haven't retested it yet, but we think it might be that he had started adding some corn chips, you know, like going out for Mexican and having non organic corn chips. Because atrazine is used on corn and sugar and things, but he doesn't really eat much sugar. So we think it's the corn chips. It might be a golf course that's nearby, but we, I was kind of shocked because he does have such a clean, conscious lifestyle. And so if we, the point of that is, I guess, test if you can.
- [59:23]
A
Yeah, I like that. It's, it's better to be earlier than, than late. Where can people follow you on Instagram.
- [59:28]
B
And to be md?
- [59:29]
A
If you could offer one remedy to heal a sick culture, physically, emotionally or spiritually, what would it be?
- [59:34]
B
This wasn't the answer that I was expecting to say, but I think especially for people thinking about starting or growing their families, one of the most important things that we can do is really love and care for ourselves. Because the more loving and that inner conversation is with ourselves, the more it, I think comes out. So just, you know, being aware of what our thoughts are, how we're talking to ourselves, how we're thinking about ourselves. If we can find any little nooks and crannies where we're not being like, we wouldn't say the things out loud. We can reframe them and just find the most kind, gentle place with ourselves.
- [60:14]
A
Thank you for coming on Culture Apothecary.
- [60:16]
B
Thank you so much for having me. And I just want to say thank you, like, you're doing such a great job of getting such important information out here and it's such an honor to be here. Thank you so much. I re watched your statement that you made to the Senate here in the Senate hearing on the way over here just to like be marinating in what your message is. And I actually cried. Oh my gosh, stop. Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for the message that you're getting out. It is part of the preconception revolution to get the information out that you're providing.
- [60:55]
A
Was there anything that Dr. Shippy said that you were like, hold on a second. No one has ever told me that. When it comes to preconception, I'd love to know. Tell us in the cute service Facebook group or leave it in a five star review. Tell everyone why they need to be listening to Culture Apothecary. This is the number one health and wellness podcast from a conservative perspective. We're on a mission to heal a sick culture. Twice a week, new guests bring their own unique remedy to do just that. Mondays and Thursdays at 9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific. Subscribe to Real Alex Clark on YouTube. Follow me on Instagram at Real Alex Clark. The show is also on Instagram at Culture Apothecary. I'm Alex Clark and this is Culture Apothecary.