← The Dr. Josh Axe Show
The Dr. Josh Axe Show
#1 FERTILITY EXPERT: Top Foods & Supplements to Boost Fertility | Iman Hasan
00:57:37
Fertility struggles aren’t just about age—they’re about cellular health.
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- [00:01]
A
Shopping is hard. I can never find anything in my size.
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B
I don't even know my size.
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A
I buy my clothes the same place I buy my groceries. There's a better way. Make it easy with Stitch Fix. Just share your size, style, budget and done. Your personal stylist sends pieces picked just for you. That was easy. Stitch Fix Online Personal styling for everyone. Free shipping and returns. No subscription required. Get started today@stitch fix.com Infertility in women is up 84%. That is not a small number. 84%.
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B
Wow.
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A
And infertility is up in men 50%. So do you know that 50% of couples that are going through infertility are deficient in vitamin D? Something so basic. So vitamin D deficiency is a really big thing. Being deficient in minerals such as zinc, magnesium, macronutrients, vitamin B, folate, all of this stuff offsets your baseline of how you produce healthy eggs and reduce oxidative stress in the body. And with men removing things like microplastics.
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B
What are some of the foods you recommend that women start incorporating into their diet that maybe can help them with their fertility?
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A
I spoke to a fertility dietitian in the UK and she said when she's getting clients prepared for a cycle, she asks them to drink milk and she's fine with them drinking raw milk because it acts like fertilizer for the eggs. When we look at women's health, everything that helps with longevity and slowing down ever in aging is what's going to increase your fertility, give you chance to have kids later, have healthier children. We also this is another lie that's fed to us. You cannot improve your egg quality and after 35 your eye quality drops. It's absolute. You can 100 through diet, exercise, lifestyle and the correct supplementation you can improve your quality. We all love a legendary comeback and degree Original Cool Rush is back and better than ever. Cool Rush isn't just a scent, it's a movement, a fan favorite that delivers bold fresh vibes and all day sweat protection. Whether you have a man that spends hours in the gym, heads into the office early, or is just trying to stay fresh on a long day, Cool Rush has their back. Head to your local Walmart or Target and grab Degree Cool Rush, the fan favorite scent from the world's number one antipode brand.
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B
Why is it that fertility rates have plummeted over the last 70 years? And why is it that more women than ever before are struggling with issues like pcos, hormonal imbalances and men today as well? The sperm counts have dropped significantly. Well, today I'm bringing on Aman Hasan. She operates one of the largest podcasts in the world called biohack It. And today we're gonna be diving into everything from fertility, women's hormones, male hormones. We're also gonna get into how your relationships and premarital sex actually impacts your physical health. That and so much more. Aman, welcome to the show.
- [03:18]
A
Thank you so much, Josh, for having me.
- [03:20]
B
Well, so great having you. I love having conversations with friends. You know, I've only known you for a couple of years now, and I know. I think we met via. Via doing the maha. Yeah, Viand and going to Michigan together. And then Vani Hari from Food Babe. And so it's been great getting to know you. And I was immediately after meeting you, just so impressed with sort of your enthusiasm for helping bring awareness to some of the biggest health problems that are going on in America today. And one of those is something that I know that you've dealt with personally, but also it's become sort of a mission of yours in helping women address fertility naturally. And so I'd love you to just kind of dive in and first talk. Just give us maybe an idea of how rampant infertility issues are today in America.
- [04:09]
A
So it's crazy to me that when I was looking at the last stat, infertility in women is up 84%. That is not a small number. 84%.
- [04:18]
B
Wow.
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A
And infertility is up in men 50% due to poor sperm quality.
- [04:24]
B
Wow.
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A
And so you have more and more young people rushing straight. They panic. People get married. They start trying to conceive. They don't know the baseline about their health. They don't know what they should be taken care of. They try for about six months a year. They don't know about inflammation, macronutrients, supplementation. They don't recover. Not educating people. And then when they cannot conceive in about six months to a year, the first thing they do is they're like, let me go to a fertility clinic. Now, the job of these fertility clinics, and I am all for IVF if that is the last place for you to be and to start a family. But there's so much prior to that that you can do. So young couples or older couples, people panic, end up at a fertility doctor's office. And majority of the time, there are very few that will tell you to look at your root cause of your health. And they push you towards a cycle. And data shows it takes up to three rounds of IVF in most cases to have a successful outcome. So at the end of the day, our health is for profit, unfortunately, in America. And we are not educating women at a younger age. And men, because of their infertility rates, are also up on things that they can do. Lifestyle changes, supplementation, food, nutrition that can be added in to naturally conceive. And why would you not want to naturally conceive if that is how we're built, by God?
- [05:41]
B
Yeah, yeah, I absolutely agree. You know, this is one thing that I have worked with a lot of women on, because so many women today are dealing with pcos. And that's, to me, that's one of the bigger causes I've seen of infertility. A lot of times that's an insulin issue, but I love it.
- [05:55]
A
Metabolic disorder.
- [05:56]
B
Exactly. So many of this is metabolic disorder. Today, via your research, what have you discovered to be maybe some of the biggest root causes today? And then what are some of the best solutions for women who are struggling with infertility?
- [06:08]
A
So do you know that 50% of couples that are going through infertility are deficient in vitamin D? Something so basic. 50%. So vitamin D deficiency is a really big thing. Being deficient in minerals such as zinc, magnesium, macronutrients, vitamin B, folate, All of this stuff offsets your baseline of how you produce healthy eggs and reduce oxidative stress in the body. And with men removing things like microplastics. So there was a recent study done both in China, Europe and the US that 100% of sperm that was tested came back positive from microplastics.
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B
Wow.
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A
How many young people just all they need to do is go through their kitchen and look at their cooking utensils, their cooking, you know, their chopping boards, how we're storing our foods when we're getting. We moved also away from cooking at home. Right. So we're getting a lot of takeout. What is takeout coming in our tap water that we're drinking. All of that adds to microplastics in your body and oxidative stress. We have foreign objects floating around or don't belong in our body, but there they are. And then we wonder why we're in infertile. We're also not eating nutrient rich foods. We're not eating a whole food diet. So if we're not aware of what we're putting into our body, we're also chronically inflamed. We're also living in a society that's rush, rush, rush, go, go, go. So our nervous system is so unregulated we're not drinking good quality water. We're not supplementing correctly with the basics. I'm not telling you to get super complicated. I'm saying your vitamin D, your zinc, selenium, magnesium, things that help with fertility. Most people don't even know that's the place to start. And then you wonder why we're having this crisis.
- [07:45]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I couldn't agree more. I think there's several things you hit on there. One is the toxicity, right? There are so many additives, chemicals, and especially endocrine disruptors of plastics in our food. And there's some simple solutions. Switch to stainless steel, get some more glass and just stop eating out of the plastics. Filter your water, get a good reverse osmosis filter, Berkey filter, Rohr filter. Those sort of filters would be great options. So let's reduce the toxicity and then eat more real food. And then the other thing is rushing. I actually think that this is maybe the biggest cause for some people and I think it could be any one of those three for a lot of women. But I do think the just feeling like I have to have something scheduled from the second I wake up to the moment I go to bed and be very highly productive. Every moment of the day is wearing out. It's causing cortisol issues. We know cortisol is a master hormone. When that gets high now, that's going to disrupt and start throwing off all of these other hormones that are important for ovulation, for pregnancy, like estrogen, progesterone and others. And so to your point, I think you hit the nail on the head on those are some of the biggest single things. What are some of the foods you recommend that women start incorporating into their diet that maybe can help them with their fertility?
- [08:58]
A
So we always want to focus on an anti inflammatory diet, which is leafy greens, high quality protein. You know, things like pasture, raised eggs. Eggs is a big. We need choline. Choline is incredible for you. We want grass fed and grass finished. If you're listening, it's not just about grass fed. It has to be grass finished because grass fed is a greenwashing term. You want wild caught fish, you want to incorporate nuts. You want the right amount of healthy fats that you can get from avocados, you can get it from ghee, which is butter. You and I talk a lot about that previously and when you were on my guest on my podcast about eating raw dairy and how good that is for you, I spoke a fertility dietitian in the UK and she said when she's getting clients prepared for a cycle, she asks them to drink milk, and she's fine with them drinking raw milk because it acts like fertilizer for the eggs, which was amazing. I was like, wow. Nobody in the US really talks about it. In some ways, I think the. The Europe is way more advanced at really considering nutrition for food versus American doctors. And the American society doesn't really focus on nutrition at all.
- [10:01]
B
Yeah. Oh, it's true. One of the things RFK just came out with recently, you probably read this and many of you maybe did, but it's gonna be a requirement in the future years for medical doctors, MDs to start taking more nutrition classes. My training was as a dc, and then after that, dnm, cns, where of course I got nutrition. But even as a dc, early on, we took nutrition classes. We took quite a few and MDs. I mean, it's crazy to think they get zero, literally zero. But I'm glad that RFK Jr. Is trying to change that. It's not going to change now, but very soon. Hopefully over time there's more education there. So I'm excited about that.
- [10:40]
A
I also want to point out that there is this whole space of Chinese medicine is also incredible for fertility. And so when we look at, like we look at traditional Chinese medicine, the first thing they tell you is about keeping your uterus warm and drawing more blood flow to the uterus, eating warm foods, a lot of broth, soups, like making sure you're hydrating correctly. The second thing they do with acupuncture is they bring more blood flow in.
- [11:04]
B
Yeah.
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A
And so women who are forcing themselves to wake up at 5am, the cortisol's rising, they're doing cold plunging. That's going completely against your body. So when you are trying to conceive, it's all about feeling safe, regulating your nervous system and bringing more blood flow to your uterus and your reproductive organs.
- [11:23]
B
That's so good. In fact, I have not had anybody articulate that as well on the show as you just have. It's very, very important. In fact, Chelsea, with our last two daughter, she was seeing an acupuncturist, our good friend Dr. Gilbonami. Every week for the three months leading up to both conception and then also during her whole pregnancy, she was seeing an acupuncturist. And there's really kind of two aspects there in Chinese medicine. There's conception, which is tied more to the kidney, health, which is tied more to issues like fear. And then there's caring and we know that miscarriage is so prevalent today with so many women. I want to say it's like one in four. The number's incredibly, incredibly high. Might even be a little bit higher than that. But all that being said, that really has to do with comfort, safety, warmth, all those things, your entire pregnancy, as you're talking about. And there are foods for that. There are ways, again, there are treatments for that. This is why I'm a much bigger fan of before, I'm not saying during, but during and after doing infrared sauna than cold plunge. Again, if you're getting pregnant, do not do cold plunge. No, that's not. That's the exact opposite of what you want to do in your body.
- [12:31]
A
Men should be doing it because it actually boosts sperm. They should actually not be doing anything hot. But women, it's the opposite.
- [12:37]
B
That's right. Well, it makes sense. You've got the yin and the yang in terms of sort of what men and women should be doing for that in the body. And this is why one of the things that they'll do a lot of times in Chinese medicine and everyone, all of us have this in our home medicine cabinets, or you could order it online and have it at your house in a few minutes. But cinnamon and ginger, those are two of those herbs that are warming, that support circulation and blood flow to those areas. And so. But I love that you're saying this because I think something, our medical community today, they want to make things really complex, almost so people can't understand it. And the thing that you just shared that's been, it's over 3,000 years old in Chinese medicine, it's simple. Oh, warming your body, eating foods to warm and nourish, like soups, as you mentioned, those are the sort of things you want to be doing.
- [13:25]
A
High quality castor oil. Women put castor oil, it reduces inflammation. Another reason why women are miscarrying so much and there's such high infertility is because we're chronically inflamed. You can be my size and be chronically inflamed, right, Due to stress, EMF exposure, blue light exposure, all of that stuff. Castor oil helps reduce inflammation in your organs. So just putting that on a night also brings more blood flow in. It's these simple little things that are actually inexpensive that those lifestyle changes, if are made, can really help boost your fertility. And the other problem is if you look at Eastern culture versus Western culture, in Eastern culture, when a couple decides we are going to conceive and have a Family, they prepare their bodies for at least one year because it's culturally what they do. Look at their postpartum care. The woman's at home for 40 days. She's in bed, she's resting, she's eating certain foods. She is in her feminine.
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B
Yeah.
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A
Western society, we have no room for that. Women are asked to step into the masculine. We're over producers, we're overachievers. And then on top of that, we just think it's a magic bullet. Tomorrow we get married and we want to conceive and magically we should just have a baby. That is not how it works. Our bodies are beautifully designed, but we need to be in the flow, in the rhythm of in relationship and in the way we are biologically created.
- [14:36]
B
That's amazing. I want to say, you know, in the, in, in the, in the Bible they talk about Queen Esther and it said that before she got married, she was doing months, not like one, not like a day, but like it was like six months or more of beauty treatments and treatments, just preparing for marriage and intercourse and these sort of things in the future. So I think it's really, it's something that we've lost in society today is this sort of family planning, planning for marriage, preparing for some of the most significant. You know, I know there was always these sayings that are popular in the faith based community and some of it is based on like, you know, the most important decision I ever made was sort of your religion or accepting Christ as your savior for me. And then the other one was the second most important decision you will ever make in your life is who you marry. Right.
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A
So important, so important.
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B
But society doesn't really treat it like that today all the time.
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A
I think your biggest growth as a soul comes from who you're in union with, how you have common shared values, how you look at the world, how you want to bring kids into the world. How are you going to raise those individuals? What are the value systems you're giving them? And I think the biggest problem we're facing society, which is why people are so chronically depressed, is there's a loneliness epidemic. Right. Because they moved away from purpose, they moved away from God, they moved away from community.
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B
Yeah.
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A
And if you look at other cultures that are thriving in that capacity are like, I'm South Asian, I'm Pakistani. Right. We're raised with really big families. We're raised with our aunts and uncles and cousins, and we're used to having big open homes. We don't come from this nuclear Family, that's just me, my parents, and my siblings. That's not how we were raised. We're raised in community, and for us, that is the norm. And we, you know, there's all these different caregivers. You know, if my mom wasn't able to do something, she'd send me to my aunt's house. And I really think that gives you connection. And I also think when you are faith based, at least for me, it gives you. You don't feel as lonely because you know there's somebody higher out there taking care of you. So when you're feeling your darkest days, you're like, I put this in the hands of God and I know I'm gonna be okay.
- [16:41]
B
And there's something about when you have. When you're around family and friends you've known since you were young, they know you. You can't hide from them in the same way. Like some friends, you know, like if you just met somebody a year ago, it's easier to hide from them. It's harder to hide from your family in that same way.
- [16:59]
A
I think Gabor Mate says this a lot in his research, and I'm a huge fan of his. Is the reason that people are so anxious and chronically depressed is because they've lost their authenticity. Because from a young age, as children, sometimes with the wrong caregivers, we're taught that if you're genuinely authentic, then you won't be accepted. But people that you're really raised with, and they see you since childhood, they know your authentic parts, they remind you of who you are or friendships, that you can really be connected in that way, too. How can you be fully loved for who you are? If you're not authentic with showing up as your full self, then people only love a version of you. And that's where there's such a high divorce rate now as well, because so many people step into a marriage only showing the best sizzle reel of themselves in their life because they're so terrified if they show up as their authentic self, will they still be chosen?
- [17:46]
B
You know, when I think about the people I'm the closest to, most of them, they're the most authentic. And when I even think about even the podcast, some of, you know, my favorite people that I like to follow, most of them are very, very authentic people. I mean, I think, by the way, I think that this is something that people are even more aware of now and a younger generation prioritizes even more coming out of COVID is authenticity and honesty, because we're so many. We relied to so many times.
- [18:12]
A
Absolutely.
- [18:14]
B
And that's something we want. I mean, I think this is part of the reason why you've got people like Joe Rogan or Russell Brand or other people that are just very, very open people like even George Janko. I went on his podcast recently. He's very similar in this.
- [18:26]
A
Tucker Carlson's like that. You know, he is who he is. Take it or leave it.
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B
Exactly. And this is what. This is what people want today. You feel like you can actually have a relationship with that type of person. Because you can.
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A
Yes.
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B
And you're not having a real relationship with somebody who's constantly, you know, feeding you a narrative. Yeah.
- [18:41]
A
And which is where I see a lot of podcasters. They have these communities. But where they fail in really connecting with real people is because they don't fully. They're so sick, scared to voice their opinions because they want to be liked so badly online, that if their opinion is controversial because they're so scared of being canceled, they won't show up. So I obviously own a pure marketing agency as well, and our girls at our company are always like, oh, my God, you can't say that you'll be canceled. I'm like, guys, who cares?
- [19:04]
B
Yeah.
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A
I am not here to play nice for everybody. I'm here to be my true, authentic self. I'm never here to offend somebody. But if you're so sensitive and you get offended because I have a different viewpoint, then you need to take a look at yourself.
- [19:15]
B
Yeah.
- [19:16]
A
Right. And why have we become this society of I call sissies, that everything just offends us?
- [19:22]
B
Yeah. Yeah.
- [19:23]
A
Are we not allowed to have a difference in opinion? How are we to evolve and grow if we can't have an educated dialogue and a debate and everything is just so offensive?
- [19:32]
B
Yeah, Yeah, I totally agree. I love these types of conversations. You know, I want to get more into some of the IVF and the nutrition of those things. Before we do that, though, I know you and I, even before we were filming here, we're having a conversation around promiscuity, premarital sex, and some of those things when it comes to even fertility, but quality relationships. You know, one thing that we. I really have tried to bring to light, because this is something that I realized very early on with patients, including my mom, was if you are going to be physically healthy, you have to be spiritually and mentally healthy as well.
- [20:11]
A
And emotionally healthy.
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B
And emotionally. And those things are all tied together. And if that doesn't happen, you're going to be Physically ill. And my mom, one of the reasons why we know she had breast cancer and later on lung cancer was she had a tremendous amount of fear and a tremendous amount of worry that she was just dealing with on a daily basis. And so we went and dealt with that in the way of spending more time in prayer, bringing these things to God, letting them go, looking at shame and guilt she had in the past, letting that go, praise and worship and then other things. Like we did animal therapy. Like, my mom loved riding horses as a kid, so we went to a horse farm and she started. So we did everything we could to help her heal from her childhood trauma, help her build healthy, positive emotions of joy. Like, we were very, very focused on that and building better relationships. My mom will tell you today that she was glad she has cancer because her relationship with my dad became so close. And it helped heal even certain issues they had in marriage. And so I bring all that up to say that I think a lot of people today are battling with infertility and health problems because of emotional trauma, childhood trauma. But even you said to me before we started this, you believe that some of these issues are tied to promiscuity or premarital sex or not having the true understanding of what marriage really is.
- [21:37]
A
I think in society today, because of things like social media, only fans, men have taken to these platforms to know that there are just options out there. And women, when you are, have trauma or you've come from, let's say, a broken home and stuff, you don't value yourself the same way sometimes. Right. And so women are so desperate to be chosen. And this is programmed to. If you play nice, if you're not demanding, if you don't really high. Have high standards, you will be chosen. The easier you are, the easier it is for you to be chosen by a man. And we think that casual sex, which is gonna allow a man to bond to us. Right? Because when women have sex, you automatically bond. You get attached to a man. Men don't work in that way. And so this society that has been instilled in us culturally, I think we're falling apart. I think we don't believe in the sanctity of marriage anymore. I think more and more people are thinking things like, I hear about things like open relationships, which I think is absolutely absurd.
- [22:30]
B
It's the most absurd thing I've ever heard.
- [22:33]
A
I think you need to therapy. Like, I. I just think you should.
- [22:36]
B
Ask yourself, everyone should. Should have therapy. Who thinks that's okay?
- [22:39]
A
Yeah, it's absurd to me. And so I don't care if you're religious or not religious. If you're listening to this, it's about valuing yourself as a person, as a woman. And this delusion that we have, or we're gonna hook up a couple of times with a guy, not ask him for anything, not ask him to put a label on it, and then somehow we'll end up together. Doesn't work like that.
- [22:57]
B
Yeah.
- [22:57]
A
You need to value yourself as a woman. And I think sex is an energetic exchange. Who you allow is literally into your body matters. And I think the basis on what that's happening should matter. And so I think if I had a daughter today, Josh, I would raise her to really value herself, and I would raise her to have really high standards about when it comes to dating, when it comes to choosing a partner, when it comes to who she wants to share her body with and in what regard. And I don't think these young women, you see them in college and stuff with casual sex, I think that's completely toxic because it's leaving more and more women confused. And if you're listening to this, and if you want to start dating, do not sleep with a man. Take your time. Get to know somebody. Are your values aligned? Do you want to raise kids the same way? Do you have the same outlook on life? How do you guys want to spend your time and money, but also, how do you guys want to give back? Because we're all here to be in service one way or the other.
- [23:51]
B
Yeah. You know, one of the things that attracted me to my wife, Chelsea, was she had very high standards. And for guys, it's like, you know, just. I think the way God created us is like, well, we want to challenge. I don't want to. You know, like, if you have the right guy, you know, if the guy's like, well, I want the worst possible. You know, that's not the right guy versus, you know, me. It was very much like, no, I want a woman that has very, very high standards who challenges me, who makes me better. And I think that all that's important. And then, you know, what you shared, I think it's so good. You know, biblically, the Book of Corinthians talks about this. It says that the man is supposed to model what Christ did for the church, and that means sacrificing yourself and literally dying. And so part of what women should have, and this seems like an incredibly high standard, but the standard should be, your man is willing to die for you. Not in theory, but literally, they would sacrifice themselves, take a bullet for you, sacrifice the things that matter most to them in order to make your life a dream, in order to make you holy, help you grow. And I think about that sometimes for myself is like, what can I do to help Chelsea? Like, what are her dreams? How can I make those come true? But I think that that's not. Most women aren't. Again, they've taken their standards and making them so. So low.
- [25:13]
A
Correct.
- [25:14]
B
And then men are like, okay, well, it's a low standard, you know.
- [25:16]
A
Yeah. Why do I have to put in the work? So in the indigenous communities, I have to look this up. I'll show you after.
- [25:21]
B
Yeah.
- [25:22]
A
There's a very famous quote that I once found of a couple, and it says the following, that a true perfect relationship is that a man comes into a woman's life to make her feel so safe, so she can walk the earth unharmed. And a woman's job is to return a man's soul to God, to Creator. And that is like a perfect harmony. And if you think about it, right, is to take a man. Because women tend to be more spiritual. Right. We're more connected to our spirituality, our faith.
- [25:50]
B
Internal, for sure.
- [25:52]
A
And men, sometimes, because of society, get removed from that. So if you're helping a man reconnect with source himself, faith, and whatever that means to him, and return him back to Creator, and if he's able to keep you safe, make you feel safe and secure, that's really a beautiful relationship. And so whether you look at it from a fertility angle, you look at it from an emotional health angle. When a woman feels safe in her body, that is when she's operating at her best. And in Western society, because we've moved so far away from living in our feminine. Jess and I were actually talking about that last night. That so many women have become type A, including me. And that is not us being in flow with ourselves. When we're so type A and so in our masculine, because we're forced to be because of work and culture and society that's living out of our. Our beautiful design that we were created in. And so if we're living out of design, then why are we questioning why we have things like infertility? Why are we struggling in relationships, but we're not living in the way we're created to be, in that perfect yin and yang?
- [26:49]
B
Yeah, it's so good. You know, I think this solves everything. I mean, God created, designed us to live a certain way. And when we're living out of design, it makes Us sick. Jordan, Rube and I, when we wrote Biblio Diet, we kind of got into this in terms of the food, even regenerative agriculture, being outside more. When the sun comes up, you should wake up. All those things. Speak to that. I wanted to mention something else because you used the word identity there. I think my understanding and what has allowed me to build a strong identity, I think my wife as well, and we want to extend this to our girls, is this sort of idea of, okay, your identity is tied to your sense of self value and worth. And from the Christian perspective, Christ gave his life for us. So you have the person who is perfect in this world and God gave his son that we could live. That should be such a value building thing within you that you had somebody, the perfect person who gave their life for you. And a very similar thing, something that could build confidence for the female in the relationship is the husband gives his life for you. That should build value. But again, if you're dating somebody who won't sacrifice for you, they're putting themselves first constantly. It's 50, it's 50, 50 even. This is so simple, paying for a meal. Of course the man should pay because they're called to be the one that's sacrificing whatever the thing is they have for the woman. And that's changed dramatically even in the world today, things like that, I think.
- [28:21]
A
And I'm a working woman, I'm a professional, I have two businesses and I love what I do. But at the end of the day, I think men and women have certain roles and I think we've come so far out of that. A man is a provider at the end of the day. And I don't care if you're listening to this and you're a woman and you'll be like, oh, she's being a contradiction. I think a man's role, role is to provide for his woman, for his family, and to keep her safe and protect her. And a woman's role is to provide emotionally for a man and spiritually for a man and make sure you know what a house is running well, the kids are being raised. I still believe in traditional gender roles and I think in Western society a lot of that has also been broken down where women have become like men and men have become like women and we're all going around life so confused and the women are like, well, I don't feel safe. And the men are like, well, my needs are not being tended to. But there has been that complete illusion of who we are that's being destroyed.
- [29:10]
B
You know, as I think about the way that the Bible portrays this, I think that there tend to be certain roles. But I do want to say, I do think there's an element of them overlapping at times and there are in terms of mutual support. So I think it's okay if the woman is the main breadwater financially. But to your point, I think that women tend to need more of this love and sacrifice for the man and man needs more respect and nurturing in that certain way as well, on average as you're sharing. But I do think that's been lost. I do think it's lost. I think society is trying to make men and women identical. The same to where you almost don't see a difference. And that's wrong. We know God made Adam, he made Eve, he made man, he made woman. And so I think that. But to ignore that is to the detriment because it's not by design.
- [30:03]
A
To your point, I have to say though, Josh, I will say that if a woman is a breadwinner in the family, there is a throw off in there because she has to wake up and then go to work and be like, I need to make money, I need to earn. And that becomes her top priority. Right? That becomes her top priority. She's gonna move away from taking care of her emotional body.
- [30:24]
B
Here's my point with this. I think you're for the most part totally correct in what you're sharing. One thing I do see in the Bible though, on occasion, for instance, Deborah, Deborah was a judge in the Bible. We also see somebody later on, not in the Bible, but who is very spiritual, Joan of Arc. And she was this warrior. So my only point there is that sometimes I think God calls certain people to do things that maybe society would be like, well, that's a role for a man or that's a role for a woman. But it's not to say there's not a natural disposition for the way God created us in terms of our needs, emotionally, spiritually, is what you're saying.
- [31:04]
A
I agree with that.
- [31:04]
B
Yeah, I'm with you.
- [31:05]
A
My parents, for example, my parents both worked and they shared the company together. And my mom supported my dad. My dad was living abroad in Europe a lot of the time and she raised me, but she also worked full time. So it just depends on the role individually that we want to take on. And as long as women still remember we have different, a hormone cycle to men, we have different needs, we still want to feel emotionally safe. So if you want to Take on the breadwinner role, that's absolutely fine. But make sure you still focus on your emotional safety and allow yourself to still step into your feminine.
- [31:37]
B
You know a great chapter of the Bible for people to read is Proverbs 31 and it goes through here are the traits of a great woman basically. And part of that is it says women working. And so I think there's even an element sometimes today where maybe some people have taken it too far in certain areas. But it's a really great chapter for people to go and read. I encourage everybody to go and read it. Read Proverbs 31. Solomon, one of the wisest people, if not the wisest ever live reading about what he said in that chapter. In terms of what describes a woman, what sort of the ideal should be? Do you have unexplainable illness, hormone dysfunction, weight loss, resistance, brain fog and your tired? Tired of being dismissed when you know something isn't right? Well get my at home testing of targeted biomarkers including hormones, thyroid and metabolism. Plus a full hour with one of my senior health advisors to help you understand your results. The truth is your doctor is probably reading your blood work all wrong. They're missing the cellular issues behind the symptoms. This new testing flips the script. The future of interpreting test results is here. I'm currently offering a simple at home blood test that actually tests for the things and just as importantly, it comes with proper interpretation of your results. If you want to check it out and grab one before they're gone, just go to mybloodwork.com now. You know one of the things that you've said quite a bit and I think this is so important for women is that they need to feel comfort, safety, security. And we talked about Chinese medicine with this. And so one thing I tell patients all the time when they're working on infertility, especially if I have a woman and this again has been through a miscarriage, is I will tell them. Here's what I want you to feel like. I want you to think about it's November, Christmas lights are getting put up, you're on a couch, you're wrapped up in a warm blanket, fireplace is going and your favorite beverage, if it's a chai tea or coffee of a latte or hot chocolate, you're drinking that your family's around and you just, just feel like you're just being wrapped in like that's the feeling you need to be in spiritually, mentally, psychologically, emotionally for the ideal birth and conception.
- [33:57]
A
Absolutely.
- [33:58]
B
Yeah.
- [33:58]
A
I fully agree with that and I think also when you are giving birth, the hospital system, I have plenty of friends who've just have newborn babies, and I think the hospital system is also not setting you up for success. How we bring a life into this world, it's cold, it's sterile, they try to rush you through it, they're forcing you to have a C section. When a lot of women that end up having C sections can actually have natural births, you know, and you need to be pushing for that birthing plan. So a lot of women are going into this. It's not just about conception. Right. It's about how you see that birth through. I truly believe a soul chooses how they enter this world. The time they're born, the date they're born, and how they're born. Who the hell are we to mess with that? So when you are pushing and this is when people are like, I'm just gonna have a C section. Why? Why are you just gonna have a C section if you don't need it? It's so you're taking away from how your child and their soul chooses to come into this world. So they come into the world already rattled with a piece of trauma on them because you have taken away their free will and their choice on how to enter. Sometimes your birth will be longer, sometimes it'll be shorter. Have a strong birth plan. Be rooted in your values of how you want to bring a life into this world, and then work with practitioners and doctors who support that. And if you want to do line of midwife in the room as well, go for it. But make sure you're finding the right medical community to support you.
- [35:16]
B
There is a very. And when I say very, I'm talking about very small number of women who you get in that situation. And you need to have a C section.
- [35:24]
A
Absolutely.
- [35:24]
B
But it is so small compared to the number and percentage. That's the day a lot of people are scheduling. And here's how bad it's gotten. Like, we. I know this isn't one friend. I know a bunch. They went to their doctor and their OBGYN told them this. They said, you got a small body and so the baby wouldn't fit out. Do you know how insane.
- [35:45]
A
It's crazy. So my mom, you will not believe this. I'm like 5:2 for anybody watching me. And I weigh about 108 pounds. My mom was smaller than me, more petite than I was, and I was eight and a half pounds when I was born. Natural. No.
- [35:59]
B
Yeah, you got a little 99 pound, Mom. You Know, giving birth to.
- [36:02]
A
And my sister was ten and a half pounds. Okay, so think about that. There was no epidural back in the day and they burnt and we had like, she had a normal like birth duration and stuff. But I'm thinking to myself, how far has the medical community come? Not only when it comes to supporting women who are going through infertility, not providing them the proper tools and resources and education and all that stuff, but then also while they're pregnant and then seeing them to the point of them giving birth. How disconnected we have become from traditional practices that have worked and helped us build healthy families.
- [36:35]
B
Well, part of this goes all the way back in history a few hundred years to where we sort of separated church and state and we said churches over here, religion over here, our country's over here. And so there's going to be a total separation. And this happened in science too. We kind of said, well, science and God or science and religion are completely separate and different.
- [36:51]
A
No, they're not.
- [36:52]
B
No, they're not at all, at all. And then this has even now come into birth to where it's like now doctors have God complexes and have tried to remove anything sort of understanding of God given design from the whole process.
- [37:04]
A
So where does science come from? It comes from the divine right. If God does not put a thought in your head or an idea in your head or how do you come to the. This.
- [37:11]
B
Well, the other thing that kind of, can I just tell, it drives me crazy. Science is just a methodology. So sometimes people are like, I'm worshiping science, you're worshiping a system. Like it doesn't, like it just doesn't align. So what people are actually worshiping when their doctors are playing God is it's self worship or it's actually worshiping a system like JD Like Rockefeller set up, which is the medical association and sort of their philosophies. And so, so it's not even. That's right. Yeah, that's right.
- [37:41]
A
Corruption and all for profit. If we look back at history in America alone and understand where chronic disease started rising and where the medical system got infiltrated by these private entities coming in and realizing and filtering into the medical schools and the hospital systems and how they started indoctrinating these young doctors who are being trained and pharmaceuticals stepped inside stuff, that's when chronic disease started rising. This is not something I'm making up. You guys can just research this on your own and see that correlation. And so when we, when our health became for profit, that's when it all shifted. And it shifted because we moved so far away from actual healing medicine and keeping people healthy and safe versus to being like, how long can I keep this person on a certain medication? What other thing can I throw at them? What vaccines can I throw at them? Now it's all about IVF because it's one of the most profitable industries and private equities are coming in and buying up all these IVF clinics and forcing these doctors to push women into multiple cycles. Sometimes families have to take out loans and mortgages on their homes. And so it just, it's so evil at the way we have started treating people's bodies and people's health and even let's say in health and wellness, right? In longevity, there's so many brands that are selling you shitty products that promise to do something that they don't because they just want to make money off you. Because longevity and health span has become a trending topic.
- [39:07]
B
Yeah, yeah, I want to circle back to what you just said, but I want to go back to one other thing and it's this, the idea of this, the idea of science. You know, there's this person who posts online on Instagram Frequently, he's a PhD and he did this post about how science is basically, you know, this the solution for everything. And he said, you know, it's science that actually helps basically our lifespan go up so much in the 1900s. And I'm like, you know what, you know what actually helped extend our lifespan the most is sanitation.
- [39:44]
A
Correct.
- [39:45]
B
Like that, single handedly, you know what talks about the sanitation constantly is the Bible. Go and read the book of Leviticus or other ancient religious documents. Like you're going to see the prioritization, like they have a solution for mold. Don't eat certain foods because you'll get parasites like pork, like, like hand wash, like these ritual washings all the time. So the reality is that no, that didn't fix it, it's that religion fixed it or in God's word. But now you're actually trying to give science credit for something that has been known for thousands of years.
- [40:21]
A
So for anybody listening, I'm Muslim, right? And if you look at Islam, we were told to pray five times a day. Before we pray, we're told to do wuzu, which is washing and cleansing ourselves and being conscious of, you know, what we're eating, what we're consuming, even our thoughts. And so sanitization of your body, sanitization of your thoughts, sanitization of your emotional health all matters.
- [40:44]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I absolutely agree you can take back control of your metabolism, your energy and your hormones naturally. I've put together an in depth practical training to help you balance your hormones using powerful foods, herbs and natural lifestyle strategies that actually work. If you're ready to start feeling like yourself Again, go to draxehormoneclass.com or click the link in the description to begin your healing journey today. That's draxehormoneclass.com to take back your health naturally. Well, let's talk about IVF a little bit more. And this is something to where the amount people are spending insane is incredibly high. And I want to compare it to this. You know, I have a lot of people who I work with with type 2 diabetes, and I think everyone that has diabetes should go to a doctor and then the doctor should prescribe them, diet certain herbal supplements and foods like gymnosa and berberine and cinnamon and chromium and recommend walking. That should be it. And then if they try that for years and years and it doesn't work, maybe then there's time for medication for a short period of time.
- [42:02]
A
Correct.
- [42:02]
B
But as little as possible and get off it as quick as possible. The same should be done with every medical condition and the same should be done with IVF infertility, with IVF and fertility. That's not the way it is at all.
- [42:12]
A
No, not at all. So you walk into an IVF clinic. Firstly, they're not even checking for a lot of the baseline stuff. They're not checking for your vitamin D, they're not checking for your zinc, they're not checking for magnesium, they're not checking your thyroid function. If your thyroid is off, of course you're going to have infertility. They're not another thing you're walking in as a woman. 50% of infertility comes from men. 50 is female, 50 is men. If you're walking into a clinic and automatically they're not checking the man's sperm, you better get the hell out of there.
- [42:41]
B
I just did a podcast with someone in California. He's in his 20s, and his doctor.
- [42:47]
A
Recommended testosterone that destroys your sperm completely.
- [42:51]
B
And I asked him, I said, you know, are you planning on having kids? Yeah. Well. And the doctor didn't even have the conversation with him because they don't realize that men taking testosterone makes their testosterone infertile for that time.
- [43:03]
A
And so there should be. There's a lot of supplementation and natural ways for men, if you're listening to this or you have a husband or a partner and his sperm Count is not good or his motility is not good. There's a lot of healthy three ways for them to raise their natural testosterone levels. One is weight training and lifting more. One is cold plunging mindset has a lot to do with this meditation. And then the. The supplementations are the same for men and women. CoQ10, zinc, selenium, magnesium, vitamin D. Yeah. Those are the five main supplements that work for men's sperm and motility as well as reducing oxidative stress when it comes to women.
- [43:38]
B
Yeah.
- [43:39]
A
The other thing that they don't tell you about is that, that your oocytes, your eggs have the highest concentration of mitochondria than anywhere in your body. It's a hundred thousand mitochondria that exist per oite.
- [43:51]
B
Wow. That's amazing. Wow.
- [43:53]
A
And it's actually not even that malleable, meaning saliva and your skin can get damaged more. The oocytes in your eggs actually are the. Sorry, the mitochondria in your eggs is actually very, very resilient. But the mitochondria in your eggs needs to be fed, like anywhere in your body. So another thing that is extremely helpful is helping increase your ATP energy. And what do you do that with things like nad. You know, if you're trying to conceive or you're going through a cycle, your body doesn't actually have NAD receptors, but if you do flood dose your body at that time with NAD IVs or injections, that can be really helpful. But a more holistic, cheaper solution is precursors of nad, which is NMN and nr, in a high enough dose with antioxidants in it like Reversitrol. And that alone has. Has in mice shown to increase fertility by 30 to 40%. This is data. I'm not making this up. Another thing that is extremely beneficial is rapamycin. So rapamycin was originally. It's a longevity drug.
- [44:50]
B
Yeah.
- [44:50]
A
Colombia did a research on 50 women that were given rapamycin, some placebo and some actual rapamycin at a dose of 5 milligrams once a week for a duration of three months. And the data so far has shown that it increased your ovarian age by 20%, meaning slowed down ovarian aging by five years.
- [45:12]
B
Wow.
- [45:13]
A
And it should. When we look at women's health, everything that helps with longevity and slowing down ovarian aging is what's going to increase your fertility, give you chance to have kids later, have healthier children. We also. This is another lie that's fed to us. You cannot improve your egg quality and after 35, your egg quality drops jobs. It's absolute. You can 100%, through diet, exercise, lifestyle and the correct supplementation, improve your egg quality. And Chinese medicine and herbs, you can improve your egg quality. Yes, we as women are born with a certain amount of eggs. Those are the eggs that we walk into this earth with and when they finish, they finish. However, a lot of the more progressive, holistic, alternative fertility doctors, they're two amazing. One, there's one on Instagram called Dr. Amy Azadeh, the Egg Whisperer and a guy called Dr. Zaher Meh. They have 45, 47, 48 get pregnant, not just like going through IVF, but helping prep their bodies, giving them the right nutrition, anti inflammatory diet. Also, another reason that women tend to have more miscarriages and not conceive is because when we're getting older, in 30s and 40s, we lose a lot of muscle mass. If we want to have a healthy pregnancy, we need actually more muscle mass because it also helps with insulin resistance. So drop your cardio, ladies, and start going to the gym and hitting weights because I promise you that's going to help you with your fertility journey and actually even help you. Women who tend to lift more weights actually have shorter deliveries and healthier deliveries.
- [46:42]
B
Yeah, yeah, I know. My wife is an avid fitness person and we did home births at home in a pool.
- [46:50]
A
Amazing.
- [46:50]
B
And her bursts were just so fast. It was sort of crazy. So the first time we gave. So with Arwen, our five year old, Chelsea goes, gets in the shower and thinks that, okay, the contractions are just starting. I'm like, okay, great. When should I call the midwife? We go a few hours and I'm like, okay. So I brought her a timer so we can kind of look at how far the contractions are apart. And I'm like, okay, you're keeping track, right? You just want to make sure. Yeah. And of course I should have been looking more. And then finally I'm like, I go and look at how far apart there. I'm like, Chelsea, you're about to, you're about to give birth. Like we called the midnight one. The main midwife didn't even get there in time. Time because 40 minutes later the baby was coming. One got there in time. And then like I was supposed to fill this pool. I go to fill the pool tub, I tear the bath, tub handle breaks off. It was like this sort of like movie, total pandemonium. It all worked out and it happened fine, but it happened so fast. So fast.
- [47:52]
A
Your wife must lift a Lot of weights.
- [47:54]
B
She lifts a lot of weights. The thing I will say, though, she will tell you now is, is she wished she would have learned to breathe even better. Because learning how to breathe and doing deep breathing is so, so important for not tearing, having, just having the best.
- [48:09]
A
You're pacing yourself, right. You're regulating yourself as you're going through your process. You're telling your brain you're safe. You're telling your body you're safe. You're not shortening up and feeling like you're in a panic. You're breathing through it. So automatically your nervous system is regulated. If your nervous system is regulated, when the baby has to drop, you're ready for that.
- [48:24]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Absolutely. So I think that's a. It's a great point, metabolically, it's a great point in terms. And it's something I've hardly ever heard anybody even mention in relation to having a great pregnancy. And I think if you are wanting to have a baby, I think you said so many things that I think are so incredibly wise. One, you want to have a plan. That's a big thing. Really spend time with a plan. Make it holistic. Eat foods again. Remember that picture? Like, you're warm, you're nourished, you're safe, you're secure. I also remember this. Chelsea really wanted us to own a home because we were renting at the time.
- [48:59]
A
Yeah.
- [48:59]
B
And there was this thing. Nest. Yeah, the nesting. Right. And I was like, you know, can we just. And she was like, no, we need to own a hoe. And I was like, okay, well, I'm gonna make it happen. We're gonna, you know, and so there's a. There's a lot happening emotionally during.
- [49:15]
A
And women are emotionally complex. I think men are not that emotionally complex. At the end of the day, men have a 24 hour hormone cycle. Women have four different cycles hormone cycles a month. We are just set to be more complex. And then when we hit things like perimenopause that can start sometimes as unfortunately as early as your 30s now. And then we go into menopause, our brains are wired so differently. We have so many hormones that get affected. And on top of that, if you're not feeling safe or secure, that can completely throw you off. So I do think there has to be more education for women around their bodies. There has to be more awareness around signs and symptoms of perimenopause and then how to delay actually going into menopause, because research has shown you can do that. PRP stem cells for the ovaries anti inflammatory diet. People have been able to pull themselves out of early menopause and put that more into, into rest. Listen, menopause is inevitable. It's going to happen to all of us. But the, the speed at which that happens, we can now reverse rapamycin. Right? And if we want to have healthier babies, we want to have them at a later date, whatever it may be. We need to slow down us falling into menopause. And that also means reducing the stress in our lives, regulating our nervous system, reducing inflammation, feeling safe. There's so much that goes into being a woman these days. And I think the fact that we don't sit with ourselves and take all that in is what's throwing us into this toxic cycle which is causing so much infertility and panic in us.
- [50:39]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would say I want to mention with rapamycin too. I think that there are some herbs, there are some foods, there's some weightlifting in particular, some things that are really good for increasing that as well. But just for complexity's sake, again, I think for so many people, reduce the busyness as we talked about, make sure you have a partner that you love, you're committed to for life, and dietarily eat these foods that are warm and nourishing. Again, there's a difference between eating a cold salad or melon versus a warm bowl of soup. Right. There's something you really want to warm your insides. I'm so glad you brought that up early because I think that's one of the things that's most lost. And then post pregnancy, one thing a lot of women don't realize, and I think this is part of the reason why a lot of women have postpartum depression, is you've lost so much blood and your placenta is pure collagen and blood. And so I think a lot of women, if you've ever lost a lot of blood, you feel kind of weak and tired and pale. Yeah, yeah. And so I think like when you go and look at the Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, Middle Eastern even as well, there are ways afterwards, it's a lot of beef soup. It's a lot of, of even things like organ meats. Organ meats are huge. Like Chelsea supplemented with her own placenta. You did encapsulation afterwards. But you really want to build your blood big time post pregnancy.
- [51:57]
A
And minerals, A lot of women are mineral deficient. We talked about the lack of minerals when it comes to infertility. And it can cause infertility, but also Postpartum minerals play a very big role in that. The correct balance of magnesium, zinc, selenium, all of this stuff really matters. The other thing is when you give birth, your body almost mimics menopause. Right. So women are like, what is going on with me? What is happening here? It takes up to two years for women to fully go back hormonally to that initial state.
- [52:23]
B
Yeah.
- [52:24]
A
So they need to be properly supported by a partner, but they need the correct nutrients and macronutrients to support their progress as well. So when you look at eastern cultures, women for the first 40 days stay in bed, they rest, sleep, community comes in, mother in law comes in, mother comes in, they take care of you, you take warm baths, you keep your feet warm. Chinese medicine, keeping your feet warm is extreme, extremely important because it warms up your organs. You're eating whole food, diet, you're drinking a lot of things that are really good for your gut microbiome. And so I don't know why we get so disconnected and we're not looking at cultures that are doing it well.
- [53:00]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I absolutely agree. I think, I think still, I think people still think that the United States is the healthiest country in the world.
- [53:08]
A
It's. And we are one of where this 70. Yeah. We spend the most per capita on healthcare, but yet we're one of the sickest nations in the world. And I'm like, what delusion are we under? And you know what's crazy to me, Josh is like, I've been spending a lot of time in the Middle east, right. So I spent a lot of time in Dubai, Saudi. Those countries, as you know, they have their, their things, but I will tell you, they're so invested in the health of their people from taking their countries forward.
- [53:38]
B
Well, Dubai and Saudi are spending a crazy amount of money on it to.
- [53:41]
A
Make sure extended health span to keep their citizens healthy, to do anything to better the quality of life of their citizens. And you look at a country like you look at the uae, there was this big meme that was going around social media last year that Dubai got flooded and the. It got flooded and the community all came together and within 48 hours it looked like the country was never even flooded ever to begin with. And the fact that they're so community driven to safety and security is not an issue. The way they take care of their people really matters. And in America you go to a lot of cities and they're so you go to California, it's so high in taxation and the shitty city's falling apart. It's gone to shit. So we have to really look at ourselves and be like, we need to vote with our dollars. We need to vote for people that are actually going to bring change into this country. And it is sometimes really sad to me that people make promises and they sometimes don't keep them. But we really need to be conscious of not only our medical system, but our political systems also matter. It's all so integrated with each other.
- [54:37]
B
Yeah. Yeah. Well, Aman, I love this conversation today. I think that there are, as you mentioned, the fertility infertility rates continue to climb. A lot of conditions like pcos. And there are natural solutions.
- [54:49]
A
Absolutely. Endometriosis is natural solutions.
- [54:51]
B
There you go. Yeah. There are so many things. And just to hit on a few of the highlighted things, we talked about one again, there is a spiritual emotional component to pregnancy and to flourishing in life in general. And so really you want to prioritize and don't settle. Right. And part of the way you find the right partner is growing yourself, becoming more virtuous yourself. Right. And so. And having higher standards. No, not too high. By the way, I did want to say this. I'm actually thinking of a few people in my head and I'm like, I'm like, you're trying to marry someone that's not even, it doesn't exist. So be balanced in that for some of you. But again, you again, for the women. You want to have a man who's willing to die for you like Christ died for the church. You want to focus on that. And the other thing is, we talked about food as medicine. You want to warm your body, nourish your body, focus on mitochondrial health. All those things help. Want to say, hey, thanks so much for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Axe Show. Remember, each and every week we're diving deep into the science and principles of how you can heal physically, mentally, spiritually. A big thanks to Aman Hassan today for coming on. By the way, if you're watching on YouTube, let us know what is one of the biggest pieces of wisdom or something that Iman shared that maybe opened your eyes? And what are your thoughts on infertility, pregnancy, ivf? We would love to hear from you there as well. Also, don't forget, please subscribe to the podcast. Did you know that because we're hitting on a lot of really controversial things here, sometimes we've been Shadow banned on YouTube. So if you're not subscribed, this show may not show up on your feed. So make sure to subscribe it's the number one thing you can do to support myself the show and allow me to bring on incredibly amazing guests here like Iman. And also, do not forget to share this. So many people are struggling with infertility today, so partner with myself and Iman in helping women and men support their fertility and having great, amazing kids here in the future. So thanks so much for watching. We'll see you on the next episode.