Dietitian Ayla Barmmer helps us understand just how much nutrition and gut health impact fertility, pregnancy, and reproductive health during perimenopause and menopause.

While supporting women undergoing IVF, Ayla noticed a troubling pattern: Many were advised by doctors to restrict food, and meet their nutrition needs with prenatal supplements that didn’t prepare their bodies for healthy conception and pregnancy. Furthermore, the medical establishment was hardly addressing men’s pre-conception health at all.

These gaps prompted Ayla to revolutionize reproductive supplements for women and men. She developed a prenatal multivitamin and launched FullWell, offering the first dietitian-formulated product in the category. Her commitment to radical transparency—publishing actual third-party test results rather than relying on certifications—redefined expectations in the supplement industry.

Ayla walks us through how to care for our reproductive health at all phases of life. We go over key labs and pre-conception food and lifestyle strategies for both women and men. And get the non-negotiable nutrition requirements for healthy pregnancy. From there we discuss recovery after birth (often ignored), other postpartum needs, plus recommendations for breastfeeding, and preparation for subsequent pregnancies.

Moving on to priorities in perimenopause and menopause, Ayla cuts through the confusion about protein, collagen, creatine, and enzymes. She red flags various supplements, then gives us a quick course in reading labels and speaking to companies, to ensure we’re giving ourselves the best support.

Big takeaway: Reproductive health goes beyond conception and pregnancy. Paying attention to this part of our health at every age is preventative wellness.

TESS’S TAKEAWAYS

Reproductive health is a powerful indicator of overall health at every age.

Gut health is foundational for reproductive health in women and men.

Women and men need to prepare their bodies 3 months before conception.

Men’s pre-conception health profoundly impacts fertility and pregnancy.

Semen quality impacts placenta development more than mother’s health.

Digestive and liver health impact optimal estrogen metabolism.

Adequate protein and fiber are essential for reproductive health.

Exercise is essential for optimal hormones and reproductive health.

ABOUT AYLA BARMMER

Ayla Barmmer, MS, RD, LDN is a Registered Dietitian, functional medicine practitioner, and founder and CEO of FullWell, the only dietitian-led reproductive health supplement company.

With Boston Functional Nutrition, she built a globally recognized private practice helping individuals and couples navigate fertility, pregnancy, and hormone health.

Seeing a persistent gap in the quality, evidence base, and transparency of reproductive health supplements, Ayla formulated a prenatal vitamin and launched FullWell in 2019, committed to doing things differently. FullWell’s Women’s Prenatal Multivitamin consistently ranks among the top supplements in the category, with users in over 50 countries.

As a leading clinical voice in reproductive nutrition, Ayla speaks on evidence-based food strategies, supplement integrity, and women’s health, and uses her Substack to educate consumers and healthcare providers. She has mentored hundreds of practitioners and led one of the largest RD communities in the United States.

A mother of two, she lives in New England.

CONNECT WITH AYLA

Website: https://fullwellfertility.com/

Substack: https://substack.com/@aylabarmmer

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fullwellfertility/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fullwellfertility/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aylabarmmer/

MEET TESS MASTERS:

Tess Masters is an actor, presenter, health coach, cook, and author of The Blender Girl, The Blender Girl Smoothies, and The Perfect Blend, published by Penguin Random House. She is also the creator of the Skinny60® health programs.

Health tips and recipes by Tess have been featured in the LA Times, Washington Post, InStyle, Prevention, Shape, Glamour, Real Simple, Yoga Journal, Yahoo Health, Hallmark Channel, The Today Show, and many others.

Tess’s magnetic personality, infectious enthusiasm, and down-to-earth approach have made her a go-to personality for people of all dietary stripes who share her conviction that healthy living can be easy and fun. Get delicious recipes at TheBlenderGirl.com.

CONNECT WITH TESS:

Website: https://tessmasters.com/

Podcast: https://ithastobeme.com/

Health Programs: https://www.skinny60.com/

Delicious Recipes: https://www.theblendergirl.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblendergirl/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblendergirl/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/theblendergirl

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tessmasters/

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I love I'm so excited to talk to you about fertility and women's health. So tell me about this series of it has to be me moments where you decided to become a dietitian.

Yes, so I decided to become a dietitian, actually, relatively early on, which was a pivot from the path that I thought I was going to be on. I was always very driven planner. I'm a Virgo. I'm very type A any dietitians listening might resonate with that. It tends to be a theme in our field. And,

you know, so even as a as a child, I knew I wanted to go one of two waves. It was either in the medical profession, and I thought a doctor, I wanted to be an artist. So, you know, to do very different things. But when I was getting my undergrad at University of Connecticut, I had the most fantastic life cycle,

life cycle nutrition professor in my freshman year. And you know, I had always loved nutrition, you know, I remember back in sixth grade, we had a project where you could pick anything to present on and I picked zinc for immunity and passed out zinc lozenges to the whole class. Like, this is

disgusting, but, you know, I just loved it. And but in that freshman year class, it really to me, she was so great at showing how applicable to every stage of life nutrition was. And I love that this thing that was an, you know, something that we had to do every day, multiple times a day, which is, eat

right, and how we choose those things that we put in our body, really had such a profound impact on our health. And so for me, that was really the spark that led me down the path of becoming a registered dietitian, which, thankfully, at UConn, they had a great program. It was a coordinated program. I was

able to graduate with my rd doing the internship as part of, you know, the undergrad. So it was pretty intense. But yeah, never, never looked back, although I will say I didn't exactly take a traditional dietitian path from there.

Oh, okay, so tell me about that. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, there was a big, big push back then, and I think it still exists, you know, to either get into food service, usually in a hospital setting, or to get or to become a clinical dietitian, that was like, you've made it if you got a clinical dietitian hospital job. And so, you know, I, when I

first graduated, I interviewed for those jobs, and I remember being offered one, and it was in the New York City area, and I felt so good about that, but there was something in my gut that was like, this is not, this is not the path for me, you know, it was never where I really enjoyed the rotations in

school, you know, I never, I always felt like, you know, gosh, the you know, These people are so sick, and there's just bigger priorities right now, and I can't they're not really listening, you know, in terms of what I'm trying to teach them. And now that's no clinical dietitians have a really

important role, I think, in a lot of different aspects. But for me, it just didn't feel I didn't get that buzz of excitement that got me into the field in the first place. And so I started looking for alternative positions, and I wound up taking one in the School District of Philadelphia,

actually, where they were getting a they were part of a grant funded program that allowed dietitians to form classes that met education curriculums for Pennsylvania, in the city of Philadelphia, and actually use classroom time to teach nutrition and provide tasting samples and cooking

classes and things like that. And so that's every week that happened in every school district. Yeah, absolutely it was great.

Wow. Okay, so then take me into this next iteration where you started working in Boston.

Yes, so Boston's my hometown, you know, and I didn't think I'd come right back here as fast as I did, but I did after that. After that year in Philadelphia, I came back. I started working in, actually, an outpatient weight management program that was really an interesting experience, because

I taught up to five classes a day to very, you know, a diverse population. I connected one on one with just so many individuals, while I look back and I think the approach to weight management was was way off base. It still was a good experience for me, and really shaped kind of my next move,

which was trying to make it on my own, you know, really builds this private practice of my dreams. And that's, that's what that's really became. My Drive was to build a private practice that served people in my community, and then ultimately it grew and expanded to serving people virtually, globally. And

so there is, there are some other things that that happened in between there and getting to the practice, of course. And it was not easy, but I but really, I did build Boston functional nutrition, and it went from a general private practice where I kind of became known for seeing a lot of complex, you know,

cases where these individuals hadn't been had seen 25 different people and really hadn't gotten to any. Answers, you know, and and then I ultimately, which we'll probably get into, I ultimately started specializing in fertility after I saw a very specific need in my community.

So what was that specific need that took you into specializing in fertility?

Well, there was a, and there still is a very famous IVF clinic, Boston. IVF in the area, and they are very well known and do good work. They started referring me women who they were told. These women were told, I need to go find a dietitian. I came to see you because I was told I need to

lose weight, and really, as quickly as I can or there, I'm at risk of my cycle being canceled with Boston IVF, and they'd already invested so much, you know, financially, emotionally, physically, into that process that, you know, they showed up. And I will never forget the first woman that came

in and was sitting across from me, and I was just looking at her, and she was just so stressed, you know, I mean, beyond stressed. And, and with, you know, have this message, I've got to restrict, you know, I've got to, I've got to lose weight, I've got to get to this goal. That's my line drive,

focus. And all I could think was, gosh, this cannot be the way that you enter pregnancy. You know, this can't be the way that we go into one of the most resource intensive times of our life, you know, and the risk of undernourishment just did that made no sense to me. And so that's I didn't know any other

dietitians or even allied health professionals that were really working in fertility. There was nowhere to really learn, no one to learn from that I could find, at least at the time, it was very much at that point, and this was quite a while ago now, but at that point, it was very much, very medicalized. You

know, you go to the IVF clinic, or you go to nutrition. It's like, not, there wasn't really a connection between the two. But, you know, to me, I knew there had to be, right? It just nutrition had to be. It's so important in pregnancy, I thought, Okay, this we've got to find how to nourish you better

and support you in getting the best outcomes. And so that's when I just dove into the research, and that that was like a light bulb for me. It just opened up, just a really what drove me into becoming a dietitian in the first place, right? Like that spark where I was like, wow, what we eat,

nutrition and lifestyle has such a profound impact on these stages of life. You know, it's not everything. It's one tool in a toolbox. But that was really, it was it was the women that showed up, that were being referred to me, that really drove me to go deeper, to help them excuse me and and really

started to specialize from there.

And so it's one thing to run a practice as a dietitian and help women with their nutrition, and then to move into starting a supplement company. So that seems like a huge leap to me, and scary leap. What was that it has to be me, like you had that it has to be me moment. I've got to start a

private practice. That's what fires me up. That's what I want to be doing. And then you filled the gap there, and then you filled the gap again. So is that something that really drives you filling the gap

it is, I think, I think at the heart of it, you know, I want to help people. I want to I want to feel like I'm feeling I'm meeting a need, right? And and in doing it in a way that's genuinely contributing and helpful and different. And, you know, I think the starting the private

practice was hard. It was scary. It was it was difficult, because at that time my life, it was like just making as meat type of money you're bringing in. And it was, it was not easy, but starting the supplement company full well was that yes, I was by the time I actually had product. I mean, I was, yes, this really

developed through my pregnancies, for sure. And I mean, so for for me, I first, I should just say I never thought I'd be running a dietary supplement company. That was never the career goal. You know, I I use supplements and practice, you know, with my, with my clients and prenatal

multivitamins, specializing in fertility, of course, a prenatal multivitamin was one of the top recommendations. But, you know, I really saw two issues that drove me to decide, okay, I've got to do this. There's no one else. It was one the formulas on the markets were always they looked to me, the majority of

them like they were made by a man in marketing. You know

that old tradition, right?

I mean, surprise, right? It just someone who didn't understand the woman's body was not staying up to date on the latest evidence, right? There was very little progress made in prenatal vitamins. And that's not surprising, because. Yeah, and we could have a whole nother conversation on this, but

there's very little research done in this stage of life, but very little research done on women in general, right? And so, you know, the formulas themselves, it was either the doses didn't match the evidence, the forms didn't make any sense. They weren't bioavailable, you know, or they were not easily

tolerated. So I had a drive to create just the formula that I wanted. And I really was, you know, sketching that out back, I could say, years before I ever produced it. But the second reason was, even as a practitioner, never mind a consumer, I could not get information about the quality

and transparent, you know, quality program, right quality control program of any of these supplements, you know, it was really kept behind proprietary business data. You know, I was just getting that response over and over again, and it was like, Well, how do I know I'm supposed to just take your word for it?

You know that you don't have harmful levels of heavy metals, that you're testing things appropriately, that what is on the label is what is in every serving. You know, I that just didn't sit well with me. And maybe it's just the contrarian in me, or just like being distrustful. But, you know, I

think,

no, I care about transparency, and I would hazard a guess that most people do, if they really think about it. Yeah, so the formulation and the transparency was a major factor. So, oh, take me inside, bringing a product like that to market. So you launched with the prenatal vitamin to fill the gap

to have a transparent product that fit the criteria that you felt was necessary to help a woman prepare her body

for pregnancy. Yes, yes. And, you know, I thought naively, and I say that with love, because I'm actually kind of glad I

would take it actually be a plus. You know what you don't know, and you're not afraid of it, right? Right?

Like, if you don't know exactly what's ahead of you, it's actually a good thing. And in my case, that is so true. Because, I mean, once I got the formula down, I was like, oh, yeah, you know. And I know exactly what I want to do for testing, and I and, you know, but it really, you know, I was

coming from the science world, the clinical world. I was pretty well connected in that space, so deep in, in, in that and not at all in, you know, the dietary supplement natural product world, which is a whole, whole world. So finding a manufacturer was, I mean, comical it is, though it is the wild west out

there, and I, and I don't necessarily like using that term all the time for the supplement industry, because there's a lot of good players and a lot of good quality but there's a lot of really sketchy things going on out there, too. And I mean, I have stories where I literally there since they since shut

down, and none of that product ever said saw the light of day, but I literally discovered while is in process of trying to manufacture my prenatal multivitamin, this is one manufacturer that I was working with the mafia. Yeah, just stories that don't make sense are part of part of those early

years. But, you know, by the time I actually had product where I was like this, this is perfect, and I am a perfectionist, if nothing else, right? And I really did, I wanted to, when it comes to the things that really matter, right? Like, you know that having this quality product that

was tested so thoroughly, you know, at that point when I had that in my hands, I was 38 weeks pregnant, and so that's the story of the launch, you know, which was me sitting in a lawn chair in my backyard, you know, you know, I had a site that I had made myself right, and I put out one Instagram post, and just

so thankful that, you know, my community of health practitioners that I was part of, really understood what I was trying to do and felt that need to and that's really how it started and was successful.

Oh, it's such a fantastic story, such a great it has to be me story. So you were talking about filling the gap of of how to help a woman prepare her body for pregnancy. So what is the best way to do that? What do women need to know? Yes.

So I would say women and men. And I'll

ask you about that too, because that we forget that that's a big piece of it

we do, and what both women and men do in that preconception period. So we're talking the three plus months prior to conceiving is so critical for the health of the pregnancy, health of mom and baby long term. And it's it's really impactful, and I think, really exciting and empowering,

how much nutrition and lifestyle can really play a role. And they're not things that are, you know, like, forget about the crazy I've seen fertility detox diets and. Yeah, you know, anything that is too extreme should be a red flag when it comes to fertility and preconception prep, because it's

just, or any reproductive health support, because it's, it's that is what are actually our hormones and our fertility hate is anything truly extreme, and so, just to set the stage, starvation, right? Yes, well, you know, and by design, right? But through biology and evolution, right? Like that is

all by design. We've got to make sure our body is looking for signals that the time is right, and we'll be successful if we try to conceive, you know, and have a baby right now, you know. And so anything that's going to be too extreme and stress the body out, whether it's under eating, whether it's over

exercising or undernourishment, big changes, you know, are going to, are going to tell the body, okay, turn down the thing that's not a priority right now our reproductive health, and that's true, by the way, at any stage of life, you know, I Whether we're talking fertility or, you know, perimenopause. And

honestly, a lot of the things that you you want to focus on during this stage of life are things to carry through, you know, that will support reproductive health longer term. So, you know, some of the most important things just to hit on them would be, largely, speaking, from, you know, a diet

blueprint. I'd say the closest, you know, the best evidence we have is a Mediterranean style diet. Now, really, if you pick that apart, because it can be picked apart, there's a lot of countries in the Mediterranean. There's a lot of, I mean, there's, there's been some, you know, you know, negative feet or

criticism, I should say about that, calling it that. But regardless, really what we're looking at is a diet that's very rich in produce, antioxidant, nutrient and mineral, vitamin and mineral, rich produce that's your base, and a variety of those things, and then you've got olive oil and you know,

eggs, and you know, leaner meats, you know what? My colleague Lily Nichols absolutely does have some great evidence to support some of the more nutrient dense, non lean meats, you know. And that could be a case. I think it's a case by case situation. And you know, nuts and seeds and legumes and

lentils, all of those good things. So that's kind of your your foundation, those those foods, vitamin D, I would put a special emphasis on that, though, because vitamin D has such a profound effect on the reproductive system for both men and women. And the reason I mentioned that is because

getting your levels to a healthy place. Preconception is more important. Well, it's probably equally important to keep them up through pregnancy and postpartum, but it's it's a signal to really support the health of that pregnancy. In fact, they found that women who have sufficient levels of

vitamin D going into pregnancy have a 70 ish percent, or actually, let me get that stat rate, because it's actually a big deal. It's they have a much higher percentage likelihood of having a live birth. It has that big of an impact, you know, on on the health of the pregnancy. So that's one, I would say. And

there's any number of other nutrients, but I'll pause there, yeah,

and so in terms like, what, what supplements, besides a prenatal vitamin, what? What do you recommend with regards to that, I'm so I'm eating well, I'm meeting my protein needs. I'm eating a lot of plants. I'm getting fiber, I'm staying hydrated, you know, all the, all the stuff that that

you basically just said, and I'm looking at making sure I'm getting my vitamin D levels right. So so we should we take our blood work three months before we're planning to conceive, and see a dietitian and a fertility expert? What do you recommend with regards to assembling a medical team that

can support you? Yeah, achieving that goal of conceiving?

Yeah, the ideal scenario is that you seek out a registered dietitian, or, you know, a CNS, some comparable degree, right? You know, someone who's highly trained and not not, we're not, so we're not talking about the influencer, you know, fertility specialists here. You really do want to see

somebody

who knows. Thank you for drawing that distinction. Yes, with a medical license,

yes, exactly. And if you can do that in the preconception period, you're setting yourself up for just such a better outcome, right? Hopefully an easier time conceiving a healthier pregnancy, healthier long term health and and oftentimes it's it can be with minor tweaks, but

some basic labs that you're going to want to get. And most dietitians can order these labs, but may work together with your PCP. I would definitely get a vitamin D. Make sure that say vitamin D, 25 hydroxy vitamin D, 25 oh, H not, not the other form, which is one comma, two five, and I mentioned it that I

say it that way because that's how it looks in the drop down menu for PCP. Is very close. And so just make sure it's a, you know, a vitamin D, hydroxy, vitamin D that reflects your vitamin D stores. I would also recommend looking at your ferritin, which is your iron stores. These are two things.

Those two things are, can take time to replete, you know, it's not an overnight thing. And so give your getting that data a little bit early so you can optimize them going into pregnancy really helps. I also recommend getting at least a TSH, a thyroid stimulating hormone, if not, you know, a

full thyroid panel to ensure that things are all right there, because that is the number one cause of pregnancy loss, early pregnancy loss, and also it's one of the number one causes of fertility challenges, and it's very common, you know, to just be living with a sub optimal, you know, thyroid, you know,

levels so, so that would be another one I would do. And then just in general, you know, comprehensive metabolic profile, make sure your cholesterol levels are actually enough. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I actually saw women with cholesterol levels so low that they weren't making enough

hormones. You know, cholesterol is the backbone of all of our hormones. Need enough of that. And so that's important as well. And then I would, I would suggest also having your, if you have a male partner, having him look at actually, really similar things. But you know, adding on, if it's in the budget, semen

analysis isn't a bad idea to see where things are at there. I do have, and I did create a an at home blood spot fertility test that we offer through full well that has a few hormone markers, TSH, vitamin D, which just to make it really easy to get a sense of where you're at, and if you need to pursue further,

deeper testing

and with the with our male partner and making sure that he's getting all the tests and doing what he needs to do. That was that the second product that you launched, the male it was vitamin, yeah, the counterpart to it, because you saw that that need,

yes, absolutely and, and that took a while to get off the ground, because I think people just looked at me like, What? Like? Why? You know, so it makes so much sense. We still have a lot of education to do. You know, there one really interesting fact, though, and this always kind of blows

people's minds, and I think opens the door. Is one thing that that people don't realize, right? Is that the woman obviously develops, she develops an entirely new organ during pregnancy. That's placenta, the placenta, which is amazing, we're amazing, and that nourishes, you know, baby

throughout the pregnancy. Now, what's interesting is men, men's sperm quality, semen quality has through different types of signaling, actually has arguably a larger impact on the development and the health of the placenta than even the woman in her house. Wow. And so we're talking about the organ that

really determines so much, including risk pregnancy risk, like preterm birth, preeclampsia, you know, even contributing somewhat to gestational diabetes, and that can be traced back, you know, in part to, in a large part, to men's preconception health. So I did, you know, the prenatal

multivitamin, the men's counterparts, and then very soon after that, the other supplements that I think go hand in hand as your foundation for both women and men, which would be a fish oil for those essential fatty acids,

yes, yes. And so do you recommend that people supplement with fish oil, even if they are eating wild caught fish in varying amounts?

I think it depends. So if I look at the general population, the vast, vast majority of people are not getting in two to three servings of fish a week. Now, if you are, you know, and you found a way to integrate that into your diet, and you're pretty consistently doing that, I don't think

there's a harm to adding a fish oil supplement, but it may not be something that you need to prioritize. So you know, for example, you know, sardines are definitely having their moment right now, which is great to see. You know, I'm on board with that. But you know, if you're including sardines, you know,

once or twice a week, I don't know, or you know, and you're having fish as a main course once or twice a week like that. That's me that will get you there, you know. So you can do it through diet. It's just a matter of, can you consistently, you know, do that?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I want to go back to the formulation of these vitamins. What makes your prenatal vitamins? So. Good, and why you would recommend that above any other prenatal that you saw, and why you had, it had to be you that developed this.

Yeah, well, I, you know, I think, you know, with my formula, well, I know, you know, I the right kinds of things are prioritized in the right amounts to really hit the most important needs. I mean, it's a supplement after all, right, like we're really trying to go for, what are the gaps in your diet? What

are the hardest things to get in adequate amounts? And so I already touched on vitamin D, and we know that I've got a high dose of vitamin D in the prenatal it's 4000 I use. But we have randomized clinical control trials, many of them showing that that's actually the minimum amount needed to just kind of

keep things sufficient through pregnancy, you may actually need more. And then, you know some other nutrients that were always skimped on for a very good reason, not good enough, though, in my opinion, is choline, magnesium and calcium and so choline is is really difficult to get enough of in your diet,

especially if you are plant based, you can do it, but they're most you know, choline is most concentrated in egg yolk and liver, and you know your meats and things like that. And even if you are consuming an omnivorous diet, it still can be really hard to hit those those numbers. And to give you a

sense, you know, we were at like 450, to 550 milligrams daily for breastfeed, for pregnancy and breastfeeding, respectively, per the guidelines. But there's newer research showing that maybe more like 900 to 1000 milligrams is better, you know, so not, not super easy to do daily. So I put 300 milligrams

in my prenatal because what I found through diet analysis over years and practice, was that was the amount that complemented what many people were getting in their diet to kind of get them to a nice, robust amount, and we're really talking about brain development for baby. But you know, even regardless, choline

is really important for reproductive health, because it's involved in methylation, it's involved in all kinds of cellular processes. It's involved in just your own brain health. I think about, I think about, even now, the stage I'm in, which is more perimenopause, and just supporting my brain

with the right nutrients, and choline is one of them, magnesium and calcium. So important, you would think that people easily meet their calcium needs, and that's actually not the case. It's declining, you know, people meeting their calcium needs. And so I have that's important for skeletal

health, as you can imagine. And so the tricky part about those three nutrients is that they're large and they can be relatively expensive if you have the right forms. So most prenatals will skimp on that. And you'll know because it'll be like a one a day, a two a day, maybe even a three a day. And those are not,

they cannot fit, you know, enough of those nutrients in it. They just take up too much room. And so that's one of the challenges with my formulation, and why a lot of people said it would never work, is that it's an aid a day. It's a you know, and so that's but I will say we have another format coming out

that I'm really excited about. I probably shouldn't say that right now. Shouldn't say that right now

my marketing team, it's fine,

but it's coming really, really soon, next month. So yeah, it's it can be a challenge, although a lot of people find that once you get into a routine, it's not bad. And really for me, I was like, let's prioritize what? What do we need to fill the gap with first and then, then we'll,

we'll, you know where it lands is where it lands really well.

You know, what's coming up for me is this idea that we know that the body gets overwhelmed when it gets too much of anything at one time. And so this pace strategy of pacing our intake of quality foods and nutrients throughout the day supports better thyroid health, better metabolism,

better body function in general. So it makes sense that any supplement that we take would also follow, though that general principle,

yeah, absolutely and so ideally speaking, you know, you know, you do half of the serving, you know, in the morning with breakfast or lunch, and then you do the other half at night with dinner. And people feel really good, you know, with that, and it's a nice way to help support the absorption and

tolerance of it. But overall, you know, some of the other choices in there that I made, like a little bit of betaine HCL for digestion and helping break everything down. You know, having magnesium as magnesium bis glacinate instead of a magnesium oxide. Yes, that is the difference between diarrhea

and not Yeah. So things like that. I mean, every single. Little nutrient, I can tell you, was really strategically chosen. And I've changed things a little bit over the years, you know, just a little, you know, but like the form of vitamin b6 we used to have pyridoxine HCl, as you know, more research and

support really came out for P 5p, that form. I did make the switch there. So, you know, I'm not afraid to, you know, make tweaks if it makes sense, too.

Yeah, responding to data is so important, and you are very transparent about that. Talk to me about folate. I know I'm just getting heaps of people asking me about that

folate is, folate is a wild one. I've actually, my opinions that I put forth out into the world on Foley is, have actually, have actually gotten me death threats, which is, is pretty crazy. Yeah, over a nutrient, like, I like, I don't know if I get a medal or something for that, but, you

know, it's, and there's, there's a whole story there. But really, you know, folate in food, naturally, is found in one of two forms, predominantly, like 80% is methyl folate. That is what is in folate rich foods. That's the form. The other forms are a mix of others, folinic acid, and different different

things. But it's mostly methyl folate. Folic acid is interesting, right? Because that was a compound that was synthetically created. Now, side note, not all synthetic vitamins are bad, even though we have a negative connotation with that term. But it was created, you know, in the 90s to meet a

public health issue, which was neural tube defects, yes. And so why those were developing and becoming more prevalent was because we were stripping down our grains right and making them more refined and taking out the primary source of folate in our diets. And so the government, through a giant public health

effort, you know, mandated that the food industry replace, you know that folate with folic acid in the research, you know, when they looked at it, it looks like, you know, folic acid is absorbed super well, and it is, it will raise your blood levels up. However, it is not utilized by the body as well. And that's

the distinction, you know. So that public health, I will say that public health effort was largely successful. We have very low rates of neural tube defects now, and so it, you know, it can give you what you need. But my question is, really, at what cost a little bit? So if we're not fully able to metabolize

that folic acid, which is harder for some than others, but for all of us, to some extent, there's this pool that develops of something called unmetabolized folic acid, and that's what I always encourage people that want to dig a little deeper to look at in the research, because that's where

we see some of the problems so unmetabolized folic Acid, it's referred to as UMFA in the research, that's what I get concerned about. And so for me, it just feels like a no brainer to to use methyl folate and to make sure I'm, you know, there's enough to meet the large demands. It's not just neural

tube defects. There's quite a few other things that folate does in the body, and and that made a lot of sense. Now I will say it's a lot more expensive, and that's why, you know, I think it wouldn't have been possible, in my mind, for food industry to adopt methyl folate. So that's unfortunate, but I

think that's how the long story of how we got here, and you know why I've chosen that form?

Yeah, absolutely, it's so important. So in terms of the transparency you are doing testing, you've got third party testing. How do you share that with your consumers?

Yes, this is actually, there's a simple there's some of the simple things that we do that are absolutely a no brainer for me, which is, we test, we test appropriately through ISO certified third party labs, and we share those results. So I just, I share every test for

every single lot. You can always get the bottle you have in hand. You can get the test results for. We have it available on our site. A quick email to us, and we can make sure that we get you the right lot so you're never going to hear from us. That's proprietary. We don't share that because we just we do. And you

know, further than that, we spend a lot of time, really, you know, having conversations with our customers about to answer their questions, you know, so they can understand what they're looking at, so they can understand you just get their quality questions answered. Because that I always remember,

and I tell my team, that's a founding principle, you know, of this company, and I just don't want to ever lose that. It's also another reason why I've not taken on any outside investment or, you know, I've maintained control. I really want to keep the, you know, keep that foundation, but, you know, so

that that's one way. But the harder part to communicate, because I think it can, it can understandably bore people to death, is, you know, it's the the entirety of your quality control program actually really matters. It's not just testing, you know, it comes down to the way that we specify what

ingredients to use, what format, how, what the overages and specific amounts going into the formula look like. What are we doing for excipients? Because those are needed to get precise dosing. They're not unnecessary fillers, like a lot of influencers will say, you know, it's that it's watching how, how

is the manufacturer like? We're specifying how everything is done throughout the entire process, me and my quality control team, and then we're taking the finished product and we're testing it extensively to make sure it met those specifications. So that's kind of like a shortened version of

it, but quality control. I mean, this is just something that as a company, have to decide, I'm investing in this. And we really, we really have done that and prioritized it over marketing, you know. So, you know, we're not the brand that, and there are, is a prenatal brand out there that spent $100

million last year, you know, in marketing, and you know, we're not doing that right, but I at the end of the day, I know it's it's a safe product, it's an effective product. It has what it says it has in it. It doesn't have what it doesn't need in it, and that feels most important to me.

Yeah, I want to ask you about what's most important to you, because it seems to me that you're not about throwing spaghetti at the wall and building a supplement company that has 100 supplements and going wide, you're going deep on what in one specific lane. So you've invested your

time and research and energy and resources and expertise in a very, very lean line of products to help women at various stages of life with their reproductive health, not just women who want to conceive, but also women in perimenopause. So tell me about what your core focus is. I know it's helping women, but why the

specific line of products that you have right now? So we've got the, you know, I know it's in response to a need, but where do you see your company going in terms of the line of products that you want to put out into the world?

Yeah, yeah. And you did hit the nail the head in terms of, I, you know, and I always say this, that we are not going to be the company that's launching five new products, 20 new products a quarter, you know, I'm not looking to be. I'm not looking for

that. Yeah, absolutely, you know.

I, you know, we are not going to be everything to everyone. But my, where I get most passionate is about reproductive health in general, because in so far and beyond a positive pregnancy test, you know, that is only one small part of reproductive health is conceiving. I mean, you know,

pregnancy, it's very, it's a very intensive time. And I want to say that it's, it's small, it's a huge, huge deal. But I, for me, the impact of caring for and looking at your health through the lens of reproductive health has such a profound impact. You know, if we because you know our especially for

women, you know our hormones, our menstrual cycles, our hormones are the way we we feel, and how that shows up as symptoms in our body tells us so much about what is happening with our health and where we need to prioritize and how we need to focus. Because I, you know, I think the light bulb

moment for me was when I realized, Oh, this is your body is actually working exactly how it's supposed to be, like. This is not your body portraying you, you know, it's because of XYZ you have going on or these stressors your body's just prioritizing other things over reproductive health, you know.

And and that line of thinking has kind of led me to really, really expand on that and and see the ways in which our reproductive health signals to us about our overall health throughout every stage of our life, and by really caring for it and nourishing it. And you know, it's it kind of gives us

kind of a way to think about preventative wellness a little bit differently. And then, you know, largely speaking, too, I love the opportunity to help educate people on this preconception period if they are looking to conceive and have a pregnancy and grow a family, because it's, it's, to me, the

mist and most important time in life to influence long term health. Now I would look at it, yeah, and I get worried. Saying that a little bit sometimes, because I don't want people to feel like I missed it. I didn't optimize that time, or that's not relevant to me, because, like I said, you know, your

reproductive health is talking to you all throughout your life, right? And there's, there's always an opportunity to influence, you know, future you by focusing on those red flags now.

So let me ask you about pregnancy. So we've conceived successfully. What do we need to know to have a healthy pregnancy? Yes.

So one of the two things that I suggest tracking through your pregnancy and maybe even considering once a trimester, getting this lab work would be a vitamin D level and a ferritin. So ferritin, again, being reflective of your iron status, we want to stay ahead of the game with these. You know,

of course, I mentioned trying to optimize them pre conception, so that you're not like filling the bathtub with the drain open and just continually trying to catch up, you know, as you're going through pregnancy. But, you know, we can intervene, right if things are getting a little low, and all too often, I really do

see only hemoglobin and hematocrit measured in pregnancy and Ferret, and you need ferritin to define what is actually going on, because hemoglobin, hematocrit can actually become low and sub optimal due to folate, or B 12, or, you know, just they don't give you the full picture. So

that's something that I would recommend trying to take your supplements consistently. Is no one's perfect. You do not need to be perfect, but, you know, you try to do that as much as you can. And then what I suggest is really focusing on that, that balanced, varied diet, you know, if you know, trying to kind of

do that and eat enough during first trimester even, is really it's not easy, but it really does help significantly with nausea. It's your nausea will get worse and how you feel will become worse if you let your blood sugars drop too low, you know, so finding some things that you can kind of take, sip

on, tolerate, you know, and kind of even graze, you know, on in that first trimester, I think, is really important. And then as you get into, you know, second and third, really, throughout, but, you know, I would, I would focus on salts, you know, don't be afraid to salt things liberally. You you're producing

a lot more blood. Your blood, the blood volume is increasing. You need electrolytes. You need you need salt. And you're talking about good quality salt. Good quality salt, yeah, because you know mineral rich salts is important, you know, make sure. You know, if you are doing a salt without iodine. You know,

your prenatals got a good like 250 micrograms in there is my suggestion, minimum 150 but I think 250 is better. And, you know, calcium, magnesium, rich foods can really help. I love, you know, recommending, you know, salty cashews, or, you know, a nice like a and even a full fat like Greek yogurt at

night with berries that can really help with that calcium, the protein. And then even with those cashews, you could kind of mix that in there, do berries and, you know, make yourself like a little parfait. And that's a nice thing to have in the evening to help with quality of sleep, which really, really

declines as pregnancy evolves.

And so we've given birth, we're breastfeeding. What do you recommend for women then, to really keep up their milk? You know, production and feeling good and having energy and not feeling like they're so many women talk about how exhausted they are.

It is absolutely exhausting. I so your nutrient needs increase if you're breastfeeding and even in those initial weeks just recovering from pregnancy, which, you know, by the way, just delivering baby and placenta leaves, you know, a dinner size plate hole in your in your uterus that need that's

a wound, you know, that needs to be filled. I saw a colleague post something online that just really resonated with me today about how I think she it's the vagina whisperer. She's a great pelvic health expert, and she was saying, how, you know, you get a knee surgery and you're not like, immediately

discharged. You get PT, they make sure you can walk. You've got tools, you know, you've got support pregnancy, once you give birth, it's like, not, it's not, it's like 24 hours, you know, 48 hours, maybe later, you're just heading home without any of that, right? And what I was, what I would say, is that your

nutrient needs become even higher in those initial weeks and months than they were during pregnancy. And we miss that concept entirely, because the the shift to baby and baby's well being, it's natural, but it's it's just, we've got to really be focusing on on mom, too. And what I would say first

and foremost is, before you get to that stage, prepare more for yourself and nourishing yourself and setting up that care that you need postpartum. And it's more than you might imagine, more than you're preparing for baby, more than your but it's fun to buy the baby stuff, but you really don't need much for a

long time, and you honestly don't even know what your baby's going to need and like. So I just think, you know the kind of baby showers where you're or, you know, maybe you do our traditional baby shower, but like, baby showers where you've got friends come in and help you prep food, and you guys are just

having fun and, like, freezing a bunch of stuff that pays off so significantly. You know, finding people post, it's really about nourishing and not having to do it yourself. When you are absolutely exhausted, when everything hurts and is healing, when you've got a baby just attached to you, you know you've

got to have things ready to go. So frozen things, fresh things, and humans, humans in your life, whether you pay for them or that you've got them, you know, you know, in your life, asking for that help, and you know in making sure that you get that, that's, I think that's even that's more important than

focusing on any single nutrient. It's just like, enough calories, enough food, enough support, and yeah,

so many women are under nourishing themselves, because we just get brainwashed into thinking the only way to be skinny and healthy is to restrict and and eat less, exercise more. It's exhausting. So many people have more than one baby, so talk to me about keeping your body healthy while

you're raising a little baby and a toddler, and then having a vision that you you're going to want to have another child.

Yeah, things do change. You know, I think it does get more challenging in a lot of ways. But, you know, it's, I will say again, you know, it's really important because, you know, filling the well, you know, repleting all those nutrients and healing while you're mothering, while

you're breastfeeding. Well, again, you're kind of filling the bathtub with the drain open a little bit. And so we've got to make sure you're filling more than it's draining and, and that's that's important, because, you know, if you are thinking, you know, a subsequent pregnancy, we've got some data,

you know, to show that 18 months to maybe two years between pregnancies is probably ideal, you know, to give your body a chance to heal and replete. That's not the plan for everybody, though, you know. And so I would just say that, you know, continuing to take your prenatal multivitamin and your

fish oil, at a minimum, I would also add maybe, like, a collagen to the mix, which maybe we'll talk about a little bit, or a protein. You know, really protein rich. We haven't talked a lot about that, but protein is so important.

Yeah, let's talk. Let's do you talked about collagen and protein? We got to get into it. Let's get into it. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, protein needs, they consistently rise as the pregnancy goes on, and then during breastfeeding, it's as high as it probably will ever be. It's just you need a lot. And what we want to do is we want to protect your stores. You know, a lot of what it you know, getting the right things in

helps make sure that baby is not taking either during pregnancy or breastfeeding. Isn't taking, you know, DHA from your brain, isn't taking your skeletal muscle mass or taking minerals from your teeth, you know, because that will happen if, you know, if needed. So, yeah, that's kind of a thing to

remember, I think, and so, and you know, blood sugar roller coaster makes everything worse when you're dealing with hormone fluctuations and over tiredness and so that that this is where protein fiber become really important. Now, collagen is not the end all be all for protein by any means, but one of the

reasons I like it during this stage of life is, and actually in perimenopause too, is that very, very easy to digest. You know, it's really passively absorbed in the intestines, and so it's a really nice option when things are sluggish digestively, which was very much the stage of life. And it's a

nice balance of amino acids that complements more modern diets. You know, we're not getting in that kind of balance of amino acids that is in collagen, you know, as much anymore. So it kind of fills some gaps that I like it also. And what form of collagen do you recommend collagen peptides? Yeah, for

sure, because that's hydrolyzed collagen peptides, because that's how we're getting to that passive absorption in the gut, very easily digested. I mean, I love making with like a gelatin, like little gummy snack kind of things for my kids and things like that. So it's still giving me protein. But I just made one

that I got a little too adventurous with, and the kids won't eat them. But. That, you know, when I try to pack too much stuff in them, I think they were like fiber bricks, but, but, yeah, so I like, I like collagen for that reason. And you know, also, the peptides themselves are really

interesting because they, of course, when you consume collagen, it's not like, it's just getting dispersed to your cartilage or anything like that, right? And going exactly where we need collagen, but the peptides in them have a signaling property. They do signal to your, your joint and

bones to kind of RE, to rebuild, and so I like that for healing. You know, of course, we don't have a ton of research to back this up, because this stage of life, and that specifically, is not studied as much, but that's one of the reasons. And then in perimenopause, I like collagen because it's a little higher in

glycine, which can help glycine is a nice thing to include in the evenings to help your body's core temperature lower so that you're able to get into a more deeper, restful sleep, which is harder in perimenopause.

So do you recommend that someone take collagen at night?

Then, yeah, I think, I think that's a great time to take it if you're looking for more sleep, support, recovery. I know the sports dietitians have told me that, you know, within 15 minutes of exercise can be really helpful for that, for that type of recovery, but not really my

focus. So I think, I think whatever you include it, it's, it's, um, it's a good thing. Like, if it goes easily into your smoothie or your coffee, that's fine. But I think at night, it's, it's really ideal. And I really like making it with, like a tart cherry juice. You got, like, those natural

antioxidants and melatonin and, you know, make a little like mocktail situation.

All right, my little collagen mocktail.

So, all right. So I want to ask you about why we need to care about our reproductive health as we get older. So you've talked about this a lot, how it really signals and can give us some good data about our overall health. So we're done with having babies, and we're getting older, we're in our 30s, and

then we're going into our 40s. You know, what do you recommend in terms of we're let's assume that we're maintaining a great diet lot of plants, we're meeting our protein needs. We're taking in a lot of omega threes. You know, we've got a good, balanced diet going on. What do you recommend in terms of

supplements and other things that we can be doing to be proactive, to prepare ourselves for a wonderful perimenopause and then menopause journey?

Yeah, believe it or not, even with the best intentioned and planned diets, I still think that a well formulated multivitamin and potentially fish oil, not always, but supplement, still really your foundation, you know. And that's like the very unsexy thing that I always say,

because I, I just, I, for me, it all starts with making sure that we've got the raw ingredients, you know, to produce hormones, to keep our blood sugar regulated, to help support our bodies functioning. And you know, our organs don't just, you know, operate efficiently or optimally on their own, I kind

of, you know, they need resources, right? Like, we need calories and all of that, but we need micronutrients. You know, the functioning of muscle requires, you know, B vitamins and calcium and magnesium. It's just even our liver like to detoxify, we have to have B vitamins to do that, you know.

And so I think that we take for granted just how much we need and how difficult it is one to get the nutrition through diet alone. These days, you know, we've got a lot of depleted soil and, you know, apples that are delivered year round and coming from the other side of the world, right? And so, like,

those are still great foods, they just are maybe not quite as nutritionally packed as maybe they once were. And so I worry a little bit about that. And I also think about the stress that we're all under, whether it's oxidative stress from pollution and various things in our environment that we just can't

control, right? And just physical, emotional, you know, stressors as well, and that's depleting, you know. So I really think, before we get more complicated and we're adding in all the other stuff, we do, still start with a multi, and I've got a women's multi that I designed for myself and for the

stage life my friend and and then, you know, I really love we have a long history and a lot of research on creatine that's having its moment in the sun, that's for sure. I do love that form of

creatine matters.

It does. It does talk about the form.

Well, what do you recommend with regards to that?

You know, I do think that you know. About five grams daily. There's some cases of going higher of creatine monohydrate. Is is good. I'd love your opinion on this, if you if you differ, but I think you know, there's solid research on that. I've not found that for clients myself and people in my

life, that's upset their stomach, I think it's easy to kind of absorb in that way. There are a couple of different forms that you could alternatively choose that that really does have quite a lot of research behind it, though.

I also want to ask you, let's go back to protein for a minute, because if you are not meeting your protein needs and you do not have good gut health, you are not going to absorb and utilize the creatine effectively. And this is the thing that I'd love to see more education about with regards to

what you do in and around supplementation. Yeah.

I mean, this is another reason why, you know, as a more functional medicine trained practitioner, I absolutely believe in getting to the root cause of what's going on. And I think one of the reasons why people do so well with multivitamins and kind of need them more, is because we've

got such pervasive digestive health issues and compromised digestive health, you know. And so you really do have to look at that and and make sure that we're doing the right and this is where lifestyle comes in too, you know, I think of very simple things that make a big difference, like chewing and

breathing, you know, while you're eating and before you're eating. I honestly, I have to remind myself of this constantly,

because we forget that the first phase of digestion begins in the mouth.

Yeah, absolutely, we've got to have that brain gut connection, you know. But I'm also, I'm a big proponent of digestive bitters too. Throughout Tell me about that. Oh, I love that. Yes, love digestive bitters. Now, whether you do that as a supplement, or you just or maybe a combination

of that and focusing on, like, some bitter foods, like, so I love telling people to and I'll tell you kind of what it does. But, you know, I love, you know, citrus zest, like on a salad or in a salad dressing. That's a great flower. I put it in smoothies all the time, yeah, and a great better, you know,

they're, you know, your radicchio and arugula and those bitter greens, the bitters will talk to the receptors. And you have receptors, bitter receptors all through your digestive tract, you know, starting in the mouth, but all the way through that tells your body to start stimulating and secreting those

digestive juices. And I like that. I like bitters better than digestive enzymes, because we want to support your body and doing its thing on its own right. More than just replacing digestive enzymes can be helpful to have, like, if you're going out to eat, it's specifically large, you know, a larger meal,

a different meal, or you're traveling, like, maybe you do it for that reason.

But for women over 40, we produce less enzymes as we age. So supplementation can be

approved, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I do think so as well. I think in it doesn't have to be either or, you know, you could use,

Oh, I like the both end approach, yeah.

And also, also, honestly, like digestive bitters. There's some delicious ones, you know, out there where you can, they're very easy to make yourself, but you can just,

I love, we may have to have some recipes from you.

I love the Knowledge Center, the knowledge well. And I love the name full well when we're thinking about putting things into our well and keeping our well nourished and full of the things that we need, and not over full, you know. So I do, like so many of the wonderful articles on the

website, that it's, it really is a wonderful place to go, not just to get transparent supplements that are high quality and well thought through, but really great information about, you know, how to manage your health at various stages of life. So I want to get a little bit deeper into this

idea of really paying attention to our reproductive health and and and at every phase of life. So tell me a little bit about what you recommend post menopause, which is always a weird term to me, like, what does that even mean? What does that mean? What age is that, you know, how? How far after I'm

technically in menopause? Am I post menopause?

I know, right? Yeah. And, I mean, of course, like, you know, perimenopause could be these transitional years that happen for, you know, some people don't notice as much. Other people notice more, right, like, you know, and they can, it can be 10 years. It can be variable. I do think that

people are kind of thinking they're in perimenopause these days, like a little bit sooner than they actually are, when there might be something else going on with their reproductive system. It's not necessarily a decline. Or, you know, in, you know, ovulation and a decline in reproductive hormones due to

perimenopause, it's, it may be another factor. Usually it's like under eating or stress. But, yeah, I think, you know, once you get into these years, you know, one thing that becomes a little bit a little less important, maybe iron, I would say it's still important, but you don't need quite as much,

you know, because you aren't menstruating, and that is how women do lose a good amount of iron, you know, regularly. I still would pay attention to it. I still would pay attention to like, thyroid health and definitely vitamin D. You want to really focus on minerals. And you know, calcium, magnesium.

You know, calcium is an interesting one, right? Because we do want to make sure it's getting shuttled to the right place. And this gets into a whole nother topic about heart health and vessel health, that kind

of thing. This is the theme. When you're taking calcium in a multi then you've got a calcium supplement, then you've got a calcium rich diet. When you're taking in more calcium and not enough magnesium, calcium starts depositing in places it does not belong.

Yeah, yeah. So I do love to see that in like, kind of a one to one ratio, you know, which is not always easy to, like, determine in your diet. If you're someone that you don't think it's going to make you hyper fixated and and stressed out, you might put a day or two, a typical day or

two, into something like chronometer, and just kind of get, like a chronometer is like a free online tool you can get a sense of your micronutrients. Yeah, that might not be a bad idea, but I think if you're supplementing, I would definitely try to make sure that calcium magnesium is in about a

one to one ratio. And then you know cardiovascular health, as estrogen declines naturally. You know, bone health, as I mentioned, becomes more important. Cardiovascular health becomes, you know, more of a risk factor, right? And so that's a focus area, too. And one of the things that our

hormones love, and generally, I think our body loves at this stage of life is just physical movement. Like, get, this was really all stage life. I like, get, you know, fresh, oxygenated, nutrient, rich blood circulating through the body. I like that visual in my mind. That's what I'm thinking. Like

I'm moving around and I'm like, this, is this? All this circulation is bringing what I need from my brain to my reproductive organs, right? Like it's the signaling is happening too. And, you know that's really important. We want things like, I love recommending things like beets and, you know the nitric

oxide, like producing the

blood, don't they? Oh, yeah. And love on our liver and so many other things. They're just so wonderful. We're eating enough purple foods.

I think that's true. I think that's true. Yeah, I know Deanna Minnick is is fantastic with her rainbow diet, like recommendations and things. That's funny, but, you know, there's a lot of evidence behind it, and it's a really nice, like, not really a mnemonic, but a way to think about it. But

just a lot, just colors. Just focus on color. There's really, there's no point in focusing on which vegetable, fruit, etc, is better than the other. They're all good, just a variety of them.

Yeah, absolutely. So would you ever consider moving into if we talk about women's health in general, and you know, so many of the top menopause practitioners are recommending that we apply vaginal estrogen or vaginal DHEA like we do face cream. You know that you would ever move into or

that sort of goes outside the purview of a nutrition focused business.

Well, it's interesting. I mean, I think in terms of actually being someone to prescribe it and and everything, no, I don't know, a dietitian would never do right, but integrated into my model. But I do think that depending on the format, when, when someone is on hormone replacement

therapy, I do want to make sure that they are detoxifying properly. You know that they are processing everything through the liver and through the gut properly, so digestive health and liver health become, I mean, they're always important, but maybe even more so, right? Because you know that estrogen

metabolism is really, really fascinating and has so many points of where nutrition plays a role. So again, in the liver, as we talked about earlier, there's your liver needs a lot of nutrients and antioxidants to really produce or be able to efficiently bring compounds through, including estrogen,

that phase one to phase two to then phase three. You know, metabolism, where it's being brought down. It's like neatly packaged up by the liver and brought down through the bile to the gut, and then your gut. That's where the concept of, like the ester bile. Biome, you know, below, you know, comes in,

which is this, the diversity and kind of makeup of your microbiota in your gut, as well as your fiber intake and your regularity with stools. You know, that plays a big factor into whether or not you're able to then properly excrete the the excess estrogen, versus having it kind of like reabsorbed so,

so those two things also are quite important. And so I think, you know, foundationally, it's like getting in the nutrients you need. Yes, we can have a really well intentioned diet, but, but really doing that, that check, like, am I? Am I pooping regularly? You know, and over

70% of women are not, not.

Yes, it's, I mean, yeah, in any given time, if you said you asked that question in a room, it's like, the majority of people are like, that could be better, yeah. And so I think, you know, really, that's another great place to work with practitioner to make tweaks and find things that will help you

regular, regulate that and closely related, because I just want to make sure to make this point is how important their circadian rhythm is to our hormone balance throughout our life. It's we are one with nature, you know. And it really, it really influences that regularity with the digestion.

It influences hormone production and secretion, insulin sensitivity, sleep quality, all everything's connected, right? And so that's, that's also another foundational thing that I, wish more people would focus on is light exposure in the morning, getting outside, trying to have somewhat consistent

sleep and wake times, and even as consistent as you can I mean, I noticed the difference when I don't, but consistent meal times. You know that the body loves boring and predictable? It really does.

Yeah, sleep hygiene and and meal times, they are. It's a game changer. Getting into a regular routine. People think it's rigid, it's boring. There's not enough flexibility or spontaneity. Oh, it's an absolutely yeah game changer. Yeah, before, yeah. I really appreciate pointing.

Yeah. I was just gonna say before you shell up money for like, a stool test or anything more complicated. Get the basics. Give yourself a couple months of just focusing on the basics first, because it's just amazing how that the windshield wiper effect that has

the windshield wiper. I love that visual. I really appreciate you pointing out the important connection between digestive health and reproductive health, and recognizing that all of the plumbing down there is all connected. So if we are not moving our bowels, then it's

going to cause pelvic floor issues, if there's pelvic floor issues and cause digestive issues, if there's things going I mean, it's just all connected down there. So we just need to be looking at this in a holistic way when you talk about supplements, and because, because the point you make is a

salient one, that even with the best of intentions, life just gets busy and we don't meet our nutrient needs every day or every week. And so supplementation is very is a really prudent approach. But as you pointed out before, it is the wild wild west out there, and there are so many supplement

formulations that I would consider to be alarming. So what do we need to look out for when we're looking at supplements in general? You know? Because I know you've got some very strong views about the you know about this and you want to you're playing a role in cleaning up the system, so to speak. What do

we need to be looking for or looking out for?

Yeah, I mean, one of the things that concerns me the most is really goes beyond the label. I mean, there are some things that I'll give tip wise around the label, but to look for. But unfortunately, this piece is not as easy, and that's the quality piece. And I worry, because there are a lot

of brands that, frankly, just don't seem to know what they're doing. And this is not this, not everybody. But you know, I was just recently at a conference, and very prestigious conference. I was in the expo hall. I was talking to some different, you know, supplement brands, and it was alarming, the number of

brands that said they were third party tested. But actually, when I probed, they weren't, they had no idea what that actually meant. And it wasn't, I mean, we're talking the founder, CEO, and there was, you know, in this case, it was a kid supplement line, but, but, and a pediatrician was there, and, you

know, they, they're like, Yeah, we're third party tested. And when I asked, they just got a certificate of analysis from their manufacturer. That's not third party tested. So, you know, I think, really. Trying. I don't expect anybody to become an expert. You know, in in this it's, it's taken me years to get

fully behind the curtain myself, but I think, you know, asking brands some hard questions and seeing how they respond, you know about and how transparent they are, is a good step, and not looking to third party badges as a proof, because you would be shocked by how little some of these third party badges

and certification programs actually require. It's absolutely not sufficient, in my mind. So I think the degree to which a brand is transparent and forthcoming and knowledgeable about their quality control program that that that can tell you a lot. I would, I would say, you know, also looking at the

label, one little trick that I think it most people don't know, but this tells you more about like, if you know, for example, that you've been told that you could benefit from 300 milligrams of magnesium, or 300 milligrams of magnesium, bis glossinate. Maybe even specifically, you look at a

label, and you want to make sure that it says magnesium, and then in parentheses as magnesium, in the form that it is like magnesium bis glossinate, 300 milligrams. That means that there's 300 milligrams of magnesium, and not just 300 milligrams of that compound. And that matters, because if on the

label, and I see a lot of supplement labels like this, because they're kind of trying to be sneaky about it, it's, and I know, because it's like a one a day, and they say they have 300 milligrams of magnesium biscuits. And I'm like, that's not possible. So it's, it's, you know, what they say is magnesium

biscuit, 300 milligrams. So what they have is the compound. It's actually just a very small fry about, you know, 15% of that is magnesium. So, you know, it's just a little trick to kind of see how much are you actually getting, because a lot of labels will be tricky, like that. I'd also be wary of proprietary

blends, because, almost invariably, that it means that they're probably prioritizing the cheaper ingredients, less and maybe not even therapeutic doses of the others. And I kind of call that pixie dusting, very common, where things show up on the label. They, they, they put just enough in there so that you

know, you could say, oh, yeah, this contains this. But if it doesn't have enough in it to do the thing, it's kind of useless. You know, it's, it's, for example, I see a prenatal brand that includes like, veggie mix right in there, and it's like 100 milligrams of this veggie mix, and there's like 45

different veggies. We're talking like a speck of a blueberry, right?

But, but, but you bring up the point of more is more this, everything but the kitchen sink approach. And we've, they've got, our competitor has 35 we've got 45 or this person's got, I mean, it this, and also too, too much just irritates, disrupts and overwhelms the body, I think so

it can.

And I also think that, you know, there's a lot of smoke and mirrors, like with great marketing, where they're trying to get you to look at one thing, but over here is what's important. You know, another good example is a is a brand that that really says and has built their their brand on

transparency around their supply chain, but they have a fancy map on their site, and what they're showing for they're trying to show you where each ingredient comes from, and they're showing the final US distributor. That ingredient doesn't come from the US. Some things just can't even be produced in the US. It's the

final distributor. Like, that's just straight up, you know, unethical, in my opinion. So I think, you know, there's transparent, and then there's making sure that it's actually about the thing that matters, you know.

So as a consumer, you know, we can do our own research, not being as knowledgeable about this as you are, and ask questions. Go on the FAQs, you know, reach out to the company. They're going to tell you what they want you to know. I mean, there's only so much research we can do as a lay

person. So it brings us to this very important key point of assembling a medical team that you trust, who's up with the latest science, who isn't just writing scripts. And you know, as soon as I see pads from different companies in someone's office, I'm like, Nope, I don't want to see that practitioner.

You know, there's all these junkets for doctors and practitioners, and they're basically paid to recommend certain products, but when it's a nutrition supplement, specifically, as a general rule, dietitians really have to know, and have to be up with which supplements are delivering these

nutrients and which foods and putting these different things together. So being a dietitian led supplement company for women's health really, really matters in this regard, because you also have fantastic. Recommendations for different kinds of practitioners for women's health on your site as

well that can inform and help you develop a really holistic, integrative approach to your health.

Yeah, exactly. And I, you know, I want to be fair too. It's like our doctors are we're asking too much of them. You know, if you go into a PCP office and you're expecting them to be up to date on all, all things nutrition and supplements, I mean, you're, you're gonna leave disappointed,

you know, I had,

but they get half a day or a day of nutrition training.

And now, I know there's, there's, you know, new regulations requiring, or, I think, I think, I don't know if it's actually passed, but they want, you know, doctors to have 40, the equivalent of 40 hours, you know, for, I mean, the

hours that I have had, yeah, that's four days. Then, okay.

I mean, for me, what I'm hoping is that training will lead them to feel more sure that they should refer out, you know, and that's that would be the ideal outcome. Because, you know, I, I had someone, it was a client who said, Oh, you know, my, my OB just said, you know, this prenatal is, is fine, like, 2000

2000 I use the vitamin D, should be fine for you. And she was pregnant, and I'm like that, you know, a very quick search would show you that that's not, that's not at all matching the evidence, but, but again, I don't blame, I don't blame the doctors. This is not, they cannot be doing all the things

in especially the time they have. And so, yeah, I think working with a practitioner, a lot of dietitians are covered by insurance too. If that's a concern, you know, or have reasonable different options. We actually on the full well site, and thank you for mentioning it. We worked really hard, and I

invested quite a bit into building out this custom built directory so that you can go in, because half the time it's just difficult to find someone you know that is credentialed in your area or anywhere, right? And so you can search by, do they take virtual or just in person insurance or not? What is

the specialty type of practitioner? So we beyond nutrition practitioners, we've got acupuncturists and all different chiropractors, all sorts of different doulas, yeah. And so the goal is, and I believe, you know, we've got, we've got hundreds of practitioners in there now, and

that's building every day. How do you vet them? Yeah, so we personally go through we have an application, and it requires each practitioner to submit their license and credentials and proof of that, and we take that really seriously, like nobody slips by without doing that. And so while I don't have

a personal relationship with every single practitioner in that directory, many of them I do know, and have done various trainings that that I know of, but we we do make sure that they are licensed, that their license and registration is current. We even go back in to people that are already in the directory and

keep track and have them send updated credentials once things expire. So at that that feels like, at least at that point, you know that you've got people that are that are credentialed and licensed, and then you can kind of vet further for the right fit for you. Yeah.

Oh, I just cannot wait to see how what you put into the well next at full well, because it is such a beautiful, deep, rich resource already on many levels. So it's a really exciting time. I have to ask you about PCOS before we before we wrap up, because we have several women in every cycle of skinny

60 that present with this, and I know they're going to go, you didn't ask her about that test. Come on.

Yeah, well, you know, PCOS is the number one endocrine disorder worldwide, so a lot of women are dealing with it. It is, it is, it's complex, but there's, there's so much that can be done, you know, to support from a diet and lifestyle perspective. It's, it's, I've seen so many women

over the years of PCOS, and I know how frustrating it can be, and also how different symptoms can present. You know, it's there. We're due for a revisement. I think of how PCOS is diagnosed, how it's treated, how it's like, broken up into different the different phenotypes. But that all aside,

you know it is not your fault, if you know what works for weight health for most people does not work for you, because metabolically, it's a lot more difficult. You know, with PCOS, it's not impossible, but it does come down to really focusing on that metabolic health side of things, and you know, blood

sugar regulation and insulin sensitivity, most the studies show, and also my experience as a practitioner shows them, almost all women with PCOS have got something going on with their digestive their micro their gastrointestinal microbiome. Biome, there's usually something there that can

profoundly impact, if it's resolved and kind of rebalanced, you know, it can profoundly impact metabolic response, and then, in turn, I mean, that's really the way in for reproductive health and cycle. Regularity with PCOS is normalizing the blood sugar and insulin response. We have

insulin receptors on our ovaries and throughout our body, and so that that's what's going on. It's like interrupted signaling, essentially to the cascade of hormones due to that. But again, when it comes to anything hormonally related and driven, whether it's the metabolic and reproductive side of things. For

PCOS, extremes are not your friend. You know, this is not the time to go on keto and intermittent fasting. And you know, intermittent fasting is interesting. There's some, you know, some cases for it, right? And a way to do it, although I would say for for women, especially, it's more ending

your eating window earlier at night, not extending it in the morning. I'm not sure how you feel about that, but that's what I've seen. Yes, yeah.

Look, there's so many different forms of intermittent fasting, you know, varying definitions, and it's just a strategy. Yeah, it's not the be all and end all. But because it had its moment, and it trended for, you know, the last several years, you know, everybody thinks, Oh, my God,

that's the answer to everything. Everybody's looking for the magic bullet that's going to fix everything, and it doesn't exist, and that it's a customized, holistic approach to health, in consultation with practitioners who get to know you and your whole story. And you've been constellating around

that point our entire conversation, right? Which is why what you do as a dietitian and then also as a business owner with full well is so needed, so thrilling. I'm so excited to see what happens next. I could talk to you about this all day long. I always close every conversation with

the same question, and I'll ask it of you within the context of what we've been talking about for someone that has a dream in their heart of being at optimal health at any phase of life, but doesn't feel like they have what it takes to make it happen, what would you say?

Yes, as a constant, as someone who's in constant battle with the perfectionist side of myself. Oh, you too. You know the thing that has led me to the most success, and I think, has actually supported me in all aspects of my life, personally and including health choices,

which because, you know, knowing all the things doesn't always translate right to doing them. It's not to wait until things are perfectly aligned. You know, every single thing is lined up to do it. You know, it doesn't need to be perfect for it to have a positive impact. You don't need to do all 25 things

just right and have the day just you know, for it to have an impact, you know, just the next step in front of you, even if it's imperfect, I think is, is the best way to approach it, and that keeps me, personally moving forward, despite the stars not aligning perfectly. And usually that works out. There's lessons

in it, there's learnings there's like we you adapt, you tweak things. It's you always learn best by doing. I think,

yes, thank you for this beautiful conversation and for the way that you show up in the world, and for full Well,

thank you so much for having me. I.