I Don't Want Kids Yet — But When Is It Time To Worry About My Fertility?
Twice a month, Yahoo Health’s Hormone Whisperer Alisa Vitti, HHC, is answering the most common questions about hormones and how they relate to weight, sex, acne, bad moods, low energy, and everything in between. Read her introductory column to learn more about Alisa’s approach to stopping hormonal chaos and getting into hormonal flow.
THE QUESTION: Should I worry about my fertility when there’s always IVF and egg freezing?
ALISA’S ANSWER: When I’m talking with women about their fertility, one of the most common questions I get is: “I’m not ready to get pregnant now, but how do I know I’ll be able to in the future?”
This was my personal question as well. I hadn’t met the man I wanted to start a family with until my early 30s, and we weren’t ready to start that family until recently. So I was very invested in making sure I could get pregnant when and how I wanted to. If you’re not ready to become a mother now, but know that you want to or at least want the option to in the future, then yes, you absolutely need to be worrying about your fertility now. In today’s hormone-disruptive environment, we have more working against our fertility than ever before. The success rates of assisted reproductive technologies like IVF and egg freezing are, unfortunately, not high enough to be a 100 percent reliable plan B, particularly if you have challenged fertility.
So if you’re delaying motherhood — like I did, until only recently — I realize that this is not all good news. But I did something that I want you to do, too: I paid close attention to maintaining a good overall hormonal balance throughout my 20s and 30s, so that when I was ready to become a mother, my body was ready to perform this extraordinary task. If you, like so many other women, spend this same time brushing aside hormonal symptoms that might seem insignificant and even unrelated, you might be ignoring information your body is trying to tell you about your fertility now, and for the future. I want you to be able to evaluate these symptoms, understand how they could affect you down the road, and take action with your diet to improve what I like to call your Fertile FLO. Above all, you should definitely not wait to address these symptoms/issues until you actually want to get pregnant (when you’ll be feeling stressed and pressed for time).
Related: 5 Step Fertility-Boosting Plan
The FLO Science
For many women wanting to get pregnant, IVF can seem like the go-to option if all else fails — an option that will bring that much-wanted baby even when nothing else has worked. Perhaps this is because we hear of so many celebrities getting pregnant via IVF or read those attention-grabbing headlines about 60-year-olds who give birth to triplets through IVF. It seems like a pretty great plan B. The reality, however, is very different.
For the majority of women who choose IVF, the per-cycle success rate is only 20 to 35 percent —- that’s a 65 to 80 percent failure rate. To do several rounds of IVF treatment is not only expensive, but it also can result in diminished egg reserve, ovarian hyperstimulation, and other hormonal-related risks. Egg freezing technology is still quite experimental and the success rate is, at best, 15 percent, with huge costs to store eggs annually. This makes it a difficult option for young women to bank on.
Related: The Secret to Improving IVF Your Doctor Isn’t Telling You
I’ve worked with women who had the most discouraging fertility test results, and helped them with their fertility — and ultimately have a bouncing baby (without IVF!). This is what I know: The secret to improving your fertility is the same for improving outcomes of IVF. It’s about what you eat!
(You can check out some of my previous articles on the best fertility-boosting foods and my secret to getting pregnant that has nothing to do with your diet.)
The FLO Fix
Your body has a myriad of ways it’s communicating with you about how fertile you are or how compromised your fertility might be. There are four systems that will tell you so much if you know what to look for. They include your cycle, your skin and bowels, your vaginal microbiome, and your adrenals. How each of these are performing today can be a key predictor of how your future fertility might play out.
Observe your FLO: Observing the menstrual phase of your cycle is key to understanding how prepared your progesterone levels are to sustain a pregnancy through the critical first weeks. Look at the color, texture and number of days of your period. Observe how severe your PMS symptoms are. This is a fantastic way for you to assess each month how optimal your estrogen and progesterone levels are for conceiving and maintaining a pregnancy successfully. Click here for my guide to interpreting your period.
Skin and poop check: Examine yourself for potential fertility obstacles beyond your cycle. I’m talking about ensuring optimal bowel movement health, which is vital to absorbing key nutrients like vitamin D3 and omega-3 fatty acids (necessary in stabilizing hormones). Your skin health will show you how well your liver is doing, and optimal liver health is necessary in order for you to have the ideal hormone balance needed for baby-making. Inflammation is well-established as an obstacle to successful conception. If you have any symptoms of inflammation — from skin conditions, to irritable bowel syndrome, to chronic illness and sleeplessness — you need to improve your internal ecosystem so that your ovaries get the green light for pregnancy. Read more about your gut microbiome here.
TLC for your vag: Chronic bacterial overgrowth and sexually transmitted infections are linked to decreased fertility rates. Address chronic BV (bacterial vaginosis), urinary tract infections,, and yeast infections by following my handy guide to natural remedies. Then get checked for common STIs like HPV and chlamydia that can create a less-than-optimal environment for an embryo. Both are highly treatable, so don’t fret if you find something.
Adrenal issues: Experiencing insomnia, anxiety, stress, low energy, and sugar addiction are all signs that your adrenal glands are suffering. This isn’t something that just makes you feel lousy. It also indicates a high cortisol and low dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) ratio, and this diminishes egg quality and compromises ovulation regularity — both essential factors in your fertility.
What you eat affects how fertile you are, now and in the long-term. (You can download my free guide here on the foods you should avoid if you’re trying to get — and stay — pregnant.) So, yes, you should be worried about your fertility, you shouldn’t bank on assisted reproductive technologies, and you should absolutely address any hormonal issues as early as possible to get your internal ecosystem optimized — so you can become a mother when and how you want to.
Good things come in threes: I want to hear from you in the comments!
First, are you concerned about your fertility? What suggestions are you going to try?
Second, what are your top health questions for me, your trusty Hormone Whisperer? Your question could be featured in my column!
Third, everyone you know is hormonal: Spread a little good ovary karma and share this article with your friends on social media, and be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter,Pinterest, and Instagram.
Need more fertility support? If you’re ready to get to the root of your issues, it’s time you started dealing with your hormones. Get out of symptom chaos so you can get back into hormonal FLO. Click here to download my free guide on the 5 Health Foods to Avoid to Get and Stay Pregnant.
ABOUT ALISA: Alisa Vitti, HHC, is an integrative nutritionist, best-selling author of WomanCode, creator of the WomanCode System, and the founder of FLOLiving.com, a virtual health center that supports women’s hormonal and reproductive health. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Alisa has been featured on The Dr. Oz Show, has a web series on Lifetime, and has been a regular contributor for CBS, Fox, Shape, Women’s Health, MindBodyGreen, and the Huffington Post. She’s also presented at TEDx, Talks@Google, Summit Series Outside, Hay House, WIE Symposium, and SHE Summit.
