The Juna Women Podcast is a weekly discussion where Juna Founder, Sarah Kuhn, talks to Moms about their health, work, parenting, and all the different ways they’re keeping it together.
This is Episode 019, Fertility: What You Can Control, and What You Can’t with Liz Shaw.
In this episode, Sarah talks with Nutrition Expert and Author, Liz Shaw. Liz is a Registered Dietician and Mom of Hayden living in San Diego, California.
On the show, Sarah and Liz dive deep into her own 5-year experience with her infertility.
They talk about her failed IVF cycles and how she picked herself up and advocated for her own health, only to go on and have what she describes as her miracle baby.
Listen To This Episode
Show Notes
05:04 – Liz shares her path to Motherhood, which included unexplained infertility. She received an AMH test, which revealed she had plenty of viable eggs. Liz wasn’t having any issues producing eggs, but was having issues getting them out.
08:29 – Sarah and Liz talk about the effect of birth control on fertility. Liz shares her story with an eating disorder and how birth control may have affected her body’s natural cycle.
11:40 – Liz and her husband decide to try IVF to help with their fertility troubles.
16:31 – After 1 failed round of IVF Liz connects the importance of nutrition and begins to share her knowledge around nutrition with others.
19:54 – A deeper dive into nutrition and the things you can eat to potentially help you with fertility, including limited animal proteins and
Beans, lentils, soy, edamame. Very conducive to your fertility. Tofu scramble. Hummus. More produce. Healthy fats like walnuts. Look at foods as a wholesome group. Lentil walnut tacos.
22:08 – The importance of instilling healthy lifestyle habits before trying to get pregnant. The foods you are eating are playing a role during the embryo period.
23:39 – The food we eat during pregnancy affects our children’s tastebuds. See this study on pre and postnatal flavor learning.
29:35 – Liz does some ovulation testing to find out if her cycle is normal and discovers she is ovulating, but not bleeding.
31:35 – After failed rounds of IVF Liz found out they got pregnant naturally.
32:34 – She created the stress free IVF nutrition guide which
33:30 – The fertility foods cookbook. A recipe and information book for couples who may want to try and get pregnant.
35:50 – IVF Nutrition Guide – created by Liz to help women manage their nutrition while going through IVF.
37:30 – Best practices for IVF success. The mediterranean diet is huge for IVF success rates. Co-enzyme Q-10 can also help.
40:46 – What you can do with stress associated with IVF.
42:04 – Things you can do post-egg retrieval if you’re going through IVF.
43:07 – Exercising and IVF.
45:43 – Liz recommends The Infertility Podcast. for couples struggling with infertility.
You can find Liz’s books below: (Use code “Juna” for 10% off)
Where to purchase: https://shawsimpleswaps.com/product/stress-free-ivf-nutrition-guide/
About Liz Shaw
Liz is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and lover of good, simple food and anything outdoors! She loves everything and anything about nutrition, health and wellness.
Liz lives in San Diego & spends most of her downtime outdoors, hiking, exploring and beachin’ it on the shores of the Pacific.
On most days you’ll find her in bed by 9pm on a late night.
She also runs Bumps to Baby, a community of support for women struggling to pregnant.
Connect with Liz by email and @shawsimpleswaps on Twitter and Instagram or Simple Swaps on Pinterest and Facebook.
Please subscribe to the Juna Women Podcast wherever you listen to Podcasts.
If you have feedback or know someone who would be a great guest on the show, please reach to Sarah@juna.co.
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