Fertility & Nutrition: What to Actually Eat, What Supplements Are Worth It, and What's Pure Marketing Hype

Fertility & Nutrition: What to Actually Eat, What Supplements Are Worth It, and What's Pure Marketing Hype

If you've ever Googled "what should I eat to get pregnant," this episode is for you. We're sitting down with Jillian Beck Rogers, a fertility nutrition and wellness coach who brings both lived experience and science-backed strategy to her work with women navigating the fertility journey. Jillian has her own story with unexplained infertility, and it's exactly what led her to niche into preconception nutrition and build her signature program, Fueling Your Fertility. Here's what we get into: * Why the nutrition guidance most women receive at their fertility clinic falls embarrassingly short * The real reason so many women are under-eating and why that's working against their fertility * What the Mediterranean and anti-inflammatory diets actually mean and how to apply them realistically * Why fat is not the enemy (and why full fat dairy might actually be your friend) * The truth about pineapple core, seed cycling, and other trends you've probably seen all over your feed * How to balance blood sugar without giving up dessert * What to actually look for in a prenatal vitamin and why price doesn't equal quality * The connection between gut health, inflammation, and your emotional wellbeing during treatment The internet is full of people trying to sell you something. Jillian cuts through the noise and gives you the kind of honest, practical guidance most women never get from a pamphlet in a waiting room. If you're in the thick of your fertility journey and wondering what else you can do, this one's for you. Follow Jillian on Instagram at @jillianbeckrogers_health and visit her at www.JillianHealthAndWellness.com to learn more about working with her.

Moving Your Body (Safely): Through IVF, Egg Freezing, and Beyond

You've probably been told to rest during your IVF cycle. Maybe even to stop exercising completely. But what if that advice is more outdated than helpful? This week we're sitting down with Julia Neto, a pre and postnatal fitness specialist and founder of Her Move Wellness, who has spent years working alongside REIs, acupuncturists, and nutritionists to bridge the gap between fertility treatment and movement. Julia created the only free, REI-approved workout program designed specifically for the IVF stimulation phase, and in this episode she's breaking down everything you actually need to know about exercising during your cycle. * Why the "just stop exercising" recommendation may be doing more harm than good * How Julia structured her program around the different phases of stimulation and retrieval * The real reason ovarian torsion is a concern and what movements are actually safe * Exercise during the two week wait and after your frozen embryo transfer * The guilt and control spiral that so many IVF patients experience and how to navigate it * Julia's own egg freezing journey, including what surprised her most * Why "just freeze your eggs" is not as simple as it sounds * The case for routine fertility testing long before you're ready to try Whether you're in the middle of a cycle, thinking about fertility preservation, or just trying to understand your options, this one is for you. Website: ⁠www.hermovewellness.com [http://www.hermovewellness.com] Email: julia@hermovewellness.com [julia@hermovewellness.com] Instagram: @her_move_ [https://www.instagram.com/her_move_/]

The Unseen Weight: Burnout, Belonging, and Who's Taking Care of Your Care Team

Nobody talks about what it costs to be the person on the other side of the exam room. Kate Ryan walked into the fertility world as a patient. She went through failed IUIs, pregnancy loss, and a long road that eventually led her to donor egg IVF and the son she has today. But what she found along the way was bigger than her own story. She saw patients losing themselves in the process, providers running on empty, and a massive gap between the clinical experience and the human one. So she built something to fill it. In this episode, Kate shares her full fertility journey and the moment she realized the system was missing something for everyone inside it. We get honest about provider burnout in fertility care, what it actually looks like from inside the clinic, and why the people taking care of you deserve to be taken care of too. Kate also introduces The Provider Sanctuary, launching this June, and explains why a community built for providers is something patients should care about just as much. In this episode we cover: * Kate's personal IVF journey, including pregnancy loss and the path to donor egg IVF * What it feels like to lose yourself in the control spiral of fertility treatment * The emotional weight fertility nurses and providers carry that rarely gets acknowledged * Why fertility nursing is one of the highest turnover nursing specialties in the country * What The Provider Sanctuary is, who it is for, and why it exists * How supporting providers ultimately creates a better experience for patients * Why resources and community support should be offered from day one, not just at the end Caring for the caregiver is not a luxury. It is how we make the whole system better, for patients, for providers, and for every family being built inside it. If you are in the middle of fertility treatment and have ever felt like a number, if you are a nurse or provider running on fumes and wondering if anyone sees you, or if you have ever wanted to understand what is really happening on both sides of that exam room, this episode is for you. Website: www.storyofus.love [www.storyofus.love] Sanctuary info: https://sanctuary.storyofus.love/ [https://sanctuary.storyofus.love/] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestoryofkateryan/ [https://www.instagram.com/thestoryofkateryan/]    Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@storyofus.love?lang=en [https://www.tiktok.com/@storyofus.love?lang=en]  Threads: https://www.threads.com/@thestoryofkateryan [https://www.threads.com/@thestoryofkateryan]

One Woman's Mission: Inside the Jewish Fertility Foundation

What would you do if you found out the treatment you needed to build your family could cost $20,000, $40,000, or even $200,000 out of pocket? For most people, that number is the end of the road. For Elana Frank, it was the beginning of something bigger. Elana is the founder and CEO of the Jewish Fertility Foundation, a nonprofit that has allocated over $3.25 million in fertility grants to more than 560 families, trained over a thousand community and healthcare leaders, and watched 377 babies come into the world as a result. But before any of that, she was a patient herself, navigating infertility in Israel, cycling through embryo after embryo, and fighting for a third child in a way that nearly cost her her marriage. In this episode, Elana pulls back the curtain on all of it. * What it was like to receive IVF for free in Israel and return to the U.S. to find almost no financial support * The conversation in a JCC baby pool that sparked the founding of JFF * A real breakdown of what fertility treatment costs, from IUI to IVF to donor eggs to surrogacy * Why fertility treatment is a medical necessity, not a luxury, and what needs to change in the insurance landscape * How JFF's grant program works, who it serves, and how to apply * The emotional toll infertility takes on relationships, and what it looks like when partners are not on the same page * What nurses and clinic staff can do right now to better connect patients with financial resources Laura and Ashlee bring their nursing perspective to this one in a big way, reflecting on what they wish they had known about financial resources when they were working in the clinic, and why proactive education from care teams can change the trajectory of a patient's journey. If you or someone you love is facing the financial and emotional weight of fertility treatment, this episode is for you. Connect with the Jewish Fertility Foundation: * Website: https://jewishfertilityfoundation.org/ * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jewishfertilityfoundation/

We Used to Do What?! Let’s Talk Past, Present & Future of Fertility Tech

You've heard your doctor's perspective. You've heard your nurse's perspective. But what about the person who is literally holding your embryos in their hands? For most patients, the IVF lab is a black box. You hand over your eggs, your sperm, and your hope, and then you wait. What happens on the other side of that door is rarely explained, rarely demystified, and rarely talked about with the kind of honesty that actually helps people feel less alone in the process. That changes today. This week, Laura and Ashlee sit down with Dr. Joe, embryologist, lab director, and member of the leadership team at CCRM Fertility, who has spent nearly 40 years in the IVF lab. From his early days in London doing egg retrievals by laparoscopy in the middle of the night, to the cutting edge of AI-assisted embryo selection, Dr. Joe takes us on a full journey through the past, present, and future of reproductive science. And he does it in a way that is equal parts educational, eye-opening, and genuinely fun to listen to. In this episode, you'll learn about: * What IVF looked like in 1988 and why it would shock you by today's standards * The invention of ICSI and why it was one of the biggest revolutions in fertility history * How embryos are graded, what the numbers and letters actually mean, and why a BB embryo is not a bad embryo * Mosaic embryos, what they are, what they mean for your transfer, and why they exist in a gray area * Why even a genetically normal euploid embryo does not always result in a pregnancy * How AI is already being used in IVF labs and why it is being underutilized (the Betty Crocker cake mix analogy will make so much sense) * Sperm selection and why Dr. Joe thinks this is one of the areas where AI can make the biggest impact * The future of fertility science, including gametes from skin cells, non-invasive genetic testing, and where the ethical lines start to blur Dr. Joe reminds us that the embryology lab is full of scientists who are rooting for you at every single step. When a transfer doesn't work, they feel it too. When an embryo doesn't fertilize the way it should, they want answers just as badly as you do. Opening that black box a little wider is exactly the kind of conversation this podcast was built for. If you've ever stared at an embryo report and had no idea what you were looking at, if you've ever wondered what actually happens to your eggs after retrieval, or if you're just fascinated by where IVF is headed next, this one is for you.