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#13 It Takes Two To Tango
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The Bean Talk - Episode 13: It Takes Two To Tango
In this episode, Riannon and Jeremy discuss an often-overlooked aspect of fertility—male sperm health—and why conception truly takes two. They explore how sperm quality impacts not just conception but the health of the baby and future generations.
Learn about key factors influencing male fertility, from nutrition and lifestyle to environmental toxins, and discover actionable steps for improving sperm health. From nutrient recommendations to practical tips on reducing toxin exposure, this episode is packed with insights to support couples on their fertility journey.
Whether you're actively trying to conceive or simply curious about the science behind fertility, this episode provides an empowering look at how both partners play a vital role in creating healthy families.
Connect with us on Instagram at @mungbean_health, or visit mungbeanhealth.com for personalised fertility support.
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Transcript
Introduction and New Beginnings
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to The Bean Talk with me, Rhiannon, your fertility fairy godmother, joined by my trusted partner in life and in the mission of Mung Bean Health,
00:00:23
Speaker
Hello and welcome to The Bean Talk with Rhiannon and Jeremy. We are back, baby. For a new episode. We love it. We absolutely love it. We have had a great week, actually. Lots of things happening. We have, I guess we can talk about a little win, like a little bean, little win that we've had this week.
00:00:47
Speaker
You go first. Yeah, so we've got some new employees for the warehouse, which is great. That is amazing. More hands, more help. Yes, more help because your girl and boy be in there just working hard, slaving our butts off. So it's really nice to have an extra set of hands that aren't baby hands that are needing us. It's really good. We've got our beautiful Amy and Debbie that are smashing up in there. So obviously we still go in.
00:01:14
Speaker
but it's just nice that if we have to do something like this or a meeting or anything, we can actually do that. A bit more time on our hands. We're not really done yet. So I know, just spread out a little bit. And that's probably a big win though. I'd say that's a big bean. Big bean? It's pretty bloody good. Yeah. You asked me.
Health Routines and Personal Wins
00:01:32
Speaker
Okay. My little bean, my little win of this week would be that every single morning I've had my celery or green juice. Right. That's pretty good. Which is fabulous. I love having a juice in the morning,
00:01:43
Speaker
I've been getting up, doing my oil pulling, then I've been having my juice. So I'll go through phases of like lemon water, oil pulling, the green juices or whatever. I like to mix it up a bit, but at the moment I'm on either celery or mixed juice, yeah which is fab. Good little win. I feel like I've been drinking more water. Love. How much would you say a day? I don't know, probably a liter. Still, it's good for Jeremy. Yes, baby steps. Yes, that's so good.
00:02:10
Speaker
But yeah, I think big win, feet that would definitely be the warehouse for
Awareness and Support for Pregnancy Loss
00:02:14
Speaker
both of us. But on my side, I was part of this beautiful campaign, which is all about loss. And it's all about just remembering our beautiful babies and holding space for the moms that have lost and the dads that have lost as well.
00:02:29
Speaker
It is going to go live because this month is a pregnancy loss and stillbirth and an infant loss month of October. There's lots of little beautiful things popping up. Like it's the wave of light today, the 15th of October.
00:02:45
Speaker
which obviously when you guys listen to this, it'll be gone, but you can light a candle anyway at any time. And it's just all about lighting a candle for the lost babies and lost children. nice it is It's really nice. So I was a part of that beautiful campaign, cried the whole time. That's okay. Cause it's raw. And it's sad, but nice to be able to talk about that because I know it's still got a lot of stigma around it where people don't talk about it and The ones that suffer is really the moms and the dads that have to keep quiet and feel like they can't talk to anyone. No one asks them questions about it and all those things. So anyway, very excited for that to go live. I'll be sharing it with you all on Instagram. Nice.
Fertility Challenges and Shared Responsibility
00:03:26
Speaker
Let's make sure you're following us, mungbing underscore health. That's where we are. Anyway, I've got a question for you. Have you ever been a part of a group project in school where
00:03:38
Speaker
you experienced the frustration because one person in the group didn't do any work. They didn't contribute. They just still got all the good grades because everyone else tried really hard and did well. Yeah, did you yeah so annoying and frustrating. That's essentially a bit about this topic because we're going to talk about partners conceiving and why it's important for both parties. It's not just the woman, which traditionally it's all about the woman doing the hard work. Yeah. And it's a woman's problem essentially. It's also, and then the hubby just gets all the good grades because they just get the healthy baby. Yeah. Well done hubby. You did your job. It's like, it's a bit more than that. The women are getting like stabbed with needles. They're taking all these supplements and herbs. They're lots of them doing IVF yeah through and taking medication and
00:04:33
Speaker
you know, all that side of things, not to mention all the lead up to when you actually fall pregnant and morning sickness, a KHG. We've got pre-clamps here. We've got gestational diabetes. We've got hemorrhoids. We've got variegus veins. We've got all these, like that's just a couple. You get muscle twitches. You get cramps and pain. This is not for everyone to experience, but some people obviously do. Yeah, just a couple of little fun things that can happen. the dad show up Yeah, exactly. And they get a pat on the back. So today we're going to talk to you. Which we love them. We absolutely love them. And they play a massive role, but
00:05:10
Speaker
There's a lot more we can do. It takes two to tango. Two to tango. Doesn't it? So I feel that our entire medical system around fertility is or infertility, should I say, is being a women's issue. so And I feel like now as naturopaths and other practitioners, especially in the women's health space that are providing research around or talking about and getting more information around that. how data Yeah, more data. Exactly. They're actually doing studies on women now before a lot of the time it wasn't. yeah
00:05:47
Speaker
It's like all those things together is just creating a bit of a pathway for the next generation, which is great in women. Because it's not just us, it's also the men. So although a lot of it wasn't studied on women, but it was blamed on women, now they're doing the right part by studying women.
00:06:04
Speaker
And then they're also looking into men further and getting men to actually do more testing like sperm analysis and that sort of thing. And you forget, but the sperm plays a huge role in the whole conception part. The whole thing, not only the conception, but also the health of the baby, minimising chances of miscarriage, which when we think about a miscarriage straight away, they think everyone thinks it's a women's problem, but it could actually be from the
Critique of Medical Sensitivity in Fertility Issues
00:06:30
Speaker
sperm. Yeah.
00:06:31
Speaker
So new research is showing it's not that new, but it's coming out now. We in the fertility space and as naturopaths, it's something we always like to look into, but for getting men to actually take that first step can be hard.
00:06:44
Speaker
Yeah. So hopefully as that information gets out and good guys like you are spreading the good word about but it's not that bad. I got Jeremy when we first tried for Eevee to do a sperm analysis. How was that for you? It was all right. A little bit uncomfortable where you just get, get done. Yeah. It's just what it is. Absolutely. I remember that you have to get the sample into the clinic by an hour, I think, within an hour and it's like a 45 minute drive. So there was no mucking around.
00:07:11
Speaker
And I remember Jeremy going in with like his little baggie. Here you go. It's just a taste of what us women go through, honestly. It's not that bad. Yeah, it's not that bad. But it is funny. Like it's not funny, but it's funny to see because I guess women were so used to it paps me. It's like you go in, you literally open your legs and a woman gets a speculum in there, looks inside, scrapes it. And it's just, yep, cool. What'd you do this morning? What's your morning coffee order? And then it's like, all right. Yep. See you in a couple of years. Yeah.
00:07:39
Speaker
And for women it's so the norm, but then for men it's yeah, it's this big event. Anyway, a bit of fun. fun Anyone out there trying to conceive, definitely you got to be looking into that male fertility, but male sperm health and fertility side of things as well.
00:07:55
Speaker
One of our clients shared a story of a heartbreaking scenario, a couple sitting with their IVF specialist discussing their results. The specialist goes on to list all of the hormonal issues, the fertility concerns of the wife, and then proceeds to turn to the husband and talk about how wonderful and brilliant his sperm was. How sad and disappointing is that?
00:08:20
Speaker
also alienating the woman into feeling like it's a you problem. It shouldn't be like that. I feel like a lot of the time specialists and GPs and the way that they're trained, they just don't have any bedside manner, which is insane because they need to. Like we're all in the same health industry.
00:08:37
Speaker
and a lot of the time it's almost like they forget that you're human yeah they're just diagnosing things yeah they're like not all of them would be not all of them no there's some wonderful gps and specialists and everything i always say that there is definitely some wonderful ones out there but so many of them just lack that human touch yeah yeah like just relying information and and not doing it in a way that won't offend yes like you still want to provide that information but you're also still talking to a person and a vulnerable person at that especially around fertility so hopefully in the future there'll be more around that but this honestly happens so often and it's so concerning for couples trying to conceive because of the pressure that we put on women especially to take this burden on their own. Regardless of what your sperm results are we need to remember that it still takes two to tango it's both of you because
00:09:28
Speaker
Even if we're looking at it is the women's like health picture that needs the support and the sperm is looking fine and ready to go, the man should still be supporting the woman or the couple that they should be supporting each other in the relationship. Because even if it's just the woman that's having to go through it all, how we would still see how sad that is for her or your partner should be able to be like, okay, this is going to be hard for us no matter what, because whatever's hard for you is hard for me as well. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Could have been it together.
00:09:58
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So there's so many things a man can do, not just from supplement point of view, which is the greatest thing ever. Yes. But from just minimising toxic, toxic things. Yeah. Let's talk. it We'll go through a little bit more other things and then let's talk about that at the end so we can list it. And if you guys want to write it down or anything, we can chat about that. But essentially we're not here to shame anyone, either side, either party or either health professional. It's not what we're about.
00:10:24
Speaker
but instead open up that conversation in hopes of educating couples and allowing them to understand that it it takes both of them for the fertility journey, whatever your results look like. So a couple of little statistics for you is that over 15% of married couples worldwide experience fertility problems. And over 50% of these cases are caused by the male factor infertility.
Decline in Sperm Count and Implications
00:10:52
Speaker
over half, which is crazy. Definitely wasn't something that was spoken about before. yeah Actually the ah side topic here, but I remember watching this show and I can't remember what it's called, but it was this series I watched. It's got to be 10 years ago now. And it was set back in the 60s or 70s. And it was this couple and the husband was a scientist and he was a little bit left of field. But anyway,
00:11:18
Speaker
and him and he his wife were trying to have a baby and she kept having like recurrent pregnancy loss and miscarriages which is so sad but in the show it was so apparent that everyone was just blaming the woman because she'd be like I'm so sorry ah it's my body it's failing us and he'd be it's okay whatever it's your essentially it was her fault and anyway it ended up being a twist in the series that it was him it was the sperm health and he actually knew it was him so he was just being an a-hole he didn't want it to come out that it was him but he was putting all of that on her not great in a couple obviously and not great but I'm sure that is just the tip of the iceberg of how many times that would have happened back in the day
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah, isn't it same as one of the kings? Yeah, he executed so many of his wives because he he was the problem. And what was his name again? King Henry. King Henry the 8th or something. Don't quote us on these ones, but these are just out. Yeah, that's yeah. Yeah, he wouldn't be had him and then get a new wife and she wouldn't fall pregnant. So bad. And then I'm pretty sure syphilis took him out. Yeah, so one of them. dayss yeah Yeah, bloody imagine that you just like you can't have a baby no good kill dead gone insane.
00:12:31
Speaker
Glad we're not living in those times. yeah But yeah, crazy to think, there you go, over history however many hundreds or whatever years ago that is, it's only now that we're actually changing that story. Studies show that from 1973, so only the 70s, to 2011, sperm count has declined by 52.4% and no evidence is showing this improving at the moment. Essentially it's only getting worse. It's not good.
00:12:57
Speaker
15% of patients with male factor infertility were found to have normal semen analysis results, only 15%. That's so low. DNA-damaged spermatoza can increase the risk of genetic diseases in the offspring, so in the baby. So as we were just saying before, it's not only about the conception, it's also about maintaining a healthy pregnancy and also about the health of the child later on. And that's what we all want. We want healthy babies, not only conception, but also healthy babies and healthy children and healthy adults later on. The egg does have the capacity to repair damage, which is amazing. Us women always doing our womenly things.
00:13:36
Speaker
We allow that sperm in, we clean it up, tidy it up, make it look all nice. And that helps with repairing that DNA damage. And that's upon that fertilization process. But it puts a lot of pressure on the woman or on the egg. So we want the sperm to only need minimal, if any, DNA support or repair.
00:13:58
Speaker
So the more that the man can do before fertilization to improve his sperm health is going to support the whole journey. It makes it a lot easier. Absolutely. It's so amazing that the egg can tidy it up and clean it up and be like, yep, this one's good, ready to go. But imagine if it doesn't need to, it's okay, ready to go. Less work needed on that, more work on just growing and having a healthy baby. So pretty amazing that some of that stuff is in our control.
00:14:24
Speaker
So first up, which we're all about at Mung Bean is testing. How much testing do we do in clinic? So much testing. now yeah Every client we suggest testing, it's the only way really to truly find out what's not going on. That's it. Absolutely. It's so important to get that testing. And we always like to explain that to our clients. Standard semen analysis will test how much sperm is in the semen, which is our sperm count.
00:14:48
Speaker
the sperm activity, which is the motility and also the sperm shape, which is the morphology. Sometimes we can have sperm that is swimming around in circles. We can have double-headed sperm. We can have ones that don't have proper tails or aren't swimming or moving properly. Like they look wrong. They don't look right. So it's really important that we are ticking off sperm count. sperm motility and sperm morphology. Semen analysis is the most important test for evaluating male infertility but it does not provide information regarding all functions of sperm nor is it sufficient
00:15:24
Speaker
for predicting male fertility potential and the likelihood of success of assisted reproductive technology or IVF. So they call it now a ART. right But yeah, IVF, it's now ART, assisted reproductive technology, just FYI for anyone listening. But I always like to refer to it where I can as IVF because that's what people know it as. yeah But if sperm DNA fragmentation, which we always need to look at that DNA fragmentation, is above 30%, regardless of semen analysis likelihood, natural pregnancy is very low. So really important that we are making sure that when we are doing the sperm analysis that we're doing it properly and they're testing the right things. One, you want to be going to a good clinic.
00:16:13
Speaker
you want to be getting that sample and you want to be making sure that the sample gets there on time. So yeah, following all the cues. I don't know if you remember because it was so long ago, but do you remember, did you have to wait like a certain amount of time before, like abstinence? Oh yeah, I think they would have been more three or five days. Yeah, three days maybe. a sample Yeah, because they need a good amount of it to test.
00:16:37
Speaker
But that'll be all like written down or told to you by the GP. Considerations for how we can improve sperm health or some things, not necessarily improvement, but things that will influence would be genetics.
00:16:53
Speaker
Nutrition, which works for both, we can improve that. yeah And that also will impact our sperm health. Exposure to certain environmental factors. Pesticides, herbicides, chemicals, that sort of thing. stuff yeah yeah at home chemicals at home Home and work. like yeah Jeremy used to be a painter.
00:17:11
Speaker
So the chemicals that used to always irk me a bit, oh gosh, you're painting with those. And wasn't it one of them the lacquer or something that you'd get? Yeah, the oil-based paint. Yeah, it would make him feel, make him feel a bit funny. It was a thing between all the painters where they'd be a little bit high, essentially. Yeah, you'd get a little bit high. Yeah, close up all the house, you wanted that to be a dust-free environment. So it was all no ventilation and you're oiling every, like when you had project jobs, it was, everyone was oiling, so it was so much pain. That poor little liver. yeah yeah Not anymore, not anymore. And also microbiome. Important there, which again, that microbiome just keeps coming up how important it is. yeah Things that can increase DNA fragmentation is swelling of the scrotum, heat to the testes. That's why they always talk about things like don't get your testicles too hot. So not saunas or spas.
00:18:02
Speaker
really hot showers and things like that if you're trying to conceive because we want to make sure that we don't have DNA fragmentation increased. Age being overweight or obese so that BMI over 30 essentially. BMI is a funny one it can tell us a lot but then also with athletes and things it doesn't so just be mindful of that more of that I guess measurements for the classic obesity overweight.
00:18:27
Speaker
Especially around the midsection, that's always a telling sort of area. That's the, really that adipose tissue is that real unhealthy way. Metabolic function. So insulin resistance, poor diet, nutritional deficiencies, smoking, or also substance abuse. Those environmental toxins we were talking about, air pollution, chemicals, pesticides, heavy metal exposure as well.
Lifestyle Advice for Improving Fertility
00:18:49
Speaker
Caffeine, too much caffeine, essentially. Alcohol intake, too much alcohol. Yeah.
00:18:55
Speaker
Especially for men like the beers with the boys. Yeah, it's a big one I've had clients over the years where they love having beers with the boys and they don't It's not even from a health perspective or a social perspective It's more like they just feel like they need to so that's their one thing that they'll never give up Which is a box of beer on a Saturday which is yeah not great when you're trying to conceive and If you can change your ways for six months before and then have a healthy conception, and then you decide to have a couple of beers, that can change the trajectory of your baby's life for their whole life. So pretty important. We're talking about real life humans here. I know you can't get rid of all your vices. You still want to enjoy life, but there's many other ways than alcohol. And we're talking about reducing.
00:19:51
Speaker
And for a short amount of time, it's different for the men to the women because with the women, once we conceive, then we have to have the baby, grow the baby, birth the baby. And then hopefully if we're able to or choose to breastfeed the baby, it doesn't just stop for us after conception. It's a little bit different for the dads. Iron overload is another one, which is something to look into. As a naturopath, we're always looking at weird and wonderful things like that.
00:20:16
Speaker
I guess it's different for men that don't bleed every month like women do, so it can happen. Psychological stresses or trauma, especially PTSD, past traumas and things, certain types of medication, quite a big link there with the SSRIs and sperm health, but many different medications, so anti-depressant medications. And so yeah, just be mindful of that if you are on anti-depressant or your partner is on anti-depressant or other medication and we're struggling to conceive, that's also another area to look into. Ask your GP if you're not one of our clients, we can talk you through it. Also mobile phones and wifi exposure. Wifi's like everywhere. You honestly go into a cafe or a shopping center, it's everywhere. We can't control that, but you can control where you keep your mobile phone. yeah Which shouldn't be on your testicles. so In your pocket it like most of the day and I try and keep it out.
00:21:10
Speaker
Yeah, somewhere else, by the way. Yeah, it's hard if you're working, and you're trading, you've got your mobile in your pocket. I know. But try and keep it in your car or... Oh, at the lunchbox or toolbox or something? I saw a thing on Instagram or something on social media and it was the woman talking about how far you have to keep the mobile away from you yeah for the radiation exposure. And yeah, someone was like, I can't remember. if She kept it on the table away from you is the basics, but you want to keep it not on your skin, essentially. That's why lots of people will talk on speaker because it's not then connected to their head right there with their brain.
00:21:48
Speaker
But yeah, another thing to be mindful of, there is so much you can do though. There's some things that aren't in our control, but there is a lot that is in our control. Obviously, seeing a nutshell path is going to be front and center there because we're going to be able to walk you through all of this. We do this with all of our clients.
00:22:04
Speaker
that we're trying to conceive all the time. So it's nothing new to us. So many things we can do to give you to do at home or chores for you to do at home, but also heaps that we can do with you with nutrients and detoxing or cleansing and that sort of thing. But definitely reducing toxin exposure. So avoiding cigarette smoking and vaping. Oh, vaping's a bad one, isn't it? yeah I know it's addictive, but again, talking about a live child. Yeah. And it's, you almost got to try and change your lifestyle a bit, not, yeah. Yeah. You're trying to kind of life the next generation. You want it to be the best that it can be. Exactly. So limiting all these things are going to be so beneficial for the future. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:48
Speaker
And we all want healthy, beautiful babies. So not just about conception, but also about long-term the life of your child. So avoiding cigarette smokes and vaping might be hard, but hey, nothing good comes easy. And the sacrifice is so worth it for you babies.
00:23:03
Speaker
limiting and avoiding alcohol consumption and recreational drug use as well. There's definitely other vices out there. Alcohol reduces testosterone levels. So not only is that important for our fertility, but it's also important for how you feel. As males, you want a good amount of testosterone. It helps with their energy, your stamina, your libido, your muscle mass, like it's all about that strength and how you feel. So you're going to feel quite depleted and flat and fatigued if you don't have enough testosterone.
00:23:33
Speaker
alcohol is going to do that to you. Yeah, to depressant. Exactly. Absolutely. Yeah, people do forget they use it as an antidepressant, but it goes the other way. So not only does alcohol reduce testosterone levels, but it also decreases sperm count, increases abnormal sperm, and lowers the proportion of mobile sperm. So it ain't good for the sperm health there.
00:23:58
Speaker
Smoking damages sperm DNA and increases the chances of miscarriage unfortunately. The use of recreational drugs and some prescription drugs or medication can decrease sperm quality and increase the number of abnormal sperm and even whole sperm production. Now we're not telling you to stop your medication.
00:24:19
Speaker
We're telling you to just look at what you're taking and investigate a little bit further. That could be a question to your naturopath that we could walk you through, or it could be a question to your GP. We will never tell you to stop taking your medication. We will always refer you back to the GP who has prescribed it.
00:24:34
Speaker
like with a naturopath. If a naturopath has prescribed a certain herb for you, it's important to find out why, right? That's why we always like to give information on our treatment plan so you can see why we've given you things. But yes, definitely a big link there.
Nutritional Tips for Better Health
00:24:49
Speaker
And also be mindful of pesticides, solvents, chemicals and heavy metals and plastics and things like that. That is always a massive topic, but we're always looking for low top not notox You can't be no tox in this day and age unless you move out into a field and get rid of everything that's to do with human society. So things like removing your plastic containers and replacing them with glass. Easy. Don't heat up in plastic containers. Changing over your cutting boards to wooden cutting boards rather than plastic. Yeah, trying to just remove a lot of plastic is an easy one because plastic is everywhere.
00:25:27
Speaker
That's a good start. Yeah. And obviously washing your fruits and vegetables is really important or eating organic. Not everyone has the access to organic food. So removing pesticides and giving them a good wash and some bicarb, or I love the koala fruit and veggie wash really good, but you can use bicarb as well. Some dietary support, lots of vegetables and fruits as well. Really important for any oxidant value, all the colors.
00:25:57
Speaker
What's your favorite fruit and veggie, Jo? I like pumpkin. Yes, pumpkin. It's good in soups. You can roast it and put some salt on it. It's delicious. It is good. I've been getting around the sweet potato a little bit. I've been really enjoying that. Broccoli is a great testosterone boosting line. It's good for clearing out excess estrogen. Yeah. Yeah. And what about fruit?
00:26:17
Speaker
fruit. Apples are easy, bananas are easy, favorite. Probably blueberries, mangoes, watermelon. Yes, I've been loving. Just them three mixed together with some lime juice. Yum, so good. yeah I've been loving the dragon fruit. I've been getting a couple of dragon fruits. Evie's been loving them. So full of fiber. Yeah.
00:26:34
Speaker
Germ loves the red one. Yeah, it's a real vibrant colour, anti-oxidant score. So yeah, we've been getting around that a little bit. But lots of raw nuts and seeds. So replacing your morning tea or afternoon tea or snack with a handful of nuts and seeds, whatever you like could be Almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts, it could be seeds like pepitas, sunflowers, but whatever you enjoy. Just do that. Try and get them unroasted, unsalted, just in their plain form. Organic, if possible, is best. And just, yeah, enjoy nuts. I do enjoy the tamari almonds. They're really good smoked almonds. They're so good. Yeah, they're delicious. They are good. They're easy to get down.
00:27:13
Speaker
Also, I have been hearing a lot, we actually have been keeping ours in the fridge, but I have been hearing a lot about how important it is to keep them in the fridge because nuts, they have a lot of beautiful oils in them, but the oils can go rancid quite fast. So same as the seeds. So we have been keeping them in the fridge, but in the past we haven't.
00:27:30
Speaker
but yeah nice little tip, chuck them in the fridge if you've got room. Meats, it's all about quality, grass-fed meats, organic chicken if we can, I think trying to get organic and grass-fed and good quality meats is super important because unfortunately they use a lot of hormones and antibiotics and stuff like that in meats these days. So we want to really try and avoid that for our overall health and fertility and it tastes so much better. Yeah. God tastes so much better. Actually, if you guys on Central Coast Sydney area, there's a new, I'll share some more details with this on my Instagram, but there's a new um food box service that's being delivered called Dimples.
00:28:14
Speaker
which is so good we've just had one box so stay tuned and I'll let you know how that continues to go because I'm gonna get some more I'm gonna order some of their one tray meals um but so fresh so good and the kids love the little Dutch carrots so we got some colorful Dutch carrots which is cute they love that they're so sweet those little ones what else do we get we've got some steaks The scotch fillets which look great. Brisket. Oh we were a bit cheeky and got some pork belly but it was so yum. It was good. It's not on the food list every week but so cheeky and good. Yeah heaps of good fresh, fresh veggies. um I love the fresh veggies and being able to get them.
00:28:53
Speaker
locally. Sorry if you're further away, but yeah, stay tuned on dimples and deliver to your door. It's the best. and more convenient that Especially with kids. I know it's so nice to just be able to open the door and have the delivery there. Who's got the time to go through the shopping center and have the kids in there? Oh, it's painful. yeah Anyway, ah more to come on that. Stay tuned. Fish. No one eats enough fish. You've got to get good quality and we want to make sure it's small fishes.
00:29:20
Speaker
that are super oily that's we get that beautiful oils they're cold water fish if possible okay good fats such as olive oil coconut oil avocado oil again trying to get organic because we want to make sure it's not rancid before we're having it legumes and pulses and whole grains they're all amazing for our gut microbiome and starts, everything starts there. Lots of little nutrients. What about the animal? That's another good alternative, isn't it? Yeah. From butter and as a fat. Just the animal oil like to cook in. Yeah, absolutely. Cause you want to be careful of different seed oils. That's why olive oil is really good, but, and coconut oil is good, but you want to be careful of heating it. The coconut oil has a higher smoke point. The olive oil, yeah, it's a hard one. You don't want to heat it up too much.
Managing Stress for Fertility
00:30:06
Speaker
Good for salads. Same with the avocado oil, but yes, the animal
00:30:10
Speaker
ah Fat is really good. um There's a couple of different names for them. Anyway, really good. Yeah, animal fat, butter. Really good quality butter is good as well. You want to make sure that you're having low levels of processed foods and sugars, rubbish, in the supermarket. You want to just go around the outside. You got to avoid those middle aisles because it's all just crap.
00:30:34
Speaker
So you want to go down the side, which is usually when you're first working in fruits and veggies, down the back is usually meats and there's cheese and stuff. Yeah. And all the natural products around the edge. Exactly. So just trying to avoid those middle ones. I actually heard a thing talking about the meats and things is like, people eat a lot of meats, right? So you want to make sure you're getting good quality, not eating too much meat. We need protein. But someone was saying that they saw a study about, or someone, Kels Kuru, talking about it.
00:31:01
Speaker
If everyone could be vegetarian until 5pm, everyone would be so much healthier. And I'm like, that is so true because then you still, I'm still all for eating meat. Sorry, vegos and vegans, but it's, you know, that protein and but you see the health of vegans and vegetarians when they first come to us. And usually, not all, but usually if they're not doing it properly, yeah, their health starts to get impacted, which so many converted or reverted Meat eaters or vegetarians or vegans talk about that. But yeah, so true. Cause then you would be eating more fruits and vegetables throughout the day. And it's all about getting in that good quality stuff. But anyway, low processed and sugary foods and heaps of water. Yep. Super important. The water intake. Everyone knows more about it. Everyone knows how important it is that people struggle, but we've got the hydrometer. Jeremy gets around the hydrometer because he's not the best water drinker. Yep.
00:31:59
Speaker
And they've got their new flavors. Color and lemonade. So good. Another big one is managing stress. Stress is one of the most important factors to consider when it comes to preconception care. So if you're one of our clients, we'll be walking you through this and giving you ways or supporting you in ways that are going to support your stress journey.
00:32:19
Speaker
But there are some amazing herbs, right? We've got herbs that are called adaptogens. They're almost in everyone's herbal because everyone's stressed these days. But the adaptogens work on adapt helping you adapt to stresses, whether it's physical, mental, emotional, whatever that looks like, it is going to be super supportive of your journey and helping you to just feel like you can control things better.
00:32:43
Speaker
We've got some beautiful ones. So looking at ways that you can best manage the stress is vital as stress has a huge impact on sperm parameters, particularly motility and morphology. This is due in part to the impact of cortisol, that stress hormone.
00:32:59
Speaker
on our hormone levels, so really important that we are keeping that cortisol. At a healthy and happy level, you can incorporate some relaxation practices practices such as walking, yoga, breathing exercises, meditation, taking a bath if you've got one, reading a book, watching a movie that you enjoy,
00:33:21
Speaker
or anything else that puts a smile on your face, really. Video game playing is yeah the one that guys like to do to de-stress. Yeah, absolutely. Video games. What else from a man's point of view? Bike riding, kayaking. Yeah, cool. Fishing. Fishing. You manly sport that one. Manly love fishing, don't they? Yeah. And then improving that metabolic health, which obviously managing stress and also supporting our diet is going to help but the male's metabolic health can also play a part in the fertility outcomes. Being overweight or obese as a male can lead to lower levels of testosterone and reducing sperm concentration and motility as well as an increase in DNA damage. Inflammation associated with obesity can also damage sperm which can change the genes that are passed on from you to your child. Exercising for around 60 minutes per day is recommended. Look, it's amazing if we can do 60 minutes every day. But honestly, if you haven't started yet, going for a little walk around the block. Five, 10 minute walks yeah umve just walk. Just something. And then the next day or a couple of days after, you're going to increase it to 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes.
00:34:35
Speaker
60 minutes is ideal five times a week, but honestly, 30 minutes, three times a week for someone who doesn't exercise I'm happy with. And you'll increase from there because you'll start to feel better. So just getting up, going for a walk. If you love going to the beach, go for a little walk along the beach, or if you've got a late close by or bush or whatever you've got, just around the block even. Just around the block.
00:34:59
Speaker
don't have to complicate it, just get moving. A combination of cardio exercises and weight bearing and stretching is ideal. But if you're not starting there, that's fine. You can honestly get there.
Practical Advice for Men's Fertility
00:35:11
Speaker
Weight training is amazing for so many things, including that testosterone and our fertility journey. But honestly, even if we do a walk one day and you don't have to even get weights, get something that's heavy enough like cans of food. Yeah. Honestly. Yeah. Whatever you've got that's heavy enough. Like a,
00:35:28
Speaker
exercise ball, or if you don't have any of that, what could you use? You can use a chair and do like dips or squats or... Yeah, you can grab a chair and just lift it up over your head, go outside. Even if you have an exercise, yeah, like lifting something above your head that's heavy enough. Yeah. Like a chair. Yeah. Seriously, like a chair it would be fine. Or if you like want to exercise, but you got your kids with you, you can honestly just pick them up, put them down, pick them up. They will love that. And you'll be exercising. Yeah. That's a beautiful way to improve that metabolic health.
00:35:57
Speaker
Also a v avoiding heat stress from obviously the heat and tight fitting clothes on that fertility journey for our men. Male testicles need to be able to move freely. They want to flow in the wind to regulate a healthy temperature for sperm development. For men trying to conceive it is recommended to avoid long distance bicycle or motorbike rides as well as avoiding tight fitting underwear or clothing and stop putting your phone in your down pocket. yeah If you're in the car, put it in the middle console. If you're at home, put it on the table. If you're at work, keep it in your lunchbox or on your desk or in your toolbox, whatever it looks like, just don't have it in your pocket. okay There is a number of different supplements as Jeremy touched on before. There are so many beautiful supplements to support sperm health. One of Jeremy's favorite, which he always brings up, Zinc. Sorry about that. We got a little visitor, little Romy's here with us because he wants a feed. So if you hear any breathing in the background, it's him, not me. So here are some supplements that help with sperm yes infertility in males. Yes. The first one being zinc. Also, sorry, I'm going to cut you off quickly and say, don't self-prescribe. Yeah, don't self-prescribe. But
00:37:15
Speaker
But these are some important ones and how they work beautifully on that sperm health. But yes, don't self prescribe because although this is amazing for so many people for sperm health, it doesn't mean it's always going to be right for you. But we can tell you if it's right for you if we have a consultation with you. Your first one, zinc crucial for testosterone production and sperm development. Low zinc levels are associated with the reduced sperm count and the motility. Yes. Next one, folic acid works with zinc to improve sperm count and quality.
00:37:43
Speaker
Also, I'll just state there, it's not actually the folic acid, it's folate we want, the or methyl folate, the activated form. Folic acid, everyone knows it is folic acid, but I feel like now, finally, the research is coming out, or the research has been there for a while, but the people are knowing now not to look for fo folic acid. We want the activated folate. Yes, or methyl folate. Next one, coenzyme Q10, or CoQ10, or ubiquinol, same thing. Yeah, we only use ubiquinol, it's the best.
00:38:13
Speaker
a high antioxidant that improves sperm motility and overall sperm health by protecting cells from oxidative damage in DNA fragmentation. Yes, which is so important. It's a superstar for that sperm health, along with cardiovascular and so many other things.
00:38:30
Speaker
Vitamin C protects sperm from oxidative stress, which can damage DNA and reduce fertility. Vitamin E, another antioxidant that when combined with vitamin C has been shown to improve sperm motility and reduce sperm DNA damage. yes We have got L-carnitine, which is that an amino acid? yep yep L-carnitine plays a role in transporting fatty acids into the mit mitochondria, which helps sperm cells function better. Yes. Selenium, helping to protect sperm from oxidative stress. Absolutely love selenium. It is so good for sperm health. Omega-3 or fatty acids, essential for self-membrane fluidity, which is important for sperm motility and function. And the last one on the list is vitamin D associated with higher testosterone levels.
00:39:19
Speaker
and improve sperm motility. Which is amazing. Vitamin D's got so much going for it. Also really important for our hormones, it being hormone itself. It is great and amazing for our immune system as well. Vitamin D, you'd be surprised how many people are deficient in vitamin D even being in Australia in such a sun drenched country. Yep.
00:39:41
Speaker
Oh, and the last one, yeah the highest antioxidant blend. Yes, N-acetyl cysteine or NAC. We call it NAC in clinic, but yes, N-acetyl cysteine. lycopene right which is another one that's what you find in your red tomatoes and red the color that pigment's so good and they've actually done a lot on that with prostate as well right yep and anyway good for fertility it's an alpha lipoic acid which can protect sperm cells from the oxidative stress and improve sperm quality absolutely they're all beautiful antioxidants and super supportive antioxidants are good for
00:40:18
Speaker
Yeah, but so good for that sperm health. So there's a little bit of insight into how amazing and how much control we have over that sperm health and when it's healthy and flourishing, how much that it can improve the future generation, essentially. We can improve the health of the offspring of our next generation. I find that so amazing that we can, and then it's not only that, it's also the generations to come because if you've got healthy children, they're more likely to have healthy children and then they'll have healthy children and we pass that DNA down. So quit your smoking and quit your drinking and just think about the future.
Episode Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:40:58
Speaker
Yeah. It's amazing what you have in control. Didn't say it was going to be easy, but worth it. Absolutely worth it.
00:41:06
Speaker
Anyway, so if you need support and if this sounds interesting to you, but you're also not quite sure where to start, we can help you with that. We do it all the time. We help so many beautiful couples to fall pregnant in clinic. So please reach out. We are very active on our social media. So follow us on Instagram, mungbean underscore health. You can DM us if you've got, if you need any support or have any questions.
00:41:30
Speaker
and you can also find us on our website which is www.mungbeanhealth.com but yeah we're here for you if you have any questions or need support we'd love you to be one of our clients yeah thanks for tuning in and see you next time bye
00:41:50
Speaker
And that's a wrap on today's dose of wellness. I'm Rhiannon, your fertility fairy godmother. Thank you for joining us. Stay connected with us on Instagram at mungbin underscore health.