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#30 What You NEED to Know About Preconception Care
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The Bean Talk – Episode 30: What You NEED to Know About Preconception Care
This week, Riannon and Jeremy explore the importance of preconception care and why starting 3–6 months before trying to conceive is crucial for both partners. They discuss how nutrition, hormone balance, and practitioner-grade supplementation can improve fertility and help you prepare for a healthy pregnancy.
This episode outlines key nutrients to consider when starting your preconception journey. Riannon and Jeremy also share practical tips for optimising sperm and egg health.
If you’re planning for parenthood, whether that’s right now, or into the future, this episode is a great place to start.
Connect with us on Instagram or TikTok @mungbean_health or visit mungbeanhealth.com for expert support.
If you want to book an appointment with one of our incredible naturopaths, visit our website: https://mungbeanhealth.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Mission
00:00:01
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 Mungbean Health, Jeremy. Here at Mungbean Health, we're on a mission to unlock the secrets of fertility and natural wellbeing one episode at time.
00:00:23
Speaker
Hi and welcome back to The Bean Talk with Jeremy and Rhiannon. Welcome back guys. Awesome to have you Nice to have you guys here. our two listeners. We love you guys. Thank you for the ride or die people. We've had a pretty, it's been a pretty good week so far. It's only Tuesday, there's still time.
00:00:45
Speaker
we We headed into the ah warehouse today and we got in a little bushwalk yesterday. That could actually be one of our little beans or big beans. We got in a nice little hill.
00:00:55
Speaker
Yep. Bit of a bush hike. Decompress. Get out in nature. Be active.
Postnatal Health and Supplements
00:01:01
Speaker
Little win for me is actually I've been a bit slack with my prenatal. So little bean.
00:01:06
Speaker
Well, know which one's a little or big, but bushwalk for one and been back on my prenatal. It's very important while you're breastfeeding. Don't stop when you've had a baby. What do you got for our big bean, little bean?
00:01:18
Speaker
Bushwalk's pretty good. Yeah. feel like that's good for us. bushwalk, big bean, little bean. Yeah, love it. That works. Just trying to regulate stress is probably a huge one. Absolutely. And taking your vitamins and your herbs, I feel like I've been good at handing them to you. Exactly. I do see them together in the bush. Thank you. You're welcome.
00:01:38
Speaker
You're welcome. Back to my prenatal, actually, i think that is a good little thing that everyone should know. And if you're one of our clients or one of our followers, you should know that when you have a baby, you don't stop taking a prenatal because it's so important for whether we are breastfeeding or whether we choose not to or we can't, but then also helping with postnatal depletion.
Preconception Care Essentials
00:02:00
Speaker
Also, not just important once we get pregnant, it's also important for preconception care. talk a little bit more about preconception care. So I guess from a naturopathic perspective, it's really important to prepare for parenthood, right?
00:02:15
Speaker
So when planning to conceive, most people focus on what happens once they're pregnant, not before. However, what's often overlooked is the critical role of preconception care itself. The months leading up to conception is crucial for the health of your child.
00:02:32
Speaker
As a naturopath, I strongly recommend starting pre preconception care at least three to four months before trying to conceive. Four to six months, actually. Three months is like the minimum that you should be doing. That's if everything's perfect and you don't have any hormonal issues.
00:02:47
Speaker
Four months is like, yes, okay. And then six months is like, that's great. I love it. I love to see it This period is essential for optimizing your body's health, your fertility health, and also the early development of a healthy pregnancy.
00:03:05
Speaker
Jeremy and I both did preconception care before our babies. Sure. It was like when I was painting, preparation is like mainly... 80% of painting and then the last 20% is actually applying paint. So it's true. To get the best job and results.
00:03:20
Speaker
Last longer. Yeah, last longer. Everything goes a lot better and smoother. Yes. It's all in the preparation. So true. When people just come and slap on the paint and all dust and crap underneath. Yeah, and wonder why it falls off. No good. No crap.
00:03:33
Speaker
Preconception care is about nourishing your body, balancing your hormones and creating an optimal environment for conception. The preparation you do in the months before trying to conceive can significantly impact, and I honestly stress significantly impact the health of your pregnancy, reduce the risk of miscarriage and improve the lifelong health of your child.
00:03:55
Speaker
lifelong of your child. Like you do anything. So why can't you do a couple of months preconception care before? I'm not just talking about the woman. I'm also talking about the man. I'm not just talking about the egg. I'm also talking about the spermies.
00:04:08
Speaker
swimmers We want them to be swimming, not swimming in circles. It's not good. The three to four month window, why is that important?
Nutrient Impact on Fertility
00:04:15
Speaker
The science behind preconception care is when you start thinking about having a baby, it's easy to assume that fertility is all about timing. However, both the egg and the sperm quality are deeply influenced by the environment within the body and the environment takes time to optimize.
00:04:34
Speaker
Egg quality and ovarian reserve is also really important. So in women, eggs are present from birth and their quality naturally declines with age, unfortunately.
00:04:46
Speaker
However, research shows that three to four months before conception, they're really crucial for improving egg quality. This is because eggs undergo a series of maturation processes before ovulation. And this process is heavily influenced by nutrition, hormones, and overall health.
00:05:03
Speaker
This is from the Fertility and Sterility Journal, which is a really cool little source you can check out in your own time. For example, folate, zinc, and antioxidants can help reduce oxidative stress on the egg, improving its genetic integrity, which is obviously very important.
00:05:22
Speaker
Sufficient nutrient intake supports healthy egg maturation and starting supplementation at least three to four months ahead ensures that your body is well prepared to start conception. Men's sperm takes approximately 70 to 90 days to mature. If a man's diet, stress levels or lifestyle are poor, sperm quality will be affected. Low quality sperm can impact fertilization rates and increase the risk of miscarriage. Crazy link there that so many people don't link together. Nutrients like zinc, selenium, CoQ10 and vitamins C and E have been shown to improve sperm mobility, morphology and count. Yes, very important. That's how we are swimming forward. It's how we are shaped.
00:06:04
Speaker
The morphology is the shape of it all, how it's shaped, whether it's got two heads or one head or a tail or whatever. And obviously count is how many as well. So very important, all those three. Oh my God. factors Yeah, very important factors.
00:06:15
Speaker
The goal is to give both partners enough time to improve both sperm health and egg health by focusing on key nutrients and lifestyle changes in the three to four months prior to trying to conceive. Preconception care is so important and is a key factor in reducing miscarriage rates, which people don't really put it down to. One of the most significant benefits of preconception care is its ability to reduce this risk because nobody wants to experience a miscarriage.
00:06:44
Speaker
Although it's very common, one in four, no one wants it, but it does unfortunately happen to some of us. Studies have shown that optimizing nutrient intake and balancing hormones before conception can drastically lower the chances of early pregnancy loss.
00:06:57
Speaker
The role of folate, iodine, and iron are all absolutely crucial. And studies indicate that folic acid or methylated folate supplementation before conception significantly reduces the risk of neural tube defects while iron and iodine are essential for development of the placenta and the prevention of complications like miscarriages.
00:07:21
Speaker
Additionally, ensuring adequate levels of things like vitamin D before conception has been associated with improved pregnancy outcomes and reduced miscarriage rates.
00:07:32
Speaker
Women with low vitamin D levels are at a higher risk of pregnancy complications, including recurrent miscarriage. If you are one of our clients, we would have looked at your vitamin D, your folate and your iron and iodine before trying to conceive or while you're pregnant or yeah at some point in your journey with us. It's a very big and important thing we tick off. And unfortunately, so many women are vitamin D deficient.
00:07:56
Speaker
It's really bad. And then obviously throughout pregnancy, baby needs a lot of vitamin D for thyroid and bones and hormones and immune system and all the things. Get your vitamin D. Yeah, seriously.
00:08:07
Speaker
Get your arms out and your belly out in the sun. Get your midriffed on. What's the one, the Chinese bikini, how the men like walk around with their belly down to cool down? Yes, absolutely. Get it out. They probably got a good amount of vitamin D. For sure they would, but they fully roll their like shirts up.
00:08:23
Speaker
Totally. Thyroid health.
Thyroid Function and Fertility
00:08:25
Speaker
Absolutely links in there. Proper thyroid function is essential for fertility and pregnancy. Women with undiagnosed hypothyroidism have a higher risk of a miscarriage. Actually, i just did some stories on this, on our TikTok page, which is at mungbean underscore health, m-u-n-g-b-e-a-n underscore health.
00:08:48
Speaker
and about the link with thyroid and fertility. So if you haven't yet checked us out, go and check us out over there. But yeah, women, unfortunately with the undiagnosed hypothyroidism, which is so many women out there, are at higher risk of miscarriage. Optimizing thyroid health three to four months before conception, at least through lifestyle changes and thyroid supporting nutrients like iodine, only take it if it's prescribed by your naturopath.
00:09:12
Speaker
And selenium can be significantly in improving those fertility outcomes. Key components of preconception care. Nutrition. Nutrition is the foundation of preconception care.
00:09:24
Speaker
A nutrient-dense diet ensures your body has the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants needed for both fertility, early fetal development, nutrient deficiency like iron or vitamin D can impair fertility and increase the risk of miscarriage. Some essential nutrients include folate and a methylated folate, crucial for DNA synthesis and preventing neural tube defects. Yes.
00:09:48
Speaker
Iron, important for supporting blood volume and placenta development. And how many people are iron deficient? Most women. Yeah. Vitamin D, key for immune function and healthy pregnancy. Yes.
00:10:00
Speaker
Omega-3 fatty acids support healthy fetal development and reduce inflammation. Zinc and selenium vital for egg and sperm health. So important. And they're important for so many other factors. So making sure we do have enough folate, vitamin D, omega-3, zinc and selenium are good for overall.
00:10:17
Speaker
Lifestyle factors also play a major role. So managing things like stress, getting enough adequate sleep and avoiding toxins are also crucial. Stress elevates cortisol, our stress hormone, which can interfere with hormone production and reduce fertility.
00:10:34
Speaker
Implementing relaxation techniques such as yoga or meditation or breath work helps balance stress hormones and support our fertility in the long run. Additionally, a healthy weight, neither underweight nor overweight, is important for optimal exercise.
Nutritional Support and Resources
00:10:49
Speaker
fertility. We have a number of different supplements. Definitely a really good prenatal is important.
00:10:55
Speaker
You can check on our website. We have some good preconception care for women and for men. But in clinic, we also use practitioner-only ones. If you're a client of ours, you will be using practitioner grade.
00:11:11
Speaker
If you're not a client of ours, but you're still looking for a good prenatal, check out our website. It's www.mungbeanhealth.com. B-E-A-N health.com. But what we're really looking for is a prenatal to really fill the nutritional gaps that you're lacking from diet.
00:11:28
Speaker
And this is not only just from lacking it through diet, through choice of food, but it's also through the crappy soils that are around and not nutrient rich. We want really high grade supplements to support both partners.
00:11:39
Speaker
One such supplement would be like a prenatal. We usually like looking at omegas and obviously some of the other things we've mentioned here, but whatever's right for the right person. So making sure that it's right for you.
00:11:52
Speaker
No self-prescribing, please reach out, but a prenatal is important. Even GPs will recommend that. They just don't usually recommend the right one. That's all. We can help you with that. But yeah, really important to not only support our fertility, but also pregnancy. And then, as I said before, don't stop when you have the baby because you want to be helping with that postpartum depletion, any of the gaps that you've missed from diet or that you've lacked from maybe you had a HG pregnancy or really nauseous pregnancy and you weren't able to get in the right foods.
00:12:21
Speaker
We really want to make sure we've got nutrients, essential nutrients like folate, iodine, vitamin D, activated B vitamins in there to just support overall. And obviously antioxidants and zinc and selenium to enhance sperm
Preconception Care: A Generational Impact
00:12:34
Speaker
health as well. Start early for a healthy future is probably the take home message here.
00:12:40
Speaker
Preconception care is a vital investment in your health. and the health of your future kid. I honestly can't stress that enough because why the hell wouldn't you want to do a little bit of support so that then you can honestly influence your child's life?
00:12:57
Speaker
And the next generation too. Yes. If it's a if you have a girl, like seriously, going have their eggs. Yes, you carry yeah you you carry your grandkids' eggs, granddaughter's eggs in you as a woman, which is crazy. So my grandma had mine and obviously my mum had me. Me, not mine, but yeah, mine yeah and me. Yeah, gosh, it's so crazy. It always There's two generations in one.
00:13:20
Speaker
That is crazy to think generations. So your grandma, your mum, and then you're inside your mum's in her eggs, in her ovaries. So yes, you obviously want that to be important. It's a vital investment. Definitely pays off.
00:13:33
Speaker
And you get healthier along the way, starting at least three to four months but before the very least three months before trying to conceive gives your body the time it needs to optimize fertility, balance hormones and prepare for a healthy pregnancy by focusing on nutrition, lifestyle, and proper supplementation.
00:13:51
Speaker
You can reduce the risk of a miscarriage, which who wouldn't want that improve fertility outcomes, which is obviously a win and give your baby the best start in life. Yeah. I'll see people that are doing their own thing, not taking vitamins or anything, don't really know about the world of naturopathy that might have recurrent loss.
00:14:07
Speaker
And then they'll come to us and see us. And we are lucky enough to be able to support them into having a healthy baby in their arms. And yeah, it's amazing what natural health can do.
00:14:18
Speaker
ah never get over a pregnancy message. It's always so beautiful to be the first to know and also just being able to help people become parents. So remember, a healthy pregnancy begins long before conception. Obviously, sometimes there's accidents and that's okay. Just start as soon as you can.
00:14:34
Speaker
But making sure that you know that it starts long before conception, the baby itself. By prioritizing your health now, you're setting the stage for a thriving pregnancy and a healthy future.
00:14:46
Speaker
So good. Prepare. Preparation is the key word in this thing. So four months before, please reach out. Six months if you can. We can't wait to
Connecting with the Community
00:14:56
Speaker
help you. Yeah, if you want to reach out to us, you can visit us on Instagram at mungbeanhealth or go to our website at www.mungbeanhealth.com.
00:15:04
Speaker
We can't wait to see you and help you. Thanks for tuning in. Bye.
00:15:11
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.