Dr. Aumatma is a double board-certified Naturopathic Doctor & Endocrinologist, in practice for close to 15 years. She specializes in fertility and is the best-selling author of two books: "Fertility Secrets: What Your Doctor Didn't Tell You About Baby-Making” and “(In)Fertility: Struggles, Secrets, & Successes.” In this episode, Dr. Aumatma and Dr. Lauryn talk about age, fertility, and helping patients live healthy lifestyles. Stay tuned!
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Highlights
0:28 - Dr. Aumatma talks about what got her started down her career path in fertility
2:58 - The myths around fertility
4:00 - Thoughts on “high risk” pregnancies
9:14 - Dr. Aumatma shares what it’s like working with her older patients
16:13 - The relationship between mindset and fertility
21:36 - Optimization tips for helping with wellness and fertility
27:48 - How dieting can affect your fertility
31:52 - Dr. Aumatma talks about optimizing unique plans for each of her patients
33:59 - Seed Cycling
40:58 - A lightbulb moment Dr. Aumatma has had in her own health journey
42:51 - A wellness hack!
44:59 - How to learn more about Dr. Aumatma
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About Dr. Aumatma
Dr. Aumatma is a double board-certified Naturopathic Doctor & Endocrinologist, in practice for close to 15 years. She specializes in fertility and is the best-selling author of two books: "Fertility Secrets: What Your Doctor Didn't Tell You About Baby-Making” and “(In)Fertility: Struggles, Secrets, & Successes” Dr. Aumatma was awarded the “Best Naturopathic Medicine Doctor″ award locally in 2015 & 2020 and recognized as a top “Women In Medicine” Doctor in 2020 & 2021.
In addition to supporting couples through individualized care in person and long-distance, Dr. Aumatma also trains practitioners who want to specialize in fertility. She has been featured as the holistic fertility expert on ABC, FOX, CBS, KTLA, MindBodyGreen, The Bump, etc., along with being interviewed for countless podcasts on topics of fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum health.
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Connect with Dr. Aumatma
Facebook | Dr. Aumatma, ND: Holistic Fertility Specialist
Website | holisticfertilityinstitute.com
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Connect with Dr. Lauryn
Facebook | Dr. Lauryn Lax
Twitter | @drlaurynlax
Instagram | @drlaurynlax
Website | drlauryn.com
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Transcript (Episode website contains full transcript)
Dr. Lauryn (00:02):
Well, Dr. Aumatma, I'm so happy to have you in the house, and I, you are absolutely one of my favorite people to talk to about the topics of hormones, but, and also really fertility, which is your specialty. And would love before we tackle the, the problem, so to speak, of age being a factor or maybe not being the only factor in fertility give us a little bit of overview of what got you into doing this work you're doing in the world.
Dr. Aumatma (00:28):
Yeah. that's a great question. I was in my very, very early thirties kind of married, woke up married to this man, realized that he was starting to talk about kids, and he was like, ready to get into it. And I, I, like everything in my body would just go, like, be screaming no. Every time he said that. And I was like, I married this person, I should really wanna have kids with him. And I tried and tried and I could not get myself to get on board with that. And simultaneously my hormones had gotten out of whack, which I think was like a direct reflection of my body, just screaming, no. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> like, you're not doing this with this person. But it took, it took me about nine months of research and kind of like diving into the deep end of hormones and fertility to come out with a very clear sense that a lot of the myths that we're often, that we often hear and are taught even in medical school, even in naturopathic medical school around like the fertility cliff at 35, they just weren't true.
(01:43):
And there's a lot of data around that, but we ignore the data for, for some of these myths that got created in the 1800s, not even through science. So I can, I'm happy to share more about that, but I just feel like that is one of the major things that had me, like, take a step back and say, whoa, if everything that I have been taught is founded on this myth that fertility drops off of a cliff, what else is possible? If that's not true, what else is not true? And then how can I approach this differently? And that's really where I started and why I got so passionate about fertility.
Dr. Lauryn (02:27):
Yeah. So personal experience, that experience is always the best teacher there, <laugh>. And I just love the onion layers of of health and functional health too. And just really exploring like, you know, the world is not flat. Huh. And that's something that we've been told. And so yeah. You talk about the myth of fertility dropping off a cliff. Like where, why is that? Or like what are some of the reasonings of that, perhaps conventional thought puts behind that?
Dr. Aumatma (02:58):
Yeah, so the, the myth actually traced all the way back to the 1800s in France where the Catholic church noted that women over 35 did not come to baptize their children. So their assumption was that because women over 35 were not baptizing their children, their fertility wasn't intact anymore. So then that myth got created and got adopted by science. There's actually no research to back this up. So that, that has been perpetuated for over 200 years and we still are like touting this thing that got created in the 1800s.
Dr. Lauryn (03:40):
Wow. I love history lessons and that's amazing. And how interesting how something like that can spread like wildfire. What about like the reality in quotes, or perhaps what we're told is high risk pregnancies happen for women that are, if it's 40, 35, whatever that age is, right?
Dr. Aumatma (04:00):
Yeah, yeah. So let's talk about the what's actually true. So some of the more recent studies, there are some countries that have picked up this myth and they're like, well, that's definitely a myth. So what can we do about it? And what are we doing to test it? And what they found is there's a 3% decline from age, comparing age groups 25 to 29, and 35 to 39, a 3% decline, which is really okay. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, yes, there is, there's some changes that are happening as we age, but it's so small compared to the overwhelming majority of everything else that's going on. So that's partly true. Then we have the idea that the longer the eggs have been, and not even eggs but follicles like primordial follicles are in our ovaries at birth, the longer that those follicles have been exposed to toxins, our stress, our lifestyle, our lack of good nutrition, all of the things, the longer those follicles are exposed to it, the lower the quality of those follicles.
(05:13):
Right. But that's not to say that's irreversible damage, that's just to say that yes, there is, if you're just walking off the street and get pregnant at 43, then sure there is a likelihood that that pregnancy may not last or that there are potential complications or there's a higher risk of genetic abnormalities, epigenetic abnormalities with the child because of the exposure to all the, the stress and lifestyle of present reality. However, most of those things are reversible. So when we look at what's actually true, like is it always the case that a 35 year old is considered geriatric in western medicine? So is it always that I'm a geriatric pregnancy if I'm over 35, I'm high risk if I'm over 35 or 40 and super high risk over 45. That's kind of what is accepted in, in our common world. But I think it really discredits and discounts women that are proactive about their health that are like, I don't drink, I don't smoke.
(06:33):
I try to manage my stress, I do yoga, I meditate. We know these women, right? Like we are some of those women. And I remember when I was pregnant at 38 and my OB-GYN was like, oh, you're a super high risk pregnancy, but you're healthier than my average 20 year old pregnancy. Right? And, and I was like, do you really tell people that they're geriatric high risk? And she's like, oh yeah, we're required to tell them we are required by, by insurance companies, by legal standards to inform the woman that she's geriatric because she's over 35 and she's high risk at certain points. So I think that it really, it doesn't account for individuality, it doesn't account for what's possible if you actually dedicate time and energy to reversing a lot of the damage that could have been caused by lifestyle. And, and that's not a, a blame or a finger pointing. It's more like, let's just be proactive. Let's plan for our babies as long as, at least for the amount of time that we planned for a wedding. So if you dedicated nine months, a year, a year and a half to planning your wedding, dedicate that amount of time to planning your pregnancy,
Dr. Lauryn (07:58):
I love that. That's such a great rule of thumb and so true. Like a big life event. That same thing, if that's kind of the runway that folks could be proactive, it makes me think of actually one of my clients who recently, she was actually trying for probably over a year with her husband to get pregnant and she's, she is in her early thirties. But like they were really, really struggling and just they were just consistent, they were about to go into IVF actually. But just dedication to her health meditation. Like she was stopped doing really intense workouts and doing more yoga, eating really well, feeling her body like it happened. And I think just like the release of stress for her, like kind of just really is what moved that needle forward is what she's told me. And it's just like so true how much our lifestyle and the daily things can really make a difference even if we don't really, and see the elephant in the room, like stress mm-hmm. <Affirmative> mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, so to speak. But I would love to know like what are some of the like geriatric patients that you worked with or like the oldest pregnancies that you've seen and perhaps like some hope there. And then we can talk about like what are the proactive steps for optimal fertility?
Dr. Aumatma (09:14):
Yeah. So we've had, we, like the oldest people that I have supported through pregnancy are 45 mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. So that's not super high. Like I wish I could say that we have 50 year olds and 55 year old, but we are...
(09:32):
<Laugh>. You're right. <Laugh>. but 45 I feel like is reasonable and a lot of tho those people were actually told a that they should use donor eggs b, that they'll never get pregnant. Probably one of my favorite, favorite, favorite, favorite patients is she was 43 when I started working with her. And most of the time in, when you're in your mid forties, like all of the world is go do IVF, go, go as quickly as you can. Do it now. Don't waste time. And this woman was like, I know that every other doctor that I have consulted with, natural included, have told me that I need to get into doing IVF as quickly as possible. However, my inner wisdom is saying that I should focus on balancing my hormones, figuring out my fibroids. She had a mass of fibroids as big as a basketball, like you could see it sticking out of her abdomen.
(10:38):
Her, she was bleeding for 10 days out of every 20 days. So she basically like 10 day period, 10 days off, 10 day period, 10 days off. Oh wow. And that was her, she's like, this has been my life for years and no one has helped me with this. I'm at the point where I'd really like to have a child and I'm gonna be a solo mom by choice. Mm. but I wanna do it in a way that I know is like healthy and I wanna make sure that the child is healthy. Can you help me? And, and I'm looking at all of her hormones. Her estrogen was off the charts like nothing unexpected based on her symptoms that she had described. And I was like, absolutely, let's do this <laugh>. It took us eight months just to shrink her fibroids. And we got it down to like a patty, at which point I was like, okay, we've worked on this long enough, maybe go consult a surgeon about it.
(11:38):
And they like did the surgery, really speedy recovery. I'm glad we did the surgery cuz at that point we just needed to like move on to other things. But it was, it, it, and then it was another year before all of her hormones were rebalanced. We got her iron levels up because she had been bleeding so much for so long that wasn't working. Her thyroids, her adrenals, this woman, oh my god, like super rockstar, badass, but her adrenals were totally shot. So it took us a long time basically is what I'm saying, to like restore every piece of the puzzle till we got to the point of, okay, the hormones are great, your gut health is great, your adrenals are great, your thyroid is good. Like everything is check, check, check, check, check. Now go in for an IVF cycle. And the clinic like started yelling at her cuz at that this point she was like 44 and a half or like close to 45 and they were like, this is ridiculous.
(12:46):
We talked to you two years ago, you should have just done a cycle when we told you blah, blah blah. And they like railed in on her and she knew that she knew this going in. Right. I already had warned her that this was gonna be the story. So she was like, totally understand, I got it, don't worry about it. Just do the cycle <laugh>. And they ended up getting 23 eggs from her, which at her age is unheard of. They 17 fertilized to grade a embryos also unheard of. Wow. <laugh>. And then they, they, so this clinic doesn't test embryos even for older women. They believe in survival of the fittest. So they suggested to her to implant five or seven or something like a lot. Yeah. And she was like, I am a solo mom, I cannot have seven babies. Yeah. and they were like, don't worry, they're not all gonna take, even though that they're grade grade a embryos, we should just let nature do its thing. And sure enough, only one took and she ended up having that baby <laugh>.
Dr. Lauryn (14:05):
Wow. That's so awesome,
Dr. Aumatma (14:07):
Yeah. Yeah. So I feel like she is, she is a rockstar in so many ways, but I, I really believe that being able to modify our, to optimize all the different components of what can underlie fertility that goes a long ways in supporting, even if you are gonna do IVF, which for her was already a known choice since she's a solo mom. But it was like pre, even when it's pre-planned, there's this space to really like transform all of the underlying things to have the best IVF outcome. And she was like, Dr. A, like, I only have one. I have money for one cycle, this has to work <laugh>. And I was like, don't worry, we got this. Like, you are gonna be fine.
Dr. Lauryn (15:08):
Energy was there and her mindset was there too.
Dr. Aumatma (15:11):
And her mindset was there. Yeah, yeah.
Dr. Lauryn (15:13):
Yeah. I would love to know like, are there any themes that you see, like mindset wise? So I, I do a lot of study with German new medicine and like how our issues can show up in our tissues. And fibroids are interestingly, I mean, they're connected to like the inability or complications during pregnancies for some miscarriages history of them. For some it's having had an abortion or perhaps just not being able to get pregnant or not getting pregnant with a partner. And that's a generalization. And just like seeing that with like a variety, like constipation, I see a lot with like overwhelm mindset, constipation is what I call and just feeling heavy in our lives and like kinda like these whack-a-mole of symptoms and dis-ease in our lives can show up as disease in the body or I balance in the body. Right. And I, I didn't know if like is you've been doing this work for so long within fertility, are there anything in the mindset components that you see as being thematic for optimal fertility or the lack thereof?
Dr. Aumatma (16:13):
Yeah. Yeah. I do actually. So there the running joke that I have is the ovary is an overachiever.
Dr. Lauryn (16:24):
Oh, I love that.
Dr. Aumatma (16:26):
So the overachiever mindset type A control freak is self-identified, of course. <Laugh> mm-hmm. <Affirmative> is very much like a mindset that underlies the fertility struggle. Right. So I feel like so much of our work when we're working with people is to help them relax, but that relax is not a like, oh, just go and go on vacation and relax. Like, sure, that's good. But really like that internal relax that comes from, I trust my body, I have faith that it knows what to do if I let go. And that's a, that's the deeper transformation that I often am looking for. And when that happens, I just know for sure that they're gonna get pregnant because that level of transformation is backed up by, hey, my hormones are in check my, like, I've done all the physical work, but I've also worked on transforming my mindset. And like, yeah, it's just so beautiful when it happens. It's like one of the most powerful transformations that I get to see in my practice
Dr. Lauryn (17:54):
That's really cool. And something that, you know, is not really in a medical textbook, like to talk about that. And yet, and it kind of makes sense just from like even a stress perspective. Like I personally am a overachiever or like type A performed type A
(18:10):
Type B maybe B plus <laugh>. But just totally get how much like stress can be internally created from that. And so I imagine just like all the stress signals and inflammation coming from the brain to the body, to the ovaries, all that yeah. Play a big role.
Dr. Aumatma (18:26):
Absolutely. And I, and I think like fertility almost feeds that side of us, right? So women that are going through IVF cycle, for example, just as an example, or even if they're trying on their own, they're going through like checking their temperatures every day, checking for cervical mucus, what is it like? And like micromanaging every piece of that journey mm-hmm. <Affirmative> or they're going through an IVF cycle and oh, today I have to like do this dose and oh my God, am I like producing too many eggs? And there's this constant like monitoring and needing for perfection when in reality, like if we can perfect all of the underlying things and I'm, I'm saying perfect, almost as like there's no perfection mm-hmm. <Affirmative>, it's just like, is this the right thing for you? And finding those pivot points where we can focus on that ideal optimization in our own bodies and then relax the fertility stuff.
(19:29):
Like instead of trying to micromanage and, and like oversee that process. Just know and trust that your body knows what to do. Like when our hormones are in perfect harmony, I say this all the time, you'll, you see the temperature spike right after ovulation happens. So you'll see a spike in your basal body temperature. You'll see production of cervical mucus start two or three days before that spike that tells you to start having sex. And, and then usually if, if someone's being super observant, they'll see, oh, the cervical mucus thinned out on the day of ovulation and then it started to thicken again. So that's like a five or six day period. And the genius of our bodies sex drive goes way through the roof if all the hormones are in balance. So when all three of those things have clicked into place, you can relax, you can continue doing all of the things, but you don't have to micromanage it. You can just say like, Hey, I'm feeling super jazzed and sexy, let's go have some sex. Yeah. And trust that your body, when it's all aligned, is doing all of the things that it needs to do to ovulate and conceive and implant.
Dr. Lauryn (20:56):
Yeah. The body's like an olive branch I feel at peace now or like when Yeah. That energy is there and listening. It's intuitive, I guess. Yes. That's what it sounds like. Yeah. Yeah. Well talking or leaning into like what are some of those optimization pieces beyond just like, you know, eating well and sleeping like, I mean, even more granular than that because I think, I mean as you mentioned, a lot of folks are already doing all the things or perhaps like aiming to do all the things and stressing out about doing all the things. Yeah. But what are some of the like simple game changers that you see kind of thematically being helpful pieces in that puzzle of wellness?
Dr. Aumatma (21:36):
Yeah. yeah. So I guess the biggest themes I would say is there, we're in a culture of so many different diets, like there's just so many diets out there, right? And what I find is a couple of themes with diet one, you really have to customize it for your body. You could be eating the healthiest thing on the planet and your body doesn't like it. It's creating inflammation. That inflammation in your gut is going to impede implantation. So even if your egg and sperm meet, it's not working out because it's not implanting mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. so that inflammation will have a huge role to play in whether or not you're getting a positive pregnancy test and whether or not that embryo is sticking to turn into a healthy child. So that's the first thing. The second thing is there we're, I feel like we're in a culture of like anti-carbs.
(22:46):
There are so many diets that are like, no carbs. No carbs, no carbs. They're so bad for you. In reality, not eating carbs puts you in a place where your body is not producing progesterone, which is a major hormone for fertility. If you don't have progesterone, you can forget about having a baby. So when you cut out a major food group, like complex carbohydrates, and when I say carbs, I'm not talking about pasta and bread. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I'm talking about starchy vegetables, like sweet potatoes and squash.
Dr. Lauryn (23:20):
Yeah. Hardier.
Dr. Aumatma (23:22):
Yeah, hardier vegetables we're talking about like unprocessed, brown rice, wild rice, black rice. We're talking about millet, quinoa and like you can be gluten free and still eat carbs, right? Like you can, you can do the varieties of diets that are out and still modify it to make sure that you're getting carbohydrates mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. and really realizing that cutting out that food group is gonna go nowhere for fertility. So that would be the second piece of dietary stuff. And then the third piece I find is people are really dehydrated, which sounds so basic, but good quality hydration will go a really long way in nourishing the sperm and the eggs. So if you don't have enough fluid, our bodies are 80% water, right? Like Yeah.
Dr. Lauryn (24:22):
70, 80,
Dr. Aumatma (24:23):
Yeah. Really high number is
Dr. Lauryn (24:26):
Majority. Yeah. All life is formed in water <laugh>,
Dr. Aumatma (24:30):
In water. So really having that the flow of blood is reliant on hydration, the flow of blood imports nutrients to the ovaries, which are then gonna feed the development of those follicles. And this is mirrored in men for sperm. So men are not that different. They need hydration too. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So really like getting the right nutrients to the organs that are gonna help support the growth of follicles, egg and sperm is gonna be vital. And then to make cervical fluid, you need hydration, right? Like, so that's important. And then I feel like a lot of people, what they're, what they're calling hydration is any fluid intake, your body doesn't process any fluid intake. It processes water, it needs pure water.
Dr. Lauryn (25:35):
Yeah.
Dr. Aumatma (25:37):
And then we can go to the level of is your water purified? Is, does it have a billion and one chemicals in it? Are you using a refrigerator filter or a Brita, which basically just takes out chlorine and sediment? Or are you, or you have a really high quality filter that is actually getting to remove all the crap that's in our water. And, and then making sure that there are minerals in your water. Cuz things like reverse osmosis though, it'll pull out everything will also pull out good healthy minerals. And minerals are vital to egg and sperms. So
Dr. Lauryn (26:20):
Spark plugs mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. Yeah.
Dr. Aumatma (26:22):
Yeah. So there's a lot to water and like hydration and making sure that you're getting the right amount and the right quality of water to support the healthy production of all of the fluids that are needed in your body to support fertility.
Dr. Lauryn (26:39):
Yeah. No, I mean, and those are, I mean, that's just baseline, you know, like as far as like diet and water and like there's like that, those are some great tips that are still, I think the little dial turners is what I call them. And I see a lot of the, those missing links as well and practice. Yeah. Would love to know, like, so I, I work a lot with women that have histories of disordered eating. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, call it an eating disorder. I would say 75% of women will have some sort of dieting in their history. Yeah. Or like body, like, you know, I just went to bootcamp every single day and ran myself into the ground for like X amount of years kind of thing. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> whatever it is. And so perhaps have some irregular cycles, maybe don't have a cycle. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, what have you seen from a fertility perspective, perhaps even in a hope perspective? Like I've heard hope stories of women that haven't cycled for many years actually getting pregnant and maybe they were ovulating but not bleeding. The, you see a lot more than I do on the, in the fertility space, but have definitely seen women recover their periods too, just by really like stressed being the elephant in the room again mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. but yeah, I was just like, what you're,
Dr. Aumatma (27:48):
I I think there's so many pieces there. One is like dieting will, dieting and over exercising is a stressor on the body. So a lot of these women are like, oh, I'm not stressed, but yet their body is like massively stressed, right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, every time you're on a weird diet, you're limiting your body's sources of basic nutrition, carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Like, like the very, very basics. We're not even talking about the complex complicated stuff. Getting all three of the food groups is essential. Then we add, so that level of stress will over time, especially when it's done over years, that your, your adrenals took a toll from being on whatever those plans were or boot camps or whatever you were going through. That's gonna have some repair to do for your adrenals. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, if your adrenals were taxed enough, there might be an impact on your thyroid.
(28:59):
And, and then most diets, if they're not well rounded and well balanced, shot the microbiome in the gut. So then you have neurotransmitter dysfunction, which then goes back and affects hormonal dysfunction. So serotonin and dopamine have an impact on estrogen and progesterone. So the gut microbiome being super important, the gut lining we talked about reflecting the uterine lining and whether or not implantation can happen. So there are a lot of pieces to repair, not that it has to take forever, but it really like making sure that all of the underlying components have really been healed and repaired before even start trying. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> is important. And a lot of times under nutrient, under nutrition or not eating enough will shut off the period over exercising will shut off the period. So getting the getting those levels restored can sometimes be all that people need to start cycling again.
(30:16):
And once you're cycling, then we can say, okay, like now what do the hormones look like? Measure the cycle day three hormones and then see if, if it's like not enough estrogen, too much estrogen, not enough progesterone too, too much cortisol, whatever. So you get more information once your cycle restarts. But it really has to start with all of the foundational things being restored and rebuilt to, to get to that point where fertility can happen. Yeah. Yeah. And it, it's, it's not impossible. It doesn't take forever most of the time. But being able to restore all those underlying things will often go a long ways in helping
Dr. Lauryn (31:07):
Yeah. Kickstart. Do you have any strategies that you use with clients that are very hesitant to change lifestyle? Because I feel like with it's, we can know one thing we know like not exercising too much is good for us or for fertility. Yeah. and same thing with diets, like eating carbs is good for us, but like then there's kind of a fear component there. Like also the habit. Yeah. That of like, you know, well my community for example, I go to all these classes, fitness classes and I don't wanna give that up. So like, I always like to think of alternatives or like, what is the strategy to go, not necessarily cold turkey with it, but like how to ease into a new way of doing things. I don't know if there's anything that you suggest for women.
Dr. Aumatma (31:53):
Yeah. It, it depends on how much time we have <laugh>. So if it's a 39 year old that's wanted to be pregnant since she was 35, they have very little time. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> and her track is gonna potentially be more intense, but there might be a 30 year old that's like, Hey, I'm just like starting on this journey. I'm not super pressured to like have a baby today, but I know that I have all of these things that I wanna work on healing than absolutely the slow and steady path is better there. So figuring out where the person is is gonna make a huge difference in what their plan looks like. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> with someone who maybe has more luxury of time, I would say the focus is really gonna be slow and steady and making sure it's synced with the cycle. So for example, the high intensity exercises like boot camps and stuff like that, if you do that in your follicular phase, it's okay. But in your luteal phase you're really doing the restorative things. So really shifting how we think about the things that we're doing. It's not that it's bad always for anybody ever, it's more like what part of your cycle are you in? And then if you're not cycling, we can talk about how to phase it for them. Exactly. Yeah. When we don't know, then we just take the moon that's
Dr. Lauryn (33:36):
Cycles. And remind me, so days one through 14, it, how, where does that fall in with the moon?
Dr. Aumatma (33:42):
Yeah, so New moon to full Moon is the follicular or cycle day one through 14. Okay. And then full moon to the next new moon will be the, the luteal phase.
Dr. Lauryn (33:54):
Okay. Sweet. Do you ever do seed cycling in your practice and see Yeah. Yeah. Anything
Dr. Aumatma (34:01):
I, I like seed cycling. I think it's great just cuz it gives people a focal point of something that they can do for food.
Dr. Lauryn (34:10):
Yeah.
Dr. Aumatma (34:10):
I think that's great. Have I seen it like magically transform your hormones? Not really. Yeah. That would be my honest, honest to God. Like it's, I would love for it to work.
(34:24):
I would love for it to be as magical as like so many people purport, but at least in my practice, I feel like that is a good foundation. That it's, it's not a, oh, I don't need to do that anymore. It's more like, yes, let's do that as a foundation and then let's figure out what we build on top of it because that just may not be enough to get us to the goal that we want to get to.
Dr. Lauryn (34:49):
Yeah. And it's really, I guess about optimizing the essential fatty acids that are helpful during those phases too. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, so mm-hmm. <Affirmative>. Yeah. I very, I've done it with a few patients and they, I think that more than anything it's like about intuitive, like it really gets you more connected to your body Yeah. And just like nourishing it, caring for it in a really unique way. So Yeah. Yeah. That can be fun.
Dr. Aumatma (35:12):
Absolutely. And then I wanted to say about diet, cuz you said what to do when you're just like,
Dr. Lauryn (35:18):
Yeah, kind of hesitant to knowing its theory. Good for you, but it's like tough.
Dr. Aumatma (35:23):
Yeah. it's tough and it's tough to like break the patterns of mental training that you've had because whatever diet you put yourself on, you really bought into that diet. Right. You bought into like, like, oh, this is gonna be really good for me. That's why you did it. It wasn't like, oh, this is the, you know, latest and greatest and I just wanna do it for the heck of it. Yeah. If, if, if the food that you were eating was working for you, you probably wouldn't have gotten into it. So I think that it's important to remember that whatever diet you adopted, whatever philosophy you adopted was because you thought that it was gonna support your health in some way. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> when you're making a shift, it's important to understand why am I doing that shift? And we, we like call our, our diet, if it's a diet, it's more like a way of eating, I should say. There's no dietary restrictions, right. Outside of like, the
Dr. Lauryn (36:29):
Diet means a way of life anyways. That diet, the word means a way of life.
Dr. Aumatma (36:34):
I know. Yeah. But when, when we say, like, when you hear diet, like these days, it's just like, so cringy,
Dr. Lauryn (36:41):
