Navigating Hormonal Health and Healing

In this enlightening conversation, Sherisse Alexander and Neetu Ramawad delve into the intricate relationship between women's health, nutrition, and emotional well-being. Neetu shares her personal journey of overcoming painful menstrual cycles and the importance of holistic approaches to health. They discuss the significance of understanding hormonal health, the emotional landscape of healing, and the shift towards more integrative healthcare practices. The conversation also explores various modalities for client care, the role of food in women's health, and the impact of intermittent fasting. Neetu emphasizes the importance of patient advocacy and the need for women to take charge of their health journeys. In this conversation, Neetu discusses the importance of holistic support in fertility, emphasizing the need for women to prepare their bodies for pregnancy through lifestyle changes, emotional support, and dietary adjustments. She highlights the often-overlooked role of men in fertility, particularly regarding sperm quality. Practical steps for women to enhance their fertility are shared, along with the significance of self-care and emotional healing. The discussion culminates in empowering women to live fully and joyfully, recognizing the interconnectedness of physical health and emotional well-being.

Takeaways

• We are in a hormonal epidemic.
• Food as medicine is crucial for women's health.
• Healing is a journey that involves emotional and physical aspects.
• Understanding hormonal health is key to managing symptoms.
• Patient advocacy is essential in navigating healthcare.
• Integrative approaches combine traditional and alternative medicine.
• Food quality significantly impacts hormonal balance.
• Intermittent fasting can be beneficial but is situational.
• Women aged 28 to 45 often seek holistic health solutions.
• Emotional well-being is intertwined with physical health. Building relationships with women during their fertility journey is crucial.
• Preparing the body for pregnancy can take time but is beneficial.
• Sperm quality is declining and men need to be involved in fertility health.
• Tracking menstrual cycles can provide valuable insights into health.
• Diet and lifestyle changes can significantly impact fertility.
• Self-care includes cleaning up cosmetics and reducing hormone disruptors.
• Journaling and meditation can aid in emotional healing.
• Hormonal balance is essential for overall health and well-being.
• Women often run on empty and need to prioritize their health.
• The ultimate goal of the journey is to find joy in life.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Women's Health and Nutrition
• 0:59 Neetu's Journey and Holistic Approach
• 2:59 Understanding Hormonal Health and Cysts
• 5:56 The Emotional Landscape of Healing
• 8:10 Shifting Perspectives in Healthcare
• 9:23 Integrating Traditional and Alternative Medicine
• 11:00 Navigating Patient Advocacy in Healthcare
• 13:59 Exploring Modalities for Client Care
• 17:00 The Role of Food in Women's Health
• 22:56 Demographics of Women's Health Clients
• 24:18 The Importance of Holistic Support in Fertility
• 27:23 Men's Role in Fertility and Sperm Quality
• 30:02 Practical Steps for Women to Enhance Fertility
• 37:16 Self-Care and Emotional Healing for Women
• 43:18 Empowering Women to Live Fully and Joyfully

Transcript

Sherisse Alexander (00:01.578)
Welcome, welcome, welcome. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are when you are watching this. My name is Sherisse Alexander, your host of Your Collective. On today's episode, I'll be joined by Neetu Ramawad. Neetu is a registered dietitian. I wanted to say all things female, but really what she works within is as registered dietitian.

and how we as women can utilize food to really support not only our menstrual cycle, but our hormones, any real change in life that you're going through as a female. I'm super passionate, as many of you know, about how we can really connect mind, body, spiritual health. And of course, we got to live in this body during this journey. So feeling good is a critical part of that journey. So without further delay, I will turn it over to Neetu to tell us a little bit more.

about herself, her journey, what she does, and how she can help you find comfort and ease in your own body. So welcome, you two. Thank you for joining today.

Neetu (01:06.273)
Thank you and thank you. This is such an important topic, so I'm really happy and I'm always so grateful to connect with podcasters like yourself that shine light and want to have discussions about women's health because I think we are in a hormonal epidemic and the more information we can provide and empower women about their bodies on all levels, I think is so important. So thank you, first of all, for having this conversation.

I'm really grateful to have this conversation with you. Yeah, so I'm a certified holistic nutritionist. I really specialize in food as medicine and helping women understand how to support their bodies and have healthy menstrual cycles and why that's really healthy. I also specialize in preconception care naturally, how to prepare the body a few months before you're trying to get pregnant and how we can course correct some of the challenges before, you know,

going through IVF while during IVF, egg freezing, egg retrievals, IUIs and help women support through that. So I started this journey. I always had an interest in food as medicine. And as I was going through my schooling, I was just seeing how this was relevant to like family members that had some chronic issues going on and what they could do to eat. And in the meantime, I was really healing my own menstrual cycle. I always suffered from.

severely painful cycles where I'd be really reliant on medication for like a day or two to deal with my cramps. And then I had a wake-up call when I had a ruptured ovarian cyst. I didn't know what was happening. I just woke up with a lot of pain and a few, you know, a couple days of pain before that, but it got worse and you know, I had to be rushed. I had to go to the emergency. And when I went there, they just like did an ultrasound. They're like, hey, you've got this ruptured ovarian cyst. Here's some, you know.

codeine and go home. I was so confused because I'm like, how is this happening? This is like happening on like, you know, an ovary. It was so serious to me and I really didn't get a lot of answers from my primary care practitioner. You know, in my experience, I was very dismissed for asking a lot of questions. And as I was studying, I was getting a lot more answers about like what was happening.

Sherisse Alexander (02:59.062)
And off you go. Yeah.

Neetu (03:20.749)
to my menstrual cycle that led to this and not just my cycle and what I was eating, but a lifestyle that I was living, a really stressful lifestyle that I was living contributing to the pain. six months later, I had a surgery scheduled and had the cyst removed. I didn't have a lot of options other than medication, birth control, and the surgery.

And I was like, there's gotta be something else here. Cause I'm like, something is missing. And when they went in, they also found stage one endometriosis, which I had no idea I had. And it was contributing to my painful period. So that's when I was like, okay, if this happens again, I'm going to be told that I need to be on birth control permanently or like have a hysterectomy. And those were not options for me. And that's sort of where I really took a lot of control in terms of changing my diet, my lifestyle, my products.

And it led to deeper healing on an emotional level as I continued that journey because as a holistic being, it's never just one thing.

Sherisse Alexander (04:18.668)
curious if you don't mind me asking. You look really young. So I'm curious when when this experience happened, how old were you?

Neetu (04:28.889)
I think I was around 28. Yeah, 28, 29, yeah.

Sherisse Alexander (04:31.981)
Okay.

And in your experience, like to me having a ruptured ovarian system, I've never had the experience so I don't really know anything about it. Is that normal for that age? is that, are you in your experience seeing these things happening to women at younger and younger ages, I think is really the question that I'm asking.

Neetu (04:55.033)
Yeah, it's hard to say. It's so individual, right? Like cysts are normal. They don't always get to the size where they rupture. And it is very common. Sometimes you have a cyst in a cycle. It might actually pass with that cycle depending on the size of it, right? Cysts typically form through estrogen dominance. Estrogen is a growth hormone. So any tissue in the body that responds to estrogen, estrogen will tell it to grow. And, you know, there are certain foods.

Sherisse Alexander (04:57.934)
Mm-hmm.

Neetu (05:24.781)
that contribute to estrogen dominance. There's also the organ function component, right? Where our liver is very much responsible for detoxifying excess estrogen in the body. So making sure that you're supporting the organs that detoxify, but also are involved in hormone production is really important.

Sherisse Alexander (05:44.719)
Yeah. You you said something really important that the last few guests have really emphasized as well, which is of course this podcast, we talk about mind, body, spiritual health and or whatever word resonates with you for that spirit piece. But you said that on your journey, it really, it took you down a road of like, okay, so there's this physical mass manifestation in my body of dis-ease.

Neetu (05:57.784)
Yeah.

Sherisse Alexander (06:13.434)
And of course it opens up, okay, well, there's other things here as well. And so when you're working with your clients, are they coming to you from a space of similar to your own where it's like, okay, I'm struggling with this thing physically. And then we go down this road of looking at the other areas as well. And how open, I mean, I imagine you do, but how open are they generally speaking to understanding that there's some something deeper here at play that's now physically manifesting in your body.

Neetu (06:41.241)
Yeah, it's also a process of meeting somebody where they're at and having that awareness. Like healing is such a journey and a lot of the times women are coming to me because they're just dissatisfied or they've run out of options that haven't worked in the past and now they're like ready to take the reins and make changes. So someone's point of awareness of their own inner emotional landscape is so important. But what I try to do is do in my initial assessment, it's like,

Sherisse Alexander (07:05.613)
Yes.

Neetu (07:10.539)
really taking an inventory of like what is going on in your life. Like what are your current stresses? How do you feel day to day? Like on a day to day, do you wake up with anxiety? Are you moving through your day really frustrated? Are you overall just like not experiencing a lot of joy and like let's pinpoint where that's coming from. And what we then try to do is like, okay, well how can we do this differently? Because you know, the end goal is to feel better. Sure, we wanna lose the weight, like, you know, have clear skin.

Sherisse Alexander (07:27.267)
Yeah.

Neetu (07:38.007)
make sure our hair, skin, nails at the glove is happening, all the symptoms that are making us unsatisfied, those things will come. But if we don't make the changes within our mindset to understand what do we need to unlock here, because why is it that we're not prioritizing our health? Is it a self-worth issue and where did that come from? Do you not feel deserving of the body, the energy, and a life that you really want on the other side of this?

Sherisse Alexander (07:56.984)
Yeah.

Neetu (08:05.534)
So we take inventory and have those conversations and that's like that's such an opening for certain clients.

Sherisse Alexander (08:11.982)
Do you feel like there's a shift in healthcare away from, I don't wanna say just traditional modalities, but really the mindset around, okay, I'm gonna go to the doctor, I'm gonna tell them my symptoms or her my symptoms, they're gonna give me a script and I'm gonna go home and do my thing. Do you feel like there's been a real trend and a real shift away from that?

towards people wanting to be empowered with really, to me, believe health is a very, it's a personal responsibility. That's my thought. Yes, there are all these people and resources and so on and so forth to help me through that, but it's my body. Nobody can tell me what it feels like. Do you feel like that shift is happening now? And, and yeah.

Neetu (08:58.391)
Yeah, yeah, I do find that more people are interested in like the education. I share a lot of educational content on my page because I want women to feel empowered, right? So I think when we know better, we can do better and make different choices. But yes, I think there's so many, there's so much more information right now and people are really getting sucked into it or making the connections and identifying, you know, this sounds like me, this is resonating. And, you know, we look at certain

models of care and there's a time and place for everything. There's a time and place where you need, you know, your primary care practitioner and you might need medication. That's fine. You might need the surgery. That's okay too, right? There's a meeting of those worlds as well. And like, I kind of look at healthcare now as a wheelhouse. You know, it's like in life, you've got your accountant, your mechanic, your lawyer, your financial advisor.

Sherisse Alexander (09:32.322)
Mm-hmm.

Sherisse Alexander (09:40.024)
Mm-hmm.

Sherisse Alexander (09:45.688)
Yes.

Neetu (09:51.865)
Health care is very much similar and I think we're moving in that way where it's like, okay, I need my primary care practitioner. I need my nutritionist, maybe a naturopath, my osteopath and acupuncturist, right? Like, because there's all these different aspects and modalities that now serve a different part of what I'm trying to heal up holistically.

Sherisse Alexander (10:10.348)
I love that. And do you think so that's on the patient side of things or client side of things. Now on the healthcare side of things, do you think that that transition is also occurring where, you know, traditional medicine is a lot more, the perspective is shifted to be to understanding that there's all these modalities and exactly what you said that it's a wheelhouse. Do you think that perspective is shifting as well?

Neetu (10:17.027)
Mm.

Neetu (10:35.234)
I think so. think there's like a slow adaptation towards it. You know, we do look at like

There's an accessibility piece too, right? Like a lot of times when you're going to a naturopath or an acupuncturist or your osteo or whatever, that may not be covered. So you know what I mean? I think affordable access is really important. That's why I think like all the practitioners that are sharing a lot of information where you have access online is really important because, know, we can be empowered through that. Whereas I, again, I don't know that I'm seeing that shift in like,

Sherisse Alexander (10:53.272)
Yeah.

Sherisse Alexander (11:04.11)
Mm-hmm.

Neetu (11:12.729)
traditional Western medicine, healthcare. Like I do think it's a very prescribed model and that's what it's for. I can't remember the last time I went to my primary care practitioner and had a conversation about my emotions and my mental health and like my diet, you know? So those conversations are not happening there. And they're usually very short, right? You usually wait a long time to see somebody for five minutes versus when you go into your naturopath or a nutritionist, there's a huge intake form.

Sherisse Alexander (11:31.64)
Yes, that's true. Yep. Yep. Yep.

Neetu (11:39.225)
prior to and you're in that consultation for 60 minutes. So the care is very different. So I think both models just provide different things. But I do think there's a growing interest in like exploring these different modalities and like, you know, testing and a shift in like, you know, the value and maybe resourcing yourself.

to bring that into your life, right? If you're interested in going down that.

Sherisse Alexander (12:10.786)
And that's kind of, I guess, one of the other questions that I have is like, okay, so you and I are saying, okay, so yes, on the patient care or client care side of things, yes, there's more interest, more desire to be more empowered with more information. However, we have a healthcare system that doesn't necessarily support that growing shift. how do patients, so for example, where there's value in traditional healthcare is like,

Okay, I need to know what the chemicals and the biology is going on within my body, right? Whatever the various levels are. How do I go to the doctor and say, like, of course, you do a yearly physical or whatever, but let's say this is outside of that. How do I go to the doctor and say, okay, I just want to order a whole bunch of tests to just see what's going on like.

How do we merge those two things? And then I have my test results now and now I can come to you. Is that actually how it works that you send to the clients after the primary practitioner, they order all the tests and then they come back to you? Or are you able to actually help and facilitate with that?

Neetu (13:19.959)
Yeah, I have helped facilitate conversations. And I remember working with a client who was kind of nervous about some testing and the way she wanted to go and moving off medication and having that conversation with her doctor. Because now we're course correcting things and things are changing. And this is where I think it's great that you can monitor. Because blood work is a snapshot in time.

Sherisse Alexander (13:23.128)
Okay.

Sherisse Alexander (13:31.638)
Mm-hmm.

Neetu (13:43.659)
So, and that's why sometimes you take it with a grain of salt because hey, let's say the day before you ate something highly inflammatory, it's gonna show up on your blood work the next day versus like you were eating clean for a week. That's also gonna look really different. But I think it's like empowering yourself and advocating. think advocation is really important. I mean, it is your right and your body. So being armed with different ways that you wanna like direct the conversation with your primary practitioner.

Practitioner and how you want to be supported is really important, right? So letting them know like I don't actually want to be on this dosage or I don't want to be on this medication long-term birth control, for example, to manage my hormones. So like this is what I'm doing, you know, I've been making all these changes like how do we get there and these are the tests or the ultrasounds that I need to get tested, you know, on a quarterly basis, for example. And these are my goals, for example, you know, and

you know, if you're not getting that support with a primary care practitioner that's not necessarily interested in going that route, I would highly suggest trying to find a practitioner that will support you in that way.

Sherisse Alexander (14:54.414)
I don't want to be the negative Nellie here, but that is so much easier said than done these days.

Neetu (14:58.049)
I know, it's not, it's not. And it's a process that I have gone through myself, right? And it's just so knowing what you're gonna get with who. And again, like that person may not be where you're getting all your support. That's why like having a well-rounded team and somebody else on the other side to help navigate that and like blend, make those two worlds and make them work together is important.

Sherisse Alexander (15:02.882)
Yeah.

Sherisse Alexander (15:22.434)
Yeah. So let's talk more about kind of some of the different modalities that you use in your process of discovery or working with a client, right? Because I imagine that a lot of it is maybe not a lot, but a little bit of trial and error, like, okay, well, let's do this, let's try that, so on and so forth until we find that magical combination where your body really gets to be at its highest health potential. Do you want to share some of that with us?

Neetu (15:40.269)
Yes.

Neetu (15:50.455)
Yeah, so when I'm working with a client, again, like we go through an overall assessment, I get an idea of, you know, their emotional landscape, you know, what's going on in their lives. I usually have them like write a food diary for me. I can see clearly like, you know, what they're eating, what they're consuming, where the gaps are, you know, where there might be nutrient gaps, and then how that's correlating to their symptoms and like, you know, organ function.

We work through it that way. And alongside myself, sometimes I'll have them work with a naturopath, where my limitations is I can recommend a lot of supplements, but in terms of something that's prescribed, maybe you might need a naturopathic doctor. I love herbalists. I think there's a lot of value in herbal medicine, a lot of power in plant medicine. It's really nutrient dense and they support organs specifically, right? A lot of herbs work on specific organs.

And we get that and herbs for women's health and hormonal health and uterine health. I think that's great. I love working with acupuncturists. I think acupuncture is so important. And I found actually a lot of answers through traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda for specifically women's health. Like I have never found another modality of medicine or that's been lacking in Western medicine that actually talks about the uterus.

Sherisse Alexander (16:57.037)
Mm-hmm.

Sherisse Alexander (17:02.478)
Mm-hmm.

Neetu (17:14.731)
and care that the uterus actually needs. So in acupuncture and somebody that is having painful periods or is trying to conceive, having healthy blood flow, like blood is a transporter of nutrients that we need to get to other places. So if there's stagnation in the body, if we're not getting blood flow to the ovaries, we're not getting nutrients delivered to the ovaries, right? They also believe in like,

heat, the uterus likes to be warm. It works that way, right? Because blood flow flows when there's heat, cold constricts. So there's a lot of different theories and answers, I think, for women's health and uterine care within traditional Chinese medicine. And then Ayurvedic has specific practical modalities that you can do at home.

for the uterus, right? Like if you're trying to conceive that this is really great or have a less painful period. So, so much more that you have access to and can do for yourself. And those things combined with what I suggest in a protocol work really well and people can feel changes in a couple, you know, hopefully by the next cycle.

Sherisse Alexander (18:09.015)
Yep.

Sherisse Alexander (18:31.694)
So then, and that I guess you answered my next question, which was, well, that was my question. So for you then, the majority of the type of care, I guess is the word that I'm gonna use, is rooted in Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, correct? Okay.

Neetu (18:52.373)
Yeah. And then also the parts of Western medicine with like therapeutic implementation and then, you know, and, food and diet.

Sherisse Alexander (18:56.248)
Okay.

Sherisse Alexander (19:00.866)
Okay. So let's talk a little bit about food. Now I know everybody's different and I understand that everybody's different, but are there some real foods that really set off serious inflammation in the female body that are maybe the root cause of most people that you come into contact with or is it not that simple and straightforward and it's because it's so individual and unique, it's kind of all over the place.

Neetu (19:27.093)
No, I think that there's a conventional diet that most people in the Western world will have because it's convenient or we're living a really fast-paced life and it's just convenient to maybe eat out more often, order food, maybe it's fast food, a lot of

processed foods, example, packaged foods, things in boxes, things wrapped in plastic. It's easy, right? Like you can find something frozen and throw it in the oven or whatever. We don't know how it's made. Food quality is, you know, another thing that's important, right? And, you know, I think there's a lifestyle piece that drives that, right? So somebody that's waking up in a rush in the morning, a lot of anxiety, coffee on an empty stomach, grabbing like, I don't know,

Sherisse Alexander (19:55.214)
Mm-hmm.

Neetu (20:19.649)
a Kellogg's bar, a breakfast bar or something, right there we're just spiking our blood sugar. Blood sugar plays a big role in hormonal balance, insulin and ovarian function and ovulation. So we've got some top tier hormones like cortisol and insulin and they're directly responsible then for the production of estrogen and progesterone. So when cortisol is really high,

Sherisse Alexander (20:25.902)
Yeah.

Neetu (20:45.017)
know, cortisol and progesterone are actually made from the same precursor. when there's too much cortisol, we're actually stealing from our progesterone reserve, right? And that can impact ovulation and, you know, progesterone is an amazing hormone. It's our anti-anxiety hormone. So you want to make sure that you're ovulating every month, right? To get those benefits. So that's just like how the cascade can work, right?

Sherisse Alexander (21:09.444)
I just learned something new today.

Neetu (21:11.799)
Yeah, that's just sort of how it works. And that's how like your diet is impacting that. So making sure that, you know, you're waking up in like a peace, giving yourself some time, right? Like, I know that's not easy and carving these habits. I do talk about habit stacking quite a bit, right? We try to do one thing and then we build on it, right? So maybe you're struggling with breakfast in the morning, prepare it the night before, like you can just make some egg cups, prepare some like turkey sausages or like a chia.

you know, oatmeal or something. Yeah, chia pudding or something and you know, warm it up and like you can have that quickly. So I think food prep and preparing yourself actually has been one of the things that has helped me a lot. I know some people might struggle with that, but like taking that time on a Sunday or something can really go a long way because then you're not starving and just grabbing something for the sake of grabbing something and spiking your blood sugar and your cortisol literally all day.

Sherisse Alexander (21:43.254)
A cheer putting. My favorite.

Sherisse Alexander (22:06.125)
Mm-hmm.

Sherisse Alexander (22:11.81)
I'm curious because I've had this conversation with a few people lately and for my my own self, I've never really had any. I'm very fortunate in that way. I've never had. think the extent of my female challenges have been painful periods. And even with that, they've always been mad. They've been super predictable, really manageable. Like cramping was never really a thing. So but with that, I was really on my own personal journey of like

Neetu (22:20.47)
Yeah.

Neetu (22:25.953)
Right.

Sherisse Alexander (22:41.582)
weight. And I often say to people like, when did food become so complicated? Like, when did it come like just it's there's so much science behind it. You can't just you can't even just eat healthy and and have that be enough anymore. And so anyways, it sent to me on this journey of I was at a doctor's office of all places, and I found this book on intermittent fasting. And it was such an

Neetu (22:48.994)
Yeah.

Neetu (22:53.881)
No.

Neetu (23:05.177)
Woo.

Sherisse Alexander (23:06.976)
interesting read and I started employing some of the things that the author talks about in the book and what a difference it had made for me. Does intermittent fasting, because you did talk about eating breakfast, I'm not a breakfast eater, never have been, it's not the thing that I do and this book finally made it okay for me to not have to eat breakfast in the morning. But how does that play into women's health in what you see?

Neetu (23:34.273)
I think there's a time and place for everything. And I think there's a lot of great benefits for letting your body fast or staying fasted and listening to your own body, right? Like you're your advocate and how you feel. If it's not affecting your menstrual cycle and you're not having symptoms and it's working for you, I think that's great. A lot of times though, women with, which is a lot of women that have hormonal balances like PCOS, endometriosis,

fibroids, there is an imbalance there. And we're trying to course correct that for a certain period to get the body body back to a place of homeostasis and stability. and that's where eating some and having the satiety of breakfast is really important. So, just to give you for, you know, an example, like your body's always trying to keep you alive. It's main focus is safety. And when we're in a fasted state, especially for women, because we, you know, we can

bare children and we want to ovulate every month. Being in a place of feeling resource, having the resources, which is the raw materials, the nutrients, the vitamins, the minerals, keeps your body feeling safe. And that's where something like eating breakfast and balancing your hormones from the day. And that's something that where it's like when you start your day with a healthy breakfast and it's, you're having your protein, good fat and fiber.

And you'll be satiated for hours, right? It really creates a stability in the body and your body always feels safe versus like, you know, I'm starving, I'm hungry and like, you know, we're seeing terrible periods or missing your ovulation, right? So if we're trying to conceive then that becomes really important. So a little bit situational, but I do think there's a kind of place and I do think there are benefits to intermittent fasting, but where it's not always beneficial.

Sherisse Alexander (25:25.388)
Mm-hmm.

Neetu (25:32.089)
in a period of time in some of those cases I just outlined.

Sherisse Alexander (25:36.142)
Okay. So I would assume then kind of based on what you've said, is there, well, I shouldn't assume, I'll just ask, is there a specific age group that you find that you work with the most? Like what's your demographic?

Neetu (25:52.281)
Yeah, I think women between 28 to 45, you know, they're a little more interested, maybe more aware of what's going on in their bodies. They might be, you know, go-getters that are living really busy full lives, but maybe, you know, still experiencing a lot of symptoms like, you know, burnout, fatigue, weight gain, insomnia.

missed periods, terrible periods, exhaustion, a host of symptoms and have tried a bunch of things that haven't worked and then, you know, they'll come to somebody like me or women that are also trying to conceive and again, maybe they've been through multiple rounds of IVF and it's just not working or IUIs and then they're interested in an alternative path.

Sherisse Alexander (26:43.692)
Okay. there was another question I had right on the tip of my tongue. yes. Infertile infertility. So somebody comes to you after they've done their IVF or IU eyes, that I'm assuming that it's, it hasn't been successful. So they start, so then I assume then that you work with them, to get them ready pre-pregnancy and then do you support them throughout their gestational throughout the gestational period?

Neetu (27:13.727)
Yeah, I think it's so important and I, you know, I love the relationship I end up building with women that I work with and then, you know, sometimes they're spouses also, right? Like I'm so in it with them, right? Through the process and you know, there's trial and error going through and choosing to do something naturally takes more time, right? It's not instantaneous, but potentially neither is expensive rounds of IVF. And I think our system is very quick.

Sherisse Alexander (27:35.821)
Yes.

Neetu (27:42.209)
to push women to IVF without any intervention. And I see what I do as a huge gap in the treatment because there's a lot of benefits to taking the three to six months or a year prior if you know, this is a planned pregnancy to prepare your body because if you think about the current state of someone's body that is like, you know, there's wear and tear over time. Maybe there's hormonal balances that are happening.

there are stressors. Getting pregnant itself is not even potentially, depending on how long they're trying, there's a lot of joy sucked out of the process, right? It could be actually really, really emotional draining, very stressful. There's a lot of pressure there. So having that emotional support system is really important.

Sherisse Alexander (28:21.653)
Mm-hmm.

Neetu (28:33.665)
We also work on egg quality. So we can put a lot of medications into our body and hopefully it'll trigger our body to do what it needs to do. But it's not necessarily that the next egg that you can get pregnant with is getting the quality in terms of like nutrients. This is like the baby's DNA we're talking about now, developmentally, how the mother's body needs to be, you need to be over-resourced in essential nutrients, right, for yourself, but also your future baby. So.

Working on your diet gives you that time to do that reduce inflammation that's happening, you know, not just physically but emotional inflammation as well and and and learning some of the lifestyle things that are important, maybe you're staying up too late and scrolling at night. Well, you know, that's impacting the growth hormone that happens when you get to sleep, right that impacts fertility. So there's a lot of benefits to taking that time to adjust your

Sherisse Alexander (29:24.075)
Mm-hmm.

Neetu (29:31.065)
your diet, the supplementation that you might be needing, and then the lifestyle factors as well to help support yourself. And then the meds work better because your body and your organs are functioning better too if you still want to go down the route of IVF or IUI.

Sherisse Alexander (29:47.459)
What a great transition though. And what a great way to, you know, give some perspective there. You know, you're right. IVF is likely from the stories I've heard, can be really stressful, right? Because it's like, it's expensive. and then there's all this expectation that you as a woman are likely placing on yourself and all of your external people and.

Neetu (30:01.336)
Yep.

Sherisse Alexander (30:10.476)
you know, possibly even your spouse. so the the as you mentioned, the experience would be extremely emotionally stressful if it's not successful on the first round. But what a great way to go through an experience and shift your lifestyle for so that it can be actually an enjoyable process because it is so enjoyable to be you know, to have a baby. I'm curious because you talked about you know, the relationship that you also tend to create with the spouse as well. Do you work with men?

Neetu (30:39.993)
If they're open to it, it's interesting that sometimes, you know, it's so interesting to me right now because all the focus is always on the female body. And of course, the female is going to carry the baby, right? But sperm quality is on a huge decline. There's a lot of research that shows that. So men need to really like get on board and not like think that, you know, it's just them. Because if a woman's been trying and she's making all these changes, then what's...

you know, what's the missing piece here? It's really important that men get on board and also make those changes for their diet and sperm quality. You know, the volume of sperm that they need to have, the sperm motility is really important. It needs to get to where it needs to get. can't just, that little bad boy can't be just swimming in circles or backwards, right? Confused about where it needs to go. So, sperm quality is a big part of this picture. So, the health of the man is really important.

Sherisse Alexander (31:24.526)
Confused.

Neetu (31:34.573)
Sometimes I'm working with a woman for three months and then it's like, you know, a husband might get on board with making some changes to his diet. So it's interesting.

Sherisse Alexander (31:43.215)
I'm, I wonder, is there a counterpart to you? And I'm just thinking about all the things that will likely come up for men when it's like, you know, when it's like, okay, well, you know, the lady's doing her part. What are you doing? And the, the ego that likely comes up with that. They don't usually think that, well, the reality is as we as women often think that it's our, our fault or our problem, but is there a counterpart to you then?

Neetu (31:54.049)
Yeah, it's, I think initially men just don't think it's problem.

Yeah, yeah.

Neetu (32:10.061)
Right.

Sherisse Alexander (32:11.074)
that because it might, might be a comfort thing, but I don't know in your experience. Hmm. Okay. That's a huge gap then.

Neetu (32:12.673)
I know.

Neetu (32:16.575)
Yeah, no, not that I've come across at this point. I do know that, yeah, that's a huge gap.

Absolutely.

Sherisse Alexander (32:25.122)
Wow. So men, if there's any of you out there that are interested in holistic healing and fertility in men, there's a huge addressable market. So I imagine that all the things that are affecting women are also affecting men then, like their diet, their stress, so on and so forth. Okay.

Neetu (32:33.25)
Exactly.

Neetu (32:44.089)
Yeah.

Neetu (32:49.207)
Yeah, absolutely.

Sherisse Alexander (32:49.358)
For the listeners, what are some practical skills that they could employ? Because you talked about accessibility and you're right, lot of this information can be, I mean Google's amazing and yes you can jump online and...

Sherisse Alexander (33:11.358)
wow. I have no idea. Are you there?

Neetu (33:17.536)
I'm still here, can you hear me? Yeah, you froze for a second.

Sherisse Alexander (33:21.262)
I can, but there seems to be a bit of a lag.

Neetu (33:25.66)
yeah, I felt that too.

Sherisse Alexander (33:26.764)
Okay, I don't know. Yeah, I don't know if it's my side or your side. I'm actually tethered to my phone anyways, we'll edit all of this out. What was my question now? Sorry.

Neetu (33:37.134)
this.

Sherisse Alexander (33:42.828)
I was talking about men.

Oh, practical skills, practical resources. So if a woman is like, okay, I really want to dive into this a little bit more, where do they start? How do they how do they what are some DIY things like especially if you don't have, you know, an awareness of your body as it is right now, what are some things that are really practical that people can do at home where they can begin to bring it bring that awareness actually into their body?

Neetu (34:08.023)
Thank

Neetu (34:16.857)
Yeah, so I think like really sitting with yourself and asking yourself and just creating that awareness of like, are you feeling? Maybe, we're so lucky that we do get a period every month because it's a monthly report card and everything that you've done the prior month before is going to affect your next period. So that's a great place to start. See how your period is. Did you do anything different? Is it worse than the day before? Is it regular for your regular, right? We're looking at 24, 26, 28 days potentially.

Sherisse Alexander (34:35.0)
Mm-hmm.

Neetu (34:46.297)
Your period's a great place to start. You can track your ovulation. You can use the basal body temperature and track your ovulation to see if you're ovulating every day and that's gonna give you an indicator. And you know, when I talk about hormonal healing, like it's not just to have a period. These, like our estrogen, progesterone play a really big part in protecting cardiovascular health, Alzheimer's health. Well, cardiovascular health, Alzheimer's, brain health.

osteoporosis long term. So if you can get ahead of your health now, it's going to pay you dividends in the future, not just if you want to have a healthy period, not just if you also want to get pregnant, but like for your future health, hormonal balance is really important. You know, for, all the stages that we'll transition to from, you know, menstruating, perimenopause and menopause, it's so important to make sure that your hormonal health is balanced.

So tracking your periods, great. Look at your diet, right? Like, are you getting enough protein? Are you getting enough healthy fats? That's really important. Cutting out some junk food, cutting out the processed foods, making it, sometimes it's foundational. Making sure you're drinking enough water, making sure your sleep is solid. Like women need more sleep than men. We need about almost nine hours of sleep. So what can you do from a lifestyle perspective?

to start making sure you're like, okay, if you're only getting six hours, well, how can we get it to seven? How can we get it to eight? Like what's happening with your sleep hygiene? Those are very basic things to do. And then like, if you're living and you're feeling overwhelmed and stressed, look at your plate and your life and where can you scale back a little bit and give yourself more time, you know? More time for yourself. And like, if there's something that you're not satisfied with, do you need to be moving more?

Where do we just make these like little shifts in the day or the week or throughout the month that can help you progress, right? And move forward in the way that you want to move forward with. So I think, you know, those are really practical things, but sometimes they're very difficult to go and do.

Sherisse Alexander (36:57.838)
I just want to ask that nine hours, does that include naps?

Neetu (37:01.145)
I mean if it's a solid nap, right? Why not?

Sherisse Alexander (37:06.478)
I have never been a lengthy sleeper. So when you said nine hours, I was like, my gosh, like I could not even imagine sleeping for nine hours. It's never been part of my experience. Okay. So to recap the practical things that the audience can do is number one, track your cycle and, and take a look at, you know, what, what the report card is saying, you know, is it regular?

Neetu (37:15.446)
Right.

Neetu (37:26.893)
Mm-hmm.

Sherisse Alexander (37:34.06)
the cramps, are they there, are they not, so on and so forth. Does PMS then also come into play here, right? So how is that an indicator?

Neetu (37:41.497)
like checking in like, we're also like feeling like huge mood swings, irritability, know, frustration, anger, like leading up to your period. Those are also things to take into consideration. Like we're supposed to be more balanced. And I mean, the female cycle, you know, is really interesting too, because all these things come up the week before our period and then we have a shedding. So we also get this opportunity to let things go.

Right? So emotionally, like checking in with yourself and being like, well, what happened this month? or last month? Was there something? Yeah, exactly. You know, our bodies are this like really intuitive, you know, and portals and like, it's, pretty, magical what we're, capable of doing if we just give ourselves some time and space.

Sherisse Alexander (38:08.27)
Mm-hmm.

Sherisse Alexander (38:15.182)
actually so lucky in that way. So lucky.

Sherisse Alexander (38:32.354)
Okay. So PMS is also one of the, so I guess then before the cycle, we would start with being aware of like how am I feeling? And then I guess the other physical symptoms that come into play, backache, bloating, cramping, so on and so forth, skin, all that other kind of stuff. And then when the cycle actually happens or the menstruation actually happens, then actually evaluating the quality of that. And then

Neetu (38:39.769)
See ya.

Neetu (38:46.933)
break out, rest, yeah.

Sherisse Alexander (39:00.854)
and tracking it for like how long. How long do you need like practical data before we can say, okay, there are some adjustments that I need to be made here or everything's great and I can continue on.

Neetu (39:11.863)
I would say give yourself like three months, like track your cycle for three months and see what the trends are, right? We want to see some patterns, we want to see some regularity, we want to see like where there's an anomaly, right? So just, you know, it's going to happen every month, hopefully, right? We're, we're ovulating and having a regular period and yeah, give yourself like a three month window to, to, you know, kind of like just tap into yourself, into your body and get to get, you know, it's really

it's your own benefit of your own level of deeper self-awareness as well.

Sherisse Alexander (39:42.477)
Yeah. When it comes to what's considered a regular cycle, I'm super regular. You can set your watch by my cycle. But that doesn't mean it's always like it's generally regular. So when do we then become concerned when there's an outlier, right? Is one outlier something or is it just, okay, well, what happened to this month? And, know, in the times when I've like been like, that was a really interesting cycle. Like that was

Neetu (39:51.075)
That's great.

Sherisse Alexander (40:11.884)
really late or really early and nothing happened. I, life was manageable. What does that mean? What do we do with that? Is it maybe again, if it's like 90 days of irregularity or is a one-off just exactly that, a one-off?

Neetu (40:28.089)
Yeah, a one-off can definitely be a one-off, right? our cycles can be so...

Neetu (40:38.873)
A one off can be exactly that, a one off and it could be maybe you had a more stressful month. You know, there was just higher levels of stress happening that month, potentially maybe you were traveling, maybe you weren't eating as well and like you missed a period and you can maybe, you know, make that association. But if it's happened now for like three or two months, that is definitely something to pay attention to.

Sherisse Alexander (41:12.142)
time.

Okay, so PMS monitor it, actual menstrual cycle monitor it, 90 days. Okay, anything else that are some practical things that we can do that don't necessarily necessitate going to see a doctor or even coming to see you, but even just, you know, to start bringing that awareness in. And I think the reason why I'm bringing this up is because, you know, you're talking about dealing with patients slash clients who have a

Neetu (41:31.992)
Yeah.

Sherisse Alexander (41:44.169)
physical manifestation in their body. And what I'm also hoping to do here is bring awareness to folks before it gets there. Because by the time it manifests, that means we've really got something to address. So what can we do before we get there? I remember self care. That's what want to talk about self care. What does that mean?

Neetu (42:00.683)
Self care, yeah, self care is so much. And it, I think when we want to talk about like really healing our bodies and, you know, on a deeper emotional, mental, spiritual level, that there's a lot we can be doing. So, I mean, there's also just cleaning up your cosmetics, right? Like going clean, going fragrance-free where possible. Fragrances are big hormone disruptors. So looking at...

where those hormone disruptors are coming from, reducing your plastic use. All of these things are called xenoestrogens and they mimic the chemical structure of estrogen in our body. And that can lead to an estrogen dominant situation, right? And make period symptoms a lot worse. So cleaning up all of that are practical things that you can do on a day day basis, switching to cleaner brands and again, going fragrance free. So those are some of the practical things.

From a holistic healing, taking that inventory of what's happening in your life, your relationships, your job, your work, where are these stressors coming from if you're feeling really unhappy? Journaling, I've always found to be really great. Having some sort of a meditative practice, I love somatic healing. It's been something that really has helped me a lot, understanding some of my core childhood wounds and where they came from.

Sherisse Alexander (43:19.374)
Thanks

Neetu (43:27.027)
and doing some of this work and that inner child work I think is so an important aspect of healing because a lot of our core beliefs and systems of beliefs that we are operating internally are still driving that show and driving decisions and they can be very limiting. They could be self-sabotaging also in terms of getting you where you want to be and that next level of yourself because you've got like

this wounded inner child that is still making decisions, right? So, and that can look like still, you know, entering into toxic relationships. And there's a compounding effects here. And like, of course it's gonna affect your hormones. you know, you're not as happy. You're not making serotonin. You're not making all your feel good hormones, right? You can have worse symptoms when your body's out of balance. Again, as women, like our hormones are running the show all day, every day. We can't escape that.

like they're chemical messengers. So really do diving deep into some of that deeper work and get really giving yourself time and space. I find like when I can start the day with a meditation, just turning into my breath and doing some breath work or, know, allows me to move through my day without reacting but responding. And

Sherisse Alexander (44:52.43)
Absolutely.

Neetu (44:53.217)
reactions and responses can drive cortisol up, for example, like somebody cutting you off in traffic, right? You can respond to that differently or a boss, right? So these are the things that we're faced with every day. And if it's really affecting you and you feel like you're running on more negative emotions versus positive emotions and not showing up to the relationships or your day-to-day and your job in the way that you want to, it's all related.

Sherisse Alexander (45:18.946)
Yeah. I want to touch on what you talked about there with somatic healing. What a beautiful experience, you know, when you actually tune into your body. In fact, I did it this morning. I was laying in bed and the first thing I did was like a scan and I'm like, okay, and once you start to get the hang of it, you really become the expert or the guru on

uh, what's going on with your body. And, know, I, I think you and I had spoken about Louise Hay and her book, heal your body. And so for those of you who have never come across this book before, I struck that that's such a practical way to begin really tuning into your body and the emotions that are attached or the blocks that might be attached to any physical disease or manifestation in your body. Um, and it doesn't always

immediately makes sense, like consciously, but if you just sit with it, and give it a moment, I mean, even ask yourself like, okay, where am I showing up like this, in this capacity or whatever the case may be. The answer is, all the answers are truly sitting within you. And it's such a great way to begin to know your body so that when you do go and see someone such as Neetu or even your primary caregiver or practitioner,

You are armed with some information about what your body is really trying to say to you. So I can't recommend the book enough. Get it, get it, get it.

Neetu (46:49.911)
I love that book as well and I love her work.

Sherisse Alexander (46:54.126)
Yeah, it's like my it's my go to medical. And it's crazy because you know, I mean, I use it everywhere. I was sitting with a friend last night, we were having dinner and she was talking about her shoulders. I'm like, I have my book. Well, the thing is, is she said to me, she's like, I'm pretty sure the last time we met, that was the same thing. I'm like, Yeah, so what are you? What are you in resistance on? What are you not wanting to, to go ahead and, and tackle here and actually take a look at and

Neetu (46:56.377)
Yeah.

Neetu (47:06.104)
Let's see what's going on.

Sherisse Alexander (47:23.942)
Then we started talking about saboteurs and you know how that story goes. anyways, so just as we wrap up, is there anything else that you would like to share today? Of course, I'll include all your contact, your socials, so on and so forth, how people can find you. I know you talked about there being so much education that you put out there. I think on your socials is really where you put a lot of the education. Yeah.

Neetu (47:46.583)
Yeah, yes. Yeah, I think the bigger picture is showing up to life with your full vitality and your energy. And that's something that every woman deserves because I see so many women that are running on empty, that are burnt out, exhausted, and literally going through their day to day like this. And this is a quality of life issue.

It's like these are the days of our lives and you don't want to just be running on empty every single day unhappy with symptoms that are holding you back from a version of yourself that you really want. So it's not just hormones or your period. It's like there's a bigger picture here of a life that you deserve and the way you deserve to be living it is really why I share all that information to empower women so that they can go and be that person.

Sherisse Alexander (48:12.654)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Neetu (48:40.151)
version of themselves that they want to be in take up space where they need to.

Sherisse Alexander (48:45.358)
What a beautiful reminder. The purpose actually of the journey contrary to what people think is ultimately joy. That is to find joy to be enjoyed to be in the moment and if there's anything that's holding you back from that, the physical manifestation is often a wake up call because that'll get your attention if you're in pain, it'll really get your attention right now. Yeah, so.

Neetu (48:50.047)
Yes. Yes.

Neetu (49:03.341)
Yes. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Sherisse Alexander (49:09.122)
Well, thank you, thank you, thank you so much again for joining me today and sharing your experience and your knowledge and your expertise on all things women's health related. I would love to have you back again. And for listeners or viewers, thank you as always for joining myself in Neetu today.

As always, if you have any questions, you can send me a message and I will get back to you. So without anything else, thank you so much and take care.

Neetu (49:42.829)
Thank you.

Sherisse Alexander (49:45.832)
gosh, my computer is like really hourly.

Neetu (49:48.057)
.