Optimal Fertility: Preconception Detoxification

I’ve been talking about environmental health for a number of years now teaching about the health implications that may effect all of us… but there’s one population that I’ve been itching to talk about, teach about, and offer support around, and it happens to be the most vulnerable population around.

Who?

Babies in the womb.

Fetal development is a supremely sensitive and delicate thing, unfortunately easily disrupted by chemicals in our environment.

The root of many childhood health issues like autism, or learning disabilities, as well as adult onset diseases, like cancers and even Alzheimer’s can have their roots in pre-natal chemical exposures.

Any health practitioner who serves or supports this audience of parents-to-be (in preconception), or during pregnancy and beyond needs to be well versed in the myriad ways that their environment can impact the health of their child.

That’s why when Jessica Drummond, founder of the Integrative Women’s Health Institute invited me to join her in co-creating a course for health professionals who serve this audience, I gave her an immediate and enthusiastic HELL YES!

We’ve been working for the past few months on putting this program together and it’s ready! (More about this course in a moment…)

This vulnerable audience – little developing babes – is part of why I do this work in the first place. It was nearly 7 years ago, when my sister-in-law was pregnant with my niece, that I fell into this field of research. I was trying to find the best crib mattress for her to buy, and what I learned made the hair on my arms stand up AND infuriated me. THIS fire is what propelled me forward into this work.

Increasingly, medical bodies are recognizing the desperate need to all health professionals, but especially those working with this vulnerable audience (obstetricians, pediatricians, gynecologists, naturopaths, nutritionists, mid-wives, doulas, etc.) to be better educated about environmental health.

Here’s a headline from a Huffington Post article from just 3 weeks ago:

“Reducing exposure to toxic environmental agents is a critical area of intervention for obstetricians, gynecologists, and other reproductive health care professionals. The evidence that links exposure to toxic environmental agents and adverse reproductive and developmental health outcomes is sufficiently robust, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine join leading scientists and other clinical practitioners in calling for timely action to identify and reduce exposure to toxic environmental agents while addressing the consequences of such exposure.”