How To Nurture Your Health For Your Child’s Future

Introduction and Dr. Gatoru2019s background 0:00

Dr. Joel Gator Warsh. You are the person who is the face and voice behind a very popular parenting Instagram. You are a board certified pediatrician practicing in Los Angeles, and you are the founder of a supplement line called Tiny Roots and the parenting Masterclass series Raising Amazing, which can be found at raisingamazingplus.com And you're the author of a forthcoming children's book called Love Dad, which will be published by Penguin. Welcome to the super fertility Summit. Thanks for having me on.

I'm excited to chat. It's so good to have you. And you have your second super baby arriving basically any minute. So we are even more lucky to have you here with us today. Thank you for that. Thanks. So I don't have to go in the middle, you know. I think that yeah, I think that's right. And Dr. Gator, you had an Instagram post which spoke to my heart so much.

Health starts before conception 1:28

I mean, all of your work does. I really love the way you are both a very gentle and a very strong voice for parents and for the, autonomy that we have and can step into as parents and how we want to take responsibility for raising our children and for the health of our children and your message really resonates with me and this post. Here are 15 things I've learned as an integrative pediatrician that I wish every parent could hear. It has so much amazing information in it. One is that you are responsible for your children's health.

The medical system and government will do very little for their long term health. Another is our modern lifestyle is a disaster for pediatric health. Half of all children have some sort of chronic illness. We are failing. And then food really does matter that much. And I love this post. Everything in it. I won't go on for the sake of time, but when I saw this post, the first thing I thought was this is critical information. Not just once. Our children are already here, but also in pregnancy and before conception.

Can you tell us if we were starting from the end of this interview? What's the one thing that you would want people to know for sure and take away from the message that you want to share today, and the information that you want to give? I would say, I mean, that's such a good question. I think that we have such a huge chronic disease epidemic, such a huge health epidemic of, you know, massive proportions, much more than anybody I think ever could imagine. We would have gotten to, you know, over 50% of kids have a chronic disease, 6,070% of adults have a chronic disease.

Most adults are taking medications. And it doesn't have to be that way. We have a lot of power over our health, and it doesn't have to be extremely complicated. It doesn't have to be expensive. There are many simple things that we can do that have a vast, that have a vast impact on our health, and we can make those changes to put ourselves in different trajectory as well as our kids. So to me, I think that's, you know, if we're going to jump to the end, then that is what I would want to leave somebody with is, is you really have a lot of power.

There's a lot of positivity to that. I mean, there's a lot of chronic disease and issues out there. But at the same time, we have a lot of power over our health and those small changes make a big difference. I see it all the time that people are going in one direction, make changes and move in a different direction, so it doesn't have to be all doom and gloom. There's a lot that we can do.

The fatheru2019s role in fertility and pregnancy 4:15

Yes, I love that so much. Talk to us about the different stages of the life cycle and what we call the parenting life cycle. So it might be more obvious that we have the ability to shape our children's health when they're out in the world with us, and we're raising them and taking care of them, although it's not perfectly obvious. Right? this is the message you're trying to get out to people, and you're doing a beautiful job of getting out to people, which is that we can shape the health of our children.

And we we must shape the health of our children for the better. Because if we just go with the flow, look where the flow has landed us. So that might be more obvious to people. But I think what's less obvious to people is that this starts in pregnancy, and this starts even before pregnancy and even before conception. So can you talk to us a little bit about that? Yeah, that's such a beautiful question because so I, I just recently wrote a book. It's called Parenting at Your Child's Pace, and it's about kids from ages 0 to 3.

But in the start of the book, one of the things that I talk about is that it's really frustrating that medicine is so, delineated by, you know, the heart or the lungs or this age or that age starts at, you know, zero like the first day that baby's born. But that's not true. If we want a kid to be healthy, we have to be thinking about these things beforehand, because your child's health and their future health is impacted by everything that you're doing today. So if you are pregnant, then everything that you're doing is impacting that kid.

And even before you're even thinking about having a baby, all of your health before that impacts that child's health because your baby is literally built from you, right? Your baby's health, from the things that you're eating and your own body and then certainly when you you have conceived and certainly when you have the babies growing inside of you, everything that you're doing matters. I mean, you can even look at the environmental working groups research that shows, you know, there's a couple over 100 toxins that they find in cord blood.

So why would the things that we're doing not matter? I mean, we're lucky that we have this magical system that can detoxify and can do a pretty good job. But we're getting to the point where we're surrounded by so many chemicals. We're so nutrient deficient and and that even just by common sense that that affects your baby and that affects them long term. If they don't have the right building blocks, then it's going to be harder for them to be healthy. They're going to have more chance to get sick or have a chronic disease, and they're not going to be as resilient as they should ultimately be.

So these decisions that we're making impact us, and then it impacts our child, which I think is very empowering to know that we have we we do, make a big difference in our child's health. But it's also important to recognize that, because I don't think people really think about that on a daily basis. Absolutely. I mean, that's that's what we're talking about every day at the Fertility and Pregnancy Institute, when we're talking about the prime minister, the period leading up to conception and how critical it is for everything else that comes after it.

So thank you so much for that message. And I'm going to make sure that we we give the listener, really important, tangible, actionable steps that they can take to improve their fertility and their, their children's health before they conceive and during pregnancy.

Stress, support, and the fertility mindset 7:56

So everyone's stay tuned for the very end when, when we'll get that, that tip from Dr. Gator. But until we get there. Dr. Gator, can you talk about the role that dads or the person providing sperm for the for the baby plays in the equation of, of creating the health of children? Because I think that the, the common discourse, both in society and in medicine is a focus on women, a focus on mamas, a focus on the person providing the egg in the the uterus. And we know that it's it's not it's a 50:50 equation.

It's not only that, it's a 5050 equation. And actually research is showing that in some cases it's more than a 50:50 equation, like through the function of the placenta, which we now know is epi genetically programed by the sperm to some extent. And we always thought that that placenta just had to do with the mama and the baby and the health of the pregnancy. So I would love your your perspectives and your guidance for the people listening about the role of that dad does play. Yeah, great. Great question.

I mean, it's such a wise, you know, I would say encouraging question because we just don't think about the other the other half of the pregnancy all the time. But it is very important. I mean, certainly, you know, there's a lot that a woman does obviously in, in a pregnancy. And so that's the a focus I think most of the time. But sure, I mean, I would think that number one, the health of the sperm would be related to the health of the individual who's providing that sperm. And so I think we need a lot more research in this field.

But I would I would postulate that, you know, a lot of conditions that we're seeing, especially genetic conditions, can be related to the sperm, the health of the sperm, all the things that we're doing. And so if we're not a healthy individual, then that would most likely make it more likely that you have you know, some unhealthy sperm or all of your sperm are unhealthy, and that would potentially lead to some sort of chronic illness or genetic disorder or whatever that may be. So I think that's kind of one part of it where we don't necessarily think of it, you know, as a guy, that what I'm eating today, maybe that's going to affect my baby tomorrow.

But but I mean, your sperm is always, you know, turning over and you always get making new sperm. And so not only is your, your chronic health important, but also your current health. I mean, what you're eating, what you're doing, if you're taking medications, drugs, whatever, that can certainly affect the production of sperm. And, and I would imagine the quality of it as well. So that that I think is part one where the partners are really important. Part two is and being part of the pregnancy. Yeah.

You know, there's there's no question that mental health is important, that stress is important. All of these things affect a baby and the pregnancy. And the more stable a home environment, the more stable a relationship, the more, help that you can provide your partner being there, keeping their stress levels low. just doing anything possible to make the pregnancy as optimal as possible. That's also all don't affect your baby. from a, you know, very specific, you know, stress affecting your body versus like, the energy that you have in the room.

All of these things, I think matter, you know, to whatever degree, who knows. But certainly they make a big difference. And and there's no downside to, to being a supportive partner. I would think. So. Beautiful. You brought up so many things that are really important. In general, the role of psychology and stress are left out of the fertility and pregnancy discussion. And yet from a scientific perspective, we have a mountain of of data showing how critical they are. And from our practice at FPI, we use what we call the fertility and pregnancy pyramid to illustrate and in simple terms, the complex network that makes up our fertility in pregnancy.

Just like you were saying, that medicine is dividing things up in very artificial ways, right? Like the heart, the, you know, the respiratory system, the reproductive system. And that's not really how it works in real life. And we, we that's how we practice fertility and pregnancy care and support for CI. And one of the things that we at the base of the pyramid is what we call the psychosexual level, the psychological and sexual level. And what we find is that it is always the key to overcoming fertility challenges.

And there can be all kinds of tangible reasons why things aren't working problems with egg, problems with sperm, fibroids, PCOS, all the things. And yet still the key is always it always starts there. So when you bring up, you bring up psychological factors and stress it. It makes me think of just how critical that level of the pyramid is, and yet how left out of the equation normally is.

Secondary infertility and the reality of conception 13:12

There's when you when you go to IVF, there's there's not a discussion of your your site, your psychological state, your emotional state, your your stress, etc.. And one thing that you, you really emphasize was the role of being not just a healthy partner because your your the health of your, your organism and your sperm matter are related and matter, but also being a supportive partner. And it's really interesting because we see that when there's, a lack of a sense of safety and security and support at home and in the relationship, it does have a profound effect on the ability to get and stay pregnant and carry a pregnancy term and to have a healthy baby.

So when you bring that up, it really, really resonates with me. And one thing that I want to point to that's complex in the area of fertility is the amount of control that we have. So. You talked about how there's a lot that we can do to help shape the health of our children and help to shape our own health. And I think there are a lot of women and humans who will be listening to us, who will feel like I've done all the things and my fertility still isn't working for me. And so sometimes there's not a 1 to 1 correlation of input and output, right.

But also I think people can it can be difficult to stay motivated when you're not seeing an immediate reward of your effort. And I think it can also feel like there are some burden that comes with that control. Right? Because it's easier to do what everyone else is doing. It's easier to follow the standard American diet, the standard food pyramid, and think that just because everybody else's, that's how everybody else lives, and everybody else seems to be able to have children without any issues. Why?

Why can't it be that way for me? Seems easier. So what would you say to people who feel. More, who feel burdened by this ability to shape their own health and the health of their children, as opposed to feeling like it's empowering and it's a wonderful opportunity. Yeah. So I mean, there was a lot there. So I want to unpack that because it's a really, really good deep question about fertility. I think, because you know what you mentioned that really resonated with me was, was when you mentioned how, you know, people see you like they're doing everything and yet they still are having issues conceiving.

And so, like you mentioned, no matter what you do, there are some people that might never be able to conceive, there might be an atomic reasons or whatever, with the body where it's just not not happening. And you can do everything, you know, like you can be a marathon runner and you can eat the healthiest you can, do all the things, and you're still not going to be able to to conceive. So that is one part of it. But I think it is really important from from an integrative medical perspective to really step back and think, are we really doing everything that we can to conceive this?

You might be you might think that you are it might be doing a million things, and that's great. But modern medicine doesn't think integrative li a lot of what we do, is outside of the basics and the foundations, which are really at the core of improving your chances at fertility. I mean, you can certainly go through IVF treatments and do all of those things, and sometimes that will work, and that's wonderful. but if you aren't eating healthy, if you aren't sleeping, if you are stressed, if you don't have a supportive partner, all of these things can affect your mental health.

It can affect your body. And they could be the reason why you aren't unable to conceive. Or they're at least making it harder. And that I think we need a lot more research on it to kind of suss

Fertility trends and using medicine wisely 17:28

that out and prove it to people, but just in a commonsense manner. When you're thinking about these things, if you are not eating very healthy, even if you think that you are, but you're not eating nutritious food with all the nutrients in your body is missing some nutrient that it needs. Maybe if you give it that nutrient you would be able to conceive. It's not always easy to to know that because you can go to the doctor and they can say, oh, well, we took your labs and everything looks good, but you're not necessarily checking your B vitamins, or you aren't necessarily checking, you know, X, Y and Z vitamin.

So so maybe maybe that could be a contributing factor. Or maybe you have a very stressful life and you're working and, you know, maybe you're a single parent and you want to you want to have a second child or whatever it is, that's going on that makes it very stressful. But those hormones are affecting you. And you have to have the perfect balance of hormones to conceive. And if those are off, you might not realize it, or you might not even realize you're stressed because you're so used to being at this level of, you know, mild chronic stress.

And, you know, maybe if you got out of that, that mental state and, you know, you move to the middle of the mountains, you didn't have all the stress that you had then, then maybe you would be able to. And I don't know that that's not necessarily the case. Doesn't mean everybody can just move to the mountains, but where we're not living in a way that we were ever really meant to live for most people. And we're not eating in the way that we were meant to be, eating or not sleeping in the way that we're meant to be sleeping.

We're surrounded by, you know, emfs and Wi-Fi signals, and we're surrounded by toxins. And, you know, everything that we do and what we're drinking in our food. And we're we're making it harder and harder for ourselves to conceive. I mean, the statistics don't lie. You know, fertility is going down. and that's because of a of many factors. I'm sure we don't exactly know what, but the things that we're doing, even if we don't realize it, certainly contribute. And so you might think that we're doing everything, but that's where an integrative perspective can really come in to maybe expand your horizons of some of the simple, basic things that you could do, and then maybe that will help all the other stuff that you're doing.

Yes. I love that so much. You know, something that's really interesting is that worldwide, the rate of secondary infertility, meaning someone already has a child or has children, but is not able to have another one are much higher than the rates of primary infertility, which is having trouble having or staying pregnant with the first baby. And I'm curious, in your practice, do you see a lot of parents who have a child and want another child? But it's not happening for them, and it's really surprising for them because it seemed to happen really easily the first time.

It definitely happens. It's certainly parents mentioned it to me, but I, I feel like I don't necessarily know the answer to that question because I don't know that everybody would be comfortable mentioned. I mean, I'm sure, you know, some people are, but I would I would definitely assume that that would be under under discussed with the pediatrician because they, you know, I would be thinking, I'm taking my child to you. It's not really your job. I quote unquote it as a pediatrician. It's like, I'll talk to my OB about that or whatever.

But you know, they should and people do sometimes. And I think it's great to kind of have a discussion with somebody that you trust. You know, my, my, my gut on that is that is very true. certainly it has been discussed, but I think I would, I would guess probably 90 plus percent of the time when, when people are trying to get pregnant but can't, they're not mentioning that to me. They're just focus on the kid that's there. and not really bringing up, you know, we're trying to conceive another child.

We're just not able to do it. You know, I think it's more if they are looking for fertility practitioners and sometimes they'll say, oh, do you know anybody? Do you like anybody? I think that's generally the the pediatrician. But yeah, I think people should should discuss it more. I think it's, it's comforting to some degree to know that other people are going through it. And, and sometimes that can even help to realize that it can be more just because I think most people don't even realize how hard it is to conceive.

I mean, I think people think and it's just very, very simple. But certainly as we're getting older, in terms of them more, more frequent pregnancies as we're getting older, then the reality is, if you just look at the statistics, I mean, I'm sure you have I'm sure you talk about this, but but it can be a year. It can be six months, it could be a year and a half average, depending on how old you are in terms of the likelihood of conceiving in the years, a long time. It is a I mean, it's agonizingly long when somebody wants a baby and, you know, month after month, it's not happening.

I mean, it takes I think it takes people not I think I know it takes people to really dark places. And I think it's because as a society, we have really misled one another. I'm happy to say that I'm not I'm not part of that because I, I talk about it all the time. But as a society in general, the message is get that getting pregnant is going to be the most natural thing you've ever done. And because it's going to be natural, and that's what a woman's body

How integrative pediatrics shaped his approach 22:48

is designed to do, that it will automatically be easy and like you said, I don't think people realize just how hard it is to conceive and the number of things that need to line up and go right in order for conception to happen, and then for a pregnancy to be sustained. But the focus is so much on don't get pregnant without meaning to get pregnant, that there's so little talk about the reality that there are a lot of people who come to the point in their lives when they want to have a baby, and it just doesn't happen that easily for them.

And, people feel really betrayed by their bodies, and you know, really silly for the decisions that they made and the expectations that they had where they felt like there's all this time and I can prioritize education and career, and then when I'm ready, it's just going to be there waiting for me. And, so I think it's really, really that's why something like what we're doing here is so important because we're having a real, honest, raw discussion about what this looks like in, in real life for people.

So I thank you so much for that. I want to ask you, what are the best and worst fertility trends that you're seeing today? Any thoughts? Yeah. I don't I don't know that I because for me, I'm sick and I'm more in the pediatrics world. So I don't know that I'm like extremely in the know on on the the coolest hippest new trends for for fertility. But certainly from what I am aware of and from what I'm seeing, the practice, I mean, number one, in terms of a trend, it's older, older pregnancy. So I think that I don't know if you would call it hip, but but it's certainly much more normal to be in your 30s or later 30s and having children.

I'm seeing a lot more parents, you know, even in their 40s, having first children. So I think that's becoming much more the norm as as both parents are working and as people want to be more financially stable or, you know, whatever the reasons may be, it's it's just, you know, they call it geriatric pregnancy, like my wife, you know, you hear that? You're like, well, well, what does that mean? But, they need to change that term now because it's like it's normal pregnancy. I don't know what the exact numbers, but it's like in the 30s now when people are having their first kid on average.

So 26 years old for the first child. But, a third there, if people go on to have three average ages, I believe 31 for a third child, but there is this crossover such that, women in their 30s are having children more commonly than women under 19 and younger, which is definitely a change that we've seen over time. So yeah, absolutely. Yeah. No. That one. And then I think the other one from a medical perspective is using, you know, technology, medicine, fertility drugs, much more than ever before. I mean that from a positive perspective.

I mean, we have amazing new medications, amazing new technologies that are very helpful for for individuals who want to have a child. They're having difficulties. So I think that that's important. But I also think, you know, from an integrative perspective and just from a again, from common sense, you want to do that as a last resort because you are, you know, injecting hormones, taking medications, all of these things can have a negative impact on you and certainly on your baby. Potentially they can help you conceive a baby.

And that's wonderful and magical. But it's important also to go back to understanding the the reality of the situation and not doing that too quickly. and trying, you know, just like we said, doing everything that we can from a more natural perspective to help do that naturally. I think that's that's always going to be key. And, you know, if you're talking about what would be a negative trend in my mind, it's jumping to medicine too quickly, whether that's fertility or anything else that I see. I mean, that's the backbone of what I do as a practitioner.

and I don't I don't do fertility treatments, obviously, but I think that's just exactly the same as basically anything that I do in terms of it's just important to understand that medication can be lifesaving, a magical, but it should be a last resort. And if you've tried everything, if you've tried to conceive for five years, it hasn't worked. Whatever it may be, then that might be the right solution for you. But it's I don't think it's the right solution for somebody who in general has maybe tried for half a year or a year and, you know, haven't, hasn't been able to conceive naturally.

I think there we want to do everything possible from a natural perspective. And then that's a great option. You know, if we really can't conceive over time, then that to me is where I feel like that's the negative trend. If we're looking for something negative, because that's the negative trend for everything in medicine these days, is to do things before trying all the other natural stuff first. I love that so much. You said something, I wrote it down. Medications can be lifesaving and magical but they should be a last resort.

I, I think that that is such a powerful message. Thank you so much for that. And I agree, it's wonderful that we have the ability to use these interventions when they're when they're needed, but they don't address the root causes of why you're experiencing the symptoms of difficulty getting and staying pregnant. And for most people, they are symptoms because they're not truly infertile or truly sterile. And so what you're saying is take that the actions, not that we we talk a lot about taking conscious action as opposed to compulsive action,

Mindset shifts and practical family changes 28:38

because I think there's you can go down the rabbit hole of Google and try all these different things and throwing spaghetti at the wall, and that's not necessarily doing everything you can in, in a conscious, deliberate way that's more compulsive action. Right. But take the conscious actions and then if you still need the intervention, that's the point at which you use intervention. So I really I really love that. And also celebrating that we're, we're having children older. I had all of my, my super babies in my late 30s and 40s.

So just just like, your wife, I also received that term. but like you said, it's it's becoming normative. It's not it's not something that, we should view as, as pathological in any way. So thank you so much for that. I love that Doctor Gaiter. Tell us how you became so passionate about the health of children and integrative health. And what do you think is the most disruptive? And I mean that in the best way possible. Thing about how you practice medicine. So I, I think that most people go into integrative medicine because they go through some sort of crisis in their own life, in their health, and then they are not helped by the Western medical system.

And so then they are helped by the natural system. And that's what leads it. Right? That was not my path. I'm luckily, you know, knock on wood, haven't, you know, really been unhealthy in any way. So that was not my path. It was really more in enlightenment through going through practice and just seeing what's happening out there. I, you know, went and did all the regular medical training. I went to a really good Western medicine program for pediatrics, but I got really frustrated seeing everybody giving out medications like candy, having no other options, having friends or even patients that would go to a natural practitioner after being in the Western, model for years and getting better, you know, having an autoimmune condition and where they were told, oh, it's this is going to be you're you're gonna be on steroids for life. That's how it's going to be.

And then they go somewhere else and they come back and their numbers are back to normal. It's like what? Like what? What happened? What are they doing and why? Why are people going these practitioners and getting better? And how do we not know about any of this. So that's kind of one piece. Number two, meeting my wife. She's very holistic minded. And that's reminding. So that opened my eyes a little bit too. At the same time I was opening up my eyes anyways. And number three would be watching our health deteriorate.

I mean, there there's nothing more obvious, I think, at this point than the serious chronic issues that we're having, with ourselves and with kids. And 50% of kids have a chronic disease, more so adults. And so we need to do something about it. And so that's what led me to start learning about integrative medicine and, and natural medicine. And I say I'm not against Western medicine. It's fantastic. There are so many things that can save your life. And that's great. You have an emergency. You need an MRI.

You need an antibiotic. Wonderful. That's not that's not the issue. The issue is that we're so quick to do that. And there are all sorts of other alternatives out there that we can use and what we can do first, and that is what we need to do. Most of the time. But we're not discussing that. So that that to me is what led me down this path to, to integrative medicine and natural medicine and just blending it into my practice. And for me, it's been it's been wonderful. I mean, I think that people are very open to it.

I've seen people it really resonates with a lot of people. And I think that it's so common sense that there's no there's no reason not to do it. You know, there's no reason not to do elderberry sirup instead of a cough medicine. If the elder various works, it's just we have to move in that direction and kind of balance both things. And right now we we're our medical system is so pharmaceutically driven, and we just have to recognize that, I mean, the people that do the research are the companies that's, you know, a topic for a whole other day, but that's what we have.

And so you can't just say that natural stuff doesn't work just because we don't have the research. We don't have the research because there's nobody doing the research. It doesn't mean that it doesn't help. But there certainly are fewer side effects in general than a medication. So there's no reason not to do both and to try to solve things naturally first, and to try to get to the root cause of what's going on. Because you don't just like you said, when it comes to fertility rate and IVF, it it's you may very well be able to get pregnant.

If you change up some things in your life, you may not need the medicine to do that. You may, and that's fine. For some people, they they do. But if the reason you're not getting pregnant is because you're in a moldy house and you're having inflammation, or because you're not getting the nutrients that you need through your food, or there's some chemical in your water that you're drinking every day that's causing inflammation in your body. If that's the reason, then the answer is not IVF. The answer is to figure out what the inflammatory thing is, fix that, and then you can get pregnant.

And so that's that's what I think we're missing in modern medicine. And that's what drives me is that a lot of times it's not magical. It's very simple. But we don't think like that. We think we have a problem. We need a medicine as opposed to we have a problem. Let's try to think outside the box. And what's the basics that we could change? I think that's so true. I also think that while it's simpler in some ways, it's harder. It's easier to go and let somebody tell you, you need to take this pill and then go and take the pill than it is to sit with yourself.

Or maybe, a guide who's a professional, an expert and have that person prompt you to really take stock of your life, your emotional state, your relationships, your professional world, and make changes. Change your food. Change the way that you're thinking. Change things about the way that you're living. That feels much harder for people and. I think that in our world today. Our medical system is driven by by the pharmaceutical companies, as you said. But we also have a culture of wanting to take a pill to make things better, because we have a culture of wanting a fast solution.

Right. So what would you say to to people to really support them in? It's almost like an identity or a mindset shift of of not only being willing to make the harder changes, but being excited about making those changes. Because I think for for someone like your wife sounds a lot like, like me, which is that I love the way that I live, like we call it trimester life, and I love Princess Lesser Life. It's not a sacrifice to me in any way, but but maybe to some people it feels like hard work. So what would you say?

I would say that we have to get real and we have to get we have to look at reality and see what's going on and the two things that I hear most in terms of, you know, quote unquote excuses would be it costs too much or I don't have enough time. Right. And those are those are very reasonable things to say.

Reading labels as the key action step 36:38

But we also have to look at the statistics of what is going on and what is the reality. And most adults are taking multiple medications. Most kids at this point have a chronic disease, or at least half do. So. If you live a status quo life, you know the normal American life, then your kids, you are going to have crap. They're going to have chronic disease. That's just how it is. So if you want to do something different, you have to live different. And if you're okay with one of your two kids having a chronic disease and that's that's fine, that that's the lifestyle that we're going to have and that's where we're headed.

But if we don't want that, if you want something different for your family, then we have to make those changes and you don't have to make it difficult. You don't have to do things that you hate. But we do have to be mindful of health with every decision that we make. And and if we can do that, then you can move in a more positive direction. And it's not that you have to throw everything out in your pantry and never eat sugar again, or become, you know, competitive swimmer and go, you know, do multiple laps every day for forever.

You don't have to do those things. It's more about the lifestyle and moving in a direction. Right now, society is going this way. You know, we're going in this direction and we're getting more and more diseases and more and more problems. We need to change our trajectory just a little bit and just a little change over a long time makes a huge difference. And so you can do one thing or a few things and just slowly over time, be more mindful of what we're doing. And that can make a huge difference. That could be all the difference.

Just changing up a few foods that your kids eat could be enough to keep them in balance. You just deciding, oh well, you know, maybe gluten is sensitive. Maybe I'm sensitive to gluten. You take that out, maybe the inflammation in your body goes away and you can get pregnant. I mean, it could be as simple as that. It's certainly not always that simple, but we need to be mindful of those things and make those changes because we just don't have any choice anymore. You know, we really don't. And it's totally fine to not make those changes if you're not willing to.

But you have to understand what the consequences are. And that's where for me, you know, you mentioned science. I talk more gently in science, I talk more for her. But yeah, I think it's just a reality check. Do we just we just need you just I think people need to hear it, and then they can decide and do whatever, whatever makes sense for them in their life. But if you're if your mental mindset is, I don't have the time or it's too expensive, then those are just factors that are preventing you from getting to where you need to be.

But they don't have to be. You don't need a lot of time to do a lot of these things. You certainly doesn't have to be more expensive. So a lot of things are less expensive. but it's just a priority. It's really just prioritizing. When I go shopping, I'm going to read the ingredients, I'm going to buy chips, I'm going to look at the bags. I'm going to buy the bag with healthier options for the things that I know have more chemicals. I'm going to try to buy those things organic. I'm going to try to prepare one more meal in the week, or I'm going to try to buy things that have better ingredients that are not prepackaged.

I'm going to try to buy more fruits. I'm going to encourage my kids to do that. I'm going to go for a walk with my family. You know, you have to find things to do, but those things to do could be moving instead of playing a video game. I mean, there's so many little things that you can do. and if we prioritize that, then for most people, that's going to be enough. I mean, we didn't have this chronic disease epidemic 20 years ago or 50 years ago. So it's it's not that we can't make these changes and go back to where we were, it's just that our lifestyles are as such right now that what we're doing is leading to these problems.

But that's very empowering, again, because it means that with a few simple changes to the things that we did 2 or 3 decades ago, we didn't see chronic disease like we saw now. So we we can make those simple changes. And that's going to be enough for almost everybody. Yeah. Oh my god, doctor Gator, there were so many things that you said that gave me goosebumps. If if you live a status quo life, then you and your kids are going to have a chronic disease. And if you're fine with one out of your two kids having a chronic disease, then you can just keep living like everyone else is living.

I mean, that's that's profound because it's true. And sometimes it's not easy to hear the truth. But we have to know the truth because most people don't don't realize that. So I again, I, I just want to thank you for the, the voice and, the honesty that you are. And when I see your messages, they feel both gentle and powerful for me because they're they're not judgmental, but they are very clear. We can't we can't go on doing what we're doing. And we, as the parents cannot forfeit our responsibility and just let the government decide, let the the cereal companies decide.

And and just decide that we're we're just going to do what everybody else is doing and what's become normal today. Because what's become normal today is not normal at all. one well, almost one out of every two children having a chronic disease is not normal. I mean, children should be born perfect, right? With with no wear and tear on their system. And that's not what's happening. There's wear and tear. It's it's taking its toll so early in life, like you said. So there was just so much there that was so, so amazing.

And I really appreciate that. I want to ask you if you could encourage people to do one thing to support their fertility so that it works for them the way that they want it to, in the way they always expected it to, and so that their children could have the health that we all as parents, want for our children. What would that one thing be? I'm an integrative pediatrics parenting medicine perspective. The one thing that I think would make the most difference and that would cost nothing, and that would have profound impacts on your life, and your children's life would be to read the labels for everything that you buy from now on and be conscious of it.

I mean, whether it's food or, you know, makeup or products you put on your body or the couch that you buy or the bed that you buy, whatever it is, being mindful of the ingredients makes all the difference because you you can look at whatever food you're buying, and they're 16 different versions, and you can pick the one with fewer chemicals, fewer toxins, fewer ingredients, words that you actually know. And you're going to be keeping some of those toxins out of your body, which ultimately keeps many of your kids body or out of their life.

And that adds up over the years. No matter what we do, we're surrounded by chemicals in the air. We bring it the water that we drink, it's on the food. So the only thing you really have control over is what you purchase and trying to minimize it as much as you can. Because I think we're already at this. You know, if we everybody can handle this many toxins, everybody's already here, you know, before we start. So if you're buying things I put you to here, then that's when you run into a chronic disease.

But if you can at least keep things here, then your body can handle stuff. I mean, we're we're lucky. We have great livers and kidneys, and we have a detoxification system so we can handle chemicals. but we can only handle so much. Yeah. And so I believe that the reason that we're seeing such an increase in chronic disease is because most people have gone from here to here, and now we're no longer able to handle those chemicals. And so that's when your body gets into a disease state or an underlying condition or whatever happens that kind of leads you down that path to, to some sort of chronic disease.

So if everybody starts reading labels and is mindful of what they purchase for everything that they do, then that's going to decrease your toxin burden by a fair amount. And I think that that will get you the farthest without spending an extra penny, without having to really spend a lot more time or do anything. It's just you're conscious of everything that you purchase, and then you start making better choices for your health and your family's health. And and that's just a lifestyle choice. And that leaves you, in the long run, to a better place.

It's not a pill. It's not a quick fix. It's a life change, but it's cumulative. If you you know, if you eat a little bit of lead, there's a little bit of light in something, it's probably going to be okay. Not good for you, but it's probably okay. But if you're ingesting some, you know, every single day, it builds up, it builds up. You get to a place where you're having stomach issues and IQ issues, and it affects your brain. I mean, it's it's a it's a load, it's a toxic load and it builds up over time.

So your choices matter because it builds up over time. And I think that's so beautiful okay. So everybody the one tangible, concrete action step

What super fertility means 45:48

that you can put into practice today for your fertility and also for your children's health before you conceive during pregnancy and all their lives, is to read the labels on everything that you buy so that you can make informed choices and better choices. And that makes perfect sense, because in science we know one. A foundational principle is that what you measure improves. So what you start paying attention to naturally improves I love that. So beautiful. Thank you for that, Dr. Gator. And then last question for you for today.

I could talk to you forever. I've really enjoyed this conversation. Is what is the feeling of fertility of super fertility to you. So when you hear this, the super fertility concept, what's what's the feeling that that that defines that for you? I think it's it's empowerment. It's joy. It's it's having the power over your body. And to feel that your body is doing the things that it's always meant to do. I think that goes back to the conversation before where, you know, if you if you are not able to be, you're not able to have kids, you're not able to have that conception occur, then, you know, you feel, you wonder why.

You wonder what what's going on, why, why you're, you know, quote unquote failing, which may or may not be the case. I mean, it's just it's our body. It's it's something that we feel like we're naturally supposed to do so easily. But that's not always the case. So super fertility, it's like taking that power back and and doing everything that we can from an integrative perspective, to get our body to the best possible and most resilient place, to give ourselves the best chance at success. And that, to me is super hostility.

I love it so much. Thank you so much for that. It's been such an honor, pleasure, joy to have you here and to be part of this super fertility summit as you are awaiting the arrival of your second super baby. We just want to send you off with so much love for you, for your wife, for your two super babies, and your beautiful postpartum love cocoon. Thank you for spending these precious minutes with us and for sharing such incredible information from your heart with us. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.