Natural Fertility: A Holistic Journey To Motherhood

Introduction and Agency in Fertility 0:00

Dr. Mariza Snyder, you are a functional practitioner and women's hormone expert. And you're the author of eight books. In fact, you had your super baby boy, Kingston Carter, at 41 years old and published your eighth book right around that time, which I am so in awe of. Your newest book, the Essential Oils Menopause Solution, focuses on solutions for women in perimenopause and menopause, and the number one national bestselling book, the Essential Oils Hormone Solution focuses on balancing women's hormones naturally.

You've been featured on Doctor Oz in Oprah Magazine, Fox News, Mind Body Green, and so many other places. And you're also the host of the top rated energized podcast with over 11 million downloads. I want to welcome you to the Super Fertility Summit. Thank you so much for having me, Dr. Cleopatra. It is. It's such a pleasure to get to see you, honey. And so part of this. It's so good to have you. And I'm really excited for you to be part of this. You have so much to teach women about balancing their hormones across their reproductive lives, and especially women who are interested and having super babies at 35 plus and 40 plus.

I'm I'm so excited for you to be here to share your incredible wealth of professional wisdom. And also, you're incredible personal experience of having your delicious super baby Kingston cadre, whom I love to talk about. One of the things that I want to do is start from the end and ask you, what's the one thing that you want? The woman, the person listening to us right now to take away from this interview? I want women to walk away with knowing that they have agency when it comes to their health journey, and that there is so much that we can do with, you know, with guidance, with support.

that really lines us up, not only to have healthy babies, to just really thrive and so I know so often, you know, we're, we're told a lot about ways that we should not trust our bodies or, that we don't have a lot of control over what's going on. And, that it's, it's, you know, out of our hands type of situation. And I have not found that to be true. working with so many women over the years, you know, for over 14 years, and I think it's that level of agency and, you know, really tapping into a deep intuition, that can guide us, towards the health desires that we want.

And I think when we can imagine ourselves kind of as that future healthy version of us, whether it's a pregnant version of us or it is a, you know, a mama version of us, that that really becomes a beautiful North Star on our journey. And that was very much a North Star for my journey. that really aligned me with the right people, including you, to really put it in motion. but I was very much a part of that journey, and I very much had a lot of agency in that, in that journey as well. And I just that's what I really want to speak into today.

I love that so much. We have so much agency when it comes to our health journeys, and there's so much that we can do. I just want to underscore what you said, and also you touched on something that feels really important to my soul, which is that as women, as humans, it feels like we're really conditioned and socialized to not trust in our bodies and to think of our bodies almost as being at odds with us and our desires and our goals. And you said that's that's not true. We can befriend our bodies, we can trust in our bodies, and we can trust in our intuition about our own bodies.

So I love that so, so much. Dr. Mariza you are an incredible advocate for women and incredible guide and support to women in your work, and you also have your own incredible journey when it comes to your own health and hormones and fertility and pregnancy. Would you teach us a little bit? Tell us a little bit about your journey and how it's informed the work that you do today, and also how it's informed

Hormone Journey and Early Health Struggles 5:00

your personal life and how you how you're living your life. Oh, thanks for that question. I just love that question. And yeah I mean I figured if I, if I would take it all the way back, all the way back to when I was a teenager where, you know, hormones are coming online, ovaries are coming online. And you know, that is a process. it really is. And, you know, and, you know, even think back to that time where we just had a lot of misconceptions around how girls kind of came online in terms of their ovarian function and those, those critical reproductive hormones.

And now it really, you know, that first, I call it the first puberty, because that's right in puberty now. And and how, you know, a lot of what we just got a lot of it wrong. Like, you know, every girl had all these issues. And I remember getting, you know, birth control was pushed on to me at such a young age when. That's right. You know, in, in the, in the knowing of it today, I was like, actually, that's what my body was really supposed to be doing. Like, you know, you almost have kind of, you know, symptoms of polycystic ovarian syndrome.

It looks like that. But really it's it's just kind of the inconsistency of, of your body really coming online for the next 30 years in our reproductive age. But even then, you know, probably as I look back in hindsight, it felt like a hot mess of a journey. I was probably I mean, are there things that we can do for girls to really optimize their reproductive health because it is tied to every other system in the body, every other organ system? Absolutely. But also extra grace required to the little girls and to my little girl self.

You know, when I was never truly being taught in an early age that I shouldn't trust my body at all, and, you know, and and not and even if, even if I was told not to trust my body, if the only solution being birth control and, you know, I just, you know, in hindsight from that experience and how awful of an experience that was, I was I was put on hormonal birth control. I was put on the Depo-Provera shot. I lost my period for over a year after I came off of that shot. It was just all I mean, if I could go back to that little 19 year old girl right in, you know, right in college.

And I would tell her, you know, let's let's your body isn't failing you. Your hormones aren't, you know, aren't, you know, sabotaging you, your body and your hormones. I always tell people your hormones are doing the best they can and with what they've got in the spring, right there in and that. Now, I know that there are so many things that we can look at to really optimize our health, which I can talk about. And I know that's in your Primester master program and everything that you educate on, but I just, I, you know, if I could go back to that little 19 year old girl, you know, I would have never use birth control as a, as a what I consider to be a terrible Band-Aid option.

Yes. Really nourished and loved my body in a very different way and really trusted that my body at that age really had full capacity to reregulate and heal. And again, I don't even know if I was honestly having issues per se. It's just what I was told was going on. and I would really put it into myself and throughout my life. I'm not going to pretend like I haven't had other issues. I struggled with severe chronic fatigue in my late 20s. I had insulin resistance in my 20s as well. I just had major energy issues, and that has a lot to do with the trauma of my childhood.

I was I was basically racing against the clock, in survival mode. And, you know, you only can run that fast for that for so long. and, and so, you know, again, really tending to the parts of me that needed love and needed nourishing versus trying to escape them, which I think we've, we've all been really told and taught to do. but even even through the chronic fatigue, even through the hygiene motos diagnosis, even through the lower thyroid function. you know, really knowing my body, making pivots to support my body nutritionally movement, sunlight, spiritual self-care, you know, supplementation when needed, just really focusing on those big pillars and really being intentional with how I show up for my body and how I show up for my my energy and vitality.

How I show up for my little mitochondria, who are really the stars of the show in so many ways. You know, there's more mitochondria in our ovaries than any any cell in anybody's body, male or female, you know, and so loving up on them. But even throughout it all, you know, a lot of doctors at that time remember me? My mid-to-late 30s, we would, you know, we're warning me of, you know, geriatric pregnancy, that I had all these underlying conditions, that it was going to be hard. And there was never a time where I actually believed any of that.

Obviously, I had amazing friends like yourself in my. Yes, you who never said anything like that. Quite right. And so I really good. I felt really confident. You know, it's so funny in hindsight. My son, my little super baby, is three years old and and. He is so super and so delish. Yes, we we need to like a photo. Last up right now. He's so beautiful. He just had a little. He goes to a forest preschool. a Scandinavian forest school. I'm sure in Europe there's actually a lot more of them than in the state.

So he's outside playing all day. They're also learning. And, we just had our little. It's so hilarious to me that there's parent teacher conferences at this age. so do you. Like? Anyway, so we had our our parent teacher conferences last weekend. You know, we were, you know, our our our the teachers just love to tell us how advanced our son is, like, how connected he is, how, loving and sympathetic he is, how we includes everybody. But really, it's his languaging and his is his rationing. I my my goodness, he's already like a little attorney in our house.

He just. I love that. It's so cute. He feels super right. I mean, there really is something unique about the super babies. I mean, I, I always say, like, don't let people force your children into a box. Just like, don't let them force us into a box because they don't have to just be smart or just be great athletes, or just have good socio emotional functioning. They can have all of that. And having that at the goal isn't being perfect, but having as much of that as as possible in life really does give us a leg up in life and make life easier.

Absolutely, absolutely. Well. And so I had I got pregnant at 40. and, you know, it wasn't for, you know, I ended up as you know, I ended up having a miscarriage with the first baby. but then three months later, you got pregnant again. Just going back to the same protocols that I follow. I followed in your program. so within three months, we were pregnant again with Kingston. and, you know, a lot of people, in hindsight, a lot of people are like like you didn't you hadn't didn't freeze your eggs like you.

You didn't do IVF, you didn't do so they were they were just like, wait, you had your baby at what, age of 41? And naturally, like, just double, double, triple checking all that? Yes. Just like people are so amazed that that's possible. And yet that that is so absolutely possible. Possible. And it wasn't for, you know, it wasn't for a lack of intention. I was very intentional. I, you know, we, you know, I keep priming up my body was very important to me. Priming up my husband's body was equal as important.

Pregnancy at 40 and Natural Conception 13:00

I'm so grateful to him who was all, you know, game on in terms of all of the things, and, you know, really nourishing my body during the pregnancy, you know, I think, just, you know, if there was ever a time to really tend to ourselves. Well, it's every day, let's be honest. But if there was a time, because I know how you know you want it. You want to produce the healthiest baby. You want to make the healthiest baby. If there was a time to be very intentional about how you tended to yourself, how you nourished yourself, whether it was supplements and food, it's very much in those months leading to conception and then throughout that pregnancy.

And so I will say that the, kind of the, the talk track around women, pregnant women just getting to eat whatever you want. Like, I am not of that mindset at all. I really nourish your mitochondria, nourish your gut health, nourish your metabolism, and nourish your baby. because, you know, every, every millisecond there just building neurons that in a rapid, insane rate. And so I think I just really came from a place of like, you know, how you know, what does it look like to really serve my highest self, you know, and serve the highest, highest, you know, way of growing this beautiful baby like, how do I show up for both of us in a way that I know that it's I am only it's all health beneficial.

And so there was intentionality in not only taking care of my body and nourishing my body during the prime time, even a little bit before and then pregnancy and then even postpartum, you know, had, as you know, I was breastfeeding up until, he was a little over two and a half years old. So proud of you. Yeah. Not gonna lie, I was taking Coley. I think I took choline, like, like 500mg of choline. I think every day for three years, you know? Yes. Yes, I, I just think about all the things that I was so fully committed to making sure my vitamin D levels were optimized, making sure I had enough omega fatty acids, for the DHEA and the EPA.

And so I was just really mindful about all the different areas where I could just optimize my health, but not from a place of scarcity or concern. More from a place of this is what this is what my higher mama self looks like. And I remember the. Biggest yes, I love that. that I asked myself in the journey was who do I want to become? Who do I need to become to really become this little light beams mama? And, and it was a mama who, you know, for health was at the focus at the epicenter of our lives and play and and gentle, loving compassion.

but all wrapped into that, you know, my little ones got a little cold, and I swear to goodness, I had no idea toddlers got this. I didn't know, I didn't. No one told me that time that they ran through viruses like like nobody's business. And so. And it's so hard to watch them going through that. It's hard on the heart. Yeah, yeah. But they're no they're just rubbing it 24 five minutes. So but today we did a little bit of liposomal vitamin C. We did a little bit of liposomal vitamin D. We did our probiotic you know.

And so you know all these little ways to kind of boost a little system, keep us detox pathways open. and to really support his immunity. But that's always been the mindset. You know, even before I was I was pregnant with him was just how do I how do I create the the most beneficial whole, you know, metabolic and reproductive system to bring in this little baby. And so, again, it all came from a very positive mindset and a very kind of forward facing, highest self mindset. and just doing that one step at a time, bringing in the right people to support, and, and really like nailing down the pillars, you know, those are big pieces.

And obviously there's always I get that there are women who are listening to this who are are having struggles in their fertility journey and who are having to take other steps and other measures. But I just want you to at the end of the day, if anyone's hearing this, that there is a divine, you know, intuition in every single one of us that is constantly being told to be diminished, but that we get to listen to. And I had so much confidence in that internal voice, that no matter what other whatever, no matter how many health challenges have come up for me, that I've always known that there was a way through and that that is, you know, you know, I gathered the right people and I really attuned to my body, you know, and again, looking at labs and kind of taking all these pieces into consideration that there was always a way through.

And, yes, I know and I can speak to all the journeys that that I built, I believe 100% in all the women that I've taken care of. And even in my own journey. Yes. So beautiful. So. And I just want to come back to the the nutrients that you focus on all the time that you are trimester pregnant and postpartum those foundational nutrients. Right. Having the right, pre-pregnancy and prenatal formula because the prenatal isn't just for once you get that positive pregnancy test, it starts before that, and it has to have the right blend of vitamins and minerals and phytonutrients.

And then you have your omega three fatty acids with an emphasis on DHEA. And then you have your you have your vitamin D, and then you have your whole lean and actually scientific studies show that the greatest neuro cognitive benefits of choline for the developing super babies, and as they're breastfeeding and continuing to develop, is actually comes from twice the dosage that is the recommended daily allowance. Right. And then the probiotics these are foundational making sure you have the methylated B vitamins.

And for some people who are have compromised methylation and detoxification or have a history of known or suspected chromosomal abnormality, they need even more. So I just want to really emphasize those those things that you said that you want. I actually did a full I know I had you on the show right after that show so much back then. just talking about all this thing. There's so many mamas who are having children in early perimenopause or like heading into practice, and there was a consideration, but I went deep into I am a researcher, so I'm not you know, it's, you know, definitely be aligned with your higher self and mindset and, you know, have some research to back it up to.

Yes, yes. What I I'd love to share some of the the world what my kind of my protocol was and based on the research and please by all means you know piggyback or correct. If I remember I was talking about this in detail, but I found so critical because the amount of neurons that babies are making in utero, I think it's like 200, 250,000 nerve cells per minute during pregnancy and more than 100 billion neurons by the time your baby is born. That's amazing. Right? You know. It's a lot that talk about the miracle of all of that is just mind.

Such a miracle. It's such a miracle. this is incredible. Actually, I'm going to ask you to, if you want to share it as, a gift with our our bundle of gifts that we're going to be giving people. We would totally love to have you share that with us. doctor? Mariza, if that's something that you want to do, that would be amazing. I love this. And so tell me, what are you. So we're it's 2024, and there are a lot of concerns around fertility. And now, especially with social media, there are a lot of people out there giving information about fertility, and many of whom maybe don't have the right credentials to be giving out information.

So when you look at the trends, the fertility trends of 2024, what are the best trends that you're seeing when it comes to fertility, and what are the worst trends or the most concerning trends that you're seeing? good question. I, you know, the some of the bigger trends I think, that are important or that I see is just really dialing, dialing in metabolic health, you know, as polycystic ovarian syndrome, is one of the probably the biggest driver of infertility. It is the crux of that. You know, we see, you know, you know, about 80, 75 to 80% of women struggling with level of insulin resistance.

You know, really, what does it look like to support our blood sugar to really nourish our metabolic health? Again, nourish our our our mitochondrial health? You know, I believe that every thought we have, everything that we do, you know, every effort that we put out into this world is based on the quality of our cellular energy, our ability to process cellular energy. And so, you know, helping and supporting women in that direction of like, really supporting our cellular, cellular energy, our mitochondrial function, I think is a big part of that fertility journey.

I think proper supplementation and, and nourishing our bodies. You know, I'm curious to know what you think about, Oh my gosh, I'm trying to think of, a book that just came out that I'm super excited about, from is it Lisa Hendrickson or Lisa? It's the fertility, fertility Friday girl. And I'm trying to remember I. I do not I have not read the book, but I think I just heard about it recently. What's the name of the book? Real food for fertility. Okay, I'll have to look at it. Real food for fertility.

You know, I, I mean, I'm a very strong proponent of eating all one ingredient, real food.

Fertility Trends: Nutrition vs Fear 23:00

So if it's if it's centered on that idea, it's probably something that feels really aligned with what we do in the Prime Minister protocol. But I'm going to take a look at it. And I have heard about it recently. Yeah, I am. So I think also in, you know, really priming the environment and, and and really focusing on equality is a big a big I feel like a big trend in nutrition being such a big part of that. the fear of the fear mongering around infertility is an ER is something that I really cringe at and really kind of, you know, it's a real bummer that women that they only have these options more, you know, like severe intervention options, like, like, a, you know, egg retrieval and, and egg freezing and, and IVF, like, I, you know, I think that you're moving directly, scaring women into a lot of the, those types of procedures just feels feels so heavy to me.

And I and I get that there are instances where that's very much the case and I and, you know, I have I have a friend of mine who went down the journey recently and it's finally decided that they're just not going to anymore. And so I, you know, so I know in my heart I know so many women in those struggles. but also I just feel so fear driven, and that that concerns me in 2024. Yeah, that I think that that's really true, that that the popular discourse is really focused on interventions that take the control outside of you and put it into someone else's hands, instead of once again saying, you know best for your body and you can work with your body to get to where you want to go, that doesn't mean that you working with your body can also mean try mastering or preparing and then going into IVF if that feels like the right thing.

But not trusting our bodies as the first answer feels like not the right answer. Right? And it feels like the the conversations in society are really pushing women in that direction. It's almost like it's not safe to trust yourself. Yeah, and I think that's why I've I've gotten so much surprised, even those last two years about going to having a baby naturally, because that's like, what like that is. Yeah. That isn't we don't do that anymore. Like, yes, I think that age and I was just like, but what if we could like I had yes, there wasn't.

To me that was the only option initially. Yes. So to me I was like, well, what if what if that was possible? Like what? What if that door. So I think a lot of women are being like, I have one of my other best friends who I you know, I shared your information and, and really open the door for what was possible, but she just immediately went into egg retrieval. Like went into freezing her eggs. You know, she's 36. And I was like, girl, that was not even on my I wasn't even thinking about that. Like, and that is so young for us.

Oh my gosh. And I have to say, so you have referred so many women in their 40s to us, and they've all gotten pregnant and one of the most recent ones gave birth to her super baby at 47 years old, conceived naturally, had a home, water, birth, all these things. And she came through your referral. All of these things that people think are not humanly possible. And it's really incredible what is possible for our bodies. And, and it's and it's always been possible. People have been having babies for a long time, well into their 40s.

And there are all this verified natural conception is to a 59 year old woman. You know, I'm not saying that's the norm in every 59 year old woman who wants to have a baby will be able to have a baby. But that's a data point about what's possible, too. But we're not hearing about those things. So I think I think it is really, really incredible to have this conversation. And for someone like you to come and share. Doctor Mariza, I remember that you prime mastered for almost a full year before going into getting pregnant and people could have said to you, that's crazy, you better hurry.

You don't. You know, at 39 years old, you don't have time to wait until you're 40 just to start trying for a baby. But you were so clear. Like you said, you didn't do it from a place of fear or lack. You did it in this very forward looking highest self expansive place that was like, not, I better hurry up and do this so I don't miss out. It was like, how could can, how good can I get? How ready can I be, how nourished can I. Be. To to support this, this light being that I'm growing, like you said.

And I think that's so powerful and so beautiful. Okay. So I love the trends, the trends on focusing on food and especially a focus on egg quality through targeted nutrition and nutrients like the foundations we talked about, like the complete Mama bundle that we just talked about. And then on the flip side, the trend that is worrisome is this fear mongering and really the push to looking outside of yourself immediately for help. I love that. Thank you so much. What do you think, doctor? Mariza is the most disruptive and I mean disruptive in the best way possible.

Part of your work in women's health and hormones, in the way that you're doing your work today. Because of course, as experts and practitioners, we're we're lifelong students. And the way that the work is unfolding is always, well, it's always evolving. But what do you think is the most disruptive thing

Perimenopause, Brain Remodeling, and Super Fertility 29:30

that you're doing in your work today? You know, in terms of how women are being affected? Yeah. yeah. I mean, my my big focus right now because I'm very much in it. I'm in it. It's so crazy to be in perimenopause and to have a little three year old. You know what I'm saying? It is it is very interesting. You I actually is going to ask you to come back to that because you said I'm in my second. like if you. Pretty. Yeah. And I was like, just getting used in puberty. It's a descension and I don't know, you know, I was, I don't remember a lot of my teenage years and I'm sure it was a mess.

you know, everyone talks about teenage girls, right? And, and I, I trace required to those girls who's, who's whose system of reproduction is coming online. Who's receptor sites, for estradiol and progesterone are coming online. And pretty much every single cell in the body. And our neurochemistry that there are three times in our life where our brain gets remodeled massively like a massive remodel. I think most women can attest to the the second one, number one, is puberty. I don't think we knew then that that what was happening to us, and definitely no one was honoring me as a 14 year old because my brain was remodeling itself, you know?

But that's that's number one. Your brain majorly remodels to get ready to be into reproductive age. Number two, and I think this is the remodel that every mom knows. It's the pregnancy and postpartum remodel. Your brain will never be the same or even just the remodeling to keep that your child alive, you know? but you know, the reason why, you know, we see postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety is you're talking about such a massive remodeling. And then the decline of those those hormones.

I mean, postpartum is really a default menopausal state in a lot of ways. It is. Absolutely. It's a wonder. No way. Everyone's like, you know, given women such medicine. I'm like, my brain is going through a massive reconstruction like my entire I can't even live in my house right now because, you know, that level. And then the the third remodel is in perimenopause, so, you know, and that that's, you know, again, tending to yourself, loving yourself, you know, if, if also you are in postpartum and in perimenopause, that's a double remodeling.

It's, you know, it's it's you're moving into an Airbnb kind of situation. And so your house gets finished. You know, a lot of, you know, the in my own personal experience, the brain changes, that I've undergone in the last several years, but also in all the women that I'm talking to, you know, there's this the major brain reconstruction and and and it feeling at times your mood changes and, you know, brain brain fog, inability to focus. and I, I was telling my team today, you know, you I as I do all these webinars and I connect with women every single day.

I ask what one is the most disruptive symptoms. And they say energy. I'm like, well tell me about that. And their and how they're measuring it is their ability to fire. Oh that's so interesting. You can contribute. But all of a sudden their brain isn't moving as fast as they can. And so a part of that energy is that brain capacity. And I would say once I measure my energy to I can, you know, my I think like I can still lift the really, really heavy weights, I can I still have energy to chase my son around.

What I'm struggling with more is my the amount of mental bandwidth and and you to have. And that feels like a bit of an energy drain. And so I would say that's probably besides the energy in general, our brain capacity is shifting. and there's ways to really support that. But I think as long as women understand that that's a part of the remodeling process in perimenopause, we can be more well equipped. Women should know that their brains are remodeling, you know, and then and then what can we do proactively to support our brain during that process?

And so that's an area of focus that I'm I'm seeing a lot of women are really scared. They're scared that maybe it's early early dementia or, you know, and with the rate of dementia being so much greater for women than men, it's an understandable concern. So that's what I'm working on right now with my women and my. Side of that. I love that so much. And that they're they feel like they're going crazy or something's wrong and they're afraid. But if they just had this information, they wouldn't be.

So I'm so thankful that you're talking about this. It's so important. Okay, I know we're about to wrap up. I want to ask you two questions. So one question quickly is if you could only tell the woman, the dadda, the human being listening right now, one thing about taking care of their fertility and their future children's health. What would it be? The one thing, I mean, I think I always lean towards, you know, nourishing and replenishing nutrients, you know, and really kind of and really just making sure that you that your, your metabolic health, you know, that is really dialed, that you're really nourishing your body in a beautiful way.

and obviously there's many facets to, optimizing our cellular energy, even being outside in nature in the morning, in making sure that you're getting the kind of sleep that's restorative, making sure that you're, again, if you were building that many neurons in a little human, you know, in utero, like, what does that look like to support those neurons? Yes. But that was the thing, you know, movement, movement that feels good and nourishment. That's really that's really supporting food is molecular information so that we're giving a body.

Right. Infant information and love that food is molecular information. Let's make sure we're giving our bodies the right information. I love that so much. Okay. Last question before we wrap for today. What does super fertility mean to you. So what do you think of when you hear the term super fertility? But even more, what is it feel like? I mean, I think it feels energizing and it's like a feel good component. and I feel like the, the word that really comes to mind is alignment. alignment. I love that so much.

So beautiful. Thank you so much for being here. You have blessed the people listening right now. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, Dr. Mariza, so happy to have you as part of the Super Fertility Summit. So happy to have you as a sister. Also. Thanks love.