Innate Wisdom Podcast

What It's About:

Join Loren Sofia, Functional Fertility Coach and owner of Innate Fertility, and Amanda Montalvo, a women’s health dietitian that helps women get to the root cause of hormone imbalances and have healthy menstrual cycles, as they discuss the importance of minerals for optimal health, wellness, and fertility.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

-What minerals are & what they do
-How minerals are different from vitamins
-Signs & symptoms that you are deficient in minerals
-Common mineral deficiencies
-How you pass on your mineral status to your children
-Important minerals for fertility & pregnancy (including male fertility)
-Important minerals for postpartum & breastfeeding
-The truth about supplementing minerals
-Practical ways you can start replenishing minerals right away

Transcript:

[00:00:00] Loren: Welcome to the Innate Wisdom Podcast. I'm your host, Lauren Safiya, Functional Fertility Coach and owner of Innate Fertility, and I'm honored to guide you through each episode where we'll cover not just fertility, but how to rediscover the innate wisdom of your body, restore your connection with your physiology, bioenergetics and metabolism, and get back in touch with Mother Nature and ancestral traditions.

Welcome to another episode of the Innate Wisdom Podcast. On today's show, I'm excited to invite women's health dietitian who helps women get to the root cause of hormone imbalances and have healthy menstrual cycles, Amanda Montalvo, to chat all about minerals. If you've followed me for a while, you've probably seen me talk a lot about minerals, and minerals are actually one of the things I like to nerd out on most, and interpreting my client's hair tissue mineral analysis is one of my favorite things to do, honestly.

One of the reasons I focus a lot on minerals and [00:01:00] not just on vitamins In my fertility work is because not only can they be implicated in reproductive issues, including things like PCOS, for example, but you actually pass on your nutrient status to your future child. And they can also impact your postpartum period, how you feel, your ability to breastfeed, and so much more.

Continue listening to hear my conversation with Amanda, where we'll talk not only about how to figure out if you have mineral deficiencies, but the truth about supplementing them and how you can start replenishing your minerals starting today. Enjoy the show. I'm here today with Amanda Montalvo, the Hormone Healing RD.

I'm so excited to have you, Amanda. Welcome to the Innate Wisdom 

[00:01:43] Amanda: Podcast. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here and to just chat with you as always. I always love our conversations. 

[00:01:51] Loren: Me too. Me too. And just in case the audience isn't familiar with your work or you, I would love to introduce them to you. And if you could please dive into sort of how you got to doing what you're doing today. What's your story and what inspired you to become the Hormone Healing RD? 

[00:02:14] Amanda: Yeah, it's like, gosh, I've been doing this for so long now that when I think of what I got into this for, it's like definitely evolved since then.

So I started all this because I was coming off of birth control, the pill. And you know, I was like starting to learn, switch more to like a natural lifestyle. I got really into CrossFit, found paleo and that kind of put me on this more holistic path. And I was like, why am I taking this? pill, like a prescription every month, I learned about what it was doing to my body.

And I was like, all right, I'm going to come off. My doctor's like, You're good. Just come off. No big deal. So I didn't know preparation. I knew nothing at the time, right? I was like 20 years old and I came off and then I had all these health issues start to present and I didn't really have anything going on before minus like I would say really abnormally painful periods and acne.

But like, to me, a lot, those seem very normal at the time. So, yeah. I come off, I don't get my period back for almost a year and I'm like, what's going on? You know, what do I do? And I was getting like zero help from anyone. My hair started falling out. I'm like going back to the doctor. I'm like, what's going on?

They do blood work. They're like, Oh, you have hypothyroidism. I was like, I'm a healthy 20 year old. Mind you, I'm like a college athlete at this time. I'm like, how is this? Like I didn't know issues before. So. It basically led me to dive so deep into women's health and learning more about my cycle and fertility awareness method and hormones.

Because at the time, I mean, this was like over 13 years ago and there was nothing, nothing out there. People weren't posting on Instagram then. You didn't have this like wealth of knowledge where now I'm like, I think about it.

[00:04:00] I'm like, people  don't even know how good they have it now. So it just led me to completely change my career path.

I was like going to be a sports dietitian. That was like my goal. And it got me down this path of like, wow, there's very limited information out there for women. It's not helpful. And no one listens to you when you go to the doctor and you're like, Pouring your soul out, trying to like share the things you've been tracking, what you think might be going on and you just get like completely dismissed.

So I was like, I have to learn more about this for myself, but also because this isn't fair, you know, so that's really what got me here and like kicked everything off. So I'm like very passionate about getting off birth control. I know it's. Tough transition for a lot of women, but it doesn't necessarily have to be.

And then I got very into like functional lab testing because all my blood work was like literally just saying hypothyroid, everything else was normal. And it was really frustrating. And that kind of led me down the path of like the whole functional wellness space and brought me here today. 

[00:05:01] Loren: Thanks for sharing.

There was just so many things that you said that. are very much basically aligned with my journey to my whole journey started with coming off the birth control pill too. So it's just, it's always interesting to hear where people got started and just so happens. We both were inspired by the same thing.

[00:05:23] Amanda: I think it's just such a hard. Transition if you're not prepared for it. And like some people are totally fine. But if you're not, it's very confusing. And then you try to bring it up with the doctor and they're like, Nope, it doesn't do that. The pill doesn't do that. So it's definitely not that 

[00:05:38] Loren: it is hard. And I'm going to go on a tangent a little bit. But considering it. Most women that take the pill aren't taking it for contraception, and then they come off of it expecting all the things that they were taking it for to be gone. We're kind of being sold a little bit of a lie there. So it's no [00:06:00] wonder, you know, there are definitely people that come off and are totally fine, but I was not one of them, and you were not one of them. 

[00:06:08] Amanda: It's hard, and I struggled so much at the time, but I'm obviously grateful for where it brought me eventually. And I'm like, and honestly, I'm glad it was me, because I had the knowledge, and I was like, learning about not a lot of that stuff in school, but I had such a science dense background that it wasn't difficult for me to like, figure out what was going on, you know?

And I'm like, man, if someone doesn't have this background, like, that's an extremely hard thing to go through. 

[00:06:34] Loren: Yeah. Well, I have a similar gratefulness for the hardship because, you know, it kind of leads you to what you end up doing today and I appreciate exactly what you're doing. And I don't know that either of us would be where we are today or doing what we do if we hadn't gone through that. So silver linings. Yeah.

[00:07:00] Well, I also want to talk to you about minerals because this is also your area of expertise as well. And today's episode is all about minerals. So for the audience and for those who might not be familiar with the term minerals or exactly know what that means, would you mind describing what minerals are and how are they different from things like vitamins?

[00:07:26] Amanda: So, I like to think of minerals as like helpers, they're technically cofactors, which literally means they're just helping carry out different processes in the body and like literally all the processes. So, if we think about like an example of what this looks like. Like magnesium, I think most people are familiar with magnesium.

So I feel like that's an easy one to kind of bring up. It is really important for healthy blood sugar levels in a few different ways, but it's impacting insulin. So the hormone that helps get glucose inside our cell, but it also impacts how we transport glucose. So if we didn't have enough magnesium, say we had a deficiency there, then the protein that transports that glucose. doesn't function optimally and you could end up with a high or low blood sugar, but like a blood sugar imbalance. So minerals are really like helpers for different processes and reactions in the body. And that's why a lack of minerals can lead to a whole host of different symptoms. It's hard to even like nail it down.

I'm sure we'll like talk about some signs that minerals are deficient or out of balance, but they do impact like so many different systems in the body. They are micronutrients like vitamins. So they're nutrients that we need in smaller amounts, but when it comes to vitamins and minerals, they have different chemical structures.

I don't think we want to get into all the science of that, but like carbon atoms versus non carbon atoms, like they're different chemical structures, but they both act like cofactors. Vitamins can do that too. So they can help carry out different processes in the body. Some vitamins can act more like hormones than vitamins.

I think a cool distinction between the two is that the body can produce some vitamins, but it cannot manufacture minerals and it can't get rid of an excess. of minerals on its own. So they're different chemical compositions, but they're both micronutrients. You're going to find them in a mix of animal and plant foods, but they're both important for helping the body carry out a lot of different processes.

[00:09:29] Loren: Thanks for breaking that down. I hope that the audience, you know, if you were confused, you have a clearer picture now. And I think the helping carry out processes in the body is really important because yeah, some minerals. They help perform 500, 3000 different things. And so they're really critical. And so when they're deficient, it can cause a lot of problems.

And so I'm wondering if you can share what some signs are that you might need more minerals. 

[00:10:05] Amanda: Yeah. So I would say like the most common ones I think of are things like fatigue, hair loss, skin rashes are a big one that I see a lot. Not handling the cold well, a lot of signs of like a sluggish metabolism are also very heavily related to minerals because minerals help us make energy, right?

So if we're not making energy, then we're not going to have a healthy and strong metabolism. Um, dry skin is another big one. Headaches, lower high blood pressure. They have a very big impact on our blood pressure. Muscle cramps, super common. I think a lot of people associate that with like potassium or magnesium, constipation, loss of appetite and like changes in taste and smell.

Those are very common. A lot of people can relate to those after like being sick, your nails, like changes in your nails, having brittle nails, mood [00:11:00] changes. And I'm trying to, anemia. And I guess I would call that like a symptom because it's not necessarily the root cause of it. So anemia can be like a really common one as well and cavities, dental issues, but there could honestly be like a million more that we could add to that list because again, like they really do impact all the different systems in the body, but those are some really common ones.

[00:11:20] Loren: Thanks for breaking that down. I definitely agree with all those, but I feel like that's just the beginning. Yeah. And. You know, I feel like any sort of health issue could possibly have an underlying mineral issue. 

[00:11:37] Amanda: They're just like, to me, minerals are foundational. And I think because we live in a world where if you go to your doctor, if you're in the U.S. they're going to be like, Oh, there aren't mineral deficiencies other than like iron or calcium.

Some, you know, those are probably like the two most common ones recommended by like conventional doctors and it's like we can have mineral deficiencies in the U. S. Same thing with like vitamins and stuff. So I think that's why people often they don't necessarily stop and think of minerals because we're like, well, I eat.

Like pretty good and maybe they took a multivitamin or something and it has minerals in it. But there's something that can be very easily depleted, especially through stress or even just like when we're born, you inherit your birth parents deficiencies. So it's something that's very easily overlooked, but it's like they can be at the root of a lot of different health issues. 

[00:12:32] Loren: I definitely want to come back to the inheritance, but are there any minerals that you see that people tend to be really deficient in like very commonly? 

[00:12:45] Amanda: I feel like the type of person and like their health history, this could go many different ways. But when I think of like in general, when I'm looking at hair tests all the time, sodium and potassium.

Constantly depleted, constantly depleted, usually from like chronic long term stress. Someone's been in this stress state for a long time. They're kind of going towards that, like burnout, or maybe they already are burnt out, but those are two really common ones. And magnesium, of course, even though so many people supplement with magnesium, but it can be like a really hard one to replenish.

And usually they're driving down other minerals like in the process because you never want to start with magnesium, never start magnesium, always start with sodium and potassium. And I think not only are the ones that a lot of people are deficient in, but I'm like, that's a safe place. Even if you haven't necessarily done lab testing to like slowly start supporting through food, those are like the big ones.

And then, you know, calcium could go either way. If someone's like, if they're like a very like high stress, maybe they've been in fight or flight their whole life. Maybe they're like a traumatic childhood or something. They're usually very depleted, like all their minerals, but especially like calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium.

And then it could be the opposite where someone [00:14:00] is like more like super slowed down and their calcium is really high. So calcium, I feel like goes both ways, but I think for sure, like sodium and potassium and magnesium tends to be low in a lot of those people as well. Yeah. 

[00:14:13] Loren: Yeah, as somebody who also interprets hair tests, I would have to agree very much with you.

Those two, for some reason, everyone could use more of and I think it's just maybe a symptom of like how stressed we are. You really can't go wrong with getting more of them. And of course. I think, I don't know if you would agree, but food sources are my preferred way, especially for something like potassium.

[00:14:39] Amanda: And if you haven't tested, it's kind of like, you know, cause people are like, oh, maybe they haven't done a hair test. They don't have access to that right now. It's like, you can always increase potassium because potassium is one mineral where it's like, it's a much higher daily recommendation than a lot of the others.

So I think even though the RDA is. I think way too low. I think it's only like 2, 500 milligrams for women now. They like lowered it. I'm like, we're going the wrong direction here. I would say closer to like 4, 000 milligrams would be optimal if you're pregnant breastfeeding closer to 5, 000, but that's a lot.

I mean, that's a lot of potassium from food. So I think it's hard for people to overdo it with food, which Good. Because you don't want to go too far in one direction. Yeah, totally. 

[00:15:27] Loren: It's all about balance. Well, I guess on that note, and maybe this will kind of bring in the inheritance topic that I wanted to come back to.

Um, and because I'm in the fertility space, you know, I have to ask this. I'm always thinking about the connections of everything to reproductive health. And I'm wondering if you could share some of the most important minerals from your perspective for fertility and pregnancy. 

[00:15:54] Amanda: Yeah. I think one of the first ones I think of is zinc, especially like if we're thinking of like men and women, it's so important for egg development.

It helps the egg, like make sure that In a good place before it goes through that maturation process, which is going to be so important for actually conceiving making sure that it gets fertilized and is like high quality. So I think zinc is huge. It also helps with our FSH and LH signaling, which makes population occur and then for.

Pregnancy, right? If we have a zinc deficiency before we conceive, it can lead to issues with the placenta, just like the development of it, which then of course is going to impact the development of the baby and could possibly increase the risk of like miscarriage, neural tube defects, stuff like that. So I feel like in pregnancy, like iron gets all the attention and I'm like, What about zinc?

You know, zinc is like so important and it's really important for men and healthy testosterone levels as well. So it's one of those where I'm like, I think zinc is super important. I don't think everyone should run out and take a zinc supplement.

[00:17:00] It's very easy to get from food and everyone's gonna be like, I don't want to eat oysters.

You don't have to eat oysters to get zinc. I mean, red meat is an amazing source. of zinc. So I'm kind of like, I don't know why people don't just like go for that as the first source if they're not into oysters. We don't all have to eat like a can of oysters every day. But zinc is a very, very important one and one I tend to think of right away, especially for thinking of like conception and stuff too.

Iodine is Very crucial. And it's one that I think is also very common to be deficient in as well. So we need iodine for healthy thyroid function to make enough thyroid hormone. And if you think about pregnancy, I mean, your thyroid is working way above its normal capacity. So if we are deficient going in to pregnancy with iodine, then You could have some thyroid issues.

Maybe you don't know, you know, maybe your thyroid labs look normal, but then like you're going into pregnancy and like,

[00:18:00] if you start to struggle with thyroid, which is very common, I see it all the time that can make it so that you're much more likely to have a miscarriage. Unfortunately, I've had clients in the past with like recurrent miscarriages, which is truly the worst because they had like.

like a subclinical hypothyroidism. So like it wasn't able to be diagnosed because it wasn't bad enough. And I'm like, really, this is our, it's our medical standard. And that can be super frustrating. You know, maybe they don't do well with thyroid hormone medication and it comes back to like, well, let's like assess your mineral status deeper because so many things are going to impact how we use that thyroid hormone.

But iodine is so, so important. It's important. breastfeeding. So I think iodine is another really common one that we tend to be deficient in going into pregnancy and one that it's really, really helpful to optimize. And then I also think about copper, of course, right? We need copper for healthy egg development.

And it's actually, I was reading this article about how it's really important for preventing chromosomal abnormalities in women too. And it helps us make energy. It's one of the minerals that helps us make energy, ATP, our body's main fuel source. So it's crucial. And then if we're thinking of iron, you know, a lot of women end up supplementing iron in pregnancy and it just really makes me question, like, is it a true iron issue, especially if they did not have issues prior to pregnancy, or is this like a copper?

And like a bioavailable copper issue and it could be copper. It could be vitamin A. I've talked about this extensively. I know you have to, but copper is definitely one of those where I think doesn't always mean we need more. Right? But it could mean that like, Hey, we need to like optimize this and then magnesium.

I know I said. You know, we don't always want to supplement magnesium first, but it is really important for pregnancy. I also think of like preparing for pregnancy postpartum. I mean, there's so many transitions.

[00:20:00]  There's a lot that goes on stress wise. So I think it's very easily depleted. We use it up a lot faster during pregnancy and it does have an important role in egg maturation.

So I think that's a big one and sperm. function in men. But I think one of the cool ones that no one talks about is selenium. I feel like no one talks about selenium and fertility for male fertility, especially it helps prevent the sperm from oxidative damage. Same thing with eggs in women and we use selenium.

to help make and convert thyroid hormones. So it's another one of those like very thyroid supportive minerals. But I think too, it's just such a powerful antioxidant. And it's like, if you're deficient in antioxidants, which is super common, like going into pregnancy, it can make it harder to have good egg quality to like carry out that pregnancy to have an optimally functioning thyroid.

So those are like the five minerals that I think of for like fertility pregnancy. 

[00:20:59] Loren: Thank you for that. Yeah, definitely. Those are some of the heroes, mineral heroes that I think of as well when it comes to fertility and pregnancy. And I thank you for those breakdowns. I think there can be so much connected to deficiencies of these minerals as well, not just In terms of issues getting pregnant, so that's the first hurdle, but also pregnancy complications in general, like any one of those, if you're deficient, there's a higher risk for preeclampsia or for example, gestational diabetes, like it comes with a whole host of things.

So it kind of goes back to like preconception and, you know, that's my world, but the importance of getting your minerals sort of. In check, we're having a good idea and of what they are before going into pregnancy so that you can really not only optimize your chances of pregnancy, but also minimize the risk of [00:22:00] pregnancy complications.

That's like 1 of the things that I really look at as well in terms of that, but I guess regarding. The inheritance of minerals, can you kind of like break that down a little bit more for those who aren't familiar with maybe the concept as well? Because the conversation expands, like, it's not just about getting pregnant, not just about having a healthy pregnancy, but there's also this thing where.

It can influence the health of your child too. And I'd love for you to break that 

[00:22:33] Amanda: down. Yeah. So I think, I mean, there's so many, especially if we just think of the ones that I went through, basically your nutrient status, your hormone, your nervous system status, like everything, stress hormones, your baby is getting that.

That's like being imprinted onto them. And so, I think zinc is a very common mineral to be deficient in. It's usually from stress, inflammation in the body. You know, I think of like gut issues, we use up significantly more zinc when we have a long history of gut issues and zinc deficiency. I've been linked with like ADHD, behavioral issues, things like that.

It's one of those things where it's like, I think moms have enough mom guilt. So I don't think we need to like pile that on, but sometimes it's really helpful to know this information, to be like, maybe like I will get myself tested. And even if you have some deficiencies present, it doesn't mean that your baby's not going to be healthy.

It absolutely does not. I think always trying to reach optimal nutrient status will just drive someone crazy and probably take you further away from. healthy body and healthy baby. But if we can just be a little bit more mindful with like, okay, maybe I did some lab testing and my zinc is efficient. My iodine is efficient.

I'm going to be a little bit more intentional with adding in more of these foods. Maybe you have to supplement certain nutrients depending on working with your practitioner, but they have been linked with so many other issues like iodine. I just think, I mean, your child's so much more likely to develop hypothyroidism later in life.

If you have an iodine deficiency. Cause especially, you know, your breastfeeding iodine is really important for breast milk production and they will get that through your breast milk. There's a lot of cool studies with supplementing with iodine. Not that anyone should just go do this. I always like hesitate this anything because I'm like, please don't just blindly supplement with things, especially iodine.

It has cofactors. It's a whole thing, but. There are studies that show like even utilizing like 15 milligrams, which is a decent amount of iodine, right? That's not a low dose of iodine. If you look at like a prenatal, it's going to have like 200 micrograms. If that they had insane IQs, no behavioral issues, their growth and development was off the charts.

It just shows you like, it's a very important mineral. I mean, your thyroid. so important, right? It literally sets the metabolic pace of your body. So you can see why I'd have like such a big influence, but especially mom, obviously dad too is going to influence this, but what you have deficiencies in will absolutely [00:25:00] translate to deficiencies in your children.

And it's just hard because if you don't know that and you don't know what your deficiencies are, you don't know your status going into pregnancy or even like. postpartum. It's like, it's never too late. You know, I don't think it's ever too late to work on this stuff for yourself and for your children.

Then things can pop up like health issues with your kid that are super stressful, very confusing, and not because they always have been avoided, but it's like, you could have more tools to like deal with this and probably an easier way through food and maybe like some supplementation depending on their age.

Then like you just kind of running from doctor to doctor. Not really be getting like a lot of help.

[00:25:45] Loren: Hey, it's Lauren. If you're interested in testing your mineral status with a hair tissue mineral test, AKA HTMA, to prepare for pregnancy, I'd like to invite you to join Conscious Conception, my pregnancy prep e course. Not [00:26:00] only do you get access to self order HTMA, but you also learn how to interpret it.

And this is just one of over 20 functional lab tests with. which you can self order and learn how to interpret their results to. You lose 10 percent of your minerals with every pregnancy. So even if it's not your first rodeo, Conscious Conception can help you build your nutrient stores back up to feel even better than your last pregnancy and create even healthier generations.

Learn more at innatefertility.org/getpregnant. And if you're loving the show, don't forget to leave a review. Now back to the episode. Yeah, I love that. And thanks for sharing. I think you made a really good point where it's never too late and you know, the point of like the inheritance thing. I feel like people get so stressed out when they find out like, yeah, it's an uncomfortable truth, maybe perhaps, but it's also very powerful because I think while it's never too late, you also, depending on, you know, your situation and I know pregnancies, to Many of them are unplanned, almost half, but if you are able to prepare, just think about the opportunities that you can unlock with that.

So I do love that though. It's never a bad time to start taking charge of your health. It's never a bad time to start remineralizing or, you know, working on your nervous system, any of that. I really love that. And speaking of, I would love to hear your perspective as well on the importance of minerals in the postpartum period, as it maybe relates to also breastfeeding and maybe even postpartum depression, if you'd like to speak on that.

[00:27:43] Amanda: Yeah, so we talked about how important. Copper is for pregnancy, right? That in like preconception, everything we needed for energy production. We needed to make breast milk, of course. Right. It's important for our metabolism, but I would say copper is like the top mineral that can imbalances in it can definitely lead to more unwanted, like mental health shifts, postpartum zinc deficiency as well.

Zinc deficiency is like heavily linked with mental health issues, but like that specific shift postpartum is typically related to having an imbalance in copper because our copper goes way up when we're pregnant as it should because our estrogen levels are rising. So it's very healthy and normal for that to happen.

I think it can be tricky, you know, if someone has deficiencies in other areas. Like maybe vitamin a is deficient. I think it's like 80 percent of women are deficient in vitamin a going into pregnancy. And that's like in the U S this is not like in another country. So if we are deficient in vitamin a, then our copper levels can get out of balance.

Also stress like very depleted minerals. burned out adrenal glands. If you have a sluggish thyroid, our thyroid, we need active thyroid hormone T3 to make ceruloplasmin, which is the bioavailable form of copper.

[00:29:00] So if we have this excess of copper that we can't really use, it is very linked with postpartum depression.

And I think it has a lot to do with like, I mean, we store copper in the brain, right? In the liver, primarily. I think it has a lot to do with that inflammation. If we have excess estrogen, cause typically your estrogen is going to stay higher if copper is higher. And then of course, you know, you have that big hormonal shift postpartum, even if you're breastfeeding, I mean, that mitigates a lot of it, but.

Copper is a big one. So I find like, it's not just copper, but it's like, vitamin A is really important. And then your health history, your adrenal health, your thyroid health. And if things are just kind of out of balance, depleted, not functioning optimally, it kind of creates this perfect storm for an excess of.

Copper that we don't want and that has been linked to postpartum depression. There's some cool research around this too. And I feel like people are really finally talking about it as something that's like, Hey, this is tangible.

[00:30:00] Like, this is something that we can work on without medication necessarily and actually help women with, you know, regular conventional gynecologists are talking about it. So it's like this is, it's a real thing. It's a big deal. But I think copper is like a huge one to think about. And like, whenever I have a client with a mental health history, like especially I have a family member that just had a baby. This is something we were very, very aware of and trying to work on while she was pregnant.

And then we kept an eye on it postpartum. And she was good, but it's like, if you just know, like, if anything had popped up, I would have been like, all right, let's do testing. Like, this is where you're at before we can rebalance this, you know, which I think it's just nice to know, like, there's something you can do about it.

Yeah, 

[00:30:41] Loren: absolutely. It's information. And again, it doesn't have to be like, perfect, like you said, because. Chasing that like perfect mineral status is basically impossible. Creating awareness around your metabolic patterns is basically what the mineral tests can tell you. And that can really help mitigate a lot of these things, or at least support you and provide more information about where you could be sort of getting more of one or less of one. 

[00:31:16] Amanda: And two, like, she's like not a very functional person, the one I was helping. And so, you know, she's not into all this stuff, but it gave her some buy in for, I'm like, I know you have a stressful job, but like, I don't care because this could. Potentially greatly impact how you can balance copper, your ability to balance that postpartum.

And that was a really good motivator for her. So just like knowing that, I'm like, it's not that you have to take a certain supplement. It's usually a lifestyle thing. So especially when it comes to minerals. So I think it's like just helpful to know I talked about Iodine a bunch and Iodine is so important for breastmilk production, our thyroid has a very big impact on that. There's also some research on selenium and just like the quality and health of breast milk and how it can help prevent like oxidative damage and stuff. But iodine is like repeated. I feel like iodine, copper, we could like repeat those over and over potassium.

There is such little research on potassium and breastfeeding, but I've had so many clients when they up their potassium intake, it improves their supply, their energy.

their digestion, everything. So, I mean, I have basically zero research to back that up other than like client like stories, but I do think like if you can be cognizant of like trying to eat more potassium rich foods postpartum, it's not going to hurt. It's only going to help energy, blood sugar balance, stuff like that.

Magnesium. I mean, it's a transition, especially if it's your first. You know, you're going from maiden to mother, so it's a lot. And I think if you've never done it before, even if you have, I feel like. There's just going to be so many unknowns. There's a lot that you can be uneasy about, unsure if you're doing the right thing.

There's usually a lot of Googling, right? In the beginning, is this normal? Why is this happening? And not as much sleep, sleep is typically pretty broken up. So I think making sure you're getting enough magnesium is important too. It's also very important because that is going to go through your breast milk.

It can affect your baby's development, bone development. All those things. So I think that's another big one. And then sodium, right? Sodium is so important also for stress, but also to keep us hydrated. Postpartum it's so important to be hydrated, to make adequate breast milk, but also I think to like handle stress, especially if you're one of those people that was like many others, like depleted in that sodium, potassium, magnesium going in, and again, like we don't have to be perfect, but these are things that we can support.

Postpartum through food and can make a very big difference with like how well you sleep, how hydrated you stay, your breast milk supply, and just your ability to kind of handle and hopefully be resilient to stressors during that time. 

[00:34:02] Loren: Absolutely. I think that's very well said. And like you were saying, it's not just about supply either.

If you noticed what Amanda was saying, it's also about the quality of the breast milk and that's going to influence. Baby's health too. It's pretty much been demystified now. Like breast milk is the same across the board, but if you had that in your mind, it's actually not true. The quality of the breast milk is actually based on your nutrient intake.

And so that will also account for your mineral intake as well. And many of these minerals are also really important for your baby's development and again, the production and also just maintaining your health. while you're recovering, first of all, from pregnancy, but also producing food for your baby. So minerals play a huge role.

So do other nutrients, but definitely minerals are a huge part of successfully and healthily

[00:35:00] breastfeeding. So thanks for breaking that down. And now I'm sure that's a couple people. Probably more than a couple are like, Oh my gosh, I need to supplement all of these minerals. And I know you've kind of already alluded to like your perspective on it, but what do you think about supplementing minerals?

Is it a good idea or a terrible idea? And we just love if you could share 

[00:35:26] Amanda: your perspective on that. I think it depends on the person and the mineral, right? And they're like their situation. There are some minerals that I think we just can so easily get them from food that. When we get minerals from food, they're going to be in balance with other nutrients and probably nutrients that science hasn't even discovered that we need to absorb and use them properly.

So I think that's like one big part of it. But the other thing is when we isolate minerals, it can lead to imbalances in other nutrients. So there's always going to be like a give and take.

[00:36:00] when you're supplementing, even if it's something like magnesium. And I know people, like everyone talks about, like, I see so many people in the functional space talking about my top supplement for women's health is magnesium.

And I'm just like, I mean, do we not know how this affects sodium? Like how many clients do you come in that are like so burnt out? If you supplement with magnesium, it can make it very difficult to retain more sodium. So yes, is magnesium helpful for a lot of people? 100%, but it can actually hinder. many people and their long term kind of adrenal health and ability to handle stress because of how it affects sodium.

So I think there's just such a give and take relationship. And because we can get so many minerals from food, it's like food should always be number one. Like I think of like copper, zinc, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, like food is very mineral rich and remember it's a micronutrient. So we don't necessarily need all of them in very large amounts, but I do think that sometimes like.

If you have an iodine deficiency, it can be very

[00:37:00] difficult to replenish like from food alone, but you also have to like prepare your body to even take iodine. Like you can't just take it out of the blue, otherwise you're probably not going to feel good because it does speed up your metabolism. Just like thyroid medication, right?

It will speed up how much thyroid hormone you're making. It's going to speed up your metabolism. And if you're super stressed out, super depleted in a lot of other minerals, you're probably not going to do well on it. So it's one of those things where have I used it with clients? Absolutely. I've used it myself.

My previous pregnancy, I talked about that a lot, my pregnancy podcasts. Um, Cause I was still like pretty deficient when I got pregnant. Well, you know, when you read all that research about IQs like, I don't want to have a really smart baby. So if I'm deficient in this, I'm going to stop now with iodine and safely.

Cause obviously I'm a practitioner, but it has cofactors. Like you need to take magnesium. You need to have enough. Vitamin C like sodium is really important for using iodine cause we have the little transporter [00:38:00] for it. So it's one of those things where you never just start with something like iodine, but that can be one that's hard to get a lot from food.

I mean, if you're in Japan, obviously you're going to get like, they get like 12 milligrams. like minimum a day over there. Um, and that was like, that's the other thing with pregnancy is people like freak out. Cause like, Oh, you're not supposed to get too much iodine in pregnancy. And I'm like, do we see these other countries and how much it's like 20 milligrams of iodine a day.

And they're eating raw fish and stuff while they're pregnant. So there's so many like myths. And I think you always have to take that information, like apply it to yourself, like keep it in context. Sometimes I do think that Depending on like what you have going on, it could be helpful to supplement. It could be worth it.

Say for example, someone has like really bad gastritis and like age poor eye and they want to take a zinc carnosine supplement because they don't want to take a prescription med for like an ulcer. Then I think obviously the pros of taking that zinc instead of the prescription med could outweigh the cons of like leading to imbalances and other minerals, especially if you're taking it short term.

But it's one of those things where it's always going to be a give and take. Like I think of zinc a lot because it's very popular to supplement with in the functional space. A lot of people just do it without even like thinking about how it's going to impact their mineral status in other ways. And even during pregnancy, it's like I had a client whose doctor told her to take it, but then she was also taking iron, which they'll just.

cancel each other out with absorption and stuff. So, and I'm like, maybe you wouldn't need the iron if you weren't supplementing with zinc because it'll absolutely lead to iron deficiency anemia for a lot of people. So it's one of those things where I'm like, how much can you get from your diet? Right?

Like what's realistic for you. I think of zinc. It's like we need like three times the RDA to fix a deficiency in like six months. So for women, that's 24 milligrams a day. So if you can get like 15 milligrams a day ish from your diet, then maybe you only take a 10 milligram supplement. Is that going to be a lot less harmful on your other minerals?

[00:40:00] Absolutely. But I think it's just so all or nothing and people supplements are so widely available that you don't necessarily think that it's going to cause any other issues. So it's a tricky one. It's like, I'm not against it, but I'm like, I think it's really important for people to know what that supplement is going to do.

And. Should I like worry about other minerals while I'm taking that supplement and try to plan for that? But also like, why do you have to supplement in the first place? Are you super stressed? You have other issues going on that are depleting your whatever that mineral is. So that's like my thought process when I think about should someone take a supplement or not?

[00:40:39] Loren: Definitely I feel like in the same camp because I feel like it's always, Oh, I'm deficient in this. I have to take this, but it really is never that simple. And I feel like you almost dip yourself if you don't even ask the question, why? Because you could really. Start to uncover actually more effective ways to [00:41:00] approach a deficiency and like the problem by sort of looking at the bigger picture rather than just trying to like slap a supplement on it.

And I definitely think supplements can be so therapeutic and so helpful, but, you know, it shouldn't be like an immediate first reach. We should probably be thinking about it because there is an exchange, even with non mineral supplements. So, you know, it's important to think about and. It just goes to show too, food is very powerful.

Nature gift wraps nutrients in like this beautiful package and it can be a really powerful way to address nutrient and mineral deficiencies. So I guess on that note too, Instead of supplementation, or maybe I don't know if this will be included in the answer, but what are some of the most practical ways that someone can start replenishing their minerals if they think they have a deficiency, they know they have a deficiency, or just kind of want to improve their mineral status in general.

[00:42:00] Amanda: I think number one is figuring out.

What is driving your mineral loss? Maybe it is like your inherited health. Like, you know, my mom has thyroid issues, me and my siblings do, and it's not autoimmune. It's like, obviously that could definitely be related to possibly like an iodine deficiency or something. So it's like, you could like look into that stuff.

But I also think like, Is it from stress? Like, are you someone that's been like super stressed your whole life? And if you're sitting there and you're like, I don't feel stressed, I would just really think about that because I think a lot of people are stuck in like freeze, like the freeze state, because they've been like so high stress for so long that their nervous system's like trying to put the brakes on this like chronic fight or flight.

And you don't necessarily feel stressed. If anything, they like crave. stressors so that they can get that cortisol and those endorphins. So I would just really think about that. What does your day look like? Like, are you constantly going? Are you always on your phone? Are you always available to people?

Are you always multitasking? That sort of thing. Do you relax at [00:43:00] your meals? You know, are you like doing other things while you're eating? If you're living in a stressful way, it's going to be very difficult to replenish minerals without addressing that. So I think how you're living, looking at that is really important.

look at your supplements. Don't like start like focusing on minerals and have like no idea how your current supplements could be impacting those because it's especially with like lab testing and stuff. So I would say that's like a really big one. And then like eating mostly whole foods and a mix of animal implants.

I think it's so important. I think when we go to dieting extremes, it leads to Just chaos and stress within our bodies. So if we can have a mix of both of those, you're going to get an abundance of minerals and other nutrients like vitamins and proteins and so many important things that we need to thrive.

Mixing in seafood a couple of times a week is another great way to get more of those minerals in. If you can digest dairy well, very rich in calcium and potassium.

[00:44:00] When people start paying attention to potassium and they're like. seeing what potassium is in. It's in a lot of foods. It's in like pretty much everything, animals and plants.

So it's one of those that I'm like, everyone can get plenty of potassium, but it's like, okay, if you're sick of eating certain fruits and veggies, it's like, there's a lot of potassium and dairy. red meat, salmon. There's like a ton of potassium in salmon. So like things like that. I think if we can start doing those things, one of the first things I'll have a lot of my clients do is try to focus on like more whole food carbs, less processed carbs, because then that's automatically going to up their potassium intake.

So I, those are like really basic things, but I would say. My number one would be like to assess where the loss is coming from. Because if you don't want to start doing all these things to replenish and not understand kind of like the why behind it. Yeah. 

[00:44:49] Loren: I think that's a great way to approach it too, because truly getting to the root of an issue can oftentimes require some awareness and.

That's a really hard thing to reestablish, like you said, you know, a lot of people are in this frozen state. I find that to be very true in the fertility space too. They're like, why am I struggling with my fertility? I don't understand why. But. Unfortunately, we've been in this like frozen fight or flight state and also conditioned by society and the current system available to just like hand off.

And, you know, you don't know your body. We know it better than you. So let us handle it. There's a lot of different factors, but, you know, I think that. That's a really important piece to it and shouldn't be overlooked. So I appreciate that. Awesome. Well, we are almost at the end. What is one thing that you would like to share with the audience that they can start doing today to unlock the innate wisdom of your body?

[00:45:57] Amanda: So I think like if people can slow down and get curious, because I think of I'm like, what does that mean to like unlock the innate wisdom? Sometimes, I mean, I can think of a part of my health journey where I'd be like, I don't even know what I need, where it's, you're just so detached. And again, like you've been handing over your health to practitioner after practitioner.

And it can be really hard to know what you need, but I think a lot of it comes down to like taking in less information, number one, and I know you guys are listening to this podcast, but hopefully I think we share supportive and helpful information. So hopefully that's different. But taking less information, slowing down, if you're constantly going and doing, you're never being, and if you don't ever slow down to think about like, how am I feeling?

What do I feel? What do I feel like my body needs? Or if you do that and you're like, I have no idea, you're probably pretty detached, right? You don't have that intuition to know like, okay, even just paying attention to like your hunger cues, thinking about like, like going to the bathroom and you have to go to the bathroom.

[00:47:00]  I just think of like so many women that they're like, I'm never hungry. They have constipation problems. bowel issues. And a lot of it comes back to like, they're so detached. They don't know what's going on with their body. They've been ignoring it or trying to suppress it for so many years, that if you can like get curious and slow down, I think that's when you're really gonna start to connect more with.

What do I need? What am I like craving right now? What does my body want right now? I mean, just trying to like, listen to those natural instincts as often as you can. I think that gets you more and more in tune with your body. Cause it's like, Oh, she is going to listen to me. So maybe I'll continue to give her more messages.

I think that's like really, really key and something that we all can do and have available to us right now.

[00:47:46] Loren: Oh, I think that's beautiful. And So wise and I totally, totally aligned with that too. So I hope that's helpful for anyone listening and you don't have to start in a big way. You could start small

Yeah. Well, awesome. Amanda, this was super fun. I really enjoyed our conversation and I still appreciate the work that you're doing for anyone curious. to find out more about you and how they could potentially work with you. How can people find you? 

[00:48:15] Amanda: So I would say Instagram, I'm pretty active on hormone healing Rd is my handle. I have a podcast. So Lauren's been on my podcast a couple of times. Um, it's called, are you menstrual? I mean, I have so many episodes now, so that's a really great way to like dig in and get a lot of free information. Same with my website. You can sign up for my newsletter on there. I send one out every Sunday.

Love my newsletter. love all my people that I connect with over there. So those are great ways to connect with me. I do work one on one with people. I have a nutrition team that helps me with that. So you can find more information about that on my website or on Instagram. And then of course I have my master your minerals course.

So if you're like, I want to learn about my mineral status, I don't even know where to begin. It offers hair mineral testing and it walks you through exactly how to understand your hair test and what nutrition lifestyle and supplement changes. To make 

[00:49:08] Loren: awesome. Awesome. Definitely go check her out. And maybe we'll have to have you back on to talk about a specific mineral or more minerals.

Yeah. That can be really fun. So let us know your feedback in the show notes or comments. And, uh, yeah, thanks so much for coming on, Amanda. Really appreciate your time. I can't wait to talk to you 

[00:49:29] Amanda: again. Thank you for having me. This was fun.

[00:49:35] Loren: Thank you so much for listening to the innate wisdom podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave us a review and share the podcast with someone who you think might benefit. If you're new here, we can't recommend enough that you take advantage of my free resources like the Get Pregnant Yesterday Checklist, Psycholiteracy Guide, Prenatal Primer, and Sperm Booster Manual.

And if you're trying to conceive now or in the near future, I invite you to join my Pregnancy Prep eCourse, Conscious Conception. Make sure to follow me on Instagram too. at innate underscore fertility and consider joining my newsletter to receive exclusive content related to fertility and so much more.

A friendly reminder, the content shared on this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be a substitute for the advice provided by your doctor or other healthcare professional. It is not intended to be nor does it constitute healthcare or medical advice.