­Do you love a good detox or have you wondered about all the hype?  Whether you’ve heard about lemonade cleanses or full-blown colon cleanses, the bottom line in most programs is supporting your body’s ability to pull out and excrete wastes and toxins.  Some protocols feel more like fads, but there are wonderful programs grounded in Traditional Medicine, Ayurveda and Functional approaches that do a seriously good job of helping the body gently restore balance.  Doing a cleanse before you try to conceive may be a good idea.

Cleanse to support Fertility

Cleansing usually focuses on the liver and digestive process while reducing or eliminating known sources of toxins.  Doing this helps the detox pathways function the way they’re supposed to and reduces the overall burden of inputs so there’s not as much junk that needs to be filtered and processed out!  Liver, kidney and bowel support can absolutely help balance hormones and blood sugar; both are huge factors in fertility!

Do you need to cleanse?

As with any cleanse, do a quick assessment to see whether you really need this level of support. If you are currently pregnant or breastfeeding, do not cleanse.  You may enjoy whole foods, clean eating and reduce toxins, but deeper cleansing that may push out deep toxins and heavy metals is best avoided until it no longer impacts your baby. 

You may need a fertility cleanse if you have been exposed to:

• Hormonal birth control
• Antibiotics
• Cigarette smoke
• Pesticides/Herbicides

Other factors include diagnosed hormone imbalance, inflammatory conditions, long term use of NSAID’s, supplements or medications, poor diet, lots of stress.  If you have acne, period pains or irregularities, bloating, hormonal headaches, etc then the signs may be pointing towards the need for deeper support.

Consider a cleanse that focuses on liver health, uterine health and blood sugar balance.

Liver.  Your liver filters toxins and excess hormones from your blood so they can be excreted.  Hormone imbalance is a huge player in fertility, so it can be helpful to support the liver and try to bring back a natural balance.

By using fresh herbs, nutrient rich foods and bitters to support the liver you may find that your body does a better job handling oxidative stress, balancing hormones and processing emotions.  Milk Thistle is an example of a liver supportive herb. 

Uterus.  Your uterus is key to reproductive health. This incredible organ is designed to foster life.  The cycles we experience literally cleanse and reset the uterus every month.  Your uterus strives to be the most welcoming, perfect and hospitable environment! If you are experiencing cycle symptoms, pain, PCOS, endometriosis, etc then your uterus may need some direct support.

Red Raspberry leaf is a popular uterine tonic.  This herb is known to relieve uterine spasms/cramps by reducing prostaglandins.  Red Raspberry leaf can be used in combination with Nettles and Calendula to support and tonify the uterus.

Blood Sugar Balance.  Maintaining balanced blood sugar helps maintain balanced hormones.  Choose a detox program that focuses on whole foods and eat when you need to and how much you need to in order to stave off blood sugar issues. For more information on fertility cleaning, check out my next blog post

At Last! Your Complete Pregnancy Lifestyle Programme for 

A Healthy Mind, Body, and Soul … 

Yoga, Meditation, and Nutrition For Every Trimester at Home from the founder of YogaBellies

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