Is Glyphosate Impacting My Fertility with Joy Lecher

“Gut health is the foundation for our fertility; if we’re not getting the nutrients from our food, then we’re not being able to set the foundation of a healthy pregnancy.”

Topics Discussed:

🦩 How glyphosate correlates with infertility.

🦩 Benefits of eliminating high glyphosate foods.

🦩 Educate yourself on existing medical alternatives.

Listen here: Is Glyphosate Impacting My Fertility with Joy Lecher

Are you aware of the glyphosate in your grains and how it might be negatively impacting your fertility health? This chemical called glyphosate used to dry out grains is leading to gut health issues and we all know the relationship between gut health and fertility health.

In this episode of the Finding Fertility podcast, we speak with Joy Lechner, a licensed board-certified Acupuncturist and Herbalist guiding women through and beyond their journey in motherhood. She explains the negative impact of the chemical glyphosate on fertility health and how a change in our habits can lessen this impact.  

Listen in to learn the importance of educating yourself on other existing medical alternatives even as you use the typical medical assistance.

“Don’t rely on the typical narrative, expand your mindset and open it up to new ways of thinking, being, and doing.”

Episode Highlights:

• [2:55] How Glyphosate impacts gut health and the correlation with today’s increased infertility rate.
• [11:31] How to change your lifestyle into a healthier and more sustainable diet.
• [16:50] How to carefully eliminate high glyphosate foods to start improving your gut health.
• [20:18] Get educated on what’s toxic for your body to start making changes earlier on in your fertility journey.
• [22:50] The importance of checking the connection between your gut health and thyroid hormones.
• [27:31] Expand your mindset to other alternatives rather than relying on the typical narrative.

Connect with Joy:

• Website: https://joylechner.com/ 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joywellnessfertility/ 
• Book Mentioned: Toxic Legacy  by Stephanie Seneff

🌺 Download your FREE Guide: Top 3 Steps to Maximise Your Fertility That Your Doctor Isn't Talking About

🦩 Get Steps Closer to Getting & Staying Pregnant with EIGHT FREE DAYS within the Fertility Formula

Full Transcript: 

0:01
Hello beautiful and welcome to finding fertility. I'm your host, Monica Cox from finding fertility.co And I created this podcast to help get you to start thinking outside of the box and realise that your infertility might have nothing to do with your lady bits rooted in functional medicine and personal experience. Finding fertility is all about looking at the whole body and finding the root cause of your infertility. Finding fertility does not diagnose, prescribe or treat any issues of infertility. But what we do is take a holistic approach and improve your diet and your lifestyle to get you steps closer to creating your dream family. Just by being here with me listening to this podcast, you're already going down the right path to making your dreams come true. Let's do this together. Happy Friday.

1:00
Oh, welcome back to another episode of finding fertility. I'm back with my girl joy. I'm super excited to have her on. Welcome back joy.

1:08
Thanks, Monica, for having me. So today we get to talk about a fun. Well, really not a fun topic, but something that really needs to be discussed in a big way. And it's glyphosate. Yeah. So where do you want to start Monica with with this big topic?

1:24
Yeah. So just tell people what glyphosate is like. The bare minimum, if they haven't heard of it before? Because my my audience is pretty well educated. But just for those who have like, tuned in and are like, what is that?

 1:40
Yeah, so for the longest time I was eating, I wasn't even pronouncing it right. So it's glyphosate. And most people aren't familiar with it. But people are familiar with the fact that you know, a lot of us are trying to do gluten free now and grains have kind of gotten a bad rap. And I wanted to just dive into why grains have kind of gotten a bad rap and in my opinion and my research, as a board certified acupuncturist herbalist, specialising in women's health for about a decade, I've seen definitely an increase in digestive issues and grain issues. And I don't think it's coincidental that there's a really a rise and infertility right now. They started introducing this chemical. I think it was actually I think, in the late 70s, early 80s is when they really started changing farming practices. And they actually started to try to make wheat, oats and other grains more just to make it easier to harvest them. What they started doing is spraying them right before they were harvesting these products like the you know, the the wheat and the corn and the oats, they started spraying it with this chemical. And this chemical is called glyphosate. And a lot of you guys notice Roundup, and Roundup is is just like a weed killer, right? So it's an herbicide is what we call an herbicide. And it makes the products just easier to gather up so it dries out the product. So it can imagine wheat, and they're getting ready to take it off the field. And they're just spraying it massively with this product that dries it out. And so but what else does it do? Well, it dries it out. And it makes it more easy to you know, get it off the fields, but what does it do to your gut health? So to me, that just doesn't seem like a normal thing. It's like there's a rise we know in male infertility. You know, female infertility feels like it's on the rise. And I you know, I can't quote the exact stats right now. But with men, I know there's some really good stats on that. But it's just like, well, what is the correlation? Is it is it all of a sudden, all these women and men are all of a sudden allergic to gluten? Or is it something deeper than that? And so I do feel like the rise in gluten free products, people not being able to digest wheat, even patients telling me, you know, Joy, I went to, you know, Italy, where they don't have these practices, was able to enjoy pizza and didn't have any bloating, didn't have any digestive difficulty. And a lot of these people are, you know, people that you know, patients that have been on hold 30 and we've really cut out grains and they're, you know, on vacation in another country that doesn't use these practices, and they feel much different after eating pizza. Now pizza isn't like a fertility superfood, or maybe a bad example, but I'm all about, you know, taking this information and not getting overwhelmed by it. Same thing with the fertility diet doing the best that you can and then if you're on a vacation in Italy, yeah, you might have some pizza. Right. Yeah. And, and so, but yeah, I think there's just from my experience in the last decade, I've definitely seen a correlation. We know that. You know, it really does impact gut health. And you and I have talked a lot about this that gut health is the foundation for Our fertility, we're not getting the nutrients from our foods, then we are not being able to set the foundation for a healthy pregnancy. And so glyphosate is kind of a known to tear down that, that gut lining. So you need to have like a strong gut lining that's Integris. That's not letting food particles go in and out, because then the immune system starts to react to it. So yeah, I think it's a I think it's a hidden one. I think a lot of times people think that the government or somebody else is going to take care of this issue or is going to you know, what this type of thing wouldn't be allowed if it wasn't safe. But I'm really here to say that, unfortunately, that's not the case. So I learned

5:46
as well. Yeah. I mean, for everyone who are like, Oh, you guys are conspiracy theorists. I mean, the thing is, is like, I think you're absolutely right. We've been eating greens and oats for centuries. And you'd like some of our ancestors, like that's all they lived on for a really long time, right? You think of like people in in Europe, like they drink more beer than they drink water? Because it was cleaner, right? And yeah, there has to be this link between the two. Like, Why are women developing autoimmune issues in their teams? Why are more women being born really predisposed to endometriosis, PCOS, you know, all these issues? You know, I have a 21 year old girl. I mean, she's a woman, but like, to me a 40 year old, she like a baby, right? Like I like that's like, still a young girl who's never had a normal cycle in her life. And you're just like, where's that correlation, and our food has to be looked at. Right, so glyphosate is just being sprayed fucking everywhere. And when Jacqueline I talked about it on the solve that we did with it, she was just like, it just gets into the ground, right? It just doesn't stop on the crops. They're spraying these fields again and again. And again, it's sinking into the ground sinking into our water system. And so she said, when she got tested knowing Jacqueline's, a very low IQ, right, organic queen, she still had levels of glyphosate in her blood system. And so it's like, just literally everywhere. And that's why it's really important to control what you can, right. We and if you are seeing these difference in your health when you eat so like, I can tell the difference between an organic, slowly fermented sourdough bread to just like, even kind of the sourdough bread that like you can buy from the grocery store, right? Because they put this sourdough organic, you think it's all but if you look at the, the ingredients at the back, like breads also have like three ingredients, right? Like that is it and so I can tell so I can eat certain types of gluten or bread. And then there's other time, like, we just went and got pizza and had pizza on the beach from, you know, a local pizzeria here. And my husband's like, oh, well, Mondays. They do like a deal. And I was like, Well, what kind of dough are they using? He's like, Oh, you have to use the thin crust. I was like, I can't eat the bleach. Flour. Like I can like it really upsets me like the like you just said the pizzas not gonna be great. Anyways, babe. But I have to do the best. And so I get the gluten free crust. And then I have pesto online, because I still can't handle tomatoes yet. So go, it's like getting to know your body, and then just being able to control when you decide to indulge in pizza, right? And having that information for you. So you don't even have to get to a conspiracy level of like, the government's trying to poison us or like, yeah, the government does a lot of stupid shit. Like, don't get me wrong. I didn't. I don't I don't understand how people think it's safe to use chemicals. And I think their studies are so well designed to say yes, it's safe. And it's like, well, your average American is probably eating a lot more than what was in your study, or what you said was in your study. So now they're consuming, you know, 50% more, is that safe? Probably not. And then they'll probably say, well, our guidelines are this. It's like fuck your guy. binds like, you guys have like the top scientists in the world to make these foods so addictive that we eat them over and over and over again, like,

10:12
got us on every level,

10:14
like, is a toxin. I mean, ideally, we have zero levels. But yeah, that's in our, like you said, it's in our soils and things like that. So doing the best that you can with the information that you have and not stressing about it, I think my message is always coming from a spirit and a heart of encouragement, not of Doomsday, meaning you can make these changes. And I think that that is what women are needing right now is not just hard facts, but really the encouragement and knowing how to implement these changes, and that that's where my business comes in. And we've seen great success, even with patients that are told you need IVF, where you have to use a donor aid, you know, I had a patient that she used a donor egg, and then she got pregnant now she's on her third now with with, you know, just doing changing her diet for her gluten was a huge thing. And so maybe her body was not able to detox the glyphosate as much or whatever. And you know, maybe there's some correlation of celiac. So I think Monica and I were on the same page here, and the other women that have been on this podcast of just figuring out those things, and not not being so stressed about it, meaning do it in a way that feels good to you. Because we want to do something that's sustainable for the long term, right? So if you if you don't know if this is an issue for you, I feel like it's totally worth it to take the next 30 To 60 to 90 days to cut out greens, and see if that is an issue for you. You know, I've had patients embrace it fully 100%. And then I've had patients kind of look at me, like, really? Are you sure? Like I used and, you know, so, um, but I think that, you know, with time they began to trust, you know, because I think with any practitioner, you have to gauge start to develop a relationship at some trust. And the more they see success, and they feel the encouragement, and they see more research coming out. I think that women are more more likely to commit to it. I wish it was as simple as just popping a magical pill. Right? facility, but it does oftentimes take take changing things. You mentioned a few things like, you know, call Did you say call a flower press or that was something that I was thinking, so you are going to indulge in pizza, there's, you know, find ways like I know, in our family, we do do some cauliflower press. Yeah. thing. Yeah, there's,

12:31
I mean, when I was doing this 10 years ago, in England, there was like nothing, right? The gluten free aisle was like literally maybe like 50 things. And they were all horrible. And so I just ended up not doing any of that it wasn't worth the money. It wasn't worth the taste. So I guess I had an advantage, because I didn't have those temptations. Because a lot of the time that these gluten free things. They're packed with other crap like rancid oils, and I mean, canola oil. Yeah, just like other crap. So sometimes people think they are doing really good. And with my clients, I'm always like, please send me any gluten free item that you're using, that you're unsure of. So I can check the ingredients for you and just highlight. Yeah, not the great things. And then you can decide how much you bring it into your life. You know, like, I know, it's hard to transition. Like, I had to go cold turkey. But I was also at five years to failed IVF not one pregnancy. So like, I was like, give me the witch doctor. I was at that stage, right. Like, I didn't give a shit. If it was weird. I was trying it. salutely. So. So yeah, it's just really important to be aware of these things. And I do think there's going to be a phase in the journey where it's going to be frustrating. It's going to be stressful. It's going to be fucking annoying. You're going to be really pissed off with life that you're the one who has to do this. And your best friends, sisters cousins got triplets. And she's an alcoholic, right? Like we we have to go through those emotions. And I now can look back and it's like you're grieving that life that you were so comfortable in. It was easy. It was convenient. And it's really hard to shift and change. But if you can push through those kind of hard times, you start seeing the value in the hard in the change and you start you you can actually dramatic because we always look at normal common health issues, right? We're not looking at pregnancy, yes as the ultimate goal. But if you start focusing on these normal, normal common health issues that you have You can literally see a difference in two weeks, three weeks. And so once you start seeing those differences, you're like, Okay, there's something to this, and then you keep going. And then obviously, fertility might be one of the last things that click into place, just for a quality takes minimum of three months, right? So. So yeah, it's really important. And I actually just answered a question within my community, because she's struggling with the whole staying away from things. And it comes down to mindset.

15:35
You're absolutely right, you can do this. And you have there are people out there like Monica and myself that will 100% support, you encourage you back you. And I do see that shift in my patients just like you're talking about, you know, it's initially that first week or two is really it can be really difficult. You develop grit, you develop perseverance, and then you see the benefits, you start sleeping better, your bloat goes away, you start feeling better. And so if you think that grains might be an issue, which we know the grains might be really the glyphosate, or both, if you have celiac, there might be some people out there that just truly have an issue with grains. But it's something that you should definitely look into. And, and I know a lot of people kind of roll their eyes, well, it's just a fad right now. It's just a fad thing, right? It's just you know, so um, and then like, like you said, Monica, not running out and grabbing every single gluten free product out there. Because just because it says gluten free or organic doesn't mean that it's healthy. And so making sure that we're actually looking at trying to reduce processed foods, which tend to be higher and glyphosate, I think they found Cheerios being the very highest. The nature's nature's way, some of those protein bars, morning grain bars are like those were like the highest when I looked at the research, we prepared for a solid talk on this. So I was thinking back to that research that. So if you think like little convenience, breakfast bar is like, you know, the way to go, I would really rethink that those green breakfast bars, those are like half the room off the charts with that. And then they showed that parts per billion or million, they're, you know, they had acceptable levels, like you were saying, Monica, of this of glyphosate. And what they found is that almonds and other products like oats are actually exceeding that healthy range. And so and I don't know, if these companies are just not being honest, or it's just, it's just they added oats, and then they added almonds, and then it's just a combination of all those hide like glyphosate foods, just kind of bump it up over the edge. So those are those are the biggest ones, I did get some sprouted grains from Costco, that was sprouted oats that actually had a little symbol on it that said Glyphosate. Glyphosate did seem like he did like a scan on it. And it said no, no residue of glyphosate on it. So I thought that I thought that was interesting. So even the big companies and brands now are aware, they are aware of this symbol on the oats. And so if you are going to consume oats, I know for some women, they feel like that's such a healthy thing to start the day with. They're like, Okay, I'm doing a fertility diet, starting my morning with a really nice big bowl of oatmeal is gonna keep me filled up. If it's not organic, it's likely really high and glyphosate. So yeah, not to be a downer. Like he said, I know, ness to even healthy things can be not the right thing. And so we want it, we want you to have a strong digestive system heading into pregnancy. And this is one way that we can do it. So yeah, I mean, it's a really powerful

18:37
way. Because as we know, gut health is the key. Yeah, to everything, right. So if you can focus on these things, and it becomes easier with time, like, once you get into your routine, once you find your things, it just becomes new habits and a new lifestyle. And you just reap the benefits, for sure.

19:02
For sure. And I know they don't do a tonne of these studies on humans, but they do 1018 There was a study published in the reproductive toxicology showing that lab animals given lack of glyphosate where they experienced more fertility problems along with growth issues and Malphur about malformations in their babies. And they are I think scientists are definitely looking into it. I know that Monsanto paid out millions, if not billions, to farmers who develop cancer. So if cancer if this is linked to cancer, then it's not a far stretch to go. Okay, this is probably harming fertility in some way as well. So I think that's yeah, I think that's in a nutshell. You can do this, you have support. And beginning finding out about chemicals like this can feel really scary because it means changing your teens, changing your habits and we are very, we're very much creatures of habits and routines. So like Monica said, you know, starting with your mindset of I get to know, I get to educate myself, I get to go on this journey as opposed to, why do I have to, like nobody else is, nobody else is having to deal with this. So you can do it. Empowering. You know, being empowered makes you know, empowers you to make. Being educated helps you make better, better decisions in the future.

20:23
So yeah, 100% Like, if I had this information, in the first like, year of my journey, I maybe would have been a dumbass and not listened. But after a while, I would have like, just absolutely consume this knowledge, and not had to do IVF, I would have reversed my issue within a year, I'm positive of it. And it was just really hard at the time. Sorry.

20:48
Sorry, I said that. And that's why you're so passionate about helping other women, you've experienced

20:53
it. Yeah, I don't want anyone to have to wait eight years to reach their ultimate goal. There's a really good book called toxic legacy by Stephanie Smithville. I probably butchered her last name, I'll put it down in the show notes. So if anybody actually wants to get she is like one of the top researchers, very, very smart woman. And she's written a book, obviously, she's been very silenced about it, but it's out there, you can buy it. So if you guys want to dig a little bit deeper and understand this more for yourself, you know, that's a really good resource to go to.

21:35
Yeah, I think that there's just loud maybe last few quick topics that I want to talk about. I think that that health is intricately related to the thyroid. And so for some of you that might not feel like maybe this pertains to you. I know my personal story was a story of miscarriage with with thyroid issues. And so now I'm kind of looking back doing my own incident instance, and you know, investigation on my own health and seeing that, wow, okay, when I was newly married, we were like stress eating for wedding and wearing a tonne of pasta like all this other so we go to this Italian restaurant, we'd like wedding plan and I had miscarried shortly after getting married and I and my thyroid was kind of my thyroid labs were kind of tanking at that time. And so I think to myself, Wow, now we know that gut health is intricately related with thyroid health. And a lot of you that are working with a reproductive endocrinologist or your OBGYN, you know that they always test thyroid right for fertility. Or maybe that's something that you're learning right now is how important the thyroid gland is for your pregnancy. So even if you feel like oh, I don't have a tonne of digestive issues per se, like, Oh, when I eat gluten, or I eat greens, I'm not bloating out, like, you know, huge, there's still can be if your thyroid is tanking and your TSH is, you know, above three, or your T three T four is just really not looking good that conversion, then that's something that's an area to definitely looking into as well is that connection between you know the integrity of your gut and how your gut health is and how that relates to your thyroid hormones. So that's one way to look into. And then secondly, if your husband has male factor I'm seeing like I would say last Thursday, almost almost 90% of my patients their their husbands all have male factor. And so, studies are showing the 2018 study published in a Swiss Journal of toxics links like glyphosate containing pesticides to male subfertility decrease sperm motility and problems with sperm cell function. So that's huge if you're I know more and more of my patients have both male and female factors. This is something that is absolutely also affecting sperm health. And so if you're if your partner has any issues with male subfertility motility issues, this is definitely an area to look into and look into his gut health as well. So

23:51
it's all connected, we got to remember it's all connected, your gut has to handle everything you put into your body, and then it gives out what it can positive or negative to the rest of the body and it it's it still baffles me that these very highly educated doctors and OBGYN ends and fertility specialists will literally look at thyroid and even if there's an issue, here's some medication Don't worry, it's not. I mean, I have a woman in my course recruiting miscarriage thyroid issues. I'm like, What are they doing? Oh, they, they want to give me medication. And I'm like, fuck, like, come on them and I like I didn't really set off to do this but just over the last like six months I suppose it's kind of dawned on me is that I'm not here to put down doctors or we all know that they're very useful in our society. They're very smart, educated people. But I think they basically have created the health coaching industry, right because people like us who went through the typical western medical system, and it completely failed us, pushing us literally to go out looking for different options, right out of desperation. And so we started stumbling on these things. And now we're very grateful for the functional medicine doctors who are writing books and publishing blogs and have podcasts that we can consume this knowledge. And not only, you know, do our own studies and qualifications, but we're like, no, there is medical research behind this. And I'm really hopeful for the future that it's gonna catch on to traditional medicine, as long as Big Pharma stops are dis exposed? Right? Yeah. Because I feel like that's the only thing pushing it on, because who's the sponsors of the colleges? Who's the sponsors? of you know, all these different things? And if that money goes away, then you don't have these big narratives getting pushed, right, something new will come through? And yes, that's a little bit conspiracy theory, but I'm going with it.

26:16
I 100% agree with you. I think it's time for all of us to take back our health and fertility, which is my motto here, take it back. Meaning you're not getting answers that, that sit right with you. And you're still experiencing trouble conceiving or carrying your baby, find other alternatives. And they're not necessarily alternatives. Or sometimes it's this, this ancient medicine that's been around all the time. It's it's whole real food, it's herbal medicine, it's actually the first original medicine right before they're out. So I would say yes, don't don't rely on the typical narrative, expand your, your, your mindset, open it up to new ways of thinking, being doing, you know, all of that. And I think this podcast is a great start for that. And something that I have on my referral list to my patients is starting to listen, you know, when you're working out with educate, take the time to educate yourself. Yeah. Listen to this podcast, and a couple other handful ones that I recommend that you can, you know, get get, get the knowledge that you need, and it's not going to take like hours at night, you know, Googling you could do working out. So listen to Monica's podcast. That's what I do.

27:26
That's what I did. I mean, ironically, I listened to podcast driving to my fertility clinics an hour and a half one way, right. So I was educating myself, I'm still using medical assistance. And that's why I became successful because I was able just to look outside the box and find what's right. Well, thank you so much joy for coming on. I mean, we could literally sit here and talk all day. But we'll leave it there. That is enough for them to consume today. Tell our listeners where they can find you.

27:55
You can find me on Instagram at joy, wellness, fertility, and you can we do have different options that we offer we offer you know one on ones, obviously for people that don't live in Arizona. So if you want to do a free 15 minute consoles, or a 30 to 60 minute consult, we offer that we offer nutrition supplements or herbal medicine, all of that. Obviously a lot of nutrition is what we offer and mindset work. So you can find me at joy, wellness, fertility, and we think that's about it. Yeah. Thanks for listening. Yeah. Thanks, Joy. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I'm

28:31
sure we will have you on again eventually.

28:35
Bye. Bye.

 28:38
Thank you once again for tuning in to the finding fertility podcast. If you're loving this podcast, please leave us a rating in review and let us know how this podcast is supporting you to get steps closer to creating your dream family. I hope you have a beautiful weekend and we will see you next Friday for another episode of the finding fertility podcast

Let's Do This Together 💚

Monica

🌺 Download your FREE Guide: Top 3 Steps to Maximise Your Fertility That Your Doctor Isn't Talking About

🦩 Get Steps Closer to Getting & Staying Pregnant with EIGHT FREE DAYS within the Fertility Formula

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Anything written or said about health and diet are my opinions, that I have formed over the years, through trial and error, study, reading, listening and observing. What worked for me may not work for you. I am not a doctor, nutritionist or dietician and all medical advice should be gotten from a qualified professional. Product recommendations are based on what I used during my infertility journey or wish I had.