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Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #85 – Lily Nichols RD

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Welcome back to Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast, where we dive deep into the latest research and expert insights on health, nutrition, and optimizing well-being. Today, we sit down with an influential voice in prenatal and fertility nutrition, Lily Nichols, RD.

Lily is a registered dietitian, researcher, and best-selling author known for her groundbreaking work on real food nutrition for pregnancy. Her previous books, Real Food for Pregnancy and Real Food for Gestational Diabetes, have redefined how we think about maternal nutrition, blending ancestral wisdom with cutting-edge science. Now, with her latest book, Real Food for Fertility, she expands her expertise to help couples optimize their chances of conception and support a healthy pregnancy from the very start.

In this conversation, we’ll explore the critical role of nutrient-dense, whole foods in fertility, how conventional dietary advice may be missing key elements, and why blood sugar balance, gut health, and micronutrient status are essential for reproductive success. Lily’s research-driven approach challenges outdated dogma and offers practical, evidence-based solutions that can make a real impact on fertility outcomes.

Whether you’re planning for pregnancy, supporting a loved one on their journey, or simply interested in how diet shapes reproductive health, this episode is packed with actionable takeaways.

Join me in welcoming Lily Nichols, RD, to the podcast!

Dr. M

Real Food for Fertility

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Volume 14 Issue 46

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Lymphatics – Refresher

Lymphatics – a plumbing system that follows the circulatory system throughout the body including the brain where it is called the glymphatics. The function of these passively moving tubes is to transport fats around the body, clear cellular debris returning it to the liver and spleen, move fluid in and out of tissue to maintain fluid balance, transport and help immune cells function. By transporting fats , lymph is involved in vitamin movement to tissues and cells for Vitamins A, D, E, K. These are critical functions of metabolism, immunity and detoxification that when disrupted lead to chronic diseases of aging including edema, hypertension, autoimmunity and cardiovascular disease.

“Traditionally considered a passive route for transport of fluid, immune cells, and lipoproteins, lymphatics are now known to be active players in major physiological and pathophysiological processes. Until recently, lymphatic vessel dysfunction was mainly associated with primary and secondary lymphedema. Unexpectedly, however, lymphatic vascular defects have been uncovered in conditions such as obesity, cardiovas- cular disease, inflammation, hypertension, atherosclerosis, Crohn’s disease, glaucoma and various neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.” (Oliver et. al. 2021)…and a discussion on chemicals in school food.

Enjoy,

Dr. M

Dr. M’s Women and Children First Podcast #82 – Megan Lyons, DCN, MBA

Megan Lyons, is a distinguished expert in personalized nutrition and wellness, with over a decade of experience in the field. As the founder of The Lyons’ Share Wellness, she has dedicated more than 14,000 hours to one-on-one nutrition consulting, assisting clients with diverse goals such as weight loss, overcoming emotional eating, managing thyroid dysfunction, and reversing prediabetes and cholesterol issues.

Her academic credentials are extensive:

  • Doctorate of Clinical Nutrition from the University of Western States
  • Master of Science in Holistic Nutrition from Hawthorn University
  • Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
  • Undergraduate degree from Harvard University

Megan is double board-certified as a Clinical and Holistic Nutritionist, and she is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

In 2016, she authored the Amazon Top 10 bestseller, Start Here: 7 Easy, Diet-Free Steps to Achieve Your Ultimate Health and Happiness. Additionally, she hosts the popular podcast Wellness Your Way, where she shares actionable and motivational health information with thousands of listeners each week.

Our goal today is to highlight the realities of women’s health, hormones and breastfeeding.

Enjoy,

Dr. M

The Lyons Share

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Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 14 Issue 31

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Epigenetics and Pregnancy
Epigenetics is the study of environmental signals and their effects on our genes. Our genes are not altered so much as they are read and used differently based on the environmental inputs. Epigenetic effects are critical during the pregnancy period as the environmental signals can alter an offspring’s outcome both in good and bad ways. Making sure that we control for better environmental signal exposure while pregnant can go a long way to protecting our children’s DNA from dysfunction and thus their outcome with health. It is well known that chemicals are generally negative insults to our epigenome while anti-inflammatory whole foods are positive. These epigenetic marks can be conserved over multiple generations making them extraordinarily beneficial or dangerous. Here we will discuss the lifestyle mitigating factors for a positive pregnancy and newborn outcome….plus an ode to Brenda Wassum.
Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 14 Issue 23

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Stress and a Woman’s Ability to Conceive – The Healthy Mind Is Key.
How was it meant to be?  Humans were designed to be excellent at handling acute stress while chronic stress on the other hand was never expected to be part of our day to day existence. We run from the tiger and survive the event or we die. That being said, chronic mental stress is the greatest disruptor of human balance and health. To truly know this fact and work towards alleviating it is the immediate route to a healthy life and a healthy pregnancy. Mental stress has profound negative effects on immune and hormonal function to the detriment of mom and her babe. Chronic mental stress is known to disrupt pregnancy conception and perinatal events. Perception of one’s stress is often more important than the event itself. Becoming aware of your perceptions and working toward a minimally stressed mind is a key to a healthy pregnancy. A woman should be honored and protected while pregnant to keep external stress levels low. In this chapter, you will learn why and how stress has the ability to hurt a pregnancy. The to do section gives tools to reverse the negative process……plus a graduation note.
Enjoy,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 14 Issue 20

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“It is your reaction to an adversity not the adversity itself that determines how your life’s story develops.”
Dieter Uchtdorf
WHY?
What are the Underpinnings of Disease?
What have we really learned over the last one to two hundred years of medicine?
We left an era where infections killed the majority of children and adults, especially during childbirth and the first 5 years of life. Science gave us antimicrobial medicines and vaccines that altered this landscape and humans began to live decades longer.
Medicine had conquered disease. However, it was not so. Insidiously, these victories were met with new problems called diseases of aging – heart disease, asthma, autoimmunity, diabetes, cancer, obesity, dementia and others…… and a literature review.
Enjoy,
Dr. M

Dr. M’s SPA Newsletter Audiocast Volume 14 Issue 19

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The Book that I never published. It is time for me to take another look at the mother child story in book form. In 2019, I embarked on a project of writing a book about maternal health and WHY it matters tremendously that we address the issues driving offspring dysregulation. The time since has ushered in an era of podcast guests that in some instances have solidified my beliefs on knowns while also shattering some beliefs leading to new ideas. Over the coming weeks, I am going to relook at this topic.
Part of this project is going to be taking a page out of the Derek Sivers’ book writing style, brevity and meaning are paramount. I am naturally hyper verbose and my writing style follows this reality. Thus, I am going to fight my natural style and desires in an effort to make this book shorter, much shorter and still powerful in delivery.
Here goes!
WHY?
The story of normal maternal health and how we are disrupting it in modern America…….Also a Literature review and recipe of the week!
Enjoy,
Dr. M

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