Today I’m welcoming Dr. Sarah Ballantyne to the podcast! We’re digging into autoimmune conditions and the link to infertility. Sarah Ballantyne, Ph.D. is the creator of the award-winning online resource www.ThePaleoMom.com; cohost of the syndicated top-rated The Paleo View Podcast; New York Times bestselling author of Paleo Principles, The Paleo Approach, The Paleo Approach Cookbook and The Healing Kitchen; creator of the online program Go To Bed; and creator of the top-rated online course, The Autoimmune Protocol Lecture Series. Sarah earned her doctorate degree in medical biophysics at the age of 26 and spent the next four years doing research on critical care medicine, innate immunity, gene therapy and cell biology, earning a variety of awards for research excellence along the way. Sarah's transition from academic researcher to stay-at-home mom to award-winning and internationally-recognized health advocate and educator was driven by her own health journey, which included losing 120 pounds and using both diet and lifestyle to mitigate and reverse a dozen diagnosed health conditions. As a scientist both by training and by nature, Sarah is deeply interested in understanding how the foods we eat interact with our gut barriers, immune systems, and hormones to influence health. Sarah's innate curiosity goes further than just understanding diet and she is also deeply interested in the impact of lifestyle factors like sleep, stress and activity. Her passion for scientific literacy and her talent for distilling scientific concepts into straightforward and accessible explanations form the foundation of her work and her dedication to improving public health. Check out her website here. You may have been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease such as Celiac Disease, Hashimoto's, Diabetes Type I, Rheumatoid Arthritis or Inflammatory Bowel Disease plus many more and you are struggling to conceive or carry your baby to term. Did you know there are steps to optimize your fertility? What if you don't have an autoimmune disease...but you do have low AMH, low ovarian reserve, diminished ovarian reserve, or PCOS...could it be an undiagnosed autoimmune disease? We have found this to be the case for many women that come to see us (not everyone...so please don't panic) - that's why we always run the Blood Chemistry Review - it can catch triggers for autoimmune disease...and then we can take steps to prevent it. I've said it before, running to the fertility clinic, without getting to the bottom of your health issues, does not set up your body for a healthy pregnancy or postpartum period. Your body is desperately trying to tell you something. It will whisper for years and when you ignore the signals it will start shouting at you in the form of disease. Time to dig into the WHY! On this podcast you'll learn:

• Why addressing autoimmune disease is important for fertility and hormones. Plus can we put autoimmune disease into remission?
• Is running a full thyroid panel recommended for fertility? What to do if we have MTHFR and how to support methylation pathways.
• How and when to use bio identical hormones to help with hormone balance.
• How long does it take our body to heal if there is an autoimmune disease? When can we start trying again? What is the best diet and do we continue this diet during pregnancy?

Book your free Supercharge Your Fertility Discovery call. We’ll come up with a simple plan to help you move forward…towards your dream of having your baby. Listen here (be sure to HIT the subscribe button so you never miss an episode):