The Earth and your Fertile Health

It is spring time here in the Northern Hemisphere and this season has always been associated with a time heavily focused on fertility. Why? Because through the winter months, a season of slow quiet cultivating and tender moments and traditionally a lower consumption intake; the body was restoring, revitalizing and reenergizing. So, when the tilt changes and the sun returns with greater warmth and potency, the life begins to return in a robust fashion all across the land. Babies are abundant: from birds, to kitties and bunnies; spring is hopping and popping with life. 

There is this really special thing that happens in the human body when we fast. Traditionally, winter was a time of lower food consumption and frequent fasting; mixed with some high quality feasts to keep our energy peak even during the darker months. 

Fasting reignites our metabolic fire and creates a deep cleanse to your entire system. In fact, it helps your body create new cell growth that is "biologically younger" than your chronological age. This is especially important for women who are older and looking to conceive. Because, essentially it can impact your egg health, reducing affects of aging significantly.

Interestingly, a woman experiences her own sort of winter every single month, and this can be a really great time to "fast" or at least reduce consumption to nutrient bone broths and herbal teas. Keeping it warm and nourishing, to really support that fire energy in your body that is essential for a woman to rebuild her blood and energy each month. 

Then after each winter we always pop into spring....YAY! It is such a beautiful season with all of life bursting forth and the tender new growth coming up from the earth. The first parts of the plant that shoot up, called shoots are actually really nutritious and were harvested and eaten at this time of year; but our tendency to live in connection with the earth as a species has slowly been severed over time and generations, so many of us have lost this connection to the earth and our bodies. 

Many shoots come in spring, and many of the shoots are bitter. Dandelions are one of the well known spring flowers and before the flowers appear, the shoots or tender leaves appear. Dandelion is a bitter herb also and there is a reason for bitter appearing in the spring. All parts of this plant are edible: root, leaf and flower and all parts are bitter - though the flowers make an amazing golden jelly when paired with sugar. 

Bitter does something to our digestive system that no other taste can do. When we think of the different tastes that our tongue detects there is: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and savory or umami (which is all it's own experience). Bitters appear in nature in spring, more than any other season and there is a reason for this. The bitters when eaten cleanse our digestion, nourish our intestines and prime our liver for proper bile secretions needed to digest our food and absorb our nutrients properly. Bitters are especially important in the diet of people who have struggled with things like adrenal fatigue, chronic fatigue syndrome, thyroid gland struggles like a hypo or hyper diagnosis. The liver, adrenal and thyroid are all connected through the HPA or Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis, a majorly important network in the body for hormone wellness and full being well being. So, when we take the cues of the earth and use her seasonal offerings, we are actually supporting our entire being for both restoration from the reset of winter and the upcoming intensity of hot summer season. 

If we think about summer, it is a season of excess heat. This means sweat. What do we sweat out, largely water and toxins...but if we are priming our body with every season and following the earths cues, when the sun gets hot and the heat goes up; instead of feeling really consumed by the fire and the heat, our body finds summer to be much more enjoyable because it is not doing all the back log work that was not done in the other seasons. This piece right here is exactly why so many people struggle with the heat and sweat of summer - because their body is back logged with energies that needed to be released slowly and methodically in the other seasons that are now being forced out and forced to be released. Oh the earth magic is potent in summer; especially as we move through the solstice and into the intensity of late summer heat. Our body is asked to release anything that no longer belongs in our system and for many who avoid this, summer is unbearable without modern assists, like air conditioning. 

So back to spring and the bitters and the digestive system and well, all the beautiful goodness the earth is providing for us right when we need it....let me invite you to breakfast. 

Yesterday, I went to my local farmers market to fetch dandelion greens. As I have aged and found my body to be a sacred vessel worth caring for and actually living in; eating bitters has become something that I find necessary for my body. So, I brought some fresh bitters home and this morning I prepared them for my breakfast. 

I told you why they are good for you, but how they are prepared and eaten can also be just as important. 

In all my learning and research I have found one single thing to be super impactful for keeping a clean system and maintaining robust fertile health and that is to with every meal, eat fiber and fats before protein. This particular method prepares the digestive tract with what it needs to digest food and absorb nutrients properly - for both men and especially women's bodies.

So, I sautéed my greens in fat (my favorite is bacon fat with dandelion greens). As I mentioned timing, my first bite, was my greens slathered in fat and then my protein. 

Once I primed my system with fat and fiber, I took a super easy premade chicken sausage patty, topped it with some local garlic and basil sheep chevre and topped it with the sautéed greens and each bite felt amazing and intentional. Caring for your body does not have to be complicated at every point and using premade and fully cooked meats can often help in the easy of this journey; especially for the busy humans and those who mother.

As I mentioned in my last blogs, eating adequate protein is important, so yes, I did eat 5 sausage patties for breakfast leaving one for a mid meal snack. Why? Your first meal is actually your most important and it is significantly more beneficial for the body to get that protein in during the first half of your day, than it is the second half. Because during the first half of the day, you set your blood sugar up for regulation or dysregulation and we all know dysregulated blood sugar in the female body feels like slow drip irritation with a touch of rage at random points throughout the day. 

Thank you for joining my breakfast...I put a lot into that first meal, when and where I can. I cannot say there is perfect consistency, but there is an ongoing relationship with showing up for my temple and being when and where I can and on the days I get it right; there is significantly more mental clarity and higher energy to face what is mine to navigate through that day. 

So, why do I talk so much about fertile health (aside from one of my biggest focuses in my work here)? Because, as I have shared before, fertile health is also longevity health. If you are compatible with life and procreation, then you are also compatible with life long term; especially if it is your way of life. I realize that not everyone is focused on optimal fertile health and many are past their fertile years; yet all these things I share are still relevant to your body too. 


Then there are many of us who could be described as someone looking to maintain fertile health, without reproducing. As females it is essential for us to keep our health chronologically up to date. Meaning if you are in years where your body could reproduce, your health should reflect optimal lifestyle choices if you want to maintain robust health into your elder years. Because what you do and eat now, affects your brain, bone and emotional wellbeing in your elder years; and even the type of menopause you will experience. 

Take your cues from the earth and nourish your body in your prime season so that as you weather your journey, you find yourself to be living in an appreciative and delicious temple body that you invested in with each season you moved through. 

If you are looking to conceive and have that vision, whether that desire is current or expected in the next seven years, you may be interested in a new resource I created, just for the person in this season. I pulled so much of my learning and resources into one location and created a beautiful thirty page workbook, just for you. Preconception Workbook: A Conscious Continuum Guide is accessible through my community. It is well researched and easy to follow and is the perfect thing for any woman looking to conceive for the first time, or simply planning to re-orientate her body to conceiving a divine being that will continue a lineage of beings with robust health....because as science continues to expound upon, the health of the mother and grandmother impacts many generations. 

Yes, your fertile health and your ability to reproduce is directly tied to the earth and how compatible your body and lifestyle is with all of life, the seasons at large as well as your inner seasons. Don't shy away from the medicine of spring, even if it doesn't taste so sweet or enjoyable, each season has it's purpose and if you lean in the magic is made manifest in your body and lineage. 

Cheers, go celebrate spring and eat your greens!