I find that if people fast in the morning, and I'll say for female and egg quality.
Males looks a little bit different. Yeah. But for females I can say that fasting in the morning actually starts that blood sugar dysregulation and that cortisol spike. And so you actually really wanna set up that like foundation in the morning. And I always say like within an hour and a half of someone waking up. 📍 📍 📍
Welcome to Her Fertility, the podcast revolutionizing the way women are supported on their fertility journey. I'm your host, Jess Tims. With years of supporting women as a fertility doula, I've seen the emotional pain caused by infertility, including my own struggle with unexplained infertility, and I always knew there had to be a better way to support women with their fertility, health, and healing.
We are here to reclaim control, find clarity, and transform the fertility conversation.
📍 Welcome back to the Her Fertility podcast. Today I am delighted to be joined by Katie Chapmon, who is an expert in all things nutrition.
And what I love about Katie is she really sees the whole picture when it comes to fertility for both male and female bodies. So I invited her to come on the podcast to share more of her insights.
On this really important topic. So Katie, welcome to the Her Fertility podcast. Thank you. Thanks so much for having me. We always have such interesting talks.
Yeah. And it was one of those, like when I met you. I instantly knew there was so much more in your brain and you're such an expert in this. So I knew I had to ask you to come on the podcast, but you're right, we've had many conversations and they've been beautifully complex. Will you clarify like your full title? Are you a dietician, a nutritionist? Is there a difference? I'm a registered dietician. And I've been a dietician for 17 years now. The main difference between the two is that a dietician
is a licensed healthcare professional, so we have an accredited degree. We're required for a master's degree, so I have a master's in nutritional science. Then we have thousands of hours of a supervised, like clinical training so think like a fellowship or a rotation. We have a national Board exam and then we're required to have continuing education.
Nutritionist, which also is like sometimes interchangeable. In most states, nutritionists has no regulation. So like someone could like technically read a book about nutrition and say, I'm a nutritionist, regardless if they have training or no training. And not to say that every nutritionist is like bunk.
I do know some nutritionist who have definitely dove deep in there. But that is a really big distinction. So when someone says, oh I saw a nutritionist versus a dietician, which I know has a very strict kind of governing body. So that's the main difference.
Yeah. Between the two. I'm so grateful for that breakdown and my master's in communication, which you know we, deal in this world with like two sets of languages, right. Like the social language around nutrition and diet, and you're right, we just say like, oh, nutritionist, oh, dietician. But then in the academic world, that means two very different things.
So I really appreciate the breakdown. And so as a dietician, you work directly with people who are on some type of fertility journey all the time.
Yeah. Like you've seen the range. Would you say there is a major thing you're seeing now, like in 2026? Yeah. Yeah. So probably what I'm seeing, kind of across the board in, in all genders
Is blood sugar dysregulation. When we eat our blood sugar, sugar does rise naturally, and that's with anything we eat.
Some things will make it rise more prominently, but anything we eat, it rises. And then when we don't eat it kind of gradually falls. And what I like to describe is that we want a really nice, like lazy river. We want a little bit of an elevation. We want a little bit of a fall. So we have this like nice little rhythm.
It's like our lazy river when we have big jumps, a big spike or a big drop, like a rollercoaster. That's what we consider unstable or dysregulated. And that can happen for several reasons. Maybe it's the type of food or what we're eating altogether or the amount. It also could be, Hey, did we go too long without eating?
Are we skipping things or some sort of fasting program for particular people could actually result in dysregulation. And so the why with this is that those kind of ups and downs increases insulin and affects cortisol.
That interferes with ovulation, it interferes with testosterone balance, egg and sperm quality. Implantation. Mm-hmm. And so if I'm always thinking in big terms of like if I'm looking at whole body fertility is so sensitive to stability, it's like I wanna make sure things are safe, things are good to be able to prioritize reproduction.
Before I dive in with that, I just wanna clarify for someone who might be new to this conversation, like, sure. Insulin is a hormone. Yes. Cortisol is a hormone. Yes. So when we're thinking about like our reproductive hormones, I like to say they act like a symphony. Like they're all their own instrument, but they play together for the full song.
Yes. So when one of them is off, it sounds off, right. Yeah. And it impacts the others. Mm-hmm. So just wanted to bring that layer in of like, I at least I, I'll put this on me, think like, oh, that's an insulin thing. It's not impacting my reproductive hormones. But they all play together. Yes, it's a great, great equation.
I'm glad you said that. We're trying to put all the pieces together and when a lot of times people think of insulin, they just immediately think of diabetes. Yeah. And I'm like, no, actually. And so you said fertility is so sensitive to stability. I love that so much and in my world I talk about like the nervous system, right?
Yeah. Because we're having this emotional experience through infertility and we're, we're regulating that nervous system. But it's interesting, the thought that popped up was like. But food can be a source of stress and instability. Yes. Yes. Okay. Tell me more. Yes,
so oftentimes when I talk about food and I talk about nutrition. We're trying to set up a rhythm that is at stability. Oftentimes people will wrap their brain or wrap their mind about like, okay, which exact food? Which one do I have?
Which one do I not have? If we're just focused on one food, we're missing all the rhythm. Mm-hmm. And so that stability in that like consistently could be like just timing. Do I usually kind of have a little something around this time because our body goes Okay, that person usually has something around this time.
Yeah. And so we can really help not only the body, but also I would think someone not stressed so much around food because it is, Hey, let's, let's look at what's important. I, I love to geek out, so like, yes, I can always get nitty gritty, but the main theme, what I do with a lot of people is going, Hey, let's look at the rhythm of your day so we can line the nutrients up with the rhythm. Mm-hmm. So your body goes, I'm getting the nutrients I need and I have the rhythm that knows that, hey, I'm gonna get all those in.
Yeah. And that's something that I feel Katie, like you are such a wizard at like your magic is taking this really complex thing or can be complex. Mm-hmm. And you can boil it down into like the most simple, applicable way. And it's so, it's such a beautiful skill you have. So I wanna talk through like some simple steps and then I have more questions
but, of course, like you just said, like you're going through someone's rhythm. So are there some simple steps somebody could take like today to help align their nutrition? So their blood sugar isn't a roller rollercoaster? Yeah. Yes, yes, absolutely. So I would say one like eating consistently. So I look at a rhythm as like we want to have something every three to five hours. So it might be, Hey, I eat a little something in the morning and usually I can say for fertility it's best to have something within the first hour and a half in the morning.
Yeah. And then from there it's three to five hours. So does that look like. You eat in the morning around 8:00 AM and then lunch is around noon. That's four hours. And then is it lunch and then dinner's over here? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So then do we need a pit stop in there? And it might just get that kind of like, Hey, what makes sense at this timing?
So that's what I would say. Like I look at everything of going, hey, like are we skipping or is it real like inconsistent of like, sometimes I eat dinner at five and sometimes I eat dinner at eight. That's a really long time difference. So working on getting that timing a little bit down.
Another thing that I think is simple to implement is getting in some really nice antioxidants. And so easy way to think about this is the color of your food. The brighter the color, the more potent the antioxidant. And so I went three to five distinct colors, and that includes your other colors, but three to five distinct colors on your plate.
So if we have chicken and we have rice, those are kind of the same color, that's one color. And then I want two other really distinct colors, and that's gonna usually come from our veggies or our fruit. Yeah. So I'm looking at how are we filling in that picture? And then lastly, as I always think, combine your carbohydrates strategically.
So carbohydrates are needed for fertility. And so taking those out reduces fiber, which fiber helps with that roller coaster of blood sugar and then also at the same time, carbohydrates support your thyroid too. So I never wanna take things out, but I want to just use them really strategic.
So what that means is that with my carbohydrate, I don't want it alone. I want it paired with something. So I always think a protein and or a fat. I always say fruit needs a friend. Think of it like you always need a buddy system.
Yeah. So I think of it like maybe it is fruit with like nut butter. Maybe it is rice and I'm gonna have that with fish. Maybe it is like if I'm having a piece of toast, I want that with an egg. I know somebody is listening and they're like, wait a minute, but what about all of the research and all the stuff on. "Fasting", right, like intermittent fasting. Mm-hmm. And how that's supposed to do something to reset my hormones. Like how is that impacting fertility?
Fasting is simply a time that we don't eat.
Yeah, okay. And we do that overnight, essentially. For, for most of us, that's kind of what happens. And so what I find most effective, if I'm thinking about like purposeful, let's say like fasting or where my window is or whatever terminology we're using. I find that if people fast in the morning, and I'll say for female and egg quality.
Males looks a little bit different. Yeah. But for females I can say that fasting in the morning actually starts that blood sugar dysregulation and that cortisol spike. And so you actually really wanna set up that like foundation in the morning. And I always say like within an hour and a half of someone waking up.
But where I find that it's useful is that at the end of the day, I actually want a really nice window of not eating before someone goes to bed. Yeah. And part of that is I'm always like, everything has several reasons in my head, but like one, I always think about like, okay, sleep and sleep quality.
Mm-hmm. If you're trying to digest overnight, you're not gonna get into that really like recharging sleep that you need. Two, I also want that like blood sugar regulation overnight. Yeah. And then, three at that same time, I'm like, that actually really sets up where that like hormone help. And that that quote unquote "fasting" help there is.
And most of the conversations around food are around like weight loss, right?
Correct. And so, when we're not trying to lose weight, which we could talk about that, yeah, we're trying to get pregnant. Right, right, right. We're trying to support our hormone. Yes, yes. And so that's why nutrition is not linear. And I think that's hard sometimes because people might go, oh my gosh, I'm eating the same way I always have, and it looks different.
Mm-hmm. And I'm like, oh, nutrition needs to line up with what you're trying to support your body to do. Yeah. And feel comfortable and safe to do, and depending on how your body works and functions, and when we talk about hormones, hormone function is different for every person. Yeah. So we have to support what each individual body needs to do.
Yeah. So that is an interesting perspective because some bodies, there is research to support that weight definitely impacts your fertility health. So if you are under or overweight, yeah, there might be a need for you to change your weight, right? Mm-hmm. And it's became more apparent to me.
I had one post on TikTok and it was like, what was the thing that helped you get pregnant? And so many people wrote in the comments about losing weight. Can we talk a little about that? Like if you are someone who, who wants to lose weight to get pregnant?
How can you combine these things where you can lose weight and support your blood sugar. How can we do both type things. So both have really similar consistencies to them, to be honest with you. I'm gonna look more into what they're doing for movement. What that is and when that is, and also when that is in comparison to what they eat.
Yeah. I'm gonna potentially look a bit more at sizing of those nutrients. Okay. And I stay away from portion size because we are actually looking at sizing of your nutrients. Yeah. So we wanna make sure those nutrients are fulfilled. I don't wanna have someone be deficient and then that's gonna affect your fertility.
Yeah. So we're looking at sizing of nutrients and what might change with that to be able to make it safe to lose weight consistently and long term. 'cause I can say this, anytime you do something drastic, your body's like, oh man. And it'll do something quick. Yeah. But it will kind of freak out and rebel.
And be like, ah, like sustained weight loss also needs that lazy river. Right? It does. That talked about at the beginning. It does, yeah. It totally, totally does. And is it different for male bodies and female bodies or can we just say like in general.
We can say a bit in general. Okay. There's a difference and then there's nuances to each of it, depending on what someone is doing. And let's say for instance, I have a male body that is lifting a ton of weights and that is in the morning. Mm-hmm. And so then where am I lining up everything? Because there is a refueling process that needs to happen pretty quickly after that workout.
Mm-hmm. That might be intense. And so then I look on the flip side and I'm like, okay, if a female body is trying to get pregnant and their workouts are not as intense, let's say then I'm not thinking so much of a refueling strategy, but more of a consistent blood sugar strategy. Mm.
What's happening in your life so we can make this really work for you? I really appreciate about food and nutrition is like
you have a ton of agency here, like this is something you can do something about. Absolutely. Which sometimes you lose on a fertility journey. Um, but nutrition is essential. And so if somebody was like, yeah, I, I want more of that one-on-one protocol, like what to do, how can people find you? Yeah.
Yeah. So they can find me and my team, and so, uh, we work virtually and collaboratively. So just know that like two parts, right?
All virtual. So we have a pretty far reach and then we're also always collaborating with each other on the team. But then also at the same time with any of your, practitioners that you're working with, we love collaboration in that. You can find me website, so katiechapmon.com. And then Instagram is katiechapmonnutrition. And so those are the easiest ways to kind of find us. And then, you know, from there I tell people like, sign up we have like a complimentary little meet and greet call.
That's the best way. Like, sign up, do that. 'cause what we're trying to figure out with you is hey, like what's, what's going on in your picture and where would be the best kind of, Hmm what do we need to look at? Is it just hormones, which sounds like Yes, obviously it's fertility, so it's just hormones.
We also look at gut health, and I'll say, I can't separate them out. Your hormones do kind of detoxify through that gut pathway. So we are looking at the whole picture here. But we wanna make sure that we're lining everything up with what your goals are.
Yeah. You know, so, and I would say from my own experience. I never reached out to an expert because I felt like I had enough knowledge in this area. I've always been fascinated by food. I love to cook, I love food. And so I just kind of put that in my bucket of like, okay, I've got that check.
Yeah. And I looked elsewhere, but my body was still telling me things. Like I wasn't having regular bowel movements and like I was very rigid and structured around what I was eating and I wish I had worked with an expert to like fine tune and find the gaps in the holes and it would've served me so much sooner.
I wasted so much time. So even if you have that knowledge and awareness, like having someone like Katie or somebody on Katie's team go through it with, you can find that hole and that gap. Yeah, Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Katie. Yes. All of the contact information will be in the show notes and you can reach out to Katie directly on Instagram and of course book that call with her and her team, and I'm so grateful for you. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me, Jess.
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Her Fertility Podcast in a sea of big name podcasts. Your support means the world to me. If you enjoyed the show, I would so appreciate your support by leaving a review on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or YouTube, wherever you listen to help me reach as many women as possible.
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