Dr. Nashat Latib

Functional fertility

FERTILITY & FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE

Get Pregnant Naturally

By Dr. Nashat Latib • Apr 11, 2023

Maximizing Fertility with the Functional Medicine Approach

Has your healthcare provider said you can’t get pregnant naturally? Are you left believing IUI or IVF are your only options?

You are not alone. The CDC states:

“In the United States, among married women aged 15 to 49 years with no prior births, about 1 in 5 (19%) are unable to get pregnant after one year of trying (infertility). Also, about 1 in 4 (26%) women in this group have difficulty getting pregnant or carrying a pregnancy to term (impaired fecundity).”

If you are one of the women struggling to get pregnant or having difficulty carrying a pregnancy to term, our #1 goal today is to give you hope.

We believe you are more than a statistic. In our practice, we’ve had an 80% success rate in helping clients who meet our criteria get pregnant using the functional medicine approach to fertility.

We’re here to explain the functional medicine approach for you today so you can make an informed decision about whether or not this approach is something you should incorporate into your fertility plan. Let’s dive in!

What is the Functional Medicine Approach to Fertility?

The functional approach to fertility focuses on identifying and addressing the underlying root causes of infertility. This contrasts with what we often see in conventional medicine, where providers make the diagnosis and throw a drug at it. 

Common Root Causes of Infertility

In our combined 20+ years of experience working as M.D.s and Institute of Functional Medicine Certified experts, we’ve seen most clients experience fertility challenges related to 1 or more of the following 3 root causes.

Nutritional Deficiencies

A study published in Frontiers in Endocrinology found that “Reproductive performance is definitely influenced by foods and type of nutrition. An unbalanced caloric and protein intake due to incorrect food consumption, responsible for severe under- or overweight, leads to alterations of the ovarian function with subsequent increase in infertility.”

Ovarian function is one of the many ways nutritional deficiencies can impact pregnancy. Click here to read our article about the top 5 nutrient deficiencies affecting women who want to conceive and how you can reverse them.

Hormonal Imbalances

Hormonal imbalances can impact fertility in various ways, including but not limited to ovulation disruptions, uterine lining thickening, or generally preventing a fertilized egg from getting established in the uterus.

Inflammation

Chronic inflammation can develop from factors like poor diet, stress, and smoking, in certain medical conditions, such as autoimmune disorders. In addition, inflammation affects fertility by damaging reproductive organs and negatively affecting sperm. For a more detailed perspective,  Click here to read our article on inflammation and fertility and the benefits of a holistic approach.

A functional medicine approach is a holistic approach to fertility that focuses on optimizing overall health and wellness, and as a result, is an effective way to uncover a lot of the blind spots that are missed in our traditional medical space and address the root causes we’ve discussed above. It’s about identifying and addressing the underlying root causes of infertility through lifestyle modifications, dietary changes, targeted supplementation, and individualized support.

We’ve developed a proprietary formula called the 4R Fertility FormulaTM, and we exclusively work with our clients using this formula. Here’s what your progression would look like should you choose to partner with us in one of our programs.

Reveal

This is the initial stage where we lay the foundations for success with our clients. Here we get a solid understanding of where you are at through using tools like BBT charting and functional lab testing. We use this information to formulate a customized action plan for you.

Release

This phase of our client work is all about detoxing your body and your life the right way. No fad diets, crash programs, or extreme lifestyle changes allowed! Instead, we lead you through a specific, food-based detox system and help you create lasting and sustainable changes in your diet and your habits to support your fertility.

Rebalance

Here, we continue optimizing your lifestyle for fertility. And we work on up-leveling your egg quality and supporting your partner to uplevel his sperm quality. Plus, if you have any underlying conditions impacting your ability to conceive, we continue to address the root cause so you can heal.

Receive

This stage is about helping you develop what we call a “fertile mindset.” Managing stress and living mindfully are significant keys to unlocking fertility, but they are rarely discussed in traditional medical settings. We take the opposite approach by addressing mindset throughout our work with our clients.

Implementing the 4R Fertility FormulaTM takes time and requires individualized support. If you’re interested in working through these steps with us, click here to watch our free, on-demand masterclass. At the end of the masterclass, you’ll get an invitation to take the next step toward working with us.

We help our clients address their nutrient deficiencies, and our formula has over an 80% success rate in those who are ready and commit to our process.

I’ve Already Tried or am Planning to Try IUI and IVF. Is the Functional Medicine Approach Still Worth It?

We have found that even if a person has been told they cannot get pregnant naturally, the functional approach to fertility can still be effective and allow that couple to get pregnant naturally.

The functional medicine approach can also be used with conventional medical treatments to improve the outcomes of advanced reproductive technologies or assisted reproductive technologies such as IUI and IVF.

In conclusion, the functional medicine approach can benefit ALL women seeking to conceive and birth a healthy baby, whether naturally or via assisted reproductive technology.

Each person is unique, and we can’t make any promises to you through this article. If you’re interested in exploring what it would look like to work with us, we invite you to click here to watch our free, on-demand masterclass and discover the proprietary 4R Fertility FormulaTM we use in our work with our clients.

References

Silvestris, E., Lovero, D., & Palmirotta, R. (2018). Nutrition and Female Fertility: An Interdependent Correlation. Frontiers in Endocrinology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2019.00346