SHORT OF MOVING TO THE WILDERNESS WITHOUT A CAR, you can’t completely eliminate environmental toxins, but you can use common sense to avoid excessive exposure in everything from the water you drink to lubrication you may use in the bedroom.
Understanding Xenoestrogens 
For starters, we need to talk about xenoestrogens because they have the potential to have a direct effect on your fertility, your health, and your future offspring. Xenoestrogens are chemical compounds that imitate estrogen in the body. They can be either naturally occurring or synthetic.
Natural xenoestrogens come primarily from plants (often called phytoestrogens), and we mostly get exposed to them through food such as soy. Synthetic xenoestrogens are extremely prevalent in our environment and include things such as PCBs (in insulation and oil-based paints), BPA (in plastic), and phthalates (in cosmetics, lubricants, food packaging, and more).
Xenoestrogens are a problem because they act as endocrine disruptors, basically filling the receptors for true estrogen in the body, which is an issue whether you’re starting with too much, too little, or just the right amount of this hormone in the first place. The resulting hormone imbalance directly interferes with reproductive health and has also been associated with early puberty in both boys and girls.
Here are some guidelines to minimize your xenoestrogen exposure:
DO NOT DRINK FROM PLASTIC WATER BOTTLES that have been heated up by the sun or sitting in a hot car. It’s best not to reuse plastic water bottles—glass or stainless steel is optimal.
AVOID TOO MUCH CHLORINE EXPOSURE by buying chlorine-free paper products, including tampons, menstrual pads, and household paper products. Be sure to rinse well before and after swimming in a chlorinated pool.
SWITCH TO NONTOXIC HOUSEHOLD CLEANERS, TOILETRIES, AND COSMETICS. Bleach, ammonia, and other chemicals found in household cleaners are toxic and should be removed from your home. Nontoxic alternatives are available—from window cleaner to dish and laundry soap. There are also lots of easy DIY recipes out there that are both easy to make and easy on your wallet.
BUY ORGANIC produce, meats, and dairy products to avoid pesticides and hormones.
STORE YOUR FOOD IN GLASS CONTAINERS; avoid plastic as much as possible, and definitely do not microwave or bake food in plastic.
IF YOU’VE BEEN A SMOKER OF ANY SUBSTANCE, WE’RE GOING TO ASSUME THAT YOU’VE QUIT. (If not, talk to your acupuncturist about a plan ASAP.) If your family or friends smoke, steer clear as much as possible, making sure that anyone you live with moves his or her habit to the patio at the very least.
IF YOU PAINT OR OTHERWISE WORK WITH TOXIC CHEMICALS, REDUCE YOUR EXPOSURE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, and—in addition to your nutrient-dense diet—make sure to supplement with glutathione and other antioxidants discussed on page 144.
DITCH THE PERFUMES. They may smell nice, but the chemicals in synthetic scents may disrupt your hormones. Avoid them in all forms—spray-ons, lotions, deodorants, air fresheners, etc. Essential oils make an excellent replacement.
Filter Your Water All of the water that comes in contact with your body (both internal and external) should be filtered to remove chlorine, fluoride, and other toxic chemicals, due to the risk of exposure to xenoestrogens and other endocrine disruptors. There are many different and often confusing water filtration options out there. Here’s a rundown:
BEST—Whole house filter for bathing and for drinking and a separate reverse osmosis filter (and a method to add minerals back into the water either via a specialized filter or mineral drops that you can buy online or at a health food store)
GOOD—A filter attached to the tap of your shower and/or bath plus reverse osmosis filter and minerals as above
NOT GOOD ENOUGH—Brita filters, bathing in municipal tap water, reverse osmosis water without added minerals
Moderate Medications For those who are trying to conceive naturally, the simple answer is to keep medication to a minimum. Many symptoms and health imbalances (such as difficulty sleeping, headaches, and anxiety) can be addressed as you work with your Chinese medicine practitioner.
Ibuprofen, aspirin, and naproxen are in a class of pain-relieving drugs known as NSAIDs (short for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). While these pills may seem like a quick fix for a headache or menstrual cramps, the pathway they block to eliminate pain is the same pathway used in the release of a mature egg at ovulation.
NSAIDs use can result in a type of ovulation failure called Luteinized Unruptured Follicle Syndrome (LUFTS), where the ovary matures a follicle, but the egg doesn’t pop out in response to the signal to ovulate (the LH surge). Luckily, this condition is reversible once NSAID ingestion is stopped, but we still don’t recommend using these medicines unless absolutely necessary.
The use of antidepressant and antianxiety medications remains controversial. Overall, medical professionals agree that depression in and of itself can be quite harmful to pregnancy, so measures should be taken to ensure that a pregnant woman is not suffering from clinical depression that may impede her ability to care for herself or her unborn child properly.
On the other hand, most antianxiety medicines are not advised during pregnancy because they affect the body in a way that may be altered by pregnancy hormones.
Whether you are trying to conceive or are already pregnant, it is essential to be under the care of a psychiatrist or psycho-pharmacologist who has expert knowledge of the use of these drugs during gestation and the postpartum period.
Finally, it’s important to consider what has occurred in your life that made it necessary to start taking these medications in the first place. If you suffer from situational depression or anxiety, might it be possible to consider a step-down from your medication (under the care of your doctor, of course) now that you’re expecting? If you are clinically depressed, regardless of what is happening in your life, coming off medication may not be for you. In either case, there are many natural and holistic alternatives you might consider (under the supervision of your medical and holistic care providers) to minimize your exposure and maximize your well-being during this sensitive time.
Oral contraceptives are so common in our culture that everyone knows them as simply “the pill.” Prescribed like candy by most OB-GYNs, most people don’t realize that long-term use of those little baby blockers can have a negative impact on future fertility and overall health.
“The pill” (or the patch, ring, or shot—they all deliver the same medicine, for the most part) does not come without its problems, including the consequences of high estrogen, damaged gut flora, potential suppression of reproductive problems, and the obvious yet significant function of delaying baby-making.
Birth control pills work by tricking your body into suppressing ovulation by keeping your estrogen levels high. Estrogen dominance comes with a long list of side effects and health consequences, including reduced sex drive, weight gain, melasma (brown spots on the face), mood swings, and an increased risk of blood clotting, stroke, and breast cancer.
Hormone replacement therapy, including oral birth control, has a damaging effect on the bacteria in our intestines. The result of long-term exposure to these hormones is an overgrowth of the intestinal bacteria Candida albicans, which can lead to increased yeast infections and food sensitivities, as well as impaired immune function and nutrient absorption. Women who are (or were) on birth control should take measures to balance their gut flora, through probiotic supplementation and consuming plenty of probiotic-rich foods such as cultured veggies, kombucha tea, and kefir—a subject we will cover in much more detail in a later chapter.
Many women are prescribed the pill early in their reproductive life because of painful or irregular periods, acne, and mood swings. Often, the pill serves as a cover-up for more serious conditions, including PCOS and endometriosis. While no one wants to deal with the discomfort of these disorders, pushing them into latency until you are ready to have a baby is fraught with problems. We treat so many women well into their thirties and early forties who have been on birth control since they were teenagers. Discovering that you have been suppressing a condition that may require surgery or advanced medical intervention can throw a serious monkey wrench into baby-making plans.
Once the symbol of sexual liberation, birth control has played a powerful role in the postponement of starting a family. While we are all for a woman choosing her own destiny and having a child when she is ready, the mind-set that it is possible to wait as long as you want to make a baby is simply false. We feel that true equality will come when women are supported in having a family at an age when their fertility is most promising, without any punitive effects on their professional lives.
When it comes to Western fertility treatments, some couples find themselves taking way more medication than they ever have in their lives as part of the process. From hormones to build your uterine lining and increase follicle counts, to suppressive drugs such as Lupron to prevent an early lead follicle, to ovarian stimulants such as Clomid and gonadotropins, to HCG shots and progesterone to encourage ovulation and support pregnancy—you may feel like a walking pharmacy. In these cases, do your best to go with the flow.
Acupuncture and Chinese herbs (when prescribed by an herbalist who specializes in reproductive health) can be quite helpful in moderating the negative effects of drugs, without getting in the way of their function and detoxing when the cycle is over and/or you are pregnant.
Sometimes, birth control pills are used in the short term as part of an IVF protocol. If those are your doctor’s orders, please don’t sweat it. Short bursts of ovarian suppression won’t wreak havoc on your endocrine system the way that long-term use will.
USE THE RIGHT LUBE
If you need or prefer extra glide during sex, you may opt for using lubricants. Here’s the problem: Most lubricants act as spermicides, even if they aren’t advertised to kill sperm.
A woman’s cervical fluid is a perfectly designed medium in which sperm swim to their target—the egg, so care must be taken in choosing additional lubricants.
While some natural-minded folks choose coconut oil or other oils for lubrication, it is unclear whether this is an ideal medium for sperm conduction. Luckily, you can use egg white as a sperm-friendly, natural lubricant right out of the fridge. For those looking for something less, um, culinary, there are several sperm-friendly lubricants on the market, such as Pre-Seed. (Though we would prefer if they would make this product paraben-free.)