How to preserve your fertility during wildfire season
For a variety of reasons, until as communities we decide to do more preventive work, wildfire season is here to stay.
Though I’m not complaining that we’ve had the sunniest and warmest September in Seattle than I can remember since living here, with it brings less water and more fire potential. And as a result, longer periods of smoky air. I know the rest of the west coast experiences this as well.
Now you likely know how bad smoking is for overall health and fertility and breathing this air is synonymous to smoking cigarettes. More specifically, an air quality index of 150 is equivalent to smoking 7 packs of cigarettes a day! (The AQI has been ranging from 75-150 where I’m at.) Dr. Ben Lynch aptly recommended renaming it "Health Quality Index" for this reason.
Personally, I had been dealing with an intense headache and sore throat after a long day outdoors last weekend. Out of curiosity, I polled my instagram followers and it appears I'm not the only one; these were the answers when I asked, "How do you know you've breathed too much smoke [from wildfires]?"
So how can you preserve all the progress you’ve made in your health and fertility efforts thus far and not get setback during fire season?
Let’s get into it !
Avoid going outdoors for long periods of time.
Prevention is key. No amount of food or supplementation can negate the negative effects of breathing in polluted air. Given these are short-term solutions, find a way to exercise indoors and get your sunshine by the window. If needing to go outside, keep it brief and be sure to follow steps 3-5.
2. Keep windows closed and use a quality air filter. Keeping houseplants will help too.
When air is clean, natural breeze is the best way to keep your home’s air clean as well but filtered air is going to be the priority for this period.
Houseplants are natural air filters but they may not do enough filtration fast enough depending on how smoky it is. We use a quality air filter like the Swiss IQ.
3. Increase foods rich in antioxidant-building nutrients like meats, organ meats, shellfish, eggs, fish eggs, whole milk, citrus fruits, strawberries, alliums, and cruciferous veggies.
These foods are rich in nutrients like vitamin A, zinc, selenium, sulfur, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin D, and B vitamins, among others, that are critical in combatting free radicals produced internally by smoke exposure.
4. Increase collagen-rich foods like bone-in skin-on meats, bone broth and/or collagen powder.
Glycine is an amino acid that comes from collagen protein (also known as gelatin) and is one of the 3 essential pieces to building the body’s master antioxidant, glutathione. Slow cooking or roasting bone-in, skin-on meats will result in collagen-rich broth. Consuming the skin, bones (soft parts), and cartilage will also be a great source. You know your broth is high in gelatin/collagen if it jiggles when cold.
Curious to incorporate more gelatin-rich bone broths in your life? Download the free Broth at Home ecookbook from Whole Healthy Families to learn all about how to make broth and incorporate it into your home rhythm. P.S. They are launching their Broth academy at the end of this month so go download that ebook to be in the loop on what that’s all about!
5. Supplement with N-acetyl-cysteine NAC or liposomal glutathione.
Especially when needed acutely in high amounts, cysteine and glycine can be limiting nutrients when your body is trying to make glutathione. So in combination with the glycine from your collagen foods from step 4, your body will use cysteine from N-Acetyl-Cysteine (aka NAC) to make glutathione. Though a little more pricey, liposomal glutathione will also do the trick and bypass your demand for sufficient glycine. You can visit my Fullscript dispensary to pick up NAC, glutathione or collagen.
I hope these tips are helpful for you as you navigate wildfire season where you live! Tell me in the comments if you give them a try or if you have any questions!
If you’re interested in learning more about ways to include more of these nourishing foods into your diet on your motherhood journey, it’s time to join my comprehensive signature preconception preparation course, Resilient Motherhood: a step-by-step guide to preparing for conception and beyond!
