35. Ingredients that Could be Causing Infertility with Karalynne Call of Just Ingredients

Hi, friends. Welcome to Fearless Infertility a podcast for women struggling with the mental anguish that comes with infertility. My name is Jenica and after suffering in silence for too long I was able to pull myself out of the dark, take control over my mind, and create joy during my infertility experience. I’m here to help you do the same, sister. Let’s dive into today’s show.

Welcome back to Fearless Infertility. At the end of today’s episode with my friend Karalynne you will have really tangible, simple ways to protect your hormones. I didn’t even know the things that were damaging my hormones until I spoke with Karalynne. But we’re going to make it incredibly, incredibly easy and not overwhelming at all for you with easy swap ideas and you’re going to leave this call feeling uplifted, not overwhelmed, I promise. Let’s go.

What’s up y’all? You’re going to love today’s podcast episode with my friend Karalynne. She’s the first person that honestly simplified a healthier lifestyle for me. I feel like anybody else that I had listened to in the past kind of overwhelmed me and I’m like, “I don’t want to throw out every item in my entire pantry and feel like I’m just not measuring up, so I’m just not going to do that much.”

And honestly I’ve always been a pretty healthy eater. My mom taught me really well, I’ve always been pretty balanced for the most part. But Karalynne helped me see things that I was doing, products I was using or eating that were damaging my hormones and I didn’t even know it.

And she’s so good at really simplifying it because I don’t do overwhelming, you guys. I don’t do that, I don’t believe in it. I don’t think it’s necessary to make changes. And so that’s why I had her on today’s podcast episode with me to help you see how simple it can be to protect your hormones, especially during infertility, and really help you to feel better.

So before we get into today’s podcast episode I was able to create a really simple printable for you to be able to print or even just look on your phone and take it with you to the store so you can make really easy swaps. So if you go to fearlessinfertility.com/hormones you can get a one page simplified version of what we talk about today.

And I mean I still would for sure listen because it will give you a lot of information that I think will help you a lot and it’s fun to talk with her and listen to her. But this is a one page simplified PDF that will help you as you shop and make simple changes in your life.

And next on today’s agenda is to share with you a podcast review on Apple Podcasts. I like to have you guys review and rate the podcast there because it helps that have no idea who I am or about this infertility support community know that we exist so that they no longer have to experience infertility alone anymore.

So the winner of today is, okay, I can’t say her username. But the title is so glad I found this podcast. “I am so glad that I found this podcast early on in our infertility journey. I have felt so alone through the process so far, but hearing all of these other experiences and advice has been so helpful in making me feel a part of a community.

I look forward to each new episode and taking an hour out of my busy life to listen and take some time for myself. Thank you for all that you do, Katie.” Katie, if you will email me at [email protected] with your address and size and I’ll get your Pjs and socks sent out to you.

You guys these are the best pajamas and socks ever, and honestly, you guys are going to be the first to know, I’m not going to sell them for much longer. The only way that you’ll be able to get them is through signing up for my program, Fearless Infertility, which I highly recommend you doing, or to win them through the podcast reviews on Apple Podcasts.

So please help share the news about this podcast and this support. It’s the best infertility support in the entire world. I’m so excited to get more people into our community whoa re alone and lonely. So you can do that by helping and leaving a review and a rating on Apple Podcasts. So make sure you follow the podcast as well.

Okay friends, make sure to download fearlessinfertility.com/hormones. And I cannot wait for you to hear this message, or this good news, all this good stuff with my friend Karalynne. Let’s get into today’s interview.

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Jenica: Welcome back to Fearless Infertility. Today I have on the podcast my friend Karalynne Call. And I’m so, so excited to get to introduce you to her. Of you do not know what she does yet, you’re about to and how she can benefit your life. So thank you so much for being here, Karalynne.

Karalynne: Oh thank you for having me. I’m excited to be here.

Jenica: Okay, so to give everyone a little backstory on how Karalynne and I met, I started following her on Instagram probably two or three years ago, I can’t really remember. And my sister in law, Lindsey, recommended her Instagram to me. And it was fairly small at the time, I think she had like roughly 3000 followers. But the content on there was so valuable.

And I’ll let her explain her story and how she got here. But essentially, what I saw when I first got on her Instagram was a really easy, simplified way to make changes to my lifestyle that wasn’t overwhelming to me. And, I mean, all of us have goals, I think, to eat healthier, have a lifestyle that really supports ourselves physically and mentally.

But I think a lot of other sources that I’ve found, it’s very overwhelming. And they’re like, “You have to throw away everything and change your entire lifestyle.” And I’m like, “Oh, I’m just going to close that down and not even do anything.”

And so what I saw with Karalynne was that it was super easy swaps. And we’ll talk more about details on what each of us experiencing infertility can do throughout the podcast episode. But that’s essentially Karalynne in a nutshell. She helps simplify living better.

Karalynne: That’s a good way to put it, thank you.

Jenica: Well thank you. Okay, so if you can start out and tell us about your story and why you do what you do in helping people then I think that would be awesome, just to hear how you got started.

Karalynne: Yeah, so I am a mom of six kids. But about 16 years ago, when I had three little boys I found myself with severe suicidal depression. And I actually attempted suicide. And after I attempted, and thankfully by the grace of God it did not happen, I was like, “I have got to find help. We have reached the bottom.”

And just to preface, it was not postpartum depression because my baby was over one. And so if the baby is over one then the doctors don’t classify it as postpartum depression. And so I went searching for help. And so I went to doctor after doctor for two years. And every doctor just kept saying, “Well I can put you on an antidepressant.”

And don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against antidepressants but what was frustrating was I would ask them, “Well, will this heal me?” And they kept saying, “No, it will just help you feel better.” And I said, “Okay, but I want to heal from this. How do I heal from this?” And they kept saying I don’t know.

That was 16 years ago, so just FYI if you have a doctor today that tells you you can’t heal from it, find a new doctor. Because now we know so much. But back then I was like, “Well, I haven’t always been this way so my body somehow can heal. I just don’t know how to do it.” But I know the body can heal because like you break a bone and you put a cast on it, give it some support, and it heals. Same thing with a scratch.

So I’m like I can heal if I know what’s going on. So I kept going to doctor after doctor so frustrated. And finally I found a doctor that was like, “Yes, I can help you. It’s going to take a lot of work on your end, we’ve got to do a lot of tests, and I’ll help you along the way.”

So long story short, we did the tests and I found out that I was not absorbing B vitamins, which is crucial for good mental health. I was low on vitamin D, which is same. I was low on magnesium. Oh my gosh, my hormones were a mess, so many different ones were a mess. My cortisol was high when it should be low and low when it should be high.

I mean so many different things. I had food intolerances, I mean the list was just huge of all these different things and it was like, “No wonder why my body experienced depression. It just did not have the nutrients and the things that it needed to run properly.” And so finally it had enough and I hit rock bottom.

And so with that doctor I went on a healing journey. And I went step by step, fixing things in my diet, products that I used, herbs, supplements, things that she put me on to help me. And it was a good 18 month journey with her before I started weaning off.

Well, actually it was about a year with her and then I started slowly weaning off the antidepressants, just because you have to do it really carefully. And we needed to make sure my body had gotten enough B vitamins and vitamin D and all these different things.

Anyways, so long story short I healed with her. And ever since I’ve never been on antidepressants, I have felt great. I haven’t experienced that depression like I did. And for years I never said anything about it. Because when I would say that I attempted suicide, people just thought I was crazy. Or, “Oh, you’re so weak.” Or, “That’s not me, poor you, I can’t relate with that.”

And so I kept quiet and I hid it for years and years and just went about my business, trying to live a healthy lifestyle and try to learn more and more about the body and what it needs and how to live a healthy lifestyle.

And a few years ago I just really felt that I needed to speak out. That I needed to start helping people because I felt like everybody around me, neighbors, friends, family members, they all were suffering with like migraines, or autoimmune issues, or depression, anxiety.

I mean, the list was huge all around me. And I wanted to tell all of them, “You can fix this, your body’s amazing.” And I wanted to be like, “Oh, if I could only cook for you for a month, I know I could help you.” But you can’t go up to someone and just be like, “Hey, I know what would help you.”

And so I was like, “Okay, I’m just going to start an Instagram account because maybe some of these friends and family members and things would follow the Instagram account. And then they would learn from there how to better help themselves.”

And so that’s how the Instagram came about. And it was purely just as a hobby to try to help the people around me because I felt like I had all this knowledge now from my experiences that I wanted to share. So that’s how it started and now we’re a business.

We have over 600,000 followers on Instagram and have a Facebook group. And now I make products. And so it’s definitely turned into something I never thought it would be.

Jenica: Honestly, and you have been an absolute gift. I’m not going to get emotional, honestly, because I know for me personally what you’ve done for me in my own life. And I know there are thousands and thousands and thousands of other people that you’ve simplified it for. The people that just don’t know that there’s another way. That they feel absolutely terrible, they wake up every day just feeling horrible.

And then, like for me, I had Epstein Barr virus last year, and it all started with you, healing started with you where I was aware of things that I’d never been aware of before. And I think that’s where it starts. But we just don’t know how these products and these foods are affecting us. And I’m just so incredibly grateful to you for pushing so hard. Because it’s not easy, I mean, you have six kids. And so, I mean, you could easily have stayed busy just with your own family.

So just briefly, I know for me in my own infertility experience, I felt called from God with little nudges here and there. It’s not like He came and said, “Jenica, I need you to help everybody experiencing infertility.” But I had these little nudges here and there, just I know for a fact that he wants me to help these women with infertility based on the experience that I have had up until this point.

Can you talk to us a little bit about how you knew that you could really be a light for these people who are in the dark?

Karalynne: Well, like I said before, I just felt like I needed to start speaking out. And I didn’t really know why. I figured it was my friends and family around me and I wanted to help them. And so that’s why I started. But I had stayed at 3,000 followers for about 18 months.

And so my little story is I went to God in prayer and was like, “Okay, I’m really busy as a mom, and being a mom is my first priority. And I’ve done this for 18 months, and maybe my friends and family now have learned something from it. So I’m just letting you know I’m going to be done.”

But then I just really felt like to keep going. So I went back to him in prayer a second time and just said the same thing, “I just don’t really think this is the best use of my time because being a mom is my first priority. So it’s been fun. It’s been busy, but I’m going to put it to the side.” And I just felt like keep going.

So then I went a third time in prayer a few weeks later. And it’s like, “Hey I’m telling you again one more time I’m going to be a mom, I’m not going to focus on this right now.” And anyways, he just said, “Do you trust me?” I just heard that voice like, “Do you trust me?” And I was like, “Yes, of course.”

And it was literally crazy from that point on. Within seven days I hit 10,000. Within that month I hit 30,000. Within like six weeks I hit 100,000 followers. And I thought, “Okay, there’s more people that I’m supposed to reach and more people I’m supposed to tell this story to.”

And so actually it’s been a huge blessing knowing that I’m helping people. I get DMs all the time. In fact, I got one a couple months ago of a girl who actually was ready to commit suicide and someone was like, “Reach out to Karalynne.” I read her DM, I don’t know how that happened. And long story short, we’ve talked, things like that and she’s getting help and getting the things that she needs. And she did not commit suicide.

But it’s a lot of stories of people telling me they’re so excited they got off certain medications, or that their inflammation is down. Or even people that will write in and say that they got pregnant after dealing with this infertility journey for years and years, and changed things and now they’re pregnant.

And so yeah, now I sort of see why I’m doing what I’m doing. And I love it. And if I can help more and more people, that’s my whole intention, is just to be able to help whoever I can.

Jenica: Well, for me personally, thank you. I feel like you helped give me my life back. And I know that you believe that every human being has a calling and we all have our gifts and our talents and our mission in life. And I know that you believe that you can help them get to the place where they can then fulfill those callings.

And that’s how I feel like you have helped me so much. Because when I’m so tired, so exhausted, I can barely function, it’s survival mode. And I can’t then go fulfill my higher purpose, which is to help women with infertility. And so I love that. It kind of makes me think of a pyramid where you’re like the base of my pyramid, obviously it’s not just you there. But that’s the basic, you can’t go out and serve and help others that when you are barely making it through the day.

And so I really love that and I would love to go next into a little bit more of if someone is just hearing about the fact that products and food affect our health. I know it’s talked about more widely for sure than it used to be, especially when you were experiencing your severe depression. But if someone is just hearing about this, can you give us like a nutshell answer on how our products and our food affect our health?

Karalynne: A nutshell answer is hard.

Jenica: Yes, well you can have it be like a really large nutshell.

Karalynne: Yeah, so it is becoming more common today, which is so nice. Because even the amount of better choice products out there in the last five years is tremendous. People want to know what is causing all of this cancer, and autoimmune issues, and infertility, and depression. We’re sort of sick of all this. And it’s like, “Okay, what is the root cause of all of this?”

And so it’s just that, in a nutshell, I believe that the foods from nature are miraculous. They are meant to heal the body, to nourish the body. They are full of fiber, and vitamins, and minerals, and antioxidants, and the healthy fats, and all the things that the body needs. And a lot of the food on our shelves these days in the store have a lot of man made ingredients in them.

And these man made ingredients were to make the products last longer on the shelf, to give them more color, to give them more flavor. And they came about a lot like after the 50s. In the 80s and 90s they really started becoming popular. And we’re now finding that a lot of those new ingredients aren’t the best for man’s health, people’s health I should say.

And so we’re now finding the adverse effects of some of these. And so I’m just trying to teach people, like let’s go back to the basics and let’s try to eat the foods that nature has given us that will benefit us the most.

Jenica: Yeah, I love that. And that’s what I love that I mentioned earlier, was that Karalynne really simplifies it, because it can be overwhelming. I mean, I don’t feel like you teach by fear, which I think a lot of people have because it works sometimes because people listen. But Karalynne doesn’t teach by fear, she simplifies it and gives you very, very simple swaps.

And if you’re at the grocery store, her and I went, which I’ll link that video here in the show notes of the podcast as well. Because we went to Target to show people easy swaps. But on her Instagram account there’s pictures of certain products and oftentimes at the store, it’s just the next product sitting next to it on the shelf to make the easy swap.

But I wouldn’t have known that when I first started this journey. And so she really simplifies it. And so would you say that’s the best place for people to find you is your Instagram to start?

Karalynne: Yeah, I would say so, that or my website. I put a lot of my favorites on there that are better choice products. And then I’ve been making a lot of cheat sheets that will help you at the grocery store, help you if you’re looking for beauty items, gluten free items, whatever.

Jenica: That’s amazing. How do we sign up for those?

Karalynne: Through my website, you’ll find them on my website.

Jenica: Okay, and it’s justingredients.us right?

Karalynne: Yeah.

Jenica: Okay, perfect. I’ll link that in the show notes as well.

Karalynne: I just want to say one thing about the overwhelming part because I want people to know that back like 16 years ago when I was dealing with all of this I knew nothing about nutrition. So anybody can do this, but I knew nothing. Back then it was the low fat craze, to eat everything low fat. I probably didn’t have a vegetable for days.

I was eating cereal for breakfast and some processed microwave dinner. So when the doctor was like, “Okay, you need to clean up your food and your beauty products and all of that.” I was like, “Wait, if you overwhelm me, it’s just my personality that I won’t do it. I will just quit. But if I can take little baby steps and learn one thing at a time and get good at it before I move on to the next thing, then I can do it.”

And so that’s what I tell people, don’t get overwhelmed by all of this. Just take one little step at a time, make one little change at a time. And over time you will have made all these changes that will benefit your health.

Jenica: Yeah, and that’s exactly what I’ve done. And it hasn’t felt hard. It’s felt, honestly, kind of fun which I had never expected. But it’s been so amazing for me. I’d mentioned earlier that I had the Epstein Barr virus last year. And I think, from what I understand, 95% of us have that virus in our bodies, but most people’s immune systems can fight it off. And mine had gotten so weak that it wasn’t able to.

And I used whole foods and supplements from the earth to completely heal myself. And I honestly don’t even know if I would really believe it if I hadn’t experienced it myself. Because to go from how I felt where I was, I honestly wanted to go to sleep for the night at 1pm every day. I was so drained, I had all of these big goals, and I wanted to be a really active mom. And I just felt like I was barely making it through every day.

To go from that to how I feel now, it’s just miraculous. And I didn’t use medication to heal myself, which obviously you and I both agree there’s a time and place for that. But I literally just went to whole good foods that God gave us on the earth and I healed myself. And it honestly wasn’t that hard, I’m not going to lie.

Karalynne: Well, and I just want to state because sometimes this gets misrepresented. I completely believe in conventional medicine. So don’t get me wrong, I believe in the medicine. My dad was a doctor, two nurses. But there is a place for food as well in the healing process. And sometimes there isn’t a magic pill just for tiredness.

The magic pill doesn’t exist and so that’s when food can come into play and our products that we’re using, the toxin overload, things like that.

Jenica: Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so let’s talk about next what affects our hormones. So Karalynne and I went to Target a few months ago, earlier this year. And I loved it because it was very simple switches that we talked about. And obviously, we are aware that hormones can affect our fertility.

And so for those of us on this podcast, who have infertility, which is all of us. What would you say would be some easy switches to help protect our hormones?

Karalynne: Okay, so there’s a lot of things. So there are endocrine disruptors out there in our beauty products and just cleaning supplies, lots of different things that we use on a daily basis. And endocrine disruptors are chemicals such as like phthalates, parabens, things like that, that mimic our real hormones. So then our real hormones can’t do the correct job that they’re supposed to be doing.

And so it interferes with like the metabolism of our hormones, the biosynthesis of our hormones, I mean, the role that they’re supposed to be doing, so many different things.

So there’s seven main endocrine disruptors that a lot of us use on a daily basis and may not even know it. And so if we can get rid of those endocrine disruptors, it just will help our livers detox better. Which plays a huge role in hormones because actually, our liver has to detox estrogen and help keep our estrogen levels balanced. It will help our gut. There’s just so many things.

Well do you want me to name what the seven endocrine disruptors are?

Jenica: Yeah, I’d love that. Everyone that’s listening, don’t get overwhelmed. Do you have this on your website? Some information like this yet? Okay, perfect. So nobody get overwhelmed, just listen, take it in and I will direct everyone to her website in the show notes.

Karalynne: Okay. So phthalates are in a lot of beauty products. phthalates just keep the smell lasting longer. So think of that like cherry blossom body lotion that you’re using. Our beauty products, when we rub them into our skin a lot of the ingredients are being absorbed into the bloodstream, not all of them, but some of them do. And phthalates is one of them.

So think about all the beauty products that you’re using that have a yummy smell to them. They most likely have phthalates which are endocrine disruptors. So shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body lotion, face lotion, perfume, the list has goes on.

Jenica: Hand soap.

Karalynne: Exactly. So that’s one thing that you can just watch for, is to do phthalate free of your beauty products.

Jenica: Yeah, and honestly it’s a pretty easy switch too.

Karalynne: Yeah, and a lot of companies are making it phthalate free because they know that that’s what the consumers are wanting these days.

Jenica: Yeah, I remember I actually tagged Karalynne on an Instagram story the other day because the hotel I was staying at had a shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the hotel shower, and it said no phthalates. And I think phthalate is a new one, I think we’ve known about parabens for a while. But it said no phthalates, I was like, “Oh my gosh, Karalynne would be proud.”

Karalynne: Yes, I would. That’s awesome.

Jenica: Yeah, I was so impressed.

Karalynne: Yes, that is great. So the next one that you’ll find in beauty products as well are parabens. Parabens are just a preservative because we do need a preservative in things that have water. So like think body lotion, you don’t want mold and bacteria and stuff growing in there. But we used vitamin E for years and years as a preservative. And that’s what I use in my beauty products because it works great.

So we don’t need these parabens that are endocrine disruptors. And so that’s another one to look out for when you’re buying the body wash, the shampoo, all of those things.

Jenica: Okay, amazing.

Karalynne: And then a third one is aluminum. And you guys probably have seen the big thing of deodorants without aluminum these days. It’s getting more and more trendy because we now know aluminum is an endocrine disruptor.

Another thing is dioxins, which you find in bleached products. So think bleached tampons, bleached pads, things like that. And so organic tampons, organic pads cannot be bleached and cannot have these dioxins. And so there’s like a big craze of organic as well. I was at Target the other day and almost the whole section was organic tampons and pads. And I was like, “Yes, we are learning.”

Jenica: I love it. And what Karalynne mentions a lot too, is that our dollars are our vote. And so there’s been many, many companies who were doing just fine financially, then all of a sudden they’ve seen their sales dip. Because these new companies who care about our health are starting to create products that are good for us. And so they’ve been forced to change, which is so amazing.

Karalynne:  Right. In 2018 actually, Johnson and Johnson dropped by 20% their revenues. And so they quickly took the parabens and phthalates out of their baby products. So once people are educated they’re like, “We don’t want to be rubbing this into our new little baby’s body.” And then I think, well, why would a teenager want to be rubbing it into her body? And why would adults want to be rubbing it into their body?

Jenica: Yeah, absolutely. I know that’s been kind of eye opening for me, is I’ve seen products that says baby safe, and I’m like, “Well, I want products that are safe for me too as an adult.”

Karalynne: Exactly. Okay, so another endocrine disruptor are BPAs. Those are mainly found in plastic. So it’s just really easy to switch your food storage containers from plastic containers to glass. Or the bottle that you’re drinking water out of, change to like a stainless steel one. And then the horrible part about BPAs is that they’re now found in our water.

And so our water now just has so many issues. So I tell people use a water filter to get rid of that BPA. Because BPA is a really big endocrine disruptor that is linked to a lot of infertility issues. So that’s one to be aware of.

Jenica: Yeah, and Karalynne has a couple of really great discount codes on her website as well for some water filters. My mom just bought the smaller one that’s in the fridge, I believe, that you keep in your fridge. And I have the one that’s on my counter. And so you guys are just going to love Karalynne, I’ll link to her website and just go like have fun.

Karalynne: Oh, you’re so nice. Okay, so another one are called PFASs. So a lot of times you’ll probably see when you’re buying a frying pan or a griddle or a waffle maker or something it will say, no PFOA and no PTFE. But that’s almost like a marketing ploy these days because those have been banned. And so PFOAs were banned in like 2018 by like 180 countries, so they don’t really exist that much.

So what you want to look for are no PFASs, those are like the four letters to look for when you’re buying your frying pans, pots, pans, whatever, all those things. That has a nickname of a forever chemical because it just is really hard for our environment and our body to get rid of. And so it’s another endocrine disruptor.

So if you’re cooking on Teflon pans, maybe try to make the switch to go to a safer pan without the Teflon. I should have said that those letters, well, the PTFE, that is Teflon. And so I should have said that at the beginning so that you guys knew what I was talking about.

Jenica: Okay. Okay, well, it’s good to know.

Karalynne: Yeah, so those are the main seven endocrine disruptors. But then there’s also other things that are affecting infertility such as PCOS. And if you talk to a lot of doctors that PCOS, a lot of the cases are due to insulin resistance or inflammation, things like that. And so cutting down on our inflammation is a great way to reduce the side effects of the of the PCOS.

So, things like omega threes. Adding omega threes, which are healthy fat, into our diets can really helped bring down that inflammation. So think like chia seeds, and flax seeds, and salmon, things like that are full of omega threes.

We need to lower our omega sixes, that’s contributing to the inflammation. And the omega sixes are in things like vegetable oil, like soybean oil, think about all the fast food that we eat that’s got the soybean oil in it, they’re cooking with the vegetable oil. Think about all our processed snacks on the shelves. It’s full of those seed oils, which can be inflammatory.

Jenica: Okay. Yeah, and something that I learned that I did not know, but when Karalynne and I went to Target, she said that vitamin D milk has how much more omega threes than like skim milk, for instance?

Karalynne: Oh, it’s the grass fed, the grass fed milk.

Jenica: Okay.

Karalynne: Yeah, so grass fed milk, grass fed meat, all of those have way more omega threes than just our regular. And so yeah, look for grass fed meat for sure when you’re using beef and dairy products.

Jenica: Okay, amazing. Thank you.

Okay, so as far as your thoughts go, because with the work that I do with these women with infertility, we know that our thoughts essentially get us our results. And that can kind of feel overwhelming, but I can help break it down for these women and help them understand what’s going on in their brains.

And so to simplify it, I like to think about certain thoughts that help me when I am going through a hard time. And I like to have my safe thoughts. So first of all, being very curious about how our thoughts are affecting us, I think is the first step. And notice I say curious versus judgmental, because those are two completely different things.

So for example, one of my thoughts in infertility is that if it wasn’t this trial, it would be something else. And it needs to be something that we believe. And I genuinely believe that, because I kind of have a bigger perspective and I believe that humans are on this earth and we all have our trials. And so I believe that and that gives me a lot of comfort.

Somebody else might think that and think, “Oh, well, that sounds horrible. I don’t like that.” So the whole point about our thoughts is that doesn’t have to be true for somebody else, it just needs to be true for you. And if it makes you feel peaceful, or happy, or encouraged, then I would say that will be a thought that you would want to hold on to.

And so I also do think though it is helpful to hear other people’s positive thoughts, because then you can say, “Hey, that’s something that I hadn’t thought about before, but maybe I can hold on to that too. And that might make me feel great as well.”

And so when you are mentally having a hard time, do you have any conscious thoughts that you go to or think about to help you to move forward and maybe lower your stress or anxiety to help you move forward through whatever hard thing that you’re experiencing?

Karalynne: So now I do. Back 15, 16 years ago I didn’t. I mean that depression was just pure darkness and you don’t feel like there’s any light at the end of the tunnel. And so there was no hope, there was nothing, it was gone.

And so now I realized that there’s always hope. Hope is the future after the storm. It’s the rainbow after the storm. That’s what hope is. And we are all going to have storms that we will go through, but there’s always that rainbow. We will get out of that storm and see the rainbow eventually.

But when I’m going through those storms, two things. I now tell myself I am stronger and braver than I can imagine. And it’s really true. If I tell myself over and over when I’m scared to do something, or when something seems too hard, if I’m just like, “I am brave, I am strong. I can do this.” And so that and then I also tell myself all the time I can do hard things. I’ve been through really hard things, I can do hard things.

And so if you tell yourself, you can, your mind really believes what you tell it. And so I mean, we have a whole energetic system, which I didn’t learn that for years. Like we talk about the lymphatic system at school, and we talk about the circulatory system at school, but we skip the energetic system. There is energy flowing through our entire body. It has to to make things work.

And so our thoughts are part of that energy system. And so our brain really will believe what we tell it. And so if we’re telling it negative things, then it’s going to believe those things. But if we are saying, “I am strong, I am brave. I can do hard things. I can get through this storm, there’s a rainbow on the other side.” And for me, those are things that I can hold on to and I can get through that storm.

Jenica: Yeah, I absolutely love that. And it makes me think about that same thought where I think I used to think that if it was hard, then it was wrong. And I now know that that’s a complete fallacy because sometimes it’s hard and it’s the exact right path that we should be taking.

And so I have a lot of acceptance and love for myself in those moments where it’s hard or I feel like it’s pushing me way out of my comfort zone and I don’t like it. I used to be like, “Oh no, I’ve done something wrong to get here. I must have made a mistake somewhere. There’s something wrong with me why I’m feeling this way.” And now it’s like, oftentimes, the hard way is the right way.

And so I love that you said that I can do hard things, because yeah, we all are capable. And I think that sometimes that’s the path to growth, and it hurts and it sucks. But I think that accepting ourselves in that and really just being our own encouragers, it’s just an easier way to get through it overall. So thank you for saying that, I love that.

Karalynne: And one other thing, I always look at my trial now and I think, “Okay, what am I supposed to learn from this that I can help others with?” And I just met a little 15 year old who was going through cancer this weekend. And I just hugged her and I said, “You’re going to learn amazing things through this trial that you’re going to be able to help others with later on in life.” And she just cried and cried.

And she’s like, “I sure hope so because this has been so hard.” And I’m like, “I promise, you are going to help others and you’re going to be amazing, to be able to help others because you’ve experienced this.” So that’s what we need to look at when we’re going through trials, like “Okay, what am I going to learn from this that I can help others?”

Jenica: I love that. And it really takes us outside of our own brains, because it’s not all about us at that point. And I think most people, we don’t like being selfish. We don’t like being the one that needs help. And so to get ourselves out of that selfish sphere, I don’t want to say selfish in a bad way, but to get ourselves out of our heads and thinking that the trial is hard only for us. When we can look at it as a way to help other people, it provides so much more meaning in it.

And I can completely testify to that in my own infertility experience where it was horrible. And I wouldn’t wish it on people, but at the same time I wouldn’t ever give up what I learned through going through it. And I wouldn’t have been able to be the person that I am and have the characteristics that I do today had I not gone through it, to be able to help these other women that are experiencing it. And I know that every person listening has that exact same capability to help others in the future. So I love that you said that.

Okay, so last question. Are there certain things that you do in your daily routine that you always do, even when you don’t want to, because you know, it will put you in the best mental space to be able to create the life that you want?

Karalynne: There are a few things. One of them is exercise. People ask me a lot like, “What’s the number one thing that you’ve felt helped you the most during your healing journey?” And there’s a lot of things that helped me, but exercise is huge.

And a lot of people go to exercise to like count calories, or gain muscle mass or whatever. I go because it’s a great detoxer. And one of my issues was my liver has a hard time detoxing. Anyways, exercising and sweating gets rid of heavy metals, it gets rid of lots of different toxins. And so it’s an amazing detoxer, helps my liver. But it also helps the neurotransmitters in your brain and in your gut. And so it just helps me feel so much better. So I really do exercise in the morning.

And then I have a saying that to be completely whole you need to be healthy emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. And so in the mornings, I try to read uplifting things, read the scriptures, pray to God, anything like that to just sort of zone in on that spiritual aspect. And then that helps me with the emotional and mental throughout the day as well. So I’d say starting off the day with exercise and then a little meditation or prayer is key for me.

Jenica: Yeah, I can completely testify to the power of both of those things in my life as well. I’m not the same person if I’m not doing both of those things, because it really aligns me, I think, with my creator and helps me remember who I am and so everything else feels easier.

And I also think that it’s hard, right? It’s not like everyday has never been easy for me. I don’t wake up and say, “Yay, I’m so excited to go in my office and read my scriptures.” Although when I get there I’m so glad that I did and it’s it’s just such a gift to me. But it’s not easy and my mind automatically just wants to lay in my bed look on Instagram for a little bit. Because that’s the easy way to transition, at least in my head I’ve said that, I guess I could change that narrative.

So I think it’s important to realize that even though routines are good for us, it doesn’t mean that they’re easy. But I think trusting ourselves that when we said we would do certain things– And I even kind of look at it trusting my past self. Yesterday’s Jenica, when I made this commitment to myself, she had my back and I need to trust her even though in the moment it doesn’t feel easy.

And so I love what you said about filling your brain with positive things because you know those are the things that will uplift you. And I think that when you look on social media or email or anything like that first thing, you’re literally gambling because you don’t know if you’re going to see something that is upsetting or maybe it will be uplifting, but you don’t know.

And so I think that really trusting yourself and coming at it from a place where you trusted your prefrontal cortex that made that decision, versus like the person in the moment who’s like, “I just want the easy way out.” Because we all do that, there’s nothing wrong with us if that’s what’s happening.

But I love that. And it’s just interesting too, that those things, I recommend those things to everybody. And I think that every person that I’ve asked in my podcasts, those two things are two of the things that are in their daily ritual.

Karalynne: Well, and I actually interviewed a doctor who said he does his morning triathlon every day. Meaning he exercises, for his spiritual part was either like meditates or he writes in a gratitude journal, and then three fuels his body with good foods. And so he’s like, “I just cannot start my day if I haven’t done my morning triathlon.” And I was like, “Oh, that’s a good way to put it. I’ll have to remember that.”

Jenica: Yeah, that’s awesome. I love that. Okay, well, Karalynne, is there anything else you want to add before we go?

Karalynne: I would just say infertility does not have one main root cause. And so there are so many different root causes for infertility. And so this is what I say quite often with depression, but it works perfectly with infertility too. If your house was on fire, you would not just put one little hose on it and hope that that would take care of the fire. You would have multiple hoses coming at it at all different angles.

And so with depression, with infertility, don’t just use one hose and hope that that’s going to help you. Take multiple poses, whether that be the doctors and medicine, plus food, plus therapy, plus meditation, plus exercise. It’s all these things together that can help heal people. It’s not just one thing.

So you can’t just say, “Oh, food healed me” or, “these products healed me or this medicine.” To take care of that fire it’s going to take multiple hoses at multiple angles going together. And so I just encourage people to try multiple hoses and see if it helps. But to be not overwhelmed with it. Just take one little step at a time, make one little change at a time, add one hose at a time, and see if that will help.

Jenica: I love that, thank you. Oh my gosh, you guys, this podcast episode has been so incredible. Truly she’s changed my life and made my life better. So thank you. And I can’t wait for everyone else to get to know her better. So you can find her essentially anywhere at just ingredients. And so she has a really incredible podcast called Just Ingredients. Her website, justingredients.us. Her Instagram just.ingredients.

So I’ll link all of this in the show notes. And she briefly mentioned her products, but she has really incredible products. I will link, if you’re okay with this, I will link my discount code in the show notes as well so you can get 10% off.

Karalynne: That’d be great.

Jenica: And yeah, she has dry shampoo, deodorant, she has really incredible proteins that are so good for you. And she’s coming out with a bunch more here this next year in 2022. So make sure to follow along. Thank you so much, Karalynne, for being here with us today.

Karalynne: Thank you so much for having me.

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Thank you for listening to Fearless Infertility. If you want more tools and resources to help you during your infertility experience visit thesliceofsun.com. See you next week.