361. Prenatal Vitamins Explained w/FullWell Founder Ayla Barmmer
The Hypothalamic Amenorrhea PodcastShow Notes
In this episode of The HA Podcast, Dani and Ashley sit down with registered dietitian and FullWell founder Ayla Barmmer to break down what actually matters when it comes to prenatal nutrition, fertility, and supplementation. If you’ve ever wondered whether you really need a prenatal, if food alone is enough, or why so many supplements fall short… this episode is for you. Ayla shares how working with women in fertility clinics revealed a massive gap in care (hint: restriction right before pregnancy is NOT it), and how that led her to create a practitioner-trusted prenatal rooted in real clinical experience and evidence. This conversation goes deep into the why behind prenatals, the nutrients most women are deficient in, and the misinformation that keeps women undernourished during one of the most critical stages of life. We cover: Why nutrition for fertility is often misunderstood (and mismanaged) The biggest gaps in most prenatal vitamins Why food alone may not meet nutrient needs today The impact of stress on nutrient depletion and fertility Key nutrients for pregnancy (and why most women aren’t getting enough): Choline Vitamin D Magnesium Calcium Iron Why high-quality prenatals require multiple capsules (and why that’s a good thing) Folic acid vs methylfolate (and why this topic is so controversial) The truth about vitamin A and pregnancy safety Whether organ meats alone are enough for prenatal nutrition Why iron should be individualized (and not always included in prenatals) How to think about supplementation in HA recovery and preconception
Key Takeaway: Your body doesn’t respond to intentions, it responds to the environment you create. And when it comes to fertility, ovulation, and pregnancy, that environment requires more nutrients, more consistency, and more support than most women realize.
Learn more about FullWell: https://fullwellfertility.com/
For Pregnancy Lab Ranges: https://perinatology.com/
Connect with Ayla: https://substack.com/@aylabarmmer https://www.instagram.com/aylabarmmer/
Work 1:1 with us to get your period back http://thehasociety.com/coaching
Visit us on YouTube https://youtube.com/c/danisheriff
Follow us on IG http://instagram.com/thehasociety http://instagram.com/danisheriff https://instagram.com/ashley_marie_smith_
The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician.
More from The Hypothalamic Amenorrhea Podcast
In this episode we answer listener questions that range from: - I used to menstruate at X weight, why not now? - Cycling going backward when REDUCING coffee, is this possible?! - How does BC affect lab work & more - and we address a listener comment from a past episode, explaining that honestly, having HA probably isn’t very feminist either.
If you’ve ever thought, “I’ll do what it takes to get my period back…I just really don’t want to gain THAT much weight,” you’re going to relate to Ali. Ali spent years in and out of recovery, sometimes bleeding, sometimes not, but never really letting go of the food control or trusting her body. And when she finally decided she wanted to become a mom, she had to face the thing she’d been afraid of since childhood...allowing her body to change without knowing exactly where it would land. We talk about her years of “quasi-recovery,” trying to find a way to recover while staying thin, the very real fear of weight gain, and what changed when she finally said, essentially, screw it, I’m doing this. Once Ali went all-in, she got her first period in about 50 days, ovulated, and eventually got pregnant on her third ovulation. If you’re currently trying to figure out how to recover without having to fully surrender to recovery…this episode is for you.
Mady thought she’d go all-in on HA recovery, get her period back in 3 months and move on with her life. Instead, recovery took about a year and forced her to completely rethink health, her identity as the “healthy girl,” weight gain and her need for control. Ironically, it wasn’t until she stopped making recovery the center of her life and started actually LIVING again that her period finally came back.
You've lost your period, you know you're not pregnant... the good news is it's probably just something called hypothalamic amenorrhea. Easy to understand and simple to resolve but surprisingly difficult to actually execute. In this episode we walk you through why you should be relieved that it's not something else like polycystic ovaries, premature ovarian insufficiency or early menopause and how to approach it!
You've gained weight, you've been eating more food consistently, you've even reduced or stopped working out. This isn't making SENSE! I get it and as a coach who works with many women with amenorrhea all of the time, this isn't an uncommon concern.