The Fertility Advantage with Dr. Raquel Hammonds
The Fertility Advantage with Dr. Raquel Hammonds
I always talk about our adult lives being like a cross country road trip and our financial goals are the destinations along the way. A common financial goal or destination we help clients prepare for is having children. If becoming a parent is on your wishlist, I have to warn you (speaking from experience) that children are a rewarding, but expensive, destination and it starts with conception.
We have a number of young female clients who are not sure about motherhood just yet, but want to have options and options cost money. So, joining me today is Dr. Raquel Hammonds, a naturopathic doctor and reproductive specialist, to talk more about planning for a family and some easy and affordable ways you can increase your likelihood for success. I learned so much from this episode and I hope it helps many of you.
What are we drinking?
Raquel - Americano
Shannon - Black Cherry Schweppes
Podcast Notes
Naturopathic doctors believe in the body’s ability to heal itself. They try to find the least invasive route to healing by looking at the root cause.
Raquel was in a master’s program in Georgia and she was planning to go right into medical school after that. However, there was an awards program and she heard a naturopathic doctor speak and the doctor invited Raquel to visit the school for an introductory weekend. Raquel visited the school and she got to see how they approached chronic disease and she was immediately sold.
Raquel went down the path of naturopathic medicine, specializing in infertility. There are only six accredited naturopathic schools in the U.S., because you have to actually go through the medical school program first. She had to take the Boards in order to be licensed.
There are people online who call themselves naturopaths, but they can get their certification in a weekend course.
In school, whenever Raquel followed a doctor who worked with patients with anxiety or depression they always look at the gut first, because your gut and brain are linked.
Any time a client at The Gym lists children as part of their goals, it is going to be expensive.
Raquel believes that fear drives so much in our society. When Raquel was in med school, there was a doctor in San Diego who was looking into heavy metal exposure and micronutrient deficiencies in young women. She found that these led to infertility. This led Raquel to work with a doctor in Beverly Hills where they saw patients who were told they couldn’t have children.
Our body uses different micronutrients for processes to run normally. Raquel looked specifically at antioxidants. The eggs in our bodies are actually cells and they are very susceptible to oxidation. When this happens the cells become abnormal and it affects the ability to have a chromosomal normal fetus and it can cause miscarriage or infertility.
Make sure you don’t have micronutrient deficiencies. If you cannot afford it, make sure you are incorporating foods that have a high antioxidant capacity or you are taking a supplement.
Many of Raquel’s patients don’t know they have a high mercury exposure. Think about the things you consume most often. Mercury builds in your system and it comes from raw fish.
One cycle of egg freezing is about $9,000. Fertility is a business, but you can change the quality of your eggs.
One of Raquel’s clients was 24 years old and she was only producing one follicle every cycle. It took 8 to 12 weeks to remove the heavy metals from her system and then she was able to increase that amount. She transformed her diet and she did an intense gut and liver detox. Many times the infertility issues are dietary.
Most companies are now looking into proactive medicine. If you have poor gut health, are taking supplements, and are still not feeling well, it isn’t about what you take, it is about what you absorb.
For women it takes about four to six months to see a change in the quality of their eggs, but for men their sperm reproduces every three months. The biggest thing for men is them having their cell phones in their pockets, smoking, and taking testosterone.
If you are thinking about conceiving, the first thing you will want to do is budget for it. Even if you are thinking about it for the future, you should ask your doctor to run your baseline hormones. This will be approximately $925, but it lets you know if your brain is working with your uterus and ovaries every month.
Your doctor will look at your estrogen and your follicle stimulating hormone because those work together. Your brain sends signals to your ovaries every month to create a new follicle.
Your OB-GYN may refer you to an infertility doctor, but they may run your AMH, which is a test that tells you, at your age, how many eggs you have left. You have the right to go to a fertility center and ask for information.
If you do egg freezing, the only option to use those eggs is IVF. It sets you up for the future, but you still have a ways to go financially, and it isn’t a guarantee of conceiving.
Medical school didn’t prepare Raquel for the business side of medicine. When Raquel was working with the doctor in Beverly Hills, she was helping patients get pregnant quicker, but it wasn’t making the doctor any money. Raquel had to make a decision to not exist in a space that exploits women and now she offers women a cost-effective solution.
Age matters, but it is ultimately about the quality of your eggs. Doctors will not let you freeze your eggs when you are over age 40.
Your body cannot distinguish different types of stress. When you are stressed out, your body is not thinking about conceiving, it is thinking about keeping you alive and getting nutrients to your brain and your limbs, and it affects fertility. Women’s bodies know what to do and you have to trust it.
At 12 weeks in utero, our ovaries contain about six to seven million eggs. By the first menstrual cycle, we have about 500,000 eggs. Every month our body stimulates the follicle, but for those that don’t reach that stage, our body gets rid of it.
If you are thinking about having children, come up with a financial plan and don’t be embarrassed to talk about that plan. Then get the hormone testing done.
Advocate for yourself. If a doctor tells you no, go to someone else. Your doctor can do an ultrasound to see if everything is good structurally and check your ovaries. Explore jobs that offer infertility benefits.
Even if you need to pay out of pocket for some of this, remember that you are investing in something you want.
The key to a healthy pregnancy later is incorporating a healthy lifestyle now. Make sure you eat high quality protein and vegetables and make sure you are taking a good omega 3 fish oil. Eat less starchy carbohydrates and fewer fried foods.
Raquel works for Kind Body and she works with clients worldwide. She does free 15-minute consults.
Takeaway: My biggest takeaway is that the sooner you start thinking about and planning for the possibility of children, the less financial strain it will cost you down the road. Before you embark on an expensive fertility path, it might make sense to try some natural solutions to not only save money but maybe even improve your odds.
Random Three Questions
What is your favorite turn around story?
What have you been bingeing during the pandemic?
If this is your last night on earth, what will you eat?
Connect with Dr. Hammonds
Website: thefertilityadvantage.com and kindbody.com
If you have any topics you would like me to cover on this podcast, or if you’d like to get in the financially naked hot seat, I encourage you to email me to Shannon@fingyms.com, or join the private Martinis and Your Money Facebook group, and let me know what you want to hear.
2020 was a challenging year, and if money was one of those challenges for you, please don’t let 2021 be more of the same. Despite a global pandemic, we witnessed Financial Gym clients achieve amazing goals all year long. We’ve worked with over 6,000 clients at this point and we’ve literally seen it all and would love to help you achieve your financial dreams in 2021. So head over to, or send friends to, financialgym.com to get set up today.