Welcome to another episode of The Egg Whisperer Show! I’m Dr. Aimee, and today I’m thrilled to bring you a conversation that could change the way you think about fertility and family health. My guest is Dr. Ann Shippy, a board-certified functional medicine physician and author of “The Preconception Revolution: A Science-Backed Path to Fertility and Generational Health.” With nearly two decades of clinical experience, Dr. Shippy shares her personal journey from engineering to medicine, and how her own fertility challenges inspired her to empower future parents with the latest research in epigenetics, environmental health, and functional medicine.
In our interview, we talk about the science and practical steps behind preconception health. We discuss how the choices we make before conception can influence not just our ability to get pregnant, but the lifelong health of our children and even future generations. Dr. Shippy explains the critical role of environmental toxins, nutrition, and mindset, and introduces her BIRTH framework for preparing both physically and emotionally for parenthood. Whether you’re just starting to think about growing your family or are already on your journey, this episode is packed with actionable insights and hope.
In this episode, we cover:
- Dr. Ann Shippy’s personal fertility story and what led her to write “The Preconception Revolution”
- The science of epigenetics and how preconception choices impact generational health
- The BIRTH framework: Believe, Introspect, Renew, Thrive, and Hope
- The impact of environmental toxins (like plastics, pesticides, and mold) on fertility and how to reduce exposure
- The importance of nutrition, blood sugar regulation, and the microbiome for both men and women
- Why men’s preconception health matters just as much as women’s
- Practical steps for detoxification and testing for toxins
- The effects of alcohol, marijuana, and other substances on fertility
- Encouragement for anyone feeling overwhelmed by the process
Resources:
- Dr. Ann Shippy’s book: The Preconception Revolution
- Dr. Ann Shippy’s website: annshippymd.com
- Every Baby initiative: everybabywell.com
- Mold resources: annshippymd.com/mold
- Toxin and plastics testing: Great Plains Laboratory (gpl4u.com), Mosaic Diagnostics (mosaicdx.com), Vibrant Laboratories (vibrant-wellness.com)
- Subscribe to The Egg Whisperer Show on YouTube and Spotify
Full Transcript:
Dr. Aimee: Every day, I am inspired by the courage and curiosity of people who want to bring new life into the world. Today’s conversation is about how we can all help create a healthier next generation. What if the steps you take before conception could influence your child’s lifelong health? Today’s guest says we can, and she’s here to share how. This week’s episode is titled ‘The Preconception Revolution: A Science Backed Path to Fertility and Generational Health.’
I’m honored to welcome Dr. Ann Shippy, a board-certified functional medicine physician and author of the book The Preconception Revolution: A Science Backed Path to Fertility and Generational Health. With nearly two decades of clinical experience, Dr. Shippy combines the latest research in functional medicine, epigenetics, and environmental health to empower parents-to-be with tools that can transform not just fertility, but family health for generations. Welcome, Ann.
Dr. Ann Shippy: Thanks so much for having me. It’s so good to meet you.
Dr. Aimee: Thank you. You’ve shared that your own fertility journey inspired much of your work. Can you tell us about that experience and how it led to your book, The Preconception Revolution?
Dr. Ann Shippy: Thank you so much for that question. It really did inspire me. I ended up changing careers from engineering, I was a chemical engineer at IBM for ten years in manufacturing. I got sick, and in that course of trying to find solutions to my own health, I had to think outside the box and really put the tools back together because the traditional allopathic model was just offering me band-aids. I woke up one morning and decided to go to medical school.
The part I hadn’t healed was my infertility. When I made that decision to go to medical school at 32, I didn’t realize what a gamble I was taking, as to whether I was going to be able to have a family or not. I hadn’t done IVF yet at that time, but I had done all the other things, the Clomid, the IUIs, and everything else that I was offered, and no baby.
I was very lucky. I think some changes that I made in my life that first year of medical school, I got pregnant and ended up having a baby at the beginning of my third year of medical school, which is the worst time that you could possibly have a baby, I think, because that’s when you’re started to be expected in the hospital every fourth night for months on end in a row. But I was just so grateful to become a mom.
What was more traumatic than even the earlier infertility things was when I decided I wanted to have a second, and nothing was happening. I felt like I was having early miscarriages. I would start to feel the changes in my body, but then my period would start and be kind of heavy. I went to see an infertility specialist. They looked at all my numbers, looked at my situation, I was 38, and basically said there was no way I could get pregnant, and I’d need to go ahead and do IVF if I wanted a baby. I’m in my second year of residency at that point, so again not the best time to have a baby, from a standpoint of stress, time, and all the things.
Again, I just got really lucky. I was waiting for my period to start the pill to start the IVF process, and I got pregnant even though they had just told me there was no way I could get pregnant on my own. Those two experiences planted some seeds about what our model is and how it can really help our patients to be fertile and to have healthy babies. Then as I went through the mothering process, my children had some run-ins with health problems. That got me thinking about whether there were things that I could have done differently that would have helped my children to be healthier.
Lo and behold, this whole field of epigenetics has really taken hold over the last 20 years. Now we can see how the things that we’re doing before we get pregnant can influence the health of our children. Bringing that full circle helped me to write this book.
Dr. Aimee: Thank you for sharing your story. I imagine your eggs heard the poor bedside of the fertility doctor who said that to you, and they said, “Challenge accepted. I will not accept that I cannot help Ann get pregnant just by doing IVF.” I feel like the way we communicate with patients could be better. I imagine that was hard to hear from a colleague, because you’re also a doctor at that point, and someone just tells you something as if they’re a god, and they’re not.
Dr. Ann Shippy: It was devastating from the standpoint of once I had actually experienced this gift of being a mom. He’s asking, “When am I going to get a sibling?” He was so wanting it, looking around at the other kids, seeing other siblings, he was like, “When is mine coming?” The pressure of wanting to provide that, I think that one of the more important relationships that we get in our life is with our siblings.
Sorry. I’m getting a little emotional. I was distraught about the possibility that might not happen. I did feel like that experience with my fellow physician, who was supposed to be the top in Austin at the time, was just making me more afraid.
Dr. Aimee: We don’t need fearmongering. What inspired you to focus on preconception health as a cornerstone of generational wellbeing?
Dr. Ann Shippy: This is what I wish I had known before I had my kids. It’s what I get to see in my practice every day. When we take this period of time, the three, six, twelve months before getting pregnant, before even starting to try, couples can have their healthiest babies yet, and have very healthy babies into their forties. I felt like I wanted to share that so that parents don’t have to go through so much suffering. I see the kids with autism, I see the kids with autoimmune disorders. I’m not a pediatrician, but parents bring me their children because I’m known as a detective doctor. I see what the families go through as they’re navigating these children’s health crises that we have barreling in front of us with autism, autoimmunity, diabetes, mental health, all these things that are just escalating in our kids.
I firmly believe that we can have a huge impact on the health of our children before we get pregnant. I think about it as the sperm and the egg are like little time capsules. By preparing our bodies, we’re choosing what to put into those time capsules so that the baby has the best epigenetics possible, and has the best nutrients possible to run their biochemistry and physiology.
Dr. Aimee: You mentioned epigenetics. For folks that are listening to us, if that’s a new term for them, can you just explain it very simply, what does that mean?
Dr. Ann Shippy: We have our genes, and that’s determined. What has more impact on our health is how those genes are being dialed up and dialed down. Things like stress, environmental toxins, what’s going on with our microbiome, the good bacteria, bad bacteria, fungus, parasites, yeast, all the things all influence that dial of how the genes are being expressed.
Dr. Aimee: Just listening to you talk, I wonder if your engineering background makes you a better doctor.
Dr. Ann Shippy: I think that curiosity and loving to solve problems. Again, I’ve had my own health crises where I had to think outside the box and put unknown puzzle pieces together. I loved writing this book. I started it in 2016, I hired a PhD biologist to help grab the data and start to write it up. Then it got put on the back burner for multiple reasons, including COVID. Two years ago, I decided I really want to finish this book and get this important information out there for potential parents.
The amount of research that has been done in this field between 2016 and now is phenomenal. It’s so helpful. I feel like I’ve had researchers all over the world helping me to put some of these puzzle pieces together, because it’s amazing the questions they’re asking and the research they’re doing. I continue to be inspired every week by studies coming out that can help us solve both the fertility crisis that we’re seeing and the children’s health crisis.
Dr. Aimee: There’s no one better than you to help us and guide us. In your book, you talk about how environmental and lifestyle factors influence fertility and the future health of our children. We’ve been talking about that today. What are some of the biggest factors people should be aware of?
Dr. Ann Shippy: Especially the three months right before you try to conceive, the environmental toxins are such a huge impact. We know that things like glyphosate, the pesticide that’s used on a lot of our food, the plastics that we’re being exposed to on a minute by minute basis, what our nutrition levels are can have a dramatic impact on our fertility, as well as the health of the child.
There’s a study that came out about a month ago that was so encouraging. They took two groups of men. One group, they fed them highly processed food. The other group, they fed fairly healthy whole foods, unpackaged and cooked fresh. For three weeks, then they gave a little washout period, switched it over. Within three weeks of eating a bad diet, they could see changes in men’s hormones and their sperm quality. By eating healthy for three weeks, they could have it switch back. What it showed is probably the chemicals in the food and the lack of nutrients have a dramatic impact on sperm quality, which is so exciting. We think about the sperm cycle as being 74 days, so it should be at least three months to impact it. But if you can already start to see a difference within three weeks, I think it’s inspiring for men to make those changes so that they can help their future child be healthier.
Dr. Aimee: Basically, the message is it’s not too late if you start making those changes even three weeks before.
Dr. Ann Shippy: Yes. Of course, from my perspective, longer is better. But don’t let the idea that it would be at least three months stop you from doing everything that you can because it has a measurable impact on the quality of the sperm.
Dr. Aimee: You introduced something, and I love a good mnemonic, called the BIRTH framework; believe, introspect, renew, thrive, hope. Can you walk us through what this means and how it helps people prepare physically and emotionally for conception?
Dr. Ann Shippy: I picked that mnemonic because that’s the end goal, you want to have this process end in a healthy birth. I feel like when we’re going through this process, at least with the first child, we’re not just birthing a child, but we’re birthing this new role that we have on the planet as parents, so we’re birthing our parenthood.
The B stands for believe. I like for couples to get on the same page. It takes you through a little process where you can be clear about what your intentions are and why you want to have a family. As well as if there are any elephants in the room that you’re not addressing that need to be addressed for your nervous systems to settle down and receive this child, it gives you the opportunity to bring those things up and come up with a conversation and a plan around it.
The introspect helps you to take inventory, to know where you are and set some expectations about what would be a good place to get the green light to go, to be ready. Just to really help you assess where you are.
The renew helps to start that process of the three months to know where the toxins are, how to get the right nutrition, the best nutrition, and address some of the lifestyle opportunities that can make a huge difference with fertility.
Thrive are the things that you layer on top. I see, and I think you do, too, based on the things that you have on your podcast, that supplements can make a huge difference for helping the body work more effectively, be more fertile, and have healthier babies. It describes some things you can do around the microbiome, which especially for women is so important for passing on to the baby, but also the men’s microbiome makes a difference in the health of the sperm.
Then we end with hope, where we can go back and look at the things that we want to do to give ourselves the green light and say it’s time to try. At the beginning, I recommend that people pick some type of barrier contraception, because I’ve seen so many people as they go through this process, they start to get so fertile that things like the pull-out method and the rhythm method don’t work anymore, even though it’s worked for them for years. The body is like let’s go, so I recommend using a barrier method until you give yourself the green light and you really know that you’ve done all the things that you want to do to get your body ready.
Dr. Aimee: I love that. The other day, I was walking around like this. (Dr. Aimee gestures to her head, arms, and heart) My husband said, “What are you doing?” I always want to describe things to patients that they can remember, and maybe they’re silly, but it’s all the things that you need to do to prepare for an IVF cycle. I start with the head, I say make sure that you’re not depressed or anxious. Get good sleep. Eat healthy. Lift weights. But now I feel like the brain should be “believe.” I will now add that to my little dance that I do for patients.
Dr. Ann Shippy: I love that. That’s great. When you do it physically with your body, then you remember it and actually embody it. That’s beautiful.
Dr. Aimee: Thank you. Detoxification and reducing toxic exposure are major themes in your book. I think those are things that a lot of patients are interested in learning about. What are some practical steps that you recommend for people trying to reduce their toxic load before pregnancy?
Dr. Ann Shippy: I think this is one of the most critical things. We have two parts to this. We want to reduce the toxins coming in and then we want to help the toxins come out. Reducing the toxins in is not about perfection, because people can get more fear in their body. Just starting to implement, we know we breathe toxins in, we put them on our skin, it goes in through our skin, and it comes in through what we ingest, the beverages and the food that we eat.
Really important for men, the air pollution data is so impactful for the quality of the sperm and the sperm count. If there is suspicion for toxic mold, we want to take that out of the equation in the house. So many places are dealing with air pollution, so running an air filter in the house is a good HEPA filter, especially at night when we’re sleeping, I think that’s one big thing that we can do.
Then filtered water. I think this whole bottled water phase that we’ve been doing for the last couple of decades thinking that bottled water and plastic was good for us, I think we’ve probably done a fair amount of harm. It’s better if we have actual water and filter our water. Most municipal water is not the quality that we’d want with the lead problems and other issues.
Then we want to avoid the plastics that are ingested. Take-out food containers are a huge source of the plasticizers. When I test my patients to see what their plasticizer levels are, it’s shocking sometimes. They don’t realize that it’s probably from the coffee pots or going and getting hot soup and foods in takeout containers. Just cooking your food fresh or actually eating in a restaurant where they’re not having to put it in the containers are some of my favorite things to implement right away.
There’s a whole lot of things that you can walk through in the book.
Dr. Aimee: I think that listeners are going to be sending me messages if I don’t ask you this question right now. How do you test for plastics and how can people get that testing done? Also, for mold. You mentioned mold, and I get that question all the time. I’d love to hear how I can help patients with both those things, or basically send them to you.
Dr. Ann Shippy: We have some of these resources on my website, there’s a whole section on what to do about toxic mold, whether you’re looking for fertility or just in general. AnnShippyMD.com/mold, it talks about how to test yourself, how to test the house, things to consider with remediation, and then some of the supplements that can help you to get the toxins out of your body. It’s a great starting point on the mold conversation.
Then the toxins, under resources, there are two different companies that I use that check for plastics as well as pesticides like glyphosate and atrazine, some of the VOCs that can be coming from carpets, mattresses, and things like that. Great Plains Laboratory or Mosaic is one of them. The other one is Vibrant Laboratories. There are links and we can give you links as well, as to how patients can find them.
That’s a lot of what I talk about in the book is if you have the resources to be able to test your body to know where your microbiome is, know where your toxin levels are, know where your nutrient levels are, and other things, it can help you to assess better if that’s an option. But a lot of times, just doing the things that I recommend in the book for at least three months can dramatically change the physiology in your body. It is really interesting to know where your toxins are, regardless, because a lot of times there are surprises. You think you’re doing everything right.
One of my sons just did the toxins screen, and his atrazine was really high. That kind of freaked us both out a little bit because that is one of those pesticides that can impact fertility. He’s 24, he wants to get married and have kids in the next four years, so when he saw that, he was highly motivated to figure out where it was coming from. I think maybe there were some dietary things he wasn’t thinking about with some nonorganic corn chips. He loves to golf, so he might have been handling his golf shoes and things like that, getting exposure from the golf course.
Dr. Aimee: That’s very interesting and helpful. You also focus on nutrition and balancing sugar. Why is blood sugar regulation so important for fertility and early development?
Dr. Ann Shippy: Our blood sugar has an impact on what’s going on with us hormonally. When we have extreme highs and lows of blood sugar, that creates inflammation in our body. Inflammation, just mildly or even severely for some people, disrupting our hormone balance.
The other big thing, the reason that I think this is important for men and women, is the epigenetic changes that happen. If your blood sugar isn’t great and in good control, those epigenetic dials that I was talking about earlier can actually impact the future child and make them more at risk for having diabetes and metabolism issues. For women, there’s another layer where what I see is that when women have their blood sugar dialed in before they get pregnant, they’re less likely to get gestational diabetes.
Dr. Aimee: I think that’s so important. That’s part of my preconception panel. I check hemoglobin A1C and we talk about inflammation. I don’t want a patient to have a complication and then be told during pregnancy, “If you had better blood sugar going into pregnancy, this could have been prevented.” The time to talk about that is certainly before pregnancy, so I’m glad that you bring that up in your book.
Dr. Ann Shippy: That’s one of those kinds of hidden things. A lot of people don’t realize that they have some blood sugar dysregulation, and they might actually look pretty fit on the outside, but then when you test the hemoglobin A1C, maybe a fasting insulin and a glucose with that to get a broader picture, or even wearing a continuous glucose monitor so you can see what’s going on over a couple of weeks, it’s really revealing. It’s surprising for people sometimes that it’s not where they want it to be. Do you see a lot of high hemoglobin A1Cs?
Dr. Aimee: I can definitely relate to the patient who thinks that she is doing great and then you see a high A1C. Recently, in one case in particular, we figured out that it was the electrolyte salts that she was drinking, thinking that she was being super healthy, hydrating well. They have so much sugar in them that she was basically causing herself to look like she had diabetes when she didn’t. As soon as she stopped them, it went back to normal.
Dr. Ann Shippy: That’s one of the messages that I think we both feel really strongly about, to not be afraid of the data. All of these things have answers that we can provide some solutions for. It can be a little bit of work, a little bit of effort and resources to apply, but it’s so much better to take a peek and see what’s going on and do it preventively.
Dr. Aimee: I love that you are including men in this conversation. What do men need to know about their role in preconception health?
Dr. Ann Shippy: I think this is the biggest news for men that there is right now. I think a lot of times, all of the responsibility and all of the opportunity is given to women. For men to know that by them taking action on getting themselves as healthy as possible in every way that they’re inspired to, whether it’s prioritizing time to workout or to actually eat the healthy food, avoid the plastics, get their blood sugar good and their microbiome dialed in, I think it’s one of the greatest gifts that they can give their future child before they’re even born. When most men hear that, they are so excited to get on board and to do that because they’re so excited for their first or additional children. They just in their hearts want them to have the best shot at a healthy life.
Dr. Aimee: That’s really inspiring. I’m not sure if you mention this in your book, but I want to bring it up because we’re hearing so much about alcohol being a poison. What is your stance on the role that alcohol plays in preconception health?
Dr. Ann Shippy: I think for both men and women, but especially for men, there is data showing that it affects sperm health, even small amounts of alcohol. In the book, I ask men to consider no alcohol for three months. Then if it takes longer to get pregnant, then whatever it takes. I think we’re so used to women not drinking pregnancy, we understand that it’s a toxin. If we can just extrapolate that a bit to the epigenetic changes that happen from putting any toxin in our body, it really makes sense to not drink the alcohol.
I think in our country weed has gotten so common, I think that’s a big issue for the epigenetics and for fertility. I do think there is data behind that, especially for men, that marijuana can lower testosterone. That’s another thing that I would ask people to avoid in this preconception period.
Then I think about being careful with the stimulants. There’s the kratom craze that’s happening, and that’s an opioid. I’ve actually seen a couple of patients in the last few months that don’t realize that even though it is legal, it probably has epigenetic impacts and can be affecting their fertility.
I think it’s so important for couples to have these conversations and create agreements on what they are willing to sign up for to protect their future child.
Dr. Aimee: Thank you for touching on that. Your message feels so scientific and hopeful, because there are things that patients can do and better decisions that they can make to help their future family. What’s one piece of encouragement you’d offer to someone who feels overwhelmed by this idea of preparing for conception?
Dr. Ann Shippy: Every step that you make in this time period is going to be in a positive direction. Implement one thing at a time. If you feel overwhelmed, just get the plastic out of your kitchen, just start somewhere. Then it’s like building a building, just do it one step at a time. All of a sudden, you’ll actually notice your fertility is better and you’ll feel better and feel more confident about it.
It really is quite tremendous what I see in my practice. I see people who have failed IVF and were told it’s time to give up, get pregnant and have multiple babies. They get so fertile that they get pregnant while they’re still nursing, things like that. My oldest patient right now is 47. When she came to see me, she felt a sense of urgency. I was like, I need at least three months, I can’t say it’s safe for you to even try. She had heard about me and wanted to get my take on her being 47 and getting pregnant. I told her if we collect some data and give me at least three months to work on it, I think it’s a possibility. She ended up getting pregnant on the first try, and she’s about five months pregnant now.
This whole idea of advanced maternal age, it’s just really changing, in my mind. I wish we wouldn’t use that term ‘geriatric pregnancy’ anymore. I think sometimes the 45-year-olds and the 47-year-olds can be healthier than the 23-year-olds because they’ve gotten their bodies into balance and created a wonderful garden for a baby to grow.
Dr. Aimee: I’m trying to change AMA to advanced mitochondrial age. The mother is not old. The mitochondria are a little bit older. It’s not the mom. There’s nothing geriatric about my 45 to 50 year old patients, in my opinion.
Dr. Ann Shippy: I love that. Let’s include that in the revolution.
Dr. Aimee: Yes, totally. Where can listeners learn more about your work, work with you, and get a copy of The Preconception Revolution?
Dr. Ann Shippy: It’s pretty easy. ThePreconceptionRevolution.com has all the information on the book. Then my website is AnnShippyMD.com. We’re starting a new effort called Every Baby Well, because I hope that this initiative starts to change the children’s health crisis that we’re in to having much healthier babies, so that’s at EveryBabyWell.com.
Dr. Aimee: If a patient of mine wants to see you, or anyone who is listening to our show today, how does that work?
Dr. Ann Shippy: I’m in Austin, Texas. For the first visit, they come to see me in Texas, in Austin, and then we can do remote after that. They can check out my website and learn a little bit more about what I do and call the office. I have a wonderful office manager who helps answer all of the questions and make sure people feel comfortable about that process. In the future, I’m hoping that I can make all of this telemedicine so that people don’t have to come visit, but I do love seeing people in-person.
Dr. Aimee: Dr. Shippy, thank you so much for joining me today and for the important work you’re doing to help future parents and generations thrive.
Links to everything we talked about, including The Preconception Revolution, will be in the show notes. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Egg Whisperer Show on YouTube and Spotify so that you never miss an episode. Remember, you are stronger, braver, and more capable than you think. Keep sparkling, and stay hopeful on your fertility journey.
