A Conversation with Endometriosis and Fertility Coach Sarah Hopkins

We talk to Sarah Hopkins, an Endometriosis and Fertility Coach from Perth. Sarah's journey started with her own struggles with hormonal imbalances and gut issues. Through her personal experience and extensive training, she now dedicates herself to helping women find holistic solutions to their health challenges.

Name: Sarah Hopkins
Pronouns: She/Her
Day job: Endometriosis and Fertility Coach
Location: Perth, WA

Tell us about your work?

I’m a CHEK trained Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach. I’ve been working with women for over 11 years supporting them with hormone, gut and fertility health.

What lead you on this journey?

My own journey was the catalyst for my health coaching career. I had hormone and gut issues for as long as I could remember and was put on the contraceptive pill to remediate it. My symptoms didn’t really improve and in my mid 20s I decided to come off the pill only to discover that I didn’t menstruate naturally. I suffered with amenorrhea (the absence of a menstrual cycle) for 10 years. During this time, I visited many health practitioners and was told by most not to worry and when I wanted to conceive, do IVF.

It was not until I came across a book by my mentor Paul Chek that things started to improve. Over time my body healed; my skin cleared up, my digestion improved, and my cycle eventually returned to a healthy 28-day cycle. Finally, when I wanted to conceive, I fell pregnant easily and naturally.

What can help ease period symptoms?

The menstrual cycle is your monthly report card on your overall health. If you have painful and uncomfortable periods, this is the body’s way of communicating there is an imbalance that needs to be addressed. Because hormones are related to every other system in the body, what will support improving them depends on improving diet, managing stress, improving sleep, minimizing toxins and more will all help to alleviate PMS symptoms for future cycles.

What about  endometriosis symptoms?

Endometriosis is an inflammatory condition so it’s important to work on gut health to reduce inflammation. This includes removing inflammatory foods like gluten (and many more) from the diet.

Inflammation also causes a high production of stress hormones so ensuring the nervous system is more balanced by managing stress is super important.

Finally, because endometriosis is an estrogen dominant condition, it’s important to minimize exposure to toxic personal care products as a lot of these can be very disruptive to the endocrine system (hormonal system).

What dietary or lifestyle have a great impact on fertility?

My work is all about helping women find whole body balance and health. Ultimately when the whole body is in a state of homeostasis (balance) it will be more fertile.

In saying that, there are a few foods that are fertility super food such as liver and oysters. They contain the highest natural known source of every single micronutrient required for healthy conception and gestation. You can get good supplement forms of both these days.

Is there a connection between good gut healthy and a healthy menstrual flow?

Gut health is connected to nearly every other system in the body, so it absolutely relates to menstrual flow. If the digestive system is inflamed, there will be a higher production of stress hormones, which impacts our sex hormones, especially in the luteal phase of cycle, and can make our flow heavier, clottier, and more painful.

What are three gut health builders?

The best way to manage gut health and inflammation is to avoid inflammatory foods like soy and gluten. Drinking bone broth that’s been prepared and made properly can also help heal the gut. Most importantly, reducing our stress load as much as possible.

What are some signs your hormones are out of whack?

The sign of a healthy balanced hormonal state is as follows:

• Minimal to no PMS
• Minimal to no pre-menstrual or menstrual pain
• Minimal to no cramps
• Minimal to no bloating
• Healthy bright red bleed that lasts 4-5 days
• No spotting before or after the bleed
• 28-day cycle

How can we support our hormonal health?

Twenties and thirties are our primary fertile years, so make sure to watch out for any cycle irregularities. If so, work on improving diet and lifestyle accordingly. It’s easy in these decades to over work or push our bodies to their limit to look good, but all of these things can be to the detriment of our health and fertility.

In our forties we are entering perimenopause, and this is a more fragile state. Often this is where we pay the price for what we haven’t paid attention to with our health in our 20s and 30s. It’s even more important to create a balanced state so we can go through menopause without any of the uncomfortable symptoms associated with this transition.

MY CYCLE

• My period in 3-words: A woman’s gift.
• Period self-care means: Making sure I’m looking after myself all month. I always eat organic, nutrient dense foods. I eat regularly to keep my hormones stable. I exercise regularly but mindfully, meditate daily, prioritize sleep hygiene and get daily sunlight.
• Period self-care toolkit: Pana Chocolate.
• Contraception method of choice: Cycle tracking.
• Best period hack: Period underwear for sure! The basic Bikini Brief.

For more from Sarah, follow her on Instagram or head to her website.

Interested to read more on endometriosis? Here, actress/model Bella shares her journey.