The Truth About Egg Freezing + IVF No One Tells You | Sasha Hakman

Realfoodology

Courtney Swan

Nutrition, Health & Fitness, Alternative Health

4.9 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2025

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

233: In this episode, we take a deep dive into fertility, focusing on egg freezing and IVF. I’m joined by Dr. Sasha Hakman, a board-certified OBGYN and reproductive endocrinologist at HRC Fertility, to break down the entire process. As someone who froze my eggs at 36, I wanted to understand what comes next and what factors impact fertility, from hormone treatments to lifestyle choices. We discuss everything from the science behind egg retrieval to the role of environmental toxins and how lifestyle changes can improve reproductive health. Whether you’re considering egg freezing, going through IVF, or just want to learn more, this episode is packed with expert insights and actionable information. Topics Discussed: Egg freezing vs. embryo freezing The egg retrieval and IVF process The impact of pesticides and endocrine disruptors on fertility Rising infertility rates and potential causes The connection between PCOS, insulin sensitivity, and fertility Synthetic hormones and their effects How age influences fertility outcomes Sponsored By: Birch Go to Birchliving.com/realfoodology for 20% Off Sitewide + 2 Free Eco-Rest Pillows with Mattress Purchase. Timeline Timeline is offering 10% off your order of Mitopure. Go to timeline.com/REALFOODOLOGY. SuppCo Get 100% free access today at supp.co/REALFOODOLOGY. Qualia Go to qualialife.com/REALFOODOLOGY for up to 50% off and use code REALFOODOLOGY at checkout for an additional 15% off. Function Skip Function’s waitlist at www.functionhealth.com/realfoodology Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:03:25 - What is a reproductive endocrinologist 00:05:47 - Egg freezing vs. embryo freezing 00:09:22 - Ways to improve egg quality 00:12:16 - Pesticides, endocrine disruptors, and fertility 00:16:21 - How egg retrieval works 00:18:15 - The IVF cycle explained 00:19:51 - Mature vs. immature eggs 00:20:40 - How fertilization happens 00:23:32 - From eggs to embryos 00:24:46 - The importance of sperm testing 00:27:33 - Why infertility is on the rise 00:29:50 - Phthalates and their impact on fertility 00:31:21 - How embryos are created 00:34:02 - Sperm retrieval process 00:35:45 - What happens to extra embryos 00:37:37 - How embryo transfers work 00:44:24 - Synthetic hormones and fertility 00:47:47 - Birth control and its effects 00:49:29 - PCOS, insulin sensitivity, and fertility 00:54:32 - Finding the right workout for fertility health 00:57:05 - Egg count vs. pregnancy likelihood 00:58:11 - How age impacts reproductive success Show Links: Realfoodology - 45: Why Fertility is Declining with Dr. Shanna Swan Check Out Sasha: HRC Fertility Instagram https://sashahakmanmd.com Check Out Courtney: LEAVE US A VOICE MESSAGE Check Out My new FREE Grocery Guide! @realfoodology www.realfoodology.com My Immune Supplement by 2x4 Air Dr Air Purifier AquaTru Water Filter EWG Tap Water Database Produced By: Drake Peterson

Transcript

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0:00.0	on today's episode of the Real Foodology podcast. In many cases, when women implement these changes,
0:05.8	they tend to start cycling more predictably and can even conceive on their own. Hello, friends,
0:13.5	welcome back to another episode of the Real Foodology podcast. On today's episode, I sat down with
0:17.9	Sasha Hockman, who works for HRC fertility in California. They have a lot of
0:23.3	locations. Sasha is a board certified OBGYN. She's a board certified reproductive endocrinologist
0:30.5	and a medical advisor. We do a deep dive into fertility, but through the lens of egg freezing and IVF.
0:39.0	Some of y'all may remember if you follow me on Instagram or if you've been listening to
0:43.1	this podcast for a while, I froze my eggs a couple years ago at 36 and they've just been
0:49.0	kind of chilling for the last couple of years and I didn't really know what the next steps were.
0:52.4	I'm wondering if I'm going to have to use them. I'm hoping to be pregnant by the end of this year. So I'm on my fertility journey, as many
0:58.2	of you all know. And I really wanted to know what the whole process looked like as far as I already
1:02.9	have my eggs frozen. What next? So we dive all into that, the process of egg freezing. We talk about
1:09.1	do you really need to take birth control while you're freezing your eggs
1:12.1	because this was something that I opted not to do.
1:14.4	We talk about how many eggs you get
1:16.1	and is that a marker of your fertility,
1:18.1	what it really means, what you can do about it,
1:20.9	things that you can do to better your fertility.
1:23.5	So hopefully this answers a lot of questions
1:25.1	that you might have around IVF and egg freezing and the whole process. It helped me tremendously. So I hope it helps you. And hope you enjoy the episode. As always, if you were loving it, if you would take a moment to rate and review, it means so much to me. Your support means the world. And it really does help the show so thank you so much we spend about a third
1:46.0	of our lifetime sleeping that's kind of wild when you think about it right one of the things that
1:50.0	i have been really concerned about was making sure that i am sleeping on a natural mattress i got a
	...

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