Monika Anna - Clinical Nutritionist BHSc

Monika Anna - Clinical Nutritionist BHSc BHSc Clinical Nutrition - Nutritional Medicine

Your body will not ovulate if it thinks you’re starving. 🌿Comment HORMONES and I’ll send you a high protein meal plan th...
16/03/2026

Your body will not ovulate if it thinks you’re starving. 🌿

Comment HORMONES and I’ll send you a high protein meal plan that shows you what eating enough for your hormones actually looks like 👇

This isn’t about extreme restriction or eating disorders.

It’s about the everyday under-fuelling that health-conscious women don’t even realise they’re doing.

Your hypothalamus is constantly monitoring energy availability, and if it senses a deficit, it quietly dials down reproduction.

So delayed ovulation, a short luteal phase, low progesterone, these can all be your body being protective, not broken.

You don’t need to be eating 1200 calories for this to happen, training hard, skipping meals, or under-eating protein can all be enough to affect your cycle.

The fix is usually simple, but you have to know you need it first.

15/03/2026

Your blood sugar results might be “normal” but still be working against your fertility. 🩸

Comment BLOODS below and I’ll send you my free preconception blood test checklist straight to your DMs.

Most doctors say your HbA1c, fasting insulin, and glucose are fine if they’re in range.

BUT “in range” and “optimal for conception” are not the same thing.

In clinic, I want your
🥝 HbA1c under 5.0%,
🥝 fasting insulin below 8,
🥝 and fasting glucose sitting between 4.5 and 5.0 mmol/L, not just technically normal.

These markers tell me how hard your body is working to regulate blood sugar, and elevated insulin is often the earliest sign of metabolic dysfunction, long before a diagnosis appears.

So if you’re planning pregnancy in the next 6 to 24 months, these numbers matter more than you’ve probably been told.

☝️One non-negotiable: these tests must be done fasted, no food for exactly 12 hours before collection.

Next reel I’ll cover exactly how I support these markers with food and supplements.

15/03/2026

Your blood results might say “normal” but normal and optimal are not the same thing. 🩸

Comment BLOODS below and I’ll send you my preconception blood test checklist straight to your DMs. ⬇️

Most women are told their results are fine, BUT “fine” doesn’t build the reserves your body needs to grow a baby, sustain a pregnancy and recover postpartum.

So here’s what I actually aim for before conception:
Ferritin: 60+ µg/L
Vitamin B12: 500–700+ pmol/L
Folate: 25–45 nmol/L
Vitamin D: 100–125 nmol/L
TSH: 1.0–2.0 mIU/L

These aren’t extreme targets, they’re the ranges that support ovulation, implantation, placental development and postpartum energy.

Scraping into pregnancy with barely acceptable numbers is not the goal.

Building reserves that carry you through pregnancy, birth and beyond is.

12/03/2026

Baby number 2 is loading…

Well, from a preconception perspective 🤍✨

Come along with me to get my bloods done as I begin the journey of preconception for baby number 2.

Comments the word BLOODS to get a copy of the exact blood test list I got done ✅

Your period has been grading you every single month. 🩸Comment QUIZ below and I’ll send you the Preconception Readiness Q...
11/03/2026

Your period has been grading you every single month. 🩸

Comment QUIZ below and I’ll send you the Preconception Readiness Quiz straight to your DMs 👇

Most of my clients, to begin with, have no idea what their cycle is actually telling them.

BUT every detail, your cycle length, how long you bleed, whether you clot, your luteal phase, your PMS, is data.

Your body is not being dramatic.

It is reporting back on your ovulation quality, your nutrient reserves, your hormone balance, and your inflammatory load.

SO the question is not whether your period is painful or inconvenient.

It is what grade your body is currently running at, and what needs to change before you try to conceive.

11/03/2026

Can you breastfeed & prepare for your next pregnancy? 🤰

I get asked this all the time - short answer is YES!

Comment the word PROLACTIN and I’ll send you an article about periods and prolactin (the hormone elevated with breastfeeding) ✨

10/03/2026

You cannot optimise your thyroid in a perceived famine. 🌿

Comment HORMONES below and I’ll send you my hormone-friendly meal plan straight to your DMs 👇

Most thyroid conversations jump straight to supplements.

But if you’re under-eating or restricting carbs, that needs to be addressed first.

Because thyroid function is a brain-driven event, and chronic under-fuelling suppresses the very signals your gland depends on.

So we start with food. At least 1800–2000 calories daily, 100g of protein, consistent meals, and key nutrients like iodine, selenium, zinc, iron, and tyrosine.

Then we layer in targeted supplementation based on your actual results, not guesswork.

And if antibodies are elevated, we go deeper. Because antibodies don’t start in the thyroid, they start in immune dysregulation, often rooted in the gut.

Thriving postpartum doesn’t start after birth. It starts with stable thyroid function before pregnancy.

Food sources to support thyroid function:
🤍 Iodine: seaweed, eggs, dairy, white fish
🤍 Selenium: 2–3 Brazil nuts daily, tuna, sardines
🤍 Zinc: red meat, oysters, pepitas
🤍 Tyrosine: chicken, turkey, eggs, legumes
🤍 Iron: red meat, lentils, spinach paired with vitamin C

10/03/2026

Send me your bloods 🩸

Day 15 collection.
Her LH is elevated, FSH is on the lower side, and that LH:FSH ratio is giving classic PCOS energy.

I would recommend basal body temp tracking along with a progesterone blood test 7 days after ovulation to track in preconception.

Comment INTERPRET and I might cover your bloods next 🧬

09/03/2026

Your thyroid could be quietly working against your fertility, even if your results come back “normal.” 🩸

Comment BLOODS below and I’ll send you my preconception blood test checklist straight to your DMs 👇

Most doctors accept a TSH anywhere from 0.5 to 4.5 as fine.

But in preconception, I want to see it sitting between 1.0 and 2.5 mIU/L.

Because research consistently links elevated TSH with reduced fertility, early pregnancy loss, and unexplained infertility.

So you can tick every box and still be left wondering why things aren’t moving.

And TSH is just one piece.

T4, T3, antibodies, and Reverse T3 each tell a different part of the story.

Because your thyroid sets the pace for ovulation, progesterone support, and early foetal brain development.

Optimising this takes months, so preconception is the window.

Your ferritin can be “normal” and still not be enough. 🩸Most women preparing for pregnancy are told their iron is fine.B...
08/03/2026

Your ferritin can be “normal” and still not be enough. 🩸
Most women preparing for pregnancy are told their iron is fine.

BUT fine is not the same as ready.

There’s a number that keeps you functioning day to day.

And there’s a number your body actually needs to grow a baby, sustain a pregnancy, and protect who you’ll be on the other side of it.

The functional optimal for ferritin before conception is 75 to 100 µg/L minimum.

SO if you’ve been told your levels are normal and you’re still exhausted, still shedding, still not quite right - your ferritin result deserves a closer look.

The window to build your stores is now.

Before conception.

Before your body is asked to share everything it has.

Comment BLOODS below and I’ll send you my free blood test guide straight to your DMs. 🩸

06/03/2026

Comment INTERPRET if you want your bloods interpreted by me 🩸

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