When it comes to pregnancy and postpartum, there is no shortage of information. In fact, there can be so much of it that it becomes difficult to know what is actually worth paying attention to.
So I sat down with my friend Katya to talk through some of the questions I’ve had myself.
Katya and I have known each other for more than 20 years, growing up together in Marbella. She originally worked in documentary filmmaking and women’s issues before becoming a certified holistic nutritionist through the NBE School of Holistic Nutrition, which specializes in fertility, pregnancy, postpartum and baby nutrition. She also contributed to our prenatal and postnatal guides here at T — F Studio.
I had my baby six months ago, so this conversation was personal for me. I asked her everything I’d been wondering about, from toxins in our homes and the role of stress to what your body actually goes through in those first weeks after giving birth and whether “pump and dump” is really a thing.
We covered a lot, so I pulled out a few of my favorite moments below. The full conversation is on YouTube if you want to hear us get into all of it.
What actually is an endocrine disruptor?
What is an endocrine disruptor for someone who doesn't know? And what are some easy ways that people can remove some of those from their lifestyle?
Katya: An endocrine disruptor is essentially a toxin that can interfere with the way your hormones work. They can interact with hormone receptors and affect normal hormone signaling.
There are some really simple places you can start if you want to reduce your exposure. Look at the products you use every day, like skincare, cleaning products and laundry detergent. You can also swap plastic food storage for glass and look at the materials your cookware is made from.
The point isn't to create fear. There’s so much that we can’t control in our environment, but there is so much that we can.
You don't need to replace everything in your house overnight. If you're interested in reducing your exposure, start with the things you use every day and make changes gradually.
Stress, your nervous system and fertility
One of the biggest themes that came up throughout our conversation was stress.
You talk a lot about the nervous system. How does that come into play when you're trying to conceive?
Katya: I think of it as a bucket. We all have a certain capacity for stress, and once that bucket starts getting too full, you need to find ways to create more space.
That can mean looking at your sleep, how much you're exercising, how much you're eating, your work, your relationships and everything else that is putting stress on your system.
When you're trying to conceive, it can be helpful to think about the whole picture rather than just nutrition.
For me, learning to slow down was a big part of this. During a period of burnout, walking, breathwork and somatic therapy helped me reconnect with my body instead of constantly trying to think my way through everything.
“The body prioritizes survival over reproduction.”
The takeaway isn't that you need to eliminate stress from your life. That's impossible. It's about noticing when your body is constantly running on empty and finding ways to come back down.
What is “trimester zero”?
One of the things I was most curious about was the idea of “trimester zero.”
It refers to the period before pregnancy, when you’re preparing for conception rather than waiting until you see a positive test.
Have you heard of the term trimester zero?
Katya: Yes. It’s essentially the preconception phase.
And this is where things get really interesting. Katya explained that the months leading up to conception can be an opportunity to look at things like nutrition, stress, sleep, your environment and overall health before pregnancy even begins.
It made me think about how little we tend to talk about this period. We spend so much time preparing once we're pregnant, but what about the months before?
There’s much more to this conversation, including Katya’s thoughts on the roughly three-month window before conception and why she thinks both partners should be thinking about their health during this time.
What should you eat in the first weeks after birth?
The postpartum period was another part of the conversation I was especially interested in.
What would you say are some foods and tools that women could really benefit from during this time?
Katya: I love looking at traditional cultures. In Eastern cultures, they see the postpartum window as a sacred window. It's essentially a 30 to 40 day period where the female community comes together to tend to the mother, so she has time to rest and bond with her baby.
What they focus on is soft, warm, easily digestible meals: soups and stews, broth-based food, braised meats and fish, healthy fats like ghee, avocado and butter.
You want to think about protein, fats, carbohydrates and fiber. Protein supports tissue repair and recovery, carbohydrates provide energy, and fiber can help support digestion.
The bigger idea is to make eating easy. You're recovering from birth, you're caring for a newborn, and you may be breastfeeding around the clock. Having nourishing food ready to go can make a huge difference.
“The hormonal shift you experience postpartum is the single most significant shift you go through, in the fastest period of time, in your entire life.”
This is one of the reasons I loved Katya's perspective on postpartum. Rather than thinking about how quickly you can get back to your old routine, think about what your body needs from you right now.
Should you “pump and dump” after a glass of wine?
Of course, we had to talk about this one.
I know there's always the question: can you drink alcohol?
Katya: My recommendation is to not pump and dump, because alcohol leaves breast milk at the same rate it leaves the bloodstream. So if you're pumping and dumping, there's no point.
I took so long before I had my first drink. I was really looking forward to my first glass of wine, and then I was so nervous about it that I didn't even want it!
Katya: Look, unless you're binge drinking, it's not going to have a huge impact. You can have a glass of wine for sure.
“What a waste of milk to be pumping and dumping. That stuff is precious.” — Tasha
There are a lot more questions around alcohol and breastfeeding than we could fit here, so we go into the details in the full conversation.
A few myths we touched on
We also got into some of the things you hear all the time during pregnancy and postpartum.
“Eat for two.” Not quite. Your calorie needs do increase during pregnancy, but you're not literally doubling your food intake.
“Eat for two while breastfeeding.” Also not quite. Breastfeeding does increase your energy needs, but the answer isn't simply to double what you're eating.
“Lose the baby weight as quickly as possible.”
Katya's answer to this one was very clear: “Absolutely not.”
Her advice is to focus first on nourishing yourself, recovering from birth and supporting your baby rather than rushing to get back to your pre-pregnancy body.
How do you cut through all the noise?
This was probably one of my favorite questions because it gets back to the reason I wanted to have this conversation in the first place.
There is so much pregnancy, fertility and postpartum advice online. One person tells you to do one thing, another tells you the opposite, and suddenly you’re trying to figure out whether everything in your kitchen is affecting your hormones.
Katya’s advice is simple: when you feel overwhelmed by conflicting information, talk to someone qualified who can help you figure out what is actually relevant to you.
You don't need to know everything.
There’s a lot more in the full interview
We covered much more than I could fit into one post.
What can you do if your milk supply is low? Should you change what you're eating if your baby is fussy? What does Katya recommend for first-trimester nausea? How much protein do you really need during pregnancy? And what foods does she actually keep on repeat?
We also talked about introducing allergens, dates before birth, postpartum recovery, breastfeeding and so much more.
If you’re thinking about pregnancy, already pregnant, newly postpartum or simply trying to make sense of all the information out there, I think you’ll get a lot from the full conversation.
Watch the full interview with Katya on YouTube →
A little more from Katya
Katya has also written Preparing the Ground, her guide to preconception health and the first book in her planned Birthing Year series, covering pregnancy, postpartum and baby nutrition.