Food, Hormones & Fertility: Returning to the Foundations of Women’s Health with Shaz Andrews

As part of our Women’s Health Week series, we’re exploring what it really means to support women’s health at the root. In this conversation, we hear from naturopath Shaz Andrews whose own journey, from hormonal imbalance and burnout to healing, now shapes how she supports women through fertility, hormones, and beyond. It’s a grounded and honest look at nourishment, lifestyle, and the often-overlooked foundations of health – from food as medicine to the role of stress, sleep, and modern living in hormonal resilience.

Shaz, can you tell us a little about your journey to becoming a naturopath - and how your personal healing experiences have informed your work with women, particularly around fertility?

I lived a fast-paced life in my 20s. I was working in a corporate role, my stress levels were high and I was often travelling for work, so my diet and lifestyle weren’t the healthiest. I started to experience a number of symptoms including debilitating migraines, inflamed skin, PMS, irregular cycles and heavy periods.

I saw my GP several times and even went to a gynaecologist, and the recommendation was always the same: to go on the oral contraceptive pill (OCP) to regulate my cycles. This approach didn't feel aligned for me because it wasn't addressing the root cause, so I started exploring alternatives.

I worked with a naturopath for six months and noticed a shift in how I was feeling. My skin started to clear, my cycles became more regular, less painful and less heavy, and I had better energy and mental health.

I became inspired to learn ways to support myself and my family through diet, herbs and other practices. I studied nutrition and followed this with a degree in natural medicine, to become a naturopath.

 
During my naturopathy studies I became pregnant and sadly experienced a second-trimester miscarriage. It was one of the hardest times of my life but the experience really helped shape my practice as a naturopath.

 
I now work predominantly with women, supporting them with hormonal imbalances, skin health, gut health etc. as well as providing guidance to couples navigating fertility challenges. It is the most rewarding feeling receiving an email or a text from a client letting me know she's pregnant! And an absolute gift to guide women through healthy pregnancies, postpartum and beyond.

Being ‘fertile’ benefits all women, not just those trying to conceive, it’s something we can all nurture in order to be at our best. In your view, what are the foundations of fertility?

There’s a misconception that ovulating every cycle and being fertile only benefits women that are trying to conceive, when in fact ovulation should be regarded as a vital sign – an indicator of balance and health.

When we ovulate the body creates a temporary organ called the corpus luteum and this temporary organ produces the hormone progesterone, which stabilises the uterine lining and makes it a hospitable environment for the embryo to implant. However, ovulation and progesterone production offer far-reaching systemic benefits beyond fertility.

Progesterone benefits our mental health by binding to GABA receptors in the brain, which alleviates anxiety, calms the mind and improves sleep quality. It also supports healthy bone density by stimulating “bone-building” cells called osteoblasts and has a protective effect on the cardiovascular system. So anovulatory cycles (cycles without ovulation) due to hormonal imbalances, stress, under-eating and being on the combined oral contraceptive pill mean women are losing out on all these health benefits.

I believe that the foundations of fertility are simple: eating enough to support the metabolism and eating a wholefood diet that includes nutrient-dense foods like organ meats, egg yolks, meat stock, bone broth, seafood, shellfish and seaweed. Never skimp on carbohydrates - they support the thyroid and help to lower stress hormones (low carb diets signal starvation).

Living in alignment with natures rhythms is an important pillar. Rising with the sun, spending time outdoors each day to absorb the many benefits of natural sunlight and avoiding artificial lighting in the evenings.

Then there’s reducing your toxic load with natural skincare, haircare, makeup and cleaning products and supporting the  detoxification organs (bowel, liver, kidneys, lymphatic system). Adequate hydration, fibre rich foods and movement to support the bowel and kidneys. Bitter foods and beetroot support the liver and movement and deep diaphragmatic breathing help lymphatic drainage.

Finding healthy ways to manage stress is a big one too, as is gut health. A healthy and diverse microbiome and gut membrane integrity can be supported by fermented foods, rainbow plate, bone broth and meat stock.

You’re passionate about food as medicine. Can you share your thoughts on nose-to-tail nutrition - particularly organ meats and bone broth - and how it can support fertility and hormonal resilience?

I've noticed a lot of practitioners pushing synthetic supplements to fill gaps in the diet. Walk into any supermarket or pharmacy and you'll see rows of lab-made supplements built on poor-quality ingredients like coal tar and petroleum derivatives. The nutrients in them are often in a form the body doesn't recognise and doesn't absorb well, which is why they can cause nausea, diarrhoea and other symptoms.

I believe food is medicine. I believe we can get everything our bodies need to survive and thrive by eating nose to tail - organ meats, bones, cartilage, connective tissue, skin, feet, the lot. The way our ancestors ate.

Liver is a multivitamin in food form. Beef liver is loaded with vitamin A, B vitamins including B12 and folate, choline, selenium and bioavailable haem iron. Eat liver and you take in all of that in a form your body knows how to use, without the side effects that come with isolated nutrients in a pill.

Then there's bone broth and meat stock made by slow or pressure cooking bones and bony and cartilaginous cuts of meat including oxtail, beef shin, lamb shanks and chicken feet. These are collagen-rich foods that give your body the building-block amino acids it needs: glycine and proline, which the body uses to repair and strengthen connective tissues like cartilage, the gut lining, our joints and skin.

Eating nose-to-tail supports fertility and hormonal health too. Liver provides high levels of bioavailable Vitamin B12, folate and choline that support methylation. Methylation is one way the body detoxifies toxins and eliminates excess hormones and hormone metabolites. Healthy methylation also balances homocysteine levels in the body – high homocysteine is associated with inflammation, poor egg and sperm quality and an increased risk of miscarriage. Beef heart is loaded with CoQ10, an antioxidant nutrient that improves cellular energy production as well as sperm and egg quality. These are just a few examples, I could go on and on!

What do you often see missing in conventional fertility advice and support - and how does your approach as a naturopath fill in those gaps?

Conventional fertility advice is very quick to land on "unexplained infertility" as the cause of fertility challenges and IVF as the only solution. I believe there's always an explanation and that there are many natural ways fertility can be supported.

Diet is barely mentioned to my clients that have gone down the conventional route. Many of the clients I am working with are trying for a baby with zero preconception care. The majority of women I see in clinic are not eating enough. Some are avoiding carbohydrates and many are depleted due to poor diet, being plant based or poor absorption due to gut health issues. Being in starvation and being depleted do not support fertility, so I provide guidance on ways to nourish and bring nutrient-dense foods back into their diet: egg yolk, bone broth, meat stock, red meat, shellfish, oysters.

Another area that the conventional fertility advice often misses is the link between high toxic load and infertility. Toxins affect the health of the eggs and sperm and the balance of our hormones. Many of the chemicals found in personal care products, cleaning products and the non-stick coating of our pots and pans are endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDC’s). EDC’s mimic our own natural hormones and contribute to hormonal imbalance and infertility. I provide my clients with guidance on ways to reduce their exposure to toxins.

The microbiome is another big area. Not just the microbiome of the gut, which is hugely important for egg and sperm quality and the clearance of hormones (known as the estrobolome), but also the microbiome of the vagina. Vaginal dysbiosis can impact implantation and increases the risk of early pregnancy loss. I support my clients in these areas through microbiome mapping tests to identify imbalances, as well as probiotic support and herbal medicine.

For our final Women’s Health Week conversation, we’re returning to the foundations – food, sleep, stress, movement and the everyday factors that shape how we feel.

Naturopath Shaz Andrews’ interest in women’s health began with her own experience of hormonal imbalance and burnout, and later deepened through pregnancy, loss and motherhood.

Today, that experience shapes a food-first approach to supporting women through hormonal health, fertility, pregnancy and beyond.

In this conversation, Shaz shares her perspective on why fertility can be viewed as part of a much broader picture of women’s health, the importance she places on eating enough and nourishing well, and why she believes traditional, nutrient-dense foods still deserve a place in modern life.

From organ meats and bone broth to sleep, stress and time outdoors, it’s a conversation about stripping things back and paying attention to the foundations that can so easily be overlooked.

Are there specific nutrients, organ supplements, or herbs you regularly turn to in clinic when supporting women?

I have a food first approach when I work with clients. So we start by working on diet, but if there are deficiencies or gaps in the diet I use organ supplements or other food-based supplements to boost these nutrients. I commonly prescribe spleen and liver for low iron as it provides a good dose of haem iron and other cofactors that aid iron absorption and metabolism. For my clients that don’t enjoy slow cooked bony and cartilaginous cuts of meat, I use a high quality collagen powder or bone broth protein powder. I also love oyster capsules for increasing zinc levels in my male clients, with zinc being important for healthy testosterone and sperm quality. Herbs are specifically tailored to each client, but nutritive herbs like nettle and oat straw brewed as a tea are wonderful during preconception as they are rich in nutrients.