Before You Get Pregnant, Watch This | Taylor Dukes
October 9, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readTaylor Dukes, a family nurse practitioner and functional medicine expert, joined Alex Clark to share a detailed, practical guide on preparing for pregnancy, navigating birth, and protecting the postpartum period. The conversation is grounded in Dukes’s own health journey—she was diagnosed with a brain tumor years ago, which forced her to pause her plans for a third child and ultimately shaped her deeply intentional approach to preconception health. The episode covers everything from supplements and fertility tracking to hospital procedures, baby registries, and the often-overlooked postpartum recovery.
Preconception: The 90-Day Window for Both Parents
Dukes emphasizes that preparing for pregnancy should begin well before a positive test, ideally 60 to 90 days beforehand. This window matters because a woman’s egg quality and a man’s sperm quality are influenced by recent health habits. For men, sperm turns over every 75 to 90 days, making it a critical time to cut out substances like nicotine and to start supporting supplements. Dukes put her husband on CoQ10, NAC, and a mineral supplement called Quinton to improve sperm quality. For women, the goal is to build up nutrient reserves so the body has grace to spare during the demanding first trimester.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:43) **Preconception to Postpartum Crash Course** - Taylor Dukes (family nurse practitioner, functional medicine expert, founder of Sava Nutrition) joins to give a comprehensive guide from preparing for pregnancy through newborn care.
- 2 (03:48) **Taylor's Health Journey: From Brain Cancer to Conception** - Taylor details her history of severe health issues, her discovery of functional medicine, and the brain tumor diagnosis that delayed her plans for a third child.
- 3 (08:53) **From Cancer to a New Pregnancy** - Taylor discusses the three-and-a-half-year journey to being cancer-free and how she and her husband prepared for another pregnancy.
- 4 (19:00) **Practical Preconception Protocol and Morning Sickness Hacks** - Taylor gives actionable advice on how to prepare your body for pregnancy and manage the challenging first trimester.
- 5 (32:04) **Prenatal Supplements and the Truth About Baby Showers** - Taylor gives her top recommendations for prenatal vitamins and shares her perspective on celebrating subsequent pregnancies.
- 6 (34:54) **The Non-Toxic Baby Registry: What You Actually Need** - Taylor cuts through the baby industry hype to focus on the essentials for a healthy, non-toxic start for your baby.
- 7 (41:22) **Building Your Birth Team and Navigating Interventions** - Taylor explains her choice of a birth center and midwife and gives advice on how to create a birth plan that you can actually stick to.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
This is the ULTIMATE preconception-to-postpartum crash course 📝
My friend and SAVA Nutrition founder, Taylor Dukes, is back and she's expecting baby #3! Now that I'm in my trying-to-conceive era, I asked her everything: how to prep your body before pregnancy, which prenatal to take, the nontoxic registry must-haves and how to protect your postpartum season.
Thank you to our sponsors!
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Our Guest:
Taylor Dukes
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SAVA Website Use code "ALEXCLARK" for 15% off
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