A Deeper Look into Health: Understanding Our Bodies through Natural Family Planning & Fertility Awareness Methods

Many of you have asked about Natural Family Planning (NFP) and Fertility Awareness Method (FAM), so I’ve put together an overview of what these are and how to practice, plus some other resources that I have found very useful. As women, we aren’t taught to understand our hormones, our menstrual cycles, and what they mean for our bodies.

We are also taught to believe that hormonal birth control is the best way to avoid getting pregnant and that we need to be on it. There is another way that is totally effective and healthy: NFP/FAM. They are essentially the same, but just under different names. I use the terms interchangeably.

To give you a complete picture of why I, and so many other women, practice NFP/FAM, I will go over the unnatural and detrimental effects of hormonal birth control, then what NFP/FAM is, its benefits, and devices you can use to make the practice easier / more user friendly.

Birth Control

Hormonal birth control, aka “the pill,” is something that is totally unnatural to our bodies. This may come as a shock to you, but I don’t want to sugar coat it. So naturally, birth control is not beneficial for our bodies in any way! It does not promote health and has a whole slew of side effects that most people are unaware of. Because its use is so widespread and it is recommended by doctors, we assume it is totally safe. Plus, doctors prescribe it without sharing there could be side effects. But there is quite a lot of scientific evidence that shows the opposite.

Common side effects of birth control include increased levels of depression, low libido, hair loss, weight gain, fatal blood clots—to name a few. The biggest culprit behind these side effects are the artificial hormones that are what make the pill magically “work.” The pill uses Progestin, a synthetic hormone, combined with estrogen to prevent pregnancy. Progestin is not at all the same thing as Progesterone, the body’s natural hormone. And the “pill bleeds” that result when taking birth control are not actual periods. This can totally throw your body for a loop.

So many women are prescribed the pill for hormonal issues like PCOS, not for birth control, but to try and control or solve these issues. But it doesn’t solve any problems. In reality, it just confuses the brain with an overabundance of estrogen, which silences some symptoms but does NOT heal the underlying issues. It is frustrating that the pill has become a go-to “remedy” when it does not get to the root of the problem at all.

Natural Family Planning/Fertility Awareness Method

Understanding our fertility and how our hormones work benefits our bodies as a whole. So much of our health as women is determined by our monthly cycle. Now, I won’t be getting into the nitty gritty of fertility and our hormonal cycles in this post (because there is just too much to get into there!). I wanted to briefly touch on this because it is so important, and I would encourage you to do more research on female fertility and cycles, if you are curious. If you do want to learn more, a great book to check out is Taking Charge of Your Fertility.

Fertility Awareness Method is exactly what it sounds like. It is a scientific method that will allow you to know when you are fertile and when you aren’t. When used correctly and consistently it is 99.6% effective. It is not just guesswork; it is actual science. It is a life skill that takes some effort to get down, but once you learn it, you have it for life! It is well worth the investment.

FAM teaches how your amazing body works; it gives you the full picture of what your cycle looks like, and it will also let you see immediately if there is anything off. Basically, you observe fertile signs that your body exhibits (basal body temperature, cervical mucus, cervical position), and then track them to see when your body is in its fertile window. The fertile window (around 5-7 days) is the only time that it is physically possible to get pregnant. So, if you want to avoid pregnancy, you would either abstain or use another form of protection during this window. And, of course, if you are trying to get pregnant, this is extremely helpful information to know!

I have never been on hormonal birth control. I made a decision not to, knowing it wasn’t good for my body, years and years ago. And I knew even when I got married I wasn’t going on that stuff, so I went with FAM right away and have been using this method the whole time we have been married. We used FAM to prevent pregnancy and then when we were trying to get pregnant so I could know and understand my cycle and my fertility better.

Before we were trying to get pregnant I didn’t understand all of the details of fertility. All I needed to know was the window of time in the month I could get pregnant. When we were trying to get pregnant I started learning more about the different phases of each cycle (follicular phase and luteal phase) and ovulation.

I started out with Lady Comp to help me track because it was one of the only FAM devices out at the time. Now there are many more and I’ve tried out a few others myself. I’ll give you the rundown and my opinions on these below.

I am starting a new book called The Fifth Vital Sign by Lisa Hendrickson-Jack. She reached out to me and I will have her on the podcast sometime this year (yeah), and I am loving the information shared in the book. Yes, our menstrual cycle is so important we can actually call it the fifth vital sign!  

Devices vs. Manually Using a Basal Body Thermometer

One of the biggest components of understanding fertility is tracking your basal body temperature at the same time every day, since your temperature rises after ovulation occurs. Read a brief overview on the science behind this here. To track your temperature, you can use a device or else get a thermometer and track your temperature yourself. I always recommend a device because it reduces the chance of human error when it comes to getting your fertility correct and makes it easier on you overall. I say invest the money to make it easier and more accurate for yourself, it is worth the few hundred dollars!

If you want to take your own temperature, you can get a high quality basal body thermometer and get an online app to plug in your temp each morning. You don’t get the red, yellow, green lights for fertility like you do with Lady Comp and Daysy. Or, you can also chart manually too… pen and paper. But that’s a lot of work, and people tend to forget, give up, and not get it right.

DEVICES I RECOMMEND

1. Lady Comp:

The Lady Comp device has a built-in thermometer and keeps track of everything automatically (as opposed to charting manually). It uses your data to predict fertility based on changes in temperature. The longer you use it for, the more accurate it becomes, learning and adjusting to your individual cycle.

This is the first device I bought for practicing FAM. I got it right before we got married so I could have it learn my cycle a little before we needed to use it. You get a lot of red lights the first few months because of a lack of data. After a few months you get more accurate red, yellow, green lights.

Back when I got Lady Comp, there wasn’t an app (let alone phone apps in general) to track it. It was so simple, just three buttons, and it looked like an old portable CD player. I also loved how Lady Comp has red, yellow, and green lights that make it so easy to know when you are fertile and not!

The newer Lady Comp products are much more advanced with a lot of new features, and they are now able to sync to your phone. Lady comp comes in a Baby Comp version which can be used if you are trying to get pregnant. The red, yellow, and green days are switched around to optimize fertility. There is also a pearly version of Lady Comp which is a mini one. It doesn’t have all of the features but is a little cheaper.

When I purchased Lady Comp I actually purchased it with some of my savings. I was so committed to not being on birth control, and it was worth it for me to spend this money. It was a sacrifice, but I prioritized it.

2. AVA:

Ava is a wearable fertility tracker, basically a bracelet, that uses and measures your physical signs such as skin temperature, pulse, breathing, and sleep to track your cycle.

I bought my Ava right when they came out. I didn’t share much because I wanted to see how it worked, and I have a general dislike for wearables (you’ll never see an Apple watch or smartwatch on my arm because I don’t like the EMFs with them). But with Ava, the device isn’t broadcasting when you’re wearing it. It only does when you plug it in and sync it. That made me ok with it and I am sharing that it has my stamp of approval now.

I have the older version of Ava, so I haven’t tried the newer version. But, I think this is a really effective device! I love that you can see your sleep, too. The only downside for me is that you don’t see a red, yellow, or green light for easy understanding of fertility.

3. Daysy:

This device is very similar to Lady Comp; it is part thermometer, part tracker. You take your temperature and it will record and use this information to predict fertility. Daysy is small and handheld; you get a red, yellow, or green light right when you take your temperature in the morning, and you can sync it via Bluetooth (which isn’t on unless you’re syncing) to see your full fertility picture.

This is the newest of the three to me. I was gifted it from Daysy and Holly Griggs-Spall, whom I featured on my podcast. I wasn’t able to use it for a few months at first because Evie wasn’t sleeping the required 4-hour stretch to take your temp and track fertility. She didn’t sleep a consistent 4-hour stretch for a long time, but I have started tracking again over the last 2 months.

I have really enjoyed getting back to tracking and learning more about my cycles. Since having 2 babies I can almost predict where I am in my cycle based on how I feel, but to know red, yellow, green has been great again. It brings me a peace of mind.

OTHER RESOURCES

• https://fertilityfriday.com/22-fertility-awareness-websites-you-should-know-about/
• https://fertilityfriday.com/intro/
• https://drbrighten.com
• https://lauraschoenfeldrd.com
• https://fertilityfriday.com and The Fifth Vital Sign Book