Nutrition Archives

Morning Sickness and Self-Care

Author Marilyn Shannon offers pregnant women common sense self-care strategies that can help reduce morning sickness. In her booklet, Managing Morning Sickness, Marilyn, along with her daughter, Rosemary Shannon Imrick, who ‘field-tested’ of some of the suggestions, draws from medical research, her counseling experience, and her understanding of human physiology and shows that taking vitamins…

Lent and Avoiding the Spiritual Diet

Written by Amanda Rohwedder. Originally published in Family Foundations in 2023. I always ask my clients to remove “diet” from their vocabulary and instead replace it with “lifestyle,” focusing on small, consistent changes over time. For what good is it to eat healthful for a small period of time in the course of a lifetime?…

Surprising Opportunity to Witness

Written by Amanda Rohwedder. Originally published in Family Foundations in 2021. Food is a connector. God could have chosen anything to provide us nourishment and He chose food and the meal. After the experience of solitude during the pandemic, many of us longed to simply share a meal with family and friends . Now, with…

How Female Athletes Embrace their Cycles

In fact, fighting menstrual cycles — especially with hormonal contraceptives — can hurt athletic performance. Inadequate nutrition, sleep, and body fat negatively impact hormone levels, which in turn can create symptoms that disrupt training such as sluggishness, bloating, intolerable cramping or bleeding, and more. Medicating cycles away with artificial hormones can create further troubles, including poor bone density and increased risks of blood clots in otherwise healthy athletes.

A Self-help Guide for PCOS

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects roughly 5 million people worldwide, making it one of the most common causes of infertility in women. September is dedicated to PCOS awareness, but we’re willing to bet there’s some stuff even you armchair experts didn’t know about its detection and treatment. Check out this helpful infographic, compiled from the newest edition of Marilyn Shannon’s Fertility, Cycles and Nutrition, available digitally and in print next month!

The Lowdown on Caffeine

An excerpt from Marilyn M. Shannon’s book, Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition. **** Caffeine is a good slave but a bad master. When you use it only occasionally or in moderation, it provides a lift that many people enjoy. However, it affects the nervous system, and can cause anxiety and irritability. It can deprive you of a…

Helpful Tips for Healthy Fasting

NFPers are no strangers to the idea of abstinence, fasting and self-control. Lent is a beautiful liturgical season in which the entire Church joins together in self-denial in a focused way, and we seasoned veterans can be something of an example for those to whom such practices are less familiar. And just as NFP worth…

Ditching the Pill …and Other Contraceptives

An excerpt from Marilyn M. Shannon’s book, Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition. **** Congratulations on your decision to discontinue birth control pills or other hormonal contraceptives! You have taken a giant step toward better health. As hormone specialist Diana Schwarzbein, M.D., has written, you cannot achieve optimum hormonal balance while you are on the Pill, because hormones…

Shorter, Lighter and Pain-free Periods

Fun fact: A natural, healthy period should not be long, heavy or painful. You read that correctly: five days at most, only moderate flow, with no noticeable cramping. But when you think of having your period, what comes to mind? If you’re like most women who experience these negative symptoms (along with an array of…

Pregnancy and Preeclampsia

An excerpt from Marilyn M. Shannon’s book, Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition. **** You may have wondered why prenatal care includes blood pressure monitoring and urine checking more and more frequently as you approach your due date. These are done in order to detect early signs of a potentially serious problem, preeclampsia, or metabolic toxemia of late…