nutrition Archives

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…

SLS18: Young Women Find Hope at CCL Booth

Countless wonderful and beautiful things happened at Focus’ 2018 Student Leadership Summit in Chicago last week, but one thing in particular stood out at the Couple to Couple League booth: Young ladies from across the country were being blown away by the beauty of their own bodies. Many women (and men) who approached our booth…

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…

Coping with Postpartum Thyroiditis

An excerpt from Marilyn M. Shannon’s book, Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition. **** At some point after giving birth, often before the baby is six months old, a small percentage of women experience thyroid problems. About one to four months after the birth, some new mothers (approximately 4 percent) develop an overactive thyroid gland. They may…