What Your Menstrual Cycle Is Telling You About Your Fertility and How To Regulate Your Cycle with Lisa Hendrickson-Jack
Jul 15, 2024
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We’re digging into period health and how to regulate your menstrual cycle.
A healthy menstrual cycle is essential for optimal fertility.
Many of us are dealing with heavy cycles, light cycles, irregular cycles, anovulation, or amenorrhea.
What are our periods telling us about our fertility? And how do we regulate our cycles to improve pregnancy success?
Lisa Hendrickson-Jack is a certified Fertility Awareness Educator and Holistic Reproductive Health Practitioner who teaches women to chart their menstrual cycles for natural birth control, conception, and monitoring overall health. She is co-author of the new book Real Food for Fertility: Prepare your body for pregnancy with preconception nutrition and fertility awareness.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- What your cycle is telling you about your fertility
- Steps to address your period health
- How to ensure you’re not missing your fertile window
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HIGHLIGHTS:
- Lisa Hendrickson-Jack & Lily Nichols’ Book | Real Food for Fertility: Prepare your body for pregnancy with preconception nutrition and fertility awareness
- Lisa Hendrickson-Jack’s Podcast | Fertility Friday
5:58 LISA’S JOURNEY INTO BECOMING A FERTILITY AWARENESS EXPERT
- Lisa’s experience with painful periods and long-term use of the pill
- Her introduction to the fertility awareness method
9:09 IRREGULAR CYCLES
- A true irregular cycle is where the cycle consistently varies more than 8 days from one to the next
- You can still apply the principles of fertility awareness to an irregular cycle
- The most common factors that can lead to an irregular cycle
13:01 AMENORRHEA
- Amenorrhea typically refers to when a person hasn’t ovulated for six months or more
- Key differences between amenorrhea and irregular cycles when it comes to charting
- Unique challenges that come with addressing hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA)
- Signs that you might be on the HA spectrum
- We often underestimate the impact of overexercising.
- Just because you don’t feel mentally stressed doesn’t mean your body isn’t stressed.
- How stress impacts women with HA
24:15 OVULATION
- A healthy menstrual cycle sets the stage for optimal fertility.
- If we’re seeing ovulatory disruption, we need to step back and look at the foundational factors
- Charting helps you to determine whether it’s an issue with one cycle or a pattern that needs to be addressed
- If the cycle is 24-35 days, we expect ovulation to take place somewhere between days 10 and 23
- Cervical fluid changes around ovulation
- Creating a baseline chart
- If you’re making changes and moving in the right direction, you will see changes in your menstrual cycle.
- Your menstrual cycle provides information to guide what we’re doing.
- The fertility awareness approach can be very motivating.
- Each individual requires a personalized strategy.
31:48 HEAVY PERIODS
- Your period is a reflection of what happened in the previous month.
- The normal range is roughly 25-80 mL of total bleeding throughout the course of a period
- It’s important to look at the ratio of unopposed estrogen to progesterone during the cycle
- It’s crucial to get sufficient protein for a healthy menstrual cycle
- It improves everything when you front-load your day with protein.
40:28 SPOTTING
- Your period officially starts on the first day of your true flow.
- Light spotting before your period is often associated with hormonal imbalances
- Mid-cycle bleeding or spotting that’s consistently from cycle to cycle can be a sign of a bigger problem
- Lisa Hendrickson-Jack’s Book | The Fifth Vital Sign: Master Your Cycles & Optimize Your Fertility
43:26 REAL FOOD FOR FERTILITY
46:12 FINAL THOUGHTS
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RESOURCES:
Fab Fertile Method - https://fabfertile.com/pages/what-we-do
Connect with Lisa Hendrickson-Jack
- Lisa Hendrickson-Jack & Lily Nichols’ Book | Real Food for Fertility: Prepare your body for pregnancy with preconception nutrition and fertility awareness
- Lisa Hendrickson-Jack’s Podcast | Fertility Friday
- Lisa Hendrickson-Jack’s Book | The Fifth Vital Sign: Master Your Cycles & Optimize Your Fertility
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Ultimate Guide to Getting Pregnant This Year If You Have Low AMH/High FSH
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Remember, AMH is NOT a predictor of natural pregnancy. It can't tell you about the health of your eggs or predict if you can get pregnant.
The AMH level does not need to define your chances.
So, how do we fast-track pregnancy success?
What you place on your fork every day matters.
And no, you don't need to try the latest dietary fads such as:
❌ Carnivore
❌ Keto
❌ Vegan
It's not about following generalized dietary guidelines. Because that only wastes precious time.
The most important factor is consuming the diet that is right for YOU.
I’m excited to announce that our Summer Fertility Recipe Guide is ready! Go to FertilityDietFreebie.com to grab your copy. I worked with a chef/nutritionist to prepare these summer recipes. This is a five-day challenge where you’ll learn how food impacts your body while enjoying delicious and nutrient-dense recipes all designed to enhance fertility (especially if you have low AMH and/or high FSH). The guide includes a meal plan and grocery shopping list. Start this challenge with your partner.
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Fab Prenatal includes all the essential nutrients to help support a healthy mom and growing baby throughout her pregnancy journey.
Our blend was created to assist the gap you may be lacking in your diet for extra nutrient needs in pregnancy, like Folate, other B vitamins, Choline, and more.
Use code “GPN15” for 15% off your order at FFLNaturals.com
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Join my FREE Facebook group and get my training on How To Improve Pregnancy Success With Your Own Eggs.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/451444518397946
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Book your Supercharge Your Fertility Discovery call here with your partner
During our call, we’ll be discussing what you have tried so far and where you’ve faced challenges. This can feel stressful but is designed to help us get to the root cause of your fertility issues and will help me to give you the best possible action plan at the end of the call. However, to reassure you – on this call we won’t be digging into the trauma associated with infertility/miscarriage/loss – rather we are focused on solutions and an ACTION PLAN as to how our Fab Fertile Method can help you get pregnant naturally.
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Connect with Sarah on social media and learn more about functional fertility solutions that will help you have your baby.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fabfertileinc/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sesacoaching/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fabfertile
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahclarkfertilitycoach/
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