Family Foundations Archives - Fertility Science Institute

Spring Foods to Fuel Your Cycle

By Amanda Rohwedder. Adapted from the original Family Foundations article. The weather is getting warmer, flowers are starting to bloom, seeds are being planted, and farmer’s markets are opening – spring is here and summer is on the way! What grows seasonally in spring that we can take advantage of to fuel our bodies? Each…

Savor the Seasons for Fertility

By Amanda Rohwedder. Adapted from the original Family Foundations article. …yet, in bestowing his goodness, he did not leave himself without witness, for he gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filled you with nourishment and gladness for your hearts. Acts 14:17 I recently finished reading The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry and it…

Healthy Food Habits Start at Home

By Amanda Rohwedder. Adapted from the original Family Foundations article. Food makes up such a large part of a family’s routine, lifestyle, and culture. Key developmental milestones happen at mealtime, as well as an opportunity for family bonding. It is when a husband and wife can look each other in the eye, a toddler discovers…

Fertility Charting for Health for Young Women

By Anne Marie Williams. Adapted from the original Family Foundations article. Brian and Johanna’s Story While the average NFP or FABM user is a woman who, with her husband, is actively seeking to avoid or achieve pregnancy, one Ohio couple is capitalizing on the relevance of fertility awareness-based methods of natural family planning beyond pregnancy…

Cooking Up Love at Mealtime

By Amanda Rohwedder. Adapted from the original Family Foundations article by Melissa Gorley. The most important ingredient in any recipe is love. When food is prepared with loving hands, it seems to taste better somehow. In my own life, cooking and sharing a meal with others has created friendships, nurtured relationships, and cultivated deep conversations.…

Life with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

By Kara Storey. Original version published in Family Foundations. The first part of the article was posted on this blog post. Jackie, 32, of New Jersey describes the emotional and spiritual toll of PCOS as a “roller coaster.” It took years for the high school teacher to be diagnosed with the PCOS disorder. Noticing she…

Nourishing Your Postpartum Body

By Amanda Rohwedder. Original version published in Family Foundations. Edith Stein said that a woman “naturally seeks…to cherish, guard, protect, nourish and advance growth…” and referred to this as a maternal yearning within every woman. The postpartum woman has a particular instinct to cherish, guard, protect, and nourish her child, but she would do well…

Living with PCOS (Polycystic ovary syndrome)

By Kara Storey. Original version published in Family Foundations. When Jamie and Nicole tied the knot in 2013, they were excited, yet apprehensive, to start a family. Since her teens Nicole had experienced painful, irregular periods and had difficulty maintaining a healthy weight. In high school, a doctor took stock of her symptoms and diagnosed…

What’s a Guy to Do? Postpartum

I tell all new fathers to take credit for the first nine months of being a dad, because, after birth, things get a lot harder. The actual birth was a great dad-highlight. I got to help our midwife catch our firstborn. We had taken Bradley Childbirth classes. We had read books. We were informed. We…

Supporting Fertility Through Food

Sometimes fertility can feel very outside of our control – like something that happens to us, rather than for us. But our fertility is truly a gift and an invitation: an invitation to awareness of how our body responds to stress, to thoughts and emotions, as well as to the foods we eat. Fueling our…