The Natural Womanhood Podcast

Have you ever blown up at your significant other, only to realize that your period is due to arrive any day? You might wonder if you can chalk up your extra irritability to being in your luteal phase, and the premenstrual syndrome (or PMS) that often accompanies it—and then you might wonder how much PMS is too much PMS. While we're at it, what exactly is PMS? What causes it, and is any part of it "normal"—or is it always a sign of something wrong? What about PMDD? What role does your overall ...

In our previous episode of The Natural Womanhood Podcast, we learned about the promise of photobiomodulation (aka "PBM," aka "red light therapy") for health and fertility from expert Tracy Donegan. It only made sense to follow an episode about how we should be utilizing our waking hours (i.e., sunlight) to promote good circadian rhythm, mitochondrial health, hormone synthesis, and more, with an episode about how to make the best of our nighttime hours to do the very same. In this episod...

We've all been there before: You laugh a little too hard, and you pee yourself. A hard run leaves you damp in more areas than your armpits. The lingering cough from the cold you had last week has you dribbling. Or maybe you went to a trampoline park with your kids, only to find yourself peeing a little with every jump. That's all normal, right? Wrong. While all the above scenarios are incredibly common, they're not normal—and they're certainly not optimal! So what's the solution for women who...

The "hot girls have stomach problems" social media trope is grimly funny, probably because so many of us can relate to the phenomenon of "oh, I can't eat that, or I'll be in the bathroom the rest of the night," (and even if you're lucky enough to not be personally familiar with that feeling, you've undoubtedly heard similar sentiments from your sisters or girlfriends). But Ginny Noce, AKA The Women's Health RN, is here to tell us that your "tummy troubles" are actually your gut trying ...

Back in Season 2, we asked the question "Can Catholics use NFP?" to tackle some of the perceived controversies that surround the use of fertility awareness methods (FAMs) when used for family planning (often referred to in this context as "natural family planning" — hence, "NFP"). Because Natural Womanhood is dedicated to the belief that fertility awareness is for everyone, we decided that it was high-time to revisit that question, but with a twist. In today's episode, Grace sits down w...

"There is no informed consent without body literacy," says Katie Vidmar, Natural Womanhood's Director of Programs, in this fascinating episode of The Natural Womanhood Podcast. "If you don't know how your body works in a state of health, you can't wrap your mind around what's at stake with any given healthcare decision." In this episode, Katie sits down with Grace to lay out exactly what's at stake when women are kept ignorant of their bodies, their menstrual cycles, and their health. She als...

For far too many women, one endometriosis surgery leads to another... and another... and another. But according to Dr. Patrick Yeung, MD, "one and done" endo surgery is not only possible, but it should be the goal that every gynecological surgeon has for his or her endometriosis patients. In this episode of The Natural Womanhood Podcast, NW's Editor-in-Chief, Grace Emily Stark, interviews Dr. Yeung about his vision for "No mo' endo"—and the "three-pronged approach" he uses to achieve it. &nbs...

While Natural Family Planning (aka NFP) is 100% worth it, it can be hard. No one will deny that (at least, not anymore). But too many couples who start off excited about NFP often find themselves alone and in the dark when challenges arise, and many end up giving up on it as a result. It's clear that more support is needed, but where, and how? Enter Natural Marriage Groups. In today's episode of The Natural Womanhood Podcast, Grace interviews Katie Collins, who leads Natural Womanhood's pilot...

We ask kids all the time "what do you want to be when you grow up?" but how often do we ask them "do you want to be a mom?" or "do you want to be a dad?" These questions are the very basics of the concept known as reproductive life planning, a topic we unpack in detail during this enlightening episode of The Natural Womanhood Podcast featuring Dr. Danielle Miller, MD. As the founder of Luz Medicine, a direct primary care practice in Lancaster, PA, Dr. Miller focuses on the full spectrum of ...

As more women awaken to the reality that birth control has been used as a bandaid for so many of their health issues, the search for root-causes and authentic solutions has led many to consider alternatives to allopathic medical care, such as naturopathic medicine. But how does naturopathic medicine differ, especially for women's health? In today's episode of The Natural Womanhood Podcast, Grace interviews Dr. Jessica Whelan, ND (also a FertilityCare™ Practitioner and Medical consultant) who ...

For years, Jennifer Lahl has been one of the lone voices screaming into the void about the ethical dangers of assisted reproductive technology (ART), including egg and sperm donation, and surrogacy. She specializes in sharing the stories of those people the billion dollar ART industry likes to hide, like those of the children conceived by anonymous donor gametes longing to know their genetic parents, or surrogates and babies abandoned by commissioning couples. More recently, she's been workin...

Abigail Anthony knew a thing or two about pain and perseverance as a former competitive ballerina. But when her increasingly painful periods and other seemingly disparate side effects made her workload at Princeton harder and harder to manage, people treated her as if she just needed to mentally "toughen up." Now a graduate student at Oxford (and the current Collegiate Network Fellow at National Review), Abigail wrote the story of her endometriosis journey for The Free Press, where she intern...

One miscarriage is painful enough, but imagine suffering two in a row, only to be told that you "got unlucky twice," and that it's still "too early" to look into any potential underlying causes. Maybe you don't have to imagine; maybe this is your reality, as it is for so many women suffering the heartbreak of repeated miscarriage. In this miscarriage-focused, second episode of season 3 of The Natural Womanhood Podcast, NW’s Editor-in-Chief, Grace Emily Stark, interviews Jamie Rathjen, co-cr...