A Simple Guide to Track Your Ovulation Cycle

Wether you're trying to conceive, or seeking optimal wellness learning how to track and support your ovulation cycle is an amazing way to improve your health, connect to the rhythms of your body, and take charge of your choice to consciously conceive or not conceive.

There are several factors that come with having a uterus. This is a simple guide to:

• The best ways to track your ovulation and monthly cycle

• How to support your hormonal balance

• How to improve symptoms of PMS

• And how to support implantation if you are trying to conceive

I have many friends who are trying to conceive, and I also have friends who don't want children or don't want them yet. No matter what choices you want for your life, understanding and supporting a healthy cycle is a key factor in your overall health. Tracking my cycle was how I discovered I had PCOS and was able to modify my diet and lifestyle to conceive my son. Balancing my hormones has improved my mood, sleep, energy, and skin!

I don't know why most of us were never taught this in our youth. I was only taught about menstruation and had no idea that it was possible to track ovulation. The first step is education! My introduction to fertility tracking came from a friend I met in doula training. For a lot of us fertility tracking seems totally overwhelming but this woman made it look so natural and effortless. She was an herbalist and had traveled the world, and she embodied a state of wellness that I feel like everyone is aiming towards. So I asked her a million questions, took her advice, and never looked back.

Tracking Your Cycle

Tracking your cycle seems like a lot of work, or potentially risky to those of us who have never done it! However I promise after a little time you will feel so much more connected to your body and empowered by this information! There are so many indicators of ovulation! You can track your BBT (basal body temperature), your cervical mucus, or your LH levels with test strips. This is the information age and with the benefits of technology this process can be made so simple and convenient! Below are a few of my favorite ways to track your cycle!

1. Taking Charge of Your Fertility

The first step is education! Taking Charge of Your Fertility is a perfect guide to understanding the in's and out's of your cycle! This book explains your hormone levels at each phase of your cycle. How to support each phase, and how to properly track ovulation. You can find plenty of guides through a google search and I will go into detail in this blog post but if you're like me and like to be thorough this is the best book to become an expert on the subject!

2. (Bluetooth) Basal Body Temperature Thermometer

The first method I used to track my fertility was by taking my basal body temperature with the Bluetooth Femometer each morning when I woke up. I used this for years to avoid pregnancy while tracking my cycle (you can use the settings in the app to avoid pregnancy or try to conceive). This made the beginnings of my fertility awareness method journey so simple! It's a bluetooth thermometer that automatically syncs with the app on your phone. I would wake up to my femometer alarm, take my temperature and go back to sleep for 10-15 more minutes before work.

Not only does it chart your ovulation for you, it also gives you a clear reading of your fertile window. You can also use the app to track fertility test strips, cervical mucus, sleep, and PMS symptoms. I ordered fertility test strips when I purchased this thermometer. The app analyzes the photos of the test strips and charts them alongside your BBT (basal body temp). But if you only want to chart your ovulation tests I recommend the digital ovulation test next on the list.

But first I'll quickly explain what the BBT (basal body temperature) chart looks like and how to read it!

the femometer will automatically chart all of your BBT (basal body temperature) readings. When your temperature spikes up and stays up it means you've ovulated. The more often you chart, the more accurate the ovulation prediction will be for your next cycle. Most fertility awareness methods assume that everyone ovulates on day 14 of their cycle but for a lot of us that isn't true. For example I am a consistent day 21 ovulator. This helped me to calculate the exact gestational age of my baby as well, because gestational age is also calculated assuming ovulation occcurred on day 14. The yellow dot you see indicates ovulation day. The egg typically lives for 24 hours, and sperm can survive for 3-5 days. The highest pregnancy rates occur when egg and sperm meet within 4-6 hours of ovulation.

3. Bluetooth Digital Ovulation Test

If BBT charting isn't for you, another great tool can be the digital ovulation tester. Just like the thermometer this connects to the femometer app and tracks your LH test strips. For these the double line will be strongest on the day of ovulation and faded a few days leading up to ovulation. You can also use the app to chart other health and fertility factors just like with the BBT thermometer.

Testing Your Hormone Levels

4. Modern Fertility- At Home Fertility Test

If you are trying to conceive or if you want to check or balance your hormones to improve your health Modern Fertility is a great at home test! This isn't a full hormonal blood panel but it will analyze your hormone levels on a specific days in your cycle and provide a lot of information and resources relative to where you're at hormonally. They have easy to follow instructional videos and their customer service is super responsive. Once your test has been processed they will schedule a consultation with a fertility nurse to discuss your results. Now if you're on hormonal birth control right now they will only be able to provide accurate results for your AMH levels and if you are struggling to conceive you may benefit more from seeing a fertility specialist to do a full blood panel- but those do cost hundreds to thousands of dollars so if you are looking for a general idea of your hormone levels this is a great way to save time and money!

Supporting Your Hormonal Balance

Hormonal balance is about more than just one hormone and you may benefit from taking different supplements or having a different diets for each part of your cycle. Figuring out how to support you hormones might seem overwhelming at first but don't worry! I am here to break it down for you!

So your cycle consist of 4 major phases:

1. The Menstrual Phase- From start to end of menstruation

2. Follicular Phase- This is before ovulation when the estrogen and LH rise

3. Ovulatory Phase- When estrogen reaches its peak and the egg is released

4. Luteal Phase- This is when progesterone rises to help fertilize the egg, the uterine lining continues to build. Towards the end of this cycle the hormones will drop and menstruation will occur.

So estrogen is a primary hormone during the follicular phase (before ovulation) and progesterone is a primary hormone in the luteal phase (after ovulation). For most of us we will want to support the estrogen and progesterone by incorporating specifics foods or supplements in your diet. If you have PCOS or specific hormonal imbalances you may want to modify this protocol to support your hormonal balance in a way that is best suited to your body!

So here are a few ways you can support hormonal balance!

5. Seed cycling

Seed cycling is one of the easiest and most natural ways to support your hormonal balance! This splits up your seeds into two phases. During phase 1 the Follicular phase you eat 1-2 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds and/or flax seeds. These seeds contain phytoestrogen (a plant based source of estrogen) They also contain omega-3 fatty acids, and protein. Then during phase 2 the Luteal phase you eat 1-2 tablespoons of sesame and/or sunflower seeds. These contain high levels of selenium and support progesterone levels. You can find these seeds at your local health food store or you can follow this link that has both and simplifies the process! It is so easy to incorporate this into your life! If you don't like to eat these seeds individually you can always put them into a smoothie! This is always my first recommendation when friends ask me how they can naturally balance their hormones, and there is so much literature and resources out there if you would like to learn more!

6. Hormonal Balance Supplement

This is the supplement my friend recommended to me when I told her I wanted to stop hormonal birth control. I stand by Gaia's Women's Balance Supplement and have felt the benefits of many of their supplements for many purposes for years now! This is such a great daily supplement to help support your hormonal functions. The IUD I had for years gave me terrible mood swings, and taking this after having that removed help regulate my cycle and relieve PMS symptoms. If you are taking certain medications including SSRIs I wouldn't recommend combining this because it contains Saint John's Wort. If this includes you don't worry there is another supplement with no contraindications to antidepressants that is highly recommended by fertility specialists and OBGYNs!

7. Vitex Berry

Vitex has been used for centuries to support fertility, treat acne, and symptoms of menopause and PMS, Research shows that Vitex helps reduce the hormone prolactin, and helps to balance the hormones estrogen and progesterone. (1) If you have a shorter luteal phase this may be due to an increased level of prolactin. This has proven in clinical trials to reduce symptoms of PCOS, support fertility, and balance hormones.

8. Ayurvedic Guide to Fertility

If you are trying to live a healthier lifestyle to support a healthy cycle The Ayurvedic Guide to Fertility is an easy read and makes it so easy to incorporate the principles of ayurveda in your day-today life. I am a longtime lover of Ayurveda! I have seen its benefits to fertility, postpartum, and overall health! Ayurveda is an ancient form of traditional Indian medicine that focuses of food as medicine. The general Ayurvedic philosophy is that depending on your constitution, and the season certain food will benefit your health over others. That sounds very vague and mystical but let me break it down for you. There are three basic doshas or constitutions:

Vata: This is the dry, airy, cold, and nervous constitution

Pitta: This is the oily, intense, and hot constitution

Kapha: This is the wet slow and heavy constitution

If that also sounds vague it is actually pretty simple. An imbalance of any of these doshas can be negative. And there are plenty of educational resources and quizzes on the internet to determine which is your dominant dosha. The belief is that by making changes in your diet, you can treat these imbalances. For example in postpartum many experience a Vata imbalance. To treat that spacey, dry, cold, and nervous constitution we consume warm and heavy foods like soups and stews. There are many herbs and foods that are specifically recommended for every dosha, and seasons also play their part in determining what foods will benefit us the most. I love the ayurvedic principles and honestly I don't overcomplicate it. It's very easy to apply these concept into your daily life and it helps me and my family when we're feeling out of whack.

Improving PMS Symptoms

If you would like to improve certain symptoms that occur in your cycle there are so many options out there! So many OBGYNs I've met will just recommend birth control the second someone mentions painful cramps, irregular cycles, or acne instead of finding and treating the underlying cause. So here are a few ways to help prevent the potential side effects of your cycle.

9. Menstrual Cup

Not is the Lena Menstrual Cup chemical free, and environmentally friendly it also doesn't absorb any of the beneficial fluids in your vagina. Tampons can throw off you PH and leach out fluids and potentially deposit chemicals into your body. This is also budget friendly because rather than buying disposable menstrual products you can buy one or two washable/reusable products each year. I have experienced a significant decrease in period cramps since switching to a menstrual cup and haven't gone back to cotton or disposable products since.

10. Yoni Steaming

This Yoni Steam Kit changed my cycle more than anything else I've tried. Vaginal steaming is a lot easier and less "woowoo" than it sounds! This is a practice I've been hearing about from cultures all over the world! I attended home births for Amish, Russian, and Hispanic parents who practiced vaginal steaming like most of us would practice doing a face mask. There is a lot of misinformation out there about the actual benefits of steaming but I will make it simple. Most criticism of steaming stems from the fact that the vagina does not need to be cleaned and is self cleaning. However, the womb is a mucus membrane and steaming it allows the volatile oils within the herbs to absorb not only into the tissues of the vagina but also the uterus. This helps to penetrate the uterine lining meaning once it's time for the lining to shed it ends up shedding easier and more evenly! This means less dark blood (that was typically leftover tissue from your last cycle) and less cramping and physical labor to shed.

After I had my son my period was heavier and my cramps became worse so I couldn't wait for my uterus to return to closed so I could return to my steaming practice! Steaming has not only consistently made my periods pain free- before and after birth- it's also made my cycle more regular, shorter, and lighter.

The process is super simple and I do this three times per cycle typically in my follicular phase, after my period and before ovulation. You put the sitz bath or steam seat on your toilet, boil the herbs in water like a tea, and wait until it's not dangerously hot to sit over. Once the water is steamy but not burning hot I sit over it on the toilet and wrap myself in a blanket. Then I will read, meditate or you can watch TV on your IPad. However you want to practice it doesn't have to be complicated. I sit over the steam for about 30-45 mins then I go straight to bed.

If you want to be fancy or steam outside and out of the bathroom there are plenty of wooden benches and seats available online. I just found that this method is super convenient, and easy for me.

Supporting Implantation

About 5-6 days after fertilization the embryo begins the process of implantation into the uterus. This can be hard to identify because implantation symptoms are similar to PMS symptoms. They include light bleeding, mood swings, sensitive breasts, cramping and nausea. There are a few things you can avoid, and choose to improve your chances of successful implantation.

• Avoid Anti-inflammatories

Taking anti-inflammatories can prevent the uterus from from extending protrusions of the uterine lining for the embryo to dock against

• Avoid Vigorous Exercise

While it's typically fine to keep up with any work out regiment you've been doing for a while, doctors don't recommend vigorous exercise during the implantation phase as it has been shown to increase chances of miscarriage. (2)

• Fruits, Vegetables, and a Multivitamin

Your vitamin and mineral sufficiency will help

support implantation so be sure to be taking in zinc, Omega-3s and cruciferous veggies!

I hope this was helpful! Whatever your life choices I hope you are empowered by all the information available to you to live the life of your dreams! Understanding your fertility cycle can open up a whole new world of connection to your body in a society where we are led to believe we need doctors to save us from ourselves and our bodies natural processes. There is a time and a place for modern medicine but I hope you found some of this information empowering and inspiring!

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/099066_e377376b0e0a4d238d727b610334dd79/720p/mp4/file.mp4

1) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8369008/

2) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17012457/

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