I love the holidays, especially Christmas. I love looking at the lights, seeing the church decorated, and baking cookies. And I love holiday food: cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cookies, pumpkin pie...yum! However, in the past few years I've developed some food allergies and intolerances. It makes enjoying these holiday favorites a bit trickier. But the tradeoff is worth it. When I avoid these foods, I obviously avoid scary allergic reactions, but cutting

As we continue the holiday fun, I am going to let you all in on a little secret...you can be gluten free and still eat yummy holiday...

Oh the yummy, yummy apple crisp, how I love it so. When it comes to the Holidays and my Birthday which is just a few days away from...

I am the queen of alternative diets... according to Karoline, that is. And she’s not wrong. I can pretty much handle anyone’s dietary...

But what if I don't get this right?! A question commonly asked among Creighton clients, especially as they are learning a new method is: "what if I don't get this right?!" Or, phrased differently "I didn't put x down because I wasn't sure it was right." Confidence. This is what we try to relay to our clients. Is there a learning curve with learning this method? Yes, with the Creighton Model System you will learn a new observational routine (which will be observed throughout

With the holidays coming up, you probably have a lot on your mind. Whose family are we visiting when? Will the gifts I ordered online...

My birthday is one of my very favorite days of the year. Mostly because I love to celebrate...anything! Although birthdays are awesome,...

By Chris Kennedy So let's do it like we do on the discovery channel? Our world is full of so many images both good and bad and we, as men , are very visual. Unfortunately we have been taken advantage of by the media, marketing and Hollywood. Images of women with less and less clothes on is the trend for the last few years, and I don’t see it ending. The sexual revolution and the lie of being able to have sex anytime a man wants without consequence is the message: keep your h

Isn’t NFP just for engaged and married couples? It’s just for avoiding and achieving pregnancy, right? While the Creighton model can reliably be used to avoid and achieve pregnancy, those are not the only reasons why women begin charting. There are many benefits to charting as a single woman . But how can this method help teenage girls specifically? Teenage girls have just begun cycling. When I was younger, I learned about my period, including how to manage the bleeding and

1 in 4 pregnancies will end in miscarriage. But the fact that miscarriages are so very common and experienced by so many women in no way decreases the pain and grief. Whether the miscarriage is experienced very early or later on in pregnancy, the grief is real. Just like any kind of grief, there is no one way to begin to heal and pick up the pieces. Some of these resources and suggestions may not be helpful for you, but I hope they provide a starting place for those women a

One complaint that sometimes comes up about using Creighton Model (CrMS) is the constraints that some couples feel it places on their times available for intercourse. Indeed, if you are using any natural method of fertility regulation (like CrMS) and your desire is to avoid pregnancy , there will be times unavailable to you for intercourse. Sometimes a couple will posit that if they were contracepting , sex could be more "spontaneous". Sexual spontaneity is an interesting “p

As a Creighton Practitioner, we are trained to help couples to both achieve AND avoid pregnancies. As a lot of people know, Creighton has...

I think we can all agree, life is pretty crazy right now. There is a lot of things distracting us and taking up our time...wait is it just me? If you are in the same boat as me you might probably agree, when it comes to charting at the end of the day, getting to bed at a decent hour might be clouding your mind...again just me? The instructions you are given when you begin charting is to "chart end of the day, everyday". This is not just a beginners instruction this should be

“Catholic contraception”, an oxymoron if ever there was one. But there are many people who use this term to define Creighton Model Fertility Care (CrMS) (and other methods of Natural Family Planning for that matter). However, CrMS and contraception by no means belong in the same category. Here’s why… With the use of a form of contraception , whether it is a physical barrier (condom) or a chemical barrier ( pill , or other hormonal device) you are interrupting or impeding th

What is a "chemical pregnancy" and is it a miscarriage?

When a FetilityCare Practitioner or a NaPro Physician evaluates a chart there are many clues about what may be going on beneath the surface. One of the things that can be discovered through observations in the cycle is irregularities in hormones . And not just the hormones most commonly associated with fertility, there can be irregularities in other hormones that impact fertility, and the source of some of those hormones is the thyroid gland. The thyroid is a small butterfl

While this blog can’t produce an entire exegesis about the work of healing, it can do one thing: provide help and hope, and encouragement of natural healing . I don’t know how long or by what means this healing will come. However, God does often offer a natural means of healing, which takes time, energy, and patience in the process. Often times, this healing takes longer than we desire. Other times, I think we’re surprised by the shortness of the timeframe that we expected

Volumes have been written on this topic and a blog post can only barely scratch the surface, but hopefully this can be a first step in deepening your understanding of the purpose of our human sexuality. Sexual intercourse was designed by God and like everything He made, it was designed to be very, very good. As with anything God created, it is most beautiful and fulfilling when it’s used the way God designed it to be used. There’s a concept in philosophy called “teleology”. T

We’ve written a lot about women charting through different fertility problems or those who may have more difficult cases . It’s exciting to figure out answers, to finally find healing , we all long for. It can take some time to get there, but is entirely rewarding all the same. But what about after you have some of the answers you've been looking for, have started to heal and your charting doesn't need the close management it needed at the beginning of your journey? You kee

What is PCOS ? Polycystic Ovary Syndrome , is a hormonal condition women can get during their childbearing years. It can affect their fertility, stop periods or make them hard to predict, can cause unwanted body or facial hair, and raise your risk of other health problems, including diabetes and high blood pressure. PCOS is a condition which is becoming more and more common in women, in fact it is said that 1 in 10 women can be affected to some degree with PCOS. There are man