Natural Beginnings For Women

01/04/2020

The art of breastfeeding is magical. It's life-giving and so rewarding. For most new moms, there is that constant concern of whether or not your baby is taking in enough.
This is an incredible read by an accredited author and website.
Moms, remember that the magic is within!! Keep doing what you are doing!!

Many mothers wonder how much expressed breastmilk they need to have available if they are away from baby. In exclusively breastfed babies, milk intake increases quickly during the first few weeks of life, then stays about the same between one and six months (though it likely increases short term dur...

01/04/2020

01/04/2020

Questions & answers regarding COVID-19 (Coronavirus) in pregnancy, breastfeeding, and babies. Visit Apta Advice for professional advice.

24/03/2020

I've been very quiet on this platform for the past 4.5 months. Motherhood has been my main priority and adjusting to this new phase, has been wonderful. My focus on this page, will be post-partum care for mothers, words of encouragement, caring for your little one (tips given by me :1st time mama - no previous experience). Discussions will be open, with the main purpose being to support one another. Love and support to all 🧡

04/12/2019

Interesting read for all those in the postpartum time 💟

A special note: I would like to preface this article with the caveat that postpartum charting can be very challenging as it is a time of hormonal change and uncertainty while fertility slowly retur…

10/08/2019

Great, natural way to balance your hormones.

Have you heard?⁠
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Seed cycling is a food-based method you can use to get relief from hormone-related issues like PMS, cyclical breakouts, mood swings and period pain.⁠
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Since your hormones fluctuate throughout your menstrual cycle, you can eat different types of seeds to naturally boost certain hormones ❤️🌱⁠
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Some seeds have plant versions of estrogen (known as phytoestrogen) and others have key building blocks your body needs to make hormones. ⁠
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I recommend you rotate (or cycle) through the seeds listed below on a regular basis to help boost and maintain your own healthy hormone levels.⁠
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Flax seed- contains phytoestrogen that directly promotes estrogen levels⁠
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Pumpkin seed- provide zinc, which supports your ovaries, and a fatty acid called GLA. Healthy fats are used as the building blocks for all your hormones and are necessary for hormone balance.⁠
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Sunflower and Sesame seed - both contain Vitamin B6 which is a building block of progesterone. The fibre also binds to any excess estrogen (which can cause PMS in the last 2 weeks of your cycle) and moves it out of your body through your digestive tract.⁠
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Simply eat 2-4 teaspoons daily of fresh ground seeds! Choose flax or pumpkin on days 1-14 of your cycle, and sunflower or sesame on days 15-28. ⁠
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It’s easy to eat the seeds each morning sprinkled on some oatmeal, in a fruit salad, or added to your breakfast smoothie (yum!).⁠

Phone credit to

29/07/2019

https://www.facebook.com/831370743616662/posts/2350797375007317/?substory_index=0

I get this question a lot from clients: ✨✨What should I do to support my hormones after discontinuing synthetic birth control use (the pill)?
The first steps to focus on are: ✨Liver✨ and ✨Gut✨
I’ll focus on how the pill 💊 impacts the liver in this post:
Your liver’s job is to break down and metabolize hormones. The synthetic hormones in the pill can actually alter liver genes, causing higher levels of SHBG (s*x hormone-binding globulin), which is a protein that binds to three s*x hormones: estrogen, testosterone, and DHT to carry them through your blood.
Too high levels of SHBG can cause low testosterone levels which is why your libido may have gone missing!
I wish I knew this information when I was on the pill for half a decade. I had very little interest in making love in my long term relationship at that time. My yoni experienced vaginal dryness .... and energetically, I felt a lack in creativity!
I felt a lot of frustration and shame, blaming my aging body (I was 23 at that time!!!)
For all the women on the pill or coming off of it, eat foods to support your liver, daily!
✨Liver Loving Foods✨
🧡garlic
🧡dark leafy greens
🧡beets
🧡cruciferous veggies: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, etc.
🧡citrus fruits: grapefruit, lemon, lime
🧡dandelion root tea
Blessings!
Alli’s,

15/07/2019

Learn about how your body functions ❤
https://www.facebook.com/642188056125424/posts/948071795537047/?substory_index=0

We are very proud and excited to be partnering with political analyst, academic and diversity expert, to bring you
On Tuesday July 23rd we are offering our first FREE online event where we’ll be introducing our mission to create accessible and diverse conversation on menstruation and hormones to South Africa and beyond.
We’ll also be introducing our upcoming three and six week online programs where we’ll be diving into cycle awareness and the importance of listening to your symptoms.
Your hormones, your period and your body are trying to communicate with you but do you understand what they’re saying?
Join us on July 23rd at 18:00 from the comfort of your own home. DM me for the invitation link.
Give us a follow over at and join this very important and necessary conversation.
hormonebalance

27/06/2019

FAM enables you to learn more about how your body works. It gives you the chance to be in control and observe the wondrous things your body does within a cycle. Practicing this method takes time and knowledge. It is used to regulate cycles, prevent pregnancy and prepare for a beautiful pregnancy ❤

https://www.facebook.com/120618755172110/posts/454078611826121/

Many people think that Fertility Awareness Method is only if you want to get pregnant. I can understand why but in fact, this method is far more than just that.

What is Fertility Awareness? It is a body of knowledge. It is the deep understanding of how our body works, how our menstrual cycles work and how we can work with them rather than against them.

Instead of shutting them off, we acknowledge our rhythm and work with it. We learn which days during our menstrual cycle we are fertile and which days we aren’t (hint: most of us are infertile most of the cycle) and learn how to work with that to get the outcome we want (achieve pregnancy or avoid it).

It helps us to monitor our health, helps us to re-connect with our body and helps us to be more in tune with our body.

The method is the way we practice it, the daily checks of 3 signs so each day we know whether we are fertile or not and work according to our goals.

You can choose to use it, you can choose not to use it, but in my opinion it is the best gift you can give to yourselves.

Interested to learn more? PM me for info about the next class series.

Photo was taken by the amazing Claire Choudhry

15/06/2019

This is so https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2240606089349295&id=169570806452844

This is so important!!

Ok, everyone. We need to talk about teenagers.
What do you think are the best non-hormonal methods of avoiding pregnancy for a teen?
It's a tricky question, I know, but I simply cannot accept the current narrative that: "Teens need hormonal birth control because teens are just too irresponsible to use other methods."
Hormonal birth control is potentially *more harmful* to teens than it is to older women because:
- teens are more likely to develop depression and anxiety on birth control, and
- teens are still maturing their hormonal system.
(It takes girls 12 years to mature their hormonal system to the point of being able to produce optimal levels of progesterone in their mid-20s. Hormonal birth control interferes with that maturation process.)
So, what can a teen do? Here are a few ideas but I'm also very keen to hear from all of you.
- Condoms are the obvious first choice and are more likely to work if they are a good quality brand and if they FIT properly, such as one of 60 sizes from ONECondoms
- Teaching girls the basic biology of knowing when they're fertile (6 days per cycle), so they can abstain on fertile days and use condoms on the other days.
- Giving girls access to the morning-after-pill in the unlikely event of a condom failure. It's the same contraceptive drug as the pill and works by preventing ovulation. It's not ideal, but would hopefully be taken infrequently (if at all), rather than every day.
- Technically, the copper IUD can also be used with teens but I don't know many doctors who are currently recommending it
At the end of the day, we need scientists to invent new methods, preferably new male methods such as . Boys are the obvious target for birth control because boys are fertile every day, whereas girls are fertile only six days per cycle.
Please comment.

14/06/2019

Learning the various phases of your cycle is so important for many reasons. One being, foods to eat. Have a read through this interested post 🍎🍓https://www.facebook.com/831370743616662/posts/2270513759702346/

What to eat for your OᐯᑌᒪᗩTOᖇY ᑭᕼᗩᔕE? ✨🌱
Have you ever noticed there is a time of the month that you can eat smoothie bowls for breakfast and feel full for hours, yet other times of the month, you might experience hunger after only an hour or two of eating?
This has to do with your changing hormones!
During the follicular phase and ovulatory phase (pre-ovulation), your main hormone is estrogen.
Once you ovulate, your body will start making progesterone, which will become the main hormone of your post-ovulatory phase, a.k.a. your luteal phase. Progesterone requires more amino acids to build it and metabolically at this time of your month (10-14 days before you bleed), you burn 200-300 more calories. Consuming smoothie bowls may just not do it for you at this time of the month, and you might find yourself overeating, and not feeling full. It’s best to eat a breakfast of healthy fat, clean protein and vegetables for fiber during the luteal phase, for optimal blood sugar balance.
During pre-ovulation, I enjoy these gorgeous smoothie bowls. Fruit is full of antioxidants, which promotes healthy egg and follicle growth for great fertility. Regardless of whether we want to conceive or not, we want great fertility. It makes our periods regular and with less symptoms of PMS.
Busy lifestyle? Lots of stress? Make sure to add a protein rich topping on or in your smoothie bowls, like organic pea protein powder, almond butter, h**p seeds, and pumpkin seeds. You may be more prone to blood sugar spikes because higher stress hormones (cortisol), spike insulin levels. These toppings will help to slow down the absorption of sugar, so your don’t experience high blood sugar spikes, causing tiredness and cravings later.
Blessings to you and your body-Temple! Eating for your cycle and knowing where you are at is powerful!
Love,
Allie,