Birth Control Without Hormones

One of the best and most HEAVILY debated topics amongst my friends and me at Howard has been about our bodies + birth control. Before coming to school, I thought I only had two options: the pill and the IUD. That was that…and I had to decide. HOWEVER, there is a large portion of women that I have encountered over the last few years that are huge believers in nonhormonal organic methods of birth control. These women essentially monitor their bodies so intensely that they become their own birth control. They know their peak fertility days, what foods are beneficial to eat and most importantly, they have become comfortable taking care of their bodies in a way that THEY see fit. I am in no way telling anyone what kind/type/style of birth control to use! Every woman is different, and I always think it is best to consult with your own doctor on different birth control options. As I conducted more research on these topics myself, I decided that this was very important information for me to share. I would like to continue the conversation on topics that should most definitely be normalized!

1. Basal Body Temperature 

Now, I first heard about this method through a YouTuber who goes by CrsytaloOTv. During one of her episodes, she discusses all of the things she wishes she knew before marriage. One of her biggest wishes was to be more informed on family planning. Hence, she began to use this method of essentially taking her own body temperature every day for a while until she saw a pattern begin to emerge. The days where your body temperature increases the most indicates your ovulation and you will be the most fertile 2-3 days before your absolute peak temperature. By establishing this metric, you can plan your life based off of this pattern! If you want to check out the video, click here.

Source:123RF.com

1. Plants, Plants, and you guessed it! More plants!

Depending on what region you grew up in, religious background, or cultural background you may have heard of specific plants having certain effects on a woman’s body, especially when it comes to fertility! In 2013, there was a Gayatri College of Pharmacy published a paper in the International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research that included an extensive table of plants (some common others…not so much lol) that are proven to have contraceptive or anti-implantation effects. Of course, there are others in this table that have more severe effects, so I would only focus on the ones that have to do with this article. 

1. FOOOOOD

Some foods that are shown to have contraceptive properties are: 

Papaya

Coffee

Parsely

Dried fig

Dried Apricots

Carrots

Juniper berries

Buckwheat

Source: YouTube.com

I would highly suggest researching these and seeing if they could potentially work for you! 

1. Last but not least… the Calendar tracking method!

I see this method all the time on social media! So it’s only right that I share☺ 

The calendar tracking method tracks your menstrual cycles in order for you to know your most fertile times. It is recommended that you track yourself for about a year before you can firmly stick to using this as your main source of birth control but many women that I know or see on various other platforms swear by this, so who knows! 

But ALWAYS talk to your doctor and see what works best for you!

Source: VectorShcok

All in all, being a woman can be a never-ending cycle of figuring out something you thought you already had a great plan for. Hopefully, in the years to come we can continue to be a supportive, informative and fun community for each other, ensuring that the sister next to us has the best plan for her!