Fertility Friday | Fertility Awareness Mastery for Women's Health Professionals

In this episode, Lisa breaks down findings from a recent review paper on how endocrine disrupting chemicals like BPA, phthalates, PFAS, and PCBs may be linked to menstrual cycle changes, hormone levels, and fertility outcomes. She explores why female fertility remains understudied compared to male fertility, what the research shows about chemical exposure and subfertility, and why swapping to "BPA...

Lisa examines a recent review paper on iron deficiency in women, covering the role of heavy menstrual bleeding, updated ferritin reference ranges, and why non-anemic iron deficiency still carries meaningful health risks. She also addresses iron deficiency in pregnancy, the case for preconception nutrition focused on iron-rich foods, and racial disparities in iron deficiency anemia prevalence among...

In this episode, Lisa reviews a landmark 2023 study that followed over 700,000 women across 26 years to examine the association between menstrual cycle characteristics and cardiometabolic outcomes. Lisa highlights how different types of menstrual cycle irregularity appear to be associated with distinct cardiometabolic risk factors, reinforcing the case for treating the menstrual cycle as a vital s...

In episode 631, Lisa explores luteinized unruptured follicle syndrome (LUFS) — a lesser-known ovulatory dysfunction in which the dominant follicle fails to rupture and release the egg despite a normal-appearing LH surge and progesterone rise. Because LUFS can mimic a textbook ovulatory cycle on a fertility awareness chart, it represents one of the more challenging silent contributors to unexplaine...

In this solo episode, Lisa takes a critical look at two recent studies examining the return of fertility after stopping hormonal contraception, one published in 2020 and one published in the BMJ in 2023. Rather than accepting their conclusions at face value, Lisa walks through the methodology of each study and identifies significant design flaws that call their findings into question. Lisa discuss...

Lisa examines a peer-reviewed study that tracked liver consumption and vitamin A status in young children from an impoverished South African community — and what the findings reveal about food as a nutrient delivery system. Lisa unpacks a striking paradox at the heart of the research: the poorest households consumed the most liver not for health reasons, but out of economic necessity and were cons...

In this solo episode, Lisa breaks down the findings of a large cross-sectional study analyzing nutrient intake data from just under 4,000 women aged 18 to 44, drawn from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The study compared dietary intake between women who self-reported infertility — defined as difficulty conceiving for at least one year — and women who had conceived wi...

In this episode, Lisa  continues her PCOS series by reviewing a newly published research letter titled "Ovarian Cysts in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome", a cross-sectional analysis of nearly 2,000 women asking one key question: do women with PCOS actually have more pathological ovarian cysts than women without PCOS? Contrary to what the name implies, the study found no statistically significant differe...

In this episode of the Fertility Friday Podcast, Lisa down the landmark renaming of PCOS to polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), published officially on May 12, 2026, following an 11-year global consensus process involving input from over 22,000 patients and clinicians. Lisa explores the rationale behind the name change, explaining how the term PCOS has long been criticized for implyin...

In this episode, Lisa welcomes back Dr. Jerilynn Prior, endocrinologist, UBC Professor Emerita, and founder of the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research (CeMCOR), for a thought-provoking conversation that challenges mainstream narratives about perimenopause and hormone therapy. Dr. Prior shares her research-backed perspective on why perimenopause is often characterized by erratically h...

In this episode, Lisa sits down with Stuart James Fischbein, MD — obstetrician, homebirth physician, and host of the Birthing Instincts Podcast — to examine one of the most consequential questions in modern maternity care: is hospital birth actually safer? Dr. Fischbein draws on more than 40 years of obstetric experience to trace how the medical model came to frame pregnancy as a high-risk conditi...

In Episode 623 of the Fertility Friday Podcast, Lisa sits down with Harriet Thorn, a Switzerland-based midwife and recent graduate of the Fertility Awareness Mastery Mentorship (FAMM) program, for a wide-ranging conversation about cycle charting in midwifery practice. Harriet shares her personal journey from biotechnology PhD to midwife — including her own experience navigating heavy and painful p...

In this episode of the Fertility Friday Podcast, Lisa sits down with Carol da Selva — founder of Sacred Womb Rites and a practitioner completing her Fertility Awareness Mastery Mentorship (FAMM) certification — for a candid conversation about spiritual approaches to menstrual cycle health and where they intersect with evidence-based practice. Carol shares her personal journey with irregular cycles...

In this episode of the Fertility Friday Podcast, Lisa welcomes back Toni Weschler, MPH, author of the landmark book Taking Charge of Your Fertility, along with Toni's niece Sabrina Nowicki, co-creator and product lead of the Cyclisity app. Toni shares the behind-the-scenes story of how Taking Charge of Your Fertility came to be — from a humbling experience at a women's health clinic in the late 19...

In this episode of the Fertility Friday Podcast, Lisa welcomes back Aimee Raupp, MS, LAc, to celebrate the newly updated and expanded edition of Yes, You Can Get Pregnant — and the conversation covers far more than a book launch. Lisa and Aimee explore why a diagnosis of unexplained infertility should be a starting point for deeper investigation, not a final answer, and discuss the four core facto...

In Episode 619, Lisa dives into a compelling meta-analysis examining the effect of omega-3 supplements and dietary intake on fertility outcomes in women. For practitioners supporting clients in the preconception window, this episode offers a clinically grounded look at where omega-3 supplements and fertility intersect in the current evidence base. Follow this link to view the full show notes page!...

Miscarriage affects somewhere between 10 to 15 out of every 100 pregnancies, yet the male contribution to early pregnancy loss is rarely part of the clinical conversation. In this episode of the Fertility Friday Podcast, Lisa breaks down a 2021 study examining sperm DNA fragmentation as a biomarker for miscarriage — and what the findings may mean for practitioners supporting couples through fertil...

In this episode, Lisa explores a landmark Danish study — the largest of its kind — examining the relationship between sperm quality and life expectancy in nearly 80,000 men followed for up to 50 years. The headline finding: men with the highest total motile sperm counts lived an average of 2.7 years longer than men with the lowest counts, and this association held consistently across multiple seme...

In this episode of the FAMM Research Series, Lisa examines peer-reviewed research on the relationship between ADHD symptoms and the menstrual cycle, exploring how reproductive hormones may influence symptom variability in women. The episode draws on a study titled "Reproductive Steroids and ADHD Symptoms Across the Menstrual Cycle," which tracked salivary hormone levels and self-reported ADHD symp...

Lisa Hendrickson-Jack speaks with Dr. Kyle Beiter, MD, a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and trained NaproTechnology surgeon. Dr. Beiter walks through the foundational principles of NaproTechnology surgical care, which prioritizes reconstructing and preserving reproductive tissues rather than suppressing symptoms through hormonal intervention. The conversation explores the clinical consi...

In this episode, Dr. Ken Sinervo of the Center for Endometriosis Care joins Lisa to discuss what patients need to know before pursuing endometriosis surgery. They explore the difference between diagnostic and excision-based procedures, what sets expert laparoscopic surgeons apart, and how to recognize red flags during the consultation process. Dr. Sinervo also shares insights on misdiagnosis, surg...

In this episode, Lisa sits down with registered nurse and endometriosis advocate Jenneh Rishe to explore her experience with diaphragmatic endometriosis — a form of the disease that presented with chest pain, shortness of breath, and right upper abdominal pain rather than the classic pelvic symptoms most practitioners associate with endo. Jenneh shares how years of hormonal suppression, including...

In this episode of the Fertility Friday Podcast, Lisa Hendrickson-Jack explores a qualitative research study that examines why so many women experience significant delays in receiving an endometriosis diagnosis.  Follow this link to view the full show notes page! This episode is sponsored by Lisa's new book Real Food for Fertility , co-authored with Lily Nichols! Grab your copy here !  Would you p...

In this episode, Lisa speaks with Dr. Meg Mill, functional medicine practitioner and author, about the connection between hormonal shifts and migraines. They explore how cyclical changes in estrogen and progesterone can contribute to migraines—particularly around ovulation and menstruation—and why many women don't realize their headaches follow a hormonal pattern. Follow this link to view the full...

In this solo episode, Lisa reviews a peer-reviewed study exploring the connection between iodine deficiency and time to conception. The research followed over 500 couples trying to conceive and found that women with low urinary iodine levels were significantly less likely to conceive per cycle. Lisa unpacks the study design, outcomes, and implications, highlighting how iodine status may influence...