Marilyn Shannon — author of “Fertility, Cycle and Nutrition” — will speak to women on Hillsdale College’s campus April 4, providing an alternative to birth control pills.
Wikimedia Commons | Courtesy
Marilyn Shannon — author of “Fertility, Cycles and Nutrition” — will speak to Hillsdale College’s women on normal and abnormal menstruation and how women can improve their periods through nutrition.
Students for Life and the Catholic Society are holding the speech entitled “A Spin Around the Cycle” on April 4 at 4 p.m. in Dow A & B, and Shannon will lead an informal discussion at 7 p.m. in Dow A & B.
Shannon will talk about how women can take care of themselves and improve their cycles. She said many women aren’t aware their problems can be helped, and she said she wants to solve that.
She will show natural family planning charts of normal, healthy cycles as well as those of women with problems, such as low progesterone in the second half of the cycle. These charts track fertility signs, including cervical mucus or basal body temperature, that help women know when they are ovulating, when they will start their next period, and when they are most fertile or infertile.
“I want to focus on self-acceptance of one’s body and confidence that a young woman can improve her health,” Shannon said.
In the evening, there will be a less formal chat, which she has called a “dorm talk” at other colleges. There, Shannon will act more as a moderator than a speaker and see where the questions and discussion goes.
“I want women to be as healthy as they might be,” Shannon said.
Shannon was introduced to charting one’s cycle and fertility when a fellow student in her medical science program asked Shannon to participate in a study on women’s calcium levels before and after ovulation.
She later married her husband Rod, to whom she has been married for 39 years now, and continued charting her cycle. She used her self-taught natural family planning for 18 months, dropped out of her doctorate program, and later became pregnant with their first child. She said she simultaneously became interested in nutrition.
Through a variety of circumstances, Shannon was asked to write a pamphlet on how women could have better cycles with lighter blood flow and less pain. In 18 months, she wrote her book.
Shannon is now the mother of nine children — three of whom she still homeschools — and nine grandchildren. She had her last biological child at 47, which she attributed to “good nutrition and the grace of God.”
Shannon came to Hillsdale two years ago after Kelly Cole, wife of Assistant Professor of Philosophy Lee Cole, invited her to talk to female Hillsdale students and faculty.
Senior Nichole Chaney attended the talk and said Shannon had a lot of insight into how the individual woman’s body works and how girls can understand their bodies better without a doctoral degree.
“I think it’s helpful to get knowledge you wouldn’t have from the media’s push for the [birth control] pill,” Chaney said.
Cole agreed.
“Many young women have cycle irregularities that their doctors, be it pediatricians or OBGYNs, ‘treat’ with the pill, which only masks the symptoms and doesn’t address the underlying issues,” Cole said in an email. “It’s been likened to going to the cardiologist with heart pain and being told to take aspirin until you don’t feel the pain anymore — that is not a solution.”
Shannon is currently working on the fifth edition of her book, focusing on microbiomes, vitamins and mineral supplements, and new research on preventing endometriosis.
“Possibly preventing it is better than improving treatment,” Shannon said.
The book will also include information on polycystic ovaries, one of the most common reproductive issues in women.
“There’s not one magic bullet,” Shannon said regarding improving a woman’s cycle.
She said there are a number of steps, including exercise, body weight, and sleep.
”Although Mrs. Shannon is not a doctor, she has spent decades compiling data on how women can naturally improve their health and treat many underlying reproductive issues,” Cole said. “Her book has helped thousands of women achieve better health through nutrition and self-care.”
