4 Effective Methods of Natural Birth Control

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When I discovered the many side effects, it led me to come off ‘the pill’ and start using natural methods of birth control. I didn’t want to keep taking this pill that could potentially harm me in the future. When most people hear that someone has come off birth control, they think it’s because they’re trying to get pregnant. However, we are quite the opposite in that we still don’t want to get pregnant. So, we wanted to let you know the 4 effective ways we use natural birth control.

Background

For the first 5 years of my 20s, I was on synthetic birth control. About a year and a half ago, I discovered the negative effects that synthetic birth control could have on women. I started reading about all of the negatives that come with being on the pill. While there is a vast number of negatives, they are not largely talked about or very well known. Luckily, there is helpful information available to help women, like myself, who didn’t realize exactly what birth control does.

In most circles, this subject is taboo. It’s not something I feel very comfortable talking about, much less putting out there for the world to see. But this is something that James and I frequently talk about. The ramifications of a step not taken can alter the course of our lives. Much to the displeasure of our families, we don’t want kids right now, and we’re not sure if we even want kids in the future (GASP!). Without the worry and stress of a corporate job, we can fully enjoy our relationship and our time together. We are not ready to add some kids into the mix.

None of these natural birth control methods are 100% effective, but by combining them all, you can statistically lower your chance of an unplanned pregnancy tremendously. We take zero responsibility for your fuck-ups if you end up pregnant.

4 Ways We Use Natural Birth Control

The decision to come off taking birth control was not taken lightly. Since we don’t want kids right now, the easiest solution would have been to keep taking a hormonal birth control pill. When diving into the research that is available online, I discovered all of the negatives of taking synthetic birth control. I realized those negatives far outweigh the positives. I don’t want to consistently take a drug that alters my hormones and tricks my body into doing something it’s naturally made to do. So with a little extra effort on researching and planning, it has lead us to the 4 ways we use natural birth control.

#1 Fertility Awareness Method

Fertility awareness method (FAM) is the natural approach to birth control that appealed to me the most. To me, it seemed like the most logical form of natural birth control. It involves tracking my daily temperature, symptoms, and cycle to determine when I’m ovulating and about to start my period.

This type of birth control is not the easiest. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of information out there about it because it’s one of the less popular forms of birth control. However, there are apps that I use daily to help me keep track of everything. It also helps to have books like this as a reference for more information about this method of natural, non-hormonal birth control.

#2 Change Your Diet

A family friend who used to breed show dogs told us about one of their girls that they couldn’t get pregnant. They went through multiple vet visits and searched for answers as to why their dog wasn’t getting pregnant. After much research and talking with their veterinarian, they finally concluded that it was because their dog had a large consumption of green peas in her diet. You see, peas have an ingredient called m-xylohydroquinone which is an ingredient that can cause infertility.

Since coming off the pill though, we have increased our intake of pea consumption as an added safety net. I have a new found love for peas. I am very mindful to consume more green peas before and after certain activities. It also helps that we buy vegan protein, with the main source of protein being from peas.

Also, m-xylohydroquinone lowers sperm count, but not libido so eat up on your peas guys!

Here’s where James comes in. Preventing pregnancy is a team effort from both of us, so I’m going to let him write about the next two methods himself.

Alright, kids, we are about to get weird. If you don’t want to read about sex or our sex-life, you’ve probably waited too late to stop now, but it’s about to get worse.

There are a few important aspects that affect how a woman gets pregnant. You only need two ingredients, unless you’re the Virgin Mary. First is an active sperm, and the second is an egg. The whole goal of natural birth control and regular birth control for that matter is to avoid having these two come in contact with each other.

Hands down the most effective form of birth control is abstinence and never having sex, especially of the pre-marital variety, so give that a try if you can. Of course, anyone that believes this will work on any effective scale is too naive to reason with, so don’t bother. Aside from that useless advice, here’s my contribution to our natural methods of birth control.

#3 The 24 Hour Rule

A common misconception from everyone, and guys, in particular, is that you can’t get pregnant from pre-cum. I regret to inform you that this is not 100% correct, although the information available is murky. If you’ve had an orgasm in the past 24 hours, you’ve still got active swimmers in there. So, because of this, we don’t have sex twice within 24 hours.

This may be a no-brainer, but who knows what idiots there are out there on the internet (not you, of course). This method only works if you’re also employing the ‘pull out’ technique. You’ll have undone all your hard work if you’re not paying attention, or wait a second too long. This is no time to get sloppy folks.

#4 Tight Underwear

A man’s balls are fickle things. They need to be at just the right temperature to be productive, around 4-6 degrees cooler than the rest of the body to be specific. By keeping your dangly bits closer to your body, you’ll bring them to a higher temperature and outside of the ideal zone for sperm production. This not only lowers the quantity of sperm, but also the quality.

Raising the temperature of your testicles can be executed through hot baths, time in a hot tub, saunas, and even wearing ‘tighty-whities’. Obviously, the longer the temperature is raised, the less likely your balls are to be able to create Michael Phelps-esque swimmers, so tight underwear will likely be the most effective of these options. However, using all of them wouldn’t be a bad idea if you’re trying to avoid pregnancies.

Natural Birth Control Wrap-Up

If you have made it through this entirely awkward and uncomfortable article, congratulations. You have just learned the 4 ways we use natural birth control. It has worked for us so far *as we knock on every piece of wood in sight*. I think it has made our relationship even stronger. Since we are not trying to get pregnant, we must communicate and be open with each other. Natural birth control has allowed me to learn more about my body. Also, natural birth control has made me more aware of what my body needs.

For now, being childless has been great. However, we don’t want to sacrifice our health by using synthetic chemicals and implants to avoid pregnancies. Healthy, effective, and also cheap, everything we need natural birth control to be.