109: Fertility Awareness Method and getting off birth control with Jess Suchan and Candace Burch The Fitnessista Podcast: Healthy In Real Life

Hi friends! I’m so excited for today’s podcast episode because it’s a topic that’s near and dear to my heart: Fertility Awareness Method!
I’ve been practicing FAM since the old days, when I first got off birth control in 2009. It changed my life. It was the first chance I had to understand my cycle and how it changes throughout the month and gave me key insights into my fertile and non-fertile days. It’s a non-hormonal form of birth control that can be very effective, especially if you’re diligent about tracking your symptoms throughout the month. It can also tell you if something is off, like if your cycle starts to change lengths drastically, or if you’re not ovulating.
In today’s podcast episode, I’m chatting with Jess Suchan and Candace Burch (an incredible mother-daughter duo! Candace’s daughter Ryan also works on the family business) all about birth control and Fertility Awareness Method.
109: Fertility Awareness Method and getting off birth control with Jess Suchan and Candace Burch Here’s what we discuss:
- Why hormonal birth control can be problematic
- What is FAM and how does it work?
- Tracking apps and how to track throughout the month
- Hormone balancing tips
- and so.much.more.
It’s also worth mentioning here that birth control is a super personal topic and at the end of the day, you have to research and do what makes sense for your body and life. This podcast episode is not meant to convince anyone; we’re just sharing our experiences. You gotta do what works for you, boo. Also, friendly reminder that this is not medical advice and just intended for informational purposes.
You can also check out my previous podcast episode with Candace Burch here!
Here’s a little bit more about Candace and Jess and their backgrounds: Jess Suchan is a board certified Holistic Health Coach who coaches her clients towards finding a life of bliss, free from fad diets, overexercising, and burnout. She believes that in order to change our habits we must address the “holistic picture” and compassionately investigate how all areas of our lives are interconnected. 
Jess spent over a decade yo-yo dieting, exercising for punishment and ignoring the messages her body was sending her. This lifestyle coupled with a slew of stressful jobs, led her to develop debilitating migraines which she eventually cured with a holistic approach. When she discovered the power of food and lifestyle as medicine, she decided to become a health coach via the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and dedicated her time to helping others find that "2.0 version of themselves!" Today, she coaches clients privately and works in partnership with Your Hormone Balance (she also recently completed a Hormone Health Extension course through I.I.N.).
She is also the creator of the Sexy Sugar Cleanse and Sexy Swaps & Recipe Guide and in the Spring of 2021, she launched a line of superfood latte blends for detoxification & energy -a great hormone balancing swap for black coffee! 
Candace Burch is a Hormone Health Educator with a Masters in Health Education and over 25 years of experience in the field. In 2017, she founded Your Hormone Balance as a one-on-one consulting practice, and is now joined by her two daughters, Ryan and Jess, who have expanded YHB's reach to women around the world (keep reading for the full story behind this family biz!). 
Candace’s background includes working as a health editor, writer and investigative journalist in London, leading educational patient and provider initiatives for ZRT Hormone Laboratory (as their Director of Education for 12+ years), as well as spearheading "Body in Balance," a hormone testing and rebalancing weight loss program at Metabolic Research Center (a nationwide weight loss company).
Candace continues to raise awareness about hormonal health and disease prevention through her work as a writer, speaker and podcaster (Listen to Candace and her cohost, Kyle McAvoy, NP,