Nourish Your Womb Like the Season Intends

Written by Madison, Co-Founder of Tallow Twins, Photographer and Holistic Birth Keeper.

The Luteal Phase of the Year

As summer fades and the air begins to cool, I can’t help but think of autumn as the luteal phase of the year. It is that quiet, cozy season when everything slows down and turns inward. Just like the luteal phase in a woman’s cycle, fall is about nourishment, warmth, and preparation for rest.

It is a time for listening more than striving, for feeding rather than fasting, and for finding steadiness in a world that demands constant acceleration. In the language of the body, this season is about building rather than burning.

Fertility is not just about conception. It is about how alive your body feels. It is the pulse beneath your skin, your digestion, your energy, your sleep, and your mood. Fertility is vitality in motion, and this time of year invites us to feed it well.

Why Eating for Fertility Matters (Even If You’re Not Trying to Get Pregnant)

Many people think fertility only matters when they are ready to have a baby. The truth is that fertility is a reflection of your overall health, your nourishment, and your sense of safety in your own body.

When the body feels supported, it produces balanced hormones. When it feels deprived, cold, or overworked, it prioritizes survival instead of creation. Fertility is your body’s way of showing how well it is being cared for.

Eating for fertility is not about trying to conceive. It is about tuning in to your body’s natural cycles and feeding it what it truly needs. When you eat to support fertility, you support hormonal harmony, warmth, and metabolic strength.

Fertility as a Measure of Health

The endocrine system, which governs hormones, is deeply sensitive to stress, under-eating, and nutrient depletion. If your hormones are out of balance, you will likely see it in your skin, your digestion, your menstrual cycle, and your energy levels.

When your body perceives scarcity, whether that is too little food, too much stress, or too little sleep, it down-regulates fertility. Progesterone, the hormone that supports calm and rest, decreases while cortisol, the stress hormone, increases. The result can look like anxiety, acne, insomnia, fatigue, and irregular cycles.

Supporting fertility is not just about one phase of life. It is about making your body feel safe enough to thrive in every season.

My Background: From Osteopathy to Birth Work

Before I became a co-founder of Tallow Twins, I spent years studying the human body through the lens of Classical Osteopathy, a holistic form of manual therapy that focuses on how the body maintains homeostasis and balance. I learned that the body is always working to heal and that with the right support, it knows exactly how to regulate itself.

That understanding led me into the world of birth work, where I now support women as a holistic doula through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. My role is to guide women back to their intuition, to help them trust that birth is not a medical event but a physiological process. Women are literally built to conceive, birth, and nourish life. They have everything they need within them to do so safely and intuitively.

My birth work continues to shape the way I approach fertility and wellness. Whether a woman is preparing for pregnancy or simply tending to her own vitality, the foundation is always the same: warmth, nourishment, rest, and deep trust in the wisdom of her body.

Eating with the Seasons: The Fall Fertility Diet

As women, our hormonal patterns mirror the seasons of the earth. The follicular phase feels like spring, full of new growth. Ovulation mirrors summer, full of warmth and energy. The luteal phase is autumn, a time to slow down and nourish before the stillness of winter.

Fall is nature’s reminder to eat in tune with that rhythm.

What Your Hormones Crave This Season

In summer, our bodies crave raw, cooling foods like salads and fruit. But in fall, our bodies ask for grounding, slow-cooked meals that bring warmth back to the womb and digestion.

A fall fertility menu might include:

• Warm breakfasts such as eggs cooked in butter, stewed apples with cinnamon, or oats with raw milk and ghee.

• Root vegetables like carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, and squash roasted until golden.

• Slow-cooked meats and broths such as bone broth, short ribs, and tallow-fried hash.

• Healthy fats like grass-fed tallow, butter, and olive oil to support progesterone production.

• Fermented foods such as sauerkraut, miso, and kefir to support gut and hormone health.

• Mineral-rich drinks such as warm milk with honey and sea salt, nettle tea, or magnesium-infused cocoa before bed.

These meals do more than comfort. They help maintain warmth, blood flow, and hormone stability. Warmth supports life. It keeps your digestion strong, your womb healthy, and your mood balanced.

The Science of Warmth and the Womb

For centuries, traditional medicine systems have emphasized the importance of keeping the womb warm. Coldness in the body can lead to stagnation, slower digestion, and reduced fertility. In Classical Osteopathy, we understand this through the lens of circulation. Where blood and energy flow freely, health thrives.

Modern science confirms that good circulation supports oxygen delivery, nutrient absorption, and the removal of waste; all essential for hormonal harmony. A warm body is an active body. When thyroid function is optimal and metabolism is strong, progesterone levels rise, leading to calm moods and regular cycles.

Being chronically cold (cold hands, cold feet, low appetite, or fatigue) often signals low metabolic energy or chronic stress. Both can interfere with ovulation and hormone balance.

Warm, nutrient-dense food is not indulgent. It is essential care for your reproductive health.

Fertility and the Nervous System

You cannot separate fertility from stress. When the body senses danger, whether from emotional strain, under-eating, or overexertion, it prioritizes survival. Elevated cortisol tells your brain to hold off on reproduction until safety is restored.

High cortisol also depletes the building blocks needed to create progesterone. This imbalance can lead to sleeplessness, PMS symptoms, and anxiety.

Balancing your nervous system is an act of fertility. It creates the safety your body needs to thrive.

How to Support the Stress Response

• Eat at regular intervals to prevent blood sugar crashes.

• Include protein and healthy fats with every meal to keep energy steady.

• Add magnesium to your routine. It supports relaxation and balances cortisol.

• Spend time in sunlight to regulate your circadian rhythm.

• Prioritize sleep. Your hormones repair while you rest.

Stress management is not self-indulgent. It is biology.

The Role of Sleep in Hormone Balance

Sleep is where the body repairs and restores itself. It is when estrogen is processed by the liver, when progesterone rises, and when growth hormones rebuild tissue.

Poor sleep disrupts every aspect of hormonal health. When we sleep poorly, cortisol increases, progesterone decreases, and blood sugar becomes unstable. The result is fatigue, cravings, and mood instability.

Skin health is also deeply connected to sleep. Collagen production and cellular repair happen overnight. Sleep well, and you glow from within.

Rest is one of the most powerful fertility tools we have.

My Magnesium Ritual for Rest and Recovery

At the end of a long day, when my mind is still busy and my body is tired, I reach for our Tallow Magnesium Balm. It is part of my nightly ritual, a moment to reconnect with my body and signal that it is safe to rest.

Magnesium is the mineral of calm. It is used in over three hundred processes in the body, including muscle relaxation, nervous system regulation, and hormone production. It also plays a vital role in supporting progesterone, which helps balance moods and improve sleep.

Applying magnesium topically before bed allows it to be absorbed directly through the skin while the tallow base provides deep, lasting moisture. I massage it into my calves, abdomen, and shoulders before sleep. Within minutes, my body softens and my mind begins to slow. I wake up feeling grounded and restored.

This ritual has become my nightly act of self-care, one that keeps my body strong and my nervous system balanced during busy seasons of work, motherhood, and birth keeping.

Fertility as a Daily Practice

Fertility is not a fleeting phase. It is a daily reflection of how you nourish and care for yourself.

For me, fertility means feeling creative, grounded, and connected to the rhythms of nature. It shows up in the way I eat, the way I move, and the way I support women through birth. Every choice we make, from the food we eat to the products we put on our skin, either adds to or takes away from that vitality.

At Tallow Twins, we believe in products and practices that support fertility from the inside out. From tallow skincare to magnesium balm, our rituals are built around one philosophy: nourish deeply and live in rhythm with your body.

Ancestral Wisdom for Modern Women

Our ancestors did not need to “balance hormones.” They lived in alignment with the cues that did it for them. They ate seasonally, rested with the sun, and valued warmth and nourishment.

Modern life has disrupted those rhythms, but we can return to them by choice. Fertility thrives in warmth, nourishment, and peace. It weakens in cold, depletion, and rush.

Living seasonally is an act of restoration. It brings your body back into relationship with the earth, your hormones, and your natural cycles.

When we eat seasonally, sleep well, and rest deeply, we tell our bodies they are safe. And in safety, fertility flourishes.

How to Support Fall Fertility

1. Eat Warm, Mineral-Rich Foods

Choose slow-cooked meals, broths, and root vegetables to support hormone balance.

2. Avoid Cold Foods

Raw salads and smoothies can cool the body in fall. Try warm stewed fruit or soups instead.

3. Reduce Caffeine

High caffeine spikes cortisol. Switch to herbal tonics or coffee after breakfast.

4. Support Cortisol Balance

Keep a regular routine, get sunlight, move gently, and use magnesium to regulate stress.

5. Sleep as a Ritual

Create an evening routine that signals rest. Keep lights dim, apply magnesium balm, and avoid screens.

6. Choose Skin Nourishment that Aligns with Your Body

Your skin is an organ of absorption. Our For the Face tallow balm is my favourite for keeping my skin hydrated and resilient through the dry months. It restores the skin barrier naturally, without endocrine disrupters and supports your body’s largest organ the same way nutrient-dense food supports your health.

The Warmth That Heals

Fall fertility is not about preparing for pregnancy. It is about preparing for life. It is about slowing down, feeding your body what it needs, and staying in rhythm with nature.

As the days grow shorter and the air turns crisp, remember that nourishment is an act of resistance in a culture that glorifies exhaustion. Eat slowly. Sleep deeply. Keep yourself warm. Your hormones will thank you.

And if you need a little help winding down at night, our Magnesium Balm is the perfect ritual to remind your body that it is safe to rest and ready to receive.

Working With Me Beyond Tallow Twins

Outside of Tallow Twins, my deepest work is in the world of birth. I am a holistic pregnancy, birth, and postpartum doula who helps women reconnect with the power and physiology of birth. My background in Classical Osteopathy taught me how the body creates balance, and that same understanding guides my approach to supporting women.

I believe that birth is not a medical event but a natural, intuitive process. Women are literally built to conceive, birth, and nurture life. My role is to remind them of that truth.

If you are expecting or planning for pregnancy and want to feel confident, informed, and supported throughout the journey, I would love to walk with you. Together, we can create the birth experience you dream of, one grounded in safety, intuition, and trust.

You can learn more about my birth work here.

Follow my birth account here. 

xx Madison