HEALTHY

The practice of NFP promotes good health in three ways:

1. With NFP charting, you will quickly find out if you have a more or less normal cycle pattern. A truly abnormal cycle pattern can be an early indication that something may be wrong. Some cycle irregularities may indicate dietary problems or low thyroid activity. Occasionally a woman detects a more serious disorder just by changes on her chart. She is then able to seek medical help much sooner. Sometimes relief for irregularities is as simple as improving nutrition or getting your weight into a better balance with your height. An inability to achieve this balance may have its root causes in a physiological problem and not in a deficiency lack of willpower. Discovering more about your fertility may help you avoid unnecessary loss of self-esteem due to a weight problem.

Sometimes a cycle irregularity is due to something quite a bit more serious:

One young couple was married just a few months. She felt fine, but her cycle just went on and on and on without ovulation. A medical examination revealed cancer of the thyroid gland. The cancerous gland was successfully removed: she took a simple drug to make up for the absence of the gland, and she returned to having regular cycles.

2. The practice of NFP encourages better nutrition. We have been amazed at how poorly some young women eat, and for them practicing NFP has a real benefit. With NFP you become more aware of your general state of health and well being. By learning more about your fertility, you will be encouraged to make sure that you and your family are getting proper nutrition. Good nutrition is so important for so many aspects of your menstrual-fertility cycle that CCL publishes Fertility, Cycles and Nutrition. The author, Marilyn Shannon, has an advanced degree in human physiology, is a teacher of NFP, and has done extensive counseling related to fertility, nutrition and NFP.  Nutrition Catalog: Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition

3. The practice of ecological breastfeeding, the world's oldest form of natural family planning, provides the best nutrition for your baby, and extended breastfeeding is a positive means of reducing the risk of breast cancer. You will find much more about this in Chapter 24 of The Art of Natural Family Planning and also in Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing available from the CCL Catalog. 
See Mothering & Women's Health Catalog: Breastfeeding & Natural Childspacing

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