The Hemp Connection:
antioxidant

I'm all for local eating. But another endeavor I enjoy is helping other cultures find worthwhile products to produce that encourage preservation of the rainforest and farming of products other than coca. So I was excited to see the country of Peru have such a beautiful and informational pavilion at Expo West.

We all know about quinoa and I've written about purple corn…here are some other foods you might be seeing more of that could be fun to try!

Maca Most of us think of maca as a supplement to enhance sexual prowess. It's actually been studied in the laboratory and been found to enhance libido and semen quality. It may also help alleviate sexual dysfunction related to antidepressant use. It may also help reduce enlarged prostate glands.

That being said, Americans have a really bad habit of taking something they think is"good", grinding it up, concentrating it, and using it in larger quantities than would be possible in nature. In this case, there is some thought that excessive maca consumption may negatively affect thyroid function. In addition, there are several varieties of maca, and only the red was found to have significant hormonal effect. Labeling on supplements may not contain this information and you may be wasting your money.

Bottom line, if you see it on a restaurant menu or a fun international market, take it home and cook it like a turnip! Be careful, however, about the supplement version.

Amaranth Gluten-free enthusiasts love this grain, but like quinoa, it's not actually a grain…it's a seed. It can be toasted and eaten like popcorn, or cooked like a grain. Here is more information on how to use amaranth in your kitchen. In other parts of the world, such as Asia and Africa, amaranth leaves and roots are also culinary specialties.

Regular consumption of amaranth seed may help regulate hypertension and cholesterol, and the leaves and roots are very high in vitamins and minerals, including calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, zinc, copper, and manganese.

Both Bob's Red Mill and Arrowhead Mills sell amaranth flour, but if you can't find it in your store, here are amaranth options on amazon.com.

Aguaymanto This fruit is related to one of my local favorites, the tomatillo (you can see the similar husks in the photo). It is currently being researched for its potential as an antioxidant source, and it has been found to contain melatonin.

Locals like to use it in jams, syrups, and pastries, but it is also seen in fruit salads and salsas.

Lucuma, or eggfruit, if you Google it, will pop up quite frequently as the next big superfood, and ground powders are available online. (As with maca, I am not providing links, as I am not telling you about these foods to encourage a superfood or supplement mentality.) This fruit tree can grow in warmer US climates such as Florida or Arizona. It's a Peruvian favorite, as illustrated by the blog Peru Food. It is described as tasting a little bit like maple syrup ice cream.

It is a favorite of raw food enthusiasts. They promote it as low-glycemic, though I was not able to find the actual scientific reference for it in my search; most references circle back to the same video. If anyone out there can direct me to that, I'm happy to post for everyone.

Nutritionally, lucuma is high in fiber, iron, and as you might guess from its beautiful color, beta carotene.

Sacha Inchi, or the Peruvian peanut, comes from the rainforest. I actually tried this at Expo West; it was prepared like corn nuts and there was also a version coated with fair-trade chocolate (isn't that the best way to get Americans to try anything new and different?) It's pretty high protein, and it contains ALA, the vegan omega-3 fatty acid. (With respect to the omega-3's it's an option to flaxseed.) In Peru, its oil is used for cooking so I imagine some day it will show up in US markets as well.

Again, American marketing reps are trying to capitalize on the superfood craze when selling this food. It's fine to eat, and its nutritional value is nice, but no need to abandon everything else you're doing for it. Try it when you can, enjoy it when you find it, and know it fits well into a hormone-friendly lifestyle.

One of the reasons I put this blog post together is to illustrate why closing out food choices can deny you some food fun, not to mention nutrition! If you're locked into a top ten list of foods, you may miss some great culinary experiences…that can be healthy as well! Sometimes when you're focused on"fixing" a disease it can take the fun out of food. The more enjoyable it is, the more likely it is you'll have a healthy relationship with it. Every culture has its gems, even if they're not salmon, blueberries, and broccoli!

I admit, I had a personal reason for writing this blog post. My Peruvian friend Denise has told me she wants to share her favorite local Peruvian restaurant with me sometime soon. I wanted to be sure I knew what I would be seeing when I looked at the menu. Now that I've done my homework, I'm hungry and looking forward to what the menu has in store.

Gonzales GF, Miranda S, Nieto J, Fernández G, Yucra S, Rubio J, Yi P, and Gasco M. Red maca (Lepidium meyenii) reduced prostate size in rats. Reprod Biol Endocrinol. 2005; 3: 5.

Dording CM. Fisher L. Papakostas G. Farabaugh A. Sonawalla S. Fava M. Mischoulon D. A double-blind, randomized, pilot dose-finding study of maca root (L. meyenii) for the management of SSRI-induced sexual dysfunction.

Czerwiński J, Bartnikowska E, Leontowicz H, et al. Oat (Avena sativa L.) and amaranth (Amaranthus hypochondriacus) meals positively affect plasma lipid profile in rats fed cholesterol-containing diets". J. Nutr. Biochem. 15 (10): 622–9, 2004.

Wu, SJ; Tsai JY, Chang SP, Lin DL, Wang SS, Huang SN, Ng LT (2006). Supercritical carbon dioxide extract exhibits enhanced antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of Pysalis peruviana. J Ethnopharmacol 108 (3): 407–13

Kolar J., Malbeck J. Levels of the antioxidant melatonin in fruits of edible berry species. Planta Medica 2009 75:9

I promised Ivonne I would post a recipe here, but my format will be a little bit nontraditional.

See, so many people have this perception that if you have a nutrition degree, or work in the fitness and counseling worlds, you are somehow this magic creator of 3 gourmet meals a day. They're all perfectly balanced, exactly the necessary number of calories with perfect ratios of carbohydrate, protein, fat, zinc, antioxidants, omega-3's, yadayadayada.

NOT.

I think sometimes these blogs and websites with all these people who'd like you to think it's perfect in foodieland are downright intimidating. I want you to HAVE FUN with food, and I want you to have the confidence to experiment.

So here's a look inside my kitchen and my head when I recently improvised on a popular recipe, Morning Glory Muffins.

Here is the original recipe as I found it on the Internet:

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shredded, sweetened coconut

3/4 cup Earthbound Farm Organic Raisins

1 large organic apple, peeled and grated

1 cup (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained

2 cups grated carrots

1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts

3 large eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Now let's see what actually happened when I rolled up my sleeves and baked them.

1. "Where is the sugar? Dang! I forgot I was almost out and I only have half as much…OK, in food chem class we learned that while some sugar is necessary not all of it is. Maybe I can make do." Half the sugar is used.

2. Time to add the pineapple. "Hmmmm…I still have a dozen of those 400 oranges that I picked taking up space in the refrigerator…they're acidic, wonder what would happen if I replaced pineapple with chopped oranges?" Oranges are used in place of pineapple.

3. I used omega-3 eggs in place of regular eggs.

4. Now for the vegetable oil. "Wonder if I could use olive oil? That olive oil pastry I had on the cruise a few years ago was pretty good." So olive oil it is, and 2/3 of the recipe's original amount.

5. Home stretch…time for vanilla…"Oh, MAN! I could SWEAR I had vanilla!" Time for a little trick my mom taught me years ago…extracts are alcohol based, so you can exchange the vanilla for anything you might have that is a liqueur. "What's in my liquor cabinet? Banana liqueur, hazelnut liqueur…" Hazelnut wouldn't open (it was crystallized shut from disuse), so banana it was.

And there you have it. I would be a disaster on a cooking show, but my mad-science-hmmm-let's-see-if-this-works approach turned out some pretty darned good muffins.

Which, at this point, are no longer Morning Glory Muffins. Given the fact that I used local oranges and pecans, our local tree nut, they have been renamed Arizona Sunrise Muffins. Here's the recipe as it ended up:

Arizona Sunrise Muffins

5/8 cups sugar

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shredded, sweetened coconut

3/4 cup Earthbound Farm Organic Raisins (chopped dates would make it even more local)

1 large organic apple, peeled and grated

1 cup oranges or other citrus, peeled and chopped (probably need more sugar if you use grapefruit)

2 cups grated carrots

1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

3 large omega-3 eggs

2/3 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon banana liqueur

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

Sift or whisk together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Add the coconut, raisins, apple, pineapple, carrots, and nuts, and stir to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the oil and vanilla. Pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients and blend well.

Spoon the batter into muffin tins lined with muffin cups, filling each to the brim. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool muffins in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to finish cooling.

I must add an important disclaimer here. Not all my experimenting succeeds. I have some serious flops. The thing that matters is that I learn from each experiment, I don't aim for perfection, and I have FUN.

That's what I encourage all of you to do, too, when you step into your kitchen.

Last week I had the opportunity to hear James May, the founder of Wisdom Natural Brands, based here in Phoenix, tell his story of how he became involved with developing the stevia industry. Below is a white paper he shared with us that is referenced and provides a lot of very interesting information. This is a business paper, not a scientific publication, but it does contain references that can get you started if you're looking for more information.

It's not just a sweetener, apparently it has some endocrine and appetite effects as well (may decrease your appetite for sugar), and a new study suggests it may help to improve memory.

Also, I'm providing a link to a brand new website, Stevia University, which is a resource for all things stevia. Be sure to bookmark it!

Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni Prepared by James A. May and provided as an educational service by Wisdom Natural Brands
Stevia has been correctly framed as the promised sweetener that can help resolve many of the world's sweetener, obesity, and diabetes concerns. Stevia can also solve much of the poverty of the farmers in third world countries by giving them a cash crop to grow, even improving the productivity of their soil and the quality of their other crops.
Stevia can be the next generation of the world's most preferred steetener. Consumers are becoming even more excited as they learn that stevia extract was not originally a chemical invention targeted for a totally different purpose, such as a drug or insecticide, which, after it was tasted, became an artificial sweetener (1).
Stevia, in its various forms has always been a natural sweetener that also offers numerous health benefits. In its natural forms it has been in use in parts of South America for more than 1500 years and, as a high intensity sweetener, in Japan and Asia for over 35 years. (2) Millions of people have ingested stevia daily and there has never been a documented adverse reaction reported (3).
Modern consumers have joyful anticipation for increased use of this sweetener that does not cause fat storage, does not adversely affect blood sugar or blood pressure, reduces caries and gum disease, does no harm, is good for the human body and — can taste great — depending on the extraction methods utilized.
The Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of the World Health Organization has studied and approved 9 of the numerous naturally occurring glycosides residing in stevia leaves to be safe for human consumption in high intensity sweeteners. They are: stevioside, rebaudioside A, rebaudioside B, rebaudioside C, rebaudioside D, rebaudioside F, dulcoside A, rubusoside, and steviolbioside. Any combination of these glycosides totaling a minimum of 95%, the balance being other components of the stevia leaf, meets the standard set.
HECFA refers to steviol glycosides rather than stevia glycosides in determining acceptable daily intake (ADI) amounts of 4 mg per kilogram of body weight. This provides a 100-fold safety factor, meaning the human body can handle 100 times this amount and still be within the safety limits. However, steviol is one of three metabolites (i.e. the breakdown aglycones being steviol, isosteviol, and a unit of glucose) of the stevia glycosides, therefore, this related to 12 mg of the naturally occurring stevia glycosides per kilogram of body weight. Stevia glycosides are broken down into the three metabolites by bacterial action in the intestinal tract. It is well documented that steviol and the other metabolites are entirely excreted from the body.
In a presentation of the recent science regarding stevia at the 2009 annual meeting of the Calorie Control Council, Claire C. Kruger, PhD, DABT, CEO of Spherix Incorporated, a biopharmaceutical company, reported that"Stevia glycosides have very low toxicity in animals and there is no evidence of risk in humans, including repeat dose systemic toxicity, carcinogenicity, developmental, or reproductive effects. The weight of evidence indicates that steviol glycosides are not genotoxic." She also reported that"Stevia extracts and steviol glycosides show no DNA damage in a broad array of in vitro and in vivo assay," and that the"safety of ingestion of steviol glycosides in hmans has been corroborated in clinical trials; measures of tolerance, body weight, clinical chemistry, hematology and urinalyis did not show any evidence of untoward effects." She reported that critical newly published studies (5) resolve questions about any untoward effects after long term repeated exposure to steviol glycosides.
The Proceedings of the 3rd Stevia Sumposium 2009, held in Belgium reported recent scientific studies that found that,"Stevioside (i.e. the combination of Stevia glyucosides- lowered glucose, insulin and cholesterol. It had no effect on triglycerides or glucose tolerance," and that it"inhibited atherosclerosis by reducing macrophage, oxidized LDL and lipids. Furthermore, stevioside treatment increased the smooth muscle area of the plaque. This increase, together with the reduction of macrophages resulted in an increase of the smooth muscle cell-to-macrophage ratio". The scientists concluded by stating that"this is the first report showing an association between stevioside treatment and increased adiponectin and insulin sensitivity, improved antioxidant defense and reduced atherosclerosis. The decrease of oxidized LDL by stevioside is particularly important in view of our recent observation that LDL is associated with metabolic syndrome components." (6) No allergic reactions to stevia have been reported (7).
A patent application submitted to the US Patent Office, dated February 17, 2011, makes several significant claims, as a result of their scientific research, pertaining to stevia and brain function."Thus to summarize, stevia extract enabled improved learning and memory performance, to a similar, or better, extent as a natural reference substance, ginkgo biloba, and a pharmaceutical positive control compound, rolipram. These data showed that stevia-treated mice not only learned better than other groups but also retained their memory for a longer time period." When the product was given to human subjects they reported that,"Cognitive function, alertness and the ability to focus on work are seen to improve." The product they used was make by cooking leaves in water and is basically the same product sold by SweetLeaf (R), as stevia concentrate, since 1982.
SweetLeaf Stevia Sweetener is the only commercially available stevia extract that is made with a revolutionary new technology that uses only cool purified water and a series of filters. All other brands, currently in the market, utilize old technology that incorporates various chemicals, solvents and alcohols, including ethanol and methanol. Because stevia extracts can be between 200 and 300 times sweeter than sugar, they must be blended with other ingredients utilized as a carrier to make them palatable as a table-top sweetener. While all other brands use a sugar product, SweetLeaf(R) uses inulin, extracted from chicory root, which is a natural soluble fiber and prebiotic, thus creating a sweetener that improve health and vitality. SweetLeaf (R) wass the first stevia brand in the United States to acienve the FDA GRAS (Generally Recognied As Safe) designation.
REFERENCES
1. Aspartame was developed in 1965 by GD Searle, a pharmaceutical company, to be a prescription only drug for peptic ulcers. After it was tasted the company began the process to obtain FDA acceptance as a sweetener,which was achieved in 1981. According to Discover Magazine, 20 Things You Don't Know About Sugar, Sucralose (Splenda) was originally developed to be an insecticide (Oct. 2009, 121).
2. May, James A, The Miracle of Stevia, Kensington Publishing Corp. New York City, NY, 2003, 7, 32-42.
3. Geuns, Jan MC. Review: The Safety of Stevioside Used as a Sweetener, Proceeding of the first symposium: The Safety of Steviiside, KULeuven, 2004, 112.
4. http://www.steviauniversity.com/. Health and Healing Benefits of Stevia.
5. Ferri et all 2006; Jeppesen et al 2006; Barriocanal et al 2008; Maki et al 2008.
6. Gerraert, Benjamine et a, Natural Sweetener Stevioside Inhibits Atherosclerosis by Increasing the Antioxidant Defense in Obese, Insulin Resistant Mice, Atherosclerosis and Metabolism Unit, Deptarmtne of Cardiovascular diseases and Leuven Food Science and Nutrition Research Center Laboratory of Functional Biology, Katholieke University, Leuven, Belgium.
7. Geuns, op cit p. 85.

If you've ever dieted, and you have trouble sleeping…there may be a reason. Keep in mind, this study was done on rainbow trout, but there is still a message in it for humans. Three groups of trout were studied with regard to their melatonin (sleep hormone/antioxidant) levels and cortisol (stress hormone) levels. The three groups were defined as fed fish, fish that were fasted for 7 days, and fish that were fasted for 7 days then refed for 5 days.

Melatonin levels were disrupted in fasted fish. If you were human, this would likely mean if you were on a strict fasting/dieting protocol, you were probably having trouble sleeping as well.

Interestingly, nighttime serotonin levels were higher in these fasted fish. Melatonin is made from serotonin, so I would presume that what the body tries to do when you're not eating well is to keep you alert and thinking about getting some food. It does that by hanging on to serotonin and preventing its conversion into melatonin. That's a survival mechanism.

So if you're dieting and you're awake at night with cravings? That's a normal response. Don't obsess about what's wrong with you, don't surf the Internet looking for what to do about your cravings. In this kind of situation, you're thinking about food because you need it. Get some.

As far as cortisol, dieting reduced levels and they stayed low after refeeding. You could argue that this is a benefit of dieting…except for the fact that if you're cutting yourself short on melatonin, you're aging yourself more quickly than you should. There are plenyy of ways to reduce melatonin levels without dieting that don't cut your life short on the back end.

By the way, since I write so much about sleep I thought I should mention…I love naps. The long afternoon kind where my cats curl up with me, and I wake up with a little bit of drool on my pillow. I don't feel guilty at all. I completely buy into the idea of"beauty sleep"--sooooo much cheaper than all those anti-aging potions on the infomercials!

Ceinos RM, Polakof S, Illamola AR, Soengas JL, Míguez JM. Food deprivation and refeeding effects on pineal indoles metabolism and melatonin synthesis in the rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss. Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2008 Apr;156(2):410-7. Epub 2008 Jan 8.

Hello inCYST readers!

Just a quick thought for Earth Day. Have you ever considered how sustainable living and PCOS management go hand in hand?

If you walk more instead of driving, you use less gasoline and improve your insulin resistance.

If you choose less processed foods, you reduce your consumption of preservatives and unhealthy fats, in addition to your use of packaging and energy.

If you eat locally produced foods, you increase your antioxidant intake and reduce your consumption of fossil fuels.

If you eat organic foods, you reduce the amount of artificial estrogens you put into your body and into the surrounding environment.

If you eat lower on the food chain, you do a lot of all of the above.

If you improve your sleep hygiene and turn the lights out earlier, you improve your melatonin metabolism at the same time you reduce your electricity consumption.

It all fits together. If you sustain the planet, you bring your body into balance.

What are you going to do today, to pay homage to Mother Nature?

Happy Monday to all of you!

Sorry for the silence, I was in Boston for a sports nutrition conference, promoting the Nordic Naturals line of fish oils. I've been sidelined from my half marathon training with a cranky knee, and it was so nice to get off of the elliptical trainer, get outside, and walk along the Charles River to and from my hotel and the conference!

Something I was very happy to see, throughout the conference, was the emphasis on nuts in general as a healthy food. I've been frustrated for a long, long time that the walnut people seemed to be the only nut commodity board with media contacts. Not that I don't like walnuts, but there's nothing wrong with other nuts as well.

I did an analysis for an article a few years ago, in which I compared the ratios of beneficial fats (omega-3's and monounsaturated) to potentially detrimental fats (omega-6's and polyunsaturated). And when they were all lined up in terms of most beneficial to least beneficial…walnuts actually turned up at the bottom of the list. Macadamias came out on top!

I use that analysis in my trainings, and dietitians will always immediately say,"But macadamias are so high in fat." Precisely. But it's the kind of fat that keeps us healthy. Lucky for me…my very favorite way to have nuts is macadamia nuts roasted in coffee, the way they fix them in Hawaii.

Anyway…(I tend to get distracted in this blog, don't I?)…

…one of the presentations showed data for macadamias, pecans, and pistachios, suggesting that they, too, are good foods to include in an anti-inflammatory (aka anti-PCOS and pro-fertility) diet. Nuts, in addition to good fats, have a variety of antioxidants that can delay and prevent aging and help fight stress. I even learned that the green part of pistachios contains lutein, which makes them good for eye health. Who knew a food so fun to eat would also be so helpful to my health?

Of course, there's a limit to how many nuts can be healthy, and fat has calories, no matter where it comes from. But if you're reaching for a handful of pistachios instead of a bag of Fritos, it's nice to know you're also reaching for better health.

So this week…go nuts!

I've been writing this blog long enough to know that as soon as I recommend a supplement, the post is circulated, reposted, retweeted, ad nauseum. If I talk about changing food choices, it sits there like a bump on a log.

I posted the information about myoinositol supplementation because I knew that many of you are having such a hard time with the side effects of metformin, that it might be helpful to try this compound as an adjunct.

In the process of researching the topic, however, I came to understand that part of the reason many of you have a problem with your myoinositol levels in the first place…is that your dietary choices may have backed you into a corner.

Myoinositol isn't new news, really. Back in 1980 a physician and a dietitian wrote a very nice review article and developed some recommendations for increasing dietary inositol that I'm going to summarize here. In a nutshell, it's a dietary intermediate that is found in high quantities in nerve cells. If your nerves are working harder than they were designed to, as is the case when you don't manage your stress, don't attend to good sleep hygiene, overexercise, and eat a poorly varied diet, there is a really good chance you're going to deplete your myoinositol levels more quickly than you can replete them. That is a consequence for ANYONE not taking good care of themselves, it's not a unique feature of PCOS.

For anyone struggling with medical issues related to hyperexcitable brains, including migraines, epilepsy, anxiety disorder, OCD, PTSD, bipolar disorder, etc., it's highly possible that your daily myoinositol needs are simply higher than average. Everything you see us write about on this blog, from omega-3's to antioxidants, is designed to reduce that hyperexcitability and make it easier for your brain to function as it should. It certainly is not going to hurt to take a supplement, and if you've been asking your brain to run on nutritional empty for a long time, or if you've been working hard to turn your PCOS around with good habits and just don't seem to be getting over the hump with it, supplementing may be a great tool to add to your already good habits.

There is some thought that people with insulin function problems may have alterations in myoinositol function, which could also increase the daily needed dose.

I must iterate, however, that a myoinositol supplement is NOT a substitute for a healthy diet. There is no such thing as a donut for breakfast, a Snickers for lunch, and a binge for dinner…cancelled out by a few pills in a bottle. So my guess is that those of you who are making good changes diet and stress management-wise in conjunction with the supplement are the most likely to achieve the benefit of the supplement. That is just how biochemistry works!

The study I recently quoted (focusing on neuropathy, not ovulation) used a myoinositol dose of 4 grams. The study I quote today found an effective response from a highest dose of 1,500 mg. It doesn't mean that these are the doses recommended for each particular diagnosis, or type of inositol, pill or food…it simply means those are the doses the reseachers decided to study.

However, since that is the dose reported in the ovulation study, and more of you reading this are interested in conception than nerve pain, I'll post the values of the highest myoinositol containing foods and let you figure out what your best food/supplement combination is to achieve that dose (4000 mg or 4 g daily).

I'm going to tell you, what I was thinking as I compiled this list was that if you're only concentrating on carb/protein/fat content, you're cutting out all your myoinositol sources. It looks like Mother Nature makes sure that when we eat carbohydrate as it appears in nature, that it comes packaged with a nutrient important for metabolizing it. It's when we refine that sugar and eat it out of context, as with sodas, candy, baked goods, etc…that we dig a hole for our nervous systems.

We just can't outsmart her, can we?

The complete list can be found at this link.

Myoinositol Containing Foods with more than 100 mg/serving
1/2 cup grapefruit juice 456 1/2 cup canned great northern beans 440 1/4 fresh cantelope 355 1 fresh orange 307 1 slice stone ground wheat bread 288 1/2 cup rutabaga 252 1/2 cup kidney beans 249 1/2 cup orange juice 245 1/2 cup canned oranges 240 1/2 cup canned peas 235 1/2 fresh grapefruit 199 1 fresh lime 194 1/2 cup canned blackberries 173 1/2 cup mandarin oranges 149 1/2 cup canned lima beans 146 1/2 cup kiwi fruit 136 1 cup split peas 128 2 T. creamy peanut butter 122 1 fresh nectarine 118 1/2 cup canned black-eyed peas 117 1/2 cup grapefruit sections, canned 117
Rex S. Clements, Jr., M.D. and Betty Darnell, M.S., RD. Myo-inositol content of common foods:
development of a high-myo-inositol diet. Am J Clin Nutr September 1980 vol. 33 no. 9, 1954-1967.

Someone on our Facebook page recently asked how you cook kale. And she asked at a perfect time, since we've been getting it almost weekly at Chow Locally, and I've been the one who's been curating recipes and techniques to keep our customers excited!

First of all, a bit about kale. It is actually a type of cabbage that never gets around to forming into a head. In this photo you see curly kale, which is one of the more popular kinds, what you often see used to make kale chips. It comes in a variety of colors and leaf shapes, all of which can be enjoyed!

Here are some of the great things kale can do for you.

1. It can lower your cholesterol.
2. It can lower your risk of cancer.
3. It is a great food for detoxification.
4. It is extremely high in antioxidants — over 45 have already been identified.
5. One cup cooked kale has 1328% of your RDA's for vitamin K, 354% for vitamin A, and 89% of vitamin C. And only 36 calories.

Now that is what I call nutrient dense!

For the longest time, I thought kale was just the pretty gray-green curly stuff you used to decorate party platters, but didn't really eat. Then antioxidants were discovered, and kale topped the charts, and people started deciding, maybe they should figure out how to eat it. It can be a bit of a challenge because it is bitter. Unless you are Kitty, who loves raw kale (this is white peacock kale here), it's best to know a few cooking techniques!

Here are some of the easiest ways to enjoy kale.

1. Juice it. There are a bazillion recipes for juicing kale on the Internet. I am linking you to just one here.

2. Massage it and eat it raw. Interestingly, kale's bitter flavor dials back a bit if you chop it, and massage it with some type of oil until the color pops green. Here is a great blog post with three massaged kale salad recipes, along with more ideas (colcannon, which is mashed potatoes and kale, is a recipe I sent to our customers with this week's box.)

3. Saute it. Super easy, as you can see in this recipe!

4. Make pesto with it. One week we got gorgeous purple peacock kale in our boxes, and it intimidated some of our customers. It's the same vegetable, just a different color, and to demonstrate, I made a purple pesto. You can make this exact same pesto with any kind of kale…curly, dinosaur, peacock, Toscano…because it's still kale!

5. Steam/wilt it. This is one of my all time favorite kale recipes, by Rachel Ray, steamed kale with portobello mushrooms. I often make this dinner!

6. Kale chips. This is all the rage right now. I'm giving you the recipe and I encourage you to try this with any sturdy greens you might have available — kohlrabi and beet have worked very well in my kitchen.
7. Braise it. Braising is a way to slow cook and infuse the flavor of a wine, vinegar, alcohol, broth, or other liquid. I just found this great salsa-braised kale recipe while surfing for this post…it is on my list to try!
I hope this gets you started! Let us know how you end up cooking yours!

Still another trend I saw at Expo West was an emphasis on new packaging. Companies it seems, have heard the message that we don't want things in plastic bottles. That's the good news. What is frustrating is the learning curve they seem to be going through in order to get to a solution.

Here is Mother Nature's packaging for my argument. Nice, sturdy, recyclable container, holds up well in my computer bag. Probably about 60 calories in that serving size. Mother Nature isn't required to label her goods, but it contains fiber, vitamin C, antioxidants, to name a few.

Here is something I've been using a lot lately, it's especially handy when I travel, or when I eat out in restaurants and want to be sure that what I get has been handled in a sanitary fashion. Zero calories, zero sugar, makes it through airport security, doesn't squash, doesn't rot, recyclable container. Derived from actual fruit so though it is fiber free, it does contain vitamin C. Honestly, I prefer exhibit A but sometimes it just isn't available. This comes in a reasonable second.

And here is what I saw at Expo West. This package is supposedly 2 servings, each 70 calories each. And if I am by myself and I am drinking it on the go, do you really think I'm going to save half? How can I? No, I'll pour the whole thing into my water and turn it into the near caloric equivalent of a soda. That is, if it makes through being squashed by my computer and my iPad and my gym shoes and my product samples, without being squished open and turning everything pink and shorting out the computers in the process. It's supposed to be planet-friendly but nowhere on the website or packaging do I see anything about this packaging being recyclable.

What does this have to do with PCOS you might ask? The fact that the words"organic" and"healthy" are prettily placed on the front of the packaging along with the organic certification logo. The serving size, calorie, and carbohydrate information is around the corner, and in much smaller print. If you check out the ingredients, it's sugar water with organic"flavor"…and even though it's organic, it's still just flavor with some vitamin C thrown in. We all know when Mother Nature designed the original package she put more than one vitamin in hers.

Don't be fooled. Even when it's organic you still have to read the label to be sure it meets your standards.

Sorry, I couldn't resist that…the slogan"kale is the new beef" has always made me laugh, knowing as soon as the next superfood on the horizon…and its marketers…figure out a way to bump kale out of its current favored superfood slot, it will be pushed to the last word in that slogan!

I was so interested to read a new study this week about a favorite"diet" food, popcorn, that we sometimes think of as being pretty empty nutritionally but something to satisfy the need to crunch. Turns out, popcorn is more than a pretty face, it's got some great antioxidant power!

Some scientist, and I'm guessing someone who's not so fond of green food, decided to run popcorn through antioxidant testing and it scored pretty well! In fact, because the water in fruits and vegetables dilutes the concentration of polyphenols (the type of antioxidant popcorn contains), ounce for ounce, the antioxidant content of dryer popcorn is even higher.

Remember, however, that the way you fix popcorn can quickly detract from this nutritional potential. We're not talking kettle corn here, and we're not talking pre-prepared microwave envelopes, and we're certainly not talking movie popcorn. Here are three ways you can take advantage of popcorn and keep it focused on the good part.

1. Air pop it. Simple enough.

2. Make your own microwave popcorn. Here's a great set of instructions from the Snack Girl blog.

3. Trader Joe's sells a bagged popcorn cooked in olive oil, which I will go for in a pinch.

There you have it, a whole grain, low fat, high fiber, low glycemic, anti-oxidant snack. Enjoy!

American Chemical Society (ACS) (2012, March 25). Popcorn: The snack with even higher antioxidants levels than fruits and vegetables. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 26, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2012/03/120325173008.htm#.T3CJEqUT3-M.mailto

I'm going to send you to the Green Mountain at Fox Run blog for this post. It's awesome! It has wonderful detail about the nutritional value of maple syrup, and WHY it has the antioxidants it has…fascinating! Mother Nature really knows what she's doing. Bottom line, yes it's a carbohydrate, but in moderation it can be beneficial.

Here are some recipes from Green Mountain's kitchen--enjoy!

Apple Cider Dressing
Serves 16

-------- ------------ --------------------------------

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
4 tablespoons apple cider
4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup maple syrup — b grade
2 tablespoons Calvados
1 pinch salt and pepper
- — - — - — - — - — - — - — - — - -
Apple Salsa
Serves 8
------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 large Apples — diced
1 tablespoon red onion — diced
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon cilantro — minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons olive oil
to taste salt and pepper

Honey-Dijon Dressing

Serves 8

¼ cup honey
¼ cup dijon mustard
¼ cup cider vinegar
3/8 cup canola oil
½ dash salt
½ dash pepper
½ teaspoon oregano

Whisk all ingredients together.

Replace the Dijon with Maple Syrup for Maple Dijon

Maple-Balsamic Vinaigrette

Makes 1 ½ cups

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon mustard
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup canola oil

Blend vinegar, mustard, and maple syrup together.
Slowly add oil until incorporated.

Replace maple syrup with honey for honey-balsamic vinaigrette.

Another great marinade!

Raspberry Maple Poppy Seed Dressing

Makes 1 ½ cups

1 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
½ tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon poppy seeds

salt and pepper to taste
Mix it up and adjust seasonings.
Your slaw may never be the same.

Maple-Glazed Salmon

¼ cup Vermont Maple Syrup
1 tbs. lemon juice
2 tbs. light soy sauce
1 tsp. Dijon or stone-ground mustard
½ tsp. finely chopped gingerroot, if desired
1 ¼-pound salmon fillet
2 tbs. thinly sliced scallions

Method of Preparation

1. Mix all ingredients except salmon and scallions.

2. Cut salmon fillet into 4 serving pieces. Place fish in shallow glass or plastic dish. Drizzle marinade over fish reserving about ¼-cup marinade to serve over cooked fish. Refrigerate about 30 minutes.

3. Heat oven to 400© F. Remove fish from marinade; set aside marinade. Place fish in baking dish. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, basting occasionally with marinade, until fish flakes easily with fork.

4. To serve, drizzle reserved ¼-cup marinade over fish; top with scallions.

Variation:

Grilled Maple-Glazed Salmon: Instead of baking, place on grill rack, cover and grill fish 5 to 6 inches from medium coals 4 minutes. Turn fish; brush with marinade; cover and grill about 4 minutes longer or until fish is opaque and flakes easily with fork.
Red Beet Vinaigrette
Makes 1 1/2 cups

1/4 cup beet powder
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
2 tablespoons maple syrup
black pepper — to taste
3/4 cup canola oil

Add beet powder, vinegar, & mustard to blender. Blend until all powder is incorporated into the vinegar. Add syrup & blacck pepper, blend again to mix. With blender running, slowly add canola oil.

We know you all love recipes and inspiration, so we are excited to be joining a group of bloggers that will provide you even more of what you're looking for!

Recipe Redux is a monthly blogfest showcasing the creativity of registered dietitians who love to cook. At the beginning of the month we are each given a theme to work with, and on the 21st of each month, our creation relating to that challenge is posted, along with links to all of the other recipes our colleagues have provided.

Dietitians participating in this club agree to focus on at least one of the following in their recipes.

• reduction in overall calories and/or sugar
• increase in fiber
• lowering of saturated fat and/or increase in mono- or poly-unsaturated fats
• reduction in sodium/salt from processed foods
• showcases at least one food group mentioned by the Dietary Guidelines as the basis of a healthy diet: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy products, seafood and beans

Our challenge this month was to create something using either maple syrup or honey. I decided to use one of my favorite treats on a cold night, champurrado, as the basis for which to create Mexican Oatmeal. Champurrado is a hot drink traditionally made with masa (the cornmeal you use to make tortillas), flavored with all of the spices native to Mexico (chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla, fennel seed, and some type of sweetener). All of these are beneficial for inflammation and insulin resistance, so adding them to oatmeal makes a perfect hormone-friendly breakfast!
I simply took those spices, switched out the masa for oatmeal and created the following breakfast you can make in your microwave. Think Mexican Hot Chocolate and oatmeal all mixed together…yummy, healthy, and full of energy to get you through to lunch!

Buen apetito!

Mexican Hot Chocolate Oatmeal

1/2 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup 1% milk
1 wedge Abuelita Mexican chocolate*
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Remove, stir until chocolate is completely dissoved, and microwave for one minute more.

Serves 1

Nutrition information 330 calories, 6 grams of fat, 3 grams saturated fat, 55 grams carbohydrate, 5 grams fiber, 13 grams protein, 7 mg cholesterol, 111 mg sodium

*You can use any dark chocolate, really, I just chose this one because it's what I keep around to make Mexican hot chocolate. The darker the chocolate the better…vegan chocolates will give you more antioxidant power as milk tends to bind the beneficial compounds and render them metabolically unavailable.

We seem to have this mentality that if it's an antioxidant worth our attention, that it had to come from a faraway place. If it wasn't handpicked by a silent monk, or floated miles down a rainforest river, it couldn't possibly be good, right?

I've never believed that. Mother Nature is far smarter, and it always seemed to me that she'd be sure to put antioxidant gifts in many places. I recently blogged about purple corn, which grows at altitude in Peru, where there is a need for extra protection from the sun's radiation. But closer to home, we have resveratrol in California grapes. Even here in the Southwest, we have hibiscus, also rich in anthcyanins. (For that reason, I've come to call it the Mexican blueberry!)

My theory was further strengthened at the Natural Products Expo, where I learned about a gem from the plains of Saskatchewan. Originally known as Saskatoon berries, and now being marketed as Prairie Berries, these Canadian fruits have a higher oxygen radical absorbence capacity (ORAC) score than blueberries, the fruit most often making the top ten lists of foods you should have on a regular basis.

Prairie berries have been eaten for generations by Native Americans and early settlers. They were often pounded into dried meat to make pemmican, which is similar to beef jerky.

Prairie berries are very similar to blueberries in taste. We were able to try the dried as well as thawed frozen berries. I really liked the flavor.

These berries are not widely available as I write this. The representatives we met were at the Expo to generate interest in them as a food ingredient. They do have a few products for sale on their website. I'm hoping that future Expos will be showcasing food bars, granolas, trail mixes, etc., using these North American superfruits.

Remember, an antioxidant doesn't hold its power based on how many miles it had to travel to get to you. It's about what it does to those free radicals!

I once had to use crutches for 2 months, with absolutely no weight bearing on the injured leg. All I could think of that whole time was walking again. The day I finally got the go-ahead, I threw down my crutches…and my leg wouldn't respond. Because I had not used all the body parts that are needed to coordinate the task, they had forgotten how to do something I took for granted. It was a great reminder to not take things for granted and to never lose respect for the many wonderful things I am designed to be able to do.

I love helping people pursue health. But one think I dislike about working in medicine is all the focus on what is wrong…at the expensive of remembering what is right.

So today, I wanted to take a post and challenge you to think about, and take a moment to be grateful for, the many things your body did for you today. It doesn't make the problems any less important, at all. It is just a way of putting those problems into proper perspective.

Did your body…

…smell a spring flower?
…hug a loved one?
…inhale lungful after lungful of oxygen to nourish your muscles and brain?
…laugh at a joke?
…read an e-mail?
…remember how to get you to work?
…carry a bag of groceries?
…caress a puppy?
…digest your lunch?
…hum a favorite song?
…support you as you stood up from your desk chair?
…let you know that you needed to scratch an itch?
…support your weight and balance you as you ran your errands?
…pump blood through your heart and blood vessels all day long, even when you were not consciously thinking about it?
…remember how to spell your name as you signed that credit card receipt?
…sort through all the vitamins and minerals and antioxidants in all the food you ate and send each one exactly to where was needed?
…maintain a constant temperature?
…remember the difference between a square and a circle?
…filter toxins from your blood using your kidneys?
…heal a wound?
…prompt you to instinctively use your brakes when the traffic light turned red?
…coordinate your fingers through all the typing tasks you asked it to do with your computer?

Then you are, indeed, quite amazing. Celebrate yourself. Use your talents, skills, and abilities to do good. Treat yourself with respect. As such a miraculous creation, you deserve nothing less.

For more inspiration, check out this interview by my friend Isabelle Tierney.

Today, my post is devoted to a special project promoting registered dietitians. I am cohosting, with dietitian Renata Mangrum, the first-ever Registered Dietitian blogfest, aimed at showcasing to the Internet-surfing public the many things dietitians do and can do to help you with your quest for help. Listed below my entry is a list of links to other blogs written by other dietitians that you can visit to see the many things my friends and colleagues do within this profession.

inCYST was created precisely because I realized there was so much misinformation about polycystic ovary syndrome. Not only was it not HELPING women with PCOS to get better, some of the information seemed to have potential to actually HURT those women.

So I started this network as a means of putting together a team of professionals whose mission and knowledge was evidence-based and cohesive.

What has developed out of that has been far more than I ever could have envisioned when I sat down to do this. Several of our network members have PCOS themselves. Several others have gone through their own issues with infertility. Others have family members with mental health diagnoses, whose treatments for those diagnoses have affected their hormone function.

So as we grow, we are becoming a network of practitioners who happen to be people first, and practitioners second. I love that, because it means we've been there, we know how it can feel to have PCOS and its many associated problems, and we're committed to helping provide accurate information wrapped in a compassionate package.

I can't think of anything better I could be devoting my work and my career to. I hope you enjoy our blog…and I hope you enjoy getting to know some of the many colleagues participating in our blogfest today!

Warmest regards,

Monika M. Woolsey, MS, RD
Founder, inCYST Network for Women with PCOS

Beyond Prenatals — Food vs. Supplements and Real Advice vs. Fake Advice
Annette Colby — No More Diets! A Registered Dietitian Shares 9 Secrets to Real and Lasting Weight Loss
Ashley Colpaart — Dietitians working in food policy, a new frontier
Diana Dyer — There and Back Again: Celebration of National Dietitian Day 2009
Marjorie Geiser — RD Showcase for National Registered Dietitian Day — What we do
Cheryl Harris — Me, a Gluten Free RD!
Marilyn Jess — National Registered Dietitian Day--RD Blogfest
Julie Lanford — Antioxidants for Cancer Prevention
Renata Mangrum — What I'm doing as I grow up…
Liz Marr — Fruits and Veggies for Registered Dietian Day: Two Poems
Meal Makeover Moms' Kitchen — Family Nutrition … It's our"Beat"
Jill Nussinow — The Registered Dietitian Lens I Look Through
Wendy Jo Petersen — March 11 is our day to shine!
Diane Preves — Registered Dietitians and the White House Forum on Health Reform
Andy Sarjahani — Dr. Seuss Tribute continued: Green Eggs and Ham and a Sustainable Food System
Rebecca Scritchfield — Big Tips from a"Big Loser"
Anthony Sepe — RD Showcase: Registered Dietitian Day, March 11, 2009
Kathy Shattler — RD Showcase for Nutri-Care Consultation
UNL-Extension, Douglas/Sarpy County — Nutrition Know How — Making Your Life Easier
Jane Zingaro — My life as a Registered Dietitian
http://workinggreenmom.blogspot.com/2009/03/my-life-as-registered-dietitian.html

Last week on the PCOS Challenge Radio Show, I was asked about the relationship between CoQ10 and fertility. I promised Sasha I would investigate the issue, since I did not have an informed answer on the tip of my tongue. Here is that answer!

My gold standard for information is peer-reviewed literature in the National Library of Medicine database. When I used the keywords,"CoQ10" and"PCOS", there were no studies listed. When I used the keywords,"CoQ10" and"fertility", 16 different references appeared, but none of those references were about fertility in women. Two studies did report an association between low CoQ10 levels and miscarriage.

When I used the keywords,"fertilization" and"CoQ10", abstracts from the list of studies done on men were all that appeared.

Bottom line: CoQ10 could be important for conception and maintaining pregnancy, but there have been very few studies on the topic, and none of them that I found had a recommended dose. It may be important with this particular supplement to consider the father's regimen as well.

What is CoQ10, anyway? CoQ10 is an antioxidant made by our own bodies. As the Mayo Clinic writes, CoQ10 levels are reported to decrease with age and to be low in patients with some chronic diseases such as heart conditions, muscular dystrophies, Parkinson's disease, cancer, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS. Since PCOS is a pre-diabetic, inflammatory condition, it makes sense that there would be interest in its role in this diagnosis as well. The link I provided above also evaluates the strength of the evidence supporting the use of CoQ10 for a variety of medical conditions.

For adults, Mayo also reports a dose 50-1,200 milligrams of CoQ10, in divided doses, by mouth, to be what was commonly reported.

Even though CoQ10 may help prevent miscarriage, it has also been known to reduce blood glucose levels. This can be a plus…but when another life is being taken into consideration, and the detailed effects of exactly how blood glucose responds to CoQ10 in supplemental amounts, given the fact that the use of CoQ10 has not really been studied during pregnancy, my first inclination is to not recommend it for women with PCOS who are trying to conceive and who may be pregnant without knowing it.

CoQ10 levels have been found to be lower in people using certain medications, such as statins (which lower cholesterol), beta-blockers (which stabilize heart rate), and blood pressure medications. If you are not trying to conceive and you are on medications in any of these categories, it wouldn't hurt to ask your pharmacist and physician about the potential benefits of supplementation.

CoQ10 is an antioxidant. It makes sense to me that in an inflammatory condition such as PCOS, there would be a risk of lower levels. But rather than view this as a situation where you have PCOS because you have low levels of CoQ10, I encourage you to consider whether your CoQ10 levels are lower than they should be, because of choices you are making that promote inflammatory processes. This blog is full of information about ways to slow down inflammation (which, in essence, is accelerated aging). There are many things you can do which can head off the need for even needing a supplement.

And you thought this potentially magical compound was going to replace the need for healthy eating, activity, stress management, and sleep hygiene choices. Cyster friends, if that was true, you wouldn't have spent all that money on all that CoQ10 and still be here looking for another answer. Dang!

Mancini A, Leone E, Festa R, Grande G, Silvestrini A, de Marinis L, Pontecorvi A, Maira G, Littarru GP, Meucci E. Effects of testosterone on antioxidant systems in male secondary hypogonadism. J Androl. 2008 Nov-Dec;29(6):622-9. Epub 2008 Jul 17.

Littarru GP, Tiano L. Bioenergetic and antioxidant properties of coenzyme Q10: recent developments. Mol Biotechnol. 2007 Sep;37(1):31-7. Review.

Li W, Li K, Huang YF. [Biological function of CoQ10 and its effect on the quality of spermatozoa]. Zhonghua Nan Ke Xue. 2006 Dec;12(12):1119-22. Review. Chinese.

Mancini A, De Marinis L, Littarru GP, Balercia G. An update of Coenzyme Q10 implications in male infertility: biochemical and therapeutic aspects. Biofactors. 2005;25(1-4):165-74. Review.

Li K, Shi Y, Chen S, Li W, Shang X, Huang Y. Determination of coenzyme Q10 in human seminal plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography and its clinical application. Biomed Chromatogr. 2006 Oct;20(10):1082-6.

Sheweita SA, Tilmisany AM, Al-Sawaf H. Mechanisms of male infertility: role of antioxidants. Curr Drug Metab. 2005 Oct;6(5):495-501. Review.

Balercia G, Mosca F, Mantero F, Boscaro M, Mancini A, Ricciardo-Lamonica G, Littarru G. Coenzyme Q(10) supplementation in infertile men with idiopathic asthenozoospermia: an open, uncontrolled pilot study. Fertil Steril. 2004 Jan;81(1):93-8.

Mancini A, Milardi D, Conte G, Bianchi A, Balercia G, De Marinis L, Littarru GP. Coenzyme Q10: another biochemical alteration linked to infertility in varicocele patients? Metabolism. 2003 Apr;52(4):402-6.

Balercia G, Arnaldi G, Fazioli F, Serresi M, Alleva R, Mancini A, Mosca F, Lamonica GR, Mantero F, Littarru GP. Coenzyme Q10 levels in idiopathic and varicocele-associated asthenozoospermia. Andrologia. 2002 Apr;34(2):107-11.

Ducci M, Gazzano A, Tedeschi D, Sighieri C, Martelli F. Coenzyme Q10 levels in pigeon (Columba livia) spermatozoa. Asian J Androl. 2002 Mar;4(1):73-6.

Palmeira CM, Santos DL, Seiça R, Moreno AJ, Santos MS. Enhanced mitochondrial testicular antioxidant capacity in Goto-Kakizaki diabetic rats: role of coenzyme Q.
Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2001 Sep;281(3):C1023-8.

Sinclair S. Male infertility: nutritional and environmental considerations. Altern Med Rev. 2000 Feb;5(1):28-38. Review.

Alleva R, Scararmucci A, Mantero F, Bompadre S, Leoni L, Littarru GP. The protective role of ubiquinol-10 against formation of lipid hydroperoxides in human seminal fluid. Mol Aspects Med. 1997;18 Suppl:S221-8.

Lewin A, Lavon H. The effect of coenzyme Q10 on sperm motility and function. Mol Aspects Med. 1997;18 Suppl:S213-9.

Angelitti AG, Colacicco L, Callà C, Arizzi M, Lippa S. Coenzyme Q: potentially useful index of bioenergetic and oxidative status of spermatozoa. Clin Chem. 1995 Feb;41(2):217-9.

Mancini A, Conte B, De Marinis L, Hallgass ME, Pozza D, Oradei A, Littarru GP. Coenzyme Q10 levels in human seminal fluid: diagnostic and clinical implications. Mol Aspects Med. 1994;15 Suppl:s249-55.

Noia G, Littarru GP, De Santis M, Oradei A, Mactromarino C, Trivellini C, Caruso A. Coenzyme Q10 in pregnancy. Fetal Diagn Ther. 1996 Jul-Aug;11(4):264-70.

Noia G, Romano D, De Santis M, Cavaliere AF, Straface G, Alcaino S, Di Domenico M, Petrone A, Caruso A, Mancuso S. [The antioxidants (coenzyme Q10) in materno-fetal physiopathology][Article in Italian] Minerva Ginecol. 1999 Oct;51(10):385-91.

The Mediterranean Diet is healthy, it’s true, but it’s not the only healthy way to eat. It just happens to be one that is heavily researched… and therefore marketed by the commodity boards representing foods that grow well in the Mediterranean. It so happens that California, the world’s eighth largest economy, and Chile, a country with a large agricultural tradition, have climates similar to the Mediterranean. Both economies depend on our love of the Mediterranean diet to thrive, and they therefore are a big part of the reason why so much research money has been invested into this way of eating.
I love the Mediterranean diet myself, but I sure don’t want anyone out there from other cultures abandoning their way of eating because it’s Northern European… or African… or Tasmanian. Mother Nature doesn’t play favorites—she makes sure she takes care of her Eskimos just as she nurtures her Italians. I thought it would be fun to survey varieties of cuisines around the world so that no matter what your origin, there’s something out there that is good for you.

I’ll start with German food, which is part of my personal heritage and what I was enjoying for lunch today. I made a salad with vegetables that likely would show up on a German summer salad, including two different types of radishes.

We got rutabagas and potatoes in our box this week, and I made the rutabaga-potato salad recipe our chef created. I had some lowfat chicken-apple bratwurst in the freezer, so thawed and cooked them up to have ready for the rest of the week’s lunches.

And… for dessert, I had some plain yogurt that I ground some Trader Joe’s coffee/chocolate/sugar mix on top of.
Let’s break that down for closer inspection.
Salad My salad had two different kinds of radishes, carrots, onions, celery, and a variety of lettuces. I sprinkled some German dill salad mix on top, then added apple cider vinegar and canola oil before tossing. Radishes: Great for cancer prevention. See my colleague Dr. Chris Wharton’s article on why radishes are so nutritious for more information. That beautiful red color? Comes from antioxidants similar to the ones blueberries get all the credit for. Onions: Very important to German cooking. And they are part of the __________family of vegetables, famous for __________________________-- Lettuce: I mixed several varieties to get more red color, again, to get more antioxidants.
Bratwurst The traditional version is a little bit fatty, but these days there are so many varieties chicken, turkey, and low-fat sausage, it’s easy to make a high-protein, low fat choice. This lunch, I had the green apple/cinnamon chicken variety from Fresh and Easy. Each link only had 110 calories.
Potatoes Potatoes? Yes, potatoes! How many of you stay away from them because you’ve been told they are high glycemic? Well, they are, if you don’t eat them wisely, such as eating them, super-sized, as French fries dripping in pro-inflammatory omega-6 oil.
The poor potato in this situation is not the culprit here, it’s the messenger. If you eat a small baked potato in a balanced meal, you’re doing ok. The potato salad I made has two benefits. Baked and then cooled potatoes contain resistant starch, a form of carbohydrate that is not immediately absorbed into your bloodstream. It passes into your large intestine where it ferments and becomes food for healthy bacteria (food that feeds those bacteria is also called prebiotic). Secondly, the dressing for this salad was vinegar. And as you’ve heard here many times before, vinegar helps to keep your blood sugar stable after meals, potentially as well as metformin. So a little bit of potato salad, without the mayo, holds potential to be PCOS-friendly.
Vinegar One of the strong points of the German diet is the vinegar. In addition to the salad, it’s used in pickled vegetables, sauerkraut, and sauerbraten. If it's sour, it's likely ok to eat!
Cheese Though I didn’t have any with this meal, cheese is something Germans love! A common breakfast is a piece of thinly sliced cheese on a slice of whole kernel rye bread, topped with a tomato. Cheese, remember, in moderation, has been found to be associated with increased fertility. The reason it works in the German diet is because, unlike Americans, Germans don’t shred, smother, and melt it on anything and everything they eat. It’s eaten in small portions and used to accent the rest of the food on the plate.
Berries Germany is pretty far north, meaning in the summer it is a fruit basket of flavor. Currants, strawberries, cherries, apples, peaches, grapes… you name it, someone is growing it. Mit sahne (with cream) is a popular way to serve fruit, and if it’s real cream and it’s minimally sweetened, it’s wonderful treat!
I have to tell you, the German meal I described above left me feeling so full and satisfied I wasn’t hungry until long after sundown. It really reinforced for me the power of eating balanced. Talk to people of German heritage, and they’ll often tell you about a grandparent or great-grandparent who lived, relatively disease-free, into their 90’s. They certainly didn’t get there on 800 calorie diets… perhaps we should be taking this diet a little more seriously instead of discounting it because of its potatoes.

Most of you know that your PCOS is an inflammatory disorder. But if someone asked you what that meant, would you be able to explain it? I've found that it's a pretty meaningless and misleading term to most people. So I like to use a visual. This visual has had such a profound impact on some of my clients that they've printed it out and they hang it on their computers or other prominent place to graphically remind them of the importance of making proactive choices.

Inflammation is a misleading term because most people, when they hear it, tend to think of swelling, as you might experience if you sprain your ankle. In the case of inflammatory disease, it's really more oxidation that we're talking about. (Hence the focus on antioxidants by the supplement industry).

But even then…what is oxidation? It is the metabolic effect of oxygen being broken down. Outside of your body, the easiest illustration I've come up with is rust. When metal reacts with oxygen, and an oxidative process occurs, rust is the result.

It's no different in your body. An inflammatory, or oxidative process, is essentially the rusting out and deterioration of your tissues. It happens when the balance between processes that oxidize outweigh those that do repair work.

One of the most important places where this oxidation has effect is in your brain and nervous system. Oxidative processes are known to destroy neurons! For example, depression, another inflammatory disorder and one which commonly co-exists with PCOS, is known to destroy neurons in the hippocampus, the brain's memory center. And as many of you know, loss of memory, concentration…brain fog…are common side effects of PCOS.

Take a look at this photo. If the balance in your own body is tipped toward inflammation, it's literally like your brain and nervous system are rusting out. Yes, this is your brain on inflammation.

Your job is to reverse that process.

And it can be reversed! Studies also show that the hippocampus rebuilds those lost neurons as an indication of resolving depression.

What to do?

1. Remember that the substance that the brain needs in order to rebuild neurons is DHA. It's not sugar, it's not flax, it's not a vitamin or mineral. It's DHA, the fish oil that is found in fish and marine algae. Dr. Artemis Simopolous, omega-3 expert, has written that treating depression with DHA requires a dose of about 1000 mg per day. That is about 4 times what is recommended on the bottles of most supplements, and eating fish a few times a week is far below that. If you really want to experience the benefits of omega-3's, you likely need to up your dose.

2. You need to remember to take your fish oil! I know, it sounds funny, that in order to improve your memory you need to remember to use the thing that improves your memory…but that's one of the biggest barriers I've seen to PCOS success…consistency. If you cannot put your fish oil next to your milk in the refrigerator, or remember to take it when brushing your teeth, program your computer or smart phone to remind you to do so. I cannot reinforce the importance of consistency.

3. Slow down the rusting out process. Anything that raises metabolism, speeds up the rusting out process. That means extra stress. Sleep deprivation. Diet excesses. Dietary deficiencies. Too much exercise.

4. Eat a variety of foods from a variety of food groups. There are so many antioxidants available to you, none of them is the be-all-end-all…you need to mix it up so you get the most opportunity to benefit from the entire palette.

My hope is that now that you've seen what inflammation is, you will understand why it is so important to take action and do the repair work, then rust-proof yourself against further damage.

The more I read about melatonin the more I think I should have majored in sleep instead of nutrition. Just ran across a research abstract reviewing the many effects melatonin, our sleep hormone, has on hair health.

In addition to being a potent antioxidant, which means it destroys compounds that promote the many symptoms of PCOS, melatonin reduces apoptosis, a process which kills cells in the body.

It's really important to value your sleep. Not getting it is not a sign of drive…or superiority…or success…or a glamorous lifestyle…losing sleep is something you do that accelerates aging and promotes all the nasty things you've come to hate about PCOS. Those of you who are losing hair to your PCOS…should take this very seriously!!!

Fischer TW, Slominski A, Tobin DJ, Paus R. Melatonin and the hair follicle. J Pineal Res. 2008 Jan;44(1):1-15.

Over the weekend I noticed Girl Scout cookies for sale in many places I was out and about. Last year I wrote a fun piece about respectful behavior in the presence of Girl Scout cookies. But the fact remains, they're kind of a food we associate with bingeing.

Despite their"okayness" in moderation, the unfortunate thing is, some of the favorite Girl Scout cookie varieties, a perfectly good ingredient, chocolate, have been packaged in combination with trans (hydrogenated) fats, which aren't really something you want to regularly include in your diet.

Over the weekend, at a street fair, I met Lisa Reinhart, chocolatier from Wei of Chocolate. Lisa's chocolate is very high in cacao content. It's tasty. It's dairy free, vegan, and organic. It's also not the kind of chocolate you are prone to binge on.

An ounce of dark chocolate a day, according to experts, because of its antioxidant content…is as heart-healthy as a baby aspirin. Tell me you'd rather have a daily aspirin over a daily dose of delicious chocolate!

On her website, Lisa has compiled 6 Tips for Choosing Healthy Chocolate. You can use these guidelines when shopping for healthy chocolate wherever you live. If you can't find it, or you'd like to try the healthy Wei variety, you can order it on their website.

Chocolate, real chocolate, is definitely something you do to be good to yourself. It doesn't to be a food or choice residing in your"bad" column, something you have a love-hate relationship with, or something you have to give up in order to be healthy.

Trust me, if that was the case…if I had to tell you readers to give up chocolate…I'd surely have to reconsider my career choice.: )