I don't know if it's because so many women with PCOS are struggling with weight, or if it's the attitude that health practitioners often have toward people working on weight issues (negative and judgmental), or what, but I meet and hear from many women who overlook activity possibilities that don't involve pushing yourself, in a very punitive way, to the point where exercise is painful and lacking in pleasure.
The Biggest Loser certainly doesn't help that mentality. If I have to see one more person pushed to the point of vomiting by a verbally abusive trainer who justifies that attitude by saying"This is what they come here for," I think I'll vomit myself.
But I digress.
Exercise should be challenging, and sometimes you'll feel sore, but it shouldn't feel like punishment.
One of the exercises I love to recommend is yoga. There are many reasons why yoga is helpful to PCOS. 1. It increases flexibility. If you haven't exercised much in awhile, your flexibility has likely diminished, and you're more prone to injury. The last thing you need, when you're just starting to take care of yourself, is to knock yourself out of commission with that! 2. Yoga can help to alleviate depression. And in turn, when you're less depressed, you are less likely to crave sugar, or to binge. 3. Yoga is good for improving circulation to your internal organs, including the reproductive ones. 4. It helps to release that pain-causing lactic acid I wrote about yesterday. 5. It helps to increase range of motion and fluidity in joints. 6. It helps you to improve your posture and stand taller, which can help you to have a longer, leaner look. 7. It reduces stress hormone levels. 8. It improves focus and concentration. 9. It can reduce cholesterol. 10. It can reduce symptoms of asthma, back pain, and arthritis, other inflammatory conditions often found in women with PCOS.
I'll be writing about various aspects of yoga throughout the week. But for now, just consider that even though cardiovascular exercise and strength training are important, you don't have to kill yourself with those, and exercises that don't emphasize those have benefit, too!
A few weeks ago I was visiting my parents in Tucson. You could tell the holidays were coming, because the corner lots were all occupied by chili ristra vendors. These chilis, popular in the Southwest, are crafted into artistic wreaths and strands that hang on doors, gates, and walls, everywhere you look. Traditional wisdom says that a house with a ristra hanging out front is a happy household.
I thought this would make a fun food for a holiday greeting, and perhaps if we hung a ristra on this blog, we'd radiate electronic happiness and goodwill.
What is so great about chilis? Well…what isn't?
They are a great anti-inflammatory. Capsaicin, a compound in chilis, has been found to delay the onset of arthritis, and to be therapeutic for diabetic neuropathy. Both of these conditions are more likely to be issues in people prone to inflammatory disorders.
Chilis can reduce cholesterol and heart attack risk. They can reduce the risk of diabetes.
From a practical standpoint, chilis make food interesting. It's easy to eat healthfully if you like what you're eating!
Here is a recipe for Mexican Red Chile Sauce, a staple in New Mexico and excellent on pork…or leftover turkey.
Whether you like Mexican, Szechuan, Indian, or Thai food, don't forget the chilis.
Over the past few years, oxygen facials have gained popularity, particularly with celebrities, as the path to more youthful skin. In a nutshell, these facials entail forcing oxygen that contains skin-healthy nutrients using compressed air.
When I first heard of these facials, working so much in the area of antioxidants, free radicals, and inflammation, which all accelerate the aging process, I couldn't help but wonder what adding all of that oxygen might have the potential to do. (There is a reason oxygen and oxidize sound so similar…oxidation is the damage done to tissues when deteriorating oxygen molecules are allowed to run loose in the body.)
My concern with this procedure has always been that since oxygen is natural, and we need it to survive, that people would buy these facials not understanding that too much oxygen may actually be harmful.
My second thought was that the force of the compressed air, applied continuously over time, may actually do more damage to fragile facial tissue, than the potential help all of the compounds it delivers, might provide.
The procedure has not been FDA-tested, so no one really knows for sure. So because there is immediate effect, and no one is going to report negative effects of such a profitable procedure unless legally required to, it's a very popular service in high-end beauty salons.
These are not inexpensive treatments, either. One California salon, on its website, advertises this service at $250 a visit. And since the recommended protocol is once a week for 6 weeks, then once a month thereafter, the first year of facials is going to cost $3600 annually.
Turns out, I wasn't the only skeptic. Apparently, the"proven effective" clinical testing often used to market these procedures refers to hyperbaric oxygen treatment, which these treatments are not (even though their marketing often says they are.)
In the words of beautymagonline.com, "why would we want to force the oxygen past the lipid bi-layers under pressure to an area where we really need to control any oxidation? As mentioned previously, oxygen as an energy providing fuel is delivered to the dermal cells via the microcirculation along with other vital nutrients. It is a critical balance. The fact that other topical oxygen bearing applications (such as hydrogen peroxide and oxygenated purified water) have lost favour with skin professionals due to free radical issues makes one wonder why less knowledgeable aestheticians and therapists have not made the connection between the similarity of the two modalities."
The FDA actually has a warning on its website stating that dispensing oxygen in medical concentrations, without a prescription, is not in FDA compliance.
That's the bad news. The good news? There is a new product on the market that delivers some of the same nutrients in a much kindler, gentler way…and it comes in chocolate cinnamon, chai, and vanilla flavors.: )
Nightly beauty by Beauty Foods, a nutricosmetic, that you can drink just before bedtime, contains BioCell Collagen, a patented combination of collagen and hyaluronic acid that has GRAS status (FDA Generally Regarded As Safe) actually has been clinically tested, and has been proven effective for enhancing skin quality. And not just for better, younger looking skin…for arthritis too! And daily use of this supplement, over a year, costs about $800 plus shipping.
So switching from oxygen facials to Nightly Beauty, alone, would save you about $2800.
Well, that is, if you don't calculate in the potential $325 you'll not be spending on Methotrexate (which has the nasty side effect of interfering with skin cell regeneration!)
Oh! And if the Alpha Calming waves and l-theanine help you to pitch your Ambien prescription as well, that is an extra ~ $230 you'll be saving.
I'm not even going to try to calculate the potential for improved insulin resistance and weight management, which happens in people who control their inflammation and stress, get adequate sleep, and consume a little bit of protein at bedtime.
All I know is, when I used the product for a month, I loved what it did for my skin, my eyes, my sleep…and I've really hated the washout period (not taking any of the product to see if the changes reverse). They did reverse, and now that I'm done being a guinea pig I'm ready to get back on the program.
Of course, we have to be sure the attorneys reading this post know we're not advising you to stop taking medications you've been prescribed. But when you look at a simple nutritional answer to a bunch of inflammation-related problems that the drug company would have you thinking is far more complicated — if it can't hurt and it may actually help, physically, mentally, and financially, why not try it and see if your physician can be convinced to write a few less scripts with your name on them?
If you'd like to try Beauty Foods for yourself, we're now offering it in our eMarket, where until Labor Day, 100% of proceeds go to our research institute, where we eventually can work to scientifically evaluate products just like this.
Yesterday I introduced you to Nightly Beauty by Beauty Foods, a nutricosmetic primarily designed for improving skin health and appearance. I shared my own experience with this product while investigating its potential for PCOS. Hopefully my photos got your attention enough to want to read more! Today I'd like to share some of the science behind my thoughts.
Women with PCOS are struggling with inflammation. It hits everywhere, not just the ovaries. It causes diabetes, heart disease, depression. That much you know. It also ages skin more quickly than it should be aging. So other body tissues break down and aren't readily replaced. Your most important strategy, of course, is to reduce the inflammatory process with the kinds of choices we encourage here on this blog.
Nightly Beauty enhances that process with a few additional ingredients, BioCollagen and hyaluronic acid that aren't easy to correct with simple dietary changes.
Collagen
Collagen is one of the major components of skin. It's only been recently that it's been confirmed through research that supplementing the diet with collagen actually helps skin collagen. Right as we were preparing to post these blog entries, BioCell Technology, maker of the collagen in Nightly Beauty, distributed a press release announcing that the first human study of their collagen supplement confirmed that it actually does increase collagen levels in skin (types I and III). In their words,"results of the study showed that a majority of the participants experienced a remarkable improvement in skin texture, together with hydration, reduced scaling, and improved blood microcirculation".
Of course, since I've had the opportunity to experience this myself as I reported yesterday, I love this! However, this is just the wonderful side effect. There's something even more important for PCOS. Another inflammatory disorder many of you struggle with is arthritis. And when your joints hurt, you can't exercise. BioCell Collagen supplementation has also been proven to increase collagen type II, which is the type of collagen found in joints. They report that joint discomfort and stiffness in research subjects reduced by as much as 40% in 8 weeks.
Your faces are precious, but your quality of life matters more to me. If you can move, you can help your PCOS. If you can help your PCOS, you're more likely to feel better about yourself. This is the main reason I picked up the phone and called Jacque in the first place, I saw its potential for all of you writing and telling me that your joints hurt and no one was connecting it to your primary problem — inflammation.
Hyaluronic Acid
Hyaluronic acid, or HA, is known in the beauty world as the plumper. Many women take HA supplements to plump their lips. It also pulls water into skin, helping to plump and hydrate.
But did you know, HA is also a major component of the gelatinous fluid in your eyes? It's what helps to hold fluid in the eyeball. I didn't, until I started researching Nightly Beauty. Several months prior, I'd noticed my eyes were feeling dry, despite my faithful use of fish oils and upping my fluid intake. It didn't hit me until I started reading about HA and eyes that not long after I started taking this product my dry eyes started improving. Considerably. So I started reading more. Women with PCOS actually do experience more dry eye syndrome than women who don't.
There is considerable research into ways to deliver more hyaluronic acid to eyes, including eye drops and even controlled-release contact lenses. I'm having trouble finding any research either supporting or negating hyaluronic acid supplementation as a potential route of administration…but I'm not surprised. Nutrition is often an afterthought in research problem solving.
This product has not been researched specifically for dry eyes or for PCOS, but for women who are interested in trying something that has documented benefit for other PCOS-related symptoms and who also have dry eyes, it couldn't hurt to try it. I must state that Beauty Foods is NOT making health claims about this product. I am, in this blog post, reporting my personal experience and connecting research relevant to the product for my specific intended audience, independently of them.
If you do choose to try it, and you experience benefits, please let me know. I'd like to keep a running total of results and perhaps…include it as something we research at our new institute.
If you'd like to try Nightly Beauty for yourself, it's on sale this week at http://www.jpselects.com/. It's also available at http://www.beautyfoods.com/.
Let us know what you think!
Collagen-containing nutricosmetic shown to combat aging. http://www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/ http://www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/Formulation-Science/Collagen-containing-nutricosmetic-shown-to-combat-aging
Bonini S, Mantelli F, Moretti C, Lambiase A, Bonini S, Micera A. Itchy-dry eye associated with polycystic ovary syndrome. Am J Ophthalmol. 2007 May;143(5):763-771. Epub 2007 Mar 23.
Coksuer H, Ozcura F, Oghan F, Haliloglu B, Karatas S. Effects of hyperandrogenism on tear function and tear drainage in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome. J Reprod Med. 2011 Jan-Feb;56(1-2):65-70.
Ali M, Byrne ME. Controlled release of high molecular weight hyaluronic Acid from molecularly imprinted hydrogel contact lenses. Pharm Res. 2009 Mar;26(3):714-26. Epub 2009 Jan 21.
Liu L, Tiffany J, Dang Z, Dart JK, Watson SL, Daniels JT, Geerling G. Nourish and nurture: development of a nutrient ocular lubricant. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2009 Jun;50(6):2932-9. Epub 2008 Dec 13.
