The Hemp Connection:
exercise

I'm pretty good at regular exercising. But I have to admit, I can get into ruts. I run because it's easy and convenient and efficient on a busy day. I use the elliptical if I'm near the gym while I'm out. And I love, love, love to swim! But even that is a little routine, focusing on the same muscle groups while ignoring others.

I was reminded the other day of why I might benefit from mixing it up a little bit. inCYSTer Ivonne Ward invited me to join her at a NIA dancing class. (More on NIA in a future post.) I remembered how much I loved dance when I studied it way back in high school, and how much I love to move to music. I also came home well aware of muscles I haven't been using despite my strenuous workouts, and muscles that were tight from being overly focused on. I felt sore, but wonderfully so!

I'm trying something new this year, trying to mix up my exercise so that no two sessions involve the same activity. Trying to mix it up a little bit more so that my fitness is more well-rounded.

Today, the weather is so beautiful, I'm going to get out the Rollerblades and spin around my neighborhood. I love the rhythm of skating, I find it calming and meditative. And I love how the blades use my legs in different ways than does running. And those boots are heavy enough that it's like a ton of weight lifting for the butt muscles--never a bad thing!

I've been communicating with a very nice woman in Santa Monica who is helping me to figure out how I can add tennis lessons to my work trips over there. I've always wanted to learn tennis, so why not this summer when I will surely have time in a place with great weather?

inCYSTer Dr. Gretchen has been talking about her surfing lessons with such enthusiasm that I am going to make time for some of those as well. I will definitely have to get over my shark phobia for this one, but it looks like so much fun!

Both of these activities will challenge my upper body more, which as I get older is definitely something I need to encourage a strong, healthy spine. Plus, I love having new things to learn. My tennis contact shared with me that something she loves about tennis is that every time you play, you're with a different person who challenges you differently, so it's never the same game. I think I'll like that. Sometimes the runs do get a little tedious.

I was also thinking during NIA yesterday that my dance training may come in handy in a sport requiring coordinated footwork, and vice versa. I will be more motivated to swim if I know it will help me to better enjoy my surfing time.

Tennis and surfing require mindfulness as well. Unlike running, and the other activities I do, where you can kind of zone out and be in another world, you have to be mentally PRESENT, aware of your place in space as well as your surroundings, in order to effectively participate.

It's why I hate the question about what the ultimate exercise is. There isn't really ONE, it's what you'll do most regularly. And I think you'll exercise most regularly if you're interested in what you're doing.

Maybe if you're bored with what you're doing, or only exercise for a few weeks before it drops off again, it's because you're not mixing it up enough. Exercise because it gets you away from the computer, stretches your back, allows you to be social, gets you in touch with nature, helps you sleep…and you are guaranteed to strengthen muscles and bones, and maybe lose weight.

Exercise just to lose weight and well…if that's what you've been doing, maybe that's why you've read this blog post all the way to the end.: )

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?

For more information on calculating your target heart rate as I mention in the video, click here.

I've been chatting with several of our network members the last few weeks about some really fun things they've been doing in the activity department. I'm hoping talking about my own activity this past week will encourage them to get something posted! (You guys know who you are…)

My car needed a major repair that resulted in my being without (gasoline-powered) transportation for a couple of days. And, the garage that did the work was about 10 miles away. I could have used the bus, and actually did for a major trip, but since the weather was so nice, I thought I would get out and enjoy it.

So…when I took the car to the garage, I packed my rollerblades and skated home. I checked out the route, and it turned out, the garage was just a couple blocks away from my favorite greenbelt; therefore, half of my trip was already familiar. Just a few different turns toward home, and voila! I had my workout in.

I used to cross country ski a lot when I lived in Colorado, and picked up rollerblading when I moved to California and didn't have such great access to snow. It is so fun! I actually had to check my heart rate when I first started because I didn't believe it was actually going anywhere.

Something I really love about rollerblading is the workout it gives my backside. Everytime you push off and lift your boot, it's like lifting a weight. One of those weights that really isn't fun to do in the gym, but you don't notice when you're skating.

I also love the meditative rhythm rollerblading creates. There is something about the back and forth repetition that calms the chaos in my head and allows my more creative thinking to predominate.

By the time I got home…I had a bunch of new ideas for my work, I was relaxed, and later on that night I fell right asleep.

I'm looking forward to what other network members share. It's not about how often you are in the gym, really, it's how much you move your body in general. They've got some great ideas!

That is the number one reason I hear from my clients about why they cannot do yoga. They fear that because of their weight, they are not going to be able to move in a way that is"right".

The good news about yoga is, there is no"right" or"wrong" way to do it! There are plenty of people in those classes with injuries, arthritis, unique anatomical makeups, and sheer lack of flexibility. And they do just fine.

A good yoga class will offer more than one option for a pose, to give each person in that class an opportunity to participate. You can start with…and even stay with…the first option, or if you're feeling like you would like to challenge yourself…try a new option. And even if you can't do the first option, or hold it, the first time around, the effects of your moving your body in new and different ways are still there.

So with yoga, you simply get credit for showing up and trying!

Afraid you can't get through a class? The power of a simple pose can be significant. A simple downward dog (see photo) is associated with the following:

•Increased strength in your arms, shoulders, sides, chest and upper back, while stretching the muscles in your ankles, calves, thighs and lower back.

•Improved digestion.

•Improved symptoms of menopause, and relieved menstrual discomfort.

•Relief from mild depression and stress.

http://hatha-yoga.suite101.com/article.cfm/benefits_and_best_practices_of_downward_dog

If you've never been to a yoga class, you have no idea what you might gain. Give it a try and see what happens!

Yup, you heard it here.
Nope, I’m not telling you to ditch the exercise.
I’m encouraging you to be sure you’re balancing exercise with rest, and not overtraining.
If you’re trying to lose weight, your focus is likely on losing fat. That’s a nice goal, and I’m guessing you’ll feel better about what you see when you look in the mirror if that results from your exercise, but it’s not really the main reason you’re exercising for PCOS.
You need to gain muscle. The more muscle mass you have, the harder it is to be insulin resistant. The act of exercise actually breaks muscle down. It rebuilds during periods of rest. It’s the balance of exercise and rest that matters, way more, than how many hours of exercise you’re actually doing.
It can be a vicious cycle to break out of, because insulin resistance itself actually breaks down muscle. So if it’s been awhile since you’ve actively exercised, and you’re not losing weight the way you’d hoped you would when you committed to the gym, consider that your ratio of muscle to fat is not high enough. Your priority, first and foremost, is to build and maintain that muscle.
Focusing too much on losing fat and overtraining in the process… will undermine your progress.
Exercising too late in the evening, getting up too early in the morning to get to the gym (it’s not uncommon to hear women say they’re up at 3 am to fit in the workout), or simply working out so much and so hard that you’re not sleeping well… are all easy ways to sabotage your success.
Things you need to keep in mind:
You need to eat enough protein so that your body builds muscle mass while you're not active.
2. You need to sleep enough so that you don’t promote insulin resistance.
3. You need to not push yourself so hard that you’ve stopped burning fat—monitor your heart rate!
4. You need to vary the workouts so all muscle groups are involved and have a chance to build up. Also, you need to develop the confidence to trust that PROACTIVE exercising, as opposed to REACTIVE exercising, is your path to success. Too often women with PCOS weigh themselves in the morning and if the weight is not what they want to see, react by doubling, even tripling their scheduled workout time in order to “get control” of the situation.
When you’re exercising with the goal of building muscles to reduce insulin resistance, you understand that overtraining is your enemy. You create an exercise plan that perhaps you even map out on your calendar, that you commit to regardless of how you’re feeling or what the scales says. For example, I just mapped out my spring training schedule. One of my friends and I have decided we’re going to take tennis lessons. We both own businesses, and committing to this ensure that we actually get out and move. I also love to swim, and it’s one way I can stay active as the weather in Arizona gets warm. And, I’ve been wanting to bump up my elliptical workouts and try spin classes. So, for the next three months, on my calendar, every fourth day, I’ve written “tennis”, every fourth day “spin”, every fourth day “swim”… and then I schedule a day off. It’s right there in my planner so when I start scheduling meetings and accepting social invitations, I only schedule in a way that does not take away from that commitment to myself. I varied the exercise to give my different muscle groups a rest, and to give me enough variety to not get bored.
And don’t get me wrong… I do relish the day off! We all need a little bit of laziness, sleeping in, and getting caught up. I find, personally, if I don’t have the day off, I have trouble sleeping and I have trouble keeping up with the appetite. I have designed this program to fit with the way I’ve learned my body works. If I like spin, I’ll keep it, or I may prioritize swimming during the heat of the summer. We’ll see. I kind of need to mix it up over time to stay interested.
The point of this post is, the reactive and self-punitive approach many of you have toward exercise, because of your focus on reducing body fat, is your absolute biggest enemy. Focus on building muscle, even though it may mean seeing your weight increase on occasion. It’s reflecting muscle, not fat, and it’s a good sign.
Muscle, muscle, muscle!

I went to a birthday party last night and was reminded, looking at the dance floor, how much fun exercise can be. The people out there were not dressed to work out, they were not monitoring their heart rates, and they were not thinking about alternating muscle groups. But they WERE connecting with friends, enjoying some great 60's surf music, working up a sweat, and losing track of how late it was because they were having so much fun.

And if you are in the band, so much the better! Do these guys look like they're gritting their teeth and wishing they were elsewhere? Have you ever seen a drummer's arms?

Don't forget, it can be fun and not involve a gym, weights, sports equipment, or Lycra, and still be good for you!

Just find some cool tunes and move your feet!

Moving along with our new Fitness Friday feature (pun completely intended, ha!)…

…one of the reasons I decided to prioritize bringing qualified exercise professionals into our network, is because over the years I have seen a lot of everything-but-best-practices in this industry. Women with PCOS are not, in general, treated very well by fitness professionals.

It is a bad combination in general. Women with PCOS often don't feel great about how they look. A lot of people working in the fitness industry, honestly, don't feel great about themselves, either, and they often focus on their physical appearance at an extreme level to compensate for that.

Of course, if you have PCOS, you may be living with the fantasy that if I could only look like THAT…I wouldn't feel so badly about myself…and you may be projecting the false assumption onto an apparently fit person that they have credibility to help you, that they may not have.

We are working on creating a training to increase the number of truly qualified fitness professionals out there, but until we have that available, I wanted to give you a list of things you can ask while interviewing potential trainers to see if they are a good fit.

1. What are their credentials? Have they taken the time to formally study their claimed area of expertise? Or have they just lived in a gym most of their lives? If they cannot name a credentialed fitness organization that they have taken the time to study with, they do not deserve your time or money. You wouldn't go to a doctor who was self-taught…you shouldn't lower that standard for your trainer.

2. What is their experience with PCOS? Have they formally studied the disease? Who is the physician they refer to? What physicians refer to them? No trainer is qualified to take on your case alone, without being part of a comprehensive healthcare team taking care of the other parts of the problem. If they cannot give you names of registered dietitians and endocrinologists with whom they have productive relationships, they are not qualified to work with you.

3. Can the trainer provide references? And by references, I mean other women with PCOS who enjoyed and benefited from the experience.

4. If the trainer is not a formally trained nutrition professional, are they willing to refrain from giving nutrition/diet advice and/or selling supplements? Are they willing to endorse whatever food choices your chosen nutrition professional is helping you to make, even if those choices are not the ones they would personally make for themselves?

5. Will there be some sort of initial benchmark evaluation to see where your program needs to start and from which progress made can be measured? Is your program being customized to accommodate your personal energy levels, blood glucose trends, medications, etc.?

6. Will your trainer listen to and accommodate any incidents of pain or discomfort? This is a tough one, as the most important job of a trainer is to push you out of your physical comfort zone. That being said, they need to be confident enough in their work to trust that letting up or modifying the workout in response to pain is sometimes the best choice. It is never right to push someone through pain that may be causing permanent damage, or creating a negative association with activity.

7. Does this trainer"get" the many phobias and anxieties you may have to overcome in order to be comfortable with exercise? I'm not just talking about the poor body image, the social anxiety, the fear of failure. A little discussed fact about exercise is that for women who have been sexually traumatized, physical exertion can retraumatize them. A trainer needs to be sensitive to this and be professional with language, body language, and how they touch their client in order for the experience to feel safe. If your nonverbal vibes are telling you there is a problem with someone, it is perfectly ok to listen to that and look for someone else.

8. Who is sponsoring this trainer's work--in other words--who subsidizes their lifestyle? How does that commercial relationship influence what they say to you? If your needs run counter to what that trainer is being paid to promote, who are his/her loyalties with?

The reality is, most trainers really don't make much money on training. They make money on endorsements. Endorsement deals often dictate what the person in that deal can say about nutrition and fitness. I know, because I have been offered several. I turned them down, because everyone that came my way, as quickly as it would have increased my standard of living, would have required me to alter the messages I give to all of you. I made the choice not to do business with any company that would require me to give them control of my freedom of speech.

Ironically, companies paying out endorsement deals do so because they believe that having a popular fitness professional promoting their product gives their product credibility. And the trainers live with the belief that they are more credible because they have landed an endorsement deal, when in many cases, they have simply made public the mentality that they are willing to alter their advice for the right price. I encourage you to ask your potential fitness coach who their commercial relationships are with, and whether or not they could give you advice that was best for you, even if that advice entailed not promoting their sponsor's product…or more importantly…a competitor's product. If they cannot…their priority is not your health, it is their personal financial income.

I am thinking of creating a letter that you all could download to give to a trainer that would summarize what you will need, kind of a contract between the two of you, that would allow inCYST to do most of the talking or negotiating for you. There are some trainers who are just bad news, but there are others who simply need awareness. If you think that letter would be helpful, please leave a comment here.

If you have had negative experiences with a fitness professional, I would love to hear from you. The list of questions above comes from my years of experience working with the fitness industry, but I know there are a lot of things I don't know about. I do know, when I have this conversation with women with PCOS, they always share experiences of inappropriate interactions that they had kept to themselves, mostly because they hadmfelt somehow that they deserved to be poorly treated because they were out of shape.

Remember, the fitness industry is quite competetive and there are far more aspiring trainers out there than there are people who need them. Trainers need YOU far more than you need THEM. You can ask for, and expect, professionalism, respect, genuine compassion, and a minimum level of accurate knowledge about the diagnosis you live with 24/7. You don't EVER have to tolerate disrespect because your current physical condition is a place you have chosen to improve.

We've been working on building our reputation in the area of fitness to complement our expertise in other areas. One project I've been working on is coordinating our certified exercise professionals in a weekly feature called Fitness Friday.

I have a master's degree in kinesiology myself, and I've run exercise testing labs in several fitness facilities. I have come to believe that there is a lot of misinformation and quackery in this profession. There is no required license to be a personal trainer. You can get a certification, but it is not necessary. And because of that, there are a lot of people out there who like to hang out in the gym and want to justify it by making a living at it. Their reasons for being there are not always healthy — they can have an eating disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, compulsive exercise behavior…a whole host of things. And when you're a woman with PCOS, it's easy to look at some of those people and assume that if they look like they do, and you look like you do, that they must know what they are doing.

Au contraire!

The rules for exercising with PCOS are very different from those that work for other people. In fact, often times, following what an uninformed fitness professional advises you, when you have PCOS, can work in the opposite way that you want it to. That counterintuitive process can flush a lot of unhealthy attitudes to the surface in the trainer such as disdain for fat. All you have to do is watch The Biggest Loser to see it. There can be a tendency to act as if the person reaching out for help deserves to be yelled at, pushed past a reasonable limit, etc., just because they've got fitness goals to achieve.

Fitness professionals, I have found, often have very dysfunctional ideas about food. They can be rigid, limiting, and encourage all-or-nothing behavior.

We've tightened up our own rules at inCYST about who can and who cannot be marketed as a professional with this expertise, as we've learned what does and does not work with our own mentality here.

Hopefully, as you read the Friday blog posts, written by professionals who have taken the time to formally study the science behind exercise, above and beyond the inCYST formal training, as well as understand what the complicated environment that a hormone imbalance like PCOS to mess with those rules, you'll begin to develop a better ability to discern just who in the fitness world has YOUR best interest…and health…in mind.

I'm really excited to be starting this feature as we have such a great team of experts in this area you need to be hearing from, be benefitting from, and to be inspired by!

Not a bad way to start off the New Year!

The most common question I get as an Herbalista is, "What can I do to feel well again?" There are many things we can do to incorporate wellness in to our body, mind, soul, and earth and I use this 5-step acronym that I've developed to simply my options: FHEEL F= Food

The first step to feeling better is to examine what we're fueling up on. It tends to be in our best interested to avoid fried and fatty foods in general, but especially so for those of us with PCOS. Instead, aim to eat plenty of fresh vegetables and healthy proteins with some fruit, dairy, and whole grains sprinkled in. Try and get a rainbow-colored variety of foods in your diet, striving for more of the darker/richer colored foods (kale, spinach, dandelion greens, mustard green, collard greens, broccoli, beets, blackberries, blueberries, pomegranates, squashes, sweet potatoes, carrots) and less of the lighter and whiter foods (citrus, raspberries, strawberries, bananas, pastas, rice, sugar, white potatoes, butter, dairy).

H= Herbs

If a whole foods diet isn't giving you everything you need in the moment, adding herbs can help! Start with adding simple spices to your meals like garlic (detoxifying herb that is great for the digestive system), rosemary (supports the brain and is antibacterial), and ginger (supports the circulatory and digestive system and is helpful for migraines). Other culinary spices that are easy to incorporate are cinnamon, turmeric, pepper, fennel, cayenne, thyme, sage, and clove. I highly recommend talking with a Holistic Healthcare practitioner, Naturopath, Herbalist, or other trained botanical medicine professional about herbs that can be specifically helpful to your desired wellness goals.

E= Essences and Essential Oils

Both Flower Essences and Essentials Oils are lovely tools that really support more the emotional, spiritual, and mental journey of wellness. Flower Essences have no reaction to medications, allergies, children or pets and work specifically on our current state of emotions. There are as many brands as there are flowers, from all parts of the world, so please read up on the companies as well as the products before choosing an essence. Essential oils are potent blend of botanical oils that have specific methods of delivery. Because there are highly concentrated amounts of naturally occurring chemicals in essential oils, it is extremely important to handle them with an informed and delicate manner. As always, consult with an Aromatherapist or Flower Essence practitioner for recommendations.

E= Energy Therapies and Exercise

When there still seems to be components of our wellness that need some extra attention, energy therapies and exercise can be very beneficial. Research the many benefits of Massage Therapy, Yoga, Acupuncture, Reiki, Polarity, Reflexology, Circuit Training, and many other healing arts and fitness programs. With any area of wellness, there are both reputable, competent companies and practitioners of theses energy therapies, as well as not so reputable nor competent companies and practitioners. Choose wisely after researching local resources in your community. I like to ask where they received their training from, how long have they have been in practice, and also what the whole process is from start to finish before signing up or paying for an appointment. Other energy therapies and exercises that can be helpful are: meditation/prayer, affirmations, journaling, hypnotherapy, life coaching, joining a gym/health club, getting a personal trainer, and dance styles like zumba/jazzercise/ballroom/swing/two-step and line dancing.

L= Lifestyle Changes

Making some more intense changes in lifestyle habits may be necessary in order to achieved our desired wellness goals. Most often, habits like smoking, drinking, eating too much fast food or snacks, not exercising, drinking soda and sugary beverages,and having too much or too little sleep can tremendously impact the state of our health. When setting your wellness goals, really emphasize the reasons for choosing those specific goals and concentrate on those reasons during the challenging moments. Tell your friends and family about your wellness goals the lifestyle changes you are making to help keep you accountable and motivate you during the ups and downs. Create a vision board or goal chart to showcase your progress. There are many tools and apps available to help you at any age or stage of wellness and life so identify those goals, develop a route to wellness, seek advice if you need help meeting those goals and chart your progress to see how well you're doing and how close you are to meeting and exceeding those goals!

I leave you with this last tidbit to remember, words of wisdom I try to live by: Wellness is a Journey, Not a Destination. Strive for Progress, Not Perfection… Know that every step, every breath, and each moment counts as progress, so long as we consciously choose to be well.

~Choose to be and"fheel" well-- The Herbalista

Hello everyone, we have so many new people coming to us through Twitter and Facebook, asking what our diet and exercise recommendations are, and then when they come, they are faced with a tremendous task of plowing through hundreds of blog posts I promise I will better organize in 2012…I thought I would summarize what we stand for and what we don't stand for.

If you ever hear differently from anyone in our network, I do need to know. The goal of building a network is to know what our non-negotiables are that we all stand for, and then let each individual network member use their creative talents to make it happen in your life.

Here goes.

1. We do not believe in a one-size-fits-all diet, exercise, or lifestyle prescription for PCOS. That means that while some of you may learn that you are gluten intolerant, we do not recommend that all women with PCOS refrain from eating gluten. While some of you may benefit from running, others may find that another form of activity is going to work better. We believe in creating a set of recommendations that are personally relevant to your own situation, biochemistry, likes, and dislikes. We are not out to create an army of Stepford cysters!

2. We do not advocate for any one type of diet. We choose to honor your own personal food religion, be it vegan, Paleo, low glycemic, raw…whatever…and assist you with understanding what choices you need to make that honor both your food religion and your biochemical nutritional needs. It's about how to be complete, not which is the best way to be complete. Only you know what works best for you.

3. Put another way, we do not advocate for eliminating large categories of foods (gluten-containing, dairy, meat, cooked) unless we see that there is a genuine, medically-indicated reason for doing so.

4. We believe that PCOS does not respond to extremes of any kind. Extreme calorie restriction, extreme exercise participation, extreme dependence on medication, extreme dependence on supplements. Managing your PCOS is entirely about balance in all of those departments. Our job is to show you how to achieve that balance.

5. We believe that nutrition and exercise can be as counterproductive to your health as not pursuing them. Overzealous dieting and overtraining are as harmful to your hormone balance as are overeating and not exercising. Anyone who tells you that you're simply not dieting hard enough or not exercising hard enough…has not taken the time to study what PCOS is about, and they are running the risk of encouraging you to layer yet another inflammatory condition on top of the tangled hormone web that is already in place. We will never endorse that approach.

6. Some things we do know: Women with PCOS tend to be vitamin D deficient, they tend to have an imbalance in dietary omega-6's and omega-3's, and they often have food sensitivities. But those are factors that can be clinically tested. Your physician can do the vitamin D testing. The omega-3 balance is a home-administered test we can set you up with at inCYST. Food sensitivities can be tested as well, through one of the many inCYSTers who is also LEAP-certified.

7. We believe that PCOS is a generalized inflammatory syndrome. But each woman's core source of inflammation is completely unique and different than every other woman's. We encourage that you invest in a comprehensive consultation to help determine what factors are most important for you. If you try to follow every piece of advice that every person on the Internet tries to give you…you're going to be able to follow it for about 3 days before you run out of money, time, and energy. We're here to help you sort through the information and decide which is relevant to your personal situation.

8. We believe that the main issue is not that there is not information to help your case, but that for whatever reason, you've given up on believing that it can work for you. We're committed, through our research institute, to understanding the physiology and psychology of that resignation so we can work to break through it and motivate you to try things that actually work. (We've knocked a lot of women up! I promise!)

I know there's no secret recipe here, but that is because everyone's recipe is different. Just like my mother's potato salad has bacon and mayonnaise in it, and I adjust mine to include turkey bacon and Greek yogurt…you each are going to have your own recipe for success. To settle for a blanket recommendation, is to accept that you are not unique and special. We simply do not believe that.

Hope this helps, and I hope you take advantage of the incredible knowledge and expertise of the experts who have taken the time to learn as much as they can about PCOS so they can help you chart your course through the haze and maze.

I love to work out. But I am especially sensitive to the fact that the word"exercise" doesn't conjure up the most pleasant thoughts to people who do not regularly do it, or who have been told that they have to do it, or that they need to do it. Or who tried and were humiliated by some comment someone made when they did work up the nerve to go out and try it.

So instead of being one of those nutritionists who presents as someone who came out of the womb wearing Nikes, and serving only to further intimidate you from getting started, I thought I would tell you a little of my own story.

I have not always loved exercise. I have always loved books. My mom loves to tell the story about the time as a child when I was sitting cross-legged on the floor engrossed in reading something. She wanted to spank me for something I'd done, so she asked me to stand up. I did, she spanked me, and I sat down. I never stopped reading the entire time.

These days, being such a reader is what benefits all of you, because I share what I learn in my writing and teaching.

But in first grade, it didn't work out that way. I was always the last kid chosen for teams. I wasn't really encouraged to exercise because I was pegged early on as studious. So I didn't really have a lot of experiences to reinforce that it could be fun.

Fast forward to fourth grade. I joined a softball team. I struck out practically every time I was up, but looking back I think it was because I was so stressed out about failing at the plate that I actually struck out before I even stepped up to bat. The pitcher on that team was frustrated with me, probably because she saw me as dragging the team down. She started to tease me. Which only made things worse.

Finally, my dad told me to imagine that the softball was the pitcher's head. You know what? The next time I stepped up to bat I didn't just hit a home run…I hit a grand slam. I learned that people start to treat you differently when you prove them wrong. And when they had faith in me, and I started to have faith in myself, my batting average started to improve.

Since then, I've started trying different sports. And I learned, much to my surprise, that I'm actually kind of athletic. I don't just love skiing…I LOVE the moguls. I don't just love running, but I LOVE running long distances. There are some sports I don't like so much. But I am empowered now to say I don't like a certain sport, rather than say I don't like ALL sports because I didn't have fun with one.

Even though I now even have a master's degree in kinesiology, I still don't think of myself as an athlete. But I do like to learn and achieve, and sports has become a new place to apply those qualities.

These days, I'm working on my golf game. It's really challenging, but I love it exactly for that. I mentioned to a guy friend of mine that I didn't understand why more women don't play golf. His observation was that the many women he'd tried to interest in the sport were afraid to try it because they wouldn't be perfect the first time out. I can understand where some of these women come from, if their early experiences were like mine. What a loss, to let what other people told you about your athletic potential keep you from learning something with potential to be fun?

Are you keeping yourself from exercise because you don't view yourself as an athlete? Who decided that for you? Do they deserve to keep you from moving, today? Or achieving anything in life, for that matter?

Make this the day the one you put YOUR goals and dreams in charge of how you make decisions. You can be anyone you want to be…an athlete, a student, a friend…if you decide that's what you want to be.

Many of you already know you're insulin resistant, and are receiving medical attention for that. Here are the basic nutrition and lifestyle actions you can take to further help minimize the impact of that issue on your pregnancy success.

1. Move! I'm a distance runner. As much as I love running, however, I have a lot of other activities I love to do. Having a variety of activities to rotate through prevents boredom, and it involves different muscle groups in exercise. I learned to vary after a ski injury that sidelined my running for a year. You don't want that to happen, to become so dependent on one activity that you set yourself up to lose activity completely. These days I run, but I also walk, rollerblade, garden, hike, golf, swim and do yoga. (Ivonne recently talked me into trying a tango class. I think dancing is my new favorite!) Any little thing you can do that tells your body it needs to get better at moving glucose into muscle cells…is what you need to do.

2. Commit yourself to better sleeping habits. Poor sleep, either few hours or bad quality, interferes with insulin function. The clients I work with who prioritize better sleep are the ones who notice feeling better the soonest. It can be a hard one if you love the late night shows, easily get lost in the Internet, or don't set good boundaries with others. But good sleep is one of the most important things you can give yourself. If you search"sleep" in this blog there is a lot of information about how to achieve this.

3. Watch the caffeine. This goes hand in hand with #2. Caffeine in coffee, tea (it's in green tea, too, so be aware), chocolate…it all challenges healthy sleep. It's something you are best to live without during pregnancy anyway, so why not get used to decaffeinated life now if that's where you want to be?

4. Be aware of glycemic index. Foods with a low glycemic index are foods that don't challenge your insulin function as much as other foods. It's not that high glycemic foods are"bad", it's just that they should not be eaten as often. In order to make a MEAL lower-glycemic, be sure you have a good balance of carbs, fats, and proteins. People eating on the run tend to challenge glycemic function either by eating large quantities of fast food or nibbling all day long on carbs without making time for protein.

5. Pay attention to your fats. One reason I push the fish oil so much is that it really helps to improve insulin function."S" and"C" oils--safflower, sunflower, soybean, corn, cottonseed…tend to worsen glycemic function. They're found in processed foods, baked goods, and salad dressings. One reason I love teaching my classes at Whole Foods is that their entire deli uses only olive and canola (the only"C" exception) and you can literally choose what you want without ingredient anxiety.

6. Add a little cinnamon to your low-glycemic oatmeal. It has been found to improve insulin function…and it's tasty!

A word about metformin. Some women complain about digestive disturbances with this medication. A physician once shared that if you eat a lot of carbs (particularly sweets) while on the medication, it can cause diarrhea. So be forewarned, taking the medication is not a license to eat what you want, assuming metformin is going to do all the work. Metformin is most effective if you use it in conjunction with the guidelines in this post.

Next progesterone post we'll talk about poor nutrition. It is very important!

Hello from beautiful Vermont! I'm here at Green Mountain at Fox Run Resort for their first-ever PCOS program. Today we discussed healthy skin. I used Carmina McGee's recent interview on PCOS Challenge for the basis of our discussion. You can listen to the entire interview at PCOS Challenge…but for starters, here are her top tips for improving your skin from the inside out.

1. Get enough sleep.
2. Reduce your stress.
3. Eat regularly--don't skip meals.
4. Limit your intake of processed foods.
5. Moderate your alcohol intake.
6. Don't smoke.
7. Get plenty of physical activity.
8. Be sure to make time for yourself that does not include taking care of others.
9. Be part of some kind of community to decrease your sense of aloneness.
10. Have some sort of spiritual path.

Marsha Hudnall, owner of Green Mountain at Fox Run, added this one to the list:

11. Laugh!

We've been so busy, I haven't posted much about what we're doing. I have been taking photos, though, so check back for more details.

Have a wonderful day!

We had a great professional webinar yesterday with Sally Hara, who is a registered dietitian, exercise physiologist, board-certified specialist in sports dietetics, and a certified diabetes educator. She taught us all about two really important kinds of resistance that affect your wellness: (1) insulin resistance, and (2) exercise resistance. Yes, the resistance to doing anything that involves elevating your heart rate. Honestly, it's the bigger of your two problems, because without #2, it's harder to have #1.

Sally's talk was packed with facts, not to mention inspiration! The professionals who received it are in for a great information package that they can use with their clients. If you're a professional you can purchase this presentation individually or invest in the complete training to get your copy.

If you're a woman with PCOS, the webinar is conducted at a level that is understandable. If you join the inCYST Institute for $25, you can get a copy for free.: )

I promised Sally I'd also mention, she's cycing the 109 mile El Tour de Tucson to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Here's a link for more information if you're interested in supporting her!

We had to add this webinar because enough of our women were starting to enjoy exercise enough that they were asking questions about how to time eating for training runs and whether they could ride a century bike ride and how to carbohydrate load when you're insulin resistant. Yes! We have to catch up to our athletes!

That's super exciting. Here's the dirt.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011
6 PM Eastern Time

IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND LIVE, WE WILL SEND YOU THE RECORDING (INCLUDES POWER POINT)

Webinar cost: $40.

Even though exercise is the cornerstone of good PCOS management, it's not something women who have the syndrome approach with confidence. This webinar will address the physical, metabolic, and mental characteristics of PCOS that can often be barriers to participation, with practical, scientifically-f…ounded techniques for improving the activity level of even the most doubtful client. Got a super-motivated woman? We'll also be covering high-performance sports nutrition for insulin resistance and diabetes.

Sally Bersch Hara is a Registered Dietitian, Board Certified Sports Dietitian, and Certified Diabetes Educator. Sally has BS degrees in both Nutrition Science, and Exercise Physiology, as well as an MS in Nutrition Science. Her graduate research observed the effect of diet on insulin secretion, and she is self-proclaimed “endocrine geek,” ever fascinated by the spider web of hormonal feedback loops that define the endocrine system, and the many effects they have on the body. Her son likes to say she puts the ‘RD’ in ‘NERD’

Sally has a private nutrition practice near Seattle where she provides medical nutrition therapy and sports nutrition coaching. Her specialties include sports nutrition, diabetes, heart health, weight management, eating disorders, food sensitivities and ADHD & autistic spectrum disorders. Sally’s passion is empowering people to optimize their own health and/or performance through improved nutrition, exercise, and self care.

In addition to her work with individuals, Sally is an experienced public speaker, former college instructor, and a contributing author to the American Dietetic Association’s Sports Nutrition; A Guide for the Professional Working with Active People (4th edition). She has also co-authored several published research articles, contributed a nutrition chapter to a book on outdoor fitness training (Fit by Nature, by John Colver), and acted as a reviewer for a number of professional publications

On a personal level, Sally is an avid road cyclist and enjoys hiking and outdoor fitness training. She is also the mother of 2 teens… so her life is never dull! She doesn’t know what spare time is.
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Click here to register for this event

We're accumulating quite a team of exercise experts here, and I wanted to be sure you knew who you could go to for help with your own fitness program. It was when working on my master's degree in exercise physiology that I developed my own interest in hormones, so it's always been important to me to have great go-to people in this area for our fans.

Here they are!

Stacey Frattinger is a registered dietitian with two bachelor's degrees, one in psychology, the other in clinical dietetics. She is also a Certified Health Fitness Specialist. Stacey also lives with PCOS, and understands the struggles associated with nutrition and physical fitness that the diagnosis brings. If you are interested in working with Stacey (she is located in Reno, Nevada), visit her website for more information on the services offered.

Sally Hara, of Kirkland, Washington, is a registered dietitian, exercise physiologist, and certified diabetes educator. She is a contributing author to the American Dietetic Association’s 4th edition Sports Nutrition; A Guide for the Professionals Working with Active People, the official Sports Dietitian and Diabetes Educator to the type 1 diabetic athletes of the Sports and Diabetes Group NW, and the official nutrition coach for AdventX, an outdoor adventure fitness training company in Seattle. She will soon be doing a training webinar for inCYST on the topic of Sports Nutrition for PCOS. Personally, Sally enjoys endurance bicycling and has completed the Seattle to Portland bike ride 4 times (and counting) as well as several century rides. I opted for an action shot because as I write this, Sally is on a training ride, wth her local Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), in the pouring rain, for the upcoming Tour de Tucson. Here is her website for more information about how to contact her.

Sarah Jones started out as inCYST's very first intern, has completed the inCYST training, and is our network's very first registered yoga teacher. She has been teaching the yoga component of our current workshop series at Metta Yoga. Sarah is currently completing her nutrition studies at Arizona State University. If you'd like to practice yoga with Sarah, please visit Meta Yoga's website for her current schedule. Sarah is helping me put together a special inCYST training for registered yoga instructors. Stay tuned!

Christine Marquette has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Dietetics with a major in Nutrition from the University of Texas and is also a registered dietitian and certified Health Fitness Specialist (HFS). Christine walks the walk (or should I say runs the run)! She is a practicing vegan and an avid runner, having completed over 6 marathons and dozens of 5Ks, 10Ks, half marathons, and other distance races; and is an assistant coach with Austin Fit marathon training program. She is also a sprint distance triathlete. Christine's practice is in Austin, Texas.

Me (Monika Woolsey) I have degrees in both nutrition and exercise physiology. I managed the exercise testing laboratory my final year of graduate school, and I've worked in fitness centers at Apple Computer and Stanford University. I've also consulted with Olympic and professional athetes. My interest in hormones got started when I researched menstrual cycle abnormalities in elite female figure skaters; that study was the foundation for my work with PCOS. I am an eclectic athlete, not necessarily competetive in any one sport, but I love to move! That wasn't always so, as I struggled with weight as a child and it wasn't until college that I realized I had athletic ability. My photo montage shows me on top of a 14,000 foot peak n Colorado, cross country skiing, finishing a half marathon training run, and getting my butt kicked by Craig in his bootcamp fundraiser. Looking forward to taking tennis lessons very soon! I practice in Phoenix, AZ and Santa Monica, CA, and can be contacted at monika at afterthediet dot com for consultations.

As you can see, our team has a breadth and depth of knowledge and experience with all kinds of exercise. Please take advantage!

Here is some interesting information from the world of sleep research that may have pertinence to those of you trying to conceive--and avoid miscarriage.

Even though we consider exercise to be a healthy behavior, technically, it is a stress. One of the types of stresses it induces, is thermal stress, or a rise in body temperature.

In this study, it was found that injecting melatonin helped to reduce the level of stress hormones found in the goats' blood samples. As melatonin levels rose, so did immune activity.

What does this mean to you?

1. If you're overexercising, your chronically (even if marginally) elevated blood pressure may be causing you to use your melatonin to restore balance. It may be interfering with your ability to get a good night's sleep.

2. Women whose melatonin levels are imbalanced have been found to be able to conceive, but to have trouble implanting the embryo.

3. Even if you're not overexercising, but you're not managing your stress, you may be channeling your important sleep hormone into a function that keeps it from being available for important reproductive-related functions.

4. Diet and exercise are important…but even more important is BALANCE in your life!

5. If you find that emotionally you cannot cut back on your exercise, let us help you. Sometimes the underlying reason has a very workable solution when addressed with the guidance of a trained professional.

Bottom line, it's important to exercise, but to not overdo it. And be sure that you're not compromising in the sleep department because you have underestimated the value of what happens while your eyes are closed.

Sejian V, Srivastava RS. Pineal-adrenal-immune system relationship under thermal stress: effect on physiological, endocrine, and non-specific immune response in goats. J Physiol Biochem. 2010 Aug 17.

I find it so interesting that we only seem to think exercise is good for losing weight and toning muscle. There are so many other benefits! Exercise helps to combat depression, it can clear your head when you've been sitting at your computer, it can help you better use anti-oxidants…and now, researchers believe it can help you have a healthier pregnancy.

Pre-eclampsia is a greater risk for women with PCOS. It is a condition characterized by high blood pressure and protein in the urine. It is the most common pregnancy complication, and it can affect both mother and baby. Doctors often deliver babies early when pre-eclampsia occurs. We're learning that, in order for the brain and nervous system to develop as much as it possibly can, it is important to keep the baby in utero as long as possible. So there would be great benefit to preventing pre-eclampsia whenever possible.

2241 pregnant women were interviewed at their 15th week of pregnancy. They were found to have a lower risk of pre-eclampsia if they participated in recreational activity in the year before becoming pregnant.

Wow! A simple choice with profound effects! A little bit of exercise can go such a long way. You'll feel better, sleep better, have a less troublesome pregnancy…and who knows, if you're feeling better, sleeping better, and participating in an activity you enjoy, there may be less temptation to eat out of emotional stress. Calories in and calories out may be more easily balanced, and you might actually lose weight, too. But the important thing is, if you practice good self care right now…today…someone else down the road…someone you've not even had the chance to meet yet…may have much to thank you for.

Rudra CB, Sorenson TK, Luthy DA, Williams MA. A Prospective Analysis of Recreational Physical Activity and Preeclampsia Risk. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2008; 40(9): 1581-1588.

I recently accepted a challenge from a friend who is a proficient swimmer, to learn to swim the butterfly stroke. It's going to take awhile, it's not an easy stroke to learn, and right now I'm completely floundering in the water. But that isn't stopping me. I am having an absolute blast learning something new! I walk around the house doing the"air butterfly" stroke…and every time I swim, I can see some improvement. And even though I currently refer to my version of this stroke as the"epileptic butterfly"…I am so excited when I realize it's a day I get to hit the pool!

Awhile back when I was taking golf lessons, I mentioned to a friend that I didn't understand why women weren't on golf courses, given the fact that all my girlfriends complain they can't meet men and this is a place where there is no shortage of them. He shared his observation that women often don't do things unless they can do them perfectly on the first try. And golf takes a lot of patience and persistence.

I would have to agree with him. I once volunteered at a charity golf tournament and noticed a distinct difference between the way men and women teed off. The men were completely focused on their stroke, from the backstroke all the way through follow-through. The women all seemed to stop halfway through to see how far they'd hit their ball…then their body would slump, as if to communicate that they weren't happy with their stroke.

WELL OF COURSE YOU CAN'T BE HAPPY ABOUT IT, YOU ONLY DID IT HALFWAY BEFORE YOUR SELF-ESTEEM SABOTAGED YOUR SUCCESS!!!

I was thinking about that golf conversation as I swam…er…floundered in the pool this weekend. Thinking I would never, ever get this butterfly thing down if I approached it the way I saw so many women play golf. You just have to do it and not worry about perfection!

I've heard women give so many excuses for not exercising.

1. They can't do yoga because they can't do the positions correctly.
2. They can't swim because they never learned the proper stroke.
3. They can't play _________________ because they never learned.
4. They can't put on active wear because they don't like how they look.

What's your excuse? And why do you keep making it?

One of my biggest pet peeves is when active and already fit people snicker at someone who is making the effort to move their body. I always make sure, when that happens, to remind them,"At least the person is out there moving, how do you think that body is going to change?"

And when my clients suggest that they can't work out because they can't do something correctly, or they're not good enough to be competetive with others who do the same sport, I have one word. Lessons. I found my golf classes at the local community college. Years ago, I took a ski lesson my first day on the slopes, sent my then-boyfriend off to ski to his heart's content, then met up with him in the afternoon to show him what I'd learned. He wasn't held back, and we had so much to talk about when we finally met up!

As for yoga, there is no right or wrong position. The right thing is…that you show up at class and you try. And you persist long enough to feel the benefits.

I notice that many exercise sites on the 'net are created by people who are already fit. It's nice that they have a lot of ideas, and encouragement, and that they want to show you how fit THEY are…but when I put myself in the shoes of someone who's not there yet, I imagine it doesn't really help to see someone with a lean, muscular body tell you about how good they are at what they do.

Just know, we're not all perfect. The most important thing is that you exercise because it's something you enjoy, and that it doesn't really matter what anyone thinks of your form.

What matters is that you do something good for yourself.

It's the surest way to break free of your old"why I can't" rules and feel as free as a (non-epileptic) butterfly.