I was recently asked by a colleague, what I thought about various popular cooking oils…in particular, grapeseed, flaxseed, canola, and pumpkin seed oil. Here is a summary.
First of all, all of these oils are oils, and their caloric content is roughly similar, about 50 calories per teaspoon. You will not save calories by choosing a particular oil, and there is no oil you can eat limitless quantities of without the caloric content eventually catching up with you.
Secondly, as far as omega-3 content, any vegetable oil containing omega-3 fatty acids contains ALA, NOT the EPA and DHA found in seafood. Even though some ALA can be converted to DHA, it does not occur in quantities needed to therapeutically treat PCOS, or to maintain the integrity of brain structure in the general population. The reason ALA is important, is that it helps to protect the body from inflammation and when it is consumed in adequate quantities, it allows DHA to do its job. In other words, if all you are doing is taking a few fish oil capsules but not changing your diet, you are not very likely to benefit from the fish oil.
That being said, when you choose oils to cook with, you want to remember that your overall dietary omega 6 to omega 3 ratio should be 10:1 or less, in order to reduce the possibility of insulin resistance. How do these four oils measure up?
I boldfaced the ones I prefer.
Grapeseed oil 696 to 1 Yikes!
Flaxseed oil 0.238 to 1 Now you know why we love flaxseed so much around here. Here is some information on some flaxseed oils you can cook with that you might find interesting.
Canola oil 2 to 1 Whether or not you want to include canola oil in your diet is part of your own food religion. If it fits for you, know its ratio is excellent. If it does not, you may want to investigate the flaxseed oil option listed above.
Pumpkin seed oil 3 to 1 Not bad!
Lard 10 to 1 This surprised me. It also made me feel better about my love of tamales.: )
Butter 8.6 to 1 Even better than lard!
Margarine, stick 11.4 to 1 Don't go there.
Margarine, tub 4.8 to 1 The only problem here is that in order to make a liquid oil solid…it has to be turned into trans fat. Wrong kind of omega-6 oil.
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
If you've been following the blog over the last week, I've been reporting about interesting products and things I learned at the 2011 Natural Products West Expo. It's a huge exposition where food companies hoping to connect with buyers for health food stores have a chance to showcase their products. There were about 2,000 exhibitors there, and in 3 days I didn't get a chance to see and talk to everyone I wanted to. You can imagine, on the exhibitor end, the pressure there is to create a product, packaging concept, and booth display that catches the eye of the people you came to meet!
Unfortunately, not all concepts were on target. I'm sharing one that is a common example of how omega-3 marketing is not always accurate. It's still not regulated well, so there are lots of variations in how facts are presented that can be confusing to the person who knows they want to eat well but doesn't understand all the facts.
Yesterday I pulled a fish oil bottle out of my sample bag and noticed on the label that it was"extra-virgin" fish oil. This is a concept that I'm familiar with when it refers to olive oil, and it means that it is the olive oil from the first press of olives. It's a stronger oil, with a lower smoke point, and more appropriate for recipes where the oil is not heated. But it's not really a concept that has any relevance to fish. (I joked with my Facebook friends about whether or not it really mattered what the fish were doing before we caught them!) This particular product's label was also busy with breakdowns of omega-3's, 5's, 6's, 7's, and 9's, promoting a"perfect complement of 16 omega's". It all sounded very official, but to the average consumer who is still confused about 3's, 6's, and 9's, it only serves to make shopping for fish oil tedious and painful.
One of the reasons for all of this confusion is that fish oil is Mother Nature's patent. Consumers want their foods and supplements to be as unrefined as possible, but the only way to patent and protect a manufactured product, is to alter it. So it is very difficult for fish oil companies to create products that distinguish themselves from other competing products while keeping their customers happy. What is left to distinguish a product is where the fish is caught, what species the fish is, and the total amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. And lots of pretty, irrelevant marketing words.
Even with all my knowledge and training, I can spend hours in the health food store looking at labels on fish oil supplements and keeping up with new and different products. From my perspective, it's the total amount of omega-3's that matters. If you have a hard time with the flavor or the burps, there are several flavored options and packaged forms that can get you around that problem.
Here is my advice to you.
1. First of all, before you spend a lot of money and time, try taking fish oil to see if it works for the problem you're trying to solve. Be sure you take enough of it. For the degree of inflammation seen with PCOS, you're going to need to take the equivalent of 1000 mg DHA. That can be 2 to 3 times the recommended dose on the bottle. Be sure you do your math. It can even be the Costco brand. That is actually my first recommendation to clients. I'm more interested in whether or not adding DHA to the diet is helpful, not where the fish was caught, what the flavor of the fish oil is, yadayadayada. I just want to establish if there is a DHA deficiency.
2. Make a list of the problems that you have that you're looking for relief with that you know are related to omega-3 imbalance: memory, concentration, mood swings, carbohydrate cravings, skin problems, menstrual irregularity. Keep this list in a handy place.
3. If memory problems are on your list, be sure you have a mechanism for remembering to take the fish oil! I swear, this is one of the biggest barriers to PCOS, memory and forgetfulness keeping you from remembering what it is you need to do! If you need to engage your significant other, or set up an alarm on your phone, or a Google calendar reminder…do whatever it takes to be consistent. If you didn't take it, and it didn't work, it didn't work because you didn't take it, not because it's not the issue.
4. Be diligent about reducing your omega-6 intake: soy, safflower, sunflower, sesame, corn, cottonseed. The less of these oils you have in your diet, the better chance omega-3's have of doing the job.
5. Be sure you're reading the dose right on the label. One of my biggest issues I have with one of the most popular brands of fish oil is that their dose is two capsules, not one. Most people never read the fine print, assume a dose is one pill, and end up taking half of what they were thinking they were taking.
6. At the end of your trial period, look at your list and see what improved. Did it work? NOW, and only NOW that you've established whether or not you were DHA deficient, consider if the type of fish oil you take. Would you prefer a flavored, a gel, a capsule, a liquid? All of them are going to give you what you want, you're just deciding which one fits best with your personal taste and texture preference.
Pretty packaging and fancy words are not what are going to help you to feel better. It's what's inside the package, and in what concentration, that you need to focus on!
This article just popped up when I logged in this morning, and I thought you all might find it interesting. I know from my website that skin and appearance issues are among the top concerns of"cysters"…
What's interesting about this, is that the very same foods that promote fertility, can promote healthy skin.
A short note about fish oil and skin. About 15 years ago I took a vacation to Costa Rica. I used sunscreen…but my German-WASPy skin just didn't tolerate the intensity of the latitude. I ended up with a second degree burn, and scarring on my chest that I had resigned myself to having as a lifelong lesson about sun and skin.
In the last few years I've been changing my own diet based on what I've learned in studying PCOS, and I've begun to do some work for omega-3 companies. Dennis, my friend at Nordic Naturals kept sending me bottles of flavored cod liver oil, which I kept putting in the refrigerator or trying to pass off on my cats.
Finally, I decided to try it. And a few months later, I noticed, the scarring looked a whole lot less worse. It's probably a combination of a better diet and supplements, but it really reinforced with me, being here in Arizona, that my skin deserves the best possible diet and care I can give it.
I wanted to post a testimonial from a client. He volunteered to do this, I did not ask him for it. My sincere hope, in training inCYST professionals, is that this is the experience each and every woman has when reaching out and asking for help. We understand that you are not just patients or lab values, but rather individuals with your own sets of experiences, anxieties, and hopes, that must be respected and accommodated in our work together. The photo is of me at this baby's baptism.
B, thank you for the testimonial. I am not sure who benefitted most from our time together, as I learned an incredible amount from this collaboration! Being asked to come to the hospital to see baby Brianna, and to attend her baptism, was such an honor. I will never forget how it felt to look at her, and hold her, and tangibly experience the value of this work.
I have asked the other members of inCYST's network to share testimonials as well. They do wonderful work, and I want to use this forum to share their passions and how they benefit those who work with them for better health. I look forward to sharing their stories! Monika
It was two years ago when we first met Monika. I remember it like yesterday. We were desperate but also tired of the empty promises.
In the previous 18 months, my wife and I had been on an emotional rollercoaster. My wife had been tested for thyroid issues, infertility, hormone imbalances. Each doctor was confident they knew what was wrong and it was a simple fix. Take this prescription and diet. When that did not work it was go to this specialist or that one. Even at the mighty Mayo Clinic we were disappointed. During this time we had our first miscarriage. I remember the night vividly. We went to the emergency room knowing something was wrong. We were first triaged by an RN, she ordered a pregnancy test, a UA, ultrasound and every blood test she could think of. After six hours we were scared to death and still had not seen the ER physician. My wife’s pain was increasing. My wife started to bleed. We were reassured the doctor would be with us soon. She ended up miscarrying in the restroom of the ER. We finally had the ultrasound. We finally saw that doctor; he was abrupt and in a hurry. He spent five minutes with us explaining that we had miscarried and gave us a booklet for grieving. We were also to follow up with our OB/gyn for a D&C. In addition to a 3,000 dollar bill.
It took a few days for my wife’s physical pains to subside, but the emotional ones were just beginning. It almost tore us apart. She had the feeling that she was broken and tried to push me away. Everything reminded us of our loss. It is amazing how many sad stories you see about abused or abandoned children when you can not have one. Several months had passed and our OB diagnosed my wife with PCOS. Though the ultrasound showed no cysts, all the other symptoms were there. My wife was placed on metformin. This was to stabilize her insulin. She started the medication but her mood swings and frustration increased. She exercised two to four hours every day for four months. She was obsessed with losing weight and returning to “normal”. The weight did not come off and she was giving up. I decided to spend my spare time researching PCOS. The research was inconclusive as to the correct treatment course. Most suggested controlling insulin through diet and medication. There were several online programs and institutes which promised to have the answer. We were sucked in and for another few months we tried some different approaches. None seemed to be very effective. We had given up on the idea of having children and I just wanted my wife back. With every new promise was a disappointment. Unfortunately my wife was becoming frustrated with herself. We stopped spending time with friends and calling family. The thing most people do not understand is that it is not just your disappointment as a couple, but explaining to your friends and families that is devastating. I decided to continue my diligence with my research and found several dieticians and nutritionists who were publishing and focusing on PCOS. This is how we came to know Monika Woolsey. I did not even tell my wife about Monika at first. I did not want another false hope. Once I hung up the phone with Monika, I felt that she might be able to help. She did not promise results of pregnancy or a magic pill to fix everything. She said simply that every woman is different as is the approach. She continued to ask question after question. Throughout this entire rollercoaster I finally felt we found someone who is sincerely interested in helping us. We were not just another case. I did not know Monika’s intentions or if her ideas would work but we had a glimmer of hope. Monika surprised us a little when she wanted to visit our home. I did not understand but we agreed. When Monika arrived she was not what I expected she was “down to earth” and seemed very easy to talk with. She also was very knowledgeable about the disease process. I found her caring and very sensitive to what we have gone through. Though she was very nice I was not looking for a friend but a knowledgeable professional. I was put in my place very quickly after challenging her on a few topics. She had read all that I have and more. She has done her homework. She described this as a journey of trials and seeing what works because each woman is different and has different symptoms. Though our time was up she was truly invested and stayed an additional two hours. Till the time our questions were answered.
My wife started with fish oil and flaxseed oil in addition to a session of acupuncture. We also were educated on reading labels and identifying pure foods. I am in the medical field and did not put much stock in this approach. To put it mildly I was a skeptic. However after spending two months on the program my wife was getting back to her typical self and feeling much better. Some evenings we would call or e-mail Monika with questions. She was never to busy to take time for us. We were perfectly content with our changes. My wife’s moods were stabilizing and her menstruations were becoming more regular. Out of the blue we found out that we were pregnant. This was not expected or planned. Monika never promised or led us to believe that pregnancy would be the result. Her plan was simple. Make my wife feel better and regain control.
When Monika found out she was very happy for us but she did not seem to be surprised. She mentioned that this has happened with several couples that were told they would never have children. I can say that my wife will always have PCOS but at least we have the knowledge to control it. We had our beautiful daughter on July 21 2009. It was an amazing day. We have included a picture of Monika and our daughter Brianna. God gives us trials in life and we have had our fair share. In saying that I would not change a thing.
Every other Sunday morning, I pull out my “old lady pill boxes” and load them up with my current selection of supplements, some of which are for PCOS. At times, I confess, I’ve been known to take as many as 90 pills a day. If that sounds kind of crazy, I’m in full agreement with you. I often incorporate Chinese remedies prescribed by my acupuncturist, and those are typically dosed at three to five capsules, three to four times per day, which can quickly add up. I don’t do that anymore. But I routinely take a hearty little handful of things like fish oil, D-Chiro Inositol, Vitamin C, and alpha lipoic acid. I’m sure many of you do too – or you think you should be, if you’re not.
Some doctors want to know everything you’re on, and some don’t bother to ask beyond the fish oil or the Vitamin D3. I actually keep an Excel spreadsheet listing everything I currently take, both supplements and prescription medications. This is for my own tracking purposes (so I can see if there’s something I’ve tried in the past and deleted because it didn’t do anything for me – no point in trying those again), and for the doctors who want a comprehensive record. It’s too much to track on, and often doesn’t fit on the few lines given on a doctor’s intake form. “See attachment” is my favorite labor-saving phrase!
As I updated my spreadsheet today, I got to thinking about the lure of supplements. Americans spend $20.3 BILLION dollars (NIH, 2004) per year on supplements. That’s a staggering amount of money for something that isn’t guaranteed effective, may be irregularly dosed, and can be just as powerful as prescription medications. And yet, we continue to buy. PCOS patients in particular are prone to chasing the latest and greatest potential cure – or at least, anything that might offer some symptomatic relief. When you’ve got a condition that’s frustrating, complex, inconsistent, and impossible to permanently resolve, you’re vulnerable to the seduction of marketers, Twitter feed, and anecdotal reporting.
At this point, I try to limit my supplementation to things prescribed or recommended by my physician, dietician, and/or acupuncturist to treat the symptoms that most concern me, such as high blood sugars and inflammation. If I hear about something new that holds some promise for my PCOS, I research it independently and then make a decision about whether or not to add it to my repertoire. I’m mindful of the fact that there’s a great deal we don’t know about supplements, just as there’s a great deal we don’t know about prescription medications. My goal is to support my body in becoming as normal as possible.
Periodically, I get disgusted with the whole thing, decide it’s too many pills, too complicated, too much money, and too overwhelming. Then I take a supplement vacation. And in the meantime, I’m continuously researching and contemplating what I can delete, or if perhaps it’s best to eliminate supplements altogether. The supplement vacation usually lasts a couple of weeks, and then I go back into it a little more strategically, and with greater consciousness about my own need to be “fixed,” and how that can lead to bad decision-making.
If you take supplements, I encourage you to think about them consciously, and not just chase the promises. If you don’t, don’t feel bad about it, but consider what might actually be beneficial to your mental as well as physical health (fish oil comes to mind!). Be willing to experiment, monitor, and make adjustments. Be patient with your body and your brain. Seek consultation with experts. Do your own research. Treat yourself with the importance you deserve.
Gretchen Kubacky, Psy.D. is a Health Psychologist in private practice in West Los Angeles, California. She has completed the inCYST training. She specializes in counseling women and couples who are coping with infertility, PCOS, and related endocrine disorders and chronic illnesses.
If you would like to learn more about Dr. HOUSE or her practice, or obtain referrals in the Los Angeles area, please visit her website at www.drhousemd.com, or e-mail her at AskDrHouseMD@gmail.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @askdrhousemd.
First of all…it's great to be back! I was traveling, and while it's kind of fun to say I saw both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in the period of a week, I do like my base camp and I really missed reading research. I'm looking forward to getting back into my daily groove.
Last week, I read an article in the New York Times about insurance companies, and how they are starting to ask consumers to absorb the cost of medications by asking that these medications be paid for not by flat copayment, but proportionate to the cost of the medication.
Nice. First we're convinced that we absolutely need all these drugs, and that we can get them for cheap, then once we're dependent on them…we're thrown under the financial bus.
Right now, the medications that are being sold under this new proportionate plan are not any of the medications that I focus on with this blog. However…since several of the medications you readers are on, are some of the most popular medications out there, I suspect it won't be long before these insurance companies start to see dollar signs in terms of the quantity of people they can expect to help finance this venture. Categories of medications like antidepressants…and insulin sensitizers and statins, which are commonly prescribed when the antidepressants start to mess with hormone balance.
That's the bad news.
The GOOD news is, I finally felt vindicated for having sat through this scenario for the last 25 years, wishing people would see what I have always seen…that when you take responsibility for your own health, and don't depend on people who make money off of you to help you, you have a good chance of getting better results. Think about it. Why would a drug company spend millions and millions of dollars to develop a product that you eventually wouldn't need once you started using it?
My goal, ever since I started what I do, is to put myself out of business. I started learning to play golf last year and it has been very frustrating to have to put it aside to attend to the demands of my growing business. I have a children's story I'd like to publish. And there are a couple of screenplays roaming around in my head that I'd love to get into theaters.
But the drug and insurance industries don't have that goal. Their goal, as is the goal of most corporations, is to increase market share and return on investment. Which means you can (1) increase the dosages of medications you sell to already existing customers, (2) find new customers for your medications by either creating new diagnoses or finding off-label uses for your already developed products, and/or (3) increase the price you charge for the product. Hmmmmm…nowhere in there do I see"helping the patient feel better".
Of course, I'm not naive. I know some medications are entirely necessary and even life-saving. But I also see so many conditions that could drastically improve with a few judicious lifestyle choices.
Last week I listened to the husband of a friend tell me what it was like to go through an in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure with his wife. He was near tears as he spoke about the trauma, the callousness of the providers, the emotional stress…the expense, and the feeling of failure as a human being when the entire investment of time, emotions and money did not produce the desired result.
He drove me to the bus stop, and I headed to the airport. As I was standing in line to board my plane, a colleague phoned me. She'd gone through my professional training and had been using my protocol on women with infertility. And she told me, that with just a few nutritional tweaks, these women were getting pregnant! Not only that, their depression was responding with equal profundity. Even the women who'd failed with the same IVF procedure as my other friend and who had given up on ever having children, were seeing results.
There's something very wrong with a system that promotes a $20,000 emotional and financial (mis)adventure over a $12 bottle of Coscto fish oil…but we as consumers need to shift our expectations for help from those who stand to make money off of our misfortunes and invest in choices, behaviors, and financial purchases that are empowering and affirming. You'll never get a company making money off of you to change how they do things if it means less money. But we can certainly get their attention if, collectively, we start to say"no" to some of their answers to our problems and"yes" to options that make more sense.
You bet the power of where you pull out your wallet is tremendous. And when groups of thousands of wallets get together…well, that's the vision I have that will finally get these screenplays out of my head!
Eating well. Physical activity. Adequate sleep. Less stress. It's that simple. It's incredible what prioritizing these four areas can do to your overall health. Not to mention your budget.
Fatty liver is a common problem in women with PCOS. In this study, EPA, an omega-3 fatty acid and a fish oil, was shown to improve the symptoms of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (fatty liver). EPA is the fish oil that you cannot get when you rely on vegan sources of omega-3's--it's not in flax, and it's not in marine algae. Some research shows that when you've eaten enough marine algae to completely saturate your tissues, what's left can be used to make EPA, but it's not the way of getting it that the body prefers.
This is important to understand, because the vast majority of foods that are labeled as supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids either contain ALA (primarily in the form of flax) or DHA (primarily from marine algae).
The other advantage to eating fish is, that if you've put a fillet on your plate, you've likely removed another (fattier) kind of protein. That's the positive double whammy you get in seafood choices.
In my training I was always encouraged to develop good negotiation skills. In other words, if a client didn't like a certain food, to have a few other options up my sleeve that would provide equivalent nutritional value. Only when I got into omega-3 chemistry, inflammation, and PCOS, did I realize that in this one crucial area, I would have to dig my heels in and advocate that this essential nutrient was simply non-negotiable: if you don't eat fish, you miss out on total health.
Over the weekend I had an animated discussion with another dietitian who was adamant that her clients (mainly with eating disorders) simply were not going to accept this. I told her they simply would not achieve total health…and possibly total recovery. I got some resistance, but hopefully at some point this colleague will come to understand that we're here to guide our clients where they have the potential to go. We're not here to tell them what they want to hear, with the hopes that somehow health will just magically appear.
Tanaka N, Sano K, Horiuchi A, Tanaka E, Kiyosawa K, Aoyama T. Highly Purified Eicosapentaenoic Acid Treatment Improves Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis. J Clin Gastroenterol. 2008 Apr;42(4):413-418.
inCYST is looking for women with PCOS who have NOT been supplementing with fish oil to participate in a study helping us to evaluate the baseline omega-3 profile for PCOS. This is our first pilot study! Please contact me at marika@google.com for details if you're interested and ONLY if you've never used any kind of omega-3 supplement.
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.
…I wanted to highlight eggs since they are a food many people don't eat, thinking about the cholesterol.
It used to be, when I was brand-new to this profession, I was taught to tell people to avoid eggs. Because of the cholesterol.
It turns out, the cholesterol in eggs has been shown to not increase serum cholesterol, and taking eggs out of your diet doesn't really decrease your cholesterol.
Besides that, eggs…
…are cheap. …have one of the highest quality proteins available. …are one of the very few foods contain choline (in the yolk), which is very important for maintaining memory, potentially reducing your risk for Alzheimer's disease. …are a good source of vitamin B-12, another nutrient that isn't always easy to get. …are convenient to eat. …if you get the omega-3 kind, can be a source of DHA, which is not easy to get in your diet if you don't like or don't have access to fish.
So have fun with your holiday and take advantage of the fact that you've got all those boiled eggs in the frig. Have them for breakfast. Put them on your salad at lunch.
And know it's something good you're doing for yourself!
I want to take a moment to introduce you to our new sponsor, Green Mountain at Fox Run in Ludlow, Vermont, and explain how this partnership came to be.
Here is an introductory note from Robyn, Green Mountain's dietitian:
Women working to manage PCOS know first-hand that making lifestyle changes to promote better health is often easier said than done. To say nothing of the confusion about what's best to eat. At Green Mountain at Fox Run, you can begin to sort out the confusion and find what works best for you in terms of eating and physical activity with the help of professionals who understand the needs of women with PCOS, and who truly care about helping women take control of their health. Green Mountain offers a comprehensive program that allows women with PCOS to get a taste of how good they can feel while eating healthy and being active.
Here you'll practice healthy living that features foods you like and physical activity you enjoy. Our meals are comprised of high-quality choices such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, fish, legumes, lower fat dairy products, nuts & seeds, and healthy added fats such as flax seed, olive oil & canola oil. We also leave room for “fun” foods to illustrate how healthy eating can be flexible and delicious. Our chefs strive to create exciting meals out of whole foods, with most menu items made from scratch. We offer a conservative level of carbohydrate as part of our balanced meals & snacks for better management of blood sugar and insulin levels. Generous amounts of fun fitness classes offered throughout the day encourage better insulin sensitivity as well.
Our strong focus on education not only guides women in practicing healthy habits while with us, but prepares them to integrate these new habits into their routines back at home.
First of all, I want to tell you that I'm very, very picky about who inCYST partners with, and who it accepts sponsorships from. Companies with products and services to sell see women with PCOS as a very lucrative demographic. That includes fertility centers, diet centers, supplement companies…you name it. With one in ten women in this country having PCOS, that's an awful lot of dollar signs.
It could mean an awful lot of money for a well-visited blog like this, to accept advertising from all of these companies wanting your attention, but that's not how this business is operated. I actually discontinued Google Ads because no matter how hard I tried to filter, I kept getting ads on here that were counterproductive to the message I wanted to project. And more opportunities are declined than accepted.
I also am very selective about who inCYST promotes as a PCOS expert. It's not just anyone you see here, it's someone who has been willing to invest time and money into the inCYST training. A training that is as much about the facts of PCOS, as it is about understanding what it means to go through a health care system with the syndrome and be treated poorly by doctors, dietitians, etc., who give counterproductive advice.
I know I've probably offended a few colleagues who wanted to be included in what we do here, but didn't want to participate in the training as I've outlined it. But this program is about women with PCOS, first and foremost, not about the many entities that want to profit from them.
What that means to all of you is, that you can be assured that professionals listed here and on my website are of a different breed, and that sponsors I choose to include in the inCYST mission have quality services and products, delivered with integrity.
Which brings me to our newest sponsor, Green Mountain at Fox Run. I love them! I actually had an opportunity to spend a week at their Vermont resort a few years ago, and wish that all of you had an opportunity to spend time there. Alan Wayler and Marsha Hudnall, the owners of this fitness retreat, work hard to provide quality programming that incorporates the principles you regularly read about on this blog. Marsha actually took the time to come to one of our professional trainings a few years ago.
Sometimes it helps to just get out of your personal situation and have some time to experience what healthy living actually feels like. Eating well. Moving your body. Sleeping well. Lower stress level. I know there are many people coming to this blog with the search words,"pcos""program". For you and anyone else who simply didn't know this program even existed, I encourage you to check out their website. Their logo will be up on the right if you ever want to come back and click through for information.
Welcome, Green Mountain at Fox Run! I'm so excited that our readers get a chance to learn about your wonderful program!
So you've been told you need to clean up your nutrition act, and you've stopped eating the Fritos. You've decided to stop being the reason the stock price of your local fast food restaurant has weathered the Wall Street willies. Your salad dressing shelf in your refrigerator is now half of what's in your refrigerator.
Still no luck.
Hey, isn't eating better supposed to be the answer?
Depends on how you define eating better.
I'm noticing with my inCYST classes that a disproportionate percentage of women coming for information have adopted vegetarian practices. And I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't part of the problem.
No, the problem isn't that you're vegetarian. It's how you're defining vegetarian, and it's how you go about being one that matters. Here are my simple rules for being the healthiest (potentially fertile) vegetarian you can be.
1. Define your vegetarianism by what you DO eat.
Most people I know who become vegetarian after eating meat, define that practice in terms of what they DON'T eat. They DON'T do red meat. They DON'T do dairy. They DON'T do fish. DON'T, DON'T, DON'T.
Therein lies the problem.
A most important rule of nutrition is, when you eliminate an entire category of food, for whatever reason, be it meat or wheat, you are also eliminating crucial nutrients that this category contains.
My definition of vegetarian is someone who meets all of their complete nutritional needs without using animal products.
Do you know what fertility-related nutrients you're likely short on if all you've done is cut out meat? If not, read on!
2. Zap yourself with zinc!
Zinc is needed for oodles of reactions that keep your body running, from your brain to your ovaries. Are you eating whole grains? Beans? Pumpkin and sunflower seeds? Nuts? Oops…go get your shopping list, right now, and put them down!
3. Forgetting folate can be fatal
You likely know about this nutrient since there has been so much publicity about its role in pregnancy. Put spinach on your sandwich instead of lettuce…make sure your morning cereal is fortified…eat more beans and split peas…and become savvy with sunflower seeds!
4. Cultivate a copper attitude
It's not as famous as folate, but it still is important to remember. Outside of red meat, its vegan sources are rather random: molasses, green olives, cocoa, nuts, avocadoes, black pepper, sunflower seeds…hopefully at least one of these sounds tasty!
5. Try to remember tryptophan
Tryptophan is a building block for serotonin, one of the major neurotransmitters regulating the brain's hormone center. For vegetarians, there are still a lot of options even if you're not using dairy products or eating turkey. Does your pantry have…cocoa, mangoes, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, oats, dates, chickpeas, peanuts, bananas, and sunflower seeds? It needs to.
6. Allow for algae
If you're vegan, chances are you're not getting enough DHA and EPA, the omega-3 fatty acids primarily found in fish. Become friendly with an ingredient known as Life's DHA, a marine algae source of DHA (unfortunately not EPA), that is being added to vegan-friendly foods. The link I'm providing gets you to the most recent list of foods containing this ingredient that you may want to become proficient at finding.
7. Not all vegan products are created equally healthy. Be sure if you've gone vegan, that you are aware of oils that can interfere with healthy balance. These oils are all vegan, but tend to be pro-inflammatory: safflower, sunflower, soybean, corn, cottonseed, sesame. (Remember my"S and C" rule from previous posts. If you're eating absolutely no meat at all, but you're eating a salad doused with soybean oil-based dressing…that could be a problem. Become familiar with brands that are made with olive or canola oils, or learn to make vinaigrettes. (Canola is the"C" oil exception, by the way.
8. Be happy without hydrogenated.
Hydrogenated = trans fat. Enough said.
9. Forget the fructose…high fructose corn syrup, that is.
It's been connected to insulin resistance in more than one study. And despite what marketers would really like you to believe, more than one nutrition expert does not endorse its use.
10. Be pro-protein
This is the most obvious one…know your complementary proteins and be sure your diet includes them. One caveat…soy may be hard on your thyroid function and is not a good choice if you have a family history of breast cancer. Be sure you are reading labels, as soy is a filler in many, many foods.
I like to look for patterns that make nutrition recommendations easy to recommend. In this post, it didn't work out that way. A lot of these foods are random. If I'm not giving you ideas that seem easy to work into your food plan…think of consulting with one of our experts! That's what we excel at, and that's what we're waiting to help you with.
After all, you became vegan to be healthy, let's work together to do it correctly.
Practically every time I hear a health professional explain, on the Internet or in person, why a woman with PCOS has carbohydrate cravings, they blame it on insulin resistance. The rationale is, that because glucose is not getting into cells, the cells are hungry and asking for sugar.
Did you know, as rational as this explanation sounds, research does not support it?
A study published in 2004 (and one of the few I've ever even seen that acknowledged that women with PCOS crave sugar) compared several appetite hormones to appetite measures in 16 pairs of women with PCOS matched with controls. They could find no statistically significant correlation between reported appetite and insulin levels. Rather, it was testosterone levels that seemed to be the problem.
Because insulin resistance has some effect on how much free testosterone is available to affect appetite, it could be argued that the effect is still there, but more indirect. However, another study reported that it is the eating of too much sugar and the resulting change in liver function that ultimately determines free testosterone levels, not insulin. (In this particular study the diet was up to 70% sugar, to be sure the desired metabolic effect was achieved and could be studied.) The resulting fat production by the liver was correlated with reduced levels of sex hormone binding globulin, the blood protein that binds to testosterone and inactivates it.
So while the cravings are there, be sure not to blame their cause on a solution that may not help. Our philosophy at inCYST is that balancing fatty acids helps calm down the nervous system and reduce its need for sugar. It also helps the liver better process fats, thus preventing the testosterone issue described above.
I know, I know, you're getting tired of hearing about fish oil.
I won't belabor the point, today I'll just challenge you to think outside the same old test tube.: )
Hirschberg AL, Naessén S, Stridsberg M, Byström B, Holtet J. Impaired cholecystokinin secretion and disturbed appetite regulation in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Gynecol Endocrinol. 2004 Aug;19(2):79-87.
Selva DM, Hogeveen KN, Innis SM, and Hammond GL. Monosaccharide-induced lipogenesis regulates the human hepatic sex hormone–binding globulin gene. J Clin Invest. 2007 December 3; 117(12): 3979–3987.
I've invited the members of our Facebook fan page to ask questions, and here is the first one we got. Here is a little primer on triglycerides.
When you get your cholesterol reading, something that is measured is a type of fat called a triglyceride. What this is, is a type of fat the body uses to carry extra calories in the blood. If you're eating calories in greater quantities than the liver can process them, they hang around in your blood waiting in line to be taken care of. Sometimes that gets measured in a blood test, because high triglycerides are associated with increased risk of heart disease.
Triglycerides' favorite place to be stored, is in the belly, which is why people with high triglycerides often have an apple-shaped body type.
And what is really interesting about high triglycerides, is that they are a place your body can store DHA, that chemical you see me write a lot about here, because it is essential for healthy memory, problem solving, and overall brain function.
Modern medicine tends to think of high triglycerides as a problem that needs to be fixed. I tend to think of high triglycerides as a strong indicator that your life and eating habits are out of balance. They respond extremely well to pulling yourself back into moderation; therefore, I strongly encourage you to take a look at the list of changes you can make, summarized here, and give them your best college try before resorting to medication.
1. Excess calories, in general, all day long. If you are a compulsive overeater, your intake may simply exceed your body's ability to keep up. You don't need to starve yourself, however. Rather, start to explore the reasons why food is so prevalent in your life, begin to tackle the reasons why, replace triglycerides with other activities and coping behaviors that are not so hard on your liver.
2. Stacking too many calories at one time of day. Are you on Weight Watchers…with a tendency to deny yourself food earlier in the day so you can indulge later on? Your liver is not much different from the engine in your car. You can't simply dump fuel into the system and expect it to run efficiently. Your car has a carburetor to regulate the rate at which the engine gets gasoline. When it starts to run too rich, your engine doesn't run well. The only carburetor humans have is a behavioral one…remember, it isn't just about how many calories you eat in the course of a day. It's how you spread them out to up your liver's efficiency.
3. Eating too much sugar. Sugar is so quickly and easily absorbed, that eating too much of it can leave too many calories in the system at once. You still need carbohydrates to fuel your brain and muscle, but the other type of carburetor you have is something called a complex carbohydrate. It takes longer to absorb and digest, therefore slowing down the entrance of those carbs into your system. In general, low glycemic foods also help triglycerides. You know what those are from paying attention to insulin resistance. Eat more of them!
4. Drinking too much alcohol. Alcohol has 7 calories per gram, and it adds up quickly! We don't talk much about alcohol here, but if you are using it to cope, and you have a love of sweetened drinks, you're getting a double whammy. Alchohol is best used in moderation and best used as an accompaniment to a healthy meal. Happy hour drinking, which encourages less control over high fat, high calorie foods, is likely to render you vulnerable to higher triglyceride readings.
5. Not getting enough"effective" omega-3 in your diet. I use the word effective to remind you that if all you do is add omega-3 to your diet without reducing omega-6, the latter will keep the former from having any effect. You have to do both. Physicians will often tell you that the dose of omega-3 you need is too high to be safe, and that you need medication in order to achieve this. I beg to differ, as I have seen, many times, that when you add the fish and fish oil, and reduce the"s" and"c" oils, triglycerides do drop. I have come to believe that since DHA is so important for brain function, when our omega-6 to omega-3 ratio is so high that the brain starts to be at risk for having what it needs to do its job, the body starts creating triglycerides as a desperate attempt to hang on to what omega-3 it has. When you don't need triglycerides as a last-ditch effort, your body won't have to make them.
6. Not enough exercise. One of the benefits of physical activity is that because it requires you to use calories as fuel, it trains your body to use calories. So when you eat them, your body is more likely to use them efficiently. Get out and move, even a little bit at first, but get in the habit!
7. Of course, there are people with genetically high triglycerides who DO need to be on medication. But if you have not tried the suggestions listed above in an attempt to reduce your triglycerides, please try them first before adding another medication to your lineup. And if you do decide to use medication, don't use that as an excuse to eat whatever you want. Eating as best as you can, can help to reduce the amount of medication you DO need to manage your problem.
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!
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.
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.
This is to address some great questions about fish oil that Katie sent in.
Katie asked: after reading about fish oil and its obvious benefits, I finally bought some Carlson Super Omega-3 Fish Oil Concentrate soft gels yesterday at Whole Foods.
I have several questions I have tried to get answered via this site and the Internet, but can't seem to find clear answers, so I am throwing them out here, in hopes you can help.
1. The bottle says"Each Carlson Super Omega — 3 soft gel contains 1000 mg (1 gram) of a special concentrate of fish body oils from deep, cold-water fish which are especially rich in the important Omega-3's EPA and DHA." However, the Supplemental Facts read EPA 300 mg DHA 200 mg Other Omega-3's 100mg. I believe that adds up to 600mg. Right? There is no mention of the other 400 mg. Where are they? I'm very confused about this. Can you explain this to me? There is also Natural Vitamin E — 10 IU…incase that means something.
2. How many pills/mg am I supposed to take? I read between 1000 mg and 3000 mg. Which makes me confused again because even though the bottle says 1000 mg in each pill I can only find 600 of them! I want to make sure that I am taking enough, but not taking too much! How much do you take? Also, do I work up to that or just dive in?
3. Last question…is there anything else I should be taking with the fish oil? I know that sometimes if you take something you need to supplement with something else. Is that the case here?
Thank you in advance for your advice and information!
My response: Katie, these are really great questions and something that I am often asked by my clients. Here's the scoop:
1. The dosage on the ingredient list can indeed be very confusing and frankly I believe it is a way in which some supplement companies try to give the impression that you are getting a better product with higher potency, but it can be misleading. When the label states something like…"contains 1000 mg marine oil", you are not getting the complete information.
The critical ingredients and the amounts you need to know about are — how much EPA (eicosapentanoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) are contained in each capsule.
EPA and DHA have been shown to support healthy functioning of the cardiovascular, immune, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal systems. EPA is also an excellent anti-inflammatory and helpful in conditions such as insulin resistance, diabetes and auto-immune related inflammation.
DHA is an important factor for those with PCOS as it supports many aspects of health including pregnancy, fetal development, and healthy neurological function.
The other"marine lipids" are simply the total fat of the fish, where the EPA and DHA are the active portions of that fat. It is the"actives" that are providing the therapeutic value. The vitamin E in the capsules is for preservative purposes and helps prevent rancidity of the fat.
2. Regarding the dosage you should take, that is a harder question to answer because it will depend on what you are trying to target. Those with PCOS should be targeting anywhere from 500 — 1000 mg. DHA. So you need to know how much DHA is in each cap, for example if the capsule has only 200mg. of DHA, you'll need to take 3 of them to get approximately 500mg. You can then work up to a higher dose, always start with the lower dose and work your way up. Sometimes it is easier to get a liquid version that is high potency versus taking handfuls of pills to achieve the same dose.
I do not recommend that you take a liquid fish oil that is derived from Cod Liver Oil as the source as it usually has a high amount of Vitamin A and it is possible to get toxic doses of vitamin A. Another thing to note is that in a combination EPA/DHA cap, the dosage EPA will usually be higher than the amount of DHA, that is no problem. The EPA will only be of additional benefit.
Don't hesitate consulting with a registered dietitian knowledgeable both in PCOS and supplements in order to have your supplementation tailored to your specific health needs — remember we are all different, with unique physiology, medical history and requirements.
3. Fish Oil does not have to be taken with anything else to enhance its function. It can be taken all at once, with meals, between meals — it is very flexible this way.
Here are a couple of additional tips:
- if you tend to"burp" back fish oil, make sure to buy a brand that comes in an"enterically coated capsule", they might cost a few cents more, but it's worth it. - refrigerate your fish oil to protect it and this also can help reduce"burp back". - contributes to creating beautiful, healthy skin.
One last fun fact about fish oil. Most of it actually comes from the southern hemisphere not as you might think from the deep waters off Norway!
Here's to fish oil!
Carmina McGee, MS, RD, LE Ventura, California 805.816.2629 info@carminamcgee.com
Just wanted to share an article you may have seen on MS-NBC.
The main ingredient in our sponsor's Omega-3 Brain Booster is the Ocean Nutrition product featured in this article. If you'd like to try it, you will receive a 10% discount on your first purchase if you click this link and use the coupon code"neuron" when you order.
I was thrilled to see this article and to know we'd brought this information to all of you long before MS-NBC had even heard of it!
Bored with salmon, but still want to get your Omega 3's?
Prefer a mild-flavored, white fish?
Looking for a more sustainable option in your seafood?
Try Barramundi!
A native of the tropical waters of northern Australia, southeast Asia, and southern China, Barramundi is farmed in the U.S.
If you're worried about farmed fish, don't be. Not all farmed fish is bad. In fact, the Monterey Bay's Seafood Watch program rates U.S. farmed Barramundi a"Best Choice" because of our environmentally friendly farming practices.
Why eat it? Barramundi has 833 mg of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids per 5-oz serving and contains less than 150 calories! It's a great source of lean protein, is rich in vitamins and minerals, and is low in saturated fat. Because of U.S. farming practices, it's also free from contamination with PCBs, mercury or other contaminants.
How to buy it? You may find it called Silver Barramundi, Giant Perch, Palmer Perch, and Barra. Locally it can be found at Giant and Safeway.
How to make it? Barramundi has a sweet, mild flavor and light, flaky texture and is super easy to prepare. Below is a recipe and links to more!
Barramundi and Lemon Butter
4 Barramundi fillets
2 tsp. olive or canola oil
2 Tbsp. butter
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. fresh or bottled lemon juice
5 leaves minced fresh basil (or 3/4 tsp. dry)
Salt to taste
Gently saute the garlic in butter for about 2 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and basil. Add salt to taste. Remove from heat. Coat fillets with olive or canola oil. Pan fry one side on high heat for 3 minutes. Flip and cook other side 1-2 more minutes or until fish is cooked through. Transfer to serving dish. Spoon sauce over fillets.
Serving Suggestion: Serve on a bed of sauteed spinach or greens, and fresh tomato salsa.
More Recipes: Barramundi with Balsamic Orange Ginger Glaze Barrumundi with Chili, Tomato, Saffron and Zucchini Pan Seared Barramundi Barramundi Fish Tacos Enjoy!
Every year when Lent comes around, I'm reminded of my years working in an eating disorder treatment center. It was the time when my patients viewed the holiday as an excuse to indulge their disease. Over night, everyone seemed to become Catholic and want the special dietary rules to apply to them!
I decided to have a rule that other than the"fish on Friday" tradition, all Lenten sacrifices would have to relate to something other than food. After all, Lent is supposed to be a practice of sacrifice, and making it easier to live in your comfort zone is not really what Lent is about.
Here are ten sacrifices to consider that may indirectly have to do with food, but in a way that may allow you to come out of Lent with a new healthy habit that benefits you long after the 40 days it felt like a sacrifice.
Any behavior change is hard. The purpose of Lent is not to punish yourself, but to pull yourself out of living with a focus on yourself and turning it toward others. The healthier you feel, the more likely it is you will want to interact with others. And social support can, over the long haul, help to balance your hormones.
The beauty of Lent as compared to a New Year's resolution is, you only have to commit to 40 days. Then you can re-evaluate. There is something about the permanency of a New Year's resolution that almost insures its being broken. Lent is a way to try a new behavior on for size and evaluate if it works for you.
1. Give up negative self-talk
2. Put away excessive weighing on the scale
3. Instead of spending money on that nail job or that new eye shadow color, buy the fish oil. And take it!
4. Go to bed at a regular, earlier, hour.
5. Get up early and get to that yoga class on time.
6. Pack your lunch.
7. Limit your social networking time (Facebook, Twitter) and attend a new meetup group once a week. A group that has absolutely nothing to do with food, exercise, fertility, or PCOS.
8. Practice a daily random act of kindness.
9. Do something daily that has no purpose and is just plain fun!
10. Spend a little bit of extra money on organic household cleaning products.
