The Hemp Connection:
positive

The last time I wrote about marijuana it brought enough traffic to this blog with the search words,"PCOS" and"marijuana" I figured the subject should be addressed in more detail.

Did you know that our bodies naturally make their own cannabinoids? They are compounds that are needed for a variety of processes, ranging from appetite to pain sensation to mood to memory.

Cannabis, an external cannabinoid, affects these functions as follows:

1. Interferes with both long and short term memory. If you're smoking pot and experiencing brain fog, there just might be a connection.

2. Increases appetite (like I had to tell you that!) When your internal (endo) cannabinoid system is out of balance, it too affects appetite. Leptin and endocannabinoids antagonize each other, and when the latter levels become higher, obesity is more likely. Just as cannabis intensifies cravings for sweets, so do high levels of endocannabinoids.

3. Affects fertility. In both directions. Cannabinoids can increase or decrease the probability of an embryo implanting in the uterus. My guess would be that if you're a person who is craving sweets and struggling with weight, you layer smoking pot on top of that…you're pushing that baby farther away from reality, rather than in the positive direction.

What is fascinating is that omega-3 fatty acids, the ones you see all the time mentioned in this blog, are crucial for good endocannabinoid function. If you're omega-3 deficienct, you're more likely to make it harder for your body to respond to its own naturally produced cannabinoids. So that craving for pot may have a valid foundation. The problem is, it's not the lack of cannabinoids that's causing the problem. It's that they are there, all dressed up, ready to help regulate memory, mood, appetite, and hormone function, but the body has lost the ability to understand what those chemicals are trying to tell them. Flooding your system with more of those chemicals holds potential to create an even worse imbalance, even worse cravings, a vicious cycle that it can feel impossible to break out of.

In addition, omega-3 fatty acids help to be sure that when it comes to maintaining muscle mass and reducing fat mass, the endocannabinoids push that relationship in the right direction.

Why not try improving how your body uses these chemicals and see if it helps reduce your need for the external stuff?

1. Work really, really hard on getting those omega-6 fatty acids out of the diet. They are likely to be found in baked goods, chips, all the stuff you tend to want to eat when you have the munchies. So it seems like a really important strategy is to not bring your munchie foods into the house. Fill your kitchen with fruits, vegetables, crackers made with olive oil, etc., to turn to while you're transitioning to a better hormone balance. Remember, the oils you want to stay away from begin with the letters"s" and"c"--safflower, sunflower, soybean, sesame, corn, cottonseed. Canola is ok.

2. Get as many omega-3 fatty acids as you can in your diet. If you supplement, start with a dose of 500 mg DHA per day. If, combined with #1, you don't see a change within 2 weeks, add 500 mg more DHA. I've seen some cases where titrating up like that, over time, the end dose was 1000 to 1500 mg per day. Hang in there. If you're diligent, it works.
Lafourcade M, Larrieu T, Mato S, Duffaud A, Sepers M, Matias I, De Smedt-Peyrusse V, Labrousse VF, Bretillon L, Matute C, Rodríguez-Puertas R, Layé S, Manzoni OJ. Nutritional omega-3 deficiency abolishes endocannabinoid-mediated neuronal functions. Nat Neurosci. 2011 Mar;14(3):345-50. Epub 2011 Jan 30.

Watkins BA, Hutchins H, Li Y, Seifert MF. The endocannabinoid signaling system: a marriage of PUFA and musculoskeletal health. J Nutr Biochem. 2010 Dec;21(12):1141-52. Epub 2010 Oct 8.

Kirkham TC, Tucci SA. Endocannabinoids in appetite control and the treatment of obesity". CNS Neurol Disord Drug Targets 5 (3): 272–92, 2006.

Ryusuke Y. Endocannabinoids selectively enhance sweet taste. PNAS 107 (2): 935–9, 2010.

Das SK, Paria BC, Chakraborty I, Dey SK. Cannabinoid ligand-receptor signaling in the mouse uterus. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 92 (10): 4332–6, 1995.

Paria BC, Das SK, Dey SK. The preimplantation mouse embryo is a target for cannabinoid ligand-receptor signaling. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 92 (21): 9460–4, 1995.

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

We get many questions about hemp, and its value as a protein and omega-3 source. Time to learn some more.

Here are the basic nutrition facts about hemp, calculated for a 1 tbsp serving.

Calories: 80
Fat: 5 grams
Carbohydrate: 3.5 grams
Protein 5.5 grams

POSITIVE: To put that into perspective, a tablespoon of hemp seed has about the same amount of fat as a teaspoon of butter or oil, plus slightly less protein than an ounce of meat. So as far as fat choices, it's going to give you more nutritional bang for your buck than a pure fat source. That protein is also a complete protein, too!

WARNING: Beware of those calories, though! Someone who commented on the Livestrong.com website where I got this information shared that he puts 3 tablespoons of hemp seeds on his cereal every morning. That is 240 calories, which if not removed from elsewhere in the diet, is the equivalent, over a year, of 25 pounds' worth of calories. If you ADD hemp to your diet, be sure you've accounted for it by REMOVING less calorically dense/nutritious food choices.

POSITIVE: With respect to fatty acid profile, the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of hemp averages 3:1. This is favorable, as it is lower than the recommended total dietary ratio of 4:1.

WARNING: As hemp is a vegetarian source of omega-3, it provides ALA. It does not contain EPA or DHA, which are primarily found in seafood. Some of the ALA found in hemp will be converted into EPA and DHA, but not in the quantities we have found to be of therapeutic value for PCOS. If you want to use hemp in your diet, it is certainly beneficial, but it does not replace the need for the other omega-3's.

POSITIVE: Hemp contains gamma-linoleic acid (GLA), which can be helpful for some skin conditions, including atopic dermatitis.

WARNING: GLA tends to work best when it is not overwhelmed with omega-6 fatty acids. In other words, if you have a skin condition, and you want to try GLA as a remedy, you are most likely to achieve good results if you cut back on your total omega-6 fatty acid intake (safflower, sunflower, soybean, sesame, corn, and cottonseed oil).

You could say the bottom line with hemp, as with any other food, is that if it is used judiciously and respectfully and not layered onto an unhealthy diet that needs some tuning up, it can be a tool toward better hormone balance.

But it is not a miracle food that will allow you to continue with unhealthy dietary indiscretions without consequence.

For those who are concerned about the THC content of hemp: in order to ingest enough industrial hemp to get 'a buzz', you would have to consume the the equivalent of 2-3 doses of a high-fiber laxative. Thanks to the North American Industrial Hemp Council for that little tidbit!

For starters, here is a recipe for hemp pancakes. As you can see, the oil has been removed and replaced with hemp seed. That is the way hemp should be used; as a fat alternative, not as an additional fat. It could probably be used in many recipes where you are using ground flax seed, with similar results.

Here are some sample hemp food products available at amazon.com

For more information about the history, politics, and nutritional analysis of hemp, beyond the direct pertinence of hemp to PCOS, try this article on Dr. Bronner's website.

I don't normally refer back and forth between the several places I write, I figure you're subscribed to the places you want to receive updates. But something very special happened this week, and it started with one of you. I wanted to be sure that wherever you stay in touch with us, you know about it.

Monday, one of you sent me this photo, which by now has gone viral. It was taken in a store on the East Coast, Green Grocer, that had pulled Kashi Cereal off of its shelves. I did some research and found there was a story worth writing, and published one on my Examiner column. It didn't take long for it to get spread around; in two days, my Examiner archives had recieved more views than they did all last year!

This morning I was checking my statistics and noticed that the article had been linked to in the second paragraph of a Huffington Post article. And if you read that article, it seems as though all the attention this incident has been getting has Kashi doing some PR work.

The audience this article reached was far greater than my immediate network, so I know in large part what happened had to do with people like you, reading and forwarding to inform your own networks. It is exactly what I have been advocating for all of you to believe all along, that your opinion matters, your voice is important to use, and your wallets have a vote.

I'm not the kind of person who jumps from publicity opp to publicity opp, lighting my hair on fire for a few extra hits on my website, at all. But I do believe that together, with a common purpose, and belief that we have the power to create positive change, that is exactly what can happen.

I hope this inspires all of you to speak out more in the future, and to believe that your voice is important in the big scheme of things!

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

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

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

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

I've recently been helping clients with skin issues such as psoriasis and eczema. These problems are annoying both cosmetically and comfort-wise, so it's super important to me, that my advice helps increase their comfort.

What we do is work from the inside out as well as outside in.

From the inside, the same diet you see me write about here, for infertility, is excellent for reducing the inflammatory process that is the root cause of these diagnoses. In fact, it was because women who were both infertile and suffering from eczema and psoriasis started telling me their redness and itchiness was gradually relieving after implementing dietary changes, that I realized there was a connection.

From the outside in, and this is important because no one wants to be red and itchy for a few months while they wait to feel better, simple oils from your kitchen can be very healing. If you've got olive oil, try that.

I'm partial to virgin coconut oil. It's already in many of your skin products and has a lot of healing properties. It moisturizes and heals and doesn't seem to cause acne like other products I've tried on my own skin.

Your skin tells you a lot about your internal inflammatory process. Hang in there! If you're making positive changes, you should soon experience positive feedback for the effort.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been looking at the grief process through the lens of DABDA (a model that focuses on the stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance). When it comes to dying, acceptance is important¸ but not necessarily critical – if you’re terminally ill, you may die before you reach a place of acceptance. With PCOS though, you’ve got a life-long condition. If you don’t accept it, you’re likely not taking care of it properly. The good news is that acceptance is something you can learn.

Acceptance looks like:

• Generally being pretty okay with what’s going on, even when it’s unpleasant (so you don’t like hearing that you’ve got pre-diabetes, but you’re going to do the recommended diet consistently)
• Eating, sleeping, and exercising appropriately, even when you don’t feel like it
• Practicing good self-care, even when it’s inconvenient
• Having a stress reduction practice, such as meditation, yoga, or therapy
• Being grateful for what you do have (if you can’t quickly create a list of at least ten items, you may be dealing with low self-esteem or depression, which can be helped through therapy)
• Being genuinely happy about the positives of your life – kind of like being grateful, it’s about having a balanced perspective, rather than just focusing on the negatives
• Treating others with kindness, because it’s the right thing to do, and you’re not so angry about where you are and what you’ve got that you’re taking it out on them
• Not constantly comparing yourself to others, because you don’t need to – you know you’re not perfect, but you’re okay with it, and you’re working on what you can
In other words, happiness is about balance, perspective, equanimity, self-respect, and self-care, all coming together to remind you on a regular basis that you’re actually pretty okay, in spite of your PCOS – and even though the PCOS is a drag¸ you believe you can manage it.

Although this concludes our review of the DABDA process, we’ll look at bringing it all together (remember, grief is a non-linear process, and these emotions can pop up at any time, or repeatedly) and incorporating it as a permanent point of reference.

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.

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.

I had the opportunity to use a gift card today sent to me by Chili's Restaurant.* This popular restaurant recently launched a new line, Lighter Choices, and they wanted people in the food industry to try it on for size. So I met my friend Ivonne for lunch, and we tried out a couple of the items.

I ordered the margarita grilled chicken.

Ivonne ordered the steak.

We both thought the meals were flavorful and well presented. How did they stack up nutritionally? The meals all live up to Chili's promise. But women with PCOS have some additional needs to attend to, especially the ratio of carbohydrate to protein. Keeping that in mind, 3 of the 7 offerings would fit into a hormone-friendly style of eating: the Classic Sirloin, the Grilled Chicken Salad, and the Grilled Salmon.

Something that often happens with low-calorie menus is that sodium spikes up. It's there to replace the flavor that taking everything else out, removed. These menu items are no exception; in fact, the lowest calorie item, the Classic Sirloin, has the highest milligrams sodium/calorie ratio, 6.25 to 1. Of the three with the best carbohydrate to protein ratio, your best bet is the Grilled Chicken Salad, at 1.6 to 1. The salmon, which I imagine many of you would gravitate toward hearing me talk so much about omega-3's, is so-so at a 3.3 to 1 ratio. (Calories and milligrams sodium should be roughly the same, any higher ratio than 2 to 1, on a regular basis, especially if you're prone to fluid retention or high blood pressure, can be problematic.)

Bottom line, if you're traveling, need a business lunch where there are a lot of items for a lot of different tastes, or an occasional family outing, choose any of the three entrees recommended above. If you eat at Chili's regularly, stick with the Grilled Chicken Salad. Since Chili's has a takeout service, this may actually be a better choice for those of you who struggle with what to eat if you don't eat fast food.

A final word for the Chili's menu designers. My friend and I both noticed that the only vegetable offered on any of these dishes…was broccoli. It would be nice to see a variety of veggies, even carrots, zucchini, sweet potatoes, etc. It's an entire category of beautiful food with a lot of possibilities for enhancing flavor, texture, and presentation.

I thank Chili's for the opportunity to try the menu, and hope this opens up some options for our readers.

*As a participant in the Klout program, I occasionally receive Klout Perks, which are offers to try products related to my area of specialty. I am not obligated to blog about or promote them, and if I do, I am not obliged to write only positive comments.

This week continues our discussion about PCOS and the grief process, through the DABDA (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) model. Depression is so common among PCOS patients that I write about it quite often. It’s important for you to remain conscious of the clues that you may have depression. Many, if not most of my PCOS patients have some form of depression.

When we’re talking about depression in the context of death and dying, it looks like it does in PCOS too. If you’re suffering from depression, PCOS-related or not, it might look like:

• Sleeping too much or not enough
• Eating too much or not nearly enough
• Being irritable, snappish, and short-tempered
• Feeling suicidal
• Feeling hopeless about your future
• Feeling helpless to do anything to make things better
• Having an overall gloomy, pessimistic perspective on life

It is certainly easy to feel down when you think about the fact that PCOS is so challenging, misunderstood, and often misdiagnosed, and mistreated. It is one of those conditions that benefit less from standard medical treatment and more from diet, exercise, and good self-care. It comes with embarrassing physical symptoms that are time-consuming and costly to manage. There’s not a lot of research being focused on the condition. All of that is definitely overwhelming.

Not to mention, the hormonal imbalance inherent to PCOS can cause depression, even if you manage to maintain a positive attitude, take good care of yourself, and have a good support system. Sometimes, depression invades your mind and soul, because your body’s overwhelmed your coping mechanisms. Depression is best-treated by a professional therapist, sometimes with the assistance of a medical doctor known as a psychiatrist (a specialist in psychotropic medications – medications for mental health conditions).

Next week, we’ll talk about the final stage of the DABDA process – acceptance.

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.

A recent inCYST post on grief really resonated with me. Perhaps it’s because I’m a Certified Bereavement Facilitator, so a lot of the work I do is directly related to grief, particularly “out of order” deaths such as suicide, homicide, and miscarriage loss. Or perhaps it’s because there’s so much sadness and loss surrounding chronic illness that, for me, the issue of PCOS cannot be addressed without looking at the issues of loss. In any case, I want to introduce a commonly used model for grieving, since I’ll be talking in more detail about it over the next few weeks, and relating the elements back to PCOS.

Elizabeth Kubler Ross was a physician who worked with terminally ill patients. The model was first described in relationship to terminal illness, and the process that patients go through as they struggle to reach acceptance of their situation. It has come to be applied extensively to grief therapy work. The model is known as DABDA, which stands for denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I’ll be devoting a post to each of these five items.

The first thing to know about grieving is that grieving is a non-linear process, with unpredictable timelines and variables, and that no two people grieve the same way. It’s estimated that most people grieve adequately and appropriately on their own, but about 30% would benefit from the assistance of a professional grief counselor. All of those phases of grieving – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance – may occur in order, out of order, simultaneously, repeatedly, in an overlapping fashion, or perhaps not at all before you finally reach a state of peaceful resolution around the loss.

Also, the “normal” grieving process may go awry if you have multiple losses, too many losses occur in a short period of time, or you’re not permitted to grieve openly. For example, your mother dies, and then three months later your sister and brother-in-law are killed in a car crash. Or you’re close to 40, and end up having five IVF cycles in the space of eight months, and five miscarriages. Then you have something called “complicated bereavement.” Complicated bereavement typically needs some outside help to work through.

Grieving doesn’t just take place in the context of death or a diagnosis of terminal illness. Grieving can occur in relationship to chronic illness, loss of finances, sexuality, spouse, freedom of movement, employment, and even in response to seemingly positive situations, such as the birth of a child, which also means leaving something else behind. There may be grief associated with graduating from school, leaving a job or a neighborhood, or a myriad of other situations.

In reference to PCOS, losses may include loss of femininity, loss of reproductive capacity (infertility, miscarriage), loss of health or the illusion of health, loss of freedom (all of the things you can’t or shouldn’t do if you want to be healthy), finances (the money spent on non-covered health practitioners, supplements, special dietary items, personal trainers, etc.), sexuality, relationships, and many other things. There is often a great deal to be grieved, which contributes to the chronic low-level sadness that accompanies many PCOS patients. You may not have labeled what your feeling as grief, but that may in fact be precisely what you’re feeling and doing.

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.

I just made some sample breakfast menus for a client. I had not finished making the rest of the day, and she wrote back to share that in just using the breakfast menus, she could tell an immediate difference in her cravings that were positively influencing how she ate the rest of the day.

I thought I would share them to give you all a challenge to try--eat these breakfasts and see how you feel as the day progresses--is your energy level better? Are your carbohydrate cravings less invasive?

I'm not the hugest fan of McDonald's, but since this particular client noted that one of the breakfasts she finds really helps get her off to a good start with less nibbling the rest of the day, is an Egg McMuffin, I added it to illustrate that the choice really isn't so bad. If you use your fats early in the day, in a way that actually decreases fat intake over aa 24 hour period, it may be a judicious move. I actually have the same experience with this meal. It keeps me full. Which is why we discussed how to make the homemade microwave version of the same thing on Whole Wheat English muffins.

Also, I am very intentionally leaving out the calorie, fat, and protein counts. If you use these breakfasts…I want you to focus on how the food tastes, how it feels in your stomach, and how you feel in the hours after you eat. Eating well is not about the calories, fat, and protein. Well…not totally. It has to be tasty if you're actually going to do it!

Hope this helps get you all off to a great start!

1/4 cup ricotta cheese
2 slices Ezekiel toast
8 ounces skim milk
1 medium apple
1/4 c sliced almonds

2 tbsp peanut butter
2 slices Ezekiel toast
8 ounces skim milk
1 peach

Egg McMuffin
8 ounces skim milk
1 banana

1 cup oatmeal
1/8 c whey protein powder
1/4 cup walnuts
1/2 c strawberries
8 oz. skim milk

There are a gazillion possibilities here, I just put four sample meals together to help my client get a grip on portion sizes and potential combinations. Two of these breakfasts use Ezekiel bread becausse she likes it. Oatmeal was another possibility because she travels a lot and can take advantage of the new Starbucks oatmeal option or even carry her own packets and mixins'.

I'm betting many of the foods you enjoy aren't so bad after all, and that you can include them if you know how. Often times when you move a food from the"bad" to"perfectly fine" column, the temptation to binge on them is removed. And many times, with PCOS, it's the bingeing and the quantity, not the food itself, that is the problem.

Most women I work with have lost confidence in food and are afraid to eat many foods that can benefit them. That is how a nutrition consultation can help you--if you use it wisely. Rather than looking to someone else to do all the work, make a list of your favorite foods, foods you want to eat but are afraid to, foods you are feeling are"bad" or"not an option" and ask, not IF, but HOW they can be included in your plan.

Let an inCYST provider help you design your own program! We're just waiting for you to ask so that we can be part of your success.

Heard from an inCYST fan yesterday, and I thought her words might be inspiring to other fans. Of course, the real reason this success story exists, is because she acted on what she was learning. We were merely there to encourage and support.

Many, many congratulations!

I have been meaning to email you for some time now to give you some positive feedback of your inCYST website and online radio segments. I found out I had PCOS last August and since then it has been a complete whirlwind for me. I found out because I was trying to get pregnant, and I truly believe that I would not have gotten pregnant if it weren't for both the inCYST website and the PCOS Challenge radio show (which is where I first heard about you). I'm due July 20th!: )

I seem to get something out of every post, but recently I especially appreciated the 'Note to physicians on Metformin' as well as the 'Lesson in reaching out for support' segments. On the metformin issue, that was the first time I've ever heard a professional mention that the current standard dosage may be too high for some. I believe this is true for me. I was told to get up to 2000 mg/day, but could never seem to do it. I stayed between 1000 and 1500/day and got regular periods that way (and thus became pregnant).

I also listened to the lesson for support segment. That caller (bless her heart!) could have been me talking. What a wonderful source of support that segment was! My favorite portion of that segment was when you pointed out that it might not always behoove us to listen to our appetite. I totally agree with this. Sometimes my appetite is right on, and sometimes it really deceives me. Before I knew I had PCOS, I remember feeling shameful because the mass media always said that overweight people have emotional problems and just need to deal with that in order to lose weight. Oprah Winfrey always sends this message on her shows. I believe that for many and for me, it is way more of a blood sugar issue.

Monika, I can't stress to you the importance of the work you are doing here. Thank you for dedicating so much of your time and energy into this population. I feel so fortunate to be a part of the inCYST network.

A million thanks!

If you’ve been busy learning and applying various techniques to improve your health, you’ve probably heard of “Meatless Monday,” the idea of substituting a healthy vegetarian meal one day per week in order to beef up (no pun intended!) your vegetable consumption and lessen your dependence on meat. It’s a great idea, relatively easy to implement, and, over time, contributes to an overall pattern of good eating.

This “Mental Health Monday” column is also a good habit. Reading it is a way of bring attention (mindfulness) to the practices inherent in creating and maintaining good mental health. I often talk about ways to make small changes in attitude, behavior, or thought patterns. From a mental health perspective, what I like about Meatless Monday is the way it breaks down an overwhelming task (eating healthier) into a small, actionable, and rewarding step. If you implement Meatless Monday, it means you’re really thinking about what you eat. You’re taking time and energy to explore and experiment. You eat the food and realize that you don’t need meat to feel complete or satisfied. Or maybe you make a bad choice (pasta, pasta, pasta!), and realize that your needs call for more protein – but maybe it doesn’t have to come from meat.

Mental health is like this. You can’t take a huge, amorphous goal (say, “feel happier”) and just say, “that’s what I want – where is it?!” It’s a process, a project, a series of steps and experiments. There is a need for assessment, evaluation, and revision. Over time, you learn what’s missing in your upbringing, your thought patterns, and your ways of relating. Or you learn that there’s something you do quite often that is off-putting or unproductive in your relationships. You implement homework assignments from your therapist, read self-help books and do the exercises, and practice affirmations and positive self-talk. At some point, you begin to notice that things are improving. The process gets easier. You don’t have to consciously think really hard about how to have a productive talk with your boyfriend, set a boundary with your overbearing mother, or express your anger productively. You’re better. You’re happier. You’re healthier. And it all started with a small experiment, such as:

• Meatless Monday
• Not saying negative things about yourself, privately or in public.
• Joining a therapy group.
• Going to the gym just once a week.
• Adding Vitamin D3 supplements.
• Eliminating gossip.

In and of itself, one action is not enough. Cumulatively though, as you slowly implement mentally and/or physically healthy choices, the impact is there. What are you going to start doing to get happier and healthier today?

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.

Source: kalynskitchen.com via Amanda on Pinterest

I've now worked with three Chow Locally boxes, and for the most part I was cruising along. Until this past week when arugula showed up in the box. A few years ago, I belonged to a CSA at a farm where arugula grew particularly well. So for weeks at a time, it would show up in the box. I was not particularly fond of it in the first place, but when having to eat it for weeks on end…well, let's just say I developed an intense dislike for the green.

But my job at Chow Locally is to show people how to use foods in season. I decided to use this as an opportunity to put myself in many of my client's shoes, and I chose to challenge myself to learn to eat--and like--arugula.

Flipping through some recipes, I happened across arugula pesto. And I like basil pesto, so I figured it might be fun to try it with arugula. It turned out so tasty I was eating it by the spoonful!

So I cruised the Internet and found a lot of recipes for pesto using a lot of other greens that people often turn their noses up at. I found kale pesto, collard pesto, and mustard green pesto.

I think I was open minded to and expecting to like this recipe because I had an expectation of the taste that would be positive. Trying something completely foreign on top of a new food would have been too much. Expectation is half the battle!

So if you're trying to learn to cook and eat new foods, think of ways to cook the new so that it is familiar. Willing to bet it helps you add more new things to your repertoire than you thought yourself capable of.

Mindfulness. You hear that word a lot from people like me trying to help you move toward health…it's kind of a tough concept to describe. Over the weekend we were experimenting with the iPad and filming a pilot"Yoga for PCOS" class, and something happened during filming that perfectly illustrated how mindfulness works.

We live in a culture that is constantly bombarding us with stimuli. It has gotten worse in the past 5 years or so with the advent of smart phones, as we can literally be on alert 24/7 with beeps, buzzers, and"push" notifications. We can get so drawn in to social networking sites that we feel if we don't read every single status update, watch every single video, respond to every single event invitation, we are somehow missing out.

It is possible to spend an entire day connected to a screen, at the expense of losing connection to real people right in front of us. To see this for yourself, I challenge you to go for several hours with your phone and tablet left behind, and spend time in a public place. Look at how many people are focused on their phones…texting, IM'ing, talking…instead of participating in the world right in front of their faces. I have actually started turning off email and wireless connection on my writing days, so I am focused on one thing, and not constantly being tempted to shift my focus by random, multiple notifications coming at me from all directions.

The drawback to this is that when you are absorbed with your techno toys, you are also not listening to important messages your body is sending you.

You might ignore hunger. Which might seem like a good thing…except that in ignoring hunger, you often push yourself to the point of being ravenous before you respond to the cue.

You might ignore that you are tired, and stay up half the night playing Farmville, and you know if you regularly read this blog, poor sleep hygiene drives insulin resistance and worsens the symptoms of PCOS.

You might also ignore emotions. Feeling angry, sad, lonely, are uncomfortable to allow yourself to do. But those emotions are no different than physical cues, they are guiding you toward actions you need to take. If you ignore your emotions, they don't go away, they just amplify and amplify until they get your attention. If this is how you choose to deal with your emotions, their magnitude by the time that you are forced to acknowledge them, can be so great, that your response to them is at risk of being extreme--rage fits, excessive exercise, binge eating, alcohol dependence--are all common ways that people often deal with emotions they are afraid to face.

Mindfulness is a conscious exercise that develops your ability to be more aware, throughout the day, of how you are feeling. It is also called"being present". Your attention is on you, your immediate surroundings, and how you feel in those surroundings. If you pay attention to those things on an ongoing basis, and make conscious decisions about how you are going to address the situations, you can avert a lot of emotional outbursts, and binge/compulsive-type behaviors that sabotage PCOS management.

Meditation is a way to practice staying focused on yourself without being pulled away by distractions. Most people struggle with meditation at first, because until they start, they are not even aware of what thoughts and feelings they have been avoiding. It can be extremely uncomfortable. If you stick with it, it does get easier, you do develop more comfort with those thoughts and feelings, and they tend to not hit the magnitude where they convert into toxic behaviors.

When we were filming the other day, one of Sarah's kitties really wanted to help. So while Sarah and Deborah were busy focused on practicing meditation, kitty felt a little bit left out because her usual attention-getting behaviors were not working for her. (That is often what happens when we stop allowing ourselves to be distracted…the people who are positively reinforced by distracting us lose their own distraction and"up the ante" to pull us back into the unhealthy thing they need to do.)

So in this video, Kitty works and works and finally gets Deborah 's attention. For a split second, Deborah's focus on meditation was broken. But she quickly caught herself and got right back into the groove.

Now if it wasn't Kitty wanting some loving that could wait, and rather a sudden thunderstorm, Deborah may have chosen to prioritize getting out of
the rain.

Practicing mindfulness is exactly like that. You develop the ability to close out distractions. You can't ever really make them go away, life is about prioritizing and ably handling then,any distractions that are thrown in our path. The goal is to acknowledge them, just as Deborah acknowledged Kitty, and get back to more of a personal focus as quickly as possible.

Enjoy the video! It is one of several segments the kitties helped with…as the person behind the camera I was experiencing my own special mindful moments, working extremely hard to not disrupt the session with laughing, or peeing in my pants from not laughing.

We had a great time, and will have updates soon on how you can participate in our yoga program.

Source: iwishihadanocean.tumblr.com via Christine on Pinterest

In my psychotherapy practice, I hear comments like these every day. Many of my clients have low self-esteem, and run a constant stream of mental verbal abuse. It may stem from an abusive background (the things their parents said to them are embedded at this point), frustrating health conditions that are difficult to manage, or having a tendency to find unhealthy relationships. Not knowing how to create change is another reason for this kind of self-talk. Lots of things can trigger self-abuse, and it usually doesn’t take much. Many of us are all too good at starting the litany of self-abuse. For some of us, it’s a 24 hour a day practice.

What is the result of this constant barrage of mean, unproductive, and even cruel commentary? Feeling bad goes to feeling worse, depression is exacerbated, motivation decreases, and sometimes an eating, drinking, spending, or sexual binge is set off because a woman feels and thinks, “What’s the point? I can’t change. This is too hard. I’ll never figure it out. This isn’t worth it. I’m not worth it.”

I want you to stop beating yourself up – NOW. There are enough negatives coming in from external sources (bad grades, an unappreciative spouse, kids who walk all over you, the competitive types at the gym who sneer at your efforts, the not-so-subtle one-upmanship of your friend who has a much larger clothing budget, etc.). You need to combat all of that with positive self-talk, and a commitment to deleting the negative statements from your vocabulary. Every time you start with the negative self-talk, write it down, and immediately counter it in writing with a positive statement. For example:

• “I look like crap” becomes “I have some extra weight because of my PCOS, but I’ve made huge improvements in my diet and exercise program – and I’m getting there. And I still dress really cute. That matters.”

• “I’m stupid” is countered with “I’m smart, and there’s lots of evidence to prove it – I had a 3.9 GPA, and three people (name them) told me I was smart in the last month.”

• “I don’t know how to be happy” gets countered with “happiness is a process, and I’m taking important steps to achieve it, like journaling, going to therapy, and keeping a gratitude list.”

Your language is powerful, and it’s a choice. It impacts your sense of well-being, productivity, and even your health. By choosing positive language for your self-talk, it also shifts your interactions with other people. More importantly, it shifts your sense of self, and improves your self-esteem. Only you have the power to do that.

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.

If you'd like some help keeping those resolutions, and making 2010 a year of positive change, check out some of the counseling opportunities available from some of our inCYSTers!

Ann Arbor, Michigan
Terrie Holewinski (University of Michigan Medical Center) will be offering a"Gaining Control of PCOS" workshop on January 18th and 25th, as well as February 15th and 22nd, March 23rd and 30th, April 19th and 26th. The cost is $138 dollars for two 1 1/2 hour group sessions and a 1/2 hour individual dietitian consultation.

For more information women call 734-998-5679
Austin, Texas
Christine Marquette has two offers: (1) Through the end of January she is offering a 10% discount for all"new" clients on any of her services (packages and individual appointments), (2) she is offering Inherent Technology's DNA kit for weight management for $110 while supplies last. You can read more about the kit at http://www.inherenthealth.com/our-tests/weight-management.aspx

West Los Angeles, California
Gretchen Kubacky, Psy D (psychology) is offering a free in-person half hour consultation with prospective clients to determine if we're a good fit.

Phoenix, Arizona
Monika Woolsey (me) is offering a 10% discount on any consultation scheduled before the end of the month.

If you've ever heard me speak about PCOS, you know I make a big point about a very positive thing I've noticed about women who have the diagnosis…they're all very creative.

I don't have PCOS, but I am a creative type, and I often see much of myself in the women my work has brought into my life.

I have a small business, and the thought processes and anxieties I see cysters experience and share, feel very similar to what my personal endeavor brings into my own head.

**I don't have any guarantee that I have a paycheck. It can be very easy to focus on the outcome--sales and event registrations--to the point where it's challenging to take action in ways that can make that happen.

**When I need to focus on an important task, my brain has a way of wanting to embrace anything, anything at all…but the thing I need to do.

**I have a short attention span, I'm a better"ideas" person than I am a person who can follow through on those ideas.

I have to work hard, some days, extremely hard, at not letting those tendencies get in the way of my own success! Mindfulness exercises are one of the most important things I do to quiet my mind and channel all of my energy in the direction it needs to go.

One of the problems I see with a lot of mindfulness writing with regard to health, is that it tends to focus on mindfulness surrounding food. It ignores the fact that people who have trouble with food-based mindfulness, have trouble with mindfulness in all aspects of their lives. And so if you jump into working on mindfulness, and you try to attack the most difficult place to be mindful, in the presence of food…chances are you're not going to succeed with it. And then, you're at risk of jumping to the conclusion that you're a failure with food.

I thought I'd share one of my favorite personal mindfulness exercises. I do this when I catch myself doing any of the above. I challenge you to try it. It might help you to understand the struggles you're having with food and exercise choices, are about the way your brain processes ALL information, not just the PCOS stuff. If you can step outside of that very narrow food/exercise world and start to understand that this is just how you think, you may be less likely to negatively judge yourself, maybe even laugh at yourself, and start to attack the problem from some completely different angles.

What I do, is grab my camera and go for a walk. On that walk, I give myself a photography assignment. My favorite one, is to pick a letter of the alphabet and see how many examples of that letter I see in the world around me. Today I worked on the letter A.

Here are some of the things my brain did while I was trying to do this assignment. Does any of it sound familiar in your own thinking?: )

1. In the beginning of the exercise, my A's were very concrete and obvious. I was very rigid and structured with how I proceeded. They became a little more abstract as the walk went along.

2. I was looking for A's in everything! And I couldn't find them. Eventually I got bored with that, stopped paying attention to the exercise, and suddenly A's were coming at me from everywhere.

3. I saw a great M, and a really cool S, and my right (that is, obsessive) brain wanted me to take the photos and save them for future M and S days. My left brain took over and only allowed me to take photos of A's, I reminded myself that this exercise was about reducing destractibility, and there would be plenty of M's and S's on the days I did that exercise.

4. I became more relaxed as I focused my brain on something new and different, and allowed the other pervasive thoughts about my business to fade into the background. And in the process, as I came to the end of my walk, I had a bunch of great photos, some new business ideas that somehow just appeared, and better insight into barriers my thinking style creates for me. I was reminded, once again, that just because I'm not consciously obsessing about a problem, doesn't mean my brain isn't working on it. In fact, it tends to work more creatively when I don't try to force it to do its job.

If you're working on New Year's resolutions, consider your own thinking style. Consider how it works against you, and in what circumstances it works with the best of focus. It could be the creative in you, that's bringing out both. Work to enhance the one, and decrease the influence of the other. In doing so, successful change may be closer and more real than you perceive.

Enjoy the A's!

I mentioned yesterday in my Facebook status that I was making black eyed peas, and the response to the recipe was positive enough that I thought I'd share it here!

Black eyed peas are one of those things you don't hear much about unless someone in your family comes from south of the Mason-Dixon line. They are commonly eaten on New Year's Day for good luck. I'm used to having them cooked with a ham hock, served with greens. But I saw this recipe in my new Costco cookbook and had to try it. It's supposed to be a dip for chips, but I loved it as a cold salad.

Black eyed peas, by the way, are a decent source of folate, for those of you who are trying to conceive or who are pregnant.

Enjoy!

Cowboy Caviar

1 lb. frozen corn
1/2 lb. black eyed peas, cooked (I just piled them in the slow cooker first thing this morning)
1 avocado, peeled and diced
2/3 cup cilantro, … Read Morechopped
2-3 green onions, chopped
4 Roma tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
1 tbsp ground cumin

In a medium bowl, combine first 6 ingredients.
In a small bowl, whisk together next 6 ingredients. Add to the vegetable mixture and toss to coat.