The Hemp Connection:
tips

Hello everyone,

Our next inCYST Saturday Seminar is being taught by Ellen Reiss Goldfarb, RD, in her West Los Angeles office.

For registration information please visit this link:

Yesterday I was grocery shopping with a client at Trader Joe's. There was a poster in the store with 30 easy dinners for 4, for under $20. I am sharing a few of my favorites to give you some ideas.

You don't have to be a gourmet cook and put out a from-scratch spread every single night. In fact, some of the best meals you can make are the easiest to make.

Bon appetit!

Canned chicken chili
Pre-made cornbread
Carrot salad with orange-pineapple dressing

Chicken Gorgonzolla
Mushroom-herb risotto
Caesar salad

Stuffed peppers
Greek salad
Baby baguettes

Tilapia Cittronette
Lemon-pepper pappardelle
Britany blend veggies

Eggplant Parmesan
Penne Arrabiata
Spinach salad

Fully cooked top sirloin beef
Baby spinach salad
Asparagus risotto

Chicken Sausage
Polenta
Mixed greens with cranberry salad
Whole Wheat rolls

Roasted Red Pepper Soup
Country Italian salad
Garlic Parmesan flatbread

Gestalt shrimp stir fry
Asian slaw salad

Orange chicken
Jasmine rice
Soy ginger carrots

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

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

NOT.

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

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

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

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shredded, sweetened coconut

3/4 cup Earthbound Farm Organic Raisins

1 large organic apple, peeled and grated

1 cup (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained

2 cups grated carrots

1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts

3 large eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Arizona Sunrise Muffins

5/8 cups sugar

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shredded, sweetened coconut

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

1 large organic apple, peeled and grated

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

2 cups grated carrots

1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

3 large omega-3 eggs

2/3 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon banana liqueur

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hello everyone,

As one of the biggest perceptions about organic food, that it is expensive, is often one of the biggest barriers to people actually eating it, inCYST is partnering with Mambo Sprouts to get the word out that this may not be the way to think.

Sometimes, a little bit of investment in good food saves you money in medication and physician visits in the long run. Mambo Sprouts takes it one step further by offering coupons for foods commonly found in natural grocers. You can find them on their website, www.mambosprouts.com. You can also follow them on Twitter, @mambosprouts.

Our first article, on infertility, appeared earlier this week. I'll post them as they appear.

So if it tastes great, and may actually save you some money…why not try it?

Hello everyone,

It's been a crazy month! I just returned from Oakland where I met with lactation consultants in the Kaiser Health system, hopefully strengthening the ties we have with this specialty important to PCOS. Many women with PCOS who finally conceive learn that their next challenge is successful breastfeeding. So we need to have strong communication between specialties to be sure each of us in your life at different times provides consistent and useful information. Yesterday was an excellent start in that direction.

Next week I am off to work with the Minnesota team, and we'll be brainstorming what can be done for women in their 'hoods.

Before I go, I will be doing my monthly Tempe Whole Foods inCYST class, please, if you are in Phoenix, Chandler, Gilbert, Ahwatukee, and have a couple of hours to spare, come attend! It's a whole lot more information than you're likely to get if you spend that copayment money on someone who has not been trained in your specific diagnosis.

At the end of the month, Ellen Reiss Goldfarb will be hosting her second inCYST Saturday Seminar. Her last one was wonderful and it really is a must-attend for any LA woman who wants the best, most practical information on PCOS.

All information on classes and events can be found at www.afterthediet.com/inCYST.htm

Oh! And the photo? It doesn't have a whole lot to do with PCOS, except maybe that I took a stress management break and visited the California Academy of Sciences with a good friend Sue and her husband Ernie. Sometimes when you think you've got more on your plate than you can handle…the absolute best thing you can do is step off the treadmill and do something completely different. It gives your brain a rest and an opportunity to derive a plan without your anxiety interfering with the process. That's what I did with my friends, just took a break and enjoyed learning about jellyfish and fish eating snakes and chameleons and albino alligators. The jellyfish were very mesmerizing and relaxing to watch, I decided they are kind of like nature's lava lamps.

The clarity that resulted from the time off will definitely benefit all of you. I hope you have opportunities to do the same when your PCOS seems like it's taken a life of its own. Things will get better!

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to introduce you to Tina Shiver, who is located in Richmond, Virginia. You can learn more about her and her practice at www.tinashiver.com.

Tina, I look forward to your posts…I'm hoping you'll have some time to share insights with us about your exercise passion…Latin dancing!

Hello inCYST readers!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

If you've noticed the banner ad on the side, that is our new sponsor, Green Mountain at Fox Run Resort in Ludlow, Vermont.

They were just featured on msnbc.com if you want to read more about them:

Chastetree berry is a very common supplement used by women with PCOS. Does it work? If so, how?

In order to better understand this interesting but complex herb, I thought I'd make this a series spread across several posts. I'm starting with the hormones affected by chastetree berry: luteinizing hormone (LH), estrogen, progesterone, and prolactin. Today I'll focus on LH.

Luteinizing hormone is the hormone that causes ovulation. It is also the hormone that promotes development of the follicle into a corpus luteum, the intermediary step between egg and embryo.

Luteinizing hormone is interesting in that what constitutes a"normal" level depends on what stage of a menstrual cycle you are referring to. Levels are low at the beginning of a cycle, they ramp up to a peak just before ovulation. After ovulation, they drop back down again. This graph shows a typical LH cycle in a woman who does not have PCOS.

In PCOS, there are two key variations on normal LH function to consider. First of all, when levels are supposed to be low, they tend to be high. Secondly, at the point they should be surging in order to induce ovulation, they are too low to do so. Here is a graph of LH function that is common to women with PCOS.

As you can see, restoring good LH function is not a matter of raising or lowering LH levels. It's a matter of restoring cyclicity…in other words, making sure LH is high when it should be high, and making sure it's low when it should be low. When you read information about vitex, or LH, in your own research, you should be looking for the word"normalize", rather than"raise" or"lower".

Next: a look at estrogen and ovulation.

In this segment on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 6pm EDT, Sasha Ottey speaks Dr. Andrea Dunaif, one of the world's most prominent PCOS researchers. She is Director of the Northwestern University NIH-Supported Specialized Center of Research (SCOR) on Sex and Gender Factors Affecting Women’s Health.

Dr. Dunaif’s research focuses on the mechanisms linking reproduction and metabolism. Her studies have led the way in redefining PCOS as a major metabolic disorder that is a leading risk factor for type 2 diabetes. She has translated her findings into novel therapies for PCOS with insulin sensitizing drugs. Most recently, her group has mapped the first major susceptibility gene for the disorder. This spells progress!

Dr. Dunaif will be able to tell us about the latest discoveries, developments, and medical breakthroughs in Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome research.

To listen to Dr. Dunaif, tune in on Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 6pm EDT to learn more about PCOS the strides the medical community are taking to learn more about treating it.

To listen go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pcoschallenge. You can ask questions live via the chat room or call in with a live question during the show at (646) 929-0394. If you would like to send your questions in advance, please leave a comment here and it will be asked during the show.

If you are a registered dietitian, you listen to this program, and you would like to receive credit for your time, you may do so for a small fee. Please contact me at marika@google.com for more information.

Hello everyone,

inCYST provider Marissa Kent, RD, and I are excited about our first-ever Saturday Seminar in Orange County (Lake Forest)!

We've got a nice group registered, but there are still a few spaces available.

For more information please visit this link.

If you'd like to see a Saturday Seminar near you, please contact us so we can work it into the schedule!

Monika

Kind of an obvious choice this week…

…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!

Chromium is a commonly used (or at least recommended) supplement in PCOS. What is it, why is it recommended, and should you be taking it?

Chromium is a metal, just like iron and copper. It's not really needed in large amounts to do its job, which in the body, is to help metabolize sugar and fats.

Some researchers have suggested that chromium supplementation in PCOS can help insulin function. There are two articles in the National Library of Medicine database looking specifically at the use of chromium supplementation in PCOS. One study, using a dose of 200 mcg per day, resulted in improved glucose tolerance but not fertility. The second study bumped the dose up to 1000 micrograms per day, resulting in a 38% better ability to remove glucose from the blood.

BEFORE YOU RUSH OUT AND BUY A YEAR'S SUPPLY…

There are more than a few articles in the very same database connecting chromium picolinate to DNA damage. The earliest one, for someone writing so much about infertility, really caught my eye, as it was entitled, "Chromium(III) picolinate produces chromosome damage in Chinese hamster ovary cells." Another study reported that offspring of pregnant mice who were given chromium picolinate had an increased incidence of skeletal defects.

In the United States, dietary chromium recommendations have actually been LOWERED.

Because this is such a popular supplement recommendation and I'm sure at least some readers will question this, I've put all the references I found at the bottom of this post.

What I did notice was that over time, articles started to appear that countered this finding. I'm not sure if that means that earlier studies were wrong, if study design was manipulated to generate a different outcome, or if nutrition scientists are still trying to figure out how chromium works in the body.

What I know is, there were enough reports of potential toxicity to cause concern, and I do my best not to make recommendations that future research might force me to backpedal on. The entire model of PCOS intervention promoted by inCYST is about preventing oxidative stress and its associated damage. Chromium picolinate was referred to as an oxidative stress agent in more than one of the cited references, so to encourage readers to supplement with it seemed counterproductive.

WHAT TO DO?

First of all, understand what it is that chromium does. The clue lies in the fourth sentence of this post, in which I mentioned that chromium is needed to metabolize sugar and fats. If you're eating less sugar and fat, you need less chromium! So…perhaps one very important thing you can do is create less of a need for chromium by working to reduce your sugar and fat intake. We've talked a lot about strategies for reducing sugar cravings and binge eating, which could be two of your most important chromium-balance strategies.

Know your dietary sources. What you CAN do about the deficiency that previous dietary choices may have created, is to be savvy about what foods naturally contain trace amounts of chromium. These include brewer's yeast, whole grains, liver, bran cereals, potatoes, romaine lettuce, onions, and tomatoes.

Skip the refined foods Part of the reason we may have so much trouble getting chromium in the diet is our love of processed foods. It's especially problematic when we eat a food (such as bread) that is eventually going to require chromium to be metabolized, that has had the chromium processed right out of it.

It's kind of like if your car is running inefficiently. It's blowing through gasoline at a rapid rate. You can keep the car running by putting more and more gasoline in it, or you can get a tuneup to increase your fuel efficiency. Both will work, but one is more likely to cause long term problems.

Lucidi RS, Thyer AC, Easton CA, Holden AE, Schenken RS, Brzyski RG. Effect of chromium supplementation on insulin resistance and ovarian and menstrual cyclicity in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Fertil Steril. 2005 Dec;84(6):1755-7.

Stearns DM, Wise JP Sr, Patierno SR, Wetterhahn KE. Chromium(III) picolinate produces chromosome damage in Chinese hamster ovary cells. FASEB J. 1995 Dec;9(15):1643-8.

Stearns DM, Belbruno JJ, Wetterhahn KE. A prediction of chromium(III) accumulation in humans from chromium dietary supplements. FASEB J. 1995 Dec;9(15):1650-7. Review.

Bagchi D, Bagchi M, Balmoori J, Ye X, Stohs SJ. Comparative induction of oxidative stress in cultured J774A.1 macrophage cells by chromium picolinate and chromium nicotinate. Eur J Epidemiol. 1998 Sep;14(6):621-6.

Kato I, Vogelman JH, Dilman V, Karkoszka J, Frenkel K, Durr NP, Orentreich N, Toniolo P. Effect of supplementation with chromium picolinate on antibody titers to 5-hydroxymethyl uracil. Chem Res Toxicol. 1999 Jun;12(6):483-7.

Speetjens JK, Collins RA, Vincent JB, Woski SA. The nutritional supplement chromium(III) tris(picolinate) cleaves DNA. Mol Cell Biochem. 2001 Jun;222(1-2):149-58.

Bagchi D, Bagchi M, Stohs SJ. Chromium (VI)-induced oxidative stress, apoptotic cell death and modulation of p53 tumor suppressor gene. Mutat Res. 2002 Jan 15;513(1-2):135-42.

Vincent JB. The potential value and toxicity of chromium picolinate as a nutritional supplement, weight loss agent and muscle development agent. Sports Med. 2003;33(3):213-30.

Bailey MM, Boohaker JG, Sawyer RD, Behling JE, Rasco JF, Jernigan JJ, Hood RD, Vincent JB. Exposure of pregnant mice to chromium picolinate results in skeletal defects in their offspring. Birth Defects Res B Dev Reprod Toxicol. 2006 Jun;77(3):244-9.

Stallings DM, Hepburn DD, Hannah M, Vincent JB, O'Donnell J. Nutritional supplement chromium picolinate generates chromosomal aberrations and impedes progeny development in Drosophila melanogaster. Mutat Res. 2006 Nov 7;610(1-2):101-13.
Kim M, Lim JH, Ahn CS, Park K, Kim GT, Kim WT, Pai HS. Mitochondria-associated hexokinases play a role in the control of programmed cell death in Nicotiana benthamiana. Plant Cell. 2006 Sep;18(9):2341-55.

Andersson MA, Petersson Grawé KV, Karlsson OM, Abramsson-Zetterberg LA, Hellman BE.
Evaluation of the potential genotoxicity of chromium picolinate in mammalian cells in vivo and in vitro. Food Chem Toxicol. 2007 Jul;45(7):1097-106.

Hininger I, Benaraba R, Osman M, Faure H, Marie Roussel A, Anderson RA. Safety of trivalent chromium complexes: no evidence for DNA damage in human HaCaT keratinocytes. Free Radic Biol Med. 2007 Jun 15;42(12):1759-65.

Bailey MM, Sturdivant J, Jernigan PL, Townsend MB, Bushman J, Ankareddi I, Rasco JF, Hood RD, Vincent JB. Comparison of the potential for developmental toxicity of prenatal exposure to two dietary chromium supplements, chromium picolinate and [Cr3O(O2CCH2CH3)(6(H2O)3]+, in mice. Birth Defects Res B Dev Reprod Toxicol. 2008 Feb;83(1):27-31.
Komorowski JR, Greenberg D, Juturu V. Chromium picolinate does not produce chromosome damage. Toxicol In Vitro. 2008 Apr;22(3):819-26.

Komorowski JR, Greenberg D, Juturu V. Chromium picolinate does not produce chromosome damage. Toxicol In Vitro. 2008 Apr;22(3):819-26.

Tan GY, Zheng SS, Zhang MH, Feng JH, Xie P, Bi JM. Study of oxidative damage in growing-finishing pigs with continuous excess dietary chromium picolinate intake. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2008 Winter;126(1-3):129-40.

Tan GY, Bi JM, Zhang MH, Feng JH, Xie P, Zheng SS. Effects of chromium picolinate on oxidative damage in primary piglet hepatocytes. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2008 Dec;126 Suppl 1:S69-79.

This is an interesting study out of Finland about women who sought IVF treatment. The researchers were interested to know if a history of induced abortion in any way might be connected to fertility treatments later on in life. A total of 19,429 charts were reviewed, which is a significant sample size. Twelve percent of women seeking IVF treatment and 11% of women seeking ovulation induction treatment reported having had a previous abortion. According to the researchers, this was statistically significant. The researchers encouraged that women receiving treatment for abortion be advised of the possibility of infertility at a later age. They also encouraged practitioners providing fertility treatments to be thorough in their assessment of patients and be sure to ask if this is part of a patient's reproductive profile.

There are many reasons why this relationship may occur. The important thing is, if it describes YOU, and you have not shared this information with your physician, it is important to be sure you do so. Every little piece of information you have to share allows your physician to develop a treatment plan with the best possible chances of succeeding.

Hemminki E, Klemetti R, Sevón T, Gissler M. Induced abortions previous to IVF: an epidemiologic register-based study from Finland. Hum Reprod. 2008 Jun;23(6):1320-3. Epub 2008 Mar 27.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The day after the FDA warning about pistachio nuts came out, I was in a local grocery store. As I walked through the produce aisle, I noticed the produce manager and his clerk with a huge bin; they were emptying out their inventory of pistachio nuts into a huge garbage bin. They had no idea where their pistachios had come from, and they had to throw them away.

I felt sad that so much food had to be wasted.

The day that the FDA warning about pistachio nuts came out, I received a note from Whole Foods Market. They were working to source where all their pistachio nuts came from. A detailed memo was released later in the week regarding the safety of pistachios in their many stores.

Please read this blog post and make your own decisions. But do consider the value in being an informed consumer. If you are judicious about where you shop, it may be worth a little extra investment. If you make a choice to purchase locally grown products at your farmer's market, you're not only supporting a local small business, you know exactly what hands your food passed through before it fell into yours.

There will come a time when pistachios will be considered generally healthy to eat, no matter what the source. And when that comes, keep these pistachio fun facts in mind:

--a one ounce serving of pistachio nuts scores higher on the USDA's antioxidant scorecard than a cup of green tea.
--pistachio nuts can help to reduce bad cholesterol and raise good cholesterol
--pistachio nuts are high in lutein and can help prevent macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness
--pistachio nuts are a good source of many vitamins and minerals, including: thiamin, vitamin B6, copper, manganese, potassium, dietary fiber, phosphorus and magnesium
--pistachio nuts are a good source of healthy fats, including omega-3's

My point is…I hope you don't eliminate pistachios completely from your diet because of what you've heard in the news. The pistachio recall was specifically for pistachios from Setton Farms. If you can shop at a store or farmer's market where you can be assured pistachios did not pass through this processing plant, they can be a wonderful addition to your PCOS eating plan.

Here's a recipe for white bean pistachio chili to get you started!

This comes from Sasha Ottey of PCOS Challenge:

Hello everyone! It is that time again to pick a few people to be on the PCOS Challenge Radio Show. The last show with Nicole and Kelly was a hit and they really helped to spread PCOS awareness with their stories.

If you are interested in sharing your story about living with PCOS on the PCOS Challenge Radio Show, please email a synopsis of your story to media@pcoschallenge.com. We already have a few submissions, but would really love a few more. If you live out of the country and have Skype and would like to call in that way, that would be great. We are looking forward to some very enlightening stories. Thank you.

PCOS Challenge

Hello everyone,

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.

Hello everyone,

Just a reminder that this coming Sunday I will be at the Venice Whole Foods for an inCYST Fertility Friendly Food Tour. We'll be talking about basic concepts of eating to improve your fertiliity, and we will be roaming through the store discussing foods and supplements that can be part of your program.

If you want to attend and guarantee your space, please call Whole Foods and RSVP. 310.566.9480. I am not in charge of reservations, you need to call the store.

We had a lot of fun with this event in Scottsdale and I'm excited to be able to bring it to Southern California…

Hope to see you there!

Monika