The Hemp Connection:
vegan

I was asked to clarify some comments I recently made about chia, as they were questioned for their accuracy. I'm all for revisiting and making sure my information is accurate, so here is my response.

First of all, while the information on this blog should be helpful to anyone regardless of whether or not they have PCOS, it IS targeted toward women who have this hormone imbalance. So some of the information I provide is more geared toward their specific nutritional needs and not the apparently healthy population. This should always be kept in mind when reading what I write.

One of the questions about my post was that I stated that taurine is an essential amino acid. There is actually some debate about this. Some experts say no, we can synthesize it. Others call it a conditional amino acid, meaning in some situations it may be essential.

Women with PCOS seem to have something going on in their brain and nervous systems that interferes with everything from mood and appetite regulation to speech and language function. (Simply read the responses to my question last week about the symptoms I listed and you will see what I mean.) Much of the dietary protocol we have developed is actually derived from epilepsy research at Johns Hopkins University, with the premise that calming nervous system excitability makes it easier for the brain and nervous system to function as they should when not under duress. Taurine is an amino acid showing promise as an anti-seizure compound, which makes me wonder whether or not a hyperexcitable brain blows through available taurine much more quickly than a brain that does not have to live under these conditions.

That being said, I am more comfortable with the premise that for the population for whom this blog is written, as well as anyone living with any kind of condition that places stress on the brain (migraines, epilepsy, OCD, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, PTSD, schizophrenia, etc.), taurine may actually be an essential amino acid. Research to support my claim still needs to be done, but I am more comfortable being conservative on this one, especially given the responses to last week's questionnaire and the severity of some of the diagnoses I just listed. Better to be safe than sorry.

Secondly, even if the amino acid profile of chia is complete, the total protein content of chia is relatively low. So if we're advocating for a 30% protein diet in a woman who is being advised to consume 1500 calories a day, she is going to need to consume about 113 grams of protein. That translates into your needing, at this protein level, to consume 700 grams of chia per day, just to get your protein needs. That is also 3,430 calories' worth of chia, more than twice your daily calorie needs. And while its amino acid profile is nearly complete, its nutritional profile is not. It contains no vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin K, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate, or iron, to name a few.

From an omega-3 standpoint, I did invert the numbers. There is no consistent order by which omega-6 and omega-3 ratios are reported, and though I usually check to be sure I did not flip them, I did not this time. I do apologize for that.

According to http://www.nutritiondata.com/, chia seed contains an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of 3.03, which is actually quite good.

The caveat is that the omega-3 this food contains is alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), not EPA or DHA. Most omega-3 experts will contend that in the most perfect of conditions conversion of ALA to DHA is at best 5%. Again, the women this blog serves seem to need a much higher level of DHA than average for a variety of reasons. We find that they seem to do best on 1000 mg DHA daily, the level recommended by Dr. Artemis Simopolous for treating depression. Calculated out, if you are depending on chia seed to get all of your omega-3 fatty acids, from ALA through EPA and DHA, you're going to need to consume about 115 grams of chia seeds per day. Just be forewarned.

Bottom line, I actually think chia is a healthy food--as part of a varied diet. I especially think that for vegans reading this blog it can be a great addition to your diet. However, I do not believe in superfoods. There seems to be a trend toward wanting to find one perfect food that has it all. I have yet to find it. It's understandable when we're surrounded by a lot of confusing information and we live in a culture where over 10,000 new products hit the grocery shelves each year (I saw half of them in Anaheim last month and it was overwhelming!) that we'd want to have just a few foods and a small nutritional comfort zone. Unfortunately that is not really how human nutrition works.

This is an especially important philosophy to stick to on this blog, given the fact that we're learning that a very high percentage of the women we're helping have some kind of history of"veganism gone wrong"…in other words, overzealous veganism with a focus on eliminating foods rather than on learning how to eat to be nutritionally complete with no animal products on the menu. We discourage fanaticism and encourage food curiosity and variety!

We were designed to be omnivores and to eat a variety of foods from a variety of sources. I encourage you, rather than arguing for why you should narrow your choices down to feel more comfortable around food, to learn to negotiate a wider variety of foods you are willing to include in your diet.

Gaby AR. Natural approaches to epilepsy. Altern Med Rev. 2007 Mar;12(1):9-24.

I learned at Natural Products West this past weekend that many popular chewing gums are made with petroleum-based ingredients. If your chewing gum ingredient label says it is made of a"gum base," it may legally contain any of the following: petroleum, lanolin, glycerin, polyethylene, polyvinyl acetate, petroleum wax, stearic acid, or latex. In essence, you might as well cut a piece of inner tube off of your bicycle tire and chew on it, because that is what has been packaged and sold to you!

Vegans beware! There are some animal-based products in that list. And for everyone, there are endocrine disruptors up there.

When I learned this I immediately thought of all the chewing gum promoted by weight loss experts and shows such as The Biggest Loser. BIG OUCH. It's a well-intended recommendation, but in this situation, it's not the calories in the product that are the problem. That is often the case with PCOS, you need to look past the obvious to get to the answer.

Old-style chewing gums are made of chicle, which comes from the rubber tree. Over time, manufacturers switched to the cheaper and more readily available ingredients listed above. I saw chicle-based gum at the Natural Products Expo, made by a company called Glee Gum. In addition to being made with chicle, it is also GMO- and gluten-free. The chicle they use is sustainably harvested and creates an incentive for rainforest preservation. So you're doing a lot of good outside of yourself when you purchase this product.

I encourage you to take the time to learn where you can purchase it locally; if you cannot find it, here is an ordering link.

Glee also has a really fun Verve Chewing Gum Kit, 6.5-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 2) kit for any of you with budding scientists in your house. Bookmark this post and put it in your Christmas shopping file!

I recently had an animated discussion on our Facebook Fan Page with a woman about protein for vegans. Her argument is that women with PCOS simply need to eat less carbohydrate and that their protein intake is adequate.

I challenged her on that. First of all, if she is vegan, she has PCOS, and she is a member of our Facebook page, it suggests that maybe there is a piece she is missing. I am not telling anyone who is vegan with PCOS that it is wrong or impossible to have and do both…but if that is your choice, it is super important that you be informed and diligent in order that the choice not backfire on you.

Here is why I say that.

Women with PCOS are insulin resistant; most of them are going to be diabetic at some point in their lives. We know that insulin resistance makes it hard to maintain muscle mass. Diabetics as they age, in fact, lose their muscle mass twice as rapidly as people who are not diabetic.

Part of the way to maintain muscle, is to regularly exercise muscles. You all have a nice friend, your testosterone levels, that can help you out in that department…PROVIDED YOU DON'T OVERDO IT.

The other part you need, because all of the strength training in the world is pretty useless if you're not eating enough protein for your muscles to incorporate with those workouts, is protein.

If you are losing muscle mass at twice the rate of the average person, the amount of protein you need to eat in order to account for that accelerated loss has got to be higher. I'd love for us to study this someday when we've raised the funds to do so.

For now, assume that the recommendations made for vegans are made for healthy vegans, not vegans who are struggling with a complicated hormone balance.

I can tell you, from my experience, women who come for help with their PCOS are not eating enough protein. And the vegans I work with, as well-intended as they are, are often not eating in a way that accounts for the fact that most vegan protein sources are also high in carbohydrates. You really have to know what you are doing and look specifically at your own eating to see if the balance is good.

We have also noticed here at inCYST, that a pretty high percentage of women we work with, at some point in their lives, were vegan. There is clearly something about eating vegan that sets your hormones up to rebel. Don't let assumptions get in the way of making your vegan eating a component of your path to health.

If you're getting your vegan information from someone who doesn't work with PCOS, it may not be the right information.

You need more protein than you may be aware of. If you're not sure if you're getting it, let us work with you to figure it out.

Source: Uploaded by user via Monika on Pinterest

I was asked by one of our readers (who happens to also be my dear cousin Susan), if there was anywhere on the Internet, a checklist for vegetarians to follow to be sure their diet is complete. Her pretty exhaustive research found nothing really practical for meal planning.

So in response to that, and knowing that a very high percentage of our own readers are vegetarian, I put something together. Please let us know if it needs refining or detail, so that we can make this as practical as it can possibly be.

There are five main things to attend to. All of them are important, but I ordered them in the way I look at them when planning a vegetarian meal for myself.

1. What is my protein source and how much of it do I need to truly give me enough protein?

Here are your goals based on the number of calories you eat. This will make 30% of your calories protein, which will help to fight insulin resistance.

1200 calories 90 grams
1300 calories 93 grams
1400 calories 95 grams
1500 calories 98 grams
1600 calories 100 grams
1700 calories 103 grams
1800 calories 105 grams
1900 calories 108 grams
2000 calories 110 grams

2. Where is my vitamin D coming from, and have I had enough? You will have to make a very conscious effort to get enough of this vitamin. With regard to whole foods, mushrooms are pretty much the only vitamin D-containing food. With regard to vegan milk alternatives, beware. Most are so low in protein, they are more accurately thought of as juices rather than milks. If you choose to drink them you will need to find other ways to meet criteria nu,ber one above. I blogged about
this in detail not too long ago.

3. Are my fats healthy? If your definition of vegan is primarily not eating meat, and you are eating a lot of packaged, processed, prepared, or baked food…be extra sure you are not inadvertently letting the pro-inflammatory fats sneak in. Remember, they tend to begin with the letters"s" and" c" — soybean, safflower, sunflower, sesame, corn, cottonseed. (Canola is the exception.). Vegans are often blindsided here with salad dressings, baked goods, cookies, and chops. Read your labels--as much as I love Whole Foods, their entire snack food aisle only has a handful of choices you can bring home if you follow this rule! Good fats include olive and organic canola.

4. Am I getting DHA and EPA (marine omega-3)? Yes, flax, green veggies, and other foods contain omega-3, but the conversion rate is not high. You will need to find a marine algae supplement to be sure your intake of these two essential fatty acids is adequate. InCYSTer Chris Marquette found one that is not genetically modified; look for it next time you shop.

5. Am I getting enough fruits and vegetables? Ideally, these should be the vast majority of what you eat. I am surprised at how many vegans I know who do not like vegetables! You should be aiming for 2-3 1/2 cup servings PER MEAL. Beware of juicing; it is a great way to get in large volumes of fruits and vegetables…BUT…the carbohydrate to protein ratio is not going to help reduce insulin resistance. Make a smoothie out of your juice with your favorite protein powder.

Of course, you can take supplements to make up many of these deficiencies…but if your solution in more than one of these categories is a supplement, I challenge you to consider why you do what you do. The true definition of a vegan is someone WHO MEETS THEIR DAILY NUTRITIONAL NEEDS without using animal-based food to make it happen. If all you have done is remove animals from your diet, you are simply a picky or misinformed eater.

I recently read a blog entry about omega-3 fatty acids, in which it suggested that adequate DHA could be obtained from spirulina and chlorella, two supplements

found in most health food stores. I was surprised to read this, as I'd never run across any information in all the DHA research I've read to suggest that these were appropriate sources.

Total DHA content of pure algae, by percentage total fat, is as follows:

Life’s DHA™ from Schizochytrium – 37%
Life’s DHA™ from Cryptocodidium cohnii — 40.0%
Isochrisis galbana 17.16%
Chlorella vulgaris 13.32%
Spirulina platensis 7.53%

As far as total DHA content, it is clear that the Schizochytrium and Cryptocodidium cohnii provide more bang for the buck; the total volume needed of the former is far less than isochrisis, chlorella, and spirulina. Whichever supplement used, the total amount of DHA consumed is important.

Another benefit to using schizochytrium and cryptocodinium is that Martek has FDA approval to sell their DHA to companies who then incorporate it into foods.

By making a few simple changes in your grocery list, you can increase your DHA intake without having to use a supplement. If you want a supplement, those are available as well. A list of available foods and supplements can be found at this link.

Thanks to colleague Connye Kuratko, Ph.D., R.D. of Martek Biosciences, for being able to find a study (referenced below) that helped clarify this issue. Martek's Life's DHA marine algae supplement, found both in capsules and in foods, contains Schizochytrium or Cryptocodinium cohnii.

Ö. TOKUS¸OGLU AND M.K. ÜNAL Biomass Nutrient Profiles of Three Microalgae: Spirulina platensis, Chlorella vulgaris, and Isochrisis galbana. Journal of Food Science 68:4, 2003, 1144-1148.

Senanayake SPJN and Fichtali J. Single Cell Oils as Sources of Nutraceutical Specialty Lipids: Processing Technologies and Applications. in Shahidi F Nutraceutical and Specialty Lipids and Their Co-products. CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, Boca Raton, FL, page 268.

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know how big I am on omega-3's from seafood. For those of you who are vegan, I've been recommending a product called Life's DHA, which can be found in supplements as well as foods. Many of these foods are labelled as organic, which is supposed to mean they are free of anything genetically modified.

Many thanks to our network member Michal Hogan who forwarded a news release with a detailed report about this product. It is GMO, and it is being incorporated into many foods that are sold as organic. I used to point several of them out when I did grocery store tours at Whole Foods.

This creates a dilemma for vegans, as the truth seems to be, if you're omega-3 deficient, and wish to supplement, you may have to use a fish-based product. There is always nori (sushi wrappers) and you can add sea vegetables…but the reality is, the average American is unlikely to be able to eat enough of these to be able to use them as a way to replete low DHA stores.

If you're vegan, it's going to be especially important to cut the omega-6 out of your diet to be sure it's not overwhelming the omega-3 that is actually there.

One thing I can recommend, and now that I read this report, strongly recommend…is that you have your blood omega-3 analysis performed with the home fingerprick test we offer. We do offer it at a discounted price. It will tell you exactly where you stand, how much this situation personally affects you, and gives anyone trying to help you pick the right foods, a better idea of what to advise you to do to improve your omega-3 status.

If you're simply relying on generalized Internet information you're playing a huge game of hit and miss. Why not get right to the point and figure out what YOU need to do personally?

I am not just sorry about having to backpedal. I am very, very sad. Such a high percentage of our readers and fans are vegans, and this was one of the ways out of the dilemma. Back to the drawing board.: (

Here is the article if you're interested.

http://www.naturalnews.com/034364_infant_formula_DHA_genetically_modified.html

Here is a list of foods from the Martek website that contain this ingredient.

http://www.lifesdha.com/Products-Containing-lifesDHA-/Partner-Products/tabid/683/Default.aspx

In working with eating disorders and PCOS for over 15 years now, I continue to be struck by how many people get pulled off the healthy path they genuinely desire with a simple, seemingly harmless move — going vegan.

In fact, it is so common for women with PCOS whose diet diaries I analyze to have a period of time in their lives where they either were or are vegans, I've begun to think that a lot of women with PCOS are"vegans gone wrong".

The main problem with a high percentage of vegans is that they tend to focus on what NOT to eat. That part is the easy part, it's pretty simple, if it breathed and ate at any point in its life, you don't eat it. What to eat instead is a lot more complex and problematic.

Protein is really important to get enough of. Without it, blood sugar rises and falls creating mood instability and energy fluctuations. That can encourage emotional eating in an attempt to raise blood sugar levels. A high ratio of carbohydrate to protein in the diet also encourages insulin production. Over time that can encourage hyperinsulinemia, the very first step toward PCOS.

It's a problem that's been going on for years, and it's complicated by the fact that soy, which used to be a popular vegan protein source, has fallen out of favor for its potential effect on thyroid and its sources becoming increasingly genetically modified.

That is why I'm so excited to be partnering with a company that just launched the perfect product for women genuinely wanting to eat more vegan protein but feeling shut out of options. Growing Naturals recently launched an organic, raw, vegan, brown rice protein powder isolate with a protein content that is 96% equivalent to whey protein.

Their tagline is understandable: "Finally, food for all people". Of course there is going to be the occasional person who cannot tolerate this product, but for the most part, it's a protein source that removes the barriers to protein consumption that the majority of my clients have presented with over the past 30 years.

Growing Naturals offers its rice protein isolate protein powder (24 grams per serving) in original, chocolate, and vanilla blast flavors, as well as a vanilla blast-flavored rice milk powder. Unlike most rice milks, which have almost no protein, this product provides 8 grams per serving, comparable to cow's milk.

Growing Naturals is the title sponsor for our Craig Ramsay fundraiser in Marina del Rey and they also support the Power Up for PCOS Walk-a-Thon in New Hampshire tomorrow. They are active with many health groups, including the Celiac Disease Foundation and the Japanese Tsunami Relief Effort. They are all about making the world a better place on a variety of levels, and we're excited to be partnering with them!

Click here for ordering information.

Yesterday I reviewed a book entitled,"The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living". I started with the negative part of the review because years of reviewing blog statistics has taught me that people don't stick through much of what I write to get the main idea. Because avoiding ketosis is such a crucial concept I felt like that point needed to be made before getting to something I really liked about the book.

What this book discussed that I did like, was the concept that human brains, even though we're taught that they depend on glucose, can learn to live on ketones for energy. I immediately thought of the many of you who comment here and elsewhere that you feel as though you're addicted to carbohydrates. It's certainly going to feel that way if your brain has become so used to using glucose as its only fuel source that when it's not there it feels as if it's run on empty.

I tend to think of an addiction as a chemical reliance on a nonessential substance. A dependence is a reliance on something we need. We're not addicted to oxygen, for example, we're dependent on it. So I prefer to think of the relationship many of you have to simple sugar as a dependence, not an addiction. You can teach your brain to use low-glycemic carbohydrates and protein as sources of low-glycemic sugar, and you can even learn to use ketones.

If you've tried to jump from a simple carbohydrate-dependent diet to a carbohydrate-deficient diet overnight, chances are it felt like you were going through withdrawal. It is possible to gradually learn to use ketones over time, but if your experience in getting there is so miserable, you're likely to not stick with it. There are a lot of options between all and nothing.

As I mentioned yesterday, the extreme carbohydrate restriction described in this book proved a point, but in the process it also created some other potential nutrition deficiencies.

Instead of jumping to that extreme, why not try gradually removing the simple carbohydrate from your life and replacing it with protein and low-glycemic carbs? It will help the carbohydrate you DO eat distribute itself more evenly over the course of a day (just like your carburetor does for your car), and you might potentially (and gently) teach your brain to be less dependent on one source of fuel, pure sugar.

Be scientific about it. Use an analysis program such as http://www.fitday.com/ to track what you're doing and plan how to experiment with other ways. Record how you feel. Feel what feels best. You'll know when you've hit that place because that next drop in carbs will leave you feeling hungry, moody, and low in energy.

Let us know what you learn about yourself! Everyone is different, and therefore everyone's carbohydrate needs are different. The concept underlying the book is not unsound, it's just likely not necessary for everyone to restrict carbohydrates to that extreme.

The beauty of nutrition is that there are many paths to the same destination. Be it raw, vegan, Paleo, low-carb, low-glycemic, we prefer to show you how, once you've decided which food philosophy best fits your personality, to make it work on your behalf.

Again, looking at this list of foods, I thought of the many vegans following our blog. If you're not seeing many foods here you can eat on a regular basis, think multivitamin.

Here's a great example, too, of why even though we love salmon for its omega-3 content, it is not showing up as a source of pantothenic acid. But there's cod, tuna, and lobster. The more you vary your diet, the easier it is to get all the nutrients you need to be in balance.

PCOS Diva does it again with her weekly menus! I almost felt bad about sending her such a short list but she comes up with great suggestions no matter what the challenge…thanks!

Fish, cod (cooked)

Tuna (light, canned in water)
Chicken
Egg
Milk
Yogurt
Broccoli (cooked)
Lentils (cooked)
Split peas (cooked)
Avocado
Sweet potato
Mushrooms
Lobster
Bread, whole wheat

*****WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG POST FOR AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT***

So excited to announce that starting this week, the Nutrition 101 series will be co-written in conjunction with PCOS Diva Amy Medling, of Nashua, NH. Amy, a professional health coach, is currently completing the inCYST training. She also loves to cook, and has a great series on her own blog with a week's worth of menus. You all are always asking for those, so I like that Amy likes so much to take the time to prepare them. The theme in her menus will be the nutrient I feature over here. It's so fun to see what she did with this first round…and I like that you get suggestions more diverse than what I would eat myself. Increases the likelihood that you'll find something between both blogs that works for you.

OK. Back to what I was saying about riboflavin.

*********************************************************************************

Riboflavin is my favorite vitamin. Not for any nutritional reason, but because in my senior year of college I was lucky enough to work in renowned nutrition researcher Daphne Roe's laboratory, as a lab assistant for a riboflavin study. I was one of the people who prepared the food for female subjects in a study evaluating whether riboflavin requirements increase with increased activity (turns out they do).

It was a most unique job, because riboflavin is destroyed by ultraviolet light. In order to keep it stable to increase the accuracy of the experiment, my entire work shift was spent weighing and measuring all of the subjects' food IN THE DARK. Yes, for a semester, I dished out rice and poured milk with the shades pulled and the lights out.

As you can see in the bio I linked to, Dr. Roe was highly intelligent, hugely curious, and very high energy. She completely intimidated many of her students, as she loved the Socratic method and thought nothing of stopping midlecture, looking a student straight in the eye, and asking their opinion on the subject of the day's lecture. It is in her class that I developed a keen ability to avoid eye contact and feign complete focused interest on the notepad on my desk.

I was so very fortunate to be able to work side by side with Dr. Roe, because I had the honor of seeing her other side, that of someone who was intensely curious about problems affecting real people. She had questions she needed to answer, and did her best to do that. She didn't have patience with messing around, because she had important things to do. It is because she was an MD (a practicing dermatologist of all things!) that I become somewhat impatient with physicians who do not appreciate or take the time to understand solid nutrition principles. Sorry guys, Dr. Roe set a very high standard. It would serve you well to follow in her footsteps.
(On the flip side, I do my very best to work well with those who DO appreciate nutrition, like our own dermatologist, Dr. Van Dyke, who took time out of her busy schedule to take our training, much of which is not directly related to her personal medical specialty.)

I love riboflavin because by the end of the study I hated the tedious work so bloody much I decided I never wanted to be a researcher. BUT…I also gained such an appreciation for people who have the capacity to think about those questions and piece together the details of such a study to get answers that make the world a better place. I credit Dr. Roe for planting the very first seed of the inCYST Institute in this college senior's heart.

And since you all are working to increase your activity level, it's important that you benefit from Dr. Roe's research on the influence of exercise on how much riboflavin you need.

If you're vegetarian, vegan or dairy-free, be sure and take the time to analyze your diet to see how you measure up with this vitamin. You may be falling short.

Got milk? That's a good start.
Look for the following in your next shopping trip.
asparagus
popcorn
bananas
persimmons
okra
Swiss chard
Cottage cheese
Yogurt
Meat
Eggs
Fish
Green beans

Thanks, Dr. Roe, for all of what you did that rubbed off on me. I was pretty humbled by your presence and am grateful for your passion and enthusiasm for instilling excellence in budding nutrition experts like myself. I hope if you're looking down on your students, like me and fellow classmates and researchers Valerie Duffy at the University of Connecticut, and Karen Parfitt at Pomona College, you're smiling. You laid the foundation for many professional passions and successes.

Belko AZ, Meredith MP, Kalkwarf HJ, Obarzanek E, Weinberg S, Roach R, McKeon G, Roe DA. Effects of exercise on riboflavin requirements: biological validation in weight reducing women. Am J Clin Nutr. 1985 Feb;41(2):270-7.