Fast food. We all know it's not great, but when we're in a hurry, without time to cook, it's what we think of.
That's a great marketing success for those companies who have conditioned us to mentally end that two word phrase with the word"restaurant". It's as if it doesn't come from a commercial kitchen with fryers and a drive-through window, it isn't fast.
The irony of that is that these restaurants are not really so fast! Next time you pull into the drive-through, time yourself from beginning to end. Multiply that by the estimated number of visits per week that you go, then by 52, and you'll have the grand total of minutes you spend in line waiting for food you know you shouldn't be eating anyway. What else could you be doing with all that time?
What if we trained our brains to disconnect the words"fast food" from"restaurant"? A whole host of"fast food" options become opportunities.
Since grocery stores are often as geographically convenient as fast food restaurants, I did an experiment awhile ago. I pulled into the parking lot of my neighborhood Safeway, walked in, picked up an apple, two pieces of string cheese, and a mineral water, for an afternoon snack, and checked out. I used four minutes between the time I left my car to the time I returned to it. Keep in mind, not all are perfect, but they're better than the fast food alternative. It's all about perspective.
So that is my first choice on the list of favorite fast foods. What else can you find in the grocery store that is fast and more hormone-friendly than burgers and fries?
1. Apple and string cheese. 2. Turkey sandwich from the deli section 3. A box of sushi (I like the Trader Joe's brown rice California rolls) 4. Greek yogurt (I prefer unsweetened) with chopped or dried fruit stirred in. 5. Ready made salad (minimize the total amount of premade dressing you use)
At home:
6. Peanut butter and apple sandwich 7. Quesadilla piled with precut veggies, made with low carb tortilla and lowfat cheese 8. Hummous and vegetables (this is also a great option at the grocery store) 9. Rice bowl from Organic Bistro 10. Can of lentil soup or bean soup and a piece of fruit
Just a few weeks ago, I was talking with my husband about the amount of money I spend buying healthy food every month. I often wonder why the foods that are the most damaging to our nutrition are so much less expensive than foods that protect and nourish our bodies in so many different beneficial ways. Then again, when I wander through specialty organic grocery stores, I wonder why some of the prices are so outrageous; however, every once in a while you stumble upon a food item that you just can’t resist trying, even if it more than you usually spend on good nutrition.
Since watching my weight is my third “full time job,” I’m always looking for foods to add to my list of staples, as well as adding some variety to my vegetable and protein intake. I’ve never been one to experiment with exotic foods, but in the last two months, I’ve found myself drawn to organic nut, seed, and coconut oil based products. With this new quest, I came across a wonderful product, Pistachio Pesto, made by Living Tree Community Foods. You’ve probably read on this very blog about the health benefits of pistachios, a powerful and protective nut that is a great addition to your diet. Check out the following link if you want to read up on the pistachio. http://www.incyst.com/2009/04/food-of-week-pistachio-nuts.html
While I’ve never been a fan of pesto, I couldn’t resist giving the Pistachio Pesto a try, particularly after reading the list of all organic ingredients, which includes sun-dried tomatoes, sun-dried black olives, raw sesame, and olive oil. So far I have tried the pesto on a high fiber cracker, which was delicious, and I’m sure I’ll experiment with this as a topping for vegetables very soon. If you would like more information on this product, you can visit http://www.livingtreecommunity.com/.
Stacey Frattinger, RD, CHFS Owner of Formula FUEL http://www.formulafitt.com/ Contact me @ formulafuel@hotmail.com
Something I love, love, love about my work is that there is always something new to learn. Recently my work with Chow Locally has taught me a lot about why people don't have a user-friendly relationship with vegetables. It's probably because most of the vegetables they have been exposed to are bland and boring.
We are so lucky to be able to work with farmers who bring us great things like Romanesco, purple carrots, watermelon radishes…things that are just so attractive and interesting you can't help but want to taste them! Plus, even when what we have is more recognizable and traditional, it's so fresh, pulled out of the ground just a day or two before we get it, that it's bursting with flavor. I have found myself, several times, in the traditional grocery store getting ingredients to cook with my vegetables, walking through the produce section, thinking to myself…"That's all they have?"
Recently, without even being asked, one of our customers' daughters told us just how much she loves her veggies.
Yes, she loves carrots more than chocolate! And I promise we didn't somehow sneak chocolate into those carrots…it's just that they are that good when they're fresh out of the ground.
Over the weekend, one of our co-founders, Derek Slife, was invited to showcase our vegetables on the local edition of the Today Show. I watch lots of food demos, but it's not often that you see the hosts of the show hover over the chef like Joe and Rob did with Derek! They were so fascinated with the watermelon radishes they couldn't wait to try them. What the spot doesn't show is that Joe so eagerly dug into one of the carrots he bit into it on air without thinking to wash the dirt off…and you know how that ended.
These experiences, and the many notes we are receiving from happy parents telling us their kids are eating foods they never, ever ate before have completely convinced me, the problem with vegetables is not that they don't taste good, but the way we manage them from farm to table often strips them of their flavor.
If you have a farmer's market or CSA near you, I encourage you to try eating THOSE vegetables. It is a whole different experience than you've ever had. You just might find a new addiction!
I've been getting a lot of questions about juicing lately, so it's clearly a popular trend right now. I love the fact that juicing gets more vegetables into people who normally wouldn't get them. However, there are some important things to know about juicing if your intent is to use it for a healthier diet.
1. Juice contains calories! Ounce for ounce, juice and soda are similar calorie-wise. 8 ounces of either is about 120 calories. Some of the sweeter juices are even more calorically dense. Don't get caught up in the false assumption that because it's juice, it's lower in calories, or that unlimited quantities are permissible.
2. When you juice your vegetables, you remove the fiber. In researching this blog post, I learned that many juicer companies actually sell this point, claiming that without the fiber, the nutrients that are left are more easily absorbed. The fiber itself is an important nutrient! Especially if you're someone who has trouble regulating energy or blood glucose levels. If you're counting on your juice as your source of all of your vegetables, you could be cutting yourself short on fiber.
3. If carrots are what you're juicing, be aware that you can overdose on vitamin A. I've seen this actually happen, it's not just a myth. If the pads of your hands and feet start to get an orange-ish tinge, and you've recently fallen in love with juicing carrots, you might want to think about the connection. Be sure to vary your juice ingredients.
4. Spinach, another common vegetable to juice, eaten in high quantities, is high in oxalates. This compound can prevent the absorption of iron, calcium, and magnesium. It can also promote the development of kidney stones. Oxalates leach out of spinach when it is cooked, but if you're using the juicer for convenience, this extra step may not be useful. Other foods high in oxalates, in case you're using them in your juicer, include rhubarb, beets and sorrel.
5. Juice contains little to no protein. You may find that when you switch to a juice-heavy diet, your craving for sweets increases. What I recommend to people who ask about juicing, is to make a smaller amount of juice and blend it in with milk, yogurt, or protein powder. I actually like to use 1 cup of plain yogurt, a ripe banana, one other piece of a different fruit, plus a handful of veggies and some ground flaxseed. I always vary the fruit and the vegetable to be sure I don't overload on any one food. And I keep the fiber and protein in my breakfast.
If you make those simple adjustments, the possibilities and combinations are endless. Enjoy!
Back when I lived in Palo Alto, spring farmer's markets were pungent. Our farmers came in from Watsonville (awesome strawberries) and Gilroy (garlic capital of the world). You could smell that garlic blocks away! Spring garlic is a younger garlic with a milder flavor. I typically use it in recipes where the rest of the year I would use scallions, shallots, or green onions, to shift the flavor in a slightly different direction…one that always signifies spring.
If you are a gardener, growing your own spring garlic is easy. Simply plant your garlic very close together, and harvest as a way to thin them out, letting the rest mature into the more popular mature garlic.
We've been getting spring garlic in our shares for a few months now. Our first garlic almost looked like green onions, but last week's batch started to show the beginnings of cloves in the buds. Aren't they beautiful?
I decided to use a couple of them to make my new favorite salad topping, spring garlic crispies.
I was getting ready to saute some kale which I would scramble eggs. I heated up the olive oil and threw in a minced head of spring garlic. Only instead of just barely browning them, and leaving them in the oil to cook with the kale, I fried them to a crisp and removed them.
Then I sprinkled some on top of the finished eggs and kale. The kale was cooked in garlic-flavored olive oil, and topped with more garlic. And was it ever tasty!
These little crispies are the greatest addition to salads, sandwiches, cooked vegetables…give it a try! I have become fond of whole wheat toast with slices of roasted beets, sprinkled with goat cheese, and topped with garlic crunchies. Try it! Definitely my new spring flavor!
Spring garlic is most typically found at farmer's markets or small grocers. Look for it…or mark your garden calendar with a reminder to plant your own next year.
I am so grateful I went to the educational meeting yesterday I almost didn't attend! For the majority of my career, the health benefits of vinegar is something that hasn't been taken seriously by colleagues in my profession. But when I saw the presenter for this topic was respected Arizona State University nutrition researcher Carol Johnston, I figured it was worth going to hear what she had to say.
Turns out, Dr. Johnston, a few years ago, while working on another project, quite by accident, found an obscure research article reporting that vinegar may be helpful in reducing insulin resistance. She decided to pick up on where the study left off, and what she has learned with her work has a lot of pertinence to PCOS.
One of the goals of better insulin function is to reduce a reading known as"postprandial blood glucose"…that is, the blood glucose reading you see after eating a meal. This reading can be important, because high numbers have been associated with heart disease as well as excessive baby weight gain in pregnancy (macrosomia). For those of you who experience the phenomenon of being hungry after eating a meal, part of the reason may be a high postprandial blood glucose.
Dr. Johnston's first study used nondiabetic subjects who were divided into two groups: insulin resistant and non-insulin resistant. None of these individuals were taking diabetes medications. If they were in the test group, they were asked to drink 20 grams of apple cider vinegar, wait 2 minutes, and then eat a (pretty high glycemic) test meal of a white bagel, butter, and orange juice. Both groups tried the vinegar and no vinegar protocols. Blood glucose 30 and 60 minutes later was measured.
They found that when vinegar was consumed before a meal, postprandial blood glucose was significantly reduced. Dr. Johnston proposes that vinegar actually may have activity similar to that of Precose or metformin. While she used apple cider vinegar in her studies, she shared that any vinegar will have the same effect. So whatever your preference, rice, balsamic, wine, or raspberry…get creative in the kitchen!
She also clarified that the difference between the action of cinnamon and vinegar is that cinnamon reduces fasting glucose and vinegar reduces postprandial glucose. So you can use both if you wish, they're not going to replace each others' benefit…they may actually complement each other.
It's important if you choose to try this, and you're on medication, to share this with your physician. The results may significantly affect the dose of medication you need. I can pretty much bet most physicians aren't informed about this, and since I was skeptical until yesterday myself, I'm providing all of the references used to write this article for anyone to download and share. The journals in which they were published are respected ones.
A really important caveat: you can overdo this advice. Large amounts of vinegar over time can cause low grade metabolic acidosis (Dr. Johnston studied this too, knowing the mentality of dieters and people desperate to get off of meds.), which is associated with osteoporosis. This acidosis can be prevented by making sure your diet has a good amount of high-potassium foods. Since those are notably fruits and vegetables, the obvious practical way to use this information is to eat a nice salad with each meal, topped with a vinaigrette dressing. Dr. Johnston recommends a ratio of 2 parts vinegar, 1 part oil, the reverse of what is traditionally used.
Keep in mind too, if you're planning to go to the health food store and buy the vinegar pills…they aren't going to work. Dr. Johnston did three separate studies with them (because she was so surprised they didn't work and she was so convinced they would), and did not get the same results the original vinegar produced.
We had the opportunity to try a new product by Bragg's, a line of vinegar beverages. inCYST intern Sarah Jones and I tried the apple-cinnamon and the concord grape-acai flavors. Both of us felt the drink was a little much to consume as packaged, but they would be fun to use in vinaigrettes, marinades, etc., in the kitchen. I'm going to try some recipes this weekend.
Keep in mind too, that any favorite foods made with vinegar will also be beneficial! Pickles, sauerkraut, Korean kimchi, there are many cultural favorites that can make this fun! Think of ways vinegar can be added to your own marinades and flip the oil to vinegar ratio.
If you're really adventurous, or just want a fun party gag, try these pickle pops we sampled yesterday! Sarah was not so keen on them but I'm German and found it pretty tasty. When I looked this up for you all,, I discovered there is even a jalapeno flavor. That's pushing it even for me, but hey, there's something for everyone.: )
Check back with us too if you're actually measuring your blood glucose after meals and let us know if this was helpful!
The cost of diabetes medications can exceed $6,000 per year, per person. And one of every 8 federal health care dollars, ($79.7 billion annually), is spent on diabetes care. Imagine what we could do to our personal budgets, not to mention that nagging national debt, if we all just walked into Costco and invested in an industrial-sized bottle of vinegar…
Ebihara K, Nakajima A. Effect of acetic acid and vinegar on blood glucose and insulin responses to orally administered sucrose and starch Agric Biol Chem 52: 1311-1312, 1988.
Johnston CS, Kim CM, Buller AJ. Vinegar improves insulin sensitivity to a high-carbohydrate meal in subjects with insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care 2004: Jan 27(1); 281-2.
White AM, Johnston CS. Vinegar ingestion at bedtime moderates waking glucose concentrations in adults with well-controlled type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2007 Nov;30(11):2814-5. Johnston CS, White AM, Kent SM. A preliminary evaluation of the safety and tolerance of medicinally ingested vinegar in individuals with type 2 diabetes. J Med Food. 2008 Mar;11(1):179-83.
Johnston CS, White AM, Kent SM. Preliminary evidence that regular vinegar ingestion favorably influences hemoglobin A1c values in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2009 May;84(2):e15-7. Johnston CS, Steplewska I, Long CA, Harris LN, Ryals RH. Examination of the antiglycemic properties of vinegar in healthy adults. Ann Nutr Metab. 2010;56(1):74-9.
We all know we should more veggies. But it doesn't often work out that way. I think a big part of it is the part of our brain that decides how to prepare them, gets locked into thinking they either have to go into salads, or they are steamed on the side (like the ubiquitous broccoli I mentioned in my recent restaurant review). Juicing is ok…but for our group, the high carbohydrate to protein ratio is not really hormone-friendly.
I also think, this same part of the brain that persists in thinking vegetables are bland and boring, is the one that also has us believing that if we are"good" and we eat veggies, we are giving up things we like to eat.
If that is not the worst marketing for a great concept I have ever seen!
Why not…make something you like with new and different ingredients? (slaps forehead)
Here is a collection of links to recipes for pizzas, in which the crusts are made of vegetables instead of flour. Majorly simple way to healthify your dinner without compromising taste.
One of the things I really enjoy about my work with Chow Locally, is the passion we have for what we do. We're not teaching or preaching…we simply love the vegetables we work with, and we want anyone with a similar passion to have them!
One of the things I really enjoy about inCYST is that in the years I have been communicating with all of you, I have learned a lot about what makes it challenging for you to adopt some of the habits that will help you to achieve health. I always have that on the top of my mind when designing marketing messages for Chow Locally.
Every week, after we finish packing all of our boxes, I sit down with one of the owners of Chow Locally to film a video describing what is in the box. I try to include information about the foods we showcase, to get our viewers as excited as we are about these foods. (I told my team recently this job is quickly turning me into the Cliff Claven of vegetables!)
Here is our most recent video, filmed with Chow Locally co-founder Derek Slife. If you enjoy it, please check out our Facebook page, Chow Locally, where we have an archive of more. Even if you don't live in Arizona, you will see information about veggies and fruits that are also available elsewhere, that will hopefully be helpful. If you have any questions after watching any of the videos, please be sure to send them my way! This blog is so much more fun to produce when I know the content is going directly to people who truly want and use the information.
I'm supposed to be getting all of you excited about food…how in the world does cabbage fit into that idea?
I think cabbage is one of those overlooked foods that is easy to include in your diet. And I like it because as a vegetable, it's pretty inexpensive.
Plus, cabbage belongs to the Brassicaceae family, which you may know as the cruciferous vegetables. These include: broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, bok choy, mustard, radish, horseradish, and watercress. These vegetables are superstar cancer fighters. In fact, they have even been shown to stop tumor cell growth in breast and endometrial tissue, especially important for women with PCOS.
So now that I hopefully have your attention, what the heck are you going to do with cabbage?
First of all, don't overcook it. All cruciferous vegetables tend to get a strong flavor if overdone, which may be why many people think they don't like them. They never had a chance to try them at their best. I made cabbage rolls this week, which requires you to steam the leaves until they're soft enough to roll. It was a great make-ahead meal for a busy work week.
Think slow cooker! I love mine, and I use it to make soups and casseroles. It's easy to add some chopped cabbage just a few minutes before serving.
Stir-frying is another way to use cabbage.
In other words, keep a head in the fridge and add it to some of your many favorite meals.
If you've got German blood, like me, you may want to think of sauerkraut. If that's a little bit extreme, try this red cabbage and apple recipe. Even the world's most notorius veggie hater might think cabbage is (at least an occasional) possibility with this treat. Be sure to use canola oil for the best omega-3 source.
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!
This week we’ll talk about bargaining, from the perspective of how bargaining plays out in relationship to our PCOS, and the sadness and grief that are often parts of PCOS. Bargaining is part of the DABDA (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) model that is typically applied to chronic/terminal illness. In the dying process, bargaining looks quite similar to what it looks like in PCOS, although it tends towards making deals with god, or trying to manipulate doctors. In PCOS, it looks more like this:
• Making a deal with god to be more attentive to him/her, if only the PCOS will go away • Trying to negotiate with doctors – “Okay, so I’ll take the metformin like you said, but I’m still going to keep eating fast food, and it should all balance out, right?” • Negotiating with your dietician, personal trainer, etc. – “I’ll do the cardio, but then I don’t have to do weights today.” Or, “I’ll come in three times a week, but only if you cut your fee in half.” Or, “Look, I know that dark green leafy vegetables are really good for me, but they give me gas, so can’t I just have a (pre-sweetened, sugar-laden, actually junk food) yogurt instead?” (HUH?! As you can see, we get very creative with our attempts to avoid what we don’t want, and get what we do want instead.) • Over-exercising in order to compensate for eating badly – we develop a strange, twisted, internal logic that allows us to, essentially, do whatever we want. We convince ourselves that there are no consequences. • Eating badly but taking lots of medication or supplements – this is another favorite form of a secret internal balancing plan that absolutely has no scientific or logical merit. It doesn’t just apply to food. • Figuring, I’m young, I can do what I want until ___ age, then I’ll behave – the damage is occurring now, the bad habits are just getting more cemented as daily behavior, etc.
And here’s the thing about these games that we play with ourselves, our partners, and the professionals who try to help us – who’s it hurting? Really? You know the answer to this one. It’s only hurting you. I know reality is uncomfortable, but you’re spending so much energy on this bogus bargaining practice. What if you applied all of that energy to grounding yourself in reality, and taking small, manageable steps towards getting your self-care practices in line with what you know (or at least believe) to be true?
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 helped a journalist friend out, who was writing an article about how to develop healthier summer eating habits for kids. Much of what I emphasized was being sure that the foods you WANT your kids to eat, are the foods you make it easy for them to eat. And the sodas, chips, ice cream, etc.? They just don't come home from the grocery store.
On that theme, here's my question I pose to you.
If you know that ice cream is your trigger food, and you bring it home, what you are essentially saying, to yourself, is that you intend to binge. You are planning to do it. I don't care what your rationale is in the moment--my husband wants it, this time I'm going to eat it without bingeing, etc…if you bring it home from the store, you intend to eat it yourself in counterproductive quantities.
That may feel uncomfortable to hear, but it needs to come into your consciousness and make you uncomfortable in order for you to think about how to handle your trigger food differently.
I love ice cream. And I eat it when I want it. But I don't keep it in the house. My reasoning is that if I'm willing to get off the sofa, put my shoes on, get in the car, and drive to the store, I've thought an awful lot about that choice and it's probably ok to have it. But if all I have to do is walk in the kitchen and grab the spoon and the container…well…we all know where that goes.
Several years ago I had a client who was pushed to tears during a session over a tub of cookies she'd purchased at Costco, then proceeded to binge completely through. As we processed the incident, she said,"But I should be able to bring that tub of cookies home and not binge on it."
I shared with her that I would never bring that tub home, because it would be too easy to indulge instead of making healthier choices. It was a set up, and Costco likely preferred it that way, because your buying into the belief that you can eat one or two and not eat the entire tub, drives the need for you to go back and buy more!
She looked at me, incredulous, and said,"You mean you don't bring that stuff home?" I said no, I have lots of fruits and vegetables and hummous, things I can eat more often that I enjoy but don't eat mindlessly or binge on.
She thought for a minute and said,"You know, my husband says the same thing. Just don't bring it home."
It never occurred to her that she was setting herself up to fail instead of to succeed. It wasn't just her behavior with food that was distorted, her expectations of her self were distorted to the point of being superhuman.
I encourage all of you to take a mindful moment before you stand in line at the grocery store, look at your cart, and ask yourself,"Why am I bringing these foods home?" Any food you cannot honestly say, is being purchased with intent to nourish, should be removed from the cart. Drive out to Dairy Queen if you must, but don't set yourself up by bringing it home.
If you cannot remember to do that, and I do believe women with food issues get into such a"zone" in the store that they may not remember, I encourage you to shop with an accountability buddy. Someone who will get in your face when you make counterproductive choices, who will keep you from letting those choices slide through checkout, into your bag, and into your kitchen. Not someone you can schmooze into allowing you to sabotage the outing, perhaps because she feels most connected to you when you're not succeeding with changing your behavior.
It's a simple question, but one well worth asking.
Sorry, I couldn't resist that…the slogan"kale is the new beef" has always made me laugh, knowing as soon as the next superfood on the horizon…and its marketers…figure out a way to bump kale out of its current favored superfood slot, it will be pushed to the last word in that slogan!
I was so interested to read a new study this week about a favorite"diet" food, popcorn, that we sometimes think of as being pretty empty nutritionally but something to satisfy the need to crunch. Turns out, popcorn is more than a pretty face, it's got some great antioxidant power!
Some scientist, and I'm guessing someone who's not so fond of green food, decided to run popcorn through antioxidant testing and it scored pretty well! In fact, because the water in fruits and vegetables dilutes the concentration of polyphenols (the type of antioxidant popcorn contains), ounce for ounce, the antioxidant content of dryer popcorn is even higher.
Remember, however, that the way you fix popcorn can quickly detract from this nutritional potential. We're not talking kettle corn here, and we're not talking pre-prepared microwave envelopes, and we're certainly not talking movie popcorn. Here are three ways you can take advantage of popcorn and keep it focused on the good part.
1. Air pop it. Simple enough.
2. Make your own microwave popcorn. Here's a great set of instructions from the Snack Girl blog.
3. Trader Joe's sells a bagged popcorn cooked in olive oil, which I will go for in a pinch.
There you have it, a whole grain, low fat, high fiber, low glycemic, anti-oxidant snack. Enjoy!
American Chemical Society (ACS) (2012, March 25). Popcorn: The snack with even higher antioxidants levels than fruits and vegetables. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 26, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2012/03/120325173008.htm#.T3CJEqUT3-M.mailto
Organic Bean Soup Ingredients: 1 cup organic 13 bean soup mixture 2 cups organic chicken broth 4 carrots 4 celery sticks 2 cloves fresh garlic ½ sweet onion 3 Tblsp diced fresh parsley 2 Tblsp diced fresh dill 1 piece wild atlantic Kombu Kelp Directions:Soak beans overnightThe next day, place beans in 2 cups chicken broth and bring to a boil, chop all the vegetables and herbs and add to the soup, can place kelp in whole or shred and place in before cookingCover and simmer for 2 hoursMakes 3-4 servings
We know you all love recipes and inspiration, so we are excited to be joining a group of bloggers that will provide you even more of what you're looking for!
Recipe Redux is a monthly blogfest showcasing the creativity of registered dietitians who love to cook. At the beginning of the month we are each given a theme to work with, and on the 21st of each month, our creation relating to that challenge is posted, along with links to all of the other recipes our colleagues have provided.
Dietitians participating in this club agree to focus on at least one of the following in their recipes.
reduction in overall calories and/or sugar
increase in fiber
lowering of saturated fat and/or increase in mono- or poly-unsaturated fats
reduction in sodium/salt from processed foods
showcases at least one food group mentioned by the Dietary Guidelines as the basis of a healthy diet: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy products, seafood and beans
I encourage you to peruse the links at the bottom of this post, learn, and collect…since all the recipes are from registered dietitians, you can be reasonably confident that most of them will be healthier than what you might find on other websites. (I say that because we dietitians love the occasional indulgence as well, so you will find some dreamy fun entries in the collection!)
Our challenge this month was to create something using either maple syrup or honey. I decided to use one of my favorite treats on a cold night, champurrado, as the basis for which to create Mexican Oatmeal. Champurrado is a hot drink traditionally made with masa (the cornmeal you use to make tortillas), flavored with all of the spices native to Mexico (chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla, fennel seed, and some type of sweetener). All of these are beneficial for inflammation and insulin resistance, so adding them to oatmeal makes a perfect hormone-friendly breakfast! I simply took those spices, switched out the masa for oatmeal and created the following breakfast you can make in your microwave. Think Mexican Hot Chocolate and oatmeal all mixed together…yummy, healthy, and full of energy to get you through to lunch!
Combine all ingredients in a bowl, and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Remove, stir until chocolate is completely dissoved, and microwave for one minute more.
*You can use any dark chocolate, really, I just chose this one because it's what I keep around to make Mexican hot chocolate. The darker the chocolate the better…vegan chocolates will give you more antioxidant power as milk tends to bind the beneficial compounds and render them metabolically unavailable.
Thought you might enjoy seeing some faces behind all these blog posts about Vermont!
On the left in this photo is Marsha Hudnall, co-owner of Green Mountain at Fox Run Resort. She and her husband Alan Wayler invited me to come to Vermont twice a year to help administer their PCOS program. Marsha is very busy right now, revamping Green Mountain's program to include more of a functional nutrition/functional medicine approach.
Since I was there in November, Marsha has changed the menu to be lower in gluten, and to include more vegetables at each meal. I could tell a huge difference in my own satisfaction with the meals, and the kitchen staff noted her changes have subtly changed the guests' appetites so that they seem to ask for fewer seconds and snacks. She has lots of plans for additional changes, which I can't wait to post here!
On the right in this photo is Robyn Priebe, Green Mountain's Director of Nutrition and Program Coordinator. Robyn organizes and teaches the nutrition classes, meets individually with guests to help develop their nutrition plans, and she is also a graduate of the inCYST PCOS Training. She is currently also working toward LEAP certification, a program that will certify her to work with blood testing and nutrition counseling for food sensitivities. All week long I heard comments about the great things the guests were learning in her classes and sessions.
And that's me, Monika, in the middle. I was clearly in good company when this photo was taken!
We'll be working together again this coming November 7 — 13 for the next PCOS week. Stay tuned for more information. Or…contact them now to reserve your spot and start your planning!
Last Saturday I was doing a demo for a client at a local Whole Foods store. I love doing demos because I get to do something away from the computer and call it work! Another reason I love demos is because of the fun and creative people I get to meet. Most people who do demos are small business people who had an idea for how to make something tastier, healthier, and/or easier to cook. Which is one reason why, if you're reading this post and you're a Whole Foods patron, you might want to spend more time talking to these people next time you go shopping.
But I digress.
What I started to say was that last Saturday I was positioned across the aisle from a chef who has started a salsa company. And I immediately thought of my blog. Salsa! One of my very favorite foods! How could I be from Arizona and have this"Food of the Week" feature as long as I have and not have even thought about salsa?
Why do I love salsa? Because it's versatile. You can put it on barbecued meat. You can put it on a sandwich instead of ketchup. You can stir a little bit into just about any other kind of sauce to spice it up. You can put it on eggs in the morning. It's just one of those foods that once you learn how to use it, you can't live without it. (I actually start to crave it if I'm traveling in a place where food tends to be a little blander…)
Nutritionally, salsa can be a great way to get those veggies in that otherwise just don't seem to get onto your plate. If you're looking for a way to clean out your vegetable bin, you can make your own salsa. Pretty much anything goes together in some way.
If you're feeling adventurous, try mango or pineapple salsas. Mango salsa goes great with salmon!
One thing you do need to watch with commercially prepared salsas is that they can be high in sodium. The particular brand my new friend was selling happens to be low in sodium because he himself has a blood pressure issue. So read the label--there may be something healthy in your area.
Now I'm hungry. I think I'd better see what's in my own kitchen that I can spice up tonight with some salsa!
The Mediterranean Diet is healthy, it’s true, but it’s not the only healthy way to eat. It just happens to be one that is heavily researched… and therefore marketed by the commodity boards representing foods that grow well in the Mediterranean. It so happens that California, the world’s eighth largest economy, and Chile, a country with a large agricultural tradition, have climates similar to the Mediterranean. Both economies depend on our love of the Mediterranean diet to thrive, and they therefore are a big part of the reason why so much research money has been invested into this way of eating. I love the Mediterranean diet myself, but I sure don’t want anyone out there from other cultures abandoning their way of eating because it’s Northern European… or African… or Tasmanian. Mother Nature doesn’t play favorites—she makes sure she takes care of her Eskimos just as she nurtures her Italians. I thought it would be fun to survey varieties of cuisines around the world so that no matter what your origin, there’s something out there that is good for you.
I’ll start with German food, which is part of my personal heritage and what I was enjoying for lunch today. I made a salad with vegetables that likely would show up on a German summer salad, including two different types of radishes.
We got rutabagas and potatoes in our box this week, and I made the rutabaga-potato salad recipe our chef created. I had some lowfat chicken-apple bratwurst in the freezer, so thawed and cooked them up to have ready for the rest of the week’s lunches.
And… for dessert, I had some plain yogurt that I ground some Trader Joe’s coffee/chocolate/sugar mix on top of. Let’s break that down for closer inspection. Salad My salad had two different kinds of radishes, carrots, onions, celery, and a variety of lettuces. I sprinkled some German dill salad mix on top, then added apple cider vinegar and canola oil before tossing. Radishes: Great for cancer prevention. See my colleague Dr. Chris Wharton’s article on why radishes are so nutritious for more information. That beautiful red color? Comes from antioxidants similar to the ones blueberries get all the credit for. Onions: Very important to German cooking. And they are part of the __________family of vegetables, famous for __________________________-- Lettuce: I mixed several varieties to get more red color, again, to get more antioxidants. Bratwurst The traditional version is a little bit fatty, but these days there are so many varieties chicken, turkey, and low-fat sausage, it’s easy to make a high-protein, low fat choice. This lunch, I had the green apple/cinnamon chicken variety from Fresh and Easy. Each link only had 110 calories. Potatoes Potatoes? Yes, potatoes! How many of you stay away from them because you’ve been told they are high glycemic? Well, they are, if you don’t eat them wisely, such as eating them, super-sized, as French fries dripping in pro-inflammatory omega-6 oil. The poor potato in this situation is not the culprit here, it’s the messenger. If you eat a small baked potato in a balanced meal, you’re doing ok. The potato salad I made has two benefits. Baked and then cooled potatoes contain resistant starch, a form of carbohydrate that is not immediately absorbed into your bloodstream. It passes into your large intestine where it ferments and becomes food for healthy bacteria (food that feeds those bacteria is also called prebiotic). Secondly, the dressing for this salad was vinegar. And as you’ve heard here many times before, vinegar helps to keep your blood sugar stable after meals, potentially as well as metformin. So a little bit of potato salad, without the mayo, holds potential to be PCOS-friendly. Vinegar One of the strong points of the German diet is the vinegar. In addition to the salad, it’s used in pickled vegetables, sauerkraut, and sauerbraten. If it's sour, it's likely ok to eat! Cheese Though I didn’t have any with this meal, cheese is something Germans love! A common breakfast is a piece of thinly sliced cheese on a slice of whole kernel rye bread, topped with a tomato. Cheese, remember, in moderation, has been found to be associated with increased fertility. The reason it works in the German diet is because, unlike Americans, Germans don’t shred, smother, and melt it on anything and everything they eat. It’s eaten in small portions and used to accent the rest of the food on the plate. Berries Germany is pretty far north, meaning in the summer it is a fruit basket of flavor. Currants, strawberries, cherries, apples, peaches, grapes… you name it, someone is growing it. Mit sahne (with cream) is a popular way to serve fruit, and if it’s real cream and it’s minimally sweetened, it’s wonderful treat! I have to tell you, the German meal I described above left me feeling so full and satisfied I wasn’t hungry until long after sundown. It really reinforced for me the power of eating balanced. Talk to people of German heritage, and they’ll often tell you about a grandparent or great-grandparent who lived, relatively disease-free, into their 90’s. They certainly didn’t get there on 800 calorie diets… perhaps we should be taking this diet a little more seriously instead of discounting it because of its potatoes.
Last week I posted this graphic describing the grief process on our Facebook page. It got enough comments that I thought it might be worthwhile to expand on it in a blog post. If you haven’t miscarried, or lost a family member, or been through a tough breakup, perhaps you don’t think this pertains to you. But there are many, many things you can grieve. --Being told you can’t have children. --Not getting into grad school and having to change your career plans as a result. --Foreclosing on a home. --Getting older. --Being diagnosed with a chronic, non-lifethreatening illness, like PCOS or infertility. --Accepting that your body likely is never going to be sculpted or dieted into that of Gwyneth Paltrow. Diets? Something to grieve? Absolutely. In most cases I listed, it’s easy to understand how grieving is the result. Let’s talk for a minute about why dieting and self-medicating are often signs you’re in a grief process. Grieving, you see, is about change. Any time you have to move out of your comfort zone and adjust to life in a different world, your potential for entering a grief process is high. If the change involves a promotion and a substantial increase in income, it’s a whole lot easier to adjust and accept than one that involves having to accept news you’d rather not hear. In the case of PCOS, the news, in general, is that choices you have been making in your lifestyle have been counterproductive to your health. And that if you want to regain your health, you’ll need to make different choices. You’ll need to go to bed earlier. You’ll need to delegate more. You’ll need to get to the gym. You’ll need to eat more vegetables and fewer corn chips. Looking at the long list of things your husband, your caregiver, your health coach, and your dietitian are asking… and expecting you to do… can seem insurmountable. I receive, on average, about 5 emails a week from women with PCOS, asking if some supplement (Dr. Oz’ recent show on supplements raised that average), or diet (think HCG), is going to work. I have come to think of those emails as indicators that the person who wrote them is cycling through grief. They just want the PCOS to go away. It won’t go away on its own, the necessary changes that are not user-friendly, and anything that seems like the easy answer seems like it’s worth a try. It’s when your grief process and my expertise collide that we often butt heads. It is my job, as unpleasant as it may feel on the receiving end, to not allow you to succumb to magical thinking and detours that ultimately keep you grieving. It doesn’t feel good when I give you honest answers to your questions. I’m making you aware of something you’ve been working really hard to avoid, that you’re really needing to move out of your established behavioral comfort zone. Am I a sadist? Not at all! I just know that the shortest way out of grief is to walk right through it. It is only when you confront the pain, maybe even get really, really angry about it… that you’ll consider a path that may actually work. I spent an hour on the phone a couple of months ago, with a client who finally “blew” over the fact that her body doesn’t respond to diets, and that when she pushes the diet/exercise/binge/purge thing a bit too far, her body fights back and responds by giving her a weight she doesn’t like. All of the “maybe if I exercise an extra hour today… ” she’s been doing has no logic or science to support it. She’s been bargaining with her body, hoping it will finally give her the answer she wants, that you can use unhealthy means to force your body into being healthy. The reason the conversation lasted so long is because I sensed she really, really wanted me to just tell her that her way of doing things would eventually be right, and she could avoid the reality of living with PCOS if she could get me to say that. Of course, I couldn’t do that. And she became angry. Really, really angry. And we stayed on the phone as long as she needed to vent. Dr. Gretchen has written about anger before, and the importance of not ignoring it in order to move into health. If you don’t allow yourself to get angry… you are highly likely to stay stuck in your grief, bouncing back and forth between overdoing the healthy behaviors and overdoing the unhealthy ones and even worse, exhausting yourself into doing absolutely nothing at all. And because the health-related behaviors you’ve tried have let you down, when you do reach out for help, you’re skeptical of what we at inCYST have to offer you that might be helpful. In addition to the questions I get about supplements, diets, etc., each week, I have at any given time, two or three email threads with women who kind of sort of reach out, but who have already decided that if I don’t give them promises of what they want to hear, that they’re not going to give us a try. If you’re one of those women, and you’ve felt frustrated, perhaps that my response was curt or not compassionate, I hope this blog post helps you to understand. It’s not that at all. I just know, from over 30 years of doing this work, that if someone comes and they’re still doing a lot of bargaining with themselves, their health, and their bodies, that what they’re asking for is not what I can provide. If I become involved too early in the grief process, I stand to become part of the problem, not the guide to the solution. I could actually prolong your grief by keeping you stuck thinking there is an easy way out. I haven’t had PCOS or infertility. But I had a serious athletic injury that took my active life from me for almost two years. My business has hit some really hard times over the years. I’ve lost more than one person in my life, who meant the world to me. I’ve been through all of the emotions and stages in this cycle, more than once, sometimes managing several grief processes and their different stages, simultaneously! Every single time I felt like I couldn’t get up to face the day, or that what I was needing to do to get through that day, was inconceivable and insurmountable, and I challenged myself to get out of bed anyway and do exactly what I didn’t feel like doing… I felt myself move a little further along in the grief. In each case, it’s made me a better person for accepting the challenge. I wouldn’t be the person I am with the experience, perspective, tolerance, compassion, and motivation that I have, if I had not been challenged to face some really horrible situations. If anyone had come along who tried to remove any of the life events I encountered while dealing with my own grief, I don’t think I would have gotten over it. They would have kept me stuck, as well-intended as they might have been. My job, the job of all of us here at inCYST, is to understand what it is that you are grieving, to be aware of where you are in the process of grieving it, and to respect that process. Sometimes we have concrete solutions, and sometimes it’s best to step back while you do some things on your own. It’s called respecting the dignity of the struggle. I do promise you, there is a light at the end of the tunnel if you accept the challenge. But you’ll probably need to struggle. One of my friends who knew the most detail of how much I had on my plate and how hard I was fighting to keep that plate from tipping over and crashing to the ground, used to always tell me the best way to eat an elephant was one bit at a time. I have a special love for elephants now that I have conquered most of the circumstances that had me overwhelmed. Sometimes I think we should include one in our logo design! I guess the point I want to make here, is that really, a very small part of what we can do for you is prescribe a diet or exercise plan. The biggest part of it, is actually more in Dr. Gretchen’s domain. I think most of you know what you need to do. Understanding why you aren’t doing it, may have a lot to do with grieving. If you look at that graphic and feel like you’re going around in circles, perhaps spending sometime with Dr. Gretchen, or someone else who can help you step outside of yourself and understand the process without self-judgment, is the next most important investment you can make in your PCOS care and your overall health.
I was just posting on my other blog (www.thisisyourbrainonpsychdrugs.blogspot.com) about the association between epilepsy medications and folate deficiency. It reminded me that folate is important for women trying to conceive. And you can get it in places other than supplements…like food!
Dark green vegetables can be hard to get into your diet if you're busy, but they're important to prioritize. I think spinach gets a bad rap because many of us remember it plopped in a cold blob on our school lunch trays waaaay back when. But it's really not that bad!
An easy way to add spinach to your diet, if you're already eating salad, is to remember to pick up a bag of spinach leaves along with your regular lettuce, and mix them together when you're tossing a salad. Spinach is an easy thing to add to some of your simple favorites--like a quesadilla. When I lived in Chicago spinach pizza was all the rage. Why not put a few leaves on your favorite sandwich? Or add it to your next omelet?
If you want to cook spinach the old fashioned way, dress it up with pine nuts and raisins.
It's not so much that spinach isn't a good food, it's more about getting in the habit of keeping it around and making it a habit of including it in some of your old favorites.
