The Hemp Connection [Search results for Facebook] 

Unless you live in a rock in a Pakistani cave where the wi-fi signal can't reach, you are well aware that there are a lot of indignant people this week. They're upset because Facebook made some significant changes to its format.

Some people stomped and screamed and threatened to move to Google Plus. I saw some of them later in the evening after they'd cooled off.

Some people just dealt with it.

The incident reminded me so much of my 3 1/2 year tenure as the Director of Dietary Services at an eating disorder treatment center. I was in charge of the menu, and more importantly to the 30-40 women with anorexia and bulimia I was feeding…the rules defining how they could interact with that food at the table. For the most part, other than the expected negotiations around foods like butter and dessert, things went smoothly and the rules were honored.

Except…and I'm telling you, I always had to hunker down and grit my teeth and drag myself to work on these days…we changed a menu item or a food rule. Those days, without fail, triggered the worst migraines I have ever had. I'd jokingly write up invoices for my boss for extra hazardous duty pay, since those days I'd sometimes even find notebooks and cans of Ensure flying millimeters from my ear from the direction of a dissatisfied patient. My staff kept a chalkboard in the back on which they took bets on how many petitions for special dispensations from the rules I would get…it was that bad. Humor was our main coping skill for working with such a high-maintenance population.

The degree of mutiny didn't correlate at all with the amount of change I introduced. I could simply be changing the order of who got their plate first, or I could be adding a new item to the menu. Anything that required adjustment to a new and different way of doing things, met with resistance.

Unlike Facebook, we did a LOT of proactive work, educating our population about what our changes would be, so they could be prepared. But I can tell you, even with the exhausting degree of communicating we provided our change-averse demographic…the mutinies occurred like clockwork.

So the other day, watching the reactions to the Facebook changes brought back a lot of flashbacks from my treatment center days. I have a pretty good idea how it felt to be working on the Facebook campus the last 48 hours.

I've been on Facebook for going on 3 years now. Long enough to know that this is the exact same thing that happens everytime they change. People stomp, scream, whine, complain…then they settle in and learn to use the new system. All is well until the next set of changes rolls out.

What does this have to do with PCOS? The moment you were given your diagnosis is a lot like the moment you logged on to Facebook and found that the old way of doing things was no longer pertinent. You were knocked out of your comfort zone. You were told that you were going to need to learn to do things differently.

How are you dealing with the new changes?

Are you investing most of your energy into fighting the change?

Or are you able to see the humor in the situation and work to learn a new (and maybe even better in a few ways, as I'm finding) way of doing things?

Consider that how you respond to events like the Facebook change may give you insight into how you deal with your PCOS. Learning to roll with, and accept change, can be a crucial part of your PCOS success. The unfortunate reality is, no matter how angry it makes you that you got the diagnosis, no matter how uncomfortable the changes you need to make may make you feel, if you don't eventually get on board, the world is going to progress without you.

I'd really hate to see you be left behind.

We're so excited about this! Not just that we have a fundraiser, but that our very first one involves two of our very favorite friends at inCYST, Craig Ramsay and Sandie West.

"Move" with trainer Craig Ramsay, a wonderfully compassionate women's health advocate who we met when he worked with Cyster Stacy Citron on Bravo's reality show Thintervention. He talks mostly about getting you into physical shape, but what we routinely hear from his clients is that his work helps to nurture their self-esteem into good condition as well. He is graciously offering his time to conduct four boot camps on the beach near Sandie's spa, which is where the"Move" part comes in. It's the perfect way to test drive Craig's popular boot camps if you've been thinking about participating but haven't gotten around to it.

Be sure to check out Craig's website and Facebook page to learn more about his"Ultimate Perfect Workout System". And look for him on Twitter at @craigramsay1.

"Soothing" Sandie West has a beautiful facility, Creative Chakra Spa, on the Pacific Coast, just south of the Venice Pier. She's known far and wide for her beautiful space, therapeutic spa treatments, loving spirit, and calming energy. You can't help but put your cares aside and focus on relaxation when you're at Sandie's place! It's perfect for someone who's feeling a little over the top with their diagnosis and in need of little R and R.

To learn more about Sandie's spa and the services and classes she offers, join her Facebook page and follow her on Twitter, @creativechakra.

Check out this video one of Sandie's beach yoga classes. Even the robot that programs our Twitter paper was enthralled…it kept including this video of her beachfront yoga class for several days after she Tweeted it!

These events would not be possible without our wonderful sponsors! Please check out their websites, Facebook fan pages, and follow them on Twitter. They are sponsoring because they are excited to support your journey to PCOS health, and we want to support them in return.

What would our first fundraiser be without one of inCYST's BFF's? The Zing Bars folks don't just support PCOS, they created their products with women with PCOS in mind. Years of combined counseling experience gave them first-hand knowledge about what kind of ingredients, flavors and packaging would be easiest to use and benefit from.

Be sure to"like" them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter at @zingbars.

Growing Naturals is a brand of organic brown rice protein that is vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, kosher, non-GMO, organic, and raw diet-compatible. It's a great option for anyone with PCOS, and especially so for anyone who is vegan and/or with food intolerances that make it hard to get enough protein.

When I first learned of them, I thought to myself…"That pretty much touches all bases…finally, I know what to recommend for even the most restrictive of situations." Turns out, their tag line is"Finally, Food For All People".

Be sure to check out their website and learn more about their original, chocolate, and vanilla rice protein isolate powders.

You can find Growing Naturals on Facebook, and their Twitter handle is @growingnaturals.

If you'd like to participate in person, please RSVP either here in the comments section, or on our Facebook event page with at least a"maybe" so we can send you the registrations later this week.

If you can't make it but you'd like to support this fundraiser, here's a link where you can donate. You'll be supporting research projects directly supportive of hormone disorders including PCOS, infertility, thyroid, and diabetes.

We are working out the details and will have complete registration options available at this link. Space is limited for each of the options so if this is something you're interested in doing, please grab your space as soon as possible.

Please, if you can't participate in our specific event but you're interested in the boot camps and/or the spas, check out Craig's and Sandie's websites for more information about their programs.

We'll have a website up and running soon with event details. Please be sure to join the RSVP list on our Facebook event page so we know where to find you when updates occur.

If you would like to donate but cannot make it to the live event, please click here for more information.

OK, I've been thinking long and hard about how to make this work, so that everyone involved has a place at the table. I've developed a scale of membership options that allows anyone who supports the philosophies driving our model to participate.

When it comes time to decide where the research money is going to go, this is how it will be divided up.

1. 1/3 will be decided upon by a vote of the institute members. Each membership, no matter how big or how small, constitutes one vote. The power to decide this share of the decision making will be divided equally among those with hormone disorders, those who treat them, and companies who serve them with products and services. Degrees, donation size…don't matter. Only participation does.

2. 1/3 will be decided upon by a vote of our soon to be formed board of directors. I will be intentionally choosing a group of people who are critical thinkers and who challenge ME to think in new and different ways, who may have access to experiences and educations I do not have and that the general membership does not have, but that may benefit the mission of the organization.

3. 1/3 will be decided upon by me. I am in this place in life because of the way I see things, and rather than fear that, I'm stepping up and doing something with it. Please know, I consider this a huge responsibility, as how I conduct myself in this decision making will reflect in how our membership survives or nosedives. You have my word I'll do my best to do this work with integrity.

OK! Now here are the levels of membership I am opening up. They are annual fees, which starting in 2012 will run from January — December. This year only, since we're new, whatever months you sign up for now will be rolled into your 2012 membership. Good time to get your toes wet and try us out!

BASIC MEMBERSHIP — $25
1 research vote
1 free webinar per year
Access to our upcoming members-only website section, where you will be able to ask questions of our experts and attend chats.

SUPPORTING PROFESSIONAL — $50
1 research vote
1 free webinar per year (and if you are an RD you will receive CPEU credit)
1 free group supervision session with one of our trained network professionals
Access to our members — only website section as described above

PARTICIPATING PROFESSIONAL — $100 (only available to those who have completed the inCYST Professional Training)
1 research vote
1 free webinar per year (if you are an RD you will receive CPEU credit)
Access to the members only section of the website
1 free group supervision session
1 recorded Blogtalk radio interview which you can post on your website or use for your own PR as you wish
1 marketing profile page
Promotion through inCYST on Facebook/Twitter/monthly Mailchimp newsletter

SMALL BUSINESS (<25 employees) $150

1 research vote
1 free webinar per year (if you are an RD you will receive CPEU credit)
Access to the members only section of the website
1 free group supervision session
1 recorded Blogtalk radio interview which you can post on your website or use for your own PR as you wish
1 marketing profile page
Promotion through inCYST on Facebook/Twitter/monthly Mailchimp newsletter
300 sample handouts at inCYST events or 3 sample/tasting tables at inCYST events

MEDIUM BUSINESS (26-50 employees) $250

1 research vote
1 free webinar per year (if you are an RD you will receive CPEU credit)
Access to the members only section of the website
1 free group supervision session
1 recorded Blogtalk radio interview which you can post on your website or use for your own PR as you wish
Promotion through inCYST on Facebook/Twitter/monthly Mailchimp newsletter
1 marketing profile page on our website
500 sample handouts at inCYST events or 5 sample/tasting tables at inCYST events
Set up of Twitter account and Facebook fan page
Name as supporting sponsor on one inCYST event

MEDIUM BUSINESS (>50 employees) $500

1 research vote
1 free webinar per year (if you are an RD you will receive CPEU credit)
Access to the members only section of the website
1 free group supervision session
1 recorded Blogtalk radio interview which you can post on your website or use for your own PR as you wish
Promotion through inCYST on Facebook/Twitter/monthly Mailchimp newsletter
1 marketing profile page on our website
1000 sample handouts at inCYST events or 10 sample/tasting tables at inCYST events
Set up of Twitter account and Facebook fan page
Name as title sponsor on one inCYST event

If you'd like to register, click this link. We're excited to open up this portion of inCYST. It is one more way we intend to take your inspiration and turn it into productive answers for those who support us!

Sasha Ottey of PCOS Challenge posted this video on Facebook yesterday. It shows what happens to a man who accepted the challenge of trying to live without all of his electronic connections for a week. He didn't make it…and his reaction was pretty extreme.

I love how these techno tools, if used properly, can help to make life easier. I wouldn't be able to do what I do for a living without the Internet.

However…

…I have observed over time, that people seem to be more electronically connected than they are in real time.

I live near an intersection in Phoenix where a lot of law offices are clustered. It's not uncommon, on a sunny day, to see groups of attorneys on the corner, waiting for the green light to cross, all looking at their Blackberries and iPhones instead of up at the people next to them. They usually seem to be completely oblivious to their surroundings.

I am disturbed at the number of people I see on the canal (even the mountain trail) where I run, and at the gym where I lift, talking on their cell phones while they exercise. They cannot put their toys down for even a half hour to enjoy their workout.

I am learning to love the power of Twitter, as it is helping me to reach women I would not otherwise know, who can benefit from the wisdom of our network members.

However…

…I am noticing a troubling trend, that people seem to be more interested in telling people what they are doing, instead of just doing it! If you're sitting in a meeting, and you're telling people you're sitting in a meeting, you're not really paying attention to the speaker who has taken time to prepare the presentation you're supposed to be listening to. You're either participating in the meeting or you're Twittering/Facebooking about it…you cannot effectively simultaneously do both.

What does that have to do with PCOS, your weight, your health?

One of the most important tools you have to fight and manage PCOS…is your brain.

Your brain is an incredible tool. More powerful than any Internet service provider, communication tool, website. It receives and transmits billions and billions of pieces of information every day: the temperature outside, your mood, your fatigue level, your blood sugar, your hunger level, etc. 24/7, whether or not you consciously think about it.

When things are out of balance, your brain is programmed to let you know. It will tell you if you need to pee, eat, address a conflict, seek companionship, whatever it needs in order to stay in balance.

There is one important caveat. You have to be available to listen to what your brain is saying in order to take the action you need to. If you're jamming your life with toys that fill up your brain's time with information you don't really need (like what your Twitter buddy in Outer Mongolia had for lunch or what the results of your"where you should live" Facebook quiz are)…you're not making time to listen to the REALLY important messages--Are you tired? Hungry? Angry? Anxious? Lonely?

Those messages don't go away just because you ignore them. They pile up in your inbox and keep sending you message alerts until you open them. Kind of like that annoying little red box that pops up on Facebook until you check to see what it wants you to know.

The Perfect Storm often comes during the evening hours, when things finally start to quiet down, and all the messages we've put on the back burner all day long start popping up. If we've ignored hunger…we can binge. If we've ignored anger…we might not sleep well, which we pay the price for the next day. If we're lonely, and were too busy with electronic friends to do something social in real time…we can eat or drink alcohol to self-medicate.

We often don't like the messages that our brain sends us, so it's easy to fill our lives with Tweets and quizzes and status reports to ignore them. But it's only when we listen to them that we have a shot at being healthy.

I like to recommend yoga to clients as a stress management activity. Early into making that recommendation, my clients would routinely come back and complain that they hated it. I couldn't understand it, until I started asking why. Often they would complain that it made them feel"tired" (which I learned later was actually relaxed but it had been so long since they'd felt that way they couldn't recognize it).

What happens when you're new to yoga is that it tends to slow your body down very quickly. But if you're not working on the"head" part of yoga, you can find yourself in the corpse position, with a racing head, throwing all of your unpleasant thoughts and feelings back atcha, and you can't run away from them because your body is too relaxed to do its dysfunctional thang.

Many people give up on yoga at this stage because they simply cannot tolerate the reality of how they feel when they listen to their brain's truthful feedback.

I quickly learned to tell my clients experimenting with yoga there was a"Five Session Rule". They were not allowed to tell me they hated it until they'd been to five sessions. They don't tell me that anymore. They get hooked on the feeling.

If what comes up when you listen is too much to bear, a trained counselor (such as Stacy Korfist in our network) can be invaluable in helping you sort through the discomfort and figuring out what to do about it.

For those clients who are not at a point where an hour of direct communication with their brain is tolerable, I challenge them to start with five minutes of"disconnect". It's not really disconnecting, it's setting aside the barriers to TRULY connecting. Just long enough to think about how you're feeling. Away from the phone, the office, the Blackberry, the iPhone…just to see what comes up.

Once they've accomplished that, five becomes ten. Some people get into the challenge so much they…imagine this…don't read their e-mail or check their iPhone messages for an entire weekend!

Just think about it. Are you living a"virtual life", connected to"virtual friends" and"virtual activities"…or are you living a real-time life, with an occasional jaunt into the virtual world for a bit of fun?

I'll appreciate your feedback here, on Twitter, and on Facebook later on. But I've planned my day so I can quit work early and go for a long walk on the canal to enjoy the spring flowers. I hope you have some real-time connectivity planned in your day, too!

I have been in Vermont all week, busy teaching PCOS classes at Green Mountain at Fox Run. I have been so busy that checking email and answering my phone has been pretty much an afterthought. I realized how easy it is to drift into becoming attached to electronics in unhealthy ways.

I decided to Google"iPhone addiction" just for fun, and found a Stanford survey reporting the following results obtained from 200 students, most of whom had had their iPhones for less than a year:

When asked to rank their dependence on the iPhone on a scale of one to five, five being the most addictive, ten% said they were fully addicted. 34% ranked themselves a four and only 6% said they weren't addicted at all.

Nearly a third worried they may become addicted someday.

A full 75% admitted to falling asleep with the iPhone in bed with them, and 69% said they were more likely to forget their wallet than their iPhone when leaving in the morning.

Why is that an issue? When you are so attached to what is coming out of your electronic gadget, you are not paying attention to important cues your body may be giving you about stress, emotions, hunger…you may be so caught up in what is happening on Facebook that you fritter away time that you could be spending on yourself, in physical activity…your life is virtual, not REAL.

I see disturbing trends that show how detached we are becoming, such as people Tweeting from a meeting, reporting that they are at the meeting. How can you possibly be getting anything out of the meeting if you're not even paying attention to the people you are physically with?

I see people posting Facebook status reports from"getaways" in remote locations…when I thought the point of getting away to a remote location is to not be communicating with the rest of the world for a little bit.

I hear stories of people so attached to their iPhones that they actually feel phantom vibrations if they try to live without them.

If you bring your phone to bed with you, it's disrupting your sleep. And when your sleep is disrupted, you are more likely to be insulin resistant and hold on to weight.

Tell me…honestly…is that 3 am text you're waiting for really worth the 5 extra pounds you may be carrying just to get it?

Electronic food for thought: If you are really that important and indispensable, you don't have an iPhone. Your personal assistant does. If you're unable to detach from your Blackberry, you're a slave. Everyone you allow to contact you at 3 am is someone who has taken control of part of your life.

Take it back! Challenge yourself to leave the phone for a half hour or an hour. Leave it in the kitchen at night. Don't bring it to the gym. Give yourself one technology-free day a week. See what happens to your awareness. Of your emotions. Of your hunger/fullness. Of your choices of how to fill your time.

You might find that you start setting more limits with mailing lists, Facebook friend lists, Twitter follows, etc., because all that electronic chaos interferes with your life.

Technology isn't a bad thing, at all…my business is able to exist because of it. But if it is not used respectfully it may be one of the most important reasons your optimal health is so elusive.

You can't just read about, status report, tweet, electronically discuss healthy living. You have to LIVE it.

I'm using part of a weekend I will be back East for a PCOS inservice. If you attend, your registration can be applied toward the 2011 training/network membership, which will be available in April.

Here is the Facebook page describing the event. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=172319229466972&num_event_invites=0#!/event.php?eid=172319229466972

If you do not use Facebook, contact me privately, monika at afterthediet.com, and I will send you the details.

I apologize in advance for the irony of using a technologically-based medium to share information about the potential health risk that technology may pose…but then again, if you're using a computer to read this, and you've got PCOS, you may be a member of the exact choir I need to preach to.

Earlier this week, a New York Times article described research about the effect on the brain that constant brain stimulation from tech toys may be having. When rats have a unique experience, they seem to better retain what they learned from that experience if they are allowed to give their brain a break from the stimulation.

Every time a neuron is required to process information, you can consider that an oxidative moment. If you are constantly using your neurons without giving them a break, you are allowing them to be broken down more rapidly, and not providing them with the rest they need to recover. Eventually, they can't keep up with the input and they lose the ability to do their job efficiently.

As we have become able to carry the Internet with us, we've become less tolerant of quiet moments. We immediately jump to Facebook, Twitter, or IM's to fill the void. (The other day, I actually watched my clerk at the convenience store alternate texting someone while he rang up my purchase!) Shortened attention spans only decrease our patience, and that carries over to other aspects of our lives. We can't tolerate a half hour workout. We can't stick with a new way of eating long enough for it to work. We can't follow through with our wellness goals, because the discomfort that new behaviors inevitably brings can be avoided by Googling for the next best diet or exercise plan.

You've heard of mindfulness? I encourage you to work toward what I'm starting to call Technomindfulness. If you ignore it, you can't possibly be aware of how you feel, how hungry you really are, what kinds of stress signals your body might be trying to send to you in order to get some rejuvenation time.

Here are some ways to engage in Technomindfulness.

1. Challenge yourself to step away from your computer and your smart phone for a half hour. If it's hard, try 10 minutes. Gradually increase your time away. See how long you can go without checking for IM's and e-mails.

2. Limit Twitter use to the beginning and end of the day. Utilize a program such as Tweet Deck that can help you to organize your incoming information into categories.

3. Regularly review your Facebook friends list and remove individuals you have no productive need to keep up with. Again, keep a Facebook schedule.

4. Challenge yourself to exercise outdoors, without an iPod.

5. Keep your technology away from your dinner table and your bedroom.

6. Limit yourself to the use of one gadget at a time…no multitasking!

7. Challenge yourself to refrain from Tweeting about an event you may be at until the event is over. Just enjoy the event…you went to experience it, not Tweet about it!

8. Ask yourself when you have the urge to IM, if the person you were IM'ing were right in front of you, would you be having the same conversation? Or are you pushing buttons and sending messages simply because you can't tolerate that lack of stimulation.

9. Turn your IM program off for a day!

10. Save up your time reading our blog for one or two times a week. The information isn't going anywhere. I'd rather you read it and then log off and disappear for awhile…because then I know you're actually using it. Reading it at the expense of your exercise program is not how I intended us to be used!

Hello everyone,

With some breathing room and time to think, I've had a chance to start to plan the next round of couples infertility spa days. These are intended to teach the information you want and need, as well as remind you why you are in the fertility process in the first place! Sometimes that gets lost in the medical office.

If you'd like to be notified of these events when they are planned and ready for registration, sign up here to receive our blog via email, and/or join our Fertile Intentions Facebook group:

http://www.facebook.com/monika.woolsey?ref=profile#!/pages/Phoenix-AZ-and-Marina-del-Rey-CA/Fertile-Intentions-Couples-Day-Spas/23899748158?ref=ts

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know our comrades in the gay community have taken some major hits in past weeks. Many of my Facebook friends posted the video by Ellen DeGeneres. One asked,"What are YOU going to do?"

Later that day, I was spending the evening with friends. The theme of conversation turned to bad doctor experiences. Luisa, a lesbian woman with PCOS, shared that during an appointment she had made for her annual gynecological physical, her physician told her she didn't need to have these physicals, because she was not having sex with men.

There is concrete evidence that lesbian women have a higher incidence of PCOS, and therefore a GREATER need to be in more frequent with reproductive specialists. Whether or not they are in a relationship, and whoever that relationship may be with. If my friend had been heterosexual, and not in a relationship, I'm willing to bet that is not the advice she would have received from that physician.

I was floored, but I was grateful for the inspiration. What I was going to DO, as my Facebook friend encouraged us to think about, was use this blog advocate for equal access to quality healthcare for homosexuals.

Over the years, I've witnessed attitudes and heard comments that should never have existed.

In my last job, at an eating disorder treatment center, my supervisor pulled me aside after a meeting and asked me what I thought about the possibility that a treatment center for men would be added to our organization. I thought it was a great idea. At the time, there really was no place for men with eating disorders to go.

She acted surprised."But you know what that means, don't you?"

"Um…that men who couldn't get help before can be helped?"

She hesitated."Well, yeah, but…"

I was in the dark."But…?"

"We'll have to start treating gays."

I didn't work long for that company. I couldn't work in a place where an attitude prevailed, that some people are more deserving of help than others.

Now I am realizing that not only do I have an obligation to not work for an employer who would foster such attitudes, I need to speak out to my fellow healthcare professionals and not request, but demand, that you treat all of your patients with equal respect and offer them equality of service, regardless of their religious, political, cultural, or gender orientation.

If we were in a pathology lab, and I asked you to pick out the Republican spleen, or the Methodist pineal gland, or the Icelandic aorta, or the lesbian wisdom tooth…you couldn't do it. Because on the inside, we are all alike.

If I asked you, however, to point out the PCOS liver (likely to be fatty), or ovary (containing cysts), you would be able to do so, in a moment. THAT is what we were trained to do. Help our patients with the things that may not be working so well, while being blind to what kind of packaging they come in. As helping professionals, we don't have the luxury of categorizing our patients in ways that give us reasons not to care. We do our work because we DO care.

One of my very first inCYST success stories was actually a lesbian couple. A young woman helped me to organize a class, and I noticed that she was more engaged and took more notes than anyone else who attended. I stayed after class and learned that she and her partner had been, unsuccessfully, trying to conceive. She realized in the class she had many of the symptoms of PCOS, but no one had ever worked her up for it.

We had a most enlightening discussion about what it is like to be lesbian and to be seeking reproductive services. About how much thought this couple put into who they would even trust to ask for help. About how it felt to sit in the waiting room of the doctor and know that the couple across the way is looking at you the way they are for reasons that aren't so compassionate.

It opened my eyes to how much, as a Caucasian, heterosexual, Christian woman, I take for granted when I pick up the phone and make a physician appointment. I simply pick up the phone, set the date, show up, and get what I came for. I don't have to research who to go to, emotionally gear up, deal with bizarre responses, or leave without what I came for because someone thought I didn't need or deserve it.

PCOS sort of followed me, it wasn't the other way around. But now that it has become my life's work, I want every woman who knows about inCYST to understand, and trust, that no matter who you are, where you came from, how different your life may be from mine, that there is information and support for you here. You are special, and you are important, and if the information we have is pertinent to your situation, it is our honor to use it to create a healthy path for your journey through life.
Agrawal R, Sharma S, Bekir J, Conway G, Bailey J, Balen AH, Prelevic G. Prevalence of polycystic ovaries and polycystic ovary syndrome in lesbian women compared with heterosexual women. Fertil Steril. 2004 Nov;82(5):1352-7.

We hosted a Facebook chat today with Australis, the company that farms barramundi. All kinds of topics were covered: Earth Month is about sustainability, and making the world safer and less toxic for everyone. How do you see food being a part of this issue? Some people don't eat fish because they don't know how to cook it. Have you found recipes that are an easy"in" to cooking seafood? Do you know if the foods you eat contain hormones? How can you find out if they do/don't? What have you heard about fish farming? Do you have any questions about aquaculture? If you couldn't make it live, the entire transcript is on their Facebook fan page. Check it out! The photo you see here, by the way, is of the Australish fish farming facility in Vietnam. You can learn more about it by clicking the above link. Worth learning about.

Taking time to think about the big picture today!

If you'd like to learn more about sustainable living and your health, I am co-hosting a Facebook Earth Day chat tomorrow with Australis Barramundi tomorrow, from 3 to 4 pm Eastern Daylight time. To join us live, please"like" their Facebook fan page where the transcript will appear.

Happy Earth Day!

…not to make your online life more complicated, but rather to help simplify it!

The newsletter will be a consolidated listing of events, as well as special offers we are working to bring to you.

The blog will be originally written information about PCOS, both from a science and a practical perspective.

The Facebook fan page will bring you tidbits of interest we find across the Internet, which are relevant to PCOS, but not written by us.

That way, if you don't want the promotional stuff, you don't need to get it.

If you DO want the promotional announcements, simply join our Facebook Fan Page and click on the"E-mail signup tab to proceed. (see photo)

I hope this organizes our contributions in ways that you can participate in the parts you enjoy and opt out of those that are not relevant!

Something pretty exciting is happening at inCYST. We've been quietly building a private discussion group for paid members of inCYST, where we talk in more depth about issues important to PCOS. It turns out, those who have been willing to invest in themselves (it's a $25 yearly membership), are quite a motivated and positive group. They've been very encouraging toward each other, sharing ideas for food, fitness, asking questions based on reading they have done independently…it's quite a different group compared to many that exist on the Internet.

As this group of positive, action-oriented women has grown, I've shifted the public Facebook group, approaching 2000 members, toward being a more generic forum, more focused on motivation. We realize one of the biggest barriers to PCOS success is depression, anxiety, and lack of motivation. Unless those are directly addressed, it really doesn't matter what kind of diet, exercise, supplement, or medical information is provided.

Yesterday, the women in the private group, on their own, came forward and asserted their need to not be around the defeatist attitude they had encountered in other online groups, as they felt it held them back from their own progress. The confidence they demonstrated was exciting to see (you can see it on our Facebook page if you want).

I've since named them the Kick Butt Cysters, because that's what they are doing. Kicking PCOS in the butt!

If you're someone who's been feeling dragged down from being surrounded by people who are not at least as equally motivated as you to make changes, you may want to consider joining the group. For that $25 membership you also get our webinar on our nutrition philosophy.

I'll give you a heads up right now, I've given the KBC's (Kick Butt Cysters) the go-ahead to call out anyone who they feel is not up to speed with them. They have no obligation to invest in anyone who is not investing in herself. So it's not a good idea to join if you think somehow you'll magically absorb PCOS success simply by hanging out with motivated people but don't intend to do anything yourself. The KBC's mean business and you had better as well if you want to be in their group.

If it sounds like something you could benefit from, simply send me $25 via Paypal to germandesertgirl@yahoo.com. I'll get you set up.

I think you might find, it feels pretty good to kick some PCOS butt. Hope to hear from you!

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.

This is me after day one of Expo West, staring at my pile of samples, business cards, and brochures, wondering how the heck I'm going to make it through airport security on the way home.

This is still pretty much me two weeks later, only the pile is three times as big and it has been moved to and divided between my sofa, my office, and my dining room table. I'm methodically sorting through everything evaluating whether or not it's got potential to help you, the woman with PCOS, with your quest for better health.

Now that we've got a short list, we're getting ready to launch a new project, a monthly newsletter with coupons and samples from companies we liked, who are very interested in getting to know you! All products have been reviewed by us, are hormone-friendly, primarily green and organic, and from companies we trust.

If you're interested in participating (and we sure hope you are, since we want to help you save label reading time as well as money!), please go to our Facebook Fan page, inCYST Programs for Women with PCOS, and sign up under the"Email signup" tab next to the Mail Chimp monkey. The link to our Facebook page can be found in the right-hand margin of this blog.

I'm not in charge of the monkey, so I'm not sure how he came to be. But he sure is cute, isn't he?

Our second shout out for PCOS month goes to Nina Huffman, who is hosting a PCOS event on Facebook. You can join here: https://www.facebook.com/ events/363451343728662/.

We'll leave it at that and encourage you to participate. This month is not about us, it's about the women with PCOS taking positive actions on behalf of themselves and others.

Hello everyone,

I'm reorganizing inCYST to accommodate our growing pains…we've got over 2500 page reads a month and I want to be sure you all get what you came for!

1. In order to keep the blog primarily informational and diminish the promotional aspect, I'm going to post upcoming events related to our programs on the sidebar, and once a month in a post.

2. Reminders of inCYST events will be Tweeted (you can find us at @incyst) more regularly.

3. Blog post updates and event reminders will also be sent out through our Facebook fan page.

We've got such great stuff coming on the blog from our team, I don't want it to get lost in the announcements. We'll be streamlining even more in the near future…so stay tuned!

For those of you who are not in our Facebook fan group, I recently posted a copy of an essay I wrote at the request of Lucine Biotechnology. It explains a little bit more about this blog, the research institute, and me. I received a lot of feedback from even close friends about how little they knew about why I do what I do. I guess I live and breathe it so much I forget that others are not in my head to know it. Here it is if you're interested. I hope it makes this link you clicked today a little more warm and fuzzy and three-dimensional and not simply flat words on a screen.

A side note, the photo accompanying this essay is a snapshot taken in Los Angeles while filming our segment with Amber and Craig, which we will post as soon as we have it!

http://www.lucinebiotech.com/hormones-my-career-and-my-passion/

On that note, the women of Power Up for PCOS asked if they could interview me, so we're turning the tables on the radio show next Wednesday. They're in control of the studio, and they're in control of the questions and discussion! If you have a question you'd like to submit that we can answer during that segment, please submit it to info@powerupforpcos.com.

Here is information about how to tune in. If you can't make the live session, it will be available at the listed link to listen to at your convenience.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=246173612107144

Helping men with girlfriends/wives that have PCOS learn more about PCOS and support

A men's PCOS group? Maybe I didn't hear you right. Why would men need a PCOS group?
Men go through a lot with PCOS. They are expected to be there for support during every mood swing, symptom, and emotion. I'm sure this takes a toll on them. On top of all that, certain symptoms affect them more, for example, when a couple is dealing with infertility because of PCOS, it can be very hard on a man.
So, here it is! A Power Up for PCOS Man Cave. Only men are allowed into the special facebook group. I guess since I'm a woman, I'm not allowed either. Men need this private place to go to speak freely about what they are going through and how they are managing it. Don't worry ladies, this is not going to be a place where they go complain about us. This is a place to get support and information. They will get the InCYST and Power Up for PCOS blog fed into their group. The men pictured above will be running it and they will make sure to focus on positive solutions. Our men are amazingly supportive and we need to give them this space to relate with others just like we have.
Here are our group administrators, from left to right, Nick, Randy, and James!

Please share this link with your man and let him know it's a great place to go for support and information: http://www.facebook.com/groups/313451192084278/
Written by: Beth Wolf, founder of Power Up for PCOS which provides support to women with PCOS through educational Power Up Groups, building connections with other PCOS women, calendar of upcoming PCOS events, professional referrals and reviews, PCOS store, and other specialized events to raise money for PCOS research. She can be reached by visiting http://www.powerupforpcos.com, emailing Beth@powerupforpcos.com or by calling 810-545-PCOS (7267)
Power Up for PCOS — emPowering Women to Manage PCOS

Hello all,

Just wanted to forward information about the upcoming PCOS event in Nashua, New Hampshire.

I also want to emphasize the importance of registering early. There is a strong tendency with our readers to procrastinate and delay action. For an event like this, where plane tickets must be purchased, schedules arranged, etc., your procrastination may result in the event being cancelled. All three presenters are clearing their schedules (which means they are giving up opportunity to meet with other women/earn a living) in order to make time to come meet with YOU. In my case, that means two entire work days out of the office.

October 14 is our cutoff day. Based on registration on this day, we will determine if we have enough support to hold the event. I do hope you come, it's rare to have three dietitians in one place to learn from!

Here is the Facebook page describing the event in more detail.
http://www.facebook.com/inCYST#!/event.php?eid=256952897649298

See you there!

Monika