The Hemp Connection [Search results for hummous] 

One of the most frustrating things for me, when working with people who want to eat healthier…is their focus on wanting me to tell them what NOT to eat. The fact is…when you're eating healthfully, you're likely to be eating many more foods than you do when you're out of balance. Most people get into ruts and eat the same few foods over and over, because it's easy and convenient.

I always like to tell clients that my job is to get them eating a whole lot more variety, and to make eating FUN, not about deprivation. That way, if there ARE foods you need to cut back on, it will be a little bit easier because you're adding new and fun foods in their place.

So…I thought that challenging blog readers to incorporate a new food a week might be a fun way to move them (that means YOU) gradually toward more balanced eating.

This week I chose hummous. Way back when I was in college, this was pretty much a food that you could only find in esoteric vegetarian restaurants and middle Eastern grocers. Now, I see it in my local grocery store. And I see it in many new and different flavors…garlic, black bean, jalapeno/cilantro, sun-dried tomato…I know I'm leaving out some good ones, but you get the point.

From a medical/nutritional standpoint, I like hummous, because it shows up low on the glycemic index scale (means your blood sugar will like this food!). It's also typically made with olive oil, which is a better fat than the fats you'll find in some other processed foods. From a practical standpoint, it's cheap and it's ready made. On baked pita chips or with vegetables, it makes a great snack.

Last weekend I was doing a demo for a client at Whole Foods and the local hummous guy was down the aisle. His samples were flying off the table faster than he could serve them up, and practically everyone walking by MY demo had a box of pita chips and a package of hummous in their cart. So I'm not just pushing something because of my personal taste. I know that if you've never tried this gem, it's worth being curious to see what the buzz is about.

You can make hummous yourself if you plan ahead and have the ingredients on hand. There are a gazillion recipes to Google, so I'll let you do that legwork.

But for the next 7 days, I challenge you to try hummous. And if you think of it, share your comments. They might make it easier for another blog reader to try something new. What's your favorite brand? How do you like to eat it?

Anyone who has been to a Whole Foods class knows how much I hate what I call the"crunchy aisle"--the place where chips and snacks are located. That's because even in a place like Whole Foods, the oils used in these snacks are the kind we're trying to discourage. Those dreaded"S" and"C" oils.

There's a company in Phoenix that has slowly building a following through Whole Foods, AJ's, and the local farmer's markets that deserves attention. If you're in Phoenix, I encourage you to try them…perhaps if we can help them succeed here, they can offer their good stuff in other markets where we're promoting inCYST!

Dr. Hummus is a brand of hummous that is tahini-free. Meaning it is sesame-oil free. The owner of this company has done this primarily for people with food allergies, but it turns out this helps make its fatty acid balance more in line with what inCYST encourages.

Secondly, the good mediterranean doctor has created a line of pita chips fried in canola oil. Not safflower, sunflower, soybean, or any of the other oils that always cause me to put other crunchy possibilities on the shelf. But canola oil! Again, this was done not for any"healthy" reason, but because in testing all the other oils, the product that ended up having the most acceptable flavor…ended up being the one with one of the healthier oils.

Which has been inCYST's argument all along! When you eat good food, it is often healthier food.

One caveat, even healthy oils can be detrimental in large quantities. A serving size of Dr. Hummus chips is still 10 chips, not the entire container.

If you're in Arizona and you're looking for a great snack, or even lunch, consider Dr. Hummus. If you're not in Arizona, the ingredient guidelines you read here can be applied to your own local hummous maker. There are many brands and flavors that can, as we can attest to here in the desert, make your eating adventure fun as well as healthy.

We've all had those moments…the kitchen is low on groceries, it's late at night, and either the store is closed or you're just to tired to go restock.

So your choices are:
…eat nothing
…make a fast food run
…eat cereal

I've learned that in these times Google is a lifesaver. You can simply enter the name of a couple of ingredients you have along with the word"recipe" and something is going to pop up.

Sunday night I was completely bare. And I had a can of pumpkin and some Bob's Red Mill garbanzo bean flour.

So I Googled"pumpkin hummous recipe". What I got, out of my bare kitchen, was one of the best recipes I've ever tried.

Here it is for your enjoyment.

Notes to readers:
1. Be sure garbanzo bean flour is a kitchen staple because you can make just about any kind of hummous.
2. Remember Google.
3. Don't let your kitchen go as empty as I did.
4. And if you ignore number 3…don't let your knee jerk reaction be a fast food run.: )

Pumpkin Hummus

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups dry garbanzo beans
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
5 fluid ounces lemon juice
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup tahini paste
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
salt to taste

Directions

1.Place the garbanzo beans into a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let stand 8 hours to overnight. Or, bring the beans and water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Once boiling, turn off the heat, cover, and let stand 1 hour. Drain and rinse before using.

2.Place the soaked garbanzo beans into a large saucepan and cover with several inches of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the garbanzo beans are tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Once cooked, refrigerate the beans and liquid until cold.

3.Drain the garbanzo beans, reserving the cooking liquid. Place the beans and 1/2 cup of the reserved cooking liquid into a blender, and puree until a smooth paste forms. Add the pumpkin puree, lemon juice, olive oil, tahini, garlic, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Cover and puree again until smooth. Use additional cooking liquid as needed to achieve a smooth consistency. Season to taste with salt.

Source: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/pumpkin-hummus/Detail.aspx

We received a great hormone question about managing a hormone issue for a different stage of life--menopause. The question came because we so often advise against using soy, for two reasons. First of all, it can be detrimental to thyroid function. Secondly, whether it's in your diet or in your bioidentical hormones (bioidentical does NOT mean organic or GMO-free), the vast majority of soy is genetically modified. Unless you have confirmation from the manufacturer for food or pharmaceutical, you are best to stay away from it.
But since phytoestrogens, the compound in soy that gives it such a reputation for menopause management, ARE helpful in easing the hormone transition, I looked up other sources. Here are your best bets.
Ground flaxseed and flaxseed oil
Rye. oats, barley, and wheat Think multigrain bread when you do have carbs!
Hummous
Garlic
Mung beans and alfalfa sprouts
Dried apricots, dates, and prunes
Organic tempeh, miso, natto, and soy sauce. These are fermented sources of soy which are believe to be less problematic than tofu, edamame, and manufactured foods containing soy, such as soy milk.

One of the reasons I always have trouble providing menus, is because I am a farmer's market and sale rack shopper. My inspiration never comes from sitting at the computer poring over recipes…I totally love the challenge of figuring out what to create given certain limitations. So rather than provide a menu, I'll walk you through how I came up with a fantastic lunch today.

I walked over to Fresh and Easy's sale rack, where I found pomegranate seeds and figs on sale. I still had the taste of the figs Ivonne and I made for a Moroccan potluck on my mind, so those had to go in my bag. The pomegranate seeds were beautiful so I bought those too.

But what to do with them? I had almost bought hummous, so I knew I was in the mood for something spreadable on crackers.

Ricotta cheese came to mind! So that went into the shopping basket too.

Here is how I put them together for lunch.

Took half a container of ricotta cheese and stirred in two packets of True Orange (dehyrated orange powder, no sugar, a great flavor aid for all kinds of beverages and cooking!)

Chopped up three figs…aren't they beautiful on the inside?

Stirred the figs along with a couple of spoonfuls of pomegranate seeds into the orange ricotta.

Noticed some sunflower seeds on the back of the counter, so I added them too.

Served on canola oil-baked pita chips.

I never would have come up with that if I'd been riveted to a shopping list. It happened because I was practicing"mindful grocery shopping", that is, noticing what was around me, taking the cues, and being creative. Of course I use lists, too. But sometimes, a lot of the time, actually, I like to go the market and wing it.

And usually the times I go off the list…are the times I enjoy my meals the most.

Give it a whirl!

Amber asked me awhile ago about some healthy substitutes for condiments, as she's noticed now that she's reading labels more closely, many are high in sodium.

Before I get to my suggestions, I want to congratulate Amber for her victorious week fighting the nicotine demon! It can be so hard to kick that habit, and it takes a lot of willpower. But if she can kick the butts…the rest is a whole lot easier.

Also, she's going to notice as she clears the tar and nicotine residues out of her body, her senses of smell and taste may be a whole lot more sensitive than when the cigarettes dulled everything. She may find that she doesn't even need salty condiments in order to taste her food. It's one of the rewards of quitting.: )

Tartar sauce
1/2 cup canola oil mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
1 large green onion, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

Barbecue sauce and Steak Sauce
I'm leaving this up to Eating Well, as they have a whole collection of barbecue sauces, marinades, and rubs. And the vinegar in many of these is excellent for keeping your post-meal blood glucose level low!

Ketchup
For the Jamie Oliver fans in our group, here is his recipe. I recently wrote an article about fennel, and it's included in his version. It takes a little bit of time, but for things like this I like to find pretty bottles at Goodwill and get crafty with it. Your kids might enjoy this as a Saturday afternoon project.

Mayonnaise
Canola oil mayonnaise is my favorite. I also, for those wanting to reduce fat, recommend stirring a spoonful of mayonnaise into a cup of Greek yogurt. Hummous makes a nice sandwich spread alternative to mayonnaise as well.

OK! Sounds like Amber had a great week, and tackled a lot of tough challenges. I look forward to seeing what the next week brings!

At the same time I have been encouraging all of you to eat more protein, I have been working with a vegan protein source that grows right here in my backyard that could be part of your own plan to get more. That source is tepary beans. This bean is native to Arizona and has been cultured by our local natives for thousands of years. It thrives here in the desert because of its heat and drought tolerance. So much so that it is now being introduced to drought-ridden parts of Africa plagued with famine.

My favorite tepary fun fact is the origin of its name. It is the English spelling for the native"t'pawi", literally meaning,"it's a bean". So I am guessing some Spaniard cruising through Arizona a few hundred years ago stopped, looked and pointed at a plant, and got that response. (Kinda makes me think though, as silly a question as it must have sounded to the natives, if it really translates into,"well, duh…it's a bean!")

Back to hard science.

Tepary beans have been tested in the lab and have been found, when eaten in conjunction with exercise, to improve insulin resistance, lower blood lipids, and help with weight loss. Not bad for a humble little legume that, when it has its way, happily hides out in remote desert washes! It's actually thought that one of the reasons the rate of diabetes has soared so much in Native Americans is because they have strayed away from eating natives foods like the tepary.

They contain 24 grams of protein per 100 grams in their dry state, which is slightly higher than black beans. Which is why they are being profiled on Fitness Friday today!

We recently started sharing tepary beans in our share boxes at Chow Locally, and our customers have been making everything with them from veggie burgers to hummous. They have a slightly nutty flavor which people seem to like. Now that I've seen a group of people try them and enjoy them, I wanted to share them with you!



Add caption  We get our beans from Ramona Farms on the Gila River Indian Reservation, just south of Phoenix. Ramona Farms recently showcased their tepary beans at Natural Products West in Anaheim, and got a lot of attention from high-end chefs and natural foods experts looking for the next best super food. This is me with Ramona and Leslie, two members of the Akimel O'odham tribe. They're super nice and they want you to try their beans…me too!

Ramona Farms is in the process of setting up a web store; in the meantime you can order their beans by phone.
Give them a try and let me know what you think!

Both Jews and Christians are celebrating Holy Days this week, and since I've never written about Jewish eating, I thought it would be interesting to learn more.

One of the wonderful things about Jewish cuisine is, that in its most historical form, it is the original Mediterranean diet! Hummous, tabouli, nuts, many of the foods you eat year round, regardless of your religious persuasion, originated in the Middle East. So in general, a diet using foods native to Israel and its surroundings is going to be quite healthy.

Of course, as with all cultures, modernization has altered these foods the way our ancestors enjoyed them, and those less healhy tweaks tend to appear at holiday time. So I wanted to share some links I found with many suggestions for making sure your Seder celebration enhances, rather than derails, other goals you are working for whether or not it is the holidays.

Here is a link for vegan ideas, including vegan matzoh ball soup, apple charoset, sweet potato kugel, even chocolate matzo.

Martha Stewart's website offers a collection of healthy Seder side dishes, including Brussels sprouts with pears and a parsnip-apple mash.

And of course, what is Passover without matzobrei? I fell in love with matzobrei while attending college in New York. For this Southwestern girl, it was like Jewish chilaquiles! (No jalapenos, of course). I'm back out West these days, but matzobrei followed me and makes a great addition to my repertoire. A few simple tweaks and you've got a great hormone-friendly breakfast. I adapted this recipe from one I found on Yummly.comhttp://www.yummly.com/

6 whole wheat matzos
6 omega-3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh dill (chopped)
2 onions
2 red bell peppers
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Break matzos into roughly 1-inch pieces into a colander, then rinse under hot tap water until pieces are softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes.

Lightly beat eggs with salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon dill in a large bowl and stir in matzos until coated well.

Cook onions and peppers in oil in a 12-inch heavy nonstick skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until they begin to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add matzo mixture, then increase heat to moderately high and sauté, stirring frequently and breaking up clumps, until matzos are well browned, about 17 minutes. Season with salt, then sprinkle with remaining 1/2 tablespoon dill.

May you all enjoy your Passover celebrations this week!

The relationship between nutrition and pre-eclampsia is getting stronger! Researchers have reported that using a multivitamin supplement containing folic acid in the second trimester of pregnancy helped to reduce the risk of pre-eclampsia. Personally, since folic acid is also recommended to any woman who is trying to conceive, I'd recommend taking it all the time instead of trying to guess when is the right time.

I've worked with many women trying to conceive, who have trouble changing their food habits. Some, out of fear of those changes or frustration at the challenge, give up, let the reproductive endocrinologist be the primary person fixing the problem, and figure they'll worry about their diet later.

Bad idea.

What you eat when you're preparing to become pregnant, while you're pregnant, while you're nursing, and while you're getting back into shape after all of that, are all vitally important. There's no such logical strategy as putting nutrition on the back burner, letting the doctor fix the problem, and worrying about the food later. It all fits together…and it affects more than just you!

By the way, good sources of folic acid include: lentils (right now is great weather for soup!),boiled collard greens (great if you're a Southern belle), chickpeas (whoo hoo for hummous!), papaya (always great in a fruit salad), frozen peas (easy to keep in the freezer), asparagus (this is the season when it starts getting cheap), broccoli (easy to keep around), strawberries (not a hard thing to have to eat), oranges (a winter favorite).

Wen SW, Chen XK, Rodger M, White RR, Yang Q, Smith GN, Sigal RJ, Perkins SL, Walker MC. Folic Acid in Early Second Trimester May Reduce Risk of Preeclampsia Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2008;198:45.e1-45.e7.

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.

Why are you even bringing it home?

Phoenix Vice Mayor and District 4 Councilman Tom Simplot just sent me his responses to my questions I recently posed to our City Council members about locally produced food and organic shopping. Vice Mayor Simplot is not one to sit still! In addition to being Vice Mayor, he serves on various City Council subcommittees.

Love how he mentions the light rail! Using that to get to and from your favorite local watering hole or grocery shopping spot, not only adds a little bit of activity into the evening…it promotes a healthier environment as well!

Do you have any favorite locally owned restaurants in your council district that you'd like us to mention?
Plenty. Since the completion of the light rail, new locally owned businesses have been sprouting up along the rail line like organic mushrooms. Postino's on Central; Maizie's; and Two Hippies Taco Shop are relatively new to the district, and more are on the way. Old favorites include Harley's Bistro; Fez; and Alexi's.

Do you have a favorite Arizona-grown food?
All locally grown food is great…and don't forget Arizona wines, too.

You mentioned that you are a strong supporter of the Phoenix Downtown Market. Do you have any favorite booths?
Yes, the ones that hand out samples!
Hmmm…then I must have unknowingly bumped into you at least once at the Dr. Hummus booth!

You're in the middle of a campaign and you're a pretty busy guy with all your committees and boards, yet you make time to patronize the Downtown Market. What would you say to the person who says the idea of a local market is nice but they're just too busy to shop there?
The one of the best reasons about shopping at the Downtown Market is that you, as a consumer, have a say in what your dollar supports. You know exactly who benefits from your purchase; I like to think of it as a"political purchase."

A LITTLE MORE ON WINE!
Councilman Simplot gave me a perfect lead in to a topic I've always intended to write about but never did--wine and health. For starters, the main difference between red and white wine is that red wine incorporates the crushed skins of the grapes in processing, while white wine removes the skin and uses only the remaining pulp for the final product. Resveratrol, found in grape skins and therefore in red wine, is probably the most well-known of these compounds. However, grape pulp contains polyphenols, another kind of antioxidant, which gives white wine health benefits too. Both red and white wine have antibacterial activity. So regardless of the type of wine you enjoy, know there is some benefit to your favorite variety.

If you are currently trying to conceive, or do not drink alcohol, the same benefits can be obtained by eating fresh grapes, grape juice, and wine vinegar. Homemade vinaigrettes are quick and easy, and a perfect topper for the salad fixin's you are sure to find while working your way from that free hummous sample to the organic grapes on your next trip to the farmer's market.

I appreciate your time and comments, Councilman Simplot. From healthy, tasty food to using public transportation to thoughtful consumer spending, you summarized exactly the kind of choices what inCYST aspires to encourage in its readers.

inCYSTer Christine Marquette recently gave a great, detailed webinar about supplements and PCOS. In it, she pointed out that there are certain nutrients women with PCOS may need more of because their metabolism is altered.

What I've been wondering ever since, is whether or not they need more because their intentional eating plans have thrown them out of balance…or would they need more even if they ate absolutely perfectly? The research does support these additional needs, but what the studies do NOT do, is provide women with healthy food for a period of time to discern whether those needs exist even when the diet has been brought back into balance. I suspect the needs would still be different, although not perhaps not quite as remarkable as they are when you're not eating well.

I thought, once a week, I'd introduce you to a vitamin or mineral and challenge you to see if you eat enough of it, regularly, over the course of the day.

Once you bring all of your vitamins and minerals back to baseline, then you can more accurately determine whether or not supplementation is going to work for you. If you want to check out how you're doing, check out http://www.fitday.com/, where you can enter all of your foods and check out how your own intake measures up to the recommendations for the vitamins and minerals.

Vitamin A
How do you do with the following foods?
liver carrots broccoli leaves (not the commonly eaten florets) sweet potatoes butter kale spinach pumpkin collard greens cantaloupe egg yolks
Keep this list handy over the next week and think of ways you can be sure you're getting enough vitamin A. Here are some suggestions.
1. If you make your own smoothies, be sure to throw a handful of leafy greens into them. Even if they're fruit flavored, a handful won't make a difference flavor-wise, but they'll make a huge difference nutrition-wise.
2. If you juice, which is the easiest way to get tons of vitamin A, be sure to balance all that carbohydrate with some protein. The biggest problem with juicing for people who tend to be insulin resistant is the huge carbohydrate load in comparison to the protein juice tends to not provide.
3. Always buy the darkest possible greens for your salad
4. Think kale chips, broccoli chips, etc. They're easy to make and tasty to munch on!
5. If that hour between arriving home and eating dinner is a problem, stock your refrigerator with baby carrots and hummous to snack on while you wait.
6. Try putting spinach leaves instead of plain lettuce on your sandwiches.
7. I'm a huge fan of omelets and frittatas. I never ate Swiss chard until I learned to put it into a frittata. It's also a great way to clean out the vegetable bin at the tail end of the week, it's a cheap dinner (it adds some eggs to your diet), and it's so easy on those nights when you come home exhausted and not wanting to think about anything complicated for dinner.
8. Boil up some eggs and keep them handy for snacks and to top salads with. We tend to be afraid of eggs because of the outdated information about cholesterol. They're actually quite healthy, quite convenient, and something that can make getting vitamin A…as well as protein…a little bit easier.
9. Still have an abundance of vegetables after eating the frittata? Why not make some soup! I have a slow cooker and it is the best appliance for making an easy dinner. A few minutes in the morning and I've got the house smelling great by late afternoon. If thinking about this in the morning while you're rushing out the door just isn't going to work…try putting everything in the slow cooker the night before and programming your smart phone to remind you to plug it in before you leave for work.
10. Stir fry! It's quick and it's easy. You can also buy chopped up vegetables if you want it to be even easier.
OK, let's do it! Let us know how you do with the challenge, or if you have new suggestions to add.

Clean Eating. It's the new buzzword in diet world. I know its users are well-intended, but I get concerned about some of the judgmental ways in which I see it being used. After all, in 30 years of doing this work, most of the people I've worked with have felt badly about themselves because of their weight, and they have a tendency to use their food language as a code for expressing that.

Got a news flash for you.

What you eat is what you eat. It's nothing more, nothing less.

Of course, the type of food that"clean eating" promotes is something I'm on board with. I'm just becoming concerned about how this term is taking on meanings about character and self-worth that it does not and will never deserve.

--It doesn't earn you brownie points in heaven.
--It doesn't make you a better person than your neighbor or coworker.
--It doesn't guarantee freedom from illness.
--If it's not what you think you should be eating, and you eat it anyway, it doesn't earn you the right to a binge to punish yourself for the bad act you just committed.

You know what they say about porn, even if you can't specifically define it…you know it when you see it. Food that supports your best possible self is pretty obviously just that. Food that isn't, well, you know it when you see it. You don't even need me to write about it, really. What you mostly want here, is either for me to validate your choices or to inspire you to make different ones.

This blog is not about telling you what you should eat. It's about introducing you to foods you may have become afraid to eat because you've been told they're high-glycemic. Or too high in carbs (like those strawberries I wrote about the other day.) Or"unclean". Most of you have problems with your diets because they're not varied enough. Or because you're undoing the imbalances that too much restricting from some previous diet brought on.

I don't allow my clients to use words like"clean","good","right"…when describing their eating. It's counterproductive. It's really important for them to understand that as they are when they walk in the door, I enjoy their presence. There is nothing they are going to do to change that. If they didn't need help with their eating they wouldn't be coming to me in the first place, so there's no point in pretending to be perfect so I'll like them. I already like them.

I challenge you to start becoming aware of how many halos you attempt to hang over your head with your food language. When you stop focusing on using food to be acceptable, what is left? What is focusing on food allowing you to avoid? When we can figure that out…that's when the real changes can begin.

For a day, just a day, be aware of what kind of language you use to describe your food habits. Do your words suggest that you have more worth or value as a person because of what is on your plate? Or that you are a better person than someone else based on what they brought to work for lunch? If eating a certain way makes you feel better (more energy, mood stability, etc.), that's one thing. But if how you're eating makes you feel better or worse about yourself in general, it's time to take a look at why.

And we'd love your feedback. I gave PCOS Diva and soon-to-be inCYST Network member Amy Medling a heads up that this blog post was coming out. She's a big proponent of clean eating and I didn't want her to think I was singling her out in any way. Her immediate response was that maybe we should come up with a better way to describe it. So here's your chance. How can we describe eating that supports healthy metabolism that doesn't easily become a judgmental way to talk about your personal character? Any and all ideas are welcome.

And while you're figuring it out…take a moment and savor the lyrics of this song. It's really, really true. Even if your breakfast was an Egg McMuffin and not oatmeal, or you snacked on red vines instead of hummous and veggies.: )

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

OK. Today's the day. There was finally a quiet morning to read the research about d-chiro inositol. Ever since I posted a link to Sasha Ottey's interview on the topic on her PCOS Challenge radio show, traffic linking to us with that keyword has been very high. I've known we needed a blog post, but I just wanted to be sure it was scientifically accurate and presented information in a way that was beneficial, not hurtful.

What is inositol? It is a chemical that is necessary for several body functions, including: cell structure, insulin function, nerve function, fat breakdown, and maintenance of healthy cholesterol levels.

Inositol comes in nine different forms. Two of those types of inositol, myo-inositol and d-chiro-inositol, have been found to have therapeutic value. Myo-inositol supplementation has been found to alleviate symptoms of bulimia, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, agoraphobia, depression, and bipolar disorder. d-chiro-inositol supplementation has been found to be useful for symptoms associated with insulin, high androgen levels, and menstrual irregularity. It is also reported that myoinositol can help prevent hair loss.

Both categories of symptoms are common in PCOS, so it appears that inositol levels and metabolism may be problematic with a high percentage of readers of this blog.

One thing you can do to help improve your levels of both myo- and d-chiro-inositol is to know their dietary sources. Myo-inositol is found in brewer's yeast, liver, milk, whole grains, brown rice, oats, nuts, citrus fruits, molasses, legumes, raisins, and bananas. The best sources of d-chiro-inositol are buckwheat and garbanzo beans (hummous, anyone?)

The theory is, that women with PCOS have trouble converting myo-inositol into d-chiro-inositol. So they need to bypass that metabolic bottleneck with a supplement.

I haven't had the opportunity to use d-chiro-inositol with my clients yet. I haven't wanted to recommend anything unless I'd researched it. But I had a client once, with severe OCD, who responded well to myo-inositol in a way medication and behavioral therapy never achieved. The only issue she had with the supplement was the large dose she needed to take (10 grams per day) in order to see benefit.

Fast forward to today, I've been wondering for awhile if maybe the symptoms attributed to myoinositol deficiency weren't actually myoinositol issues at all, but d-chiro-inositol issues, and the large dose needed was because the conversion in this population is so low.

So here's the best way I would think it would work to determine if d-chiro-inositol deficiency is your problem.

1. Be sure to include all the foods I mentioned above in your diet on a regular basis.

2. Try d-chiro-inositol. Give it three months of regular use to see if it helps.
--If it helps with your insulin levels, androgen levels, and menstrual cycles, then by all means continue using it!
--If it helps with the above, but doesn't help with binge eating, mood, or obsessive thinking, then consider adding some myoinositol to the mix.

3. And please, check back with us. I'm really curious to know what happens. If d-chiro-inositol also helps with mood, etc., that's very important information.

Recommended doses of each: myo-inositol 12-30 grams per day
d-chiro-inositol 100 mg, twice per day

I know, I know, if you're obsessive, you're going to want to take the higher dose of myo-inositol, or even double the dose I've listed.: ) I strongly encourage you to resist the temptation and start low and titrate up as you need to.

I spent quite a bit of time in the supplement department at Whole Foods, to get an idea of what readers would find if they went to buy inositol. As you can see at this link, the options on amazon.com, as they are in most health food stores, are primarily myoinositol.

If you'd like to purchase d-chiro-inositol, the most popular source for women with PCOS appears to be www.chiralbalance.com.

I have recently discovered a great budget-friendly store that is new to California, Arizona, and Nevada, called Fresh and Easy. It's not really a new store, it's been around in the UK for years under the name Tesco.

I discovered quite by accident that this store, about an hour before closing time, starts to mark its perishables near expiration date, off by 50%. I got out of there with my week's food for almost half of what I normally spend!

Of course, the perishables that don't sell are the ones people either don't like or don't know how to cook, so I'm eating more healthfully by virtue of other peoples' shopping omissions.: )

One of the things I have regularly been coming home with is a big head of cauliflower. It's not that I don't like cauliflower, I do, but there's only so much you can eat raw in a salad or dipped in hummous. So I've been researching other ways to eat it.

I've made cauliflower and pasta, cauliflower curry, and the other night, a really quick and easy cauliflower soup. Cooked correctly, it's got a pleasant flavor that goes well with a lot of things I like to eat.

Cauliflower is a decent source of folate, which you will see repeatedly mentioned on this blog. It's also an excellent source of vitamin C and pantothenic acid. It's part of the anti-cancer family of vegetables including broccoli, cabbbage, and Brussels sprouts.

Here is a link to 324 healthy cauliflower recipes to get you started.