I'm pretty good at regular exercising. But I have to admit, I can get into ruts. I run because it's easy and convenient and efficient on a busy day. I use the elliptical if I'm near the gym while I'm out. And I love, love, love to swim! But even that is a little routine, focusing on the same muscle groups while ignoring others.
I was reminded the other day of why I might benefit from mixing it up a little bit. inCYSTer Ivonne Ward invited me to join her at a NIA dancing class. (More on NIA in a future post.) I remembered how much I loved dance when I studied it way back in high school, and how much I love to move to music. I also came home well aware of muscles I haven't been using despite my strenuous workouts, and muscles that were tight from being overly focused on. I felt sore, but wonderfully so!
I'm trying something new this year, trying to mix up my exercise so that no two sessions involve the same activity. Trying to mix it up a little bit more so that my fitness is more well-rounded.
Today, the weather is so beautiful, I'm going to get out the Rollerblades and spin around my neighborhood. I love the rhythm of skating, I find it calming and meditative. And I love how the blades use my legs in different ways than does running. And those boots are heavy enough that it's like a ton of weight lifting for the butt muscles--never a bad thing!
I've been communicating with a very nice woman in Santa Monica who is helping me to figure out how I can add tennis lessons to my work trips over there. I've always wanted to learn tennis, so why not this summer when I will surely have time in a place with great weather?
inCYSTer Dr. Gretchen has been talking about her surfing lessons with such enthusiasm that I am going to make time for some of those as well. I will definitely have to get over my shark phobia for this one, but it looks like so much fun!
Both of these activities will challenge my upper body more, which as I get older is definitely something I need to encourage a strong, healthy spine. Plus, I love having new things to learn. My tennis contact shared with me that something she loves about tennis is that every time you play, you're with a different person who challenges you differently, so it's never the same game. I think I'll like that. Sometimes the runs do get a little tedious.
I was also thinking during NIA yesterday that my dance training may come in handy in a sport requiring coordinated footwork, and vice versa. I will be more motivated to swim if I know it will help me to better enjoy my surfing time.
Tennis and surfing require mindfulness as well. Unlike running, and the other activities I do, where you can kind of zone out and be in another world, you have to be mentally PRESENT, aware of your place in space as well as your surroundings, in order to effectively participate.
It's why I hate the question about what the ultimate exercise is. There isn't really ONE, it's what you'll do most regularly. And I think you'll exercise most regularly if you're interested in what you're doing.
Maybe if you're bored with what you're doing, or only exercise for a few weeks before it drops off again, it's because you're not mixing it up enough. Exercise because it gets you away from the computer, stretches your back, allows you to be social, gets you in touch with nature, helps you sleep…and you are guaranteed to strengthen muscles and bones, and maybe lose weight.
Exercise just to lose weight and well…if that's what you've been doing, maybe that's why you've read this blog post all the way to the end.: )
I love to work out. But I am especially sensitive to the fact that the word"exercise" doesn't conjure up the most pleasant thoughts to people who do not regularly do it, or who have been told that they have to do it, or that they need to do it. Or who tried and were humiliated by some comment someone made when they did work up the nerve to go out and try it.
So instead of being one of those nutritionists who presents as someone who came out of the womb wearing Nikes, and serving only to further intimidate you from getting started, I thought I would tell you a little of my own story.
I have not always loved exercise. I have always loved books. My mom loves to tell the story about the time as a child when I was sitting cross-legged on the floor engrossed in reading something. She wanted to spank me for something I'd done, so she asked me to stand up. I did, she spanked me, and I sat down. I never stopped reading the entire time.
These days, being such a reader is what benefits all of you, because I share what I learn in my writing and teaching.
But in first grade, it didn't work out that way. I was always the last kid chosen for teams. I wasn't really encouraged to exercise because I was pegged early on as studious. So I didn't really have a lot of experiences to reinforce that it could be fun.
Fast forward to fourth grade. I joined a softball team. I struck out practically every time I was up, but looking back I think it was because I was so stressed out about failing at the plate that I actually struck out before I even stepped up to bat. The pitcher on that team was frustrated with me, probably because she saw me as dragging the team down. She started to tease me. Which only made things worse.
Finally, my dad told me to imagine that the softball was the pitcher's head. You know what? The next time I stepped up to bat I didn't just hit a home run…I hit a grand slam. I learned that people start to treat you differently when you prove them wrong. And when they had faith in me, and I started to have faith in myself, my batting average started to improve.
Since then, I've started trying different sports. And I learned, much to my surprise, that I'm actually kind of athletic. I don't just love skiing…I LOVE the moguls. I don't just love running, but I LOVE running long distances. There are some sports I don't like so much. But I am empowered now to say I don't like a certain sport, rather than say I don't like ALL sports because I didn't have fun with one.
Even though I now even have a master's degree in kinesiology, I still don't think of myself as an athlete. But I do like to learn and achieve, and sports has become a new place to apply those qualities.
These days, I'm working on my golf game. It's really challenging, but I love it exactly for that. I mentioned to a guy friend of mine that I didn't understand why more women don't play golf. His observation was that the many women he'd tried to interest in the sport were afraid to try it because they wouldn't be perfect the first time out. I can understand where some of these women come from, if their early experiences were like mine. What a loss, to let what other people told you about your athletic potential keep you from learning something with potential to be fun?
Are you keeping yourself from exercise because you don't view yourself as an athlete? Who decided that for you? Do they deserve to keep you from moving, today? Or achieving anything in life, for that matter?
Make this the day the one you put YOUR goals and dreams in charge of how you make decisions. You can be anyone you want to be…an athlete, a student, a friend…if you decide that's what you want to be.
Why in the world, the day after Thanksgiving, if I'm trying to de-stress you…would I put up a piece of pie…pie being something you likely don't even want to think about today?
Because my concept of stress is exactly like pie. Life tends to be less stressful if your"pie of life" is divided into more pieces. If your life has only a few facets, and something happens in one part of your life that is stressful, you have fewer places to go that can provide you a diversion while your mind works out a solution.
I'm posting my pie here, so you can see what I mean. I do what I do because I love it. But I can get really hyperfocused on it. And when business is slow…like it was just before the election…that can be very stressful. Fortunately, I also love to garden. There were weeds outside that needed to be pulled, so I started taking a work break every afternoon to clear a small piece of land. And you know what? While I was weeding, some new ideas for my business came to mind that jump started sales again.
It is easy, as hard as I work, to become a little inbred as far as my social life goes. So I decided a few years ago, to volunteer every Friday afternoon at a local no-kill shelter (which you should visit sometime if you're in Phoenix!). I have befriended a whole group of people who have absolutely nothing to do with my business. I love going down there and having a place where I'm Monika the cat adoption counselor, not Monika the nutritionist. (Well, that plus it's impossible to be stressed out after 5 minutes of being in the nursery with a dozen little ones simultaneously using you as a scratch post.)
I love to work out, but on days when it's raining or I'm just not feeling good and need to rest, I love to do calligraphy, read a Presidential bio, or refinish one of my antiques. Again, so many perspectives and ideas come to mind for work and social situations that seem to be locked up when I focus too hard on places where there are problems.
If you're struggling with fertility or weight loss, or any stressful situation, for that matter, the problem can just become larger than life. It can be all you think about. You can find yourself on the Internet, visiting blogs, reading books, etc., focusing entirely on your problem. And all the stress that builds up when you go to places where you only immerse yourself in more of the stuff that bothers you…can make it hard for your body to make progesterone.
Take a minute and look at your own pie. How many slices is it divided into? How many different communities of friends, coworkers, activity parteners, etc., do you belong to? Are you so focused that you have yourself backed into a stress corner?
Could it be…today is the day you have your coffee in a new Starbucks and strike up a conversation with a new person in line, rather than blasting in and out of the same place without looking at a single thing around you? Is it the day you buy that basil plant at Trader Joe's as a starter piece for your new herb garden? Is it the day you sign up for that Italian class you've been wanting to take? I'm so appreciative that you're reading my blog, but I would never expect it to be a complete and total answer to your PCOS, or to substitute for the well-rounded life that you deserve to have.: )
OK, now that THAT has been settled, I am going to paint my dining room today and then finish off that James Buchanan bio I found at the library. But first, I think it's time to head into the kitchen for some leftovers. Yes, I have to admit, leftover pumpkin pie is one of my very favorite breakfasts!
I was recently graciously shipped a jar of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Standard Virgin coconut oil for review. First of all, thank you to Tropical Traditions for their generosity! I use coconut oil twice a day on my skin and I love the noticeable difference it makes. I'm also learning to cook with it, and am happy to have this to work with.
This is a long, drawn out post. I'm putting my conclusion at the very beginning so you can decide if you want to sit through the rest:
I love coconut oil, I use it myself, both in cooking and on my skin. I love this particular brand and product, and it's clear that the company is very proud of the attention they devote to quality and sustainable practices. If you choose to incorporate coconut oil into your cooking, and I hope that you do, please consider supporting a company that works so hard on behalf of integrity.
My intention is to encourage more people to use coconut oil than currently do. It wasn't long ago that we discouraged coconut oil consumption and I still encounter people who think it's unhealthy. I'd also like to encourage those who may be creating problems with excessive use, to understand why that may not be a good choice.
My only reservation is that there is somewhat of a health halo hanging over coconut oil that encourages its use in quantities that potentially do not support improved health.
I'll be addressing those issues in this post. A little bit of feedback on the coconut oil information I found on the website.
In the FAQ section, there is no peer-reviewed reference provided to support the following statement:
The benefits of coconut oil are mainly from the nutrient value of medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs). The best comparison in nature as to the percentage of MCFAs being consumed in a diet is human breast milk. To equal the amount of MCFAs a nursing infant would receive in one day, an adult would need to consume about 3.5 tablespoons of coconut oil a day according to researchers.
1. With regards to fat, what an infant needs, nutritionally, is far different from what an adult needs.
For example, nutrition experts recommend 2% milk for children up to to years of age, then a drop to 1% or skim. The reason for this recommendation is that the extra fat is needed during the first 2 years of life to help fuel the rapid growth occurring during that time. As growth and development slow, so do needs for dietary fat.
Arachidonic acid (ARA) is an essential fatty acid for infants. The only place they can get it is milk, so if an infant is formula fed, ARA needs to be added to that formula. When that infant is weaned, however, and can get this fatty acid elsewhere, it no longer needs to be added to the diet.
It simply has not been proven that nutritional needs for infants are the same as nutritional needs for adults. Or that what you would feed an infant is even healthy for an adult. So I'm not entirely convinced that the extrapolation from an infant's saturated fat intake in breast milk, to a recommendation for adults of 3.5 tablespoons per day is a logical or healthy leap. (I am happy to adjust my stance if peer-reviewed research supporting the higher level becomes available. Our readers are in large part pursuing fertility and possibly in the midst of infertility treatment. I owe it to these high-risk situations to lean toward the skeptical and conservative. I don't want to heap more expense, stress, and/or disappointment on women who take our advice so seriously.)
Fat is fat, no matter where it comes from, it still contains calories, and the recommendations are still to keep saturated fat intake to about 10% of total calories. Regardless of the source of the saturated fat.
I did a long blog post calculating dietary amounts for different calorie levels that this translates to not too long ago if you want more specifics. I do think that when possible, saturated fat from coconut oil is better than saturated fat from meat, so the focus needs to be learning how to make that switch. (See the recipes I posted below.)
2. In moderate quantities, coconut oil can definitely be beneficial. A 2009 Brazilian study providing 1 tbsp per day of coconut oil to a group of women with abdominal obesity found that compared to 1 tbsp of soybean oil, the coconut oil group had higher HDL, a lower LDL/HDL ratio, and a reduced waist circumference. It cannot be determined from this study design if the change was due to the absence of soybean oil, the presence of coconut oil, or a little of both, but it does illustrate that when used in moderation, coconut oil can be part of a hormone-friendly eating program.
3. What IS showing up in the literature is that too much coconut oil can be metabolically deleterious. Individuals at risk for diabetes (and if you have PCOS that means you) need to use coconut oil with care. One recent study in particular (done with calves) compared coconut oil to a non-medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) diet as well as to another MCT, caprylate oil. The coconut oil-fed calves weighed pretty much the same at the end of the study, contradicting claims that coconut oil promotes weight loss. In addition, the coconut oil calves had heavier, fattier livers and contained 15% more fat than the livers of the other calves.
Bottom line, used respectfully, coconut oil has many health benefits and I do encourage its use. What I DO discourage, is using this product indiscriminately with the belief that it has any kind of magical quality that counteracts dietary indiscretions or which somehow allows you to ignore other important rules of nutritional balance.
4. I spent a long time on the company's companion website, http://www.freecoconutrecipes.com/ to see how others were using coconut oil in cooking. Most of the recipes were for baked goods and sweets, the use of which, due to the insulin resistance issue the readers of this blog deal with, should be limited. Cakes, cookies, etc., are not nutritionally dense and cannot be eaten in large quantities just because of the oil they were made with.
I did find a great recipe for coconut oil vinaigrette coleslaw, which nicely combines the concept I've been writing about recently, consuming a bit of vinegar before meals, with a nice, moderate use of coconut oil. I would so love to see more savory recipes like this, as it would help the readers inCYST most often works with, to use this oil to their benefit.
I did my best to walk the walk, as well, and asked the members of our Facebook fan page to share any savory recipes they might have using coconut oil. Here are a few provided by culinary school graduate Alyssa Fritts.
Coconut Green Beans Blanch fresh green beans by dumping them in boiling water for about 20-30 seconds. Strain them out and put them in ice water to s top the cooking. Melt a tsp or less of coconut oil in a pan. Add 1/2 clove of garlic and the strained green beans, toss around a few times. Add chopped almonds and salt and pepper to taste.
Coconut Pork Chops Put a little bit of coconut oil in a pan, salt and pepper pork chop with all fat trimmed Brown on both sides. Remove chop, add garlic, and chopped onion. Saute until garlic is fragrant. Add veggie or chicken stock and a LITTLE bit of apple jui ce. Put chop back in and let it reduce down by about half. Remove chop and place on plate. Add a scoop of stone ground mustard, and a sprig of fresh rosemary. Let it thicken. Finish with a swirl of coconut oil to give it the smooth fullness butter would. Pour over your chop.
Miso-Ginger Salmon 1/2 tsp coconut oil 1 clove minced garlic 1/8 in piece peeled ginger in matchsticks 1 tbs chopped onion 1 tsp miso paste 1/4 cup white wine 1/4 cup veggie stock or water 1/4 tsp coconut oil
Melt 1/2 tsp coconut oil in pan. Salt and pepper salmon. Place in pan skin side up. Brown on both sides. Set aside on a plate. If needed as a tiny bit more coconut oil. Add ginger and garlic. Add onion and sautee for a few seconds. Add wine and stock. Add salmon back to pan and cook for about 5 min. Remove salmon and turn heat up to high. Add miso and reduce down until thick. Swirl in a tiny bit (up to 1/4 tsp) of coconut oil and pour over salmon.
What Alyssa is illustrating, beautifully, is that one of the best ways to use coconut oil is to switch out other oils for coconut oil in your regular cooking, being careful with quantities just as you would any other fat. It adds a nice flavor while it helps your metabolism.
If any of you use Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil, and you've developed some savory, hormone-friendly recipes you'd like to share with our friends at Tropical Traditions, I would love if you would do that. I'd like their customers to see just how much potential this oil can have in the kitchen. I'd really love to see this company, which clearly has a heart for wanting to do something good, succeed at that goal. I'm in love with the creativity of inCYST fans, and encourage you all to step up and share it in a way that can have benefit far outside of this blog post.
Bottom line: Used intelligently and respectfully, Tropical Traditions gets a thumbs up. Stay tuned, as tomorrow we're going to announce a giveaway encouraging you to think about and incorporate the concepts presented in this blog post!
Assunção ML, Ferreira HS, dos Santos AF, Cabral CR Jr, Florêncio TM. Effects of dietary coconut oil on the biochemical and anthropometric profiles of women presenting abdominal obesity. Lipids. 2009 Jul;44(7):593-601. Epub 2009 May 13. Talbott, Shawn M. and Kerry Hughes. (2006). The Health Professional's Guide to Dietary Supplements. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. pp. 60–63. ISBN 9780781746724.
Mills JK, Ross DA, Van Amburgh ME. The effects of feeding medium-chain triglycerides on the growth, insulin responsiveness, and body composition of Holstein calves from birth to 85 kg of body weight. J Dairy Sci. 2010 Sep;93(9):4262-73.
Many of you already know you're insulin resistant, and are receiving medical attention for that. Here are the basic nutrition and lifestyle actions you can take to further help minimize the impact of that issue on your pregnancy success.
1. Move! I'm a distance runner. As much as I love running, however, I have a lot of other activities I love to do. Having a variety of activities to rotate through prevents boredom, and it involves different muscle groups in exercise. I learned to vary after a ski injury that sidelined my running for a year. You don't want that to happen, to become so dependent on one activity that you set yourself up to lose activity completely. These days I run, but I also walk, rollerblade, garden, hike, golf, swim and do yoga. (Ivonne recently talked me into trying a tango class. I think dancing is my new favorite!) Any little thing you can do that tells your body it needs to get better at moving glucose into muscle cells…is what you need to do.
2. Commit yourself to better sleeping habits. Poor sleep, either few hours or bad quality, interferes with insulin function. The clients I work with who prioritize better sleep are the ones who notice feeling better the soonest. It can be a hard one if you love the late night shows, easily get lost in the Internet, or don't set good boundaries with others. But good sleep is one of the most important things you can give yourself. If you search"sleep" in this blog there is a lot of information about how to achieve this.
3. Watch the caffeine. This goes hand in hand with #2. Caffeine in coffee, tea (it's in green tea, too, so be aware), chocolate…it all challenges healthy sleep. It's something you are best to live without during pregnancy anyway, so why not get used to decaffeinated life now if that's where you want to be?
4. Be aware of glycemic index. Foods with a low glycemic index are foods that don't challenge your insulin function as much as other foods. It's not that high glycemic foods are"bad", it's just that they should not be eaten as often. In order to make a MEAL lower-glycemic, be sure you have a good balance of carbs, fats, and proteins. People eating on the run tend to challenge glycemic function either by eating large quantities of fast food or nibbling all day long on carbs without making time for protein.
5. Pay attention to your fats. One reason I push the fish oil so much is that it really helps to improve insulin function."S" and"C" oils--safflower, sunflower, soybean, corn, cottonseed…tend to worsen glycemic function. They're found in processed foods, baked goods, and salad dressings. One reason I love teaching my classes at Whole Foods is that their entire deli uses only olive and canola (the only"C" exception) and you can literally choose what you want without ingredient anxiety.
6. Add a little cinnamon to your low-glycemic oatmeal. It has been found to improve insulin function…and it's tasty!
A word about metformin. Some women complain about digestive disturbances with this medication. A physician once shared that if you eat a lot of carbs (particularly sweets) while on the medication, it can cause diarrhea. So be forewarned, taking the medication is not a license to eat what you want, assuming metformin is going to do all the work. Metformin is most effective if you use it in conjunction with the guidelines in this post.
Next progesterone post we'll talk about poor nutrition. It is very important!
One of my very favorite activities is Rollerblading. I discovered it after moving to California from Colorado years ago. I was really missing cross-country skiing, and rented some in-line skates one weekend. It was love at first roll! I loved them so much, I even commuted to work with them, quite frequently. Weekends, my boyfriend at the time and I would head over to Stanford University and pass the afternoon in a closed parking garage, skating up the ramps and speeding down the levels, over and over and over again. I have not skated much in past years, as I had been running more. But recently, I have been plagued with arthritis in one of my ankles, and have been challenged to rework my exercise plan to include activities that don't stress the joint as much. Last night I pulled out the Rollerblades, and thought of ten reasons you all may want to think about trying it. I hope you give it a try! 1. Easier on joints As much as I love running, it does pound the joints. When you are starting out a weight loss program, that can be a barrier. Skating allows you to move that same weight over equal distances without expecting your knees and ankles to absorb the shock of every single stroke. 2. Great workout without feeling so exhausting I was so used to huffing and puffing when I ran, that the first time I skated, I was a little disappointed. It didn't feel as if it was pushing me as hard athletically. Then one day I was stopped at a corner and decided to check my pulse. It was up there in the running zone! It just used my muscles in different ways, apparently. 3. Meditative Something I love about skating (as well as swimming) is the meditative rhythm I can get into. My neighborhood has wide, shady streets, and it is so relaxing to get out there and get into a back and forth rhythm. Something about that clears the head and enhances creativity. It was in my meditative mode, in fact, that I was inspired to write this blog post! 4. Playful As I mentioned, I've"bladed" parking garages. I've also circled lakes, and sneaked on to golf courses. I love gentle hills. Last night I spent a lot of time practicing balancing on one leg, then the other, then seeing what positions I could do that balancing in. The whole time I was moving forward, and before I knew it I had gone six miles. It was an enjoyable workout. 5. Great for the butt Those boots are heavy! So every time you push off and lift your foot, it is like lifting a weight. The ones at the gym that you do to work out your butt. Only you get thousands more lifts in than you ever would at the gym. 6. Works different leg muscles The inner thigh muscles are hard to work out. Most runners develop their quads but those thighs just don't get their fair share. But skating uses all the leg muscles. Regular use will shape your legs, quite nicely. 7. You can channel Apolo Anton Ohno Yes, I do that. I squat really low to make my quads work really hard. I bend over, put one arm on my back like those Olympic guys do and swing the other one back and forth. I imagine I am in Helsinki or Calgary or some other snowy place. It makes it fun to get out there. Exercise doesn't have to hurt. It can actually be fun! If you've never tried skating, I encourage you to do it, at least once, and see if you like it. One word of advice, do wear wrist and knee guards. Just to be safe. We don't want you eliminating your new favorite activity from a fall just as you were getting into your groove!
One of the hardest things for any of us to do – except maybe Olympic athletes – is to maintain a consistent exercise schedule. I don’t have to convince you of the importance of exercise, so what I want to talk about is shifting your mentality.
If you approach exercise with a negative attitude, thinking “this is terrible, I hate it, I’m going to be miserable,” then you will have a lousy experience. If you say, “I’m going off to the torture chamber” when you’re heading out to the gym, you’re setting yourself up to suffer. If you think you can’t succeed at a sport because you were always picked last for team sports in grammar school, you won’t even try. And without trying, where do you end up? Precisely where you are, which isn’t necessarily a good place!
Yes, exercise involves discomfort, pushing your limits, and taking risks. It involves heat, sweat, and sometimes actual pain (hopefully not too much, as this is an indicator that your body has been pushed too far). It may involve wearing more revealing clothing in public than you’d normally choose. It may mean being the slowest one in the class, or being the one who carries around a nerdy little notebook with tips, schedules, and drawings of how to do exercises. It quite possibly involves getting out of your cozy bed at the crack of dawn, instead of sleeping in. None of this is comfortable.
But if you approach exercise with a positive attitude, and look for the fun, you’ll improve the outcome of your experience. For example, by changing your self-talk from [insert whatever negative thing you usually say to yourself] to “I love how strong I am,” or “it’s amazing that I’m this flexible at this age,” or “I love the way the breeze feels on my face when I’m bicycling outdoors,” you’ll also feel better about what you accomplished. Other positives you might focus on include: the social aspect of gym time or walking with friends, getting some Vitamin D if you exercise outside, improving your strength or dexterity, or the fact that you’ve actually managed to put together a cute and coordinated outfit at 6:00 a.m. You get the general idea.
Quantity does matter, so you can say you went to the gym, but if all you do is ten minutes on the bicycle, let’s be honest, you’re not really working out. No one else may know, but you’ll know, and that’s not going to feel good later. Focus on quantity, as in, total number of workouts, or time spent exercising. Keep a record, electronically or on paper, and note that little jump in self-approval when you’ve been consistent. Even when the quality is lacking, if the quality doesn’t really impact the outcome (i.e., you shouldn’t overdo it on weights, when your body’s crying out for mercy, or you shouldn’t keep walking if you have a documented injury), keep going. And if you’re not in the mood to get out and walk (walking being a great blood sugar regulator for us insulin resistant types), and you’re just going to slog along instead of pumping out the power-walk you think you SHOULD be doing, then get out there and just walk anyway. It matters, and it counts towards the achievement of the over-arching goal of getting some meaningful exercise to fit into your life. Plus, if you’re suffering from depression, exercise helps to improve it!
Also important to actually getting yourself motivated to exercise regularly is choosing what you love. If you love it, you’re more likely to stick to it. You may need to try different things (surfing? Aerial yoga? Pilates? Unicycling?), and, in the process, you may discover some hidden talents, even in your 30s, 40s, and beyond. Try something new. Do the thing you never got to do. So what if your first ballet lesson is at age 35? It’s good for your brain too, to experience the novelty.
On the flip side, give up what you hate, no matter what anyone else says about how good it is for you. Although I thought my personal trainer was quite good, and I enjoy him as a person, I was pretty miserable every time I went. I finally gave it up, because it was causing a negative mindset about training. Every week, I dreaded going. Now I happily lift weights on my own.
Plan exercise into your vacations. Choose hotels with pools and gyms. Go to areas with great natural beauty that will inspire you to get out, walk around, hike, rent a bike, etc. Remember that PCOS doesn’t take a vacation, and neither should you – exercise should be a daily part of your life, for life.
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 AskDrGretchen@gmail.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @askdrhousemd.
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!
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.
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.
On this Father's Day, I just wanted to send a word of support to all the men who love the women we reach out to. Something that always strikes me about couples pursuing infertility, is how the men in the equation are often ignored. They have feelings about the situation as well! They're frustrated, scared, feeling as if though the diagnosis and the process has stolen the women they fell in love with. I just want you to know we're here for you too. Your questions, concerns…matter to us. In fact, sometimes, observations and feedback from the person closest to the woman we are trying to help, are the most valuable. Please reach out to us when you need to. The more information you give us about what it's like to be in your shoes, the better we know how to help you. The more observations we have about PCOS in action, the better we can figure out what is happening and hopefully learn to tackle this devastating condition. It is super hard to be a man in your situation, and we thank you for hanging in there. Hugs and love to all of you this Father's Day, Monika and the inCYST team
We had a great interview with Josh Goldman, CEO of Australis this morning. Australis is the company that farms barramundi, a mild-flavored fish that is very high in omega-3 fatty acids.
If you've got the idea that it's always best to eat wild caught fish, consider listening to this interview, as it challenges some of the mantras in the debate and may answer some of your concerns about the safety of farmed seafood.
As promised in the interview, here is the legend of the barramundi, a love story told by the Aboriginals for whom this fish is a part of their culture and has been for generations.
Splashing in the billagong two lovers having fun
Ebony skin streaming under water fall.
Yungi and Meyalk sat together drying off in the sun
Their love was forbidden by tribal law, still they answered each other's call.
Creeping out during a corroboree, they ran hand in hand; love had won.
Following bush trail to the sea they knew they must fall.
They made spears to ward off angry tribe; seeing death must come.
Yungi and Meyalk threw themselves into the sea; they became barramundi fish and fooled them all.
Some spears struck their backs as they swam away; legend has it the spears became spines on the barramundi's back still visible today.
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'm partial to Zing Bars, if you haven't figured that out. But if you know me, I say"no" to far more business opportunities than I say"yes" to. It takes a lot for me to wax enthusiastic about any product, because my own relationship with all of YOU is placed on the line with every business relationship I forge.
Today's post is about the people behind Zing, because while their bar is fantastic, it is these four humans and their consistent attention to excellence that is the basis for my support of their bars. My pals in Seattle do an awfully good job of getting the word out about their product, but they're also quite humble about the incredible collection of personal experience and professional training that is the foundation for their company. It's part of what I really like about David, Sandi, Kathleen, and Minh-Hai. They love what they do…so much…they spend more time actually DOING it than they do TALKING about it. They've been great supporters of women with PCOS, and inCYST, from the very beginning. I was not at all surprised that they were the very first vendor to respond to my invitation to join our new eMarket.
If you started to investigate how many nutrition supplements were actually conceived by and produced by people who were trained in the science of nutrition, you'd learn that the list is quite short. Most bars are made by business people who had a great idea, who had an interest in nutrition, and had the business savvy to use the two interests to bring a product to market. If there's a nutritionist anywhere in the business plan, they were often hired as a consultant, as an afterthought. When the business owner realized the bar would be even more profitable if it had a professional endorsement.
That is why I love Zing Bars. They were conceived by well-trained nutrition professionals who were working on the front lines, knew the common issues facing their clients, and decided to create a solution for the repetetive issues showing up in their counseling sessions. In reverse order of most of their competitors, they then sought out the business experts to help them launch their idea. I knew these people for years before they took this project on, and always respected the way they pursued excellence in clinical practice. For them to actually create a food…well, it was a no brainer that it would be high-quality.
All four of these colleagues hold master's degrees from Bastyr University, which means in addition to their solid foundation in traditional allopathic medicine, they also have advanced training from a respected naturopathic institute. I don't know about you, but I really, really like the fact that bringing solid science in a practical way to people who wanted to eat well, as opposed to wanting a piece of the profitable nutrition industry pie, is the foundation for this business.
CEO David Ingalls, despite the work it takes to keep this growing company fueled and healthy, STILL has a counseling practice at the Seattle Healing Arts Center. That takes a lot of emotional and physical energy, as both could be full time jobs, but he shared with me that his individual work with people is what helps him to understand how to keep Zing Bars moving forward. He's staying in touch with real people and genuinely wants to provide them with a product that helps them feel better and appreciate his love for nutrition and health. David spent some time recently sharing the Zing Story on our radio show. It's worth a click and listen to.
Co-founder Sandi Kaplan works as Associate Director of Clinical Support and Development for Free & Clear’s Mind & Body Program. She has celiac disease herself and her experience with that diet significantly influences her desire to put tasty, celiac-friendly foods on grocery shelves.
Co-founder Kathleen Putnam is also co-owner of Nutrition Works Seattle, and she has been counseling clients for over 15 years. Kathleen has incorporated counseling, public speaking, education and medical nutrition therapy into her practice. She worked extensively with Swedish Medical Center in the Dean Ornish, Cardiac Rehab and wellness programs. She is certified as a parent coach, EBT (Emotional Brain Training) provider, and Shapedown provider for pediatric obesity. Kathleen has contributed to professional writings, hosted message boards for WebMD and EBT, and a talk show on VoiceAmerica. All those hours spent listening to what people want, don't want, like, don't like, wish they could find, etc…has definitely played a part in the formulation of Zing Bars. By the way, Kathleen and Minh-Hai (below) were recommended by Seattle Magazine as the"go-to" nutrition experts in their city. That is an honor in such a health-conscious city where salmon and blueberries are local treats.: )
Co-founder Minh-Hai Tran, also of Nutrition Works Seattle, has many specialties, including compulsive and emotional overeating, eating disorders, metabolic disorders, sports nutrition, bariatric nutrition, and optimizing wellness for busy people. Her non-diet approach has been endorsed by DailyCandy, and her health perspectives have been published in The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, and more. Minh-Hai also enjoys writing Nutrition & the City, a fun monthly blog for Girl Power Hour. Prior to moving to the Northwest, Minh-Hai worked as a consultant, writer and speaker in the vitamin and supplement industry in her hometown, Dallas, TX. She has consulted with the Dallas Mavericks Basketball Team and has been frequently featured as a guest on The Ticket sports radio station. Also, she enjoys being an active member of The Center for Mindful Eating.
So…do you want a bar that started out as a great idea to make money and then became a nutrition product? Or do you want a bar that started out as a nutrition problem identified by a team of experts who knew best what the answer would be, and who then learned the nuts and bolts of organizing the resources to make it happen?
If your answer is the same one I have, click here to order some Zing for yourself.
Reminder: From now through Labor Day, 100% of all profits generated by the inCYST eMarket will be devoted to the inCYST Institute nonprofit division. We've got startup costs to account for before we can get down to the basics of funding research. This is one way we plan to generate those funds. You can help to make it happen!
You know you’ve been there – reaching for the cookie jar again and again, or woefully looking into the bottom of a bag of chips. Feeling sick, disgusted, out of control, sad and angry. Cursing yourself for giving in to the urge again. If you’ve got a problem with binge eating, there’s no perfect way to avoid it forever, but the key is to stop and think before you act. Here are my favorite ways to put the brakes on a binge:
Triple wrap your treat in foil, plastic wrap, and a plastic bag. Shove it in the deepest, darkest corner of the freezer. I know chocolate chip cookies taste great frozen (and semi-stale, and raw, and even when you have to pick the raisins out of them), but this will slow you down.
Before going to a potluck (and I am not casting aspersions on your family, friends, or colleagues), remind yourself of all those studies documenting that one-third to one-half of people do not wash their hands after using the restroom. Did one of those people prepare that casserole full of fatty pasta you’re about to dig into? Just asking…
Make a public declaration, and allow your shame to come quickly to the forefront if you violate it. I know if I say I’m following a special diet that temporarily eliminates wheat and dairy, you can bet someone will question me if I start heading for the cheesecake. The only way out is to contain myself.
Eat dessert first. Your mother isn’t standing over your shoulder, telling you what to do anymore. If you want dessert more than anything, give yourself permission to eat it first, and know that you are allowed to have whatever you want.
Put a time limit on it. If you really can’t resist, set a timer for three minutes and eat what you will. Not a perfect remedy, but you will contain the damage.
Love your food. Really love it. The more you love something, the more difficult it is to abuse. Remember that about yourself as well.
Forgive yourself if none of the above works. Forgive yourself if nothing you’ve ever read or heard or been told by your dietician works to keep you from binge eating. There’s always another opportunity to do better.
Something I love, love, LOVE about working with PCOS is all the amazing creativity I have the honor to be surrounded by! So many of you are singers, authors, sewers, candle makers, dancers…it really is part of who you all are.
I finally figured out how to do something positive with it. Talked to Beth over at Power Up for PCOS, and she's opened up a"Shop Cysters" store. If you have any kind of creative works that you sell, be it photography, jewelry, or sweaters, and you have some type of online link we can use to promote you, we'll promote you in exchange for a donation of the percentage of the sale.
It really is important for me to make what we do as positive as it can be. I know many of you are going through hard times financially, partly because of the economy and partly because of the expense of your PCOS. Here's a little thing we can do to help a bit. Plus, I know when artistic people do their artistic things, it's a huge stress reliever.
Not long ago a young woman posted photos of earrings she was making to pay for her IVF on her fan page. It drove home the massive collective cost of this diagnosis. It just occurred to me one day, shoot, 1 in 5 women has this disorder, and if you think about the collective economic power held within that percentage…imagine the voice we'd all have if we started shopping from each other, and stopped buying the foods and products that simply don't promote our health? We'd get a whole lot of attention. We'd have a voice with a backbone.
Shop Cysters is a small, very small step toward having that voice…but a year ago a walk-a-thon raising several thousand dollars wasn't even on the radar. You all have it in you to make a huge difference together.
I want people to know about the good side of PCOS, and not to think of women who have the disorder as some kind of walking pathology. You're not. You're the creative force in our population and we need to honor it.
If you're interested in participating, please go to www.powerupforpcos.com/shopcysters for more information.
Something I see happen, all the time, is that PCOS consumes a woman's entire life. It's a problem, it's causing problems, and you can allow the rest of your life to absolutely come to a screeching halt because you haven't found the solution. Then you get into this funky place where you don't want to live your life until the PCOS goes away…but even though you've got plenty of things you can to to steer your situation in that direction…you sit there, without action, not getting out of the funk but not doing anything productive to change the situation.
Maybe you just need a break.
I don't have PCOS, but I own a small business and I'm launching a research institution. I can often feel obligated to spend every waking moment of every single day doing something that contributes to the success of both of those things. And if, at the end of the day, there has not been a sale or a donation or a registration for a fundraiser, I can be hard on myself.
That is why I love July. I love July because I hate July.
See, I live in Phoenix, where July is the month where you literally, if you absolutely MUST step outside into July, will feel like one of those unfortunate roasted chickens in the checkout line at the grocery store. It's that bloody hot.
No matter how much you have to do, no matter what rides on the outcome of your doing it, in Phoenix, in July, you simply cannot move nearly as quickly as you can in January.
So yesterday I woke up at 5 am because I always do in the summer, and it was already hot. I wasn't getting anywhere on my long list of things to do, so I decided to go for a swim. Got to the pool, didn't feel like swimming, but I swam a mile anyway. Came home, had a book to review, so I laid down on the bed and started to read. I spent the entire afternoon drifting in and out of consciousness, reading a few pages, falling asleep, reading a few more pages, falling asleep, etc., etc. Oh, and petting kitty whenever she got tired of the book getting more attention than her.
It wasn't my normal pace of work, but it really was all I had the energy for. And you know what? I sold stuff. I got Twitter followers. According to my blog statistics, people still stopped by to visit. I finished the book. And despite all the snoozing, I fell asleep at 9 pm. And I woke up refreshed, with a bunch of new ideas.
Sometimes, the best thing you can do, is just take a break. Note: I did NOT flip from being superproductive to being counterproductive. In PCOS world, that translates into not flipping into bingeing on sweets because you're taking a day off of completely focusing on your dilemma. Putting your most pressing problem on the back burner and self-nurturing can be one of the most productive things you do on your journey. Some of the most important things that need to happen, are completely out of your control. You can make things worse by trying to force them before they're ready to be yours.
See, I love July because I hate July because it gives me no choice but to remember that we all need to take a break once in awhile and even when we do…we get closer to our goal.
On that note, I am going for another swim, then I'm off to an ice cream social…and then I have an appointment with Kitty Girl. That is her in the photo, demonstrating her own method for dealing with problems. She is one of the least stressed out beings on the planet so there is definitely some method to her nappy-ness!
I recently started to tell a good friend about the antioxidant power of turmeric. He stopped me midsentence.
"What is it with all this antioxidant stuff? First it was pomegranates. Then it was Mongolian gojis. It's something different every day."
(Insert big sigh and eye roll here.)
"Can you even tell me what an antioxidant looks like?"
My friend's reaction verified something I've sensed for awhile now. In our quest to show how much we know about antioxidants, we've thrown long words and catch phrases at the public, to the point where the concept has become nothing more than hype.
It's not long after any concept hits"hype mode" that it becomes passe. And being passe is absolutely not what the average antioxidant should be, to ANYONE.
So, I'd like to answer my friend's question. My answer is somewhat long, but I will do my best to encourage him--and you--to see past the hype that's been flung at all those innocent pomegranates and beets and Indian curries!
Here are ten important things to know about antioxidants.
1. AN ANTIOXIDANT IS LIKE RUSTPROOF FOR YOUR BODY. Oxidation is the natural process of something breaking down over time. On your car, oxidation looks like rust. Oxidation in humans isn't much different; it's somewhat of a biological rusting out process. So an antioxidant, really, is human rustproofing. 2. AN ANTIOXIDANT SLOWS DOWN AGING. This is primarily a blog for women with PCOS. What does aging have to do with that? PCOS is a disease of inflammation, and inflammation is an aging process. If you stand back and look at the big picture, a lot of the symptoms of PCOS are actually indications of an accelerated aging process--arthritis, forgetfulness, poor sleep, diabetes at an early age, premature menopause--I am struck at how many of my clients really present as old people in young peoples' bodies. Just as there really is no cure for the wear and tear on the body of a car that works better than prevention, PCOS needs preventive action. It's about choosing food, activity and lifestyle behaviors that make it easier for your body to stay young. It IS possible to reverse some aging, but it's a whole lot easier to prevent aging before it happens. Making good antioxidant choices every day is an important part of your personal rustproofing plan (PRP). 3. DON'T JUDGE AN ANTIOXIDANT BY ITS SCRABBLE SCORE. This one drives me nuts. Nutritionists tend to be extremely detail oriented, and they seem to have adopted this compulsion to throw dozens of new long words at the public. I am equally as nerdy when it comes to biochemistry, but there is a place for those words. If seeing them in an article isn't inspiring you to put some new and different foods on your shopping list, what's the point?
I don't believe in dumbing down the public, but I have to admit, much of what I read has MY eyes glazing over because how the word was spelled or pronounced was apparently more important to the author than what's in it for me to care.
If you're adding a few beets at the salad bar or learning to cook Indian curries, that's what matters. The chemicals will help you to be healthier, whether or not you can spell or pronounce them.
4. THE BEST ANTIOXIDANTS ARE FOUND IN THEIR ORIGINAL PACKAGING. I graduated from college in 1982, and there were only a handful of antioxidants to learn about at the most. Back then (I guess you could say the nutritional dark ages!) we learned mostly about vitamins and minerals. Many of the compounds we knew about, were extracted and sold as"complete nutritional replacements". Of course, the definition of"complete" was based on our limited knowledge of what food actually contains. They weren't really complete because they did not contain the antioxidant compounds we didn't even know about!
That, for me, was a huge lesson learned, about how much of an expert I can truly be in this field. There will always be things I don't know, and need to know, and my responsibility as a health educator is to be as complete in talking about what I don't know as I do about what I do know.
Therefore, my advice when it comes to antioxidants and supplements, is not to focus on what the most important, most perfect antioxidant might be, then to extract it and consume it in large quantities. Rather, look for opportunities to eat whole foods that are as close to the ground and/or tree when you consume them. The more something is sliced, diced, extracted, powdered, concentrated, the less like nature it is.
Remember, whole is best. There may be important nutritional compounds we have yet to learn about that aren't in those expensive antioxidant supplements.
5. ANTIOXIDANTS ARE COLORFUL CHARACTERS. Your plate needs a variety of colors if it's also going to contain antioxidants. I created this graphic last summer to illustrate the concept. If you're eating lots of reds and blues, and are judicious about which white foods you choose, that's a good start. But remember the greens, yellows, and oranges, too! It's really not that hard to choose colorfully. A plate of food that contains a lot of colors is also attractive. Would you rather have a plate of white fish, cauliflower, and mashed potatoes, or a chicken salad packed with apples, walnuts, and spinach?
Eat patriotically--doesn't matter what country--if you put color on your plate, you can't go wrong.
6. ANTIOXIDANTS LOVE A GOOD PARTY! Antioxidants tend to be more effective in the presence of other antioxidants. In other words, you'll get more bang for your buck out of Compound A if you are also eating Compound B. That's why there is no such thing as the ultimate antioxidant. Just like you have less fun at a party if you act like a wallflower, your"health party" will be a whole lot more worthwhile if you introduce and mingle different compounds.
7. ANTIOXIDANTS LOVE THE GYM. Antioxidants have an interesting relationship with exercise. Exercise, because it raises metabolism, is actually an oxidative activity. However…when you exercise regularly, your body becomes more efficient at storing antioxidants for future use, and then mobilizing them to areas where exercise has raised your metabolism. To get the best advantage out of exercise, it's important to (1) not overexercise, but (2) exercise regularly, and (3) be sure the diet you eat on a regular basis is full of colorful foods.
8. ANTIOXIDANTS ARE HOMEBODIES. When fruits are picked early so they can be shipped to distant markets, they're not allowed to ripen and develop their fullest antioxidant potential. When fruits are processed so they can be stored and consumed through off-seasons, they lose antioxidant power. So while I love blueberries and I appreciate their antioxidant power, they are more of a summer treat for me. Since I live in Arizona, I try to eat lots of citrus in the winter, watermelon in the summer, and to use foods from other areas as occasional treats. Every locality has its specialties. Become familiar with what's in season in your area, and if you travel, experiment with local specialties. A Goji berry is definitely a powerful antioxidant tool, but you can be antioxidant friendly even if your plate was not partially picked by distant farmers on exotic hillsides. Some of your greatest antioxidant friends may be lurking just down the road at your local organic farm.
9. ANTIOXIDANTS SHOULD NOT BREAK YOUR BUDGET. When you eat seasonally, you should also save money. In fact, one of the easy way to know what fruits and vegetables are in season is to look for what is cheap! If you frequent your local farmer's market, what you see at the majority of the stands is likely the local seasonal offering. I like eating seasonally because foods move in and out of my menu and I don't get bored because I'm eating the same thing over and over again. Get to know how seasons affect food availability in your area, and plan menus around that. It is fun, not to mention tasty!
10. THE BEST ANTIOXIDANT OF ALL--IS A PROACTIVE LIFESTYLE. OK, here's a picture of an antioxidant. (A face only a molecule mother could love…) What it looks like isn't as important as what it does. An antioxidant keeps you healthy and young! Any choice you make that creates an imbalance--too much exercise and not enough rest, not enough sleep, an imbalanced diet, poor stress management--puts you at risk of antioxidant deficiency. If you're not making good lifestyle choices and assuming a supplement will absorb the imbalance, you're putting yourself at even greater risk. Be sure your diet has a lot of variety and color.
Even better, apply that mentality to the rest of your life. --Create a social support network with a variety of personalities that encourage the best in you to come out, and who accept you for who you are without unrealistic expectations. --Participate in a few different physical activities that allow muscles to rest while others work. --Do things that make you laugh! (Yes, in a way, your favorite corny movie is an antioxidant!) --Do something creative.
There are many kinds of antioxidants that have nothing to do with nutrition. Be sure your choices add up to move you in the direction of capitalizing on them, rather than putting you in a position where you need to supplement to reverse damage that didn't need to be done.
OK, good friend, I hope I answered your question and you made it to the end of this blog post without rolling those eyes again!
I recently started to tell a good friend about the antioxidant power of turmeric. He stopped me midsentence.
"What is it with all this antioxidant stuff? First it was pomegranates. Then it was Mongolian gojis. It's something different every day."
(Insert big sigh and eye roll here.)
"Can you even tell me what an antioxidant looks like?"
My friend's reaction verified something I've sensed for awhile now. In our quest to show how much we know about antioxidants, we've thrown long words and catch phrases at the public, to the point where the concept has become nothing more than hype.
It's not long after any concept hits"hype mode" that it becomes passe. And being passe is absolutely not what the average antioxidant should be, to ANYONE.
So, I'd like to answer my friend's question. My answer is somewhat long, but I will do my best to encourage him--and you--to see past the hype that's been flung at all those innocent pomegranates and beets and Indian curries!
Here are ten important things to know about antioxidants.
1. AN ANTIOXIDANT IS LIKE RUSTPROOF FOR YOUR BODY. Oxidation is the natural process of something breaking down over time. On your car, oxidation looks like rust. Oxidation in humans isn't much different; it's somewhat of a biological rusting out process. So an antioxidant, really, is human rustproofing. 2. AN ANTIOXIDANT SLOWS DOWN AGING. This is primarily a blog for women with PCOS. What does aging have to do with that? PCOS is a disease of inflammation, and inflammation is an aging process. If you stand back and look at the big picture, a lot of the symptoms of PCOS are actually indications of an accelerated aging process--arthritis, forgetfulness, poor sleep, diabetes at an early age, premature menopause--I am struck at how many of my clients really present as old people in young peoples' bodies. Just as there really is no cure for the wear and tear on the body of a car that works better than prevention, PCOS needs preventive action. It's about choosing food, activity and lifestyle behaviors that make it easier for your body to stay young. It IS possible to reverse some aging, but it's a whole lot easier to prevent aging before it happens. Making good antioxidant choices every day is an important part of your personal rustproofing plan (PRP). 3. DON'T JUDGE AN ANTIOXIDANT BY ITS SCRABBLE SCORE. This one drives me nuts. Nutritionists tend to be extremely detail oriented, and they seem to have adopted this compulsion to throw dozens of new long words at the public. I am equally as nerdy when it comes to biochemistry, but there is a place for those words. If seeing them in an article isn't inspiring you to put some new and different foods on your shopping list, what's the point?
I don't believe in dumbing down the public, but I have to admit, much of what I read has MY eyes glazing over because how the word was spelled or pronounced was apparently more important to the author than what's in it for me to care.
If you're adding a few beets at the salad bar or learning to cook Indian curries, that's what matters. The chemicals will help you to be healthier, whether or not you can spell or pronounce them.
4. THE BEST ANTIOXIDANTS ARE FOUND IN THEIR ORIGINAL PACKAGING. I graduated from college in 1982, and there were only a handful of antioxidants to learn about at the most. Back then (I guess you could say the nutritional dark ages!) we learned mostly about vitamins and minerals. Many of the compounds we knew about, were extracted and sold as"complete nutritional replacements". Of course, the definition of"complete" was based on our limited knowledge of what food actually contains. They weren't really complete because they did not contain the antioxidant compounds we didn't even know about!
That, for me, was a huge lesson learned, about how much of an expert I can truly be in this field. There will always be things I don't know, and need to know, and my responsibility as a health educator is to be as complete in talking about what I don't know as I do about what I do know.
Therefore, my advice when it comes to antioxidants and supplements, is not to focus on what the most important, most perfect antioxidant might be, then to extract it and consume it in large quantities. Rather, look for opportunities to eat whole foods that are as close to the ground and/or tree when you consume them. The more something is sliced, diced, extracted, powdered, concentrated, the less like nature it is.
Remember, whole is best. There may be important nutritional compounds we have yet to learn about that aren't in those expensive antioxidant supplements.
5. ANTIOXIDANTS ARE COLORFUL CHARACTERS. Your plate needs a variety of colors if it's also going to contain antioxidants. I created this graphic last summer to illustrate the concept. If you're eating lots of reds and blues, and are judicious about which white foods you choose, that's a good start. But remember the greens, yellows, and oranges, too! It's really not that hard to choose colorfully. A plate of food that contains a lot of colors is also attractive. Would you rather have a plate of white fish, cauliflower, and mashed potatoes, or a chicken salad packed with apples, walnuts, and spinach?
Eat patriotically--doesn't matter what country--if you put color on your plate, you can't go wrong.
6. ANTIOXIDANTS LOVE A GOOD PARTY! Antioxidants tend to be more effective in the presence of other antioxidants. In other words, you'll get more bang for your buck out of Compound A if you are also eating Compound B. That's why there is no such thing as the ultimate antioxidant. Just like you have less fun at a party if you act like a wallflower, your"health party" will be a whole lot more worthwhile if you introduce and mingle different compounds.
7. ANTIOXIDANTS LOVE THE GYM. Antioxidants have an interesting relationship with exercise. Exercise, because it raises metabolism, is actually an oxidative activity. However…when you exercise regularly, your body becomes more efficient at storing antioxidants for future use, and then mobilizing them to areas where exercise has raised your metabolism. To get the best advantage out of exercise, it's important to (1) not overexercise, but (2) exercise regularly, and (3) be sure the diet you eat on a regular basis is full of colorful foods.
8. ANTIOXIDANTS ARE HOMEBODIES. When fruits are picked early so they can be shipped to distant markets, they're not allowed to ripen and develop their fullest antioxidant potential. When fruits are processed so they can be stored and consumed through off-seasons, they lose antioxidant power. So while I love blueberries and I appreciate their antioxidant power, they are more of a summer treat for me. Since I live in Arizona, I try to eat lots of citrus in the winter, watermelon in the summer, and to use foods from other areas as occasional treats. Every locality has its specialties. Become familiar with what's in season in your area, and if you travel, experiment with local specialties. A Goji berry is definitely a powerful antioxidant tool, but you can be antioxidant friendly even if your plate was not partially picked by distant farmers on exotic hillsides. Some of your greatest antioxidant friends may be lurking just down the road at your local organic farm.
9. ANTIOXIDANTS SHOULD NOT BREAK YOUR BUDGET. When you eat seasonally, you should also save money. In fact, one of the easy way to know what fruits and vegetables are in season is to look for what is cheap! If you frequent your local farmer's market, what you see at the majority of the stands is likely the local seasonal offering. I like eating seasonally because foods move in and out of my menu and I don't get bored because I'm eating the same thing over and over again. Get to know how seasons affect food availability in your area, and plan menus around that. It is fun, not to mention tasty!
10. THE BEST ANTIOXIDANT OF ALL--IS A PROACTIVE LIFESTYLE. OK, here's a picture of an antioxidant. (A face only a molecule mother could love…) What it looks like isn't as important as what it does. An antioxidant keeps you healthy and young! Any choice you make that creates an imbalance--too much exercise and not enough rest, not enough sleep, an imbalanced diet, poor stress management--puts you at risk of antioxidant deficiency. If you're not making good lifestyle choices and assuming a supplement will absorb the imbalance, you're putting yourself at even greater risk. Be sure your diet has a lot of variety and color.
Even better, apply that mentality to the rest of your life. --Create a social support network with a variety of personalities that encourage the best in you to come out, and who accept you for who you are without unrealistic expectations. --Participate in a few different physical activities that allow muscles to rest while others work. --Do things that make you laugh! (Yes, in a way, your favorite corny movie is an antioxidant!) --Do something creative.
There are many kinds of antioxidants that have nothing to do with nutrition. Be sure your choices add up to move you in the direction of capitalizing on them, rather than putting you in a position where you need to supplement to reverse damage that didn't need to be done.
OK, good friend, I hope I answered your question and you made it to the end of this blog post without rolling those eyes again!
… only a “bad” choice. At least that’s the way I choose to look at it these days. I find that I’ve been able to maintain good health and normal weight the past few years after adopting a more realistic approach to the way I eat.
In the past I was a slave to the “all or nothing” mentality, and in the long-term it got me nowhere, though in the short term it seemed to produce results. If I was seeking fat loss, sure, the fat came off if I ate 100% “clean”, no treats, no cheats. Ever. Eventually, once I’d reached a goal (or a breaking point!) I’d end up overdoing it with whichever foods I’d declared off-limits. And after that, well… I would feel like I failed, and these things became part of my daily habits seemingly overnight once more. Sound familiar?
The truth is, foods like these were only “bad” for me when they were the foundation of my diet. These days, I choose to approach my eating habits in a more realistic way. I live in the real world, not some “perfect eaters Utopia” and, I love burgers, cookies, chocolate, and wine (among other foods commonly found on dieters’ Do-Not-Eat lists). At the same time though, I understand that these foods are not always the most nutritionally sound choices, and too much of any of them not only leads to less-than optimal health, they can provide way too many calories, possibly pushing my weight/body fat in the wrong direction.
So, I focus on having a strong and healthy foundation by eating primarily lean proteins, plenty of vegetables and fruits – essentially, foods that are more nutritionally balanced and promote good health. I re-labeled these other foods from bad foods to treats. The definition of the word"treat" in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is:"an especially unexpected source of joy, delight or amusement."
How do I do this? If there is a special occasion coming, and I know there will be something there that I consider an indulgence rather than the foods that make up my foundation, I will plan for that by keeping the rest of my meals leading up to that special occasion particularly healthy. If there is no special occasion, I will take note of my cravings throughout the week, and based on what my body is asking for, that weekend I’ll go out for a treat. Sometimes it’s as simple as a little frozen yogurt, or a cookie at Paradise Bakery. Sometimes I really want some pizza or a hamburger. Whatever it is, I make sure to honor that craving, enjoying the meal and then continue with my usual healthy diet. I guess you can call it a “common-sense” diet.
I can understand that this approach may not work for everyone, but it works for me more than any restrictive diet ever has. I was initially afraid to give this a shot, thinking I’d be tempted to just keep eating the “junky” stuff. Yet, here I am, pleasantly surprised that I was wrong. I have chosen to live a healthy life, and everything else has fallen into place around that choice.
We’d love to hear from those of you who have been successful at managing your weight while still being able to enjoy some of those foods that have a bad reputation…
