The Hemp Connection [Search results for obsessing] 

I know you readers. The surest way to get you thinking about something…is to bring it up in conversation and then tell you not to think about it.

That personality characteristic is why infertility drives you so crazy…why you spend hours on the Internet looking for more information, getting excited about a new piece of information then driving yourself crazy for several more hours researching that piece of information, blogging about it, Facebooking about it, Tweeting about it. It can consume you.

So even though I don't agree with diets, I don't talk about them because it reinforces the cognitive paths through which that obsessive thinking is carved. I'd rather build new, healthy paths of thinking and encourage them to grow, while neurological"weeds" grow in and crowd out the viability of the old ways of obsessing and thinking. I aspire to make this new way of thinking so rewarding that it's easy to look back at the old thoughts and obsessions, identify them as"brain spam" and click your brain's"delete" button before they even have a chance to have your attention.

The problem I have is that today is International No Diet Day. I love the concept and believe in the message, but promoting it goes totally against the grain of how I choose to fight the problem. In order to promote it I have to make you think about dieting…or maybe not dieting…or maybe a little bit of both.

So instead, I'm going to tell you, this one time only, ever, on this blog, if you haven't figured it out already, we're not about dieting. We're about valuing ourselves and the planet enough to make choices that benefit both. Making food choices that fuel us without depleting the planet, choosing a bedtime that allows for adequate sleep, moving because it feels good, and not stressing or obsessing about things that keep us stuck.

Please remember our blog as a place to come when so much talk about what you're trying to get away from is starting to feel like a force stronger than gravity, pulling you exactly toward that unwanted destination.

So before we get stuck in that place where we don't want to be but sometimes get so caught up in talking so much about where we don't want to be that we keep ourselves right there…

…I'm going to wish you a happy May 6th and invite you to do something for yourself that promotes feeling really, really good about yourself.

Me? I had some delicious strawberries for breakfast, put some luscious coconut oil on my skin, shared a funny joke with friends, and scheduled my day to end early enough that I can attend an art opening of a friend.

No time for thinking or talking about places I don't want to be.

Here's to you having an equally nurturing day as well.

Several months ago a friend of mine quit smoking. We bumped into each other at a party, and I asked her how it was going. We spoke about quitting smoking for a few minutes, at which point she said to me,"I know you're well-intended, but all this talk about what I'm trying not to do is making me want to do it."

I've been thinking about her feedback in recent weeks, as I read the tweets and comments from health colleagues related to holiday eating and bingeing. It makes me wonder if this doesn't end up being counterproductive. With all due respect to my colleagues, it is as if the health professionals are as obsessed with holiday eating as the people they want to help.

Obsessing about what you're NOT going to do and what you DON'T want to do isn't any better than doing it. It is still obsessing!

I decided that rather than join in the obsession, to make this blog a safe haven for anyone who prefers to focus on healthy changes. Research shows that when you surround yourself with healthy peers, you're more likely to adopt healthy changes.

So from this point forward, talk of bingeing and holiday excesses will be noticeably absent. We'll focus on modeling healthy behaviors and strive to be your online resource to surround yourself with.

I can't promise it will wash out all the noise you're hearing in other places, but I do promise you'll get positive energy and messages about what kinds of choices constitute healthy living. Hope to see you often during December!

It's our gift to you.

If you've ever heard me speak about PCOS, you know I make a big point about a very positive thing I've noticed about women who have the diagnosis…they're all very creative.

I don't have PCOS, but I am a creative type, and I often see much of myself in the women my work has brought into my life.

I have a small business, and the thought processes and anxieties I see cysters experience and share, feel very similar to what my personal endeavor brings into my own head.

**I don't have any guarantee that I have a paycheck. It can be very easy to focus on the outcome--sales and event registrations--to the point where it's challenging to take action in ways that can make that happen.

**When I need to focus on an important task, my brain has a way of wanting to embrace anything, anything at all…but the thing I need to do.

**I have a short attention span, I'm a better"ideas" person than I am a person who can follow through on those ideas.

I have to work hard, some days, extremely hard, at not letting those tendencies get in the way of my own success! Mindfulness exercises are one of the most important things I do to quiet my mind and channel all of my energy in the direction it needs to go.

One of the problems I see with a lot of mindfulness writing with regard to health, is that it tends to focus on mindfulness surrounding food. It ignores the fact that people who have trouble with food-based mindfulness, have trouble with mindfulness in all aspects of their lives. And so if you jump into working on mindfulness, and you try to attack the most difficult place to be mindful, in the presence of food…chances are you're not going to succeed with it. And then, you're at risk of jumping to the conclusion that you're a failure with food.

I thought I'd share one of my favorite personal mindfulness exercises. I do this when I catch myself doing any of the above. I challenge you to try it. It might help you to understand the struggles you're having with food and exercise choices, are about the way your brain processes ALL information, not just the PCOS stuff. If you can step outside of that very narrow food/exercise world and start to understand that this is just how you think, you may be less likely to negatively judge yourself, maybe even laugh at yourself, and start to attack the problem from some completely different angles.

What I do, is grab my camera and go for a walk. On that walk, I give myself a photography assignment. My favorite one, is to pick a letter of the alphabet and see how many examples of that letter I see in the world around me. Today I worked on the letter A.

Here are some of the things my brain did while I was trying to do this assignment. Does any of it sound familiar in your own thinking?: )

1. In the beginning of the exercise, my A's were very concrete and obvious. I was very rigid and structured with how I proceeded. They became a little more abstract as the walk went along.

2. I was looking for A's in everything! And I couldn't find them. Eventually I got bored with that, stopped paying attention to the exercise, and suddenly A's were coming at me from everywhere.

3. I saw a great M, and a really cool S, and my right (that is, obsessive) brain wanted me to take the photos and save them for future M and S days. My left brain took over and only allowed me to take photos of A's, I reminded myself that this exercise was about reducing destractibility, and there would be plenty of M's and S's on the days I did that exercise.

4. I became more relaxed as I focused my brain on something new and different, and allowed the other pervasive thoughts about my business to fade into the background. And in the process, as I came to the end of my walk, I had a bunch of great photos, some new business ideas that somehow just appeared, and better insight into barriers my thinking style creates for me. I was reminded, once again, that just because I'm not consciously obsessing about a problem, doesn't mean my brain isn't working on it. In fact, it tends to work more creatively when I don't try to force it to do its job.

If you're working on New Year's resolutions, consider your own thinking style. Consider how it works against you, and in what circumstances it works with the best of focus. It could be the creative in you, that's bringing out both. Work to enhance the one, and decrease the influence of the other. In doing so, successful change may be closer and more real than you perceive.

Enjoy the A's!

PCOS can be devastating in so many ways, but it doesn't have to dictate life. In the midst of such an endocrine storm there can be hope and healing. I shared my story before of being a Registered Dietitian with PCOS. My struggle is not unlike others. I suffered through infertility and miscarriage which lead to severe depression; but by God's grace I overcame it. My sincere wish is to offer you a different perspective on PCOS, one with hope.

I see it time and time again with my patients. Women diagnosed with PCOS and their obsession to have a baby. It overtakes them. It overtook me. The desire and yearning to have a child envelopes one to the point where it controls life. If you've been through this, you understand what I am describing. Stress becomes a constant companion. You become crazed with counting days, planning relations at the exact time, to obsessing over blood levels. Shouldn't this whole baby-making-thing be fun?! I was so consumed with getting pregnant that my lifestyle became my roadblock to fertility. The stress was too much. I reached a point of total exhaustion, physically, emotionall, physically and financially. I was literally spent. Have you reached that wall? It was not until I came to the point of accepting my current status, that I was able to see things more clearly.

Our first son came miraculously. When you are told you will never conceive on your own, hope seems to disappear. But the great thing about hope is that it never dies. I conceived the old fashion way but had a pregnancy laden with complications. From gestational diabetes, to preterm labor, to my c-section incision reopening, and failure to breastfeed, I pretty much had most of the textbook complications. Thankfully, our son was born perfectly healthy and is turning 5 in a few days. Of course, the yearning for another child came shortly after and again the"wait" began.

I could feel the old obsession rearing its ugly head and I desperately did not want to live like that again. Miraculously, I met Monika Woolsey and the PCOS puzzle pieces fell into place. I changed my focus and began to dedicate myself to a healthier lifestyle. I purposed in my heart to become healthier so that when that perfect time came again, I was prepared to give my baby the best possible environment to grow in. Omega 3's are gifts from Heaven! My regimen became one of fish oil supplements, healthier way of eating and truly taking time to"smell the roses". I looked at exercise differently. I enjoyed doing it and it paid off! I lost 40 pounds and kept it off. A little over a year later, surprise! I found out I was pregnant; another miracle. Our second son is due in mid August and this pregnancy has been much healthier.

There is no quick fix or magic pill to guarentee a child. However, hold onto hope. There is always hope. My children are miracles. My oldest son because of being told I would never conceive on my own. I trust in a greater physician and He saw fit to bless me with a baby. My youngest son because we weren't sure if my husband could father any more children after having a kidney transplant in 2005. Again, God had different plans. Perhaps a perspective adjustment might be all you need. Never give up hope, it endures.

Marie Mariano RD, LDN, CDE
Hannah's Heart Ministries
p.o. box 3304
Boardman, OH 44513
hannahsheartministries@hotmail.com
330-717-5345

I had an experience just weeks into my career that forever affected how I answer this question.

Our assignment for the first six weeks of our internship, was to follow a different therapeutic diet--low cholesterol, low fat, diet for kidney failure, etc. Our internship director wanted us to have more empathy for our future patients, who were being asked to make a major life change in order to follow our recommendations. I sailed through the assignment, actually enjoyed it…until we hit the 800 calorie diet assignment.

I became cranky, lost energy, started obsessing about food, and made it about 2 days before I started sneaking snacks. And then, midway through the week, I binged. Big time. And I swore, I would never, EVER, ask anyone who came to me for help, to go through what I had just been through.

So even though the standard way to prescribe a weight loss diet is to figure out how many calories it takes to maintain your current weight, then subtract 500 calories per day for each weekly pound you wish to lose, I have refused to inflict that madness on anyone.

I've even pushed back when working with eating disorders, where as the dietitian, I was often badgered by my treatment team members to just keep piling on more calories until we hit the total that resulted in weight gain. For the simple reason that there is no way you can help a person learn what healthy eating is when you're treating her by feeding her two to three times what she is realistically going to need to eat in order to maintain a healthy weight.

So what do I do? Easy. I calculate how many calories it would take to maintain the ideal weight, and leave it at that. So if you're 180 lbs and you want to weigh 140, eat what it takes to maintain 140. Get used to the idea. Don't deprive yourself. Get off the starve/binge cycle and really learn what normal people do in order to maintain"normal" weight.

It's not a magic, speedy weight loss. (Or gain). It's slow and steady. But the reality is, if you envision the person you'd like to become, and start to make choices that such a woman would make, you will become her.

Do you wish to become an anxious, food-obsessed, unhappy person? Or do you wish to become a nurtured, nourished person with energy for herself and those she loves?

Dieting will bring you one, and healthy eating the other.

Which path most reflects your intentions?

The tennis world was all aflutter this week over an article in the Wall Street Journal about professional tennis player Novak Djokovich's rise in the tennis ranks in the year following his switch to a gluten-free diet. While there may be a correlation, relatively little in the article directly addressed the direct connection between gluten-free eating and a phenomenal tennis season.

So here are some facts for all of you tennis players looking for an edge, as well as those of you courtside who may wonder if gluten is affecting your hormone balance.

What is gluten?

Gluten is the protein found in many grains, especially barley, oats, rye, and wheat. Statistically, 1 in every 133 individuals is gluten intolerant or experiencing celiac disease. In this condition, gluten irritates the lining of the intestines to the point where the absorptive surface erodes away and can no longer absorb food. It is painful, it causes malnutrition, and it. This photo, courtesy of http://www.sensibleceliac.com/, shows how the"fingers" of the intestine, where nutrients are absorbed, gradually shrink in size and disappear.

Symptoms of true celiac disease are related to malabsorption: diarrhea, gas, bloating, fatty stools are common. However, they do not occur in everyone. Other symptoms are related to the nutrient deficiencies resulting from malabsorption and can include: weight loss, fluid retention, anemia, easy bruising, nerve pain, muscle weakness, and…yes…infertility.

A full workup to confirm celiac disease includes blood testing, intestinal biopsy, and a challenge with a gluten-free diet to see if the body responds in a healing way. Because the symptoms of celiac disease can also be symptoms of other serious disorders, it is important to not self-diagnose and treat yourself.

It is possible to be gluten sensitive even if you do not have celiac disease. Many women reading this blog may have a gluten sensitivity, and it can be the source of the inflammatory process that is triggering PCOS. Many of our inCYSTer providers have completed LEAP training, which allows them to help you diagnose and treat food sensitivities in a way that is precise and direct. It is a way to shorten the process of figuring out what is truly causing your symptoms, rather than randomly eliminating a food and hoping it will help you to feel better.

Should You Go Gluten-Free?  In the last five years, gluten-free eating has become somewhat trendy. Please don't misunderstand my comment. I know many of you truly ARE gluten-intolerant and gluten-sensitive. But many of you are not. Something that can happen if your primary sources of gluten were baked and processed foods, and you cut those out, you tend to decrease your caloric intake and improve your ratio of carbohydrates to protein. You improve your chances of improving insulin resistance, which may have nothing to do with gluten issues even though gluten intake was altered with your dietary choices.

In addition, inCYSTer and LEAP guru Michal Hogan recently shared with me that if you are NOT gluten sensitive, and you restrict gluten, you can create an sensitivity where none previously existed. So it is really important to make this dietary adjustment only if it is necessary and in an informed way, not because you think it might help when nothing else has.

It's also important to understand that a gluten-free diet is NOT automatically healthier! I belong to several gluten-free discussion groups and have seen chats literally obsessing about ways to keep eating sweets and calorically dense/nutritionally inferior foods while getting around the gluten issue. It's important to understand that whole grains, even those containing gluten, contain other important nutrients such as magnesium and
B vitamins, that will need to be included in other fashions if you eliminate a major category of foods.

For those of you who ARE in need of gluten-free eating, we encourage you to become familiar with Zing Bars, who you've seen us blog about before, who we've interviewed on our radio show, and whose bars are all gluten-free. Zing has also been generous with the PCOS community and their product is one that is insulin as well as gluten-friendly. It's not just a candy bar that's easy on the intestines, as some products pan out to be.

If your first name is Roger or Rafael, you play tennis, and you're wondering if you might make some dietary adjustments to better keep up with that guy on the other side of the net…Zing Bars certainly will help to keep your energy levels stable for good coordination and focus through the longest of matches. But before you switch out a major staple and completely change your diet, be sure to ascertain that it genuinely has potential to help you.

If you're not sure if gluten is your problem, and you'd like to work with someone who can help you know for sure, for a list of inCYSTers who are also LEAP-certified who would be happy to help you work through the maze of information and to do it productively…visit www.afterthediet.com/pcoshelp.htm and look for"CLT" behind the provider's name.

Ever notice how some people just seem to let things roll off? something I have noticed is that women with PCOS don't always do that so easily. I don't know, and would love our research to help better understand why. for now, it is important to understand that a big part of your personality may be that you notice, thank about, have feelings about, and react to, a whole lot more"stuff" than the average person.

Years ago, I was talking about this with a client, and I suggested that she start to practice more awareness of this tendency. Not as a reason to further beat on herself because she had done yet another something wrong, but because if she allowed herself to be aware of it rather than to run from it, she could take action to stop that thought and feeling process from overtaking her ability to manage stress.

I told her to try to"be less like Velcro and more like Teflon". She came back to her next appointment and shared that this was a fun, no threatening visual that was really helpful. When she started to feel stressed, shenwould close her eyes and envision herself sliding down a huge Teflon ramp, away from whatever it was that was bothering her.

Of course, there are times when it is entirely appropriate to feel angry and to respond as such. PCOS kind of blurs things because excesses of testosterone and cortisol can give you somewhat of an emotional hair trigger. and if you're aware of that, or have been criticized for being too melodramatic or overreactive, you can overcompensate by trying too hard to stuff everything. and that is going to backfire in the form of compulsions and addictions.

If you apologize for or do not verbalized your honest feelings, you are not being honest. You are not telling the truth. Learn to acknowledge the truth, and if you need help learning what to do with those truths that you acknowledge in ways that do not involve obsessing, destructive anger, or self-destructive behavior, consider seeking the advice and perpective of A Teflon creator like our own Dr. Gretchen.

All that passionate energy is better used on other things!