Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disorder that is thought to affect nearly 20% of all females in the world (1 in 5 women). It is a cluster of complicated symptoms that are not the same for every woman. Women can also have symptoms but may not necessarily have cysts on their ovaries. It is believed to be fundamentally caused by insensitivity to the hormone insulin.
We would like to give you an opportunity to show your support again or maybe for the first time to Power Up for PCOS and InCYST Institute for Hormone Health. Your generous contribution will help Power Up for PCOS to continue to support to women with PCOS through educational Power Up Groups and building connections with other PCOS women and to the InCYST Institute for Hormone Health to help fund research about these hormone disorders, especially PCOS and will focus on alternative/nutritional/complementary treatments that are difficult to find funding for.
Please note that Power Up for PCOS is NOT a non-profit organization and any contribution is NOT tax-deductible because of the amount of money that would be required to become a non-profit. We keep only what we need to run and the rest collected is given to inCYST Institute for Hormone Health. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation, please make your payments to InCYST Institute for Hormone Health through http://www.incyst.com.
We have 3 levels of sponsorship so that you may choose which level best suits your needs. To see the details of each level and to become a sponsor, please visit http://www.powerupforpcos.com/sponsor.
We also welcome sponsors on the local level. If you are interested in providing supplies for one of our local events, like water, healthy snacks, signage and such, please contact us at Info@powerupforpcos.com. We will determine a value and give you the sponsorship level that matches.
Do you have a great product that can help with some of the PCOS symptoms? We are always in search of good items to add to our goody bags to pass along to our fellow PCOS women. Coupons, samples, products and such are welcome. We are providing goody bags to the first 25 women this year plus our volunteers so we are planning on 30 of each item. Please contact us at info@powerupforpcos.com for more information.
Thanks for your generous support!
Thank You,
The Power Up for PCOS Team 810 — 545 — PCOS (7267) http://www.powerupforpcos.com/
I am excited to announce that The Cozy Tea Cart will be contributing sample tea's, coupons and tea information to our goody bags for the first 25 registered participants for our Power Up for PCOS 5K fundraiser to benefit Power Up for PCOS and InCYST Institute for Hormone Health. I have personal experience with The Cozy Tea Cart as I am a daily drinker of their signature blend of TCTC Spice. It is a flavored black tea. Here is the description form their website:"A rich, full-bodied Sri-Lankan black tea blended with orange peel, spices, clove oil, and all natural flavoring that is sweetly spicy. This is the perfect tea on a frigid day-- the fragrant, delightful spices will warm you quickly." I used this last fall to quit drinking soda. It is sweet enough that you do not need to add sugar or milk. It tastes great as is, steeped in hot water. Now, let me tell you, I was NOT a tea drinker before I came across their tea. I am now. I take some me time every afternoon to sit down with my favorite cup and my favorite tea.
So, enough about the tea. OK, one more thing, The Cozy Tea Cart has more than just this kind of tea. I honestly have no idea how many. Too many to count. The reason for this post is to let you know about our wonderful new sponsor AND to tell you all that if our sponsors don't receive a return on their investments to us PCOS women then they won't be sponsors the following year. The Cozy Tea Cart has an online store and they are VERY affordable. So put down that soda and click on over to The Cozy Tea Cart for some amazing tea and some special"me moment". Don't forget, stress only makes our PCOS symptoms worse so you would actually be helping your symptoms as well as Power Up for PCOS if you take just a moment to go get some yummy tea. Written by: Beth Wolf, founder of Power Up for PCOS which provides support to women with PCOS through educational Power Up Groups, building connections with other PCOS women, calendar of upcoming PCOS events, professional referrals and reviews, PCOS store, and other specialized events to raise money for PCOS research. She can be reached by visiting http://www.powerupforpcos.com, emailing Beth@powerupforpcos.com or by calling 810-545-PCOS (7267) Power Up for PCOS — emPowering Women to Manage PCOS
Helping men with girlfriends/wives that have PCOS learn more about PCOS and support
A men's PCOS group? Maybe I didn't hear you right. Why would men need a PCOS group? Men go through a lot with PCOS. They are expected to be there for support during every mood swing, symptom, and emotion. I'm sure this takes a toll on them. On top of all that, certain symptoms affect them more, for example, when a couple is dealing with infertility because of PCOS, it can be very hard on a man. So, here it is! A Power Up for PCOS Man Cave. Only men are allowed into the special facebook group. I guess since I'm a woman, I'm not allowed either. Men need this private place to go to speak freely about what they are going through and how they are managing it. Don't worry ladies, this is not going to be a place where they go complain about us. This is a place to get support and information. They will get the InCYST and Power Up for PCOS blog fed into their group. The men pictured above will be running it and they will make sure to focus on positive solutions. Our men are amazingly supportive and we need to give them this space to relate with others just like we have. Here are our group administrators, from left to right, Nick, Randy, and James!
Please share this link with your man and let him know it's a great place to go for support and information: http://www.facebook.com/groups/313451192084278/ Written by: Beth Wolf, founder of Power Up for PCOS which provides support to women with PCOS through educational Power Up Groups, building connections with other PCOS women, calendar of upcoming PCOS events, professional referrals and reviews, PCOS store, and other specialized events to raise money for PCOS research. She can be reached by visiting http://www.powerupforpcos.com, emailing Beth@powerupforpcos.com or by calling 810-545-PCOS (7267) Power Up for PCOS — emPowering Women to Manage PCOS
I am excited to announce that Everett Laboratories Inc, the maker of Pregnitude is now officially a sponsor of our Power Up for PCOS 5K fundraiser to benefit Power Up for PCOS and InCYST Institute for Hormone Health.
I have some wonderful, personal experiences with Pregnitude as I have been taking Pregnitude for almost 2 months. So, needless to say, I was ecstatic when they decided to support our fundraiser. I have never felt better in my life.
Information on Pregnitude from the Pregnitude website:
"Pregnitude is a reproductive dietary supplement that helps support ovulatory function, menstrual cyclicity and quality of eggs for women.
Pregnitude is a natural dietary supplement that contains 2 grams of myo-inositol, as well as 200 mcg of folic acid.
- Myo-inositol is a naturally occurring substance produced by the human body from glucose. It belongs to the viamin B complex group.
- Folic acid is a B vitamin that promotes cell growth."
Monika from InCYST Institute for Hormone Health also posted some great information:
And finally, I wanted to let you all know that Power Up for PCOS has a Pregnitude Cysters facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/136846929790756/
The reason for this post is to let you know about our wonderful new sponsor AND to tell you all that if our sponsors don't receive a return on their investments to us PCOS women then they won't be sponsors the following year. Everett Laboratories Inc has an online store where you can purchase Pregnitude for a VERY reasonable price. Written by: Beth Wolf, founder of Power Up for PCOS which provides support to women with PCOS through educational Power Up Groups, building connections with other PCOS women, calendar of upcoming PCOS events, professional referrals and reviews, PCOS store, and other specialized events to raise money for PCOS research. She can be reached by visiting http://www.powerupforpcos.com, emailing Beth@powerupforpcos.com or by calling 810-545-PCOS (7267) Power Up for PCOS — emPowering Women to Manage PCOS *Please note that I am not a medical professional. I am not qualified to give out any medical advice. I am a woman with PCOS who is sharing my personal experiences in this blog and I advise you to consult a professional.*
Ringing in the New Year with visions, dreams and intentions is part of our contemporary culture. The ball drops in New York; the sun rises wherever you are, and we all seem to sense change is in the air. January 1 marks the time when many people decide to make a change and transform some aspect of their lives in ways they believe will make their lives better. Often resolutions are related to health and well-being. Here’s a new resolution: recognize health insurance is not heathcare; and vow to seek healthcare, not a payment system. For the approximately 45% of Americans with health insurance through their employers, January 1 is also the start of the year for most health insurance policy annual contracts. The same holds true for the approximately 11% of Americans have some other type of insurance, and the 25% with a government plan. Whatever the type of insurance, it’s likely the insurance company changed the rules as of 12:01 January 1. And their changes may have a substantial impact on the care of your health, impacting what you envision as a means to have a better life in 2012. The insurance company didn’t consult you on the policy changes. They didn’t ask you want you need or want to feel and be healthy. In the paradigm of the 80% of insured Americans, insurance companies are in the driver’s seat to decide what healthcare is and who can provide it. It could mean different types of treatments are covered or not covered; different types of allowable “doctors” are considered acceptable or not acceptable; and of course it all revolves around a method to parse the dollars between providers, patients and insurance companies – the power triad of today’s “healthcare system.” Making money in the healthcare system: insurance & pharmaceutical companies
Insurance is a contractual payment system. It’s a method to pay to certain people what the company determines is allowable care, under the terms of the policy. The payment system has very little to do with actual care that relieves suffering and improves well-being. When you let a payment system determine what care or well-being is, that substantially limits your options to make your life better in any way that resembles your personal concept of well-being.
Stephan A. Schwartz, a regular contributor to Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing has coined our current healthcare system as the “illness profit system.” And there seems to be plenty of profit to go around. Insurance companies, by their very nature of being corporations, have as their number one job to return shareholder value – to make money. CEO’s get paid a lot of money to do this. The heads of health insurance companies, healthcare consulting firms and other health related companies are among the highest paid executives in any industry. According to the LA Times, McKesson CEO John Hammergren received $145.3 million in compensation in 2010. Fierce HealthCare reports Omnicare CEO John Figueroa was compensated 98 million last year; and Aetna’s Ronald Williams took home $57.8 million before retiring in April 2010.
Pharmaceutical companies are also big winners in the power triad. In 2009-2010, seven of the big pharmaceutical companies paid 17,700 presenters a total of $281.9 million to promote their products. These presentations to physicians were instrumental in a"combined prescription drug sales amounting to 36 percent of the $300 billion U.S. market in 2009." Only 10% of what big pharma makes is spent on research to cure diseases and save lives.
The losers in this system: patients and physicians
According to Bloomberg.com, “Forty-nine million Americans reported spending 10 percent or more of their income on insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs last year, according to the Commonwealth Fund study.” Patients spend more and more. As of 2008, 38% of adults used some sort of “complementary alternative medicine” (CAM). Anything labeled CAM is generally not covered by insurance, with rare exceptions of some limited use of acupuncture or chiropractic. Not only do people spend money on insurance premiums, they’re paying providers directly for health care that actually works for them. No wonder we have the most expensive health care system in the world.
Many M.D.s are also struggling with this current power triad. Holistic physicians who want to spend more than 7 – 10 minutes with their patients, and want to provide CAM care that works are seeking ways walk away from the insurance model, and serve patients in ways that help patients fundamentally heal. While they’re reluctant to talk about it, a recent CNN article discusses the economic challenges for M.D.s trying to operate in this system, and how many of them are going broke. http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/05/smallbusiness/doctors_broke/index.htm?hpt=hp_t3&hpt=hp_c1
Your resolution for the care of your health
The month of January didn’t even exist until about 700 B.C. when the Romans adjusted the calendar and move the “new year” from March to the new January. Julius Caesar introduced the Roman calendar, a solar-based system, in 46 B.C., and decreed the new year would be January 1. During the middle ages the new year was celebrated on various days in December, January and March. Even today, cultures around the world celebrate the new year on dozens of different days.
So, while January 1 has passed, any day can be the start of a new year. What will you resolve about the care of your health? There is an opportunity for transformation just as significant, if not more significant, than the common “eat right and exercise” resolution. At the core of your being, what’s your vision for the well-being of yourself, your family, or even the planet? Bring your vision, your resolution, to fruition by really knowing what you mean by “health” and “care” and spend your money accordingly. Resolve to not confuse health insurance with healthcare. Those two terms mean vastly different things.
About the author:
Deb Andelt is co-owner of Experience In Motion, which equips organizations with tools to curate meaningful experiences for customers and employees. Deb’s personal journey from decay to wellbeing inspired an emphasis in improving healthcare experiences for patients and practitioners by focusing on experiences that heal and self-caring as a way of organizational being. www.experienceinmotion.net.
I just received word from Lori Corbin that the story we shot several months ago about PCOS will be airing this afternoon on Los Angeles' ABC-7. We are so grateful to Lori for giving us time to tell a few stories…Amber's specifically, and the story of PCOS in general.
Most importantly, we are grateful to Amber for putting herself out there on behalf of women everywhere. It took a lot of moxie!
If this is the first time you have ever heard of us, and you were moved enough after Lori's story to come here for a visit, welcome! I hope that the inCYST concept we have been building over the last 15 years has something of value for YOU.
We started out as a small network of health professionals who wanted to be as educated about PCOS as possible, so we could better serve them. Along the way, we have learned a lot:
--There are an awful lot of women suffering silently with PCOS. They often feel very alone…when in fact, 1 in 5 of you on the planet have it!
--There is a lot of bad information out there, and a lot of people waiting to capitalize on your distress.
--Your problems are not always taken seriously.
--The stress of being given this diagnosis is extreme, often to the point of being paralyzing.
--Many of the most effective treatments for this diagnosis do not even appear in research journals because they are natural, not able to be patented, and therefore not likely to be funded by drug companies.
--We do feel a sense of urgency about inspiring all of you. We know we're working against a lot of depression and fear of change, but we also know the many extremely serious consequences of not taking action. So while we are very passionate about our women, we try to present a combination of posts and information that balances between making you feel safe with us, and information that gets your attention enough that your old comfort zone no longer feels so comfortable. We want to keep you around for a long time!
We have seen some great results with our small network, and last year decided to start a research institute to raise money to be sure some of the most important treatments get researched and published. As well as to test some of our own findings to see if they hold up to scientific scrutiny.
We would love to help you personally! Our list of network members is on the right, and many of us Skype if you do not see your location listed. We have a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a radio show, and a monthly newsletter. Please take advantage of all of them!
We could also really use your support of our research foundation! We are brand new, and still getting our name out there. Donations of time, talents, money, no matter what size, are deeply appreciated.
Our sister organization, Power Up for PCOS, has also been very busy organizing local Power Up groups for women who are ready to be proactive about PCOS. Their organizer, Beth Wolf, regularly reminds her group that women with PCOS who are managing that diagnosis with diet, exercise, and stress management, are actually healthier than women without the syndrome. So we like to think that a diagnosis is not a death sentence, but a wakeup call, inviting you to give yourself permission to treat yourself in the way that you deserve.
Power Up has some fun fundraisers, including an annual walk-a-thon, and an online store with items created by women with PCOS. We hope you find something that interests you enough to get involved!
Most importantly, we're glad you found us! Thanks for stopping by!
Please contact me directly if you have any questions. I divide my time between Los Angeles and Phoenix, and also make time for conversations with women around the globe.
Monika M. Woolsey, MS, RD CEO and Founder InCYST Institute for Hormone Health 623.486.0737 marika@google.com
Yesterday I shared some great news from an Italian research group about myoinositol for improving fertility. In the process of corresponding, they sent me a series of articles from their lab. One of their most recent investigated the combination of myoinositol and melatonin in fertility treatment.
Here's how it looks like the story goes.
Ovulation is an inflammatory process Yes, the process of releasing an egg, and giving life, is pro-inflammatory. It takes a lot of energy to do this, and as that energy is metabolized, it's oxidizing tissue around it.
Melatonin is one of the most powerful antioxidants we have You know, if you think about this the way Mother Nature does, it makes sense that we'd want to roll over and sleep all cuddled up after sex. It is her way of protecting that fragile egg from all of the stresses of the day.
The research I read yesterday was about INOFOLIC PLUS, an Italian proprietary blend of inositol, folic acid, and melatonin. Forty-six women who had previously undergone in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and failed, used this supplement daily for 3 months before undergoing another IVF procedure. They also continued to take INOFOLIC throughout the entire IVF cycle. This study, by the way, did NOT focus on women with PCOS, merely women who had failed IVF.
Here are some of the results of the second IVF in which the supplement was used: --Higher number of embryo transfers --Higher embryo quality --Where all of the subjects had failed with their first IVF the first time, 13 (28%) became pregnant during the study, 4 miscarried.
What is remarkable about this study is that the average age of these women was 39 years, an age where fertility is starting to become difficult even without a diagnosis of infertility.
The supplement is not perfect, but it shows promise for helping women for whom other strategies have failed. It seems to be a great combination of compounds for peeling off the layers of inflammatory/oxidative damage have inflicted on reproductive systems…talking your ovaries down out of the tree, so to speak. What it seems to do, is both create a higher quality egg and then protect it from the ravages of oxidation long enough for it to meet a sperm, conceive, and create an embryo.
Ahhhhhh…just love the power we have within ourselves to create healing solutions!
As I mentioned yesterday, unfortunately, INOFOLIC is not available in the United States. However, there is an important bottom line message here that cannot be ignored.
When you're not eating enough antioxidants, not delegating, working too hard, not sleeping well, not managing your stress, the melatonin Mother Nature given you to protect your eggs, may likely be channeled into fighting other damages those lifestyle choices have promoted.
Not trying to shake the eFinger at you here, it's just becoming apparent from listening to so many of your stories that when we don't take good care of ourselves, the effects can stick around for a very long time. And when we do things in an effort to eat well but don't do our homework first (such as eating vegan but not making sure all nutrients are still adequate in the diet or panicking and going on a crash diet in order to get pregnant, or overexercising as the only way to manage stress), they can hurt us in the long run.
If you start to think about your choices as"What can I do to not unnecessarily use my own antioxidant power so it can be there for that egg?"…perhaps making some of those choices you've been reluctant to take on, might become easier to embrace.
Unfer V, Raffone E, Rizzo P, Buffo S. Effect of a supplementation with myo-inositol plus melatonin on oocyte quality in women who failed to conceive in previous in vitro fertilization cycles for poor oocyte quality: a prospective, longitudinal, cohort study. Gynecol Endocrinol. 2011 Apr 5. [Epub ahead of print]
I’ve been having an interesting conversation on Twitter with a woman who advocates for size acceptance.
I shared with her that I believe in size acceptance, but that my experience in over 30 years of being a dietitian has been that it hasn’t seemed to help progress the movement to confront it directly. In fact, many popular women’s magazines I’ve seen, tend to politely give lip service to the idea by putting an article in about the topic. At which point, I see it posted by the author on Facebook, all of that person’s friends “like” the post, they get a moment of fame for the piece, and traffic is driven to the magazine’s website. Where everywhere you look there are advertisements and other articles with messages running completely counter to the well-intended message in the “healthy” article.
The magazines don’t care what’s in the article. They want hits, because hits determine advertising rates. If baiting and switching the size acceptance crew to keep them coming back… keeps them coming back, and they read the counterproductive ads, then it’s highly possible that continuing to agree to participate in this vicious cycle only keeps those who feel victimized by the whole media/body image disconnect… further entrapped.
I’m a realist. We live in a country that is based on the right to freedom of speech. The very freedom I have to write this blog post is the same one the magazine publishers have. They really don’t care about my self-esteem, or your self-esteem, at all. They care about keeping their stockholders happy. Getting people to visit your website, regardless of how you make it happen, to keep advertisers happy, to keep ad rates up, to create the bottom line that keeps those stockholders happy… is all that matters to any media entity.
So while I applaud the efforts of my friends who work in size acceptance, I have come to believe that the approach they’ve been taking is quite possibly having the opposite effect.
That is why, several years ago, I dropped out of the eating disorder conference circuit. I stopped participating in the dialogue. I kept hearing the same old dialogue, over and over and over, but it always stopped with “dialogue”. No action plans were coming out of that dialogue, no progress was made in the success rates for treating ANY eating disorder… it just wasn’t making a difference. I wanted to make a genuine difference.
What the women advocating for size acceptance want, those creating the dialogue want… is validation. And they seem to desperately want it from an industry, that quite realistically, doesn’t care about validation. Quite the opposite. They want women to feel BADLY about themselves. Because if they were quite satisfied with their looks, they would not respond to any of the advertisements that keep THEIR stockholders happy, which wouldn’t line the pockets of the companies producing the products who also have stockholders to answer to.
One side of the issue wants dialogue and validation, the other wants money. That is never going to change.
So when I dropped out of the dialogue and went on to create this inCYST network, what I envisioned was that we would create a warm, safe, nourishing community where we could learn to be healthy. We wouldn’t stomp and scream and hold our breath and not do anything for ourselves until the world was perfect, we’d create a perfect world for ourselves. That is why, for the most part, on this blog, even though the majority of the audience we work with has body image issues, history of an eating disorder, and/or weight issues, we don’t really talk about it very much. Talking about it only focuses you on the feeling that you’re being victimized. We’d rather empower you out of that tree.
I care very much about how each and every one of you feels about yourself. But I am not interested in dialogue that focuses you on what someone else is or is not doing. I don’t want to talk about the thing you’re trying to evolve away from. I want to know what you’ve done today. To manage your stress. To eat more folate. To delegate. To move your body.
Let’s imagine for a moment that when we wake up tomorrow, overnight I was given a superpower that allowed me to reinvent the entire media industry. Internet, Facebook, television, Twitter, newspapers, magazines… everything And let’s imagine that I used that super power to reinvent all of those things so that the only messages that could be communicated, anywhere, were positive, nurturing, and reinforcing.
Would you be able to live in that world? Would you be able to have a conversation with someone if you couldn’t talk about body image? If you weren’t spending significant amounts of time reading destructive magazines, following unproductive Twitter personalities, having dialogue about what’s wrong with the world? Would you be able to fill your day with self-nurturing activities? Would you eat better? Would you be happier?
Or would you be totally at a loss for what to do with yourself?
I don’t have that super power, but I aspire to create that kind of world. Last week I sent a thank you note to someone who made a purchase out of our new eMarket. She thanked us for having a place for her to shop where she felt heard and validated. And she also gave me a long list of suggestions for things we could do to expand on that world. I was happy to be able to ask her to “hold that thought” because most of those ideas were already on the drawing board.
I actually don’t want to have that kind of superpower. Because that wouldn’t be very empowering to YOU. I want YOU to take action. To stop looking at those magazines in the grocery store. To stop walking past the healthy salad bar and walking into the fried chicken joint. I want inCYST to be an underground of sorts, of women who have decided they don’t have to be victims anymore.
And who understand that one of the most powerful ways to speak, is with their wallets. If you’re not buying the magazines, not clicking on the websites, you are having a much greater effect on those media corporations than you are with dialogue.
I hope you choose to patronize the companies offering products in our eMarket, because if we can help these companies with great ideas as well as integrity to succeed, they are validated financially and can have the opportunity to become advertisers with power who actually have some influence over the media.
And the bottom line is, I want us to use our community to learn how to live in a world whether or not the media influences do exist. They only have a negative influence on you if you allow them to, and clicking on links and buying magazines opens the door to that path. Not going there is going to mean being more introspective, and talking about things like what you think how you feel, what you aspire to… what your talents are, what action you’re going to take… but for me, that is the dialogue that inspires me.
That world can exist right here, you know. Which is why I don’t participate in the dialogue about media. There are only so many hours in the day and any minute I spend on a fruit less effort is a moment that I’ve wasted because I didn’t use it focusing on YOU and who you are and how we can make inCYST world a place thtat celebrates who you are.
I know it sounds a little weird to some of you who are used to identifying yourself or introducing yourself as afat person or a former fat person or an infertile person,… or other limiting labels. I want to challenge you to, every day, if even for 15 minutes to start with, see how it feels to stop using labels to define yourself. Labels that keep you in a position of disempowerment. Labels that keep you stuck right where all those media companies want you. You might be surprised at how limiting your current labels actually turn out to be.
I want to create a new world and a new econmy with you, supported by health professionals and companies who see your beauty and your talent and who really would like to do business with you. Of course, they have stockholders too. But when they can go back to those stockholders and report that they succeeded with a product that was hard to get on the market because they took a risk on a product they were told didn’t have broad enough appeal… they teach those stockholders to seek out other small companies with big visions.
It’s a trickle up effect. I can offer you options, but it starts with you. And your decision to not focus on what the “bad” guys are doing, but to find those good guys who can help you feel good about yourself.
It’s still dialogue, it’s just dialogue with action plans attached. And from what I can see with who’s buying in our store and the energy it’s creating, it confirms to me that my better action here is to not talk about body image and self-esteem. But rather to encourage those very things with actions.
If you are a solution-focused person ready to take action, inCYST is designed for you. If you're into dialogue it may not be a great fit. If the dialoguing eventually moves you to a place where you're ready to take action…come join our fan page, come to a fundraiser, come to a class at our new office in Santa Monica, work with one of our network members to create change in your life, or simply read our posts and try a suggestion from time to time.
We like to think if you hang around us long enough, you'll start to feel like hanging out on the same old site with the same old ads and articles, Tweeting the same thoughts to the same people, is going to feel a lot less rewarding than what we have going on here. Our network stretches from New Hampshire to Florida to San Francisco to Seattle. Wherever we are, we're pretty great and we have a lot of fun. We look forward to seeing you somewhere, sometime soon. No magazines allowed.: )
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!
I cannot reinforce how important it is for you ladies to get out and advocate for yourselves. If you think Susan G. Komen got to where it is because women with breast cancer sat on the couch, felt sorry for themselves, and wished people would give them money, you are dead wrong.
Women with no hair, women whose bodies are forever changed from surgery, women who were exhausted from rounds of chemo, banded together, and walked. And ran. And advocated. And showed the world that they were worth caring about.
Power Up for PCOS has the exact same potential. But only if YOU, yes the one reading this, assuming someone else will do it for you and who feels a little bit uncomfortable because you realize I just called you for passing the buck…yes, YOU, the woman with PCOS who wants a cure for the disorder, raises money to help us do that.
What are you waiting for? Here's the information on how to participate.
I’ve recently been amused by a list of weird, wacky, and unusual holidays. Whole days, weeks, and months are devoted to the oddest things, and I’ll be writing about a few of them this month. Tomorrow, July 3, 2012, is National Compliment Your Mirror Day. I don’t really know or care about the origins of Compliment Your Mirror Day, but I’m going to tell you why I like the concept.
When you’ve got PCOS, when you think of the mirror, you’ve probably got negative associations. For many of you, your physical appearance fixations are typically:
• Being too heavy/problems losing weight • Acne and other skin problems • Hair loss • Hair growing in strange places, with abundance
The mirror is not your friend; the mirror is your enemy. Mirrors may have become something to dread, a way to facilitate getting down on yourself, or even a way to practice some really damaging things, like skin picking or cutting (those are both mental health issues, by the way). Many of you avoid the mirror at all costs, even to the point of not having a mirror in your house except where it’s unavoidable, like on the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.
You may dress to hide your body, or your hairy arms. You may wear hats or sunglasses to distract from hair loss, or wear scarves to hide akanthosis nigricans on your neck. You avoid shopping, except online, where you don’t have to be tortured by the multiple mirrors in badly lit dressing rooms. You spend a fortune on potions to fix your skin, dermatologist visits, and special machines that are guaranteed to sweep everything clean. It’s exhausting having PCOS, and doing all of what’s required, if you really commit to it, to look “okay,” “acceptable,” or “normal.”
But the mirror, like the scale, is merely an inanimate object. It doesn’t have the power to make you miserable, or to dictate your behavior. Only you have the power to decide what your mood is, or what your behavior is. Next time you catch yourself starting a litany of denigration because you caught a glance of yourself in the mirror, turn it around (it’s all about reflection) and force yourself to say something positive. It may take time and practice. You may have to really push some boundaries, but you can find something. So instead of focusing on the thinness of your hair, focus on the fact that it’s actually kind of a nice color. Instead of focusing on your hairiness, focus on the beauty of your eyes. Instead of focusing on a roll of fat, take note of how good the color you’re wearing looks on you. Try hard. Be honest. Don’t just default to the garbage you’ve been telling yourself for years. Don’t give up.
If this seems like a real push, start by just exposing yourself to some mirror time. Set a timer on your phone if need be. Start with 15 or 20 seconds. Just look at yourself without judgment. Practice for 30 seconds, then a minute. Work your way up to two or three minutes of just looking at yourself calmly, examining what is, not wishing for what isn’t. Then you can move up to giving the mirror itself a compliment: “you reflect me so well,” “I like the way you cast light on my face,” and maybe, just maybe, you can actually give yourself a compliment. The mirror is a facilitator of self-love. With increased self-love comes increased self-care, and that’s what we’re all about here at inCYST.
Gretchen Kubacky, Psy.D. is a Health Psychologist in private practice in West Los Angeles, California. She has completed the inCYST training. She specializes in counseling women and couples who are coping with infertility, PCOS, and related endocrine disorders and chronic illnesses.
If you would like to learn more about Dr. HOUSE or her practice, or obtain referrals in the Los Angeles area, please visit her website at www.drhousemd.com, or e-mail her at AskDrHouseMD@gmail.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @askdrhousemd.
Well, those busy chicks over at Power Up for PCOS have opened up a Cafe Press store with all kinds of cool stuff. If you have been asked for a Christmas wish list, be sure to check this out for all kinds of fun stuff.
http://www.cafepress.com/powerupforpcos
Beth and I double checked to be sure the products they offer are BPA-free, and she removed the items for which this could not be confirmed.
Wouldn't make sense to put hormone-unfriendly chemicals in your life in the name of fixing your hormones, now, would it?
It's that time of year, when the ladies over at Power Up for PCOS start talking walk-a-thon! They have really expanded since last year…just look at all the places there will be events! For more information on participation or sponsorship (event date is September 29, 2012)…visit the Power Up for PCOS website. Listed by State: State: Arizona City: Phoenix Address: To be determined Time: To be determined Contact Person & E-mail: Gina Weeks tothinebetheglory@yahoo.com ____________________________________________ State: Arizona City: Tucson Address: To be determined Time: To be determined Contact Person & E-mail: Mabel Crescioni mabel.crescioni@gmail.com or 810-545-7267 ____________________________________________ State: California City: Los Angeles Address: To be determined Time: To be determined Contact Person & E-mail: Dawn Marie Black tangotildawn@gmail.com or 810-545-7267 ____________________________________________ State: Michigan City: To be determined Address: To be determined Time: To be determined Contact Person & E-mail: Holly Amarandei holly@yummylifewellness.com or 810-545-7267 ____________________________________________ State: Minnesota City: St. Paul Address: To be determined Time: To be determined Contact Person & E-mail: Suzannah Toso suzannahtoso@yahoo.com or 810-545-7267 ____________________________________________ State: New Hampshire City: Nashua Address: To be determined Time: To be determined Contact Person & E-mail: Beth Wolf Beth@powerupforpcos.com or 810-545-7267 ____________________________________________ State: New York City: Amherst Address: To be determined Time: To be determined Contact Person & E-mail: Adrianne Adger & Andrea Adger powerupforpcos.nys@gmail.com or 810-545-7267 ____________________________________________ State: Pennsylvania City: Beaver Address: To be determined Time: To be determined Contact Person & E-mail: Marie Mariano mmariano@zoominternet.net or 810-545-7267 ____________________________________________ State: Virginia City: Hampton Address: To be determined Time: To be determined Contact Person & E-mail: Rebecca Miller crownpcos@gmail.com or 810-545-7267 ____________________________________________ State: Washington City: Turnwater Address: To be determined Time: To be determined Contact Person & E-mail: Crystal Warren crystal.warren@gmail.com or 810-545-7267
If you're a frequent traveler, chances are you have already had an opportunity to experience the new security measures at the airport, which include the new full body scanner.
One of the biggest concerns about this scanner has been the radiation exposure these scanners emit. Because radiation can affect fertility, a concern of many readers of this blog, I did some fact checking.
What is interesting to note is that before these scanners were even in existence, anyone stepping on an airplane was already increasing their exposure to radiation! In a 1998 study published in Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, scientists concluded that an airline captain is exposed to 37% more radiation per year (219 millirem) than a nuclear power plant worker in the same period of time (160 millirem). For the pilot, that is the equivalent to 22 chest x-rays, for the power plant worker, 16 chest x-rays.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology, in an independent study, reported that the average scan with the TSA backscatter x-ray scanner provides 0.0024 millirem of radiation exposure. Meaning, you would have to have 4,000 TSA scans to equal one x-ray. The people at greatest risk for increased radiation exposure from these machines is most likely the TSA workers themselves, who conduct their work in the presence of the scanners for hours at a time.
Bottom line:
1. Your biggest dose of radiation exposure is actually coming from the time you spend on the airplane at altitude, not the short amount of time in the scanner. 2. If you are a pilot, flight attendant, or frequent flyer with concerns about fertility, it certainly is a good strategy to start being more diligent about your intake of antioxidants. I've listed the important ones below that are consistently recommended as cancer fighters. 3. If you are a reporter researching the scanner issue, instead of scaring travelers, perhaps the more relevant issue is why TSA is not requiring its employees to wear dosimeters to be sure their own exposure over time is not an occupational risk. It might also be a very quick way to identify a machine that is malfunctioning and exposing flyers to unnecessary additional radiation. 4. Flight crews and TSA employees might want to consider packing their bags with more fruits and vegetables. Especially since these are not items commonly available in airport food courts. 5. In addition to the standard security questions TSA members should ask for your 24 hour diet recall to be sure you're sufficiently protected for your flight. (Couldn't resist that one…just KIDDING!) 6. For our specific population most likely reading this post, I strongly recommend you discuss your travel strategy with the appropriate caregiver if you have a history of cancer, are in the middle of infertility treatment, or have a history of sexual abuse. It's best to know what choices are most appropriate for your personal situation before standing in the TSA line.
So if you're heading home at altitude for Thanksgiving, consider that the broccoli, cranberries, and sweet potatoes (even a small extra sliver of pumpkin pie) aren't all that bad if you're going to have seconds. Enjoy them, as well as your family.
BEST ANTIOXIDANTS FOR COUNTERING RADIATION
Vitamin C parsley, broccoli, bell pepper, strawberries, oranges, lemon juice, papaya, cauliflower, kale, mustard greens, and Brussels sprouts.
Vitamin E mustard greens, chard, sunflower seeds, turnip greens
I've become fascinated with sleep. How much we need it. How little we value it. And what happens to our health when we don't get it. Sometimes I wonder if we should be obsessed with sleep and not worried about what we eat.
Now the two worlds have collided!
It has been found that melatonin is a component of some vegetables. Some Japanese researchers gave a group of women high amounts of six specific vegetables. Another group of women was asked to avoid these same vegetables during the same time period. The women who consumed the vegetables had higher amounts of melatonin by-products in their urine.
Melatonin, as you know from reading this blog, is a sleep enhancing hormone and a very powerful antioxidant.
Of course, the very first thing most people will ask on reading this, is"what vegetables?"
I don't think the power in this study comes from the melatonin content of the vegetables. Melatonin is a highly unstable compound and it would be challenging to have it stay intact in a compound that is harvested, stored, chopped, and cooked before eating.
What may be happening here, is that vegetables are great sources of antioxidants. And since melatonin appears to be the ultimate antioxidant, it is called to duty when other antioxidants are in short supply and cannot do their job. If your melatonin is on cleanup duty, it can't be used to help you sleep!
The melatonin in the urine, I'm guessing, came from the fact that melatonin was allowed to function as melatonin, and not changed as it was used as an antioxidant.
So…the strategy appears to be, to eat as many different vegetables as you can in order to have maximum antioxidant power. And that will give you a better chance at getting a good night's sleep.
I know that it's difficult not to yawn if you see someone else yawning, so on behalf of helping you feel sleepy, here's a wonderful blog a friend told me about yesterday! It's called Cute Things Falling Asleep.
Oba S, Nakamura K, Sahashi Y, Hattori A, Nagata C. Consumption of vegetables alters morning urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin concentration. J Pineal Res. 2008 Aug;45(1):17-23. Epub 2008 Jan 15.
We've been getting a lot of promotional love from Power Up for PCOS, so for those who do not know about our training, and who might be interested in participating, here is a little bit of information.
It is a 20 hour, entirely web-based course. Meaning you can do it in your pajamas if you really, really want to.
Once you complete this course, you become a member of the inCYST Institute for Hormone Health (meaning you have a vote in how we allocate our research dollars), and we promote you as a network member for 2 calendar years, through our Facebook presence, our Twitter presence, this blog, and now, through the rapidly growing Power Up for PCOS network (http://www.powerupforpcos.com/)
The current training is available to anyone who has a degree in a health-related field and a certification in the area of expertise that they will be marketed under (so we do welcome health coaches, as long as they have a certification).
One thing we do ask, is that you share a similar philosophy when it comes to nutrition, exercise, and medicine. We do acknowledge that there are many paths to the same destination, but the purpose of inCYST is to build trust within the PCOS community by offering a unified voice despite the personality from which the information comes. If you do not agree with us nutritionally for example, that's ok, it's just that you're not going to fit with the inCYST model. We had to go with something, and be consistent about it, and that inevitably means we can't include everyone, despite our respect for varied viewpoints.
We are working on trainings for fitness professionals and yoga instructors as well. If you'd like to be notified regarding how to participate in those, simply send me an email at monika at afterthediet dot com.
Cost for the currently available training is $425. I can send you the syllabus of topics if you contact me. It is slightly different from what is currently posted.
One word about the promotion. I do my best to promote every single person based on their professional goals. I do try to be fair about how that is done. In the past, there have been some situations where the expectation was that I would be functioning as an all-service PR firm to members, and my inability to meet that expectation did create conflict. If you have any questions at all about what you will be receiving, let's chat for clarification. My commitment is to treat all network members as if they are rock stars (because they are), and making sure our resources are equally devoted to every member is important.
That's a lot of alphabet soup. Translate, it means we worked with the American College of Sports Medicine on an article for exercise professionals on how to work with PCOS. The ladies at Power Up for PCOS graciously gave us consent to use photos of themselves in the article.
We're in the process of transitioning over to a full website here, and when we do, the link to the.pdf will be provided.
In the meantime, you can contact me at incystinstitute at yahoo dot come and I will send you the file.
Hopefully we'll help get the fitness industry on board with what is truly important to know about working with PCOS!
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.
Results of a research study are going around today, and it appears as though it's got some women with PCOS more than a little bummed out.
Entitled,"True and Sham Acupuncture Produced Similar Frequency of Ovulation and Improved LH to FSH Ratios in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome," it reports the finding that when 84 women with PCOS were divided into two acupuncture treatment groups, one receiving the"official" treatment and one receiving a treatment that looked and felt like acupuncture but really wasn't…both groups showed some improvements in ovulation rate, LH to FSH ratio, and serum LH. The immediate summary/news byte that's being circulated, is that acupuncture doesn't work for PCOS.
Not so fast, Tweeters!!!
Here are some other things the study reported.
1. Both groups improved. So there was something about going into an acupuncture office that helped. Could it be the fact that acupuncture treatment is more hands on than Western medicine? There are studies documenting the healing power of human touch. Could it be that the subjects themselves were biased already, going into the study, believing they would get better? This study could really be documenting the power of the mind in healing. These women may have reduced their stress, and cortisol levels, simply by believing they were going to heal, rather than being controlled by fear and anxiety that we write about so often on this blog.
2. Secondly, in the acupuncture group, there were better correlations between insulin and ovulation, and testosterone and ovulation than in the other group. In other words, hormones were communicating better and responding to each other better. Meaning that acupuncture may not be the answer on its own, but it may help prep the body to start responding to other things like better diet and yoga.
I personally know, I've referred several clients for acupuncture and they've become pregnant. However, they spent a couple of months improving their diet, exercise, and stress management skills before going for treatment. In other words, they didn't use the option with the mentality that it was going to give them license to eat potato chips, not exercise, sleep two hours a night, and let acupuncture do all the work. It was the jump start that allowed the fruits of their commitment to blossom and ripen.
3. Thirdly, it didn't hurt anyone. So if it's doing no harm, and something about the process is helping, there's no need to completely discount it. It can certainly be a successful adjunct to healthier living.
Bottom line, acupuncture may not be a miraculous stand alone treatment, but there may be something about the nature of the delivery of the treatment that encourages healing and hormone balance.
Lisa M. Pastore, Christopher D. Williams, Jeffrey Janekins and James T. Patrie. True and Sham Acupuncture Produced Similar Frequency of Ovulation and Improved LH to FSH Ratios in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism August 3, 2011 jc.2011-1126
