The Hemp Connection [Search results for workshops] 

We've been working hard create a menu of ways you can support our new institute. Hopefully one of them fits your personality and budget. One of our fans mentioned that she is currently unemployed and cannot spend money on a donation. I encouraged her to remember that the most important thing anyone can do is talk about us! Share your experience with us in other PCOS forums…I do not actively solicit business from anyone else in the industry. I do not even aggressively solicit fans or Twitter followers, because I want to know that our fans and followers are there because they like us, not because they didn't know how to say no when we asked them. We grow more slowly that way, but we're more cohesive and connected as a result.

1. If you feel like we're doing something different and important and that we've contributed to your own personal situation, getting the word out really DOES help.

2. If you WOULD like to donate, we've just been approved to collect donations via active.com at this link:
http://www.active.com/donate/incyst I've set up a menu of amounts, again, because I want anyone with any amount at all to contribute, to not feel as though we only play with big guns. This whole idea was inspired by one woman who wanted to make a difference, I'm simply following up on that inspiration. Everyone is welcome and appreciated.

3. Please consider joining us at our Marina del Rey fundraiser with Craig Ramsay on August 27. We're going to have a lot of fun! Who wouldn't, at a spa on the beach?

4. If you're further northeast, think about participating in Pick Up the Pace for PCOS Walk-a-Thon in Nashua, NH, on September 17.

This is actually the event that got the entire Institute off the ground, and I would like to see it succeed…wildly!

5. We're currently brainstorming a menu of workshops to offer at our new Santa Monica location, beginning in October. Since the Santa Monica farmer's market is right outside our door, I'm pretty sure we'll be including healthy food at those events. Don't miss out!

Here are friends from our Growing Naturals and Zing Bars sponsors having some fun at the BLANKSPACES launch party last month.

6. Consider shopping in our eMarket. Until Labor Day, 100% of all proceeds will be donated to the Institute.

7. If you own a business with a product/service and a mission compatible with ours (sustainability, hormone-friendly) and you'd like to sponsor something we're planning, please contact me at monika at afterthediet dot com.

8. More is on the way…but if I told you now…I'd have to kill you. Know for now that if it didn't involve fun I wouldn't bother with it!

If you'd like to be kept on the mailing list, please join our Institute fan page or follow our fundraising efforts on Twitter at @moveandsoothe. If you'd like to keep up with what's going on in NH, Beth just joined Twitter as @pickup4pcos.
Whatever you contribute, know we're genuinely grateful and will work hard on behalf of hormone research.

Thank you!

In my role as a health psychologist who specializes in PCOS and other endocrine disorders, I read a lot of material on PCOS, insulin resistance, infertility, diabetes, and other hormonal matters. The more I read, the more I’m aware of the biases in the various camps, by which I mean, these types of messages that populate the media, presented here with my interpretation of the subtext:

• Natural is the only way to go – you’ll destroy your body with birth control pills and metformin (they’re all toxic chemicals!);
• Supplements are the way to go — forget the pharmaceuticals (it’s only 90 capsules a day, but you’ll manage);
• If you would just practice positive thinking, and say enough mantras, you could improve your fertility and have a cute baby just like this (it’s really your fault);
• We should accept our “flaws” as part of our beauty (and damn the women who take advantage of electrolysis, body sculpting, and hair dye);
• If you don’t follow this medical protocol quite strictly for the rest of your life, you’ll end up in terrible condition, with a host of dreadful side effects that will ultimately make your life miserable and then kill you (I’m the doctor, and I hold all the answers, and I’m going to scare you into compliance);
• Low carbohydrate diets are the only solution (chronic deprivation is the way to go);
• PCOS women shouldn’t exercise too much, or they’ll get all bulky and look like men (this is not actually physiologically possible, but it’s a great excuse);
• Exercise is the only thing that really works, and here’s how to do it (never mind that I don’t have PCOS myself, and know nothing about PCOS).

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. There’s a problem with all of these messages, and the problem is, they’re all wrong. There is no one solution that applies universally to all of us. We are each a unique composition of chemistries, ethnicities, weights, ages, and personal points of view. We have access to different specialists and reading materials. We have different beliefs about what works and what doesn’t. We have varying abilities to assess the correctness of scientific or medical data. We have limited finances and time to try every possible potential solution. And we are, quite possibly, exhausted from trying.

Additionally, consider the source. Quite a lot of these messages (picked up directly from my reading, but not attributed, in order to protect the innocent and the not-so-innocent) are presented to us with the intention of selling something – supplements, coaching services, dietary plans, books, CDs, or workshops. There’s nothing wrong with any of those things, by the way, but if the message consistently points in one direction, and it always results in you buying something, it may not be a message you want to heed. This blog tries to present useful information in a way that allows you to make reasonable choices, utilizing commonly available resources, and without pushing you towards any one philosophy, guru, product, or way of thinking. I think that’s a sensible approach.

That being said, we need to respect the choices that our fellow travelers in this PCOS journey are making. If a woman wants to try metformin, or birth control pills, or Spironolactone, or a low carbohydrate diet, and there’s no medical contraindication, let’s support her the best way we can. Don’t present your personal experience as the absolute truth. Offer it as a way of being there for support, or simply to share your experience so she has other “evidence” to consider.

Consider the impact of emphatic statements that “the only” way to produce a baby, or weight loss, or better fasting glucose numbers, is by following your plan. The woman on the other end may not have the time, education, or finances to implement your well-meaning suggestions, and the result on the other end may be a real emotional slam for a woman who’s already feeling fragile and desperate (this is especially true in the fertility/infertility arena).

Gretchen Kubacky, Psy.D. is a Health Psychologist in private practice in West Los Angeles, California. 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 Gretchen@drhousemd.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @askdrhousemd.

This press release comes from Sasha Ottey of PCOS Challenge. inCYST is always pleased to collaborate with and support her compassion and energy she devotes to women everywhere with PCOS! Best of luck with this project, Sasha!

New Reality Series Provides Renewed Hope and Needed Resources for Women with PCOS

As part of its continuing mission to provide information and support resources for women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, PCOS Challenge, Inc. is producing a new 13-week reality series that focuses on improving the lives of women with PCOS with the help of health and medical experts. The goal of the PCOS Challenge™ television show is to educate, inspire and spread awareness about PCOS while helping women with the condition to live healthier and happier lives.

The women participating in the series will receive guidance from three main experts – a nutrition coach, fitness coach, and mental wellness coach. The women will also receive supplemental advice from other experts including a naturopathic physician, acupuncturist, and Reproductive Endocrinologist. As the participants compete in various fitness and healthy lifestyle challenges, they will have an opportunity to win cash and prizes.

“We are very excited to be launching the television show. It is a tremendous opportunity to help a lot of people. In the last year, the PCOS Challenge online and offline community has quickly grown to over 4,000 members, and this has been something that many people have been asking about for some time,” says Sasha Ottey, CEO of PCOS Challenge, Inc. “The television show is a natural extension of our popular PCOS Challenge Radio Show where we feature prominent PCOS experts. Now, through the television show, the audience will have an opportunity to see how to practically apply the information that they have learned in the face of daily life challenges and how to make sustainable healthy lifestyle choices.”

“Since its inception, PCOS Challenge, Inc. has been innovative in its programming and multimedia approach to spreading awareness and providing support for women with PCOS, which is one of the reasons the organization continues to gain traction so quickly and is able to keep people engaged,” says William R. Patterson, CEO of The Baron Solution Group and Executive Producer of the PCOS Challenge television show. “It is our aim to bring greater attention and resources to the PCOS community. With a condition that affects millions of lives and families worldwide, we feel the program will be an important vehicle to get more people involved.”

The PCOS Challenge television show is scheduled to begin shooting in mid-march and is currently casting for 6-10 women with PCOS in the DC metropolitan area to participate in the 13-week series. Participants will meet with the experts 1-2 times per week for the duration of the series and commit to changing their lifestyles to promote healthier living with PCOS. The PCOS Challenge television show will air on various local cable stations across the United States as well as stream online.

To become a participant, sponsor, or for more information about the PCOS Challenge television show, visit http://www.pcoschallenge.com/events/pcos-challenge.

About PCOS Challenge, Inc.

Sasha Ottey is Founder and CEO of PCOS Challenge, Inc. She is a Clinical and Research Microbiologist with a Bachelor’s degree in Clinical Laboratory Science from Howard University and a Master’s in Health Administration from the University of Phoenix. Her company, PCOS Challenge, Inc., is a nonprofit organization that provides support for women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) through the PCOS Challenge Support and Social Networking Website (PCOSChallenge.com); PCOS Challenge nonprofit website (PCOSChallenge.org); PCOS Challenge Expert Series Workshops (PCOSChallenge.net); PCOS Challenge Television Show; PCOS Challenge Radio Show; and local offline support groups.