December 16th, 2011
Tired of traditional Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome meal offerings during the winter months? Instead, why not try a PCOS healthy, layered salad beckoning with bright colors and flavor and substantial enough to play the starring role at lunch or dinner tomorrow?
The possibilities are endless. It could be a Mediterranean salad studded with olives, crumbled feta, multi-colored peppers, cucumber and vine-fresh tomatoes, served in a deep, clear-glass bowl to showcase all the ingredients. Or a Southwestern salad of black beans, corn, tomatoes, cilantro and grated colby-jack.
What about something a little more exotic like the gazpacho-inspired salad? A different take on the classic chilled soup from Spain, it boasts fresh garlic and parsley, extra-virgin olive oil, heirloom tomatoes, diced cucumber and green bell pepper, along with eggs and cheese. They all come together to create a salad positively bursting with health benefits and taste treats.
Without the traditional salad base of lettuce or other greens for once, this salad is able to pack in five tomatoes, which are loaded with both vitamin C and antioxidants.
Gazpacho Salad
Makes: 4 to 6 servings
Dressing:
2-3 tsp minced garlic, mashed to a paste with a little salt
2 tbs sherry vinegar
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
4 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
Salad:
5 large heirloom tomatoes, seeded and cut into large dice
1/3 cup diced sweet red onion
2-3 hard-cooked large eggs, diced
3-4 tbs chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup diced peeled, seeded cucumber
1/2 cup diced green pepper
1/4-1/2 cup shredded Parmesan or crumbled feta cheese
Mix first four dressing ingredients and then whisk in olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Layer salad ingredients, except the cheese, in a large glass bowl in the order listed above, lightly sprinkling every other layer with salt and pepper.
Drizzle dressing evenly over the salad and chill it, if desired, 1 to 2 hours. Sprinkle with Parmesan or feta and toss gently just before serving.
November 8th, 2011
A daily Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) diet packed with vegetables may help stave off Alzheimer’s Disease.
A survey says eating two to three servings of veggies every day could improve the likelihood of keeping your mind sharp in old age, with leafy greens like spinach, kale and romaine lettuce providing the most benefit.
Researchers at Rush University Medical Center studied 3,178 Chicago residents aged 65 and over. Each senior filled out a diet questionnaire and took at least two memory tests during the course of the six-year study.
The test scores worsened as time wore on. But seniors who said they ate an average of 2.8 servings of vegetables a day showed 40% less cognitive decline during the study, compared with participants who didn’t eat vegetables so regularly. The study defined a serving as half-a-cup.
“People who ate more vegetables could think faster and had better memories,” said lead researcher Martha Clare Morris.
The oldest people in the survey, who were at the greatest risk from Alzheimer’s, showed the most memory protection when they reported eating a vegetable-laden diet. Beneficial compounds in vegetables can help preserve healthy blood flow to the brain, reducing the risk of the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s Disease.
If you want to enjoy general good health and avoid obesity, vegetables are a crucial part of a balanced, nutritious diet at any age. Combined with regular exercise, diet can also help reverse an underlying cause of obesity, namely the imbalance of blood glucose and insulin called Insulin Resistance. By reversing Insulin Resistance, you can facilitate weight loss and improve your PCOS symptoms.
September 29th, 2011
Large numbers of Americans are resorting to unhealthy habits like overeating in order to cope with stress. Their response to feeling under pressure also includes a lack of exercise. This lethargy is creating further health problems such as excess Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) weight gain and obesity, which, in turn, increase stress levels.
A survey of 2,000 adults by the American Psychological Association (APA) reported that 47% of participants said they were concerned about levels of stress in their lives.
Women were more likely than men to say they were affected by stress. Both men and women who were experiencing stress were less likely to say they were in good health and reported higher rates of obesity, hypertension (high blood pressure) and depression.
Women under stress said they felt nervous, wanted to cry or felt drained of energy. Men reported trouble sleeping and feeling angry or irritable. About one third of women said they turned to food for comfort and roughly a quarter of the men said the same. Those who did seek comfort in food were twice as likely as the average American to be diagnosed with obesity, said researchers.
If left unchecked, obesity can lead to the cluster of cardiovascular diseases called Metabolic Syndrome (Syndrome X), which is a significantly increased risk factor for heart attacks and stroke. Obesity can also be an underlying case of reversible Pre-Diabetes, which, if neglected, may develop into Type 2 Diabetes. This latter disorder can only be managed for the rest of the victim’s lifetime and raises the risk of blindness, amputation and severe kidney disease.
“What’s surprising and alarming is the fact that too many people weren’t taking active steps to do anything about the stress they’re feeling,” said Russ Newman of the APA.”People don’t really appreciate how detrimental stress is, and the ways they’re trying to manage stress can be as detrimental, if not more so.”
Participants who reported higher stress levels were more likely to smoke and less likely to exercise, which might relieve their feeling of stress in the short term but would exacerbate it in the long run, said researchers.
Such habits are hard to break, however, says Tajita Sinha, Director of the Research Program on Stress, Addiction and Psychopathology at Yale University School of Medicine. When a person is stressed, the need to feel better “takes precedence over impulse control,” said Dr. Sinha. “We tend to choose a response based on what we know, based on habit. We will be looking for things that calm us down but they may not be the best thing for us.”
Various forms of stress release the steroid cortisol and this process may result in severe weight gain, quite aside from eating fattening, high carbohydrate “comfort” food.
Insulin sensitivity decreases after certain stressful experiences such as work-related mental and emotional pressure. As glucose levels in the body rise, they stimulate increased insulin production, which has a number of negative effects. In particular, it raises levels of noradrenalin, a stress response hormone released under conditions of emotional upset, which, in turn, can induce Insulin Resistance. This latter disorder is a reversible imbalance of glucose and insulin in the bloodstream, which can become an underlying cause of PCOS weight gain and obesity.
Insulin Resistance and its side effects may promote the build-up of fat throughout the body as well as a rise in cholesterol and blood pressure levels and the formation of artery-blocking plaque.
Excess weight and obesity-linked Insulin Resistance also contributes to the development of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), the hormonal imbalance which is a major cause of female infertility, as well as skin conditions, excess facial and body hair and male pattern baldness in women.
But don’t despair! Switching to a balanced, nutritious diet can help reverse weight gain, while regular exercise has been proved to have a positive psychological effect on stress-related emotions as well as helping people to return to a healthy weight.
September 26th, 2011
Half the battle when it comes to losing Polycystic Ovary Syndrome weight and enjoying better PCOS health and well-being is developing the right approach to what you want to achieve.
First of all, try to focus on living healthier before concentrating on PCOS weight loss. Learn to eat in a way that makes you feel well and gives you more energy. Get regular exercise, manage stress and try to think positively at all times. Tell yourself that you’re a success in so many other areas of your life, like being good at a job or raising a family, and weight loss is going to be no exception.
Focusing on your weight all the time can often lead to impatience and frustration, which may tempt you to adopt quick fixes. These desperate measures are more than likely to lead to failure. So start from a perfectly reasonable desire to improve your health and appearance, not from a feeling of low self-esteem and anger at a lack of will-power.
Find a healthy PCOS diet program that suits you, not someone else. Don’t be afraid to fail every now and again as you experiment with different eating habits and taste experiences. Explore new fruits, vegetables and foods high in omega-rich fatty acids such as salmon and walnuts.
Create a realistic image in your mind of how you want to look. Make gradual changes in your weight and they’ll soon add up. It doesn’t have be torture, either, if you allow yourself time for your body to adapt to less weight.
Persistence is the key. There may be setbacks along the way, like giving into a particular craving. But don’t beat yourself up if that happens! You’re allowed to have some pleasure en route to your healthy new way of life. So have the occasional treat and find a way of exercising that you enjoy. How long is it since you last went swimming, for example?
A key factor in PCOS weight loss is the ability to reverse Insulin Resistance, an imbalance in blood sugar and insulin levels, which, if left unchecked, can lead to obesity. This latter condition has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S. and other Western countries via unhealthy diets and lack of regular exercise.
