March 31st, 2011
As we reported yesterday, the color of fruit or vegetables in your healthy PCOS diet is an excellent guide to the goodness you’re receiving via different vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. So try to create a rainbow on your plate.
Today our color guide is red, which includes strawberries, cherries, tomatoes and apples. All of them improve heart function, which can be at risk from PCOS.
The small but mighty strawberry, for example, is packed with vitamin A and C, as well as potassium and magnesium. Potassium plays a huge cellular role and also serves as a communicator to muscle fibers.
Cherries contain anthocyanins, which provide the red pigment in berries. Anthocyanins have been shown to reduce pain and heart-damaging inflammation as well as serving as potent anti-oxidants.
Another advantage of cherries is that they contain high levels of melatonin. Research has shown that people who have heart attacks have low melatonin levels. Besides being an anti-oxidant, melatonin has also been shown to be important for the function of the immune system, as well as helping to provide a good night’s sleep.
Still on a red theme, lycopene is one of nature’s most powerful anti-oxidants and it’s strongly present in tomatoes, especially when cooked.
March 30th, 2011
The color of the fruit or vegetables in your healthy PCOS diet is an excellent guide to the goodness you’re receiving via different vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients.
So if you create a rainbow on your plate, you’re going to cover a lot of your nutrient bases.
Our color guide starts today with green, which includes asparagus, beet greens, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, collard greens, dandelion greens, green beans, honeydew melon, kale, kiwi, mustard greens, okra, parsley, peas, peppers, spinach, Swiss chard, romaine lettuce and zucchini.
Benefits from this color include the powerful antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin, which can help reduce the risk of two eye diseases from PCOS-linked diabetes, namely cataracts and macular degeneration, which are leading causes of blindness. Many greens are also good sources of eye-healthy beta-carotene, as well as being great for heart health.
March 29th, 2011
As we reported yesterday, excess fat around the abs can actually turn the body’s defense system against an overweight person, leading to heart disease – a condition closely linked to PCOS.
Scientists have known for some time that excess body fat, particularly abdominal fat, triggers the production of so-called “pro-inflammatory” immune cells, which circulate in the blood and promote heart-damaging inflammation.
In addition, other inflammatory immune cells, known as macrophages, are also turned on within fat tissue.
But research showed that a loss of about 13 pounds in obese people, no matter their individual weight, was enough to bring the levels of pro-inflammatory cells down to that found in lean people. Achieve that weight loss -and keep it off – via a balanced, nutritious diet and regular exercise … and you’re also likely to see a big improvement in your PCOS health.
March 28th, 2011
Every woman with PCOS needs to watch her weight to better manage the symptoms of her condition, whether she’s lean or overweight.
And in the case of the latter, researchers in Australia have found that excess fat around the abs can actually turn the body’s defense system against an overweight person, leading to heart disease, which is also closely linked to PCOS.
The immune system is made up of many different kinds of cells that protect the body from germs, viruses and other invaders. These cells need to co-exist in a certain balance for good health to be maintained.
Many factors, including diet and excess body fat, can tip this balance, creating immune cells that can harm, rather than protect, our bodies.
Fortunately, damage to the immune systems of PCOS women can be reversed fairly easily and tomorrow we’ll give you some ideas how.
