A blog to help you take control of your health and your hormones
So now that you know you have PCOS what can you do about it? The most important change you can make is to your diet and the first step is to quit refined sugar. Sound difficult? It’s actually not that hard once your body learns a new way of enjoying food. In fact, low sugar, whole food eating can be delicious. So much so that you will never want to go back.
So you’ve been diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Confused? I was. You may have been told it’s about cysts, excess male hormones or lack of ovulation. All you really know is that something is not right. It might be showing up for you as acne that persists well beyond your teenage years, excess hair on you belly, chin and upper lip, irregular periods, weight gain, or maybe you’ve finally decided it’s time to have a baby and the pregnancy test is negative time after time...
Once or twice a year I like to hit the 'reset' button for my body by doing a cleanse. Spring is the perfect time to cleanse your body. The weather is warming, which makes the body feel like moving more, letting go of some of it's fat stores and eating a lighter, fresher diet. Furthermore, if you are like me, you will have been indulging in a few red wines and more 'comforting' type foods over winter, so it is time to detox and change habits.
Doing a regular cleanse helps me keeps my periods regular & less painful and prevents return of acne & clogged pores.
Got acne? Irregular periods? Excess hair growth? Trouble conceiving? Scalp hair loss? You might have polycystic ovarian syndrome. Read on to find out...
Caffeine can be good for us in certain situations. Like if we are in perfect health, well rested and free from stress. Our bodies can handle caffeine wonderfully then. We get the desired effects of increased energy, a mood boost and an increased ability to stay awake. Coffee exerts these effects by increasing adrenalin (our fight-or-flight hormone from our adrenal glands), cortisol (our stress-response hormone), dopamine (our feel-good neurotransmitter) and blocking adenosine (the neurotransmitter that makes us feel sleepy).
But who leads a life in perfect health, well rested and free from stress at all times? I think I can safely say that none of us do. Life throws us challenges and we get run down, overly busy and don’t eat as well as we should. We may even get so stressed that we become anxious, suffer insomnia and just can’t relax even though we are exhausted. We are already over-stimulated and we keep trying to give our adrenals a kick with coffee. After a while it no longer works for us. This is when coffee makes us more anxious, more fatigued and less able to sleep well. It’s time to give coffee a break (and any other caffeine sources too).
Due to it’s ability to alter neurotransmitters, caffeine is a highly addictive drug (more about this here). Getting off it can be quite difficult and many suffer terrible headaches, depression, fatigue and nausea as side effects. Read on to find out the most painless way to kick this addiction in 5 days...
