Health Advice for Women

Unless they have a health issue, most people do not really know or understand the frustration that comes along with having a chronic health problem. Getting the diagnosis is bad enough. Trying to learn about the disease and go on to change your entire way of living in order to successfully combat it and live a normal, healthy life is completely overwhelming. The people you normally turn to in times of crisis often cannot relate to what you are going through. Lost for words, they give you a blank stare, a slightly furrowed brow or a sad or confused expression, leaving you feeling even more empty and alone than you were before.

For me, trying to explain to someone that I have not had a normal period for years makes me look like an alien and feel like a failure. I can’t really explain to them why I have chronic greasy skin and why my acne refuses to clear up at the age of 34. They don’t understand the frustration of not being able to get pregnant after months, even years, of trying, nor do they understand why my life is totally consumed by new dieting methods and exercise programs that guarantee to help me lose weight but never really do the trick.

Thank goodness we live in the digital age! With online health communities also known as internet forums, growing by leaps and bounds, finding someone who understands exactly what I am going through is not just possible, it’s easy. An internet forum, online forum or message board, is a website with a discussion format. Forums allow anonymous visitors to view the contents and belong to a group of contributors who’ve registered into the system, becoming known as members. The members submit topics for discussion (known as threads) and communicate with each other using publicly visible messages (referred to as posts) or private messaging.

People participating in an online forum will usually build bonds with each other and interest groups will easily form around a topic’s discussion, subjects dealt within or around sections in the forum.

In online health forums, no one judges you. You don’t have to censor your symptoms or defend how you are feeling. You can share your successes and know that the online community is genuinely happy for you.

After years of feeling horrible about myself and very much alone in my efforts to get healthier, I’ve finally found a group of “sisters” that help me deal with my particular disease, PCOS – Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. I have come to find out that there are a lot of women out there that suffer from the same issues as I do. They give me suggestions on how to deal with my symptoms, chat about what treatments have and have not worked for them, and provide me with emotional support when times are tough. Even in the wee hours of the morning, I know I can go online to find someone in a PCOS forum who understands and sympathizes, then encourages me to take action in my own life.

So if you are suffering from a health issue for which feel you need more emotional support or need access to more information and treatment options, go online! You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how uplifted and empowered you’ll feel when you do. And if you need PCOS support, I’ve listed some of my favorites below. I hope you find them as helpful as I have.

• Insulite Labs Forum (http://pcos.insulitelabs.com/forums/index.php)
• PCOS Association (http://www.pcoscommunity.com/index.php)
• SoulCysters (http://www.soulcysters.net

So you need to lose 10 (or 20 or 30) pounds - or think you do – but we’ll get to that later, missy. Well what is so hard about that?  All you need is a little self discipline. After all, you only need to eliminate 3,500 calories from your intake, and whoosh – it’s gone.
A one time deal and you never have to think about it again, Right? Right?? Don’t I wish!!

Why is it that I don’t hear cheers and the sound of high fives from around the room? What I do hear is the sneaky rustle of potato chip bags and Twinkie’s wrappings. Ah, you say, I could stick to a diet if it weren’t for those nasty food cravings.

All right, I hear you, and yes, I’ll admit that food cravings are real, and the good news is that there could be medical reasons for these cravings.

• Are you pregnant? If you think you could be, please get tested. Don’t wait for nine months to find out, girls. That kid needs to be fed right, and fed right NOW. (You want a pickle? Go for it, mom! Just don’t use pregnancy to justify stuffing your tummy with everything you have tried to deny yourself for the past 15 years. )
• Premenstrual? Look at the calendar. Does simply being a woman make want you a candy bar? (Or several candy bars? I’ll take two plain chocolate, one with almonds, and a little bag of…but you get the point.)
• Low insulin levels? Yes, lack of insulin could be driving your irrational desire for Real Food, i.e., lots of carbohydrates. If you have low blood sugar or if there is diabetes in your family, your body will try to protect itself by storing every calorie within reach. Go to a doctor immediately, and get this checked out, will you? There are also great website loaded with information, check out www.insulitelabs.com.
• Low Serotonin? So your boss hates you, your mom won’t get off your back about your messy living room, and your guy is the reason for the messy living room, in the first place. Sure, everybody wants to feel good, and if you are under a lot of stress, your body may start to holler for a one pound bag of chocolate chip cookies, fudge-ripple ice cream or three Margaritas. Are you going to give in?
• Yes, food cravings are out there, but the question is, ‘What can you do about them?’ Well, apart from the very real medical issues that some women face, you can do a lot.

Now I know that some of you do not want to go the gym, but exercise really helps. Not only does it elevate the level of those natural feel-good chemicals, it tones your muscles (making the body you have look better, even if it weighs the same), it reduces the number of calories that are available for storage on your inner thighs, and gets you out of harm’s way (that bag of potato chips can’t see you when you are at the gym).

Now that’s not just a two-fer, it’s a four-fer! Of course, you don’t have to go to the gym to exercise. You can take long walks with a friend, go bowling, or swim at your local pool - better than watching TV any day.

Meditation and yoga help, too, and yoga helps keep you flexible, as well as calming your nerves (the ones that are frayed because of your guy, your boss, and your mother: see above). Sex and a bath with candles can help, too. The point is that we do have a lot of control over our lives, so let’s go girls!

There is nothing more frustrating than losing control. At work, at home, with others, with ourselves, it hurts when we see all our well laid out plans get turned upside down by factors that we can’t do anything about.

For women with PCOS, that frustration is magnified by the fact that PCOS often controls multiple factors in our lives. From health issues to pregnancies and appearance to self esteem issues, PCOS is a beast that we feel we cannot tame.

Like in every good fairytale, we girls dream that our knight in shining armor will slay the beast and give us our life back. That, of course, will not happen – it’s why they call them fairytales. But there is someone who can help us get our PCOS symptoms under control and set us on the path to improved self esteem and, as a result, a bigger and better life: Insulite Labs

Insulite Labs 5 Element System incorporates nutrition, exercise, nutraceuticals, an awareness program for food addiction and cravings and support networks, all designed to deal with the symptoms that cause us so much angst. With Insulite Labs, we are no longer victims of pre-diabetes, weight gain, adult acne, hair loss and irregular periods. With Insulite Labs, women with PCOS have a fighting chance; they are the ones who have taken control and have killed the beast that has been weighing them down most of their lives.

Still feel like Rapunzel? Stuck in the PCOS tower for life? Take a few tips from some women who have used the Insulite Labs protocol to get their health back on track:

(With Insulite Labs) I have more energy, deeper sleep, menopause seems easier, I have already lost weight and some inches around my incredibly large midsection and my face looks younger and more refreshed. It is very easy to follow this health regimen which uses a systematic approach to reverse the PCOS instead of the classical approach with prescription pills which don’t even handle the PCOS and instead add side effects.
I’m eating and eliminating properly. As a chronic osteoarthritic, my improved diet and something in the supplements is helping my joint symptoms, and I am more energetic.

An old friend said “you’re starting to sound like your old self again, like you’re alive again. And, you look like you’re getting smaller.” Anyone with PCOS should not hesitate to give this program a try!”
– NR, New York

“I have been on the PCOS System for exactly two weeks today, and I have noticed some very welcome changes! I am getting a better quality sleep, I do not wake and toss and turn and have millions of disturbing dreams; I wake feeling more rested and rejuvenated. My acne has improved, my face is not inflamed any more, my complexion is more evenly toned and not as greasy. I have found my food cravings dropped dramatically! I find that I sometimes forget to eat because I no longer feel ravenously hungry all the time! My cravings for sweets has diminished, and if I do find myself hungry and in danger of eating the delicious looking Mr. Goodbar, I pop a breath mint in and the craving goes away!”

- B.G, Plymouth, MI

So go ahead Rapunzel… let down your golden hair. Climb down from the tower and battle PCOS head on. Contact Insulite Labs today!
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My experience with diet pills, much like the history of diet pills, was scary! After years of searching for the perfect pill I finally realized that exercise is the only safe and effective diet “pill.” It helped me lose 38 pounds. No prescription drug or fat blocker had ever done that for me.

Diet pills have been around since the 1930’s when two Stanford University physicians developed the chemical dinitrophenol (DNP) to speed metabolism by increasing body temperature. DNP was taken off the market in 1938 after causing fatal fevers and blindness. Though it can still be purchased illegally online, DNP is now used as a manufacturing chemical.

In the 1950’s amphetamines gained popularity as doctors sought a way to help patients lose weight by decreasing appetite. Amphetamines proved to be effective, but also addictive. Since the 1970’s, they are prescribed for a few weeks at a time to stimulate weight loss but not prescribed long enough to develop dependency.

I started taking Phentermine (an amphetamine) in 2003. Even though I had a prescription for three weeks, I only lasted four days! It was awful. My heart felt like it was going to explode. Sure, I wasn’t hungry. But I felt dizzy, weak and did I mention my heart felt like it was going to explode?

Over the counter pills loaded with caffeine or “natural” sources of caffeine weren’t any better. I still felt jittery, like I’d had a pot of coffee. But they didn’t seem strong enough to curtail my appetite. With pills containing green tea and Hoodia, I had no side-effects, but they did absolutely nothing for me.

And we all remember Fen-Phen, which became popular in the 1990’s, with doctors writing over 85,000 prescriptions a week until the Mayo Clinic published a study reporting it caused heart valve complications. A month later, the FDA took it off the market.

I had never taken Xenical, the fat blocker, but when it came out in its over-the-counter form, Alli, I was in line the first day to give it a try. I followed the rigid guidelines: no more than 15 grams of fat per meal, so as not to get the dreaded side-effects of too much fat intake. Even though I was eating the recommended 1,800 calories per day and keeping my fat grams in check I had intense cravings for sugary foods.

I’d had it! I decided to see a nutritionist. She helped me understand that I was suffering from Insulin Resistance and carbohydrate addiction.

Insulin Resistance creates increased levels of insulin and glucose in the blood stream, which is a major underlying cause of excess weight and obesity. Symptoms can include fatigue, trouble concentrating, feeling irritable or jittery but better once food is eaten, sleepiness after eating meals heavy with carbohydrates, high blood pressure, and even depression. If you feel you may be suffering from obesity caused by Insulin Resistance I suggest taking this self-test.

Though I supplement my lower-carbohydrate diet with nutraceuticals, I will never take another diet pill again! I’ve found exercise to be the best diet “pill” of all. I started slowly, walking through my neighborhood in the evenings for twenty minutes and worked my way up to an hour. I’ve definitely revved up my metabolism with my daily exercise “pill.” I feel more alert throughout the day and my cravings have subsided.

I’ve discovered that it’s not about sweating and straining until you feel like falling over. It’s about finding something you can stick with every day. Well, most days.

I remember the day that my soon-to-be husband got his first pager. He was so excited to be considered important enough to be given a company pager because, to him, it meant that he was now the new go-to guy - the guy who could be trusted to fix any problem that came up, day or night. He could hardly contain himself!

I, on the other hand, wanted to throw the pager in toilet after its third day on my sweetie’s hip. He had received no less than 25 pages during the few hours we had spent together during these three days. This left me wondering where the line had been crossed between work and home. It also made me think about how I was going to get my fiancé to become more engaged in his life outside of work when he was so unfairly lured by the demands of the people who support his self esteem and who also pay his bills.

What we needed was a work-life balance plan. I had heard of these before, but had never put one together myself. After going through the process, here’s what I have learned:

1. In order to achieve a work-life balance you first need to figure out what really makes you happy. Is it your family? Your friends? Your career? Something else? Take a moment to write down, in order of importance, what really matters to you most. This will help you establish what it is you really want to spend your time on. If something is not on the list or is rated a low priority, you need to give serious consideration to eliminating this item from your life altogether. By sticking to mid-to-high priority items, you can start building a life that you can be proud of and are excited to actively participate in, not one that you are just going through the motions with.

2. Focus on a few activities. Let’s face it. Most of us are extremely over-programmed. Every minute of our lives is taken up with various activities that, at some point, we thought we wanted to participate in. The reality is that some or even most of these activities are just drains on our time. If you are serious about achieving a happy work-life balance, then you need to figure out which activities you just can’t live without and focus solely on them. You’ll be amazed at how much time, stress, and energy you’ll save by whittling your activity commitment down to just one or two really rewarding ones.

3. Learn how to say no. One of the things that gets us into the most trouble with our work-life balance is our inability to say no. As human beings we have empathy for one another and we really do not want to let anyone down. In the meantime, we are letting ourselves down because every time we accept a new responsibility, we are taking time away from our personal priorities. Saying no is not easy and it can takes lots of practice in order to find a way that makes both you and the person you are saying no to feel comfortable with the outcome. But in doing so, you are freeing yourself and your time to focus on things that matter most to you.

4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Life can be overwhelming, even when we are organized and have our priorities in line. The fact is that everyone needs help sometimes. By not asking for help we are creating more stress in our lives that can be damaging to our overall health. Stress alone can bring on other health issues. As an example, pre-diabetes can be caused by Insulin Resistance-related obesity which, in turn, may be brought on by stress. Various forms of stress release the steroid cortisol and this process may result in weight gain. And we all know that added weight can bring on additional complications like high cholesterol and heart disease.

So what types of things can you do to relieve some of this stress and avoid potential health risks? Ask a neighbor to watch your kids while you go to dinner with your spouse. Or have a neighborhood kid mow your lawn so that you can spend some quality doing something else that you love. The extra effort is worth it as you keep your life and your relationships on track and keep stress down to a minimum.

5. Always have something to look forward to. We all are a little happier when we have a vacation, fun activity or big family gathering coming up on the calendar. Everybody’s work calendar is booked with various activities so why not your home calendar as well? Planning special events will enhance your life by allowing you to keep those personal relationships with friends and family strong. So turn off your cell phone and make the most of these special occasions. You might find that you have more of a skip in your step at work because of it!

At 5′4” and 230 pounds, I was miserable. I went through the cycle typical to many of us, binging and dieting, losing maybe 10 or 20 pounds, but always gaining it back. I blamed myself for my lack of will power. It was actually my therapist who suggested I research some of the underlying medical conditions responsible for obesity.

I have since learned that I was Insulin Resistant and suffered from carbohydrate addiction. Insulin Resistance affects 65% of the overweight population. Symptoms can include fatigue, trouble concentrating, feeling irritable or jittery but better once food is eaten, sleepiness after eating meals heavy with carbohydrates, high blood pressure, and even depression. If you feel you may be suffering from obesity caused by Insulin Resistance I suggest taking this self-test.

Insulin Resistance is reversible. Over the course of one year I lost 100 pounds by treating my Insulin Resistance with diet, very moderate exercise, Nutraceauticals, and a fabulous support group.

By gradually reducing my carbohydrate intake, and adding nutrient-dense, low glycemic foods to my diet (foods that do not cause a significant spike in blood sugar), I was able to to break the cycle of carbohydrate addiction and reverse my insulin resistance.

Here are my top 10 fat-fighting foods, super foods:

1.Flax Seed – I add ground flax seed to a high-fiber cereal every morning. It contains fatty acids, omega 3 and omega 6, that actually help fight fat.

2.Oatmeal – Steel cut oats are best. The longer it takes to cook the oats the better. Oatmeal provides a lot of fiber and minerals. In studies, consuming oatmeal daily can normalize cholesterol. Avoid the instant and sweetened varieties. They contain sugar and are lower in fiber.

3.Spinach – One cup of cooked spinach has only 42 calories. Packed with vitamin C, beta-carotene and lutein, spinach helps reduce the risk of heart disease. I love mine wilted and topped with balsamic vinegar.

4.Pinto Beans – A half-cup of canned pinto beans has 105 calories, 1 gram of fat, 6 grams of fiber and plenty of folate, which protects your body from heart disease. I use pinto beans, along with black beans, stewed tomatoes and spices like cumin and chili powder to make a delicious vegetarian chili.

5.Garlic – Garlic lowers “bad” cholesterol and is a natural antibiotic/anti-viral. But whether you have a cold or not, I recommend eating it. Chop off the top of a clove of garlic, drizzle with olive oil, and roast it in the oven for a sweet spread to top whole grain crackers.

6.Onions – Onions contain a powerful plant anti-oxidant, quercetin, that protects your body from cancer. A cup (chopped) has 61 calories, 0 fat and 3 grams of fiber. Eating them chopped, and raw, is best because this releases the quercetin. When I’m not in the mood for raw onions I saute them in olive oil to top veggie dishes.

7.Cayenne- Cayenne proved in studies to contain an ingredient that boosts your metabolism. I always add it to my vegetarian chili. If you can’t handle the heat it is available in pill form.

8.Salmon – Salmon, and other cold water fish, are a great source of lean protein. They also contain essential fatty acids. I broil salmon and add a squeeze of lemon and a spice mixture that is low in salt, like Mrs. Dash.

9.Sweet Potatoes – Sweet Potatoes are great for when you are craving something starchy, but don’t want to splurge. They are actually very low on the glycemic index scale and are packed with nutrients. I make sweet potato “fries” by cutting them into wedges, coating them in olive oil and spices and baking them until slightly crisp.

10.Blueberries – Last but not least, blueberries have been found to have one of the highest levels of anti-oxidants of any food. They are also high in fiber and low in sugar. A sweet treat with zero guilt.