Health Advice for Women

The United States currently has the unfortunate reputation of being the fattest country in the world. Sadly, there are plenty of other countries catching up to us. Just Google “fattest countries” and you’ll see a slew of articles detailing the increases in obesity in countries such as Mexico and Australia. Food intake in these and other countries is becoming more concentrated on sugar, fast food and soft drinks and less on healthy, traditional fare.

Unfortunately, countries that have never been on the radar for obesity are now starting to show up there. They are beginning to feel the adverse affects of the influx of fast food and grocery store chains in their communities. Places like China and India, which are historically known for having thin populations, are now becoming fatter as they become more indoctrinated into the global economy. As a result, these and other countries are starting to see an increase in weight related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

In India, researchers have also found that obese women are having a hard time conceiving. According to an article in The Times of India, this is because 90% of them, 35% of whom are within their childbearing years, suffer from Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). PCOS is a hormonal disorder that affects a woman’s insulin production resulting in irregular menstrual cycles and infertility. Women with PCOS can also experience increased body and facial hair, hair loss, adult acne, and the inability to lose weight solely on a low calorie diet, among other symptoms.

According to Dr Gita Gan guly Mukherjee, former Head of Department- gynaecology at R G Kar Hospital, Kolkata, there are two main reasons for the increase of PCOS diagnoses in Indian women: the adoption of unhealthy eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle. Whereas older generations of Indian women eat traditional, lower calorie foods with less sugar, many young Indian girls today eat a steady diet of junk food. When these bad habits are combined with an extremely aggressive academic load, young girls simply cannot burn off the increased calories to maintain a healthy weight.

As a result of these increases, Indian doctors and patients alike are searching for solutions that will help women of Indian descent conceive children. Companies such as Insulite Labs (http://pcos.insulitelabs.com/) and support boards such as www.pcosa.org offer these women hope and solutions to their reproductive challenges. In fact, Insulite Labs reports seeing a noticeable uptick in orders of their 5 Element System – nutrition, exercise, vitamins, addiction/cravings awareness and support — coming from Indian women with PCOS living both in India and elsewhere.

Here are testimonials from two women of Indian descent that talk about how incorporating non-pharmaceutical solutions into their daily routines helped reverse the symptoms they were experiencing with PCOS:

“Thanks so much for the Insulite PCOS System. After being on it for 4 months I’ve conceived now and before that I had been trying for last 1 year but failed. Really, you are like lord for us.”

- Pankaj Anand, India

“Thank you very much for having changed my life. I am doing very well with the Insulite Labs PCOS diet and exercise regimen. I am exercising for 35-40 mins daily. My fat has drastically reduced and I now have a flat belly after taking your tablets. I am getting my periods regularly and there is a reduction of facial hair by 70%. I am very thankful to your support and the work you have done to reverse PCOS.”

- Rashmi Desai — Gold Coast, Australia

As illustrated by Pankaj and Rashmi, PCOS is beginning to affect more and more women around the world. Thankfully there are support groups and companies such as Insulite Labs that are working hard to sustain these women - until there is a serious effort to change global dietary and exercise standards that will help our populations maintain a reasonably healthy weight.

Halloween is always the harbinger of the winter weather and sure enough this past week the weather turned cold (finally) in Colorado. If you have eczema or just really dry skin, this change of season always seems to cause flair-ups. My hands look like they just emerged from the Sahara Desert. The best thing you can do is NOT use lotions made with petrochemicals. The hardest part is finding lotions that don’t have petrochemicals. You want to look at the ingredients and your safest bet is to go to a Whole Foods or health food store that usually only carries “healthy products”.

If you have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), you’ve come to the right place. I have lots of advice and it’s been a lot of trial and error along the way. If you are just finding out you have MCS the best thing to learn is patience. I’ve figured out I had MCS around 7 years ago and to this day I still keep finding little things to change in my life to help me feel stronger and more energy. Some days are better than others, but I keep thinking how much I have improved in 7 years. My goal is to share what I’ve learned and hope this helps you in your journey to heal.

The latest change I’ve made is in my diet. For years I’ve heard I should give up dairy and I did give up milk for a year. I love milk more than anything, so this was really hard. But just giving up milk didn’t make a huge difference. Two months ago I went on a gluten and dairy free diet! It’s all the rage here in the Boulder, CO area, but being the renegade I’m am, I didn’t want to follow the trends… but I did. As you know getting healthy is the goal, so I keep testing new theories and hoping I will be the healthiest and strongest old women alive. Back to the gluten and dairy free diet, I have to say I feel better. When your body is fighting so many things as it is when you have MCS, you have to slowly start removing the things that cause your body to react. I know it’s helping because when I fall off the plan and eat wheat or dairy I notice the difference. My digestion is better and I’ll won’t bore you with the graphic details.

I’ve removed as many chemicals out of my environment and I eat healthy food, but I didn’t realize some healthy foods just weren’t sitting well with my body.Many people with allergies and MCS are finding they do better eliminating dairy and wheat. You would be surprised at all the alternative gluten free products on the market now. I eat rice bread, rice pasta and rice crackers. Gluten free muffins are pretty aweful, so if you’ve got a good recipe let me know.

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

According to the Times of India: “More and more obese women in India are finding it hard to conceive. The reason: Nearly 90% of them suffer from Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), a complex hormonal disorder that affects a woman’s menstrual cycle, fertility and insulin production…… Gynecologists and endocrinologists report that nearly 35% of women in India in their reproductive age suffer from PCOS.”

A local Boulder Colorado company, Insulite Labs, continues to get emails and praises every day from customers that have been able to conceive after suffering infertility prior to going on the Insulite PCOS System. It’s great to see a natural solution for infertility that women are finding success with. Below are two women expressing their views.

“Thanks so much for the (Insulite Labs) PCOS System. After being on it for 4 months I’ve conceived now and before that I had been trying for last 1 year but failed. Really, you are like lord for us.”
- Pankaj Anand
India

And from a woman of Indian descent from Australia who has been guided by Dr. Heather DeLuca:

“Thank you very much for having changed my life.

I am doing very well with the Insulite Labs PCOS diet and exercise regimen. I am exercising for 35-40 mins daily. My fat has drastically reduced and I now have a flat belly after taking your tablets. I am getting my periods regularly and there is a reduction of facial hair by 70%.

I am very thankful to your support and the work you have done to reverse PCOS.”
- Rashmi Desai
Gold Coast, Australia

We have Cancer survivors and I’m a multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) survivor! I hope my blogs help you figure out how to treat your multiple chemical sensitivity.  I wish I could say I’m totally symptom free, but I now live an energetic healthy life. Multiple chemical sensitivity doesn’t rule my life like it once did. I have great energy every day, hike daily for 45-60 minutes up a mountain and live life to the fullest. I only tell you this because there was a time when I didn’t have energy to go to the grocery store much less enjoy life. I couldn’t go into Target without getting a headache from all the chemicals off-gassing in the store. So…how did I treat my multiple chemical sensitivity?

First off have you figured out you have it? (Read my blog on MCS to see if you have the symptoms) The most important thing is to get yourself in an environment that is not making your body sick or sicker. Initially I really didn’t know what to do and some of the things I was doing to help were actually harmful.

Get all the chemicals out of the place you live and sleep. Here’s your list of things to do:

• Take out the carpet and install ceramic tile - this will be huge. If you have hardwood floors this is good, just get rid of any area rugs in your room.
• Wash all your bedding in plant derived laundry soap. I like the Seventh Generation - Free & Clear products. They are not made with petrochemicals and have no perfume. If you have been using cleaning products made with petrochemicals (Tide, Cheer, ERA, etc.) you will need to wash them 3 or 4 times to get the petrochemicals and fragrance out.
• Get rid of all perfumes and fragrances in your house.
• Switch all your personal products over to fragrance free and petrochemical free. This is hard, so go to your local health food store to find this type of product. I’m talking shampoo, soaps, lotions, sunscreen, anything you put on your body.
• Switch all your household products over to non-toxic, fragrance-free and petrochemical free. Stick with Seventh Generation free& clear if you can find this line. Whole Foods and Vitamin Cottage carry this brand.
• The clothes you wear can be killing you. Most people don’t know how many chemicals are in the clothes we wear. I love to wear my oldest cotton clothes that have been washed a million times! Do you know why, it’s because all the chemicals have been washed out. Don’t dry clean or have a laundry wash and starch your clothes because this will not help. If you have to buy something new, stick with natural fibers like cotton and then wash this new item at least 5 times before you wear it. I probably wash new clothes at least 10 times before I wear them. If I don’t I get a headache very quickly!
• Don’t buy new furniture or anything new if you can avoid it. Everything on the market these days is loaded with chemicals. It’s just that we are so surrounded with them, that most people don’t notice the chemicals until our body is overloaded. Until you can get your MCS under control, you need to control your environment very carefully.
• If you have the choice you should move to a very unpolluted place in the mountains or by the ocean to give your body a rest from the chemicals. Most of us don’t have that luxury, but the mountains are less polluted and your body can get a rest from the chemicals it is reacting to.
• There is a great book called “Creating a Healthy Household” that I used to help me initially turn my house into a safer, less-toxic home.
• Lastly, get as much exercise as you can. Hiking in the mountains everyday has helped me to continue to improve my health.
• Try not to drive your car if possible, the car is loaded with chemicals and puts off exhaust that weakens our body. I now drive a hybrid and it’s much better.
• Here’s a big one that took me a while to figure out. Don’t fertilize your lawn, this fertilizer is so toxic to our bodies and it lingers in the lawn for a long time.
• Don’t have your house sprayed with pesticides for insects, this is going to kill you. Use healthy alternatives to getting rid of insects.
• Don’t use bleach. Initially I thought I was killing the mold which was good, the bleach was killing me!
• Indoor air can be really toxic when all the windows are closed. Spend the money and buy some good hepa air filters. I use Healthy Mate from Austin Air. It helps a lot!
• Get rid of pets if you can. They are a major contributor to indoor toxins and allergens.
• Minimal decoration is best. Remove curtains and just have blinds or nothing on the windows. If you have just bought new furniture, put it in the garage until it can off-gas.
• Don’t park your car in the garage. The toxins from your car go right into the house!

Getting married is a wonderful right of passage for a woman. Many of us wait to establish our careers, find the right person with the same life goals, and take immense joy in planning our “perfect” day.  And the best part is that we can finally stop hearing the dreaded question “So when are you getting married?”

Unfortunately, that question is immediately replaced with “So when are you going to have children?”

Time and time again I’ve heard brides recount the fact that they didn’t even get out of their wedding reception without someone, or multiple someone’s, asking them when they were going to start a family. And whether they wait to start trying or want to have children right away, getting pregnant is often not as simple as planning a wedding; there can be complications, set backs and an emotional toll that even the best planner is not prepared to deal with.

To most, pregnancy seems like the most natural process in the world. If you stop using birth control, you’ll get pregnant within three months right? Wrong. More and more, women are struggling to get pregnant. And the frustration builds when you are told by your OBGYN that you have to wait a year to formally be diagnosed with an infertility problem before receiving any kind of infertility counseling and/or treatment.

What women and some OBGYN’ s do not realize is that there are signs that show up way before a woman tries to become pregnant that could signal a problem with their reproductive systems. Some questions to ask yourself if you feel you might have a problem:

Do you suffer from missed periods?
Do you have excess fat around your middle?
Do you crave carbs?
Do you suffer from depression or have emotional ups and downs?
Do you suffer from adult acne or have thinning hair?

Some or all of these symptoms could mean that you have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), a common problem for women in childbearing years that can severely inhibit their chances of becoming pregnant.

PCOS is the cause of an alarming variety of conditions in women today, but its symptoms are among the most widely misdiagnosed. What’s worse is that women with PCOS often suffer through one ineffective and frustrating infertility treatment after another – and still not get to the root cause of your infertility or get pregnant.

The good news is that women with PCOS can improve their health and chances of becoming pregnant just by making a few changes to their daily lives. From adopting a low carb, healthy diet to exercising daily and taking vitamins, women can decrease the symptoms caused by PCOS and increase their chances of becoming pregnant naturally. And there are many support groups out there to help you. For example, many women use Insulite Labs’ 5 Element System (found at www.pcos.insulitelabs.com) to help them reverse PCOS. The Insulite Labs PCOS System helps you get the nutrients and supplements your body needs, helps you change your eating habits, and works with you on getting the exercise and emotional support to deal with PCOS.

For more information on PCOS, please visit:

Insulite Labs (http://pcos.insulitelabs.com/)
PCOSupport.org
Soulcysters.com

Are you overweight and fatigued? Do you feel jittery and irritable but better once you eat? Do you feel sleepy after eating a meal heavy with carbohydrates? Do you suffer from high blood pressure or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)?

These are all signs of Insulin Resistance, one of the major underlying causes of excess weight and obesity. It affects up to 65% of the overweight population.

Insulin Resistance vastly reduces the insulin sensitivity of cells, which impairs the processing of glucose through the cell wall for conversion to energy. As a result, glucose remains in your blood stream, causing elevated levels of blood sugar, which are sent to the liver. Once there, the sugar is converted into fat and stored via the blood stream throughout your body. This process can lead to weight gain and obesity

Insulin Resistance has many factors that contribute to its presence in the body. In essence, our environment and lifestyles have evolved too rapidly for our bodies to keep pace. We are still genetically “wired” to thrive on the entrenched habits of our ancestors who consumed different, nutrient-rich foods, a diet low in carbohydrates and also sustained greater levels of movement and exercise.

Some people may also have a genetic predisposition to Insulin Resistance. Others develop Insulin Resistance through unhealthy lifestyles.

Over time, the above factors have damaged the complex ability of your body’s cells to properly utilize insulin to convert glucose to energy. Unhealthy diets cause the pancreas to overproduce insulin that overwhelms the cell thereby reducing its sensitivity to insulin and impairing the vital glucose-to-energy conversion process. If you feel you may be suffering from obesity caused by Insulin Resistance take this self-test.

The good news is that Insulin Resistance is reversible, without drugs. By weaning yourself from “bad” carbohydrates and replacing them with “good” carbohydrates while increasing your consumption of nutrient-dense foods, you can break the cycle and heal your body by changing the way it responds to food on a cellular level.

Here is a sample daily meal plan from The Insulite LabsGuide to Reversing Insulin Resistance.

For additional information on reducing carbs visit Insulite Labs Excess Weight and Obesity web site: http://weight.insulitelabs.com

Breakfast: Avocado and smoked salmon toast. Puree avocado, 1 garlic clove, 1 tbsp. lemon
juice, 1 tsp. olive oil, 2 tsp. fresh cilantro or parsley. Spread on “Manna from Heaven” bread.
Layer with 6 oz. smoked salmon. Fat 19g, Carbohydrates 18g, Protein 8g

Snack: Yogurt with fruit. One 4 oz. container plain whole-fat yogurt with 1/4 cup blueberries,
plus a pinch of cinnamon. Add stevia to sweeten to taste. Fat 4g, Carbohydrates 11g, protein 4g

Lunch: Chicken with vegetables and salad. Grilled chicken breast, steamed broccoli, and
arugula salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing. Sprinkle 2 Tbsp. feta cheese over
the whole plate. Fat 24g, Carbohydrates 17g, Protein 36g

Snack: Slathered celery. Two celery sticks with regular-fat cream cheese.
Carbohydrates 1g, Protein 2g

Dinner: Grilled tilapia. Grilled tilapia with 1 Tbsp. each of capers, lemon juice, and olive oil.
Salad: sliced cucumber and tomato, mozzarella cheese, and basil leaves with olive oil dressing
and chopped dill. Fat 7g, Carbohydrates 6g, Protein 28g

Daily total: Fat 64g, Carbohydrates 53g, Protein 78g

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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As a stay at home mother of two young, energetic boys I always thought that constantly being tired was just part of the job. By two o’clock each afternoon, all I wanted to do was get them to nap and lay down on the couch to regroup. Often, by the time I fell asleep, they were ready to get up so I was operating on automatic pilot, barely able to play with them outside, get their dinner on the table and do their baths before collapsing myself.

Then finally, after a conversation with my doctor, I realized that my constant and debilitating fatigue was not normal. Neither was my adult acne problem, hair loss and weight problem. My symptoms, I learned, were a result of a condition known as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or PCOS.

As it turns out, PCOS and fatigue are both linked to an imbalance of the endocrine system and are characterized by an excess of male hormones. Fatigue, a symptom commonly associated with PCOS, is also closely linked to the thyroid and adrenal glands. At the heart of both of these issues, however, is a disorder known as Insulin Resistance.

Insulin Resistance, a condition that vastly reduces the insulin sensitivity of cells, impairs the processing of glucose through the cell wall for conversion to energy. As a result, glucose remains in the blood stream, causing elevated blood sugar, which is sent to the liver. Once there, the sugar is converted into fat and stored via the blood stream throughout the body. This process can lead to weight gain and obesity, also key factors in women with PCOS.

To add insult to injury, fatigue frequently causes women with PCOS to treat their low energy with carbs and caffeine, which dumps more glucose into the blood in a never-ending spiral of weight gain and increasing insulin and glucose levels. As fatigue and insulin resistance worsen, excess fat cells produce too much of another hormone, estrogen.

Stress is another contributor to both fatigue and PCOS. Although the original purpose of the stress response was to provide a momentary burst of energy in order to fight or run away, stress has become a continual presence in our lives today. Cortisol, the hormone produced by the adrenal glands when we are stressed, is vital to our functioning as long as it is in appropriate amounts. During stress, excess cortisol causes an increase in glucose and insulin to enable our muscles and heart to handle the stress. But with today’s stressors we don’t respond like early humans. We don’t utilize the glucose by running or fighting and so the glucose stays elevated. Excess levels of cortisol can contribute to Insulin Resistance as well as other hormonal imbalances.

Because I was always so embarrassed to talk about what I classified as “failures” as a mother and adult woman, I never thought that I might actually have a condition that I could reverse. As it turns out, there are several things I could do, the most effective of which was to try Insulite Laboratories’ 5 Element System to reverse the symptoms caused by PCOS. Combining nutrition, exercise, vitamins, support and awareness programs,Insulite Labsworks with you to make the changes necessary to create a whole new you… one with lots of energy and renewed outlook on life.

About the Author:

Heather Bishara lives in South Riding, VA, is a mother of two boys ages 1 and 4 and works as a business consultant for www.tricalyx.com part-time from home. She continues on her journey for relief from her PCOS through a low carb diet, exercise, and the use of herbs and dietary supplements such as those found in the Insulite PCOS System.