Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Teal Ribbon Cysterhood

Yesterday I became an official, card-carrying member of the PCOS community. On the one hand, I feel pretty smart for figuring it out for myself. On the other hand, it's sucks and I'm mad-as-hell that I have a syndrome, which is essentially a catch-all phrase that experts use when they don't have a clue what to do with you. Great, just lump a bunch of us who share similar symptoms together, scratch your collectives heads, and label us with "syndrome." Yeah, that's me throwing a cyber tantrum. Fat lot of good it does, aside from letting off a bit of steam, huh?

Speaking of fat, the experts say that loosing just 10% of your weight can reduce the severity of PCOS symptoms. That sounds easy, yes? Well, as easy as it is for anyone to eat healthy and exercise. Only, with the added challenge that the PCOS syndrome can include that lovely increase in weight. What the heck, what's life without a few challenges, right? So, what exactly can one with PCOS eat, and what are the things that one should avoid?

I explored a cross section of PCOS diets out there, and most all of them agree that becoming the next non-Dairy Queen is the next best thing to sliced bread. This was a bit disconcerting, as I grew up believing that milk has something for every body. Is it possible that the dairy industry lied to me? To us? Shocking! Well, not really, they are in the business of selling milk, cheese, and ice cream. When it comes to cheese and ice cream - oh, and hot chocolate! - avoiding dairy hits me the hardest. I mean, try and order a bean and cheese burrito without the cheese, or a quesadilla, for that matter! I can do pizza sans cheese, but then there's the white flour used in the crust, and white flour is another no-no.

That does make things like eating out a problem. Heck, that makes eating in a bit of a challenge, too.

For me, losing weight and eating healthy means limiting my personal choices, thereby making it easier to shop, prepare, and stay on track. I've taken to wearing a pedometer again, and that helps me increase my daily activity, as I challenge myself to reach 10,000 steps every day. I've hit it a couple of times so far, yay me!

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