Vibrant Sexy Strong

This is part of an ongoing Science Made Simple series that aims to make the tough science a little more palatable. To view all posts, click here.

When I was sifting through practitioners in my search for a PCOS cure, hormones came up a lot. My reproductive endocrinologist threw out the word several times, as did my OB/GYNs, primary care physician, PCOS specialist, and nutritionist.

In these consultations, cortisol was repeatedly mentioned. I didn’t know what cortisol was and wasn’t that interested. I was entirely too stressed about infertility and my barren uterus to worry about yet another dysfunction in my body.

I also had no idea how relevant cortisol is to the discussion of PCOS, other diseases, and everyday ailments. Unbeknownst to me, common symptoms (not just PCOS symptoms) can be traced to inappropriate amounts of cortisol.

To clear up the cortisol confusion, I’m doing a brief mini-series covering the following:

• Cortisol basics
• Why we like cortisol
• What happens when cortisol is too high
• What happens when cortisol is too low
• How cortisol relates to adrenal dysfunction/adrenal fatigue

Cortisol Basics

Today we answer the following questions:

• What is a hormone?
• What is cortisol?
• How does cortisol relate to stress?
• What is a typical cortisol pattern throughout the day?

Let’s get started, shall we?

What is a hormone?

A hormone is a chemical that sends out messages to other parts of the body. In other words, a  hormone is a messenger.

What is cortisol?

Cortisol is a hormone (a messenger). It gives messages to different parts of the body.

Cortisol is produced in the adrenal cortex. Cor – tex. Cor – tisol. The adrenal cortex is part of a little gland that sits on top of your kidneys.

How Does Cortisol Relate to Stress?

Cortisol is also known as the stress hormone. Our bodies make cortisol when we experience any kind of stress.

What is a typical cortisol pattern?

Cortisol follows a diurnal pattern (the opposite of nocturnal). Cortisol is highest in the morning to help us get up and moving for the day. It is lowest at night after you’ve fallen asleep so you can stay asleep.

Cortisol follows this pattern everyday.

Wrap-Up

To review, the basics of cortisol are as follows:

• Cortisol is a hormone
• Cortisol is our body’s response to stress
• Cortisol is elevated in the morning
• Cortisol is low at night

On Friday, we cover why cortisol is good for the body in appropriate amounts. Unless the Mayans were right about the Apocalypse. In that case, cortisol won’t matter that much.

UPDATE: The Mayans were mistaken, so cortisol is still important. You can find out why we like it here.

Have you been listening to Underground Wellness’s Real Food Summit?

It’s not strictly Paleo, but here’s the thing: a lot of us Real Food eaters are on the same side. My sister-in-law is vegan and I’m Paleo, but it isn’t me vs. her. We both want better health and more ethical treatment of animals; we simply find our answers in different ways.

So if you’re interested in Real Food, I would highly highly *highly* recommend tuning in.

The details are all on the site, but the basics are:

• 9 days
• 3 presentations per day
• Presentations are available for 24 hours only–midnight to midnight PST
• Free during the initial viewing period, then sold in a package after the summit

And lucky for us, the first two days’ presentations have been extended until tomorrow (Wednesday) at noon PST. The presentation outline is available with the speakers’ presentations, but I’ll even give you a little preview of what were personal highlights:

Day 1 Presentations (<– link)

Joel Salatin. You may recognize him as the incredibly articulate farmer from Food, Inc.

Joel Salatin, Farmer.
Real Food Defined.
Food for Thought: Powerfully exhibits how we can break our addiction to the supermarket. Teaches how an ethical farm functions and the way animals, humans, and Mother Nature work together. Discusses sustainability and whether or not Real Food can feed the world (spoiler: it can!).

Chris Kresser, Integrative Health Practitioner.
The Role of Fish and Seafood in the Real Diet
Food for Thought: The vitamins and minerals present in fish and why mercury is not always as big of an issue as we may believe

David Getoff, Traditional Naturopath and Board-Certified Nutritionist
The Historical Truth About Raw Fruit Consumption…and the Best and Worst Sweeteners
Food for Thought: Caused me to examine the quantity of my son’s fruit intake in relation to his body size. Powerful stuff.

Day 2 Presentations (<– link)

Paul Chek

Paul Chek, Founder of C.H.E.K. Institute
Eating Whole Foods for Body, Mind, and Soul
Food for Thought: The soil is connected to our soul. We can eat less food if what we’re eating is more nutrient-dense. Fixing our physical health can really help our emotional health.

Jeffrey Smith, Author of Seeds of Deception
Genetically Modified Foods: What People Want to Know
Food for Thought: Answers basic questions about GMOs. A little sensationalist for my taste, but good information all the same.

Sarah Pope, Blogger at The Healthy Home Economist
The Bountiful Benefits of Bone Broth
Food for Thought: How to make bone broth and know you’ve made it right

Day 3 Presentations (<– link)

These presentations end at midnight so hop to it

Chris Masterjohn

Chris Masterjohn, Blogger and Doctoral Candidate
Weston A. Price on Primitive Wisdom (part 1 of 2)
Food for Thought: Gives me an entirely unexplored and deep love for Weston A. Price’s work and his credibility as a renowned researcher. I thought I loved him before, but I respect him so much more now. Also, Masterjohn sort of sounds like Matthew Broderick, so when I was listening, I was picturing Despereaux teaching me all about Dr. Price.

Mira and Jayson Calton, Authors of Naked Calories
Micronutrient Deficiency: The Missining Link in the Fight Against Obesity?
Food for Thought: (Still listening)

Aaron Lucich, Film Producer and Director
We Are What We Eat: How What We Eat Affects Everything Within and Around Us
Food for Thought: (Still listening)

Enjoy the Summit! I’d love to hear your thoughts, too.

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I don’t talk much about exercise on this blog because, shhhhh {furtive glance}, I don’t really like it.

BUT…I do like being insulin-sensitive and not insulin-resistant. So exercise, I must.

To commemorate my 30th birthday, I decided to do 900 push-ups. For 30 days before I turn 30, I am doing 30 push-ups each day. I’m at 570 and the lessons are abundant.

1. Practice does indeed work. I could do 2 push-ups before I started and my form was horrific. After building more strength, I can now do 5 with very pretty form (and I suspect at least 20 if I was still doing them the way I started). I’m hoping to hit 10 by my birthday.
2. I don’t have to be sore to get stronger. I’m essentially doing a Grease the Groove program and my favorite thing is getting stronger without getting sore. Some people love that hurts-so-good feeling after a workout, but my pain threshold is about -8.
3. I like skill work. Getting strict push-ups under my belt makes me want to perfect my double-unders too. They are both coming along nicely. Met-cons, on the other hand, hold less appeal than ever.
4. Sleep matters. I can hardly get enough depth on one push-up when I don’t get at least 8 hours of sleep. My body moves inefficiently and even the simplest movements are an impossible feat.
5. I need to reassess my goals. I always thought my ultimate goal was to be fit. In reality, I want to want it (probably because I think it’s the right thing to want), but there’s something else motivating me. I just don’t know what. I suspect it has something to do with natural movement opportunities and nothing to do with gym time.

I am enjoying this little experiment and may continue it with other skills once my push-ups are over. On the radar: pull-up, OH squat, deadlift, clean, and Turkish getup.

What is your workout routine? Any tips for a fledgling exerciser like myself?

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I’m back. Finally. I’m in the throes of final exams, final projects, and a new (full-time) job where I have a leadership position. Hopefully I can get back on this here old blog for a few posts. And if you have emailed me in the past couple of weeks, I’m starting on those tomorrow.

In the meantime, we are still eating Paleo and I thought I’d give you a little peak into my kitchen.

We eat a lot of produce in our home. I’m not very good at knowing how much money we spend or how many hours we cook, but I took a moment to write down every fresh vegetable and fruit we ate for a week. Here are the results of one nursing mom, one CrossFitting husband, one hungry 3yo and one 1yo who doesn’t eat very much produce at all in order to protect her gut:

• 8 lbs carrots
• 1/2 bag snap peas
• 2 red peppers
• 4 oz fresh basil
• 2 heads cabbage
• 1 bunch asparagus
• 2 heads cauliflower
• 2 cucumbers
• 1 head red leaf lettuce
• 5 bunches broccoli
• 6 zucchini
• 8 avocados
• 1 butternut squash

There you have it. This list doesn’t include any fruit because we aren’t eating much of it lately. My baby can’t have it, so we try not to make her too jealous. It also doesn’t count pickles, coconut products (flakes, butter, milk, etc.), olives, raisins, or canned green beans, but gives a pretty accurate count of how much produce we typically eat.

How does this compare to you? Are you eating way more, way less, or does this look about right?

"Education should help man become the best he is capable of becoming, to become actually what he deeply is potentially." --Abraham Maslow in Religion, Values, and Peak Experiences.

The physical benefits of Paleo are well-lauded on this blog. There’s no question that Paleo is the reason my family enjoys better health and it’s worth every two-hour vegetable chopping session, despite my occasional murmuring.

But the real reason I live a Paleo lifestyle and feel it is crucial for my children lies in Maslow’s statement: to become actually what I deeply am potentially.

In the throes of PCOS and infertility (me), autism and therapy (my son), and the possibility of Crohn’s/ulcerative colitis (my baby), my physical trials blinded me. They were all-consuming. Constant survival mode. To imagine my greatest potential or any future at all was futile, because frankly, I didn’t know if I would reach tomorrow. The days were long, the nights were filled with crying babies and a crying mother, and every day was a new day…of just getting by.

With PCOS, the apex of my potential was Not Getting Sicker. Not exactly the childhood dreams of becoming the first woman president. But I couldn’t aspire to anything else; I was drowning in insulin resistance and weight retention and autoimmunity. Someone who is trapped underwater can only hope for air; anything more is irrelevant, and I needed air.

Paleo allowed me to emerge from the murky depths, eventually treading water, and finally leaving the sea of despair altogether. The cataracts obscuring my visions have been removed. I can look at the world with fresh eyes for the first time, seeing the opportunities for what they really are.

I have greater hope because I am no longer destined to a life of female cancers. My son can spend Wednesdays at playgroup instead of occupational/speech therapy. My daughter is still recovering and I can envision a life for her that is not defined solely by bowel distress.

There were more moments of happiness than sadness in my life prior to Paleo; that is my nature. But becoming more than a woman with PCOS wasn’t part of my joy.

Now that PCOS is behind me, there is a clarity about who I am that was never there before. I had glimpses of it my entire life, but I can finally embrace it and actually be who I deeply am inside. My children can, too. And that’s the real reason I eat Paleo.

How many blocks are in this stalk of celery?

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Before finding Paleo, I tried to Zone. I read Barry Sears’ book and responded to the information on insulin resistance. My husband printed out the Meal Plans Blocks Chart from the CrossFit Journal and we were all in.

After exactly three days, I quit.

Physically, I had the shakes, I was hungry, and I was exhausted.

Mentally, my head was spinning because this constant focus on macronutrients was new and a little annoying. I couldn’t figure out the exact right amount of blocks to eat and I didn’t know how to accurately assess my physical activity.

Emotionally, I was a mess. I was yelling at my son for messing up my blocks when he tried to grab a carrot off my plate. I weighed and measured everything precisely; he wasn’t going to screw it up. I was totally consumed by my perverted view of the Zone’s proper implementation. I had “complete control” over my food and I was determined to do it “right.” After 72 short hours, I dangerously close to reverting back to my eating disorder days.

I told my husband I was quitting immediately. I already felt myself going back to the old me, the one that would hide in the closet with a celery stalk, the one who felt guilty for eating so much, the one I hated so much.

I sort of felt like a loser. Lots of people could Zone, why not me? But I was also relieved. Given my history and obsession with “dieting perfectly,” the Zone was all wrong for me. For once in my life, I listened to my body.

Should I Quit Paleo?

Whole9's Insight into The Whole30 Gone Bad

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I wrote recently about Paleo being my version of a nutrient-dense eating disorder. These are murky waters that I’ve been navigating solo, feeling like there is limited support in a community of perfect eaters. Today, Whole9 brilliantly posted about what to do when healthy eating becomes unhealthy in The Whole30 Gone Bad.

I loved every piece of that article. For some time now, it’s been difficult for me to read anyone but Mark Sisson (who is a huge proponent of the 80/20 rule). It seemed like every other Paleo blogger (myself included) was touting Paleo as the only healthy way to eat. All ailments could be attributed to poor nutrition, so if my nutrition wasn’t spot on, it was all my fault. I’d received my just desserts. I don’t feel this way anymore (and consequently, I’m a lot more open to other nutrition plans), but it’s taken a lot of conscious effort to subdue that part of my personality and embark on a healing process.

This article is part of that healing process. After supplying a quiz to see if an eating intervention is necessary and providing a 5-step plan, Whole9 encourages each person to do what’s right for them: “The Whole30 program can be a valuable tool in your health and fitness arsenal, but it’s not for everyone.”

That simple statement makes me feel human and reminds me that they are human too. My experience has been normalized and it turns out that, perhaps, not all Paleo Rock Stars are robots.

So if your Paleo lifestyle has become a hot mess, I’d encourage you to check out the article and comments; you won’t find any PaleoBots there. We’re all human, and as it turns out, that’s okay.

(I am shelving the binge eating series for a while. I’ve written and re-written the next post 8 times, but it’s still not feeling right. Perhaps I’m not quite ready to continue the public address. Emotional problems are a bummer sometimes. Sigh.)

I write a short letter to my children nearly every day. For a few months, I didn’t miss a single day. I had no goal, just a simple commitment that “Today I will write in my kids’ journals.”

When I finally missed a day, I convinced myself I could make it up. I never did, and I stopped journaling for two months because I was overwhelmed by how much self-imposed work I had to do.

This all-or-nothing scenario plays out a lot in my life, and eating (clean) is no exception.

My WholeNothings

Whole9 Foundations Workshop January 2011 with Dallas and Melissa (then-Urban) Hartwig (I have a history of awkwardness with blogebrities, which explains the arm placement.)

About a year ago, I was honored to be a featured Whole30 success story. I completed the Whole30 twice with excellent results and did a third one in March.

Since then, I’ve taken a page out of Walter Mondale’s book and lost the fire in my belly, replacing it with grains, sugar, and all manner of poisons. The program hasn’t changed its awesomeness and I’m still Paleo, but the 30-days-in-a-row-no-exceptions eludes me. I’ve started a new Whole30 at least 30 times, most lasting 1 day. January’s attempt made it to the 19th before my anxiety convinced me chips and salsa would fix my problems (spoiler: it didn’t).

My WholeFourMonths

Now I have a WholeFourMonthsPossiblyLonger staring me in the face. My baby is sick and her treatment would be optimal (but not necessary) with pure breast milk.

I’m told eating clean for 30 days isn’t as hard as quitting heroin or beating cancer, and I believe that. When I had the Big Bad PCOS Enemy to beat, the Whole30 was easy-peasy-puddin’-pie. Now that I’m out of survival mode and have a debilitating disease behind me, the motivation simply isn’t there. Perhaps there’s something to this stress junkie business.

Living in the Present

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I’ve come to the recent realization that there is a very fine line between planning things to better live your life and living your life to better plan. I cross that line often, and forget to live in the present.

So when I make a commitment to a Whole30, I forget that yes, I have a 30-day goal, but it’s not Day 30 that matters. It’s Day Today.

If I think about how I should eat Whole30-clean for four months until I get test results back for my babe, I am overwhelmed and run straight for the coconut milk ice-cream, Junior Mints, and lotus rice. If I remind myself, “Today I am going to eat clean,” the challenge isn’t so formidable.

I’m on my fourth Whole1 today. No guilt, no shame, no remorse, and no expectations of perfection. It feels good.

One of the most frequently emailed questions I receive: How soon did your PCOS symptoms begin to disappear after going Paleo?

Everyone seems to want to know about the weight loss, the fatigue, the skin tags, the infertility, the amenhorrhea, the male-pattern baldness. But by far, the most inquiries are about hirsutism.

So I thought I’d lay it all on the line for you. You’re welcome.

Naturally, this isn’t my favorite topic to address publicly. Despite an overall healthy self-confidence, excessive hair growth is insanely embarrassing for me. There is nothing that makes me feel less feminine and less vibrant, sexy, or strong. If you get squeamish or grossed out about women with body and facial hair, I urge you to stop reading NOW

.

No, seriously. Turn away. This is not for the faint of heart.

Okay…don’t say I didn’t warn ya.

Scoring Hirsutism

First off, when determining a PCOS diagnosis, there needs to be evidence of elevated male hormone (testosterone), either visually or through blood tests. When assessing visually, medical doctors typically use the Ferriman-Gallwey score:

 

Source: women-health-info.com

For a second chart, visit ccjm.org.

My Own Case of Hirsutism

Being of Asian/Pacific Islander descent, my heritage precludes me from having excessive hair to begin with. And my father’s side (white) doesn’t seem to be too hairy either. So genetics appear to be in my favor for minimal hair growth, something I’ve never stopped being grateful for.

When I started Paleo in August of 2010, I had no expectations of improved health. I was just desperate for something to stall the weight gain. I had a 2-month-old baby and was on the extended breastfeeding plan (if she would nurse). As evidenced by my first child, I gain weight while nursing, so the thought of 18+ months of weight gain when I was already close to 200 pounds contributed greatly to my postpartum depression.

I wasn’t looking for my hirsutism to disappear and had no reason to believe it would. About 5 months in, I looked down at my belly and noticed the light “trail” that started from between my breasts, circled around my belly button, and continued it’s merry way downward….vanished. Where was it?

I started checking all the usual spots that remind me of my fallibility. Jawline, sideburns, breasts, corners of my lips, bottom of my chin, toes. If there was anything remaining, it was so faint it could hardly be constituted even as peach fuzz.

I don’t know when the hair fell away. One day, it was gone.

Hirsutism, 17 months post-Paleo

In general, my score is about a 1 now. As mentioned in my I no longer have PCOS post, when I stray for a few weeks from Paleo, the hair begins a gradual return (mostly on my belly and breasts) and I know it’s time to get back to eating right. As I’m sure you can imagine, that is a very compelling reason to back off the grains and sugar.

So there you have it. A Hirsutism Fairy Tale. It’s not an easy one to share, feeling a lot more like Grimm than Disney, but inquiring minds want to know and I have a habit of sharing way too much.

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I love Paleo. I don’t think that’s any surprise to someone who’s been following this blog. Our family has spectacular, tangible results: I overcame PCOS, my son’s ASD symptoms reduced dramatically, my husband started running faster, and my baby stopped crying non-stop.

What I haven’t been as forthcoming about are the emotional struggles intertwined with my successes. I’ve mentioned them lightly in the comments or in matter-of-fact ways on several posts, but I’ve skirted around allowing myself to be genuinely vulnerable—to myself, to my family, to anyone.

I have a long history of using food to grasp control of my life. Through overeating, undereating, counting calories, weighing and measuring, not caring, making year-long food resolutions. It doesn’t matter. I could take anything healthy and manipulate it into something where I had an illusion of control.

Paleo–in all its nutritious glory–is no different, except that the strict nature and potential for social isolation exacerbated my dysfunctional relationship. Because it works so well for me, the pendulum swings from both ends swiftly—complete joy over my progress to complete shame for not following through. The best physical results coupled with some of my worst emotional results.

Food Schizophrenia

Image by Alissa Empey

My Paleo wears many hats; I give it different personalities and roles that are sometimes healthy, usually not. At times, it is the perfect diet. During others, I hand over complete control—to a non-human, non-thinking, non-judgmental way of eating.

I abuse myself by believing that Paleo is anything more than that. It has no feelings and surely isn’t paying attention to when I eat a cookie (or twelve). It doesn’t redeem me from my health sins and is not invested in the outcome of my life. It’s food. And it’s just there.

I’m working hard on this area of my life and I’d like to believe I’m completely over these problems. I’m not. Even just writing them down, I realize how deep they run. In the next post I will share some of the personalities I’ve given to food, with follow-up posts addressing how I am healing myself from binge eating.

This is a difficult topic to speak of publicly, but I’m thrilled to share this journey with you and invite you to be vulnerable with me. Please feel free to ask questions, share experiences, and heal together. See you Thursday.

Oh yes, and Happy New Year. 2012 is going to be a good one.

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As noted in my last post, my doctor cleared me of PCOS. After blood tests and an ultrasound, I didn’t meet any of the three requirements.

It’s safe to say this was the best news I received in 2011.

When I first learned that my PCOS was no longer an official diagnosis, I went through some sort of strange near-grieving period. PCOS has been with me for so long–such an integral part of my identity–that my heart and mind were a jumbled mix of feelings and confusion.

Elated, absolutely. Thrilled. Delighted. Relieved. Overjoyed.

And also a bit empty. My mission was gone. The fight I’d been fighting so fervently, working just to manage and cope with the symptoms of this dang disease, was over. In a matter of seconds, unexpected news from my doctor opened a new world of non-PCOS thoughts.

I had flashes of what do I do now? Who am I?

And then I began to reflect: I wasn’t fighting as fervently, I wasn’t trying to get by, I was no longer in a state of constant efforting. For 5 years, I’d been so focused on the fact that I have PCOS and therefore must suffer that I failed to recognize my symptoms had indeed vanished. The blood tests were just confirming what I realized long ago: Paleo works for me.

I’m over the emptiness now. I am the same person with one less label. Losing my diagnosis doesn’t change what I do daily; only what I write on my insurance forms. And it adds yet another weapon in my Paleo arsenal.

Truly, I couldn’t be happier that Paleo worked for my body to reverse PCOS.

Am I cured?

That remains to be seen, but I imagine the answer is no. I don’t have symptoms, my blood work is clean, and my ovaries have so few cysts that I can hardly be called polycystic.

However, I still have the scars from metabolic derangement. I’m incredibly sugar-sensitive. If I merely entertain the idea of grains, I swear I gain weight (and my husband swears I do, too). When I eat poorly, my PCOS symptoms come back. When I eat poorly for several days, my PCOS symptoms come back with a vengeance, as if making up for lost time.

Diagnosis removal is a fantastic ego boost, but there isn’t any difference in my daily routine. I still identify deeply with the PCOS community and I still eat Paleo. My guess is I would go right back to PCOS if I return to my daily bowl of mac and cheese. I doubt I can ever remove the treatment (proper nutrition), but I can live a perfectly full life without being hindered by the side effects of PCOS. That’s what matters, right?

(Though I would be lying if I said I wasn’t holding on to the hope that I may one day eat nightshades again. Fingers crossed.)

I’m in a good place. No longer an emotional slave to a diagnosis AND I have a built-in accountability system that keeps me healthier because of my PCOS history.  The best of both worlds.

Paleo, you treat me real good. Thanks for a great 2011.