tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4168855552158312440.post1906241898932346983..comments2023-05-11T20:27:09.878+10:00Comments on Girl Gone Primal: Smile!Jezwynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11649071387857019341noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4168855552158312440.post-78543787981096483392011-01-18T02:33:32.476+11:002011-01-18T02:33:32.476+11:00Hi Gonçalo!
I'm not a medical expert - I can ...Hi Gonçalo!<br /><br />I'm not a medical expert - I can only speak from my experience. I have read that depression can be related to sugar intake, and can also be relieved by exercise. In terms of anxiety and other psychological issues, there have been some interesting studies on coconut oil's potential to assist with these issues. Taking control of blood sugar can help with many neural issues as well. Monitoring your blood glucose might be a good self-experiment for you to do.<br /><br />I'm sure you're already seeking professional help to assist with your trauma issues. You might like to try meditation or visualisation. I am using a visualisation that is helping me forgive and forget an incident in 2009 with a work colleague, and it is going very well. <br /><br />Do you avoid known inflammatory agents like wheat and refined sugar? Do you sleep well? How's your vitamin D?<br /><br />Feel free to email me at girlgoneprimal@gmail.com if you want to chat about stuff :)Jezwynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11649071387857019341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4168855552158312440.post-17172616929215665822011-01-18T01:42:15.690+11:002011-01-18T01:42:15.690+11:00Hi Seven!
Wow, the similarity in our experiences...Hi Seven! <br /><br />Wow, the similarity in our experiences furthers my interest in whether BCPs have something to do with PCO - since my pill tells my body I'm pregnant, no wonder my bits get confused and don't work properly. Being 'pregnant' for years at a time can't be a good thing... Ironic that the way to preserve fertility with PCO is to keep taking the BCP!<br /><br />To have PCOS you have to have altered hormonal levels. Raised testosterone could be an indicator, but if you have PCOS it sounds like it's pretty mild. <br /><br />You're absolutely right about those first two symptoms. If you have PCO, you're all but guaranteed to have amenorrhoea. If you are not ovulating successfully, your body is unlikely to be cued to build up endometrial lining, and without lining, there's nothing to shed. The ultrasound confirms PCO. The sydrome, by definition, needs to have multiple symptoms. PCO = amenorrhoea, so that's one symptom. The next is hormonal dysfunction. Without hormonal involvement, there is no S to the PCOS.<br /><br />Medical experts have seen that insulin resistance is associated with PCO, but there hasn't been any evidence that it's a causal relationship, in either direction. Your two doctors are falling into that typical trap of assuming that correlation equals causation. Bloody annoying. My GP gave me the 'eat low carb and exercise more' handout after my diagnosis - not exactly helpful given my lifestyle! <br /><br />I would support your cortisol-PCO relationship hypothesis. Unfortunately I can't read my situation so clearly since I've been on and off the pill, but it could be true that my PCO began when I started dieting (which always equals heightened cortisol levels), and has gone away in the past month since I've been a lot more relaxed, with the school year finishing and all. I'm sure that experts studying the condition will explore those avenues, so hopefully an explanation will come soon. If it really does affect 1 in 3 women, the chronic stress of today's world would make sense as a causal factor. <br /><br />At the same time, I think industrial foods play a part as well, and rather than insulin resistance being a cause or result of PCO, they are both results of chronic inflammation caused by refined carbs and toxic environment. Going low-carb usually means individuals cut way back on refined, industrial foods, so inflammation decrease could be just as much a cure as improved insulin sensitivity.<br /><br />Definitely try to chill and forget about it as much as possible. If it is linked to stress, then worrying about it won't help :) Hopefully your other stresses are on their way out, and it'll be an interesting result if you find your amenorrhoea cured! Please report back! :)Jezwynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11649071387857019341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4168855552158312440.post-63689082713236261232011-01-17T20:21:58.794+11:002011-01-17T20:21:58.794+11:00No worries Kim! :)
Janet - I always had a good at...No worries Kim! :)<br /><br />Janet - I always had a good attitude toward food. I always enjoyed fresh fruit & veg, loved meat, and treated junk food as occasional indulgences, but never really thought about it. Going low-carb, then primal, then carnivore, and eventually paleo - that's what screwed up my attitude towards food and, most of all, my body. Exercising 'mindful eating' immediately makes you over-think eating. Just eat real food, and your body will stop you when you've had enough. Counting anything will fuck you up. Sure learnt that the hard way. <br /><br />Eating as much as you want without thinking is natural. If you're hungry, you'll eat. What you're letting paleo excuse is eating for the SAKE of eating - eating food because you're bored or stressed but not criticising the behaviour because it's healthy food. Too much food isn't healthy; too much water will kill you! "<br /><br />"Conquering a strict diet" is the wrong mindset - the phrase itself screams out neurosis and artifice. There's nothing natural about pushing yourself to do something your body doesn't want you to do. There may need to be a mind-shift to find yourself actually craving healthy foods, but if you're forcing yourself to be strict and dieting, you usually find yourself craving junk. There's a hint that something's wrong. <br /><br />I'm not really saying that YOU are wrong - we're just products of this weight-focused culture. So few of us eat naturally - the media and societal-pressures consistently reinforce the idea that we're WRONG - the wrong size, eating the wrong food, thinking the wrong thoughts. Just existing like animals is derided. <br /><br />The primal/paleo movement is all about getting back to our natural lifestyles as evolution dictated, and yet we end up going further away from nature and into dark places of restriction and self-disgust when we make "mistakes", or covering our psychological issues with food in the guise that it's fine because it's paleo! Sites like PaleoHacks have certainly enhanced that perfectionist/neurotic attitude. Hopefully as the hype passes, that attitude will recede and those of us who believe in evolutionary nutrition and medicine will find the groove of natural eating behaviours along with a relaxed lifestyle. :)Jezwynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11649071387857019341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4168855552158312440.post-28478261891057208062011-01-17T14:57:58.896+11:002011-01-17T14:57:58.896+11:00Hi again, I'm unsure if I was born with PCO - ...Hi again, I'm unsure if I was born with PCO - through puberty, I never had cycles that were 'to the day' but they always seemed to occur every 4-6 weeks. Like you, I had been on a BCP (although on and off) for a few years and only discovered the PCO after coming off it recently and not getting a period for 4 months or so.<br /><br />I'm also unsure if I have PCOS. I've read that to diagnose it you must have 2 out of the following symptoms: amenorrhoea, PCO on an ultrasound, and hyperandrogenism. I have the first two and despite my overall testosterone levels being within normal range, my free testosterone was slightly elevated (so I guess this might be considered hyperandrogenism?). I have none of the other trademarks of PCOS (touching wood now). I suppose I'm confused about the symptoms required for a diagnosis because surely if you have PCO (and not PCOS) you're still going to have the first two symptoms?<br /><br />A doctor I saw said that PCO CAUSES insulin resistance whereas another said PCO is CAUSED BY an initial state of insulin resistant. Whatever the case, because PCO tends to be related to insulin sensitivity somehow, I'm considering the possibility that my PCO has come about due to an extreme bout of stress for the past 6months (excessive levels of cortisol leading to insulin resistance perhaps?).<br /><br />As much as I want to know about PCO, I've discovered that the more I read, the more I spiral into stress about the issue. This seems to be a familiar pattern with those of us who have an 'all or nothing' approach to gaining knowledge especially when it comes to knowledge about our bodies. So, like you, I've also decided to chill out a bit, put a little more faith in my body and reconnect with my natural impulses...sevenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17670126584841773260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4168855552158312440.post-55739947093585901602011-01-17T05:01:42.941+11:002011-01-17T05:01:42.941+11:00Eating primal/paleo can do your head in as it is a...Eating primal/paleo can do your head in as it is a pretty strict way of eating in a world of carbs. I need to exercise mindful eating as well as I often take being primal/paleo as a free ride in eating as much as I want without thinking.<br /><br />Given that, I think having a healthy attitude towards food and eating comes first. Only after you have this in control can you conquer a more strict diet.Janethttp://www.pantrybites.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4168855552158312440.post-54597589261560231632011-01-16T14:32:46.817+11:002011-01-16T14:32:46.817+11:00HI
My name is Gonçalo and I'm from Portugal....HI <br /><br />My name is Gonçalo and I'm from Portugal.<br /><br />I really like your blog so that's why I thought about asking you a question.<br /><br />I have struggled with strong chronic anxiety and some depression for a long time. I'm 23. <br /><br />I would like to ask you if you have any suggestion about what I can do to to try to understand if these syntoms have roots in nutritional deficiencies, infections, inflammation, etc. I have<br />some history of trauma but maybe some of this is aggravating the problem?<br /><br />Are there some probable causes? Any tests I shoud do? cost-effective Solutions?<br /><br />Thanks so much<br /><br />Warmest wishes <br /><br />GonçaloGonçalohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16727714571321471043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4168855552158312440.post-62646828741631512052011-01-16T01:38:40.084+11:002011-01-16T01:38:40.084+11:00Oh my maude, I could have written this post, only ...Oh my maude, I could have written this post, only I didn't, YOU DID. *boggles*<br /><br />Especially the part about not understanding, previously, how if the body can affect the mind, the mind can affect the body too. But it DOES. It's been really hard to tear myself away from the crutches of jaded cynicism and negativity, but I'm really working on it and I think it's starting to make a huge difference. Well, 2010 was a "year" for me too, so it was either sink or swim. One aspect I never noticed before was how I surrounded myself with (similarly) negative people; now I'm pretty ruthless, in that if a person is constantly negative I simply won't have much to do with her. Life is too short, anyway! :D<br /><br />I have to admit, one aspect I love about primal living is NOT counting anything; I'm averse to food tracking for a whole host of emotional reasons (stemming mostly from my mother's eating disorders), and while I understand some people need to do that, I find even trying to just builds up a swell of self-directed negativity and fatalism. <br /><br />Also, I'm so glad you are continuing this blog and moving forward with this mindset. I love reading your blog and wanted it to continue, but did not want to whine about it. LOL!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04310232221054046462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4168855552158312440.post-89987532265646790302011-01-15T19:59:08.892+11:002011-01-15T19:59:08.892+11:00Thanks guys! Don't you just love the fact that...Thanks guys! Don't you just love the fact that within minutes of my publishing this post an 'anonymous' person jumps on to declare that I MUST have a thyroid problem and I shouldn't believe anyone who "tells me" it's not physiological? Sure, just like anorexia nervosa sufferers just have an over-active metabolism...<br /><br />Malpaz - the arrival of the period & the consumption of junk were too closely timed to be related. My body would not have had enough time to build up a substantial enough amount of endometrial lining, etc. <br /><br />Xan - I have actually always practiced self-confidence and acceptance techniques such as mantras, surrounding both the physical aspects of myself and my little personality quirks ;) What I am doing now is more about letting go of some on-going negativity I hold against one of my co-workers who gave me a hard time in 2009, since I still feel like I must have done something to deserve that treatment. It's hard to forgive and forget without some sort of convincing answer, even though I did a bit of psych at Uni too and know that her behaviour was probably more to do with her own issues regarding the person I replaced than anything I did. Blah blah, relax and forgive, blah blah... ;) <br /><br />It'll be interesting to see whether it's enough to convince your brain that there is not famine by allowing yourself access to all foods, but not much of them. I was operating on the opposite system (and still am, really) - that I can only have healthy foods, but as much of them as I like. But perhaps my fat gain isn't to do with a 'famine' trigger. Time will tell.<br /><br />You hit me in the heart with that quote - it's one I have on my wall! Problem is, the interpretation is open: the message some can take away from life "not being a dress rehearsal" is that the choices you make now are be-all and end-all, so health mistakes will determine your future health and when the curtain closes. The other message is that you could be wasting your life worrying about the future when you should just relax and live for the show of today. I'm trying to find the happy medium. <br /><br />Hey Seven! PCO, for some people, is a symptom of something else that's going on (i.e. PCOS and other hormonal disruptions). For others, it's a disorder in and of itself. Since I wasn't born with PCO, I had normal periods growing up, and then somewhere along the lines PCO kicked in. I'm not sure exactly when since I've been on a BCP for a number of years, and only discovered the problem when I went off it for 5 months and didn't have a period in that time. I consider my PCO to be a symptom of something else that is going on in my body - for instance, it could be that cutting back on calories meant energy was taken from my reproductive system, rather than all systems running normally and fulfilling the energy deficit by metabolising fat from my fat stores. Were you born with PCO or has your ovulation cycle been disrupted by PCO after successful puberty? Do you have PCOS?Jezwynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11649071387857019341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4168855552158312440.post-46037196500906739122011-01-14T16:20:40.782+11:002011-01-14T16:20:40.782+11:00Hi Jezwyn, I also have PCO and was wondering about...Hi Jezwyn, I also have PCO and was wondering about your comment:'I'm not ready to claim my PCO is over until I have another non-pill period'. Is it possible to beat PCO? I haven't come across any information on this, I'd love to hear your opinion!sevenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17670126584841773260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4168855552158312440.post-60794762499695626002011-01-14T16:03:11.151+11:002011-01-14T16:03:11.151+11:00Sounds like you are implementing your own personal...Sounds like you are implementing your own personal acceptance therapy! The old adage "stress less" is probably my favourite and along the lines of where I would be practicing if I could be bothered doing my MPsych. <br /><br />I have recently implemented something similar in terms of eating habits but keeping the calorie count. I eat whatever I want as long as it adds up to how many calories I want to spend but if I am still hungry at the end of the day I will eat as this is only to enforce a reduction of portion sizes (a psych thing). I discovered that I am also not that hungry but eat out of boredom/enjoyment (actually I already knew that ;)). Because I can eat what I want (just less of it) I don't feel deprived and I no longer give a rats about food in general....as you mentioned, it's there if I want it. I find keeping busy, focusing on where I want to be and remembering that life is what happens while planning your future, are all important in making me take stock in life and enjoy the moment. <br /><br />I heard a really good quote the other day: "There is no dress rehearsal in life; you only get one chance and this is it so make the most of it." Sounds like you might be :)Xanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02439603337656159259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4168855552158312440.post-7907659176414702962011-01-14T04:27:02.130+11:002011-01-14T04:27:02.130+11:00i smiled like a million times reading this post, m...i smiled like a million times reading this post, most notably when you said you got your period w/o help(but post fast food?). <br />i can actually feel your enthusiasm and hopefulness in the post, happiness is contagious!! i think you're finding what will work for you, forever which is the aim of any 'dieter' or foodie out there.<br /><br />kudos to you!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4168855552158312440.post-59702471472899297942011-01-14T01:19:38.935+11:002011-01-14T01:19:38.935+11:00Good to hear you are feeling better. Good luck on ...Good to hear you are feeling better. Good luck on the rest of your journey. The health effects of saying the occasional “f... it” (with a smile)is greatly underestimated.Pål Jåbekkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14533960726900698251noreply@blogger.com