Fats That Can Help or Hinder Your PCOS

Thought I'd share this. 

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Source

Did you know that consuming the right fats can actually help to improve the symptoms of your PCOS?

As we discussed last week, bad fats can play a key role in the build-up of PCOS-linked androgens (male hormones) through excess androgen production by your adrenal glands. But replacing bad fats in your diet with good ones could bring about a significant improvement in your condition.

Like carbohydrates and protein in moderate amounts, fat is an essential nutrient, required by your body for key functions such as absorbing the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. It's also an important energy source and vital for keeping skin and hair healthy and smooth.

Consuming the right fats can also actually lower your risk of PCOS-linked conditions like diabetes, heart disease and obesity while improving your cholesterol levels at the same time. That's because all fats are not created equal. In fact, it's not the total amount of fat in your diet that affects how much you weigh and makes you vulnerable to a host of diseases. What matters is the type of fats you choose (and, when it comes to shedding pounds, the total number of calories you eat).

Here's a breakdown of fats:

GOOD FOR YOU: UNSATURATED FATS

Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs): Found in plant foods like nuts, avocados, olive oil and canola oil, as well as poultry

MUFAs can actually lower cholesterol levels, and your risk of heart disease. A Journal of the American Medical Association study showed that replacing a carb-rich diet with one high in monounsaturated fats can do both ... and reduce blood pressure, too.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs): Found in fatty fish such as salmon and mackerel, as well as corn and soybean oils

Like MUFAs, PUFAs have been shown to improve cholesterol levels and reduce heart disease risk. One type is omega-3 fatty acid, which is plentiful in some kinds of fish and not to be confused with omega-6 fatty acids, found in meats, corn oil and soybean oil. Research has found that Americans eat about 20 times more omega-6 than omega-3. Closer to four times as much is a healthier target. Substitute fish for meat whenever you can.

BAD FOR YOU?: SATURATED FATS

Artery-clogging saturated fats come from meat and dairy products. Saturated fats have been shown to directly raise LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. Conventional advice has been to avoid them as much as possible.

However, a meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in early 2010 found no link between saturated-fat intake and increased risk of coronary heart disease or cardiovascular disease. Still, the Harvard School of Public Health, in a study published in March 2010, found that replacing saturated fats with an equal amount of polyunsaturated fats did indeed reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by 19%.

Nevertheless, moderate amounts of saturated fats may not be so bad after all and they are certainly an important source of vitamins and minerals. Plus, some argue that coconut oil and palm fruit oil, which are plant-based sources of saturated fats, may actually be beneficial because their particular fatty-acid make-up means they are metabolized differently in the body. Stearic acid, found in animal products and in some foods such as chocolate, gets a pass because much of it is converted by the body into oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat.

Thus, saturated fats may be more neutral than we think. Yet although there are more and more scientific studies suggesting this is the case, there is, paradoxically, no broad consensus on this yet, especially among those designing dietary guidelines. The advisory committee for the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggests a reduction of saturated-fat intake to no more than 7% of daily intake.

DEFINITELY BAD FOR YOU: TRANS FATS

This variety of fat is double trouble for your heart health.

Trans fat is the worst type of fat. Unlike other varieties, trans fat - also called trans-fatty acids - both raises your "bad" (LDL) cholesterol and lowers your "good" (HDL) cholesterol. High LDL in combination with low HDL increases your risk of heart disease, the leading killer of women as well as men. It's made by adding hydrogen to vegetable oil through a process called hydrogenation, leaving the oil less likely to spoil. Using trans fats in the manufacture of foods helps the foods stay fresh longer, have a longer shelf life and have a less greasy feel. Commercial baked goods - such as crackers, cookies and cakes - and many fried foods, such as doughnuts and french fries - may contain trans fats. Shortenings and some margarines can be high in trans fat, which used to be more common. However, in recent years it has been used less frequently because of concerns over the health effects.

Food manufacturers in the United States and many other countries list the trans fat content on nutrition labels, but be careful. In the U.S. A government loophole allows food packagers to label anything with .5 grams of trans fat or less as "0g trans fat". When serving sizes listed are small, and you therefore eat several servings by their definition, this can be a big problem. Look for the words "partially hydrogenated" vegetable oil on the actual ingredients label. That's another term for trans fat.

It sounds counterintuitive, but "fully" or "completely" hydrogenated oil has no trans fat. Unlike partially hydrogenated oil, the process used to make fully or completely hydrogenated oil doesn't result in trans fat. Check your food labels.

Sincerely,

Christine DeZarn

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Association, Inc. (PCOSA) 

5 Foods That Kill Fertility

Eating the right foods is essential to fertility, but these won't do any good if you keep on eating foods that damage your chances of pregnancy. Conceiving is a delicate process that involves environmental cues, hormonal balance, and physiology. It's so easy for the wrong foods to disrupt these events and prevent the union of an egg and a sperm. By avoiding these five foods, you can boost the fertility of yourself and your partner and increase your own chances of a healthy pregnancy too.

Sugar

Sugar and refined carbohydrates are a big no-no for fertility, especially if you are suffering from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). According to the Nurses' Health Study, the largest study on nutrition and female fertility, women who eat more refined sugar are more likely to suffer from fertility problems. Our body's glucose levels rise whenever we eat refined carbohydrates or sugar. As the glucose levels rise, the body produces the hormone insulin so the cells can use the glucose for energy. Foods with a low glycemic index allow the body to go through the glucose slowly, but refined sugar (foods with high glycemic index) causes the blood glucose levels to rise too quickly. This makes your insulin levels stretch out too thinly and adds stress to your body. If you keep a regular diet of refined sugar, your body will eventually become insulin resistant. This means that your cells will no longer respond to the insulin produced by your body, skewing the hormonal production required for timely ovulation and interfering with your chances of conceiving. Research shows that up to 70% of women with PCOS are insulin-resistant.

Trans-Fats

Chips and fries may be crispy and satisfying snacks, but they're also rich in an industrially created fat called trans-fat (trans-fatty acids or partially hydrogenated oils). Trans-fats are found in packaged goods, fried fast food, microwaved popcorn, or vegetable shortening in order to extend their shelf-life. Any commercial good that has "partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil" or "shortening" in the ingredients label probably has trans-fats. The Nurses' Health Study found out that women who ate more trans-fats were suffered from more ovulatory problems than women who did not. In fact, just a 2% increase in trans-fat consumption makes a woman 73% more likely to suffer from ovulation-related infertility. Trans-fats affect fertility by making the body more insulin-resistant and causing inflammation. In men, high trans-fat levels make the membrane of the sperm cell less flexible, decreasing its ability to successfully penetrate an egg cell.

Soy

Reports show that too much soy protein can decrease male and female fertility. A study published in Human Reproduction looked at the sperm samples and soy intake of 99 men with unexplained infertility. Researchers discovered that over half of the men had poor sperm motility and low sperm count. The researchers also observed that the men with higher sperm count and better sperm quality had lower soy intake.
Another study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that high soy consumption can decrease the levels of the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and increase menstrual cycle length.

Caffeine

Like most hardworking people, you probably like starting your day with a strong cup of coffee. But you might want to cut back on this and other caffeine-laden drinks. According to the Nurses' Health Study, women who consume over 400mg of caffeine a day (one eight-ounce cup of coffee has 100-300 mg caffeine) are more likely to be infertile. Caffeine causes the fallopian tubes to tense up and slow down the movement of a fertilized egg towards the uterus. Once the egg finally reaches the uterus, the endometrium may not be healthy enough to receive it.
You can keep your morning cup of coffee and your fertility too; as long as you consume less than 300mg of caffeine a day, you should be fine. Do take note that soda is also laden with caffeine; the Nurses' Health Study notes that women are 50% more likely to experience ovulation problems if they drink two or more cans of soda a day.

Aspartame and artificial sweeteners

Here's another reason to avoid soda, especially diet soda: they contain an artificial sweetener called aspartame that affects fertility. According to Pediatrician and Professor Dr Louis Elsas, consuming aspartame before conceiving increases the likelihood of neurological problems in the child. When aspartame enters the intestines, it gets broken down into a chemical called phenylalanine and becomes concentrated in the placenta, causing developmental problems in the growing baby. Dr. Maledon Price of the University of Washington also notes that aspartame destroys the neurons that regulate the release of hormones, causing low levels of the FSH, LH, and gonadotropins. Aspartame is also known to impact sperm production and egg quality.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3455805

Ramblings of A Lazy Blogger

My laptop developed a seizure and decided not to regain consciousness. Now that it's dead - though not yet buried - it's been even harder mustering up the motivation to blog. I tried blogging from my phone, but that's just pointless suffering.

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For the past 3 months I've had early pregnancy symptoms. My nipples hurt, bbs swolen and tender even after Bob had been sucking away for 20 minutes, extreme fatigue, bloating, bleeding gums/nose, tender lower abs - however I was still having my periods, though lasting only 4 days. I knew the last time I was preggers my period completely stopped, but then I still thought there was that possibility. Now I know I'm not. All the tests came out negative and weirdly enough last month I took an OPK got a BFP and 14 days later AF showed up. So I'm still OV, Yey!!!

My iron levels were borderline which may have been responsible for the fatigue. I'm eating healthy, I've reduced my calories despite BF and still NOT losing any weight. I'm clearly not one of those lucky bastards women who use up 300-500 calories breastfeeding thus losing all their baby weight in the process.

Anyway, I have to confess, the prospect of being pregnant so soon scared the beshittles out of me. Deep down I wanted to be, and at the same time I didn't want to be. I initially wanted us to start trying when Bob turned 6 months so our kids could be close in age, now, however, I'd rather we wait till he's 1 year before we start trying again (9 months if I notice I'm no longer ovulating regularly). He's such a handful!!!!! That's one reason. The other being I want to love him and savor each moment before another kid comes into the picture. Finally memories of my emergency c-section are still so raw I want to do whatever is within my power to avoid another one. Which may include waiting for up yo a year on order to qualify for a VBAC if I have to.

I know I Should Be Writing More

as opposed to copying and pasting articles I come across during my internet ramblings. I know, I know. I've been naughty with my blog. Bob is only now settled into a predictable routine so it's easier for me to sneak in some blogging time into my schedule. I'll try and make this quick because I fractured my left wrist and am mostly typing with one hand.

Dealing with PCOS post baby is very different to pre-baby because your main motivator has been achieved. I'm still trying to eat as healthily as I can. Slowly working up my fitness up to where I can do my aerobics every other day. I gave myself 6 months because that's meant to be how long you exclusively breastfeed for. And God knows breast feeding on demand is no piece of cake. I'm introducing solids gradually, like every other day. But his sole source of nutrient is still breast milk at the moment.

Lately though I've been having a host of symptoms (which I'll rant about in my next post) that suggest pregnancy or PCOS returning full force. Test came out negative so I'm keeping calm and carrying on. Started taking my multivitamins both to stem PCOS onslaught and not be caught unawares if I am pregnant.

I'll test again on Sunday, making it precisely a week later. If and this is a big fat IF I am preggers, there are a lot of things to consider.

Stay away from men to get pregnant

I couldn't wait share this:

Unbelievable yet true. Socially isolating a woman for three to six days from any male contact except her husband, after she has undergone in vitro fertilisation treatment or intercourse, increases the chances of conceiving from the usual 30 per cent to more than 50 per cent!
This is the finding of a research by fertility experts and geneticists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology and the Indian Statistical Institute.

It is based on the fact that pheromones or smell hormones make all the difference and olfactory signals from too many males block implantation.

This bit of Indian research is a milestone in fertility treatment. Dr P.M. Bhargava, former founder-director of CCMB, who led the research, said, “This trait of social isolation affecting fertility was first observed in mice (Bruce Effect) in the 1960s. In the last few years, we carried out experiments on human beings and it turned out to be successful."

"Post IVF treatment, for three days, a woman should isolate herself from any kind of interaction with the opposite sex, except her husband."

"She shouldn’t meet, speak, touch or come in contact with any other man, not even blood relatives, during this period till the embryo is implanted in the wall of the uterus. The logic behind isolation is to avoid olfactory incompatibility with other men, which hampers implantation of the embryo and brings down fertility rate.”

Dr Kamini Rao, award winning fertility expert, who conducted the experiment on 1,700 women at the Bangalore Assisted Concep-tion Centre, said, “We isolated some women in hospital for three days, advised some to isolate themselves at home, which was easier to do in nuclear families.

The results were quite encouraging and even women who earlier had failed IVFs were able to conceive. Except the husband’s, pheromones from other males interfere with the implantation process and, therefore, the isolation is recommended.”

SOURCE - http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/sci-tech/others/stay-away-men-get-pregnant-951

I wouldn't just limit it to women who have undergone IVF but just women, generally, if you think you've OV it might help to stay away from other men.

Thanks to Beth Kiley  for sharing this new information. Make of it what you will, but when you are ttc, every little thing can make a world of difference. Check out her video here - http://personalpathtopregnancy.com/blog/?p=318

I subscribe to her Newsletter and would highly recommend you do so if you are TTC.

Good luck.