Help For PMS

More than sixty five percent of women suffer symptoms of premenstrual syndrome, or PMS. The symptoms can range from mood swings to cramps, bloating, headaches, problems sleeping, back pain and so many others. According to Dr. Christiane Northrup “everything from unbalanced nutrition to unresolved relationships can disrupt hormonal milieu.” PMS should not be ignored, as it’s a gentle reminder that you need to address some issues which can turn into a loud bang once you reach peri-menopause then menopause. First and foremost talk to your OBGYN about your symptoms to get a proper diagnosis. If you are interested in going the holistic route below take this article to your doctor for discussion.

Let’s start with some things that may contribute to PMS……like dairy, caffeine, alcohol, sugar, refined carbohydrates and stress. So much is written about the importance of a proper diet, and it cannot be emphasized enough. What we put into our bodies affects our emotional and physical health. Try eliminating dairy, caffeine, alcohol, refined carbohydrates (white flour, rice, sweeteners, white pasta) and sugar for 60 days and see how you feel. Whatever you are eating please try, as much as possible, to buy organic to avoid hormones and pesticides.

Supplements: Take a good multivitamin/mineral supplement for women. Companies that make high quality supplements like New Chapter, Mega Foods and BlueBonnet have excellent multi’s. Magnesium and a B-complex are also very important. Both are great for mood and anxiety. Make sure you are getting enough Omega 3 fatty acids in your diet via nuts, seeds and cold water fish such as salmon (wild caught Alaskan), sardines and greens such as kale, swiss chard, okra and spinach. If you don’t eat any of these foods get a good fish oil or flax seed supplement.

Herbs: Wild yam and chasteberry/vitex help to balance the hormones; (work with an herbalist for proper dosage). Dandelion or milk thistle are great for detoxing the liver and act as a diuretic.

Homeopathy: Studies have shown that homeopathy is effective for PMS. What is great about homeopathy is that it doesn’t interfere with any prescription meds you are taking. Boiron and Hyland are two brands.

Exercise: All you have to do is walk everyday but make it a brisk walk for about 30 minutes. Yoga and Tai Chi are extremely beneficial as they will also help relax and calm you. Meditation is part of yoga and will help keep you centered and balanced emotionally.

Body work: Try reflexology. The therapist will massage pressure points that will relieve PMS.
Toxic relationships: This is a tough one. Take time to assess who you surround yourself with. It may take that awareness to realize who is bringing you down. Difficult relationships affect your body, mind and spirit. It may be that a conversation with someone is all you need - or you may just need to move on…(your health and well-being need to come first).

You can also talk to your doctor about natural bioidentical progesterone cream and soy supplements.

Keep in mind that your thoughts are so powerful. I was lucky to have a mother who never talked about having a period or menopause negatively. She once said to me, “Maria, if a woman didn't get her period there wouldn't be any creation of life on the planet.” I never suffered from PMS and my menopause transition has been very smooth. Studies show that young girls who are taught to respect their cycles have little or no PMS. So if you have daughters try not to refer to their monthly cycle as “the curse.” All our thoughts pave the way for the direction our life takes so be mindful of what you are thinking and saying both to yourself and others.

Lastly, woman take on so much. We are the nurturers, the caregivers, mothers, partners, great friends and we give so much of ourselves. We don’t even realize how depleted emotionally or physically we can become. Be kind to yourself…go for a massage, take a day just to do things that fulfill and nourish your soul. Most importantly, never feel guilty about needing to rest and re-charge yourself…you are worth it!

Peace,
Maria

The Pros and Cons of Competition

Very early in life we are taught that competition is good and makes you strive to achieve and fulfill your greatest potential. It sounds great but what is absent from that theory is that sometimes getting wrapped up in competing never allows you to get to know yourself. If you are always consumed with doing better than someone else how can you discover your own goals and dreams?


It seems that there is so much emphasis on winning that society puts on you, and having more than everyone else is somehow analogous to success. Whether it is more success, more money, or more material possessions, even the race to look younger has become a competition. Teenagers are joining the millions of adults getting injected with Botox and Restylane. Nowhere is this more evident than television. You can't turn on the TV without seeing both adults and children competing against one another. It would be fine if it wasn’t filled with such anger and determination to win at any cost. The message is clearly that winning is everything when in fact there is so much to learn from not winning, mainly humility, and that the reality is that we all can’t win all the time - and it’s ok. The desire to always be number one brings stress and frustration. What about being a good sport and being happy for the winner?

As someone who loves to cook I always liked the food channel. However, recently the same has happened there. Cupcake wars? Must we have a war on cupcakes? What have they ever done to us except be delicious? There are other shows similar in nature on the food network where people run around with a gladiator mentality over a chicken dish! Then there are the shows that pin children against one another in competition. What is sad is that the parents are fully engaged in it as well exhibiting child like behavior. The over-the-top effect may be shock value for TV but the message is extremely disturbing. Clearly competition is present in life and can build character if it is handled in a way that is fair and sends a message that it’s ok not to always come out on top. Perfection is a subjective illusion anyway, isn’t it? It’s all in our heads. It’s what we each deem as perfect. Why don’t we already feel perfect? Because perfect has been perceived as what others believe perfect to be, and we can never really live up to what others think that is. We should only be concerned with how we feel about our accomplishments or lack thereof. Trying to achieve some false sense of perfection only sets us up for failure. There will always be someone in life who has more than you but who cares? Be yourself. We all have our own style and uniqueness which makes us interesting – and perfect! I doubt Mozart, Leonardo Da Vinci, Albert Einstein or Bob Dylan were concerned with being like everyone else, and they did ok for themselves.

If you find yourself on the treadmill of always trying to top yourself and others, try this…..take about ten minutes a day (twice a day would be even better), and find a place that is quiet to be all by yourself. You can even light some incense or a candle, close your eyes and just ask the question….Who am I and what do I want? If thoughts come into your head, just take a deep breath and ask the question again. Be still and meditate on that each day. Being still and quiet may bring up things that are uncomfortable at first to think about but pushing away those thoughts will just bring them up at a later time. Accumulating toxic emotions that do not get addressed can cause illness so stay with it even if it’s uncomfortable. Over time that feeling will fade. Consider it practicing a little self preservation. And over time you may start to realize who you are and what you want to achieve in life – your way – and in that lies the perfection of you.

Peace,
Maria

Eat Your Mushrooms!

With the arrival of winter comes the return of cold and flu season. The best prevention is a strong immune system. Eating right, exercising, getting plenty of rest and practicing stress reduction are the best medicines. However you may need a little extra help to boost your immune system and fight off the seasons ills. For that I have one word....”MUSHROOMS!” Mushrooms are immune boosting, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, help lower cholesterol, control blood pressure, protect the liver, may inhibit the growth of tumors and have anticancer properties. And let’s not forget they are delicious (especially mushroom soup…recipe below!).

Following are the mushrooms you should be consuming whenever you can, raw or cooked. They pack a bounty of health benefits and may even ward off that cold and/or flu this season. If you can spend the money to buy organic it’s worth it. Places like Costco now carry them dried which make them much cheaper with a longer shelf life. You can also buy all of these in capsule and/or powdered form as supplements. You will notice on my list below the regular white button mushroom is missing; (note that the white, portobello and crimini are the same species). They contain natural carcinogens which are not present in the list below. If you do eat them never eat them raw. Cooking helps to break down the toxins.

Maitake – I listed Maitake first because they are my favorites. It is a Japanese mushroom that looks like a mini pine cone. It has anticancer and antiviral properties and boosts immunity. It can also help control high blood pressure and blood sugar levels. These can be harder to find than shitake however Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s carry them.

Shitake – Easier to find, possibly even in your local supermarket are shitake mushrooms. They are a hearty, meaty mushroom and great to put in the food processor to make mushroom burgers. They are known to absorb cholesterol, are antiviral and have anticancer properties. The stems can be tough but I usually throw those in the food processor and add in salad dressings, sauces, burgers, soups and stews.

Cordyceps – One that you probably are not too familiar with, Cordyceps are used to restore health and as a tonic and restorative. In traditional Chinese medicine tonics are known to boost and restore health on a physical and mental level. They are great for energy and endurance.

Enoki – These mushrooms are the most interesting looking. They have long white thin stems and little balls at the top of each stem. A nice light flavor makes them a good addition to salads and soups however only a few minutes are needed for cooking so throw them in a few minutes prior to the soup being done. Studies show the enoki has significant anticancer and immune-enhancing effects.

Reishi – I was sick a few times last winter and then started taking a supplement of reishi mushroom and astragalus and I was healthy the rest of the season. Reishi is great for the immune system but it is not a mushroom you cook with, it is strictly a medicinal mushroom. Well known for its anti-inflammatory properties it also can inhibit the growth of some malignant tumors. In addition, it reduces allergic responsiveness, and protects the liver.

ABM - Another mushroom you may not have heard about is the ABM (Agaricus Blazei Murill) mushroom. This mushroom is getting more and more attention. Research has shown that people in the Atlantic Rainforest region in southeastern Brazil that have a daily diet of ABM mushrooms have unusually low incidences of chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Other studies performed over the last 25 years have shown the ABM to stimulate the immune system and promote natural mechanisms to battle infectious diseases and cancers. Since they are hard to find here in America you can get them in capsule formula.

So the moral of this story is to eat up those mushrooms!

Here is a recipe for mushroom soup that will warm you up in the winter months and boost your immune system at the same time!

4 ounces of shitake mushrooms
4 ounces of maitake mushrooms
1/8 inch slice of ginger chopped
2 tablespoons shallots
1 large clove of garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
*2 tablespoons organic shoyu sauce
32 ounce box of mushroom broth (you can use chicken or vegetable if you can’t find mushroom)
Salt/pepper to taste

Add all the mushrooms, shallots, ginger slice and garlic clove in a food processor and puree. Add two tablespoons of sesame oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add the mushroom mixture to the oil and cook on low heat. After about 5 minutes add the broth, salt, pepper and rosemary. Cook on low for about 20 minutes. Then add the cilantro, parsley and shoyu. Once the soup is turned off and cools put it in a blender to puree all the ingredients into a creamy soup. You can add salt and pepper depending on how salty and spicy you like it.

*Shoyu means soy sauce in Japanese. It is made of soybeans, roasted wheat and sea salt. It is a higher quality soy sauce. I always buy it organic. Eden Shoyu is one of the highest rated and purest form of soy sauce. If you are allergic to gluten you can use Tamari. It is also made from soy beans and salt but without the wheat.

Stay healthy,
Maria

Going Hybrid..My Two Cents About Climate Change

Unfortunately climate change has become a "take sides" political debate. When this happens all reason goes out the window and scientific facts about global warming (and cooling) get skewed. This is sad since no one will deny that the weather is changing and not for the better. Mother Nature seems very angry with us (as she should be). That being said my husband and I just bought our first Hybrid. It feels so good to think that we are doing something to help the environment until America goes solar and wind! For those of you that have thought about buying a hybrid even if you don’t believe in climate change...how about getting 50 miles to the gallon and only filling your tank once every two weeks!

It always puzzled me as to why Americans are so defensive about this topic. All we are being asked to do is conserve and be mindful of resources. Then it dawned on me. I think this strikes a nerve since we have been sold a bill of goods that "bigger means successful” and "more is better" and everyone drank the kool-aid. However the result of that mentality was millions of Americans in debt and facing foreclosing and people are being forced to change. Maybe "less is more", "love and be thankful for what you have" and "respect nature" will become the new American slogans. Remember if insects disappeared from the earth the planet would cease to exist but if human beings disappeared the planet would flourish so we need nature. In addition, why has wanting to conserve become the enemy? What is so wrong with conserving energy, changing some lightbulbs, recycling and being less wasteful? Even if each one of us stopped using the paper cups at work for coffee and brought our own mugs (something I just started doing since I realized how wasteful I was being). If we want our children and future generations to live better than us it should mean cleaner air, food that isn't contaminated with pesticides, greener safer homes without toxins, and places left where you can still ski and ice skate in the winter....sounds like a better world to me!

Peace,
Maria

Dealing with Depression

Many consider the holiday season a joyful time of year, however, if you are one of the almost 15 million Americans who suffer from depression this time of year can be particularly difficult. The days are shorter and darker and the holidays can be very challenging for those who are alone, have lost loved ones or do not have very positive memories of the holidays. If it’s only the time of year that gets you down you may have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) but not chronic depression. If you have SAD you can check my blog for an extensive discussion on ways to manage it. Everyone occasionally feels down or sad. These feelings are usually situational and don’t last more than a few days. Depression is chronic and interferes with your daily life and relationships. Below are some of the signs to be aware of:

• Persistent sad, anxious, or "empty" feelings
• Feelings of hopelessness or pessimism
• Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness
• Irritability, restlessness
• Frequent thoughts of death, dying or suicide
• Crying spells for no apparent reason
• Loss of interest in activities or hobbies once pleasurable
• Fatigue and decreased energy
• Difficulty concentrating, remembering details, and making decisions
• Insomnia or excessive sleeping
• Overeating, or appetite loss

Theories regarding treatment are as plentiful as the number of prescriptions given for depression. As one size doesn’t fit all, treatment will vary from one person to another. I was listening to a radio show recently and heard a Harvard PhD say that "there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance, depression is all emotional”. The comment was so surprising to me, never having heard anyone say that before, that I imagine other doctors and mental health professionals will take issue with it. He went on to say that the drugs given for depression eventually stop working and the symptoms re-appear until you do the hard work that's needed to get to the root cause of your depression or problem. Having something or someone to blame for your depression, or any problem in life, makes it easy not to look at yourself and assume responsibility. While I think each person needs to do what works for them, my own belief system is more in line with what this doctor said. Owning your inner stuff is a hard pill to swallow. It may require making some uncomfortable life changes. You may realize you’re not happy in your marriage, with your job, or any variety of things that need to be addressed that you have been putting off. I doubt there is a human being on the planet that hasn't been in denial about something in their life at one time or another. Sometimes it’s easier to push it down and avoid having to deal with it. In the long run going through the pain is more beneficial then skirting around it. Women know that our hormones can wreak havoc at certain times of the month and especially as we enter menopause. However, many women, including myself, do not have any mood problems during the menopause transition. Dr Chris Northup says that menopause is the time that all the unresolved emotions in your life surface in a big way, and if you haven't dealt with them in the past they return at menopause in the form of depression, mood swings, weight gain and pain. Our bodies communicate with us until we listen…….

There are “cold spots” for depression around the globe. This means that a particular area has a very low rate of depression. The common thread appears to be lifestyle related. In Iceland where the winter months are mostly spent in continuous darkness the rate of depression is very low. It appears that there are a few reasons for this. The typical Icelandic diet consists of high levels of Omega 3 fatty acids. Scientists have discovered that a diet rich in omega 3’s results in less depression and lower incidences of other psychiatric problems such as anxiety, bipolar diseases, schizophrenia and antisocial behaviors. These fats are essential for the brain and nervous system. Icelanders eat a lot of omega-3 rich fish as well as antioxidant-rich vegetables and whole grains which have folate and other b vitamins. They exercise, but not at the gym. It's primarily by gardening or doing things they enjoy that require them to move. Americans are way too sedentary due to addiction to TV and computers. Don’t skip breakfast but eat the right breakfast…scrambled eggs, whole grain toast and cereal is ok, but make sure the cereal does not have any more than 5 grams of sugar. Fruit and yogurt, oatmeal, smoked salmon (a very good source of omega 3’s) and even whole grain pancakes are also ok. Eat more fruits and vegetables and think "rainbow," eating as many colors as you can. Drinking alcohol worsens depression so work on cutting that out of your life. Drinking 2-3 cups a day of black or green tea has been shown to have a positive effect on depression. Connecting to a community and reaching out to others will enhance your well-being even if you don’t have depression.

If you are already taking medication these are lifestyle changes that will help manage your depression. I would also try adding yoga and meditation, massage and some energy work such as reiki, charka balancing or vortex healing to clear emotional blockages in the body.

When you suffer from depression getting out of bed can be a struggle so doing the work is going to take a commitment, but it will be worth it. Take baby steps and do one thing a day to enhance your well-being.

Approximately twenty percent of people with depression do not get treated. While there are many who do not have health insurance others feel ashamed to admit they are depressed. Our cultural norm is to say everything is perfect, looks perfect and feels perfect when in fact it is so natural to have ups and downs...and what does perfect mean anyway? So if you have any of these symptoms seek treatment, and if you know of someone with depression reach out to them. There is new research all the time and there are many treatment options available. I have known people who said that being depressed was the start of the happiest time in their life because they made a commitment to self discovery, and I believe we all have that ability inside of us.

Be well and happy,

Maria