Signs your Diet is Right for You

A lot of you have been asking different questions about the best diets with regards to PMDD and while I answer I know it’s usually pretty general.  No red meat, No processed foods, No caffeine, etc… and although some of the PMDD triggers like the red meat one will be different for us than for others, I believe we can take it steps further.  Learning more about ourselves, as individuals.

I have come across a new site called, Balanced Existence, and I believe that you can really gain a lot by checking out some of his nutrition & diet articles.  He talks about how diets are not ‘one size fits all’.  I have to agree with him on these first 2 articles that I found.  This is part 2, but if you start with it you will be fine.  Check out his site for more articles.  He speaks about over all well-being which as we all know living with PMDD requires us to find balance in EVERY aspect of our lives.

He is not a stranger to illness, he had heart surgery in his early years and lived with chronic fatigue.

Signs Your Diet is Right for You – Part 2

Jul.14, 2009

In the first part of this article I introduced the idea that our medical systems are sick systems not health systems. They are systems in which disease and death are studied furiously. However, studying illness, sickness and disease tells us very little about good health. It tells us very little about what the healthiest amongst us do that helps them to remain that way. So today I would like to share with you the key signs you can look for that will tell you that your current eating habit (diet) is right for you.

The diet that is best for your unique genetic makeup that evolved out of very specific environmental pressures is one that plays to your genetic strengths and not your genetic weaknesses. Evolution is the paradigm that governs biology and we are biological organisms. Therefore, evolution is the only way in which correct nutritional decisions make sense. However, while we may all be as different on the inside as we are on the outside the signs of a correct diet remain constant.

The Signs
If you’re eating the right foods for your unique body put together in the right meal combination you should be able to go for approximately four hours between meals without feeling hungry. Throughout your day you should experience a consistent sense of mental clarity and enjoy good steady energy levels. When stress comes your way your capacity to handle that stress should be quite a bit better than most of the people you observe around you. If your diet is right for you then after workouts you should recover quickly with minimal soreness. You should have no cravings. You should eliminate one foot or 30cm of solid waste (poop) from your body each day. In general you should enjoy a general sense of wellbeing.

Tips
Some dead simple tips you can implement right away include eating some sort of protein with every main meal. That could be raw nuts such as walnuts (good source of OMEGA-3 fatty acid), fish, free range or organic chicken, eggs, grass fed beef and so forth. While you’re doing that make sure you rotate your food to simulate the conditions of diverse food sources our nomadic ancestors evolved under. Remember evolution governs nutrition and physiologically humans haven’t changed in 100,000 years. That means you’re a modern woman or man walking around in a cave woman or man’s body.

Farming has only been around for less than 6,000 years. If you eat the same thing every day eventually it will make you sick. This is one reason why allergies are such a big problem today. Everything on the supermarket shelves has peanuts, soy, wheat and yeast extract in it. Also organic sugar even though it is organic is still junk. Have some berries in organic plain sugar free yogurt instead. Or have an apple. If you have cravings eat some protein. It’s the most satiating type of food available. Don’t be afraid of fat if it comes from good natural sources like animals that have lived the way nature intended them to. Drink the right amount of good clean water.

What to Do Now
Now that you know what to look for from a diet that is right for you can begin to experiment with your diet. Change something and pay attention to what your body tells you. Tweak something else and listen. This is the path to good health as in most cases diet is the single biggest stress your body experiences each day. Diet is a simple way to exponentially improve the quality of your life.

I know from long hard life experience that without your health you are very likely to watch your dreams pass you by. Yet, with good health anything is possible. It’s not hard or difficult. Simply begin today to listen to your body and make small adjustments. Stay positive, keep learning and learn to stop struggling through life. Realize that this is the only game in town. Soon the small drops fill the bucket.

I’ve written a lot about diet in the past so you might want to take a cruise through the archive page. If you enjoyed this one I’m sure you’ll find lots of posts there which you will find interesting and informative.

By: Stephen Cox, BalancedExistence

Premenstrual Syndrome & Fibromyalgia: Similarities & Common Features: Article

The Premenstrual Syndrome and Fibromyalgia: Similarities and Common Features – Source: Clinical Reviews in Allergy and Immunology, Jun 26, 2009
by Daniela Amital, Howard Amital, et al.
June 27, 2009

The aim of the study was to assess the clinical similarities and common features of fibromyalgia syndrome (FM) and premenstrual dysphoric syndrome (PMDD). Thirty young patients who met the diagnostic criteria for PMDD were included in the study and compared to 26 women belonging to the medical staff of a general psychiatry department [control group].

All enrollees were interviewed and examined by a skilled physician. They completed the following nine survey items: demographic information, clinical health assessment questionnaire, fibromyalgia impact questionnaire, sleep and fatigue questionnaires, Sheehan disability scales, SF-36 assessment for quality of life, visual analog scale for pain, Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) questionnaire (assessment of coexistent psychiatric conditions), and the premenstrual severity scale.

Additionally, each individual underwent a physical examination measuring the classical tender points and was asked to describe the distribution and continuum of her pain or tenderness.

The premenstrual dysphoric syndrome group scored significantly higher in the measures of pain and tenderness as well as in severity of premenstrual symptoms compared to the control group.

Five patients in the PMDD group and none in the control group had FM.

Quality of life measured by the SF-36 was higher in the control group than in the PMDD group, and correlated with the degree of tenderness reported.

Psychiatric comorbidity was significantly more common in the PMDD group, affecting 16 of the 30 PMDD patients compared to only 3 of the 26 control patients.

In this study, patients with PMDD were found to have:
• Higher levels of tenderness,
• Higher psychiatric comorbidity,
• Greater level of physical disabilities,
• And a lower quality of life.

These parameters were highly correlated with a lower pain threshold.

Source: Clinical Reviews in Allergy and Immunology, Jun 26, 2009. PMID: 19554481, by Amital D, Herskovitz C, Fostick L, Silberman A, Doron Y, Zohar J, Itsekson A, Zolti M, Rubinow A, Amital H. Department of Psychiatry ‘B’, Ness-Ziona Mental Health Center, Tel-Aviv University, Ness-Ziona, Israel. [E-mail: howard.amital@clalit.org.il]

I’m back- getting back on track

As most of you have read my son started running a 104.6 fever and his lips and body turned a purply color, we called the ambulance and they took us to the hospital. He was vomiting and had only had a fever of 102+ for 2 days before we called the ambulance. We called ask-a-nurse late the night before he went by ambulance, they thought it was more of a virus.

His leg all of a sudden started hurting so bad, he couldn’t even walk- another reason we decided on the ambulance rather than just driving him, plus we didn’t want to get there and have to sit in the waiting room with him being as bad as he was- thank goodness we didn’t wait.

They ran all his tests- no mono, no flu, no nothing. Then they did a CT scan on his leg and found something to be there. They transferred us by ambulance to another hospital where an incredible pediatric orthopedic surgeon waited for us and ordered an MRI to get better pics of the leg. He had a staph infection in his bone.

We don’t know how, he doesn’t have any open cuts, etc… but they say it could be from a cut or something like that from a long time ago and his body fought it off at the beginning, then he just got sick once it hit his bone. They did surgery a few hours later and drained the infection. Then he got a blood clot and then it got in his blood stream and moved to his lungs. The blood clot is in his major vein in his leg so we had to watch to make sure it didn’t do anything.

Luckily, the blood clot finally started getting smaller, the spots in his lungs are breaking up and not getting worse, his fever finally stayed away the last 3 days and his blood cultures came out negative. We were finally released after 2 wks.

He is at home with a PICC line where we give him antibiotics and his blood thinners. He’s also on other meds and will be starting physical therapy, and home health care comes once a week to take blood and change the dressing. It is nice they come here to do blood work and they take it to the hospital and the hospital faxes the results to his 5 specialists.

It is good to be home, he is doing good, playing computer and doing stuff again which will help with the rest of his clot and lungs, getting rid of the mess in them.

My surgery is temporarily off, but the surgical coordinator has been incredible and has said to let her know when I feel like I can reschedule and she will work with me. With the stress and everything going on, it just wasn’t best for me to keep my appt and then rush back to the hospital for recovery.

I will keep you guys informed on my new surgery date, I am still having the surgery and am still very optimistic about the results.

Message from Stef

Hi everyone. Stef asked me to let you know that her oldest son had to have emergency knee surgery and will be in the hospital until Wednesday. Stef’s surgery is Thursday. If you have contacted her, she is not ignoring you but is simply focused on dealing with the current circumstances. Please keep her in your thoughts.

Jennifer

WARP: First Stage of the Series

One of our members, Donna, has put together an incredible wellness management tool that she has been taught. A Woman named Mary Ellen Copeland created the plan. Once Donna completed her training she felt as though it would really help Women with PMDD, I have to agree.

Thank you Donna for putting this series together for us. I recommend all of you read it and apply to your situations. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to ask. Donna is willing to help any way possible and as always, I will research anything you need me too.

Again, thank you Donna.

Here is the first stage of WRAP, its called Wellness Toolbox

Firstly a WRAP (wellness, recovery action plan) is designed to
Help you stay as well as possible
Help you keep track of difficult behaviours and develop action plans to help you feel better
Tell others what to do for you when you are feeling so badly that you can’t make decisions, take care of yourself and keep yourself safe

It is a very flexible thing, and in my situation I am using it as a planning tool for my upcoming operation.

So the first stage is your wellness tool box,
Take a blank page, and write down all the things that help you stay well
examples of some of mine are
Exercise, listening to music, tidying around, meeting with friends, a holiday, some time out, ‘clearing my feet’
It is basically things that we do without thinking about it – but if we didn’t do them then we might not feel as good. You will find that you will add to your WRAP as time goes on.

The next stage is the Daily Maintenance Plan & what I’m like when I’m well, for this you need 2 sheets of paper,
Daily Maintenance plan is things that you require to do on a daily basis to keep yourself feeling good and everything ticking along. Examples are having a shower, sleeping at least 8 hours at night, housework, quality time with kids, speaking to people, cuddles – anything that you do in a day that you would miss/worry about if you didn’t do it.
What I’m Like when I’m well

This gives a good picture of you when you are feeling at your best
some of mine are optimistic, good laugh, quick off the mark, relaxed, focused, organized, well groomed.

THIS IS THE FIRST FEW PARTS , THE NEXT PARTS FOCUS ON LOOKING AT ‘TRIGGERS’ THAT MAY START TO MAKE YOU FEEL UNWELL, AND EARLY WARNING SIGNS THAT THINGS ARE BREAKING DOWN.

Any questions just ask
Donna

Donna is a Parent coach, Scotland Sleep consultant that offers parenting advice, home visits in Scotland, Glasgow/Edinburgh, and a very affordable and accessible sleep counselor, sleep therapist. You can find more on her incredible services & read about her in the press at www.supermammyscotland.com

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