Good Carbs

I am learning not to fear healthy carbs! The foods shown in the photo above will not make you fat. Sure they have some carbs in them but the are also full of healthy vitamins and fiber. Those shown had just been brought in from my back garden. I sliced them up and added them to my salad for lunch. They were organic and delicious! If you do not have your own garden you can often find at this time of year locally grown veggies at your grocery store.

I'm Back!

My friends I am back. I had a hysteroscopy a few weeks ago and went through a time of discouragement. My doctor did not find a forbid in my uterus which was good news but he wants me to start taking birth control, Metformin and Phentermine! Since my partial molar pregnancy this past winter I have not had a regular period. He feels the birth control would help with this. I told him that my PCOS was treated with birth control when I was 18 and in four months I gained 50 pounds! This is why he suggested Phentermine, so I would not be afraid of gaining weight but would be sure to lose ten pounds! I am so tempted to take the weight loss pill but I can not do that to my body. I know I can maintain my weight with healthy living. And I believe I can restore a regular cycle with healthy living as well. So I am back to share with you my journey to fertility. :)

The past few weeks I have been playing around with different diet plans. As you can see from old posts I experimented with raw food for a week and after that a higher protein diet. As much as the high protein healthy fats diet makes sense I see more weight lose with a lower protein diet. Right now I am eating mostly raw veggies and fruit with olive oil for my healthy fat and a little cooked animal protein. I am holding around 140 to 145 with this way of eating and maintaining sufficient energy. As much as I would love to get down to 130, right now I would like even more to get pregnant and losing vanity pounds wont help with that. I plan to maintain and support ovulation with my diet exercise.

Rosedale Diet Day 1

I was very hungry today probably because of the carbs I treated myself to on my birthday yesterday. However my dinner time I all I wanted was a celery stick with some almond butter. I believe all the healthy fats I consumed during the day satisfied my hunger well.

B: Two eggs and one oz of walnuts

L: A big salad with peppers, mushrooms, snow pea pods, pecans, and avocado with olive oil dressing.

Two slices of turkey meat.

S: 3 oz of smoked salmon

Almond butter on a celery stick

D: Almond butter on a celery stick.

Fat: 113 grams Carbs: 45 grams Protein: 62 grams Calories: 1386

Just as with the raw food diet I am eating too many nuts again. I want to keep them down to no more than 3 oz a day. Also it feels a little scary that I ate113 grams of fat today! If I keep the nuts down that should help keep the fat and calories down. I know Rosedale says there is no need to count calories or fat but I believe I still will. For someone who was eating lots of junk and than goes on this diet, sure they are going to lose weight. But I was already eating low calorie so adding lots of fat to my diet I feel could reslut in weight gain.

Back to Blogging

I am home from the hospital. Just had a look inside my uterus. Before today I and my family were at the beach for a few days. But now I am ready to get back to my blog and working on my health, keeping up the good fight with PCOS.

I did finish my week of raw food. It was a nice treat to eat more fruit. However at the end of the week my cravings were up and I had not lost any weight. I did a lot of reading online, prose and cones of the raw food diet. I walked away from this experiment with resolved to add more raw food to my diet. However in order to consume adequate protein I will be eating a small amount of organic poultry and fish. I will keep fruit to a minimum since it seemed to increase my cravings. But I will still eat a little fruit during the week for the nutrients they contain.

This week I will be giving The Rosedale diet a try. The theory behind this diet is controlling the hormone Leptin. Leptin is a hormone made by body fat that controls hunger levels and fat storage or release. For the first three weeks one consumes only: fibrous veggies, nuts, fish, organic poultry, avocado and olive oil. No grains, fruit, dairy, starchy veggies or meats high in saturated fat are aloud. Often when one follows a low carbohydrate diet they are encouraged to supplement those calories with protein. Dr. Rosedale says no. Excess protein is turned into glucose. Also excess protein can be toxic to ones system. So where do the majority of ones calories come from? "Healthy fats" as Rosedale calls them. The fats from fish, nuts and olive oil. There is no calorie or carb counting on this diet. Dr. Rosedale does ask that one keeps their protein below 75 to 60 grams a day. This diet sounds very close to how I eat already. I am exited to give his theory a try this week. He has a stage one and two. In the first three weeks one is supposed to be changing their body from sugar burning to fat burning. This helps in regulating the correct Leptin levels. I am not sure what I think of the Science behind this diet. A diet where one can never again eat sweet potatoes or pumpkin or more than I tiny bit of fruit seems over restrictive. These foods have an abundance of healthy nutrients. I feel that a moderate version of this diet idea would be a good one that I could stay with for the long term. It makes more sense to me than the Atkins diet where one consumes unrestricted protein and fat and very little fiber or even veggies especially in the beginning.

Day 3 with raw food

Yesterday was another successful raw day. I managed to eat less nuts. I made up for it by eating more fruit. I am nervous about eating too much fruit because of the sugar. This is why I don't think the "raw" food diet would work well for me. I either eat high sugar from more fruit or high fat from more nuts.

My digestion has been a little shaky. My body is trying to proses all this raw food and finding it a challenge. Yesterday I felt my stomach rumbling throughout the day. I have not had horrible cramps so I am not too concerned. It is good for my stomach to learn to digest more raw food.

I did look into protein yesterday. The raw food camp waved off any concern with protein levels being insufficient on a raw diet. They claim that when meat is cooked it destroys half the protein content so we are all eating less protein than we think anyway. I looked further into "raw food myths" and founds some great sights put up by ex %100 percent raw foodists. They went into detail about their experiences doing this diet long term. It seems a short term raw food diet has many health benefits. Long term it is too restrictive for health maintenance.

This weekend I am going to the beach with my husband and son so I will end my raw experiment tomorrow.

Strawberries, fresh, 8 medium (1-1/4" dia) 29 7 0 1 Banana, fresh, 1 medium (7" to 7-7/8" long) 109 28 1 1 Kiwi Fruit, 1 fruit without skin, medium 46 11 0 1 Spinach, fresh, 1 cup 7 1 0 1 Almond Breeze Almond Milk, Unsweetened Vanilla, 4 oz 20 1 2 1

Carrots, raw, 1 medium 25 6 0 1 Celery, raw, 1 stalk, medium (7-1/2" - 8" long) 6 1 0 0 Mushrooms, fresh, 1 cup, pieces or slices 15 2 0 2 Red Ripe Tomatoes, 1 Italian tomato 13 3 0 1 Strawberries, fresh, 4 medium (1-1/4" dia) 14 3 0 0 Sweet Cherries, 1 cup, with pits, yields 74 19 0 1 Olive Oil, 1 tbsp 119 0 14 0 Coconut, raw, 1 piece (2" x 2" x 1/2") 159 7 15 1 Peppers, sweet, red, fresh, 0.5 medium (approx 2-3/4" long, 2-1/2" dia) 16 4 0 1

Walnuts, 1 oz (14 halves) 189 4 19 4 Iceberg Lettuce (salad), 1 cup, shredded or chopped 8 2 0 0 Sesame Seeds, 2 tbsp 103 4 9 3

DIN

			CALORIES	CARBS	FAT	PROTEIN
			1,034	124	61	19

How I am feeling so far.

I have been on a raw food diet four days. How am I feeling? Not great so far. I have been tired and extra sleepy. I was at the tail end of a cold when I started eating raw so it hard to tell weather my symptoms are stemming from that or my diet.

This morning when I got up from bed I felt dizzy and lightheaded. Am I detoxing? It can't be I'm not getting enough calories. I have been eating more than I normally do.

Even with this overall tired feeling I did have the energy to run well yesterday.

I am interested to see how I feel in a few days.

My energy levels seemed more steady throughout the day today. I had cravings for more almonds

after I ate lunch. Held off for a while but ended up going back to the nut jar. :) I ate too many nuts again today. I think my body is craving something more calorie dense than the raw fruits and veggies I have been eating. Nuts give me a stomach ache so I need to try harder to keep them down to only a oz or two a day. I poured the rest of the almond jar out for the squirrels to eat! hehe I kept the walnuts and will try to have about an oz or two a day for the omega 3 oils. (Almonds do not have omega 3 oil)

Now that my cold is finally better I went for a run this evening.( 2.5 miles in 27 minutes.) I'm happy with that for now.

I need to do more research on how many grams a day of protein is recommended. Eating raw I have not been able to get my protein above 25 grams a day.The raw food diet may work better for me long term if I substitute eggs, organic poultry and wild fish for protein.

Breakfast

Kiwi Fruit, 1 fruit without skin, medium 46 11 0 1 Raspberries, 0.5 cup 30 7 0 1 Strawberries, fresh, 6 small (1" dia) 13 3 0 0 Kale, 1 cup, chopped 36 7 1 2 Almond Breeze Almond Milk, Unsweetened Vanilla, 4 oz 20 1 2 1

Lunch

Strawberries, fresh, 3 medium (1-1/4" dia) 11 3 0 0 Apples, fresh, 0.5 medium (2-3/4" dia) (approx 3 per lb) 41 11 0 0 Raspberries, 0.25 cup 15 4 0 0 Red Ripe Tomatoes, 2 Italian tomato 26 6 0 1 Carrots, raw, 1 medium 25 6 0 1 Celery, raw, 1 stalk, medium (7-1/2" - 8" long) 6 1 0 0 Mushrooms, fresh, 1 cup, pieces or slices 15 2 0 2 Romaine Lettuce (salad), 4 cup, shredded 31 5 0 4 Zucchini, 1 cup, sliced 29 7 0 1 Green Peppers (bell peppers), 0.5 cup, strips 19 5 0 1 Avocados, California (Haas), 1 fruit without skin and seeds 289 15 27 3 Olive Oil, 1 tbsp 119 0 14 0 Walnuts, 1 oz (14 halves) 189 4 19 4

DINNER

Walnuts, 1 oz (14 halves) 189 4 19 4