Beating PCOS: still living with PCOS

Unfortunately PCOS is something that you can cure or get rid off.  It's something that remains with you your whole life, though symptoms do sometimes change with menopause.  However, there are changes that can be made to your lifestyle (some I have already spoken about in my previous blog) which help combat some of the effects of PCOS and help you feel better in the long run.  The good news about these changes is that they really are things everyone should be doing, we just have to be a little stricter about them.  

So these are the habitats I do on a regular basis.

Diet
These is one of the key areas to help with the effects of PCOS and I have already written a blog post on what diet has been recommended.  Now don't get me wrong, I do have a treat now and then and I have fallen off the bandwagon a few times, but for the most part I have a pretty healthy diet with almost no dairy.  The plus is that I've been following it for so long now it feels pretty normal and I actually quite like it.  I am a fan of vegetables so that always helps and I haven't missed taking out dairy as much as I thought. It probably helps that reducing dairy has greatly reduced the number of colds I've had.

Exercise
I'm lucky in this department because the work I do means I'm pretty much exercising all day long, and quite intensively.  Along with the commute I do on my bike I am basically on my feet and moving from 7.30am until 6.30pm.  I have increased my diet to fit the additional work, but I haven't needed tondo so by much.  When I'm not at work it's important to keep the exercise level up and if I'm having a few days off in. Row then I tend to run quite regularly.  It's not at the same intensity but it's something that has definitely helped in the past and something that seems to work well with my body.  It's important to find a type of exercise that suits you and your body, and that you enjoy.  But it can't be too easy otherwise it won't have the desired affect.

Both of these have helped me with weight loss (and hopefully helped reduce the chance of me getting Type II diabetes) and I am now around 9 stone 7.  This is a big difference to the 13 stone 5 I was at my heaviest.  It also seems to have helped reduce the amount of hair that has been growing back after removal and helped level about my period, making it much more consistent.

Hair removal
Whilst it may not be as bad as it used to be (I could have literally placed a werewolf and not needed any cosmetics or fancy dress), it is still and issue I need to deal with regularly.  Waxing is still my main point of call and ideally I would get it done at a beauticians, but as I would need to go on a monthly basis the expense means that I usually choose to make this an at home affair.  Definitely worth learning how to do that.

Depression
I would say that this is the most unpleasant part of having PCOS.  The little hand in the dark pulling you under and making everything awful.  There will be times when things are fine and great, but there will be many times when fighting it becomes a daily chores.  I try not to take medication unless I really have to, but the one thing that I have found has really helped is cognitive behavioural therapy.  It feels a bit weird doing it at first, almost like you don't deserve it, but I have seen improvements in my feelings and I'm hoping it will just keep getting better.  Definitely worth a shot of your suffering from the same.

Don't get me wrong, having PCOS makes you feel like you've been handed a bag of crap you didn't ask for and it can make things really unbearable sometimes.  But there are things that can be done to help deal with the effects it has.  In an ideal world you wouldn't have to deal with this, but on the plus once you've learnt how to be healthy and fit this will remain with you for the rest of your life.  Then you can just watch those people who have never had to deal with get fat as they get older.

Buying Less

Last month saw a bit of a change to my life which meant that I had to move most of my possessions into storage (the rest is with my parents at the moment).  While this wasn't a particular pleasant time the one thing it really showed me was just how much stuff I actually had.  I've never been a big spenders and have been good at getting rid of things over the last few years.  And yet, I have still managed to accumulate more things than one person needs and which I don't want to have to lug around with me.

Obviously I'll be going through and doing quite an intensive decluttering, but on the other side I don't want to be bringing anything else in.  So, I'm going to be going on a no buy for the next few months to help not increase the problem.  The only real exception to this will be the things I need to buy for work, the the emphasis is on the word 'need'.

Though there may be a few items I need to buy now and then, there are a few categories I really do not need anything in.  They are:

• Makeup - I most definitely have enough products in this category and the only exception to the no buy rule will be mascara.  My no buy for makeup will continue past the end of the year and I will only buy an item if I have completely used up every product in each makeup category.  Which will probably be never when it comes to eyeshadow and blush.
• Jewelry - this is another category I have a stupidly large number of.  And I say stupidly as I only tend to wear the same pieces over and over again.  I think the problem for me is that I usually buy the items during my travels and they end up having a special meaning to me.  On the plus side, I don't expect to be doing much travelling in the future so I won't be as tempted, but there's also the shinny things I see in the shops that are so cheap and I just want.  Time to start saying no, there is no way I need more.
• Scarves, hats, and gloves - now this is a category where work might mean I need to buy some, but for non work purposes I really don't need anymore.  This is another category which I tend to buy when traveling to keep with me as a wearable memory, but I have way more then anyone needs (especially when it comes to scarves).  I actually wear all of my hats, gloves, and scarves so it's unlikely I'll be decluttering any of them soon, but I can stop buying them.  This is another category which will carry on after the year ends and I will only buy new ones once all the anothers have either fallen apart or been lost (I tend to leave hats on the bus for some bizarre reason).
• Leisure clothing - I don't have the biggest wardrobe when it comes to cloth.  It's just never been my thing, probably because it's difficult to find anything that fits my body type, but I decided a while ago that I should only have 5 items in each clothing category.  I probably don't even need that number and already have less in some of the categories, but I'm going on a no buy until all the categories are down to five.  Then I'll just replace like for like after that.
• Books - a few years ago my Dad gave me a large number of his books and so I now have all the fictions I could possibly need, probably for the rest of my life.  The only books I'll allow myself to buy are reference books or non-fiction on a category I'm researching at the time.  However, this will only be if I can't find it at the library and I will try and buy the digital version instead of a hardcopy.

And so begins my no buy (or maybe low buy would be better as I will still buy things I actually need - like waterproof trousers).  An added bonus will be that I should also get a little help with my finances as well.

Transitioning to Veganism

If you've been kind enough to be ready my blog over the last few months you'll know that I'm meant to be removing dairey products from my diet because of the problems milk can cause when you have PCOS.  You'll also know that I've been watching documentaries like Cowspiracy and Food Inc as well as educating myself on the food industry and the negative impact animal agriculture has on the environment.  And with the most recent information on fighting climate change and habitat loss indicating that making changes to your diet, especially removing animal products from it, is one of the leading ways in which we can do our bit it seems logical to me to start transitioning my diet from a vegetarian one to a vegan.  I've been thinking about this for a while, but for some reason the momentum to do it has really begun now.

I've already been taking steps, without necessarily noticing it, in that direction, but these have all been the easy ones.  One of these has been increasing the amount a fresh vegetables I get over buying processed food which is likely to contain an animal product.  This has been very easy as vegetable are yummy so why wouldn't you want to eat as many as is humanly possible.  I've also been swapping products to vegan alternatives such as plant based milks and the cheeky Quorn vegan products which I add to my suppers.  I've also added some ingredients that are important for everyone to have in a healthy diet, but are especially important when it comes to vegans.  I already love marmite, but nutrional yeast has been a great addition to ensure that I'm getting all my needed B vitamins.  It doesn't taste of cheese (I don't know why people say that), but it is pretty yummy and good to add to a range of things.

There have been some things I have found suprisingly easy to start removing from my diet.  Firstly milk.  Milk used to play a big part in my diet, in fact I craved it when I got home at night and would down a big glass of it.  But since removing it I haven't missed it at all.  It's not just that I've found an alternative that I really like, it's that the cravings have completely gone.  I'm not even particularly keen on the taste anymore and happy reach for water instead.  Then there's cheese, another item I thought I loved dearly.  I still have this in my diet now and then, but this has usually been when someone else has been picking the meal or when there is no other option on the menu (I'm going to find better ways of getting round this).  It was something that I enjoyed selecting at the supermarket and eating on a weekly basis, but now that I don't eat it weeks at a time I find I don't miss it at all.  Lastly there are eggs.  Who doesn't love a boiled or fried egg, or even eggy bread (oh eggy bread).  It used to be my weekend treat but I realised the other day that I hvedn't had any of those for a few months now and didn't even noticed.  I was like I just stopped choicing it as an options.  I know eggs are little power houses of goodness, but they obviously weren't as important to my body as I thought they were and I haven't even noticed not having them.

So where am I struggling? The answer to this is going to be boringly obvious.  To begin with there's chocolate.  I don't eat this anywhere nearly as regularly as I used to, but I still eat this enough. I don't even really enjoy it when I eat it, I think it's just the sugar rush I get over anything else.  On the good side I have found alternatives I can eat when I want something chocolately and I really just been to get off my arse and let go of the milky goo.  Then, of course, there's ice cream.  Now this is really my addition and I just can't seem to say no.  It's my end of the week treat and I find myself eating an entire tub of this, but it's full of the dairy I'm supposed to be giving up, is highly processed, and high in that additive sugar.  As far as I can see there is no non-dairy alternatives that have the same creamy texture, but that's fine as I'm supposed to be removing sugar from my diet anyway.  It's time to stop making excuses and just give the stuff up.

One habitat that I do keep forgetting is to check the labels of the products I'm buying.  It's usually when I'm hungry and doing the random grab anything you can find from the shelf, but there are other times where I've been guilty of assuming something won't contain any animal products and then finding that it does once I've got it home. I need to make a mental note that when I pick up any food items I check the ingredients first before I buy, even if my stomach is shouting at me.

One extra added motivator for me is that on weeks when I have managed to have a complete vegan diet I've had far more energy and felt much more alert.  It might not be the case for everyone but I believe that a vegan diet might be the right diet for my body.  It helps that when I am completely vegan I tend to eat much more fresh vegetables and less processed foods and I don't think it's going to be too difficult to make the final steps I need. I just need to give up those sugary additions I shouldn't be eating any way, so that'll be 'hello' to the little sugar monster running around in my brain for a few weeks.

Do you have any tips on being vegan?  Are there any products that you would really recommend to people wanting to take this diet?  Please let me know, it would be very helpful.

Mini Film Review: Cowspiracy

This movie came out in 2014 but it took me a little while to watch this, though I've now watched it a couple of times.  It looks at the impact of animal agriculture on the environment and, perhaps more interestingly, the policies that environmental organisations have on dealing with the issue.

Made my Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn it looks at the impact animal agriculture has on deforestation, water consumption, and pollution, how it produces more greenhouse gases than transportation.  It's the primary cause of rainforest destruction, habitat loss, and ocean dead zones, all of which leads to species extinction.  As Kip found out, you can recycle, save water, be energy efficient, and use public transport as much as you want, but it's what you eat which will have the biggest impact environmentally. 

Despite this, the industry has mostly gone unchallenged and in fact during the filming of this documentary the producers were warned by the industries watchdogs and whistleblowers that carrying on their research could lead to them being arrested and were even risking their lives.

Perhaps the most eye opening part of the documentary is when they were interviewing individuals from environmental organisations they were reluctant to talk about changes to people's diet as a viable solution to the environmental issues we are facing at the moment.  It seems asking people to change this aspect of their lifestyle is seen as going too far despite the positive impact it would have.

I've been aware of the impact the meat industry has on our environment for about 10 years, which is when I first started researching into becoming a vegetarian.  I had thought it would be pretty common knowledge by now but, from the people I've been speaking to, it still isn't clear just how important taking meat out of your diet is.  This is probably connected to the way the animal agriculture industry is using their strengths to 'lean' on the issue, as highlighted in this documentary.  One thing that has changed in the last three years is that environmental organisations have now started talking more about the role meat and dairy can play in helping fight climate change, but it still doesn't seem to be given the level of importance it should.

The two things I got from this documentary film was firstly that there are people trying to fight any of the changes we need to make, making it far more important that we make these decisions on our own, and that taking dairy out of my diet is just as important as removing meat.  I have been removing dairy from my diet any way due to my PCOS, but this has added another reason and has definitely had more of an incentive then the health factor alone.  Over the last few months I've been removing and replacing all the dairy products I use.

You can learn more about the movie and order it (both in DVD and downloadable format) from the website, but you can also get it from Amazon or see it YouTube.  Definitely worth a watch.

Project Pan 17 Update #9 and Other Products

This month has definitely been a month where I haven't been wearing makeup as much as I should have been to use it up for a project pan.  I have made some progress, but it's been really slow.

It almost seems pointless showing this photo as there really isn't much obvious change.  There is a dip going on in Toasted probably because I use it every time I do my makeup as an undereye shadow.  Other than that, everything is moving quite slowly as I'm trying to use all the shades equally.  Urban Decay is a cruelty free brand.

This shadow is the one that has gone down the most.  This is the Sable shadow from a duo eye palette by Natural Collection and is a really good shadow for both setting your eye primer and under the eye to set my concealer.  Both of the sides are now gone and the lower section should be used up within a week.  I might actually be able to complete the top section by the end of October, which would be great.  It is beginning to crumble a little bit now that the side sections have gone, but hopefully it won't fall out before I've finished it.  Natural Collection is a cruelty free brand.

I finished the Black Barry M Nail Paint in the first week of September.  Since then I've been working on Bright Red.  I haven't got a far as I had hoped or expected, but I think I'll definitely get it finished by the end of October.  That will leave me with one last nail varnish by Zoya to finish to be nail polish free.  Barry M is cruelty free.

And now for the world of the never ending makeup.  Here are the Barbara Day eye primer, MUA powder foundation in Shade 4, and Bourjois blusher in Ceidre.  All of them are going down, but not fast enough for it to be obvious on the photo.  I'll be very lucky if these are finished by the end of this year.

The last product is not part of my project pan but is something I finished this month and it's The Neal's Yard Organic Eye Make-up Remover.  I really wanted to like this product but unfortunately it didn't really work out.  Because I have watery eyes I regularly wear waterproof mascara.  Despite it saying it's for waterproof mascara and me holding a cotton pad dampened in the product over my eyes before wiping I still had to rub my lashes quite hard to get the makeup off my lashes.  It also made my eyes a little bit soar.  However, I do have sensitive eyes and so it might not be the same for someone who doesn't have this and who doesn't wear waterproof mascara.  It's a shame but that's how it goes.

To see my progress so far:

• Introduction
• Project Pan Update #1
• Project Pan Update #2
• Project Pan Update #3
• Project Pan Update #4
• Project Pan Update #5
• Project Pan Update #6
• Project Pan Update #7
• Project Pan Update #8