A woman is a cycling being, not a being at the mercy of a cycle.

— Leslie C. Botha

During a recent radio program, one of Leslie’s callers asked her a simple, yet extremely profound question. “OK, I get that I am being effected every month by my hormone cycle. NOW WHAT?”

I thought Leslie’s suggestions were so useful, I included them in the first book of our Menstrual Health Education Series, Understanding Your Mood, Mind, and Hormone Cycle. I thought our readers might like a preview.

Five Steps to Hormonal Harmony

1. Acknowledge and Honor the natural flow of your hormone cycle

Your hormone cycle is the foundation of your being.  Women are the center of the universe…. We are the creators of life; the healers and the wise women…never forget that.  Understandably all that you encounter on your path will attempt to undermine you.  Remember your history as a woman.  Remember what our mothers and foremothers fought and died for so that our daughters will live.  Your body is your own – not to be controlled.  Do not believe that you are a deviant.  Believe that you are the source of creation — because women are.  We are the creators of tomorrow’s world.  Women are the center.  When women are taken out of the center – the whole world becomes out of balance…. and begins to self-destruct.

2. Begin to understand the behavioral changes that occur in the different phases of your cycle

Do not feel ashamed that you change throughout your cycle.  It is a powerful movement – like a wave crashing to shore…. the water build momentum (pre-ovulations) crests into a wave (ovulation) and then retreats back into itself for renewal and nourishment (post-ovulation).  Life is based on giving and receiving.   We all give –and give and give…. we have not learned to receive and replenish.  If we knew that this was important we could teach our children and partners.  That is why our cycles are so important.  They are a physical indicator of what happens to all other life forms.  They remind us of the basic concept of life – to give and receive…. Watch a flower…. it sprouts, blooms and then with the first frost retreats back into the ground to replenish and to start the next cycle in the spring.  Flowers bring joy to our lives…they can only do that because they are nurtured and replenished in the dark of winter.  We, too, can bring joy to our lives as well as others – if we learn to replenish ourselves.

3. Know Your Physical/Emotional Changes

Once you understand your emotional/behavioral changes – explore them…learn how to use the change positively.  For so long we have been indoctrinated that the post-ovulatory phase and the menopausal phase of our lives are
estrogen deficient – therefore weakening our abilities to act as “normal” human beings.  Who defined “normal” anyway?   The post-ovulatory phase of our cycle and menopause are normal phases of women’s cycles – and in understanding this – we can use them to our advantage.  We have bought into a myth – and an industry has made a lot of, money off of our bodies…so the at we have become dependent on therapies, medications; statistics show that women are more prone to attempted suicides, drug and alcohol problems are rape during the pre-ovulatory phase. The unasked and unanswered question is why?

We are not connected to ourselves, our bodies – and we have fallen victims to a myth.

Chart your cycle.  See the patterns develop.  Then work with positive ways of getting out of a self-destructive pattern into a pattern that makes you a powerful woman.  Do not stand alone. Surround yourself with other women of like kind.  Read books, research the Internet, and go to women’s book groups.   Do not be afraid to rock the boat.
Your boat has already been shipwrecked.  You are doing this to save your life…. and that of your daughters and granddaughters.

4. Become Aware of other cycles in your life

Everything cycles…everything.   When you understand this – your life will make sense.  Our life is a journey and each cycle we go through is a process of becoming…and attaining our real potential.  Do not be afraid…to let go of your control…and to trust the flow of the universe…. every life form on this planet that lives in trust thrives…those that allow themselves to be controlled succumb.

5. Live with the Lunar Cycle

You are a wise woman.  Your grace and beauty comes from above and from below.  Become aware of life around you…below you and above.    Live with the lunar cycle…it guides all life on this planet – and governs the tides of waters on our shores and within our bodies.   The ebb and flow of the tide – is a beautiful rhythm and one that we must learn to dance to in our own lives.  Be aware of what phase the moon is in – it will either complement or contradict your hormonal phase.  Pre-pubescent, pregnant and menopausal women have the gift of cycling with the moon.  That knowledge alone is the true gift of live…. and is the reason why women have been called goddesses.  It is time to reclaim that knowledge.  It was taken from us many moons ago…and many women and men died refusing to give it up.  Those that survived had to give it up.  However, we can all know see that the knowledge that replaced this “knowing” is indeed killing us and our other companions on this planet.  It is up to women to remember —for the sake of our daughters…for the sake of humankind.

©2012 An Inconvenient Woman. All Rights Reserved.

I was doing some research for a fiend whose child had just been “diagnosed” Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) by a school nurse who suggested drug therapy. My first thought was a Kindergarten version of ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’…dazed and compliant preschoolers.

In the past decade, ADHD, ”Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a neurobehavioral developmental disorder has become one of the most commonly diagnosed conditions of childhood, and is being increasingly diagnosed in adults. ADHD is characterized by a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity, as well as forgetfulness, poor impulse control or impulsivity, and distractibility. The pharmaceutical medical industrial complex currently considers ADHD a “persistent and chronic condition for which no medical cure is available. Methods of treatment usually involve some combination of medications, behavior modifications, life style changes, and counseling. (BTW side effects aside, MEDICAL TREATMENT is spelled with two-cha-chings!)

So how do most ‘school nurses’, Physicians’ assistants and doctors come up with the very common ADHD diagnosis? Most medical professions use the “Desk Reference to the Diagnostic Criteria From DSM-IV-TR®”, compiled by American Psychiatric Association. Available in a spiral-bound book, and online accessible by computer, or PDA, the diagnostic criteria from DSM-IV-TR® is one of the most commonly used tools used by Physicians and other “prescribing” health care professions. Another ‘tool’, Desk Reference (PDR), which includes every prescription drug package insert. The guides serve as ‘medical cliff notes’, listing symptoms, probably diagnosis, suggested drug protocols, prescription drug side effect information and possible drug interactions.

Guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend medications like CONCERTA® among first-line therapies for children with ADHD as part of a comprehensive treatment program. Go to the CONCERTA® website(1), READ the SIDE EFFECTS.

What rational person would suggest a little kid’s developing brain be put at risk, to assure social compliance? I knew there had to be a better way to deal with “the fidgets” so I did what Inconvenient Women do best, I looked stuff up, and sent the results out to a few thousand of my closets friends.

In September of 2007, William Atkins did a brillant, if little noted, piece on hyperactivity in children. I found it on IWIRE one of my favorite obscure resource sources. For the full article go to: http://www.itwire.com/content/view/14399/1066/

Study links hyper kids with artificial preservatives and colorings

Sodium benzoate and other food preservatives and colorings have been linked with hyperactivity in children. Although such ingredients have been thought in the past to produce adverse behavior in children, this study is considered the first scientific evidence of its kind.

The British study from researchers at the University of Southampton, England, has found that the food preservative sodium benzoate (also called benzoate of soda, with chemical formula C₆H₅COONa), when found with food dyes and colorings, can increase hyperactive behavior in children. Jim Stevenson, psychologist at the University of Southampton, and lead researcher of the study states, “We now have clear evidence that mixtures of certain food colors and benzoate preservative can adversely influence the behavior of children. We have now shown that for a large group of children in the general population, consumption of certain mixtures of artificial food colors and benzoate preservative can influence their hyperactive behavior.”

Food colorings and preservatives–which are often found in sweets such as ice cream, candy, and soda, what children love to eat–were studied. For six weeks over one hundred fifty randomly three-year-olds and over one hundred forty randomly eight-year-olds, in Southampton, England, were studied as to their diet.

The children displayed behaviors previous to the study ranging from normal to hyperactive.

They were provided food that was free of additives. Each day they were given one drink, either fruit juice or one of two mixtures of sodium benzoate preservative and food colorings. One mixture contained sodium benzoate and sunset yellow, tartrazine, carmoisine, and ponceau. The other mixture contained sunset yellow quinoline yellow, carmoisine, and allura red. They were not told which they were given, the fruit juice or one of the two mixtures.

The children who were given the benzoate preservative and food coloring mixtures showed, in some cases, more hyperactive behavior than the children given fruit juice. However, the increases in hyperactive behavior were not consistent between the two mixtures. The researchers contend that the hyperactive behavior may be linked to sodium benzoate and one or more of the specific artificial colorings, rather than to all of the colorings.

The U.S.$1.5 million study was funded by the British Food Standards Agency (FSA) and written up on September 6, 2007, in the journal The Lancet.

From the website of the Food Standards Agency comes this advise, “Parents of children showing signs of hyperactivity are being advised that cutting certain artificial colours from their diets might have some beneficial effects. The colours – Sunset yellow (E110), Quinoline yellow (E104), Carmoisine (E122), Allura red (E129), Tartrazine (E102) Ponceau 4R (E124), and Sodium benzonate (E211) – were studied as part of new FSA-commissioned research.”

Within the Friday, September 7, 2007, FSA article “Agency revises advice on certain artificial colours”, Andrew Wadge, the FSA’s Chief Scientist, said: “This study is a helpful additional contribution to our knowledge of the possible effects of artificial food colours on children’s behaviour.”

“After considering the COT’s [Committee on Toxicity (COT)] opinion on the research findings we have revised our advice to consumers: if a child shows signs of hyperactivity or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) then eliminating the colours used in the Southampton study from their diet might have some beneficial effects.”

“However, we need to remember that there are many factors associated with hyperactive behaviour in children. These are thought to include genetic factors, being born prematurely, or environment and upbringing.”

“The Agency has shared these research findings with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which is currently conducting a review of the safety of all food colours that are approved for use in the European Union, at the request of the European Commission. This review is being undertaken because of the amount of time that has elapsed since these colours were first evaluated.”

“If parents are concerned about any additives they should remember that, by law, food additives must be listed on the label so they can make the choice to avoid the product if they want to.”

[William Atkins' note: When buying foods, always LOOK at the labels. What you don’t read may hurt you and your loved ones when you consume such foods.]

Inconvenient Women take action. If you know a mom who is drugging their child at the suggestion of a school nurse or family doctor, ask her to take this or other nutritional research to them and at least try to change their child’s diet before resorting to the BIG PHARM option.

If the child is a little girl, get her to a female pediatrician, specializing in precocious puberty. Girls as young as four and five years old are experiencing what their moms dealt with at twelve and thirteen. (See precocious puberty in IconicWoman article archive and go to: http://www.HolyHormones.com)

Explore every option before “medicating” compliant behavior.

(1) CONCERTA® and OROS® are registered trademarks of ALZA Corporation

This site and its contents are intended for USA audiences only.

©2012 An Inconvenient Woman. All Rights Reserved.

Blocking the body’s response to ghrelin has been suggested as a weight loss treatment but it may also produce unintended effects on mood, they said.

The Nature Neuroscience study found mice with increased levels of the hormone showed fewer signs of depression and anxiety.

Experts said the idea was interesting but further studies were needed.

Ghrelin is released by the empty stomach into the bloodstream before moving to the brain, where it triggers feelings of hunger.

An unfortunate side effect, however, is increased food intake and body weight Dr Jeffrey Zigman

Treatment with the hormone itself – or a drug designed to cancel its effects – might be able to help both people who are eating too little, such as cancer patients, or those who eat too much, researchers believe.

In the latest study, Dr Jeffrey Zigman and colleagues restricted the food intake of laboratory mice for 10 days, causing their ghrelin levels to quadruple.

Compared with mice who had free access to food, the calorie-restricted mice showed lower levels of depression and anxiety when subjected to mazes and other behaviour tests.

Hormone response

The team also looked at mice genetically engineered to be unable to respond to ghrelin.

When they were fed a restricted-calorie diet they did not experience the antidepressant or anti-anxiety effects.

The researchers found the same thing when they induced higher ghrelin levels by subjecting the mice to stress.

Those mice that could not respond to ghrelin had greater levels of depression-like symptoms than the normal mice.

“Our findings in mice suggest that chronic stress causes ghrelin levels to go up, and that behaviours associated with depression and anxiety decrease when ghrelin levels rise,” said Dr Zigman, a researcher at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

“An unfortunate side effect, however, is increased food intake and body weight,” he added.

He said the results made sense from an evolutionary standpoint, as hunter-gatherers may have had a survival advantage in remaining calm and collected in times of hunger in order for them to successfully find food.

The researchers are now hoping to look at the antidepressant effect of the hormone in conditions such as anorexia.

Professor Stephen Bloom, an expert in appetite regulation at Imperial College London, said it was reasonable to believe that ghrelin had an impact on behavioural responses other than just hunger.

But he said there was a lot of research to be done before it could be confirmed that a hormone released in the stomach can have an effect on mood in the brain.

“The role of ghrelin in the gut and in the brain are likely to be completely different,” he said

©2012 An Inconvenient Woman. All Rights Reserved.

Many believe the worst day at work can be curbed by inhaling a big tub of ice cream, but now scientists have found new evidence suggesting that bingeing isn’t our fault — it’s biology.

A new study shows that bingeing when stressed might be biological.

Researchers studying the diet choices made by monkeys say the results may explain why some humans binge after a tough day at work. They say that bingeing may not be entirely the fault of all those tantalizing food commercials that draw people to fatty foods.Researchers at the Yerkes Primate Research Center in Atlanta found that stressed monkeys ate more fat and sugar than those who weren’t under stress.There are two classes of monkeys: the dominant ones and the subordinate ones. By studying these two varieties, researchers have learned why some

Surprisingly, dominant monkeys normally ate slightly more of the low-fat, high-fiber food than subordinate monkeys. Apparently, the constant bowing to their superiors curbed the subordinates’ appetite.

But things changed when researchers replaced the healthy food the monkeys normally eat with fatty, sugary banana pellets. While the dominant monkeys dabbled in the new food, the subordinates started bingeing on the tasty cuisine after dark.

“We found the subordinate animals were indeed going out at night and feeding,” said neuroscientist Mark Wilson, a researcher at the center.

Researchers believe the monkeys that are harassed all day long by high-ranking monkeys may just be contemplating the days’ events and coping.

“Eating high-fat, high-caloric foods … they increase … dopamine levels, they increase serotonin and endorphins, all chemicals that make us feel good,” said psychiatrist Julie Holland.

Even so, research shows that while monkeys felt better after their late-night binges, humans tended to feel guilt. But maybe the 72 million Americans on a diet will feel better knowing that binge eating has something to do with biology.

Source: Good Morning America SHARYN ALFONSI, KIRAN KHALID and STEPHANIE DAHLE

©2012 An Inconvenient Woman. All Rights Reserved.