So let me catch us up. It started when I was 10 years old. I had constant back pain that would spasm every time I bent forward and every time I lied down. I remember writhing in bed each night, sometimes as long as fifteen minutes, waiting for the spasms to stop. I also remember that if I dropped a pencil on the ground I would get up and walk through the house until I found another – even though it hurt to walk around, it was better than bending down.

At the time I was playing ice hockey and dancing competitively but the pain was forcing me to stop – I would leave the rink completely white, I would walk through grocery stores using the shopping cart as a walker, and held myself off the car seat through the twenty minute drive home so that bumps wouldn’t jar me.

Strangely though, no doctors could figure out what was wrong or why I was in pain. And I saw the gamut: pediatricians, general practitioners, orthopedic surgeons, physical therapists, on and on and no answers. One doctor even pulled my mother aside to suggest (just loud enough that I could hear him across the full waiting room) that perhaps I was faking. In retrospect, I’m not sure who to feel worse for: me, who turned bright red and tried to sink as low into the chair as was humanly possible, or the doctor who had to endure an earful from my mother who’d caught me writhing for the first time only a few nights before.

Finally, at the insistence of my hockey coach, my mother brought me to a chiropractor – we had nowhere else to turn and nobody had any suggestions for me. I didn’t know a thing about chiropractic and honestly had no expectations and nope hopes. I was sure I’d have to stop all my activities in the middle of the season – drop out of dance class two months before our regional competition, the whole thing.

The minute I walked into the chiropractor’s office I felt calm, secure, like I was in the right place. (Later I’d say that the office was the kind of place where you could show up for an appointment, sit in the waiting room for a few minutes and leave without ever being touched and still feel better.)

I’ll never forget that first visit or what the chiropractor said to me. She said, “I don’t know why you’re in so much pain.” It was hugely profound. I’d never met a doctor who could admit they didn’t know something. And then she continued, “But, I have a pretty good idea. And I think I can help.”

We started treatment that day and though I didn’t leap off the table pain free, I was able to finish the season and compete regionally that year and every year after that (though I soon swapped playing hockey for reffing it).

A lot of my chiropractic classmates had some profound experience bring them to the field, something like one minute they had pain and then – like magic – after the adjustment it was all gone, never to return. My road to recovery was a lot slower and more painful than that, but it wasn’t what mattered. To me, the biggest gift that chiropractor gave me was a respectful, honest answer. It completely took me by surprise, changed the way I look at the medical profession, and to this day, it’s how I strive to treat my patients.

I believe life is better with a smile, that honesty really is the best policy, and that a listening ear and a healing touch are the foundations to good medicine. And it started with that chiropractor.

Anyone who’s ever had a migraine understands those words and all the weight that they carry with them.

Migraines are tricky things – difficult to diagnose and even more difficult to treat. Most people think that any severe headache is a migraine, but this is a misunderstanding. Migraines are a specific type of headache and unfortunately, less is known about what causes them and the best ways to treat them.

Karissa had been getting a weeklong migraine once a month with at least one other short migraine and a few headaches each week for nearly a decade.

Most of my treatment on that first day was done to try to ease her pain, and I was sure I wasn’t successful; she left with her sunglasses on (it was well after 6pm in the middle of the winter) and still held her shoulder tight and head down.

Imagine my surprise when the next day my clinician informed me that Karissa had asked to become my permanent patient. She said she felt so much better the next day, that she was sure we could do something about her migraines.

I wasn’t.

Monthly migraines are usually caused by hormonal imbalances, and there’s nothing that I can really do to help that. Weekly headaches are usually a sign of a larger problem (like a food sensitivity or allergy). Again, what can an adjustment do for that? Without removing the cause of the problem, how effective can treatment be?

But Karissa was determined not to give up hope. She said that one treatment had been more effective than most of the medications and massages she’d gotten in years, so treatment began. Once a week Karissa would come in and I’d put her through the wringer. She was a trooper, and tolerated deep muscle work and faithfully performed stretches and exercises at home.

But with the onslaught of classes and managing patient cases, I lost track of time. The first month came and went.

Finally, I asked when we should expect the next migraine.

Karissa looked at me like I was crazy.

“You know,” I said, “when is the month over?”

“Last week,” she answered. I wracked my brain. I checked her chart.

“But…your migraines…?”

“I didn’t have any,” she said.

“Excuse me?”

“I didn’t have any migraines this month. At all.”

“At all?”

“At all, at all.”

I burst out laughing. It was, in retrospect, not the most professional reaction. But I was stunned.

Since then I’ve found that often, though research shows chiropractors cannot cure migraines related to hormonal imbalances, we can often have a profound influence by decreasing the severity and frequency of both migraines and chronic headaches.

Further treatment by another chiropractor continued to decrease Karissa’s symptoms after discovering that she is sensitive to dairy and gluten (a protein found in most grains). Now, by managing her diet and getting occasional chiropractic treatments, Karissa can control and avoid her symptoms on her own.

But that’s not the best part.

The best part of this story is that Karissa has just completed her residency as a chiropractic intern. Since graduating earlier this month, she has begun practicing in the Long Island area, and is already stockpiling amazing clinical experiences of her own. Congrats, Karissa!

Normally this is limited to me spilling things, loosing pens, confusing patients, dropping charts, running late, tripping over my tongue and generally making a fool of myself. But every so often it happens to everyone else.

It happened last Friday.

So there I was, bee-bopping along with The Buzz on the way to work, completely oblivious of what I was walking in to: the kind of day where every patient is worse. Every. Single. Patient. By a lot.

Okay, that’s not true. To be fair, I had one patient who, when I tentatively asked how he was doing, responded “Fine.”

“Really?” I was convinced he was joking.

“Yeah. It seems to be helping.”

I slumped against the counter. “Oh thank goodness. You won’t believe the kind of day I’m having.”

And that was it. He was my only reprieve. And we were booked solid.

It’s hard enough to manage re-exams, extra therapies and longer, more complicated histories in the time you normally have to treat the patient. It’s harder to do it back to back when you’re booked solid and pinched for time. It’s even harder to do it for six hours straight.

And it’s hardest when you care.

When my patients are hurting, I feel it. When we loose all of the progress that we’ve both spent the last six weeks slowly, carefully building piece by piece – when we’re suddenly, painfully back at square one, I’m with you.

When you come in and can barely walk or move and don’t even smile or say hello, I hurt for you.

When my patients look at me with eyes that are dull with defeat and say, “It’s never going away, is it? I know it isn’t. My last doctor was right. I’m going to be like this until I die.” I want to cry.

At quarter of one I found three extra minutes between patients and retreated to my office. I didn’t look at the stack of charts on my desk, the narrative I needed to write, the insurance company I had to call, or even the food I hadn’t eaten.

I closed the door and collapsed in the nearest chair.

My office manager – usually a whir of activity – stopped. She raised an eyebrow, “You…okay?”

“It’s been that day. That day where everyone is worse. Maybe it’s something in the water…or the moon or something. Is there a diagnosis for that?”

She laughed nervously, still hovering between activities. I must’ve looked like death warmed over.

“I just need thirty seconds,” I continued, “and then I’ll be fine.

“Okay…” she didn’t believe me. I didn’t blame her.

“Just thirty seconds where the world isn’t falling to pieces, and I’m stuck playing Humpty-Dumpty. Because if the next patient is as bad as all the others, I’m going to cry.”

She was. I didn’t. But it was a wringer of a day.

I guess it’s a job hazard.  When you don’t just care for your patients, but also care about them, it’s bound to happen. But, if that’s the price we pay for patient care with a palpable difference, I’m okay with it. Because we’ll all come through in the end. I’ll make sure of that.

(Here’s something most of us need help with: How do you not bring work home? How do you heal yourself after a day that’s been emotionally draining? Leave a comment to share your stories and tips – I look forward to hearing from you!)

“I mean, I’m sure you see miracles every week,” he’d said. “So what’s the most phenomenal treating experience you’ve ever had?”

“Well, this week I saw a man with MS walk better than he has in months. And I got another patient emergent care when he’d been pushed from doctor to doctor while he worsened to the point where he had to crawl to get around his house. So I’m pretty pleased with that,” I answered, resisting the urge to hand him a napkin to wipe the grin off his face.

But that was just this week, not the most astounding experiences I’ve had. The most phenomenal treating experience I’ve had wasn’t when Aisha – the baby who couldn’t even crawl – started walking the night after being adjusted for the first time, and it wasn’t when Karissa – the girl who’d had migraine headaches weekly since she was 10 – went two months without a single headache after beginning treatment.

The most phenomenal experience I had was shortly before my graduation, and it wasn’t even that phenomenal. I was an intern doing a clinical rotation through a Veteran’s hospital. It was an intense, high-speed rotation with short appointments and long lists of complications for every patient. Then, to top it off, at the end of each day (which started around 4:30am and ended well after 8pm once commuting times were factored in) you had to defend your clinical decisions from the day and present cases, research, and possible alternative treatments to the staff doctors.

I loved it.  Well, not the 15-hour day part. But I loved the clinic and patients, and the ability to give something back to our vets – men and women like my “phenomenal” experience.

He was a 33year old veteran who had suffered brain trauma during the blast from a roadside IED in Iraq. Though he was not physically harmed, the patient developed a condition called Central Pain Syndrome where the brain “misfires” and creates constant, intense pain that cannot be treated or cured. The patient stated that his pain was a constant – day and night – that interfered with ability to work, drive, be physically active, everything. The problem with Central Pain Syndrome is that, because it’s a problem in the brain, the pain that a patient feels cannot be helped by medication. The patient stated that nothing helped his pain, and that it never let up…until he was adjusted.

And to be honest, the pain didn’t go away, and it did come back, so on paper it looked like a mediocre response to treatment. But for a few hours that veteran was able to have a comfortable life, a normal afternoon with his girlfriend, a bit of freedom with his friends and family. And knowing that I could give something – anything – back to a veteran who he gave so much in the line of duty for civilians like myself was both phenomenal and phenomenally humbling.

Can you feel it? The change of seasons. The itchy throat, the achy bones. The cold or flu that sweeps your office, school or home. It’s that time. Again.

Like teachers and school nurses, doctors end up getting exposed to all of the nastiest bugs – and we have the immune systems to prove it.

Last week the schedule alternated between pockets of cancelled appointments from people too sick to leave their beds and last minute squeeze-ins of patients looking for any comfort. My last patient today insisted this last virus was a whopper. She’d missed her previous appointment because she’d been so sick and told me she was still just getting over it.

“Have you gotten it yet?” she asked while I worked on the muscles in her neck.

“Nah, I fought it off already.”

“Really?? How?”

I stopped. How did I fight the cold off? There had been a few days when I could tell I was fighting it – the scratchy throat, the stuffy nose, the foggy head, the tired, achy, drained feeling.

I shrugged, “The same way I always do.” I treat myself like I’m already sick.

When I was in college I worked two jobs and carried a full course load. I didn’t have time to be sick. Heck, I barely had time to eat, and I functioned on 3-6 hours of sleep a night. It was insane. When I felt a cold coming on I just figured I’d tough it out – I didn’t cut any corners, didn’t take any breaks, worked extra hard and simply refused to let the cold get the best of me. Which was all well and good until I caught something that was more stubborn than I – then I was out for the count for two weeks at least. It was a nightmare.

Needless to say, since then I’ve changed tactics, and it’s made a world of difference. Here’s what to do when you first feel a cold coming on (or better yet – when you start seeing the people around you getting sick):

1. Sleep – set your alarm clock a half hour later and go to bed a half hour earlier. Sure it means you miss a night of TV or a little extra time in the morning, but it’s worth it. You body needs sleep to heal. It’s as simple as that.
2. Drink…and don’t – drink lots of clear fluids and juices to stay hydrated. Your body is mostly water – it needs to be replenished frequently. But…go easy on the other stuff. Coffee, sodas, alcohol and teas all dehydrate your body, and when it’s under attack, the last thing you want is to pull resources out.
3. Get your nutrients! Whether you choose to eat a little more mindfully, or you double up on your daily vitamins, make sure you stack your body’s deck in your favor. (Also, keep in mind that, like Echinacea, Vitamin C helps boost immunity, but only when taken before you’re actually sick.)
4. Take it easy at the gym. Of course, this is only assuming that you regularly go (if you don’t, while you’re feeling sick is not the time to start).  But when you’re feeling down it’s best not to skip the gym. Working out boosts your energy and pumps the blood, putting your body in a better position to fight that bug. (I tend to do a half workout, opt for gentler stationary biking over an intense elliptical run, or decrease weight by 5lbs or reps by about 5.)
5. Wash your hands religiously. If you’re already fighting one bug, now’s not the time to pick another up – or share the one you’ve got.
6. Get adjusted. A review of scientific literature found that chiropractic care may increase a release of the cells that fight disease off. Why not give your immune system a jump-start?

So how about you? How do you fight colds? What makes you feel better when you’re under the weather?

We’ve already established that PCOS causes hormonal imbalances, and we know that these processes can lead to a number of health concerns including diabetes and increased weight. Another factor that plays a huge role in PCOS is the underlying chronic inflammation that is also caused by the multitude of physiological dysregulations. This inflammation puts women with PCOS at a higher risk for cardiovascular and other inflammatory conditions.

The most efficient process to counteract this is to decrease or exclude inflammatory foods from your diet/grocery list. Cow dairy, peanuts and corn have high levels of arachidonic acid which is an inflammatory fat – meaning it causes your body to feel that it is under attack and produce widespread inflammation to fight the “problem” food – so it is best to avoid these (with the exception of a good quality, organic, unflavored yogurt). As an extension, meats from animals fed with corn (including farm-raised fish. Yes, farmed fish are fed corn!) also have high inflammatory fat profiles, making this another instance where quality trumps quantity. It is better to have a smaller portion of grass fed meat or wild caught fish supplemented with vegetarian protein sources (lentils, beans), than a larger piece of corn-fed steak/chicken/fish.

It is also important to replace all “bad fats” with ones that are good for you. You can achieve this by balancing your intake of omega 3 and 6 fats. However, remember that it is not healthy to completely eliminate fats from your diet. Instead, olive oil and oil from non-genetically modified canola are good neutral oils for cooking and should replace all vegetable oils. A suitable way to supplement your dietary changes towards this goal is to take fish oil tablets (EPA+DHA), keeping in mind that the dose and ratio needs to be verified by your healthcare professional. (As a side note, a good test for the quality of fish oils is to keep them in the freezer – pure fish oils should never freeze.)

Weight gain always accompanies any hormonal imbalance, and PCOS is no exception. This is important because it compounds the risk of diabetes and heart disease women with PCOS face and makes increasing your levels of physical activity and exercise routines that much more essential. Work your way up to a goal of approximately 45 minutes to an hour of moderate level exercise (easy way to judge this would be that you can talk but not sing while exercising) five times a week, at the very least. If this is achieved daily, including weekends, then your likelihood of burning fat increases – so push yourself to get into that routine. If you cannot manage one hour daily, then try 2 or 3 slots of high level exercise for 20 minutes each spaced through the day to achieve the same results. Regular exercise has been shown to positively affect hormone metabolism and cardiovascular systems, which is a win-win situation for you that addresses multiple of the PCOS concerns at once.

In addition to all this, it is vital to confirm that your body is able to digest and absorb all the nutrients you are providing it. It is often said that you are what you eat, but I believe that you are what you eat, digest, absorb, excrete, and don’t! Why do all this work if your body isn’t – or can’t – benefit from it all? This is where designing a plan specific to your body and your needs is essential. Talk to a nutritionist or doctor to get help deciding exactly what you need.

Obviously, there are many other components that go into stabilizing the pathophysiology of PCOS. Each person is an individual and will have a completely different set of underlying symptoms and concerns that need to be understood and corrected before significant relief is experienced. However, I hope this little introduction to how nutritional and lifestyle changes can help you manage PCOS will get you more interested in a conversation. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions akshata@alternativerootswellness.com.

Thanks again, Akshata, we appreciate your help! Do you have a question about PCOS? Contact us, leave a message, or get in touch with Akshata Nayak directly!

In this first of two posts by Akshata, we start with the basic question: How can you manage PCOS without having to rely solely on medications for the rest of your life?

Great question and there are a variety of answers out there for you. Here I will outline the most important ones with the understanding that you will talk to your healthcare professional before starting any supplemental or dietary routine. Since each person’s biochemistry can react differently to nutritional interventions, it is vital to confirm that the treatment choices you make don’t cause unexpected consequences.

Let’s start with the basics. Insulin resistance (IR) causes hormone imbalances and can lead to diabetes, which makes it one of the main concerns of PCOS. IR can be simply summarized as what would happen if your mail man (insulin) kept bringing packages (of glucose) to your house (the cell) but had no way to deliver to them to you because your door is stuck (the receptors on the cell are not working). So the packages (glucose) keep building up outside (in the blood stream).

Many physiological reactions are involved in this process and when unchecked, this imbalance is the first step towards the development of type 2 diabetes. Luckily, if caught early enough, this can be managed through dietary and lifestyle practices. There are multiple ways to accomplish this, the most important being a good look at your dietary and exercise routines.

Simple/refined/processed carbohydrates are, as expected, the main culprits – so limiting or avoiding them would be the first step for anyone interested in managing PCOS naturally. In my experience (personally and with clients), this will also be the most difficult step to take. Increased simple carbohydrates in our diet cause us to modify our behavior in a manner where we actually believe we need them more. The insulin spikes caused by these foods make us “crash” often causing us to find easy vending machine pick-me-up solutions (that chocolate bar/brownie is calling out your name. Loudly!) to keep us going through the day. The end result is fatigue, caffeine (or any energy drink, really) dependency, mood swings, headaches, sleep disturbances and stubborn weight gain. This is where Dr. Paquette’s (absolutely delicious sounding) recipes will come handy.

Next, boosting the amount of fiber in your diet through fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, can help lengthen the time taken to digest this food making you feel more satiated and prevent blood sugar spikes. Balancing increased fiber with decreased simple carbs has a huge impact on your body’s relationship with insulin and therefore makes a big difference.

Additionally, if you eat small meals spaced out through the day, it is essential to find “healthy snacks”. Among others, these could include raw vegetables, such as carrots and celery, whole grain crackers with almond butter or hummus, and a good quality unflavored yogurt with fresh/frozen berries.

Lastly, supplementation with chromium, fenugreek, gymnema, and bitter gourd, which have all been shown to positively affect insulin sensitivity, are options that need to be explored with your healthcare professional as they need to be made specific to your body and needs.

Understanding that these four aspects of your diet – decreased carbs, increased fiber, healthy snacks and supplementation – can play a large role in helping you control your PCOS. Next we’ll talk about how inflammation in your diet can compound the health issues seen in PCOS and, of course, what you can do about it. In the meantime, feel free to contact us, leave a message below, or ask Akshata a question at akshata@alternativerootswellness.com.

Thanks, Akshata!

Last night I made French Meat Pie for dinner and, after reaching for the flour, remembered that last time I’d made meat pie the crust had been half whole-wheat/half white flour because I depleted our stock of white flour. And promptly forgot to put it on the grocery list. As a result, last night’s pie was made with a 100% whole-wheat crust, and you know what? I loved it! I might add just a bit of white flour next time to keep it a little lighter (and may go back to an entirely white flour crust for less hearty foods), but my husband declared that from now on whole wheat should be the staple. It really added something to the texture, body and heart of the crust.

The second happy accident was that, in tweaking the texture of the crust, I ended up with a little more than usual…which meant I had a little extra dough left over. Now, every family I know makes something with the little leftover piecrust scraps, and every family calls them something different. We call ours rolly-pollies, even when they aren’t roll-ups (though I think that’s where the name came from…that or the fact that I could eat ‘em until I was a rolly-polly myself).

But last night we were completely out of fruit (I was thinking of making sugar-free mini apple pies) and I was craving something fall-ish. What can I say? It’s my favorite time of the year (and not just because of the food…though that’s a big, big part). So, happy accident number three: the invention of these sweet treats – a (vegan) taste of fall with only 12g net carbs per pie.

Mini Pumpkin Pies

My apologies for the rough measurements on this recipe. Like I said, since it was an experiment with leftovers, I have no idea exactly how much crust it called for. Also, as an aside I should note that in reality I added about 2 Tbs of chocolate chips to the pie – and they were heavenly – but, they nearly doubled the carb count. Yikes. It’s up for you to decide whether or not you need ‘em.

Makes two mini pies.

Ingredients:

• A small tennis ball’s worth of whole-wheat pie crust
• ½ cup pumpkin puree (note: puree, not pie filling!)
• 2 Tbs soy milk (I used vanilla)
• 1-2 tsp maple syrup (it only needed 1 tsp for me)
• 1 scant tsp vanilla
• season with cinnamon and nutmeg (again, sorry about the rough measurements – you’ll know you’ve got enough when it stops smelling like baby food and starts smelling like a tasty pie)

Directions:

1. Pinch or roll out the whole-wheat piecrusts to fill two muffin cups. I kept the dough fairly thick to support the dense pie filling.
2. Mix together all ingredients, then spoon into the cups – it’s okay if they’re heaping, the pie batter doesn’t really run.
3. Top with a dash of cinnamon and bake on 325 for about 20 minutes, or until the crust firms up. (If you have a small muffin tin or oven safe ramekins, you can do this in the toaster oven – bonus!)

Nutrition Information: Amount Per Mini Pie

• Calories  141.1
• Total Fat  8.3 g
• Saturated Fat  4.0 g
• Polyunsaturated Fat  0.0 g
• Monounsaturated Fat  0.0 g
• Cholesterol  0.0 mg
• Sodium  114.6 mg
• Potassium  144.2 mg
• Total Carbohydrate  15.9 g
• Dietary Fiber  3.8 g
• Sugars  2.8 g
• Protein  2.7 g

And then, just before lunch, I remembered my stash of frozen bananas. And all bets were off.

A favorite foodie of mine recommends keeping a whole banana or two in the freezer at all times (skin and all) for just such occasions. You know that banana that’s about to turn? Huck in the freezer – you never know when you’ll need to do some spontaneous baking. Like today.

(A word from the wise, however: Molly, the aforementioned foodie, warned her readers that frozen bananas – while worth their weight in gold – are rather reminiscent of slugs when they defrost. She was right. On both counts.)

Now, I’m going to be honest with you: these muffins aren’t sweet per se. And they require three mixing bowls, which was almost enough to disuade me from trying them altogether (crisis averted). But, they are light and cakey…and a little filling. In fact, I don’t think I would change a thing about them.

Oh, one more thing: when the batter comes together, it’s roughly the texture of cob. (Which is a nice way of saying that it’s pretty sludgey.) Fear not, these little muffins puff right up and are almost fragile coming out of the pan. Really, you’ll just have to try them. You won’t be disappointed.

Wicked Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins
The name comes from the original recipe, which calls for raisins, but I didn’t think they would be tasty enough to warrant the extra carbs that they brought to the table. Also, I added about ½ cup of chopped walnuts at the last minute, but the nutritional information does not reflect that change.

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups or 4 medium carrots, three shredded and one grated (You could grate them all, but carrot strands freak me out a bit. I guess I don’t like “hairy” muffins…sorry for the mental image.)
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups soy milk (or milk of your choice)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 cup wheat germ
• 2 tablespoon flax seeds
• 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
• 1 round teaspoon baking soda
• 1½ round teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon each of : nutmeg, cardamom, ginger
• ½ cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Grease and flour a 12-cup muffin pan.
2. In a small bowl, shred/grate carrots. Mash in banana and add extracts. Set aside.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (On my oven, this takes about 8 minutes, which works out perfectly with the prep time.)
4. In a medium bowl, quickly beat together the wheat germ, flax seeds, milk, oil, and eggs and let sit for 5 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.
6. Combine the carrot mix with the wet ingredients and stir to combine.
7. Pour wet the mixture onto the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed, being careful not to over stir. Fold in nuts.
8. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups (there should be enough batter to fill to the top). Tip: a friend of mine uses an ice cream scoop to keep the process quick & easy, while being sure that each muffin has the same amount and will cook evenly. I, however, am far too lazy for this method.
9. Sprinkle the tops with a dash cinnamon and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
10. Serve warm or at room temperature…on a dreary morning that calls for baked goods.

Nutritional Information: Amount Per Muffin

• Calories 179.3
• Total Fat 8.3 g
• Saturated Fat 1.3 g
• Polyunsaturated Fat 1.8 g
• Monounsaturated Fat 4.6 g
• Cholesterol 27.1 mg
• Sodium 235.1 mg
• Potassium 249.3 mg
• Total Carbohydrate 21.9 g
• Dietary Fiber 4.5 g
• Sugars 3.0 g
• Protein 6.5 g

But I will say this: I love oatmeal. (And not just theoatmeal.com – though I’m a pretty big fan of that, too.) When I was younger, I would stumble downstairs into my Dad’s kitchen, lured by that delicious, homey smell. Oatmeal. As if on autopilot, I’d grab a bowl and spoon, setting them oh-so-gently on the counter – hoping not to alert anyone to the oatmealnapping that was about to ensue. And then I’d lift the lid and know exactly who was up first that morning: my dad, or my stepmom.

It tasted the same either way, but my dad and stepmom would go head-to-head about oatmeal. Namely, how thick it should be. See, when she was little, my stepmom was of the opinion that refined foods were delicate, smooth, gentile, and that therefore rich people ate runny oatmeal. My father grew up on the outskirts of Appalachia – the kind of area where you frequently added water to soups and oatmeal to stretch another bowl out of it. As a result, he grew up dreaming about being rich enough to eat thick, hearty, stick-to-your ribs oatmeal like all the rich kids in his imagination did.

I’m somewhere in the middle. With no delusions about class, I love smooth and creamy farina or fine-ground steel-cut oats, but I also love the kind of good ol’ fashioned oatmeal you can stand a spoon in.

Regardless of its consistency, however, my favorite way to eat oatmeal is drizzled with milk and topped with cinnamon, a healthy dollop of butter, and brown sugar (hence the need for stealth earlier – I raided the top-shelved, rarely used brown sugar stash almost every time we had oatmeal…which was often, come to think of it).

But then – reality check – oatmeal is 100% carbohydrate. Which makes it 100% non-PCOS friendly. Until now.

If you’re particularly strong of heart, you may like this recipe as it was originally made, with TVP (textured vegetable protein – no wait, don’t stop reading! It has no flavor, no color, and is pretty tame…or at least unassuming). But alas, I’m not that good. I mean, it’s oatmeal, people. I grew up on the stuff, and the TVP texture was just a little off. So here’s my version: thick as can be, (sadly sans brown sugar), best served topped with chopped pecans or slivered almonds. If you’re feeling particularly hearty, try stirring in a tablespoon of ground flax seed after cooking. But no matter how you do it, allow yourself a few deep breaths of the scent of home and fall and quiet mornings as breakfast bubbles away.

TVP Oatmeal
In a small pot combine

• ½ c TVP
• 1 ½ c soy milk, almond milk, “real” milk, etc

and season with cinnamon and nutmeg to taste (I use more nutmeg than cinnamon, as well as some vanilla extract if using a plain/unflavored milk).
Bring to boil, simmer for nearly ten minutes, until soft but chewy/al dente, then add:

• ½ c oats (not instant)
• ½ c water

Bring to strong simmer for 3-5 minutes, until done to desired consistency. Top with chopped nuts for an extra boost of protein to balance out the oatmeal and enjoy.

Takes about 15 minutes total. Serves 2.

Nutrition Facts: Amount Per Serving

• Calories  235.0
• Total Fat  4.3 g
• Saturated Fat  0.4 g
• Polyunsaturated Fat  1.9 g
• Monounsaturated Fat  0.8 g
• Cholesterol  0.0 mg
• Sodium  92.0 mg
• Potassium  225.0 mg
• Total Carbohydrate  26.5 g
• Dietary Fiber  6.8 g
• Sugars  7.5 g
• Protein  20.8 g