Hey girls,

I was thinking it's a good idea to start an organic (or holistic) chat for PCOS. As I learn more and more about the condition, and study up on being as healthy as can be, I'm finding (and seeing the progress) that it's so important to keep the hormonal system (and our bodies in general) clean and strong. I think there is mixed information out there, and this could be a place to chew the fat (and lose it). Holistic approaches are pretty groundbreaking for the condition, especially since this condition is just becoming mainstream, affecting almost 10% of all women (kinda scary).

Whether you are on prescriptions or not, I think information on cleaning out our bodies through food choices, organic cosmetics, and chemical-free household items needs to considered. This is not a vegan or medical-free thread, but if either of those subjects became groundbreaking in PCOS treatment we can certainly discuss them here.

Okay, so I hope some of you (or all) wish to discuss!

For starts, here's where I stand. I've gone almost all organic with everything that goes in or on my body. I have yet to switch over all my cosmetics (gotta make a trip to Sephora in King of Prussia Mall), but I have all organic soaps, shampoos, skin tonics, lotions, etc, from Whole Foods (it's seriously only like $2-3 more per item). Skin is the largest organ in our body and just about everything it touches gets absorbed and dumped into our bloodstream. And with all the imbalances that I have from PCOS I don't want anything foreign keeping it disrupted. What if this stuff was aggravating the condition all along? I'm also spending the extra $20/week on organic foods. I know, the price stinks. But you know what's weird, I'm completely off caffeine. But that's a whole nother post... that's from me eating lots more veggies (and organic) than normal. I could make this post 3 pages long, lol. But that's why I started this thread! Let's share all this information and start eliminating the things that are worsening our disorder.

Hope you'll want to join me! <== these guys work wonders.

Hi Michelle!

Have you heard of/tried Pangea products? It's a totally vegan skin care line and it ROCKS.

I have super sensitive/weird skin and had to contantly rotate my products. What I realized was that I only have sensitive skin when I use harsh chemicals on it! What an eye opener...

Anyway, since you brought up the topic of skin care and PCOS-ers have plenty of skin issues, I thought I would plug my favorite product.

Also, even though I discovered this in Nashville, I eventually went to work in Boulder, where the company is based and have had the pleasure to tour the facility and can vouch for the fact that everything comes from their organic garden on site It's really nice to see with my own eyes that it's a pure operation because as we know, people can get away with claiming all sorts of things, especially with the word "organic".

www.pangeaorganics.com

end//shameless plug

Ooooo thanks Jen! I've been looking for an organic company to go with. I'll definitely check them out! My products don't have to be vegan, but I know that vegan products are generally the purest anyway. Who wants beaver butt juice on their skin (I forget what that's called)? Lol. I also know Sephora carries organic companies, but I was checking the stats of those prodcuts on the site http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ and some of them aren't very good. I like products at or under a score of 3. I got some Kiss My Face stuff from Whole Foods and love it.

What a cool site! It said Pangea had a 0-4 rating, but I don't know what that means.

They do sell some of their line (body wash, soap, lip balm, and lotion) at Whole Foods, so keep an eye out (brown packaging). They don't make make-up, but I think it's in the works. I like Sephora, though

I just never had a clue as to how all the chemicals affected my skin's health. The face wash I use, for example, is cream based. It's almost like a lotion (I think it's called blood orange face cleanser) and I can use it every day. Any regular cream-based face wash would have been a guarenteed break-out. Same with the facial scrub. I swear it's like a micro-derm abrasion.

You're right, it's mind blowing the things that we don't hesitate to use on our largest organ!

I love Kiss My Face. Always a good standby!

wow, thanks for bringing that to my attention... i eat organic foods, but never thought about organic body products for myself (i use organic everything for my 1 yr old!)

Jen,

0-4 rating is good. It goes from 0-8, and most sunscreens are an 8! Cover Girl stuff is like 6-8 (I'm tossing mine very soon), my Skintimate shaving cream is an 8... I was so shocked. I tossed it all immediately.

Yeah some of the harmful ingredients can cause your body to lean more towards weight gain/depression/hormonal imbalances. Crazy.

http://www.soapforgoodnesssake.com/35.html

This site has an interesting article by Dr. Christine Farlow (author of Dying To Look Good) with some tips on buying products.

Also, that site seems to have a lot of nice natural products. I'm going to order the natural bug repellent and the Caboodle balm.

I never really thought about how toxic things like soap can be until going to that cosmetics data base site that Michelle linked. Yet another thing to be paranoid about(I can get a bit obsessive.) Gee, thanks Michelle! J/K It actually is an eye opener.

My mom recently visited and told me she is going for more natural stuff and I'm proud of her. She even brought some natural deodorant with her and I liked it, so she left it. I really like the crystal deodorants the best.

I don't eat 100% organic but I eat a lot of organics, follow a vegan diet and think a lot about what goes into my body and on my body. Sometimes prices kill me (like the $60 I paid for a bottle of vitamins) but you gotta do what you gotta do.

"Yet another thing to be paranoid about(I can get a bit obsessive.) Gee, thanks Michelle! J/K It actually is an eye opener."

Lol, sorry!!! See, I'm not paranoid... I want to LEARN. The more I learn the more I want to know the truth, getting both sides of the story, then looking for alternatives. I actually think it's fun searching for 'better' stuff, and then feeling the difference. I'm not one of those people who want to preach or scare people, I just want the truth. And it's like a full time job for me just reading article after article, getting e-newsletter after e-newsletter, watching health programs, listening to health radio shows...

I guess it's my new favorite hobby? Lol. I just want to feel better. I'm sick of the symptoms, the low self esteem, the side effects of the meds I took (I'm STILL getting those 20lbs off from BC), and finally get thin. A huge change this week was getting off caffeine. I've been loading up my diet with veggies, making smoothies for breakfast, buying mostly organic produce, and I'm off caffeine. It's crazy. I've been naturally (so I thought) lethargic my whole life... not being able to get up in the morning no matter how much I sleep in, always feeling in a fog unless I have coffee or diet soda, just never really feeling energetic. Then omg, this week I'm up til 1:30am most nights, ready to run a mile (after riding for 3 hours that evening!) and then pop out of bed at 7am. I mean, gawd... I guess I can really only say it's been the produce?? I just hope it keeps up!

So I really hope I'm not scaring anyone with this thread! I just want to know truth- that's my quest. I want the truth about why my condition got so bad and how it can go away.

Michelle...all of the info you provide has been very useful to me....you didn't scare me(ok maybe a little j/k)..it's just that my own paranoia gets the best of me for a few then it goes away. I think my paranoia helps keep me in check a bit. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Michelle, I find all of your information extremely helpful. I will definately look into eating and using more organic products. Spending the extra money is definately worth it if my family and I feel better because of it.