Phyto-whats? Reaching for Pomegranates
Today is International Women’s Day and the 2023 theme is Embrace Equity.
As a team, Eve Was Framed had a heart-to-heart with ourselves about how we would approach marking diversity awareness months and examining the language we use in the newsletter and across our social platforms. We’ve agreed that marking a month loses meaning if our ongoing work doesn’t reflect the impact that different dimensions of diversity have on access to and experiences with health and wellness.
We are learning all the time. You’ll likely notice these learnings reflected in our language and in a newly embraced commitment to share more about equity in health-related topics.
- Maggie Ruvoldt & Stephanie Majercik
The Tasting Menu
Pass the Phytoestrogens Please…
Take 5 to Assess Your Self-Care
5 Facts about MS
Pass the Phytoestrogens Please…(Perimenopause is Here)
We’ve heard you. Reading about alternative ways to manage our wellness is important to many of our readers. As such, we’ve been learning more about how food influences our hormones, as well as our overall health.
First up, phytoestrogens.
These estrogen mimics occur naturally in many of our foods and the Mayo Clinic includes them in a list of alternative medicine options that have been found to bring relief to changes in perimenopause. The studies aren’t fully conclusive. To dive deeper into the history of studies on this, we found this piece in Healthline particularly helpful.
So what foods are rich in these?
If fruits are your go-to, try apples, grapes, and pomegranates
In the veggies, add some spinach to your salads along with broccoli and carrots
Consider using soy products like tofu and products from soybeans (check out the resources below if you’ve heard negative things about soy)
Add some nuts and seeds to your meals like sesame or sunflower seeds or almonds and pistachios.
Good old legumes like chickpeas (which with some diced cuke, sundried tomato and lemon juice make a tasty main for lunch)
Resources to read more:
What are phytoestrogens? Benefits and Foods from Medical News Today
Straight Talk About Soy from the Harvard School of Public Health
What are Isoflavones? From Verywell Health
Take 5 to Assess Your Self-Care
We’ve been hearing a lot more about self-care over the last few years - with the pandemic forcing many of us to create stronger boundaries between work and home life as well as assess the things that make us happy.
But have you ever taken the time to evaluate how well you’re taking care of yourself? Beyond putting on a face mask or taking a bath once a week and labeling it as self-care? (Stephanie is guilty of this)
Self-care spans emotional, physical, spiritual, and psychological health. You may go to the gym 5 days a week and eat relatively healthy, but are you speaking to yourself kindly? Do you spend time regularly with people you enjoy being around? Do you say no to obligations at work or even to friends when you’re at your max capacity?
For your next self-care action - take a few minutes to evaluate how you’re taking care of yourself – what are you doing well and where can you improve. We’ve linked to a few self-care assessment worksheets below that you can use as a guide. Let us know how it goes!
Self-care assessment worksheets:
Hopkins Medicine (for those who like a score)
5 Facts About MS
Maggie has been an MS Warrior for more than half her life now. So you know we’re going to cover the 5 facts differently for this one. These are the 5 facts Maggie wishes everyone knew about Multiple Sclerosis.
It starts younger than you might think. Most diagnoses come between the ages of 20 to 40
Vitamin D matters. Studies show that low Vitamin D increases both the risk of developing MS and the occurrence of flare-ups (called exacerbations) Regular blood work to check Vitamin D levels is critical because you can get too much too
It’s more common in women than in men. No one is quite sure why
Most symptoms are ones you don’t see. Blurred vision or the distortion of red/green color differences, fatigue, and loss of sensation are all part of the invisible nature of the illness
There are four types of MS and even within those, symptoms and disease progression vary widely from person to person
Bonus fact: Like with any chronic illness, MS doesn’t define who you are or your life.
Medical Term of the Week
At 1 minute and 5 minutes after birth, a provider evaluates 5 things about a baby. Breathing effort, heart rate, muscle tone, reflexes, and skin color make up the Apgar Score. This is done to determine if any immediate intervention is needed.
The test was developed in 1952 by Dr. Virgina Apgar and revolutionized how infant health was assessed.
The Latest
One of our favorite experts, Dr. Katherine Saunders shares her expertise on weight management during fertility treatment. (From Medika.life)
Only 21 states require consent for a pelvic exam on an unconscious patient. I’m sorry, what?!? (From PBS Newshour)
Fast Company announced it’s 50 most innovative company list. Including Maven (women’s health), Hazel Health (pediatric care in schools), and Eight Sleep (focused on sleep, of course). We were excited to see so many focused on care! (from Fast Company)