Day 10: Lifestyle changes

This week I want to join my sister and her friend on a detox plan. For the next six days I am to exist on a diet that consists mainly of fruit and vegetables and I can only drink water. It's not so much about weight loss as it is about discipline and finishing something you've started. I'm a bit scared but as I have a support system I guess it shouldn't be too bad. Its good I'm trying to blog daily so I'll say whether I made it that day or not. Living without meat of any sort isn't going to be easy..lol!

I was actually thinking about this all through the week and after my conversation with my sister I feel like this is something I really need to do. I need to make some lifestyle changes, definitely not a diet. I am the heaviest I have ever been. Somehow within the past year I have managed to pick up at least 8kg. This isn't good at all. I am big boned but I know there is a lot of flesh with that. I was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) sometime in 2005. I don't think about it a lot but I must confess I have been thinking and reading more about it in recent days. Its essentially a hormonal imbalance which leads to issues with ovulation and how my body reacts to insulin. It affects fertility and its strange because almost every documentary or story I have heard about infertility in the last few months are linked in some way to PCOS. Its not all dire news, I believe in the power of God to heal the body but I believe I must be a wise woman as well and incorporate lifestyle changes for my very best life now.

Losing weight is the biggest 'cure' for PCOS, it is definitely harder for someone with PCOS to lose weight but it can be done and it does usually lead to a reversal of most of the symptoms. Also, there's medication. A friend of mine with the same issue has 3 beautiful daughters today. My birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I'm giving myself a birthday present of being 5kg lighter. But no diets, I need something I can do for the rest of my life. No more ups and downs. I'll talk about PCOS more in coming weeks, maybe it'll help someone out there. I don't even talk about it with my family but this process is teaching me that its time to break the silence on a lot of things.

Learn.