Measuring & Managing PCOS [Podcast]
“If you have hope and you believe that you can have a healthier body tomorrow than you do today, you absolutely can. Our body is amazing. It has such capacity to heal itself, to regenerate and to restore and repair and just revitalize.” – Dr. Anna Cabeca
“You have the genes of Pocahontas. You have the genes of a warrior woman, an Amazonian. You have survival genes. You’re struggling because you’re sitting in a classroom eight hours a day and watching TV three hours a night. You’re struggling because you’re living in a toxic world, but you are designed to live in a natural world and empower your genes.” – Dr. Anna Cabeca
Dr. Anna Cabeca is a perfect person to talk to about diet and lifestyle for PCOS. Not only is she triple board certified and a fellow of gynecology and obstetrics, integrative medicine, and anti-aging and regenerative medicine, she has special certifications in functional medicine, sexual health, and bio identical hormone replacement therapy. Whether you are TTC, struggling with perimenopause or menopause, or simply trying to get your PCOS under control, this podcast is for you. Listen in or read the transcript as we discuss:
- Hormones and mental health
- The power of gratitude & mindset
- Intermittent fasting
- Alkalinity and its impact
- Ways to impact your blood sugar beyond medication & diet
All PCOS Diva podcasts are available on 
Mentioned in this podcast:
- The Hormone Fix
- Keto Green 16 (Plus seven bonuses!)
- Facebook – @DrAnnaC
- Instagram – Dr.AnnaCabeca
Complete Transcript:
Amy:
Today on the PCOS Diva podcast, we’ll be talking to Dr. Anna Cabeca. She’s a triple board certified and a fellow of gynecology and obstetrics, integrative medicine, and anti-aging and regenerative medicine. She has special certifications in functional medicine, sexual health, and bio identical hormone replacement therapy. And she really is a perfect person to talk to about diet for PCOS. So I’m just so happy to have you, Dr. Anna, on the PCOS diva podcast.
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
It is a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me.
Amy:
Well, I’m a huge fan. I read your book, The Hormone Fix, several years ago. And now you have a brand new book out called Keto Green 16. It kind of picks up where The Hormone Fix left off with your really innovative way of eating for hormone balance. And I’m really excited to kind of dig into that today.
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Me too. It’s one of my favorite things to talk about.
Amy:
So, being in an OBGYN, I’m sure you’ve treated lots of women with PCOS.
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah, absolutely. And at all different stages of PCOS.
Amy:
And for women listening that are struggling with perimenopause and menopause, that is who you directed your Hormone Fix book to. And I really recommend those listening to pick up a copy of that if they’re dealing with hot flashes, and trouble sleeping, and need a boost and energy, that book is a great way to address all of those hormonal issues. But for those listening that are trying to conceive, or maybe younger and not really worried about menopause, stick with us today because we’ve got a lot of information. And I know that there’s one thing that you address in your book, and that’s about hormones and mental health. And women with PCOS are 60% more likely to suffer from some mood related disorder. And I would love for you to talk a little bit about moods and hormones and how they’re connected.
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Yes, absolutely. And definitely, just to align women who have had issues with PCOS infertility way pre-menopause, believe me, the changes you make now are going to help you in so many ways. And so when we talk about just in our hormones, as our are changing in general, one of the things that was part of my story was that at 39 I was diagnosed with premature ovarian failure. Now called primary ovarian failure, and early menopause. And I went through round after round of infertility cycle, failing the highest doses of allowable, injectable medications. And here I was, an Emory University trained gynecologist and obstetrician. I trained at one of the best universities in our nation, and yet my doctor’s bag was empty. I didn’t have anything in there to help me, Amy.
And so that literally took me on a journey around the world looking for answers. And as a result, I reversed infertility and became reversed early menopause and became pregnant and had a beautiful baby girl at age 41. And it was … So it is something that I really want to just start by saying, if you have hope, if this is something that you hope for, and regardless you believe in yourself that you can have a healthier body tomorrow than you do today, you absolutely can. Our body is amazing. Amazing. It has such capacity to heal itself, to regenerate and to restore and repair and just revitalize. And so wherever you are on your journey, these tips that I’ve learned from my journey, my own personal journey, and then working with tens of thousands of patients can really help. So now, Amy, I forgot your question.
Amy:
Well, I just … Thank you for sharing that story. I do like to start out with people’s stories. And so many women with PCOS have been told by their doctors that because they have PCOS they will not get pregnant. They go so far as saying that, or it’s going to be very difficult for them to get pregnant. And I loved what you said about trusting in your body and keeping that hope alive, because so many women with PCOS can have healthy pregnancies. And myself, I had my last child when I was 37. And you had yours at 41. A lot of women can maintain their fertility later in their reproductive years.
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Absolutely. Absolutely. And it stems from a complex set of interactions. If we are way too stressed, and that can … And infertility will stress us out. Just trying to get pregnant and not getting pregnant on our schedule will stress us out. But I have helped, and I have seen, and know many women that have reversed these issues. And when we empower our body based on our genetics and our environment, we call that epigenetics, we empower our body, we can restore.
And especially when it comes to PCOS community, the big thing right now is really becoming more insulin sensitive. This is something … Amy, I’m going to backtrack a second again.
Amy:
Oh sure.
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
We’re going to have some circuitous conversation. I can just tell. But I’m really passionate because many people get labeled PCOS. And so what does that tell them? It tells them, well, you’re more likely to be overweight, have all these conditions of aging, have struggle with infertility. It’s just like a doomsday diagnosis. Because in our modern world, we’re living with the SAD standard American diet, in an indoor culture, and not really empowering our genetics in any way. And so what I would tell my clients, especially my young girls that would come in early on, that certainly could be set up for PCOS, they come in and they’re in puberty and then all of a sudden they’re gaining weight, getting acne, having some hair growth, even facial hair growth, and are really struggling. Coming in, struggling with sense of self-image. And that’s when I would sit these young girls down and their young pubertal years, teenage years, and say, “You have the genes of Pocahontas. You have the genes of a warrior woman, an Amazonian. You have survival genes. You’re struggling because you’re sitting in a classroom eight hours a day and watching TV three hours a night.” Or whatever the situation may be.
Or, “You’re struggling because you’re living in a toxic world, but you are designed to live in a natural world and empower your genes.” So these are some things that you definitely have to say no to early on. And when you talk to … I have found that when I talk to these young girls in this way, “Look, you have Pocahontas genes, you have an Amazonian genes. You are designed to be a leader of our community,” because typically what? You have higher testosterone levels. You can stand longer periods of starvation. We tend to be more insulin resistant, and just intelligent, natural born leaders, and form more muscle. I had one girl come to me and she’s in her 30s and she said, “I’ve been struggling with this body image all my life. I build muscle so fast and would be criticized from it.” And I shifted that thought. I said, “Because you are a warrior princess. You are designed to be in the field running active.” Just get the image of Pocahontas, and Amazonian warriors, or Wonder Woman. Those are … That’s a really great genetic profile to have in different circumstances. So how do we enhance that, where you are now?
So, there are a few no-nos, and it all comes into being in the keto green way, which I discovered as part of my journey is essentials. Getting alkaline, alkaline foods, getting out in nature, creating an alkaline mindset. So an oxytocin driven mindset. A positive, grateful, appreciative mindset in addition to what we eat, is hugely impactful. And then getting into ketosis on a regular basis. Doing intermittent fasting. Those of us with PCOS, women with PCOS are absolutely designed to intermittent fast. Absolutely. It’s part of our survival genetics. And when we do this, within weeks we have regular cycles, we have an improvement in our skin condition, we have just intense energy, weight loss, and just feel so much at home in our bodies than we ever did before. And I call that getting the keto green way.
But with my young girls, always no dairy. Forget it, no dairy. Just cut it out completely. We have plenty of our own hormones. We don’t need to be drinking in any animal hormones for milk, for sure. And secondly, we have to take away all the sugar. And now I’m in South Georgia, Amy. We have this conversation. I live on Saint Simon’s Island. So in South Georgia, sweet tea is a really big issue. And so switching from sweet tea, to half and half, to unsweetened tea can be a challenge for these young girls, but it is necessary and essential. It is necessary and essential.
So those are just a couple of really big changes that move the needle in such dynamic ways.
Amy:
Yeah. And I want to dig deeper on a couple of those, but I just want to thank you for framing PCOS in the way that you do with those young girls. Because that is just so empowering. And I had to … It took me until I was 30 to come up with this idea that I really am a powerful … That’s why I called it PCOS Diva, this powerful woman, because of the PCOS, and that higher androgen status. And you had mentioned that women with PCOS make good leaders, and we’re actually … With that higher androgen status, we’re more risk takers as well. And I think we make great entrepreneurs. So I appreciate that. I want to just back up to … You talked about alkalinity, and for listeners that haven’t really heard that term, can you sort of give us a little one-on-one about what does that mean?
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Yeah, so it’s one of my favorite topics. Alkalinity is so important, Amy. And first, let me just commend you, because PCOS Diva, when I saw that title I’m like, “Yes, she gets it. She gets it.” She knows she’s an empowered genetics survival powerful, powerful woman. And I love that and that’s why we need to embrace our power. We’ve given away our power to medicines, to media, to pharmacies, insurance companies. We can’t. We have to take back our power. So just shout out on that because I do love that. Claiming our power is huge.
And this comes to alkalinity, and alkalinity … And I will say, we look at the continuum, we’re talking about pH. Now I’m not talking about our blood pH. Our blood pH will stay slightly alkaline in sacrifice of everything else of our body to maintain homeostasis. And so our blood pH stays pretty close, pretty tightly around 7.4. A little bit higher, a little bit lower and we are really, really sick. And that’s something that our body will rob Peter to pay Paul to keep that pH stable. Which makes sense, right? That’s our survival. And we’re talking about arterial blood. Not even venous blood. Arterial blood. So straight from the heart, straight from the lungs. And we typically check a radial artery blood gas when we’re looking at blood pH.
But our body has different pH levels all over. Our skin’s slightly acidic. Makes sense to prevent bacterial invasion. Our vagina, slightly … Well, quite acidic actually with a pH of three to four. Quite acidic to also keep invaders away. So that’s really … That’s part of safety. Our urine pH is almost like our thermostat. How we would measure our temperature actually. So our urine pH is like a thermometer. How well are we doing? Are we sick? Are we healthy? And so what we want to see is us slightly alkaline urine pH.
And when I talk about alkalinity, we talked about above seven. Seven is neutral, seven to 14 is alkaline, on the alkaline scale, seven to zero is on the acidic scale. For example, our stomach pH is zero to three, very acidic. And so that’s the scale. Another way I like to think about it, think of acidity in a lifestyle approach. Think of acidity like a city, like New York City. Industrial, high paced, very fast, very exciting, all this great stuff, but too much too long can really pull you down. And alkalinity, consider alkalinity like the Amazon jungle. Think of a forest. Think of being out in nature. Think of a waterfall in the background or listening to the waves crash on the beach in a gentle role. And that is that feeling, that sensation of alkalinity. More of an alkaline environment.
When we’re out in nature, when we are in meditation, when we are in prayer, we shift to a more alkaline physiology. How are we doing this? We do this by really affecting hormones that affect our pH. So cortisol, like New York City, very acidic hormone. And oxytocin, like being out in the forest or listening to a waterfall, that is very alkalinizing. Oxytocin is the most alkalinizing hormone in our body. So when we think of cultures that have survived and war torn times, and times of devastation, the activities that they do that have been associated with longevity and a happier, healthier quality of life, all increase oxytocin. So if it’s healthy marriages, and it’s celebrations, celebrating birthdays, and weddings. Traditional cultures have made a really big deal out of these celebrations. You celebrate everything, and that’s powerful. That’s powerful. You know you’re loved and appreciated and you feel that in your part of a bigger picture. Community. All of that empowers oxytocin.
Now I didn’t even mention foods. Did I?
Amy:
I know.
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
So with foods, when we think about in the keto green, many of our keto foods are acidic, including our meats and cheeses. I don’t do cheese. So in my Keto Green 16, as well as my Hormone Fix, the recipes are prepared without dairy, because I’m dairy sensitive. And so no dairy, no grain, no sugar. And these are pretty powerful in this way. But I always recommend removing bring them from your diet. Even healthy, beautiful, amazing cheeses for a certain period of time, and just see how your body reacts when you reintroduce foods. Because it is a common food sensitivity.
Anyway, so keto green, so many of the keto foods and wine and coffee are all acidic. So you have to balance that out with alkaline foods. So plant based foods, and your herbs and spices, all the micronutrients that you can pull in, those are all quite alkalinizing and have additional anti-inflammatory antioxidant, antiviral, antibacterial effects on our body. So using herbs and spices in our cooking can make a really big difference, a beautiful difference.
Amy:
So how do we know that we are alkalinized? Do you recommend testing?
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
I love testing. I am so … I’m a big fan. Tests don’t guess. What gets measured, gets managed. These are really crucial. And I have to tell your story, because we’re in the Southeast and we’re entering hurricane season. Just coming out of the quarantine entering hurricane season. But in the last few years we had a couple of major hurricanes that affected me quite a lot. And one them I had to move actually five times … The townhouse I was renting got basically demolished, flooded top down. And so I ended up having to move five times, Amy. And so in that five times I was in just sweat pants. I don’t know what happened to the scale, but like two months later I was a good 15 pounds heavier and I was like, “What happened here? Because you couldn’t tell because I was in stretch pants the whole time.
So, what gets measured gets managed. So checking your weight. Now, many people have different philosophies around it and you don’t have to. It can be obsessive. So, if it doesn’t feel right for you, if it feels like it works against you, then let it go. And for me, it’s definitely one of the checks and balances that I need. The second thing is urine testing for alkalinity and acidity. And this is a really big thing. When we talk about being alkaline versus acidic, I have clients check their urine pH, because like I said, it is a thermometer for how well we’re doing. And in waking up … Right now we have the huge keto green community on Facebook, and running a private challenge group, Keto Green 16 challenge group. So everyone in that group has the urine test strips as part of their buy into the group, and the urine test strips measure the pH and ketones. So it’s lovely to see right now just how people are different and how people are learning to test and measure and making discoveries.
So, urine pH should be over seven when we wake up in the morning, and over seven when we go to bed at night. So ideally averaging seven, 7.5, and really work on getting there because it does make a difference. And honestly, when I first went keto and I started testing my urine pH, I was at a urine pH of five. Well, it could have been lower, but that’s as low as the test strips would read. That’s how acidic my body had gotten. And it was staying there. It was stuck there. And really, that was a huge aha moment for me. Recognizing what I needed to do to improve my process right now. Because in this acidic nature, I was irritable, I felt like I was hitting a wall, I didn’t like how I was on edge and moody. And I called it going keto crazy or keto cranky. And that’s a true thing. That is a true thing.
So, it was really eye opening. That was a huge aha moment when I discovered that, because as a functional medicine physician and doing detox for hormone balancing for my patients, I would always have them check their urine pH. Now we can check urine pH, get pH paper at any store, any pharmacy, and just start checking and see where you’re at. I created urine pH and ketone strips called Keto pH test strips. And that measures both ketones and pH on the same test strip. So it helps you see when we shift into ketosis, even if we’ve been alkaline every single day, many women will experience that shift into acidity. So just shifting from that makes a big difference.
Amy:
And I think it’s really satisfying to see that the choices that you make in your diet really are making an impact and a difference when you do testing like that.
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Absolutely. Absolutely. And then the lifestyle choices. I had a client, she was stressed out about work every day and she said, “I was just checking, checking, checking. And I was eating, following the plan and I was still struggling getting alkaline.” She goes, “Then I had Friday night out with the girls, we had wine and we laughed and sang and danced, and I woke up so alkaline the next morning,” she said. She was like, “I had a pH of eight.” I’m like, “Yes, that’s the power of oxytocin.” So it goes beyond what we … When we’re stressed, we really have to master, we really have to master and empower oxytocin.
Amy:
And you also had a really interesting story in your book, Keto Green 16, where you talk about monitoring your blood sugar with an at home device. And that’s something that I talked about in my book as well. It was really, really integral into, for me, figuring out what foods were doing to my body. And it sounds like it was for you too, but maybe you could just tell us what beyond food you were noticing that was impacting your blood sugar in a positive way.
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Yeah, absolutely. Beyond food was stress. Beyond food was stress. Dehydration, difficulty sleeping …
Amy:
Worry. And meditation. When you meditated in the morning, your blood sugar was lower.
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Oh yeah. So one thing with the continuous blood sugar monitoring, and I’m actually wearing one again right now as I go through this round of 16 days with all my daughters doing it with me. One thing that I notice is that when I got up in the morning and I had coffee, my blood sugar went up 20 to 30 points. Even though technically glee coffee doesn’t necessarily … You’ll say, “Well yeah, you can have coffee and it’s not breaking your fast.” And it may not be, but if it raised my blood sugar 20 to 30, it was an aha moment for me. Because okay, your adrenals are fragile. Your caffeine’s pushing up your cortisol and pushing out glucose, and hence very quickly that was raising my blood sugar.
But when I woke up before … Now, this is my practice. Before I get out of bed, before I even open my eyes, I often just start doing this gratitude practice. Where did I see love yesterday? What am I so grateful for yesterday? And I always ask, where could I have laughed at myself more? Because I’m very serious. And so where could I have laughed more or laughed at myself more, or lightened up? And that helps me focus so that I can be lighter in other situations. So I like to do that and really focus on where I felt loved and where I gave love. It’s a checks and balances. And when I do that, my blood sugar stays stable, and that’s really nice.
So, there’s a couple of things that I found through continuous blood sugar monitoring, as well as checking urine pH and ketones, is those thoughts and stresses, how bad can affect my blood sugar. And prior to this I keynoted for a conference, and I’m always very nervous before I speak. And my blood glucose went up to 150, and stayed there for 30 minutes.
Amy:
Oh my gosh.
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
I was fasting. I was fasting. My fasting level stays below 80. Isn’t that amazing? That’s just from stress, just from worry. And another thing that’s really fascinating is intense workouts can raise your blood sugar too, raise your sugar as well, which makes sense because we need to feed the muscle. And so we’ll use that residual glycogen stores, and that’s pretty cool. I’s a really amazing.
Amy:
So maybe, could you tell our listeners what device you like to use?
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Yeah. So for continuous blood glucose monitoring, I’m using the FreeStyle Libre. It’s by Abbott Labs. You do need a prescription for it. It really should be over the counter, but currently you need a prescription for it. And as long as you have a smartphone, I believe it’s one of the more recent models within the last few years. You can just download the app. You don’t need to buy the separate monitor, which is usually 80 to $100. But a whole month, each monitor lasts two weeks, and so for 14 days exactly. And at the end of … And each one costs about $40 cash pay. Not expensive at all. It’s a worth it to get the information.
Amy:
Yes, so that you can make those empowered choices. And you know … And like I said, it’s so satisfying to know that what you’re doing is actually making a real difference.
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Yeah, and then seeing what’s sabotaging you, because some like … Another eye opening thing is as someone recognized that she was putting fruits in her smoothie and thought, “Okay, well they’re low-glycemic fruit,” but they still raised her sugar, her blood sugar quite significantly. And so just eye opening. She was able to reduce it and go to a more stable amount.
I think that’s eye opening. And the other thing too is when we want to stabilize blood sugar, it’s interesting. And this is fun, because I look at how we combine our meals. So same thing with our … If we’re having coffee in the morning or tea, if we add some of the healthy fats, like MCT oil or purified ghee. That can help keep that glucose a bit more stable. But for me, my glucose still goes up. So I don’t have my coffee till later in the day now. Because I love my coffee.
Amy:
I know. And when you were talking about sweet tea, up north where I am in New Hampshire, it’s iced coffee. And you can’t have iced coffee without cream and sugar. So yeah, you’ve got to watch those beverages as well.
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Exactly.
Amy:
So you mentioned intermittent fasting and we’ve done a lot on this podcast about intermittent fasting because it really is so helpful for women who are struggling with insulin resistance. I know that in your program you recommend the 16 hour fast, but somebody who’s just dipping their toe in to fasting, how do you recommend that they start out?
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Yes, definitely I recommend that you start just with 12 hour fast, and then work to 13, 14, 15, 16. And you can do it, in my book Keto Green 16, I have a beginner, intermediate, and an advanced plan. So you kind of follow where you are on that plan. And this is a really important point. You want to start where you’re at and gradually increase, because otherwise we’re going to experience some negative side effects. More of the keto flu type symptoms, more of the withdrawal symptoms. There’s no need to. Just in a few days, we’ll be there.
So I typically say, “First things first, always a healthy morning starts with a good night.” So make sure your evening meal … And in fact for us starting in our keto green communities, it was day one yesterday with Keto Green 16 plan in my book, and the evening was a harvest beef stew. So it had kale and beef and some other vegetables in there and a beautiful broth. It was really easy to prepare and then drizzled with olive oil on top to add some additional healthy fat. And that’s a nice stable evening meal, and then drink very little before you go to bed. So you’re not diluting your digestive enzymes so your food digest completely. And then in the morning when you wake up, hydrate. Put a bottle of water, glass of water next to your bed. And when you wake up in the morning, drink that tall glass of water. Alkaline water. You can put this word of lemon juice in it, but hydrate when you get up in the morning so that you are flushing out toxins.
And also, that will help … Because thirst is often imitated as hunger. So that will help you start to be able to fast longer. You’re like … Okay, well your body’s satisfied. It’s no longer dehydrated. You’re not going to be reaching for what’s in the fridge right now because you’re nurtured and your body still has plenty of circulating reserve of glucose. So it’s good. And that kind of sends back that message.
And also if you need to, you adding a little bit of oil or coconut oil or MCT oil or ghee, purified butter, into your morning tea or coffee, and if you blend it, it gives you a creaminess. I promise you will not miss creamer or milk or any of that. And so … But blend a little bit of that in there, and you can add some cinnamon. I did this morning to mine, cinnamon and cardamom are my two favorite spices for my morning tea. And blend that up with some MCT oil. It makes it nice and creamy and that will keep you longer. And just work up to it like any exercise. It is … You work into it. It is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. And so take your time, listen to your body ,and just keep making the next right step.
Amy:
So do you find that that women who have adrenal issues, do they do well on your plan, the Keto Green 16?
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. This whole myth that the adrenal … Women with adrenal hypofunction, a low cortisol, that they have to snack. That they have to snack. Where did that come from? Show me the science based on that. Because myself and women in my community that have been snackers for a long time, once they stopped snacking, they are thousand percent better. A thousand percent better. So again, like any muscle, it takes some exercise. It takes some work and time to break some habits, but your body doesn’t need that snack. And when we’re nourishing ourself with plenty of the minerals, plenty of the healthy foods, then we shift to a better physiology. A better metabolic rate too.
Amy:
So I guess in a nutshell, could you just describe the plan, and then of course I want you to give information on how you get the book and more information about your programs. But for those that are sort of intrigued, you could just sort of … What would a day look like in terms of food?
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Oh, absolutely. So for example, for the morning we typically … We’ll just have tea and then we break fast around 10 or 11:00 AM, because we’ll have dinner by six or 7:00 PM. So that’s the goal for me and my lifestyle. And so I’ll just share with you, my yesterday was I had my tea with some MCT in it, blended that up, went for a walk around 10 to 11. I broke fast with my curry chicken skillet, and just some sautéed chicken I made for all the girls. And then we had the harvest beef stew for evening. I did have a, in between, keto green shake made with my keto green protein meal replacement powder, as well as a scoop or two of mighty maca. And I added that into my regiment to also help support detox and support physiology as well as getting adequate protein for the day. So I broke fast, and typically it’s two meals a day that I typically will have. And sometimes the keto green shake in between.
Amy:
And you feel satisfied? You don’t find that women … I feel like for myself, I would really miss those grains.
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
You won’t, you really won’t. Once you break that habit, you really, really, won’t. I’m telling … Even now, it does, it takes practice. I was a vegetarian for over 12 years and I would say if I could have salad and dessert I was fine. Bread and butter, salad and dessert. And it was really a big staple, especially as a poor college student, a poor med student. Grains are inexpensive. And so breaking those habits was the best thing that I could be doing. Definitely breaking dairy was one of the best things that I could ever have done for my body. And I shout that out because I see so many kids, and I had suffered with ear infections and congestion and a long time mouth breather, just because I was always stuffed up. When you switch that and that improves, I can tell if something has dairy in it, my ear will start to have fluid in it right away. And I’m like, “That definitely had dairy in it, or definitely a food sensitivity.”
It’s very fascinating. Your body will tell you once you completely abandon the foods that have been sensitizers. So with grains, for the most part, getting rid of grains is a huge win for all of us. And especially those who are more inclined for insulin resistance. Those are storage foods for times of famine.
Amy:
But so do you think that women who have that thin phenotype of PCOS that aren’t trying to lose weight, would it be enough to sustain them without dropping more weight?
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Absolutely. You’re going to maintain your muscle. You will maintain your muscle and lose, if there is excess body fat anywhere, you’ll lose it. And often people get … I’ve never had anyone too thin. And I have some older clients too, that are in that under that underweight category, but they feel better than ever. They feel better than ever. They’re stronger, they work out harder. And I’m just thinking in particular of a woman, I think she’s in her late 60s, early 70s, and she is gardening and just more alive she says than she has felt in a decade. And she lost 20 pounds. It put her slightly under an ideal weight range, but it’s perfect for her. So I think it really depends. I haven’t really … And I have fitness trainers, Pilates teachers, physicians, and coaches and all from all different realms. And I’ve never had a compliment … I’ve never heard, not yet, that I’ve lost too much weight. Not yet.
Amy:
Okay. Well tell us where you can find your book and more information about your work.
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Yeah. Thank you. So I have actually seven amazing book bonuses to go with my book too, Amy. That includes feast recipes that has my famous chocolate avocado mousse that tastes better than any chocolate pudding. I promise y’all. Key lime pie and a carrot cake recipe that follow my keto green principles. And so they’re dairy free, grain free. You’ll love them. And so you get that bonus feast recipes, and the quick start guide. And what else do you get? You get another extra meal plans and all of these that you can find by going to the page, dranna.com. Drana, D-R-A-N-N-A.com/ketogreen. K-E-T-O green, keto green. And you’ll get those seven bonuses. Books, Keto Green 16 is available anywhere books are sold. Barnes and Noble, your local book retailer. They will get it for you and do curbside pickup if you need to. Amazon, of course, and definitely appreciate your reviews on there. And then definitely find me on my Keto Green community on Facebook.
Amy:
And you are on social media at … What’s your hashtag?
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
@DrAnnaC on Facebook, and Dr. Anna Cabeca on Instagram.
Amy:
Excellent. Well, thank you so much. Your book is beautiful. You have some beautiful pictures that go along with over 50 recipes and I can’t wait to try them out. I know I was telling you beforehand that I want my husband to-
Dr. Anna Cabeca:
Yes.
Amy:
Get with the program, and I’m going to be cooking some of these recipes very soon. So thank you for coming on and thank you everyone for listening. And I look forward to being with you again very soon. Bye bye.
