particular promise. It will be a while before conclusions can be drawn, but at present one thing is certain: the now accepted link between PCOS and insulin resistance and diabetes has ensured that PCOS will never again be neglected by the medical community. The search for new treatment options will continue.
WHERE TO GO FROM HERE
Now you’ve seen what’s on offer from the medical community you need to decide how best to work with your doctor, weigh up the pros and cons and find a treatment approach that’s best for you. Whether or not you decide to go down the medical route, it’s absolutely vital that you give yourself and your medication, if you’re taking it, a helping hand by making some positive lifestyle changes. Study after study13 has confirmed that a good diet, exercise programme and lifestyle modification are the essential foundation in managing PCOS. In some cases these may even be all you need to manage your symptoms, but if you’re on medication your goal should always be to use it in conjunction with diet and exercise, as the healthier you are the more effective your medication is likely to be.
This is why Part 2 is packed with practical diet and lifestyle advice that can help you beat your symptoms, reduce the long-term health risks associated with PCOS and boost your chances of health and vitality, now and in the years to come.
CHAPTER 6 YOUR PCOS NUTRITION GUIDE
To truly get to grips with PCOS, you have to eat the foods that are right for you. Dozens of medical studies1 have shown that eating the right kinds of foods can help manage symptoms and reduce the risk of infertility, diabetes, heart disease and other complications of PCOS.
WHY FOOD IS SO IMPORTANT FOR PCOS
1 Food influences your hormones. Everything you put in your mouth triggers some kind of hormonal response in your body.
2 A healthy diet plays a vital role in weight management. Study after study2 has shown that how much you weigh is one of the most significant factors in determining how severe your symptoms are.
3 You have to eat – so food is a natural medicine you can access for yourself. And taking control of your diet can get rid of feelings of powerlessness in the face of PCOS.
4 The nutrients in your food actually become the cells of your body – we are what we eat. Nutritional deficiencies – when you don’t get enough of all the essential nutrients and vitamins and minerals you need for good health – are caused by stress and a poor diet. They can upset your body’s hormonal balance, your mood and your long-term health.
5 Eating right could alter your genetics – and protect your kids from PCOS. Research is still preliminary, but in the November 2005 issue of New Scientist3 journal, experts drew on a number of studies on animals to suggest that a person’s diet could in theory have an impact on their genetic make-up. This means that genetic effects which predispose people to have physical or mental illness could be switched ‘on’ or ‘off’, according to the food you eat, and could possibly reverse the effects of diseases such as schizophrenia or cancer.
6 6. A good diet makes medication more effective. For example, Gerard Conway, consultant gynaecologist at Middlesex Hospital, says ‘Metformin is not a magic bullet and will only work if a foundation of healthy eating and exercise is already in place.’
THE 10-STEP PCOS DIET ACTION PLAN
A balanced, nutritious, whole food, low-glycaemic diet can have the most positive effect on women with PCOS,4 easing their symptoms and reducing the long-term health risks, so here’s the simplest way to get it.
Be sure to give yourself time to adjust to the PCOS diet. If you’re used to eating in a certain way, it will take time to re-educate your taste buds. A whole new diet introduced all at once could also shock your system and trigger fatigue, headaches and stomach upsets. It’s much better to make gradual changes and to train your palate and your digestion slowly. It takes most people about three to four months to adjust to a new eating plan, and that’s what we recommend.
Each of the ten changes will make a huge difference and encourage you to make even more. From our own personal experience and from talking to other women with PCOS, the order in which we have listed our plan makes for the easiest way to start incorporating the stages into your life. Try each change and stick with it for a couple of days or weeks, or however long you need to feel comfortable with it before moving on to the next one.
Think of the changes not as rules but as guidelines for a lifetime of healthy eating that you can use to ensure your body gets all the nutrients it needs to beat your symptoms and boost the quality of your health and your life. The menu planners and meal ideas on pages 96–100 show that making changes doesn’t have to be complicated!
1) EAT MORE OFTEN
The PCOS diet is about eating more, not less, as long as those foods are healthy and nutritious. It’s also about eating more often. Try not to go more than three or four hours without eating. Most of us find ourselves skipping breakfast or grabbing a coffee, followed by a light lunch and then an evening meal which can be as late as 9 or 10 p.m. Starving and stacking your calories like this just isn’t a good idea if you have PCOS.
WHY?
When you fast for long periods your body thinks starvation is on the horizon and responds by doing the best it can to hold on to every calorie by reducing your metabolic rate and preparing to store fat.
Long gaps between meals also create low blood sugar levels, which make you crave sugary foods and snacks – the very foods that cause a surge of insulin and add to the likelihood of insulin resistance.
HOW?
Have breakfast, a mid-morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack and then a light supper.
Breakfast is your most important meal because it kick-starts your metabolism, gives you an energy boost and gets you going for the day. If you don’t feel like eating when you get up, try waking up 15 minutes earlier or laying the breakfast table the evening before to motivate you.
Your snacks should be a low-GI carbohydrate mixed with a little protein. Points 3 and 5 below will explain why this is important, but for now the healthy PCOS snack suggestions opposite will help get you thinking along the right lines.
Make sure you have a good lunch and only a light supper so you eat most of your calories early in the day when you have a chance to use them up by being active. If you eat a big evening meal, then go to bed, you’ll just store away the calories, confuse your metabolic rate and put on weight.
HEALTHY SNACK IDEAS
