PCOS 101

PCOS

P-C-O-S is a term I’ve been hearing A LOT more lately amongst women I know.

PCOS, or polycystic ovarian syndrome, is one of the most common hormonal endocrine disorders in women, affecting up to 1 in 10 women of child-bearing age  AND accounts for 75% of the women with amenorrhea.

PCOS is also known as a “silent killer” of  health since there is not one test alone to diagnose the disease.

In other words: It’s hard to catch.

PCOS is most commonly linked to hormonal imbalances (involving reproductive hormones like estrogen and testosterone, as well as your stress hormone, cortisol and hormones that regulate your appetite, blood sugar, and appetite), and is named for the common occurrence of multiple cysts on ovaries in a “string of pearls” pattern (however this is not always the case).

Signs and symptoms of PCOS include:

• Painful or irregular periods
• Acne
• Abnormal hair growth
• Increased appetite
• Weight gain
• Difficulty losing weight (however, (1/3 of patients with PCOS are normal or underweight)
• Infertility
• Depression and anxiety
• Irregular blood sugar (crashes, headaches, shakiness between meals)
• Other disease diagnoses like: type 2 diabetes, thyroid issues, and heart disease.

What Causes It?

PCOS isn’t just something you get or you don’t. It’s not something that happens overnight.

The main underlying cause of PCOS—like many diseases—is simple: Inflammation.

Simply put, over time, chronic daily inflammation created by toxic exposure ( such as conventional beauty, hygiene products and food sources), 24/7 high stress, sugar, and high stress (i.e. high cortisol) lifestyle are all precursors to PCOS.

Whereas some people get diabetes…or adrenal fatigue…or hypothyroidism…some just so happen to get PCOS from such outside influences.

So how do you know if you have it?

How It’s Treated

Many traditional docs may try to give you hormone replacement to try to replace the hormones that are low in your body and help boost yours back up to speed.

Androgen-blocking medications are often used, along with hormonal birth control or ovulation induction to treat infertility.

However, this is often detrimental because synthetic hormones mask your body’s own ability to actually make those same hormones at all:

Get this: As the levels of those hormones go up in the bloodstream by a synthetic hormone, your pituitary gland sees that and it reduces your own internal production of that hormone.

Although this doesn’t seem like a bad thing on the drug (because you’re still getting what it seems you need by taking it)…there’s another problem that happens when you have higher levels of hormone in your blood for a long time: The receptors for your hormones get down-regulated. 

Translation: A given amount of synthetic hormone in your blood will actually have a lesser effect because the receptors aren’t able to accept that hormone anymore.  

In other words: You take the hormones…but are left with more imbalances or “hormone resistance” over time.

What to REALLY do about it?

I am big on taking ACTION! And…tackling the ROOTS of disease (not the symptoms).

And get this, there are MANY action steps YOU can take if you’ve been diagnosed with PCOS, without necessarily turning to hormone replacement.

Like these inflammation fighters:

Eat Real Food.

Or put it this way: Eat like your great-grandparents. Simple food is what your body is craving:

• Grass-fed and Organic Proteins (as much as possible)
• Or whole-sourced vegetable proteins (fermented tofu, soaked beans, tempeh, lentils)
• Healthy fats and oils (especially fats—like coconut oil, raw nuts and seeds, avocado, fatty fish, butter, ghee, coconut butter, pasture raised eggs—don’t fear the fat).
• Lots of frash veggies (especially leafy greens)
• Low glycemic fruits (like berries)
• Minimal “whole grains” and some starch (like potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, steel-cut oats)

You need balance (especially PROTEIN, FATS AND VEGGIES) as the base of your meals to decrease inflammation Eat balanced meals three times per day, with snacks, as needed, consisting of a protein and/or healthy fat as the base (like nitrate-free jerky, a handful of raw nuts, a coconut butter packet, turkey rollups around cucumber or baby tomatoes, etc.).

Avoid:

• Processed foods
• Most packaged foods
• Added sugar
• Fast food
• Alcohol (limit to 2-3 glasses/week)
• Caffeine (at the very most, 1 cup of quality coffee per day)
• Foods or drinks exposed to BPA – e.g. most canned foods, water in plastic bottles.

Healing Foods.

In addition to building your base diet on balance, here are a handful of foods to focus on if you have “excess androgens” according to Dr. Sara Gottfried (a hormone specialist in the functional medicine world):

• Low glycemic index foods, with a GI less than 55
• Foods containing zinc, such as green beans, sesame and pumpkin seeds
• Wild Alaskan salmon for omega-3s
• 35-45 grams of fiber per day
• Eat more protein – 0.75 to 1 gram of lean protein per pound of lean body mass
• Cinnamon – ½ teaspoon per day (herbal/botanical therapy)

While avoiding:

• Minimize omega-6 fats found in processed food, corn and safflower oils, and farm-raised fish
• Avoid medium or high glycemic foods, with a GI of 55 or over
• Avoid dairy for 6 weeks to see if it helps your symptoms
• Avoid eggs for 6 weeks to see if it helps your symptoms
• Avoid sugar

Tame Your Sweet Tooth.

On this note of foods to steer clear from, I’ll say it again: Sugar. Sugar= “Sound the alarms!” (artificial sweeteners included). While it may be something you HAVE to have, sugar is a stressor to your body! And it’s hidden in hundreds of thousands of food sources on our grocery store shelves—even “healthy things” like yogurt, fat free salad dressings, Diet Coke, breakfast cereal, Quest bars, protein powders. Cut the sugar as much as you can to give your body the best opportunity to shine through PCOS. An exception? A square of 70-80% or greater Dark Chocolate—a little dab is linked to “reduced oxidative stress” (moderation here).  

Caffeine Cut.

Drastic times call for drastic measures, and unfortunately, coffee (caffeine) is a stimulant and precursor to hormonal imbalances—especially if you already have them. An initial 30-90 day “no coffee” protocol is recommended (even decaf) to give your cortisol levels a break from the ups and downs (or requirements of caffeine). Think you can’t survive? Check out this post to learn how to cut back (and feel amazing).

Find What Moves You.

Exercise is the cherry on top to proper nutrition, but proper amounts can help your body (and hormones) get back up to speed—especially if exercise has been infrequent. On the other hand, if you’ve been pushing your body (and you know who you are), backing down on training or intensity can be equally necessary (find a support coach or holistic practitioner who understands your bod and the goals you are working on to improve your health). 

Proper Supplementation.

Couple all these lifestyle suggestions with a natural supplementation protocol and smart use of pharmacological aids, directed by a functional medicine practitioner or holistic nutritionist (who understands root issues—not just symptoms)—and PCOS is totally treatable.  Your protocol will be completely unique to you. Connect with a practitioner who is educated in guiding and educating individuals around hormonal imbalances, and addressing disease from the inside out.