PCOS and Losing

VickyLosing wrote: »

Hi girl, I can tell you: you can do it.
I was diagnosed with PCOS lemme think... 8 years ago. My doctor never told me, though, that this had to do with insulin resistance, food and weight. I started reading into the topic only this August and lost 25 pounds since then (just entering healthy BMI area). So yes, it's quite possible!
I hear some confusion from your side, so I've listed the most important things I've learned:

1. If you're PCOS and overweight the underlying problem is probably that you're insulin resistant, at least to some degree. You have to restore your insulin sensitivity to help your PCOS. The most effective way to do that is losing weight and sports!

2. To boil things down, the state of being insulin resistant means your blood is filled with free fatty acids even though your body doesn't need them. This blocks the insulin's signal, meaning your cells don't react to insulin anymore. Things worsen as you put on more weight, especially belly fat (or "visceral fat"). Weight loss helps, because your blood won't be flooded with fatty acids anymore. The insulin's signal will "come through" again. Sport also helps a great deal because your muscles actually FEED on these fatty acids and REMOVE them from your blood. Same result: the insulin's signal will come through.
Studies support this: while doing sports AND dieting seems not to significantly boost weight loss in PCOS women compared to only dieting, the study subjects who added sport to their diet lost significantly more belly fat - which is the bad guy here! They also had better insulin sensitivity. You see, you don't have to go hardcore, just make sure the fatty acids are being "used up" from time to time. Rather do it regularly than high-intensity.

3. Your diet... There's a lot of confusion around and you'll hear often to go low carb or no carb as the only option. Truth be told, certain foods DO influence your insulin sensitivity. Going on a no-carb diet makes your body produce veeery little insulin- however, this does NOT heal the problem beneath (how your CELLS react to insulin!). It just delays it. It doesn't reverse your insulin resistance (it even makes it worse temporarily). Once you add in carbs again the body still doesn't know how to react to the insulin. BUT weight loss does help, as I explained above. Soooo, a low carb diet CAN be useful because it's effective for losing weight, NOT because it helps the problem itself. It is not required nor the only option- but it is an option. (You can look up a study where a person regained full insulin sensitivity by only eating rice- that's a 100%-carb-diet!! And it still helps, so yeah). Just in case you struggle with low carb, any healthy diet that makes you lose weight helps your insulin sensitivity.

4. Try to avoid eating a diet that made you insulin resistant in the first place. That is, try to avoid a "cafeteria diet": eating food high in carbs AND fat AT THE SAME TIME. You can have an oatmeal/fruit breakfast for example which is very high in healthy carbs. Then a low carb lunch and dinner which can be high in fats. DON'T (often) eat a cheeseburger with loads of fat and a sugary wheat bun. Or a Pizza with a carb-loaded dough and tons of fatty cheese. Potato chips: very bad idea, they're carb roasted in fat. This is what makes us sick, as a society. You should also choose good carbs over bad carbs: oatmeal, vegetables, fruits (berries are best) and whole grain in moderatio are good carbs (they differ on a biochemical basis and have a lot of fiber, in case you wonder about the difference). Sugar, wheat and potatoes contain different, "bad" carbs and little to no fiber. Sugar is the worst by far, so if you have to cheat, rather have a bowl of pasta than a cake. You'll hear of this concept as "slow carb", read about it. It doesn't mean the foods I named are off limits, just try to reduce them as far as you can.

5. When it comes to fats, try to watch your cholesterol. Saturated fatty acids as they come with fatty meats, eggs and dairy (exception: butter and cream) are raising your "bad" cholesterol, avoid them. Dairy also contains sugar as you stated, so it should be avoided anyways. Oleic acid and other monounsaturated fatty acids raise your "good" cholesterol (boiling things down again). Polyunsaturated fatty acids don't affect your cholesterol but are important for other things, you shouldn't consume too little, but more doesn't help more. Some oils loose their good properties as you heat them, so be careful. My rough guide is to use butter or coconut oil for frying, olive oil for salads and cold meals and have fatty fish at least once a week (they're to only natural source of omega-3 fatty acids that our body can efficiently use).

6. Supplement if you feel like it. There are studies that support some supplements as effective treatment against insulin resistance and PCOS. Examples are myo-inositol, NAC, apple cider vinegar, Magnesium etc. Fiber also helps your gut bacteria and your overall hunger, especially since all the fiber you usually consume with wheat is missing. You can add whole psyllium husks t your diet, drink them in water half an hour before your meals.

About weight-ins, well.. Weight jumps, a lot. I feel you get less sensitive to these natural changes if you do it more often. But to each their own! Always do it at the same time of the day, I prefer to in the morning before eating and drinking anything to avoid major jumps.
I hope that helps and doesn't confuse you! I just remember how hard it was to get all that (sometimes deceptive) information, but once you know what to eat, you'll lose weight and improve your health in no time