Stupid PCOS!

Hey!
I don't have an answer for you.. but I was JUST given confirmation last Friday that I have PCOS too. I still don't know much about it.. why do you need lower carbs? Does PCOS make it more difficult to lose weight?

I completely understand your frustration! Trying to lose weight while battling insulin resistance is extremely difficult. I've known I have PCOS since I was 16, and within the last year, have discovered helpful methods for dealing with it with the help of my trainer, who also has PCOS. The key to eating is to eat 5 or 6 SMALL meals evenly spaced throughout the day. The idea behind it is that this method of eating keeps your blood sugar at a constant level, without letting it get too low or too high. Another crucial part of eating is that you must eat a combination of high fiber, lean protein, and low carb in every small meal. The fiber slows your body's absorption of the protein and carbs, keeping your blood sugar at a lower, constant level. Maintaining a proper diet with PCOS is all about keeping your blood sugar from spiking - have you heard of the glycemic index? The glycemic index is very helpful for people with PCOS because it is a measurement of food's affect on blood sugar. It allows you to see how foods like bananas, while containing many nutrients, can be bad for people trying to lose weight because of their affect on blood sugar. There are many books and cookbooks (and free websites!) available to help you monitor the glycemic index of the foods you eat - the lower the better! One I bought is The PCOS Diet Cookbook by Gilletz - it gives great tips and provides balanced meal ideas that focus on low glycemic, not just low carb. I highly reccomend that you try a low glycemic diet - I saw no weight loss results until I combined this with 45 min of cardio (at least) 5 days/week. I lost 8 pounds in the first week

A few random things I have figured out/read about along the way....

DO NOT drink or eat anything sugarfree - the artificial sweetener, while containing no calories, has been proven to still increase the blood sugar, thus telling your body to store fat. One small sugarfree snack every once in a while is ok, but living on diet sodas and "sugarfree" waters that contain aspartame and sucralose will not help you lose any weight.

Squeezing a lemon or lime wedge over a salad or peice of meat (or anything) lowers its glycemic load by up to 30%.

Add vinger (in the form of dressing), cinnamon, or citrus to any food to help slow the affect the food has on blood sugar.

McDonald's salads are a good option as long as you choose grilled chicken with vinigarette dressing

Good balanced snacks are combinations like: an apple and a reduced fat cheese stick, an apple and 8 almonds, an orange and a 1/3 cup reduced fat cottage cheese (add cinnamon to the apples for more flavor and more reduction of blood sugar!)

If you must have pasta, eat Barilla Plus, which is full of protein and fiber.

When cooking for the family, if you make meat, vegetables, and rice, skip out on the rice and eat extra veggies (i know.. it sucks)


Sorry for the incredibly long post, i just understand how frustrating this is and hope what little i have learned can help you start seeing some results!

I just thought of something else...

The glycemic index is also good to study because it tells you things about foods you might not normally think about -- for example... carrots and corn develop a lot of sugar when they are cooked, and thus move from low glycemic to high, just by cooking them. Figuring this all out is very frustrating at first, but it gets easier the more you learn. And, it results in weight loss, so there's motivation!

Wow, this is all sort of making me mad. Honestly, when I went to get the results from my ultrasound last week, my doctor literally said "it is very clear you have polycystic ovarian syndrome, you need to lose weight"
WTF.......
thank goodness for you ladies. I think I need to learn more about the glycemic index. Also, it was mentioned that every small meal should consist of fat, carbs and protein.. does anyone have any good recipes or meal ideas for that?
wow i'm so mad right now..
thanks for your help though

I have had PCOS since I was about 20, and since then have done a lot of research. With PCOS you have to take vitamins to help lower insulin resistance and help turn carbs into energy. I make no recommendations here, this is just what works for me and the best options to get all we need. The multi vitamins are a substitute to metformin, which has too many side effects for me. Ask your doc or natural path to be sure what you need. I take Jamieson vita slim (I've checked every single multi vitamin I could find and this was the one with the most of what is needed in it), vitamin D, Biotin, Chromium and Fish oil. With PCOS you can lose weight, it just takes twice the time and twice the effort, honestly. But if you have the motivation to stick to it you will get through it! I try to keep carbs low too, but if I must have carbs I make sure it is whole wheat (pasta or bread), not great but better.

Good luck to you all! :flowerforyou: j

Wow, this is all sort of making me mad. Honestly, when I went to get the results from my ultrasound last week, my doctor literally said "it is very clear you have polycystic ovarian syndrome, you need to lose weight"
WTF.......
thank goodness for you ladies. I think I need to learn more about the glycemic index. Also, it was mentioned that every small meal should consist of fat, carbs and protein.. does anyone have any good recipes or meal ideas for that?
wow i'm so mad right now..
thanks for your help though

Yes, actually The Atkins Nutritional Approach is the BEST for treatment of PCOS..................

I have lost 42 pounds so far, blood work is much better (see the link in my signature) and I have actually ovulated 2 months in a row.............

Did your Dr also recommend that your meat, eggs, cheese be of the raw variety? I started buying meats and eggs from local farmers and I am getting a yogurt machine to start my own yogurt making too.............I get raw cheese too from another local farmer..............

Hey!
I don't have an answer for you.. but I was JUST given confirmation last Friday that I have PCOS too. I still don't know much about it.. why do you need lower carbs? Does PCOS make it more difficult to lose weight?

Yes, PCOS causes insulin resistance which the only way to treat so you don't get diabetes is low carb............

read this article...................

http://diabetes.about.com/od/nutrition/qt/locarbdiabetes.htm

Does a low-carb diet really help control or even reverse type 2 diabetes? According to a study from Duke University, a very low-carb diet (20 grams or less a day) gave participants better blood sugar control and more effective weight loss than participants who followed a low-glycemic reduced calorie diet.
Eighty-four people with obesity and type 2 diabetes took part in the study. During the study, both groups also had the supportive benefit of group meetings, nutritional supplementation and an exercise program. After 6 months, the low-carb group had lower hemoglobin A1c results, lost more weight, and 95% were able to reduce or even totally eliminate their diabetes medications. The reduced calorie group did lose weight, and 62% of them were also able to reduce or eliminate their medications, but the low-carb diet group had better overall results.

"It's simple," says Eric Westman, MD, director of Duke's Lifestyle Medicine Program and lead author of the study. "If you cut out the carbohydrates, your blood sugar goes down, and you lose weight which lowers your blood sugar even further. It's a one-two punch."

The low-carb diet used in the study is very restrictive on carb intake, with participants eating under 20 grams of carbs a day. This may be difficult for many people to stick to, but as Dr. Westman says, "This is a therapeutic diet for people who are sick," says Westman. "These lifestyle approaches all have an intensive behavioral component. In our program, people come in every two weeks to get reinforcements and reminders. We've treated hundreds of patients this way now at Duke, and what we see clinically and in our research shows that it works."

Keep in mind that there is more to these results than just diet. Both groups also exercised regularly as well. Diet combined with exercise is the cornerstone of diabetes management. Before starting any diet program, please talk with your doctor, or healthcare provider.

Source:

(Jan. 5, 2009). Low-Carb Diets Prove Better at Controlling Type 2 Diabetes . Retrieved February 19, 2009, from DukeHealth.org Web site: http://www.dukehealth.org/HealthLibrary/News/low_carb_diets_prove_better_at_controlling_type_2_diabetes

LeanLioness....you say your using herb and vit......what kind?

I didn't say herbs..............supplements............mostly amino acids that your body already produces, so that it will line out your endocrine system....

I get them from Natural Med Apothecary in Herrin, IL. They are an all natural pharmacy.

There is a lot of research and many doctors are finding that following the Atkins diet for a long period of time is dangerous and ineffective in terms of improving overall health (the information goes both ways). My endocronologists, gynocologists, GPs, and personal trainer agreed the low glycemic was the best route for me because of the balanced eating style it provides, with a focus on the affect food has on blood sugar. I guess this just goes to show how new the ideas for treating PCOS are, and how dietary needs vary by person. The moral of the story is that you need to figure out with your own doctors what options will work best for you.

See the whole article on low carb - high fat diets: http://www.hopkinshospital.org/health_info/Diabetes/Reading/highprotein.html

The Dangers of High-Protein, Low-Carbohydrate Diets for People With Diabetes
Adapted from the 2002 edition of the Johns Hopkins Diabetes White Paper.

Maintaining a healthy body weight is important for both the prevention and treatment of diabetes. Excess body weight increases the risk of developing diabetes; for overweight people with the disease, losing weight can improve blood glucose control and reduce the risk of long-term complications.

Losing weight is difficult, however, and many people resort to fad diets. Among the most popular ones today are high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets that promise rapid weight loss by following a food plan that is high in protein but limits foods rich in carbohydrates, such as fruits, vegetables, and grains. Some examples are Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution by Robert C. Atkins, M.D., Protein Power by Michael R. Eades, M.D. and Mary Dan Eades, M.D., Sugar Busters! by H. Leighton Steward, M.S. and coauthors, and The Zone by Barry Sears, Ph.D. According to the authors of these diets, high levels of insulin cause obesity by promoting the storage of calories as body fat. They claim that when a person reduces the amount of carbohydrate in the diet, the body produces less insulin and weight loss occurs.

People do lose weight on high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets, though the weight loss is due to water loss and reduced calories, not to lower insulin levels as the authors claim. Even so, nutrition experts do not recommend these diets. First, the weight loss is difficult to maintain over the long term. Second, there is some evidence that these diets may increase the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and kidney damage—conditions for which people with diabetes are already at high risk.

(more explanation on the website)

I don't believe in mainstream medicine any longer, so anything from a hospital like John's Hopkins is biased in my opinion.

The weight loss most defiinitely is not water-weight, it is fat loss.........

I eat way more healthier on Atkins than I did on any other type of diet. My heart is healthier and my kidneys work better also............

Atkins is actually built on the glycemic index and how you add back in carbs in the form of veggies and fruits is by the glycemic index.

I can show pleny of research that refutes everything that those articles mentioned..............

My bloodwork proves how Atkins is making me healthier.............