|
Untitled Page
|
Nutrition Tips
From
Monica Woolsey
- Excess weight does not cause PCOS. If you are overweight and you have PCOS, your symptoms may be worse. But losing weight will not make your PCOS go away. PCOS has a very strong genetic component. Poor diet, lack of exercise, poor sleep hygiene…all of these choices accelerate aging, but they do not cause it. The very best thing you can do for yourself is to choose to treat yourself well. You will feel better, sleep better, and know you’ve done something positive for yourself. My experience is that when you change habits because you want to feel better, weight loss often follows. But following a drastic diet and making weight loss your only goal…doesn’t always help you to feel better. Be aware of your weight, make healthy choices, but don’t ever let anyone tell you that all you have to do to get better is lose a little weight. You are much more complex than that, and you deserve to be seen for all that you are.
- Since as many as 70% of all women with PCOS are not overweight, losing weight is not the most important nutritional goal for treating PCOS. Eating well is the most important strategy. I came into working with PCOS through a little bit different avenue—I originally worked with eating disorders. My experience is that the PCOS that is the easiest to identify is that which is seen in women who are overweight. However, there are many, many women who are normal weight with the same syndrome. Because there is such a strong perception that PCOS is weight-related, it is very difficult for women whose weight is in a normal range to be taken seriously when they ask for help. And when they don’t get the help—the means they can use to manage the disorder can become extreme. There is a very strong connection between bulimia and PCOS. I also notice that many women with anorexia, when they start refeeding, begin to crave carbohydrates. It’s completely changed my perception of both disorders. I believe many eating disorders start when PCOS is not recognized. It’s important to look at the disease outside of the different ways it can affect weight, and to focus on nutrition and medical strategies that improve ALL of the symptoms.
- Start to become aware of the fats that you eat. Fats that come from fish, flax, canola, nuts, avocado, and olives are your best choices. Fats from other vegetable oils (especially if you are getting them in processed foods) should be chosen as infrequently as possible. Women with PCOS tend to have problems with other medical problems typically classified as inflammatory disorders—this includes metabolic syndrome, asthma, and arthritis. All of these problems have been found to be sensitive to the type of fat in the diet. The recommended fats above are all believed to be anti-inflammatory—and can help with many of the problems this syndrome seems to worsen.
- If you choose to follow a low carbohydrate meal plan, be sure your meat portions are not overly large to compensate. Too much meat can be pro-inflammatory, and over the long term can promote inflammatory processes such as PCOS. Arachidonic acid, a pro-inflammatory fatty acid, is found in all kinds of meat, red and white. Meat and protein are important for overall health, but too much meat tends to shift the body’s metabolism into a pro-inflammatory (accelerated aging) mode.
- Don’t avoid fruit because of its carbohydrate content! Fruits have many different antioxidants which can be important for protecting your body against disease processes. If I put a list of important antioxidants in this article, it would be outdated before it was posted! It’s not so important to identify THE antioxidant that’s important, it’s important to eat a variety of colorful fruits so that a palette of anti-aging, anti-inflammatory chemicals are available to your body to help it fight the processes that worsen PCOS.
- Emotional eating is important to address. If you find that you have a hard time eating well when under stress, be sure to ask for help from a professional who understands both emotional eating and PCOS. When your body isn’t cooperating with your attempts to lose weight, when you want to have a child and cannot, when half a dozen medical experts are monitoring your ovulation, your blood, your diet, etc., stress is naturally going to be a factor. It can be easy in this sea of help to forget that you are a person and feel like you are a diagnosis…but learning to manage stress can be one of your most important tools in fighting PCOS. I like to tell my clients that the goal when it comes to stress is to be “more like Teflon and less like Velcro.” If you have trouble letting things roll, and the things that stick become things you eat…it’s important to seek the help of someone who can help you direct all that emotional energy into activities that do not ultimately sabotage your PCOS success.
- Be aware of the impact of caffeine. Not only does it suppress appetite (which can increase binge eating after it wears off), it can interfere with sleep and also worsen insulin resistance. Look for beverage options that are caffeine-free whenever possible. Even if it’s a diet soda, or a diet chocolate-flavored shake, beware of the many places caffeine creeps into your diet. This one sneaks by those who are calorie-focused, and it may be one of the most important dietary factors to be aware of.
- When evaluating whether or not a particular dietary strategy or supplement is working for you, only change one thing at a time. Decide ahead of time what kind of response you need to achieve from your change in order to determine that it is working for you. Adding multiple diet changes or supplements makes it hard to know which one is the one that is helping (or causing you problems). And sometimes, changes take time to work. Stick with it long enough to give your new strategy a chance. My experience is that women with PCOS want a one shot fix, one visit with a dietitian, and results within a very short period of time. If they don’t get that…they move on to the next person. Unfortunately, they probably lost their focus before whatever it was that they were trying had a chance to work. I wish I had a magic wand, but truthfully, in life, whether or not you have PCOS, the things worth having and achieving are those that come from patience, diligence, and effort. If it really were easy, I wouldn’t be able to make a living doing what I do!
- Be patient! Chances are, your PCOS took time to develop. It’s going to take time to shift your body’s chemistry back in the other direction.
Read Monica Woolsey biography.
Article Posted: 2007-02-01
|
|
