Text with your questions & comments for future episodes!
Today we are talking about a few PCOS opinions I've seen recently that have made me really roll my eyes-
Does PCOS only stem from genetics? Will PCOS keep getting worse and worse forever because it's a chronic health condition? Is PCOS your fault?
Find my professional opinions on this and more during this week's episode.
Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Join the Functional PCOS newsletter- free tips every Friday! https://functionalpcos.myflodesk.com/npy6c3m0vq
Did this podcast help you? Becoming a supporter is like buying me a coffee once a month and just a small way to say thank you for the content you love! Become a supporter here.
Another great way to support is a 5 star review- it help the podcast SO much! Consider leaving one if the podcast has helped you on itunes here!
PCOS Facial Hair Freedom- https://amberfischer.thinkific.com/courses/pcos-facial-hair-freedom
PCOS Foundations - https://amberfischer.thinkific.com/courses/pcos-foundations
Functional PCOS- https://functional-pcos.teachable.com/p/functional-pcos
Group- Starts May 22- https://hannah-s-school-09e9.thinkific.com/courses/pcos-essentials-academy-may-2024
View updated links: ...
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amber Fischer (00:00):
Hello, hello, welcome back to an Amber Day,
the functional nutrition podcast.
I'm your host, amber Fisher,and I've got a little bit of a
nutrition rant for you today.
I was tagged in a couple ofpieces of content recently and
asked for my opinion on them,and I'd like to go over it with
you.
(00:20):
I'd like to give you my opinionhere.
So what we're going to talkabout today is the concept of
does PCOS just keep gettingworse?
Is it a loss cause?
Can you really do anythingabout it, or is it just kind of
like something genetic thatyou've inherited, what's going
(00:40):
to get worse over time becauseit's a chronic health condition
and has no cure, etc.
Etc.
So a little background.
I was tagged a few times bysome different people on
different social media platforms.
I'm not going to go intospecifics because I really don't
(01:01):
want to call out any specificcreators.
This is stuff I've seen beforefrom multiple people, so I don't
really want to like get into itwith anybody in particular.
I just feel like it wassomething that I watched some of
these videos And then I wasjust like in the backyard
gardening, like talking out loudto myself.
(01:23):
You ever have like an argumentwith yourself, like with a
made-up person, right, i do thisa lot, and so this is, like you
know, classic people pleaserstuff, where I like don't like
to confront people face to face,but I will sure have an
argument with them in my head.
But I just could not stop mymind running about this
particular piece of content thatI saw and just rebutting it,
(01:47):
like my debate days.
I don't know if you guys knowthis, but I was on the debate
team in college And so I thoughtyou know what I'm going to stop
.
I'm just going to stop ruiningmy night by going over and over
this.
I'm just going to stop and makea podcast about this, because I
feel like this is actually atopic that you guys would find
interesting too.
So let me start out by listingsome of the arguments that I've
(02:10):
seen.
I'm going to talk about somestuff that I saw from one person
, but also pull in some thingsthat I've seen from other people
.
So the concept that I'm wantingto kind of talk about a few
things.
Number one did you do anythingto cause PCOS?
Like.
Do you have any responsibilityin the fact that you developed
(02:31):
PCOS?
Like are you at fault somehow?
The second concept is PCOS is achronic health condition And so
, like most other chronic healthconditions, it tends to worsen
with time, worsen with age, andyou know your symptoms from it
will continue to get worse andworse as you get older, because
(02:54):
it's a chronic health condition.
And then the third thing wasthere's no potential for you to
really you know, to cure PCOS,right, like it's not curable,
there is no cure for it And youcan not do anything in that
regard.
Okay so, let's talk about eachone of these three things,
(03:15):
because there's some, somecorrect stuff about this in my
opinion my professional opinionand there's some incorrect stuff
about this.
Okay so, starting off with thefirst one, did you do anything
to cause your PCOS?
By and large, the answer tothis question is no.
Pcos is genetic.
In some aspects, however, it isworsened by lifestyle and
(03:38):
environment issues.
So there are things that happengenetically that we inherit And
then our genes can sort ofexpress positively or negatively
, depending on what our likeearly childhood looks like, even
like the situation that we werein in the womb can impact our
(03:59):
genetics.
So there's a lot of factorsbesides just the genes you
inherit, but at its core, like,there is probably a PCOS gene or
a set of genes we haven't likequite identified what exactly
those are, that we do have somegenes that we know are like
associated with PCOS and stuff,but there's no like this is the
PCOS gene, you know, like thathasn't been discovered yet.
(04:20):
I don't think it will be,because my personal opinion on
PCOS is that it's actually avariety of different health
conditions sort of expressing ina similar way and getting
categorized in the same box, butthat is another topic for
another time.
So there is some genetic stuffthat's going on with PCOS, right
, and then the way that you wereraised, your experience growing
(04:42):
up, like impacts, the way thatthose genetics express, and so a
few things that you know.
Impact that environment is a bigword, right, but it means a lot
of different things.
It means the amount of stressthat you're under, trauma you
experience.
A lot of folks with PCOS havechildhood trauma histories And
we know that that worsenedsymptoms.
Environment also includes yourdiet And the diet that you ate
(05:03):
growing up, the diet that youate as a young adult.
You know a lot of people arediagnosed with PCOS later in
life.
We don't talk about thatpopulation as much, but I know
I've had many clients who hadperfectly normal menstrual
cycles into their 20s And thenall of a sudden they develop
PCOS or seemed sudden at least.
So there are environmentalfactors, including the food that
(05:27):
one eats, that couldpotentially, you know, start
turning that gene on or makingit express more visibly, i guess
or start really impacting andcreating symptoms in a person
who maybe didn't have as many ofthose symptoms before or had
none of those symptoms.
I have seen that firsthand.
So that's part of this.
(05:49):
And so, like the question islike are you at fault here?
And like that's a good questionto ask, because so many of us
take the shame and the blame ofPCOS onto ourselves.
Right, i know that I've beenthere, i'm sure you've been
there, you know if I'm sure youguys know that I have PCOS as
well, but I always mention itbecause sometimes people think
that I just like talk about PCOS.
I don't know why, but yeah, ihave PCOS too.
(06:11):
So this is something that I'vehad to, you know, go through
myself.
There's a lot of shame thatcomes with the PCOS diagnosis, a
lot of feeling like why me?
Like, what did I do?
Like you know, you startthinking back like, oh my gosh,
i used to drink a lot of soda, iused a lot of candy bars, like
I think about my childhood andstuff, and the reality is that
it's a little bit of a mixed bag.
(06:32):
But the fundamental question ofwhether you are at fault or you
should carry shame over yourPCOS diagnosis the answer is no,
because no matter what, even ifthere were environmental
factors that sort of created theconditions where your genes,
your genetic predisposition,started to express itself, no
(06:55):
matter if that was somethingthat related to your diet, to
whatever, likely it's more thanjust your diet, right Like?
there are a lot ofenvironmental factors at play.
Diet is just one of the thingsthat can kind of like exacerbate
stuff that's already going on.
Trauma is a big one, but likelya lot of this stuff happened
(07:17):
before you knew any better,right?
So you should carry absolutelyno shame and no guilt over
having a PCOS diagnosis, becauseyou know you never understand
that you need to change anythinguntil something's wrong.
Right Like you have a chronichealth condition, that's true.
And so now you know you havethis chronic health condition
and look at you right now youare listening to a nutrition
(07:39):
podcast I'm assuming you'relistening to a.
I'm assuming trying to get tipsfor, like how to improve your
health, how to improve yoursymptoms.
So you're on the path, like youare on the path to better
health and a better lifeexperience, and now you know
better, right, and everythingyou learn is something that you
build on.
And Getting diagnosed with anykind of chronic health condition
(08:02):
, like PCOS, is a grievingprocess.
I always say this you have totake the time to grieve.
If you just got diagnosed,let's say, or even if you got
diagnosed 10 years ago,everybody grieves differently.
Everybody's timeline isdifferent, and many of the first
stages of grief have nothing todo with making life changes.
They're all about justwrestling with the whole concept
(08:24):
and just getting comfortablewith the fact that, like, yes, i
do have this and this is mylife And I have to deal with
this, you know.
And so that takes differentpeople different lengths of time
to work through before they'rereally ready to make lifestyle
changes.
So take the pressure off ofyourself.
If you know you've been workingat this a while and you feel
like gosh, i can't seem to getthe ball rolling on making all
these lifestyle changes that Iknow I need to make.
(08:44):
That's normal.
That is totally normal.
I'm a friggin license nutritionprofessional and I still
struggle with a lot of thisstuff.
It's taken me it probably tooka solid decade from the time
that I started learning aboutnutrition and how it could
impact PCOS to the time that Iactually felt like I got into a
(09:08):
rhythm where I was really likeactually making positive
differences via diet andlifestyle changes.
So it takes time, is what I'msaying.
So the pressure and the guiltand all that stuff, it's really
it's not, it's counterproductiveto your purposes.
It doesn't help Guilts.
(09:28):
I had a mentor once who told meguilt is only a useful reaction
if it motivates change, and ifit's no longer motivating change
, then you know it's, it's, it'sworthless, like it doesn't do
anything for you.
And that's true, you know.
So if guilt is helping motivateyou to change and that's
(09:49):
working for you right now, great, wonderful, so it's a long term
.
Usually that's not the best wayto do it.
Usually the best way to do itis to kind of just like let
yourself grieve, let yourselfcome to terms and then start
really making changes from aplace of love, from a place of
care, nurturing yourself,mothering yourself I talk about
(10:10):
that a lot too.
So should you have guilt andshame.
Is it your fault?
No, it's not your fault.
Are there some things thatprobably happened during your
childhood?
or you know the environmentthat you were in, things that
you went through, whatever thatmaybe worsened your odds or were
(10:30):
part of the snowball of thingsthat sort of created the
environment for these geneticsto express?
Maybe maybe we don't knowenough to say yes or no for sure
on that, but like one of thearguments that I saw was that
you know PCOS is primarilygenetic And so everyone with
(10:53):
PCOS inherits genes and thenthose genes you know express.
So everyone with PCOS canprobably identify a family
figure who had, like, diabetesor or PCOS or infertility or
something like that.
And you know, wouldn't it benice if that were the case.
But I don't know about you guys.
I have worked with a lot ofpeople who have been the very
(11:16):
first person in their wholefamily to be diagnosed with
anything akin to PCOS, even tobe the first person to diagnose
with diabetes.
You know to say that there's nogenetic component at all is
probably not true as well.
Like there probably issomething inherited.
(11:37):
You know, sometimes peopledon't have diabetes but they
have insulin resistance and theycan pass those genes, on things
like that.
But I think trying to blame iton genetics fully and just say
like, oh well, it's just yourgenes, you just inherited that.
Look at the draw.
It kind of negates these peoplelike myself, for example, who
(12:01):
you know?
I have PCOS, but I have asister and she doesn't have PCOS
.
You know, none of the women inmy family have had PCOS.
Have there been some otherthings in my genetics that
probably contributed?
Sure, but like it's not justthis very set in stone thing
where everybody's just likegetting it passed down through
(12:23):
the family, like it is a bitmysterious where it comes from
and why, and so the mystery ofit needs to be held right, like
we need to.
I think my point here is weneeded to stop trying to say
this is exactly the answer andlike on either direction, either
(12:43):
from like a functionalnutrition, like let me help you
with this, like let's improvethis standpoint, like this is
exactly where PCOS comes from.
These are the exact root causesAnd we need to stop doing so
much of that.
And then we need to stop alsojust being like oh, it's just
your genes, like too bad, toobad, so sad, because that's not.
Neither of those are fairresponses when that's not
(13:06):
accurate to like the actualscience of what's going on here.
We don't know enough to sayexactly where PCOS comes from.
We know there is a geneticcomponent, but that doesn't mean
that it is fully and totallyjust a genetic thing.
So yeah, that's point numberone.
I just want to clear that up.
I don't think that you shouldtake any blame or any shame or
(13:27):
any fault, but I do believe it,looking at my situation with
fully open eyes And you know Ican look back on my childhood
and stuff and see some thingsthat probably contributed to my
hormonal experience growing up,and that's just because I
understand very well how PCOSworks.
Now I've been working with it along time.
(13:47):
I've been living with it a longtime.
I've had tons and tons ofguinea pigs nutrition, guinea
pigs to kind of like test outdifferent modalities and
different things on, and I'veseen what works, what doesn't
work and what works in somepeople but on other people.
Like you know, i've beenwatching this condition for a
long time.
I feel very hopeful about itAnd I don't think any of us
(14:08):
should take the blame for thingsthat were outside of our
control.
But were there some things that, if we had known better, could
have maybe like changed ourexpression of PCOS.
Yeah, probably, is diet one ofthose things?
Yeah, probably, but that'sneither here nor there, because
that's the past, that's behindus And here we are now.
(14:31):
So the next one is the one thatreally just like got me riled up
And I don't think maybe I'mmisunderstanding what this
person was intending with thispoint, but what they said was
that PCOS is a chronic healthcondition And so, as with most
chronic health conditions, itcontinues to get worse with time
(14:53):
.
And the attitude I felt thatwas coming from this was sort of
this just like apathetic vibeof like you've got a chronic
health condition.
It's just going to keep gettingworse The older you get.
It's going to get worse, likeyou know, and so you got to just
kind of sort of live with thatand do the best you can to just,
(15:15):
like you know, not blameyourself and it's all good.
And it bothered me so much Andyou know this is probably some
of this is, i'm sure, some of myown internal stuff coming up
But I hate being told thatthere's nothing I can do.
I hate being told that there'snothing, that there's absolutely
(15:35):
nothing about this.
That's in my control.
I refuse to believe that.
In fact, i don't think thatthat's an accurate reading of
the current like understandingof PCOS.
Yes, pcos is a chronic healthcondition and, left untreated,
left unchecked, i absolutelythink it will get worse with
time because as people get older, their insulin resistance tends
(15:57):
to get worse.
If they've got insulinresistance, you know that
they've got digestive issuesthat are causing like
inflammation that tends to getworse with time.
Like things do tend to getworse with time if they're not
managed.
But to say like that there'snothing that can be done for
PCOS or that it's just gonnakeep getting worse, it's kind of
(16:18):
like saying, like well, whyeven try?
You know?
like what's the point?
It was just gonna keep gettingworse.
Like and honestly, if that werethe case, like why you know it
wouldn't negate my entireexistence as a practitioner.
So that's probably where a lotof the like frustration comes
from, right Cause it kind ofcalls up my work and says, like
well, my work is useless.
And I don't believe that to betrue.
(16:40):
I think that it really comesdown to it comes down to your
understanding of chronic healthconditions and what you believe
is possible for them.
So you know, the conventionalmedical world at the moment sees
chronic health conditions asthese like incurable but maybe
(17:03):
manageable to some degree,conditions that are gonna be
lifelong.
And you know in part that'strue for PCOS.
It's a lifelong condition.
There's no known cure for it.
There's no pill you can takethat can cure it.
On the other hand, to say likeoh, it's just gonna keep getting
worse is really frustratingbecause that's not true, like
(17:27):
it's just not.
We have research that showsplenty of different lifestyle
interventions make a big impacton PCOS.
There's a ton of research.
If you go on PubMed and searchMediterranean diet in PCOS,
there's a ton of researchstudies specifically on that
diet as an intervention for PCOS.
There are studies.
(17:49):
There are weight loss studies,there are insulin resistant
studies.
There's even like mindfulnessmeditation studies that show
improvements in PCOS symptoms.
And there's just the anecdotalevidence, which, yes, anecdotal
evidence is like the lowest formof evidence, right?
And for those of you who don'tknow what anecdotal evidence
means, it means like firsthandknowledge.
So like an anecdote is likesomebody's story, right, so one
(18:11):
person's story.
Or like me as a practitioner,if I'm telling you this is what
happens with my clients, that'sanecdotal evidence And so it's
like one of the least respectedforms of evidence because it
could be so easily manipulatedby opinion and bias and et
cetera, et cetera.
But like there is a lot ofanecdotal evidence that that's
(18:32):
not the case, i mean, i've hadplenty of clients who have
completely regulated theircycles, gotten pregnant
naturally, lost weight, gottento their you know their healthy
weight for their body, do agreat job of managing their
symptoms every day.
And it's not just a short term.
Like you know, i did it for ayear or I did it for six months
(18:55):
and then I'm done.
No, this is like long-termpositive change.
I've had a lot of long-termpositive change in my body And I
work with other practitionerswho have had a lot of long-term
positive change in their body,and that's one reason why a lot
of us become practitioners inthe first place is because we've
had these, you know, beautifulexperiences and we want to see
how we can build on ourknowledge and share.
(19:21):
And like to say that here I amgetting riled up to say that a
chronic health condition is onlygonna get worse with time.
It's a really defeating way tolook at it, like what a way to
live your life, like no hope,right?
That would just be such afearful way to live.
And that's telling a diabeticlike, oh well, your diabetes is
(19:45):
only gonna get worse with time,so don't even bother.
Like, just eat what you want.
You know like what That's notevery single intervention that
exists for diabetes is alwayspaired with lifestyle changes
too, because there's plenty ofresearch to show that, like,
long-term lifestyle changesimpact the body long-term,
(20:06):
improve the body long-term, likebetter end of life outcomes,
you know, reduced risk ofAlzheimer's and
neurodegenerative issues, likeall kinds of the consequences of
aging, are improved when wetake care of our health.
And the younger we can start,the better.
And that is with people withoutchronic health conditions.
(20:28):
And it's with people withchronic health conditions too,
yeah, i mean, it's essentiallylike telling a, you know, i mean
, look at somebody with type twodiabetes, for example, like
somebody who's actively managingtheir care, they're having a
much better experience of life,they're having a better quality
of life, they have improvedhealth outcomes than somebody
who's not.
(20:49):
And not only that, but even ifthey're on medications to help
which there are obviously somegreat medications that are
helpful they're almost pairedwith lifestyle changes too,
because we know that that, youknow, amplifies the effect of
those medications.
So it's just kind of aconfusing point, to the point
where I'm like wondering if thatwas really the intention of the
(21:10):
point.
I may be misunderstanding it,and so that's why I don't wanna
like specifically talk aboutthis specific person because I
may be completelymisunderstanding their intention
.
I think a lot of theirintention was just to like, have
you take some of the pressureoff of yourself, which is
positive, right, and Iappreciate that.
To say that it just keepsgetting worse, i just really
(21:31):
don't believe that.
I don't believe that And Iwouldn't be doing the work that
I do if I believed that.
I don't think that that'saccurate.
It is something that you dolive with.
You know you can't.
The next point is true, there isno cure for PCOS, but there are
a ton of things that can managethe symptoms, and I've seen
symptoms managed to the pointwhere the person doesn't even
(21:52):
look like they have PCOS anymore, you know.
So those kinds of results arepossible.
Are they gonna happen foreverybody?
No, like some of us have justworse luck with this stuff.
Some of us are navel or some ofus diet is not the main
component, like there's a lot ofthings going on, but but to act
(22:14):
like it's just going to keepgetting worse as you age, i
don't think that's a fairunderstanding of PCOS.
Not to mention that, like there, there is some evidence that
those with PCOS like when itcomes to infertility for example
, like as they age, actuallysometimes become more fertile
because, like their AMH kind oflowered, like their egg reserve
lowers, naturally that kind ofshifts the hormone balance.
(22:37):
So there's a lot of like latein life babies in PCOS.
Not that fertility is the onlymarker that we should be looking
at, but I don't know.
I just I don't think that that'sa fair understanding of the
current research on PCOS to saythat that there's nothing that
can be done and it's justchronic, untreatable condition,
especially when, like thecurrent consensus is and to be
(23:03):
fair, this hasn't necessarilytrickled down to conventional
medicine yet, but this is whatis coming up in the research is
that a lot of these scientificopinions are that a nutrition
professional, licensed nutritionprofessionals, should be the
first line therapy for PCOS,meaning that there's so much
evidence that nutrition changescan improve PCOS and PCOS
(23:24):
symptoms and quality of life,etc.
Etc.
That that should be the veryfirst thing that a person is
referred to do over and abovetaking metformin, taking birth
control, etc.
Etc.
So there's huge possibility innutrition for PCOS and it kind
of gets into like the wholeunderstanding of chronic health
conditions in the first place.
(23:45):
You know, in functionalnutrition we kind of look at
like history and we say like,okay, sure, maybe some of the
way that we understand chronicconditions is more advanced now,
so maybe there's more reportingof things, maybe people are
diagnosed more simply because wehave more knowledge.
But also we have strongevidence that the health of
(24:09):
developed countries,particularly the United States,
over the last 50, and especially30 years, has nearly rapidly
declined.
Like our outcomes are so muchworse than they were even, you
know, less than a century ago.
And what are some of the thingsthat have changed the most?
(24:31):
Well, our lifestyles havechanged a lot, sure, but our
diets have changed a lot too.
And those are all part of ourenvironment.
And we know that environmentplays such a big role in
everything in our health, in ourmental health and in the way
(24:52):
that our genetics express.
Like.
Look up the concept ofepigenetics.
If you've never heard of thisbefore, that's a fascinating
field, right?
It's the field that's doingresearch on the understanding of
like.
Why do you inherit genes andgenetic mutations and then
sometimes they express andsometimes they don't, or they
(25:12):
can express more severely orless severely.
Your environment plays a bigrole in how your genetics
express.
This is all standard stuff.
So, you know, in functionalnutrition we sort of believe
that, like, chronic healthconditions are modern problems
caused in part by the way thatour changing lifestyles and
(25:35):
environments are impacting ourmore primal genetics.
And those of us with chronichealth conditions often are
carrying these genetics that aremaybe just a little bit more
slippy.
They haven't, like, reallyaltered to fit our new lives and
our new environments.
The way that we work, the waythat we live, the way that we
(25:57):
sit around instead of working inthe fields, like all these
things are so different thanthey were just a couple of
generations ago And that changesthe way that we age and the way
that we experience health.
And so, with that understanding,we don't believe that chronic
(26:17):
health conditions are just thisthing where you're just like
it's just luck of the draw andyou have it and there's nothing
you can do.
You know, we believe that, likenumber one, it can be managed
And that lifestyle changes anddiet changes help manage them,
but then also that there may besomething that can be done to
(26:39):
address this more systemic rootissue of why so many of us are
getting chronic health issues,like there's something deeper
going on here.
So I guess the whole concepthere is that we hold out hope,
hope for continued research,hope that there will be
something that we can do, hopethat there will be things that
(27:01):
we have some control over andthat we can manage, even as we
go up against this giant of youknow.
Systemic changes, environmentchanges, lifestyle changes, food
system issues, like issues withthe way our food is grown and
the nutrient density of the soil.
I mean, it gets really complexand there's so much about it The
average person can do nothingabout.
(27:25):
But the difference here is whereyou sit in that moment and you
realize there are all thesesystemic issues that I have no
control over.
But am I going to just give upright here and say, all right,
well, guess YOLO.
Or am I going to try to handleand control the things that I do
(27:49):
have some control over diet,being a big one, right?
Am I going to try my best tolike, do what I can to improve
my health with the things thatare in my power.
And that's just two differentgroups of people And I don't
know that either one is reallywrong at the end of the day.
You know, we all have adifferent experience of life, we
all have different things thatwe're here to do.
(28:11):
But for those of us like me andprobably like you, i think that
that's the answer that we giveto that question.
I don't want to be defeated, idon't want to give up, i don't
want to say, oh, there's nothingthat can be done.
I'm just like going to roll thedice and just deal.
No, i want to set myself up foras much success as I can have.
(28:33):
You know, this is often the casewhen I work with people
one-on-one with PCOS, and theycome in and they're like Look, i
know that the odds are stackedagainst me when it comes to like
getting to the goal weight thatI had in my mind Right, like I
have PCOS.
I know I probably will never beas I do or whatever it is, but
(28:53):
I want to eat, to be the bestversion of me I want to have.
I want to be the weight that iscomfortable for my body, that
makes my body feel good,energetic, that helps with my
joints, etc.
Etc.
Like, whatever it is, whateverthe goal is, but the goal is
health, not aesthetics, not tolook a certain way, and these
(29:17):
are like conversations that wehave to and understanding that
we have to come to withourselves.
I've had to do some seriousinternal work body image work
that I think many of us have todo when it came to understanding
that, like you know that verything, i'm not going to look
like other people, like I'mgoing to look like me and I'm
(29:40):
going to be the weight that I'mgoing to be, and all I can
really do is just getcomfortable in my own skin and
accept myself for how I am andlove myself and then, out of
that love, treat myself right.
That's a hard journey to godown And I know firsthand how
hard that is.
But that's not a giving up.
(30:01):
It's a giving up of someexpectations that are like
influenced by diet, culture andfamily and friend expectations
and whatever we think societywants from us.
It's giving up that, but it'snot giving up on ourselves.
It's not giving up and saying,oh well, i can't do anything
about this.
I'm rambling, i know, but youknow it just gets me riled up.
(30:24):
Just gets me riled up, guys,because there is so much that
you can do.
I mean, i just like to saythere's nothing that can be done
is just like so I rolly, ican't even.
Yeah, i don't know, you know?
another point that was madethat I saw was I've seen some
(30:48):
people say that when you loseweight like that, we have
research that says that thelosing weight helps with PCOS
symptoms, but in the short termand in the long term it makes
things worse because, like, themore you die it, like the more
you're going to regain and blah,blah, blah, blah, et cetera, et
cetera.
And you know, when it comes to,specifically, weight loss only
(31:14):
there's some truth in that right.
Like, usually not always, but alarge percentage of the time
people who diet lose weight.
They will regain it And overtime that's hard on your body
and it's hard on your mentalhealth and things like that.
But again, it's a defeatist wayof looking at things.
(31:35):
It's essentially just sayinglike well, there's no point in
working on weight at all becauseit's not going to matter.
And it's also misunderstandingof, like what diet means for
PCOS, and I guess that's thedifference is that some of us
have different definitions ofwhat the word diet even means.
Like you know, when most peoplesay diet, they're thinking diet
to lose weight.
(31:56):
But when a nutritionprofessional says diet, they're
oftentimes just talking about,like, the manner in which we eat
, the way that we eat, the foodsthat we eat.
It's not necessarily about yourweight or anything like that.
It's just what you eat, likeyour usual diet.
And for PCOS that's a gray area,because I would say that there
(32:16):
is a lot of research showingpositive improvements with
weight loss.
And so you know, to just throwthat out the window and say,
like well, we really probablyshouldn't pay any attention to
that because, like, we're notgoing to keep it off anyway, so
it's not even helpful to eventhink about that, i don't know
kind of a defeating way to lookat it because, like I said,
(32:37):
anecdotally, i've had a lot ofclients who have maintained
their weight loss and askingsomebody to lose 10% of their
body weight is different thanasking them to lose, you know,
30% or something like that.
Like, 10% of your body weightis what a lot of these research
studies show And that's, youknow, depends on the person.
But it's not that much weight,it's a reasonable amount of
(32:57):
weight to lose for a lot ofpeople and can really help with
symptoms and can be maintainableif you have the right, you know
, understanding of how tomaintain.
And I think that's where theproblem comes in for a lot of
people with weight loss is they?
they don't really have a goodunderstanding of number one, how
to maintain but number two theydon't have like the support
(33:18):
that they need for thatmaintenance process Because it
takes a long time to for yourbody to get comfortable in a new
weight.
But diet changes for PCOS arenot just about weight loss And I
would argue that there's enoughevidence to kind of show that
like changes improve PCOSsymptoms regardless of weight
(33:42):
loss, that it's worth doing evenif weight loss is not a goal
for you.
So I don't like to villainizeanybody who wants to lose weight
, because I can understandwanting to lose a little bit of
weight.
You know, throughout my lifeI've had times where I've
weighed more, i've had timeswhere I've weighed less and I
certainly like my clothes to fit.
I don't like buying new clothes.
Yeah, i mean I who doesn't likebuying new clothes.
(34:04):
But you know what I mean.
I don't like buying going home,buy new wardrobe for a new size
, like that sucks.
At the same time, you have to becomfortable with your
experience of your life and yourbody, and that means different
things for different people.
For some people it's just abouthealth and wellness, stress
reduction.
For some people it includessome weight loss and that's okay
(34:26):
.
Either way is okay.
But my main point here is thatyour diet can impact your PCOS,
whether you lose weight or not.
So it's still worth doing, andfor a lot of people they don't
even understand like a healthyway to eat for themselves.
(34:48):
I know this is something that Idealt with growing up.
Like I didn't really have agreat understanding of what was
a healthy way for me to eat, andso I just sort of like hacked
it along the way and kind offigured out like I one time
figured out that if I ateprotein, if I ate like meat with
my meals, that I wasn't gettinga little blood sugar like three
hours later.
(35:08):
And that was just very eyeopening for me because I thought
, wow, why does that work?
I didn't even know, but I justdiscovered that I came upon that
one day experimenting with foodand have built on that.
You know I'm always talkingabout how you need to protein
with your meals.
Well, part of that is based onresearch and part of that is
based on my personal experience.
So it's like an 18 year old whowas always getting weak and
shaky between my meals andrealized like, oh, if I eat
(35:30):
breakfast and I just have cereal, then by 11 o'clock I'm like
needing a snack or I'm going topass out.
If I eat some sausage with mycereal, then all of a sudden I
can go to lunch, you know?
So they're?
wow, i lost my friends.
(35:50):
There are a lot of things thatcan be done with diet to improve
PCOS, improve your symptoms,and that are worth doing long
term, whether or not they resultin any weight loss or not.
And a lot of us don't have theunderstanding of what is a
healthy way to eat for ourbodies.
And this gets into anothersphere of issue that I find that
(36:16):
oftentimes those with PCOS weget very caught.
Because we get caught between,like, on the one hand, really
intense diet culture that's likeyou need to go keto for PCOS to
improve your insulin resistance, or you need to do this strict
diet, or that strict diet, youneed to cut out gluten and dairy
, whatever, maybe.
And then on the other side, wehave the like intuitive eating
sphere, who has a lot of goodthings about it but also, i feel
(36:40):
like, doesn't fully understandus and our bodies.
And so and this is like youknow, please take this, take
this through your own internalfilter, because I hate saying
anything negative about theintuitive eating movement,
because in a lot of ways I thinkit's doing a ton of good and
(37:02):
it's really necessary.
But there is a differencebetween what intuitive eating
looks like for some people andwhat it looks like for those of
us with PCOS, and I'll give youa great example of this for my
own life.
I'm a nutrition professional,so I know what I should eat,
what I shouldn't eat, like, whatworks for my body, what doesn't
(37:24):
work.
I've done that experimentationand I also have like the
scientific understanding ofthese things to know.
But I still struggle with thisa lot, and so I have gone
through periods of time where Ihave tended to just sort of
reconnect with my own body'ssignals and take some of that
nutrition knowledge out of myhead, because sometimes I feel
(37:48):
like I get a little too logicaland I forget to experience
what's really happening in mybody.
And so what I have noticedabout myself and this is true
for a lot of people is that whenI intuitively eat and I just
sort of like really a mindful,pay attention to my body's
signals, eat slowly and watchwhat I'm eating.
(38:11):
I do great with meals, withregular meals, but I sure do
still have sugar cravings.
And if I indulge that sugarcraving, what happens is because
I'm insulin resistant, it comesback stronger the next time and
(38:32):
sooner.
So, like all of a sudden, i'llstart craving sugar.
You know, between lunch anddinner, let's say, i want to
have an afternoon snack, no bigdeal Like it's.
You know, i don't think it's abad thing at all to have a
little bit of a sweet snacky inthe middle of the day, and so
maybe I will have that sweetsnack.
I'll pair it with some proteinor some fat or something like
(38:54):
that, or it'll be fruit orsomething you know healthy or
whatever.
But then after dinner I'mcraving the sugar again and it
keeps getting worse and worseand worse.
And it doesn't matter if Iindulge it with a healthy
version or if I go full on andjust say I'm just going to eat
exactly the thing I crave,exactly as much of it as I want.
I've tried it both ways forlong periods of time So that I'm
(39:17):
given it the real, the realcollege try.
And no matter what, if I am notconsciously putting a stop on
myself when it comes to sugar,it will and does continue to get
harder and harder to manage.
It becomes a thing where sugaris on my mind all the time,
(39:42):
whereas when I am conscious ofthe fact that you know what, i
need to put a stop around myselfhere, because my body is
sending me signals.
My mind is sending me signalsthat my body does not need me to
fulfill right now.
That's the type of intuitiveeating that I think with PCOS,
we sometimes have to practice.
Sometimes we have to learn howto not just intuit what my
(40:06):
craving is, which is what Ithink a lot of people utilize
intuitive eating as Sometimes weneed to look at not just what
my craving is or what I'mwanting, what my body might be
wanting, but we also need tothink deeply about what my body
needs.
It's kind of like the concept oflike tough love, right?
Like you know, is it reallyloving to let your
(40:29):
three-year-old have every thingthat he wants?
No, because you're not teachinghim like real life lessons.
You're not setting him up forsuccess later.
Like sometimes being a littlebit, sometimes having boundaries
or limits, is positive.
Like structure is positive.
It's a positive thing.
Human beings like structure, wethrive on structure, and some of
(40:52):
us, our intuitive signals andour hormone signals, like leptin
, are so kind of out of balancethat it's very difficult to know
what's good, what's not good.
Like what's right, what's notright, what do I really want?
what do I really need?
Like it's hard.
And so that's where havingstructure and understanding of
(41:13):
like what your needs are from anoutsider like you know, a
nutrition professional orsomething like that can be
really helpful because it canhelp you to reorganize your
lifestyle around your needs Andthen from there you can work on
becoming more intuitive.
But sometimes you have to have aplace to start Like.
Sometimes you need somebody,somebody objective, to say like
(41:34):
OK, this is how you eat now Andthis is how we really would
probably want you to be eating,because it would be better for
your body to eat this way.
Let's start eating this way.
All of a sudden you startfeeling better, like you have
more energy, you're sleepingbetter.
It becomes easier and easierfor you to continue eating under
that structure And then withtime you can stop being so
(41:57):
thoughtful about OK, do I haveenough protein here, do I have
enough fiber here?
Like you can start being moreintuitive And just your body
will naturally start to kind oflike make those better choices.
Sometimes you need structure tostart with.
So with PCOS, oftentimes we getcaught in the middle, right
Like we're so used to doingthese really like intense
(42:18):
restrictive things that we wantto just like paint all diets
with the same brushstrokes andsay, well, that's all bad, any
diet is bad, because it's not,it's diet culture, no matter
what.
It's just not true.
I mean some structure and dietculture.
But yeah, i won't tell you thatit's not a gray area.
There's definitely overlap indifferent, different ways, but
(42:43):
structure is not all bad Andsometimes it's useful.
And I will leave you with thisthought, which is that if you
have seen content like that outthere, if you have felt like
very defeated by not havinganswers, you know, not feeling
(43:07):
like your doctor understands you, not feeling like you really
know where to go, and justfeeling like a little bit like
wanting to give up, i wouldencourage you to just keep
trying and to understand thatsometimes you just have to pick
(43:29):
a voice And follow that voice.
There are a lot of competingvoices on the internet,
especially these days,especially with PCOS, and if you
try to listen to everybody withletters next to their name, you
can get very confused very fast.
So find the people thatresonate with you.
(43:52):
If you've made it all the wayto the end of this podcast,
hopefully I'm one of thosepeople for you.
Find the people that resonatewith you, listen to them, listen
to your own intuition.
Marry those two things.
It doesn't have to be just onenutritionist, it doesn't have to
be just me.
You know there are plenty ofother wonderful nutritionists
(44:12):
out there who are saying almostthe exact same thing as me.
But find people that number oneyou resonate with and that you
feel like really get you reallyunderstand you.
Number two find people whoagree with each other and go all
in on that, because I just feellike if you let yourself get
(44:37):
swayed by every differingopinion you hear online, it
really just leads to apathy andconfusion.
Honestly, maybe where some ofthese opinions I've been
refuting today even come from,just from hearing so much stuff
here and there and everywhereAnd just feeling lost.
(44:59):
My anecdotal evidence tells methat there is great hope for
PCOS and that, as time goes on,in the future there will be
things.
We will build on the knowledgethat we have already, and I
expect, maybe even less than 10years from now, for there to be
(45:20):
major breakthroughs in how wemanage this condition, in
medications that we use tomanage this condition, lifestyle
choices that manage thiscondition, like, i just think
that there's a lot of reallybeautiful things on the horizon
and I just don't want you togive up.
I know some of you who listento me have been at this for a
(45:40):
long time, so you've seen it alland I admire you.
But at least for my part, ireally believe that there's hope
and I wouldn't say that if Ididn't really truly think that
that was true and feel like Iwouldn't share this stuff unless
I'd really experienced itfirsthand.
So, yeah, thanks for listeningto my little Nutrition Rumble
(46:03):
today And I love y'all and Iwill talk to you soon.
Have a good week.
Hello, hello, welcome back to an Amber Day,
the functional nutrition podcast.
I'm your host, amber Fisher,and I've got a little bit of a
nutrition rant for you today.
I was tagged in a couple ofpieces of content recently and
asked for my opinion on them,and I'd like to go over it with
you.
(00:20):
I'd like to give you my opinionhere.
So what we're going to talkabout today is the concept of
does PCOS just keep gettingworse?
Is it a loss cause?
Can you really do anythingabout it, or is it just kind of
like something genetic thatyou've inherited, what's going
(00:40):
to get worse over time becauseit's a chronic health condition
and has no cure, etc.
Etc.
So a little background.
I was tagged a few times bysome different people on
different social media platforms.
I'm not going to go intospecifics because I really don't
(01:01):
want to call out any specificcreators.
This is stuff I've seen beforefrom multiple people, so I don't
really want to like get into itwith anybody in particular.
I just feel like it wassomething that I watched some of
these videos And then I wasjust like in the backyard
gardening, like talking out loudto myself.
(01:23):
You ever have like an argumentwith yourself, like with a
made-up person, right, i do thisa lot, and so this is, like you
know, classic people pleaserstuff, where I like don't like
to confront people face to face,but I will sure have an
argument with them in my head.
But I just could not stop mymind running about this
particular piece of content thatI saw and just rebutting it,
(01:47):
like my debate days.
I don't know if you guys knowthis, but I was on the debate
team in college And so I thoughtyou know what I'm going to stop
.
I'm just going to stop ruiningmy night by going over and over
this.
I'm just going to stop and makea podcast about this, because I
feel like this is actually atopic that you guys would find
interesting too.
So let me start out by listingsome of the arguments that I've
(02:10):
seen.
I'm going to talk about somestuff that I saw from one person
, but also pull in some thingsthat I've seen from other people
.
So the concept that I'm wantingto kind of talk about a few
things.
Number one did you do anythingto cause PCOS?
Like.
Do you have any responsibilityin the fact that you developed
(02:31):
PCOS?
Like are you at fault somehow?
The second concept is PCOS is achronic health condition And so
, like most other chronic healthconditions, it tends to worsen
with time, worsen with age, andyou know your symptoms from it
will continue to get worse andworse as you get older, because
(02:54):
it's a chronic health condition.
And then the third thing wasthere's no potential for you to
really you know, to cure PCOS,right, like it's not curable,
there is no cure for it And youcan not do anything in that
regard.
Okay so, let's talk about eachone of these three things,
(03:15):
because there's some, somecorrect stuff about this in my
opinion my professional opinionand there's some incorrect stuff
about this.
Okay so, starting off with thefirst one, did you do anything
to cause your PCOS?
By and large, the answer tothis question is no.
Pcos is genetic.
In some aspects, however, it isworsened by lifestyle and
(03:38):
environment issues.
So there are things that happengenetically that we inherit And
then our genes can sort ofexpress positively or negatively
, depending on what our likeearly childhood looks like, even
like the situation that we werein in the womb can impact our
(03:59):
genetics.
So there's a lot of factorsbesides just the genes you
inherit, but at its core, like,there is probably a PCOS gene or
a set of genes we haven't likequite identified what exactly
those are, that we do have somegenes that we know are like
associated with PCOS and stuff,but there's no like this is the
PCOS gene, you know, like thathasn't been discovered yet.
(04:20):
I don't think it will be,because my personal opinion on
PCOS is that it's actually avariety of different health
conditions sort of expressing ina similar way and getting
categorized in the same box, butthat is another topic for
another time.
So there is some genetic stuffthat's going on with PCOS, right
, and then the way that you wereraised, your experience growing
(04:42):
up, like impacts, the way thatthose genetics express, and so a
few things that you know.
Impact that environment is a bigword, right, but it means a lot
of different things.
It means the amount of stressthat you're under, trauma you
experience.
A lot of folks with PCOS havechildhood trauma histories And
we know that that worsenedsymptoms.
Environment also includes yourdiet And the diet that you ate
(05:03):
growing up, the diet that youate as a young adult.
You know a lot of people arediagnosed with PCOS later in
life.
We don't talk about thatpopulation as much, but I know
I've had many clients who hadperfectly normal menstrual
cycles into their 20s And thenall of a sudden they develop
PCOS or seemed sudden at least.
So there are environmentalfactors, including the food that
(05:27):
one eats, that couldpotentially, you know, start
turning that gene on or makingit express more visibly, i guess
or start really impacting andcreating symptoms in a person
who maybe didn't have as many ofthose symptoms before or had
none of those symptoms.
I have seen that firsthand.
So that's part of this.
(05:49):
And so, like the question islike are you at fault here?
And like that's a good questionto ask, because so many of us
take the shame and the blame ofPCOS onto ourselves.
Right, i know that I've beenthere, i'm sure you've been
there, you know if I'm sure youguys know that I have PCOS as
well, but I always mention itbecause sometimes people think
that I just like talk about PCOS.
I don't know why, but yeah, ihave PCOS too.
(06:11):
So this is something that I'vehad to, you know, go through
myself.
There's a lot of shame thatcomes with the PCOS diagnosis, a
lot of feeling like why me?
Like, what did I do?
Like you know, you startthinking back like, oh my gosh,
i used to drink a lot of soda, iused a lot of candy bars, like
I think about my childhood andstuff, and the reality is that
it's a little bit of a mixed bag.
(06:32):
But the fundamental question ofwhether you are at fault or you
should carry shame over yourPCOS diagnosis the answer is no,
because no matter what, even ifthere were environmental
factors that sort of created theconditions where your genes,
your genetic predisposition,started to express itself, no
(06:55):
matter if that was somethingthat related to your diet, to
whatever, likely it's more thanjust your diet, right Like?
there are a lot ofenvironmental factors at play.
Diet is just one of the thingsthat can kind of like exacerbate
stuff that's already going on.
Trauma is a big one, but likelya lot of this stuff happened
(07:17):
before you knew any better,right?
So you should carry absolutelyno shame and no guilt over
having a PCOS diagnosis, becauseyou know you never understand
that you need to change anythinguntil something's wrong.
Right Like you have a chronichealth condition, that's true.
And so now you know you havethis chronic health condition
and look at you right now youare listening to a nutrition
(07:39):
podcast I'm assuming you'relistening to a.
I'm assuming trying to get tipsfor, like how to improve your
health, how to improve yoursymptoms.
So you're on the path, like youare on the path to better
health and a better lifeexperience, and now you know
better, right, and everythingyou learn is something that you
build on.
And Getting diagnosed with anykind of chronic health condition
(08:02):
, like PCOS, is a grievingprocess.
I always say this you have totake the time to grieve.
If you just got diagnosed,let's say, or even if you got
diagnosed 10 years ago,everybody grieves differently.
Everybody's timeline isdifferent, and many of the first
stages of grief have nothing todo with making life changes.
They're all about justwrestling with the whole concept
(08:24):
and just getting comfortablewith the fact that, like, yes, i
do have this and this is mylife And I have to deal with
this, you know.
And so that takes differentpeople different lengths of time
to work through before they'rereally ready to make lifestyle
changes.
So take the pressure off ofyourself.
If you know you've been workingat this a while and you feel
like gosh, i can't seem to getthe ball rolling on making all
these lifestyle changes that Iknow I need to make.
(08:44):
That's normal.
That is totally normal.
I'm a friggin license nutritionprofessional and I still
struggle with a lot of thisstuff.
It's taken me it probably tooka solid decade from the time
that I started learning aboutnutrition and how it could
impact PCOS to the time that Iactually felt like I got into a
(09:08):
rhythm where I was really likeactually making positive
differences via diet andlifestyle changes.
So it takes time, is what I'msaying.
So the pressure and the guiltand all that stuff, it's really
it's not, it's counterproductiveto your purposes.
It doesn't help Guilts.
(09:28):
I had a mentor once who told meguilt is only a useful reaction
if it motivates change, and ifit's no longer motivating change
, then you know it's, it's, it'sworthless, like it doesn't do
anything for you.
And that's true, you know.
So if guilt is helping motivateyou to change and that's
(09:49):
working for you right now, great, wonderful, so it's a long term
.
Usually that's not the best wayto do it.
Usually the best way to do itis to kind of just like let
yourself grieve, let yourselfcome to terms and then start
really making changes from aplace of love, from a place of
care, nurturing yourself,mothering yourself I talk about
(10:10):
that a lot too.
So should you have guilt andshame.
Is it your fault?
No, it's not your fault.
Are there some things thatprobably happened during your
childhood?
or you know the environmentthat you were in, things that
you went through, whatever thatmaybe worsened your odds or were
(10:30):
part of the snowball of thingsthat sort of created the
environment for these geneticsto express?
Maybe maybe we don't knowenough to say yes or no for sure
on that, but like one of thearguments that I saw was that
you know PCOS is primarilygenetic And so everyone with
(10:53):
PCOS inherits genes and thenthose genes you know express.
So everyone with PCOS canprobably identify a family
figure who had, like, diabetesor or PCOS or infertility or
something like that.
And you know, wouldn't it benice if that were the case.
But I don't know about you guys.
I have worked with a lot ofpeople who have been the very
(11:16):
first person in their wholefamily to be diagnosed with
anything akin to PCOS, even tobe the first person to diagnose
with diabetes.
You know to say that there's nogenetic component at all is
probably not true as well.
Like there probably issomething inherited.
(11:37):
You know, sometimes peopledon't have diabetes but they
have insulin resistance and theycan pass those genes, on things
like that.
But I think trying to blame iton genetics fully and just say
like, oh well, it's just yourgenes, you just inherited that.
Look at the draw.
It kind of negates these peoplelike myself, for example, who
(12:01):
you know?
I have PCOS, but I have asister and she doesn't have PCOS
.
You know, none of the women inmy family have had PCOS.
Have there been some otherthings in my genetics that
probably contributed?
Sure, but like it's not justthis very set in stone thing
where everybody's just likegetting it passed down through
(12:23):
the family, like it is a bitmysterious where it comes from
and why, and so the mystery ofit needs to be held right, like
we need to.
I think my point here is weneeded to stop trying to say
this is exactly the answer andlike on either direction, either
(12:43):
from like a functionalnutrition, like let me help you
with this, like let's improvethis standpoint, like this is
exactly where PCOS comes from.
These are the exact root causesAnd we need to stop doing so
much of that.
And then we need to stop alsojust being like oh, it's just
your genes, like too bad, toobad, so sad, because that's not.
Neither of those are fairresponses when that's not
(13:06):
accurate to like the actualscience of what's going on here.
We don't know enough to sayexactly where PCOS comes from.
We know there is a geneticcomponent, but that doesn't mean
that it is fully and totallyjust a genetic thing.
So yeah, that's point numberone.
I just want to clear that up.
I don't think that you shouldtake any blame or any shame or
(13:27):
any fault, but I do believe it,looking at my situation with
fully open eyes And you know Ican look back on my childhood
and stuff and see some thingsthat probably contributed to my
hormonal experience growing up,and that's just because I
understand very well how PCOSworks.
Now I've been working with it along time.
(13:47):
I've been living with it a longtime.
I've had tons and tons ofguinea pigs nutrition, guinea
pigs to kind of like test outdifferent modalities and
different things on, and I'veseen what works, what doesn't
work and what works in somepeople but on other people.
Like you know, i've beenwatching this condition for a
long time.
I feel very hopeful about itAnd I don't think any of us
(14:08):
should take the blame for thingsthat were outside of our
control.
But were there some things that, if we had known better, could
have maybe like changed ourexpression of PCOS.
Yeah, probably, is diet one ofthose things?
Yeah, probably, but that'sneither here nor there, because
that's the past, that's behindus And here we are now.
(14:31):
So the next one is the one thatreally just like got me riled up
And I don't think maybe I'mmisunderstanding what this
person was intending with thispoint, but what they said was
that PCOS is a chronic healthcondition And so, as with most
chronic health conditions, itcontinues to get worse with time
(14:53):
.
And the attitude I felt thatwas coming from this was sort of
this just like apathetic vibeof like you've got a chronic
health condition.
It's just going to keep gettingworse The older you get.
It's going to get worse, likeyou know, and so you got to just
kind of sort of live with thatand do the best you can to just,
(15:15):
like you know, not blameyourself and it's all good.
And it bothered me so much Andyou know this is probably some
of this is, i'm sure, some of myown internal stuff coming up
But I hate being told thatthere's nothing I can do.
I hate being told that there'snothing, that there's absolutely
(15:35):
nothing about this.
That's in my control.
I refuse to believe that.
In fact, i don't think thatthat's an accurate reading of
the current like understandingof PCOS.
Yes, pcos is a chronic healthcondition and, left untreated,
left unchecked, i absolutelythink it will get worse with
time because as people get older, their insulin resistance tends
(15:57):
to get worse.
If they've got insulinresistance, you know that
they've got digestive issuesthat are causing like
inflammation that tends to getworse with time.
Like things do tend to getworse with time if they're not
managed.
But to say like that there'snothing that can be done for
PCOS or that it's just gonnakeep getting worse, it's kind of
(16:18):
like saying, like well, whyeven try?
You know?
like what's the point?
It was just gonna keep gettingworse.
Like and honestly, if that werethe case, like why you know it
wouldn't negate my entireexistence as a practitioner.
So that's probably where a lotof the like frustration comes
from, right Cause it kind ofcalls up my work and says, like
well, my work is useless.
And I don't believe that to betrue.
(16:40):
I think that it really comesdown to it comes down to your
understanding of chronic healthconditions and what you believe
is possible for them.
So you know, the conventionalmedical world at the moment sees
chronic health conditions asthese like incurable but maybe
(17:03):
manageable to some degree,conditions that are gonna be
lifelong.
And you know in part that'strue for PCOS.
It's a lifelong condition.
There's no known cure for it.
There's no pill you can takethat can cure it.
On the other hand, to say likeoh, it's just gonna keep getting
worse is really frustratingbecause that's not true, like
(17:27):
it's just not.
We have research that showsplenty of different lifestyle
interventions make a big impacton PCOS.
There's a ton of research.
If you go on PubMed and searchMediterranean diet in PCOS,
there's a ton of researchstudies specifically on that
diet as an intervention for PCOS.
There are studies.
(17:49):
There are weight loss studies,there are insulin resistant
studies.
There's even like mindfulnessmeditation studies that show
improvements in PCOS symptoms.
And there's just the anecdotalevidence, which, yes, anecdotal
evidence is like the lowest formof evidence, right?
And for those of you who don'tknow what anecdotal evidence
means, it means like firsthandknowledge.
So like an anecdote is likesomebody's story, right, so one
(18:11):
person's story.
Or like me as a practitioner,if I'm telling you this is what
happens with my clients, that'sanecdotal evidence And so it's
like one of the least respectedforms of evidence because it
could be so easily manipulatedby opinion and bias and et
cetera, et cetera.
But like there is a lot ofanecdotal evidence that that's
(18:32):
not the case, i mean, i've hadplenty of clients who have
completely regulated theircycles, gotten pregnant
naturally, lost weight, gottento their you know their healthy
weight for their body, do agreat job of managing their
symptoms every day.
And it's not just a short term.
Like you know, i did it for ayear or I did it for six months
(18:55):
and then I'm done.
No, this is like long-termpositive change.
I've had a lot of long-termpositive change in my body And I
work with other practitionerswho have had a lot of long-term
positive change in their body,and that's one reason why a lot
of us become practitioners inthe first place is because we've
had these, you know, beautifulexperiences and we want to see
how we can build on ourknowledge and share.
(19:21):
And like to say that here I amgetting riled up to say that a
chronic health condition is onlygonna get worse with time.
It's a really defeating way tolook at it, like what a way to
live your life, like no hope,right?
That would just be such afearful way to live.
And that's telling a diabeticlike, oh well, your diabetes is
(19:45):
only gonna get worse with time,so don't even bother.
Like, just eat what you want.
You know like what That's notevery single intervention that
exists for diabetes is alwayspaired with lifestyle changes
too, because there's plenty ofresearch to show that, like,
long-term lifestyle changesimpact the body long-term,
(20:06):
improve the body long-term, likebetter end of life outcomes,
you know, reduced risk ofAlzheimer's and
neurodegenerative issues, likeall kinds of the consequences of
aging, are improved when wetake care of our health.
And the younger we can start,the better.
And that is with people withoutchronic health conditions.
(20:28):
And it's with people withchronic health conditions too,
yeah, i mean, it's essentiallylike telling a, you know, i mean
, look at somebody with type twodiabetes, for example, like
somebody who's actively managingtheir care, they're having a
much better experience of life,they're having a better quality
of life, they have improvedhealth outcomes than somebody
who's not.
(20:49):
And not only that, but even ifthey're on medications to help
which there are obviously somegreat medications that are
helpful they're almost pairedwith lifestyle changes too,
because we know that that, youknow, amplifies the effect of
those medications.
So it's just kind of aconfusing point, to the point
where I'm like wondering if thatwas really the intention of the
(21:10):
point.
I may be misunderstanding it,and so that's why I don't wanna
like specifically talk aboutthis specific person because I
may be completelymisunderstanding their intention
.
I think a lot of theirintention was just to like, have
you take some of the pressureoff of yourself, which is
positive, right, and Iappreciate that.
To say that it just keepsgetting worse, i just really
(21:31):
don't believe that.
I don't believe that And Iwouldn't be doing the work that
I do if I believed that.
I don't think that that'saccurate.
It is something that you dolive with.
You know you can't.
The next point is true, there isno cure for PCOS, but there are
a ton of things that can managethe symptoms, and I've seen
symptoms managed to the pointwhere the person doesn't even
(21:52):
look like they have PCOS anymore, you know.
So those kinds of results arepossible.
Are they gonna happen foreverybody?
No, like some of us have justworse luck with this stuff.
Some of us are navel or some ofus diet is not the main
component, like there's a lot ofthings going on, but but to act
(22:14):
like it's just going to keepgetting worse as you age, i
don't think that's a fairunderstanding of PCOS.
Not to mention that, like there, there is some evidence that
those with PCOS like when itcomes to infertility for example
, like as they age, actuallysometimes become more fertile
because, like their AMH kind oflowered, like their egg reserve
lowers, naturally that kind ofshifts the hormone balance.
(22:37):
So there's a lot of like latein life babies in PCOS.
Not that fertility is the onlymarker that we should be looking
at, but I don't know.
I just I don't think that that'sa fair understanding of the
current research on PCOS to saythat that there's nothing that
can be done and it's justchronic, untreatable condition,
especially when, like thecurrent consensus is and to be
(23:03):
fair, this hasn't necessarilytrickled down to conventional
medicine yet, but this is whatis coming up in the research is
that a lot of these scientificopinions are that a nutrition
professional, licensed nutritionprofessionals, should be the
first line therapy for PCOS,meaning that there's so much
evidence that nutrition changescan improve PCOS and PCOS
(23:24):
symptoms and quality of life,etc.
Etc.
That that should be the veryfirst thing that a person is
referred to do over and abovetaking metformin, taking birth
control, etc.
Etc.
So there's huge possibility innutrition for PCOS and it kind
of gets into like the wholeunderstanding of chronic health
conditions in the first place.
(23:45):
You know, in functionalnutrition we kind of look at
like history and we say like,okay, sure, maybe some of the
way that we understand chronicconditions is more advanced now,
so maybe there's more reportingof things, maybe people are
diagnosed more simply because wehave more knowledge.
But also we have strongevidence that the health of
(24:09):
developed countries,particularly the United States,
over the last 50, and especially30 years, has nearly rapidly
declined.
Like our outcomes are so muchworse than they were even, you
know, less than a century ago.
And what are some of the thingsthat have changed the most?
(24:31):
Well, our lifestyles havechanged a lot, sure, but our
diets have changed a lot too.
And those are all part of ourenvironment.
And we know that environmentplays such a big role in
everything in our health, in ourmental health and in the way
(24:52):
that our genetics express.
Like.
Look up the concept ofepigenetics.
If you've never heard of thisbefore, that's a fascinating
field, right?
It's the field that's doingresearch on the understanding of
like.
Why do you inherit genes andgenetic mutations and then
sometimes they express andsometimes they don't, or they
(25:12):
can express more severely orless severely.
Your environment plays a bigrole in how your genetics
express.
This is all standard stuff.
So, you know, in functionalnutrition we sort of believe
that, like, chronic healthconditions are modern problems
caused in part by the way thatour changing lifestyles and
(25:35):
environments are impacting ourmore primal genetics.
And those of us with chronichealth conditions often are
carrying these genetics that aremaybe just a little bit more
slippy.
They haven't, like, reallyaltered to fit our new lives and
our new environments.
The way that we work, the waythat we live, the way that we
(25:57):
sit around instead of working inthe fields, like all these
things are so different thanthey were just a couple of
generations ago And that changesthe way that we age and the way
that we experience health.
And so, with that understanding,we don't believe that chronic
(26:17):
health conditions are just thisthing where you're just like
it's just luck of the draw andyou have it and there's nothing
you can do.
You know, we believe that, likenumber one, it can be managed
And that lifestyle changes anddiet changes help manage them,
but then also that there may besomething that can be done to
(26:39):
address this more systemic rootissue of why so many of us are
getting chronic health issues,like there's something deeper
going on here.
So I guess the whole concepthere is that we hold out hope,
hope for continued research,hope that there will be
something that we can do, hopethat there will be things that
(27:01):
we have some control over andthat we can manage, even as we
go up against this giant of youknow.
Systemic changes, environmentchanges, lifestyle changes, food
system issues, like issues withthe way our food is grown and
the nutrient density of the soil.
I mean, it gets really complexand there's so much about it The
average person can do nothingabout.
(27:25):
But the difference here is whereyou sit in that moment and you
realize there are all thesesystemic issues that I have no
control over.
But am I going to just give upright here and say, all right,
well, guess YOLO.
Or am I going to try to handleand control the things that I do
(27:49):
have some control over diet,being a big one, right?
Am I going to try my best tolike, do what I can to improve
my health with the things thatare in my power.
And that's just two differentgroups of people And I don't
know that either one is reallywrong at the end of the day.
You know, we all have adifferent experience of life, we
all have different things thatwe're here to do.
(28:11):
But for those of us like me andprobably like you, i think that
that's the answer that we giveto that question.
I don't want to be defeated, idon't want to give up, i don't
want to say, oh, there's nothingthat can be done.
I'm just like going to roll thedice and just deal.
No, i want to set myself up foras much success as I can have.
(28:33):
You know, this is often the casewhen I work with people
one-on-one with PCOS, and theycome in and they're like Look, i
know that the odds are stackedagainst me when it comes to like
getting to the goal weight thatI had in my mind Right, like I
have PCOS.
I know I probably will never beas I do or whatever it is, but
(28:53):
I want to eat, to be the bestversion of me I want to have.
I want to be the weight that iscomfortable for my body, that
makes my body feel good,energetic, that helps with my
joints, etc.
Etc.
Like, whatever it is, whateverthe goal is, but the goal is
health, not aesthetics, not tolook a certain way, and these
(29:17):
are like conversations that wehave to and understanding that
we have to come to withourselves.
I've had to do some seriousinternal work body image work
that I think many of us have todo when it came to understanding
that, like you know that verything, i'm not going to look
like other people, like I'mgoing to look like me and I'm
(29:40):
going to be the weight that I'mgoing to be, and all I can
really do is just getcomfortable in my own skin and
accept myself for how I am andlove myself and then, out of
that love, treat myself right.
That's a hard journey to godown And I know firsthand how
hard that is.
But that's not a giving up.
(30:01):
It's a giving up of someexpectations that are like
influenced by diet, culture andfamily and friend expectations
and whatever we think societywants from us.
It's giving up that, but it'snot giving up on ourselves.
It's not giving up and saying,oh well, i can't do anything
about this.
I'm rambling, i know, but youknow it just gets me riled up.
(30:24):
Just gets me riled up, guys,because there is so much that
you can do.
I mean, i just like to saythere's nothing that can be done
is just like so I rolly, ican't even.
Yeah, i don't know, you know?
another point that was madethat I saw was I've seen some
(30:48):
people say that when you loseweight like that, we have
research that says that thelosing weight helps with PCOS
symptoms, but in the short termand in the long term it makes
things worse because, like, themore you die it, like the more
you're going to regain and blah,blah, blah, blah, et cetera, et
cetera.
And you know, when it comes to,specifically, weight loss only
(31:14):
there's some truth in that right.
Like, usually not always, but alarge percentage of the time
people who diet lose weight.
They will regain it And overtime that's hard on your body
and it's hard on your mentalhealth and things like that.
But again, it's a defeatist wayof looking at things.
(31:35):
It's essentially just sayinglike well, there's no point in
working on weight at all becauseit's not going to matter.
And it's also misunderstandingof, like what diet means for
PCOS, and I guess that's thedifference is that some of us
have different definitions ofwhat the word diet even means.
Like you know, when most peoplesay diet, they're thinking diet
to lose weight.
(31:56):
But when a nutritionprofessional says diet, they're
oftentimes just talking about,like, the manner in which we eat
, the way that we eat, the foodsthat we eat.
It's not necessarily about yourweight or anything like that.
It's just what you eat, likeyour usual diet.
And for PCOS that's a gray area,because I would say that there
(32:16):
is a lot of research showingpositive improvements with
weight loss.
And so you know, to just throwthat out the window and say,
like well, we really probablyshouldn't pay any attention to
that because, like, we're notgoing to keep it off anyway, so
it's not even helpful to eventhink about that, i don't know
kind of a defeating way to lookat it because, like I said,
(32:37):
anecdotally, i've had a lot ofclients who have maintained
their weight loss and askingsomebody to lose 10% of their
body weight is different thanasking them to lose, you know,
30% or something like that.
Like, 10% of your body weightis what a lot of these research
studies show And that's, youknow, depends on the person.
But it's not that much weight,it's a reasonable amount of
(32:57):
weight to lose for a lot ofpeople and can really help with
symptoms and can be maintainableif you have the right, you know
, understanding of how tomaintain.
And I think that's where theproblem comes in for a lot of
people with weight loss is they?
they don't really have a goodunderstanding of number one, how
to maintain but number two theydon't have like the support
(33:18):
that they need for thatmaintenance process Because it
takes a long time to for yourbody to get comfortable in a new
weight.
But diet changes for PCOS arenot just about weight loss And I
would argue that there's enoughevidence to kind of show that
like changes improve PCOSsymptoms regardless of weight
(33:42):
loss, that it's worth doing evenif weight loss is not a goal
for you.
So I don't like to villainizeanybody who wants to lose weight
, because I can understandwanting to lose a little bit of
weight.
You know, throughout my lifeI've had times where I've
weighed more, i've had timeswhere I've weighed less and I
certainly like my clothes to fit.
I don't like buying new clothes.
Yeah, i mean I who doesn't likebuying new clothes.
(34:04):
But you know what I mean.
I don't like buying going home,buy new wardrobe for a new size
, like that sucks.
At the same time, you have to becomfortable with your
experience of your life and yourbody, and that means different
things for different people.
For some people it's just abouthealth and wellness, stress
reduction.
For some people it includessome weight loss and that's okay
(34:26):
.
Either way is okay.
But my main point here is thatyour diet can impact your PCOS,
whether you lose weight or not.
So it's still worth doing, andfor a lot of people they don't
even understand like a healthyway to eat for themselves.
(34:48):
I know this is something that Idealt with growing up.
Like I didn't really have agreat understanding of what was
a healthy way for me to eat, andso I just sort of like hacked
it along the way and kind offigured out like I one time
figured out that if I ateprotein, if I ate like meat with
my meals, that I wasn't gettinga little blood sugar like three
hours later.
(35:08):
And that was just very eyeopening for me because I thought
, wow, why does that work?
I didn't even know, but I justdiscovered that I came upon that
one day experimenting with foodand have built on that.
You know I'm always talkingabout how you need to protein
with your meals.
Well, part of that is based onresearch and part of that is
based on my personal experience.
So it's like an 18 year old whowas always getting weak and
shaky between my meals andrealized like, oh, if I eat
(35:30):
breakfast and I just have cereal, then by 11 o'clock I'm like
needing a snack or I'm going topass out.
If I eat some sausage with mycereal, then all of a sudden I
can go to lunch, you know?
So they're?
wow, i lost my friends.
(35:50):
There are a lot of things thatcan be done with diet to improve
PCOS, improve your symptoms,and that are worth doing long
term, whether or not they resultin any weight loss or not.
And a lot of us don't have theunderstanding of what is a
healthy way to eat for ourbodies.
And this gets into anothersphere of issue that I find that
(36:16):
oftentimes those with PCOS weget very caught.
Because we get caught between,like, on the one hand, really
intense diet culture that's likeyou need to go keto for PCOS to
improve your insulin resistance, or you need to do this strict
diet, or that strict diet, youneed to cut out gluten and dairy
, whatever, maybe.
And then on the other side, wehave the like intuitive eating
sphere, who has a lot of goodthings about it but also, i feel
(36:40):
like, doesn't fully understandus and our bodies.
And so and this is like youknow, please take this, take
this through your own internalfilter, because I hate saying
anything negative about theintuitive eating movement,
because in a lot of ways I thinkit's doing a ton of good and
(37:02):
it's really necessary.
But there is a differencebetween what intuitive eating
looks like for some people andwhat it looks like for those of
us with PCOS, and I'll give youa great example of this for my
own life.
I'm a nutrition professional,so I know what I should eat,
what I shouldn't eat, like, whatworks for my body, what doesn't
(37:24):
work.
I've done that experimentationand I also have like the
scientific understanding ofthese things to know.
But I still struggle with thisa lot, and so I have gone
through periods of time where Ihave tended to just sort of
reconnect with my own body'ssignals and take some of that
nutrition knowledge out of myhead, because sometimes I feel
(37:48):
like I get a little too logicaland I forget to experience
what's really happening in mybody.
And so what I have noticedabout myself and this is true
for a lot of people is that whenI intuitively eat and I just
sort of like really a mindful,pay attention to my body's
signals, eat slowly and watchwhat I'm eating.
(38:11):
I do great with meals, withregular meals, but I sure do
still have sugar cravings.
And if I indulge that sugarcraving, what happens is because
I'm insulin resistant, it comesback stronger the next time and
(38:32):
sooner.
So, like all of a sudden, i'llstart craving sugar.
You know, between lunch anddinner, let's say, i want to
have an afternoon snack, no bigdeal Like it's.
You know, i don't think it's abad thing at all to have a
little bit of a sweet snacky inthe middle of the day, and so
maybe I will have that sweetsnack.
I'll pair it with some proteinor some fat or something like
(38:54):
that, or it'll be fruit orsomething you know healthy or
whatever.
But then after dinner I'mcraving the sugar again and it
keeps getting worse and worseand worse.
And it doesn't matter if Iindulge it with a healthy
version or if I go full on andjust say I'm just going to eat
exactly the thing I crave,exactly as much of it as I want.
I've tried it both ways forlong periods of time So that I'm
(39:17):
given it the real, the realcollege try.
And no matter what, if I am notconsciously putting a stop on
myself when it comes to sugar,it will and does continue to get
harder and harder to manage.
It becomes a thing where sugaris on my mind all the time,
(39:42):
whereas when I am conscious ofthe fact that you know what, i
need to put a stop around myselfhere, because my body is
sending me signals.
My mind is sending me signalsthat my body does not need me to
fulfill right now.
That's the type of intuitiveeating that I think with PCOS,
we sometimes have to practice.
Sometimes we have to learn howto not just intuit what my
(40:06):
craving is, which is what Ithink a lot of people utilize
intuitive eating as Sometimes weneed to look at not just what
my craving is or what I'mwanting, what my body might be
wanting, but we also need tothink deeply about what my body
needs.
It's kind of like the concept oflike tough love, right?
Like you know, is it reallyloving to let your
(40:29):
three-year-old have every thingthat he wants?
No, because you're not teachinghim like real life lessons.
You're not setting him up forsuccess later.
Like sometimes being a littlebit, sometimes having boundaries
or limits, is positive.
Like structure is positive.
It's a positive thing.
Human beings like structure, wethrive on structure, and some of
(40:52):
us, our intuitive signals andour hormone signals, like leptin
, are so kind of out of balancethat it's very difficult to know
what's good, what's not good.
Like what's right, what's notright, what do I really want?
what do I really need?
Like it's hard.
And so that's where havingstructure and understanding of
(41:13):
like what your needs are from anoutsider like you know, a
nutrition professional orsomething like that can be
really helpful because it canhelp you to reorganize your
lifestyle around your needs Andthen from there you can work on
becoming more intuitive.
But sometimes you have to have aplace to start Like.
Sometimes you need somebody,somebody objective, to say like
(41:34):
OK, this is how you eat now Andthis is how we really would
probably want you to be eating,because it would be better for
your body to eat this way.
Let's start eating this way.
All of a sudden you startfeeling better, like you have
more energy, you're sleepingbetter.
It becomes easier and easierfor you to continue eating under
that structure And then withtime you can stop being so
(41:57):
thoughtful about OK, do I haveenough protein here, do I have
enough fiber here?
Like you can start being moreintuitive And just your body
will naturally start to kind oflike make those better choices.
Sometimes you need structure tostart with.
So with PCOS, oftentimes we getcaught in the middle, right
Like we're so used to doingthese really like intense
(42:18):
restrictive things that we wantto just like paint all diets
with the same brushstrokes andsay, well, that's all bad, any
diet is bad, because it's not,it's diet culture, no matter
what.
It's just not true.
I mean some structure and dietculture.
But yeah, i won't tell you thatit's not a gray area.
There's definitely overlap indifferent, different ways, but
(42:43):
structure is not all bad Andsometimes it's useful.
And I will leave you with thisthought, which is that if you
have seen content like that outthere, if you have felt like
very defeated by not havinganswers, you know, not feeling
(43:07):
like your doctor understands you, not feeling like you really
know where to go, and justfeeling like a little bit like
wanting to give up, i wouldencourage you to just keep
trying and to understand thatsometimes you just have to pick
(43:29):
a voice And follow that voice.
There are a lot of competingvoices on the internet,
especially these days,especially with PCOS, and if you
try to listen to everybody withletters next to their name, you
can get very confused very fast.
So find the people thatresonate with you.
(43:52):
If you've made it all the wayto the end of this podcast,
hopefully I'm one of thosepeople for you.
Find the people that resonatewith you, listen to them, listen
to your own intuition.
Marry those two things.
It doesn't have to be just onenutritionist, it doesn't have to
be just me.
You know there are plenty ofother wonderful nutritionists
(44:12):
out there who are saying almostthe exact same thing as me.
But find people that number oneyou resonate with and that you
feel like really get you reallyunderstand you.
Number two find people whoagree with each other and go all
in on that, because I just feellike if you let yourself get
(44:37):
swayed by every differingopinion you hear online, it
really just leads to apathy andconfusion.
Honestly, maybe where some ofthese opinions I've been
refuting today even come from,just from hearing so much stuff
here and there and everywhereAnd just feeling lost.
(44:59):
My anecdotal evidence tells methat there is great hope for
PCOS and that, as time goes on,in the future there will be
things.
We will build on the knowledgethat we have already, and I
expect, maybe even less than 10years from now, for there to be
(45:20):
major breakthroughs in how wemanage this condition, in
medications that we use tomanage this condition, lifestyle
choices that manage thiscondition, like, i just think
that there's a lot of reallybeautiful things on the horizon
and I just don't want you togive up.
I know some of you who listento me have been at this for a
(45:40):
long time, so you've seen it alland I admire you.
But at least for my part, ireally believe that there's hope
and I wouldn't say that if Ididn't really truly think that
that was true and feel like Iwouldn't share this stuff unless
I'd really experienced itfirsthand.
So, yeah, thanks for listeningto my little Nutrition Rumble
(46:03):
today And I love y'all and Iwill talk to you soon.
Have a good week.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com