PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) is a common endocrine disorder affecting about 20% of all women between the ages of 18-44. PCOS symptoms can cause chronic discomfort and lead to more serious conditions. This article gives simple, actionable methods to improve your quality of life and protect your fertility by making lifestyle and diet changes that relieve PCOS symptoms.
One of the most common modern-day ailments among young women is PCOS or Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. This condition has its roots in the endocrine system, a network of glands and organs throughout the body. This system controls the creation and secretion of all the body’s hormones.
Hormones are responsible for major important bodily functions including: childhood growth and development, metabolism over the life, and sexual reproduction.
PCOS is a specific syndrome that develops in young females due to hormonal imbalance. You may be surprised to learn that all women naturally possess some male hormones such as androgen and progesterone. But PCOS can result when male hormones and insulin (the body’s main hormone responsible for muscle development) are found in excess.
Insulin is also responsible for how we assimilate sugars. When the body is out of balance, the cells can become resistant to the actions of insulin and cause blood sugar levels to rise. Insulin resistance, or the inability to recognize insulin and process it correctly, is a common factor in PCOS.
An excess of the male hormone androgen can cause small cysts to develop on the ovaries. These little fluid-filled pockets create discomfort in some women. They can also block egg production and regular egg release. Left untreated, PCOS can result in high blood pressure, diabetes, and difficulty in getting pregnant.
Common Symptoms Of PCOS
The most common symptoms of PCOS include:
- Irregular menstrual periods and cycles
- Pelvic Pain
- Acne and oily skin not associated with puberty
- Excessive Body Hair Growth
- Fatigue
- Weight Gain and Inability to Lose weight
- Infertility
- Mood Swings
Why Do Some Women Get PCOS?
Although there is much research on the syndrome, it’s still not 100% clear exactly why PCOS occurs. Common theories include genetics and eating habits. Some hereditary PCOS is said to manifest in those who have a family history of diabetes, are diabetic themselves, or whose bodies have an inability to regulate insulin. Additionally, overweight women are more likely to get PCOS.
Other expressions of PCOS are not insulin related by heredity. They’re more related to poor dietary habits that create insulin imbalance. Either way, modern medicine is not very clear about how to avoid getting PCOS or how to resolve it.
To date, there is not one test that can effectively diagnose PCOS. Rather, a series of tests may reveal its presence. Those tests might include pelvic exams or a variety of blood tests.
What Does Traditional Medicine Say About PCOS Causes?
Ancient medicinal systems, define PCOS as stemming from hormonal imbalance that has specific origins. For example, TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) identifies PCOS symptoms as either related to kidney deficiency or to emotional stress that causes liver stagnation, high blood pressure, or diabetes.
Ayurveda, the ancient healing system of India, identifies PCOS as a kapha disorder. Kapha is one of the elemental humors of the body that determine overall health. Kapha is an earth and water humor. When it is out of balance it can express as PCOS and other disorders that involve body sluggishness, weight gain, inability to lose weight, and slow metabolism.
How To Control And Manage PCOS
Both modern medicine and traditional medicine agree on one major point:
Lifestyle Changes Can Help Control And Manage PCOS.
If you have moderate to severe discomfort in any of the symptoms listed above, it’s recommended to have a doctor’s check-up to determine if you are suffering from PCOS.
Some doctors suggest taking birth control pills as a PCOS treatment, with the hope of balancing the menstrual cycles. Although it might have a positive effect of relieving some symptoms in the short term, taking birth control could cause trouble down the line. This is a serious issue if you decide to become pregnant.
Taking birth control pills can also have other damaging effects on the body. If you want to avoid more trouble later in life, choose either a naturopathic, Ayurvedic, TCM practitioner, or herbal specialist who can offer you effective natural remedies other than birth control medication to treat PCOS.
If you have already received a diagnosis of PCOS, there are numerous natural remedies for reducing symptoms and regaining vitality. One of the first recommended actions to offset PCOS is to decrease androgens naturally.
This can be accomplished by avoiding certain foods, choosing beneficial foods, exercising (the right way for PCOS – see below), and by reducing stress that raises cortisol levels and aggravates PCOS symptoms.
We offer suggestions below, but everyone with PCOS does not have to follow each and every suggestion! Relieving PCOS is a DIY trial and error process to control your individual symptoms. So, try out some of the remedies provided. If they don’t work for you, move on to another on the list. Don’t get overwhelmed and think that everything listed below is a “must have” to get relief.
Natural Remedies For PCOS – Diet
Fortunately, PCOS is rarely a life-threatening condition. Therefore, remember that you are in control of how you manage your symptoms and you can choose a routine that works for you.
1. Choose An Anti-Inflammatory Diet
Inflammation is at the root of most health issues, so it’s not a surprise that switching to an anti-inflammatory diet will help relieve PCOS symptoms.
Foods to avoid:
- Fried foods
- Sugary fast food snacks
- Fast food meals containing hydrogenated oils and lacking nutrition
- Excessive sugar of any kind
- Dairy products in high quantities
If you experience uncomfortable PCOS symptoms, try eliminating the foods listed above for at least one month to see how your symptoms decrease. Then, one by one, occasionally add them back into your diet to see how they affect you. Most people with strong PCOS symptoms experience relief when they avoid these foods in their diet.
Increasing whole foods in your diet will help relieve your PCOS symptoms and help manage the condition.
2. Eat Foods Rich In Zinc
One of the main aspects of PCOS is the inability to manage insulin. This is often due to thyroid gland imbalance. Balancing the thyroid helps ensure proper blood sugar levels. Many women with PCOS have under-active thyroid glands and zinc is excellent for helping regulate the thyroid.
Foods rich in zinc include:
- yogurt
- garlic
- beef
- lamb
- brown rice
- turkey
- oysters
- chicken
However, if you don’t regularly eat zinc-rich foods, you should consider taking a zinc supplement. This essential mineral can improve hormonal balance and relieve many PCOS symptoms such as acne, irregular ovulation, hair loss, and hair growth in places you don’t want.
3. Eat More High Fiber Foods
Foods that are high in fiber help balance hormones by regulating blood sugar.
Include foods in your diet, such as:
- beans
- nuts
- whole grains
- seeds
- fresh vegetables
4. Drink Warm Honey And Lemon Water
Honey improves immunity, cleanses the digestive system, and reduces acidity. This is important to relieve PCOS symptoms. Honey is a powerful anti-oxidant-filled natural substance.
Warm honey and lemon water should be taken first thing in the morning before any other food or drink. Simply add a teaspoonful of honey to one-half cup of warm water and add the fresh juice of one-half lemon. Drink this every day for wonderful health benefits, including weight loss.
Note: If you suffer from gastritis, you should avoid this remedy.
5. Drink Apple Cider Vinegar And Water
Alternatively, you can drink a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water first thing in the morning. Apple cider vinegar (ACV) has a wealth of health benefits. Most importantly, it helps manage blood sugar levels. This is incredible for managing PCOS and can help boost your reproductive potential.
Simply mix about 2 tablespoons of ACV with a half-cup of water, and drink on an empty stomach. You can also add a teaspoon of honey. Always choose the most natural and least processed ACV you can find; the best type is raw organic ACV, which includes the cloudy “Mother” culture.
6. Drink Spearmint Tea
Lovely, minty spearmint tea is well known for its numerous health benefits. Although anyone can benefit from drinking a soothing cup of spearmint tea, it’s an especially powerful natural remedy for curing PCOS.
Spearmint is calming and helps relieve tension and anxiety. That’s important for women with PCOS because stress increases PCOS symptoms. Spearmint is an anti-androgenic herb – that means spearmint tea inhibits testosterone production, while improving follicle growth in the ovaries.
Spearmint is a known anti-inflammatory herb, also wonderful for aiding digestion and relieving water retention. Drinking two cups of spearmint tea per day is suggested for maximum benefit.
7. Drink Green Tea
With a high level of anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory phytonutrients, green tea can help to reduce PCOS symptoms.
If you replace sugary drinks with herbal teas such as green tea and spearmint tea, you’ll be well on your way to curing your PCOS symptoms.
Green tea is beneficial because it:
- balances hormone levels by reducing testosterone
- reduces ovarian cysts
- helps balance metabolism (green tea contains caffeine that encourages weight loss, but far less caffeine than coffee!)
- helps the liver eliminate toxins
- promotes weight loss by burning fat
Drinking green tea will always bring health benefits, so it is always good for women with PCOS. But if your PCOS symptoms are very strong, you’ll probably gain more benefit by taking green tea supplements because you would have to drink a huge amount of green tea to see significant results.
Natural Remedies For PCOS – Lifestyle Changes
As much as we are tired of hearing it, exercise does play a vital role in our health! Especially when it comes to managing PCOS symptoms, the right kind of exercise can make a huge difference in how you feel.
1. Low Intensity Exercise
Walking or slow cycling can reduce cortisol levels in the body, which is excellent to minimize insulin resistance and inflammation.
2. High Intensity Exercise
We’ve all heard for years that ‘more is better’ when it comes to exercise, but this is not true for resolving PCOS. Endurance exercises such as jogging distances, high intensity spin classes or other intense workout routines raise cortisol levels. When a woman has PCOS, her ability to regulate insulin is out of balance, so this type of exercise can actually lead to weight gain from excess fat storage.
To improve insulin sensitivity (which will help to reduce PCOS symptoms) short periods of high intensity interval training (HIIT – lifting weights or doing sprints) is best, rather than endurance exercises (running, for example). These exercises should be done for no more than 20 minutes, while ensuring a rest period before beginning another round of exercise.
3. Soothing Yoga Exercise Routines
Yoga is a great tool to control and manage PCOS symptoms. In this case, it’s important to avoid trendy high intensity yoga and choose a yoga program that is relaxing and calming. Traditional stretching exercises known as yoga asanas, plus breathing exercises known as pranayama, are known to soothe anxiety and stress while helping balance the endocrine system.
This is perfect for those suffering from PCOS! Practicing yoga regularly (15-60 minutes, several times per week) can:
- Provide better sleep
- Reduce stress and anxiety
- Stimulate the pituitary gland
- Improve insulin and cholesterol levels
- Help balance the thyroid gland
- Boost metabolism
- Relieve pelvic congestion and ease menstrual (period) pain
To get started, here’s a great 15 minute routine for PCOS to start your day:
4. Keep A Daily Food Journal
Get a new notebook or journal and start noting the foods that you eat during the day. At the end of the day, pay attention to how you feel. As you continue to notate your diet, you will begin to realize which foods affect your PCOS symptoms negatively.
You can also add your activity/exercise routine notes to the journal. Over time you’ll determine how (and which) exercise helps your PCOS symptoms.
5. Take Some Time In Nature
It’s always a good idea to step away from the stressors of life and enjoy some quiet time by yourself in the beauty of nature. When you’re out there, notice the silence, the calm, and the wonder that is all around you in the natural world. Walk barefoot on the earth and feel the grounding influence. If you can connect more to the rhythms of nature, you can also help your body to become more in tune with its own natural rhythms.This will will help you come to a place of more balance and wellness.
If you have PCOS and are currently trying to get pregnant with no success, you can check out this resource that focuses on diet to help your fertility naturally:
https://smartfertilitychoices.com/can-you-get-pregnant-with-pcos/
Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only. Any material herein is the expressed opinion of the authors and is not a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis or treatment, nor has it been evaluated by any regulatory agency. All use of information herein is solely at the risk and discretion of the reader. Have a blog? This post is for sale. Contact us.