When My Dr. Told Me My Fertility Didn’t Matter, I Took Matters into My Own Hands
‘Never judge a book by it’s cover’ has never rung more true with Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome.
I grew up a soccer player. By age 16 I had very irregular periods and my OB-GYN chalked it up to high activity and put me on birth control. The pill did very little to control the regularity of them and thus, I was still never that regular. I literally found out yesterday from my new PCP, Dr. Lawrence Torpey (who is fantastic!) that it was because my dosage wasn’t high enough. Maybe that was a good thing?!
Anyways, by age 22 I had enough with the fake hormones and took myself off birth control. I was also diagnosed with Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) that same year and the same OB-GYN told me it was no big deal. Welp, doing research on my own I learned it was one of the leading causes of infertility in the US. You’re totallllyyy right doc, No. Big. Deal. Thanks for deciding if I want kids some day. No proactive care or help ‘curing’ it.
PCOS occurs predominately in overweight and obese women. It rarely shows up in lean women. There is no known ‘cure’, there is only ‘making-it-less-worse’. There is also no concrete reason why it occurs. Because it occurs in both obese and lean women, most research points to genetics or occurrences that took place before women were conceived (the health of their mother & father) or in-utero. Current research has found diet and exercise to decrease symptoms, increase fertility. Since I’m moderately active, diet is the only thing I can clean up with the addition of appropriate supplements/herbs.
The Hormone Cure by Sara Gottfried, MD and Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom by Christiane Northrup are two resources I heavily use for myself and clients. These women are MD’s who pull medicine together with holistic ways of healing through experiences in their own practices helping women heal themselves and current research. It’s a beautiful thing!
*Side note: When I say ‘diet’, I do not mean our culture’s destroyed version of the word. A ‘diet’ is what a person consumes on a daily basis. It is not something I am doing for 60 days. It is not ‘the-next-new-fad’. It does not include pills that make me have diarrhea. My diet means what I eat on a daily basis. I am not ON A DIET. No one is ON A DIET. Stop listening to the media. Get off any diet you think you’re on and start eating for health and longevity! There is a SUSTAINABLE way. Ask me what it is! Stop hoping from diet to diet only to fail. Start eating to live fully!
Reading of numerous research articles, Adam (my boyfriend!) and I have discovered the great success of ketogenic diets on women who have PCOS. The amazing thing about a ketogenic or very low carbohydrate diet, is that it’s beneficial for a number of diseases, diagnosis’ and general optimal health! The reason is because our bodies can’t thrive with high carbohydrate diets where glucose runs rampant through our bodies. Glucose destroys our bodies. Thats why more than 60% of our US population is over weight, obese, on medication, sick, suffering from low energy, have little to no sex drive and are infertile! Just to name a few.
Take a look at this review of the therapeutic uses of very-low-carbohydrate (ketogenic) diets. It highlights what a very low carbohydrate diet does for different populations. From clearing up acne to people diagnosed with cancer. Inflammation, bad bacteria in our gut, cancer all thrive on SUGAR!
For those of you in the baby-making population, here are a couple articles on the effects of low carbohydrate diets in pregnant women, their birth outcomes and weight.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17023707 -effect of low glycemic diet on pregnant women and birth outcomes
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24175958 -maternal dietary intake and weight gain
For those men and women who are trying to conceive, this diet is also extremely beneficial and necessary because what you put in your body is the most important equation of increasing fertility naturally (and being a happier, more energized, healthy human!)
The first thing that drives me crazy about OB-GYN’s and many birth educators is that they preach high protein diets for fertility in men and women and pregnant women because WE DON’T CONSUME ENOUGH! What they’re suggesting is what we SHOULD already be eating, but we’re not.
The second thing is that there’s no follow through when they say ‘eat more protein, lower carbohydrate intake’. Well, if you’re lowering carbohydrates, what do you eat to fill in those missing calories? (Silence) The answer? FAT! Our hormones, so many bodily functions run on fat! And guess what? Our body lovessss fat as energy! It’s a cleaner energy source than glucose. Where do we get fat? From whole foods! Examples: Whole eggs, bacon, avocados, nuts, fatty meats (chicken thighs with bone in and skin on), grass fed beef, butter (Kerrygold), animal lard.
When anyone decides to go on a very low carbohydrate diet, a majority of their calories are going to come from fat sources. These are whole food fat sources. Not fried food. No shit. Foods found in nature. Stay tuned as I share my food diary so you can see what I’m consuming, how I’m feeling and more!
I’m excited to share this journey publicly because I feel like there are a lot of women out there suffering from PCOS either as an active female like myself or as someone looking to ‘cure’ PCOS for fertility. Maybe you have been told by doctors it’s ‘no big deal’ or are wanting to find healthier ways besides synthetic drugs. I can support all women on this journey because we are all females on a quest for answers and to feel better. Let’s build a community of support and empowerment!
Love,
Colleen