in today's video we are going to be talking about polycystic ovarian syndrome also known
as pcos what causes it and how to reverse it pcos is the most common cause of infertility
in western countries one out of every 10 women of childbearing age has pcos symptoms include missed
periods weight gain excessive hair growth and acne women with pcos have difficulty getting pregnant
and often seek out infertility treatment but here's the thing it is possible to
reverse pcos with lifestyle changes one study followed 11 women with pcos for six months
the study involved a change in diet and by the end all the women who completed the study lost weight
lowered their free testosterone and their fasting insulin two of the women even got pregnant during
the study despite having previously struggled with infertility pcos can be reversed in weeks if not
months with a few simple but significant tweaks to your lifestyle in today's video we're going
to talk about what pcos is what causes it and five steps you can take to reverse it
hey guys welcome back to my channel if you're new here my name is kate
i'm a health coach and i post videos on a high fat nutrient-dense way of eating
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to squarespace.com forward slash health coach kaIT to start your free trial today polycystic
ovarian syndrome was once a rare condition but it is becoming more and more common women
of all ages can suffer from it even those who have went through menopause and unfortunately
most of these women are told it is just something they will have to live with for the rest of their
lives and manage only with drugs but the truth is pcos is not a life sentence when you address
the root cause it can be reversed we're going to start off today talking about the symptoms of pcos
and how it is diagnosed then we will get into the cause of it and we'll finish off talking
about five steps you can take to reverse it and make sure to stick around until the end
because tip number four might surprise you what is pcos pcos stands for polycystic ovarian syndrome
to be formally diagnosed with pcos you have to have two out of the three following main symptoms
irregular periods hormonal imbalance with high androgen levels androgen being male
sex hormones such as testosterone and cysts in the ovaries if you suspect you might have pcos
but haven't been formally diagnosed here are some of the symptoms irregular or missed periods as we
already discussed heavy periods acne skin tags darkening of the skin male pattern baldness
excess hair growth on the face and stomach specifically and difficulty losing weight some
people with pcos might have all of these symptoms and other people only a few and pcos is not only
an issue if you're trying to get pregnant it can have other side effects as well including
sleep apnea weight gain depression and even cancer specifically endometrial cancer
and for women with pcs who are able to get pregnant they are at a greater risk
of miscarriages and twice as likely to deliver their baby prematurely so it is safe to say the
pcos does not only affect your health it affects the health of your baby as well what causes pcos
there is a lot of confusion surrounding pcos as i mentioned earlier a lot of women who are diagnosed
are told that they will only be able to manage the symptoms and that they are stuck with it for life
a lot of times they are prescribed a medication such as metformin
and drugs like this can help to improve symptoms but they do not address the root cause
but do we even know what causes pcos there must be some reason that the rate at which
we are seeing it is increasing and we do have an answer at the root of pcos is insulin resistance
insulin is a hormone responsible for lowering blood sugar and storing glucose in our cells
every time we eat blood sugar rises and as a result the pancreas pumps out insulin
but insulin resistance occurs when our insulin levels are elevated for long periods of time
our cells stop responding to insulin in the way that they should they stop accepting insulin and
this leaves us with elevated levels and this ties in with pcos because high insulin or insulinemia
is what causes the symptoms that define pcos every month just before ovulation there should be a big
spike in the hormone estrogen all estrogen is made from testosterone but high insulin levels block
the ovaries from converting it and the spike in estrogen doesn't happen so you do not ovulate and
the eggs remain in the ovaries and become cysts and you are left with high testosterone levels
as well and those are the three main symptoms of pcos irregular periods high testosterone and
ovarian cysts by addressing and reversing insulin resistance pcos reverses as well how to reverse
pcos okay so now we've talked about what pcos is the symptoms and what causes it now let's get into
the good stuff how to reverse it as previously mentioned insulin resistance is the root cause of
pcos so that is what we want to address our cells become resistant to insulin when there's too much
of it circulating when we lower our insulin levels our cells become more sensitive to it the key
to reversing pcos is to keep your insulin low or as low as possible so let's talk about some steps
you can take to do that number one reduce carbohydrates low carb diets have become
extremely popular in recent years especially for weight loss but also for pcos and i think
a large part of this is due to the fact that so many people have undiagnosed insulin resistance
the reason reducing your carb intake helps improve insulin resistance is because carbohydrates are
the macronutrient that stimulates insulin the most eating carbohydrates spikes insulin drastically
while protein spikes it moderately and fat not at all so if you're trying to keep insulin low
it makes sense to reduce the foods that cause it to rise the most do you remember that study that
i mentioned at the start of the video where women change their diet for six months and their pcos
symptoms improved the diet change they made was switching to a low carbohydrate ketogenic diet
where they ate less than 20 grams of carbs per day the study pointed out that hyperinsulinemia
appeared to be the cause of the increase in androgen and that the reduction in
hyperinsulinemia was due to the diet change the researchers concluded a low carbohydrate
ketogenic diet led to a significant reduction in weight free testosterone and fasting serum insulin
in women with obesity and pcos over a six month period now that study reduced carbohydrate intake
significantly but you might not have to reduce it so much if you don't want to a 2017 review paper
looked at studies where participants with pcos ate less than 45 percent of their calories from carbs
this is significantly more than the 20 gram a day limit in the previous study but still less
than what the average person nowadays consumes the study concluded reducing carbohydrate load
can reduce circulating insulin levels improve hormonal imbalance and resume ovulation to improve
pregnancy rates compared to the usual diet now it is really important to note that when you reduce
your dietary carbohydrates you need to increase your dietary fat this is because in the absence of
carbs in our diet our bodies use fat for energy both dietary and stored body fat if you try to
eat low carb and low fat you will most likely feel fatigued and miserable now as i said you
do not have to reduce carbs drastically in order to yield results even a modest reduction will help
but eating high carb foods especially processed ones such as cereal crackers and grains is part of
what leads to insulin resistance initially if you stick to whole foods such as meat fish eggs fruits
vegetables nuts and seeds your carbohydrate intake will reduce drastically without you having to
count or track but you still might see greater results if you reduce carbohydrates more number
two eat carbs last now if you are still a bit wary about reducing carbohydrates in your diet
there's another strategy that works as well eating carbohydrate-rich foods at the end of your meal
after your protein and non-starchy vegetables makes the insulin response a lot less
drastic one study done on type 2 diabetics had participants eat the same meal three days in a row
on the first day they ate the carbohydrate portion of the meal and then 10 minutes later had the
protein and the vegetable portion on the second day they ate the protein and vegetables first
waited 10 minutes and then ate the carbs and on the final day they ate everything together insulin
levels were tested before eating and after eating every 30 minutes for the following three hours
insulin levels were significantly lower after the meal when the carbohydrate portion was eaten last
so if you cannot bear the thought of giving up potatoes and bread consider at least eating
them last number three build muscle now i do think that diet and what you do eat and don't
eat is the most important factor when it comes to insulin resistance but exercise can help as well
this is beneficial for two reasons the first is that when you are exercising your muscle cells
are able to absorb glucose without insulin and the second reason is that more muscle mass means
your body can store more glucose this is because our muscles are where most glucose is stored in
the body so if you have more muscle you have more space for excess glucose to be stored and this can
help reverse the resistance now in terms of the type of exercise you should be doing resistance
training has been shown to be the most beneficial when compared to cardio minute per minute
the most effective type of resistance training is up for debate but training with either weights or
body weight can be effective when done correctly and here's the best part you do not have to spend
hours or even one hour at the gym every day killing yourself even 10 to 15 minutes a couple
times a week of basic body weight exercises such as push-ups pull-ups and squats can yield results
a 2019 study looked at the effect short duration resistance training had on insulin sensitivity in
overweight men they did three resistance training sessions a week for six weeks with each session
only lasting 15 to 20 minutes during the workout they did one singular repetition of nine different
exercises at eighty percent of their one rep max after the six weeks participants saw an increase
in their insulin sensitivity these men did one single rep of nine different exercises
and saw improvements to their insulin sensitivity now of course the study was done
with men who can't have pcos but the same insulin benefits can be obtained by women as well
so if you are currently killing yourself doing cardio at the gym it might be more beneficial
to focus on building muscle instead now before we get into the last two tips on how to reverse pcos
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thank you again to squarespace for sponsoring this video number four eat more salt okay so i
did tell you earlier that you wouldn't expect tip number four but the relationship between salt and
insulin resistance and pcos is fascinating salt is made up of sodium and chloride both of which are
essential electrolytes that our bodies need but for some reason salt has been linked to negative
health outcomes such as high blood pressure although there is little evidence supporting this
most people do not see a change in their blood pressure when they eat more or less salt
when they do see a change however is when they reduce their sugar consumption and lose weight
even if there is no change to their salt intake in his book the salt fix dr james d nicola antonio
outlines how consuming too little salt can shift the body into a semi starvation mode
and cause insulin resistance most people can stand to eat more salt without negative consequences
when we consume salt our body has no problem flushing the excess out but when we consume
too little salt our bodies have to work overtime to recycle the salt that is already in our system
to meet our needs one study done on diabetics split participants into two groups one consumed 3
000 milligrams of sodium a day and the other 6 000 milligrams those in the higher salt group saw
greater improvements to their insulin resistance the study concluded that an abundant sodium intake
may improve glucose tolerance and insulin resistance especially in diabetic salt sensitive
and or medicated essential hypertension subjects and salt is especially important if you choose to
follow tip number one and reduce your salt intake when we reduce carbohydrates in the diet the body
stores less water and in turn less electrolytes so consuming enough on a daily basis especially when
it comes to salt is key dr james d nicole antonio recommends consuming between three thousand and
six thousand milligrams of sodium per day number five stop snacking and finally tip number five
is to stop snacking there is this misconception that eating more often throughout the day
is somehow a good idea the truth is this strategy is doing more harm than good especially when it
comes to pcos as we mentioned earlier when we're trying to address pcos we're really addressing
insulin resistance and to reverse insulin resistance we need to keep insulin low now
every time we eat insulin raises so if we are eating at short intervals throughout the day
insulin is constantly being bumped up and does not have a chance to come back down and this constant
eating throughout the day that so many of us think is normal is part of the reason why we become
insulin resistant intermittent fasting which is not eating for a period of time each day
usually between 12 and 22 hours and condensing all of your meals into a shorter time period
has been shown to be extremely effective for reversing insulin resistance with some studies
showing significant improvements in as little as two weeks now i do have a whole playlist
on intermittent fasting you can check out here but if you're not quite ready to try that simply
skipping snacks throughout the day can make a big difference as well if you like this video remember
to give it a thumbs up and leave me a comment down below letting me know if you have pcos
is there anything you've tried that has helped or didn't help have you tried any of the strategies
i spoke about in this video today let me know down below by commenting on my videos it helps to boost
engagement so anything you want to comment down below i really appreciate it and thank you once
again to squarespace for sponsoring this video now if you did find this video helpful you might also
like my videos in my insulin resistance playlist you can check it out here if you want to catch up
on my most recent upload you can find it here and if you want to check out my keto diet and
carnivore diet coaching programs you can find them here thanks again guys i'll see you next time bye