How to control PCOS through healthy diet? A few tips

Nowadays PCOS is quite a common problem among women of all age groups, from early teens to late 40s or 50s. Irregular periods and fertility issues are associated with it. Weight gain and hormonal imbalance are other issues too. Through healthy food and better lifestyle, you can rearrange your way of living to control Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, shortly called PCOS.

What are its symptoms? How can we identify?

When insulin level increases in the body, ovaries produce more testosterone. When a woman has PCOS condition, it is exhibited through excess hair growth on face like men. Obesity, regular menstrual periods, excess hair growth on face and some other body parts, hair loss, dark colour in the neck, waist and armpit, pimples, difficulty in conceiving, abortions etc some of the common symptoms to identify PCOS. Anxiety, depression, mood swings etc are some of the issues associated with the mental health. If this condition is not treated properly and stays for a prolonged period, it can gradually lead to severe lifestyle diseases like diabetics, fatty liver, heart diseases, cholesterol and metabolic syndrome.

The right diet is the right way to solve PCOS issues

Bringing changes to your daily diet can bring significant changes in PCOS condition. Along with it, if you can spend a little time for exercises, you will get magnificent results, which can definitely improve your life in a better way too. Give importance to complete food, where body gets enough nutrients and supplements. It can significantly reduce insulin levels, thus bringing a positive change over all.

If you give importance to fiber rich food, it can reduce insulin levels. It reduces sugar and cholesterol levels and thus reduces the body weight too. Include whole grains, fruits and a lot of vegetables. When you include cereals and grains without removing the outer bran, it improves the fiber intake. You can include brown rice, whole wheat, ragi, bajra, maize, quinoa, oats, pulses, soya, Green peas etc. They include iron, calcium, fiber and thiamine in plenty.

You can control 350 to 1000 calories daily by properly rearranging your food. Reduce carbohydrate and sugar, and include more vegetables with improves fiber intake as well as protein and some other essential nutrients. You can also include fruits with less calories and sweetness.

Avoid fast food, processed foods, soft drinks, maida, chocolate etc. Fruits are highly preferred than fruit juice. Fruits contain more fibre while fruit juice contains more calories and sugar. More you reduce carbohydrate and sugar intake, better results you will get.

Follow a discipline in your diet. When you skip one meal, chances are high you will eat more next time. Instead of it, you can adopt a healthy eating style, keeping in mind total calorie intake of the day.

Reassure your body is getting these nutrients

Include 10 to 15 grams of protein in every meal you take. Through hormonal imbalance, you may feel excess hunger and as a result you may get obesity. But when you eat protein more, it takes more time to digestion thus keeping you full for more hours. Also, protein helps in building muscles. At the age of 40 plus, when PCOS issues turn severe, you have to deal with loss of muscles too, which can further breakdown your body metabolism thus increasing your weight. Eating more protein means keeping yourself fit and healthy.

Eggs are the simplest and cheapest form of proteins for non-vegetarians. Meat and fish are other options. Choose fish like sardine, mackerel, tuna and small fish types. If you are a vegetarian it is not that easy to keep protein intake in balance. Yet you need to take care of your body and supply with enough proteins. Milk and milk products like paneer, green peas, nuts, beans, pulses etc can be included.

Generally women suffering with PCOS have less quantity of magnesium in blood. Magnesium is high in leafy vegetables, soybeans, peanuts, almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds and many other types of seeds. They have the ability to reduce testosterone levels and insulin resistance.

Pumpkin seeds, Sesame, nuts, pulses and grams, and sea water/fresh water prawns, shrimp, crabs etc have zinc in plenty. They can help in the production of estrogen and progesterone hormones, reduce body inflammation, and regularise periods.

Foods which contain Myo-inositol can reduce fasting insulin and male hormone in the blood. Orange, beans, oats and nuts contain Myo-inositol.

To regularise periods and improve ovum production, you can take food which include calcium and Vitamin D. Fish, chicken, eggs, milk, fish eggs, mushroom etc can help you. You can also expose yourself to sunlight for 20 minutes between 11 a.m and 1:00 p.m to get Vitamin D.

Folic acid helps in improving digestion and also protects heart. Make a habit to eat more vegetables, pulses and grams, fruits, eggs etc.

You can include fish which contain Omega 3 fatty acids, in your regular diet. Sardine, tuna and mackerel are high in Omega 3 fatty acids. Walnut, almonds, flax seeds, chia seeds, soyabean oil extra can also be included. By consuming more Omega 3 fatty acids, you are protecting your heart in a better way naturally. It also reduces bad cholesterol levels, increases good cholesterol levels, reduce the body weight, and also helps in dealing with depression in a better way. It also reduces testosterone production, thus improving female hormone levels resulting in production of ovum and regular periods.

Seed cycling

It is a dietary practice that involves eating specific seeds during different phases of the menstrual cycle. It can reduce PCOS symptoms. From the first day of periods to the 14th day, eat pumpkin seeds and flax seeds one big spoon each. From the 15th day to 28th, consume one big spoon of sesame seeds and sunflower seeds. Through this method, your body gets sufficient magnesium, zinc, vitamin E, Omega 3 fatty acids and lignan, a phytoestrogen. Thus seed cycling helps you in reducing insulin resistance and regularize period cycle.

Along with a balanced diet, if you can spare a little time for daily exercises, hormonal imbalance can be regularized to a great extent.

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