Nutrition for PCOS Series

Even though it seems that your ovaries are giving you hard time, some things are just not what they seem!

Your ovaries are taking the hardest hit and that is why the complications are so obvious.
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a metabolic, hormone related condition. However it has very little to do with your ovaries. Your ovaries are just reacting to the hormonal imbalance caused by other glands.

Blaming your ovaries is just like blaming the assistant for the CEO’s strategic screw up just because she printed out the documents requested! Just not fair!

So what glands are responsible for PCOS and why?
1- The pituitary gland located in the brain. It is called the MASTER GLAND because it produces hormones that control most of the endocrine glands in the body and their hormones.
The pituitary gland produces the hormones (LH) and (FSH), when balanced, they will send signals to the ovaries to make the right amounts of estrogen and progesterone (female hormones) to create a perfect menstrual cycle.
When produced in higher amounts like in PCOS, LH will throw off the whole cycle causing irregular or no periods and will signal the ovaries to produce more testosterone (male hormone).

2- The pancreas, another major gland is struggling to produce more insulin, as it is common for most of the women with PCOS to have insulin resistance. As the pancreas keeps on producing insulin to push the glucose in the cells for energy supply, the cells become more and more resistant in a desperate move to protect themselves from too much sugar. The cells of the ovaries however, will never develop this resistance and will remain sensitive to insulin, this excess stimulation will cause the ovary to produce more testosterone. At the same time, elevated insulin can cause the adrenals to produce more testosterone.
With so much testosterone, females start experiencing male related symptoms like excess facial and body hair, hair loss on the scalp, increased body odour, irritability, aggression, acne and infertility.

Resolutions:
1- Honour and respect your ovaries and reproductive system, this is the source of creation and life. Give it a break because it is handling things it shouldn’t be dealing with
2- Address the core issues, like pituitary gland health, adrenals support and insulin resistance (each will be discussed separately in future weekly posts).
3- Use natural herbs and supplements to get rid of excess hormones (estrogen and testosterone) like flax seeds, green tea extract, saw palmetto, chaste berry, etc..

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