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What should I not eat with PCOS?

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3 fertility expert(s) answered this question

Answer from: Xanthi Maragkoudaki, MSc, ANutr, PhD

Dietician / nutritionist, Lecturer in Nutrition and Public Health at University of Westminster
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When you are suffering from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, even small reduction of body weight shows improvement of your symptoms. However, what can you eat? There has been lots of research looking at the perfect diet of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, have just done research on that last year with students at university and what we have seen is that there is no optimal diet, there is no one size fit all. However for women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, especially when it comes to weight loss, there is no perfect diet because we want to balance hyperinsulinemia, balance the cravings of the Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and the blood sugar fluctuations. It is very important to have a low carb, high fiber diet to maintain your carbohydrates very stable, avoid high quantities of sugar, avoid processed sugar foods and very processed foods. Try manage your protein intake and have adequate protein intake every day in order to help you have a stable sugar levels, help you with not feeling hungry very soon after your last meal and on top of that it is very important to include medication because PCOS is also linked to higher cortisol levels and high inflammation levels to finding way to distress like meditation, exercise which also will play independent roule to distress to PCOS. It is very important to manage your symptoms.

Answer from: Kate Davies, RN, BSc (Hons), FP Cert

Nurse, Independent Fertility Nurse Consultant & Coach at Fertility Industry Consultancy & Podcast Co-Host
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I believe it is really important to be aware that there is no one PCOS diet and if you google PCOS diet, you will find there are lots of things and there will be people telling you that you can have a keto diet and that’s going to make a difference. When it comes to PCOS and fertility, we don’t really recommend having strict diets, but what we do know about PCOS is that if you reduce your refined carbohydrates and sugars, that can make a difference to your weight and can help you get rid of some other weight you might feel that is making you feel less confident in your own ability and is impacting on your self esteem.

Answer from: Moses Batwala

Gynaecologist, Clinical Director, Consultant Gynaecologist and Fertility Specialist
Sims IVF
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I have two really good nutritionists who I have worked with and I continue to work with, and I refer my patients to. There’s a nutritionist called Sophie Medlin, she works in London, she works with a group called City Dieticians in London. She’s really great. She has also presented on a show on BBC in the UK called: You Are What You Eat. In my regard, she’s one of the most caring dieticians I have worked with because fertility is a very emotional and stressful journey for women going through fertility treatment. So, it’s not necessarily that people just have the knowledge, but also have the empathy and the care for the people they’re looking after. There’s another nutritionist called Sandra Greenbank, who also works in London. Both of them are really fantastic dietitians and nutritionists, and they have a really caring approach to the patients they look after.

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What foods women suffering from PCOS should avoid?

Insulin resistance makes life very challenging but manageable. Dietary and lifestyle changes are necessary to avoid serious health problems related with obesity for example. What are general guidelines?

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