PCOS diet is specifically designed for women who have polycystic ovarian syndrome or commonly referred as PCOS. This type of diet is not popular like the other diet fads however, the disorder affects many women in their child bearing age since it is a hormonal disorder that affects many women and may cause lasting effects to an individual.
As a hormonal disorder, it simply means that androgens or male hormones are higher than what is normal. The most well known androgen is testosterone and the increase presence of this hormone can caused embarrassing symptoms.
Some of the embarrassing symptoms may include:
- Acne
- Excessive hair growth on chest
- Presence of hair growth on the face
- Hair loss which may look like male baldness
- Abdominal weight gain
Women who have PCOS are prone to excessive weight gain, which is more prominent in the belly area, thus the need to used PCOS diet is recommended.
Effects of PCOS Diet
Aside from physical effects of PCOS, it also has serious effects to your health. Women who have higher levels of testosterone may find hard to bear children, as they will often face fertility issues. They may even have irregular or absent menstrual cycle, ovaries that may contain enlarged cysts. They are also at higher risk of developing diabetes and high blood pressure. In fact, people who have polycystic are four times at risk of having blood pressure.
Weight Loss and PCOS Diet
Since having PCOS can cause you to develop abdominal weight gain, it is recommended that you follow a diet, which is specifically designed, to your condition.
How PCOS Diet works?
Since women who have this hormonal condition really find hard to burn calories after meals so it is important that you follow the guidelines in PCOS diet. Certain guidelines include:
- Eat enough carbohydrates during the day. Eliminating carbs is not really recommended since there are certain foods enriched carbohydrates, which can lower your risk of developing diseases.
- The right source of carbohydrates for you may include:
- Vegetables
- Legumes
- Fruits
- Non fat milk
- Eat smaller and frequent meals. Eat three major meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner and two small snacks in between.
- Eat a serving of nuts daily. One third of a cup each day will lessen your risk of developing heart disease by at least 40%.
- Include in your meal plan legumes, soy foods and lentils since they are rich in fiber. Fiber can aid in normalizing insulin and cut high cholesterol levels.
- Lessen your consumption of bad fats. Diets that contain saturated fats may increase your level of insulin. Avoid eating butter, cheese, meats and dairy products, which are over one percent.
- Do not eat foods that contain hydrogenated in the ingredient list. Hydrogenated is a type of fat that can worsen fat levels in the blood.
To boost the results of PCOS diet, exercise is recommended to make sure the cells will respond to insulin better. An exercise for 30 minutes at least five days a week will bring good results.