Diet Plan for a PCOS Diagnosed Patient

About 10% of girls/women face PCOS in their fertile ages. It is an imbalance of hormones. When a patient is diagnosed with PCOS, they may feel a lot of things like”Now What?”, How is this going to be treated?”,  but the most important thing to recover fully from a disease is the diet followed by the patient.

What is PCOS?

PCOS stands for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. It is a condition where the woman’s body produces too much of male hormones, “androgen,” and this causes irregular periods, growth of cysts in the ovary, obesity, acne, hair fall, inflammation, and unwanted facial hair.

The main reason behind the symptoms of PCOS is insulin resistance. Insulin helps sugar to enter our cells from the food we eat, which in turn gives us energy. In many women with PCOS, the body does not respond properly to insulin. As a result, sugar stays in the blood for longer, and the body produces more insulin. This extra insulin can imbalance other hormones and make symptoms worse.

This is why diet plays such an important role in managing PCOS.

Why a specific diet for PCOS?

The symptoms of PCOS include obesity, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome. These conditions can give rise to other diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and other diseases. A diet plan helps regulate weight and blood sugar levels, which in turn balances hormone levels and makes insulin stable. It is seen that insulin resistance affects 65% to 75% individuals who have PCOS. Different people show different symptoms, and their condition can be a little different. So every individual needs an individual diet plan.

Diet plan

In Ayurveda and modern medicine, diet and exercise play an important role in faster recovery in the course of treatment. We should always consult a healthcare expert for our diet plan when going through a treatment. First, let’s see what to avoid in a diet-

What to Avoid:-

• Fried food like chips, crackers, French fries, fried chicken, fried fish, etc.

• Excessive red meat

• Products made with white flour, like pasta, white bread, pizza, samosas, etc.

• Saturated fats like butter

• Processed snacks like cakes, cookies, candy, and chocolate bars

• Beverages that have sugar, like soft drinks, sodas, juice, and energy drinks

• White rice

• Alcoholic drinks

What foods are best for PCOS patients?

The most important thing in a diet is protein, and the point of choosing a diet plan is to lose weight. As weight gain is one of the major symptoms of PCOS, reducing it can maintain blood pressure, stabilize insulin and sugar levels too.

• Eating protein-rich foods like dal, sprouts, low-fat milk, milk products, and for non-vegetarians boiled or baked chicken, fish, and egg whites is recommended by most dieticians.

• Eating nuts, which provide healthy fats and other nutrients, like almonds, peanuts, pistachios, and walnut etc.

• Eating balanced and the right quality of carbohydrates, including whole grains like brown rice, whole wheat bread or chapattis, millets, rather than using maida and suji.

• Eating leafy and fresh vegetables like beetroot, tomatoes, carrots, pumpkins, brinjal, bottle gourd, turnip, lemon, and green leafy vegetables.

• Choosing the right cooking oils is also necessary, as they can contain unhealthy fats. Limited use of mustard oil, olive oil, groundnut oil, and rice bran oil is recommended.

• Citrus fruits and berries can be the best desserts after a meal for healthy digestion.

• Turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, amla, etc., have various anti-inflammatory and healing properties. They must be included in the diet.

• Keeping your body hydrated is also a must. Add lemon or fenugreek to warm water or drink herbal teas, including tulsi, ginger, and spearmint.

Only a healthy diet plan can help you overcome the disease; proper ayurvedic treatment and yoga are also recommended in the healing process. 

Increasing physical activities like walking, running, swimming, cycling, etc. can help in speedy recovery from PCOS.

Yoga poses like-

• Dhanurasan- Helps stabilize the menstrual cycle, stimulates reproductive organs.

• Balasana- It relaxes the central nervous system and releases lower back tension.

• Padmasan- Lotus pose helps pelvic stretching and hormone balance.

• Nukasan- Boat pose includes the use of core muscle which help strengthen and tone the abdominal area.

• Suryanamaskar- It helps in weight loss, maintaining a regular menstrual cycle, and increases blood circulation.

Regular yoga and exercise boost overall health and metabolism of the body.

Conclusion

PCOS is a disease of hormonal imbalance, in other words, increased male hormones in a female body. Treatment focuses mainly on weight loss as it is one of the core reasons for other conditions. Removing packaged foods, processed foods, unsaturated fats, and fried foods and replacing them with a protein-rich diet, green leafy vegetables, low-fat oils, milk products, whole wheat, fresh fruits, and herbs in the diet is the key to curing a lot of health problems, including PCOS. Adding exercises, yoga, and a healthy lifestyle also enhances the speed of recovery.

At Gynocci, we provide the best individual diet plans according to a person’s condition and a holistic approach to treatment with Ayurvedic procedures, so if you feel discouraged or stressed about your condition, you can always come to us and meet the best health care experts, who can help with your disease or problems related to reproductive health.