PCOS: The Fertile Heart approach to healing Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

The Fertile Heart Road to Restoring Ovulation and Healthy Pregnancy

I renamed PCOS, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome to mean Perfect Challenge Of Self. Not just any self, but your most fertile Self.

I love renaming diagnoses and turning labels that tell us we have “syndromes” that signal trouble to seeing our challenges as invitations of our next yet-unborn Selves.

That’s not to say that we need to always welcome a painful symptom with a beatific smile. It does mean that we do whatever it takes to compassionately guide ourselves toward a most empowering path to healing.

To understand this Perfect Challenge of Self there are a few things to keep in mind:

You want to know that the symptoms are linked to an imbalance in sex hormones and insulin levels. That means that the body has excess male hormones (androgens.)

Excess androgens are released by the ovaries when the ovarian receptors detect high insulin levels.

The really good news is that both of these can be ABSOLUTELY brought back into balance.  Even better news is that the choices I trust you’ll be motivated to make,  will not only balance hormones, but boost your immune system, and your overall health.

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First it’s good to know that the imbalance is greatly increased by:

Alcohol –  alcohol has high levels of sugar, with women with pcos tendencies, all alcohol will send insulin into overdrive and worsen all symptoms. Also acetaldehyde and acetate (made by the liver as it’s breaking down alcohol) signal the body to stop burning fat, and a compound called acetyl CoA triggers the body to store fat. It’s not about focusing on weight, it’s about the estrogen imbalance.

Caffeine – All caffeinated drinks increase insulin release, which will again cause the ovaries produce an excess of male hormones, and the vicious cycles continues. Caffeine also elevates the stress hormones cortisol. Excess cortisol will throw off your endocrine balance. Excess cortisol also leads to abdominal obesity which again will increase PCOS symtpoms. The long term effect of excess cortisol is accelerated aging, but with PCOS it causes essential nutrients to leach out of the body. Because caffeine is highly acidic.

Tropical high glycemic fruits – pineapple, mango, papaya 

Foods high in starch, which eventually turns into glucose 

Enough of the bad stuff, here is all the good stuff that can help:

I highly recommend that you have your blood levels of these compounds checked before supplementing.

You also want to know the UL (upper limit) especially for Magnesium and Zinc.  Since women with PCOS have irregular cycles, they also need to be careful about any iron supplementation.

Take high quality Fish Oil

Alpha Lipoic Acid – has been shown to lower high levels of glucose 

Chromium

L-Carnitine is an aminoacid that helps to transport fat into the mitochondria (the power station of the cell) and convert it into energy 

N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) has been proved to improve insulin sensitivity in both obese and women with balanced weight 

Magnesium plays a key role in regulating blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity 

 Zinc

Myo-Inositol  (Myo-Inositol supplementation has been linked with improved insulin function and increased IVF success in women with PCOS.)

Foods to eat:

Buckwheat – it has to be pure buckwheat like kasha or buckwheat noodles which contain d-chiro-inositol, a compound that our bodies produce in response to insulin  

Cinnamon – should become your new BFF, it promotes insulin sensitivity and regulates blood sugar 

Parsley – is an ovulation promoting food 

Soaked flaxseed – rich source of Omega 3’s and they help stabilize blood sugar levels

Seeds and nuts – pumpkin, sunflower, cashews.

Low glycemic fruits – apples, pears, cherries, plums

Low glycemic non-starchie vegies – asparagus, brocoli, cabbage, cucumber, greens, mushrooms, okra, spinach

And of course the Fertile Heart road always includes engaging with Her Majesty the Heart.

Which means that no healing quest, including the healing of PCOS  is complete without tending to the heart.  If you need to read studies on the way feelings and thoughts affect our biology, epigenetics is the current buzzword that will lead you to lots of reading material.

Or you can step into the lab of your own body and notice what happens to your breath or your heart rate when your mother-in-law tells you that all you really have to do to fix your “infertility” is go on vacation and relax..:)

Whenever you’re ready you can also check out the Fertile Heart Toolkit , a mind-body-heart healing journey that aims to turn all our Perfect Challenges of Self into a birthing adventure.

Sources: The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods by Michael Murphy; Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford, conversations with mainstream and holistic practitioners and my own experience of witnessing the journeys of my clients.   

The information on this page and on Fertile Heart LLC is in no way intended to replace the advice of a health professional. it is shared with the understanding that each individual accepts full responsibility for their own well being.