The PCOS Diet Plan: A Natural Approach to Health for Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - Softcover

Wright, Hillary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 158761023X ISBN 13: 9781587610233

Verlag: Celestial Arts, 2010

Inhaltsangabe

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome is the most common hormonal disorder among women of reproductive age, and if left unchecked, is linked to serious health issues like infertility, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and endometrial cancer. In this groundbreaking book, registered dietitian Hillary Wright explains this increasingly diagnosed disorder and introduces the holistic symptom-management program she developed by working with hundreds of patients. With Wright’s proven diet and lifestyle-based program, you can influence your reproductive hormones and take charge of your health. Featuring a carbohydrate distribution approach at its core, The PCOS Diet Plan also zeroes in on exactly what exercise, supplements, and self-care choices you can make to feel better every day.
 
With information on how to develop healthy meal plans, choose a sustainable exercise routine, relieve stress, address fertility issues, and find emotional support, this accessible, all-in-one guide will be your trusted companion to a better life.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Hillary Wright, M.Ed, RD, is the director of nutritional counseling at the Domar Center for Mind/Body Health at Boston IVF, a Harvard-affiliated fertility treatment center, and a nutritionist at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. She lives with her husband and three sons in Arlington, Massachusetts.

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Chapter 1

The Mystery of PCOS
 
Many people are unfamiliar with the strange-sounding condition of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). From infertility to heart disease, the broad reach of PCOS can intimidate and overwhelm even the most health-conscious women who are up to speed on the connection between their diet, lifestyle, and health. There’s a lot to learn, and a lot we still don’t understand about the syndrome. Common reactions to a diagnosis of PCOS include the following:
 
• Confusion. What exactly is this condition that has the potential to affect so many aspects of my health, but that many health-care providers seem to know so little about?
 
• Frustration. Why, after complaining about my symptoms to health-care providers for years, am I just now finding out what this is? (For those trying to get pregnant, the timing couldn’t be worse.) Now I have to figure out how to manage this complex condition in the hope a new diet and lifestyle will help me get pregnant.
 
• Stress. All the information is confusing, and none of it sounds good. Feeling like I have to change so many things about my lifestyle to get better is overwhelming and even paralyzing.
 
• Relief. Even though I’m not happy about having PCOS, now at least I know what I’m dealing with.
 
• Motivation. PCOS could have lasting effects on my health and fertility. I want to get a grip on my symptoms and participate fully in my care.
 
Although certainly no one hopes for a diagnosis of PCOS, if you’ve finally received the diagnosis, rest assured that this is a condition you can do something about. The diet and lifestyle changes that can help you manage your PCOS are not extreme recommendations. If more Americans in general (both men and women, old and young) adopted these recommendations, we’d see a decline in nearly every chronic health problem: heart disease, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, cancer, and possibly many others. Eating well and leading an active lifestyle have such far-reaching effects on one’s health and quality of life: more energy, improved mood, better sleep, improved self- and body image, better sex, and less stress, to name just a few benefits.
 
A certain amount of the stress many people feel comes from the knowledge that they’re not doing all they can to protect their health. Starting to chip away at the list of things we know we should be doing offers a certain amount of relief in itself. The diet and lifestyle recommendations outlined throughout this book are solid, healthful ideas that anyone can follow. With a diagnosis of PCOS, you just have more of an incentive to make these changes.
 
The Facts about PCOS
 
PCOS is the most common female hormonal disorder and the primary cause of anovulatory infertility (infertility caused by lack of regular ovulation). The syndrome has been recognized as having damaging lifelong health effects. PCOS is estimated to affect 5 to 10 percent of all women during their reproductive years. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, there are more than 140 million females in the United States—that’s up to 14 million women who may develop the condition during their lifetime. Research suggests that up to 30 percent of women experience some symptoms of the disorder, referred to as nonclassic or variant PCOS. With the dramatic increase in childhood obesity, which often leads to earlier onset menstruation, PCOS is starting to show up in younger girls. That means more years to live with the damaging health consequences of this syndrome that never goes away. It is a lifelong, chronic condition.
 
The cause of PCOS is not clearly understood, but it’s believed to be a complex genetic disorder likely involving multiple genes. The genes involved may be those that regulate function of the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the ovaries, as well as those genes responsible for insulin resistance, which is believed to be the driving force for most of the signs and symptoms of the disorder. In fact, women with PCOS experience similar risk for the development of metabolic and cardiovascular problems as those diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, another common and complex health problem that is escalating in the U.S. population and driving the national epidemic of diabetes and heart disease. This makes sense: insulin resistance is a contributing factor in both conditions.1
 
Depending on the research you read, anywhere from 50 to 80 percent of women with PCOS are overweight or obese. The incidence of PCOS in the U.S. population has paralleled the increase in obesity, suggesting a strong connection between body weight and the severity of the condition. Although obesity has not been identified as a cause of PCOS, carrying around excess weight worsens its signs and symptoms. Women with the syndrome often store fat around the middle, known as visceral adiposity, which basically means that they tend to wrap excess body fat around their internal organs. This type of body fat storage is genetic, known to aggravate insulin resistance, and raise blood pressure and the risk of heart disease.
 
PCOS can also trigger a host of physical symptoms, most of which are caused by excessive production of androgens, or male-type hormones, like testosterone. The hallmark of insulin resistance is higher circulating levels of insulin, which can have a seriously toxic effect on hormone production in the ovaries. Higher circulating insulin levels increase the release of an important reproductive hormone called luteinizing hormone (LH) from the pituitary gland. Both LH and insulin then stimulate the theca cells in the ovaries to produce testosterone, which is toxic to egg development. Production of testosterone doesn’t make you any less of a woman. All women make some testosterone (and all men produce some estrogen), but in the ovaries estrogen should predominate over testosterone. When excess insulin stimulates a cascade effect where testosterone predominates over estrogen, eggs don’t develop normally.2 Physical signs that androgen levels may be atypical include excess hair growth on the face, chest, and back (male-pattern growth); thinning of the hair on the crown of the head; acne; and a tendency to gain much-maligned “belly fat” (an apple-shaped body as opposed to the healthier pear-shaped body, where body fat is stored more in the buttocks and thighs).
 
Women with PCOS are also at greater risk of a number of life-threatening chronic health problems. Most concerning is the connection between PCOS and type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is exploding in the U.S. population. Type 2 diabetes has increased 40 percent since the early 2000s. Undiagnosed diabetes is seven times more likely in women with PCOS, compared with similar-age women without the condition. In fact, 30 to 40 percent of women with PCOS have prediabetes (that is, they don’t yet have full-blown diabetes, but they are already showing signs of insulin resistance, which causes type 2 diabetes). As many as 10 percent of women with PCOS develop full-blown diabetes by age forty.3 A recently released report published in the journal Diabetes Care suggests that over the next twenty-five years, the number of Americans living with diabetes will nearly double, increasing from 23.7 million in 2009 to 44.1 million in 2034. Over the same period, spending on diabetes will almost triple, rising from $113 billion to $336 billion, even with no increase in the prevalence of obesity.4
 
Heart disease continues to be the number-one killer of both women and men in the United States, and women with PCOS have a four to seven times higher risk of heart attack than women of the same age without the syndrome.5 Endometrial cancer is also a...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Celestial Arts
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2010
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 158761023X
• ISBN 13: 9781587610233
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 256
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar