The USDA also recommends limiting trans fats, saturated fats, added sugars, and excessive sodium. When it comes to diet, these guidelines recommend going for balance, not a specific diet in particular.Īccording to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Dietary Guidelines, a balanced diet includes a variety of vegetables, fruits, legumes like beans and peas, grains (especially whole grains), fat-free or low-fat dairy products, oils, and proteins like lean meats, poultry, seafood, and eggs. Teams of researchers from Australia, Europe, and the United States consulted with physicians and patients (and dug through data) in an attempt to improve health care, health outcomes, and quality of life for people with PCOS. These guidelines come from a partnership between the Centre for Research Excellence in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (CREPCOS) in Australia, the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), and American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). The evidence-based guidelines Moran worked on present what scientists have found on the subject so far. With that said, there is a wealth of evidence that eating what is commonly perceived to be a “healthy” diet may help improve PCOS symptoms by reducing insulin resistance. The exception is if you have PCOS and food intolerances, in which case, avoiding certain foods (under advisement from your doctor or registered dietitian) really might make you feel better overall even if it doesn’t directly impact your PCOS symptoms. No evidence suggests that you should cut out food groups to manage PCOS, says Moran, who served as chair of lifestyle research for a set of international evidence-based guidelines on the assessment and management of PCOS published in 2018. Don’t believe the claims that any particular food or food group worsens, causes, or cures PCOS, Lisa Moran, Ph.D., a dietitian and head of the Healthy Lifestyle Research Program at the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation in Melbourne, Australia, tells SELF. Maybe you’ve heard people say that trying this diet or swearing off those foods helped their PCOS symptoms.

The relationship between diet, insulin resistance, and PCOS The way you eat and exercise might help you do it. “You can improve the insulin sensitivity and improve the syndrome,” Dr.

So, how are diet and exercise supposed to help with these PCOS symptoms? If you're insulin resistant, then becoming more sensitive to insulin can lower the androgen levels that give rise to PCOS symptoms. But data on this is conflicting, according to 2012 research on insulin resistance and PCOS in Endocrine Reviews. Insulin resistance may also affect how the pituitary gland regulates your levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), both of which prepare those ovarian follicles for maturation. Where does PCOS come in? Insulin resistance can cause your ovaries to make too many androgens, according to the Mayo Clinic. But if that’s still not enough to help your cells properly absorb glucose, high blood sugar levels lead to prediabetes, which then raises your risk of type 2 diabetes. In that instance, your pancreas pumps out extra insulin.

The relationship here is incredibly complex, but here’s the gist: If you’re insulin resistant, your cells don’t react properly to the insulin hormone your pancreas makes so you can absorb glucose (i.e., sugar from food), the National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) explains. Another prevalent theory holds that insulin resistance is at the root of PCOS.

Brisk walking benefits for pcos