You’ve probably heard me say before, ‘healthy is relative to you and your physiology’ and I can’t stress this enough. While we have the same organs and the like, our genetics are so vastly different. 

With PCOS, we become so much more aware of how much of a role being able to switch genes on and off (epigenetics) with how we move, eat, sleep and think, play in how our bodies function - and how we feel! That also plays into why we see such great changes to PCOS symptoms when we figure out YOUR root cause - because we’re addressing what has been switched on (or what number of things have been switched on) genetically and looking at how your lifestyle is affecting that.

While there is still a lot of research to be done, IBS seems to have a big association with PCOS - roughly 42% of women with PCOS also had IBS. And when our gut is messed up, it can mess with our insulin and inflammation - which only promote you to be more insulin resistant! And when you’re dealing with gut issues, you’re tired because your body isn’t functioning optimally so you crave easy carbohydrates - which sends you on the sugar coaster again. It’s a vicious cycle and so it’s understandable that a lot of women really struggle, because having so many symptoms is straight up overwhelming - particularly when you don’t know they’re making each other worse! 

Because the gut is so complex, there could be many gut-related conditions that are causing symptoms that in turn are worsening or contributing to your PCOS symptoms. Generally for both they’ll just use a bandaid approach or send you to someone else, and not get to the root cause of your symptoms. It’s important you identify the root cause of both your gut issues and PCOS (and there may be cross over in what symptoms they’re contributing to!) in order to make sure your lifestyle is addressing BOTH root causes.

This was the case for Lucy. She was dealing with awful gut issues as well as her PCOS symptoms and wasn’t making any progress trying things on her own. Identifying and addressing her root cause was when she finally started to see symptom relief.

Lucy shows that you don’t have to feel sick, tired and hangry forever - it’s all about learning about YOUR body. Even if you don’t resonate with this, I really recommend you listen anyway. There are so many important points that we made that might just be that light switch moment!

This episode is for you if:

• You are so bloated that by the end of the day, you can no longer fit in your jeans
• Your periods are off or missing completely
• You’re currently on the Pill or being told that the Pill is pretty much your only option
• You feel like your doctor isn’t listening to you or is being dismissive
• You feel like you have to plan every day around what you’re eating because you’re always hungry
• You are (or have done) weight loss challenges with friends and you’re the only one who isn’t losing weight - and everyone thinks you’re cheating

Some things we cover in this episode:

• Bloating
• Why having a strong ‘why’ that isn’t just resolve your symptoms is so important
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• The low FODMAP diet and what FODMAPs actually are
• Addressing insulin resistance
• How your body stores food away for later - the insulin equation
• Explaining why you could have insulin resistant PCOS even if you haven’t seemly gained weight because of it (ie. Lean PCOS)
• Why weight loss challenges are so detrimental for women with PCOS

Resources and References:

• Is your IBS causing your PCOS?

Links to our programs:

• The PCOS Protocol
• Eggducated