PCOS Explained

Last week I was talking to Jamie on the podcast, and she said something profound. “I was scared to commit to making changes because I’ve failed at so many diets in the past”. Why do I deserve to spend money to get advice when I have no self control and can’t stick to anything. I too have been in that exact position and almost said that same thing to myself word for word.

Join me, and resident psychologist Sophia Dawson, this week on the podcast and find out why some say that 95% of diets fail and how to finally make lasting changes. Find out why you’ve been set up to fail and what to do to succeed with habit change. If this is your first time tuning in with our special guest Sophia, she is a registered psychologist who specialises in helping people, like us, make actual change. Meeting us where we are, and providing tools and techniques to help us to get to where we want to go.

We'll explore holistic psychological health and how what you eat, how you move, sleep, and your vitamin and mineral intake all contribute to your physical and mental health.

Sophia and I will help you see that really, it’s not you, it’s the diet. And that you can still achieve your goals, don’t worry about that, but you really need to set your mindset up in the right way to succeed long term. Just like Jamie did.

Exciting news - our brand new service: If you want to work 1:1 with our qualified team of Nutritionists, Emma and Charlie specialize in PCOS and are ready to support you on your PCOS journey.  Book a 1:1 consultation today!

Something things we cover in this episode:

• Why people are after a quick fix?
• Weight loss and weight gain.
• It's not you, it's the diet
• Creating a healthy relationship with food.
• Being kind and compassionate to ourselves.
• Decision fatigue
• Reframing your mind to succeed
• Making towards moves

Resources and References:

• Ovie Instagram
• The PCOS Nutritionist Instagram
• The PCOS Nutritionist TikTok
• My Book: Getting Pregnant with PCOS

Links to our programs:

• The PCOS Protocol
• The DIY PCOS Protocol
• 1:1 Consultations

We've got one of our amazing clients, Jaimee who shares all the details about her weight loss journey.  This woman is a total bad-ass and her story will blow your mind.

Jaime lost 30 kg after joining our program, but the real magic happened when she started eating twice the amount she used to without any weight gain. How did she do it? By making some lifestyle changes through our program that helped her balance her hormones and ditch those pesky food cravings and binge eating habits for good.

Jaimee's story is so relatable and inspiring, especially for anyone with PCOS who may struggle with willpower and food cravings.

Her journey will definitely motivate you to take control of your health and make some lasting lifestyle changes that will set you up for success.

Something we cover in this episode:

• Why people are after a quick fix?
• Weight loss and weight gain.
• Creating a healthy relationship with food.
• Learning to love your body.
• Learning to say no without saying no in social settings.
• Doing what is right for your PCOS symptoms

Resources and References:

• Ovie Instagram
• The PCOS Nutritionist Instagram
• The PCOS Nutritionist Tiktok
• My Book: Getting Pregnant with PCOS

Links to our programs:

• The PCOS Protocol
• The DIY PCOS Protocol
• 1:1 Consultations

We're diving into why New Year's resolutions are setting you up to fail and how you can actually make lasting changes by building habits that embody the person you want to be.

We've got Sophia Dawson, our resident licensed psychologist, as our special guest. She's sharing her expertise on how to set yourself up for success and build habits that will help you achieve your goals.

She also provides practical tips and strategies for building habits that last and discusses the importance of aligning your actions with your values and goals.

Something things we cover in this episode:

• Why do most NY resolutions fail?
• What to do instead of setting typical NY resolutions?
• Choosing stuff that matters to you (values).
• Adopt the identify of the person you want to be.
• Making towards moves.

Resources and References:

• Ovie Instagram
• The PCOS Nutritionist Instagram
• The PCOS Nutritionist Tiktok
• My Book: Getting Pregnant with PCOS

Links to our programs:

• The PCOS Protocol
• The DIY PCOS Protocol

Are you tired of feeling guilty about every single food choice you make over the holidays? Are you sick of getting grilled by your family or friends about your body and food choices? 63% of us do and we don't have to.  It's time to put an end to that- life is too precious to waste your mental energy on that. 

In this latest podcast episode, we're talking about how to apply the 80/20 principle to your health over the holidays, so you can enjoy yourself without feeling guilty about every little indulgence. Plus, we're sharing tips on how to handle those pesky family members who always seem to have an opinion on your food choices, and how to set boundaries around what you're comfortable with.

It's time to take control of your own food choices and stop feeling guilty about every little thing. Tune in to our latest episode and learn how to enjoy the holiday season without all the unnecessary guilt and judgement.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022 has been the year of the weight loss drug.  Drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Saxenda have exploded in popularity this year, much of this due to their own merits, they can be really really successful for weight loss (and improving insulin resistance) for many people. 

However, as we're seeing with our PCOS Protocolers it isn't plain sailing.  So this episode dives into the good, the bad and the ugly so that you can go in with eyes wide open!

Here are a few links mentioned for you:

The PCOS Protocol 

LMNT Electrolytes ( I love the Raspberry Salt flavour)

With the cost of living going through the roof, we’ve got to be smart about where we can save on everything from food to supplements to skincare.  We’re coming to you with all the tips on where to save big while living your best life with PCOS.
We also talk about what’s really  worth splurging on, and what better time to stock up on the more expensive items, than Black Friday!

On that note, this our Black Friday Promo, $100 Off The PCOS Protocol
Code: BLACKFRIDAY100
Link: https://thepcosnutritionist.com/thepcosprotocol/



In this episode we cover:

• How to splurge wisely on supplements and what are a a complete waste of money
• How to actually use frozen vegetables well 
• Where to shop for the best deals on fresh food
• What to bulk buy for the best savings
• Weekly routines to save on food
• How to use near to expiry products safely 
• How to use sales like Black Friday for yearly savings on skincare and supplements

Resources and References:

• Ovie Instagram
• The PCOS Nutritionist Tiktok
• The PCOS Nutritionist Instagram
• Daisy’s Food Blogger Instagram
• My Book: Getting Pregnant with PCOS

Links to our programs:

• The PCOS Protocol
• The DIY PCOS Protocol
• Eggducated

Ok, let's rewind the clock a few years and take you back to 2005.  At this time I was at university studying to become a nutritionist and racing in triathlons competitively. 

You’d think from reading that one sentence that I would have nutrition down pat - and I thought I did! But the reality was that I was really struggling with a plan for my nutrition. I was eating ‘all the right things’ yet I was getting this INSANE sugar cravings I couldn’t seem to get on top of. 

I would find myself ploughing through pastries, chocolate and crisps and then thinking “what the heck am I doing?!” then go back to trying to eat less and those classic food pyramid recommendations, all for this cycle to happen all over again.

I thought I needed a better meal plan.  If I could just have a good meal plan I'd stick to it. 

But what I actually needed was better blood sugar and stress management. 

This is the same as Jamie, one of our patients, who sent us this email the other day:

“I first thought the protocol was going to be another impersonal programme where you are just emailed diets and information and are told what to eat. 

I was also concerned that I wouldn't have the willpower to stick with the changes. 

After years of trying and failing different diets and dealing with crazy hormones, I was very worried I would sign up and not be able to stick to the lifestyle changes

Never in a million years did I think I would ever be able to have a relationship with food like I have now. I have found it so easy to maintain my weight and periods for the first time in my life.”

For the majority of patients we see, it’s not that they don’t know how to live a healthy lifestyle or that they need a meal plan to stick to - in fact, I rarely see it being helpful. 

What most PCOS patients need is to understand their root cause that’s driving those symptoms. Once they’ve figured that out, they’re able to eat in a way that’s not only sustainable but also INTUITIVE! 

If you’re feeling like I’ve just read your mind (and you’re struggling with your nutrition), have another listen to this podcast we did with Stephanie.

This episode is for you if:

• Have insatiable sugar cravings
• Feel tired and hungry pretty much all the time
• Have tried sugar cleanses or cutting sugar completely but haven’t been able to maintain it
• Feel like you have no willpower when it comes to avoiding snacks and sweet treats
• Hangry attacks feel like a regular occurrence to you
• You want to feel more in control of your food, instead of it controlling you

Some things we cover in this episode:

• Insulin’s relationship with sugar
• How Stephanie overcame her sugar addiction
• Lack of sleep and its effects on insulin and sugar cravings
• Stephanie’s story with PCOS
• Methods that Stephanie tried for curbing cravings – what works and what doesn’t
• Sugar ‘cleanses’ and ‘detoxing’
• The difference between PCOS and ovarian cysts
• Negative self talk when it comes to food

Resources and References:

• Ovie Instagram
• The PCOS Nutritionist Instagram
• The PCOS Nutritionist Tiktok
• My Book: Getting Pregnant with PCOS

Links to our programs:

• The PCOS Protocol

Did you go searching the internet ‘abyss’ for information and try to piece together a list of lifestyle changes that can help your PCOS symptoms after being diagnosed?

And end up with a list SO freakin’ long it’s hard to keep up with and you didn’t even know where to start?

Lifestyle changes can make a massive, positive impact on your symptoms - that’s pretty undeniable and we can all agree on that. 

But it doesn’t mean that loading up on as many lifestyle changes as possible is the best idea. Figuring out what those few ‘high impact’ changes are for you that you can maintain long term is what’ll really make the difference. 

Learning that more isn’t always better can be kinda tough and it’s something that I know a lot of you struggle with or have struggled with. You’re not alone - both myself and the protocoler you’ll be listening to today on the pod have been there.  In today’s episode we talk all about this and more with Lily, one of our lovely PCOS protocolers. Like me — and probably a lot of you — Lily is a perfectionist, type A kinda gal. So when she finally got a diagnosis after years of trying and suspecting, she jumped straight into ‘ok now give me the steps to fix this and I’ll follow it to a tee’ mode. 

And yes, as suspected this of course left her feeling frustrated when she got only tiny, unhelpful crumbs of information from her doctors. There’s so much information out there, so she ended up with an extremely long, unsustainable list of changes to made life feel really restrictive. 

She dealt with aggressive cystic acne (like the accutane type, not a couple of measly spots), uncontrollable weight gain, some hirsutism and unexplained fatigue. Not only did we help her drastically improve those symptoms (5.5 inches of her waist, 6 inches of her hips, no need to sleep in the day, cleared up acne and no more hirsutism!) but she’s also come out the other side (and into our Lifers program) equipped with knowledge about her body and with some really solid, fantastic mindset shifts that enable her to continue keeping on top of her PCOS symptoms.

We wanted to bring back this podcast because it’s something that a lot of you struggle with and something that we VERY often see in the clinic with our patients.

If you’re feeling like you’ve tried everything, you’re feeling like a failure and it feels like the list of things you need to do to get on top of things is miles long, then you’re going to get so much out of this chat. 

Plus, there were plenty of laughs and relatable ‘that’s so me’ moments along the way — it’s a hoot of a pod!

This episode is for you if:

• You’re struggling with uncontrollable weight gain
• Acne is a major symptom for you
• You find that you’re always tired for no logical reason
• You feel like your doctors aren’t really giving you any options beyond the Pill, IVF and eating less moving more
• You have a type A / perfectionist personality
• You’ve been looking all over the internet for answers and stitching together different recommendations but you can’t seem to get on top of your symptoms
• You think you may have or know you have thyroid issues
• You want to know how to make changes for your PCOS sustainable
• You think you may have or know you have autoimmune issues
• You’re doing so much for your PCOS so you’re confused about why nothing seems to be working
• Talking to your family and friends about PCOS usually ends up in them asking why you can’t eat certain foods and what someone they know did to help their symptoms
• Your tests have come back ‘normal’ but you don’t feel normal

Some things we cover in this episode:

• Weight gain
• Aggressive acne
• Why making more and more changes isn’t always better
• Why conversations with loved ones about P

When you were diagnosed with PCOS, was one of the first things you did go and search up changes to make to help your symptoms? And found that there were about 10,000 different diets out there that were supposedly ‘the’ way to improve all of those frustrating AF symptoms you’ve been dealing with?

If you said no, lucky! But if you said yes, girl - we’ve all been there. It’s a bit of a dumpster fire on the internet trying to find solutions to PCOS these days. You don’t want to be consumed by difficult lifestyle changes, you just want to find something sustainable that allows us variety and flexibility - and works - so you can actually get on with the rest of your life! We don’t want it to compromise the things we love.

For today’s guest Daisy, figuring out how to do this and manage her PCOS successfully while still running her beloved foodie blog was the dilemma. She was finding it difficult to find a sustainable, healthy medium between restrictive diet culture fuelled pattern and the ‘f*** it, who cares’ mentality. It’s a pretty darn tough balancing act — Daisy, like us, is a perfectionist so finding balance was the goal - and to get on top of her acne, weight gain and missing periods.

In today’s episode we speak all about her PCOS journey — where it all started, her core ‘why’ behind wanting to improve her symptoms, how she manages a food blog (which means she’s given burgers, fries, cakes, drinks, brunches, elaborate dinners) while still managing her insulin, how she got on top of that perfectionist mindset to lead a more 80/20 approach to her PCOS, listening to your body, managing your PCOS while travelling (she’s on her honeymoon!) and her key advice for anyone struggling with their PCOS.

If you feel like you’re struggling with this balancing act between getting on top of your PCOS, enjoying yourself still and quieting that perfectionist voice in your head, you’re going to love this episode.

This episode is for you if:

• You’re struggling with symptoms like acne, weight gain, irregular/missing periods and gut issues
• You don’t want to give up your favourite foods and you’re wanting a way to balance your PCOS and the things you enjoy
• Travelling and managing your PCOS seems like an impossible task and you need advice
• You are a foodie, so the thought of nutrition changes stresses you out
• You have perfectionist tendencies and/or you’re a Type A kind of person
• You want to improve your relationship with food

Some things we cover in this episode:

• PCOS nutrition while travelling
• Non-negotiables
• Making habit changes for your PCOS that are actually sustainable
• Getting on top of severe acne, constant weight gain and missing periods
• Running a food blog and eating out when you have insulin resistant PCOS
• How long it takes to see changes
• What your ‘why’ is and why having a ‘why’ is so important
• IBS and PCOS

Resources and References:

• Ovie Instagram
• The PCOS Nutritionist Tiktok
• The PCOS Nutritionist Instagram
• Daisy’s Food Blogger Instagram
• My Book: Getting Pregnant with PCOS

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eating disorders and a poor relationship with food are unfortunately very common in the PCOS community. Which isn’t surprising given that we can feel out of control of our bodies and we have health professionals, PTs and the general public telling us we’re not trying hard enough.

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is the most common eating disorder in the PCOS community, which is understandable when we’re thrown so many different diets and lifestyle changes to ‘improve’ our symptoms.

So how do you know what a normal relationship with food looks like and whether or not you’re experiencing BED?

Following on from our previous podcast, Clare, Emma and Charlie chat all about what a normal relationship with food looks like and we take a deep dive into BED - what it is, how it’s diagnosed and what feeds into it.

As always, if you think you’re experiencing an eating disorder or poor relationship with food, please seek professional help. Going alone isn’t the way and you are ALWAYS worthy of help - even if it feels scary. We are now trained in eating disorders but this journey takes a team, so definitely speak to your GP and a specialised psychologist or psychiatrist if you feel as though any of this resonates.

This episode is for you if:

• You feel out of control in your body
• You often find yourself blowing out on foods and then following it with restriction out of guilt
• Lack of planning of food causes you immense amount of stress for you
• You feel out of control around food
• You often find yourself secretly eating foods you know aren’t great for you (ie. in the car, in your room alone)
• You have a history of yo-yo dieting
• You’ve tried a lot of diets

Some things we cover in this episode:

• What does a normal relationship with food look like? 
• What does disordered eating look like? 
• Types of ED
• What is Binge Eating Disorder (BED)? 
• What feeds into BED?
• Stats on disordered eating in females
• Self esteem, self control and body image
• Why BED and other disordered eating is so common in PCOS

Resources and References:

• My Book: Getting Pregnant with PCOS

Links to our programs:

• The PCOS Protocol
• The DIY PCOS Protocol
• Eggducated