Healing PCOS

Acknowledgments (#litres_trial_promo)

Notes (#litres_trial_promo)

List of Searchable Terms (#litres_trial_promo)

Additional Praise for Healing PCOS (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Foreword (#ulink_b6ceffac-2340-5a65-ab07-6c2fa2537d3b)

I met health coach and PCOS Diva Amy Medling online when she invited me to speak on a PCOS Diva podcast. I had heard wonderful things about her from my patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), who praised Amy’s inspiring website and coaching. I was delighted to finally meet Amy in person in Atlanta at the 2016 PCOS Challenge Conference. Amy is a serene and peaceful woman who radiates love and intelligence.

According to the Androgen Excess and PCOS Society, PCOS affects 5 to 15 percent of women worldwide. PCOS is associated with multiple symptoms ranging from irregularly spaced menstrual periods to hair loss, weight gain, and elevated blood pressure. In spite of the wide array of symptoms, PCOS is commonly regarded as a reproductive disorder, and most women with it are prescribed the birth control pill. However, no birth control pill can prevent metabolic problems or the development of type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, the role of a healthy lifestyle cannot be underestimated. American medicine is not equipped to provide the support for a healthy lifestyle in the broadest sense with regard to nutrition, movement, and spiritual health.

Derived from her own experience, Amy’s approach to PCOS stems from a health-based point of view rather than the disease-based paradigm of conventional medicine. Where conventional medical treatment is designed to pursue the enemy with a well-aimed bullet, Amy coaches about the fundamentals of self-care and the importance of eating well, moving regularly, and maintaining a positive mindset. This is not to say that medication can’t help PCOS, but without self-care the effect of medication is minimal.

Healing PCOS is an informative and inspiring step-by-step guide to learning to cherish yourself. Before you jump into changes in diet and exercise, Amy asks you to be mindful, create goals, and change the way you talk to yourself. With love and acceptance, she reminds readers that powerful women are not victims.

—Katherine D. Sherif, MD

Director, Jefferson Women’s Primary Care;

Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University

Foreword (#ulink_7b61a411-2d75-57a9-9b4f-67bc734a5588)

Amy Medling and I share the same mission: to help women with PCOS optimize their health and take control of their lives. If you are among them, we want you to feel strong, vibrant, joyful, and self-assured so that you can achieve your personal goals. I’m confident that reading Healing PCOS and following the plan Amy outlines in it will help set you on a path to health and healing.

Like Amy, I also have PCOS and had to travel my own path of self-discovery to find my way to health and joy. I experienced many of the same letdowns she did and had to self-diagnose, despite seeing “world-class” doctors at a major university medical school. Now we both take an integrative and holistic approach to the treatment of PCOS.

As a physician, board certified in both OB/GYN and Integrative Medicine, with a special expertise in PCOS, I order an array of tests to evaluate my patient’s inflammation, immune, and nutrient status; food allergies and sensitivities; gut microbiome; epigenetics; heavy metals and toxic load; and hormonal levels. But all the fancy tests in the world will have no real value for you if you do not address stress control, adequate and quality sleep, proper nutrition, and regular movement and fitness. In addition, embracing the concepts of living in the moment and having self-love is absolutely crucial for optimal health. The advice contained in Healing PCOS is the very foundation of care for women with PCOS, offering you the tools to take control of your health, your body, and your life.

I wish I could see you a month from now, after you have completed Amy’s program. I know you will feel better, with renewed joy and optimism. All best wishes on your journey!

—Felice L. Gersh, MD

Board Certified in OB/GYN and Integrative Medicine;

Medical Director, Integrative Medical Group of Irvine

PART ONE (#ulink_5018a15c-f202-5b1a-809b-9ba0df6108a9)

The PCOS Diva in You (#ulink_5018a15c-f202-5b1a-809b-9ba0df6108a9)

1 (#ulink_49c442fb-6404-51c1-bc3f-ede42167a88d)

Discover Your PCOS Diva (#ulink_49c442fb-6404-51c1-bc3f-ede42167a88d)

One evening about ten years ago, my husband and I were at a steak house for dinner. As I placed my order, I asked our server some questions about the loaded baked potato that came with my meal.

“Does it come with butter?” I inquired.

“No, it comes with margarine,” the waitress replied.

“I can’t have margarine,” I told her. She made a note to substitute butter for the margarine.

“Can I have a sweet potato instead of a white potato?” I continued.

She said that would be fine and asked if I wanted cinnamon sugar.

“No, thank you,” I said. “I’ll have straight cinnamon.”

“No, we only have cinnamon sugar,” she replied.

This back-and-forth went on for some time, as I tried to order an unadulterated sweet potato and broccoli with olive oil.

As the waitress made her way to the kitchen, my then clearly irritated husband, Cliff, posed the question that launched PCOS Diva: “When did you become such a diva?”

His question was certainly blunt, and it stung a little, but he was right: I was being a diva.

In that moment, a light went on. What I wish I’d known throughout my journey with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) finally clicked—I deserve to be a PCOS Diva. I need to be a PCOS Diva.

What Is a PCOS Diva?

A PCOS Diva is a woman with hope. She has taken charge of her health and happiness and takes steps every day to enhance both. She chooses to thrive with PCOS and is empowered by the knowledge she gathers as she educates herself about PCOS. As a result of her regimen, she is able to give her best to herself and others and be an example of the power of self-care. She is capable of advocating for herself and surrounds herself with the supportive health-care team and community of friends and family she deserves. A PCOS Diva looks beyond the physical support required to manage symptoms and works to heal and enhance her whole person—mind, body, and spirit. A PCOS Diva is an inspiration.

Becoming a PCOS Diva doesn’t happen overnight. The journey of healing is lifelong. Every day, a PCOS Diva listens to her body’s signals and adjusts her diet and lifestyle, so that she can work in partnership with her body instead of fighting against it.

My path to becoming a PCOS Diva was long and winding. In high school and college, I struggled with hair loss, abnormal hair growth, stress, acne, insulin resistance, weight-loss resistance, and irregular menstrual cycles. I binge-ate and then punished myself with exercise. I could never get a straight answer from health-care professionals about the root cause of my symptoms or how to resolve them. I grew frustrated and hopeless.

It took me fifteen years to get a diagnosis of PCOS and years more to develop a holistic lifestyle plan that’s easy, effective, and enjoyable. Today, at age forty-six, I feel stronger, healthier, and more hopeful than ever before. What’s more, despite the common misconception that PCOS causes irreversible infertility, I have given birth to three beautiful children, the last conceived naturally after adopting the PCOS Diva lifestyle.

And I’m not alone. Thousands of other women who have followed my programs can attest to my approach’s effectiveness. By following an anti-inflammatory diet that’s rich in whole foods and mindful indulgences, prioritizing moderate exercise and self-care, and building a support system inside and outside the home, we’ve learned how to thrive, not just survive, with PCOS.

Congratulations! You have taken the first step toward becoming a PCOS Diva. Knowledge is power, and this book will help you develop a diet and lifestyle that work specifically for you. Soon you will be a PCOS Diva too.

The PCOS Diva Difference

The Healing PCOS 21-Day Plan (#litres_trial_promo) is not a diet plan. If you have been diagnosed with PCOS, then your doctor has likely told you to exercise and lose weight. He or she may have prescribed a pharmaceutical or two as well and sent you on your way. For most women, this approach to treating PCOS doesn’t create true, sustainable healing, and there is a good reason for that. It isn’t that simple.

Sustainable healing with PCOS cannot be achieved by taking a pill, adopting a low-carb diet, and going to the gym. Healing takes so much more. We need to connect with our bodies and ourselves in a more loving way and learn to think like a PCOS Diva. Only then will we be able to willingly and joyfully make the small, day-to-day diet and lifestyle choices that heal our bodies and our minds and souls for a lifetime.

Healing from the inside out is the heart of the PCOS Diva difference. We thrive as a result of self-love and gratitude, not as a result of a trendy, temporary, and unsustainable diet.

Week One: Discover Your PCOS Diva

In Week One (#litres_trial_promo), you will discover your PCOS Diva by exploring the foundation of the 21-Day Plan—the way you think about your body, PCOS, and the way you eat. You will discover exactly what works for you. No two PCOS Divas are exactly alike, so you will learn to translate your body’s unique signals and work in partnership with it.