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Originally Posted by ReginaW
DH makes two different recommendations to PCO women - those who are the classic apple are guided toward strict low-carb (20-40g) with weight loss targets, whereas the lean PCO is moderate carb (60-90g) with no weight loss objectives - both whole food options, very limited to no processed foods (ie. commercial salad dressing okay, low-carb bake mix not okay).
The two approaches work toward resolving homonal imbalance - estrogen, testosterone, progresterone, etc. are all on the wrong ends of the normal range....but slightly different in the apple versus the lean PCO, with each type also having different personality types (generally) and body composition.
The apple has more body fat, distributed differently than the apple, so it drives hormones differently, thus the recommendation for lower carb and weight loss; the apple also tends to have a higher level of inflammation which also needs to be resolved as much as possible. The lean PCO tends (generally) not to be a specific "weight watcher" but more naturally active and can tolerate more carbohydrate....with a normal body fat level, weight loss is undesirable and modifying the chemistry via dietary influence is the goal.
While diet alone doesn't always work, and alone will likely not work for the majority, it works a lot more than previously thought (there are still docs out there who, when giving a dx of PCO tell their patients they won't have kids)....DH has been tracking his PCO ladies for years now and has a stack of charts where diet alone led to pregnancy, some within a few months of initiating the dietary changes (after years of trying to no avail). He's also noted that in those that do not become pregnant with diet alone, the level of intervention needed to achieve and sustain pregnancy is less than if no dietary change is made.....basically medical intervention can still assist in attaining pregnancy if no change is made, but it's more intensive intervention.
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Wish I was one of those who got pg on LC...sighs wistfully
Just for a data point. Guess what happens when you take prednisone 5-6 months out of a year for 15 years (before the advent of Azmacort or Advair)? You end up with PCOS and infertile and, just for extra fun, multiple bouts of secondary adrenal insufficiency.
NOTHING touches my PCOS.
NOTHING.
My current endo keeps falling back into the default position of 'you'll be fine once you lose weight.'
Ummm no.
My cholesterol will still SUCK.
My hair will still fall out.
The acne will continue unless I take antibiotics daily.
I won't get a period although I can, as I learned in March, essentially hemorrage (sp?) with estrogen dominance.
All LC does is control my blood sugar and enable weight loss. That's it. Weight loss cures nothing for me. I am not even sure that it lowers my risk of diabetes at this point.
At least I'll be a thin diabetic.
Wish I could find an endo who Gets It.
Of course, I have always felt different from other women with PCOS. My history is so different, no family history of PCOS, not even diabetes. Their moms all have it--they are aware of it as a family. They can do weight watchers and lose weight (even apple shaped). Totally not my situation.
Sigh.
F
Seriously, I think we always adapt as a species somehow. I think alot about not being the person who can't run away if a building collapses or how I would get to my parents if all the bridges are blown up or how can I carry my child if they get tired while we are fleeing as refugees, but most people with less active imaginations are hardly confronted with their own physical inadequacies. Most of us see fat as a liability but as my husband's Polish grandfather used to say "in times of hardship, fat people get thin, in times of hardship, thin people die".
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