Diet taboos for polycystic ovary disease

Avoid high-GI foods that add a lot of refined sugar and fructose syrup, consume less saturated fat and trans fat from processed sources, and try to avoid highly processed foods that add a lot of preservatives and flavors. The rest of the requirements posted on the Internet, such as "absolutely no soy milk" and "no carbohydrates at all", are mostly personalized conclusions based on individual differences and have no universal significance.

I have been working as a nutrition consultant in the reproductive department for almost 6 years. I have come into contact with between 1,000 and 800 polycystic patients. The first thing many people ask when they sit down is "doctor, can I only eat boiled vegetables in the future?" There is really no need to be so anxious. Avoid a few core pitfalls first, and the rest can be adjusted flexibly.

Let’s talk about the easiest pitfall of high GI. Last year, a girl who had just entered her junior year came for a follow-up consultation and said that she had given up milk tea and cakes for 3 months and only ate whole-wheat bread and boiled vegetables every day. Why was her insulin resistance not improved at all? I asked her to list the things she often eats, and then I discovered that the so-called "0-sugar whole-wheat bread" she bought had fructose syrup ranked second in the ingredient list, and its glycemic index was higher than that of white rice. It was equivalent to eating a lot of invisible sugar every day. There are two different opinions in the industry about sugar control. Supporters of the ketogenic diet believe that as long as refined carbohydrates are completely cut off, even eating more fat can quickly lower insulin. There are indeed patients around me who have been on strict ketosis for 3 months, and their testosterone and luteinizing hormone have dropped to the normal range. However, many scholars in the field of nutrition have also suggested that long-term ketosis may increase the physical burden of some polycystic patients with lipid metabolism problems, and in turn increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. My personal suggestion is that there is really no need to go to extremes. Usually, replace white rice with 1/3 to 1/2 of whole grains. If you want to drink milk tea, choose milk tea with 30% sugar or even no sugar. It is perfectly fine to drink it once or twice a week, as long as you don’t treat Coke and cream cake as afternoon tea every day.

Oh, by the way, many people are very careful when controlling sugar, but accidentally step into the trap of trans fats. There used to be a girl who worked on the Internet. In order to save time, she ate two bags of hand-pulled bread for breakfast every morning. After a half-year check-up, the androgen was higher than before. Looking at the bread ingredient list, shortening and margarine were at the top. These are typical processed trans fats. They not only increase inflammation levels, but also interfere with the synthesis of sex hormones in the body. They should be avoided as much as possible for polycystic patients. However, there is also a controversial point here: supporters of the original diet believe that animal-derived saturated fats such as butter, lard, and fatty meat are actually good for hormone synthesis. As long as they are not industrially processed trans fats, there is no need to eat them. This statement is currently supported by relevant research, so you don’t have to listen to others who say you can’t eat fatty meats and just don’t touch a bite. As long as you don’t have problems with blood lipids after eating, eating braised pork once or twice a week to satisfy your cravings is perfectly fine.

Another question that gets asked the most is "Can I drink soy milk if I have polycystic polycystic cysts?" To be honest, this is the most unnecessary taboo I have ever seen. One school of thought believes that the phytoestrogens in soybeans will interfere with the balance of hormones in the body and is recommended to be completely avoided. The other school of thought believes that low-dose soy isoflavones can regulate hormone levels and is beneficial to polycystic patients. Among the patients I have followed myself, those who drink a cup of 200ml pure soy milk every day have almost no hormonal disorders. On the contrary, there are many patients who eat frozen dumplings and take-out cooking bags every day. Their inflammation levels never come down, and their hormones fluctuate high and low. Instead of worrying about such trivial matters as whether you can drink soy milk, it is better to replace the processed meat products and prepared dishes in your hands with freshly prepared meals, which will be much more profitable.

To be honest, the dietary control of polycystic ovary syndrome is really not as strict as what is posted on the Internet. I have seen people who just changed the full-sugar milk tea they drank every day to sugar-free, walked for half an hour after meals three or four days a week, and got pregnant naturally in half a year. I have also seen people who strictly followed the taboo list and did not dare to touch anything sweet. Instead, their menstruation was delayed by two months because of too much mental stress. To put it bluntly, these so-called taboos are only for reference, and your body's feelings are the most accurate standard: if you experience acne, bloating, or delayed menstruation after eating something, eat less next time. It is much more useful than the standardized list on the Internet.