For me, why Paleo? Simple - Operation Baby!!

I came across Paleo in my bid to beat PCOS and all that goes with it.

I hasten to state at this point that I am no doctor and anything I'm saying here is only the fruits of my own online research, and my own understanding of PCOS and how diet affects it.

I'm a 32 year old woman, living in Ireland. In early 2011, my hubby and I decided that we were ready to have a baby but it turned out not to be all that easy. I was diagnosed very quickly with PCOS - Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome - with both blood tests and ultrasound scans revealing the condition undeniably. As I then began to read about PCOS, many other things began to make sense - excess hair on my chin (gross I know - tell me about it), acne that didn't disappear after puberty, and is pretty much always around the chin and jawline, and excess weight which is terribly difficult to lose (and it is so demoralising to really truly try yet not to get the results). It appeared that I was showing signs, to varying degrees, of ALL of the symptoms associated with PCOS  - Lucky Me!!!

Now, some of the symptoms, while not enjoyable, I can live with. However, I want a baby - more than anything in the world - and that means reducing the effects, and losing weight. Simple???? 

That's where I found Paleo.

Here is a seriously simplified description of the science behind it - what the PCOS does and how a Paleo style diet can combat it.

PCOS is a female endocrine (hormonal) disorder which causes insulin resistence. Insulin is the hormone that controls blood sugars and it does this by acting on our bodies' cells in order to make them absorb sugars from the blood. To put it really simply, PCOS makes the cells resistant to the insulin and so we must produce higher levels of insulin in order to remove the sugars from our blood.

But these higher levels of insulin have a number of knock on effects. Firstly they cause weight gain - bad news. Secondly, increased insulin results in increased testosterone, causing the acne and the excess hair - more bad news. And also, worst of all, the insulin disrupts the development of ovarian follicles. This in turn means we ovulate either less often or not at all, becoming infertile - worse than bad news.

So how does our diet make any difference. Well, if you remember this all started when we tried to remove dietry sugars from the blood stream........ are you seeing where I'm going with this?

When we eat sugar in any of its many forms (don't forget carbohydrates and fruits, for example, are high in sugars - we're not just talking about chocolate and cake here) it releases the glucose into our bloodstream. PCOS means we then produce huge amounts of insulin in an effort to deal with this. This confuses the body into thinking there is a lot of sugar and so it stores it as fat (generally around your middle and your organs). A lower insulin level, in somebody without PCOS, would tell the body that there was a small amount of sugar present, and it would then be used for energy. This is why the hyperinsulinemia (constant state of elevated insulin levels) associated with PCOS causes such weight gain, and in essence keeps the body in fat storage mode, not allowing you to access stored fat for engery.

What's the route of the problem? Where does the vicious circle begin? With sugar.

Paleo to the rescue!! Here's hoping anyway......