Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

Low Carb HELP!

Question:

Usually people with type 2 diabetes have skeletal muscles that are resistant to insulin.  Presumably people with PCO (which may very well be a precursor to type II diabetes) also may have skeletal muscles that are resistant to insulin.   Exercising helps people with PCO and type II diabetes because it helps the skeletal muscle be less resistant to insulin.  Upper body fat cells are resistant to insulin and they become more resistant the larger they are which is why losing weight reduces symptoms of PCO and type II diabetes.   Many people with PCO have insulin resistance.  This means that your body doesn’t use insulin very well.  When you eat a carb, you convert it to glucose.  Your body secretes insulin which normally helps the glucose enter your cells.  If your body is resistant to insulin, it has to secrete too much insulin to get the glucose into your cells and out of your blood. Because high blood glucose values are very bad for health, it is much better for you to have high insulin levels than high blood sugar values, but having high insulin levels does have its drawbacks, like conversion of insulin (a metabolic hormone) into androgens.  Body fat may then convert the androgens to estrogens.  Now, all this gets the hormonal system out of balance, and you get hirsuitism from the excess androgens and cystic ovaries because the higher estrogen levels make the LH go high prematurely. LH normally goes high right before ovulation and makes the egg finish maturing and rupture, but premature LH stimulation keeps the egg from getting mature enough to ovulate. Also people with insulin resistance gain wight easily and have a tendency for hyperlipidemia, hypertension and coronary artery disease.  This is because the skeletal muscle does not use insulin well.  3 things are done with blood glucose. 1) it is helped into the cell by insulin.  It is converted into glycogen in the liver and it is converted to lipidss to be stored as fat. Since the skeletal muscles do not use insulin well not too much of the glucose gets put into the cell.  Many PCO and diabetes sufferers also don’t handle glucose too well with their livers either, so all that is left to do with the glucose to get it out of the bloodstream is to convert it to lipids to store it as fat.  This leads to weight gain and hyperlipidemia which lead to hypertension and coronary artery disease. Also, when the upper body cells are large in an overweight person, the body has a hard time storing more fat in the cells.  Then, all three of the ways that the body deals with glucose are out of whack and the person develops type II diabetes. Another way that insulin resistance makes it easier to gain weight is that having too much insulin in the blood keeps glucogon (the hormone that your body uses to use fat as energy (burn the fat)) from being released. After all insulin is the hormone that lets you store fat and if it is high your body does not think that it is time to burn the fat. Eating low carbs will help to keep your insulin levels lower and will therefore help you with PCO and type II diabetes related problems. DISCLAIMER:  Just my well-read opinion, please get advice from a doctor and don’t take my advice. KC – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Ivy wrote: > Hi, my fiancee’s mother is a clinical nutritionist, I was going to go > thru her for a Low Carb plan BUT she refuses saying it is very > dangerous, that my body NEEDS carbs for energy, and even vitamens have > sugars which turn into carbs, and it is almost impossible to get around > carbs in my daily life. She doesn’t understand PCOS, but how do I > explain to her WHY I need to go on this diet…I, myself, don’t > understand why I should not eat carbs, I just know from this newsgroup > and all of yours success with it. > Can somone please summerize why carbs are bad for us PCOS girls? > Thanks!! > ~Susan

Response:

Hi, my fiancee’s mother is a clinical nutritionist, I was going to go thru her for a Low Carb plan BUT she refuses saying it is very dangerous, that my body NEEDS carbs for energy, and even vitamens have sugars which turn into carbs, and it is almost impossible to get around carbs in my daily life. She doesn’t understand PCOS, but how do I explain to her WHY I need to go on this diet…I, myself, don’t understand why I should not eat carbs, I just know from this newsgroup and all of yours success with it. Can somone please summerize why carbs are bad for us PCOS girls? Thanks!! ~Susan

Response:

Hi Susan, Following article tells a little about the carb.=sugar=insulin  It’s kind of confusing and I haven’t quiet got it yet. But it have something to do with diabetis and insulin resistanse. I am on a controlled carb. diet what I do is to avoid: Bread, Pasta, Rice, SWEETS of any kind.   I go low on fruit, potatoes, sweet potatoes & rice milk. But I eat all kind of veggies, beans, tofu, meat, cheese.  It’s not that hard, I eat the same amount as before but more veggies AND I loose weight http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/nov16/kidson/kidson.html Good luck Bettina – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Ivy wrote: > Hi, my fiancee’s mother is a clinical nutritionist, I was going to go > thru her for a Low Carb plan BUT she refuses saying it is very > dangerous, that my body NEEDS carbs for energy, and even vitamens have > sugars which turn into carbs, and it is almost impossible to get around > carbs in my daily life. She doesn’t understand PCOS, but how do I > explain to her WHY I need to go on this diet…I, myself, don’t > understand why I should not eat carbs, I just know from this newsgroup > and all of yours success with it. > Can somone please summerize why carbs are bad for us PCOS girls? > Thanks!! > ~Susan

Response:

Have you got a copy of Protein Power by the Eades?  It’s pretty good at explaining IR and lowcarb and why it isn’t dangerous.  Also, on the web, go to http://www.lowcarb.org and click on Adiposity 101. Sara Ivy <puffb…@bellsouth.net> wrote in article <36CC69F2.C80A2…@bellsouth.net>… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Hi, my fiancee’s mother is a clinical nutritionist, I was going to go > thru her for a Low Carb plan BUT she refuses saying it is very > dangerous, that my body NEEDS carbs for energy, and even vitamens have > sugars which turn into carbs, and it is almost impossible to get around > carbs in my daily life. She doesn’t understand PCOS, but how do I > explain to her WHY I need to go on this diet…I, myself, don’t > understand why I should not eat carbs, I just know from this newsgroup > and all of yours success with it. > Can somone please summerize why carbs are bad for us PCOS girls? > Thanks!! > ~Susan

Response:

Filed under: PCOS Diet

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