DIET IN PCOS:

The change is must. Lifestyle modification is the first key to modify our day-to-day diet habits, including a daily exercise protocol according to our body composition type. 

In overweight or obese PCOS, weight loss of 5 to 10 % of body weight is enough to bring in changes to improve insulin resistance, hormonal balance, menstrual cycle, fertility, and the most important is the quality of life. 

So, let us talk about healthy nutritious diet plans. 

First change is to make a small plate size of every meal. That means to decrease our meal calorie intake by 250 to 400 kcal daily.

You can start your morning with 2 glasses of warm water followed by raw vegetable juice. Many people have habit to skip breakfast in the morning, especially teenage girls do more often, which is very wrong.

Generally, our stress hormone blood levels, cortisol are higher in the morning when we wake up; by starving or skipping breakfast, can increase sugar levels, can have weight gain because of fat storage and breakdown of muscles, can suppress immune system with digestive problems & also prone for heart disease.

Breakfast:

Vegetarian – Sprout moong chilla / nachni / ragi dosa / bhakri with sprout bhaji / cereals/ Oats/ Musli can be consumed only once a week, when it’s like no time to prepare food when you are in hurry, as that counts as a packed food. 

Say NO to packed/ processed/ & frozen foods. 

Non- vegetarian – good stuffed omlette with veges with a small phulka. Here you get full for next 3 hours, if you are having tea / coffee with very less sugar, & the milk has to be homemade skimmed milk. 

After 3 hours – Consume a healthy fruit like an apple or pear or pomegranate or orange. 

The basic idea is having low glycemic index foods with high fiber like veg, sprouted grains, fruits like apples, apricots, legumes giving enough fullness.

Avoid high glycemic foods like potatoes, corns, rice, wheat, processed sugary foods, bananas, whites like excess salt, sugar, maida white breads.

Drink lot of water, around 2 to 3 litres, always keep a full bottle of water next to your desk.

Lunch – 

Vegetarian – Salads – sprouts, carrot, cucumber or steamed veges which is like ½ portion of plate & ½ portion with different dal preparations, you can make it with spices or tamarind or kokum but with less oil.

Here the question arises that in South East Asian countries, people only eat rice, but yet they are thin built, how? The thing is they eat boiled rice with boiled veges & we eat rice with spicy oily curries full of oil, that means trans fat.

Non – vegetarians – Chicken in grilled/tandoor/roasted form or eggs.

More ideal is eating 3 meals a day at regular interval including healthy complex carbs like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes( beans, peas or lentils) & last meal c/a dinner little early around 7 – 7.30pm, after which should not eat anything c/a intermittent fasting method; where you don’t eat for 12 to 14 hours from night till morning. For this we need to eat good amount of proteins at night for

the ‘fat loss’ & to avoid ‘muscle loss’.

You can consume homemade buttermilk (from curd made out of homemade skimmed milk) in b/w as zero calories.

80% is your diet what we eat is important for weight loss so high fiber foods like flax seeds, nuts, vegetables, fruits, complex carbs, good healthy fats like fish oil or fish, avocados, almonds, walnuts. Avoid fried or frozen fish.

Along with all these healthy foods; other nutrients are also equally important like

Vit D –

• Helps in production of insulin in pancreas. 
• Helps to increase follicular development to regulate menstrual cycle. 

Source of Vit D – egg yolk, fish oil, mushrooms, liver, fish. 

Should take weekly supplement of Vit D3.

Magnesium –

• Deficiency is commonly seen with insulin resistance.
• Help cells to absorb glucose , signals insulin production in pancreas. 
• Muscle relaxants – helps in dysmenorrhea or muscle cramps, insomnia, fatigue, irregular heart beats.
• Helps in anxiety or depression.

Other nutrients like Zinc, cinnamon, chromium and green tea are also important.

Set a routine exercise protocol for about 45 – 50 mins daily. 

Starting slowly with stretching exercises followed by floor exercises with an increasing count. 

Then you can upgrade them by doing muscle training for good posture with healthy joint protection. 

Last 15 – 20 mins should be breathing exercises followed by guided meditation or shavasan to relax the whole body with mind.

And last but not the least at least 8 hours sound sleep at the right time to keep a perfect pace with our body clock as long said ‘early to bed and early to rise, makes man healthy, wealthy and wise’.