PCOS Nutrition Center Articles/Blog

Every year my family and I look forward to our vacation in Northern Michigan: long days, cool nights, clear blue water, and cherries. That’s right, cherries! Traverse City, Michigan boasts itself as being the Cherry Capital of the World and it’s no surprise. Situated on a peninsula at the 35th parallel, thousands of cherry trees grow fantastically well (along with wine grapes and peaches) with the optimal moisture, soil and temperatures from both the East and West Grand Traverse Bays. There is nothing like biking along the bay and stopping to pick and eat cherries.

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Do you have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and are struggling to lose weight? You’re not alone. As many as 80% of women with PCOS are overweight. The reason? High insulin levels, the central cause of PCOS. When insulin levels are high, it causes our bodies to store fat, usually in our bellies. Weight loss is difficult because it’s hard to break down fat if your body is in fat storage mode. In order to lose weight, you have to lower your insulin levels. You can lower insulin by diet, exercise and insulin-lowering medications (metformin). If you have been taking insulin sensitizers and are exercising and watching your diet and still aren’t seeing results it could be the types of foods you are eating. Here’s what to know.

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Women who experience heavy or frequent menstrual bleeding may be at risk for iron deficiency. Here’s how to prevent it.

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I clearly remember the day I first learned about genetically modified food. I was sitting in on one of my nutrition classes and my professor was informing us that the U.S. had begun to genetically alter our food crops. This meant that we could have larger, perfect tomatoes. We could feed more people on less land. We could grow food all year round that was immune to drought and increasing climate change. What wasn’t clear were safety concerns and what long-term effects were going to happen. Today GMOs are in the majority of food we eat. But is it safe? What you need to know.

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You’ve probably seen it before: the TV commercial showing actress Jamie Lee Curtis enjoying Activia yogurt in beautiful settings across the globe. In the ad, Curtis remarks that she eats this yogurt daily for “digestive health”. Yogurt, like some other dairy foods, is a probiotic or healthy bacteria, shown to have benefits on the digestive and immune systems. Interested? Here’s what women with PCOS should know about taking probiotics.

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Diet and lifestyle are the primary treatment approaches for PCOS, yet, so many women find themselves confused by the nutrition recommendations for the syndrome and don’t know who to trust. Sometimes it seems as if every website out there for PCOS has conflicting nutrition information. Some individuals even try and make money off their unproven “theories” and try and sell products women with PCOS don’t need. There’s no question that media and Internet are the main sources where people get their nutrition information today. Unfortunately, a lot of the information for PCOS is false, misleading and in some cases, dangerous. If you are a woman with PCOS, it is important that you are doing the right thing for your body, and not making your health worse. You need to be a critical reader of the nutrition information you are flooded with before making changes to your health. Below are 4 ways to trust if the information is reliable.

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