Beating PCOS - Real food is my medicine

POLYCYSTIC OVARIAN SYNDROME, three words that impacted my life... for the better.

I have recently been diagnosed with PCOS, a very common condition among us women that isn't spoken of much. I think I always knew in the back of my mind that it was this, our self diagnosis Google ways.

Over the years I have had irregular menstrual cycles, epic bloating and laser hair removal wasn't as effective as it should have been.

My biggest symptom was my bloat, it was very embarrassing and not only was it embarrassing it kept me very unsocial as I literally did not fit into anything. Most outings were food or drink outings and I knew I could not consume anything as I felt I would explode. 

Recently, post comp I ate more processed sugars than I should have. Psychologically it wasn't easy getting back on track as I could now eat anything I wanted with no restrictions. I found that after my first show I was much more lost and had developed this unhealthy relationship with food which I thankfully grasped better the second time round.

My situation at the time also didn't help. I live alone in Dubai, was in the transition of finding a new job and my grandma passed away, so all these environmental factors triggered emotional binge eating habits. The condition accelerated my weight gain post comp, my symptoms amplified from abs to bloat in a matter of hours and here I was feeling back at square one.

When I finally mentally got on top of things I started to clean up my diet and paid attention to my body experimenting with different kinds of food. I found that anything high in sugar (something that spiked my insulin) triggered my bloat and this was no ordinary bloat.. 

I now reveal the bloat..

BEHOLD! I look 6 months pregnant I know..

When this kept happened I frantically Google'd to see if anyone too had this symptom and I barely found anything. I decided to then post on my personal Facebook page to see if anyone else was dealing with these horrible symptoms and condition, particularly athletes competing as we have to work 10x harder then anyone else, pretty much felt like I was pushing water up a hill! I came across two Athletes in Australia Tamika Webber and Sarah Ting who openly talk about this, not to mention a lot of friends who messaged saying they were also dealing with this!

WOW is all I could say. I received so many messages and after I posted the above picture on my Facebook Fan Page, my inbox was flooded with women saying they too have that symptom but find it so embarrassing and never speak of it.

Now everyone wants to know the cure.. but unfortunately there isn't, it's something we have to manage, to be more in tune with our body. Our body is more sensitive to carbohydrates so I had to be more conscious of what I ate and the timing of my meals, all of a sudden I was eating like an athlete, not even prepping for show. Had high protein/high fat breakfast, small meals throughout the day and carbs around training. What? The solution was eat like an athlete? All of a sudden I was dieting without dieting and it didn't feel like comp prep but more a way of life as I knew I would pay the price with a bloat! Was my diagnosis really bad news? I guess not, it truly taught me the whole element of 'balance' and a healthy 'lifestyle', it's a blessing in disguise and if you are readying this too then I hope you too find the positivity to push forward.

Yours truly,

PCOS Warrior