I was diagnosed with PCOS about 30 years ago. Not even my PCP knew what it was at that time. I was diagnosed by a bariatric specialist. God bless that man. Anyway, after he shared as much as the medical profession knew literally decades ago, I was overwhelmed and depressed even more. I thought things were hopeless. Then the bariatric specialist suggested I go to a female endocrinologist he recommended to me. I did. She had 4 words for me at that time: THE SOUTH BEACH DIET. It's not a fad diet, she said. It was written by a cardiologist. It explained to me how food "works". I read it in two days. I FELT EMPOWERD! And thanks to that program, which is both healthy and sustainable, my PCOS symptoms pretty much went away. I got off tons of medication. I avoided diabetes. Mistbif my depression and anxiety lifted. I slept much better. My headaches, heartburn, constipation/diarrhea, brain fog, confusion, extreme fatigue, body aches and acne DISAPPEARED. My hair started to grow back. I was out on metformin and spirinolactone too, which helped immensely. AND I LOST ALMOST 150 POUNDS--EFFORTLESSLY. I ate REAL food I cooked myself. I was NEVER hungry. I'm now 61 years old and am still on a modified South Beach Diet, the metformin, the spirinolactone and now Ozempic. I've only gained back 25 pounds due to age, menopause and a bad back. I'll never again in my life eat the way I did when I was diagnosed (low fat/high carb).

You will need to embrace an experimentation mindset to figure out what works best for you. I've tried vegan to carnivore and some other specific diets. I find diets like keto to be too high maintenance and problematic to follow (but I also travel a lot for work so I don't have as much control of my settings as I do at home). What I've found works best for me is eliminating processed foods and refined carbs and generally sticking to higher protein and low carb meals.

I think the most helpful thing is to keep a food journal so you can pinpoint patterns in foods that cause issues for you. That helped me more than any doctor or dietician ever did because I realized I had bad reactions to some healthy foods. If you can afford a Continuous Glucose Monitor, I'd also recommend that so you can pinpoint things which foods cause glucose spikes and how timing of meals affect the glucose. A common issue for PCOS is managing insulin so keeping glucose from spiking throughout the day is important.

Basically, don't get too hung up on following a strict or fad diet because that won't be sustainable. Also important to remember that no diet is the cure-all for PCOS or everyone would be doing it. You need to discover what's best for your body, and you absolutely can figure that out. Experiment with some concepts, such as low-carb, to see how your body responds. Remember to give yourself time to evaluate the change in diet and keep a record along the way so you can review for yourself.

Definitely!! In order to better manage PCOS symptoms we have to. A vegan or pescatarian diet works wonders for PCOS. Eat as natural and clean as you can. It’s significant that we avoid processed foods, sugar, red meat, caffeine, alcohol, and dairy as these foods will make our symptoms worse. It may be hard in the beginning to stick with such a strict diet but it’s necessary for us to. It will get easier as you continue. Eat lots of leafy greens such as spinach and kale. Lots of antioxidant rich foods like blueberries, pomegranates, and green tea. I find that nuts really help to make me feel full.

Just see food and eat it unfortunately for me lol! But definitely liking the responses on here! I guess it depends on what your body is wanting and needing isn’t it. I did brilliant on a no sugar diet (apart from natural sugars like fruit) but the cravings for sweet stuff were crazy sometimes!

Avoiding gluten when I can