When I was 22 and experiencing irregular periods, I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Back then, you were kind of on your own after receiving a diagnosis. You had to scour the internet for dubious Australian wellness blogs, and medical professionals had very little advice beyond cutting carbs and sugar – hardly a sustainable or scientific approach. My own elderly, male GP recommended that I simply lose weight, despite being healthy.

Over the past seven years, however, the PCOS community has grown online… and so too have the number of ‘remedies’ being promoted. That’s only been made worse with the advent of wellness TikTok, where millions of videos promise fixes for a range of symptoms that include irregular periods, hair loss and acne. 

Since that diagnosis, my own symptoms have been quite debilitating. From random facial hair growth to going period-free for up to six months at a time, the condition has played a massive role in my life – and one that I’ve been determined to significantly reduce. As such, over the past year, I’ve been making a conscious effort to eat better and move more (which is a challenge as a full-time work-from-homer).

The harsh truth is that you can’t cure PCOS… but you can reverse your symptoms with a tailored diet and active (but not stressful) lifestyle. I know that because I’ve just finished following a PCOS-friendly nutrition plan for the past two weeks, led by nutritionist and homeopath Lauren Johnson Reynolds.

The initial plan may only have been a fortnight, but the idea is you’re supposed to use the advice and bite-sized tips to deal with PCOS life in the long-term.

As well as advice on nutrition, this plan contains plenty of information on fertility, sleep, stress, exercise, hormone-disrupting chemicals, gut health and supplements.

Essentially, you’re guided through various videos with steps you can complete before moving on to the next stage. These include a detailed breakdown of what PCOS is, how it’s diagnosed, its symptoms, causes, drivers and other need-to-know facts. 

Now, if you’ve been living with PCOS for a while, you probably think you know all there is to know about the condition, but I found some of the modules genuinely surprising. Reynolds shares her own journey in the fertility section, while the guide to checking if you’re ovulating offers a few practical tips you might be less familiar with, such as cervical positioning, mucus production and sex drive increases. 

More generally, the plan is really split into two core elements: nutrition and exercise.

Nutrition

The plan deals primarily with how we eat. Instead of a prescriptive Hello Fresh-style ingredient list that forces you to eat a certain way, Reynolds gets you to assess every aspect of your culinary life. That means thinking about swapping plastics for glass (studies have found that the forever chemicals found in plastics target the ovaries, posing a major risk to women’s reproductive health), going for caffeine-free options (research suggests that many with PCOS have a heightened stress response, which can be made worse with caffeine) and eating as much gut-friendly food as possible. 

Reynolds is particularly keen on getting subscribers to eat fermented foods and prebiotics like green bananas, onions, garlic and leeks.

To help you on your way, the course includes two shopping lists – one with Reynold’s curated hormone-supporting groceries including nuts, seeds, powders, butters, and an Amazon list that includes recommended books, journals, exercise equipment and the product swaps she recommend to lower the intake of hormone disruptors.

There’s no rigid diet or set schedule that you need to follow, however; it’s all for you to implement in your own time, at your own pace. Instead, Reynolds recommends making changes that are sustainable and can be maintained, saying “It’s a marathon rather than a sprint.”

Exercise

The other part of the plan consists of accessible workout ideas using resistance bands. The Slow Weighted Workout, for example, is a low-intensity, resistance training session that can either be done at home or at the gym using weights. There have been a few studies that have concluded that resistance training can have a positive impact on PCOS symptoms, we also know that too much cortisol-producing exercise can make symptoms worse. 

Reynolds does include a bodyweight HIIT session, but the idea is that you should be mixing up your workouts so that you’re not just sticking with heart-raising exercise. 

There is also a meditation audio for relaxation and workouts to suit your PCOS driver – the thing that’s fuelling your symptoms. The main drivers tend to be:

• insulin resistance
• adrenal stress
• inflammation
• coming off the pill 

It’s likely that most of us have the first three in varying degrees but for up to 80% of PCOS-ers, insulin resistance is the main driver. If you know that you’re one of them, then you can focus on improving that insulin resistance. Studies link a lack of sleep with reduced insulin sensitivity, for example. Resistance training has been found to increase sensitivity too, as has tweaking the kinds of carbs you eat. Low glycemic index carbs like oats, grainy bread and lentils tend to help the body to use insulin more effectively. 

Usefully, the plan also enables you to speak to a UK GP for half an hour to talk through your symptoms and the treatments available. 

Bizarrely, I actually started to experience a little PMS just before the plan began, so it’s hard to say whether following its steps prompted a bleed or not. Nevertheless, after a four-month hiatus, my period arrived within the first week of eating and moving according to Reynolds’s advice.

When periods show up after such a long break, they tend to be painful and, as a result, I couldn’t do all the workout suggestions right away. Instead, I focused on making subtle food swaps and diet tweaks. 

I swapped endless lattes for peppermint and green teas (which are still caffeinated but less so than coffee. Yoghurt, nuts, chickpeas, brown rice and chia seeds found their way into my meals, and I really focused on increasing my protein intake via chicken salads and lentil-heavy curries and stews. 

I consumed more peanut butter and kimchi than normal (as recommended by Reynolds) and, once my period pain subsided, started to religiously meet my 10,000-step goal every day. Eventually, I also made it to the gym for those HIIT workouts. 

As previously mentioned, the plan isn’t just about nutrition or exercise. It encompasses what washing powder you use, the types of candles you light, the brands of tampons you use. That’s because Reynolds believes that we’re surrounded with endocrine-disrupting substances. Scented candles have been linked to poor air quality but the jury is still out on just how much of a threat they pose. A study by the University of Notre Dame has confirmed that some plastic containers can contain PFAS (forever chemicals) and those chemicals are leaching into our food.

Despite that, I decided to stick to the tampons, food containers and washing up liquid I already use. I don’t have the money to splash on replacing stuff I already own or replacing them with products that cost twice as much. But this plan has made me reassess my relationship with nourishing food and I’ll probably spend a little more on that going forwards.

In reality, two weeks really isn’t long enough to see any proper changes from a hormonal point of view, but I did notice a few general improvements. Eating more protein meant feeling fuller for longer, meaning I had the energy to exercise after work.

The switch from coffee to tea was difficult but once the caffeine withdrawals eventually subsided, I found my energy was a lot more stable. I’m sure that, alongside the other nutrition swaps, played a part in my going to sleep and waking up early. I don’t think that I could give up coffee entirely, but cutting down is definitely a possibility.

Overall, I feel good. The food changes weren’t too difficult to make and you really can feel a difference in just a few days.

Of course, a lot of the information you’d find on this course is out there for free on the internet. The problem is that there’s an overwhelming amount of information – and it’s not always obvious what’s legitimate and what’s wellness rot. The fact that this plan has been collated by someone who’s already gone through the turmoil of PCOS and knows what other women might benefit from is invaluable.

Now that I’ve tried it, I’m keen to keep going to see what long-term results might be there for the taking.

Faima followed The Complete PCOS Plan. Find out more here. 
Images: Getty