Plant-based diets have been soaring in popularity lately. But for those who have polycystic ovarian
syndrome, is a plant-based diet helpful or harmful? Well to answer this question
I've invited PCOS dietitian Pooja Adhyaru to provide an update on the best evidence. Stay tuned.
Hello! If this is our first time connecting welcome. My name is Melanie McGrice and I'm a
dietitian specialising in reproductive conditions and fertility. I help couples boost their fertility
and give their babies the best start possible with the power of good food. I post weekly videos so
make sure that you subscribe. Now in today's video we're going to discuss PCOS and plant-based diets.
So I'd like to introduce my special guest. Welcome Pooja. So Pooja can you tell us a bit about how you
develop such a special interest in helping women with polycystic ovarian syndrome? Yeah sure.
So what I've seen in my practice is when I see PCOS clients and when they come to me they have all
these different kinds of myths and beliefs that they have to eliminate gluten... dairy.... they have to
do fad diets, do this and do that and they're not getting the correct information they are
getting info from internet and other sources and I really think that I could do something in this
space and really develop my passion to help these women. That's fantastic! So what does the actual
evidence say then, because it sounds like you're really passionate about the evidence,
which is great. What does the evidence say about the benefits of a plant-based diet for
polycystic ovarian syndrome? So as we know the traditional Western diets are high in
saturated fats, low in fiber and what we've seen in research that when we don't have
enough fiber in our gut it can impact on our gut microbiome, so that's the gut bacteria.
So that's when the plant-based diets come in. So if we eat various plant-based foods such as fruits,
vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains and all that. That feeds the gut microbiome and that's
the food for our gut bacteria and research has shown that it impacts positively on PCOS.
Also these diets are naturally high in fiber low in sat fat and obviously they are naturally
high in antioxidants and these are all good for PCOS. And the most research diet which is the
Mediterranean Diet it is a mainly a plant-based diet. Which focuses on whole grains,
nuts and seeds, olive oil and fish and research has shown that it impacts positively on insulin.
So insulin sensitivity, weight loss, improves gut health and also improves androgens.
Fantastic! And can you just like clarify the difference between a plant-based diet
and a vegan and vegetarian diet please? Yeah sure. So plant-based is a very big umbrella term right.
So necessarily you don't have to be a vegan to be eating a plant-based diet style of eating.
So there can be many various lifestyles. So you could be a lacto-vegetarian so you could be eating
plant-based foods you could be eating dairy foods and just not eating the meat part of it.
You could be a pescetarian so you could be still having a lot of plant-based foods in your diet
and having the fish and not having meat and those kind of foods. And then obviously vegan is
the main restrictive diet when you are only eating plant-based foods and plant-based
by-products and not any animal. Thank-you. And so are there any risks with following a
plant-based diet when it comes to polycystic ovarian syndrome? Absolutely. So as we know
when we have PCOS, carbohydrates are really important and how you manage it. So what i've
seen in my practice is when vegan and vegetarian clients come to me they are having a lot of highly
processed and plain carbohydrates as their main food sources and they're not balancing those carbs
with the right amounts of foods such as healthy fats and healthy proteins. So if you don't balance
it properly it can impact your blood sugar levels and can also impact your insulin levels. Yeah okay.
So could you maybe give me a bit of a example a bit of a rundown of a typical days food
intake for a client who's following a plant-based diet? Absolutely. So you could start with a whole
grain toast with a bit of tofu scramble for breakfast then have a nice quinoa salad with a bit
of veggies for lunch and you could still have a whole grain pasta or chickpea pasta with a bit of
olive oil and vegetables with that. So that could be a very simple day. Sounds delicious.
You sound like you're an amazing cook Pooja. Oh I love my cooking!
Fantastic! So we've done some previous episodes on Nourish about the importance
for key nutrients such as omega-3 when it comes to polycystic ovarian syndrome.
Just wondering how can women who are following a plant-based diet ensure that they're meeting
nutrients like omega-3 and iron? Yeah absolutely, so like I said, any vegan or any plant-based diet has
to be carefully planned so especially iron and omega-3 if you don't plan it properly you maybe
become deficient in these nutrients. So when it comes to iron most of the plant-based iron sources
are less absorbed as we compare to the animal sources. So we need to be we could do a couple
of things to enhance the absorption so if you pair plant-based iron sources with a bit of
vitamin c based foods. For example citrus, kiwi fruits and capsicum so that enhances the
absorption in the gut and also avoid having tea, coffee or wine at the same meal of those foods.
In terms of omega-3, what we've seen or what we know is plant-based sources such as
walnuts, chia seeds, linseeds they are all they all have ALA which is a type of omega-3.
And it has to be converted into DHA and EPA, those are different forms of omega-3 for
our body to be able to absorb those. So if you are somebody that is mainly having plant-based
foods and not eating any fish or not eating any fish oil or fish supplements then we
should be taking algae-based supplements. Okay amazing. And so if there is someone who is not
currently following a plant-based diet but wants to convert to a plant-based diet to help benefit
their polycystic ovarian syndrome what tips would you provide for them? Definitely, so firstly go slow.
Obviously you want to do everything at once but I do not recommend doing that, so one step at a
time for example eliminate one type of meat from your diet. Secondly try different foods
first develop your taste develop, your tolerance and see what suits with your gut. And lastly I
would say work with a specialist dietitian who has experience in this field because PCOS itself is a
very complex condition as we know and we want you to be supported throughout the whole process. So
make sure you're working alongside an expert so that you're managing your PCOS at the same
time you're managing your plan-based transition so you don't develop any deficiencies in the future.
Great advice, thank you so much Pooja.
Thank you so much for joining me! If you have additional
questions for Pooja I'll link her details in the description box below this video.
You'll also find my details in there too so make sure that you connect with me as well.
I'd love to know how we can support you through your PCOS journey. I've got some great resources
on my website so make sure that you check them out and have a look at my other videos on PCOS
such as the best supplements for PCOS and insulin resistance and polycystic ovarian
syndrome. I look forward to seeing you in my next video.