Help, I have PCOS! (with "The Women's Dietitian" Cory Ruth, MS, RD)

Let's not sugarcoat it: PCOS sucks. In light of recent estimates are saying 1 in 4 women have PCOS, I think it's safe to say that we need to talk about it more. As a PCOS'er myself, I appreciate dietitians like Cory Ruth, MS, RD (aka @thewomensdietitian) who take an all-foods-fit approach to managing PCOS symptoms. She's joining me today to share the no BS truths about living with and managing PCOS.

Learn more about how to work with Cory here

TOPICS COVERED 👇 

• Who is Cory Ruth, and what makes her The Women's Dietitian? [0:00]
• Discussing irregular cycles with PCOS [5:59]
• Symptoms of PCOS [7:06]
• How PCOS is diagnosed [10:00]
• What causes PCOS? [11:13]
• Can PCOS be treated? [14:47]
• Getting help for binge eating & disordered eating with PCOS [20:20]
• Navigating PCOS diet advice from healthcare providers [21:59]
• Losing weight with PCOS [26:14]
• Why women with PCOS struggle with disordered eating/eating disorders [31:00]
• What foods should you eat with PCOS? [33:23]
• PCOS and infertility: why there's a link, and next steps for those who are struggling [35:54]
• Connect with Cory [44:31]

Transcript

 Welcome back to the Nourished and Free Podcast, where we talk all things intuitive eating, body image, nutrition, and food psychology. I am so honored to be joined by Cory today, who is known as the women's dietician on Instagram. I've been following her for what feels like forever. I honestly could not tell you the first time I came across her page.

It's been so many years. And I just love the way that she talks about PCOS. I also have PCOS, which stands for polycystic ovarian syndrome, and so I've always been drawn to her page because of that, and also because she's a fellow dietician and because I can personally relate to struggling with PCOS, I do like to talk about that on this show from time to time.

I actually have an episode from December 6th with. Megan Miller, another dietician specializing in PCOS. So if you haven't listened to that yet and you would like to after this episode, be sure you go back to that episode. But I'm excited to chat with Cory today and for you to hear from her. I really loved the conversation that we had.

Cory is an incredibly intelligent working mom of two, and she was so kind to offer me her time and to come on this podcast. So I hope that you enjoy this episode. Please consider taking a quick three seconds out of your day to leave a rating on this podcast if you enjoy it, and hit the follow button so that you never miss when a new episode drops as we continue to talk about things like binge eating, emotional eating, or fad diets, diet reviews, all of that good juicy stuff.

Okay, let's jump in. I've got a great episode for you today. Welcome to the show, Cory. Thank you. I'm so happy to have you 

here. Yeah, me too. Happy Friday. 

Happy Friday. Today is actually Cinco de Mayo day of recording. We are recording on Cinco de Mayo. Are you doing anything to celebrate today? 

Um, yeah.

Going to the local Mexican restaurant for tacos and margs and just meeting up with some friends and their kids and yeah, making it, that's what I'm talking about. Yeah, I love it. I like the margarita dangling in front of me all day, so I'm gonna work really, really hard and then go, 

I love it. I love margaritas.

That is always the drink that I crave when I'm pregnant. I'm like, I cannot wait to have a margarita when I get this baby out. That's like my first drink when they're born, guys. I love it. You gotta have one in mine. That's right. That's right. Well, tell us about you. What is your, I mean, you have PCOS right?

Who I 

ever. Yes. Yes. 

So tell me your story with, um, yeah. Going into the field of nutrition and dietetics, and specifically why you wanted to focus on PCOS and your story with PCOS. 

Sure. Yeah. I kind of always had a sneaking hunch that I had PCOS. Once I learned what it was, I really didn't know about it or didn't know what it was until I was in my, like early twenties, I think.

Um, and I remember in high school, I remember being in the bathroom just kind of, you know, you're always like fixing your hair and putting on makeup and trying to look cute, you know, in high school. Um, and we were in the bathroom and I remember listening to my girlfriends like, oh, well my period's coming on Friday and da da.

And I was like, what? How do you know that? Like that is crazy. Like that mind, just that thing, she just shows up, pops in, pops out, stays for a few weeks, is gone for months. Like how do you know that? I was just completely dumbfounded and I then at that point realized that like, You know, and also learning about the textbook, you will get a period every 28 days and you will, obviously on day 14.

I felt like a free of nature and I just remember that feeling, you know, so isolated and, uh, alone. Um, and when I went away to college, uh, and my eating habits, you know, all my mom's home cooked meals were replaced by, um, you know, beer pong and late night burritos. So, And in conjunction with taking birth control, which totally screwed up my blood sugars and my appetite, um, I gained almost 50 pounds in a year.

Less than a year. Um, and I just felt like my PCOS was at, was at its worst. Um, and I just felt so lost and confused as of what was happening in my body. Um, so anywho, fast forward, I became a dietician, completely unrelated, but I always had this really big interest in hormones and endocrinology. And after I graduated and I was working, um, I worked in food service and I worked clinical, all of those things.

And I just felt like it wasn't for me. I knew that I wanted to work for myself. Um, and I thought, you know what? The one thing I'm not gonna work in is PCOS. Like too complicated. I'm not gonna touch that subject with a 30 foot pole. As I went along and I understood, I, I got, I dove into the research. I worked at a women's health clinic, um, alongside some amazing OBGYNs and this really great care team.

I learned a lot about PCOS. Um, and, and I started realizing, you know, there's such a huge connection between diet and lifestyle and this condition that I struggle with. So I started implementing those things. I, you know, I started to do more research and I, I, I came to the conclusion that. Ah, I am the perfect person to work in this space because here I am already a registered dietician and I have PCOS.

So I am so glad I made that decision and I have never looked back. Um, because, you know, as I go about my own journey with PCOS constantly, I. It's a constant journey. Um, I get to work with women to help them uncover, you know, some of the same, um, conclusions that I came to and help them skip a lot of the struggle that I went through, and a lot of that just feeling alone and feeling like a freak.

Like I, I, I love that part of my community on, on social media because I feel like I can help women see that you're, you're not alone, you're just fine. You're totally great where you are, but here are some things you can do to improve your stitch. So, Long story short, that's how I got into PCOS 

as an rt.

I love it. Thank you so much for sharing that and so many things that stuck out to me. First of all, I also have PCOS, endo and endometriosis, and I remember that feeling too of like. I am such a weirdo because my friends were like, oh, prom is gonna fall around my period. And I'm like, hell, you know that like, 

like magical mythical creature.

Yeah. And that was like normal for people to just have the schedule and everything. And I was like, every three months. And when I got married and started tracking my cycle, it was like 60 day cycles was the norm. And I'm like, yeah. That must be nice to have some regularity, you know? But also, it's so funny to me to hear you say that it took forever for you to finally come to terms with being the perfect person to work in the PCOS field, because that's like I.

It suits you so well at this point, and I just, it's so funny to picture you being like, no, I would never, 

I know, right? I know. Even saying that, I'm like, should I admit 

that? No, no. I think it's good to admit that. I mean, that's pretty standard for people. 

Yeah. I'll be very honest. 

I love that. So for the listeners that maybe don't know about PCOS as well as you and I do, How would you describe what it is and how it's diagnosed, and also what are some common symptoms that may be an indication of PCOS?

Yeah, so, so researchers estimate that about 15% of women have PCOS. It's the most common endocrine issue and the most common cause of infertility in the world. So, um, quite common, PCOS stands for polycystic ovary, ovary. Over syndrome and, um, you kind of have to meet two out of three diagnostic criteria that includes irregular periods.

And when I say that, there's no clear pattern for that, right? You could go long times of pe uh, without bleeding. You could feel like you're bleeding all the time. Random bleeding here and there, spotting. It's, you're, it's not coming on a regular cycle. Um, number two is you have either elevations. Via lab work in androgens, which are male sex hormones, like testosterone.

And that can cause things like facial or body hair growth, hair loss on the head, acne, um, or you can just have those physical symptoms. Um, and the third one are polycystic ovaries. But this is a really a, a misnomer because a lot of women think that if they have ovarian cysts, um, that they have PCOS.

It's not the same thing. You can certainly have both and, and that's why, you know, period pain. Well, a lot of women think that's a symptom of PCOS. It's not. You might have period pain separate from PCOS, but the cysts, and I'm putting that in ear quotes for listeners, are really just underdeveloped, immature follicles, which are kind of like these sacks that can grow eggs on our ovaries.

And how I describe it is they're all competing to ovulate and nobody's winning. Those do not cause pain. We can't feel them. So if you are experiencing pelvic, you know, pain or period pain, it could be coming from endometriosis, it could be coming from ovarian cyst, but it's not driven by your PCOS specifically.

Even if you al already or you know, also have PCOS. So those are kind of things to look out for. A lot of women in the PCOS struggle with weight gain. And that's due to a myriad of different factors, including hormonal imbalances. Um, you know, some of us have insulin resistance, um, and that can certainly drive that cortisol dysregulation, issues that can drive that weight gain or make it harder to lose weight or maintain a weight loss.

Um, a lot of PCOS or women deal with fatigue, um, anxiety and depression. Um, insomnia. Cravings, super, super, super bad cravings for carbs and sugar, especially because again, of that insulin and like blood sugar issue. So those are some things to look out for and to get diagnosed. I would recommend if you're looking, if, if you're thinking gears soft, gosh, that might, that kind of sounds like me.

When you go to the doctor, ask for a full hormone panel and ask for a pelvic ultrasound, a full hormone panel. And if you also ask for some blood sugar testing too, that can help kind of help you uncover if there's other insulin issues, a1c, fasting insulin, and or fasting glucose. That full hormone panel that will in include testosterone.

Um, and then also that pelvic ultrasound can see if your ovaries are polycystic. So that's how you would get that diagnosis. 

Thank you so much for explaining that. That's really helpful to hear. I remember when I got my PCOS diagnosis and I felt like the world was crashing down because here I was in school to become a dietician, and I felt like, what the heck?

I'm being told that I have insulin resistance. What have I done? I'm a failure, like I'm already, well, at the time I was really disordered in my relationship with food, like mm-hmm. Not good. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so then it triggered me so much more because I was like, I am the picture of health. You know, like how could this be?

Um, and so two things that came out of that are two questions that are kind of in light of that, because I know that a lot of other women feel that way too, where they're like, what the heck? Where did this come from? What did I do wrong? What is the research telling us is the cause of PCOS. 

Uh, that's a great question.

We don't entirely understand the exact etiology. Um, there could be a genetic link, so we do know, and we do have some research that says that women with PCOS. Daughter, sorry daughter, let me get this correct in the correct order. It's Friday. Um, daughters of daughters of women of PCOS are seven to eight times likelier to have PCOS themselves.

So there could be a genetic link. Um, but you know, a lot of women, uh, We don't have our grandmothers around to ask them. Right, or they don't really, it wasn't as talked about. So they never knew they had PCOS. They could have had wonky periods and just been like, yeah, my periods are weird. Never knew they had PCOS.

So it's sometimes, it's hard to tell there could be an environmental link. Right? We've got these hormone disruptors that are just increasing all the time. Um, there could be a stress adrenal fu kind of, um, contributing. Cause it, it's, it's really unclear. So I hope that we have a more definitive answer as time goes by, but, um, yeah, it's hard to say.

Yeah. Yeah. Which can be frustrating for people, you know? And it's like, well, what do I do with this information? Like, I know. I 

know. And I think that also, just like you said, you know, with getting the diagnosis even, it brings on so much shame and we, we deal with that enough as women, right? Like, we don't need one.

Ashamed to feel ashamed and guilty for. And, you know, I have thought about that too. Like my mom, I always, my mom and my best friend, both of them are like the picture of hormonal, like perfection, never had a late period in their life. Each got pregnant immediately. Like they're, they're j they've never struggled with anything like that.

So me, I'm like, why me? You know, why, what's wrong with my body? So it's a, there's a lot of guilt and shame that we can internalize. Um, and I, I really wanna try to, Help women detach themselves from that because we, we, we don't cause our PCOS, there's nothing that you've eaten or not eaten or done or not done, or not exercised enough or there it's not, it's not you.

It's just so, bodies are weird. Bodies are complex. Right. Uh, I know mine is, um, but we can't, we can't, we don't always know what's driving these things, so re you know, remove that guilt and shame piece here. You're listening and that resonates with you. 

That's so good. I'm glad you brought that up. There's definitely a lot of fear mongering on social media from some prominent doctors that, I'm not sure how they still have that credential, but they do.

Talking about, I. PCOS is because of women eating too many carbs and causing insulin resistance, which then causes the PCOS and all of that. I mean, what do you, what does someone like you think when they see things like that? Oh my 

gosh. Blind, 

blind.

Just like so stupid, you know? Like we have no research to support that whatsoever. And, um, yeah, same thing as you. Just like, how are these people literally, like how are these trained healthcare professionals with like credentials and licenses and years of schooling? I don't get it. 

Yeah, I know, right? It's really, really sad and depressing, but it is what it is.

Yeah. So then my follow up question is, you know, you get the diagnosis, you're like, all right, I don't know how we got there. It's maybe genetic, maybe not. What's the next step then in terms of, is this even treatable? Can we manage PCOS? 

Yeah. There is no cure for PCOS. It's ki, you know, it's an ongoing journey, right?

It's not something that we can like, Take a pack of antibiotics for, and then the infection clears within a week. Um, it's something that we continuously have to be putting effort into. So if you ever hear anybody claiming that they're gonna cure your PCOS, um, you know, it's, it's BS and I, I wish that it wasn't, but it's bs.

Um, and that person clearly doesn't understand the diagnosis, so you should not be taking healthcare advice from them. Um, but there's so many things we can do to manage it. So when you, you know, we talk about it being treatable, we can absolutely effectively manage the symptoms. I'm not gonna promise that it's always going to be perfect.

And you know, even myself who's comes light years from where I was like, I still struggle sometimes. No one's perfect. PCOS can come and kind of, it can come and it can go and it can flare. You know, like sometimes we all go through different periods, especially because there is this. Huge stress and adrenal component and inflammation component, um, an insulin component.

All of these can fluctuate, right? We can be, our diet play, you know, plays a huge role in insulin and blood sugar. You know, the biggest role I would say. So if, you know, if we're not eating to support that, then our PCOS can air quotes flare. Um, if we are, then it can, you know, kind of air quote, subside and, and kind of go into remission.

And I use that term lightly, but. Um, there's so many things we can do from a dietary lifestyle, supplemental, you know, perspective. Not to say that there's not other tools you can use, right? Um, And then let's talk about this too. If we go to the doctor and, you know, we get that PCOS diagnosis always, the first thing that we are given is birth control.

Um, a lot of us are given metformin, um, spironolactone is another one, another, another medication. And then, um, a lot of us are just told to like lose weight, um, if that's even warranted. And that's, you know, that can, all those things can definitely be helpful, and I never wanna shame people for going that route.

What I want women to know is that that's not their only option. That's a option. Those are options. But there are other things that we can do outside of prescription. And, uh, medication and pharmaceuticals and, um, you know, and, and birth control. There are other things we can do, and that's the space that I work in.

Um, and that's the space that I find to be the most effective because there's no side effects from a healthy diet, right? Most of the supplements, zero side effects. Um, movement, stress reduction. There's nothing detrimental about those and versus something like birth, if someone gets on birth control.

Here's a common scenario that I see in PCOS, a young girl complaining of, you know, crazy, wacky periods. Maybe she's 17 or 18, she gets put on birth control. She's on birth control until soon she gets married at 32. They decide to start a family, she comes off that birth control. It's been so long. She has no idea.

She doesn't even recollect what her PCOS symptoms look like, and maybe they change because bodies change, hormones change, and she has no idea what to do because all of a sudden she has no period. Her facial hair is growing in like crazy. All these things are like popping up seemingly out of nowhere.

But in reality, what that birth control was doing was covering those symptoms up. That's fine. Again, if that's the route you wanna go, totally A okay. Never wanna shame that. But had she not been on birth control, she could have worked with somebody like me, right? Or you know, someone who specialized in this other side and really understood her body, her hormones, gotten control of those symptoms on her own.

Felt empowered. All of those things, so that once her and her husband decided to start a family, she has all of the tools in her toolkit to get pregnant easily without stress, without confusion. So I think in some regards, you know, things like birth control. Sometimes can kind of put us at a disadvantage because they're not helping to illuminate, you know, our own bodies.

For us, our own health. They're not empowering us to take our health into our own hands. And that's what I love about working on the side of healthcare that we do, which is more preventative, you know, medicine, nutrition, and food is what I consider preventative medicine. So, yeah. Anyways, that was long-winded, but 

Oh, I love it.

I love the riffs. That's so good. And I agree that's the best part of working in this field, is being able to meet people in the root of the problems instead of just band-aid after Band-Aid. You know, with I, with what I do and helping women with binge eating and emotional eating and chronic dieting, that is such a new concept for them to get to.

The actual root of the issues and heal from the inside out and understand their body. And it's one of the coolest things to see women learn how to do. And that's what I love about what you do too, is really empowering women to understand what the heck is going on instead of just the quick fixes, which again, no shame if that's what you wanna do.

Everybody has a different, um, status quo and that's okay. But at the same time, if you do want to. Take control of your health. Sometimes the best thing you can do is just put those quick fixes aside and dig in instead, which you know is hard work. 

Yeah, no, it's so true. I know. Yeah. It's definitely not the easy route, but it is so worth it.

Fun fact, women with PCOS are more likely to struggle with disordered eating, and they're also more likely to struggle with their body image. If you are somebody with PCOS and you struggle with things like binge eating, emotionally eating, you feel like you're always on a diet and you can't stop thinking about food.

It might be time to work with somebody who specializes in helping you overcome these struggles. I'm Michelle Yates, owner of Yates Nutrition, and my passion is helping women overcome these struggles in a way that's non-restrictive and helps them get their life back from thoughts of food and improve their health without feeling like it's all they can think about the restrict binge cycle and cycling up and down with gaining weight, then losing it, then gaining it and losing it.

Is one of the worst things for women with PCOS and it's not gonna help them with managing their symptoms. Learn from me. I had to learn the hard way, but also the science supports this as well. I work with many women that struggle with PCOS in my program, nourished and free as we conquer things like.

Binge eating and feeling stressed out about food and having that overwhelming guilt and shame associated with how you eat and and your weight. And we are able to get them to a place where they have their power back over food and the impacts that this has on their health and their PCOS symptoms is.

Incredible. If you wanna learn more about this program, just go to the show notes and I've got all the information in there for you. And if you don't resonate with those troubles, but you do wanna conquer your PCOS symptoms, be sure you stick around to the end to hear about how you can work with Cory.

What do you think about the, uh, you mentioned, you know, when you get a diagnosis from a doctor and their immediate. You know, quick responses or birth control and lose weight if it's warranted, et cetera. Uh, which I heard all of those too. What about their, their typical diet advice, you know, and your standard everyday doctor that doesn't really look much into the research on this stuff.

They usually say things like, oh, do an anti-inflammatory diet, and then they don't tell you what that is. Or if they do, they say, Gluten free, dairy free, sugar free da, like all the things, right? So, um, yeah. How does that land for you, that type of advice when you work with women that have heard that? 

So here's the thing.

You know so much, so much Dr. Bashing on social media. I'm actually like anti that I have a lot of physicians in my family and, um, here's the problem when we. When we complain about our doctors giving us. Horrible nutrition advice. Guess what? Doctors get one class in nutrition throughout their entire medical schooling, which is, as we know, very extensive and very lengthy, so we, it's kind of unfair to fault them for that.

Not saying that it's not harmful because it is, but they're not trained what they need to be doing instead. And this is what I'm always talking about and I tell my fam, all my family members this do, is they just need to be referring out. They need to have a list of nutrition dieticians who work in specific areas and be able to say, here's this per, oh, you have this condition.

Here's this dietician to help that they need to be. I think all doctors need a list of dieticians that are specialized in this because, um, because they can give incorrect and harmful. Advice, especially with the weight loss piece and these crazy diets that they just, I don't know how some of them come up with these.

I mean, there's obviously a personal bias there a lot of the times. Um, but even if, when women are told to just lose weight, they're not given the right advice or any advice to do that. They're, they're given the incorrect advice, you know? Um, and it's, you know, also the way that our healthcare system is set up, at least here in the US is, you know, doctors are only given like 10, 15 minutes.

With patients, right? That's not enough time to dig into nutrition and lifestyle changes, but that's where we come in. As people that work outside of that, you know, particular appointment, we're able to step in and fill that void. So, you know, it's, it's not. Entirely fair to be criticizing doctors for giving incorrect advice.

They're not trained. That's like me trying to like, walk in like gluing up, scrubbing up, scrubbing into the OR and being like, okay, gonna, you know, perform this, uh, kidney, uh, removal like, I'm not trained in that. So it's okay to, it's okay to say that, and it's okay to say that doctors aren't the experts in nutrition.

That's not a dig, that's the truth. So, um, you know, I think it's just the way that our system is set up. There's not enough time for them to dig in. Instead of, but I, I will say instead of doctors giving out diets like, you do this, do this, do this, what they should be doing is referring out. And most of them are not doing that when they should be.

Some are, but not enough. So I do think there's room for doctors to improve in that capacity, but doctors don't need to become dieticians. That's, you know, that's, they've got other stuff on their minds and they're great and qualified in other areas, and this is where we come in. So I think it's just that referral system that we're missing.

I know, wouldn't it be so beautiful to just have a seamless referral system where, why we just had a great 

relationship. I know, and every time I, I have so many people who, you know, DM me or in my programs and I'm like, oh, my doctor recommended your page. And I'm like, that's badass. Like yes to that. We do need more of that.

I agree. I love that. So, yeah, something that you mentioned too is they can give that advice of like, okay. You need to lose weight to help manage your PCOS and everything. Um, and you know, I was looking up some stats and I, I mean, I didn't look into the, the studies deeply, so I'll be the first to admit that.

But, um, it does seem like in general that PE women with PCOS are more concerned about. Their body weight and body size, which why wouldn't you be when everything you're told about PCOS is that like your weight's the problem, your weight's also the solution. Fix the weight. Fix the weight. Fix the weight.

And so what do you feel like is helpful for women? I'll put it this way, what would be more helpful for women to hear when they struggle with internalizing those messages about body weight and body size? Does that make sense? 

Yeah. You mean if, if they're told something like just loses weight or, yeah.

Yeah. Okay. Um, well here's, here's my spiel on that. Um, We do have research that says that when warranted women with PCOS, and I say when warranted, meaning like if someone has, you know, more adrenal based PCOS and they like are, you know, five foot six and 120 pounds, like this would not apply. But sometimes we do see ovulation and symptoms helped by five to 10% weight reduction.

Weight loss. That's not to say though, that there are plenty of women with PCOS ovulating just fine in a larger body size and there's plenty of women in a smaller body size, not ovulating. So it's not the magic cure, but we, you know, I always go back to that research because for some it can be helpful and let, Hey, if I, if there's a woman who's wanting to get pregnant, that's her number one goal.

She's been trying for four years and we work on that weight management in a safe. Healthy, non-restrictive way, and she gets pregnant, like I'm, I'm proud of that work for her. And it doesn't mean that she has to, you know, eat her body or go on this, you know, journey of like, you know, internalizing all this shame and it, it's, it can be helpful sometimes.

That being said, though, the way that we're taught that is so wrong and that's when. We see women coming out of the doctor's office in tears because they're just told to lose weight, and it puts the blame on them. And that's so not fair. And that's what I really, you know, I, I love to work in this space because I feel like there's such a.

There's so much work to be done in this area, um, in terms of helping women to step out of that guilt and shame mode and to actually like work on being proactive in what they wanna accomplish. So, um, you know, it's, I. It's so multifaceted. I, I guess I don't have one clear answer, but I, I hope anyone that's listening to this and who feels like that applies to them, you know, that, that you're able to get to a place where you can say, I can have a healthy relationship with food and I can still also pursue X, Y, and Z health goals, um, in a way that makes 

sense for me.

Mm-hmm. I love that it is so multifaceted and it's so nuanced and it's, it's tough because there's like the diet culture side of things where it's like just lose weight by never eating for seven days the way 

to go about it, guys. Yeah. 

Not helpful. And then you hate your body and you gain all the way back and you hate yourself more.

But then there's also this flip side that's really interesting that I'm sure you've noticed where it's like, just never talk about weight, just pretend like it's not a thing ever. Mm-hmm. And um, and I think, you know, it comes from a good place of wanting people to focus on things other than weight. Right?

But, um, but there's still data, right? And so it's, you know, we don't need to sugarcoat things so we can be realistic about like, well, this may help and so let's help you do that, right? In a safe way, um, in a way. Yeah. Yeah. In a way that feels good. Exactly. Yeah. It's a tricky subject for sure. 

It is. Oh my gosh.

It is. But that's why I love working in the, in the space that I do, because there's so much out there that is so shaming and is so there's weight loss in the right way, like. In a way that, and that's really what I gear my programs towards, and there's weight loss in a way that's harmful. So I actually love working in weight loss because I love to show women the other side.

They don't have to go through all of the horrible messaging, the restriction, the like calorie, the, I just, I love to work on the side. That, that feels good, that, that feels, that feels good for me just having gone through it. Yeah. With it and, and pursuing it the wrong way many times. 

Yeah. Oh, we all have That's true now.

Yeah. Yeah. 

So 

I think that's good there. There's a lot of, you know, communities that would like to never talk about weight loss, but I think it's so wonderful that you're like, You know what, actually I am gonna talk about it because I want to be a light in that community. I want to do the right thing in that community, and I love that.

That's good. I'm curious, I, I was saying some reports, I don't know if you've seen the same too, but that women with PCOS are four times more likely to have disordered eating or eating disorders than somebody without. Mm-hmm. Um, So, yeah, I would love to hear your, your thoughts on that and what type of diet advice it is that women with PCOS are getting.

And maybe it's a chicken before the egg type of thing where we don't really know what's coming first, but what kind of advice do you think is fueling perhaps that disordered eating behavior, um, or disordered eating behaviors with women with 

PCOS? That's a really good question. Um, and that's one I, I haven't like fully thought through, but I'm just gonna.

Go for it. Um, love it. 

Yeah. Give us your, your expert opinion. 

Yeah. I think that there's so many things at play. I think number one is that women of PCOS a lot of times experience this like rapid weight gain and we don't know where it's coming from. So I think that is that just confusing part, like we can't look back and be like, Oh yeah, I actually, um, I decided that I was going to eat four times the amount that I'm expending calorie-wise, and that's what caused that.

Like, we don't know all, it just, it creeps up or it just happens out of nowhere and it's, there's all that hormonal, you know, contribution impacting that. So. That then leads to that guilt and shame piece and with all of, of course our current society, and it's been this way for a while, you know, this fat phobic, you know, thin is, is best kind of society.

A couple with diet culture, coupled with the fact that we are so in the dark about what's happening in our bodies, why this is happening to us, coupled with the guilt and the shame, I think it just creates this, this big. Cloud of, um, of, of, of the reason why that stat exists. And I think also because women with PCOS are so vulnerable and susceptible to weight gain because of the hormonal issues, because of all of the p c, everything that's included in PCOS, um, we struggle more.

We just struggle more with weight. So I think that naturally lends itself to an, an increased incidence in eating disordered and disordered eating behaviors. Um, That's my theory. I can't say, I can point to one research article to say, look at this, but that's my theory, just kind of working in this 

space.

Yeah, I'd agree with 

that too. Just, oh, and also, yes. Sorry, one more thing too. With PCOS, so much misinformation exists about foods you have to eliminate. Mm-hmm. This, oh my gosh. Lends itself perfectly to disorder eating because it's the restriction mentality. I was just talking on a podcast, um, to somebody who we were talking about the difference between physical and mental restriction.

Yeah. And how both can lead to binge behavior. And I was like, wow, I never even thought of it like that. Yeah. You think about physical restriction, right? Like I'm. I'm gonna, you know, I, I see the pizza over there and I'm gonna throw it in the trash and I'm gonna, yeah. But the mental restriction, women at PCOS constantly think we have to avoid gluten, dairy, soy, sugar, carbs.

That is who else says that about themselves? Like, I don't know any other health condition where so many things are off the table. So we are. Inundated constantly with all of this messaging that we can't have, we can't eat like normal people. So this automatically like, duh, like leads to disordered eating because all of a sudden we were like, okay, well we have, uh, basically grass left on our menu and now we're gonna go out in the field and munch down like cows.

You know, like, what else do we have to eat? And no, there's nothing fun there. Like, I wanna eat fun stuff sometimes. So. I think that that lends itself perfectly to disordered eating. And I really, I really hate that about this condition. And I, I, I really try to speak up a lot on my page about that, and everyone always cracks up because they're like, oh, don't get her started.

But it, it's so damaging and I really, we just don't have the research to support that. Um, and there's big PCOS accounts that preach that without any scientific evidence, and it just drives me bonkers because it does do women with PCOS such a disservice. We can eat the same way as everybody else with some minor tweaks, but nothing is off limits.

Nothing's off the 

table. A hundred percent. I love that you brought that up. The, the mental and physical restriction is something I share with my clients too. It's like the physical restriction versus the mental restraint. And even though you might be eating the pizza, if you've got this narrative in your mind of like, oh, I shouldn't be eating this though.

I shouldn't be doing this. I feel so bad. I feel so guilty. It's just like, It's not good. 

Gosh, I would love for us to, on my podcast talk more about that because Oh, for sure. It's so important to know. Yeah, yeah, 

absolutely. Well, I wanna be respectful of your time. I think I'll end with just one last question for you.

Um, because we didn't really talk much about this and I know there's a lot of women out there who are struggling to get pregnant with PCOS, and that's obviously so challenging and like so much love to all the women out there who are going through that and just know that you're not alone. There's. I mean, how many women struggle with infertility?

It's a lot. 

One in eight, I believe is the one in eight. I was just thinking, I'm sorry, thinking of the miscarriage one in 

eight. So I know there's a lot of women out there who are like, I just wanna get pregnant. You know, like, I don't really care about the rest. I just want a baby in my arms. Mm-hmm. Um, what would you say to those women in, in terms of like, First steps, you know?

Ah, great question. Um, so number one, so the, the number one reason why PCOS is the leading cause of infertility is because most of us, um, not all, some women with PCOS have regular periods and they ovulate plain. But most women with PCOS are ovulating, irregularly, um, or not at all. And ovulation is.

Essential to get pregnant. You cannot get pregnant without ovulating. So that's the problem. So we really wanna understand if you are not ovulating, At least on a, on a semi consistent basis, um, we wanna know what's causing that. And knowledge is always power when we're talking about this. So first step would be to understand why you are not ovulating, and I always go back to get that lab work done.

Understand what your levels are because if your testosterone is too high, um, if your insulin is going crazy, if your A1C is really high, if your estrogen is low, and that, that's not something we see super commonly in PCOS, but I'm just throwing things out there. Um, Then, then we are, we are given clues because those are things we can work on and address to get you ovulating again.

So those clues, you know, once we put them together, we can kind of piece together that story as far as what your clinical profile looks like and what, what are, what are the areas to optimize. So if your testosterone's high, if your vitamin D is low, Let's work on those two things. Let's get you on a high quality Vitamin D supplement, especially in the wintertime.

Um, if your testosterone is high, let's get you on an androgen blocker supplement. Let's get you doing experiment t let's get you working on blood sugar regulation regardless of anything. Um, but all of those things can help to pave the path to ovulation. So lab work is helping you understand. Expand, um, what's high, what's low, what's abnormal lab wise, and where we can go from there.

But regardless of anything, you can always kind of as a second thing work on your diet and nutrition because everybody with any kind of hormonal issue, I would say all women, but. Anyone who's struggling with any kind of hormonal issue, your blood sugar is directly tied to your hormones. What I mean by blood sugar and that this doesn't mean that you're diabetic, and this applies to people even who don't have insulin resistance.

Your blood sugar needs to be stable throughout the day and the way that our current food climate is set up, you know, it's a little bit processed, kind of hate that word, but I'm just gonna use it. Carb fast food, you know, convenient food. Heavy and not so big on the fiber, um, and the healthy fats and, and not enough protein.

A lot of people, um, you know, especially if you're a vegetarian or vegan, we're, we're just not prioritizing that protein piece. These things are what stabilize our blood sugar. You still definitely need carbs and there's still room for sugar and treats and dessert, but we really wanna focus on that blood sugar regulation piece.

So honing in on your diet, making sure you're including a ton of fiber, protein, and healthy fats, and you're moderately eliminating, uh, Moderately limiting your carbs, um, and paying attention to how you're consuming those carbs, right? So instead of a big pasta, Dinner at an Italian restaurant with breadsticks to start.

Um, and no protein in the pasta, no veggies. Maybe you have like a, a, you know, fettuccini Alfredo or something. Um, instead of that meal, you might want to add protein and veggies, add some chicken and some veggies to that pasta. Make sure you're doing a lot of the veggies and the protein. And maybe eating a little bit less of that pasta that's gonna help your blood sugar be a lot happier with you.

Um, movement lot, most of us when I, you know, anytime I were to interview like a, a potential client, a lot of us don't have a consistent movement routine and, um, that's nothing to be ashamed of. I. Definitely been there, but it's so important to just get in some movement that you love because that helps to stabilize blood sugar, it helps bring your stress levels down, your adrenals.

Love that. You do not have to become an Olympic athlete. What I mean by movement is even a walk outside listening to a podcast, you know, the sun on your skin, listening to the bird's chirp like that is so how lovely to do that on a consistent basis. Um, to do some strength training that you enjoy or even if you love cardio, to do some, you know, light jogging.

But movement is so important and, you know, humans, were not meant to just be sedentary all day long, and that's what a lot of us do right with our jobs. So get some movement in. And the last piece, um, the two last pieces is get on a supplement protocol that is supportive of what your goals are. High quality prenatal.

Um, go from your lab work, right? If your, if your testosterone's high, you can get on an androgen supplement. You could do some ovasitol or blood sugar balancing, um, supplements. You could work on your stress and do like some nice yummy adaptogens before bed and magnesium to help that sleep out. So supplements are supportive.

They can be really helpful. Um, they're not, the only thing though, it's so funny, every time I post on like, Instagram, if I have like five suggestions for PCOS and one of them is a supplement, I swear to God I get 200 comments about the supplement. Nothing else. So supplements are one piece of the puzzle.

They're not gonna fix your life. You cannot out, out supplement, um, a bad, you know, a non-supportive diet. So last piece is stress. Stress is so huge and it's such a trigger for so many hormonal issues, right? When our body is stressed, it's not saying, oh, prioritize having a baby. It's, it's saying, no, prioritizing.

You know, let's prioritize. Keeping the blood pumping through our bodies, right? Keeping you breathing. So it's really not going to be supportive of fertility. And when our cortisol is dysregulated, which is our stress hormone, um, it's, it can create a cascade of issues when it comes to your hormones. So prioritize stress reduction, get a solid self-care routine.

I know that's so much easier said than done, and I, this is the number one thing I struggle with, and it's a constant battle. Like I, I really have to keep that top of mind for myself. So, um, if that's, you definitely prioritize that because there's nothing that stress reduction is going to harm. It can. Can only help your fertility journey.

Um, and this, you know, can kind of apply to all women. But, um, I guess, we'll, okay, I lied. I have one more. Um, cycle tracking. If you have irregular periods and you're trying, actually, I love this. Even if you're not trying to conceive, start tracking your cycles. And what I mean when I say that is not just like writing down the day your period starts or you're spotting.

Get a BBT thermometer and A B B T stands full stands for basal body temperature thermometer. A BBT thermometer will tell you when you ovulate, so you can say, oh good, okay. I did that this cycle. What was I up to this, this month that was supportive of that? I'm gonna keep doing that. Or if you don't ovulate.

Ooh, okay. Red flag. I gotta, I gotta work on my PCOS. And that will also help you to detect patterns. Um, if you use something like an O pk, which is an ovulation and predictor kit, you can try to pinpoint when you're going to ovulate, and then you can confirm it with A B B T, and you can know when to take a pregnancy test so you're not just like floating out there like, okay, am I.

Am I pregnant or should I take a test? And then you set yourself up for disappointment, right? So if you're tracking your cycle, you know exactly what's going on in your cycle and you can act accordingly. So I hope that's helpful as like some starting points. Um, if you're trying to conceive and you have PCOS and pregnancy is possible, but it might be a little harder, it might be a little bit longer of a process for us, and that's okay.

There's lots to learn within that process. That's so helpful, 

Cory. Thank you for sharing all that. And I'm really excited for the women out there who are struggling with PCOS to hear this podcast. And I just feel like if anybody listens to this with PCOS, they're gonna feel hope about what they're going through, you know?

So thank you for your time and let the listeners know how they can work with you and what you're up to. 

Sure. Yeah. So I'm, um, I'm on. Instagram at the women's dietician and my website's the same, you know, dot com, the women's dietician.com. TikTok, same thing. I've just started a YouTube channel, so same thing.

Um, and then I have a supplement line via the PCOS, which is attached to my website with a bunch of PCOS supportive supplements. Um, I run PCOS programs, so I don't see women one-on-one anymore. Um, and I have, I'll be reopening my PCOS Boss Academy and my get pregnant with PCOS programs this summer.

So, um, that's, that's how I work with women and those are just my, my babies. I love those programs so much. So I'll be reopening those, um, shortly. 

Yeah, keep an eye out for those and you have to follow her. She has the best Starbucks stoops recipes, and they're so good. I'm drinking my Starbucks right now, 

actually.

My son. 

I, I always love your little like practical life hacks, you know, for, for PCOS management and also you are quite the chef. Yeah, 

I, well, yeah, I worked in, um, kitchens for many, many years, so I love to cook. Yeah. Yeah. 

Every day, like every time you post, I feel like you post on your story every day what you're eating, which I love.

Yeah. Cause I'm always like, that looks so beautiful. 

I take a picture. It's pretty. Yeah. Yeah. That's fair 

man. Thank you so much for your time, Cory, and all the best to you and your future business endeavors. 

Awesome. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.