In this week's episode of the Endo Belly Girl Podcast, we're thrilled to have Aditi Guha, a PCOS nutritionist, joining us. We'll be delving into the world of PCOS - what it is, how it affects your hormones and fertility, and most importantly, how to tackle it. Aditi's expertise lies in identifying the root causes of PCOS and helping women overcome its challenges. She's dedicated to teaching her clients how to understand and address their hormone imbalances effectively.
Though Aditi specializes in PCOS, she herself battles endometriosis. I wanted her to join the show because many women grapple with both PCOS and endometriosis, and I knew she'd offer valuable insights to our discussion.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
-Dive into what Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is and how it manifests through symptoms such as irregular periods, excess hair growth, acne, and how these signs can vary from person to person.
-A breakdown of the root causes behind PCOS from insulin resistance to hormonal imbalances, and how these factors are contributing to this complex condition.
-The similarities and differences of PCOS and endometriosis by shedding light on their unique characteristics.
-How PCOS and endometriosis can impact fertility and reproductive health,the challenges they pose and the treatment options available for those trying to conceive.
-The reason why women with PCOS are not losing weight, and discuss strategies for achieving weight management goals.
-Hormone imbalances are complex, and they're not about assigning blame but understanding underlying factors, such as the role of genetics, environment, and other contributors to hormonal dysregulation.
-The importance of compassion and patience on your journey to better health, and how it might be tempting to listen to the influence of others on social media.
If you're dealing with both PCOS and endometriosis, this episode is packed full of practical tips and valuable insights. From understanding the root causes of these conditions to navigating their impact on fertility and weight management, we've got you covered. Tune in to learn how to effectively manage your symptoms and achieve your health goals with compassion and patience.
Connect w/ Aditi:
Visit her website
Instagram: @pcos.nutritionist.weightloss
Take the free quiz
Subscribe to The Endo Belly Girl Podcast:
Apple | Spotify
Connect w/ Alyssa:
Work w/ Alyssa:
Learn more about Alyssa
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only. This may not be the best fit for you and your personal situation. It shall not be construed as medical advice. The information and education provided here is not intended or implied to supplement or replace professional medical treatment, advice, and/or diagnosis. Always check with your own physician or medical professional before trying or implementing any information read here.
In this week's episode of the Endo Belly Girl Podcast, we're thrilled to have Aditi Guha, a PCOS nutritionist, joining us. We'll be delving into the world of PCOS - what it is, how it affects your hormones and fertility, and most importantly, how to tackle it. Aditi's expertise lies in identifying the root causes of PCOS and helping women overcome its challenges. She's dedicated to teaching her clients how to understand and address their hormone imbalances effectively.
Though Aditi specializes in PCOS, she herself battles endometriosis. I wanted her to join the show because many women grapple with both PCOS and endometriosis, and I knew she'd offer valuable insights to our discussion.
In this episode, you’ll hear:
-Dive into what Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is and how it manifests through symptoms such as irregular periods, excess hair growth, acne, and how these signs can vary from person to person.
-A breakdown of the root causes behind PCOS from insulin resistance to hormonal imbalances, and how these factors are contributing to this complex condition.
-The similarities and differences of PCOS and endometriosis by shedding light on their unique characteristics.
-How PCOS and endometriosis can impact fertility and reproductive health,the challenges they pose and the treatment options available for those trying to conceive.
-The reason why women with PCOS are not losing weight, and discuss strategies for achieving weight management goals.
-Hormone imbalances are complex, and they're not about assigning blame but understanding underlying factors, such as the role of genetics, environment, and other contributors to hormonal dysregulation.
-The importance of compassion and patience on your journey to better health, and how it might be tempting to listen to the influence of others on social media.
If you're dealing with both PCOS and endometriosis, this episode is packed full of practical tips and valuable insights. From understanding the root causes of these conditions to navigating their impact on fertility and weight management, we've got you covered. Tune in to learn how to effectively manage your symptoms and achieve your health goals with compassion and patience.
Connect w/ Aditi:
Visit her website
Instagram: @pcos.nutritionist.weightloss
Take the free quiz
Subscribe to The Endo Belly Girl Podcast:
Apple | Spotify
Connect w/ Alyssa:
Work w/ Alyssa:
Learn more about Alyssa
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only. This may not be the best fit for you and your personal situation. It shall not be construed as medical advice. The information and education provided here is not intended or implied to supplement or replace professional medical treatment, advice, and/or diagnosis. Always check with your own physician or medical professional before trying or implementing any information read here.
Alyssa Chavez [00:00:00]:
Hello my friends, and welcome back to the Endobelly Girl podcast. I have a special guest on for you all today. Her name is Adidi Guha and she is a certified nutritionist and the creator of the PCOS Transformation Academy. She has helped hundreds of women with pcos manage their weight, restore their fertility, and balance their hormones through cause analysis and an evidence based approach. Her unique method is inspired by her own health journey, which led her to discover how nutrition plays a key role in the connection between weight and hormones. She believes that no two bodies are alike and provides personally tailored meal protocols and guidelines for each of her clients. Adidi is also a sought after speaker who has shared her expertise with corporations such as Unilever and Google. Now you might be wondering, because this is the Endobelly Girl podcast and we really focus on endometriosis, why I am interviewing somebody who works with women with pcos, and I have a couple of wonderful reasons for that.
Alyssa Chavez [00:01:08]:
Number one is that there are actually a lot of women out there who have both endometriosis and pcos. There's a lot of women who have multiple diagnoses that they are struggling with. So there may be women listening to this who have endometriosis but also have pcos and aren't really sure how to balance the two. There might be people who just have questions thinking, you know what, I'm not sure. Maybe I have one or the other, or both. And I'm not really sure the difference in symptoms because there definitely is some crossover in that. So I definitely wanted to have a conversation around pcos just for that reason, because I know it can be helpful for so many people. And the other reason is that Adidi herself also has endometriosis.
Alyssa Chavez [00:01:53]:
So she struggled with her own health journey and fertility journey, which I'll let her tell you more about, but ended up discovering along the way that she actually has endometriosis herself and had quite an extensive surgery in the mix amongst everything else that was going on. So she knows a lot about both topics. So even though she might specialize in her practice in pcos, she actually has personal experience with endometriosis as well. So if you don't have pcos and you're thinking that maybe this conversation doesn't apply to you, surprise. We are going to be talking about endometriosis as well. We're going to weave all of that into the conversation today. So I know you all will enjoy it. I know you will all get something out of it, some little nugget of information she dropped so much wonderful information into this episode, so I hope you all enjoy, and I will let Aditi take it away.
Alyssa Chavez [00:02:52]:
All right, well, welcome, Aditi, to the show. We are so excited to have you on here today. I know you have so much information to share and kind of a different perspective on things, so I know we have a lot to dig into. I'm super excited.
Aditi Guha [00:03:07]:
Me too. And thank you for having me on the show. I'm so, so good, good.
Alyssa Chavez [00:03:12]:
Wonderful having you here. So I was wondering if you could start us off, Adidi, by just kind of digging in and telling us a little bit about you and your story, what it is that you do and how you came to be doing it, and kind of just your journey so far so we can get to know you a little bit.
Aditi Guha [00:03:32]:
Okay. This can get really long. That's all right. So that long, long time ago. I was born in August. It was at 03:00 p.m. This is a hot, humid day. No, we're not going that far.
Aditi Guha [00:03:53]:
Okay. So I think there are many, many back stories here, but for everybody who don't know me, I'm adity, and I am actually a PCOS nutritionist. I'm a mom of a 16 month old, and I'm currently pregnant with my second child as we are doing this interview, so exciting things on a personal actually, this is actually my fourth continent, United States. North America is my fourth continent. I have lived in the past in three different where I have had a bank account and a PO box, as well as a. So that's a little bit about me when it comes to what I do and how I came to be who I am. I think that there are different things I could say, but let's jump to what is most relevant to the people who are listening to me. So when I dived into nutrition and I decided to become a nutritionist, I actually started out as a corporate nutritionist.
Aditi Guha [00:05:00]:
And I would run challenges, like group programs for vitality that many corporates have for their employee well being. And I used to run that for some of them. And I would do workshops with them, or I would do. What was most popular was my challenges. It used to look into nutrition, emotion, activity, and rest. So it was very holistic in nature, and people were getting great results, like, they were doing really well except for a group of women. Okay. And when I started looking into them, they all had the same thing.
Aditi Guha [00:05:41]:
It was known as polycystic ovarian syndrome, or PCos. And my first reaction was, I'm not going to work with them. That was my first reaction, okay, I'm being honest here. I was like, I am not working with them. These are the group of women who don't get any results. They are ruining my statistics. Okay? That is like my first knee jerk reaction to the whole situation. Because people were like, the men were losing weight, other women were also losing weight.
Aditi Guha [00:06:15]:
It used to be a four week program, and we would have amazing results, but it was startling that this group of women were just not getting them. And I'm like, no. So one day I was telling my husband about how great my program is and how I'm not able to track this group of women, and also I plan to not recruit them or make sure the HR does not give me any more. And my husband said, oh, well, if you are this good, then you should be able to help them as well. And that is where I said, okay, you know what? I need to understand what is going on with women with PCos. And I started doing one on one programs with them. And as I dived deeper into understanding them, their hormones, and everything that was happening, I was, like, mind blown that it was a completely different, it was very different approach needed to be adapted to solve for this. But I was hooked because it was, know, you get to be a Sherlock Holmes, you're collecting clues the whole way, and you figure, like, okay, how do you crack this case? Because every case was very unique.
Aditi Guha [00:07:33]:
Every PCOS woman is very unique. And I got so hooked and interested, and I fell in love with them. I think some of the best people in the world I have come to work with as a PCOS nutritionist that I decided that I'm going to just become a PCOS nutritionist.
Alyssa Chavez [00:07:55]:
That's very cool. Yeah, it is. It's a very unique population in that because for many people, the typical things you think of when it comes to weight loss in particular may be true. Okay? You exercise, you follow this nutrition plan, you manage your stress. All these things may work really well, but for certain people who have more underlying things going on, for sure, pcos, and it's definitely very true of endometriosis. And that's really a lot of what we're going to talk about today, is kind of the similarities and differences between the two. Of course, there's a lot of overlap as well. I know a lot of women who have both endometriosis and pcos just to keep life exciting.
Alyssa Chavez [00:08:40]:
I love that journey, and I'm very much the same way. When there is some sort of challenge that pops up, it's like, oh, okay, well, let me figure out how we can help this group of people. So I think that that is very cool. So I know that you help, particularly women who have pcos, but you actually have endometriosis yourself. Right. Can you talk to us a little bit about that journey and what that's been like for you?
Aditi Guha [00:09:06]:
So it was very interesting for me because I was undiagnosed till I was 37, very late. And when I did get diagnosed, I think I was a bit surprised because I did not have the kind of period pain that is normally associated with women with PCos. The reason it came to light is because I had to do a routine test of my fallopian tubes, and that's when they found that it was damaged. And generally, it is damaged either if you have had stds or endometriosis.
Alyssa Chavez [00:09:49]:
Right.
Aditi Guha [00:09:50]:
I know that my spring breaks were not that exciting, so I know that I ended up, unfortunately. And, of course, the diagnosis of endometriosis is pretty hard. You go off symptoms, but it's not always that it gets detected on an ultrasound. The most definite way of diagnosing it is actually opening you up like a laparoscopy is one of the most telling things. But luckily, fortunately for me, because my fallopian tube was damaged, I moved into ivs. I mean, that was the only way I could conceive. And so they said that once your egg retrieval is done, we will then remove the fallopian tube. During the cycle, they saw endometriosis on my ovary, which is very rare.
Aditi Guha [00:10:41]:
Then I was sent for an MRI, where it was confirmed that I have pelvic endometriosis. A lot of endometriosis, especially in my pelvic. Yeah. So that was how it got diagnosed. Just like that. If I never decided, I could have lived with it without knowing that I had it.
Alyssa Chavez [00:11:02]:
Sure. Yeah. And that's true for so many people.
Aditi Guha [00:11:05]:
Oh, my God, it is so true.
Alyssa Chavez [00:11:07]:
The average these days is between seven to ten years to receive a diagnosis. And I think for so many people, it's even longer than that, because, yes.
Aditi Guha [00:11:18]:
They said that the average is ten years. And on an average, you need to see three different doctors before period, because many times your symptoms are either considered too normal, like period pain, or sometimes they are thought to be psychological, like pain during sex. So a lot of women don't get the kind. They don't get the diagnosis for a really long time. And I know for a fact, for many people that I have worked with and interacted, that it really deteriorates their quality of life, living with the pain.
Alyssa Chavez [00:11:56]:
Yes, absolutely. Now, of course, I think probably most of the people listening to this podcast are relatively familiar with endometriosis. If you've come across this podcast, at least probably have some idea of what that's all about. PCOS, though, may be something that less people are familiar with, even if maybe we see some symptoms but aren't really sure what that is, or we've heard little bits about it. And of course, like I mentioned before, there can be a lot of crossover. There's a lot of people out there who have multiple diagnoses where, okay, I have endometriosis and then find out later, oh, but I also have pcos, or vice versa. And I know also, and this is something I hear all the time, that there can be a lot of confusion between the two. So I know this was actually something that even came up for me when I was first trying to figure out what in the world was going on in my body.
Alyssa Chavez [00:12:48]:
I was spending time on Dr. Ghoul, as so many people do, trying to figure out what my symptoms were telling me, and I was very confused as to, okay, do I have endometriosis? Do I have pcos? Do I have something completely different? Because some of the symptoms can be very similar, but then, of course, there are some differences as well. Okay, I was wondering if you could start out by just talking to us a little bit about what PCos is. Let's give a kind of basic framework to begin with, and then let's dig into a little bit about that, just some of those commonalities, as well as differences between endo and pcos.
Aditi Guha [00:13:25]:
So, pcos, the name suggests that it's polycystic ovarian syndrome. Generally, the diagnosis of pcos would happen, interestingly, through process of elimination, because there are so many things that could explain some part of it. But finally, the practitioners and all the important people in healthcare have agreed that you need to fulfill two out of three criteria to be actually diagnosed with pcos. One is either you are an ovolution, which is that means you're not ovulating, or you don't get period regularly. So say your period, maybe out of twelve months, eight months, you don't get period. And when we say the frequency could be as less as you're getting it, less than 21 days, like the cycle is very irregular, or more than 40 days. So this is a sign that you're probably not ovulating, you have got irregular period. That's number one.
Aditi Guha [00:14:28]:
Number two is you have high testosterone, that is male hormone. It could be free, or it could be the total testosterone level that is really high. And number three now has been settled to either seeing an ultrasound where you have, you can see what is known, what are called which, something that looks like cysts on your ovaries, or you have very high amh level. Women with pcos have three to four folds more higher amh for their age range than a woman without pcos. That is irrespective of the bmi. And it continues to be high even during menopause. So as long as you have two out of three of this criteria, the diagnosis is that you have pcos. They are not saying that you have to always do an ultrasound.
Aditi Guha [00:15:23]:
You can also conclude it through the AMH. That is why. Or in the third point. So that's how PCOS is usually diagnosed. Now, when we look at what is now, both of them, of course, have some common conditions that are affecting women, both endometriosis and pcos. And like you have mentioned, some women actually have both of them, which basically makes it really hard to understand what is going on with my body. So if I have to look at the key differences and similarities, so we know that both can affect. The similarities are that both can affect your fertility.
Aditi Guha [00:16:04]:
Though the mechanism will differ, then both can be influenced by hormonal imbalance like estrogen and progesterone. Again, heavy bleeding could be very common to both. Gut issues are common. Again, the kind of gut issues both will have is different. But gut issues is a kind of thing that we know that both parties have. I would say weight gain is a symptom for both of them. It's not the cause, but the symptom for both of them. Okay, guys.
Aditi Guha [00:16:41]:
And lastly, both of this can be managed through lifestyle and dietary modification. So this is the similarities that we know of for both endometriosis and pcos. Now, when we look at the differences, if I have to put it in one word, let's not over confuse each other. We can keep doing jargons and everything. I would say pain. The most differentiating factor would be pain. For me, pain is not a symptom of pcos. So if you have pcos and you're watching this, you're listening to this podcast, and you're like, oh, my God, I get pain.
Aditi Guha [00:17:25]:
Let me tell you that it is something else happening. It's definitely not PCos, but pain is something that we know is very strongly associated with endometriosis, where it could be a period pain, it could be painful, sex. It could be pelvic pain. It could be lower back pain, pain during urination. So all the pain is more associated with endometriosis. PCos will have other symptoms, like acne, which is where you gain, like, facial hair or hair in unwanted places, and you start losing hair where you want them. And of course, cysts in the ovaries and higher amh count that I'm just talking about. But that would be the differences.
Alyssa Chavez [00:18:06]:
Cool.
Alyssa Chavez [00:18:07]:
Yeah.
Alyssa Chavez [00:18:07]:
Thank you for clarifying that. And I definitely love how you're emphasizing the fact that weight gain is a symptom, not the cause, because I know.
Alyssa Chavez [00:18:16]:
That'S something that we're told all the.
Alyssa Chavez [00:18:18]:
Time, even in doctor's offices, right, where it's like, oh, we'll just lose weight and you'll be healthier. Well, sure, that would be lovely, but that's not why you're experiencing these symptoms.
Aditi Guha [00:18:32]:
It is true, because I think, like, I don't know, to some extent is a judgment when you see somebody. I feel it's an extension of that shaming, where you see somebody who is overweight or something and you think that they must be lazy, like you have decided for them that they are lazy, and therefore all these problems are coming to their life, and it can be solved that they lose the weight. Yesterday, one of my clients was sharing that. She went to a doctor's office, and the doctor's office, somebody said that, oh, you know what? You should have 500 calorie food. Yeah. Cucumber. And that's it. And then you'll be fine.
Alyssa Chavez [00:19:18]:
Wow.
Aditi Guha [00:19:19]:
And she was like, what?
Alyssa Chavez [00:19:23]:
Goodness. Yeah. And you know what? Especially when it comes to weight and body image and all of that is just such a touchy topic for so many people. I mean, I know very few people in my life in general, and women in particular, who truly feel good about their bodies. I mean, I feel like a large percent of the population wants to lose weight for one reason or another. They're not happy with their bodies. They're feeling maybe that body shaming from society. They're feeling pressured to be beautiful, whatever it is.
Alyssa Chavez [00:20:01]:
Like you said, those societal ideas of what it means if you are overweight. Right. Where we know that there's, first of all, there's so much more to health than just the number on the scale. That's, at the end of the day, not an indicator of overall health in general anyway, but also that there's so much more to think about. Right. Especially if you have a condition like PCOS or endometriosis or all of the above or whatever is going on in your body, that, okay, sure, you might want to lose weight, and there's nothing wrong with wanting to, right? If that's your goal and you have this idea in your mind, but just that there's a lot more underneath that, right. And that certainly losing weight isn't going to resolve all of your problems. Right?
Aditi Guha [00:20:48]:
Yes, true. And also, I think lack of compassion or believability. I think that a lot of people, if you ever always thought that what your patient is saying is right and 100% true, I think many people would think out of the box, right. Like, if I tell you I am eating less and I'm working out more, but I'm not losing weight, and you choose to believe me for once, then maybe you'll think something else, you'll give me a different advice. You will probably go out of box, but if you hear me and you're like, no, I don't trust you because the scale did not move probably thing, then there is a problem.
Alyssa Chavez [00:21:45]:
1000%. Yeah, I would love to dive into that, though, a little bit more, just because I know that you spend a lot of time working with your clients and your programs on that stuff, because you do focus a lot on helping women with PCOS with weight loss, because of what you were talking about earlier, about how you noticed that this population was really struggling with that. So I was wondering if you can touch base on that a little bit more and just talk a little bit about, first of all, why weight loss can be such a struggle for women with PCos. Because I think it can be helpful for people just to hear, oh, maybe there's actually a reason. It's not because I'm lazy or I'm not doing all the things that I've been told to do and also what sort of strategies that you use to help to support people who might be struggling with that.
Aditi Guha [00:22:31]:
Absolutely. Now, losing weight with PCOS can really feel like an uphill task, and often it is because people are. Because one is focusing on the wrong things. It may sound very unpopular, but I'm going to tell you the three reasons that women with PCOS find it very hard to lose weight. Number one, focusing on weight loss, that is actually the biggest reason they don't lose weight. And that is because weight is a symptom of PCOS. So when people work with me one on one, I, on an average track 63 different symptoms, and weight gain is one of them. Basically, when women have pcos, there's six different root causes, namely insulin resistance, inflammation, poor gut health, excess androgen, and slow thyroid and adrenal fatigue.
Aditi Guha [00:23:31]:
So these are the six root causes. And 95% women actually have two or more of the root causes. So only when you solve for these root causes, or what I like to say are hormones that are out of whack in your system, will you be able to lose weight. It's like you are basically building a house without a blueprint. You don't know where the sink should be, where the plumbing is, where the electrical lines are. And now you're just making a house just because that's what. Okay, I'm just copying the blueprint of my neighbor's house, but they may have the plumbing line in a different location, and this is going to be a mess. You're going to spend a lot of money, you're going to spend a lot of effort, but you're not going to see the result.
Aditi Guha [00:24:21]:
The number two reason, treating number two reason why people with women with PCOS find it very hard to lose weight. Because we are told that losing weight with PCOS is the same as losing weight without PCOS.
Alyssa Chavez [00:24:36]:
Right.
Aditi Guha [00:24:38]:
That's one of the biggest lies. And that's why you see your husband, your best friend, that girl at work who basically went on keto, if low carb all of these fancy diets and had success. So you feel very tempted when you try them. Of course, it will give you brief success, but it doesn't work. It doesn't last. Either. You basically gain the weight back or you plateau and you get really frustrated because you don't see the result like they are seeing. So that's the number two reason.
Aditi Guha [00:25:14]:
And the number three reason might seem like an extension of the number two. But getting advice from someone who is not specialized in PCos, okay, this is not what I'm saying. For my own good, let's face it, it is a lot of hormones that you have to keep in check. So, for example, let me give you an example of a client who came to me. She has pcos, okay? And her a one C-H-B-A one c is 6.3. That makes her pre diabetic. She went to a normal night nutritionist. Now, when you see somebody who has 6.3, she was very tempted to put her on a low carb diet.
Aditi Guha [00:25:59]:
However, if she was trained in PCos, she would know that women with pcos actually have a bad gut health. They have what we call gut dysbiosis. They have way more bad gut bacteria than good. So the moment she went on a low carb diet, her gut went crazy, it worsened, she started getting acid reflux. Second thing is, thyroid is a big thing with people with PCos. And when you go on low carb, your t three to t four, conversion slows down. And we know that thyroid is our metabolism hormone. It is the reason that help us lose weight.
Aditi Guha [00:26:43]:
So when you have these two things started happening to her. She was just following the diet and she was not losing weight. She was getting acidity. She was constantly constipated, and she felt like the weight loss was just fluctuating. It would keep coming, going down and come back. Now, that's because if you don't specialize in this, you are not going to keep your eyes open for all the other things that can go off balance in this kind of situation. And eventually, she actually gained more weight than she had when she went to work with this person. These are the three reasons where I feel like why losing weight with pcos becomes even harder than it should be for most women.
Aditi Guha [00:27:32]:
Now, the strategy I use inside my one on one program is the five r approach. The first thing we do is the first r stands for root cause. We identify which hormone is out of whack, which hormone is the ringmaster, and commanding the other hormones to go crazy. The next thing we look at is the repair. Now, when you have hormonal imbalances, you also have deficiencies, which needs to be repaired, or your gut might, like I said, is poor. We need to repair that because we are not what we eat, we are what we digest. You can eat the best food, you can eat all the nutritious food, all the salads in the world, but if you're not digesting it, it is somewhere like rambling around. So what is the point? So there's no point unless we repair the damage done.
Aditi Guha [00:28:29]:
The number three then comes is retinish, which is about nutrition. That actually repairs, that actually addresses the root cause. And you eat in a way that supports your hormones than fighting it. Then number four is reset. And this is more mindset. Women with pcos who end up working with me, on an average, have ten years of dieting. They have been on some diet for ten years at least. They don't have the best relationship with food.
Aditi Guha [00:29:02]:
And believe it or not, the most challenging thing is not that in the diet or what I give them and when I work with them is basically making them eat, is making them eat more than 1200 calories, eat fat, eat protein, like eat food. They're like, really? Am I supposed to eat? It has been so difficult for them to wrap their head, because the conditioning for such a long time has been deprivation. It's almost like you were punished. You are punished for having this. This is your penance. No food. And so the resetting, the mindset is so important. Improving the food psychology is so important.
Aditi Guha [00:29:50]:
And last, the fifth r is about repeat. It's like, how can we repeat what we have learned in different, different situations? When you're on holiday, at a wedding, during Halloween, during Christmas, how do you build that confidence that, yes, no matter what situation it is, I now know how to eat for my pcos.
Alyssa Chavez [00:30:12]:
Nice. I love that approach. Yeah. So many little nuggets in there. If it's something that you're finding yourself struggling with, I highly recommend just hitting rewind and going back a little bit and re listening to that portion, because there's so many wonderful little nuggets in there about so many things that we're just not taught. The mindset pieces, the fact that how your gut impacts things, that's something that I talk about a lot because that's a huge piece with endometriosis as well. I see so many people come in who are eating really well. In fact, I would say most of the clients I have coming to me are already doing really well on diet.
Alyssa Chavez [00:30:57]:
And that's, I think, where a lot of that frustration comes in, like, oh, my gosh, I'm eating all the whole foods, and I'm, like you said, eating all the salads and the protein and doing all the things, but things aren't budging. Either my health isn't improving and or my weight isn't where I want it to be. And that can be a huge piece of it, because even if you are eating really well, I have a very similar but slightly different version of what you said. What I say is, you are what you can absorb. Same idea, right? You can only take in the nutrients that your body is able to digest, and if you do have things going on in your gut, if there's imbalances in there, this is, like, one of my favorite topics, so I could talk about that all day long. It has huge impact on your overall health and being able to achieve any sort of goal, whether it's weight loss or balancing your hormones or whatever it is that you're trying to do. Really all of the above. And that's where I think a lot of people struggle.
Alyssa Chavez [00:32:00]:
And definitely the mindset piece of it, it is. We're so programmed in certain ways, especially when it comes to what we're supposed to eat, how we're supposed to eat, how we're supposed to live our lives, what we're supposed to look like. There's so many societal expectations or even expectations that we put on ourselves, and sometimes just kind of tearing all of that down, pulling apart that programming that we have had for many, many years, and just starting over with the things that will actually help us to get to where we want to be can be huge for people.
Aditi Guha [00:32:39]:
Yeah, absolutely.
Alyssa Chavez [00:32:44]:
Yeah. I would love to talk a little bit more also about fertility, because I know that's a journey that you've experienced yourself and have been through IVF and all of the fun that comes along with that. And so you're very familiar with that journey. You know, how challenging it can be physically and mentally, and all of the things which I know so much of my audience is familiar with as well. But I was wondering if you can talk a little bit, because you mentioned this before, kind of the differences between and similarities between infertility with pcos, infertility with endometriosis, why those diseases can impact your fertility and just what the deal is with all of that.
Aditi Guha [00:33:34]:
Oh, yeah. Another thing they didn't teach us in school. In school. I don't know what was like sex education, but it was almost like, if you look at a guy, you'll get pregnant till you actually have endometriosis and pcos, and you're like, oh, my God, I'm doing everything right. But, yeah, so, of course, I have my journey, but I'm going to speak strictly more about what is the difference in the fertility for both endometriosis and pcos. So we know that endometriosis, now, it's kind of recognized that comes with a 15% risk of infertility. And the biggest contributor to that is usually the scarring or tubal damage that comes along with it. So I am, for example, a victim of that.
Aditi Guha [00:34:29]:
My endometriosis was so spread out that it kind of damaged my fallopian tube. So it's very common that they damage and scar some of your reproductive organ. And this basically will cause what you call addition blockages in the fallopian tube, preventing the egg and the sperm from meeting each other. And that is why, no matter how much sex you're having, you're not able to see any result of it. It makes it very hard to naturally conceive. And so for many such people who would have that damage, IVF becomes the option, because if you don't have fallopian tube, that's the only way you can actually conceive the other second thing that endometriosis can affect is actually ovulation because there's chronic inflammation and that can affect the egg quality, make it really hard to conceive. In my case, for example, I always say this, that when I went for my ivF, like my amh count was pretty good, but when I went for my. Started my IVF treatment, one of my ovaries did not even show up to work.
Aditi Guha [00:35:42]:
Left ovary just did not get the men I'm trying to conceive. And what is happening? And that is when on the third day, we saw the endometriosis on the ultrasound on the left ovary, which explains that it has probably kind of affected the production of eggs, so that it can affect. So your amh count can be really good, but if they are not producing, they're holding on because of this, it is another second thing. The third, of course, is the endometrial environment, which can hinder embryo implantation. So it's very inflammatory. So when you open up, it's like really red. I actually went through an operation before my implantation. My operation lasted for ten and a half hours.
Aditi Guha [00:36:27]:
And I believe I wouldn't be exaggerating if I say that I'm a case study, that the number of people get to see me the next day, and they were showing me photographs, and my surgeon was really sweet, and she's like, this is a very exciting case. I'm happy for you. So, yeah. The approach to endometriosis, fertility should always start with eliminating period pain. This is the first thing, I know a lot of people, I've spoken to many people, they have resigned to the fact that the period pain can be eliminated, it still can be managed, it still can be reduced to a dramatic degree. And I would really do that because that is a big sign that the inflammation is reducing. Because the reducing inflammation associated with the pain can actually improve your ovarian function, potentially can actually lower the miscarriage risks. And that is what I would do.
Aditi Guha [00:37:29]:
So irrespective of what route you want to take with your endometriosis for conception, whether it is natural, IDF IUI, it does not matter. My first goal would be to first focus on reducing the pain. Again, focusing on diet is super important. This is something that people don't realize. And I know so much is going on, especially if you're in pain. I can totally get it. Why you're like, I can't think. I have so much pain.
Aditi Guha [00:37:56]:
I can't think. But I would really look into diet a large part of it is that we have estrogen dominance, and estrogen dominance really can. The only way you release estrogen is through poop. Poop, number two, is the only way to release estrogen. But another thing that people don't realize is that insulin can also worsen your estrogen. There is a connection between estrogen and insulin resistance, and which is why it's very important that instead of focusing only on eliminating gluten and dairy and all the other food in the world, it's very important to see how you're eating other things. So I had this client who came to me. She was a fertility with endometriosis and pcos, and she had stopped eating dairy gluten forever and many, many food items.
Aditi Guha [00:38:51]:
So her life had become like these many items. Like, you could put it in a finger, she could hold all the items she was cooking with. So one of the things I noticed with her was that she was having some crazy amount of fruits, like five, six servings of fruits. And while fruits are great, you don't need to have so much fruits because they also give you an insulin spike. It may be healthy, and it is not necessary to have so much of it. So one of the things we started working on was also blood sugar balance for her. And towards the end, before she conceived successfully, actually, she was eating a little bit of gluten, she was eating a little bit of dairy, but in a controlled way. But it was there, like she had more food added in her diet than eliminated.
Aditi Guha [00:39:45]:
And I think that's really important. And this is something where maybe I'm digressing, but because I have a personal experience and from my knowledge of the women I have worked with, if you are undergoing a surgery for endometriosis, I would highly recommend speaking to your healthcare professional, depending also on your age, to freeze the eggs. Because every time you have a surgery, there is a scarring. There is a potential for scarring that can actually affect the egg quantity that one has. So it's a conversation to really have with your healthcare professional before you go in for surgery. Should we freeze eggs? And again, once you have done the operation, is a great time for implantation or trying naturally to conceive, because the implantation success is pretty high after the surgery. If anybody is considering a surgery, this is the way I would recommend. So that's endometriosis.
Aditi Guha [00:40:46]:
PCOS, on the other hand, I would describe the fertility issues of PCOS more with what I say, subfertility. So I wouldn't call it so much as infertility as much as subfertility, which basically means that you can conceive, it just is a lot harder than others. So it's almost like everybody else is doing. Running a race, you're running an obstacle race. But again, it's a little like. But one of the things that we do notice more for women with PCOS is the risk of secondary infertility. So maybe you've had baby number one, but baby number two is actually a bigger challenge. The reason the fertility of PCOS gets affected is basically ovulation.
Aditi Guha [00:41:35]:
If you're not ovulating, there's a disruption in your ovulation cycle. It makes it very hard. It's very tricky to know when to have sex. What is the window? Am I actually pregnant or am I missing my period? If that is the biggest question, it is really hard to time yourself. Right. Hormonal imbalances. So we know excess androgen can hinder equality. We know that inflammation can, again, make it very hard for making it a viable environment for successful implantation.
Aditi Guha [00:42:07]:
Poor immunity is another factor, insulin resistance. So these are definitely factors that create suboptimal situations for conception for women with pcos. When it comes to pcos, fertility, I would first make the goal to get the period like clockwork. I would first want to regularize that on your own. And I would like the women to ovulate by themselves, because the ovulation that they have naturally is always better than the one they will have medically. So that is what I would redo. And another thing is the second stage of this would be then to improve the immunity, improves their immunity, reduces the chances for miscarriage or pregnancy losses, and finally, make sure that the blood sugar and inflammation, all of those other hormones are in tune so that you have a better air quality. So very long answer, but I hope I.
Alyssa Chavez [00:43:10]:
Love it. Fertility is a very complex topic, so I personally think it should be a long answer. Right. If your answer is like a one sentence answer, then it's probably not really a true answer. So I love that. So much information in there, and I love how you talk about the details of the different approaches, because I feel like I hear a lot. It's kind of like what you're talking about before. Like, if you're trying to lose weight, you want to work with somebody who specializes in weight loss with pcos, because it's different than just a traditional trying to lose weight.
Alyssa Chavez [00:43:49]:
And I feel like it's very similar with fertility. Right. Either kind of the common fertility advice out there, but some of that may not apply to your unique situation, depending on what's going on in your unique body, or maybe if you have both, there may be a little combination of all of the things that you're talking about, but what it really seems to come back to, what I'm hearing you talk about, is figuring out how you can get your body healthier in order to improve your fertility. So it's not like we're just focusing on this one piece, but we're really coming back to what's at the root of your symptoms that you're experiencing. Why are your periods so painful, or why are you not ovulating regularly? Figuring all of that out, putting the puzzle pieces together, and then that type of work is going to help to support your fertility.
Aditi Guha [00:44:44]:
Absolutely. One of the things that people don't realize, at least with PCos, one of the things they say, is that it's a lifestyle thing, it's a modern problem, but actually, it's not true. It has been there since hunter gatherers. It's that old. And that's because whenever your life is under threat, maybe there's a lion chasing you. Maybe your tribe is in war with another tribe. Something of that sort, like something very stressful is happening in your life. Your body's biggest job is to ensure your survival.
Aditi Guha [00:45:20]:
It is not to ensure the survival of the human race.
Alyssa Chavez [00:45:25]:
Right.
Aditi Guha [00:45:25]:
Your body's job is to make sure that Eliza is alive and thriving. It's not. Humanity is going to die. So let me just reproduce, no matter what chaos she's in, so that won't happen. So when we are, we've seen that in hunter gather because there's so much unpredictability, whether there be food, whether you're being chased by a lion, whether you are in a war, the body will then deprioritize reproduction to save you. So whenever somebody is going through this, when you're not ovulating, you're not getting, period. You're not your best self. Basically.
Aditi Guha [00:46:07]:
It's basically an indication that this is not the right time. First, let's take a step back and make sure that we are thriving before we get a baby into the picture. Also, because once you have the baby, everything goes to the baby. The moment you're pregnant, your body is now diverting everything to the baby, to the fetus, because you're the only source of food. So you don't want to be pregnant when there's a war or a lion chasing you, and that's for a good cause, but it's just that whatever is triggering whether it's endometriosis or PCos. It has. Something has triggered it for us to have this hormonal imbalance, and we need to address it with compassion for ourselves. And not because there's a timeline.
Alyssa Chavez [00:47:02]:
Yes.
Aditi Guha [00:47:05]:
Because your fertility is not. I was saying it's not a ticking bomb. Like at 30. 29. Fantastic. 30. Oh, my God. Right? Yeah.
Alyssa Chavez [00:47:22]:
I really love what you said about approaching it with compassion. And also what you were talking about of this has been around for many years because I feel like something that I hear come up a lot is just like, the pointing fingers, the blame, whether it's hearing it from doctors or even friends or loved ones, saying, oh, well, you're not healthy because of x, y, and z that you've been doing, or even just for ourselves. I feel like so many of us kind of point fingers at ourselves, like, oh, well, if only I'd known all of this dietary stuff earlier, maybe I wouldn't have gotten all of this in the first place. And who knows, right? I mean, you'll never know if you would have done all of these things earlier in your life, if this would have come up or not. Who really knows? Because there's so much complexity that goes into it. There's genetics, and there's just the stress that we're exposed to in our day to day lives, as well as the internal stressors that can happen in our bodies. But I'm a big believer of just the mindset of looking forward. Right? There's no point in sitting there and pointing blame in any direction, because that's not going to help anybody.
Alyssa Chavez [00:48:34]:
But just sitting and looking at, okay, where are we right now? Where do we want to be and what's the best pathway to get there? Right? Because I feel like, to me, that feels very empowering of, okay, this is where my body is right now. I see these things going on with my hormones. I see that there's some inflammation happening in my body. But when I know these things, when I'm aware of what's going on, I know that there's things that I can do to help support that. I personally find that to be very empowering. And I know my clients, and I'm sure your clients as well, have found that to be true, but at the same time, approaching it with that compassion of, I'm doing my best.
Aditi Guha [00:49:13]:
Right.
Alyssa Chavez [00:49:15]:
You don't have to be perfect. Like you said, you don't have to eliminate all of these 49 foods that could possibly be causing inflammation. I'm a big fan of eating as many foods as possible for your body. We all have unique things going on. Like, I personally know for a fact that I do not do well with gluten. I have a strong immediate reaction when I consume it. It doesn't do well in my body. But that's me.
Alyssa Chavez [00:49:39]:
I'm not going to go around telling the whole world, everybody needs to avoid gluten just because I feel better not eating it. That's not necessarily true. Right? It's unique for everybody. That's where we run into that dangerous trap of listening to everything we hear on the Internet and following all the advice out there and end up eating this super restrictive diet. And you feel terrible and you have all these digestive issues and you can't even go out to eat because you have this super restrictive diet.
Aditi Guha [00:50:11]:
Yeah, I remember this girl, she said that one of my clients works with me. Eventually she was like, I cannot go on first dates. It is just awkward because I have to tell the waiter or whatever from the menu that they are this. Can you do this modification? And it makes me feel like an uptight person in front of my date. But I'm not really an uptight person. But what do I do? And of course with PCOS there is this thing that what happens with the problems are on your face, literally. Like if there's an acne or hair fall, it's really on your face. So a bit hard to ditch and you get desperate.
Aditi Guha [00:50:54]:
But I totally, exactly what you were saying. Our body is resilient. It actually heals. In fact, we all have got brand new skin since last ten years because we are always going through mitosis where your body is regenerating. So ten year ago, whatever skin you had, you have a brand new skin. You can even start today and it can improve my health journey. And everything I did with endometriosis actually started in 30s. Not even like before that I had no awareness.
Aditi Guha [00:51:27]:
I got involved because I got curious about my body and I didn't even have diagnosis before the diagnosis itself. I had managed a lot of my symptoms just by modification and listening to the body. So I do believe that being present with your body, being present and patient both patient is also very important. Okay. It doesn't matter that there is XYZ wedding next week and a detox is so tempting, but it's not the patient or the compassionate thing to do.
Alyssa Chavez [00:52:07]:
Absolutely love it. Well, I think we've had so many wonderful little nuggets in there for people. I hope that's been super helpful. Is there anything else that you feel like we've missed that. You'd really like to share. Before we wrap up for today, I.
Aditi Guha [00:52:23]:
Think I would say what we were saying right now, because I have worked with a lot of hundreds of women with pcos, and some of them had endometriosis. And if I look at what made some of the women really stand out or succeed despite this is, number one, don't outsource power. So get curious, ask for testing, but feel empowered. The answer is actually inside. It's not in a supplement. It's not in that herbal tea. It's not in a belt. It is really in you.
Aditi Guha [00:52:56]:
So it's very important to feel like, don't ever think that the power is lies outside of you. So I think that's number one for me. Number two is be very careful where you get your advice from. It is so tempting. I know you are in a Facebook group and somebody's sharing this amazing result, and it's so tempting that you should also do it. But I would just say, is that how you do your investments? Financial investments? How are you taking mortgage? How are we making real estate? And are you buying a house from a Facebook group? Let's just give that same respect to our body that we give to our finances. And number three, don't let anybody tell you everything is okay till you feel it's okay. I know your doctor might be running 10,000 tests, and he's like, oh, everything looks normal.
Aditi Guha [00:53:55]:
It's not normal till you feel normal.
Alyssa Chavez [00:53:57]:
Yeah, love that. Love all of that. All right, Adidi, well, thank you so very much for everything you've shared today. I know everybody will just love hearing all of this wonderful information, and I'm sure that people will want to reach out and connect with you and learn more about you. So can you share a little bit about where the best places are to find you and how we can learn more?
Aditi Guha [00:54:24]:
Okay, so the first thing is that you can actually find me on my website, which is ww dot dtaditiguha.com. On that portal, when you go to my website, you also can find a free resource which basically actually tells you what your root cause potentially could be. So, as I said to you, there are six different root causes, and the quiz will let you know which one could be yours. So if you want to access the quiz, it's free, 100% free. You can go to ww dot adityguha.com quiz. We can connect on Instagram, and I go by PcOS nutritionist, waitress, and that's it. Really perfect.
Alyssa Chavez [00:55:15]:
And I'll be sure to link all of that in the show notes as well. So if you're driving or out on a walk or multitasking in some fashion like I normally do when I listen to podcasts, don't stress. I will put all of that in the show notes so you can connect with Adidi whenever it is most convenient for you. So thank you so much, Aditi, for joining us today. It was so wonderful having you. I love everything we talked about today, and I hope everybody enjoys.
Aditi Guha [00:55:41]:
Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to talk to your audience, and this was lovely. Thank you so much.
Alyssa Chavez [00:55:48]:
All right, well, have a wonderful day, everybody. Bye.