It’s All About the Hormones: PCOS Relief Strategy #4

It’s the last week of September. Autumn is here now, and we’re also coming to a close on PCOS Awareness Month. Here at B-Method we’ve spent the entire month focusing on different strategies you can use to improve your health and get real relief from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

How’s it going so far? Have you managed to incorporate any of the strategies we’ve talked about already? Are you eating those healthy fats? Are you getting enough sleep? How about exercise, did you try the sample workout schedule I gave you?

Let’s look at the final strategy in our series and how it can help you get PCOS relief.

Strategy #4. Minimize your exposure to environmental toxins as much as possible.

This is a hard one.

I think that we all know that pollutants are bad for us and our health. The problem is, it’s virtually impossible to avoid them totally. Chemicals are everywhere – the air we breathe, the water we drink, the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the furniture we sit on, and so on. Experts conservatively estimate that we’re routinely exposed to 70,000 different chemicals every day.

These chemicals are dangerous because they contain endocrine disruptors, which prevent your hormones from functioning normally. As I’ve shared all month in these posts for PCOS Awareness Month, PCOS is at its core a hormonal disorder, caused by a hormonal imbalance.   Studies have also linked the rise in PCOS cases over the past few decades to increased toxin exposure.

If you’re already suffering from a hormonal imbalance, you want to do everything you can to try and keep your hormones from becoming even more compromised. Reducing your exposure to toxic chemicals can go a long way toward managing your hormonal balance, and can be very effective in helping you manage PCOS.

Where to start? If chemicals are everywhere and we can’t avoid them it can be really discouraging and depressing. It can cause us to feel powerless over our own health. There is some good news, however. Some of the most dangerous types of toxins are easy to kick to the curb and eliminate from your life.

Here are some suggestions to manage your exposure to toxins.

Plastics are Problematic. Many of our plastics contain dangerous chemicals like phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA) which, in a word, are really bad for all of us. BPA is a known endocrine disruptor, and a recent study from the US-based Endocrine Society shows that women with PCOS have higher levels of BPA in their blood.

It’s really important to eliminate plastics that contain these harmful chemicals. Use glass storage containers for your food. Opt for electronic receipts, as the waxy coating in many paper receipts contains BPA. Since BPA also lurks in the lining of many popular aluminum food cans, make sure your canned goods are BPA-free.

It’s simple. BPA and PCOS don’t mix. Even if you don’t have PCOS, eliminate your exposure to BPA as much as possible.

Pay Attention to Your Diet. Once again, food can come to the rescue. Food is amazing medicine. In addition to keeping us healthy, food can also help us detox from society’s contaminants. Here are some foods that can help minimize the impact of toxins on your body:

• Apples
• Beets
• Parsley
• Green, leafy vegetables (e.g., kale, spinach, chard)
• Flax seed

Do you notice a common thread among these foods? In addition to helping with detoxification, they’re also foods that can help boost your fertility and your overall health. Not a coincidence.

How You Eat Matters. It’s about more than what you eat. How you eat is a consideration too. It’s no secret that many of our foods are manipulated through preservatives, chemical food additives, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and pesticides and other chemical treatments.   Eat organic as much as possible, avoid foods containing GMOs, and drink filtered water. Your body will thank you.

Take Care With Your Personal Care Products. According to the Environmental Working Group, the average adult uses 9 personal care products every day, containing 126 separate and distinct chemicals. For women the numbers are higher, using 12 products containing 168 chemicals. Many of our cosmetics contain harmful metals, and metals and other toxic chemicals have been linked to infertility, decreased ovarian function and early menopause.

Look for cosmetics and other personal care products that are free of parabens, phthalates, and sulfates. Check to make sure your sunscreen has mineral filters; these sunscreens don’t disrupt your natural hormones.

Overhaul Your Cleaning Products. Personal care products aren’t the only ones that can be detrimental to fertility. Household cleaners are damaging as well.

Stick with cleaners that are free from dyes and fragrances, solvents and petroleum-based chemicals. Go organic and non-toxic as much as possible. You could also try making your own detergents and cleaners; there are loads of recipes online.

These are all great habits to get into now. While they’ll help you manage PCOS now while you’re trying to conceive, it will also have long-lasting effects on your health. When you get pregnant, it will also help keep you and your baby healthy too.

Here’s a summary of the basic strategies we talked about this month for getting real, lasting relief from PCOS.

Strategy #1. Eat healthy fats.

Strategy #2. Get 7-8 hours of sleep each night.

Strategy #3. Work out on a regular basis, ideally for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.

Strategy #4.   Minimize your exposure to environmental toxins as much as possible.

If you can incorporate these strategies into your life it’s a tremendous start. There’s so much more we can do to manage PCOS, and this isn’t an exhaustive list. We’ll be looking at more strategies here at B-Method, so stay tuned. In the meantime, I’d love to hear how you liked this series. Tell me in the comments below!

To your health and fertility,

Stephanie