Poly­cys­tic ovary syn­drome (PCOS) is un­for­tu­nate­ly very com­mon among women in Trinidad and To­ba­go. One of the signs can be linked to ir­reg­u­lar pe­ri­ods, fa­cial hair, in­sulin re­sis­tance that stems from un­in­ten­tion­al weight gain and poly­cys­tic ovaries. Di­ag­no­sis tech­niques in­clude blood tests to mea­sure hor­mone lev­els, as well as ul­tra­sounds. Due to the symp­toms as­so­ci­at­ed with PCOS, it can low­er the qual­i­ty of life for women as it can im­pact dai­ly func­tions with poor body im­age, feel­ing of fa­tigue, de­pres­sion and long-term health risks such as Di­a­betes.

Blood sug­ar lev­els spike and drop in a roller-coast­er for­ma­tion with in­sulin re­sis­tance. This is be­cause cells stop re­spond­ing to in­sulin, which is a hor­mone that reg­u­lates blood sug­ar lev­els. In­sulin re­sis­tance is com­mon among women with PCOS.

Some ways to man­age and re­duce the neg­a­tive ef­fects of Di­a­betes in­clude:

Com­plex car­bo­hy­drates from lo­cal foods such as ground pro­vi­sions. My favourite ground pro­vi­sions in Trinidad and To­ba­go in­clude sweet pota­to, plan­tain and pota­to. These are slow­er-di­gest­ing and help to re­duce sug­ar spikes.

Swap car­bon­at­ed bev­er­ages such as so­das for wa­ter or herbal tea and nu­tri­tious smooth­ies. The in­gre­di­ents of what you eat and drink are vi­tal to healthy blood sug­ar lev­els.

Prac­tice a colour­ful day of eat­ing, not just a colour­ful plate. All food groups should be in­clud­ed.

Get­ting per­son­alised ad­vice is im­por­tant in the process of re­vers­ing di­a­betes, which is a com­mon lifestyle dis­ease among women with PCOS. The good news is that it’s re­versible with the right guid­ance and sup­port.

As a Reg­is­tered Di­etit­ian/Nu­tri­tion­ist, I prac­tice and help clients adapt to a healthy, sus­tain­able lifestyle that takes blood sug­ar lev­els down from 200 mg/dl fast­ing to nor­mal ranges.

Blood sug­ar lev­els should be checked in or­der to en­sure that the changes in eat­ing habits are hav­ing the pos­i­tive im­pact need­ed to pre­vent blood sug­ar highs and lows. Nor­mal ranges for blood sug­ar val­ues in­clude fast­ing val­ues be­low 100 mg/dl and two hours af­ter a meal; val­ues should be less than 150mg/dl. There is an­oth­er blood test used for Di­a­betes di­ag­no­sis and man­age­ment of blood sug­ars, which gives a three-month record of how blood sug­ars were man­aged, which is called the HBA1C test. It is a more ac­cu­rate and de­tailed test. Nor­mal val­ues should give a num­ber be­low 5.7.

The ben­e­fit of man­ag­ing blood sug­ar lev­els when di­ag­nosed with PCOS is to re­verse and pre­vent neg­a­tive health out­comes for a bet­ter qual­i­ty of life. Un­for­tu­nate­ly, mis­in­for­ma­tion can con­fuse many who are di­ag­nosed, and they tend to cut out foods in­stead of adding on and fo­cus­ing on more lo­cal pro­duce. The dan­ger of guess­ing is not on­ly caus­ing blood sug­ar val­ues to get worse over time, but re­stric­tions can cause a spike in de­pres­sion as we search for a res­o­lu­tion through the elim­i­na­tion of our favourite foods, which is dam­ag­ing to our re­la­tion­ship with food. Nu­tri­tion is our fu­el source. It can be used against us when we do not un­der­stand how to eat to achieve our health goals. What would I rec­om­mend? I would rec­om­mend re­ceiv­ing prop­er guid­ance and sup­port from re­li­able sources. Bal­ance is key, not elim­i­na­tion.

Can­di­da Khan, MSc. RD is al­so known as Di­di

Reg­is­tered Di­etit­ian Nu­tri­tion­ist

She is al­so the CEO of Di­di’s Nu­tri­tion Con­sul­tan­cy