Your PCOS driver is...

You just took a big step toward healing by discovering the root cause behind your symptoms. Congrats!

There’s a good chance your PCOS healing journey has felt like a giant puzzle, with many missing pieces, up until this point. Symptoms that seem unrelated to one another, a variety of body parts involved (think anywhere from your gums to your knees) and to top it off - a “clean” bill of health from your doctor saying everything looks fine (ugh!)... all keeping you frustrated and confused about what’s going on.

Despite these challenging experiences, you’ve continued to look for answers since you know something’s off. And you’re absolutely right. Way to be a body detective that uncovers the truth about her health!

Identifying the main driver behind your PCOS symptoms makes your healing journey shorter & smoother

Here's the thing...

Many women are not aware of just how significant & common inflammation can be with PCOS. Low grade, chronic inflammation is now believed to be the main driver behind issues such as acne, digestive problems, thyroid disorders, sleep issues, joint pain, anxiety and fatigue. Not to mention, inflammation that is not properly treated can cause increased male hormones (AKA androgens) over time leading to missing periods and excessive hair growth.

Checking off most boxes on the list?

You’re in the right place and you’re definitely not alone. Millions of women across the globe are struggling with inflammation-related issues. To make matters even more challenging, inflammation often goes undetected since it’s “low-grade”, meaning not enough to show up upon testing but significant enough to make you feel run down all. the. time.

The good news is that you’re here, getting educated about it and receiving science-based strategies to tame the flame! More on that in a minute…. But first, let’s talk about what is possible for you.

By addressing the source of inflammation using nutrition and lifestyle changes, you can experience major reductions in symptoms fairly quickly. We're talking about more energy and better sleep, clearer skin, less migraines and joint pain as well as relief from digestive issues such as bloating, diarrhea or constipation and even thyroid problems.

You’d also be benefiting from a reduced risk of chronic diseases associated with inflammation such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. But the biggest benefit of addressing inflammation head-on is increasing your quality of life and feeling in control of your health, happiness and mental well-being.

I’m pretty sure you can get on board with this, Am-I-right?!

Remember, PCOS is a lifelong condition and managing it takes time & consistency.

Before we move forward, a word about patience...

Addressing your inflammation using food means relief will come at a slightly slower pace than taking medications or following a trendy diet (that is often short lived and hard to stick to!).

This is why it’s important to adopt a “steady walk” versus “sprint” mentality (I don’t like running!) and take it step-by-step.

Making small changes to your routine every single day can amount to long-lasting results that are not only meaningful, they’re also easy to sustain. And that, if you ask me, is the biggest benefit of this approach - being able to make it a true lifestyle.

I want to reassure you that you can absolutely do this.

Even if nothing else has worked for you, even if you’ve been told to eliminate all your favorite foods before (no!) and even if your symptoms are currently raging and you think there’s no hope. You are just a few steps away from feeling your best and truly healing your body. In fact, you’ve already taken a huge leap forward by identifying your PCOS driver - now is the time to keep going and take some action to treat it.

HOW TO REVERSE INFLAMMATION NATURALLY

You may have already guessed that the most effective nutrition approach to address inflammation is an anti-inflammatory diet. Makes sense, right?

The problem with many anti-inflammatory plans though is that they’re based on restriction and eliminating foods. They also get into the nitty gritty of every ingredient and use fear-mongering around selecting products.

Over time, this can lead to anxiety, disordered eating, a feeling of burnout and short-lived results. We’re going to do things differently around here.

3 STEP TO TAME THE FLAME

STEP 1: ADDING ANTI-INFLAMMATORY FOODS

STEP 2: FOCUSING ON SLEEP & STRESS

STEP 3: LOVING UP ON YOUR GUT

Most inflammation comes from the gut. It’s plain and simple. A digestive system that is not functioning optimally will cause inflammatory issues and disrupt your hormones (yes, even if you don’t have digestive problems). And the big boss of our digestive system is the gut microbiome. A collection of friendly (and not-so-friendly) bacteria that play a huge role in our overall health. Remember we said inflammation is a condition where your immune system is on high alert? Well, your gut is an integral part of your immune system and keeping a thriving, diverse ecosystem of gut bacteria is a great way to strengthen your immunity, tame inflammation and reduce adverse symptoms related to it.

You can show your gut some love by focusing on the following things:

Increasing fiber intake - your gut bacteria need a diverse and ample amount of fiber since that’s their main source of food! Not to mention, the process of digesting fiber produces beneficial bi-products (such as a compound called butyrate) that keep the whole system at peak performance. Aim for 5-7g fiber per meal, change up the food sources you use to offer variety and don’t forget to drink plenty of water to prevent bloat and gas. High fiber foods include beans and legumes, avocados, sweet potatoes, oats, grains such as quinoa and bulgur as well as fruits & veggies. Yes, many of these are also anti-inflammatory!
Include fermented foods regularly - Fermented foods naturally contain good bacteria that improves gut health. Adding Greek yogurt to your breakfast, having cottage cheese with nuts as a snack, making a delicious tofu stir-fry or topping sandwiches with condiments such as Kimchi or sauerkraut will increase the amount of probiotics (good bacteria) in your diet.The best part? You can now find these products in every store at a variety of flavors.

Limit artificial sweeteners - Pathogenic bacteria (read: bad guys in your gut) play a big role in causing inflammation in the body. Therefore, we need to keep them in the minority when it comes to the delicate balance of good-to-bad digestive bacteria. Recent studies have shown that artificial sweeteners can serve as food for pathogenic bacteria, which means, high intake of things like diet coke and sugar free products can add some fuel to the inflammation situation. While we don’t need to completely avoid them, it’s probably best to keep artificial sweeteners’ intake in the “here & there” category versus daily or weekly consumption. If you’re currently hooked on diet beverages that contain artificial sweeteners, try diluting them with sparkling water, replacing them with infused waters, using flavorings such as Everly or True Lemon and/or reducing the frequency of drinking diet drinks to 3-4 times per month, if possible.

PHEW, it may feel challenging to follow these 3 steps daily - I get it!
When you’re feeling overwhelmed, give yourself permission to focus on ONE doable thing at a time. If adding anti-inflammatory foods feels easy one day and focusing on stress is doable another day, just go with it and release any self-judgment. Each one of these steps provides a huge benefit independently of the others- so you’re welcome to use what you can and save the rest for later.

Before we wrap up, let’s do a proper intro, shall we?

Hey there.. I'm Dafna

Registered Dietitian and PCOS Expert

Over the past decade, I’ve helped hundreds of women discover the main drivers behind their PCOS symptoms and create nutrition plans to address them.

I firmly believe that taking a root cause approach, as opposed to treating the ‘surface' symptom (as most diets do), is the BEST way to begin your healing journey and reach your health goals.

This is why I created a quiz that will help you identify your unique PCOS drivers and map out the next steps to take.

I know that managing PCOS isn’t easy, but trust me when I say it is 100% doable with the right plan. When you practice the tips & strategies outlined here, not only will you feel significant relief from your most stubborn PCOS symptoms, you'll also become a confident eater who is in charge of her food choices & health.

Turning confusion into clarity and “hit or miss” solutions to guaranteed success - that’s the magic of addressing your PCOS drivers.

I’m so glad you’re here to better understand your body and take action - way to be proactive about your health! Now it’s your turn to go ahead, start practicing what you’ve learned and experience your own health transformation!

Always cheering you on,

Dafna

Looking to dive deeper into your PCOS driver?

Here are additional resources to help you do just that!

My podcast Down To Earth PCOS Nutrition - specifically this episode discussing the most effective ways to heal chronic inflammation!

My Free FB group PCOS Insiders - join me here for free tips & trick as well as exclusive offers and live videos!

PCOS Meal Prep Bundle - Your all-in-one resource for planning, shopping and preparing hormone balancing meals you’ll actually enjoy. You'll find a complete food plan for reversing inflammation in this mini course. Plus, bonuses such as The PCOS Pantry training and my favorite grocery store finds.

As you’re getting ready to leave, just a heads up that I’ll be popping in your email inbox in the next couple of days (no spam, I promise!). Think of it as our quick check-in to see how things are going, get a motivation boost plus additional tips to create meaningful changes in your PCOS health.

You’ll also get a link back to this result page so you can get a quick refresher whenever needed! Feel free to reach out by replying to those emails with any questions that come up or a win you’ve experienced after taking the quiz!