Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
#104: MJ Nutrition: Everything you need to know about treating PCOS naturally
536 Plays2 months ago
Struggling with PCOS and unsure where to start?
In this episode of The Kate Hamilton Health Podcast, I sit down with Mary Jo of MJ Nutrition, a registered nutritionist specialising in women’s health and PCOS. We break down common misconceptions, discuss the critical role of gut health in hormone regulation, and explore practical nutrition and lifestyle strategies to help you take control of your symptoms.
Mary Jo also shares her personal journey with PCOS and how she now helps women navigate their own health challenges. We debunk myths - like whether you really need to cut carbs or if the pill "cures" PCOS - and provide science-backed strategies to support your body naturally. Plus, we dive into fertility, hormone balance, and the best dietary choices for managing PCOS effectively.
If you're looking for real, actionable advice, this episode is a must-listen.
Episode Highlights
[00:00] – Welcome to The Kate Hamilton Health Podcast
[00:13] – Meet Mary Jo: Nutritionist & PCOS Specialist
[02:12] – Mary Jo’s Personal PCOS Journey & Insights
[04:16] – Understanding PCOS: Symptoms, Causes & Diagnosis
[09:48] – PCOS Myths Busted: Carbs, Birth Control & More
[12:59] – Navigating PCOS Treatment Options
[20:10] – Diet & Lifestyle Hacks for Managing PCOS Naturally
[26:52] – Protein Sources Beyond Powders & Choosing the Right One
[29:20] – How Much Protein Do Women Actually Need?
[32:11] – Gut Health & PCOS: The Overlooked Connection
[36:56] – The Power of Probiotics for Gut & Hormone Balance
[44:35] – PCOS & Fertility: Separating Fact from Fiction
[49:56] – Final Thoughts & Where to Find Mary Jo
Links & Resources:
- Connect with Mary Jo on Instagram here
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with friends who might benefit. For more health and fitness tips, follow me on Instagram and TikTok @katehamiltonhealth.
Music b LiQWYD Free download: hypeddit.com/link/xxtopb [http://hypeddit.com/link/xxtopb] Promoted by FreeMusicPromo [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbycji-eySnM3WD8mbxPUSQ] / @freemusicpromo
Disclaimer
This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, lifestyle, or treatment plan.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Guest Background
00:00:09
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Kate Hamilton Health Podcast. So in today's episode, I chat with Mary Jo, also known as MJ Nutrition. Mary Jo is a registered nutritionist and she specializes in female health, in particular PCOS.
00:00:27
Speaker
So this conversation that we have today very much centers around the topic of PCOS, of hormone health, of gut health, and how all of this ties together. She is a huge advocate for managing what we can through our diet and lifestyle and getting the correct supports that we need in place in relation to doctors and nutritionists that tie in nicely with this holistic approach. We have the most amazing conversation.
00:00:55
Speaker
I just feel so empowered after the conversation that although as women, we encounter different challenges, particularly if we're women dealing with something like PCOS, but that we can take back the power, we can do things within our own lifestyles, within our own health system to be able to make things better for ourselves.
Mary Jo's Expertise and Personal Journey
00:01:15
Speaker
I think you're really going to get so much from this, whether you suffer with PCOS or not, there is so much for every single female to take from this conversation. So enjoy the episode.
00:01:28
Speaker
Mary Jo, welcome to the podcast. Hello. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to chat to you about all the things that you are an expert on and like really picking your brain on some of this stuff. but So thank you so much for it for agreeing to come on and chat to me. Yeah, great. So I'm looking forward to getting stuck in there and chatting about it more. The topics we're obviously going to talk about, a lot of it is going to be very female related and a lot of the issues that we'll discuss are things that I see coming up time and time again with clients of mine.
00:01:57
Speaker
friends of mine even and you know people that I speak to on social media or you know through the podcast so there's going to be so much value for everyone in what we're chatting about. Before we get into it do you want to tell everyone a bit about you, your background and what you do?
Understanding and Managing PCOS
00:02:11
Speaker
Sure yeah okay so Mary Jo is my name. I am a rice steward nutritionist. I studied human nutrition in UCD in Dublin and then I went on and did a master's in nutrition science in Middlesex University and that was really just to kind of make sure that I was able to work on an individual basis with my clients not just like kind of like a one size fits all approach and it was kind of like a personalized nutrition approach was the master's which I really enjoyed. Then I started to kind of get really more interested in female health as a result of obviously being a woman myself and having all the same
00:02:45
Speaker
things a lot of women kind of experience. And then I have PCOS myself too, so polycystic ovary syndrome. And I just thought there's a huge gap there in like the information out there for when you're diagnosed, to what to do. You're quite limited to kind of just like, you know, go on the pill or wait until you want to get pregnant. And that was the advice I was given. And I just felt like surely there's more like that I can do to manage like this kind of condition. And like it had come up in my studies and research and I just kind of really went into it and just immerse myself in this world of women's hormones and health. And I suppose now I just specialize working with women who have got PCOS mainly. I do also work with other women who have other hormone issues or hormonal issues. I have them with fat loss, gut health, all of that. But really my my main gig, I guess, is polycystic ovary syndrome and having women with getting on top of that through nutrition and lifestyle changes because I do believe it should be the first-line treatment. But even before we go into that, that's pretty much a nutshell of me. I have it my own nutrition coaching business. I live in Portugal. I live and work here in Portugal and go back and forth between Ireland and Portugal. but This is where my base is. and
00:03:52
Speaker
Yeah, having a good time doing what I'm doing basically. That's amazing. And I didn't realize how much you had had like specialized in PCOS. So like that act literally is the first thing I wanted to ask you about anyway, for anyone who might not know, you know, has heard the word PCOS, I feel like, you know, the you hear it so much that there might be people listening. They'll be like, I don't really know what it is, but I feel too stupid to ask because I feel like I should know what it is. What exactly is PCOS?
00:04:18
Speaker
Yeah. So really good question, honestly, because I think think you're right. So many people, like it's talked about a loft, but as if people know exactly what it is. So it's a hormonal and metabolic condition. So it affects, they think around one in 10 women, but probably more because of the misdiagnosis that like can go along with this as well.
00:04:36
Speaker
So basically it was first thought it affected just your reproductive organs, like just affected your ability to get pregnant and conceive and get regular periods, sorry. But it also, there's a metabolic component to it, which basically means there's about 80% of women with PCOS have insulin resistance. This is the issue with the weight gain and why women with PCOS seem to struggle more with losing weight.
00:05:00
Speaker
then there's other factors. It causes the promotion of male hormones, so you produce more androgens, or which are male hormones like testosterone. This further causes irregular cycles. It further causes things like excess hair growth, acne. The irregular periods then lead to infertility issues as well, or, you know, not saying you won't get pregnant, but it can be a bit more challenging. And due to the anobulatory cycles, you're not ovulating that regularly.
00:05:25
Speaker
So yeah, it's a ah complex condition. It also has psychological components, you know, mood disorders, anxiety, depression comes into it as well due to hormonal fluctuations plus the, you know, dealing with terrible symptoms can of of course impact your your mental health too.
00:05:41
Speaker
Yeah, it's a complex condition, like I was saying, a wide way array of symptoms that you can have. You don't need to have all of the symptoms to have PCOS. There is a criteria to be followed when you're getting a diagnosis of PCOS. So the Rotterdam criteria requires that you have two out of the three of the following. So you have an irregular cycle, cysts on your ovaries, or elevated androgens. So if you have two out of three of those, you will be diagnosed with PCOS by your GP.
00:06:09
Speaker
ah know do that and criteria if you fit that criteria. Yeah and it's so interesting there's such an array of other symptoms like because I suppose when it is your hormones your hormones are like an orchestra that all play like once one person's out of tune the whole orchestra is out of tune and it's it's I just think it's a really good analogy to be like it ah that's how complex our hormones are and it you know and it can show up so differently in different
PCOS Myths and Misconceptions
00:06:32
Speaker
people. This is would be another really stupid question but I feel like I'm gonna ask all the stupid questions Okay. How will I put this? Can you give yourself PCOS? Like, is it something that you are born with? Can you cause PCOS by lifestyle? How do people end up with PCOS? Okay. I love this question. Definitely not a cheaper question. So they don't know the known cause of PCOS. There's still no known cause or eology etiology of it just yet.
00:06:56
Speaker
However, there is suspected to be a genetic component to it. The way I'd kind of describe genetics, it's kind of like you have this dormant volcano all your life, okay? It's dormant inside you. And then you're could be predisposed to something that just causes this volcano to erupt and trigger and explosion happens. So it's kind of like with PCOS, you've got this dormant gene, you know, maybe from your maternal side, which is kind of where it seems to come from more. And then you're exposed to possibly lifestyle factors that are triggering and might lead then to this kind of PCS type symptoms. So it could be during your teenage years, you started eating a lot more fast food, you're exposed to maybe a lot of kind of synthetic hormones, like estrogen type hormone disrupting ah kind of things like, you know, your chemicals, your makeup products, skincare, all that kind of thing that have a lot of hormone disruption in them that can also offset things.
00:07:49
Speaker
air could be when you go to college, your whole lifestyle changes. And that for me is when my symptoms just went kind of off the wall because my lifestyle did change along so along with that. Like later nights, more alcohol eating out, not maybe taking care of myself as well. So that there was a part of that as well. So yeah, there's definitely a genetic component that can be then triggered by your lifestyle. You don't cause PCOS though by just doing what you've done. It's not something you've done. Like you will have that gene there to kind of predispose you to that. And then So it's not caused by something that you have done. Yeah. So that's really important as well to like, obviously detach any type of like stress or guilt or like, have I done this to myself? This is not the case. um And if everything you're describing is all normal parts of growing up, you know, all, all your friends are having fast food and having a few beers in college and you know, you're doing the same as everyone else and your friend might be absolutely grand. And this, I suppose is the lifestyle versus genetics side of things. And, and I suppose going from childhood where you're very much you know all the way up to leaving search, you're you're in a routine, you're being fed by your family more than likely, and you know you're going about your after-school activities and you're going to school and everything's very structured, and then you go off to college. and then it's a totally It's a totally new lifestyle, so it probably is quite a shock to the system. and Even PCLS aside, a lot of people do kind of tend to suffer from mental health issues when when they get to this age because it's such a scary time, like anxiety can really but come on,
00:09:13
Speaker
you know people can gain weight at this time as well because they're less active they're eating more crap if you like you know and it's just interesting that it's just normal what's considered normal life that that can trigger this yeah i think so like i mean like that's i think it's really important that there's no shame like you haven't done it anything to bring this on you're doing the same as everyone else you've just had this kind of pre tendency to have these kind of conditions or whatever. So like maybe on your family side, you might've had a thyroid issue, or maybe there's obesity in your family, or maybe there is PCOS in your family and it can just kind of come through then in your in your own genetic makeup as well. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about the myths. Okay. So like there's, you know, things people might believe about PCOS that might not be true.
00:09:56
Speaker
I think when we're talking about nutrition and PCOS there's a lot of myths and ah misinformation I would say as well. Like a lot of myths I see are like you need to cut out carbohydrates, you can't eat like fruit when you have PCOS, you need to go gluten and dairy free. They're like some of the big nutrition myths that I see a lot of and there's no truth to that you can really eat whatever you want with PCOS within reason like the same with anyone on a fat loss journey you know you can eat anything you want but just not everything and the same with PCOS there are some considerations there is extra considerations i won't deny that but it's still within a normal balanced diet you don't need to cut out the carbohydrates or
00:10:36
Speaker
you know, gluten or dairy. I'm not saying I have worked with clients where I have suggested we eliminate gluten or dairy for a short period of time, but it's not really for the PCOS part. It might be for they might have an autoimmune condition or something like that. So that's some of the reasons there. I don't really see one, there's not much evidence to support it at all. And even when having trialed it, there's not much and I haven't seen anecdotal reports of it really improving much symptoms either. You know, you can get a hell of a lot improvement of your PCOS without going down that dramatic route. So yeah, like I'm saying with carbohydrates, like you don't need to cut out carbs, switching up your carbs to better sources, maybe reducing the portions of your carbs can certainly help, but your diet does need to be low or zero carbohydrates because that would not be maintainable or unsustainable either.
Diet and Lifestyle Changes for PCOS
00:11:23
Speaker
So there are some of the nutrition myths, other myths, I don't know if you'd call them myths, or have you heard any that you want me to to boast or is there anything? No I think just in general I suppose in relation to nutrition which we'll go we can dive into nutrition properly in a minute I think it's just really important not even in relation to nutrition just what you're saying even about you know evidence supporting information like you know that social media is a great place for information but there's also a great it's a great place for and I can imagine you know
00:11:50
Speaker
for a nutritionist like yourself it can be quite frustrating when people come to you with these beliefs that they have gotten from social media and the problem is that sometimes the people spreading this misinformation are doctors with very extreme beliefs and they're quoting studies that are very maybe not that widely researched are quite narrow and they go against a much more extensive like pile of studies that say the opposite let's say.
00:12:19
Speaker
Yeah, I think your red flag is if anything is very black and white or is a big blanket statement or you can't do something completely. It's a bit of a red flag. You know, really nutrition shouldn't be that complicated. Food is food. We should be able to enjoy it. We do want, you know, an 80% approach to kind of just decent nutrition, which is your protein fats, fiber, complex carbs, that kind of thing. It shouldn't be overly complicated. I know exactly what you're referring to all these big doctors and other people on social media just like spreading a lot of it's all clickbait information. You're like, Oh my God, I need to do this. And then that will heal all my problems. But like, if it seems too good to be true, also it's most likely not realistic or a good approach to take. But another.
00:12:59
Speaker
I go back just quickly to the myths as well. Like some of the other myths are just kind of misconceptions is that like the pill will cure your PCOS, which is kind of given to a lot of women who have PCOS. And this is just something like that I always like to highlight because there's nothing wrong with the pill. It's an amazing contraception.
00:13:16
Speaker
And if you want to take it for your PCUS, that's fine. I just think women still aren't fully aware of when they're given the pill what it's actually doing. For me, I wasn't but back in my early 20s. So with the pill shuts down your ovulation cycle. So it shuts off your own hormones. So you no longer produce your own natural hormones. And therefore, you don't get your own natural regular period. You get a withdrawal bleed from the the drugs that are in the pill. And that's absolutely fine. But for some women who are you know going on the pill like If they were made aware that aware if they're aware of that oh i'm not actually overlating my i want to get pregnant in a year or two time like that it doesn't help them then when they come off the pill it could be 12 months before they even get their cycle back on track you know it takes a long time for a pill that your period to come back particularly if you have pcus and i see this all the time i'm just like oh gosh i wish like that you were given the information to know like that you shouldn't that the pill might not be the best option for you right now. So yeah, I just think it's just something to highlight that the pill doesn't work for everyone. It's a great fix for the time that you take it. You'll reduce your symptoms, you won't have the yo had acne, ah you'll get a bleed, so you won't get the period, but you'll get a bleed.
00:14:28
Speaker
But it only works for as long as you take it. And as soon as you come off that, and most likely you're at some stage in your life, you might want to come off it for different reasons. Mightn't even be to do with fertility, but you're going to have to still deal with the impact of taking the pill then. unlike it's the bandage basically um oh yeah And Yeah, absolutely. So I just wish when women went to the doctor and they were, you know, told they had PCOS that they were.
00:14:52
Speaker
They talk through maybe their other options, you know, mentioned diet and lifestyle, and even metformin, which is the drug given for insulin resistance. It makes more sense in terms of PCOS management. At least it's targeting the root issue, which is insulin resistance, which will help them with the symptoms. Whereas the pill, I just feel it is just a mask, a band-aid. It doesn't really get to the issue.
00:15:13
Speaker
and So if someone goes to the GP, are most GPs going to be like PCOS? Yeah, we've done the test, PCOS tick tick, you should go on the pill. Is that what what happens to most people? Unfortunately, it seems to be the case. Yeah, unfortunately, like most women I've worked with and I've seen myself, it's like, come back when you want to get pregnant, take the pill and come back when you want to get pregnant. So Like unless you want to get pregnant, then they'll offer ovulation induction and and stimulation as well and drugs for that. So it's very much like a you know a pill or something to fix at that issue. Like, and there's no luck at the instant resistance or the other route, there the potential route cause. And, you know, there's so much that a change in diet and lifestyle can do. i'm I'm saying this from experience of working with hundreds over 200 clients now in the past few years who have improved their PCOS symptoms through diet and lifestyle.
00:16:03
Speaker
Can you actually ask your GP to refer you to a PCOS nutritionist? I have come across some endocrinologists maybe or a GP referring them to like a dietician to give them support with their diet, which I do think is a ah really practice step, but and that's really helpful if they do that. Sometimes they might give them just a sheet basically here, follow this, lose some weight. The other bit of advice, actually, sorry, I forgot to mention it. Oh, go and lose some weight. And this is really frustrating because women with PCOS would be like, I have been trying all my life to lose weight. If I could just lose the weight, then my answer will be, my problems will be fixed.
00:16:36
Speaker
So it's not just as simple as go and lose some weight. And that's something that a lot of women will also get. And it's very disheartening because they could be eating like really low calories, exercising so hard and still not losing the weight. And to be told, just lose weight and then you'll get pregnant or you'll you'll get you know reduce your symptoms or whatever. But it's just not as simple as that either.
00:16:58
Speaker
So that's where I suppose someone who, like myself, like specializing in it, I see like the the issues that are associated with the weight loss and the other symptoms and you know what you can do in a practical approach with your diet, lifestyle and supplements as well to help with PCOS.
00:17:14
Speaker
I'm holding off on the the diet and lifestyle because I know we'll get into it and we'll stay there. but So before we do, and my last question in relation to if someone you know is going to their GP and you know they are diagnosed with PCOS, if they do want for their insulin resistance to be looked at and to to discuss that medication that you were talking about, I can't remember what you said it was called, is that an option? Can they go to their doctor and be like, I want you to look i don't want to go on the pill. I want you to look at my insulin resistance. Can you could tell me more about the name of the medication?
00:17:44
Speaker
yeah Yeah, so it's metformin is medication that helps. It's given to type 2 diabetics who have insulin resistance. And like I said at the start, about 80% of women approximately with polycystic ovary syndrome are thought to have insulin resistance. So this is a potential driver of the PCOS in itself. So again, when I was going back to that gene, it could be that you have that insulin resistance type issue and that's kind of leading to the PCOS symptoms.
00:18:10
Speaker
So yes, you can, if you are aware of this information to ask, a lot of people mightn't be aware, of but hopefully anyone listening now will be able to be like, okay, right. You can go in and ask for your fasting glucose and fasting insulin levels. So yeah this will give you information. Now, sometimes a test mightn't be sensitive enough to pick it up at the early stages, but it is worthwhile getting done seeing what your fasting glucose and fasting insulin levels are like.
00:18:32
Speaker
Again, some symptoms of insulin resistance type PCOS or you know insulin resistance in general would be like you hold weight, particularly around your age or midline. So like that like stomach area, you might get these like dark patches on your skin and you might have a lot of cravings and particularly after eating a meal, you feel wiped. So like maybe breakfast, lunch, or dinner, you eat something and you're just exhausted. It like knocks your energy. You get thirsty a lot all the time. You do crave a lot of sugar and carbohydrate rate rich foods.
00:19:02
Speaker
So there are some of the common symptoms of insulin resistance that might make you be like, oh, maybe I should get this checked out. But yes, you can get those bloods done, and then that medication would be given. And like sometimes they might even give it without those bloods being done. And it would help, like, would say, women who have PCOS and infertility issues, for example. Because when you're struggling to get pregnant, you want to eat if you're insulin resistant, you really need to work on that, because that will be a factor in not getting pregnant. so that anything that can help reduce that will support you. Yeah so I think like even this is just so helpful what you're telling us even here to be able to if anyone is concerned about this and they're going to the doctor to to to go in armed and be like I want to know but what my levels are or you know to know that you really need to explain that I do want to get pregnant i you know or whatever you whatever your objective is and that
00:19:53
Speaker
yeah yeah To make sure you're not pushed aside, not that doctors are pushing people aside, but you know they they're managing what they can with the resources they have. But no one's going to advocate for you more than you. And I think the more information that you can you can go to the doctor with, the more questions you can ask, the more chances you have of pushing forward with it.
00:20:09
Speaker
Let's talk about diet. Let's talk about lifestyle. And i'm I'm laughing to myself even thinking, I was like, before we get into this, I know I like, I, we haven't, we haven't spoken about this,
PCOS-Friendly Meal Suggestions
00:20:19
Speaker
me and you together, but I know what you're going to say. And I'm going to be laughing because everyone listening will be like, it's where she, she told her to say this stuff that I preach it to them all the time. But look, let's talk about how can we really start looking at our our diet and lifestyle to, to help with our symptoms of PCOS?
00:20:36
Speaker
Yeah so some really simple things make such a big difference like when I'm working with lions the first thing I'll look at is their their typical day of eating and so often they're either one skipping a breakfast or two having a really low protein breakfast that in itself like is a big game changer, we can fix that. Have a breakfast, lunch, dinner, three balanced meals and have protein with every single one of those meals. This is such a helpful thing to do for your blood sugar and stability. So it helps you become become more insulin sensitive. It saves you, atu if it keeps you fuller for longer.
00:21:11
Speaker
But like going those long periods without i eating and skipping meals or things like that is really not helpful for blood sugar control if you have PCOS. So that is one big thing and it's very simple. Have a breakfast, lunch, dinner, three standard meals a day, eat like an adult, stop kind of picking here and there. Have three good balanced meals that have a good source of protein. Then we want to look at our carbohydrate intake.
00:21:35
Speaker
and We still want to infl include carbohydrates in our diet, but it can be good to maybe eat carbohydrates around your exercise when you're more sensitive to insulin, so you can eat a bit more carbohydrates than around that time. When we're choosing carbs as well, it's best to choose like more higher fiber, low sugar, like low glycemic carbohydrates. so instead of say your white bread, even choosing like a sourdough or rye bread or, you know, a whole grain bread, like just little swaps like that can make that different as well on on the blood sugars and the fiber intake as well supports your gut health, which does in fact help PCOS.
00:22:12
Speaker
and then an abundance of like vegetables and some fruit in the diet as well it's really important so you're probably here listening like there's nothing that mad different here it really is generic advice to be honest with you but you know they're like it's really ah the purposes that you're supporting the insulin sensitivity. So we want to be just making sure that protein and fat is in the meal, the fiber. So I didn't mention fats there, but good fats in the diet as well are really important. You don't need to cut out fats as well. They're really helpful for reducing the inflammation and becoming more insulin sensitive. So it is comes down to that like balanced plate, you've got protein on your plate, you've got fiber on your plate, half the plate is filled with vegetables. These are high volume, low calorie foods that will really fill up your stomach, but also give you lots of good nutrition for your gut health and support a weight loss journey if you're on that, but also help you become more insulin sensitive too. So yeah, that there's some bits when it when it comes to a diet for PCOS, it's really about trying to
00:23:09
Speaker
get the energy to be released more slowly into your bloodstream. So we are more sensitive to that. like I wouldn't recommend someone to have like just a slice of toast so with PCOS, trying to reduce that, like having something with the slice of toast. So what can you add to it to make it more balanced and more helpful for your blood sugar control?
00:23:27
Speaker
Yeah. So really looking at, it is about adding in rather than taking away initially. Anyway, it's not, you know, that you start adding in the things that you need, it's going to crowd out the stuff that you don't need so much. So like, I suppose, could you like give some examples? I think some people struggle with, they're like, okay, great. he Yeah. Three meals, a balanced breakfast, lunch and dinner. What is a balanced breakfast? What, when you say protein, carbs, fats, like what does that look like in a breakfast? If you had like a quick example.
00:23:55
Speaker
Yeah. So like if anyone likes overnight oats, it's a great example, you know, by 30 to 40 grams of your oats, get it in a scoop of protein powder, add in a bit of Greek yogurt to even boost it up more, get your fats in from flax seeds. I absolutely love flax seeds for PCOS. They contain lingons, which help to bind to the excess testosterone and move it out through your stool. So add in the flax seeds every day to your diet for PCOS.
00:24:20
Speaker
and then some berries. Berries are a great low sugar high fiber fruit option so that will be one example. A lunch could be a whole grain wrap or a pit of bread or maybe some leftover potatoes from the evening before with say some leftover cooked chicken or sliced chicken or a tin of tuna and then put that all in a sandwich or in a little salad bowl and adding like your salad veggies so an abundance of salad veggies are non-starchy carbs or non-starchy for fiber and they really boost up the volume on on your of your meal as well and then maybe like a little drizzle of you know to get some or if fats in there you could have a tiny bit of avocado or a little bit of olive oil you don't need lots a little goes a long way but that would be again just a meal with carbs, protein and fats and then lots of color think just color when you're thinking of vegetables and fruit just get the color on your plate and you can't go wrong really eat the rainbow will really help you as well then like this was dinners are kind of easier enough like you know you you're coming when we're cooking we're all but we we do especially as any Irish people listening you know we go we we are a meat and our two veg and our spuds or whatever you know in general like it comes more naturally to us but it doesn't have to be that way either it can be stir fries and curries and
00:25:30
Speaker
bolognese and doing all sorts of nice things as well, having your your protein source, your carbs and and lots and lots of vegetables. Interesting point you made at the about, it's funny because when you're saying about breakfast, you're like the overnight oats or whatever, I i would do like the overnight weedabix, which I love, you know, like the weedabix cheesecake kind of thing. I love that for breakfast. boys what are it So your thoughts on protein powder is a good thing to be using for because I know I would get a lot of people that would come to me and be like, oh, I don't really want to use protein powder. It's very processed.
00:25:58
Speaker
Yeah, it is processed like the, it is processed to get like the higher protein, and basically processing the, the, the high protein content of the the way that the dairy so as a source. However, like it is a handy way of getting protein in. Like I mentioned that because a lot of my clients like to eat it. I don't think there's a major issue that there is.
00:26:17
Speaker
the main thing that I would have an issue with is you are eating a lot of sweeteners maybe every day and some might be sensitive to this and their gut health and that might be a bit more sensitive to that and also like the whey protein for some can trigger a bit of acne but like again it just comes down to like how it works for you and just kind of getting to know like do do you like it, do you find you feel good after eating it. Do you get any of these issues and maybe it's not for you or or find one that has less sweeteners in them as well. That can really work. There is some ones out there that use a lot less of those kinds of sweeteners, which could mean then they're less irritating on your gut.
00:26:51
Speaker
But yeah, like it's definitely an option. You don't have to go for it. Like I actually would just sometimes make it with just Greek yogurt and just get enough in that way. Like Greek yogurt is an amazing source protein, low fat cottage cheese is another one. I know it's very bland, but you can make nice things with it like protein pancakes and things like that. So like, yeah, if you're not inclined to go down the route of those kind of more.
00:27:11
Speaker
processed high protein foods, there's loads of whole foods you can just get. You don't actually need a protein powder to get your protein intake in, you know, a good source of, you know, especially if you eat meat, your chicken, your fish, things like that will help you get your protein in and intake intake up as well. Yeah. No, I, I'm a big fan of protein powder.
00:27:28
Speaker
good quality protein powder. you know ah What I will always advise people is, when I say is protein powder, I don't view it as such like a supplement and more like it's a dairy product really. you know If we're talking whey protein, that that and dairy product, I do say try and go whey isolate if possible. you know I think if you're buying the the stuff in the supermarkets and you're buying you know candy cane flavor or or whatever you write your bubble gum flavor, you know, obviously that's going to be full of so much stuff. Whereas if you go and you buy a good protein way, isolated, you don't have to get it on flavor. Cause it's not very nice on flavored, but like I would get like a vanilla one and I'd put it in my breakfast and I find it, you know, obviously there are a certain amount of sweeteners in it, but in general, the ingredients are, are milk products. And yeah, yeah yeah what protein powder do you like to recommend to your, to eat yourself even like? I use, at the minute I'm using flexi nutrition way, but it's actually a mix of isolate and concentrate, but I like it because it I like the taste of it with my breakfast. I digest it really well. The ingredient list is good, but I also think optimum nutrition are good. I don't like the taste of optimum nutrition as much. It's not as sweet, which suits some people that were like my flexi nutrition one is sweet, but I like it sweet. The optimum nutrition way isolate is not as sweet, but the ingredient list is good. And I find if anyone's a little bit sensitive, it's easier to digest. i think from the Flexi nutrition. Yeah, I like the Opti nutrition. I like Kinetica nutrition as well. and They're like the Irish brands. they I think they're linked with Glamvia as well. They're quite a good and ah good product too as well, I think. To be honest with you, like you said, it's not a supplement. It's an addition to help get your protein in. If you like WaveRider, if you're able to tolerate it, it's definitely a good way to boost your protein intake in for sure.
00:29:08
Speaker
especially in the morning for breakfast, it can make that like part a bit nicer, can't it? Or your oats a bit nicer or your overnight weed a bit. So, you know, if it's going to make you eat like your breakfast more, like go for it, you know, I don't think there's a big issue. Yeah. Like for myself, I think with my rule rule of thumb in general and with my clients, you know, obviously everyone is different and they've got different macros they're working towards, whatever, you know, but in general, with protein intake,
00:29:30
Speaker
for females anyway I will usually just give a rule of thumb like just work towards getting it over that 100 grams per day mark yeah and you know that like don't be stuffing yourself full of crap just to try and get it to 140 or whatever it is you know but I will i will naturally hit probably 80 or 90 grams of protein without protein powder so that scoop of protein powder just brings me over the edge and it really like because I have a first thing in the morning, it really does stabilize my blood sugar levels. I'll have a breakfast before I drop the kids to school and I'm not hungry until lunchtime. Whereas sometimes at the weekend, I might just be like, oh, I'll have some toast and jam, you know, and it's lovely. And I'm hungry by like 11 a.m. And then what do I want for the rest of the day? More toast and jam, you know, literally. And that's without any challenges of PCOS as well to contend with. So like, I think
00:30:17
Speaker
Definitely looking at that protein intake is hugely important. And it's funny because I i always get a lot of, but I talk about this a lot of my on my social media, but all the protein products in the shops. And like, if you enjoy a protein product from the shop, like a protein, these protein mooses, you know, these things that like you turn upside down, they're just.
00:30:35
Speaker
solid. like Like, you know, they're, they're not good for us. Like, they're not like, they're not gonna do us any harm. My point is, again, very back to the the protein, why stuff yourself full of those protein puddings that you don't really like, just to get yourself from 110 grams of protein to 130 grams of protein? And like,
00:30:55
Speaker
Just, you know, like you said, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, like try and have real foods, have a, like people are like, Oh, I really don't know how to get my protein up. I'm like, just eat more chicken in your dinner. and Instead of having a hundred grams, have 150 grams of chicken in your dinner. If you're making scrambled eggs, do have your two eggs and add two egg whites into it. That's going to bulk it off, you know, and it's gone. to and And it doesn't add that much extra calories that no I think we can have. Like I would just like, I, I would much rather have a little chocolate bar every day.
00:31:22
Speaker
then be stuff like that crap like I just personally agree I mean like I think like especially if I mean if you really love them fair enough but like if you're doing it for that purpose like yeah have a Greek yogurt put in a bit of chocolate on top of it like a bit of berries in there make your own little dessert bowl with the Greek yogurt and it would be way better for you, even with the chocolate and still a bit more enjoyable too as well. Like you can make your own little version of it, but like, yeah, there's a lot of processed stuff out there. Like, and there's such a mark. Everything is high protein in it now. Honestly, like it's just like, know, just bothers me. And it bothers me just because I think people are taking them for the wrong
Gut Health and PCOS
00:32:00
Speaker
reason. Like if you love them, I'm like, that's great. You would love them include them in your diet in moderation. That's totally fine. Like everything else, you know, but people think they need to eat them because they have have to hit the certain protein target. It's like, no, like we have to bring it back to basics because onto the next topic that we are going to chat about, it's like this kind of stuff's going to affect your goat health. Yes, it does. So goat health and PCOS, like whenever I'm working with clients, I really want to work on goat health as well. And like, it's not uncommon to see like goat issues, like constipation and mixed or irregular bowel movements, bloating, really, really common. So like.
00:32:36
Speaker
We need to be having regular bowel movements. One of the most important reasons for this is it's phase three of our detoxification pathway is in our gut. So the first two phases happen in the liver and the third phase happens in the gut. But basically what's happening is we're eliminating all the crap that we don't need, and that includes excess hormones. So with PCOS, we have a buildup of testosterone and estrogen, and the liver will do a job of metabolizing them to a form that the gut can then get rid of through the stool.
00:33:05
Speaker
But if your gut health isn't good or you've got ah more an imbalance in bacteria in your gut, it will re-metabolize them back into your bloodstream and in an even more potent form. So that's when like you really kind of drive symptoms like acne and excess hair growth and all of these types of symptoms. So you want your gut to be working as best as it can to help get rid of all these hormones so that you can start to kind of balance them out more. Basically, your gut's going to help you balance your hormones if it's in good shape.
00:33:35
Speaker
you have me speechless. I did not know this information. This new information to me that excretes excess hormones through through your stool. Yeah, not only is the high fiber foods super and the vegetables super important for your blood sugar levels, we're talking about for your gut health and your digestion as well. Yeah, so memory was speaking about the the flax seeds, but like other are foods like lentils and chickpeas and things like that,
00:34:05
Speaker
They contain properties that basically bind to like your excess hormones and sponge onto them and then help them go out through your body and through the stools. So really important to add those foods in. So like when you're making a bolognese, add in some lentils into it or a chicken curry. get your chickpeas in there. So getting your fiber into your meals really helps to support your hormone levels as well. It's an easy little to fix or easy tweak as well to your diet, but just more abundance of fiber will really be beneficial for your gut health and to just metabolize them and get get them out of your body.
00:34:37
Speaker
If you're not going regularly, like that's not going to support your hormones. It's one of the first things I'll work on with a client. If they're go healthy isn't right, we need to fix that early first because there's no point, that it just won't work. and Even like the term dysbiosis, I'm not sure if you're aware of that, but basically it is more unhealthy bacteria compared to friendly or good bacteria. So we've got like a lot of this gut and but bacteria, but we want to have a good balance and equilibrium in there. And then dysbiosis is with when we have more unhealthy bacteria. And this is causing basically a lot of inflammation. It can promote further insulin resistance in the in the body. So we want to kind of support a healthier gut microbiome, which just
00:35:19
Speaker
Lots of things we do with our lifestyle or diet is will help with that. Of course, there's other things like stress is a big one as well that can worsen our gut health. But yeah, that in terms of diet, like reducing inflammatory processed foods, like it keeps them a bit more reduced. Not cutting it entirely because it will be impossible to do so, but just reducing them, having a more whole foods diet, lots of fiber, fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds will really benefit your gut health and support your overall hormonal health then.
00:35:46
Speaker
all about what we're putting in rather than taking away again. It really is what we're talking about with the gut health, okay? So if someone listening is like, right okay, I think, yeah, that's where I need to start and I definitely need to improve my gut health. Obviously, when we're talking about high fiber foods, we're talking about, these are called prebiotic foods, am I correct? Yes. yeah the yourre yourre Your high fiber foods that are are helping your gut are prebiotic. Then we also talk about, you hear a lot of people talking about probiotics. Now I have actually spoken to people who have taken different probiotic so supplements and have given them ferocious pains in their stomach and have not helped
00:36:25
Speaker
at all. Now saying that I have done a stint of what's it called? SimProve. I did it from September to December and it was actually fantastic. I really found it great. I felt great after doing it, which is a probiotic supplement for anyone listening. But at the same time, I didn't do it on any doctor's orders. I was just, I was at an event and I was sold and I was like, right, i'llll I'll do it. Yeah. i'd I'd love to know your thoughts on probiotics. where Where, when is it appropriate to take probiotics? And I probably should be taking them now actually after being on antibiotics, but anyway.
00:36:54
Speaker
I'll let you talk. hard how here is mine So first thing we can act to get probiotics from food. So basically there it's a fermented fermentation process and we can make probiotics or live culture is basically. So for example, like natural yogurt, live natural yogurt will have probiotics in it. There's foods like sourdough bread is also made through a fermentation process. So there'll be live cultures in that as well, which are probiotics. Then you'll have ah kimchi and sauerkraut foods that we probably wouldn't need as much in Ireland, but these are also really good probiotic foods that are nice just to add into your diet and to help support your gut health. They basically confer a really good health benefit to the host, which is us. We're the host of the gut microbiome. So it gives health benefits to us in lots of different ways. It modulates inflammation, which is the main thing really that helps with a lot of healing and supporting other health issues. And then with terms of probiotic supplements, But like you said, you do need to be mindful because like not all ones are created equally. There's so many different strains and like different strains will have different benefits for different issues. So depending on what your issue is, you might need like for there might be differences between diarrhea and constipation, the types of bacteria and bacteria that'll give you benefits and you could be taking one that's making you feel worse. so I don't know the strains off my heart at the moment, but like when I'm researching a probiotic for someone I will look into the type of one that they need specifically for their issue. Do you know what I mean? So there are different issues, but they are really beneficial, but you don't need to take them all the time. So they're kind of like you said, like after antibiotics, it might be really helpful to boost up because with the antibiotic you've killed off a lot of beneficial bacteria.
00:38:32
Speaker
So one, you need more fiber and two, getting the probiotics in and eating natural probiotics too, because they will sustain the acidity of your stomach, the natural probiotics, the ones from food. So remember like we have to go through the digestive system first. So the ones that you're getting in a capsule, they have a lot to go through before they actually get to your gut health, you know, your gut area, your microbiome. Now I know I think the same proved that they might have done some technology on that to help it like live through that. I'm not exactly sure of the science Yeah, I think they have. I remember you had to take it first thing in the morning and you couldn't eat or drink anything for like 10 minutes after it because you just give it time to work its way down. And there was a whole science behind why this was better than than the stuff you get over the counter or whatever, but yeah.
00:39:16
Speaker
Again, for marketing, but still, it was still, you got your benefits. They are good. You know, even after Christmas, you might've had a lot of alcohol or drinking and things like that. Like you do deplete your bacteria, your good bacteria when you drink alcohol. So like replenishing it then, or when you're sick and there, there are reasons that
Hormone Metabolism and Fertility in PCOS
00:39:33
Speaker
they can be helpful. And then if you do have say the likes of constipation or. diarrhea, taking it alongside making dietary changes can be supportive to help to modulate that gut environment. But I really do think a food first approach is, is, you know, key and then, you know, looking into a probiotic then if you need one after that.
00:39:52
Speaker
But not to be relied on at all. Like you don't need to take one of these five months of the year. No way. Like a couple of months on food first. And actually just in relation to constipation, another thing that, you know, obviously when we increase our fiber majorly, one thing that a lot of people forget, water. It's like, you know, you're increasing your fiber. You're going to have to drink make sure you're drinking enough water because we got to move move all that fiber through your digestive system as well.
00:40:13
Speaker
play as well, like particularly if you're someone who's eaten a lot, gradually increase your fiber and then increase your water alongside it. And it should help then too, because yeah, you can actually have side effects of eating too much fiber too soon. You'll get like a lot of bloating indigestion. And so you want to do it gradually for it to be able to be tolerated by your, your body as well. So in relation to goat health and women's cycle, are there connections between reproductive hormones and gut health because i I know there's a lot of research and I've spoken to people about it before with gut health and mental health, but I'd be interested to know with it with reproductive health, does that tie in as well?
00:40:49
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. So it kind of comes down to that kind of elimination part I was telling you about, it's getting rid of the hormones. So you might've heard of ah of the term like estrogen dominance. Basically it means we've got too much estrogen in relation to our progesterone. And this can really, this drives a lot of PMS issues for women. So when we had too much estrogen compared to our progesterone. So progesterone is kind of like your.
00:41:11
Speaker
you you produce it after ovulation, firstly, and it's like a very anti-inflammatory, soothing, mother nature kind of hormone. So we get this on the inner luteal phase and it has a lot of anti-inflammatory and anxiety benefits as well. and And we want to have a good amount of progesterone. A good sign of a healthy cycle is if you've got higher levels of progesterone or ah a good level of progesterone. What happens a lot, I see, is that your east the estrogen tends to be a bit more dominant and kind of is the the louder hormones so to speak and makes kind of progesterone go down lower and kind of subdue a little bit so the comparison between them two then is is massive there's a big gap between the two hormones and this is where the term estrogen dominance kind of comes in it means means basically you've got more of it than you should and this can then cause a lot of symptoms like
00:41:59
Speaker
breast tenderness, a lot of bloating, fluid retention, and then down the line lead to heavier, painful periods due to the estrogen buildup. Estrogen is like a growth hormone. It helps things grow. It increases the lining of the uterus to grow. So if you've got too much of it, it can cause it to kind of build up as well. So the reason this I'm making this connection in relation to the gosh is our gut is where we eliminate estrogen. So we remove that through the stool as well. So what happens is if the gut is not working efficiently, our liver and our gut by the way, so we need our liver working good too, our liver and our gut, if they're not working efficiently, it will re-metabolise back in to more protein forms of estrogen that can get get stored as fat.
00:42:39
Speaker
and on helpful other hormones as well that cause symptoms and are harmful as well. So, oestrogen is a really good hormone. We just don't want to have too much of it. And we don't want it recirculating back into the system. We want to get it out to our stew. It's a mind record health for this reason. And keep your alcohol low.
00:42:58
Speaker
to look at. and there But that's an obvious one but I think sometimes forget we forget. We're like oh maybe actually I'm having a bit too much wine every weekend and maybe if I reduced that a bit it would actually help as well. It would I mean like you know the reasons I don't think we all know al alcohol's not great. We hear it so much we don't even think about why it isn't anymore you know that kind of way but yeah it does increase our risk for certain cancers like breast cancer for this reason because when we drink alcohol it's like toxic. The body deems that as toxic, it's poison so the the liver's first priority would always be to get rid of that alcohol. So it starts to like ignore the other's like estrogen, it will leave that behind because that's not urgent in this case, the alcohol is first priority. And there's only so much that the liver can metabolize in one go. So
00:43:41
Speaker
that means then the estrogen is building up and it's not getting metabolized the way it should be and that's causing the issues. So yeah, it's definitely something to just be mindful of. I mean, I love a few drinks myself, but like, yeah, it's just so being aware of it, I guess it's just it's good to know like as well.
00:43:56
Speaker
Yeah. And I think it was just important to to to mention it because I think you're right that like, I think we all know, Oh, alcohol is not good for us. And it's kind of been like, Oh, well, like, you know, or it's like, we don't, because we all know it as fact, we don't really think about it or we don't like to think about why. And we all know because anyone who, you know, has ever had a drink or two too much knows what it feels like the following day. You know what I mean? We know that it's put technically poison. We know our body, our body is.
00:44:23
Speaker
metabolize, is working extra hard to to metabolize it. And, you know, that affects all the other systems, you know, like we know all this, and I think it's just important to kind of yeah tie that into what we're talking about, which is obviously going to be a huge effect. Conscious of time. So I thought we'd just finish off the conversation around the topic of fertility and PCOS. So I suppose this is another a myth. I i suppose it's not a myth necessarily, but one myth that I would imagine is out there is that if you have PCOS that you can't get pregnant.
00:44:52
Speaker
Which yeah is not true. Yeah, it's not true. So a lot of women are told when they were first diagnosed, they'll be told us like at a young age, like I mean, when I was 19, I was told I'll struggle to get pregnant. And now I haven't tried. I don't know if it will or not. Like I'm not, at ah we're not there yet. I'm only getting married this year. But like, it sits in the back of your mind. You're always thinking about it. I haven't worked now with women who have PCOS. I've had women who have PCOS get pregnant.
00:45:17
Speaker
So really the reason why it's said is because you don't ovulate as regularly or as often. So like women with PCOS could have cycles that are as long as 60 to 90 days. So like that's quite long. You know, when a typical cycle is 28 to 35 days, that's kind of the typical length of a menstrual cycle. So like at the worst case of my PCOS, I had two periods a year, like, so basically that means I've got maybe two chances a year to get pregnant. and Yeah, narrows that window. Yeah.
00:45:43
Speaker
narrows your window massively. And then you've got the insulin resistance as well, which doesn't lead to an environment that promotes you like like um a nice environment for pregnancy as well. It doesn't help with the implantation. It's a lot of information going on. So again, that's another factor. We want to work, when I'm working with clients, I really work on getting their egg health in check, supporting good egg health, getting their cycle shorter.
00:46:06
Speaker
and doing all the things to help like basically sports natural conception and if they want to or even assisted because even if you are going down the assisted route like IVF yeah or whatever, you still can't neglect that your body is going to be the host. but You're still going to be like holding that baby and so you need your environment to be right. You're used to an environment.
00:46:26
Speaker
you're still going to be using your own eggs. but So like you want your egg health to be really good as well. So that's so, so important to to not forget about. So that's kind of the work that I do when I'm working with clients who are trying to conceive is reducing insulin resistance, supporting regular ovulation, improving egg health and in supporting the uterine environment as well.
00:46:45
Speaker
And do we do this through diet and lifestyle? Diet, lifestyle and some supplements. Like supplements can be really helpful for like trying to get pregnant. So we look at like myo-nositol. So myo-nositol helps with egg health and also helps with insulin sensitivity and regulating cycles. So it's a game changer for PCOS people. I always recommend it.
00:47:04
Speaker
It's the most evidence-based supplement out there as well for PCOS. And you want to make sure obviously you're taking your basics like your vitamin D and your folate as well. And depending on what age you are co-enzyme Q10 for age 35 plus maybe, or if you're really struggling to conceive it helps with the egg quality.
00:47:20
Speaker
and the mitochondria of the egg, so that's another good supplement. Amiga-3s too, by the way, therefore the inflammation. So when I'm making supplements, or suggesting supplements, it is done on the individual basis. So I'm not saying everyone needs to grind and get these, but there are some of the kind of more general ones that I'd recommend, and then there might be more specific for certain issues as well.
00:47:40
Speaker
Yeah. And I presume anyone listening, you don't just go out and buy that big list of supplements and start taking them. It's like, you need to talk to someone who knows what they're talking about and knows where where your situation is, like, you know, to, to what's best for you in relation to supplements. But I think what you've shared with us today is extremely liberating and empowering, you know, to realize that yes, PC, like recognizing PCOS can be a real struggle. There's lots of things to overcome, lots of things to, to, to, that you have to work on and, you know, challenges that you may face.
00:48:09
Speaker
but that there is a way. There is a way to get your your symptoms managed and balanced and there is a way to work on your insulin resistance. There is a way to work on your on your fertility that the power isn't all taken from you even if it does feel like that sometimes.
00:48:26
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I think the power can feel like when you're first given that diagnosis can be really deflating and it's heartening and you don't really know where to go, but your body wants to help you out. So it's just about trying to kind of help it do its job as well and giving it the right support, you know, through the changes that they mentioned. And obviously there's more as well, like, but yeah, for today, like definitely making changes to your lifestyle and your nutrition makes a huge difference.
00:48:50
Speaker
Yeah. No, thank you so much for everything that you've shared. I cook you i could keep you another hour. I won't. I could go into a whole other conversation around stress and sleep and the whole lot, but we won do we won't do that for today. Thank you so much. And I think if anyone is listening and you know they they feel like they might have PCOS or they're struggling, or where is the best place if they wanted to reach out to you on so on social media or you know to follow you or to ask you
Connect with Mary Jo
00:49:14
Speaker
anything? is Is that something that they can do? Yeah.
00:49:16
Speaker
Instagram is probably the best place to get me, MJ Nutrition is my Instagram name. So Instagram, definitely the best place. And if anyone has questions, feel free to message to me. I'm happy to answer or go through anything with you as well. Thank you so much. And I'm so glad that there are people like you out there that are really, you know, helping women in this way, in this very specific, you know, way to take control of their health and and manage their symptoms.
00:49:40
Speaker
No, thank you. I really appreciate coming on and enjoy the chats and and hope people get something from it. That's the main thing really, just even if they take one little thing from it, that would be great. That's it. ah ah Thank you so much. Thank you.
00:49:56
Speaker
I just want to say thank you so much for listening to the podcast. It really means so much to me that there are people out there actually listening to what I have to say and to the conversations that I'm having with others. So thank you so much. If you are enjoying the podcast, could you please make sure that you are subscribed? And if not, if you could hit that subscribe button, it really does make that much of a difference. Also, if you would like to leave a review on any of the episodes that you listen to that you particularly enjoy, I would love to hear what you have to say.
00:50:24
Speaker
And also, if there's an episode that you've enjoyed, please do share it on your social media, in your WhatsApp groups, with your friends. If you're sharing it on your stories, please tag myself in it and whoever I'm interviewing, this would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you're interested in working with me and my wonderful team, please do you contact me about applying for coaching. So you can contact me at KateHamiltonHealth at gmail dot.com.
00:50:49
Speaker
or on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, all Kate Hamilton help. And you will be able to comp apply for coaching. We can organise to have a chat and see if it's a good fit for you and get you moving towards your goals.