Hey everyone!

I've been raw vegan in the past for a couple years, went to vegan, then back to a "normal" diet with animal products. I've always eaten "clean" though, not much processed foods, no fast food, a lot of veggies/ sweet potatoes/ beans/ some fruits/ nuts/ lots of water. I have a history with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) which causes insulin resistance. Raw helped in the past but then I ended up with other issues & decided to go off of it. So here I am again.

I've been Vegan for about 7 months and immediately my energy increased, bowels became regular & I lost weight. However I feel stuck and things seem to be reversing. I'm having issues with going to the bathroom even though everything I eat is fibrous & I drink more than enough water, I work out about 4-5x/ week. I've gained in my middle & have lost some energy.

I'm someone that isn't ok with my health just being "ok", I prefer optimal health & will do what I need to to achieve it.

With that said, I want to take charge with my food & feel better. I'd like to loose about 20lbs but have a really hard time doing it no matter any changes I make with working out.

I've heard from just about everyone to watch my carbs because of the insulin resistance and PCOS however, I've tried the low carb thing & I always feel worse. So it's pretty much engrained in my head that fruit is bad even though I LOVED being raw before and ate a ton of fruit & felt amazing & lost a lot of weight. But people have told me that being raw & eating all that fruit is what has gotten me to where I am...........so I'm fearful of being raw & eating fruit because of the sugar. Does that make sense?

Any thoughts or support or anyone with PCOS on here that has had success with cycles/ energy/ bowel movements/ weight loss?

Thanks ya'll!

What kind of foods do you typically eat and do you chew thoroughly? Are you properly combining food or eating lots of fat (fat can slow digestion)? Too little fats can also be a problem. Eating large amounts of fruit CAN cause insulin resistance if you're not exercising a lot. You could also be deficient in magnesium and/or B-vitamins, or potentially have thyroid issues.

Digestive enzymes and probiotics may help as well as addressing any potential deficiencies. Try to get lots of vitamin C, which can have a laxative effect.

Yes I chew thoroughly, and I typically don't eat a lot of fat, if I do it's as a snack like nuts or some avocado on a salad or a little chia seeds in a smoothie.

A typical day is:
Breakfast: oats made with almond milk or water (I won't be using almond milk anymore) or a fruit smoothie with kale/ spinach/ spirulina powder/ maca, kelp & wheat grass powders & a little black strap molasses (for iron) & vegan protein powder (which I'll also be dropping)

Lunch: Salad with sprouts & other veggies, nutritional yeast, tempeh or tofu (I'm also dropping these)

Snack: nuts or fruit

Dinner: green beans, sweet potato, beans or tofu

I used to eat a lot of hummus & with a couple brown rice cakes, but I've recently stopped eating those. I'm basically changing to completely unprocessed foods so no protein powders, tempeh, or tofu or almond/ coconut milks.

After reading posts on this forum I think I'm FINALLY realizing that insulin resistance isn't caused by carbs from fruit (contrary to popular belief ) And because I'm active pretty much every day of the week I think I'm safe to say that fruit isn't the issue.

I have a B supplement, I'll start taking that, thank you. I already eat nutritional yeast everyday & take B12 sublingual tablets. My thyroid is good, sometimes it's low, but usually gets thrown off by emotional stress. I didn't even think about enzymes!!! I'll get some of those too, as well as C's. I take a probiotic everyday.

Thank you so much for your help!

No problem

For vitamin C, you don't really need to supplement though... grapefruit, oranges, strawberries, red bell peppers etc. should give you plenty. But instead of a vitamin C supplement, you could use camu camu powder, which is loaded with vitamin C. Magnesium is also very important.

Smoothies could definitely be causing some digestion problems because you're essentially drinking roughage. Chewing is the body's primary way of digesting food by mixing it with saliva, and when you blend up food and drink it, you bypass this process unless you're swishing your smoothie around in your mouth for a while before each swallow. The food combining could also be an issue.

Aloe vera, castor oil, and ginger should help. Pears and grapes are supposed to have laxative effects.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/2014 10:00PM by jtprindl.

I never thought about the food combination in my smoothies & how quickly it gets absorbed. And because they are so delicious I drink them fast
Maybe I'll try and drink them much slower & see if that helps.

I'm actually hoping that eating more fruit will help my with my digestion/ bloating issues.

Thanks again I got my fridge all stocked for my new lifestyle!