Functional Nutrition for PCOS

Have you ever wondered what functional nutrition is or how functional nutrition might help your pcos symptoms and pcos hormone balance?  You’re in the right place.  I’ll explain what functional nutrition is and how functional nutrition for pcos might be the answer to actual changes in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

What is functional nutrition (and what is functional nutrition for PCOS?)

Functional nutrition is a type of nutrition that looks at you as a holistic person with connected body systems.  You may have heard that functional nutrition is all about looking for the “root cause” and that’s true, but what does that really mean?

Let discuss what functional nutrition really means and how those with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) can benefit from functional nutrition approaches.

Root Cause Functional Nutrition for PCOS

In traditional nutrition and medicine, we look at the body as a collection of different parts that are largely separate from one another.  For example:  you might see your general practitioner when you’re sick and he or she might refer you to a specialist for deeper issues.

Maybe you see the endocrinologist about your hormone balance or the cardiologist for questions about your heart.

This can be a good thing- specializing means that professionals can become experts in important and complex areas but this often misses the mark for more chronic health and hormone conditions like PCOS because when we only take a look at one small area (like the hormones) we miss the bigger picture.

All our body systems, and especially our hormones, operate in a delicate balance with one another and conditions like PCOS often impact many areas of our body.

For example, those with PCOS may have too much testosterone, but they also often have too much insulin, too much cortisol, may have sluggish thyroids, and are at higher risk for issues like endometrial cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

With functional nutrition, we are asking more complex questions:  where do these hormone issues really stem from?  What are they connected to?  We are looking for those root causes.

How Functional Nutrition helps PCOS

Instead of blaming our PCOS hormone imbalances on testosterone or other androgens, functional nutrition looks deeper at the complex systems involved in the chronic health issues of PCOS.  In other words, we seek to look at the deepest root causes of PCOS and bring better harmony and balance by working on those root issues first, rather than simply altering the hormones.

Here’s more on the difference between functional nutrition and conventional treatments for PCOS.

Nutrition has the ability to help us improve our immune health, nutrient density, reduce inflammation, and balance our blood sugar and all of these things can change the way our hormones are balanced.

Let’s discuss some of the root causes of PCOS symptoms.

Functional Root Causes of PCOS Symptoms

There are 3 main root causes of PCOS symptoms.  It is these three issues that create most of the hormone imbalances in PCOS.  Notice how each of them can be helped by nutrition?  In functional nutrition we use different therapeutic foods and tools like supplementation to support our bodies natural healing and balancing abilities.  Here’s a few ways we do that in PCOS:

Insulin Resistance/ Hyperinsulinemia in PCOS

The most common root cause of PCOS is insulin resistance or hyperinsulinemia.

Insulin resistance is a condition where cells in your body don’t respond properly to the hormone insulin, leading to elevated blood sugar levels. In PCOS, insulin resistance is a common root cause due to various factors such as genetic predisposition, obesity, and lifestyle factors.

When cells become resistant to insulin, the pancreas produces more insulin to compensate, leading to higher insulin levels in the bloodstream. This excess insulin stimulates the ovaries to produce more androgens (male hormones), disrupting the normal balance of hormones in the body and contributing to the symptoms of PCOS, such as irregular menstrual cycles, acne, and excessive hair growth.

Insulin resistance also promotes inflammation and can lead to other metabolic disturbances, increasing the risk of conditions like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Chronic Inflammation in PCOS

Adrenal Dysfunction in PCOS

Adrenal dysfunction refers to an imbalance in the function of the adrenal glands, which are responsible for producing hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline, and aldosterone. In the context of PCOS, adrenal dysfunction can contribute to the condition’s development and exacerbate its symptoms.

Chronic stress, poor sleep, anxiety and childhood trauma can disrupt the adrenal glands’ normal function or make us less resilient to stress, leading to imbalances in hormone levels.

This imbalance can further disrupt ovarian function, insulin sensitivity, and inflammation regulation, all of which are key factors in PCOS.

Adrenal dysfunction can contribute to increased production of androgens (male hormones) and cortisol, which can disrupt the menstrual cycle, promote insulin resistance, and exacerbate inflammation.

Symptoms of PCOS Root Causes

So how do you know which root cause of PCOS you have?  That gets a little complicated!

First, most of us are dealing with the influence of all three but there is usually one (or sometimes two) that are at the root of the others.  I call this the PCOS Vortex.  Below is a graphic of some of the most common symptoms associated with each of the PCOS Root Cause Issues.

You can find more specific help for your PCOS root causes by taking one of my Functional Nutrition for PCOS Courses (more about those here).

Root Cause Quiz

If you want to dive deeper into your PCOS root causes, I’ve created a free PCOS root cause quiz which you can find here. 

This quiz is based on my work as a functional nutritionist for pcos and takes into account many of the overlapping symptoms I see in my practice.

About Amber Fischer, Functional PCOS nutritionist

There’s a reason I’ve spent my life dedicated to PCOS nutrition- I have PCOS too!

My PCOS journey began in 2010 with a diagnosis as a college student that sent me on a decade long path to help myself and eventually others.

My PCOS diagnosis spurred me on to learn as much as I can and when I saw that there really wasn’t much good nutrition and lifestyle content for PCOS, I sought to gain the experience and education to make my own.

I graduated with a Master’s Degree in Functional Nutrition, became a member of the Institute for Functional Medicine and took many of their Advanced Practitioner courses, became a certified nutrition specialist (CNS), and a licensed dietitian nutritionist (LDN).

In 2015 I began my private practice in PCOS functional nutrition and have worked with hundreds of women over the years.

Using this knowledge, I launched my podcast in 2018, my instagram and tiktok in 2020, youtube in 2021 and my PCOS courses Functional PCOS (2021), PCOS Foundations (2022), Facial Hair Freedom (2023), and group programs Functional PCOS Group (2022-2023) and PCOS Essentials Academy (2023-ongoing)

Functional Nutrition for PCOS Videos

I’ve also created a series of videos to help explain PCOS root causes to you, here’s the playlist below!

Subscribe to my channel

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3 Root Causes of PCOS Symptoms | Functional Nutrition Insights for Hormonal Balance

Understanding PCOS: Functional Nutrition for Insulin Resistance

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Resources for PCOS Functional Nutrition

I’ve also created lots of free resources on the functional nutrition approach to PCOS.  You can find many of them here. 

I’ve got a podcast called “An Amber a Day: The Functional PCOS podcast” that I’ve been adding to since 2018 with episodes dedicated to PCOS functional nutrition, lifestyle, and experiences.  You can find episodes of the podcast here. 

I hope this article has helped you understand a bit more about functional nutrition for PCOS and inspired you to start your own path to doing your own research and improving your PCOS hormone balance with nutrition!  I’d love to be your guide on this journey, see you soon!