PCOS and Balancing your Hormones with Noor Struik

Low-Carb Dietitian, Noor Struik, founder of The Nourishing State invited Louisa Bakker, founder of Funky Fat Foods, to talk about hormonal balance, PCOS, the keto diet, and sugars in her podcast called “Healthy You, Happy You”, also available in YouTube.

At The Nourishing State, an experienced team consisting of a dietist, a nutritionist, and a psychologist help women get rid of their forever bouncing weight. They guide women in adopting a low-carb lifestyle and working on their mindset. They want women to be able to fully pursue their dreams and ambitions without their weight and/or insecurity getting in the way. Noor has been a big fan of the Funky Fat Chocs since the very start and loves recommending them to her clients for their low-carb or keto lifestyles.

PCOS

Louisa was diagnosed with PCOS about 4 years ago, which lead to her being introduced to the keto diet, and, later on, the motivation to start Funky Fat Foods. By starting to adopt a low-carb, high-fat diet, Louisa immediately noticed a big difference. Her nails, hair, and skin improved. She even had less bloating in her belly after just 3 days of starting to follow the keto diet. She also gained a lot more energy. Louisa always had difficulties with her hormones and menstruation. Her menstrual cycle was very irregular and thanks to the keto diet, she managed to get back her regular, monthly period. Louisa: “I like being on my period. I love that your body tells you, naturally, that everything is going well. You feel so feminine.”

Sugar highs and lows

Women with PCOS are often very sensitive to insulin spikes, which is also what Louisa noticed. She never really listened to it and had a constant craving for sweet things like fruit, oatmeal, and sweet potatoes. Her body had constant insulin spikes and gradually, she found out her body did not respond well to this; got tired easily and her muscles also did not respond well to all these carbs and sugars. She then started to add more fats from lots of olive oil and avocados to her diet and left out the carbs. First, she was scared because of the many calories of the fats and the reputation of fats causing breakouts. Louisa tried to overcome these mental doubts and because of the immediate differences she noticed by following the keto diet, it is very easy for her to maintain this lifestyle. The benefits just outweighed everything else. 

This is the same for Noor, it just has become so natural for her to follow the keto diet. When Noor started her keto journey, she also immediately noticed so many health differences. Noor found out that she had a lot of health problems she had never even noticed. She experienced less bloating, less sugar lows, and increased focus. 

Listen to your own body

Many doctors always put women on hormones whenever their periods are irregular or when they have hormonal problems. Noor: “It is not right to always put bandages on wounds and to not go back to the core of where it all truly goes wrong. But this is what usually happens.”

Louisa stresses the importance of doing the research yourself. This is also what Noor thinks is important: trying to solve health problems naturally. Louisa talks about how important she thinks it is to listen to your own body. It is so important to look at the things you can solve yourself. Enough sleep, healthy nutrition, and working out. Noor believes in the holistic approach. It is important to take good care of yourself when it comes to nutrition, but it is even more important to start with one pillar, one thing at a time. 

Balance and mindset

Following a lifestyle is not only about restricting yourself, according to Noor and Louisa. It is okay to make exceptions once in a while. Noor says that it is not about these exceptions themselves, it is about the mindset around them. As soon as you punish yourself for eating carbs once in a while, it will get very hard and you end up in a negative spiral. You just have to accept it and move on. If you don’t feel good after eating carbs, it is another motivator for yourself that your body does not respond well to this and it’s a reminder of the reason why you follow the low-carb, high-fat lifestyle.

Louisa thinks it is very important to listen to yourself, and your body, and treat your body the best way you can. She is all about finding a balance accepting that you cannot change your body in one night. It is a process, a journey of trial and error. It is important to constantly check how you can improve yourself. If you feel that life has been a bit overwhelming lately, go back to yourself, take a minute, ground, take care of yourself and try to find a balance. Noor: “A healthy lifestyle is a work-in-progress.”