Lara Briden - The Period Revolutionary
Leading the change to better periods and hormones
The role of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome in common menstrual problems such as PCOS, heavy periods, and perimenopause. Hyperinsulinemia or high insulin can impair ovulation and increase androgens in polycystic ovary syndrome. It can also cause progesterone deficiency, anovulatory cycles, and increase the thickness of the uterine lining contributing to heavy periods.
I invite you to think differently about polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and the types of PCOS.
PCOS is not one thing. It is not one disease. Instead, PCOS is a set of symptoms, with the key symptom being impaired ovulation which leads to androgen excess or a high level of male hormones. Androgen excess then causes the common PCOS symptoms of hair loss, hirsutism, and acne.
To treat PCOS you must first ask: “Why, in your particular case, do you not ovulate?”
If you suffer from acne or treat acne, then 2012 was an important year. That’s when this ground-breaking paper came out of Germany: Diet in Acne: Further Evidence for the Role of Nutrient Signalling in Acne Pathogenesis.
One sentence from the abstract says it all:
“Acne should be regarded as an mTOR-driven disease of civilization, like obesity, type 2 diabetes and cancer induced by Western diet.”
As my patients can tell you, I prescribe magnesium for almost every hormonal condition, including PCOS, insulin resistance, PMDD, migraines, and perimenopause.
Magnesium deficiency is common because modern soils are depleted, and your body dumps magnesium during stress. So, if you’re under stress, you probably need magnesium.
🟠
Sugar is a carb. It is the worst carb. This should be stating the obvious, I know, so apologies if you already understand this. But I really feel it needs to be said because I’ve had some distressing conversations with patients. They’re very careful to avoid a potato with dinner, but think it’s fine to have a little something for dessert. “Potatoes are a bad carb,” they tell me.
How did we get to the point where starch with the evening meal is believed to cause more weight gain than dessert? Why do people fear rice, but are happy to eat natural sweeteners like dates or agave which are almost pure fructose?