Natural Solutions for PCOS and Hair Loss
Treatment of thinning scalp hair must be grounded in changing the habits you may have that support elevated androgens. Diet and exercise are key to maintaining optimal hormone balance. In fact, for women with PCOS, research is clear- there is no drug therapy more effective than proper diet and regular exercise. First, you get your foundational health habits in order; then, specific targeted therapies have the best chance of being effective for you.
Natural Remedies for Restoring Your Scalp Hair
Food! Your #1 therapy for regaining healthy hair. You must eat a therapeutic diet if you want to be successful with natural therapies to address your health concerns. We like nutritional supplements and herbs largely because they are gently effective, with rare to no side effects. The trade off is that because these are specifically not ferocious chemicals that will over power your natural processes, you have to support the chemical correction natural medicines offer by making your diet and exercise habits only helpful, and not part of the problem.
#1 A therapeutic diet that lowers excess testosterone is one that strictly controls insulin. Insulin has the effect of making testosterone have stronger impact on your cells. To minimize insulin effects you have to minimize your carbohydrate intake. Carbohydrate foods are all plant foods. Complex carbohydrates are whole foods – fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts and seeds. All refined sweeteners, including sugar of all types, honey, syrups, fruit juice concentrates, malts etc. are considered simple carbohydrates. Refined grains, for instance all flour products like breads, crackers, baked goods and pasta, white rice, manufactured cereals, chips and flat breads, are the kind of simple carbohydrate that acts like sugar in your blood stream within minutes of swallowing. All of these items will elevate your blood glucose and insulin levels, which leads to excess testosterone effect on your hair follicles.
The only carbohydrate foods essential to human health are fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds. Whole grains can be used in portion sizes appropriate to your muscle mass and activity level. If you have extra fat on you, you have demonstrated to yourself you are taking in more energy than you are using, and storing it as fat. The only way you will signal yourself to lose that fat is to reduce the amount of fuel you take in to less than your muscles demand. Cutting out grains will reduce your unnecessary carbohydrate intake; you will get all the fiber plus vitamins and minerals you need by eating the right amounts – a minimum of 2 cups daily for most people- of fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Grains- especially those containing gluten, are also notorious for allergic responses and for creating cravings and addictive attachments to certain foods.
To minimize the effect of insulin and thus testosterone on your system, you have to eliminate all sweets, all forms of simple sugars and refined flours. Alcohol is also a refined carbohydrate. Only very well muscled and active athletes can eat starchy carbohydrate foods and not over-produce insulin and thus testosterone. Most women will have to reduce their carbohydrate intake to only that which they get from two-plus cups of fresh or frozen vegetables daily and 2 or 3 pieces of fresh fruit daily
