I recently had an animated discussion on our Facebook Fan Page with a woman about protein for vegans. Her argument is that women with PCOS simply need to eat less carbohydrate and that their protein intake is adequate.
I challenged her on that. First of all, if she is vegan, she has PCOS, and she is a member of our Facebook page, it suggests that maybe there is a piece she is missing. I am not telling anyone who is vegan with PCOS that it is wrong or impossible to have and do both…but if that is your choice, it is super important that you be informed and diligent in order that the choice not backfire on you.
Here is why I say that.
Women with PCOS are insulin resistant; most of them are going to be diabetic at some point in their lives. We know that insulin resistance makes it hard to maintain muscle mass. Diabetics as they age, in fact, lose their muscle mass twice as rapidly as people who are not diabetic.
Part of the way to maintain muscle, is to regularly exercise muscles. You all have a nice friend, your testosterone levels, that can help you out in that department…PROVIDED YOU DON'T OVERDO IT.
The other part you need, because all of the strength training in the world is pretty useless if you're not eating enough protein for your muscles to incorporate with those workouts, is protein.
If you are losing muscle mass at twice the rate of the average person, the amount of protein you need to eat in order to account for that accelerated loss has got to be higher. I'd love for us to study this someday when we've raised the funds to do so.
For now, assume that the recommendations made for vegans are made for healthy vegans, not vegans who are struggling with a complicated hormone balance.
I can tell you, from my experience, women who come for help with their PCOS are not eating enough protein. And the vegans I work with, as well-intended as they are, are often not eating in a way that accounts for the fact that most vegan protein sources are also high in carbohydrates. You really have to know what you are doing and look specifically at your own eating to see if the balance is good.
We have also noticed here at inCYST, that a pretty high percentage of women we work with, at some point in their lives, were vegan. There is clearly something about eating vegan that sets your hormones up to rebel. Don't let assumptions get in the way of making your vegan eating a component of your path to health.
If you're getting your vegan information from someone who doesn't work with PCOS, it may not be the right information.
You need more protein than you may be aware of. If you're not sure if you're getting it, let us work with you to figure it out.