Acne/oily skin

In my quest for natural products to help with my acne, I found a marine based product called Nourella, it's a totally natural product containing compound of marine origin and horsetail extract and it's honestly worked wonders for my acne and transformed my skin. It comes in tablet form and it's definitely worth giving a try. It does take a little commitment, it's not just something you take for a week and your skin is transformed, it's a recommended course of 3 months. Towards the end of the second month I really began to see the difference in my skin. It's a really powerful product and natural. I still take Nourella now and I definitely attribute my acne-free skin to taking this. Also look out for moisturisers or oil control gels which matify the skin, although these are just a cosmetic solution they're still quite helpful. There are a lot of good ones available ranging from budget to expensive.

Scalp hairloss

The product that was the turning point for my hairloss is a natural marine based product called Nourkrin (a sister product to Nourella, I actually found Nourkrin first, which wasn't an easy task as it was marketed under a different name in some countries, it was later I found Nourella). Again it contains compound of marine origin and horsetail extract and again you do need to be committed to a cause (the recommended course is 6 months). But believe me, it's a brilliant product. In the second to third month my hairloss slowed down and very quickly I began to see new baby hairs growing. This product also accelerated my hairgrowth quite dramatically, two to three times faster than normal, it was a double whammy! so to speak.

I also would recommend only washing your hair once or twice a week maximum when fallout is heavy, because hair is at it's weakest when wet. And only use conditioner maybe every fourth wash, because when hair is fine it tends to look lank when conditioner is used frequently (at least in my case it did!).

Curbing Carb Cravings

Many women with PCOS have insulin resistance, this leads to high levels of insulin which can stimulate the appetite for carbohydrate rich foods. Also high levels of insulin can stimulate the amount of fat that is stored. This is a vicious cycle, as the more fat that is stored, the worse the insuline resistance gets, the hungrier you get, the more you eat and so on.

Tips to help control carb cravings:

1. Do not skip meals, eat three meals and include snacks in between meals. Try not to let more than 5 hours go between meals and snacks.
2. Keep food records. Try to identify patterns in your food cravings. Record any emotions that may be occuring prior to or right before the craving, this can help identify the cause of cravings.
3. If you know you have a serious trigger food, avoid taking the first bite. For some people, taking the first bite of certain foods can open the floodgates to uncontrolled eating! (that's me, just before my period!) Keeping food records can help to identify a trigger food.
4. Avoid keeping trigger foods in your home if possible, the less temptation you have the better.

Once you have the craving:

1. If you really crave a food (i.e. chocolate) you have three choices, avoid it totally, allow yourself a small portion when you feel the craving or find a substitute.
2. Try to wait 15 minutes before giving into a craving. Try to engage in another activity, sometimes even a five minute distraction can help ward off the cravings.
3. If you do give into the craving and eat more than you would have liked, don't beat yourself up. Try to learn from it. What could you have done differently to have prevented the craving or how could you have dealt with it differently? Let it go, we're all human. Guilt is a useless emotion when it comes to food. It only makes things worse.

I found most of the information above regarding carb cravings on the PCOSupport.org site. Although I don't have a weight problem, I do suffer from carb cravings and so I know the feeling very well of wanting to consume a whole loaf of white bread at once! Especially around my time of the month. And I also know very well the feeling of guilt afterwards.

I've found the best thing to do if you feel a really big craving is to try, if only even for 2 minutes to stop and think, acknowledge what's happening and have a pre-organised backup plan (one made when you were at a more sane moment!). For example to maybe eat a small slice of wholegrain bread instead of randomly choosing a refined source of carb. Planning for times of cravings is probably the most important thing (I've found this very important). In general I try to eat complex sources of carbs rather than white or sugary ones because these sustain bloodsugar levels for longer.