PCOS and a Gluten Free diet

Today I had an appointment for an ultrasound at the OB/GYN office. I've had this done about 5 years ago, but it didn't show much. This time around it showed that my ovaries do indeed have cysts. So that solidifies the PCOS diagnosis from five years ago. I had enough of the other symptoms usually associated with PCOS that my fertility specialist felt comfortable giving the diagnosis. Below is a picture (not mine, I didn't get copies of my ovaries) of an ovary with cysts (the dark spots). Lovely, huh?

Anyway, the tech doing the ultrasound mentioned that a girl with similar issues had been in yesterday: weight gain, inability to lose weight, infertility, irregular periods, etc. She had first come two years ago, and when she came back yesterday, she had lost a lot of weight. Turns out she went gluten free and yeast free, and combined with the meds (which I will also be taking), she was able to lose the weight and keep it off.

In researching PCOS some more, more and more people are seeing a connection between their PCOS and gluten issues. When they eliminated gluten, they were able to alleviate a lot of their other symptoms. I've requested a bunch of books from the library and will be reading up on gluten free eating. Once I've got that down, I may go yeast free also. I don't think it will be too difficult to add that on.

At first glance, a gluten free diet seems rather restrictive (no wheat, rye, or barley. The grains aren't too hard, it's all the packaged foods that have some form of gluten in them- as a thickener, modified food starch, in soy sauce, and so many other things- that you have to watch for), but in checking out other people's blogs, it's not all doom and gloom. The more fresh, unprocessed foods you eat, the lower the chance of accidentally eating gluten. And we're supposed to be eating fresh and unprocessed food anyway...

I've found several sites with yummy-looking recipes (and they don't look too time consuming, either), so I need to work on changing my thought processes and change how I shop and how I cook. It will take effort, but it will be worth it. I'm supposed to be eating yeast free anyway, so hopefully this will make it easier to get there. I am definitely a sugar and carb addict, which has always put a wrench in the works before. Others have said that cravings disappeared once they went gluten and yeast free. Hopefully that proves the same for me. It will be a journey.