#4 - Georgie Ricks - PCOS Symptoms And Treatment: Georgie's Guide To Lifestyle & Diet

:: 00:00

First of all, I think the problem with the world that we live in is with marketing and all these diet plans and everything out there. Everyone's looking for a quick fix.

:: 00:17

Thank you so much for coming on.

:: 00:18

Thank you very much.

:: 00:19

Happy it's gonna be really interesting because I don't know much about PCOS, but I know a lot of people on Instagram and it was funny when you contacted me because I had three messages about PCOS from girls. I know when I mentioned you were coming on, so this is gonna be good, so I'll make sure to send some stuff out to them. I love that. First of all, I just wanted to mention a bit about you and what you do. Obviously, you're an online coach specializing in PCOS, but you're also a qualified nutritionist and a qualified PT. Yeah, is that level 3 PT? Yeah, exactly, if someone was to sign up for your coaching, what could they sort of expect from you?

:: 00:56

Well, they could expect a very hands-on, I guess, a friend and a mentor and a coach all wrapped in one. You know, I think coaching is a bit of a buzzword at the moment, I feel, and it's getting more and more saturated. But I do believe to be a good coach you have to have gone through through. You know the thing that you're coaching yourself and and you know the fact that I had PCOS for 10, 12 years and I went on a huge roller coaster journey of emotionally, physically, you know all of it and I've come out the other side.

I can actually relate to the girls, you know, to my clients. I know all their struggles, I know all their pains and like, genuinely like, I cry sometimes because you know they're in so much pain and I think, yeah, that's, that's probably why I know I have my education and my knowledge and everything. I think it's more like the emotional support that I give them and PCOS can be very lonely sometimes. So you know the fact that they know that they're not alone and their feelings are valid and actually there is a light at the end of the tunnel because you know I managed to reverse it, I'm living my best life and, you know, letting them know that they can do, can do the same.

:: 01:58

You've got a really impressive resume. When I looked at your website, but one thing that really stood out to me, on top of your qualifications etc. Was you've lost 35 kilograms and you've been able to reverse your PCOS, as you said. What was the catalyst in this? Because I thought we'll talk on it later, but you touched on how medication wasn't great for you, and it was sort of lifestyle changes and the way you ate and. But also look at your Instagram. You have a great time.

And it's like that's really refreshing to see is like you don't have to, you know, be really really strict on yourself. You have to do the right lifestyle changes, but also you can enjoy it at the same time. So what I wanted to see was for you to lose 35 kilograms. That's no easy task. I mean, I struggled, losing like four when I have my surgery on my shoulder. But what went into that for you and what sort of catalyst and driving that?

:: 02:48

God, I think there's so much in this because I think, first of all, I think the problem with the world that we live in is with marketing and these diet pills and everything out there. Everyone's looking for a quick fix.

And I did that for years I tried every different diet under the sun, you know, googling how to lose a stone in a week, starving myself, which then led to a very bad relationship with food and binging and eating disorders and things that a lot of women with PCOS struggle with. And actually the change for me really was to see it as a full lifestyle change. It's not a temporary diet. This isn't something I'm going to be on for a few weeks and then go back to my eating habits. It by eating habits sorry, it was changing my habits and actually having a, like you know, a marathon or sprint vision and being like, okay, like I. You know I have quite a bit to do here, but it's over a longer period of time and it was making small changes every week and rather than thinking like I've got 10 kilograms to lose, it was like I've got one kilogram each week, you know.

And, of course, educating myself. You know calories are important. Yes, they're not everything completely, because hormone and balances, you know, can make your body come onto more fat and whatnot. But you know, just actually educating yourself around, you know, tracking certain foods, what's actually in foods, and spending my life looking at nutritional labels and things. You know. It is an educational process and I say it to my clients like it's like your finances, what you put in your body is technically you know your money. So if you have a big week when you blow out all your money, what do you do in the week? You know you show it back a little bit and it is a bit like that in terms of how I enjoy my life and show you know it's called its pieces party for a reason. You know you can go out and live life and I do preach this sort of 80 20 balance as much as possible. You know, once you sort of understand the tricks of the trade a bit and it is a bit of like a numbers game missing pieces in a puzzle.

:: 04:42

Everything is kind of like the petty suddenly drops and I was like, Okay, this isn't actually that hard, it's not rocket science.

:: 04:49

And when you sort of stop restricting so much, I think that's the biggest thing, because I used to go sort of for weeks where I would, you know, monday, wake up, I'm going to do 20 different classes, I'm only going to eat chicken and broccoli, and then I hit the weekend and that's when it all went. You know, tits up, because you, literally, then I would drink myself silly, I'd eat about 700 pizzas and start again on Monday.

So, you know, when you stop restricting like that and give yourself a little bit of say I call it yummy foods every day, you hit the weekend and you actually feel that you don't need to, you know, over binge or sort of have those insane cravings because you've, you know, been kind to yourself through the week and giving yourself a little bit of goodness.

:: 05:34

I say so just like minimizing it and not cutting it fully out your life. So you said 80, 20.

:: 05:39

And this is something.

:: 05:40

I did a podcast with Sammy Cooper, who's an elite performance nutritionist and she worked with loads of professional athletes and she breaches out 80 20. And what you mean by that is 80% sort of good foods and 20% enjoy yourself.

:: 05:54

Yeah, definitely, I say 80%, you know, is nutritious, nourishing foods that are going to, you know, make you feel good, going to make you function better, perform better, hormones are going to be happy. And then 20%, you know, of course, is that the second one. The weekend is for that slice of pizza, that chocolate, like, whatever it may be, what I call them yummy foods, you know, and we don't want to look at foods that it's like bad foods or good foods because, again, that's really not good for your mental health. You know, things like Slimming World I'm not. I think it's one of the worst things, unfortunately, because I think it again mentally makes makes people look at food like it's really bad, it's the enemy, and then if you eat it, you feel immense guilt and that can lead to obviously really bad thoughts and again a bad relationship with food. So you know it's, some foods are good for your health and your hormones and some is just good for your soul you know and it makes you feel good and it gives you joy.

:: 06:46

Yeah, love that. In terms of PCOS, this was something I wasn't didn't have a clue about until about two weeks ago when I first started up, when we were in contact and obviously we met, well, discussed on Instagram through Joe I had on the first podcast, but it's funny how this is sort of in like a grapevine and I've met a lot of people through that PCOS. When you messaged me, I was like wow, like that's very different. It's what, in terms of what the way I normally bring people on the podcast and this is something that's just like really been interesting to learn about. Over the last few weeks, my girlfriend's been really interested in my mum. I love it.

But in terms of PCOS as a whole, it's not not that spoken about in terms of I didn't know about it, and I'm sure a lot of women do, but what is PCOS? To someone out there who is like me and is like, oh, I've never heard of this, how would you explain it to them?

:: 07:41

Yeah, so PCOS stands for polycystic ovarian syndrome. Unfortunately, what is so hilarious about this is the name is actually wrong so they call it polycystic, and this is again where there is so much misleading information out there and everyone gets very confused by it, because it's actually not cysts on your ovaries. They're actually follicles.

So it's basically a metabolic disorder and it's basically an inflammation in the ovaries and this can lead to basically irregular periods, and that obviously is when you can't, when you don't know if you're ovulating or not. So this is why it's leading cause of impotinity. So with that is a huge hormone imbalance. So your insulin is basically elevated, where 80% of women with PCOS are more likely to have insulin resistance. And this is basically your the first start before you get to pre-diabetes and end up diabetes type 2.

So we have a much higher risk of basically developing diabetes type 2.

But when you have high insulin, this can then elevate your testosterone and your cortisol, and your testosterone is your male angiotrigen, it's your male sex hormone, and what this then leads to is a lot of nasty symptoms that ladies experience, like acne, facial hair, so a lot sort of you know the the chin and the stomach, and the sort of neck hair loss is another one anxiety, like depression.

That's against more from the mental health side of it, but it's basically one hormonal chaotic mess, if I'm honest. And then the cysts which aren't cysts, they are follicles. They basically coat the ovaries. So when you go for an ultrasound they kind of look like black pearls and they're basically immature follicles that haven't been released because you're not ovulating, basically. And then you need two out of the three to be diagnosed with PCOS when you go to your GPS and official diagnosis is irregular periods or absent periods and a blood test they will do for testosterone. So if you have high levels of it and then if you have the ultrasound with the black dots, so is that why you go to doctors, in terms of if you don't know you have it?

Yeah, you go because you have irregular periods or some of those symptoms yeah, exactly, but the problem with it, unfortunately, is there are a lot of doctors out there.

You know they're not PCOS experts and I can't stress that enough. Like GPs, they are amazing in so many ways, but they, you know, have about 10,000 conditions that they have to diagnose with 10 minutes lots every day. Pcos needs a much more, you know, in-depth, personalized approach. It needs a holistic approach, you know, and this is the problem with it now is, I think so many women are going to the GPs and they're just coming out feeling even more confused and frustrated because the doctor will put them on birth control, tell them to lose weight, but give them no actual support or help with that. And actually birth control is one of the worst things really out there. All it really does is suppress your natural hormones and then, if you're on it for quite a period of time, this again is adding to the infertility side of it, as women are coming off when they want to conceive but then they can't have babies because they've been on birth control for so long.

It's basically like shut their system down yeah and so it can take a really long time for your fertility hormones to basically come back to life and rebalance that's crazy yeah, it's crazy. I didn't expect it in sort of that depth really.

:: 11:06

It's just was obviously from what I read. It was the very much basic. I tried to keep this as raw as possible, but when you said about going to doctors and they don't really like they don't offer you the support, they offer you these, you know, medications, birth control, this is kind of what I found.

:: 11:24

Well, obviously not a piece of it was my ADHD was.

:: 11:29

I went and they gave me my Ritalin and they were like on your way and I got really ill from it and. I felt like I didn't have much support and then that led to me sort of you know, falling off and my anxiety going really bad depressive symptoms, and I just completely felt lost and I feel like that's the thing with a lot of GPs and they're amazing.

:: 11:51

Yeah, we're not taking away how amazing the the farmer world is, but in a lot of these conditions where you need a lot more support and a pill is just not gonna fix it, you know it's not right and it almost felt like a sort of short-term release, like you said.

:: 12:09

You said earlier it's a marathon, not a sprint and I sort of felt like for me with that medication it didn't work. For me it was sort of a. It was sort of a sprint. And when I changed my lifestyle, that's when I really was able to take that, control my body and obviously that's what you preach and changing your lifestyle.

What type of things would you do in particular, coming off the medication? Because when I read your testimonials it's just like so heartwarming, you know, when you see like ladies who are really struggling and I don't know any of them, but when I read them and a lot of them said it's so nice to like feel understood and sort of not be pushed into something you don't want to do. Yeah, and I think for me, when I read that I was a bit like you know, this is, this is the right person to bring on in terms of she's really helping these people. But not even in that long of a period of time I think Few of them said it was in the matter of like seven, eight weeks yeah, their whole life had changed.

:: 13:04

Yeah, in terms of that's what's wild, by the way, that the results are like literally immediate. Yeah, and it's honestly just a few chops and changes with like managing stress. Obviously diet is the main one massively, and you know, food really is medicine and I can't stress that enough. But yeah, like you're right with the, it's amazing for me as well. I obviously doing this like it is my purpose and I've almost turned a pain into a passion and it gets me out of bed every morning. I'm not joking like that.

You know, helping these ladies and seeing these transformations and, like you know, helping women get pregnant. Like I helped the lady. She was 47 and she'd done IVF for three years, you know, and that still hadn't worked and you know the stress on the body and the money that that costs and actually like Just strip it back to basics like that. That's the thing that you have to look at, sort of Back to our sort of ancestors, or even 200, 300 years ago, infertility was nowhere near as high as it is now. You know you have to look at what we have, what has changed and what we have done to our world.

n't here back in the you know: 1900

:: 14:56

obviously just touched on them, but processed foods and Seed oils and Seed oil is something that is I think literally come up in every single podcast I've done and everyone has a view on it and I'm trying to limit the amount of seed oils that I have. Yeah, I just I hear everyone talk about all the time like seed oils are horrendous for you. What's your view on that in terms of, would you cut that out completely off? Set 80, 20? Yeah, I mean you can't impossible.

:: 15:21

It's, it's, it's literally impossible. If you look on the back of every single packet, it's got sunflower oil, palm oil, corn oil, canola oil, like there's just so many of them.

Vegetable oil, like you know, even though has vegetable in it, it's actually not vegetable oil, like it's just wild. And it's in everything, even like nut milks. They whack it in there. Why does oil need to go into nut milk? I don't get it, you know, and like it's just so. It's in everything protein powders, even like processed meats, now Any sources, like it's everywhere. So it is so, so difficult to avoid it completely, unless you literally want to make everything from scratch, and you know, of course, if you can and you are a good cook, please do that. But not everyone can do that. We're all on the go. We will have busy lives.

Yeah, no one has a time to know but what I would say is where you can, you know, always pick the Unprocessed whole foods as much as possible. You know whether it's from an animal source or the ground like, rather than you know, like things like protein bars and things like that. Yes, they're great for a quick on the go, but in moderation, you know, because if you actually look at the back of the packaging and what's in it, so crap, yeah, it's so much crap.

:: 16:37

What type of stuff are you looking for? Like, say, if you're out in, this is it's easy to do, obviously, but if you go out for a few drinks and then a few drinks turn into like seven or eight, yeah and you're out dancing and then no, where's open.

You're like, ah, kebab, right, fine, kebab chips, garlic sauce, everything. Yeah, what are you trying to look for when you go out on on a night out? Are these things you're sort of enjoying and keeping along those lines, or are you trying to limit and take a few things back or cancel them?

:: 17:05

So that's very difficult when you're on night out and you piss as a fire.

And you know, you know you're like just give me anything. I don't really know what you know, you'll just shove anything down. But what I would say in that situation is the big sort of inflammatory foods is gluten, dairy soy, process foods, seed oils. They're all the ones that are going to cause you sort of chronic inflammation. So to mostly it sounds silly, but actually if you're on a night out I'd rather you have something like Some chicken and some chips rather than like a big doughy, fat pizza with loads of cheese, because that's gonna give you give sort of more inflammation in the body, whereas chips actually doesn't have gluten in it, it's a potato. Yes, it might be a bit deep fried, but you know that's the better alternative if you were gonna go for for one or the other. But generally, yeah, like from from my sort of my personal experience, the studies that I've read and obviously all of my clients Now that I've seen, the one thing I would say about food is that unfortunately it's never gonna have a lot of money to go into funding and research, because the farmer world's always gonna win. You know they want to pop out those pills. That's what makes the money. So there's very limited research on actually showing like when you remove certain flu foods, like what actually happens to the body, but at the end of the day you have to take it from. You know the hundreds of personal Results that you've seen and that we've heard. So gluten was a massive, massive one that I have not had a single client Gone back once they've come off.

Gluten, yeah, like eat that that is the quick. When I say quickest results, it's pretty wild. Like energy goes through the roof and, as I said, a lot of women get this thing. It's actually called moon face is a condition where everyone is very sort of puffy and I've seen clients faces like literally changed like within a week. It's insane sleep improves, cravings go down and gluten basically it's in the name, right, it's the glue, it sticks things together. So it also can contribute a lot to the key guts and of course, like celiac as well you know it's an autoimmune disease. It can sort of attack your small intestine.

So there is no nutritional value in gluten. Like there just isn't like fair enough of dairy. You know it does have some vitamins and minerals and calcium and things that is good for the body, but there's nothing good with gluten and all it does is cause inflammation. It also Decreases your sensitivity to your hunger hormone by 50%. So when you eat gluten you're a lot hungry, like quicker. And yeah, there's gluten. I would just say to anyone just give it a go, cut it for 30 days and see how good you feel. So I've even got friends. I don't have peace to us and they, they love it.

:: 19:43

Interesting. Yeah what type of foods you cutting out? Do you get gluten-free? Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's so many now, and that's the thing.

:: 19:50

We are in a world where we are just spoiled with, you know, so many gluten-free Options, the gluten-free aisles getting bigger by the day. Yes, you have to be slightly careful because they are still quite a lot of processed foods. So the general rule I would say is less is more. So when you're checking the ingredients, always go for the least ingredients. Basically that means there's not gonna be a little shit in there and but with yeah. So what? Generally, what's in gluten I would say is beige, anything beige. So unfortunately, it's your white bread, it's your white, you know white rice pasta. When you go into Starbucks, you know it's all of that there, all the pastries and cakes and whatnot. Just try and limit them and put that in your 20%. But if you're gonna go for a cake or whatever, go for the gluten free one, because it's just gonna remove that bit of inflammation. That's just gonna cause a bit more harm and have it to your hormones.

:: 20:47

Love that In terms of everything. Nutrition now, in terms of supplements this is something I looked at units ago. I think I saw one you were really like big on. Was that like anosatone? Yeah anosatone, what is it? Anosatone, anosatone, yeah yeah, what is that so?

:: 21:05

anosatone is kind of like the I would say the PCS, like super supplement. Oh really. And when? So? When a lot of women get diagnosed with PCS, they put you on a drug called metformin or glucophage same drug, just different brand names and that is given to women, pcs and people with diabetes type two to basically help with your insulin resistance. Now the problem with metformin and again this is what you're not told is it depletes your body with B12. So that's when a lot of people, when they're on it, can feel again more fatigued, really struggling with energy, trying to sleep all the time. And that's what I went through and my body literally depleted so much of B12 that I was just collapsing at my desk and then I had to go. I was rushed into hospital, my B12 was like 56. And I had to have injections in my bum for about every week for a year. But they kept me on metformin and they didn't, you know again it's just yeah commission money, they don't care.

:: 22:02

Yeah, oh, I'm so sad.

:: 22:04

Yeah, but a lot of people also get nausea like diarrhea, stomach cramps. I had headaches every single day and then that made me then be always addicted to ibuprofen. You know, it was just. I was constantly like trying to figure out like what was going on. So anositol is basically does the equivalent of what metformin does without any of the side effects. The results are amazing. It basically is the main thing it does is helps bring periods back, so it helps regulate your cycles, it helps bring ovulation back, it helps with instant sensitivity, reducing cravings, energy, sleep. It's kind of just an all-round superstar. Yeah, so, and that's one that I would definitely say to any ladies out there at PCS if you're struggling with periods, definitely get on board with anositol, because it's sort of the most researched supplement out there.

:: 22:55

Yeah, and you just said on, sleep helps with sleep. Sleep and stress are quite big for PCS symptoms, aren't they in sort of like making it worse?

:: 23:05

Yeah.

:: 23:06

What did you do differently for your sleep? Was there anything do you take like cause? There's like a few Magnesium, yeah, which everyone should actually be taking. It's like again, another sort of super, super supplement.

:: 23:19

What I would say about stress and actually I had a personal, I guess what I went through last year is I call stress the silent killer is you don't really see it sometimes, right? Yes, you can be stressed at work and whatnot, but there's other ways that your body can be stressed, whether that's your over-exercising, whether that's your emotional or toxic relationship. Obviously there's work stresses, there's family like. There's a lot of ways that your body can be stressed and what then happens is your cortisol basically rises and your cortisol is just stress hormone.

But what your body does is when your cortisol is high, your body basically is your machine right, it's on your side all the time, it's giving you signals and it wants you to be like fit and healthy, but when it deems basically you're in a high stress environment, it doesn't know the difference, with sort of a line running towards you and you're being stressed like that, or if you're emotionally stressed, but what it will do is it will stop ovulation because it basically goes you're unsafe to have a baby, you can't bring a baby into the world, cuts it off. So last year, unfortunately, I went through a bit of a break up and it really took a big toll and sort of my health. My nervous system was my anxiety, everything was just through the roof and with that, with my nervous system, everywhere I was over exercising because I just didn't want to deal with anything in my head and this basically caused my periods to stop for about eight months.

:: 24:42

So it's so stress yeah stress.

:: 24:44

The stress on my body and when your nervous system is so dysregulated and your anxiety is so high, your cortisol goes through the roof and your body literally will go. You're not having a baby, that's crazy. It is, but again, it's clever. I hope you think about it. Of course it is because it thinks you are in a really high-stressed environment. So why would you be able to have a child?

:: 25:05

Yeah, what did you do differently to sort of end that? Or was it just you just?

:: 25:09

needed time Slow down.

Yeah, we sort of trying to like cope, gymming and exercising and sort of escaping Totally totally was trying to escape, and I guess also with ADHD myself, like I am a go-getter on the go of a person and I almost thrive off stress. I love to be under pressure, I love to constantly move. But I've actually now, like this year and sort of beginning of this year, I was having a few panic attacks in January just, I think, with a lot of stress in my business as well, and it was quite overwhelming. Should we get it? We've got like a million ideas at all times and you're like everything just bursts. So I literally just had to make a decision of being like no, I need to slow the hell down and like stop trying to take on so much.

I stopped, obviously, doing crazy workouts. I slowed everything down, took up yoga, like tried to do some breath work. I've really like I'm all for self development awareness, trying different things, but it does take time. It's only a couple of months ago that sort of everything sort of restarted up. But I've shared that because, even though my job is to help women get their periods back, I am still human. I do still have my own personal struggles and things going on in my life and that still happened to me, but it was good that I was able to speak about it to again raise more awareness that this is what we have to go through as women and I think also with pressures of like jobs. Now a lot of us females are striving to work hard and be boss babes whatever you wanna call it but again that can be a very high stress for our bodies that sometimes can't always handle.

:: 26:49

Yeah, how is it being a boss?

:: 26:51

Ah, I mean, I do love it.

:: 26:53

Yeah.

:: 26:54

I do. I mean, I think a big value for me is freedom and to be able to travel and things, yeah, travel loads yeah, and that for me right now is it just makes me so happy and I'm very lucky that my laptop is my office, you know, and I can sort of try and jump on planes as I went. But yeah, look, there's positives and negatives, I think, to every situation. Like you know, when you're working in a big company, you know you don't have to, your salary comes in every month, you don't have to worry about taxes and all the paperwork and everything, whereas when you work for yourself, every month is different. Right, it's never like confirmed, but I quite like the risk and the adrenaline and it keeps me going yeah, of course.

:: 27:36

Yeah, well did you. How long have you been doing this now?

:: 27:38

Coming up to three years. Three years, yeah, which is why what?

:: 27:40

were you doing before? Were you working?

:: 27:43

I was working in the events corporate world in Dubai for a few years, but before I've always been in like the fitness world. When I was in London I worked for sort of David Lloyd and then one rebel, and then I got on a plane to Dubai about seven years ago Did you enjoy it.

I love it. Dubai is for everyone out there. I know there's a lot of people who have very different views on it, which I understand. Yeah, because of the media and it is a holiday resort, but actually to live there, it's an incredibly positive place, the sun shining every day, everyone is super sort of lifting and empowering, especially for women, which, again, people don't really understand. It was amazing for me to set up my business there. There's a lot of female entrepreneurs. I have a really great group of girls who we just there's no bitchiness, we just love each other and want each other to succeed. And, yeah, you can have a normal, easy life. It's not all just like parties and beach clubs which, like everyone thinks that.

:: 28:37

Yeah, there's the balance.

:: 28:40

But yeah, I love it and I do think, if anyone is thinking of moving, I couldn't push it anymore. I don't on this planet once. Life is short, and what have you got to lose? Try something different. Get out of your comfort zone, because you never know who you're gonna meet, what you're gonna fall into and who doesn't wanna be in the sun all the time, for sure.

:: 29:02

Would you go back, or are you-? Yeah, no, no, that's where I'm based. Oh right, I see.

:: 29:07

Yeah, but I come back here for the summer, oh nice.

:: 29:10

Did you do like six months? Six months, yeah, pretty much Living of SI. Yeah, very jealous. Yeah, where are you off to next? I'm actually going to Bali. I yeah in the couple of days.

:: 29:19

Yeah, bali was actually where I started PCS Party because I had like a bit of a timeout from Dubai when my PCS, I think, was pretty much at its worst, and Bali was kind of a bit of my safe haven for me. I went there and really dedicated like just six to eight months of my life to like get it under wraps right and really sort of lose all of my weight and just heal PCOS basically. But what I loved about Bali is it is a digital nomad place and that's where I sort of learned that you can, you know, have a business with a laptop and you can travel and you can do all these things. It's a very special island. I know everyone says you went to Bali to find yourself and I'm like no, I didn't go find myself, I just went to and you took a piece of mine there, yeah, and just like it's such a relaxed place to be.

:: 30:05

Especially when you have. Well, I don't know if I can speak for you, but for myself. I have a very chaotic brain and going to, I'll take care of the yeses as well.

:: 30:14

Oh my God, it's exhausting sometimes it is exhausting.

:: 30:17

Even when you wake up. Your brain's been running all night that you feel like you haven't slept properly.

But when I went to Bali once and just like the peace of mind I got when I was there everyone was so relaxed, it was just like such a nice environment and I always take that for granted a bit as well as like when I'm in a high stress environment. I'm a bit like you. I love the sort of stress, not too much, but like when my back's against the wall. That's kind of when I shine, whether that's in sport or work or whatever. But it's nice to have that sort of reset and get away from everything. Sometimes you come back. You just think so much clearer and I love Bali, I love to go back. Hopefully when I have some more money I'll be able to go do that yeah, well, come on out.

:: 30:58

I mean it's a very special place. But yeah, I totally get what you mean by the ADHD brain thing. It's just sometimes it's just so exhausting being in your own head. It's like just shut up please For a second, like give me some downtime.

:: 31:13

Have you found that hard in terms of having ADHD and PCOS, or is there? Is there been? Because I've read online. I've read a few studies and there's quite a big correlation between ADHD and PCOS, especially for women who have PCOS who go on to conceive children. Is there's? I've got the numbers here.

:: 31:33

Yeah, read it out, yeah.

:: 31:35

I found this super interesting and I hope this is accurate for people watching, but studies showed that mothers with PCOS were 2.3 times more likely to have ADHD than a child whose mother doesn't have PCOS, 1.6 times more likely to have symptoms of anxiety and 2.61 times more likely to have mild anxiety and related symptoms. Which just comes back to the point. It's like how important it is to have a coach like yourself. When I read that, I was like this really important what you're doing is it can be cured and not in a long period of time, but you're not allowed to say the word cured.

It can be reversed.

:: 32:13

It can be reversed, sorry, yeah, and it definitely can, because I have no signs of it now left in my body. And this is what again, I hate the medical world for basically making other women believe that it can't be cured, because I feel like women get PCOS and they go right, that's it. My life's over, I've got PCOS, I can't do anything about it, so I'm just gonna let it eat me alive and like, no, that's not the attitude we need to have, like you need to understand that we can heal, like our bodies are on our sides. And like the fact that we are pumping synthetic hormone drugs into our already precious hormones, like just you know, we think about logically, it's just ridiculous. Like why are we doing that to ourselves?

But yeah, the ADHD thing, like I only got recently diagnosed I don't know too much, but I can totally relate and get it, because I think with PCOS, when your hormones, you know, are very imbalanced, this leads massively to anxiety and depression and sort of your nervous system. Right, it was all. I've learned a lot about nervous system and it's all down to, you know, being in fight or flight a lot and not being able to just sort of calm down. So I can totally see the combination of that massively, because with ADHD it is all just. It's all just being sort of quite overwhelmed all the time, I think, and almost like you can't catch your breath. So yeah, that's a really interesting fact there.

:: 33:33

I've learned a lot about in terms of ADHD as well, and kind of the reason why I started doing the podcast and my own business, which will come out in a few months time, which I'm really excited for was because I've been through all these struggles myself and you touched on that earlier as being and I spoke about this with Joe on the first podcast, who you obviously know, but Joe said for him with his depression and stuff and this is me with my ADHD is when you've been in the driving seat, you understand what people are going through, you're not just doing four hours of a degree on it, you're in the driver's seat, you've been able to look in, you've been able to go no, that doesn't work, that doesn't work, rather than reading it in a book and not fully understand it. So this was huge for me in terms of when I learned about my ADHD and all the other symptoms, like hypersensitivity and things you don't really think about.

I was like why am I so sensitive to like some things people are saying which aren't even rude comment? Well, they're rude you know, like Joe keep out of the comments I'm like why am I getting so affected by it? So fully understanding that myself was massive and I'm sure, with you, with your PCOS and also your ADHD. Now you'll better understand and put that correlation together and you'll be living your best life very soon.

:: 34:48

I think it just makes you go okay, like you know, it's almost like a bit of like sense of comfort, right. When you sort of have all these symptoms, then you do get a diagnosis. As such, it does make you go okay, like I wasn't going crazy or, like you know, I'm not an idiot or I'm not like someone completely different. You know they're, and that's I think I want to stress with PCOS. It's like you're not alone.

And I think on the mental health side of it you know it's not spoken about enough but waking up every day with you know, either you, you know you can't lose weight because you haven't got a clue and you're trying everything, but you know your friend, who's, you know, sticking set next to you, is eating McDonald's every day and you're literally having one chip and you're piling on the weight, like it's so exhausting and it's frustrating and a lot of my life is very lonely because my friends obviously didn't have it and I was a huge sporty family, always been sporty my whole life, but I was always sort of the bigger girl and, you know, always had a very puffy face and then again obviously not having my periods for years, like I always thought I was wrong with me, like I genuinely something was like really wrong.

:: 35:56

That's really mentally damaging yeah.

:: 35:58

God, so mentally damaging, you know. And then it sort of develops when you start going into it, when you're trying to lose weight and then restricting and binging and all of that. That then leads to, you know, really low self-esteem. I remember like looking at myself in the mirror every day and just like hating what I saw and like body dysmorphia, like there's so much that sort of play into it and that over the years it just eats you alive. It really does.

:: 36:23

When you said you were lonely, is that because you were just sort of isolating yourself, because you felt quite insecure in these problems, or was that just? You felt like people couldn't relate to you in a way.

:: 36:33

Yeah, I felt like it, I did that quite a lot.

:: 36:36

I was like I feel like something's wrong with me and I don't really know, and then I sort of would move away from people and they'd be like what's up? And I'd just be like I can't really explain it because I didn't know what was going on at the time. Is that something quite similar for you?

:: 36:49

Yeah, I think I've always. I think I'm one of those extrovert, introverts, so like, yeah, like out and about with my friends, of course I'm like life and soul, great. But like I was always, I'm always fine, everything's fine. You know, I come from a family that we always have to be fine and things good. So then you know, I would be dealing with a lot on my own. I'd be going home, you know, after a weekend or night's out or back to school, so yeah, and I would just feel miserable and just like cry myself to sleep or whatever, because you know I would just be hating myself and not understanding my thoughts and like understanding all of these issues that I was dealing with. So I felt lonely, sort of more in my head and not having someone who understood my struggles really and someone to talk to. So I think you know, with what I do and this is where it is so great that women feel that they can come to me and trust me because they see that I've been there, you know Like I wouldn't.

:: 37:41

I have they can relate to you.

:: 37:42

Yeah, exactly, it's all. I think that's it. It's a relatability. I'm like their shoulder to cry on and you know, with sort of my coaching, yes, we have our weekly check-ins and yes, we're, you know, implementing sort of nutrition changes and whatever it may be. But actually some of the calls they just want to have a cry and I'm just there to listen. You know, let them know everything's going to be okay and like we're going to get there and I think accountability is everything. Like you know, I have clients who probably know what they're doing but actually it's implementing that. And even I sometimes will go to like a business coach where I have someone that I tap in, tap out when I need it, especially with ADHD, when I'm falling a little bit off the wagon. I know what I need to be doing, but I just sometimes can't do it.

:: 38:28

You're someone's, hold your count.

:: 38:30

Yeah, so just having those weekly calls and having those goals that they set me. So it's like the voice in the back of my head then goes right now I've got to do it because she's there and I'm gonna tell her next week if I haven't done it. So I think accountability is actually massive. Like if everyone had someone that held you accountable, I think you would be a lot more successful and you would reach your goals quicker.

:: 38:52

I completely agree. And a guy called Zach Salful, whose podcast will be launching this Sunday, who I had on, he was couldn't speak higher of his mentors, but he's 21 and he's running a really successful online coaching business and he was saying that without his mentors, like he would still be at stage one. He was like it's worth the investment so much because it doesn't just teach you like how to eat or blah, blah, blah, it changes your whole life.

And this is well. Zach was massive on this and he was like when you have these mentors, they change your whole life. They change, they don't like every little thing adds up is what he's saying. And he was like it's so worth the investment because if he's changing this certain area of his life, whether it's nutrition, every little helps in that, and then that turns into his day to day life and then sleeps another one and then businesses another one and then all of a sudden you've got this huge circle that everything's clicking, and then that leads to better business, that leads to him being happier, that's led to him meeting more girls.

:: 39:55

Yeah, yeah, yeah, more confidence, More confidence going out. It's all like piece of the puzzle that just joined together. And that's exactly what I say, of course, from the biggest challenges, I think for every business out there. It's too expensive, I can't afford it. I actually think I'm really reasonable for coaches, but I always say this is a short-term investment for literally changing your life, your whole life. Yeah, why do you want to be basically not going down to the beach or getting a bikini for the rest of your life, not being in photos with your friends, not getting off the sofa, not enjoying nights out? You have one life. It's not a bloody jest rehearsal. So if you literally dedicate three months of your life and a bit of money, that's it. It's literally, that's it. So it's like I don't know.

:: 40:40

I just yeah, Because it's not just treating on your own, it's not just treating the PCOS, it's treating the mental anxiety. Yes, every day, it's just like you just said, like having the confidence to go down and wear a bikini on the beach. That's huge even for men. Just going down and having the confidence and being like you know what I feel good of myself today.

:: 40:56

Yeah, I'm going to talk to that girl at the bar today, which we need more of, by the way. Yeah, yeah yeah.

:: 41:00

So one thing I wanted to ask you as well was are there any sort of success stories from your clients that you'd love to share, Because I know that we spoke about before. You've got some really cool ones.

:: 41:10

Yeah, I mean. What I would say first of all is, if anyone is wanting some hope or inspiration, if you go onto my Instagram, I have a full, you know, the highlight reels. I have like a full two reels basically packed of like all my results. Or you know my client we speak on WhatsApp a lot, so my clients will always be like, hey, do you come down on the scales today? Blah, blah, blah. I've got my period back after 10 years, but I'd say I know I touched it earlier. One was a lady who was 47 and got pregnant after years and years and years of trying Should IVF for three years, which you know it's one cost but a big stress and you know it's quite a traumatic, sometimes traumatic sort of procedure. So that was a massive emotional win, you know, for both her and me.

Another client is a lady called Nuru shout out Nuru. She was one of my first clients, bless her, and she is Emirati and she really, really struggled with confidence massively. You know she was hiding a lot under her clothes and with sort of I guess, because, being in Dubai online, I deal with a lot of different cultures and their different foods and stuff and I've learned so much about it as well, with a lot of different cuisines, you know, interesting, yeah, a really sort of of course loaded with quite a lot of inflammatory foods which again can contribute quite badly to certain symptoms. But yeah, with Nuru, you know, she ended up losing I've got about 14, 15 kg. She literally could never get up from the sofa. She was like hardly sleeping but it was called like wire but tired. So you literally are exhausted, you go to bed, you can't sleep because your brain is just like crazy and then you wake up and you basically just want to walk in sort of adrenal fatigue mess. But you know she I remember her sending me a message and taking a picture of herself at the beach and just said I have never come down to the beach, you know my entire life because I have been so unconfident. And you know, I finally feel confident to wear a bikini and I just feel epic and like thank you so much. And those are the big ones for me. I think, yeah, big wins. Big wins when people actually like, get the confidence to like, you know, get themselves out there and show themselves off and like, rather than hiding in a bin bag or, you know, not leaving the house or you know that was a big one, but that, honestly, has just been so many.

I had a client, actually, who was covered in psoriasis, because skin rashes and acne and everything is a real part of PCS as well. But psoriasis, you know, eczema, all of them, and she was covered in psoriasis, bless her, and we made quite a few changes to her diet and completely cured, never had it back. So that was massive. She had it all in her face as well, which, again, you know, skin, especially on the face, is, I think so, sometimes like confidence crushing because you can't really hide it. You know you try to put makeup on it but you can still see it, you know. And I think that, yeah, the skin wins have been great as well.

:: 44:10

Yeah, I love that In terms of you know, I'm lucky enough. Obviously I'll never go through this, but say my girlfriend does, or you know someone I'm really close to. What could I do? Or anyone watching this, what could they do to help you know these women that are going through this, or be supportive or lend a helping hand? What type of things would you recommend there?

:: 44:32

To be honest with you, just to like be there physically and like listen to them and let them cry sometimes because they are gonna be on a bit of a hormonal roller coaster. That are gonna be some good days, some bad days. I would say you know, sometimes what is it offer? Don't always offer a solution, just offer comfort. That's sometimes. You know that's needed right. Sometimes you guys you're not always right, okay, and you just need. You're woman just probably needs a bit of a cuddle and just hold her.

But another thing as well is you know, if they were coming through coaching with me or they were trying to change their diet and lifestyle, do it with them, because actually you're probably gonna reap some benefits as well.

You know, I have a lot of my coaching calls as well, where the husband comes on it, which I think is so lovely because they want to understand it and they want to support their wife. And I've had a lot of husbands buy my like online course so they can do it, which I think is I'm like yes, you're the best boyfriend, husband, whoever, you are great and I actually I made a male online course called the male master series of BCS and hormones, so if any men out there give me a message, I'll give a two. But yeah, I think you know try and like be like almost make it fun. So you know, cook together, try and you know make some of the, make some dishes with the sort of the right ingredients and foods that you need to eat. As I said, comfort, not a solution all the time. And yeah, just try and like inject some positivity when they are feeling a bit down.

:: 45:58

Yeah, so sort of just being present as the main one.

:: 46:01

Yeah, I'd say so being present on the journey. Yeah. Understanding yourself, and when you understand it yourself, you're able to help them Also tell them that they look pretty or tell them that they look beautiful, because those little words really go a long way for us. They really do, you know, even if you might not think it, just say it.

:: 46:19

I'll remember One thing I know you wanted to have a quick rant about was available medication. I've seen this all over your Instagram and this is this is huge for ADHD as well, but especially in PCOS. Available medications for dealing with PCOS is very limited and I didn't want to touch on it.

:: 46:37

Yeah, I mean, pcos cannot be healed by medication. I just want to. That is, what if the camera?

:: 46:43

I'm looking at it it can't be healed by medication.

:: 46:45

What the GPs will do is they will give you birth control. Now, birth control, after everything that I have now learned about it, I actually think it's a hands down, one of the worst drugs that's ever been invented. Not only, you know, does it affect your mental health massively. I mean, I was on it for 10, 12 years and I think that massively contributed as well to sort of my mood swings, my emotions, my erratic I was erratic behavior, crying all the time, feeling very down and depressed, like you're literally like this, up down which. That, plus everything else with PCOS it was just a massive concoction of just not fun. But yeah, birth control I can't stress this enough yes, they put you on it because it suppresses. It basically can improve your symptoms because it suppresses your natural hormones, so it will reduce your testosterone, it will reduce some of your fertility hormones, so with that you might get less facial hair you might get your skin will improve. That's why women go on it.

And then what happens is your periods come back. That is not an actual bleed. So being on the pill is not a natural bleed, right, it's a pill bleed. It's an induced bleed. So the whole point of birth control is to stop ovulation. Okay, stop you having a baby. But what we again haven't been taught about, which is mad, is ovulation is not just to have a baby. It's actually like it's the most, like sort of empowering female thing, like it shows, if you are ovulating, that you are like peak, you know woman health as such, like your body is like functioning correctly, you are happy, you are healthy, you are able to have a baby. And stopping this, when it's a natural thing that we need to do every month, is just crazy to me.

You know it's crazy. So birth control, look it's your body, it's. You know I'm here to just educate. It's up to you how you want to choose it. But what I would say is, if you are thinking of having a baby soon, come off it, because your body takes could take a long time to get your fertility hormones back to you know where they're actually going to function. Then they're able to ovulate and really just look at other options. If that's the route you want to go down, I understand for it.

For contraception, look at the non-hormonal coil, but also remember that you only ovulate for three days of your whole cycle. So just wrap up, be a bit safe. It's three days. You know, really, if you are tracking your periods which we all should be doing on an app and you know there are very, very good applications now out there which will tell you when your fertile window is you know you can only get pregnant when you ovulate right, so when the egg is released and hopefully this burden will be coming up. So if you're good around those areas and you protect yourself, that's really all you need.

:: 49:32

Yeah.

:: 49:33

Honestly.

:: 49:34

I just want to wrap this up here, and this is. I know there'll be a lot of women watching this who will be like I want to get in contact with you. What should be the next? You know steps for them in getting. Obviously I'll attach your Instagram and stuff below, but what would you recommend in terms of, say, just drop your message on there or I'm most active on my Instagram and I, with ADHD, too many platforms outside.

:: 49:57

No I can't do it, I'm trying to start on the TikTok world.

:: 50:00

Is that the main one? Yeah, Instagram's the main one.

:: 50:02

It's at. It's a PCOS party. Just DM me. Literally, I will always get back to you as quick as possible. Also, on my link in my bio, you can, if you're really serious about coaching with me, you can, book a one-to-one free discovery call. And then there's a link for my brochure as well, which has all the programs and the prices and stuff. So, yeah, awesome, well, an absolute pleasure.

:: 50:25

Thank you so much for coming on, Georgie. Thank you,