Content note: mention of diets, intentional weight loss, eating disorders, and calories.
In my late 20s (before I knew about fat liberation and the faulty “science” of weight loss), I was referred to an endocrinologist to figure out why I was unable to maintain weight that I’d lost, why I grew hair from my forehead to my toes, and why my periods were so irregular, heavy, and crampy.
After a slew of tests, I was given a diagnosis of “clinical PCOS”, which apparently means that while my bloodwork did not show evidence of PCOS (e.g. insulin resistance, hight A1C levels, abnormal hormone levels, etc.), there was probably something wrong with me because I was fat.
Like so many of us, I was told to immediately lose a very large amount of weight and prescribed a medication (Metformin) as a “let’s see what happens“ treatment that did nothing positive for me but had lots of negative side effects (gastro upset being the most inconvenient and uncomfortable). And of course, the directive to lose weight flared up my binge eating disorder and weight cycling predictably followed.
I stopped the medication and stopped going to doctors for a while.
Sigh.
If you’re a listener of the Fat Joy podcast, then you know I have strong feelings about how deplorable the health of AFAB (assigned female at birth), women, and people with uteruses is. So, in hopes of expanding our knowledge and perspectives about female health, I like to invite guests on to the Fat Joy platform who are doing things differently…more wholistically, weight-neutrally, and fat positively.
This conversation with registered dietitian-nutritionist and herbalist Angele Pressley (she/her/they/them) explores what PCOS is, how the medical system treats it, and how a weight-neutral, affirming, and trauma-informed approach can be more effective.
Angele believes in nutrition therapy to support health outcomes, and I love how she talks about co-creating healing with her clients and finding the joy in eating.
I really wish I knew someone like Angele when I was trying to figure out what PCOS meant for me.
Angèle Pressley, MA, MS, RDN, LDN is a registered dietitian-nutritionist, spiritual herbalist, artist-scholar, food cultural worker and urban gardener. She has her Master of Clinical Nutrition from New York University and provides culturally inclusive, weight-neutral, affirming, and trauma-informed nutritional care. Angèle is a nutrition-focused healer who uses compassion as praxis to support wholeness and restoration of the mind, body, and soul. If you’re interested in working with Angele, please join her wait list.
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