Hi, and welcome back to the PCOS Repair Podcast. Today, we’re going to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. We’ve been talking a lot about the intricate workings of repairing our cycle, healing our hormones, and addressing our root causes. But if you’re feeling like you’re doing everything right and still not getting the results you think you should, it might be because you’re hyper-focused on one piece of the puzzle. That’s really easy to do—especially when you’re learning something new and suddenly something clicks and you get really into it.

So today, we’re going to take a step back and look at what a holistic approach to PCOS healing looks like—one that leads to long-term success. We’re not just talking about food or supplements or lab work. We’re thinking about the whole picture—your mind, your body, your environment—and how they all work together to create an atmosphere where your body can thrive. That’s what we’re going to explore in this episode. So, let’s get started.

The word “holistic” gets thrown around a lot, but it really just means looking at the full picture. We’re not just going down one path—not just the natural route, not just the supplement route, not just diving deep into nutrition. We’re talking about a well-rounded approach to our health and, specifically, to our PCOS hormone recovery.

This is important because if we only focus on one area, we might see some improvement, but it’s like having a chair with missing or uneven legs—it’s wobbly. You can be doing great with exercise, but if your nutrition is off, it’s hard to see progress. Or maybe you’re doing all the right things but are deficient in certain nutrients, and need some supplements to help bring those levels up.

So let’s look at the pillars of whole-body healing for PCOS.

1. Root Cause Identification

You can’t move forward clearly if you don’t know what you’re dealing with. We’ve talked a lot about root causes on the podcast. The Root Cause Quiz is a great place to start, and inside the PCOS Root Cause Bootcamp, we go even deeper with a full assessment. The quiz gives you a good sense of your symptoms and what to consider. Just remember to answer based on what you’re currently experiencing—not what was happening three months ago—for the most accurate result.

2. Nutrition

Next, take a realistic look at your nutrition. Where are you on the spectrum from just eating to survive, to eating for nourishment? There’s no judgment—just evaluate where you are.

3. Movement

How are you moving your body? Are you exercising as punishment for eating “too much”? Are you tracking calories in and out? Are you using movement for stress relief? Or as a tool to support your hormonal balance? How you approach movement matters.

4. Stress and Nervous System Regulation

What’s going on with your nervous system? Are you stressed or calm? Stress is a major driver of hormone imbalance, from elevated cortisol to disrupted ovulation. And stress isn’t just emotional—it could be from lack of sleep, nutrient deficiencies, under-eating, or over-exercising. Some stress you’re aware of, but your body also experiences hidden stress. A holistic approach looks at both.

5. Emotional and Mindset Wellness

This ties into everything. How we approach sleep, nutrition, movement—all of it—can be a source of stress in itself. So we need to step back and ask: What does my body need right now? What milestones am I working toward? When we have a clear path, even small steps lead to results. But when we bounce around from thing to thing, we spiral in chaos instead of making progress.

Maybe you’re great at exercising but struggling with sleep. Or maybe you’re doing well in several areas but sacrificing rest to keep up. A holistic view lets us evaluate, adjust, and improve gradually without judgment.

You don’t have to have everything perfect to start seeing results. Just like with weight loss—you might lose the first 5 pounds, but to keep going, you have to keep progressing. Same with PCOS. You’ll see improvements like a more regular cycle, but to continue improving and maintain it, you’ll need to keep supporting your body. Eventually, you’ll reach a point where you shift from healing to maintenance.

6. Remedies and Medical Interventions

Once you’ve addressed the lifestyle foundations, you can add in things like supplements or medical therapies. You don’t have to have everything perfected—but you should have a clear plan. Maybe you start by focusing on snacks, making sure you have healthy options. That’s your starting point, and once you’re making progress, that’s a great time to add in other supports like supplements or medications.

Jumping straight to supplements or medications without addressing sleep, movement, nutrition, or stress is like trying to bail water out of a boat with a hole in it—it won’t get you very far. Supplements and medications can help, but they’re most effective when used to support a solid foundation.

For example, birth control might give you a monthly bleed, which makes it seem like your symptoms are better. But under the surface, insulin resistance and high testosterone can still be worsening—leading to acne, hair loss, and ovulation issues. That’s why it’s important to build an environment where your body can thrive first, then use things like supplements as a supportive boost.

We’ve discussed supplements like saw palmetto and inositol here on the podcast. We’ve also talked about birth control and when it might be a helpful tool. Lifestyle work helps mitigate some of its side effects and prepares you for transitioning off of it.

7. Fertility Interventions

When it comes to fertility, some women want to start medical treatments right away. Others prefer to wait or avoid them altogether. All of those choices are valid. But if you haven’t started yet, I highly recommend addressing your lifestyle first—it makes medical interventions more successful. If you’ve already started treatments, it’s still not too late. Lifestyle adjustments still make a big difference, but they take time to work. Ideally, start making changes a little bit before treatments like Clomid, Letrozole, IUI, or IVF to give your body the best chance of success.

8. Avoiding a Fragmented Approach

Lastly, avoid the fragmented approach. In today’s world of overwhelming information, it’s easy to ping-pong between tips, tricks, and trends. My best advice? Don’t listen to too many sources. Pick someone whose approach you trust and who gives you a full picture—not just one miracle trick. That supplement or low-carb diet you saw on Instagram may be part of the picture, but it’s not the whole story.

Following multiple strategies at once without a unified plan can make things more chaotic. Even with practitioners—make sure everyone on your health team fits into your holistic approach. Otherwise, their advice might contradict each other. For example, if two professionals suggest different nutrition plans, pick one to follow consistently so your body isn’t caught in the crossfire.

Wrapping Up

So, to recap, creating a holistic approach involves:

• Identifying your root cause
• Supporting your body with appropriate nutrition
• Moving in a way that helps your metabolic and hormonal health
• Managing stress and creating a calm, healing environment
• Nurturing your emotional health and mindset
• Adding in supplements or therapies as supportive tools—not band-aids
• Staying focused and avoiding fragmented strategies

If all of that sounds overwhelming, take a breath. This episode was meant to give you a bird’s-eye view—not a to-do list for today. There are lots of episodes that go into each of these areas in depth, and the PCOS Root Cause Bootcamp walks you through them step-by-step with actions tailored to your unique root cause.

Whole-body healing takes time, but it’s what creates lasting results. I want you to move beyond symptom management and into a life where you feel vibrant, fertile, energized, and at peace in your body.

If you found this episode helpful, make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the next one. And if there’s a topic you’d love to learn more about, come find me on Instagram @nourishedtohealthy.

Until next time, bye for now.

Hi, and welcome back to the PCOS Repair Podcast, where today we’re going to be talking about your health care team—your support team—and who’s going to help you navigate your PCOS care.

If you’ve ever found yourself bouncing between doctors or going to appointments and feeling like your questions weren’t addressed—or the answers you were given weren’t very helpful—maybe they were accurate but didn’t leave you with a lot of hope or anything actionable to improve your PCOS symptoms, this episode is for you. If you’ve tried various specialists or scrolled endlessly through advice online and still aren’t sure where to turn, I think you’ll find today’s episode really helpful and insightful. I’ll walk you through some practical steps and give you a better understanding of what support is available to help you in your PCOS journey.

Today we’re going to cover the most common questions I hear from women: Who should I see for help? Should I see my OB/GYN? Should I look for a naturopath? What should I be asking from them? What about functional medicine? What’s the difference between all these options, and when should I consider each?

I’ll break down what each approach offers, their pros and cons, and how to decide what care will actually help you move forward on your healing journey—without wasting your time, money, or getting stuck on that frustrating hope-and-disappointment rollercoaster.

Finding the right support is one of the most important parts of managing PCOS—and it’s also one of the most frustrating. I think part of the reason is that it really takes a team. There are so many components to managing PCOS health, and unfortunately, the different disciplines—preventative health, traditional medicine, functional medicine—they don’t communicate with each other. That lack of crossover creates gaps in care, and that’s why I love what I do. I try to connect those dots, both here on the podcast and in my programs, because no one practitioner can do it all.

Ultimately, I want to empower you to know when to see each type of provider, how to weave it all together, and how to take the parts that are in your hands—like your lifestyle—and make the most of them.

So let’s start with your primary doctor. This might be your primary care physician or your OB/GYN. We often go to them looking for answers. You might get a diagnosis—which is a great place to start—but then the typical recommendations might be to lose weight, go on birth control, or take metformin. These suggestions don’t usually go into why you’re having specific symptoms or what you can do to actually improve them. While those recommendations may not be wrong, they’re often incomplete. They don’t offer a clear path forward, which leaves you feeling unsupported and unsure what to do next.

Medical doctors are great at providing the foundation: diagnosis, referrals, and sometimes prescriptions. They can order a basic workup and make important medical evaluations. However, they’re not typically well-versed in how lifestyle changes affect PCOS-specific hormone imbalances. When we talk about PCOS hormones, we think about estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone—but it’s also crucial to look at metabolic and endocrine hormones: cortisol, insulin, leptin, ghrelin, and even GLP-1.

In a healthy individual, these systems regulate appetite, energy, and metabolism without much thought. But in today’s world—with processed foods, sedentary routines, and high stress—our bodies often need extra support in these areas. Unfortunately, traditional medicine hasn’t caught up to addressing these metabolic root causes during a routine appointment.

That’s where functional medicine may offer more support. Functional medicine providers often have deeper training in how lifestyle affects metabolic and hormonal health. If you’re looking at functional medicine, ideally, you’d want someone with training in women’s and reproductive health. These could be MDs or DOs with additional functional medicine certifications. They may be more likely to order extensive lab work and take a more in-depth look at root causes.

To help with this, I’ll include my free lab testing guide in the show notes. It covers which labs to ask for, when to test, and what to look for—because not every provider will know what to test for when it comes to PCOS.

Finding a good functional medicine provider, though, can be challenging. Depending on where you live, they may be difficult to find online or have long waitlists. Another route is to look for a naturopathic physician. This is a completely different educational path from traditional medical doctors. Naturopaths can examine, diagnose, treat, and order labs, imaging, and prescriptions—but they typically favor less traditional treatments and are often more comfortable using supplements or herbs, even if the research isn’t as robust as what traditional medicine requires.

They may use remedies with long histories of use that haven’t necessarily been tested in large clinical trials, but they’re comfortable with these approaches because of their training. They’re also more familiar with specific supplement brands and how to use them effectively—whereas traditional MDs may be wary of recommending supplements because they’re not familiar with quality standards or research.

So, when choosing a provider, you want to be clear on what you’re looking for. If you’re interested in hormone therapy or advanced testing like the Dutch test, a traditional OB/GYN may not be your best bet. They might be aware of those tools, but if they don’t use them regularly, they may not be comfortable recommending them. A functional or naturopathic doctor who specializes in hormones will likely be better equipped.

Just know that many of these advanced tests and visits may not be covered by insurance. For example, the Dutch test is typically not covered, though you can usually use HSA or FSA funds for it. Some other labs or visits may be covered—so it’s worth checking.

When you’re researching all of this, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and stuck, unsure which direction to take. That’s why I want you to start by focusing on your path to health. First, if you haven’t been diagnosed yet, start with a traditional doctor: primary care, OB/GYN, or an endocrinologist. Get a full workup with labs and an ultrasound. If needed, they can prescribe medications like metformin, birth control, or ovulation induction treatments. They can also refer you to fertility clinics.

Depending on your area, OB/GYNs may do more or less fertility care. In places where fertility clinics are common, OB/GYNs often refer out. In areas where fertility care is limited, OB/GYNs may do more of it themselves. Each physician develops their own interests and expertise, so get to know what’s available in your community.

Once you have your diagnosis, think about your main goals. Are you trying to regulate your cycle? Are you pursuing fertility? Are you struggling with weight, energy, mood, acne, or hair loss? Knowing your top concerns will help you decide who to see next.

For example, acne and hair loss may be better managed by a dermatologist or a naturopath, not an OB/GYN. But to get a diagnosis that insurance will accept, you may need to start with your OB/GYN or primary care provider.

If you’re trying to support your skin or other symptoms through diet, a dermatologist isn’t likely to be helpful—but a nutritionist, a root cause coach like myself, or a naturopathic physician could be.

So at this point, if you’re unsure what you need, I recommend scheduling a few consultations with different types of providers—maybe one functional, one naturopathic, and one traditional—and then deciding which approach resonates most with you. Choose the provider whose recommendations align with your goals and who you feel best supports you.

Ideally, you want someone who can handle most of what you need for the phase you’re in. Later on, you might bring in other specialists. For example, maybe right now your goal is to regulate your cycle before diving into fertility treatment. A naturopathic or functional doctor might help you optimize lifestyle and hormone health before referring you to a fertility clinic later.

One important point: sometimes your OB/GYN starts you on birth control or metformin, but if you move to a naturopath or functional provider, they can often take over those prescriptions. It can be helpful to have continuity of care with one provider, especially when they’re taking the lead in coordinating your PCOS care.

Now, let’s talk about some red flags. Be cautious of providers who tell you there’s nothing you can do—that’s simply not true. There’s so much you can do for PCOS. On the flip side, be wary of anyone who promises a cure. PCOS is a lifelong condition, but it can be managed extremely well with the right lifestyle and support.

Extreme approaches are also problematic. Watch out for people who say medications are always the answer or never the answer. It’s not all-or-nothing. For example, birth control may be the right choice at certain times in your life—but it’s important to understand what it does to your hormones, how to support your body while on it, and how to recover afterward.

The best providers offer a well-rounded approach. They’ll listen to your goals, understand your needs, and help you create a realistic and sustainable plan.

That’s exactly what I do in the PCOS Root Cause Bootcamp. I help you understand your symptoms, your root causes, and how to tailor your lifestyle so that you get the best results without having to rely on extremes or feel overwhelmed.

So, where are you on your path? Do you need a diagnosis? Do you know your biggest frustration right now? Are you ready to start making lifestyle changes? Once you answer those questions, you’ll be able to choose the right provider or the next right step for you.

I hope this episode gave you a better understanding of your care options and how to take your next step with confidence.

Check the show notes for the free PCOS Lab Guide I mentioned. And if you have any questions or suggestions for future episodes, I’d love to hear from you—come say hi on Instagram @nourishedtohealthy.

Until next time, bye for now!