R.S.
T., go grab the book THE FERTILITY DIET by Jorge E. Chavarro and Walter C. Willett, both drs/researchers at Harvard. It just came out--in fact, I just picked up one of the first copies in circulation at the library. I heard Dr. Willett being interviewed on NPR, and had to read it. It specifically addresses ovulation issues--which is exactly the prob with PCOS. It's so informative and is based on findings of a great research project: The nurses' health study. Let me know if you have trouble getting a copy, and Ill return mine right away!
Here are basic 10 things they found that played a big role in women who have problems with ovulation:
1. cut out trans fats
2. increase unsaturated vegies oils (olive, canola)
3. increase plant proteins (beans, nuts) and reduce red meat (occasional is fine, chicken/fish better though)
4. go for whole grains (highly refined carbs have too quick of an affect on blood sugar and thus insulin)
5. have at least one serving of whole milk / ice cream / full fat yogurt each day. bag the skim and reduced fat for a bit, but do be aware of the additional calories if weight is an issue for you; this is actually very important because estrogen and porgesterone attach themselves to milkfat, while androgens just hang around in the regular liquidy part of the milk. If you're drinking your 3c/day of skim, you're just getting a nice dose of androgens, rather than the additional e & p to balance things out
6. take a multivitamin (w/ folic acid & the other B vits)
7. get lots of iron, but from sources other than red meat (if I remember correctly, healthy amounts of folic acid and iron increased the likelihood of not only pregnancy but also fraternal twins in several studies)
8. no sweetened pops! too much of a sugar kick! drink water!
9. need a healthy weight. "If you are overweight, losing between 5 and 10 percent of your weight can jump-start ovulation."
10. daily exercise, if you're not already working out regularly; but don't get too much, you do want some fat on your body!
11. this is the "by the way" one: don't smoke! Not proven by the nurses health study since so few women smoked and were trying to get pregn, but there are enough studies out there, they say, that point out smoking lessens your likelihood of pregnancy, as well as increase the risk of miscarriage.
I found that many of these things I was already doing (1, 2, 3, 4, 5--due to a get-together with some friends that resulted in leftover ice cream, 6, 8, 9, 11). Turns out, the pregn tests that my hubby and I picked up right after getting this book from the library showed we are already preg!
With my dd, it took us 15 months to get her. At the time, I was about 25-30lb overweight--but did lose 18 lb exercising with a preg friend during that time, I ate mostly red meat (gr beef was cheap at the time), rarely ate beans, and avoided whole milk like the plague. I was on a very low dose of metformin at the time (500mg/day, I was working my way up to a normal dose so that I didn't get any annoying side affects), but the dr. I met with upon learning I was preg (I was in a different state at the time) didn't think it had anything to do with the metformin.
I do hope this helps, and I wish you the very best!