Empowering PCOS Education and Holistic Health with Dr. Basma Faris

Welcome to the Get Healthy Tampa Bay Podcast with Dr. Kerry Reller! This week I am joined by Dr. Basma Faris delved into various aspects of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). We will explore topics such as the use of oral contraceptives, insulin resistance management, and the significance of comprehensive education for PCOS patients. Dr. Faris introduced her online course, "Polly Prep," aimed at providing accessible education. The conversation covered personalized supplement recommendations, a weight-neutral approach to PCOS management, and the importance of addressing misinformation on social media. Dr. Faris shared insights into her telemedicine practice and extended holiday wishes to the audience.

Dr. Basma Faris is a Board Certified Obstetrician and Gynecologist and Certified Culinary Medicine Specialist. She attended the University of California at Berkeley where she received a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition Sciences. She went on to complete a Master’s of Science in Nutrition at Brooklyn College and completed the Registered Dietetics Internship at the same time. She received her medical degree from the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of the University at Buffalo in 2009. She completed her Obstetrics and Gynecology residency at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

She began her career in healthcare as a Registered Dietitian with adults and children to manage chronic health conditions and obesity. She developed curricula for group nutrition interventions for children, pregnant women and adults. As a resident, she published a study on the impact of lifestyle intervention on pregnancy outcomes in obese pregnant women. She enjoys educating her peers on how to incorporate nutrition into everyday practice and helping patients make healthier choices and to that end she created an online course for physicians titled Culinary Medicine Basics: Nutrition for Busy Physicians. She is the founder of PollyPrep and PollyPrep MD, both aimed at educating and treating people with PCOS using an evidence-based mix of Culinary Medicine and Gynecology.  She is passionate about integrating nutrition into all aspects of Women’s Health care, at every life stage.

She lives in Brooklyn, NY with my husband, twin boys and dog.

0:00  Welcome back! Guest Intro
2:00 PCOS and Oral Contraceptives
5:21 Chronic Nature of PCOS
9:34 Insulin Resistance and Monitoring
14:40 Use of Continuous Glucose Monitors 
17:42 Polly Prep and Online Course
20:50 Supplements for PCOS
24:16 Weight-Neutral Approach
28:03 Food Sensitivity and Elimination Diet
30:42 Social Media and Misinformation
34:09 Connect with Dr. Basma Faris
37:45 Conclusion and Holiday Wishes

Connect with Dr. Basma
Website: https://www.basmafaris.com/
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100061258383604
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drbasmafaris/
Her Program: https://www.pollyprep.com/

Connect with Dr. Kerry Reller
My linktree: linktr.ee/kerryrellermd
Podcast website: https://gethealthytbpodcast.buzzsprout.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClearwaterFamily
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clearwaterfamilymedicine/
Clearwater Family Medicine and Allergy Website: https://sites.google.com/view/clearwaterallergy/home

Subscribe to the Get Healthy Tampa Bay Podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon music, iheartradio, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Pandora.

#PCOSAwareness #HolisticHealth #WomensWellness #NutritionEducation #PCOSSupport #HealthJourney #EmpowerWithKnowledge #PollyPrepMD #DrBasmaFaris #MedicalPodcast #WellnessStrategies #MindBodyHealth #EndPCOSStigma #HealthyLiving #WomenInMedicine #ClearwaterFamilyMedicineAndAllergy #KerryRellerMD #PCOSAwareness #WomensHealth #EmpowermentInHealth

Transcript

Kerry: 0:28

Alright. Hi, everybody. Welcome back to the Get Healthy Tampa Bay podcast. I'm your host, doctor Kerry Reller. And today we have doctor Basma Faris. And welcome to the podcast. Why don't you tell us a little bit about who you are and

Basma: 0:39

what you do Thank you so much for having me. I'm really really excited to talk to you today. So I am an OB GYN. I started my career many years ago actually as a registered dietitian. And I worked as a Registered dietitian for several years before going back to medical school and discovered that I loved women's health, and So I went the route of becoming an OB GYN. And I've been just sort of trying to seamlessly incorporate the two in many different ways, in ways that I feel like make sense, so incorporating nutrition with women's health. And In twenty eighteen, I became certified in culinary medicine as a really nice way to tie everything together. And so I've been using them both to help care for various women's issues, but the area in which I really am passionate about and focus most of my energies on is pollycystic ovarian syndrome.

Kerry: 1:32

When I was looking at your background, I was very impressed with the All the different paths that you've taken, and it's so neat that you've actually got to apply and work as a registered dietitian and then train as an OB GYN and then amazing with the culinary medicine tie in. So I can't wait to hear what you have to say and how you help people with PCOS. Could you tell us or the listeners who don't know exactly what it is, what is PCOS?

Basma: 1:56

So PCOS stands for polycystic ovarian syndrome, and this is an endocrine and metabolic condition. So in lay terms of a hormonal problem that results in people who have this condition having Problems with ovulation like irregular periods or missed periods. They also can experience symptoms of having high androgens or hormones that both men and women make, but they're associated with sort of male you know, masculine symptoms like facial hair, male pattern balding, or cystic acne. People with PCOS often can have metabolic abnormalities like having difficulty losing weight or easily gaining weight, having insulin resistance or prediabetes, And all of these things together make this constellation of symptoms because it's a syndrome. So when we talk about syndromes, everybody's condition looks slightly different. So everybody has their their own flavor of PCOS, but those are the things that are the overarching sort of, you know, not themes, but presentations of PCOS. It's a terrible name for for the disorder. I think a lot of people get confused about it. They think, oh, I've had multiple cysts in my life. I must have PCOS. And so what the cysts actually are in PCOS, they're not large cysts that are gonna cause pain or burst, But they are the follicles, which are the small cysts that we all have every you know, that we all make that house our eggs. And in PCOS, these little follicle so they are technically cysts, but they're small, and they end up surrounding the ovary or lining up on the edges of the ovary, and the ovaries get larger than normal because they're not ovulating and they're rupturing. So the appearance on the ovary, and that's one of the ways that we diagnose PCOS is using ultrasound is to look at the ovaries and count those follicles that appear like lots of little cysts, but they're not the same kind of cysts that somebody may have that get large and rupture and cause pain. That's where the confusion sometimes lies.

Kerry: 4:13

Yeah. I I mean, I've never really thought about it from that that people get confused of because of the, oh, I guess it's anywhere else. But, that explains it for sure. You also mentioned presentation. And, sometimes people think of weight being a factor. And can you just kind of go over that? Because I'm pretty sure it could be either way.

Basma: 4:32

Exactly. So, yes having PCOS can predispose people to having problems with weight management, but there are people who are normal weight even on the lower side of the normal weight spectrum who have PCOS. We call them lean PCOS. And So their presentation is going to be different sometimes than somebody who is larger and comes and complaining of difficulty losing weight. And so I've even had patients with lean PCOS say, I've been told that I don't have because I'm not overweight or I've been told that I don't look like I have PCOS when in fact they do. And so, again, it can sort of show itself in different ways.

Kerry: 5:14

Mhmm. Mhmm. How does it manifest in a person?

Basma: 5:19

I would say the most obvious things that people experience are going to be menstrual irregularities. So a normal length of a menstrual cycle is twenty one to thirty five days. Right? And if you have a twenty five day cycle, it should be that way, plus or minus a day every single month. But if you have some cycles that are forty five days, that may be an indication that you have PCOS because you're ovulating later in your menstrual cycle. If you have bleeding patterns that are you're like, yeah. I have a period every month. But, one month, it's a day, and another month, it's eight days and it's very heavy. That may be an indicative an indication of a menstrual cycle problem or an ovulation problem. Or maybe you just go months and months without a period. That would also be a sign. So menstrual irregularities is one of the, sort of the things that brings people to the doctor, and then facial hair. So people who have more facial hair that they need to remove it either by shaving or laser electrolysis, cystic acne that also sort of presents on the chin and the neck or losing hair on the top in what we would call sort of a male pattern of balding or even excessive body hair, chest hair, which we tend to see more on men than women, and that's due to having elevated androgens, mostly testosterone, but there are some other androgens that are present in PCOS. And so these are the two things. Or I'd say the last most not the last, but, like, another common presentation is that people will find that they're having difficulty getting pregnant and so they will, you know, stop their contraception and now they're having difficulty tracking their cycle, figuring out when they're ovulating, and then they realize things are a bit irregular, and it's a little bit confusing to time intercourse and then in their fertility workup, they determine that they have PCOS.

Kerry: 7:19

Yeah. So I think or even you mentioned, like, the presentation and everything. So what if Someone presents you with all these symptoms. Like, what's the first thing you do in the office or telemedicine wise to work up a patient?

Basma: 7:32

So most patients come to me already with a suspicion that they have PCOS either because somebody has referred them or they've heard about me and they've sort of gotten the runaround trying to pin down the diagnosis, or they've tried a lot of different things and they would really would like a different approach to their care. And so that's how they'll come to me. So number one is I confirm the diagnosis. So sometimes I'll have people come and they're like, I think I have PCOS, but I don't you know, I was told that I don't. So I ask people to bring to me all of their labs and any sonograms, and I'll really review them. And so whatever they have and some Some of my patients will come with a lot a lot of records. So it can be time consuming to go through, but it's very important because even if, You know, maybe their most recent value is normal. Maybe there's something historically that gives us a clue. So I do like people to come and bring all of their records to really make sure that we have the right diagnosis because also part of the diagnostic criteria of PCOS is to exclude other causes. So I have seen people come in, and they have a thyroid abnormality that isn't being addressed. And you really can't test for one thing when something else is awry or out of whack. So you have to control for the one, and then you can assess the other because they may be influencing each other. So confirming the diagnosis is number one. Really getting a handle on what people's most bothersome symptoms are and their goals is very important. Because what I think is important for you may not be what you're trying to get out of the visit. And then really taking a very thorough history, medical history, social history, and then I dive into a nutrition history. So I'll get a full nutrition assessment, and really take a deep dive into people's habits preferences, behaviors, skill sets and barriers, what are the barriers for them for making changes so that really you can try and and customize and and set goals together, to get to those overarching goals that we set together for for my patients. So it's not really a one size fits all. Like, this is the best PCOS diet for you. Or although there are some things that are in common, there certainly are some best practices around nutrition, but everybody's specific steps to get to that better place are going to be different.

Kerry: 9:51

I have a really random question. You mentioned the barriers. What are the most common barriers that people mention to you?

Basma: 9:57

I mean, sometimes it's just knowledge. There's so much misinformation out there. So there you know, PCOS it's one of those areas of health and medicine, which is maybe sort of underrepresented in traditional medicine and, like, maybe overrepresented in social media. So there's so many people in this space that have lots and lots of advice, that really ranges from, very restrictive diets, Lots of different supplements going gluten free and dairy free. You know? So, like, these very sort of overarching and, like, big claims that are made out there. And so sometimes it's for me to understand what do they know and what are they doing, and and what is their understanding. So sometimes it's a knowledge gap. Oftentimes, it's just a skill set. People are not very comfortable with food preparation and food purchasing, And so that is something that I love to help people work on because when you're eating out and buying prepared foods, you really don't have control about what you're putting in your body. Right? You're dependent on whoever else is preparing it. And so that's one way that I really love to help people. That's where the culinary medicine part comes in. And then sifting through the different supplements. There are some that are really great. There are some that are really useful, and there are some that really don't have much promise or have different interactions, And so sifting to those as well. For some people, it's financial barriers. Right? Not everybody can afford the same Foods and the same ingredients. Some people, it's time. If you're super busy and you're working like Crazy, more than one job. You're a resident. You're a mom, a a working mom. These are the different challenges, and so time is often a resource that is limited. Right?

Kerry: 11:51

I figured that would be the most common reason

Basma: 11:53

Yeah. I would say a lot of my patients are in their most maybe are in their twenties and thirties. They weren't just diagnosed in their teens. They're not in college. They're young adults that are really trying to get a handle on their on their life and their health. But even then, that doesn't mean that they're not working very intense jobs or multiple jobs. So I would say those are the largest barriers.

Kerry: 12:12

Well, what a good time to get a handle on your health. I mean, clearly, you would want it Earlier than that, but twenties and thirties, like, that's a great great time to start if it's not, you know, going well so far. But how does nutrition play a role in managing

Basma: 12:25

Yeah. So, you know, new for many people, nutrition plays a very large role in the overall disease process of PCOS. Because even though we know that the biggest underlying factor There is the elevated androgens. There's many different things about our metabolism and nutrition that can influence them. And the two Biggest ones are insulin resistance, which many people do experience, and then chronic inflammation. So if you are somebody that has insulin resistance and it's estimated seventy five to ninety percent of people with PCOS have insulin resistance, then managing that is crucial because, a, we wanna prevent diabetes. Right? We wanna prevent them from developing type type two diabetes. It's the insulin resistance that is making them feel fatigued. It's the insulin resistance that's making them have intense cravings, and it's the insulin resistance that's making them have difficulty with their weight, but, also, the insulin resistance or the elevated insulin that results is stimulating the ovaries to produce more androgens. So if we really don't get that under control, it's very, very difficult to manage the elevated androgens. And if you can't get that under control, you can't get the symptoms under control, and you can't get the menstrual cycle under control. So That is crucial. And then there's many different ways in our lives that we're sort of exposed to chronic inflammation. So if you're exposed either through environment through just different foods, if you have some other health conditions that leads you to have low levels of inflammation, that also is going to negatively feedback on both insulin resistance. Right? It worsens insulin resistance as we know, And it also worsens the hyperandrogenemia or the elevated androgens so those are sort of the two ways. I try to use a sort of a positive nutrition approach. So I think when people think of nutrition or I'm gonna see a nutritionist, they think that they're going to be told a lot of what not to do, and they think it's going to be very punitive and restrictive. especially when we're trying to approach The inflammation, I'm really all about what can we add. How can we add more nutrition? How can we add more anti inflammatory fruits and vegetables. How can we add more anti inflammatory healthy fats? How can we add more fiber? How can we improve the gut microbiome? All of these things, and that really comes from an additive approach with the hope or at least my hope that adding more good is gonna crowd out the less good. And so that's really how I try to approach things in general because I'm just a positive Just a positive person. I hate telling people no. I hate being told no. You know? I just wanna try and see how we can improve improve our lives.

Kerry: 15:22

Yeah. I think I've never heard it termed that before, so I really like that positive nutrition approach, adding things back in rather than saying, no you can't have this, that, or the other. So that's really a great way to term it. I might steal that. It's probably

Basma: 15:35

you're welcome to. I didn't coin it,

Kerry: 15:37

what I figured.

Basma: 15:38

But that's my preferred approach.

Kerry: 15:40

It's like positive reinforcement maybe for kids and stuff like that too. So how do you bring in your culinary medicine and your dietitian expertise to help your patients.

Basma: 15:50

Yeah. Well, I wish and maybe one day I will is that I would have my own big teaching kitchen, right, that I could bring people in. But I use my own kitchen, and so I provide recipes. I make Lists I make, specific food suggestions. So I'll always finish my visits I'll send my patients a summary, and it will be specific food behaviors that we're gonna work on. It may be supplements. It may be advice around sleep. It may be advice around movement. So I'll put that all in a summary, and it'll be full of goals that we determined and other just different suggestions of how you can improve the nutrition quality. then I'll send recipes, and I'll send videos. And I use a platform for my telemedicine practice where there's even a group chat. And so if I've recorded something new, I'll send it out to the group and just try to broadcast ways. And they're not complicated because I recognize a lot of people don't have the time or the resources or the skill set to really make things very complicated. So my goal is to show you how to make it easier. Right? And so that's where I'll produce content and and video teaching videos around really just making things tasty. Because if it doesn't taste good, nobody's going to do it and and not not complicated and accessible for people at at many different, you know, points in terms of skills and price points. And so just trying to make it as easy as possible for people to take care of themselves because I think, oftentimes, people think it's going to be difficult or complicated or expensive.

Kerry: 17:24

So do you dive right into nutrition, or do you, like, use medications or anything like that?

Basma: 17:31

We use them both. As a gynecologist, that's bread and butter part of what we do. And so if Some people need an insulin sensitizer, right, for their you know, like metformin. Some people need contraception. Right? There is this sort of backlash against oral contraceptive use in the PCOS community, and That really stems from, I think, many people's experience where they went to their doctor. They were told they had PCOS. They were prescribed the birth control pill and nothing else. So the narrative is, oh, the pill is like a Band Aid for PCOS. And then when you come off the pill, it's still gonna be there. Well, yes. That's true. Right? But what's missing is the education around what is PCOS, what are the implications of it if you don't treat it? What are the implications if it doesn't improve? And what's going to happen later on in life? And so what are the risk factors? So a lot of people are not getting that when they're first being diagnosed. They're just getting, this is your problem. This is the solution. Come back when you wanna get pregnant. And to me, that's woefully insufficient, And that's why I do what I do. So it doesn't mean that I don't use oral contraceptives or other methods because people still need endometrial action. If they don't ovulate regularly, they're at risk in the future of endometrial cancer. That's a huge disservice you know, if somebody Doesn't understand that. Right? That's like a terrible thing that we can prevent people need to understand what it's being used for and what the different options are because there are different options. There's, you know, the combined pills. There's progesterone only pills. There's IUDs. There's Patches, there's a whole selection, and we have to talk about what's best and what's gonna fit and what have we used in the past and why didn't you like it and so that people can make an informed decision and understand what it is that they need to do for their bodies to keep themselves safe and to prevent disease because that's really what I'm all about. PCOS is a chronic disease, and That's a difficult thing for many people to sort of face when you're diagnosed in your teens or your twenties. Most people are being diagnosed with chronic diseases a little bit later in their life in midlife. And so to sort of be faced with that is a challenge, but at the same time, we're not really approaching it as such. And so if we're not approaching it as such, we're not really helping anybody. So I I think that's where some of the disconnect is. And so I will use like I said, I'll use whatever I need to use in in with the proper counseling to make sure that people have longer healthy lives with their PCOS and not be blindsided. I mean, the statistics around PCOS are not great. If you have PCOS, like, as it stands, And I think that's because we're not doing a great job of educating people and being preventative that people with PCOS, fifty percent will develop type two diabetes by their early forties.

Kerry: 20:47

Yeah. So, like, within ten, twenty years. I mean, essentially,

Basma: 20:51

a staggering number. Right? Like, who cares if you get diabetes when you're seventy? I mean, it's still we should care, But at the same time, then you're like you look around, and you're like, yeah so do you. Like, you and your peers are right? It's like but age four like, so early, right, and all the risks that are associated with that. And that bothers me immensely, and that's What that's what drives me.

Kerry: 21:12

Well, with the insulin resistance, are you, like, checking fasting insulin or a one c's?

Basma: 21:17

So fasting insulin, a one c a one c is not so sensitive. By the time somebody has an elevated a one c, right, we've kind of Missed some opportunities. So the gold standard would be a two hour GTT with fasting insulin. Some people will use, like a continuous glucose monitor for a few weeks. So I'll talk to people about how these are the different ways that we can assess for it. I think that the CGM is a great tool. I've used it myself just sort of to experiment. I think having data is is really, really fun, and I think all of this technology is really helpful, especially for people who have diabetes and prediabetes. But I think it also can be used in the wrong way, and people who maybe have some issues around control with food and some disordered eating, that that just becomes another way of doing that. So it it has to be in select people. If I'm worried that they're gonna use it to be too controlling about their food intake, then it won't be something that I recommend. So it really depends on sort of where they are. Because sometimes some of what I'm undoing for people is because they've known they've had PCOS for a while, and they've been doing everything that they can to try to manage it, and they've been getting their information from many different places. And that has resulted in maybe, like, too much restriction and and control, and so we're trying to be a little freer with improving their relationship with food. So I don't think in that scenario, a CGM is really So great. But for other people who aren't in that boat, I'd say it's a good tool.

Kerry: 22:52

Yeah. I will admit I've used one too. I thought it was a lot of fun, but I can see both sides of it. One, you can learn more about how foods affect you and maybe which foods you not eat as often and which ones are really spiking your sugar. But if you're gonna have those reactions about, Oh, gosh. My sugar is spiking when it naturally should be, but not maybe to some certain extent, then it's probably not best that you should be using those. I wanted to ask you tell me about polly prep your course if you

Basma: 23:21

polly prep it's, You know, the name is the girl's name, Polly. Yeah. So it's just sort of a play on words. And, I think of my business and my practice as a as a prep school. I wanna prepare people for their life with PCOS. So that's where the name came from because I really wanna educate. And So I educate in my practice and my one on one visits and I educate in my course. So I have an online course for people who don't reside in the states where I practice, which are New York and Florida right now. But the course I feel like it's a service because it's very inexpensive, And it's twenty eight days of just so much information. There's so much, like, science based information on how the body works, and I think I do a good job of presenting it in a way that most people can understand. And I want people to understand so that they can help themselves, and they can sift through all the stuff that's out there and and determine what's Legit or not. And if they don't really have access maybe to the specialist that they need, it can help to guide them. And then there's the group chat that's available to them, and I, you know, have some exclusive content that I send through the group chat and some live webinars just for that community. So that is just sort of the way that I can educate as many people as possible anD even some of my one on one patients are part of that too just because they just wanna know more, And that just helps us. And there's lots of cooking videos in there and their recipes. And so it's really that's really a labor of love that I put out there for the world of PCOS. And then I'm hoping as we grow and, hopefully, in the next year to have some cohorts and do some shared medical appointments. And so that is so for people who are, You know, one on one patients of mine, but to wanna get a bigger experience and to get more support from peers and to learn more cooking, then they can enroll in that. And so I'm developing that, and and we'll hopefully launch that next year. And that's really what I'm super excited Because I love to be able to talk and cook and teach and share and and have and hold space for people to have Support because if you are somebody who has PCOS and you don't have, friends or family members who are experiencing it, It can be very lonely. Right? It can be a very lonely place to be a young person and to have a chronic disease and not have that support.

Kerry: 25:57

So pollyPrep is the course, and then pollyPrep MD is your medicine practice, and you do practice in Florida. Okay.

Basma: 26:04

a telemedicine practice, first visit with me is that, I take a whole hour. And like I said, I usually have people send me all their materials in advance so I can review them in advance so we can make the most of that hour because, otherwise, it could easily take two hours to go through all of that material. So we'll go through it, and then people then will follow-up with me depending on the interval that we decide. For some people, it's a few weeks. For other people, it's you know, a month or two and those are usually thirty minute follow-up visits so we can address and look again at labs if needed and see where we're making some improvement. I like to say that I, You know, I'm not using there's there's different terminologies for it, but I guess I would just say that I use a weight neutral approach in that oftentimes, people are told they have to lose weight for their PCOS to get better. And weight loss is very difficult. that's somebody's goal, I can help them with it. But it has to be their goal. My goal is for them to help their body function better and they're going to be different parameters for how we measure that. So menstrual irregularity, improvements in different labs that we may test, so improvements in the insulin resistance, improvement in in people's inflammatory markers, improvements in their lipids, and so improvements in their symptoms, improvements in their energy level, improvements in their feeling of well-being. Right? So there's different things that we can measure, and those are the things that I usually will suggest as goals. So it's only if somebody chooses if weight loss is their goal. And sometimes in making these improvements in health, weight loss happens as we improve the metabolic disturbances underneath as we improve the insulin resistance. But it's not primarily a weight loss program because I think a lot of people are alienated from the health care system because of past experience.

Kerry: 28:03

Mhmm.

Basma: 28:04

I want them to feel welcome and know that they are deserving of health and deserving of care no matter what size they are, no matter if they wanna lose weight or not.

Kerry: 28:16

Yeah. I think that's a beautiful approach. Obviously, focusing more on the health of the number on the scale is very important. And, certainly, people have definitely been scared of the medical system from things that they've heard from providers or anyone. So what is your favorite recipe?

Basma: 28:32

It depends on the time of year, I guess. I'm in the northeast, and it's already getting cold. So one of my favorites is red lentil soup. It's super easy and delicious. It takes just a few ingredients, and it comes out Really yummy every single time, and that's a great recipe for people with PCOS. Beans and and lentils are really healthy. They provide a lot of fiber and protein and natural sources of inositol, which is a nutrient that's important for PCOS. So that's one that I've already started making already in rotation as the weather has gotten cooler. In the summer months, I like to grill vegetables a lot, and so incorporate vegetables into that. I'll make Tabouli a lot. That's one of the recipes that I have in the program. And I there's a few twists to it that I've just learned from other, actually, patients and really to make it delicious and easy with great PCOS friendly ingredients. And I think that's a nice way. A lot of people come to me, like, terrified of wheat, Right? And gluten because they've been scared off of it. So it's a nice way to reintroduce some because it uses bulgur, which is wheat. Right? And People don't think of it as such, and so letting people reintroduce foods and see how they actually feel, whether or not they're sensitive. So I'll introduce that, especially in people for doing any sort of elimination diet. So I take people through an elimination diet, which if you don't know what that is, if people suspect they're having food tolerances or allergies, Really, the gold standard is to test yourself. So eliminate all the foods that you think are possibly offending, and then reintroduce them one by one and see how you do. And so I'll introduce that recipe when we are reintroducing wheat into people's lives to see if they're actually sensitive or not. Because I think, everybody goes on this gluten free and dairy free, bandwagon, but they may be missing other foods that they truly are sensitive to. Right? And not so and they may actually tolerate wheat or dairy fine, and they're being unnecessarily restrictive, but they're not avoiding certain foods that maybe they that are bothersome to them, and so that's a really important exercise to do.

Kerry: 30:42

You mentioned supplements a couple times, and I forgot to ask you, but What sort of supplements do you recommend?

Basma: 30:48

Sure. And, again, it'll depend on people's labs, and so we'll look for deficiencies. sO any supplements needed to correct deficiencies. Vitamin d is one that's very common. Especially maybe not where you are, but where I am, vitamin d deficiencies, very common. But to treat certain conditions one that's very popular is inositol. is used for insulin resistance, so it can be used in either instead of metformin for people with insulin resistance, it can be used in combination with metformin. And so if somebody's on metformin but still not optimized or maybe they can't increase their dose because of the gastrointestinal side effects, that's a very popular one, and there's very good evidence. In fact, there was a study published, and it was early last year or maybe the end of twenty twenty one. That basically showed that inositol was equivalent to metformin in PCOS, without any adverse effects. And so not that it was superior. So some people will take that study. And there's a lot of people out there on, again, on social media promoting inositol as superior to metformin. It's not. The study has shown that it's Not inferior. Right? So that's not the same. But I think many people, especially many coaches and and nutritionists, unfortunately, as other sources of income will sell certain supplements or affiliate codes, so they'll misrepresent the literature. Anyway, that's a side. But inositol, I do use that. Zinc supplementation for acne and hirsutism is another supplement that I will recommend oftentimes, if people could tolerate it. It's not always easily tolerated. It can cause some gastrointestinal side effects. Things like spearmint, which has been shown to help people with the androgenic symptoms, so, again, the facial hair and the acne. So sometimes probiotic supplementation Then if people are not getting a lot of you know, enough fermented foods in their diet or probiotics in their diet using supplementation. And then depending on people's, beliefs and dietary restrictions, People will come you know, people might be vegan or vegetarian, and they may have been told that they can't eat that way. There is that narrative out there that they can't eat that way for PCOS, because it's too much carbs. And so teaching people how to honor their belief systems within the context of their health is important, and so understanding what supplements may be needed to ensure that they maintain their health. So I'll recommend omega three supplements for people who aren't eating a lot of seafood because that's really the best source of omega threes. Even though nuts contain them, they're not as accessible to our bodies. And so it's really gonna depend on what people are doing and what their underlying, like health food preferences and belief systems are. On the flip side, there are others that are told, you can't eat too much meat because of the hormones, and that's aggravating their PCOS. So for whatever Bent you have there is somebody that's gonna tell you that that's the way or that's not the way. Right? And so sifting through that is, I think, probably, You know, I spent a lot of time on that because there's so much

Kerry: 34:09

Mhmm.

Basma: 34:10

so much information out that out there and not all of it is true. So

Kerry: 34:15

Yeah. This is definitely true. Well, I mean, it's true that there's A lot of varying information there. Not all of it is true. Yeah. Yeah. Is there anything else you'd like to share with out audience

Basma: 34:26

Honestly, that just you can, you know, you can even if you don't wanna see me, which I would love to see you as a patient. Again, my program is out there. There is a free trial. So if you wanna just check out a few of the lessons on the independent study course they're on my website, and you can just follow me because I'm always posting. I just try to keep it as Educational as I can. I'm trying to just you know, give no nonsense, No information, you know, where I can to sort of combat some of the the nonsense that's out there. So If you need a source that you can trust, then, please follow me, and I will hope to provide that for you. But, if you wanna see me, you can see me. The website is polly prep m d, and that's p o l l y, prep, p r e p m d, dot com, and that's where you can make an appointment with me. I do ten minute free discovery calls. Also, if you're not sure if the practice is right for you and you just wanna say hi and meet me, you can do that too. You can schedule that that way, and then we can talk through what the right thing is for you and what the right type of visit is for you. And then you know, or enroll in the course, which is like, again there's so much information in there. It's really a service. If I could give it away for free, I would. But I have to just pay for the overhead of hosting it. But because really, I just wanna I really just wanna educate people. So that's pollyprep dot com, p o l l y p r e p dot com. And check out the free trial or purchase it and join us and learn.

Kerry: 36:03

What were your social handles where they can

Basma: 36:06

Yes. So mostly, I'm on Instagram and there's pollyprep, p o l l y p r e p. And then I also have my Instagram, which is doctor Basma Faris, d r b a s m a f a r I s, where I will post the PCOS content, but more broad women's health content as it relates to nutrition. So if you Don't have PCOS, but you're interested in nutrition as it applies to pregnancy, menopause, then that's where I post all things women's health and nutrition on on that platform. So that's where you'll mostly find me. I am on TikTok, but usually, it's just sort of reposting you know, some of the stuff that I'm posting already on Instagram. So

Kerry: 36:52

Mhmm. What just for clarification, I'm assuming you don't take insurance. Is that

Basma: 36:57

I do not take insurance. I do provide people with a super bill at the end of the visit so they could submit to their insurance for their out of network benefits. It's just, as I am a a niche practice and and trying to keep it that way, that whole insurance processing is There's a headache. Yeah. It's a headache. But can provide that for you. And I think the rates are reasonable that most people find that they're getting reimbursed close to at least half of it, you know, at least half of it depending on the insurance. But I try to keep in similar to the local norms at least for New York. So I know things vary from state to state and city to city, but at least for where I am, the rates are pretty similar.

Kerry: 37:42

Okay. Well, thank you so much for joining us today.

Basma: 37:45

You are so very welcome. Thank you for having me. I think this is really fantastic, your podcast, and I hope the Tampa community really appreciates all that you're bringing to them in this podcast, all the information that you're bringing and I hope I get to see some of you in the near future. And I hope you'll you know, right now, it's we're at the end of November, so I wish you all happy holidays and a happy new year.

Kerry: 38:11

Well, same to you. Thank you so much. Thank you for being on the podcast. And everybody, I hope you agree and that you're getting lots of good information from the podcast in our community. And it'd be great if you could rate and review too. Alright. Tune in next week.