Balanced and Brilliant with Louise Robbie (2026)

06/12/2022

Hi everyone! I’ve been quiet on here for a while now….for a good reason!!

I’ve been working on something really exciting and can now proudly say I’ve created a new supplement specifically for PCOS 🤩💫

⭐️ 18 nutrients specifically chosen to help manage PCOS symptoms
⭐️Includes the effective 40:1 inositol blend
⭐️Active ingredients that work better in your body
⭐️ Once a day easy to take powder formula
⭐️ Natural orange formula
⭐️ Made with care in the UK

Please follow where you’ll be able to find out more information on the new product but also where I’ll be posting all PCOS related content 💫

Thank you for following me along on this journey 🥰and look forward to lots more PCOS chat!

Louise xx

10/08/2022

Keep going 👊🏻💪🏻

09/08/2022

Getting some vitamin D!

Did you know women with PCOS are more likely to be vitamin D deficient than the rest of the population? The cause is linked to insulin resistance (how well you can manage sugar when you eat it). There’s a number of studies on it but because, ya know, womens health, they’re limited so full understanding isn’t quite there yet 🤷🏻‍♀️

Low vitamin D levels alongside PCOS can exacerbate symptoms like not ovulating / irregular cycles, increase insulin resistance and affect androgen levels.

So getting some sun is actually a good thing - yes you need to factor in sun protection and being sensible (seek shade at hottest times of day, drink water etc)

I know getting your whole body in the sun as a PCOS woman is stressful: hair growth and weight are not beach ready friends in what’s made to feel ‘normal’.

I gently encourage you to wear the swimsuit, show off your body, and not care about the hair, the shaving rash, the dimply bits. The sun doesn’t care and it’ll be actually doing your body and your hormones good ✨

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04/08/2022

One of the many distressing symptoms of PCOS can be acne. It can really be such a brutal thing to deal with

The link between PCOS & acne is related to our androgen hormones (such as testosterone)

All women have testosterone – In PCOS the levels can go too high for a number of reasons.

The medication treatment options can be brutal (I went on Roaccutane 25 years ago, yes I’m an elder 😂👵🏻) and although it worked, the side effects were tough and I still to this day have dry skin from it 😣

But there are things you can do out side of medication!

✅Reduce your intake of processed foods and sugar. It really does make a difference
✅Drink water – avoid sugar filled energy drinks, coffees, hot chocolates
✅Consider removing dairy – there are a number of research papers around dairy and acne, showing their can be a link between the 2. It’s an option worth exploring if acne affects you. Try it for 4 weeks to see if it helps clear your skin.
✅Omega 3 is a great nutrient to support skin health – you find it in oily fish like salmon and anchovies as well as seeds and nuts like flaxseed and walnuts
✅Supplements can really help; zinc is great skin support (take at night if you get any nausea from it), biotin, vitamin D and probiotics can all potentially help

👀Always check with a professional before embarking on new supplements, especially if you’re on medication, pregnant or breastfeeding

29/07/2022

If you’re having blood test to investigate any of your symptoms these tips should help you have a successful test and useful result for interpretation

Key things to remember:

👀If you are having any hormone related tests on hormones that fluctuate throughout the month such as oestrogen, FSH, LH, progesterone, it’s important to test on the right day

👉🏻Day 1 of your menstrual cycle is the first day you bleed – if you have spotting beforehand, do not count this as day 1

👉🏻Day 2-5 – best day for oestrogen, LH and FSH (day 3 best!)

👉🏻Day 21: usually advised for progesterone but it’s 5-7 days after you think you have ovulated (PCOS messes this up!)

👉🏻Day 12-15 – you can get LH levels to check if you have ovulated (if you have PCOS this can all be out of whack though so I don’t always think it’s that useful)

💧Hydrate! You are mainly water and blood tests are much easier when you have drunk enough water both the day before and before your test

🍽Ask if you need to be fasted – if you are having any thyroid checks, generally better to be fasted and if you’re on levothyroxine, continue taking as normal. So don’t eat breakfast, have tea / coffee etc.

💊If you’re taking supplements, stop taking for around 5 days before your test, especially if they contain biotin. Biotin affects a number of tests such as FSH, thyroid, B12, serum ferritin (iron), oestrogen, progesterone – if you’re taking a hair / skin / nails supplement it’s HIGHLY likely to have it in!!

27/07/2022

No matter what noise you hear or throwaway comments about PCOS, the fundamental factor is that you didn’t cause your PCOS.

There’s SO much missing in terms of science based information in terms of causation around PCOS. More research is needed before anyone can confidently claim reasons behind it and even then it’s very unique to every woman who has it.

But like lots of conditions, it can respond amazingly to changes such as what we eat, how we eat, how much we move our body, things we put on our skin, how much time we have to relax, how much sleep we get.

If you’re feeling blamed / shamed / sad about your PCOS, sending a big hug your way 🤗! You are wonderful no matter how bad your symptoms are right now 💫

21/07/2022

A few months ago, I used a glucose tracking monitor to look at my blood sugar balance.

I’m very aware with my PCOS, that blood sugar balance is a critical element on me managing my symptoms overall and in all honesty I can get quite slack on it – I really like sugar 😋

👀I wore it for 2 weeks and tested out quite a few different ways of eating to see what I needed to pay attention to

I got a load of questions from people when I used it so I thought I’d share some of the things I learnt here:

👉🏻No it didn’t hurt going in – every now and again my arm would ache a bit but it went away

👉🏻Yes porridge made my blood sugar spike up (I kind of knew this already, I’m always starving 30 mins after eating it)

👉🏻Adding protein and fat to a carb made the spikes after eating much lower

👉🏻One of the worst spikes I had was from a shop bought salad and using the dressing which had sugar in and I hadn’t checked it

👉🏻Intensive exercise really made my blood sugar levels dip – the lowest dip I had was during a triathlon and I had a load of erratic readings that day

👏🏻It’s validated a lot of things I was doing already especially the tips by the

✅Having a green salad before a meal, eating veggies first, not having carbs alone and adding protein & fat

👀Alcohol didn’t seem to affect it too much (only had one glass of wine) but the next morning my fasting reading was much higher

👉🏻 I do have issues with managing my blood sugar and I do need to keep it in focus. My PCOS symptoms may be mainly under control but it’s still there lurking in the background 👹

If you’re interested in what’s going on inside your body I think they’re really interesting tools to use – I think you can get a bit obsessed with data and a lot of what I learnt I kind of knew through listening to my body but it’s a great shortcut if you’re just starting out or want to have more information on how your body reacts to certain foods.

If you have any questions, happy to try and answer! X

16/07/2022

Mustering up the energy to see your GP about your symptoms can take a lot of courage – there’s generally something you just can’t deal with anymore right?! Like you can cope with the random periods or the weight but your hair falling out is just too much – whatever the trigger is for you, think of it as a massive step in the right direction to getting back control of your body.

When you do get an appointment, know they don’t have much time and they also have set responses to many things – this isn’t their fault, it’s the current system so I’m always advocating pushing where you can and empowering yourself!

Go armed with information around menstrual cycle; date of last period, how many days it lasts, your level of flow – light / heavy etc, pain, spotting, any changes

Write down all your symptoms – somehow I seem to forget a load of them once I speak to a GP – obviously you have a time limit so focus on your top 3 and then book a follow up if you have more to discuss

Read up on PCOS diagnostic criteria and understanding a bit about how your GP works is really useful – they should refer you for bloods but they may be able to do scans in the surgery.

Try to believe they’re on your side! There are some fabulous GP’s out there and they really are trying to help within the guidelines they have. PCOS is still very much a complex area for them to deal with and they have a role to support symptom treatment not get to the root cause – this can be massively helpful though! A diagnosis can really help you focus on your health goals and know what direction to take x

04/04/2022

If you have symptoms of PCOS such as an irregular cycle, facial hair, trouble getting pregnant or staying pregnant 💔, weight gain, body hair, hair loss on your head, depression, skin tags, darker patches of skin….then getting a diagnosis can really help you know what you’re dealing with.

However a diagnosis needs to be looked at from a number of angles and other factors need to be considered.

You should be able to discuss your symptoms with your GP and they should cover off a number of other factors before any diagnosis is given. You can’t just have a scan for example and be told your ovaries are polycystic and you therefore have PCOS. This isn’t the case!

To be diagnosed you need to have:
-an irregular cycle. You should be tracking yours - if you’re on the pill you don’t have a period, this doesn’t count!
- blood tests showing higher than usual male hormones. Every woman has male hormones - PCOS just means we have an imbalance. Other hormonal blood tests can highlight PCOS as well. You can’t have these tests if you’re on the pill.
- an internal scan of your ovaries showing cysts consistent with PCOS. Ovarian cysts are not the same!

If you have pain or weight gain these are not a diagnostic tool for PCOS and pain is highly likely to be something else - keep advocating for yourself!

If you want any help navigating your diagnosis let me know, am always happy to help guide where possible xx

28/03/2022

🔥Period pain can be brutal.

🤘🏻This isn’t an anti medicine post - paracetamol might be helpful and needed (and I know ibruprofen might help more but it really does affect your gut so I would always say try and avoid!)

👀But if you are getting severe period pain every month or whenever you have a period it’s a sign your body needs some help. What is severe? If you’re crippled down in pain, taking time off work or school, it’s interrupting your life every month, you’re also having other symptoms like vomiting or pain going down your legs, you need to investigate further not just take more painkillers.

😫There’s a number of reasons that can be the underlying cause of period pain.

👀Notably PCOS is NOT one of them - you can however have PCOS plus something else causing you the pain!

👉🏻Some cramping can be normal due to a release of prostaglandins which are released when your uterus contracts (ie when you’re shedding your endometrial lining aka your period)

🥦Dietary and supplement interventions can really make a difference here. Magnesium is a great option that can help reduce period pain 🤍

🚫If your pain is more intense, things to consider as underlying causes which should be explored by your GP:
🚩endometriosis
🚩uterine fibroids
🚩adenoymyosis
🚩pelvic inflammatory disease
🚩ovarian cysts - these are NOT the same as cysts seen in PCOS.
🚩the copper coil (number 1 reason why women have it removed is pain)

🙅🏻‍♀️Please don’t just put up with severe period pain. It’s really a red flag from your body that something needs to be looked at and supported! X

23/03/2022

To all the ladies out there staying curious about their bodies and learning more about their hormones - you’re amazing!

We’re not taught the things we need to know in school and spend our lives playing catch up on how our female bodies work - it take courage to reconnect with ourselves, means we might have to make changes but the rewards are always worth it 💫

22/03/2022

Getting better sleep isn’t just a nice to have – it can support so many other factors in your body and more and more studies are showing how it affects your metabolism PMID:31089546

This can mean if you aren’t sleeping well but you’re trying to lose weight, you might be making it harder for your body 😵‍💫

Studies have shown how not getting enough sleep affects your glucose management and if you have PCOS you really don’t anything else messing up your blood sugar💥

Studies also show that women with PCOS are more likely to suffer with sleep disturbances PMC5799701

If sleep is an issue for you make sure you’re getting the fundamentals right and be ruthless on them – it does matter!

✅Cut your caffeine down and none in the afternoon – remember chocolate has caffeine!

✅Eat your evening meal 3 hours before you go to bed; give your digestion a break and allow your body to rest and digest

✅Don’t drink alcohol – it’s not going to help

✅Keep your tech out of your bedroom; no screens.

✅Make your room dark and not too hot

✅If you’re under a lot of stress, use journals / lists / meditations / breathing exercises to help reduce stress hormones which inhibit sleep

✅Look at supplements such as magnesium, 5HTP, passionflower, Vitamin B6, L-Glycine which can all help support more restorative sleep.
✅Routine is important: keep the same time to bed and awake throughout the week and keep as close to it as you can
✅ If you have external nighttime issues that wake you up, kids / pets etc. Make sure you’re not in habits that can be changed eg can your pet sleep somewhere else. But if you’ve done all you can, be gentle on yourself 🤗

If you’re struggling with your sleep and would like more support, please get in touch.

Tuesday	09:00 - 15:00
Wednesday	09:00 - 15:00
Thursday	09:00 - 15:00
	19:30 - 21:00
Friday	09:00 - 15:00
Saturday	09:00 - 11:30

Balanced and Brilliant with Louise Robbie

06/12/2022

10/08/2022

09/08/2022

04/08/2022

29/07/2022

27/07/2022

21/07/2022

16/07/2022

04/04/2022

28/03/2022

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22/03/2022

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