In addition to herbs and acupuncture, consuming a PCOS diet can also increase fertility and your chances of becoming pregnant. In fact, the PCOS fertility diet is one of the best diets we’ve found for women with any hormonal irregularities. The reason for this is the focus on insulin and blood sugar, one of the most problematic symptoms of PCOS. High insulin levels can prevent the body from ovulating at all. This final part of the PCOS series will discuss dietary guidelines and benefits as well as certain foods that are beneficial for women with PCOS.
Benefits of the PCOS Diet for Fertility
- Promotes a healthy environment within the uterus for conception
- A healthy functioning liver is crucial for proper insulin balance
- Decreases the potential for PCOS to become diabetes
- Maintain healthy weight and body fat percentage
PCOS Diet Guidelines
1. Balance protein with carbs. Consuming equal amounts of carbs and protein helps to balance insulin levels. Always add protein to every meal and snack. If you grab an apple, add almond butter. If you have oatmeal for breakfast add nuts, etc.
2. Choose foods low on the glycemic index and avoid processed carbs, sugary, or starchy foods. These are carbs that break down slowly and don’t dramatic swings in blood sugar, which leads to cravings. Some examples low glycemic foods include:
- Unprocessed foods
- Grapefruit
- Apples
- Kale
- Broccoli & asparagus
- Nuts like walnuts and almonds
3. Eat a warm foods diet. Avoid cold food, ice cold drinks, milk and dairy products. These dampen the digestive system and slow the metabolism, and over time can lead to sluggish circulation to the reproductive organs causing cramping and cysts.
4. Eat 5 small meals per day. Eating throughout the day balance the metabolism and blood sugar more effectively than eating three meals per day with huge gaps between each meal. Try eating three regular meals per day with two (healthy) snacks or five smaller meals to constantly fuel the body and prevent the stress hormones from spiking.
5. Consume organic foods. Eating organic means you’ll be consuming more essential vitamins and minerals and less toxins. Great for the liver! Also, because a high protein diet is recommended, you want to make sure any dairy and meats are organic, grass fed, and free of soy so that there are no added hormones that will worsen PCOS.
6. Minimize sugar consumption. This is the biggest culprit in the development of PCOS. We often recommend a good 3 days of food journaling so you can objectively look at how much sugar you are consuming, at what time of day, and find realistic substitutes to help reduce the harm caused by too much sugar on the body.
If you would like further information on PCOS and the natural ways to treat it or would like to schedule an acupuncture appointment with one of our licensed specialists, please feel free to contact us at Mama Lounge of San Francisco!
