Confused about what to eat for PCOS? Do you just need a little guidance to get you started with planning your own healthy, delicious and PCOS-healing meals? 

Download my Free 7-Day PCOS Diet Plan here! 

This free 7 Day PCOS meal plan PDF is aimed at stabilizing blood sugar and improving insulin resistance to help with maintaining a healthy weight for your body. It will also help with normalizing hormones and reducing inflammation associated with PCOS and many chronic diseases. 

Each recipe is extensively tested and features whole food ingredients with easy-to-follow directions for people of all cooking levels. 

This PCOS diet plan includes recipes for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner as well as a grocery list to make shopping a snap.

Now, let’s dive into the pillars of a healthy PCOS diet so you can learn how to create your own PCOS meal plan.

PCOS Diet Plan 101

• Sustainable. A super restrictive diet isn’t going to work in the long term. You know what I’m talking about. You need to find a sustainable dietary pattern that will improve your PCOS AND you can continue for the rest of your life.

• High fiber. Fiber helps with blood sugar regulation, helps keep you full and satisfied, improves gut health which will help lower inflammation, digestion and gut microbiome diversity.
  • Fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans/legumes, nuts/seeds

• Lower glycemic load foods Foods that are lower glycemic index/load have less of an effect blood sugar
  •  Whole grains, starchy veggies, fruits and veggies, beans/legumes

• Fermented foods and Prebiotic rich foods
  • probiotics like yogurt, kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, Prebiotics like onions, banana, garlic, chicory root

• Moderate carbohydrates (approximately 40-45% of calories or less)

• Ample protein at every meal and snack
  • Lean sources protein and PLANT FORWARD– Nuts/seeds, beans/legumes including whole soy at least 3 x week, fish/seafood several times per week, poultry, meat.

• Moderate fat (approximately 30-40% of calories) Mono and Polyunsaturated fats
  • Omega 3s, olive oil, nuts/seeds like flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, avocado.

• Antioxidants from fruits, vegetables, whole grains and herbs and spices

• Flaxseeds (1, 2)

• Green tea and spearmint tea (3, 4, 5)

How can a PCOS diet plan help improve your PCOS?

Sets you up for success

• When you have a simple, realistic meal plan for meals and snacks each week, you are more likely to get nourishing meals on the table without stress.  

• By having snacks planned you will avoid afternoon trips to the coffee shop and you won’t come home ravenous. No one wants to cook dinner when they are starving, you just want to get takeout. 

Saves you time and money

• Having a meal plan saves you time on deciding what to eat or having to pick up last minute ingredients. You also save money by having a list of what you actually need to purchase.
• You can plan meals around similar ingredients so things don’t go to waste. Need carrots and celery for soup? Roast carrots for a side dish and add celery to your salad for extra crunch!

Improve your diet quality (this is really important for PCOS)

• Several studies have shown that people who use meal plans tend to follow dietary guidelines more closely, eat a wider variety of foods, and consume more fruits and vegetables.
• Focusing on improving diet quality (more fiber, fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, omega-3s) is one of the best strategies for improving PCOS. (6)

Maintain a desired weight (that is right for you!)

• Studies show that people who use meal plans are less likely to experience obesity than those who don’t. How? Because meal plans can give you control of your ingredients, cooking methods, and portion sizes.

How-to meal plan for PCOS?

Here are a few key things to remember when planning meals for PCOS:

• Create a plate that balances blood sugars with a combination of complex carbs, protein, fat and fiber at meals which will help improve insulin resistance and reduce testerone levels
• Add lots of fiber to improve gut health and keep yourself full
• Choose antioxidant rich foods (think whole grains and colorful fruits and veggies) which will help improve PCOS

This is  the “formula” I use for myself and my clients. It’s an easy way to portion your plate and hit all those key factors, without having to count calories or carbs.

• ½ plate non-starchy veggies ( or ¼ veggies, ¼ fruit)
• ¼ plate complex carbs
• ¼ plate protein (animal or plant based)
• Source of healthy fat at the meal like olive oil on veggies, nuts or seeds sprinkled on veggies or protein, avocado, ect.

Do I have to spend all day Sunday “meal prepping” to improve my PCOS?

Meal planning doesn’t mean having to spend all day on Sunday meal prepping. 

Meal planning is spending time each week writing down what meal and snacks you will have over the next few days/week. Then shopping for that food so you are ready to make meals and snacks easily.

Final thoughts…

In my experience working with individuals with PCOS some sort of meal planning is key to a client’s success. I also have PCOS and I have learned that even a basic weekly meal plan is critical to helping to control my PCOS symptoms.

When you boil it all down, we all get busy, traffic happens, horrible days at work happen, whatever. If you have a simple, realistic meal plan for that week, then you are more likely going to be able to still get nourishing meals on the table without stress. 

Want to improve your confidence in the kitchen? Or get PCOS meals on the table with all the stress in the kitchen? Or access to my simple meal planning software with >1,000 recipes to choose from? Then The PCOS Kitchen Cooking Course is perfect for you!

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