PCOS Diet Snack Ideas

by Amy Medling, founder of PCOS Diva

Please snack.

When you have PCOS and insulin resistance, healthy snacking is an important part of your successful PCOS diet. Healthy snacks spread throughout the day keep your metabolism up and your blood sugar stable.

Everyone is different, but I suggest a mid-morning snack at around 10AM, an afternoon snack at 3PM, and depending how late you are up at night, an evening snack around 8PM. The point is to keep your blood sugar and hunger level even so you feel steady and don’t feel compelled to binge.

So, please snack, but do it right. I am not talking about snacking on a bag of Lays chips or a Snickers bar. When choosing your snacks, remember:

1. Always try to combine a complex carbohydrate with a protein and even a little fat.
2. Plan your snacks so you don’t end up going through Starbucks drive-thru ordering a latte and scone or hitting the vending machine at work. I always have a homemade trail mix in my car for emergencies, and I usually throw a piece of fruit in my purse on the way out the door in the morning. If you are going to be gone all day, pack a small cooler with snacks and mini meals to keep cravings at bay.

Here are some of my favorite snack ideas:

• ½ grapefruit broiled with 1 tsp honey and topped with 1T walnuts
• 1/4 c. hummus with raw veggies like peppers, cucumber, tomato, broccoli
• 2 squares of good-quality chocolate (70 per cent cocoa content or above) with 1T nut butter
• celery sticks with 2T nut butter
• 2 deviled egg halves
• Avocado and Shrimp Cocktail (recipe in my Fall Meal Plan)
• sliced apple with 2T nut butter
• 1/3 c. of tuna or chicken salad on 4 pieces of celery
• Slice of turkey rolled with with raw veggies and guacamole
• Popcorn Snack Mix  (recipe in my Spring Meal Plan)
• Chili Lime Mango with Cashews (recipe in my Spring Meal Plan)
• Chocolate Mint Protein Bar
• Trail mix of nuts, dried fruit, seeds, and dark chocolate (1/4 cup is one serving or the size of your palm)

In addition to healthy snacking throughout the day, it is also important that you also stay hydrated. Carry water with you in a glass or metal bottle.  Also, remember that sodas dehydrate you.  Try seltzer with a little citrus.

Amy Medling is an author and certified health coach, who specializes in working with women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, or PCOS, who are frustrated and have lost all hope when the only solution their doctors offer is to lose weight, take a pill and live with their symptoms. In response, Amy founded PCOS Diva and developed a proven protocol of supplements, diet and lifestyle programs that offer women tools to help gain control of their PCOS and regain their fertility, femininity, health and happiness. Check out her new book, Healing PCOS!