The topic of healthy snacks for PCOS may seem a little confusing. Maybe you’ve gotten conflicting information on foods you can or can’t eat. No need to worry – there are plenty of PCOS snacks that can add nutrition to your day!
You can still honor your physical health and balance your hormones while enjoying snacks.
When snacking is beneficial for PCOS
Snacking is beneficial when you’re going long periods of time without eating in between meals. If your meals are more than ~4 hours apart, you might get pretty hungry, which is completely normal. Your blood sugar may start to dip, resulting in tiredness, low energy, and lack of concentration.
While you should definitely listen to your body when you’re hungry, there may be instances when you should eat when you aren’t hungry.
Let’s talk about practical hunger.
This is when you’re not hungry at the moment, but your next opportunity to eat will be a while, and you know you’ll get very hungry before that next opportunity. For example, if you’re a teacher and have a break at 11 AM, but aren’t hungry for lunch yet. However, your next chance to eat won’t be until 3 PM because of back-to-back classes. By 3 PM, you would be ravenous, so you choose to eat a good snack at 11 AM.
Snacking isn’t always about hunger (or even practical hunger) and fullness either. While snacking is a great time to add nutrition to our day, sometimes we reach for snacks simply for taste, nostalgia, or comfort. You shouldn’t feel ashamed because you ate something that wasn’t nutrient-dense – sometimes snacks are more for our emotional or mental health, and that’s okay, too.
What are Healthy Snacks for PCOS?
For those who have insulin resistance – which is most people with PCOS – snacking can be an important piece of blood sugar stabilization. For stable blood sugar, healthy snacks for PCOS will pair carbohydrates with some fiber + fat + protein. If you can’t include all 3 – try to shoot for at least two!
Here are some examples:
- Apple and peanut butter
- Whole wheat toast with butter and a boiled egg
- Banana with almond butter
- Carrots and hummus
- Edamame
- Full Fat Greek yogurt and berries
- Cheese stick with grapes
Enjoy Your PCOS Snacks
Snacking is important to keep our hunger at bay, and can help maintain stable blood sugar. Additionally, snacks are great opportunities to ADD nutrition to our days. PCOS snacks can help add fiber, quality fats and protein, antioxidants, and vitamins and minerals that our bodies need. Don’t feel guilty about your PCOS snacks – enjoy them!