Low carb for PCOS

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honu18
honu18 Posts: 294 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I just got diagnosed with PCOS 2 days ago and my doctor put me on a low carb diet (mostly low glycemic). It's similar to the South Beach diet, but not quite. In the first 2-4 weeks, it's more restrictive--but it says I can eat as much fruit (within reason of course), vegetables, and protein as I want, as well as a serving of whole wheat pasta or rice 1 to 2 times a week. However, no sugar, breads, baked goods, potatoes, yogurt, beer/wine, or bananas. This is different than the restrictive phase of the South Beach diet. I am experiencing ridiculous cravings (I had such a sweet tooth before and almonds is about as sweet as I can eat..) and the thought of eating any of the food that I've been eating for the last 48 hours (vegetables, turkey breast, eggs, pistachios makes me sick! All I want is something to break it up. I had a sugar free pudding cup, because it's not listed as bad on here, but everyone on the SB diet says that's a no no. I'm scared I ruined everything. I'm a runner and this is making my energy plummet. I came back from a run this morning that I struggled through and the carb cravings have kicked back up.

Does anyone have any luck/experiences with a low carb PCOS diet that help your symptoms, as well as allowed you to lose weight? I gained all the weight that I lost last year back (I believe because PCOS has come center stage) and haven't been able to lose with calorie restriction or lots of exercise. As miserable as I was with PCOS because of the weight factor, I'm feeling really down and miserable about having to live low carb/being careful for the rest of my life because of my type 2 diabetes risk, even though I'm young and have been active and eating healthy.

Does anyone have experience with doing this for awhile and sort of getting rid of your PCOS/diabetes risk? What did you eat? I'd love some meal ideas (especially dessert ideas..sweet tooth is killing me!)

Replies

  • sarahrbraun
    sarahrbraun Posts: 2,261 Member
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    I think maybe you are trying to go TOO restrictive. I am not SUPER low carb, but I have gone as low as 50g net per day. Right nowI am hovering around 100g net per day.

    When I first cut down my carbs, my diet looked something like this

    Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs, 3-4 slices morningstar farms soy "bacon" , a serving of berries...now I also add greek yogurt or cottage cheese.

    Lunch: huge salad with romaine lettuce, cheese, cucumbers, about 4 oz of turkey or chicken...occasionally some olives, etc

    Dinner: a serving of what I have made for the family, but I might have more veggies than everyone else.

    for snacks, mix it up a bit. Why not cashews or pecans instead of pistachios? I have pre-portioned bags with an ounce each of cashews and pecans. I have also found a trail mix at aldi's that has cranberries, mixed nuts, etc that is not bad on carbs.

    I would ask the doctor if you can have low carb/high fiber tortillas. Ole extreme has 17g of carbs, but 12g is fiber--so only 5g net carbs per tortilla!!
  • honu18
    honu18 Posts: 294 Member
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    I love those tortillas and have some that I used to eat before all of this happened! I would love one of those right now. Yeah, i was at about 100 g of carbs yesterday and 100 g today if all goes as planned (but this isn't net carbs-- a lot of these are fruits/veggies, etc). My doctor said stuff about just limiting the types of carbs that I eat and to get slowly digesting ones that don't cause spikes in blood sugar. I want to have like all bran cereal or something too, but I don't know if that's allowed or not. It's not technically on the "bad" list, but I think of it as a bread or something.
  • sarahrbraun
    sarahrbraun Posts: 2,261 Member
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    I could be wrong, but I think what you need to do is to look for foods that have higher fiber in them, the fiber will fill you up and does not cause blood sugar spikes.

    I will tell you...I have never had PCOS, but I DID have insulin resistance about 8 years ago. My doctor asked me to do a 2 month trial of the 50g net carbs before she decided to put me on medication ( I believe she said glucophage back then). In that 2 months I lost 15-20lbs AND was newly pregnant when I went back for my follow up. In the 8 years since, I have gone back to my old diet, but never been "re diagnosed" as insulin resistant! I thought for sure I would be this year, but my blood work came back OK.

    It might be worth it to call your doctor and ask for a referral to a diabetic counselor to help you plan a balanced diet within the boundaries for you.
  • sarahz5
    sarahz5 Posts: 1,363 Member
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    Have you actually looked at the glycemic index? Where things fall may surprise you. Oats, brown rice, lots of grains are great. I'm going to go ahead and say that I think your doc is being way too extreme. I have PCOS and I still eat regular pasta at least once a week, pizza, couscous, white potatoes, yogurt, and I am losing weight! And I've done it before (that is, before each of my kids).

    I tend to just try to use gut instinct now that I'm familiar with what I should and shouldn't eat - I was dxed about 6 years ago so it's been awhile. You can't do anything that is really really rigid forever. If I have things i know are going to be challenging for the PCOS, I either try to eat them on a high exercise day or limit my portions. For instance, since I allow myself yogurt for its positive properties, I try to limit (but not avoid) cheese.

    DO try to avoid fake sugar. The more whole, unprocessed foods you can eat, the better.

    There is a group here called PCOS Ladies... you should join us!
  • melodyg
    melodyg Posts: 1,423 Member
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    You are welcome to look at my food diary. I was recently diagnosed with hypoglycema *and* PCOS, and I don't know if the low-carb diet I was put on is meant to treat one or both of them (though I'm guessing the hypoglycemia, since my doctor never even mentioned PCOS to me, just billed insurance for it!). The aim is to keep blood sugar stable though, so it should apply to both.

    I wasn't really given any food restrictions, but told to eat a certain number of carbs per meal and a certain number per snack. I have found that the key is trying to keep my protein intake up and always pairing carbs with protein. I find that if I don't eat as many carbs (especially processed sugar-y stuff) that I don't really crave it as much.
  • MrsMangler
    MrsMangler Posts: 63 Member
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