Why Food Matters

to Conceive With PCOS

pregnant woman shopping for pcos healthy foods close up

Healthy fertility food for PCOS is 64% more effective than infertility treatments when trying to conceive with PCOS (1). The first step to producing healthy hormones is providing your body with the tools it needs. Watch this video to learn what to eat to improve your PCOS and fertility.

Your body’s willingness to conceive is a direct reflection of how your body perceives your current state of health. If your body senses, it could not sustain a pregnancy your fertility will decrease. Your hormones and fertility are not static. They are constantly adjusting depending on your environment. This is why the nourishment you provide your body is so important.

PCOS is a condition that leaves your health and hormones more susceptible to their environment. The symptoms of unbalanced hormones are your body’s cry for help. While you can’t completely cure PCOS, you can definitely bring your hormones back to a functional balance. So much so that many women stop experiencing PCOS symptoms and medical tests would no longer indicate that they have PCOS at all.

To rebalance our hormones the first step is to get in touch with your body. Begin to discover the root cause of why our body is struggling to maintain balanced hormones, and then address it.

Nourishing Your Fertility

Proper nourishment, or the lack thereof, is a common culprit I see when assisting women to improve their fertility

Although many women with PCOS struggle with extra weight they are actually malnourished…..what???? That doesn’t even make sense. 

Actually, it does. Ever wonder why you have such annoying cravings and are always hungry. It stems from your body seeking the nutrients it is lacking.

healthy foods for PCOS fertility

This isn’t an isolated problem of PCOS, it is a concern with the western diet that more and more of the world is adopting. Our fast food, processed diet is low or completely void of the nutrients our bodies need 

Add to that several years of hormonal birth control which further depletes your absorption of nutrients and what do you get? A body that is stressed from basically starving while over-consuming calories. 

Sure supplements can help a little. But getting back to the basics of good nutrition ensures your body is getting the tools it needs to produce healthy hormones and fertile cycles. 

pregnant woman thinking and caring about her unborn baby

Fertility-Friendly Food

There isn’t a list of magic fertility-boosting foods. It’s about eating a good variety of nutrient-dense foods to cover the wide variety of nutrients you need. These include vegetables and fruits, and getting good quality protein. Sources of high-quality protein include eggs and lean meat. While there are the sources I recommend for PCOS you can also get high quality from plant sources. Be sure to select animal products that are free-range, grass-fed, and raised without any hormones or antibiotics 

Don’t forget about healthy fats. Healthy fats are finally making a comeback thank goodness, but for a long time, everything was fat-free. You don’t need to eat large quantities of fat healthy fats and healthy cholesterol is needed to produce healthy hormones. 

And then it’s also about what you don’t eat. While eating good nutrient-rich meals will go along way to help boost your fertility what else you are eating still matters. 

Foods that have high sugar content or foods that quickly turn to sugar in your body should be limited. These include refined processed foods such as grains and packaged foods. I don’t believe in restricting foods completely. Start decreasing the processed foods, refined carbohydrates, and sugar-filled options. You will find your own balance of enjoying food but also eating to nourish.

Click HERE to grab the PCOS Detox. Take a deep dive into nourishing your hormones with this 7-day course to reset your PCOS hormones

Making Healthy Hormones

Our bodies are constantly changing and so are our hormones. Our PCOS today doesn’t equal our PCOS tomorrow. The great news is that caring for your body has a tremendous impact on its ability to produce healthy and balanced hormones.

Although nutrition plays a key role in caring for your body there are other factors that go beyond what you eat. 

These factors include; managing your stress, caring for your emotional well-being, getting enough movement, and reducing your exposure to toxins. Basically creating space in your life to care for yourself. This isn’t easy in a world that values a fast pace stressful schedule with the freezer, take out and drive-through being the go-to sources of food.

You don’t have to change everything overnight! In fact, that is the fastest way to ditch the healthy habits because it is too hard. Start by adding a nutrient-rich item or two to each of your meals, while cutting back on the processed options.

Your hormones will thank you for this and over the next few weeks, you will start to see the benefits of nourishing your hormones the way they need.

Ashlene Korcek PA-C 

Hi there! I’m Ashlene Korcek, the PCOS Mama and founder of Nourished to Healthy

I help women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome balance their hormones naturally so that they can take back control of their bodies, boost their fertility, and ultimately live free from the symptoms of PCOS. Like you, I have PCOS, I was diagnosed while struggling with infertility and was told I likely would never have children. Even as a board-certified Physician Assistant I felt lost about what to do and very alone! Fast forward 5 years and I have 3 healthy children, but I never want another woman to feel lost and alone the way I did!

You can break free from the downward spiral of PCOS and feel amazing in your own skin again! 

Read more about my story of how I repaired my fertiltiy and cracked my weight struggle code for good here!

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