Easy Blood Sugar Balancing Smoothie for PCOS, Insulin Resistance and Inflammation- Template

How to design a PCOS friendly smoothie (that’s good for insulin resistance and inflammation too!)

If you’re looking for an easy way to make a delicious and blood sugar balancing smoothie for PCOS that can be changed depending on your mood or what fruits and veggies you have around but that always turns out great, you’ve found it!

In this article I’ll show you how I design my smoothies so that they tackle two of the major root cause issues in PCOS: insulin resistance and inflammation.  This smoothie template helps balance blood sugar too which will help reduce your testosterone levels and can be very hormone balancing for PCOS!

Why does blood sugar matter for PCOS?

In PCOS, too many highs and lows with blood sugar cause excess spikes in the hormone insulin.  Insulin is a fat storage hormone responsible for helping our bodies get the energy from our food into our cells or to store what we don’t have the capacity to use in our body fat.

Since insulin is a hormone, it has the unique ability to alter the expression of other hormones.  In PCOS, too much insulin causes the ovaries to produce more testosterone.  This can lead to issues like irregular periods and anovulation, excess facial and body hair growth, hair loss, acne, and infertility.  Having high insulin or insulin resistance for long extended periods can eventually increase the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Keeping blood sugar levels steady and stable helps keep insulin levels balanced and improves the functions of our cells, helps our hormones and helps us maintain a healthy weight.

Are smoothies good for PCOS?

I’m a huge fan of smoothies.  They can act as a great meal replacement, help us improve our antioxidant status, reduce symptoms of chronic health issues and more.  Here are some of my favorite benefits:

• Balances blood sugar
• Reduces stress responses
• Gets veggies in the diet without tasting them
• Keeps you full longer
• Boosts antioxidants
• Helps with PCOS and hormone balance
• Good for gut health

So over the years I’ve designed a pretty good template for smoothies.  It’s simple, quick, can work with fresh or frozen fruit and the veggies and fruit can be interchanged with so many variations!

Smoothies that are bad for PCOS

Not all smoothies are created equally.  Most of the smoothies you would get at a smoothie shop or that you might make at home could potentially be damaging to your PCOS if they are too high in sugar.  Both natural and added sugars can be bad for PCOS in smoothies because the pre-blending of smoothies makes them easier to digest and helps these sugars hit your bloodstream faster.  This can prompt an excessive insulin response.

What to avoid in smoothies for PCOS

In smoothies, I always avoid the following:

• Extra added juices like orange juice
• Extra sweeteners like honey or maple syrup (some stevia or monk fruit is fine)
• Bananas, Pineapple or other starchy or high glycemic fruits (these can be included in moderation but keep amounts low- 1/2 banana or less for example)
• Excessive amounts of fruit
• Extra sweet protein powders with added sugar

What to include in a PCOS friendly smoothie

Unsweetened milk

Any kind of milk that you tolerate and enjoy is great here but I especially like to add milks that are high in protein like soy milk for the added benefits.  Choosing unsweetened is best, especially if choosing something like oat milk.

Protein powder

A quality protein powder is the key to a smoothie that is both blood sugar balancing for PCOS AND tastes good.  Look for protein powders that are whey (if you tolerate dairy), pea protein, hemp protein, pumpkin seed protein, or grass fed beef isolate based.

I use Be Well by Kelly Grass fed beef protein powder for everything.  It is non-dairy, sweetened with monk fruit and tastes great! You can use my discount code AMBER10 if you’d like to try it here. 

Leafy greens

Smoothies are a great opportunity to get more greens into your PCOS diet and this will improve a lot of things for you!  Greens like spinach and kale are really high in folate and antioxidants, both are key for PCOS health.  Those with PCOS tend to be deficient in folate and have high levels of inflammation due to oxidative stress- this helps with that!

Low glycemic berries

Similar to greens, low glycemic berries like strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries are great sources of both fiber and sweetness in a PCOS friendly smoothie.  These will also provide your body with lots of extra nutrients in the form of antioxidants, polyphenols, and other plant components that help reduce testosterone and insulin.

Extra fiber

A smoothie for PCOS isn’t really complete without an extra fiber source.  Fiber is so key for both gut bacteria composition and blood sugar regulation.  In fact, getting enough fiber is one of the most important parts of a PCOS friendly diet since dysbiosis (gut bacterial imbalances) are one of the main drivers of PCOS inflammation

Recipe: Easy Blood Sugar Balancing Smoothie for PCOS Template

How to make an easy blood sugar balanced smoothie for PCOS Video

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Amber | Functional PCOS (@amberfischernutritionist)

Here’s how we put this together:

You’ll notice that in the video, I’ve also included something extra, a resistant starch powder that is great food for good gut bacteria (and helps long term with your insulin resistance and PCOS).  The one I use is called Paleo Fiber RS, you can find it here, but any prebiotic powder would also be great here.  I also like to add chia seeds, flax or other sources of fiber from time to time.

(By the way, did you know I have an amazon storefront now?  You can find all my favorite drinks, snacks, and kitchen appliances here)

My favorite way to make this is with blueberries and spinach but I also love any kind of berry.  You can use other kinds of fruit, but I do recommend you stick to the lower glycemic variety to avoid potential blood sugar spikes.  Things like banana and pineapple can be a little hard on your sugars so you’ll want to keep any portions smaller.

I hope you enjoy all the fun smoothies you make!