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Breakfast for PCOS- it really does matter.  Let’s talk about why.

I hear some version of the following very often in initial consultations:  “I don’t eat until lunch time, I’m not hungry and just too busy”.

Is skipping breakfast good for PCOS?

With the popularity of time restricted eating and intermittent fasting in recent years, many people have experimented with skipping breakfast and felt they were doing well for themselves because they stopped being hungry for it.

I did the same for a while.  As a busy practitioner and mom I often felt like breakfast was something I couldn’t make time for and I figured as long as I ate a good lunch and dinner, I’d be just fine.

But breakfast actually has numerous health benefits, especially if you have PCOS.

Here’s why breakfast matters for PCOS.

Breakfast keeps PCOS cortisol levels normal

Food is one good way to reduce stress hormones after exercise and upon waking up in the morning.  Eating a nutritious breakfast in the morning can help regulate cortisol levels, the body’s primary stress hormone.

Typically the morning is the most stressful time of the day and our cortisol will naturally rise to it’s highest levels.  This is a good thing, until it becomes excessive.

Skipping breakfast or having an inadequate meal can lead to dysregulated cortisol levels, potentially exacerbating stress responses throughout the day. Balanced meals with adequate protein, healthy fats, and carbohydrates can help stabilize cortisol secretion, promoting a more balanced stress response.

Those with PCOS have more issues with our adrenals and cortisol.  In fact, this is one of the main root cause issues in PCOS.  Signs of Adrenal Dysfunction

Breakfast reduces PCOS cravings throughout the day

I’ve heard some say differently, but truly eating a balanced breakfast in the morning makes you crave less throughout the day.  Breakfast, especially when balanced with protein, healthy fats, and carbs, keeps you full and means your lunch, snack, and dinner will be more balanced too.

If you’ve not had breakfast for a long time, there will likely be an opposite affect for a while, and this is just your body reacting to the fact that it has felt starved for a while.  Give it some time, stay consistent and eventually everything will even out.

Breakfast keeps PCOS blood sugar balanced

Breakfast plays a key role in stabilizing blood sugar levels.  Eating a balanced breakfast with a combination of protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates helps prevent spikes and crashes in blood sugar levels throughout the day. This can help reduce insulin resistance, a common feature of PCOS.

You have more freedom in what you eat during the early hours of the day.  Because of circadian rhythms, our bodies process starches and sugars from food better in the morning and early afternoon than they do in the evening.  This means you’re able to eat some carbs for breakfast and lunch without worrying about excessive spikes in sugars.

(Everyone’s tolerance is unique, I recommend a continuous glucose monitor to see this for yourself, here’s my link and a podcast I did on the topic Improving Insulin Resistance, PCOS, and Overall Health with Continuous Glucose Monitors- Amber’s experiences with Molly from Nutrisense)

That’s important because it means you won’t feel as deprived when you try to limit your starches in the later part of the day.  When your blood sugar stays more balanced, your hormone balance improves and you have fewer cravings.

So why aren’t you hungry in the morning?

There are several reasons this could be, but one major reason is if you have elevated cortisol levels in the morning.   Cortisol is a stress hormone that is highest as we start the day and it gives us energy to get going.  It tends to get raised excessively when we are stressed, in a hurry, or lacking rest. It can also raise when we don’t eat for extended periods, especially if we regularly skip breakfast.

When cortisol rises, our blood sugar rises in response.  The idea is to give us energy to take on the stress we are currently facing, but the effect can be hunger suppression and excess insulin production.

In PCOS, excess insulin leads to a cascade of hormonal problems which increase symptoms.  Simply eating a balanced breakfast can help avoid this.

How many meals per day should we eat with PCOS?

Intermittent fasting and time restricted eating do have some health benefits, especially the beneficial effects for our mitochondria.  But when we take into account circadian rythm, cortisol, stressful lifestyles, hormone balance, and research, the ideal fasting regimen likely looks like a full 24 hour fast here and there or eating mostly in the morning and afternoon and skipping dinner, rather than skipping breakfast.

Some do well with this, some don’t, and I think you can get many of the same benefits, particularly for blood sugar regulation, by just sticking to a low carb meal for dinner.  But that’s a topic for another time.

What’s a good breakfast for pcos?

The most important part of breakfast is the protein.  Always aim for at least 20g at breakfast, it keeps you full and prevents blood sugar spikes and dips.

20g of protein looks like:

1 scoop vegan protein powder

2 scoops collagen

3 eggs

2 breakfast sausages

2 oz ham

Other features of balanced PCOS breakfasts

From there, a truly balanced breakfast would include some plant foods and fiber.  This is a great time to add some starch for the day like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and oatmeal.  You could include seeds like chia seeds for more fiber and I especially love including some berries in my breakfast for the antioxidants.

Amounts of these things will vary based on your unique needs and metabolic health.  Here’s my article on planning your PCOS diet.

PCOS Breakfast Recipes

There are several ways to get this, here are some favorite recipes I’ve shared that meet this goal.

If you’re in a hurry in the morning, a high quality protein shake can be an easy way to get your day started on the right now.  I like the Be Well by Kelly brand for protein- get the grass fed beef (its non dairy with no whey but tastes so good!), you can use my code AMBER10 for $10 off.

Add some berries to your shake to make it more nutritionally complete.  Another “in a hurry” breakfast is a couple breakfast sausages and some berries- I use the Applegate Farms brand.   I also often have a collagen matcha latte (my favorite matcha and more about its benefits: Matcha For PCOS- The Surprising Benefits (and recipe!) for breakfast.

Try incorporating at least one PCOS superfood into your breakfast if you can as well! 9 Superfoods for PCOS

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