PCOS and Carbs – 10 Facts You Need to Know if you have PCOS

PCOS and Carbs – 10 Facts You Need to Know if you have PCOS

PCOS and carbs – Ten Facts You NEED to Know

 

1. If you have PCOS you should aim to consume only a moderate amount (35 % or lower) of carbohydrates to decrease the consequences of insulin resistance and promote weight loss.

 

2. Carbohydrates come in all shapes and sizes. Bread, rice, quinoa, apples, watermelon, yogurt, ketchup and donuts while are all very types of different foods all contain carbohydrates. However, just because a food is considered a healthy carb does not mean you consume with reckless abandonment! 

 

Think twice about ordering the low-fat blueberry muffin from Dunkin!

 

PCOS

 

3. All vegetables contain carbohydrates. One half cup of most non-starchy vegetables contain about 5 grams of carbohydrates. But don’t worry silly!  Because the carbohydrates coming from non-starchy vegetables contain significant fiber – no need to count. So go ahead and chow down!

 

4. One cup of cooked brown rice has 45 grams of carbohydrates and one cup of cooked white rice has the same amount of carbohydrates. The only difference between the two types of rice is that brown rice has 2.0 grams more fiber PER CUP than the white rice. 

 

Truth bomb – brown rice and white rice have the exact same amount of carbohydrates AND calories

 

 


PCOS

5. Gin, vodka, rum and tequila all contain zero grams of carbohydrates. The mixers are where all the carbohydrates come from in most cocktails.

 

6. Women who have PCOS and suffer from insulin resistance are more likely to have cravings for carbohydrates than women who have PCOS and are not insulin resistant. 

 

7. When selecting a bread check the label for one that has the words “whole wheat” as the very first ingredient and contains at least 3 grams of fiber per slice. Looking for a PCOS friendly bread – how about trying Dave’s Killer Bread? 

 

Dave’s Killer Bread – Give it a go!

 

PCOS friendly bread

 

8. The less body fat an individual carries the more sensitive they are to the effects of insulin. This mean the more carbohydrates they can consume without increasing their body stores of fat. 

 

9. A Reduced-Fat Blueberry Muffin from Dunkin’ Donuts contains 75 grams of carbohydrates which is close to many women who have PCOS total amount of carbohydrates for the whole day.

PCOS

 

10. Carbohydrates are not “bad” for women with PCOS. We just need to make they know the appropriate amount for their own bodies. 

How do you manage to include indulgences in your diet while still watching your carbs? Tell us in the comments below. Our community is always psyched with insider insight 🙂 

 

Support for women with PCOS

Amy Plano PCOS Dietitian

PCOS Friendly Snacks – Summer Treats

PCOS Friendly Snacks – Summer Treats

Finding PCOS friendly snacks can be challenging, right? Especially mid summer when all your friends and family are hitting up the Sundae Hut! And If you are anything like me – then you LOVE a sweet treat in the summer! But if you have PCOS and are watching your carbohydrates then you know the pickings are slim in terms of tasty treats. But fear no more – I recently stumbled upon two tasty treats that are right up your alley. Not only are they low in carbohydrates – but they taste pretty AWESOME, too!

My two new summer obsessions are: No-Sugar Added Outshine Frozen Fruit Bars & Halo Top Light Ice Cream

Outshine Bars

No Sugar Added Outshine Bars are frozen fruit bars that come in a variety of flavors. Right now in my local Shop Rite they have two variety packs; one pack has Black Cherry, Kiwi & Mixed Berries while the other pack has the flavors Strawberry, Raspberry & Tangerine. I just bought the pack below. At Shop Rite in CT they are on sale this week with each box of 12 pops selling for $2.77. That is a score because I have seen these lovelies for as high as $5.99 per box! So scoop them up until Sunday when the sale ends.

Outshine has several products. Make sure to get the bars that specifically state “No Sugar Added. ” The regular Outshine Fruit Bars have about 15 more calories and 5 more grams of carbohydrates than the no sugar added variety. Not that this makes a huge difference but I just wanted you to be aware so you don’t get overwhelmed when you go hunting these PCOS friendly snacks down!

PCOS friendly snacks

How do I count the many ways I love No-Sugar Added Outshine Bars ?!? The reasons are endless but below are just a few

Made with real fruit

Excellent source of Vitamin C

No high fructose corn syrup

25 to 30 calories

No sugar added

Only 6 – 7 grams of carbohydrates per bar

No artificial colors or flavors

While most low-sugar/no-sugar frozen fruit bars are somewhat tasteless – Outshine Bars taste super juicy! I am not sure how they pack so much flavor for only 25 calories! It is crazy. If you are looking for a low calorie, low sugar and low carbohydrate frozen treat that is PCOS friendly – then Outshine Bars are the answer.

Halo Top Light Ice Cream 

Another of the PCOS friendly snacks I am LOVING this summer is Halo Top Light Ice Cream. While I have only tried the Vanilla Bean flavor I have to say I was very impressed.

PCOS friendly snacks

Halo Top Light Ice Cream claims, ” Finally healthy ice cream, that really tastes like ice cream.” And I have to agree! The consistency was smooth and you could really taste the distinct taste of the vanilla bean. It was not watery like Arctic Zero or Wink – two other low calorie frozen desserts that masquerade as ice cream. Halo Top comes in a range of flavors. Here is a list of all their awesome flavors — including ones “Birthday Cake” and “Chocolate Mocha Chip.” Yum!

Nutrition wise the profile is pretty hard to beat! Halo Ice Cream comes in pint sized containers (just Ben and Jerrys!) and seems to be located with the speciality ice creams and gelato in the grocery store. For the pint at Shop Rite I paid $3.65 and it was on sale. Regular price for the pint was around $4.99 – which for 4 servings is pretty pricey! I have seen it in most grocery stores including Whole Foods. With only 60 calories per 1/2 cup (that’s a serving!) that is about one third of the amount of calories as regular ice cream.

halo back label

Below is a breakdown of Halo per pint and per 1/2 cup serving:

  • Protein: 24 grams/6 grams
  • Fat: 8 grams/2 grams
  • Total Carbs: 56 grams/14 grams
  • Fiber: 20 grams/5 grams

As you can see Halo Top fits the profile of our PCOS friendly snacks. It is low in carbohydrates (14 grams / serving), high in fiber (5 grams / serving) and it even contains a modest amount of protein (6 grams / serving). Most regular ice creams on the market are high in fat, while Halo only provide 2 grams per serving!

So Amy how do you classify PCOS friendly snacks? Great question my friend. My guidelines for snacks for women with PCOS is that each snack is around 100 – 150 calories and at or under 15 grams of carbohydrates. Halo Top ice cream fits the bill rather nicely. And … most importantly … it tastes pretty dang good!

So next time you are in the mood for something cold, low in carbohydrates and tasty — get your little butt to the store and pick No Sugar Added Outshine Bars and a pint of Halo Top ice cream and you are good to go! You can thank me later ♥ ♥ ♥

I would LOVE to hear whether you are digging or not digging these treats. What did you love most about them most? Let us know in the comments below. XoXo

Support for women with PCOS

Amy Plano PCOS Dietitian

The Best Carbohydrate Counter for Women With PCOS

The Best Carbohydrate Counter for Women With PCOS

Hi Everyone –

This will likely be one of my longest posts – but I think one of the most resourceful blogs! One of the questions I get asked a lot is,  “How do you determine how many carbohydrates are in specific foods?” We can always read the label. But what happens if our food (or beverage) doesn’t have a label? Like champagne! Champagne does not have a label right? [Side note – if you want to be in the know on the carbohydrate content of all alcohol click HERE to get the 411. I wrote a killer blog on this very topic!] Well, that is why exactly I created this fancy guide to counting carbs for women with PCOS.

The ultimate guide to counting carbs for women with PCOS

 

If you have ever been in a PCOS nutrition session with me, you know I’m like a carbohydrate calculator. Throw any food my way and I can tell you how many grams of carbohydrates are in that particular food. But no worries if you’re not a freak show like me 🙂 That is a-okay!

I’ve created what I consider to be a comprehensive guide to counting carbs for women.with PCOS. This list should be awesome for any woman who has PCOS and is counting their carbs (Hint: if you have PCOS you should always being counting your carbs!)

 

The ultimate guide to counting carbs for women with PCOS

This list is by no means all-inclusive – but I think I cover the majority carbohydrate containing foods most people eat. If a food is not listed — a great resource which I use all the time is www.calorieking.com . This website is awesome! You can download the app and have the carb count of all foods at the tap of a button! And extra bonus – it is FREE!

You have probably heard me reference that I often recommend a total intake of carbohydrate for most women with PCOS to be between 90 – 140 grams per day. You can use this list below to see how close you are coming within those targets. To be fair – I never count the carbohydrates that are in non-starchy vegetables. The only ones I do count are the starchy vegetables, peas, corn, potatoes and the winter squashes. All other vegetables have about 5 grams of carbs in each 1/2 cup.

Here you go! Enjoy The PCOS Dietitian’s guide to counting carbs for women with PCOS

 

The BEST guide to counting carbs for women with PCOS

 

guide to counting carbs for women with PCOS

 

Carbohydrate Content of Foods

BREADS / CRACKERS / GRAINS/ STARCHY VEGETABLES

* carbohydrate content may vary from brand to brand, always read the food label if there is one!

Starches                                            Amount                                             Carb grams

Breads

Bread, white or wheat                     1 slice (1 oz)                                           15 g

Light bread                                      1 slice (1 oz)                                           7-8 g

Low Carb bread                               1 slice (1 oz)                                          9 g

Challah                                             1 oz                                                       15 g

Lavash, plain                                    2 oz                                                        30 g

Pita bread, all types                          2 oz                                                       30 g

Mini/Pocket                                       1 oz                                                       15g

Turkish/Middle Eastern                     1 oz                                                      15 g

Hamburger or Hot dog bun              1 bun                                                     20 g

Dinner rolls                                       1 small                                                  15 g

Sandwich roll                                   1 medium (2 oz)                                     30 g

Bagel                                                1 (Deli style)                                          60-70g

Mini bagel                                        1 (1 oz)                                                  15 g

Croissant, plain                               1 mini (1 oz)                                           15 g

                                                        1 medium (1 ½ oz)                                20 g

                                                        1 large (2 ½ oz)                                     35 g

Danish, fruit                                     1 regular                                                30 g

Doughnut                                        1 medium                                              25 g

Pancake or waffle, frozen               1 small                                                  15 g

English muffin, plain                       1                                                           30 g

Muffin, blueberry                            1 small (2 oz)                                        30 g

            Dunkin Donuts                    1 regular                                               75 g

Tortilla, corn, 6”                               1.2 oz, each                                         10 g

            Soft Taco                            1                                                            15 g

            Flour Tortilla                        1 (1.7 oz)                                              30 g

Burritos Tortilla                               1                                                            30 g

Wraps, plain

            Regular size                        1                                                           75 g

            Large size                           1                                                           120 g


 CRACKERS

            Saltine                                  1 cracker                                              2 g

            Cheese                                 1 crackers                                           2 g

            Graham                                1 cracker                                             5 g

            Wheat Thins                         1 cracker                                            1 g

            Soda                                     1 cracker                                            10 g

            Peanut Butter                       1 cracker                                              4 g


CEREALS

Oatmeal                                         1 cup (cooked)                                    30 g

Farina                                            1 cup (cooked)                                     25 g

 Dry Cereal                                    1 cup                                                    22 – 45 grams

 

GRAINS

 Rice, white or brown                   1 cup (cooked)                                      45 g

 Spaghetti                                    1 cup (cooked)                                      40 g

 Elbows/spirals                            1 cup (cooked)                                      40 g

Small Shells                                1 cup (cooked)                                      30 g

Mac & Cheese                            1 cup (cooked)                                      30 g

 Grits                                          1 cup (cooked)                                       30 g

 

 


    STARCHY VEGETABLES

Corn                                          ½ cup                                                   15 g

Corn on the cob                          1 medium                                             20 g

Popcorn                                      3 cups                                                  15 g

Potatoes

            Plain, baked                  small (3 oz)                                          15g

            Wendy’s, baked             large                                                    60-70g

            Mashed                        ½ cup                                                    15g

Plantain                                   1 medium                                               30 g

Yam                                        ½ cup (mashed)                                     15 g

Yucca                                     ½ cup (mashed)                                     15 g

Hash brows                             ½ cup (mashed)                                    10 g

French Fries

            McDonald’s                     small                                                  25 g

                                                    medium                                            60 g

                                                    large                                                  70 g

            Restaurant style             15 fries                                               25 g

 


    BEANS

    Beans, dry:

            Black-eyed peas             1 cup (cooked)                                   30 g

            Lentils or peas                1 cup (cooked)                                   40 g

            Navy beans                     1 cup (cooked)                                  45 g

            Pinto or Black beans       1 cup (cooked)                                  45 g

 

Beans canned:

            Backed in sweet sauce   1 cup                                                 50 g

            Black or Kidney beans     1 cup                                                 40 g

            Chili with beans              1 cup                                                 30 g

            Garbanzo beans             1 cup                                                 50 g

            Lima beans                     1 cup                                                 30 g

            Refried beans                 1 cup                                                 40 g

 


   FRUIT/ FRUIT JUICES

* Use a Food Scale to measure carbohydrate content of fruit per amount (oz.)

Food                                                  Amount                                             Carb grams

FRESH FRUIT

Apple

            Small                             4 oz *                                                  15 g

            Medium                          6 oz                                                   25 g

            Large                              8 oz                                                   35 g

Apricots                                     1 medium (2oz)                                  6 g

Applesauce                               ½ cup unsweetened                          15g

Banana

            1 medium                       5 oz                                                  20 g

            1 large                            7 oz                                                  25 g

Berries                                      1 cup                                                 20 g

Cantaloupe/Honeydew             1 oz                                                   2 g

                                                 1 cup (cubes)                                   15 g

Cherries                                    10 pieces                                         10 g

Clementine                               1 medium (3 oz)                               15 g

Grapefruit                                 ½ fruit                                               15 g

Grapes                                     15 pieces                                          15 g

Kiwifruit                                    1 medium (3 oz)                              10 g

Mandarin                                  1 small (3 oz)                                    6 g

Oranges

            Small                               1 (5 oz with skin)                             12 g

            Medium                           1 (7 oz)                                             18 g

Papaya                                        ½ cup (cubed)                                 8 g

            Medium                           1 (with skin)                                     30 g

Peaches                                      1 medium (4 oz)                              8 g

Plum                                            1 small (2 oz)                                   6 g

Pear                                             1 medium (6 oz)                             22 g

Pineapple                                    1 thick slice (3 oz)                          10 g

Strawberries                                1 cup (sliced)                                 10g

                                                    3 large (2 oz)                                  3 g

Watermelon                                 1 cup cubes                                   12 g


CANNED FRUIT

(check the label!)


 

    DRIED FRUIT

Apricots                                       8 halves (1 oz)                                15 g

Prunes                                         3 medium                                       15 g

Raisins                                         2 Tbsp.                                           15 g

 


    FRUIT JUICE

Apple juice                                  4 oz (1/2 cup)                                 15 g

Grape juice                                 4 oz (1/2 cup)                                 20 g

Orange juice                               4 oz (1/2 cup)                                 12 g

Vegetable juice                           4 oz (1/2 cup)                                  6 g


    MILK / YOGURT

Food                                                  Amount                                  Carb grams

MILK

Whole, low-fat or skim                8 oz (1 cup)                                     12 g

Chocolate milk                            8 oz                                                 26 g

Soymilk (plain)                            8 oz                                                8-10 g

YOGURT

Plain yogurt                           8 oz (1 cup)                                      12-14 g

Light yogurt                               8 oz                                                 16-20 g

Fruited yogurt                           8 oz                                                 32-40 g

 Greek yogurt (plain/non-fat)      6 oz.                                                 7-10 g

 Greek yogurt (plain/ 2%)          6 oz                                                   7-10 g

Greek yogurt (flavored/non-fat)  6 oz.                                                 8-35 g

 


CONDIMENTS / SWEETENERS

Food                                                  Amount                                       Carb grams

SUGARS

Table sugar                                      1 Tbsp                                               15 g

Honey                                              1 tsp                                                   6 g

Jam or preserve                               1 Tbsp                                               15 g

Syrup, Regular                                1 Tbsp                                                15 g

Syrup, Light                                      1 Tbsp                                               7 g

BBQ sauce                                  1 Tbsp                                                   6 g

Ketchup                                       1 Tbsp/ 1 pkt                                         5 g

Spaghetti sauce                           ½ cup                                                  10 g

Cranberry sauce                          ¼ cup                                                   25 g

 


    FAST FOODS

   * Ask for nutritional information where you buy/eat fast food

     New York style pizza                     1 slice                                          45 g

 

 

As I noted I am sure I missed a couple of  foods. But I did my best to provide you with a comprehensive guide to counting carbs for women with PCOS . Let me know in the comments below if I missed any of your favorite carbohydrate containing foods. I would love to know. Bet your eyes are better than mine! ♥

 

Hugs & High Fives

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Why Weight Watchers and PCOS Don’t Play Nice in the Sandbox

Why Weight Watchers and PCOS Don’t Play Nice in the Sandbox

Could it be possible — that the very diet — that you follow to a T  … is making you fat if you have PCOS ? Abso -friggin-lutely!

 


Given the fact I have been successfully helping women with PCOS lose weight for the last decade,  it is fair to say I have seen my fair share of diets. However, one thing I can tell is certain Weight Watchers and PCOS don’t mix!

Weight Watchers and PCOS

 

Typically by the time most women find me, they have been struggling for quite some time with their weight. They have tried every diet out there with minimal success. I don’t think there has been one woman who has exited their initial visit with me not having an “ah-ha!” moment. When women leave my office, it’s often with a sigh of relief — like a load has been lifted off their shoulders. What they have been doing for so long has been so wrong — but they have been brainwashed to think that it is SO right. That folks is the true definition of frustration! No bueno!

 

PCOS and Weight Watchers: Why Weight Watchers is making you fat!


You see, most women with PCOS are SO confused when it comes to diet. And rightfully so! There is so much information out there — low fat, high fat, no gluten, no dairy, no salt, no carbohydrates. I’ve seen every diet out there. But if I were to say there is any one diet I see many PCOSers follow (or followed at some point in their weight loss journey!) is Weight Watchers. If there is anyone diet platform that is just so damn wrong for women with PCOS it is Weight Watchers. Yes, you heard me correcty! If you have PCOS, Weight Watchers is making you fat! Stop the presses — if you are following a Weight Watchers style diet – get the heck off of it now. Weight Watchers and PCOS do not play in the sand box nicely!

Let me tell you why.

 

Why Weight Watchers doesn’t work for women with PCOS

 

You see, Weight Watchers is a very high carbohydrate, moderate protein, low fat diet. Most of the programs created by Weight Watchers provide at least 60 % of the total daily calories from carbohydrates. For Pete’s sake — I don’t even feed my professional athletes that many carbohydrates! Most women with PCOS effectively lose weight when their diet is just around 30 – 40 % total calories coming from carbohydrates. For someone following a 1300 calorie diet, 40 % of your calories coming from carbohydrates would be < 140 grams per day. If you were following the same level calories (I know you don’t count calories on Weight Watchers – you count points – but bare with me sister’!) on a Weight Watchers plan would you would be taking in about 200 grams per day. As small as it sounds — these 60 grams of extra carbohydrates ARE NOT working for your waist line – not to mention how it is impacting your fertility and overall health.

 

Every time we consume carbohydrates of any kind (it doesn’t matter if it is fruit, oatmeal or a sweet potato!) our bodies break down the carbohydrates into glucose. In response to glucose your angry body dumps out the hormone insulin. Insulin is what we consider a storage hormone. This means when insulin is circulating in our blood system – our bodies do not break down body fat for fuel – but instead it goes into fat storage mode.

 

Weight Watchers and PCOS

 

As many as 70 % of women with PCOS are insulin resistant. This means their bodies’ are resistant to the effects of insulin. Insulin resistance makes it very difficult for their bodies to process carbohydrates.  That is why many women with PCOS take the medication Metformin. This miracle drug for women with PCOS makes their cells more sensitive to the effects of insulin. Therefore, Metformin allows them to break down carbohydrates more effectively. I say more effectively because even on a therapeutic dose of Metformin, say around 1500 mg/day, women with PCOS still tend to not thrive on a diet higher than 40 % total calories coming from carbohydrates. I think of PCOS like having a carbohydrate handicap – that even when medicated on Metformin — this handicap does not go away 🙁

 

Weight Watchers and PCOS

Stop the carbohydrate madness – just say heck ‘no’ to Weight Watchers and PCOS

Weight Watchers is the wrong weight loss program for women with PCOS

 

So back to Weight Watchers and why it could be responsible for making you fat if you have PCOS. On a typical Weight Watchers program you are eating carbohydrates all day. Breakfast — Special K Cereal (Carb) with Skim Milk (Carb) and fruit (Carb) Lunch – Turkey Sandwich (Carb) with pretzels (Carbs) and a yogurt (Carb) Dinner — Chicken, Sweet Potato (Carb) and broccoli. Snacks – Flavored Greek Yogurt (Carb), Apple (Carb), Skinny Cow (Carb). As you can see there is no shortage of carbohydrates. You mine as well be fueling for a marathon!

 

I want to make it clear – I have nothing against any of these foods. But for women with PCOS this style of eating creates an insulin disaster! All day long your body is getting flooded with carbohydrates that drives your insulin through the roof. Therefore, on a program like Weight Watchers you become a fat-storing machine – completely the opposite of what you want!

 

I think Weight Watchers is fantastic for many things – one being accountability. Also for many people it clearly works – and I cannot deny that! But I lie to you not – Weight Watchers is NOT the appropriate program for someone with PCOS trying to lose weight. I work with MANY women who actually gain weight while on a Weight Watchers program. If this is you — do not blame yourself. I bet you are spot-on with your points — it is just not the right program for you.

The right weight loss diet for women with PCOS

 

Women with PCOS need to follow a modest, lower carbohydrate diet to promote and sustain weight loss. That isn’t the same thing as a no-carbohydrate diet or a low-carbohydrate diet (< 20 grams per day). No need to be so drastic. So please don’t get these terms confused. Most women do well when their carbohydrates are between 90 – 140 grams per day.

 

In future blog posts, I’ll discuss what a typical day looks like at these carbohydrate levels. But in the meantime if you are hanging with the ladies at Weight Watchers and you have PCOS, please promise me you will cut your ties?

 

I’m only saying this for your own good – I promise.

 

Got questions on why Weight Watchers could be making you fat if you struggle with PCOS? Please post them in the comments below. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Hugs & High Fives

 

 

 

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PCOS friendly recipes : Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

PCOS friendly recipes : Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I can hardly believe it is the middle of July! Can you? Why does the summer seem to always go by so fast? Even as a professor, despite getting out school mid-May, 3 months never seems enough. I know, I know cry me a river, right? Nonetheless, I hope you are taking time to do something fun this summer. For me – my happy place is the kitchen and I wanted to provide you with one of my favorite PCOS friendly recipes – Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins!

PCOS Friendly Recipes

For anyone who knows my husband – he is a man who likes to eat! However, as a personal trainer and rehab specialist, he tends to be a bit vain about his appearance and overall health. Believe it or not, of the both us, he tends to be the one more anal with his food. So needless to say, I am constantly looking for something healthy, that has fairly high quality ingredients to feed the “beast.” These Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins are not only fit for the Beast – they top off as one of my favorite PCOS friendly recipes.
Last week before a quick road trip to Maine, I was looking to clean out the fridge and any food that might spoil while we were away. I walked downstairs and there they were – staring me right straight in the eyes — a half dozen banana s– full of brown speckles and all. What was a girl to do? I could just do the ho-hum and make a banana bread. But that sounded too boring. Plus my husband would be complaining that I should not have made it after he hammered the whole damn thing 🙂

Pinterest Saves the Day!

So, I headed over to my favorite place — Pinterest (of course!) — and put into the search engine “healthy banana recipes” — and the recipe below was born. I have to say I am not a huge fan of taking something that is meant to be unhealthy and turning it into something else. I always find it often leaves something to be desired. But these muffins – these muffins – turned out pretty awesome. They were super-duper-moist! Want more PCOS friendly recipes check out my Pinterest page for lots of amazing stuff!
PCOS friendly recipes
The only thing that makes me a little sad about them is that they have no fat. I feel that fat is something we need ample amounts of in our diet – especially folks with PCOS — who need healthy fats to support their hormones. So the easiest remedy for that is to slather a tablespoon of some natural peanut butter or even better – Kerrygold Butter!
PCOS friendly recipes

Get Creative!

I played with some different ingredients. I tried the recipe with regular brown sugar as well as Truvia brown sugar. I also played with different types of yogurts. I did not notice any substantial differences but I provided the nutritional information just in case you were curious. These are killer. Search no more for PCOS friendly recipes – these are the best!

High Protein Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

 

Makes: 12 muffins

Ingredients : 

  • 1 cup (225 g) plain Greek yogurt (I used 2 % as that is what I typically buy!)
  • 2 medium ripe bananas (200 g or 1 cup mashed)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups (160 g) rolled oats (old fashioned or quick)
  • 1/4 cup (50 g) brown sugar unpacked (I used Truvia Brown Sugar – Baking and only needed 1/8 cup)
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup (85 g) chocolate chips, mini or regular

 

 

Instructions: 

 

  1. Preheat oven to 400F (204C) and prepare a muffin pan by spraying the cavities with cooking spray or lining them with paper liners**. Set aside.
  2. Add all the ingredients except for the chocolate chips to a blender or food processor and process on high until the oats are broken down and batter is smooth and creamy. Stir in chocolate chips by hand.
  3. Pour batter into prepared muffin pan, filling each cavity until it is about 3/4 full. Optional: sprinkle a few chocolate chips over the top of each muffin.
  4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the tops of your muffins are set and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool in pan for ~10 minutes before removing. Store in an air-tight container for up to a week.

 

** if you decide to use paper liners just give them a quick spray with Pam or Cooking Spray just so you get the muffins out easier without sticking.

As noted above: Nutrition Info: 178 calories carbohydrates: 30 grams protein: 7 grams fat: 4 grams

With Truvia Brown Sugar & 2 % Greek Yogurt: Nutrition Info: 189 calories carbohydrates: 29 grams protein: 8 grams fat: 5 grams

Add 1 tablespoon butter = + 120 calories, 0 grams of carbohydrates, 12 grams of fat 

Add 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter = + 90 calories, 4 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of fat