the main thing i wish i knew sooner about pcos is that there was a reason why i was so prone to overeating highly palatable foods, and that reason went beyond having a lack of willpower or self control. people with pcos tend to have a lot of intolerances to common foods (i.e. gluten and dairy) and we are very sensitive to sugar. eating sugar (in one of the many forms it exists in our food) or a food we’re intolerant to can throw off our hunger signals for days. (people are prone to crave the foods they’re intolerant to, and it gets more complex when you consider theories around absorption.)
having food that your body doesn’t agree with can leave you hungry and trying to pacify it, but many of us do not get proper education on what is actually a balanced meal for someone with pcos. the healthy food industry is deceptive and dishonest. foods i thought were healthy included granola bars (ridiculously high in sugar), most cereal (lots of wheat and sugar and nutritionally void), fruit juice (strips fruit of the fiber and just leaves behind the sugar), and so many other common suggestions that are not actually good for everyone. not to mention eating these foods usually leaves you extremely fatigued and can trigger other disruptive symptoms.
this is the awful cycle of trying to eat better, but accidentally eating a food that doesn’t agree with your body, and then feeling dissatisfied/ill with lots of cravings. this is why i always recommend that you start with monitoring sugar, identifying your intolerances, and learning how to create balanced meals if you have pcos.
