10 Quick & Easy PCOS Lunch Ideas for a Busy Life
For more information on changing your diet to alleviate your PCOS symptoms, visit PCOS Made Simple for easy tips and methods on how to take control of your life & health through food.
Originally published for PCOS Made Simple.
One of the biggest hurdles when making the required lifestyle changes for polycystic ovarian syndrome is figuring out how to fit healthier eating into your busy life without spending a lot of time grocery shopping, prepping, and cooking meals — and eating food that doesn’t make you feel satisfied.
The great thing about the PCOS diet is that it is very versatile and there are often good, filling alternatives to your favorite foods. The key to long-term success is finding food that is easy to prepare and makes you feel full and satisfied.
Gone are the days of fad diets full of unseasoned grilled chicken, steamed broccoli, and a bag of baby carrots — a healthy diet for PCOS should be full of variety, spices, and whole foods!
With PCOS, it’s important to eat whole foods and healthy fats, which makes it important to prepare your own food at home so you know what’s going into it. Fast food and go-to lunch restaurants are not known for using quality ingredients, since their main purpose is to deliver food at the lowest cost possible and maximize their margin dollars — NOT keeping their customers healthy.
From personal experience, I know it is sometimes just not possible to always prepare your own food and bring it to work — so I will be following up on this article with a guide to choosing food at restaurants that will keep you healthy even on the most hectic days. Subscribe to my email list below to receive new posts as soon as they’re published!
I recommend reading the below section so you can get a good idea of the building blocks for a healthy PCOS lunch — but if you just want to check out the recipes, scroll on down for the full list!
THE 6 BUILDING BLOCKS OF A GOOD PCOS DIET
- Keep all your foods under 55 on the glycemic index
- The glycemic index measures how quickly something affects your blood sugar levels
- Most people with PCOS are insulin resistant, meaning your body doesn’t convert sugar to energy as well as the general population
- Eating foods below 55 on the glycemic index ensures they are all “low glycemic” foods, meaning these foods won’t spike your blood sugar
- For most of us, insulin resistance is responsible for many PCOS symptoms including hormonal imbalance, acne, infertility, hair loss, and excessive weight gain — this is #1 for a reason!
- This rule is often interpreted as “low carb”, but many carbs fall below 55 on the GI — they are just complex carbohydrates that have high protein and fiber content. Low-GI carbs can make a big difference in your insulin levels, and actually improve your insulin sensitivity.
- For more info on the Glycemic Index, see What Is The Glycemic Index?
2. Avoid inflammatory foods
- Fatigue, bowel issues, skin tags, acne, and headaches are all signs you are affected by chronic inflammation that is so common with PCOS
- Inflammatory foods include processed meats, refined grains like white bread, high-fructose corn syrup, sugary drinks, and fried foods
- Anti-inflammatory foods include berries, nuts, salmon, leafy greens, broccoli, chili peppers, tomatoes, and yes — dark chocolate!
- Including spices like turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon, cumin, and garlic can all help fight inflammation
- Teas like green tea and ginseng are excellent to include as well. If you only like sweetened tea, you can sweeten it with a little bit of raw acacia honey which is considered low glycemic.
3. Use healthy fats
- There are a lot of unhealthy fats used in processed foods nowadays to maximize profits for food companies, from trans fats to cheap seed oils.
- When in doubt, use olive oil. Note that the olive oil industry is surprisingly corrupt and many oils advertised as olive oil are not actually pure. I use Carbonell because it is one of the best lower-cost olive oils, but you can find a list of certified pure olive oils here.
- Coconut oil, avocado oil, sesame oil, and chili oil are all great choices as well
- If you use mayonnaise, it is super easy to make your own or try to choose a brand that uses olive or avocado oil and hormone-free eggs like this one.
4. Include lots of fiber
- Fiber is one of the most essential parts of a good PCOS diet because it helps slow digestion, improve insulin resistance, and promote gut health.
- Sources of fiber include whole grains like barley, bulgur, and farro, as well as steel-cut oats, and bread containing lots of whole grains and seeds.
- Vegetables like collard greens, artichokes, eggplant, and broccoli are great choices
- Fruits like apples, berries, pears, avocados, and oranges are perfect high-fiber options
- Lentils, beans, and chickpeas are all super high in fiber as well. Don’t forget to soak them for a few hours before cooking so you don’t end up feeling gassy at work!
5. Choose whole grains over refined grains
- Did you ever notice the difference between white flour and whole wheat flour? White flour is refined, meaning all the husks, bran, and germ was removed from the wheat to create a whiter, finer result — basically, they take out all the good stuff! This is why dieticians always recommend whole wheat and whole grain foods. The husks, bran, and germ are where all the fiber and protein are, which is essential for good health.
- Alternatives include Ezekiel bread instead of white bread, and farro, couscous, or bulgur instead of white rice.
6. Boost your gut health wherever possible
- Did you know high androgen levels can affect your gut bacteria? People with PCOS tend to have less diverse and less effective gut bacteria, which makes nutrient absorption more difficult, as well as increases inflammation and insulin resistance.
- The best way to improve gut health is to eat more fermented foods, take probiotics and consume lots of fiber to feed the gut bacteria and move them along your digestive tract.
- If you are a soda person, I’ve got good news! Ditch the soda and drink kombucha — it is mildly sweet and fizzy, but is low on the glycemic index and provides lots of good bacteria cultures. Be sure to choose kombucha with no added sugar, or uses a PCOS-safe sweetener like monk fruit or erythritol.
10 QUICK & EASY PCOS LUNCH RECIPES
Here are some fast, simple lunch recipes that will help your polycystic ovary syndrome symptoms. Some recipes are my own, and some are from my favorite food blogs that feature healthy recipes that can suit the PCOS diet.
I personally love filling food with lots of flavor, so you can be sure these recipes will be delicious! If you have certain food sensitivities, these recipes should easily fit variations of the PCOS-friendly diet including a dairy-free diet, gluten-free, and low-carb diets with certain adjustments.
ANTIOXIDANT TUNA SALAD by PCOS MADE SIMPLE
This antioxidant tuna salad recipe was my own “invention” after my PCOS diagnosis to make a normal tuna salad into something healthier and more filling. It usually takes me about 5 to 10 minutes to make. Full of seeds & nuts, this tuna salad is packed with omega-3s and fatty acids to reduce oxidative stress in your body. It’s filling enough that you can eat it on its own, or make it a sandwich by putting it between two slices of whole-grain sourdough or Ezekiel bread!
GRAIN BOWLS 3 WAYS by FEELGOODFOODIE
I love grain bowls! They are a great way to simplify your shopping list for a straightforward 7-day meal plan. I love to prepare a big pot of whole grain like quinoa or bulgur in my Instant Pot at the beginning of the week, and then have chopped veggies, various sauces, meats, sweet potatoes, and canned beans on hand to mix and match throughout the week to keep it interesting.
This kind of meal prep gives you the building blocks you need to create varying grain bowls quickly throughout the week without getting bored. Do note that this page recommends you make a cilantro sauce with oat milk — you will need to replace that with some kind of nut milk because oat milk is one of the worst foods for blood sugar control.
Rainbow Plant Life also has a great video on this kind of meal prep for the vegan diet, but the method works for anyone! Her Everything Sauce in this video is seriously addictive and keeps well in the fridge.
CURRY QUINOA by REAL FOOD WHOLE LIFE
This food blog has some amazing recipes that are suitable for PCOS. This quinoa salad in particular has so many great vitamins and minerals, and lots of protein! Did you know curry powder is highly anti-inflammatory, containing turmeric, black pepper, cumin, and ginger? This recipe is a great meal-prep option to have ready in the fridge to grab in the morning on your way to work.
If you want to check out more on Real Food Whole Life, this entire list of anti-inflammatory recipes is good for PCOS — always remember to replace white rice in any recipe with a high fiber, high protein grain like quinoa, farro, bulgur, barley or couscous.
LEMONY LENTIL SALAD by EATINGWELL TEST KITCHEN
Lentils are amazing for PCOS due to their high protein and fiber content. If you’re sensitive to the inflammatory A1 protein in cow’s milk, use goat feta. This recipe may look like there is a lot of prep and chopping involved, but I like to minimize that by making my lentils in my Instant Pot and using a vegetable chopper to save time. This is also a great grab & go lunch option to keep in the fridge.
COPYCAT CHIPOTLE CHICKEN by DELISH
This is a great meal-prep lunch to take to work, and once you’ve got the chicken cooked, you can get creative with what you want to pair with it each day. Replace the rice with whole grains like this ultra-fast Instant Pot quinoa recipe for a filling grain bowl. You can literally take a can of corn and a can of beans, drain them and dump them right on top. A quick zap in the microwave in your office and you’ll have a hearty and wholesome lunch.
For extra flavor, bring a wedge of lemon or lime and squeeze the juice over the top for extra flavor.
If you want to add salsa, make sure to read the ingredients and nutrition panel to make sure there are no added sugars and bad oils. I recommend these salsas — authentically Mexican, with quality ingredients and no sugar.
MASHED CHICKPEA SALAD WITH DILL & CAPERS by EATINGWELL
Chickpeas are high in protein & fiber and have many vitamins & minerals including iron, magnesium, and B6. This is a great lunch on its own or between two slices of Ezekiel bread. Like the tuna salad above, I like to throw in my seed mix of sunflower, pumpkin, and hemp seeds for some texture and crunch!
Use homemade mayo if you can, or try to use olive oil, hormone-free egg mayonnaise like this one. The purer the ingredients, the better!
CHICKEN WITH TOMATOES & CAPERS by THE NEW YORK TIMES
This recipe might look and taste complicated, but it’s actually quite quick and easy — and capers are rich in antioxidants that can reduce inflammation along with the tomatoes, olive oil, and garlic.
This is a great option for dinner option to make and bring the leftovers for lunch the next few days. I like this served over a good protein pasta or a bed of bulgur.
If you don’t have all the spices, don’t worry — I usually use whatever I have, ranging from oregano, basil, garlic powder or an Italian spice mix. The recipe is very versatile, and I even skip the red wine vinegar and use a yellow onion instead of shallots, making it cheaper and still delicious. Sometimes I even throw in some spinach if I have some!
EASY OATMEAL by DOWNSHIFTOLOGY
Are you someone that has a sweet-tooth at lunch time? Oatmeal doesn’t just have to be a breakfast food. I love this Downshiftology article because she goes through a lot of the different ways to prepare oatmeal in very healthy ways. To make sure this is PCOS-friendly, make sure you buy rolled oats, NOT quick or instant oats, since they will spike your blood sugar much more quickly.
This is a super easy way to even keep your ingredients in your desk at work so you don’t have to schlep food back and forth each day, and it can be great for when you forget your lunch! I actually keep a bag of rolled oats, a jar of almond butter, some raw acacia honey, and a bag of walnuts in the big bottom drawer of my filing cabinet and it’s come in handy more than once!
You can also add a banana, berries, or an apple to make it sweeter or more hearty. Adding cinnamon is a must for PCOS — since cinnamon is one of the best spices for regulating blood sugar.
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY TOMATO EGG SOUP
This is my own spin on a traditional Chinese recipe for tomato egg soup. This is extremely fast and easy to make, and if you work from home this is a great recipe to whip up between meetings.
If you have a good tupperware, it should transport easily to work as well!
The recipe contains fresh ginger, fresh garlic, sesame and chili oil which are all anti-inflammatory powerhouses. The tofu and eggs pack in some protein to fill you up until dinner time.
INSTANT POT WHITE CHICKEN CHILI by KRISTINE’S KITCHEN
This is a hearty, satisfying option for a hot lunch that is full of wholesome ingredients. It takes about 20 minutes of prep, but once it’s in the Instant Pot you can get on with other tasks!
This is a really good lunch option to prep the night before that is warming and filling to get you to the end of the workday energized and focused. If you want more bulk to fill you up, you can add in some cooked quinoa or lentil pasta after it’s cooked.
ESSENTIAL COOKING TOOLS
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