A recent study released a tip for women with polycystic ovaries on how to get pregnant naturally. According to the researchers, the simple timing of meals may improve the chances of conceiving for women with polycystic ovaries.
The report noted that fertility is hindered in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome because the condition affects women's menstruation, hormones, ovulation and other processes that impact childbearing. The syndrome is closely linked with insulin production, which makes timing of meals an important step to reversing its negative effects.
According to the Mayo Clinic, insulin resistance is the most pointed-at culprit of POS. In one case, excess insulin causes the pancreas to release an influx of the hormone and increase the levels of androgens released by your ovaries.
The study was conducted by researchers at Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Diabetes Unit at Wolfson Medical Center, and sought to find a way for women with POS to properly manage their insulin and subsequently increase their ovulation. The researchers did this by testing the effects of a meal plan suited to the body's metabolic cycle.
Professor Daniela Jakubowicz of Tel Aviv University recruited 60 women with POS who were of an average weight for the study. The team then arranged diets consisting of 1,800 calories with the same foods for each of the women. One group ate the bulk of their allotted calories at breakfast, while the other ate most of them at dinner. At the end of three months, the group that consumed a larger breakfast were shown to have a 56 percent decrease in insulin resistance and a 50 percent drop in testosterone.
Those who were in the big breakfast group also saw an increase in ovulation by an average of 50 percent, which may help many women with POS solve their fertility problems.
Construct a meal plan that works for you
Jakubowicz noted that a meal plan that focuses most of its calories on breakfast may help women with POS to get pregnant naturally. But what sort of foods should you eat at your new and improved big breakfast?
Within the study, the big breakfast women ate 983 calories in the morning, so consider counting your calories for a while to ensure that you're getting enough. One of the most important vitamins you need to get as a first time mother is folic acid. Foods that contain this include avocados, melons and oranges, all yummy additions to your breakfast. Fortified breakfast cereals also contain folic acid, so you don't have to change up a normal routine that much.
It's not easy to switch when you eat most of your calories. If you start trying to eat more at breakfast and less at dinner, you may notice that you're just not hungry in the morning. That's totally normal, just be sure to set aside a decent chunk of time for breakfast to let yourself ease into the larger meal.