Nutrition

By Dr. Mélanie DesChâtelets, ND. Licensed naturopathic doctor and founder of PMOS Health Collective.

The market for PCOS supplements is enormous, and most of it is sold with five-star reviews, a “science-backed” badge, and a sleek list of ingredients. So before you spend money on the next one, here’s the exact six-step filter I use to tell a real bet from good marketing. It works on any supplement, not just the one in your cart.

One quick note. This is education, not medical advice, and I’m not your naturopathic doctor. Read it, take notes, then bring it to your own care team.

▶ Liked this video? Subscribe on YouTube.

The wrong question vs the right one

The smart question isn’t “could this help?” It’s “is this where I place my first bet?” Your time, money, and energy are finite, so think of it like a horse race: when you can see all the options and how deep the research is behind each, that’s when you can bet on the fastest horse. These six filters are how I read the field, and how you can read any product before you buy.

Filter 1: a long reference list isn’t proof

A wall of PubMed links on a website doesn’t tell you how confident we can be in the outcome. The questions that matter: Was it studied in humans, or in a petri dish? In people with PMOS (formerly PCOS) or a metabolic history like yours? Different research types carry different confidence. Sometimes we extrapolate from thin evidence, which isn’t always wrong, but it’s a weaker bet when other options were tested in real humans with measured, hard outcomes.

Filter 2: they don’t all work the same way

Some strategies block the absorption of glucose. Others improve how your body actually uses it. On a glucose monitor they can look similar, but long term they point to very different physiology. I’ll take improved physiology over a quick patch that helps just one meal, every time.

Filter 3: what it should actually change

Mechanisms give us a theory. What I care about are hard outcomes in real humans. “This lowers post-meal glucose” is fine. But if another option shows it improves hemoglobin A1C or an insulin-resistance measure over 90 days, that’s the one I’d bet on first. A change on your bloodwork over months beats a blip on a monitor after a single meal.

Filter 4: the croissant context

Here’s a research trick: if you want the biggest possible improvement, you test it in the situation most likely to produce one. One sleek site claimed a “40% blood sugar reduction,” but what did the person eat? A croissant, a highly processed carb we already know spikes blood sugar a lot. What that number doesn’t tell you is how much it would do for a balanced meal, and whether that would even be meaningful. That gap is exactly what to weigh before you prioritize something.

Filter 5: the permission slip

This one is behavioral, and it’s the one most people miss. Some products quietly become psychological permission slips. If a supplement makes the croissant feel less harmful, that food might show up more often, or you decide you don’t need to change it at all. That’s not a moral failure, it’s human nature. But what you do most often matters, and even with the spike blunted, you may have skipped the chance to choose something with more fiber, more whole, less processed. That’s a real opportunity cost.

Filter 6: foundations are leverage

The supplement that prompted this had some human data, so I’m not saying it does nothing. I’m saying that out of everything you could choose, it wouldn’t make my top five to ten. Around 80% of Canadians aren’t meeting their fiber goals, and that one shift alone touches blood sugar, insulin, inflammation, and cardiovascular risk. Most people with PMOS don’t need more novel information or more complex protocols, they need support being consistent with the foundation. When you do layer supplements or medication on top, start with the ones that influence several systems at once and have the most human studies behind them. So this was never about good versus bad. It’s about sequence: is this really where you place your first bet?

Watch the full video: PCOS Blood Sugar Supplements: Not All Created Equal, and subscribe to my YouTube channel.

This article is educational, not medical advice or a diagnosis. If something here resonates, bring it to your healthcare team, who can look at it through the lens of your individual health.

Main references

1. Teede HJ, et al. Recommendations from the 2023 International Evidence-based Guideline for the Assessment and Management of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2023. PubMed

By Dr. Mélanie DesChâtelets, ND. Licensed naturopathic doctor and founder of PMOS Health Collective.

If you’ve gone looking for help with blood sugar and PCOS, you’ve probably drowned in it: 150 Instagram hacks, each one promising to be the thing. The real problem usually isn’t a lack of information. It’s not knowing where to put your energy first. So instead of one more hack, here’s how to find your own best first move across the four levers that actually matter, so you can build a plan instead of collecting tips.

One quick note. This is education, not medical advice, and I’m not your naturopathic doctor. Read it, take notes, then bring it to your own care team.

▶ Liked this video? Subscribe on YouTube.

Why blood sugar advice feels so overwhelming

Most people I work with aren’t short on information, they’re short on a starting point. When I read research, the question I’m asking isn’t “does this thing help at all?” The useful questions are: how much does it help, what does it actually change, and was it studied in real humans over real time, or was it one study where the glycemic load of a single meal looked slightly better? That last kind is a hack. It’s not a foundation. So as you read your own situation, you’re sorting noise from foundation.

The four levers that actually matter

Four foundational levers: sleep, stress and recovery, movement, and fuel. Think of it like a racetrack. When you’re choosing to focus on a new habit or change, you don’t want to spread your time, energy, and consistency across every horse. You want to know which horse gives you the best odds first. Most of us don’t have unlimited capacity, and often one area acts like a keystone: for some women, moving consistently makes everything else easier; for others, better sleep unlocks every other choice. So the question stops being “does this work?” and becomes “where does this belong?”

Sleep

Sleep is one of the most underestimated levers, and it isn’t just about hours. With blood sugar we see a U-shaped curve: consistently short sleep, usually 6 hours or under, worsens insulin sensitivity, and very long sleep is also linked to higher metabolic risk. For most adults the lowest risk sits around 7 to 8 hours of good-quality sleep, and even a short stretch of poor sleep can measurably worsen regulation. So if you snore heavily, gasp for air, or wake up unrefreshed, that’s worth raising with your provider, because sleep apnea quietly drags on metabolic health.

Stress and recovery

The goal isn’t no stress. It’s enough recovery. Picture being chased by a bear: your body releases stored sugar so your muscles and brain can run. Brilliant for a physical threat. The problem is that today’s threats are mostly mental, and we hang out in that stress state far longer than we were built to. When stress is chronic with no real recovery, your body keeps glucose readily available regardless of what you eat. That’s how chronic stress, without recovery, nudges blood sugar in the wrong direction.

Movement

This is one of the few areas with clear targets across the guidelines for insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and PMOS (formerly PCOS) care: 150 to 250 minutes a week of moderate movement (walking, cycling, dancing) at about a 6 out of 10 intensity, where you could talk but not sing, plus two to three resistance sessions. Here’s the analogy I like: your muscles are sponges. Regular movement changes the size and quality of your sponge, so it handles glucose better all the time. Walking after a meal can help activate the sponge for that meal, which is great, but it doesn’t change the sponge itself. So an after-meal walk counts toward your weekly total, it just doesn’t replace it. Priority one is simply getting the movement in.

Eating pattern and fuel

Fueling isn’t about restriction. It’s about matching your body’s needs over time, because chronic over-fueling is what pushes insulin resistance forward. On the pattern side, three approaches are studied heavily and all help: the Mediterranean diet, the Portfolio diet, and the DASH diet. They overlap far more than they differ, so pick the one that speaks to you and nudge your eating that way. What keeps showing up across all three is the same: more whole grains and fiber, plenty of fruits and vegetables, leaner proteins, fewer ultra-processed foods.

Finding your own first move

Give yourself space to reflect, because constraints are individual. Look back: is there one area that, in the past, unlocked the others for you? That’s probably your best first move. And notice that every lever here is at least a two-for-one: good for blood sugar and good for the rest of your life. That’s why they earn your attention first. This was never about doing everything. It’s about doing things in the right priority.

Watch the full video: Stop Doing All 150 Blood Sugar Hacks, and subscribe to my YouTube channel.

This article is educational, not medical advice or a diagnosis. If something here resonates, bring it to your healthcare team, who can look at it through the lens of your individual health.

Main references

1. Teede HJ, et al. Recommendations from the 2023 International Evidence-based Guideline for the Assessment and Management of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2023. PubMed