How Your Gut Impacts PCOS and Getting Pregnant

One of my clients, RC, had been trying to conceive for 8 months. Her cycles were irregular. She struggled with chronic UTIs, weight gain, high testosterone, and insulin resistance. When I asked what she was taking, I expected a long list of supplements.

Instead, she told me: “I’m just doing the micro habits.”

In 2 months, she had clear ovulation signs. Her fertility clinic had planned an IUI and told her there was no ovulation happening. But that cycle, she got pregnant naturally.

She didn’t do 10 supplements. She did 5 things: daily spearmint tea, blood sugar friendly meals, more fiber, 10-minute walks, and ovulation tracking with BBT and LH strips.

This is what micro habits look like. Small changes. Compound results.

Micro Habit 1: Blood Sugar Friendly Breakfast

Your breakfast sets the tone for your entire day—especially for your hormones.

Most women skip breakfast or grab carbs alone. Toast. Cereal. A muffin. When you eat carbs without protein, fat, or fiber, your blood sugar spikes fast. Your body releases cortisol trying to manage it. Cortisol and insulin interference means no ovulation. It’s that direct.

Instead, eat breakfast that includes protein, healthy fats, and fiber. Here are real examples:

• Eggs with spinach and avocado
• Greek yogurt with flax seeds and berries
• Chia seed pudding with collagen powder
• Green smoothie with collagen and almond butter

Why this matters: A stable breakfast stabilizes your blood sugar all morning. That supports ovulation. It improves insulin sensitivity. Your body gets the signal that resources are available, and hormones can do their job.

You don’t need expensive ingredients. You need balance.

Micro Habit 2: 10-Minute Walks After Meals

This one is almost too simple to work. But it does.

After lunch or dinner, take a 10-minute walk. It doesn’t have to be fast. Just move your body gently.

Here’s what happens: Glucose gets shuttled into your muscles instead of staying in your bloodstream. When glucose lingers in your blood, insulin stays high. High insulin interferes with ovulation. It’s one of the biggest hormonal blockers for women with PCOS.

A 10-minute walk also reduces inflammation affecting egg maturation and implantation. It improves digestion and circulation to your uterus and ovaries. Your nervous system calms down.

Don’t power walk. Don’t turn this into exercise. Gentle movement. Consistency matters more than intensity.

Micro Habit 3: Track Without Obsessing

BBT charts. LH strips. Ovulation apps. These tools give you insight into what your body is actually doing.

But tracking can become obsessing. And obsessing triggers stress. Stress delays ovulation. Stress disrupts your luteal phase. Stress damages egg quality.

Track to understand your body, not to control it. Hormones are dynamic. They respond to sleep, stress, travel, emotions, what you ate yesterday. Your cycle isn’t the same every month.

Let tracking be a conversation with your body, not a test you pass or fail.

Micro Habit 4: Two Cups of Spearmint Tea Daily

If your testosterone is high, spearmint tea is evidence-based.

Spearmint has anti-androgen effects. It lowers testosterone. It helps normalize cycles. It improves skin. It prevents excessive hair growth.

The catch: You need two cups daily, and it takes months. This isn’t a quick fix. This is consistency.

But if you’re already drinking tea, switching to spearmint is just swapping one habit for another. That’s a micro habit that adds up.

Micro Habit 5: Digital Sunset One Hour Before Bed

Sleep is hormonal medicine.

Poor sleep disrupts hormone repair. It drops melatonin, which protects your eggs from oxidative damage. It raises cortisol, which blunts ovulation and messes with LH and FSH. It drops progesterone, which you need for your uterine lining and pregnancy.

One hour before bed, stop looking at screens. Blue light delays melatonin. Instead, do something else:

• Stretching or gentle yoga
• Reading
• Magnesium bath
• Journaling
• Breathwork
• Dim lighting

Your nervous system needs to shift into rest mode. Screens keep it activated.

Bonus Habit: Fiber Is Fertility Fuel

Most women get less than 15 grams of fiber per day. You should aim for 25 to 35 grams.

Fiber does so much for fertility. It binds excess estrogen so your body eliminates it. It lowers insulin. It stabilizes blood sugar. It feeds your gut bacteria, which acts like a probiotic. It improves detoxification. It reduces inflammation, which lowers CRP, a marker of inflammation that interferes with conception.

Good sources of fiber:

• Lentils and chickpeas
• Black beans
• Berries
• Pears and apples with skin
• Ground flax and chia
• Oats
• Vegetables

If you’re new to high fiber, go slow. Pair fiber with plenty of water and movement to reduce bloating.

Key Takeaways

• Start with one micro habit, not all five at once
• Consistency beats intensity every time
• Blood sugar stability is foundation for ovulation
• Sleep and stress management protect egg quality
• Spearmint tea (2 cups daily) lowers testosterone when consistent over months
• Fiber (25-35g daily) supports gut health, hormone balance, and fertility
• Tracking helps you understand your cycle, not control it
• Small habits compound into big results over weeks and months

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Pick one micro habit this week. Not all five. One. Build from there. Your body is listening, and small changes compound into real transformation.