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October 2022 Moms
krysnicole1022
member
Gestational Diabetes Thread!
krysnicole1022
member
Leave your questions, comments, recipes, and snack ideas here! I'm a vegetarian so anything I throw in will be meat free but not cheese free. Cheese is your very best friend with GD. Eggs are your second best friend.
Re: Gestational Diabetes Thread!
I used to do fruit and kale smoothies a lot, but the fruit has too many carbs for me now. Are there any suggestions on a filling easy meal? Sometimes I just want to drink something instead of cook and eat, but I need the calories lol
Fasting blood sugar should be less than 95. After meal blood sugar should be less than 140. Sometimes the carbs are fine but you aren't getting enough protein.
Also water. You have to double the amount of water you were drinking. I drink 200 oz a day now.
Everyone processes this stuff differently. I like to make a hummus feta veggie sandwich on whole grain bread with milk
I hate needles. I can't deal with shots or injections or any kind but after having to prick my finger four times a day I got used to it. I can do blood draws now because I have them so often. I used to have to be held down. My eight year old is better at it than me. 🤣
I literally asked the nurse “so do I make brownies or not?” and she laughed. It was not a laughing matter. 😤
Here is the nice thing about the GD diet: it's not so much about limiting calories. Calories are not a factor. You don't have to look at them at all. Your focus is getting exactly the right amount of carbs/protein for your body to be able to function. This is not a small amount of food. It can actually be hard to find a meal that hits 45 carbs that is filling and protein packed. You actually eat pretty frequently. Cheese and butter are basically free foods. It has absolutely nothing to do with cutting or counting calories. Plus by the end you'll be shoving a donut down the hatch post delivery because you'll be so excited to be able to eat whatever you want. I always go for a veggie burger, milkshake, and fries.
It's really hard. I felt like I did something wrong to hurt my baby. I didn't have it with my first. I cried and cried. I was so upset. I will also add that once I switched to the GD diet I didn't gain much weight with my second and I didn't really gain anything the entire third trimester with my third and he was still ten pounds.
When I was diagnosed with my son I was completely overwhelmed at first, but after a week or two, it was completely manageable. And I just reminded myself of two things: 1) it is temporary... literally only 2-3 months!, and 2) As long as it's controlled it will NOT harm baby.
Like @krysnicole1022 said, managing GD has nothing to do with cutting back, and everything to do with managing carbs. Typically you have smaller, more frequent meals, and it seriously felt like I was eating ALL THE TIME! No matter what your preferences, you can find something to fit in with GD... unless you crave ice cream cake and chips all the time! haha But even then, everything in moderation, and you can have a treat once every now and then.
At first I used MyFitnessPal to log all my meals and track carbs, but once I got the hang of it, it was pretty easy to figure out carbs for a meal. And I found snacks I enjoyed that worked (like popcorn and a peperoni stick, or half a banana and a handful of nuts, or a piece of toast with peanut butter, or triscuits and a baby bell cheese, or carrots and hummus, or cottage cheese with blueberries, etc).
One thing to note is that hormones increase over pregnancy, and so can insulin resistance. So even if you're doing everything right, you may need to increase meds. You NEED to eat carbs for baby to develop properly, so if your sugars are still going up and you're following your carb/protein guidelines there is literally NOTHING YOU CAN DO except take the meds! GD is a lot like life... you can do everything right and it still doesn't work out how you want it to!
I'll post a couple pictures of the info I got at the GD clinic after this post.
Also @krysnicole1022 that burrito breakfast sounds delicious. I’m not vegetarian but not into most meat either so pending test results I’ll gladly get some input from you!
@mcclanna that's absolutely ridiculous! Why is it taking so long??
The main thing about GD is that it's different for everyone. Some women absolutely cannot manage without meds, especially those with HG or who vomit a lot. It's basically impossible. During my second round of GD the dietitian tried to bully me into taking insulin so I could "make it easier on myself". I declined and while it was difficult I was able to manage by adjusting my diet accordingly as I got further along.
Another important part is finding your sugar triggers. I can eat melon and apples but berries will cause a spike I can't recover from quickly. It super sucks for me because I love strawberries (although technically not a berry unlike bananas which are berries). It's an adjustment but it's only for a short time.
There is no shame in taking the meds but don't get bullied into it.
Staying hydrated is super important. You should be drinking 150 oz a day minimum. That's not an exaggeration. You can get real sick real fast with GD if you aren't hydrated.
Always keep two kinds of snacks on you: one for normal snacking (nuts) and one for if your blood sugar tanks. I basically carry around a pack-it bag with cheese at all times.
I second @Mia80 said about my fitness pal. That's definitely what I use when I have to track my foods.
My fitness pal is fantastic for tracking carbs and protein. The nutritionist should give you a lot of good enough in food breakdowns. I can tell you my favorite bedtime snack is multi grain toast with dark chocolate peanut butter and a glass of milk. I don't like milk but I drink a lot of it with GD.
I didn't use a website for recipes because of the whole vegetarian thing. There are some out there but most are for meat eaters. I would make quinoa stuffed peppers. (Fake) chicken wraps on protein tortillas with peppers, spinach, and yogurt ranch.
Cottage cheese is an excellent snack with an apple.
I've been tracking my food on my Fitbit tracker but I might switch to my fitness pal if it's easier to track carbs. Fitbit you can add the food, but it doesn't give you an easy way to view carb counts unless you're looking at the whole day so I gotta do mental math to count.
I have a blood sugar thingy where I prick my own finger 4x a day. I am awful with needles so husband had to do it for a while until I got more used to it. I met with a fetal medicine specialist today and I have to send her my logs so they can help me course correct if something goes badly. I have come to appreciate the pricks because it is an immediate feedback on when it is good or bad, I'm not just sitting around waiting to find out.
Tomorrow is the dietician, and i didn't even consider asking for one with eating disorder experience because I'm also in that boat (not really allowed to count calories because I tend to over restrict and then eventually cave hard into binge eating).
I've eaten so many babybel cheese rounds. So. Much. Cheese!
Egg muffins with friendly ingredients are great to pop in the microwave in the morning. I eat them with either a side of whole grain toast or a multi grain English muffin with butter. Yummy, filling, AND won't spike your sugars.
No shame in crying. I cried for a full day. Once you get into a routine, it's not so bad. I had a meat/cheese omelette with wheat toast every morning. Snacks are your friend and where you can indulge in your fruit craving. It's all in moderation.
I always made sure I had almonds in my purse for a good protein in case I encountered some rouge carbs. Costco has some peanut butter dark chocolate protein bars that are only 15g carbs that were a lifesaver. Yasso bars for when you want something sweet. They are AMAZING!
DO NOT feel bad if you have to go on meds. My fasting numbers wouldn't go down, after trying metformin, I had to go on insulin. There is no shame in it and it's for the best for baby.
Lastly, I just got my 1-hour test results yesterday and apparently I am negative for gestational diabetes this go around! I'm a little hesitant to celebrate and am going to occasionally test my numbers. But exciting!
pricks to figure out how to use it. I want to cry so hard, it feels like my life is going to revolve around food/snacks and pricking for the next 3 months. I know I should be happy it’s only temporary but I still feel so down.