Hawaii Babies
Does anyone else have gestational diabetes?
Hi Ladies,
Does any one less have or had gestational diabetes? What are good sources of protein? How did you deal with the "strictness"
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Re: Does anyone else have gestational diabetes?
I had insulin-dependent GD and so did Lisa (with the red shoes)...
For protein I ate a lot of eggs (and extra egg whites), low-fat cottage cheese, plain yogurt, low-sodium mozarella cheese sticks, 1% milk (1 oz. protein per 1 oz. mil), grilled chicken, lean ground turkey, fish once or twice a week, and some beef (usually a roast). For snacks I also carried around raw almonds which have protein as well. Oh and I had ice cream every single night before bed...that helped with the "strictness"...honestly? I was eating very clean and low glycemic from before I got pregnant so I ended up being allowed more carbs on the GD diet (about 240g/day) than before it (I was around 100g/day). So getting more bread, crackers, etc. was "splurging" for me.
I blogged my pregnancy at Pregosaur.com (divasaur) and posted about GD some. Also, the High-Risk Pregnancy board on The Bump is awesome and has a lot of GD mamas who are very supportive.
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
Yup, like Lori mentioned, I had it as well. My doctor and I tried to control it with diet only for a couple of weeks, but I ended up having to use insulin, which wasn't as bad as I expected.
For protein I ate eggs, cottage cheese, regular cheese, yogurt, peanut butter, and meat (of course). I could eat rice as long as it was Basmati rice, which is low GI, and I could eat bread as long as it was one particular brand of wholegrain seeded bread, so you might have to experiment a bit to find one that works. I also did fine with wholegrain crackers, but had to avoid things like pretzels (which a lot of people with GD can eat). And some fruit was OK, as long as I ate it with protein - a sliced apple with peanut butter became a favorite snack. The same thing went for pasta - I could eat it but ONLY if it was in a high protein sauce (so homemade mac & cheese - specifically this recipe - was totally fine but a tomato-based sauce made my numbers shoot up).
Oh, and Mexican food was my savior! I discovered that I could eat practically any Mexican food (even refried beans, although I couldn't eat other beans like kidney beans) as long as I was careful not to eat more than a couple tortillas at a time, so we ended up eating Mexican at least three times a week.
But I couldn't eat milk or ice cream like Lori could - so you have to experiment a little to find out what works for you within the guidelines that you're given.
You can still eat virtually all of the same things you did before, in one form or another (e.g., wholegrain bread vs white bread). I think the only things I had to cut out completely and couldn't eat in some form were potatoes. My dietitian even told me that if I was really craving something sweet, to have a few squares of chocolate since they're lower GI than something like jellybeans or cake and therefore the better option.
Thanks Lisa!
I read this after having another high reading... of course this is my first week and I have a follow up on Wednesday, but I think apples might be really making my blood sugar go crazy. I had one with a homemade hamburger...
I'll check out that mac and cheese recipe! Yum
It'll take your body a week or so on the GD diet to even out. But it's a good idea to track what foods you think may be triggering higher readings...I could only do fruit in the afternoons or early evening...any other time of the day would spike my levels. Also, walking or just moving really for about 10 minutes after each meal helps a ton (I'd march in place and swing my arms most of the time or go for a quick walk on the treadmill since it was winter)...it's not "cheating" and it can bring your levels down about 10 points. Also, be sure to get enough fat and protein at every meal to balance out the carb choices.
TTC/PG Blog | Mommy Blog
I had the same issue with fruit - afternoon only, and like Lori mentioned, I had to be sure I was eating enough fat and protein to balance out the fruit (if I ate fruit, it had to be the ONLY sugar I ate at that time - for example, I couldn't have a piece of toast with peanut butter and an apple - I could only have the PB and the apple). Oh, and I couldn't eat as many carbs in the morning as I could at lunch and dinner (my dietitian told me this is very common). Walking/moving never helped me much, but it does help quite a few people, so definitely give it a try.