Another gestational diabetes thread :(

[mhk425]

So I just found out today that I have GD. My numbers for the 3-hour glucose test were 81 for fasting, 200 at 1 hour, 189 at 2 hours, and 181 at 3 hours. Obviously not good. I went to see the nutritionist who seemed to have very lax rules about things. She gave me the number of carbs to have at each meal, but the only limitations for the type of carbs seems to be no fruit or juice in the morning. Tonight for dinner I had a small chicken breast, grilled zucchini that had been marinated in a raspberry vinaigrette dressing, 1 piece of whole wheat bread with butter (12.5 carbs), 16 reduced fat wheat thins (22 carbs), and 12 ounces of skim milk (19.5 carbs)...~54 carbs total. I checked my blood sugar two hours later, and it was 152. I know it was my first meal tracking anything, but I'm freaking out!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ChaiTea]

I don't think you had enough protein and fats. When you have a carb serving, you need to also have a protein or fat. For example, don't eat the crackers by themselves, eat cheese with them. Milk by itself is horrible for blood sugar and I would eliminate it entirely. Try unsweetened almond milk. You can pretty much drink as much as you want of it. I was also told to only eat 40 carbs for dinner. If this was one meal in one sitting, it was a lot of food. Portion size is very, very critical. If you want to bulk up your meal, take away the crackers and bread and eat more protein. A bigger piece of chicken is perfectly fine. Also, go with regular fat dressings. Ranch is perfect. Skip the bread. Wheat bread, wheat pasta, and brown rice can be deceiving. I eat a TINY portion every now and then or just go without.

It takes a little while to get the hang of this. My class was very thorough and with all the information they gave us, I had my sugars under control every time I checked within two days. Not all GD can be treated with diet alone. Make sure you keep records and within a week, if you are having trouble talk to them again.

Are you on an eating schedule? You've got to spread you daily allowance of carbs out though out the day or else yo will spike. I can send you the plan I used for that if they didn't explain it. You should be having three snacks and three meals every day. At first it's hard to do because there is a good amount of protein to eat and I was rarely hungry when it was time to eat again!

Also, something that works well is taking a 10 minute walk 1.5 hours after each meal. That helps to bring the sugars down.

GD is no fun at all, but it's temporary! Feel free to PM me if you'd like, I'd be more than happy to help more!

 

[Butterball Ma]

My first score was high, too. I chalked it up to the residual sugar hanging around. Your scores will probably be better after a full day of the diet. Did they not give you any guidelines? I'm allowed 30grams of carbs for dinner, that gives me readings in the 90s usually. Dinner, for some reason, is the meal I can splurge on, unless I want a snack later.

My breakdown is this:
Breakfast: 30 g carbs
Snack: 15-30 g carbs
Lunch: 45 g carbs
Snack: 15-30 g carbs
Dinner: 30 g carbs
Snack: 30-45 g carbs

Although I find the last snack raises my fasting score the next morning, I eat more at dinner and don't usually have the last snack.

 

[dae114]

Don't freak too much about one meal resulting in too high bs levels. But, as pp said, I would also get rid of the milk and sub in unsweetened almond milk (they have some fortified with calcium and vitamin d if you are worried about that).

Also, reduce your carb intake per meal to 30. Snacks for me were 10-15 grams of carbs. As others said, when u eat carbs, pair them with protein and a fat too when u can. Try to avoid highly refined carbs (white bread, white rice, of course sugar), as they will spike sugar levels more than whole grains. No juice, as you said.

Like pp, I also recommend a short walk after eating if you have time (long walks are great too!). Good luck!

 

[mhk425]

Thanks for the responses! I'm definitely still getting the hang of things. I called my diabetes nurse/"expert" Wednesday, and for whatever reason she still thinks I should stick to the higher end of the allotted carb amounts. Since the first night when I got the 152, my numbers have never been that high. However, I have had a 121, 122, and 123 (and then numbers just below 120) even when sticking to 45 carbs at lunch/dinner; she told me to have between 45 and 60. It's so frustrating! I'm assuming I will end up needing insulin, but we shall see. Does anyone know if it's bad to eat the same thing day after day? I seem to have found a breakfast that gives me pretty good numbers--multi-grain English muffin "sandwich" with egg and American cheese. Then I have 4 almonds just for kicks. Those meals have provided me with my lowest numbers so far. Can I have that for breakfast every day? I'm due in 10 weeks, which doesn't sound so bad. But when I think about it being 70 more days of this...

 

[ChaiTea]

60 carbs is a lot! If you still aren't getting numbers under 120 with that I would really question it. 1 carb serving is 15 grams. Breakfast and snacks on my plan are 2 carb servings, or 30 grams. Lunch and dinner are 3 carb servings, or 45 grams. If I were to eat more than that my numbers would be through the roof. It can also vary based on your current weight, but in general it's very strict and I haven't heard of anyone I know being allowed over 3 carb servings per meal. I would question it and ask my OB to send me somewhere for a second opinion if they say you need to start medication or insulin.
If you find something that keeps your numbers low, satisfies you, and if healthy, keep with it! Nuts are great by the way, lots of protein. My night snack is always peanut butter with either whole wheat toast or a small apple. Fruits are typically pretty bad, but when portioned correctly and paired with a protein you can still have them. Fruit juice on the other hand... If you've ever made homemade orange juice, you know how many oranges it takes to make just one serving. That is a TON of sugar.
You have to be careful with that late night snack. If you don't get enough carbs, your sugars will drop too much overnight causing your liver to freak out and dump extra sugar into your system leaving you with a too-high fasting number in the morning.
Keep a food log and see what works and what doesn't and you'll have it down soon. Sorry if that's too much advice. I have become rather passionate about the topic!