Gestational Diabetes Group - Us vs. the Carbs

[AmeliePoulain]

It is my 3rd GD pregnancy - 2nd with long haul diet control though.

Ermmm. I eat soya and linseed bread, at most one slice at a time, I eat rough oatcakes with cheese or tuna - probably only 2 at a time though.

I don't really like pasta so I don't bother with that, I do have tiny amounts of brown rice sometimes. I eat baked sweet potato - does that count as a carb?!

I do love cheese and meat so I think that has kept me going.

I drink diet drinks but I don't add artificial sweetners to anything else though.

Oh I do eat multigrain crackers with dips and lentil crisps! I forgot about those.

I desperately don't want to be induced and here in the UK to achieve that I am probably going to have to be solely diet controlled but also if I want to go post 40 weeks I am going to have to argue and go against hospital policy and NICE guidelines.

 

[oneway]

What do you eat when you crave something sweet?

 

[AmeliePoulain]

Diet drinks, apples, and cherries.

I can have a very small amount of dark chocolate too

 

[oneway]

Lentil crisps sound delish! Are they like poppadams?

 

[AmeliePoulain]

Yes they are a bit! My sister bought some for me after reading up that they would probably be OK for me to have - which was really kind of her.

 

[babifever]

I'm on 10 units twice a day

 

[northern_me]

So far, so good with the insulin. Took unit before lunch and dinner and had fabulous numbers, even after eating bread and a potato(I was testing my limits!).

 

[babifever]

So far, so good with the insulin. Took unit before lunch and dinner and had fabulous numbers, even after eating bread and a potato(I was testing my limits!).

so you take 3 units a day?

 

[Amythyst]

Hehe I am doing an experiment and NOT taking my insulin anymore. I'm totally baffled by my sugars as is my doctor's office... they just seem to get better the farther along I get instead of worse. I didn't take my nightly insulin at all last night and I woke up with a fasting number of 85 and its supposed to be under 90. So, I was like well lets see if I can keep doing that without any insulin.

I've also been quite annoyed after my meals - I eat so sparingly and even "cheat" a little bit with some bread or something carby and when I test I'm only at like 101 or 113 and I'm supposed to be under 140. So I'm like HOW RUDE cause I coulda ate more carbs! LOL.

Course I can't go overboard too much... last week I did eat a "real" piece of pizza and it sent my number to like 160.

I hardly eat any carbs just like Amelie. At first, it was hard as hell... but as of this week, I've been eating this way for 16 weeks. And it horrifies me to say that I'm getting used to it! I have bread I can eat, I have special pasta I can eat, I have special cereal I can eat, I have special baking mix that I can make pancakes if I want, I have snacks... I eat low carb ice cream every night... it almost feels "normal".

The only times it seems to bug me is when my husband eats something I want. Like today, we went to a restaurant for lunch/dinner. He ordered this amazing dish I used to love as an appetizer which is bread pretzels with a beer cheese sauce. He like ate the whole appetizer himself and I was just sitting there drooling. I did cheat and had 2 bites of it. What did I eat? A 10oz rib eye steak, a lobster tail, cheesy mashed potatoes (not all of them), broccoli and a salad with Ranch dressing. So, I ate pretty darned well too... and what was my number when I got home? 104!!!!! I was so mad cause I coulda had more of that yummy pretzel stuff haha!

 

[northern_me]

So far, so good with the insulin. Took unit before lunch and dinner and had fabulous numbers, even after eating bread and a potato(I was testing my limits!).

so you take 3 units a day?

4. 1 unit before meals (rapid acting) and 1 unit of delayed insulin before bed. Only enough to nudge my body into behaving properly.

 

[northern_me]

Hehe I am doing an experiment and NOT taking my insulin anymore. I'm totally baffled by my sugars as is my doctor's office... they just seem to get better the farther along I get instead of worse. I didn't take my nightly insulin at all last night and I woke up with a fasting number of 85 and its supposed to be under 90. So, I was like well lets see if I can keep doing that without any insulin.

I've also been quite annoyed after my meals - I eat so sparingly and even "cheat" a little bit with some bread or something carby and when I test I'm only at like 101 or 113 and I'm supposed to be under 140. So I'm like HOW RUDE cause I coulda ate more carbs! LOL.

Course I can't go overboard too much... last week I did eat a "real" piece of pizza and it sent my number to like 160.

I hardly eat any carbs just like Amelie. At first, it was hard as hell... but as of this week, I've been eating this way for 16 weeks. And it horrifies me to say that I'm getting used to it! I have bread I can eat, I have special pasta I can eat, I have special cereal I can eat, I have special baking mix that I can make pancakes if I want, I have snacks... I eat low carb ice cream every night... it almost feels "normal".

The only times it seems to bug me is when my husband eats something I want. Like today, we went to a restaurant for lunch/dinner. He ordered this amazing dish I used to love as an appetizer which is bread pretzels with a beer cheese sauce. He like ate the whole appetizer himself and I was just sitting there drooling. I did cheat and had 2 bites of it. What did I eat? A 10oz rib eye steak, a lobster tail, cheesy mashed potatoes (not all of them), broccoli and a salad with Ranch dressing. So, I ate pretty darned well too... and what was my number when I got home? 104!!!!! I was so mad cause I coulda had more of that yummy pretzel stuff haha!

I'm drooling thinking about the pretzels! Good luck with reducing insulin.

 

[Amythyst]

Thanks Northern.... day 2: Fasting number without insulin - 84.

So far so good... I've been eating a nice bologna and cheese sandwich before bed the last two nights and it seems to be fine. Time will tell I guess... I'm sure my doctor won't be too pleased that I'm "self medicating".

 

[Christina86]

The most exciting part of my day was finding bread that I can eat! I LOVE eating wraps for lunch (because I am one of the people who cuts crust off of sandwiches) but flour wraps are just too high in carbs and my husband hates corn wraps. They are called "Flat Out" https://www.flatoutbread.com/ and it comes in all different types. We got sun-dried tomato (17g carbs for 1 piece) and italian herb (16g for 1 piece). We also got a package of the flat bread to make our own flat bread pizza!!!

I have only been doing this for 3 days. So far, the only thing to keep my numbers high was cereal during breakfast yesterday. I was at 140. I have to be 95 or below waking up fasting, then 120 or below 2 hours after breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is a bit overwhelming and I haven't gotten my meal/ snack timing down very well (leaving me to go quite a while in between meals) yet but I'll get there eventually.

 

[northern_me]

Good Christina! Finding bread is important.

Either I'm doing a shit job of counting my carbs or my measley one unit of insulin is doing absolutely nothing.

 

[eventerjj]

The most exciting part of my day was finding bread that I can eat! I LOVE eating wraps for lunch (because I am one of the people who cuts crust off of sandwiches) but flour wraps are just too high in carbs and my husband hates corn wraps. They are called "Flat Out" https://www.flatoutbread.com/ and it comes in all different types. We got sun-dried tomato (17g carbs for 1 piece) and italian herb (16g for 1 piece). We also got a package of the flat bread to make our own flat bread pizza!!!

I have only been doing this for 3 days. So far, the only thing to keep my numbers high was cereal during breakfast yesterday. I was at 140. I have to be 95 or below waking up fasting, then 120 or below 2 hours after breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is a bit overwhelming and I haven't gotten my meal/ snack timing down very well (leaving me to go quite a while in between meals) yet but I'll get there eventually.

I find that my biggest issue is getting hungry while waiting to test. I am usually downing my snack as soon as the number shows on the meter.

 

[AmeliePoulain]

The most exciting part of my day was finding bread that I can eat! I LOVE eating wraps for lunch (because I am one of the people who cuts crust off of sandwiches) but flour wraps are just too high in carbs and my husband hates corn wraps. They are called "Flat Out" https://www.flatoutbread.com/ and it comes in all different types. We got sun-dried tomato (17g carbs for 1 piece) and italian herb (16g for 1 piece). We also got a package of the flat bread to make our own flat bread pizza!!!

I have only been doing this for 3 days. So far, the only thing to keep my numbers high was cereal during breakfast yesterday. I was at 140. I have to be 95 or below waking up fasting, then 120 or below 2 hours after breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is a bit overwhelming and I haven't gotten my meal/ snack timing down very well (leaving me to go quite a while in between meals) yet but I'll get there eventually.

I find that my biggest issue is getting hungry while waiting to test. I am usually downing my snack as soon as the number shows on the meter.

Do you do two hour testing post meals? I did that last time and hated the hunger!

 

[Christina86]

The most exciting part of my day was finding bread that I can eat! I LOVE eating wraps for lunch (because I am one of the people who cuts crust off of sandwiches) but flour wraps are just too high in carbs and my husband hates corn wraps. They are called "Flat Out" https://www.flatoutbread.com/ and it comes in all different types. We got sun-dried tomato (17g carbs for 1 piece) and italian herb (16g for 1 piece). We also got a package of the flat bread to make our own flat bread pizza!!!

I have only been doing this for 3 days. So far, the only thing to keep my numbers high was cereal during breakfast yesterday. I was at 140. I have to be 95 or below waking up fasting, then 120 or below 2 hours after breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is a bit overwhelming and I haven't gotten my meal/ snack timing down very well (leaving me to go quite a while in between meals) yet but I'll get there eventually.

I find that my biggest issue is getting hungry while waiting to test. I am usually downing my snack as soon as the number shows on the meter.

Do you do two hour testing post meals? I did that last time and hated the hunger!

Yes. I do right when I wake up in the morning and then 2 hours post meals.

The other lady in the class with me at the beg. of the week goes to the same OB office but has one of the other doctors and her doctor says 1hr post meal... I kind of wish I had that dr. HA

 

[oneway]

I kinda like the 2 hour post meal. I am almost afraid to see what my numbers are 1 hour post meal. But I also rush and eat my next snack almost as soon as I finish the blood test.

That is something I will NOT miss. All the endless finger pricking. I am excited to see how bubs has grown. I cannot wait for Wednesday. I am going to ask them to look at the placenta because I read that for those on insulin the placenta can develop more abnormally compared to those on diet controlled GD. I will also ask them to look at how much fluid I have around baby. Hope those 2 parameters are ok.

On a side-note, does anyone here have low blood pressure? My blood pressure is so low in the mornings I have trouble standing and get out of breath. It only ever happens in the mornings. When I last measured it was 84/63.

 

[eventerjj]

Yeah, my OB has me on the 2 hour as well. It sucks! But it does give me more time to do small things to keep my sugars down.

 

[oneway]

I can have chips! Or fries, as they are called in the US. I had a chicken dinner yesterday and ate about 10 fries with some salad and my 2 hour reading was 5.6! yay!