Gestational Diabetes

[misspriss]

Anyone else with GD? I was just diagnosed yesterday, haven't even met with the doctor or dietitian yet, just got the news from the lab tech. They gave me a simple diet sheet to follow until someone follows up with me.

I don't feel like it's a huge change from my regular diet, just less pasta and more veggies, but it makes things like snacking hard and I'm supposed to eat every couple of hours.

 

[KRobbo]

Snacking is ok, just always pair a protein with your carb. Like cheese and apple, nuts and fruit. I'm on my third pregnancy and just waiting for diagnosis of GD for the third time. Do you have your monitoring kit yet? Without that it's hard to not what you can and can't eat as everyone is different.

 

[misspriss]

Snacking is ok, just always pair a protein with your carb. Like cheese and apple, nuts and fruit. I'm on my third pregnancy and just waiting for diagnosis of GD for the third time. Do you have your monitoring kit yet? Without that it's hard to not what you can and can't eat as everyone is different.

No. I just had the test Thursday, they gave me a half page diet sheet and said to follow that until the dietitian contacts me. My next prenatal appointment is not for two weeks. I wish they had called today. I wish I had a testing kit, so I could actually see what bothers me and what doesn't. But nope, not yet. I don't know if the doctor will provide one, or should I just go to the store and buy one? No one has told me anything really. I have anxiety and I'm really stressing about it.

 

[KRobbo]

Where are you based? In the UK you will get one at your first appointment with the diabetic team. My diet at the moment is porridge and berries for breakfast, apple and cheese for snack 1, salad and meat or tuna for lunch with a small slice of wholewheat bread, oatcakes and cottage cheese for snack and then meat, sweet potatoes and veg for dinner. I might have another snack in the evening of a crumpet and ham. So at the moment I can tolerate some simple carbs but not a lot. I expect as I get further along that will change. I have known some people that have failed the test and can eat almost normally. Look into low GI diets for extra information.

The main thing is no matter how much it sucks having to watch your diet so much your baby will be fine. As long as you monitor your levels when you get the machine the risk is low. Try not to worry and just do the best you can until your appointment. It really threw me too on my first pregnancy and I restricted so much that I lost weight and really struggled, now though it's second nature.

 

[misspriss]

Thanks, I am in the US, I have not had an appointment with the dietician yet.

I have had a hard time putting weight on this pregnancy already, but I considered it fine because I was overweight before I got pregnant.

 

[misspriss]

To be honest, the more I read the less overwhelming it is. I wish they'd gotten me in with the dietitian before the end of the week, as giving me more guidelines would help. I have found some excellent resources online though that have helped me understand more what I need to be eating, it isn't as low carb as I was afraid.

https://www.allinahealth.org/Health...tivity-stress-management/Basic-meal-planning/

This site has some basic meal planning guidelines that have helped me understand what I need from each meal and snacks, and how many general "blocks" of carbs I need per meal/per day.

Like 2-3 for breakfast and 3-4 at lunch and dinner, with 1-2 at snacks in between meals and before bed. That makes so much more sense to me than "just don't eat this until further notice".

This morning I had 6 strawberries (low carb fruit, don't plan on making this a regular thing though), a half cup of whole milk plain yogurt, 1 teaspoon of honey, and 4 slices of thin bacon. In the future, I will use stevia to sweeten the plain yogurt, but I did not think of that yet. The full meal had 24 grams of carbs, and 17 grams of protein.

For snack, I will have cashews (a higher carb nut but just watch portions), a cheese stick, and some crackers (again, just a serving). This will be 31 grams of carbs and 15 grams of protein.

It is not as restrictive as I had imagined. I do not think, for the time being, these amounts will cause me problems. I do understand that it may be harder to manage the further along I get though, and I am anxious to go ahead and start testing my blood glucose so I know how these things affect my blood sugar.

 

[KRobbo]

Another helpful thing maybe to use MyFitnessPal to log your food? You can ensure you are getting enough calories whilst monitoring carb intake. I track for 3/4 days every couple of weeks to check I am on track. However I'm only 17 weeks so will probably use it daily when I'm officially diagnosed this time. If you choose to use it let me know and we can diary share for food ideas!

It isn't that restrictive although by the end of the pregnancy I am usually desperate for buttery toast on its own with no protein! In fact you can often find me eating toast and nursing at 3am!!

 

[misspriss]

I am using myfitness pal but I am just starting with it, I have used it in the past though. That is how I just "know" the carbs and protein in my meals, lol. I use it more for meal planning before I eat than logging what I did eat, I prefer to plan then make.

 

[misspriss]

I have eaten primal/high fat low carb in the past, I am more used to not eating TONS of carbs, and I already know which veggies are startchy carby ones and which aren't, stuff like that.

 

[KRobbo]

Sounds like you have it all in hand and are going to be just fine! Xx

 

[misspriss]

I hope, I am just stressed too because GD increases your risk of pre-e, which I had in my first pregnancy.

 

[misspriss]

Well I finally meet with the dietitian today! I have been keeping my food logs and have had very little trouble meeting my carb goals per meal/snack, except breakfast is usually lower on carbs than it should be.

My food diary is: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/ExistingFish

I also finally got my blood glucometer and test strips yesterday. I got in the afternoon, so my first reading was before dinner. I had an 82, which is good. 2 hours after dinner I got a 121.

Today, my fasting was 82, and 1 hour after breakfast it was 101.

My meter syncs with a handy app that looks like it will be helpful for keeping track of my carb intake and my readings.

I am feeling better about my diagnosis, less stressed. The diet is not as hard as I imagined, a lot of the stories online talk about how hard it is. Granted, I may get sick of eating the same things over....but honestly the only thing I have dropped is sugary treats and pasta. I've been able to eat everything else I normally eat, just watching my portions (eating less of carby things, measuring) and adding some other things, like nuts and more cheese. I'm developing less of a taste for sugary stuff too, all of a sudden plain yogurt doesn't taste as bad (although I have since learned flavored yogurt is okay, if you watch your portions).

 

[KRobbo]

I got my diagnosis today so I have an appointment next Thursday to get my new monitor - this will be my third monitor now. I hope mine has a snazzy app!

What are the levels you have to meet? In the U.K. It's 4-7 after eating and under 6 fasting I think. It's been three years so I need to check that guidelines haven't changed. They are more concerned with my fasting numbers than my 2 hour results.

That's good if that's all you have had to cut out, I cant eat more than 1 slice of bread or white potatoes.

It does get boring but at least you won't be doing this for the whole 9 months. I do get a bit sick of meat sometimes.

 

[misspriss]

I had a 4.5 fasting and a 6.7 after dinner last night and a 5.5 after breakfast (1 hr). We use mg/dl, not mmol/L.

 

[misspriss]

I will not know if I need to cut out more until I get morr testing, that is just carb counts I haven't been able to test my blood until yesterday afternoon.

 

[KRobbo]

They're good numbers! I really think you'll be able to control this with diet alone. Let me know how you get on x

 

[misspriss]

They're good numbers! I really think you'll be able to control this with diet alone. Let me know how you get on x

My appointment went well. She explained it will probably go well for most of the rest of my pregnancy, that the 3 hour test is meant to simulate what would happen later in your pregnancy. My test numbers were not outrageous either.

Hopefully we will be able to control it with diet and maybe some exercise too. I hope!

My 2 hour after lunch was 94, so that was good. I had chick-fil-a, a chicken club sandwich and a side salad with a diet lemonade.

My targets are 70-90 fasting, 120 or less at 2 hours post meal. If I measured 1 hour post meal it's 140, but they want me to do 2 hour. I think that is very similar to the UK guidelines, just a different measure.

Yeah, the app is awesome. I have a OneTouch Verio Flex, I'm very happy with it. I did have a copay, it wasn't "free" per se, but I think I'd rather pay the $10 copay and get one with bluetooth and the app than chance it on a free one that the dietitian had, ya know? Although the monitors are not expensive, it was only $18 total I think, it's the test strips that get pricey in the long run. However, for gestational, you won't even need test strips that long.

 

[KRobbo]

So glad it went well for you. I've been buying my own test strips for the past few weeks and it is expensive! The best thing about my diagnosis today is that I'll get them free on prescription from next week.

Your numbers sound good, I like the way you do it there as it feels like you get bigger windows, I know in reality they are the same but 120 or less seems easier than 4-7 for the 2 hour test!

Best of luck with your continued monitoring!

 

[KRobbo]

My fasting levels were 6.1 this morning so not good as they need to be 5.6 or lower. I'm going to keep monitoring and trialling different snacks and exercise but I'm not hopeful that I can avoid insulin.

 

[misspriss]

Oh that sucks. What did you have for your bedtime snack?

Mine was 83, or 4.6. (You can just multiply or divide by 18 to convert from mg/dL to mmol/L). Before bed I had the most disgusting smoothie. I'm bad at making smoothies. I couldn't finish it, but I ate most of it.