Gestational diabetes

[Kpo58]

I had a nurse phone me with blood test results today and told me that I had Gestational diabetes. I will find out more about it on Thursday...

But what I want to know, is what are the realistic things that you can eat that doesn't take much preparation as I have no free time.

During the weekdays when I work, I'm out of the house for a little over 12 hours at a time. I don't really have any access to fridges, things to heat food or time to prepare anything at work and normally have to eat at my desk, so it can't be messy or smelly. I only really have a couple of hours in the evening to do everything (like cook, eat, etc) and half hour in the morning before going to work, so I'm VERY time limited.

Unfortunate, most things I've seen suggested for people to eat either need a lot of preparation, cooking, refrigeration or is messy to eat and I hate porridge. The texture makes me want to...

[eggsnbeans]

I'm sure the diabetes nurse you get referred to will give you a proper diet plan, but essentially the key is to limit you carb intake at one sitting, so still having 150g total or so but spread over meals and snacks (30-40g for meals and 15-20g snacks). So you can still eat pasta, but just a small amount etc and go for whole grain varieties which don't cause such a sugar spike. Wraps might work well instead of sandwiches, or look for low gi loaves and just have 1 or 2 slices. Otherwise salads with protein are quick (grilled chicken or fish, egg, cheese, chickpeas, tinned tuna or salmon, sliced schnitzel) but beware bought dressings as full of sugar, try sweet potato instead of normal potato, snack on cheese, nuts, veg sticks. Fruit - apples pears and berries are normally good, citrus you might haveto limit to half orange at a time, pineapple and wwatermelon normally bad!
You just have to experiment and see what you can and can't eat! Everyone is different.

Have a look at low GI and paleo recipes for ideas too
Oh and exercise makes a huge difference after eating!

[Scarydinosaurs]

What do you eat at the moment? If you give us an idea of what you do have we could make suggestions to tweak it.

[saraht84]

Peeking in on this as I've had the same phonecall but no appointment until next week.

[Abi0783]

so for breakfast:
Granary bread (Burgen brand is lowest carbs and sugar but doesnt taste so nice so ive switched to Warbutons)
i cant have jam spread so can only have organic no added sugar Peanut Butter
Sometimes toast with scrambled egg
if i have baked beans with toast i have changed to 50% less salt and sugar and then i only have half a small can
tea (sweetener) or sugar free squash

ive stopped eating cereals as they have so much sugar and the portion sizes you're allowed are so small.
stopped fruit juices like tropicana as again high in sugar

for snacks
only allowed one portion of fruit per hour (half a banana, or a small apple, handful of strawberries etc)
nuts
carrots with houmous
cheese
will eat crisps but not fruit yogurts
no fizzy drinks
only biscuits i will have are rich tea or push to digestives but still have had icecream or birthday cake on occasions - just small portions!
bought 70% chocolate sugar free versions from holland and barrett in case i have sweet cravings


lunch
salad and protein (tuna, salmon, chicken)
sandwich
small jacket potato with salad and tuna or cheese
i stopped having soups as most have sugar

dinner
Normal meals but reduced portions with half my plate having salad or vegetables
tried to cut out readymeals as they have added sugar so try to make at home
takeaways - chicken tikka on naan (will half the portion with hubby)
pizza will only have 2 slices and rest of plate is salad
wont have fish and chips from the takeaway but will have a small portion homemade.
chicken wraps

hope this helps as a start xx

[Charmom]

Really recommend //www.gestationaldiabetes.co.uk and the GD UK Mums Facebook group which has been a lifeline for me in my GD journey

[Kpo58]

I sent to the appointment on Thursday, and it was very reassuring. It turns out you can still eat normal food. I did go back on Friday due to being crap at doing the blood testing... so they showed me where I was going wrong.

Thankfully the blood tests that I have managed to do have come back... depressingly normal, which I suppose is a good thing.

I have also decided that it will be much less embarrassing to have a Nintendo 3DS case to carry the stuff in than the one given to you (mainly because you can't fit the little book to write the results in and a pen in it). So instead of a plain black case, colourful pictures of Pokemon here I come!