Please advise a hungry pregnant exhausted mum cut carbs!

[Cagliostro]

So I just slipped over the boundary into gestational diabetes territory and have been advised to reduce carbs.

This is actually something I've been pondering anyway - LHCF makes sense to me, although I am too much of a wimp to go at it full pelt IYSWIM and figured pregnancy wasn't the right time to attempt something so different.

Ashamed to say once the dreadful nausea phase was over (16 weeks of barely eating) I have really enjoyed being able to eat again... too much :( I have stuck to my New Years resolution of cutting right down on fizzy drinks though so that's one thing that helped (lost nearly 2 stone pre pregnancy as before NY I was drinking it every day)

I am also autistic so find sudden change pretty hard, and due to my physical health issues (causing muscle pain etc) I find cooking quite difficult at times.

I would really appreciate some simple ideas of nice meals please

I like most things other than mushrooms, celeriac, fennel, seafood and smoked fish :o

Thank you!

[Cagliostro]

Excuse the poorly written title I edited it halfway through and now it doesn't make sense

[User5trillion]

I had GD I am glad to see the advice has changed, I was told low carbing is the worst thing I could do.

I low carb and just eat normal stuff but no carbs. So.last night roast pork, kale fried in garlic butter and broccoli and a tiny splash if bisto.

Cauli rice, stirfried in a chinese manor is great, mix indian,thai or mexican spices for a change.

Cottage pie with swede mash. Full fat yoghurt with berries for breakfast. Lidl high protein rolls with cheese (they are low carb and a lifesaver when I.just want bread)

Soup, omelettes ect.

Just remember to eat enough fat so you arent hungry and tired.

Good luck

[TempusEejit]

Eggs are always a good standby for a simple low carb meal, e.g cheese omelette, quiche (either crustless or making your own low carb crust), egg curry etc. You could also make a big batch of bolognaise so you can freeze some for later, it's nice with zero noodles or courgetti. Steaks are another good one, I like mine with herb butter. If you don't like mushrooms or celeriac then try serving with roasted green beans in lieu of fries.

Also if you haven't already, check out the recipe thread pinned to the top of the Low Carb Bootcamp topic.

[TempusEejit]

^^ and YY to the Lidl high protein rolls, they are really nice and very cheap!

[Wheels79]

Don't eat takeaways. Particularly Chinese. If you want something like that go for the supermarket versions (or homemade). A Chinese takeaway sent my blood sugar sky high when I had GD. I was too embarrassed to record it in my diary and was extra good for the next few days!
Having said that a burger with only half the bun from McDonalds was Ok. No chips though!
Mainly though I stopped eating bread or had very little in comparison to protein. I found that it was about balance. So I could have a half/ quarter portion of rice/ potatoes and increase the protein.
Lots and lots of eggs!

[picklemepopcorn]

Snack on boiled eggs and cubed cheese. Try adding butter to coffee. Cream is better than milk. Nuts are good.

You'll feel much better.

[butterybollocks]

Ah GD is a shitter, it's absolutely not the time in your life when you want to not eat cake and cut down your carbs!

I'm 10 days into being diagnosed so maybe some of the stuff I've found will be helpful...

Peanut butter and low carb bread
Dahl
Salad with avocado and chick peas
For things like risotto and spag bol, I've halved the pasta/rice and doubled my portion of the meat sauce/meat bits
Snacks of cheese and nuts
Stevia instead of sugar in tea
Creamy sauces for curry, stroganoff etc to help me feel full, with a little bit of brown basmati rice.
Today I've made lasagne but swapped the pasta for courgette


Once I get the testing equipment at my first appt tomorrow I'm going to experiment with the kids bear cereal, has no refined sugar so I'm hoping I can get away with that!

[Cagliostro]

Thanks so much everyone :) I feel more optimistic now and quite excited to try different things. It's daft really as I actually love a lot of the decent food but I also crave carbs a heck of a lot and the craving always wins!

I really liked my breakfast yesterday of scrambled eggs (plenty of butter), avocado (one of my absolute favourite foods so I think that will be heavily featuring in my food diary :o), cherry tomato and bacon. Much more time consuming than cereal though :o (thankfully don't have to rush out in the mornings)

I am quite confused about some foods, is there a particularly good book/website that is easy to use for looking up foods and if they are high or low carb?

@butterybollocks best of luck at your appt. I have been struggling to get to grips with the testing as my fingers don't bleed easily! I may have thrown a hormonal strop over it this morning after 3 failed attempts!

[WorkingBling]

Look up Carbs and Cals in the app store. I found it very useful.

For me, with GD, the main thing was just to be careful about portions of carbs. So as someone else said, much smaller portions of rice or pasta and limit bread. if you're having a sandwich, cut the crusts off and limit things with extra sugar and fill up with extra cheese/ meat / salad. I also ate low sugar yoghurts as my mid afternoon snack (Marks and Spencer did a good Rhubarb fool one that's only 7 or8 g of sugar/ carbs)

Definitely avoid ready made food though. There's always added sugar, so even when it's not easily spotted, you find yourself going over.

My other top tip is to try to take a little walk after every meal, particularly any meals you find seem to push your sugar up (in my case, lunch). A short 10 minute walk made a huge difference to keeping my sugars balanced. Good luck!

[Cagliostro]

Thank you I'll look that app up :)

Yes there must be shedloads of added sugar in ready meals etc. I have relied quite heavily on them/sauces etc over the past few years due to the chronic illnesses I have but thankfully since being pregnant I have been able to reduce that and do a bit of bulk cooking etc.

Unfortunately I need to keep my salt intake up because of the POTS so I have to balance that as well.

I have such a big sweet tooth and don't know if I will manage without anything sweet at all but also don't want too many sweeteners etc.

Only have 10 weeks max so I will power through :o I have a feeling I will want to continue with this style of eating though if I can get used to it (the occasional cake included though)

[Wheels79]

I forgot to mention that if you really really want chocolate I found things with nuts the best e.g. Snickers because the nuts help balance. Chocolate was much better than "sweeties" because the fats and milk go some way to balancing the sugar. So no haribo!

[Wheels79]

And if you need salt try pork scratchings. Zero carbs. I would buy the six little packs in Poundland.

[ItsALardBaby]

I did lowish carb, low GI ( lots of apps for this). Protein and fat eaten with carbs slow absorption and blood sugar rise.
Sweet things like sweet potato brownies and almond butter fudge were also fine.
Be careful about ketosis. It's what prompted my diabetic midwife to start me on insulin.

[Cagliostro]

Oooh yum! That would definitely sort out any crisp cravings. Would salty peanuts be ok too? I keep hearing/seeing conflicting info about what is high or low. I guess the protein is good from nuts though.

I am a little confused as the consultant I saw on Wed said cut out bread, pasta etc, said grapes for example should be avoided by they are so sugary, but the diabetes nurse yesterday said it's more a matter of cutting down not out. She said things like if your levels are too high, try one slice of bread instead of two etc. Soooo really not sure what extent to do this! But I guess seeing what levels I get will help. Specialist on Monday.

[Cagliostro]

I do really love sweet potato and am very excited to have it baked with feta and spring onion :o

I have heard of ketosis but don't really understand it so will google.

I weighed myself today - I have lost 7lbs since I was 9 weeks pregnant (now 32). I am intrigued to see what happens with LCHF but I guess too much would be a bad thing

[Cagliostro]

I also have no idea if it's ok to suddenly drop by so much. It's a massive massive difference from what I was eating before, could that affect the baby

[Wheels79]

Once you are testing your blood sugar you will figure out what works and what doesn't. You do want to avoid ketoidosis and so don't take it too far! They actually fed me toast during labour after testing my urine because they detected ketones. (Best toast I have ever eaten)

[Cagliostro]

Does ketosis happen really quickly? Or a few days type thing? She seemed really insistent that I cut them before the appt but I don't want to affect the baby in the meantime if I go too far with it.

Does a regular wee test check for ketones? I have to take a sample as usual on Monday anyway

Today I've had
Bacon and avocado for breakfast (ran out of eggs)
Tuna mayo lettuce and cucumber for lunch
Blood sugar was back to resting levels an hour after both (4.8/4.1)
Just had some lychees as a snack, drunk nothing but water (that's pretty normal for me though since I cut down juice/fizzy)

Dinner is chilli (homemade) with taco-type toppings of guacamole etc, without the taco shells but I may have some brown rice with it as she did say rice was better than bread etc

Really appreciate all the comments and ideas, I feel totally out of my depth with this sudden change but this is really helping

[PacificDogwod]

Ketosis only happens below a certain limit of carbs

I found DietDoctor a really helpful website because it made it all really easy.

I think you should seek advice on quite how much you should restrict your carbs as you are pregnant. Having said that, babies are like parasites: they take what they need .
But in order to control your blood sugars, afaik you do not have to do the whole full on ketosis thing IMO.

I have lost 3+ st by reducing carbohydrates, so, I'll have an open sandwich rather than 2 slices of bread, less pasta but LOTS of sauce, eat the same dinner as everybody else but skip the potatoes/chips/rice/whatever. Works really well for me

[Cagliostro]

Yes I reckon for losing weight just reducing would be enough - TBH that's what I've ended up doing slightly since pregnancy anyway due to nausea and general trying to eat better. And I really was eating craploads before so it didn't take much to make an impact IYSWIM!

[ItsALardBaby]

caglio
The problem is there is little official advice. Your consultant was probably more up to date than the midwife.
A normal urine dipstick will detect ketosis.
I also lost weight in pregnancy (6lb off my booking weight at term) and DS was 90th centile
Your diet sounds excellent if a bit low on calories.

[lokelani]

I found swapping pasta for sliced veg a great way to reduce carbs but basically keek the same dinner. E.g. Spag Bol but with green beans not pasta
And for breakfast having porridge has been the best swap I ever made. Keeps me full and it's the good type of carb!

[Cagliostro]

Thank you what do you have porridge with? I had it with nuts and some strawberries (in the past would've been golden syrup) but level was 8.1 after so I think that was too much :(

Also what do you do when out and about if you need something? Everything seemed to be sweets chocolate or crisps, or croissants and sausage rolls! I definitely noticed the tempting smells more than usual :o clearly I will have to plan a lot more carefully especially as I have to time things now in order to test regularly.

5.3 after my really filling salad though yay!

[lokelani]

OP fab well done.

I buy frozen blueberries and drop a handful of those in the bowl, then the oats, then a touch of milk. Blast in microwave and have a squidge of honey on top.

Snack wise, nectarines/pears/banana are nice and easy to carry, but if you are avoiding anything too sweet nuts can be a great and filling option. Places like Tesco, m&s, coop sell single portions of nuts. Good lunch swaps is couscous or quinoa instead of bread.

[butterybollocks]

Did you make the porridge with milk? If so maybe it's the sugars in the milk so you could try unsweetened almond/hazelnut milk instead? I'm finding breakfasts really difficult!