bourneville cocoa powder caused huge spike

[HoneyBunnii]

Hello everyone, i recently got diagnosed with gestational diabetes at 27 weeks and just started my diabetic diet.. things have been going along fine so far but i had been craving a hot mocha so i decided to try and make one myself by using a sugar free mocha syrup (0 sugar and 0 carbs) and added 2 teaspoons of bourneville cocoa powder.. i read the ingredients but there was no sugar listed and the carbs didnt seem too much and my previous reading was 5.1 and the nurse told me as long as it stays under 7.7 its fine. After having the drink and then later having lunch (which was 2 eggs with 2 slices of wholemeal toast) i did my usual blood test and the reading was 7.6 😖what happened?? I have been having 2 slices of wholemeal bread with soup and that has been fine so i dont think that could have caused it.. i cant stop thinking if it was the bourneville cocoa powder that did it.. but it was just two, not even full, teaspoons!
I looked at the nutritional table on the pack and it said 10g sugar per serving and 1 serving is made up of 4 teaspoons.. does anyone have any udea why this may have happened??

@pjani oh god 😨😱i didnt know it gets worse later on.. im going to be skin and bones by the time i have my baby.. no cereal.. no milk.. i dont eat any meat other than chicken.. and that too i need to have my chicken with something and all i can think of is rice or something bready 😩

I don’t know if anyone mentioned this to you but my midwife said sometimes emotional state can affect reading like stress, upset, lack of sleep etc. I was quite stressed the day I got my bad spike so maybe that was a factor.

@HoneyBunnii I was thinking I might try a gestational diabetes thread on the pregnancy board, see if there are any others out there in the same boat as us right now!

I have T1 rather than GD, but stress can raise my BG quite a lot, as does pain, sunburn and a load of other things that are not food. You were within your range so don’t stress too much about it as the worry will compound the problem. Assuming you are mobile a brisk 15 minute walk will bring that back down I’d imagine. Exercise is great for an excuse to have something you wouldn’t normally have, though keep an eye on it to see how it affects you, if the chocolate powder makes your coffee good then have it before a walk, but 7.6 is a pimple rather than a spike if it comes back down.

@Fairylight102 it could be a lack of sleep.. now that i think about it i didnt even sleep a wink the few nights before my glucose intolerance test due to my toddler being unwell and starting to wonder if that had anything to do with my results 🤔yeah i guess having a thread on gestational diabetes would be great as the others are quite old.. i am surprised there doesnt seem to be a topic dedicated to this already in the topics section!

@TeresaCrowd yeah i guess i will try the walk thing.. maybe have it before i drop my kiddo off at daycare, we could walk rather than use the car since its not far :D

Honestly I can’t recommend the Facebook group enough because the advice is tailored to GD which does seem different to other types of diabetes. The advice is ‘never eat a naked carb’ so you always pair smal amounts of carbs with fats or proteins.

Eggs for breakfast
Full fat Greek yogurt with berries and nuts for snack
One slice of particular high density bread (can’t remember what it’s called) with ham and cheese and avocado for lunch)
Diet soft drink (as many as you like)
Chicken and new potatoes and broccoli for dinner

You can eat as much meat and fat as you like. Snack on cheese and chicken for instance. Try not to eat out. Processed foods have all sorts in them.

I ate the same meals every single day for six weeks because it worked for me.

Its super weird but most GD women following this diet maintain or even lose weight during pregnancy and on the plus side you can count down the days before you can eat carbs again.

Good luck!

@pjani same meal everyday for six weeks 😨wow i would never be able to do that, im not that strong 😭 well i will check out the facebook group though, im trying to get all the help i can possibly get right now!
Thanks :D

For god's sake everyone stop it. The sugar levels are normal. I don't see the issue here.

That’s a pretty normal result.

How long after eating did you test?
are you hydrated?
are you lacking in sleep?
stressed?
have you done any light exercise today?

take her with a pinch of salt about what she says about sweeteners (they’re not always better) but look at the Glucose Goddess and the FB group Simone has recommended already on this thread.

putting ‘clothes on your carbs’ and eating fat beforehand helps slow a spike. Toast is absolutely fine to have. However have some full fat Greek yoghurt etc beforehand. Snack on cheese. try making some cheesy muffins.
I LOVE this recipe.

https://www.eatwell101.com/cheesy-bacon-egg-muffins

remember it’s not about one single result- it’s about trends. Sounds like you’re doing fine. You’re not knocking back Haribo and tea with 7 sugars, you’re trying your best!

@Brewandhoney thanks for the useful info, well i am at 34 weeks now and my GD has been diet controlled so far, i did have some results after my evening meals that were above target on 3 occasions but that was when i ate out and went crazy 👀 but other than that to be honest i have been simply watching the carbs and i have been doing great, as a matter of fact for some wierd reason a cup of nescafe double choc mocha with a cadburys crunchie cake bar always gives me a reading of around 6.0 🤷🏻‍♀️ so yeah it has been full of pleasant surprises and i hope i can maintain staying off any medication until i give birth. Only thing that has me feeling down is the fact that the weight of my baby was going up on the average percentile chart steadily and she was doing perfect but then ever since being diagnosed with GD whenever i go for a scan i feel her weight has not shifted much since the previous appointment and i feel awful 😔
My bump is also alot smaller than it was on my sons turn so i know this one is going to be tiny.

On the bright side, I honestly didnt know about the having fat before hand causing a slow spike thing so i will definitely give that a go! 😃 if it works it could open up the door to enjoying more of the foods i love ☺️

@Messyhair321 yeah i guess i was freaked out because at that time the whole thing was new to me and i was scared i was going to easily go above target and get put on insulin but luckily that has not been the case so far

I've been diabetic since I was 14. Trust me ots the bread. Keep carbs to a minimum to avoid the spikes x

Hi, it is the toast as all carbs turn to sugar in your body. I’ve had type one diabetes for 40 years and studied nutrition for many years. Your reading will always go higher two hours after food/drink. Also if you added milk to the drink this would raise your blood sugars aswell. (Cow milk has natural sugars) .Pure cocoa powder is fine as well. Also blood sugars run generally higher on waking up. Hope this helps. Low glucose index foods are the best if you research a list. Example porridge oats, low GI/Burgen bread.