Gestational diabetes in pregnancy, struggling with carb-free meal ideas

[Rayma]

Hello,

I'm needing some carb free inspo asap as I'm struggling at the moment.

This is my 2nd pregnancy with gestational diabetes, I got diagnosed at 13 weeks pregnant this time round and I'm currently 17 weeks and loosing my mind.

I'm already on the maximum dose of metformin (4 a day) and 22 units of insulin at night and yet my fasting readings are still over 6 and I'm in a constant state of hunger.

I've had 2 hypos in a fortnight (never had any with my first pregnancy) and most of my readings are about 6.5/7 when I'm basically carb free. Anytime I try to incorporate a carb (e.g. 2 tablespoons of brown rice, 1 slice of seeded wholemeal toast, 1 thin protein seeded bagel) my numbers shoot up.

I desperately need carb free meal ideas asap that will actually fill me because I am so depressed and feeling overwhelmed.

Currently I've been having

• chicken caesar salad
• fajita chicken and vegetables with salad
• chicken and veg curry with cauliflower rice
• sausages, egg, mushrooms and tomatos

I need more inspo please!
This really is the most depressing part as I'm not enjoying my pregnancy. The fact I have to have no sugar and no carbs during pregnancy is absolute torture. Please help x

Sweet potato is ok. With bean chilli.
omlettes.

Omelette with full cheese as the fat will increase your satiety. Ultra low carb only works for me when I eat full fat versions of cheese/cottage cheese/meat. I make egg bites with equal parts egg and cottage cheese with added whatever I fancy and bake them in the oven in silicone muffin trays. They keep great in the fridge and I eat them with coleslaw. Steak and salad. Roast dinner without spuds or yorkies. Have you tried a splash of double cream or tsp coconut oil in your coffee in the morning? That staves off hunger for me.

if it’s sweet things you are missing you can possibly try dates filled with marzipan/peanut butter and drizzled in very dark chocolate. Dates also help to stabilise blood sugars despite the carbs ( defo research this yourself though as I’ve not actually had GD myself). I also blitz dates/cocoa powder/nut butter and protein powder and then roll in coconut flakes. They freeze well and you can take 1 at a time out.

I work with a team of diabetes specialist nurses and they always recommend porridge to their patients because oats have a low glycaemic index. Also dates, despite being very sweet, are low GI. It’s not just the total carbs that matter, it’s the type of carbs. But much better to take advice from your diabetes nurses, OP, than randoms on the internet.

I had GD too. I basically just ate cheese and broccoli most of the time, although I am also veggie and can't tolerant nuts which was even more limiting!

The Gestational diabetes UK page and Facebook group (assuming its still active) were great, the Fb page was very closely moderated so you didn't get some of the bad advice you see elsewhere.

Like a pp, porridge with cream worked OK for breakfast as long as I monitored portion size carefully.

And constantly walking- out for a walk after every meal - helped me get away with a few more carbs.

Best of luck, it's not fun but it's doable!

I had GD in 2 pregnancies and struggled with carbs too. Pretty much lived on quiche. Chicken salads were another dinner on rotation. Berries were fine and the hospital cheese scones didn’t seem to affect the blood sugars too much either. That first sandwich after the baby was born was epic!

The easiest way to way to eat low carb is to eat meat and fish and eggs cooked or served with fat. That's it. You don't have to worry about carbs or types of carbs or whatever. A plate with meat on it. Two kinds of meat. A side of eggs. A plate with fish on it and a side of meat. Go wild, three kinds of meat!
If you want low carb recipes you can find them (search for keto or ketogenic) but the easiest way to eat low carb is not to put carbs on your plate. And one easy way not to put carbs on your plate is to think about foods not recipes. What foods are low carb? Put them on your plate. Do that as often as you can and add a side of green leafy vegetables when you 'need' to.

Best wishes and good luck.

I can't tolerate sweet potato let alone sweet potato with beans. That's pretty carbheavy.

lol, a random that’s been diabetic since a child but ok 😂✌️

Eat protein and fresh vegetables. Not processed food like sausages, but fresh fish, chicken, red meat etc or tofu and miso soup.

I had Gd and now have T2 diabetes and I cannot tolerate oats. Last time I had a bowl of porridge (just oats and milk, no sugar or fruit) it raised my blood sugar to over 20 mmol/L and didn’t get down to within range until about 6 hours later. Some people are fine with it, some are not. Unfortunately I have found there are very very few carbs I can have so I just avoid them as a general rule now.

meal ideas, and honestly I just have whatever DH and DD are having but swap the carb for green veg as a general rule.

• DH and DD have lasagna, I hold back some of the meat in tomato sauce and use it to stuff portobello mushrooms then bak alongside the lasagna
• Spaghetti bolognese I replace the spaghetti with green beans
• Hunter chicken and potato wedges I have roasted broccoli instead of wedges
• xhilli and rice, I have chilli with fried mushrooms
• beef and veg stew with crusty buttered bread (the bastards!!) I replace the delicious bread with a steamfresh bag of tender green vegetables (it’s not as nice but it’s good still)
• Burgers, I just don’t have the bun, I use big lettuce leaves to hold the meat and toppings together.
• Really quick lunch is a bowl of asparagus, green beans, mushrooms and sugar snap peas. I steam it in the microwave for 3 minutes then have it with chopped up cooked chicken or boiled egg. It’s filling, warm, low carb and quick.
• Stir fry but I have double the veg and none of the noodles.

I do miss bread I can’t lie. Some days the only thing that I really want is a good thick slice of freshly baked bread with lashings of butter, a generous slice of mature cheddar and maybe a little Braunstone pickle. But I can’t have it so that’s that.

when I’m eating out I’ve found it’s often easier to put together a meal from a selection of starters and sides than from their main menu. So I’ll have something like the buffalo wings starter, the chilli corn rib starter and the garlic tenderstem broccoli side dish. I get a tasty meal just on 3 little plates instead of 1 big one.

Wow thank you all for your suggestions!

I've gotten some great ideas to try, but yes I am one of the difficult patients who seem to not be able to tolerate the bare minimum of berries, sweet potato's, porridge etc!

Appreciate all your help and advice xx

We’re all randoms, sweetie. Don’t take it so personally!

Fat and a brisk walk are really important. If you do have carbs eat them with fat and protein, so egg on toast, peanut butter on apple slices, potato with tuna and cheese. A short 15-20 min walk round the block or Leslie Sansone video is a miracle worker after a meal, it makes a huge difference.

oh and if you do like porridge and want to have it in your diet then reduce the oats with chia seeds, use some full fat Greek yoghurt for overnight oats or full fat milk if making it hot and use toppings that don’t have carbs so things like a sprinkle of cinnamon or some pecans/walnuts.

I had GD and I feel your pain, as I felt a bit
miserable and my numbers were high.

I definitely could not have any cereals. Breads were hit and miss but my advice was not to go totally no carb, because your body still needs them.

I liked variety but couldn’t really have it, so I had

Skyr creamy full fat yogurt. Some berries and nuts if I could have them.

really regular snacks (almost like small meals tbh)
broccoli, peperami and cheese. Eaten in that order. Would maybe add a low sugar digestive at the end if I really needed a carb

loads of veg and in an ideal world I would have had tuna but there was little I could stomach and chicken could be really hit or miss for me.
I was fine with beef, so I would make sure I had maybe some mince or stew.

another snack for me was apple with peanut butter and a low sugar tea biscuit or digestive, but that won’t suit you at all.

probably stick with more protein and fat if you can op.

veg first, protein, fat, and carb at the end and a walk or physical activity for about 10 minutes can help with your numbers.

Dont they want to put you on insulin instead of metformin to help your numbers during the day?

also, really make sure you drink water.
I really missed tea but the milk made my numbers go wonky.

and sleep. Plenty of sleep where you can, as that will help your fasting numbers. Dont do anything too strenuous first thing before checking your numbers, as this can create a glucose dump.

I just tried to stick to a lot of the same meals, which completely bored me to tears. But I just tried to keep my eyes on the prize of a healthy baby.

Mashed swede is my go to, not gd but pre diabetic