Gestational diabetes - snack ideas

[cath476]

Can anyone help? I have just been diagnosed with GD and have, for the last few days, been managing my blood sugar levels well by adjusting my diet. I am, however, struggling mid-morning, late afternoon and sometimes late evening when I am feeling hungry. I would like some snack ideas that won't impact too much on my blood sugar. I don't mind having to make the odd thing but I would also love ideas of 'ready to eat' stuff (eg is a banana ok?).
Thanks in advance.

I think you have to be careful with banana, but you can def have apples, pears, berries and things.

I think shredded wheat is ok.
So much conflicting advice out there though, maybe try something then check your levels. I'm trying to do the low GI diet to keep it at bay as had GD last time, but it's really difficult and miserable and I'm obsessed with food. Don't know whether to wait until it it properly diagnosed, then do the diet thing. I assumed you get lots of guidance and support from a dietian. Am I wrong?

I've been having breadsticks, nuts, oatcakes and low gi fruit also a bowl of plain full fat sugar. Low gi toast and olivio spread is filling.

I used to eat apples and cheese together, cutting the apple and the cheese up into squares so that it lasted ages.

My GD used to get better as the day progressed, so every now and again I'd have some kettle chips. I found that anything with less than (I think) 15g of carbs converting into sugars was OK, 10g better. So scones and hot cross buns, weirdly, were OK and I used to snack on hot cross buns a lot!

On the bright side, following such a rigid diet during my pregnancy (I was diagnosed at 16 weeks) meant that I was actually lighter a week after giving birth than I was when I got pregnant.

I also found it helpful to build some exercise into my day, so I used to do Davina's pregnancy exercise DVD if I wanted a little treat. Exercising after a little snack helps lower blood sugar, and it made me feel good!

Breakfast was always tough as my GD was worse then so by the evening I could more or less eat what I wanted. Sainsburys do a no added sugar chocolate bar which was surprisingly tasty and that was OK too.

Thank you! Hot cross buns sound appealing!! i don't see the specialist until Monday but have already been told that I don't get to see a dietician. I am managing ok with main meals but just need some variety.

Sorry to highjack - just wanted to know if anyone had a link to a GI diet/meal plan? I have searched the internet but its all quite confusing. I have not been diagnosed with GD but think I have the symptoms and I am eating very poorly so thought it would do no harm to try and stick to a plan - might help with the weight loss after too if I can get into being a bit more disciplined now.

Thank you!

I've been having sugar snap peas, tesco do little bags of them so they're really handy for taking with you wherever. Also sugar free jelly, it takes the edge of my sweet cravings. Also been munching on carrots and frozen peas(weird but tasty), they really help to fill me up between meals.

Can't believe they're not giving you time with a dietician, mine was really helpful just to telling me the rough guidelines of what to have. Fruit wise she said 4 portions a day should be the limit, that's a small banana (so yeah you can have your banana but only a small one), apple, orange etc, but with sweet exotic fruits it's a lot less (pineapple it's one large ring or 2 small rings to a portion, melon just one thin slice etc), dried fruit it's practically nothing to a portion (she said 3 dried apricots, 2 spoons of raisins etc). Fruit juice counts as a portion as well, and it's a very small glass to a portion because the sugar is so high and you shouldn't use up all your portions with it. Veg is virtually unlimited so any veg you can snack on is great.

Hope this helps

cheese is good I found - lots of places sell little snack sized portions now (ever since Atkins got popular). One thing I found was really bad was pizza, I guess there is a reasonable amount of sugar in the dough and it used to send my levels soaring.

Oatcakes with nutbutter or cheese (babybels are easy) and nuts with an apple or some fruit did the trick for me. Edamame beans are quite nice as well.

Trixie, I had pizza on the night after I was diagnosed (takeaway - it was my birthday!) and yes, my levels were the highest they have been - even the next morning thay were 6.4 (told to keep under 6 before meals and under 7.5 2 hours after). Since then I have never been over the level I should be and they are staying quite level all day. There are some great ideas here, thanks.

Frenchfries - I agree it is quite confusing - I have been having protein based meals with veg/salad and carb from the low GI index or if I have something with a higher GI I have teamed it with low GI (eg baked potato with beans) It seems to be working for me.

I would push to see a dietician if I was you. As a "full-time" diabetic I find some of the ideas suggested here quite odd - hot cross buns and scones tend to make blood-sugar rocket and would be much better taken with insulin IME. Of course GD may be different in some way. Bananas are quite high carb too.

Try cold meats and smkoked fish for no-carb snacking. Cheese or a small bag of minicheddars also good.

Well, I was most surprised to find that hot cross buns were OK for me, but I found out my trial and error. As I said a few times, my GD was worse in the morning, which is quite common, so I'm told.

I do think you have to play around with it a bit. I just can't eat anything in the bread family, unless we're talking that very thin black bread with scrambled egg on it.And old potatoes, even small ones are off the list.

Banana's send me sky high too.

For me snacks are: nuts, cheese, cherry tomatoes, celery and hoummous, some whole grain sugar free breakfast cereal like puffed wheat, all bran or porrige with a little fruit sugar or agare nectar. Twiglets seem OK for me - I will approach the mini cheddars with caution.

Meals wize, meat and two vegs with new potatoes is definitely the winner, although a little boring.

My GD is worst at lunch time and so lunch at work has been really hard. No bread, no baked potatoes, no crisps - ARSE.

I have found that having 5 small meals a day has helped hugely.

i have cheese, homous, cucumber and avocadoes, olives (sainsburys do nice pots of them). i am in the same position and am finiding everything incredibly boring these days. Find that my sugar in the morning is awful but controllable in the day.

Carrots and houmous was my snack of choice. Marmite rice cake for a treat.

I also specially requested to see the dietician because I felt I actually didn't know what a balanced diet was. I was allowed so it's worth asking (turned out I did know; but the dietician had some v helpful 'snack sheets' to give me which I have thrown away now or would copy here for you).

Hi all, thanks for the ideas. Have seen the consultant today and he is very happy with the way I am managing to control my blood sugars, he also suggested a few of the things metioned here as snacks - eg.carrots and houmous, cherry tomatoes etc. - all suggestions still gratefully received, I still have 10 weeks to go and I really want to stay diet only - I want to make it as varied and interesting as possible too!