Breakfast ideas for gestational diabetes?

[lovemyOJ]

hi I'm currently 30+1 with dc3 and just diagnosed with GD. I've been tracking my blood sugar levels and breakfast I have been getting high readings of 8.3-9.1 mmol I've been having sugar free Alpen as recommended by the dietician, she has now suggested I try having egg sandwiches for breakfast or boiled egg on granary bread but I really cannot stomach egg first thing in the morning, egg is one of those foods I really have to fancy to eat or it makes me feel ill.

Do any of you have any suggestions for a good breakfast?

I've been told if my results rant any better by Monday they will start me on insulin injections with my breakfast, as it may be my body just isn't coping first thing in the morning.

porridge?

Oh my sympathies..I was on insulin for the last trimester :( I know what you say about eggs..but I lived on them..kept sugar at 5-5.2. You can also eat sausages, salami, frankfurters..any meat- grilled will keep you ok. Grilled mushroom, slice of cheese, half grilled tomato, oats with nuts, ryvita with philadephia light...and eggs enough to never ever want to eat them again..that was me!!
Hope it remains in check though ime don't beat yourself up about metformin and insulin dosage and even with your food diary. I was warned that DS would huge, will need early induction etc. Bah! He was 3.5kg! 2 days before due date! His sugar was ok and he is fine!!
Will try and recall what I ate...check labels..and eat away..oh yes low sugar beans on toast also works.
Good luck!

How about porridge, but made with water instead of milk? I know that sounds wierd, but personally I find it too rich made with milk, and prefer it this way. You could have it with a pinch of salt, a spoonful of seeds (sesame, sunflower or broken linseed are good) or nuts. If you don't have the time to make real porridge, microwaved Readybrek is a good alternative, with the same additions.

Jesus. How can a dietician recommend cereals, bread and porridge? The mind goggles and of course it's your health at stake.

You need to eat low GI, which means think 'continental' - meat, cheese, eggs, bit of fruit/Veg, but not alone. High protein yogurt like Greek, NO low-fat yogurt and if you must have bread get pumpernickel or similar.

My dietician was rubbish too, I refuse to see her now. She recommended cereals, said juice was fine etc!! I just checked the leaflet I was given and for breakfast it suggests cereal and toast!!!

I am on high levels (well, they seem high to me!) of insulin at the moment and can barely cope with half a slice of toast!

Breakfast is definitely the hardest meal. I really sympathise. I am sooooo fed up of eggs. I sometimes have Greek yoghurt. I don't usually want a cooked breakfast either.

Hope you manage to find something that works for you.

All my dietician talked about was what kind of fast food/takeaways were better to eat. As if we were all hopeless junk-stuffing pigs who ate nothing but crap

But real porridge is low GI. Ready Brek less so, but still better than muesli or toast.

Admittedly I did not need insulin, I was able to control my sugar levels via diet. I practically lived on oats and nuts. Barely touched wheat products in any form, and only had full fat dairy products, but in small amounts. Plenty of lean protein, leafy veg. And when I was desperate for something starchy/carbie that wasn't oat-based, or something sweet-tasting, I had sweet potatoes.

Hi,

I've been diagnosed with GD 2weeks ago. I also had some trouble keeping my level within limit after breakfast. My dietitian advised me to have some semi skimmed milk with special K or muzli which of course made my blood sugar level high,well no higher than 8.6 . I only eat now 1slice of bread or 1roll(which contains only 0.6g sugar) with extra light philadelphia and a slice of salami with some salad. I know its not so nice to eat similar breakfast every single day,but if that whats keeps my blood sugar level within normal range and save me from medication I'll do it. My readings all been good since I am not eating cereal or milk.
Remember it's only for few weeks.
Good luck!!!

Something else that I found helpful was to split my breakfast up, well, all my meals, really. So I would have 6 or 7 small meals throughout the day, rather than 3 full meals plus snacks. I would put a few oatcakes or 1/3 of a cup of nuts on my bedside table at night, and eat them as I was getting up. Then I'd wash, dress, deal with dc etc, before having a small bowl of porridge for breakfast.

I used to have special K & coffee for breakfast and was told that was okay, but not to have any juice.
If its the morning readings that are high wont they put you on the slow acting over night insulin? I was put on that and it did really work well, didnt have any high fasting or breakfast readings after that

This maybe isn't helpful but my sister shipped me over some 'Red River' cereal which is like granary porridge basically from Canada (I don't know if it's available in the UK) and it's brilliant. I make it with water but add a bit of milk afterwards and my levels are so low afterwards I can add a piece of fruit (cooked in with the cereal) and a glass of tomato juice and still be within limits.

Alpine pony just wondering why you say NO low fat yogurt? This is specifically what was recommended to me so I've been eating weight watchers yogurts for a mid-morning snack mostly because they have low sugar content.
I asked my dietician about it and she said 'low fat' is just a generic suggestion they make because they assume you are overweight (very annoying particularly if you're pregnant because you need the calories). But I didn't think there was any particular blood sugar advantage to full fat. Is there?

I rely on 4 main options for very low blood sugar impact:

1. Eggs - anyway you like them just not on toast.
2. Greek yogurt, you can add a little cereal/granola for taste but this will have an impact.
3. Omelettes are great - cheese and onion; red pepper, mushroom and spinach etc. Good made the night before and eaten cold spanish-style (just leave out the spuds)
4. Google Dukan galette. 2 spoons of oat bran (v.low impact), one egg, 2 spoons greek yogurt and your choice of flavouring (I use sweetner, Vanilla essence (no sugar/glucose version) and Cinnamon) then cook like american pancakes.

Reading all the responses just makes me question my diagnosis all over again. I ate rice crispies, toast (occasionally - shock horror! - with honey), cornflakes, weetabix for breakfast - not all at once, obviously - most days and rarely got a reading outside the recommended levels. I even had a little brown sugar on my weetabix and it didn't make much difference. The only thing that did send my morning readings over was porridge.

I have GD, though have been told I am borderline and breakfast is never an issue. I can have toast or cereal without great effect.

I struggle more before and after dinner. I have to snack on an afternoon - and if I am not careful when and what my pre dinner reading is high. If I have too many carbs at night my pre bed reading is high.

So I am sorry - I can't really suggest much. Other than have you tried a sugar free jelly, it's light and fruity flavoured, just to get something in your stomach and then an hour or so later have the high protein breakfast. SF jelly was my saviour to help stop me feeling sick.

Or maybe cheese on water crackers for a change

I was told that low fat flavoured yoghurts were a no no as there was too much sugar in it.

I was told natural/greek yoghurt only.

Oh and no more than 100ml of fruit juice

IIRC full fat dairy is better because the fat content slows down digestion so that your sugar is raised more slowly than if you ate low fat dairy. But only plain dairy, so no flavoured yogurts of any sort.

The trouble with low-fat yoghurt is that by taking the fat out it tastes like dishwater, so it'll be filled with sugar and/or artificial sweeteners to make it taste less like the aforementioned sick. :( For those with syndrome X type diseases - artificial sweeters may cause an insulin spike.

Even 'plain' low fat yogs often have starches added to thicken and stabilise them, which increases their carbohydrate content.

Thanks every one for your replies.

Well i sucked it up today and had a mushroom omellete, it wasn't fab but i ate it and my levels were 5.0 mmol so i suppose to stay off the insulin ill manage. it was the thought of an egg sarnie at 8am [bleugh!] that really put me off.

my dietician has recommended i have muller light yoghurts and a banana as a snack or pudding surely that cant be right? I thought bananas were one of the worst offenders for sugar along with grapes (my two favourite fruits gah!)

Doesn't Allen have dried fruit in it????? If so it can never be completely sugar free!

Porridge
Poached egg on wholemeal toast
Mackerel on toast (but only 1-2 times a week)

Um mm then i struggle for ideas cos fruit/yoghurt/granola all have a fair whack o sugar in their

WOW

A muller light is 165g a pot and has 15g of sugar in it!!!

An average banana has 14g of sugar

Thats 29g of sugar in snacks Recomended daily amount of sugar is only 70g and thats the recommended for normal womans intake certainly not a lady with GD.

I am quite amazed at what your dietician has told you.

I was told for my snacks to have:
Suagr free jelly
If I was to have fruit - somthing lower iin sugar - actually raspberries and blackberries are fairly low, melon, apple, peaches.
(yes grapes, bananas, figs, dried fruit are the high badies)
Cheese and crackers
Hummus or cottage cheese and carrot/cucumber sticks etc (pretty much raw veg is very good)
Handful of nuts
peanut butter
Cup of any veg soup

I hope this helps you a bit

What? Does your dietician actually know that you are a pregnant woman with GD?

Honestly!

I do wonder what the purpose of dieticians actually is. I have never had sensible advise from one. I was referred to a dietician in my first pregnancy because I am dairy intolerant and wanted advice on calcium intake.

Her: "you need to drink xyz amount of milk every day"
Me: "I don't drink milk, it makes me ill."
Her: "If you don't like milk on its own, you can make yourself milkshakes"
Me: "I don't drink milk, it makes me ill."

I had to research it for myself and work out that actually I have a lactose intolerance and therefore I can tolerate certain dairy products but not others.

And then, later in the pregnancy I was sent back for dietary advice because of my elevated sugars. Same department, different dietician. I asked about trying to ensure my diet was low GI. Her reaction? "No dear, you don't want to mess about with any of these faddy diets right now when you're pregnant. You can try it later, when you want to loose the baby weight.". And then proceded to prescribe me a low-fat diet with plenty of sugar-replacement, ie a conventional weight-loss diet.

Diabetes UK

Diabetes.co.uk

HTH

I founds eggs make me a bit nauseous too if I didn't fancy them. And porridge/Bran flakes sent sugars sky high.

So finally settled on 2 slices Burgen linseed bread toast with sugar free peanut butter. Kept blood sugars in check, easy and didn't make me want to vom!

My DD was born at 9lb 8oz though...despite mostly having good glycaemic control

waves at Evie, Star and Gaga

Weirdly, avocado really worked for me, levels-wise. I was also told to eat no-fat yogurt as it's low sugar, Muller Lights are crazily high in sugar and was about the only thing to give me a reading over over 7. Good luck!