Gestational Diabetes

[sweetheart]

Hi all,

I am wondering if any of you can give me some advice on gestational diabetes as I know pretty much nothing about it.

My best friend has just been told she has this with her 2nd pregnancy after a horrible 1st birth. She's been quite stressed about it so I want to organise a pamper evening for her so she can relax and chill out.

The idea so far is to get her round for a girls night in and have a beautician on hand to give her a manicure / facial?!?!

I'd like to put on some nice nibbles and drinks so please can anyone who knows about this kind of thing advise me on what i can lay on that's a treat but will also not effect her blood sugars too badly?

TIA

Read up on type 2 diabetes, it's basically the same thing but disappears after pregnancy. You need to look at low glycaemic index foods but different foods are triggers for different people.

Anything sugary or refined carbs (crisps, sweets, cakes) are bad. some people can have fruit, I couldn't. Food combining lowers GI so I couldn't eat a slice of bread unless I combined it with fat or protein (so chicken sandwich or peanut butter or cheese).

Also, if she's blood sugar testing after meals then she won't be able to snack between meals because it will upset the figures and could lead to undetected highs.

I had sugar free jelly for snacks and I could eat small amounts of Ben and Jerrys ice cream (because it is very high in fat). peanuts and pistachios in small quantities were ok, but only part of a meal. For drinks I had herbal teas, she could have diet drinks but for some people aspartame triggers higher blood sugars. Milk is actually quite sugary (lactose).

The pamper party is a good idea but you need to talk to her. I diet controlled severe GD but some people don't have it as badly or are less worried about needing insulin.