Gestational diabetes diet makes no sense??

[curiousgeorgie]

It seems from my googling that I can eat bacon and cheese but I can't eat a banana?

Please tell me what you eat in a day as I'm finding this a minefield.

Thanks in advance ;)

What doesn't make sense?

Because banan is high in fructose - which is a type of sugar, like glucose but fruit version. Cheese and bacon have neither glucose, fructose, sucrose, or any type of sugar.

I don't have gestational diabetes so can't help but I could explain the banan/ bacon thing so thought I'd reply. Good luck, bet its a pain for you.

what lightrain said - it's basically all about how quickly a food can be metabolised to sugar by your system.

from the diabetes uk website :

Is it true that I shouldn't eat bananas or grapes?

No. All fruit is good for you. Eating more fruit can reduce the risk of heart disease, some cancers and some gut problems. Eat a variety of different fruit and vegetables for maximum benefit.

I found the Dr Brewer pregnancy diet ideal for managing GD. See www.blueribbonbaby.org/ and www.drbrewerpregnancydiet.com/id96.html. Try to start the day with a good protein base for your breakfast, like eggs (scrambled/boiled/poached/omelette). Good idea to have a healthy snack between meals & at night, eg yoghurt, nuts, houmous with veg sticks. Keep to smaller amounts of fruit (top up on lots of veggies instead), especially those highest in sugar like bananas, grapes, melons, pineapples. Most berries tend to be lower in sugar, maybe add them to some plain yoghurt to add flavour & to minimise the impact of the fruit by giving your body protein at same time. Basically follow low GI diet (diet, as in way if eating, NOT a diet to lose weight unless advised to by medical professional) principles. There are healthy ways of getting good protein & lowering simple carbs, it certainly doesn't need to be bacon & cheese!

I have found a leaflet online from the nhs about healthy eating with gestational diabetes (hope it works - is a pdf): www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=can%20you%20eat%20fruit%20if%20you%20have%20gestational%20diabetes&source=web&cd=10&ved=0CJQBEBYwCQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nnuh.nhs.uk%2Fviewdoc.asp%3FID%3D1020%26t%3DLeaflet&ei=4u3dUM6cB-nK0AWXuoHICA&usg=AFQjCNHBYM_TmuwvK8M1D8M_pPCHiIIofQ&bvm=bv.1355534169,d.d2k

I had gestational diabetes during my second pregnancy. I basically stopped eating fruit as it is high in fructose, which is a sugar. I also didn't eat much potato, white rice, cereals (except small amounts of whole grain), bread (only a couple of slices of burgen low GI bread a day), pasta (only a tiny amount of wholewheat) as the carbs are converted to sugars. If you do eat any of those, have very small amounts. I also cut back on yoghurt, even plain as well as milk as that's lactose which is a sugar, but I was careful to get calcium from other sources - tofu is a good one as are green leafy veg.

Most meals were very high protein, for example, 2 scrambled eggs on one piece of toast with a cooked tomato and a slice of bacon. This kept me full up until lunch/dinner. Or a whole wheat wrap with cheese, mayo and cucumber.. Evening meals were again high protein, with loads of veg and tiny portion of carbs.

If I did need something to snack on, I stuck to mixed nuts or peanut butter on a cracker.

I will say, it can be a bit of a shock to the system,and a lot of jthe process was trial and error for me. I went through horrible couple of weeks as I was in sugar withdrawal and was a hormonal, raging mess, but I also had other problems in pregnancy and wasn't coping well. I did lose weight though(a stone after 10 weeks), but I am very fat anyway so it was expected. Good luck curiousgeorgie

Have you been to a diabetes clinic at all, and how are you being monitored? I was diagnosed 5 weeks ago and have a banana as my mid morning snack, eating a whole fruit is better than juice as the fibre slows digestion down. It's not so bad once you've worked out what works for you and a little exercise every day helps. I have 45g of porridge with skimmed milk for breakfast every day and have found this gives me a pretty level blood result, depends how early I get up, breakfast time is apparently when the placenta takes most insulin over so it's a case of trial and error.
The main thing is that you think about what's going in and your baby will benefit and not get too fat. In 3 weeks mine came out of the danger zone- jut keep thinking about baby and it makes the sacrifices worthwhile - I am still managing to have a little chocolate here and there so not all bad! HTH