Gestational Diabetes advice please!

[Lulu2515]

I know there have been lots of posts on this but can't find a recent one.

Had the call from the midwife today to confirm that I have it- my results after the glucose during the GUY were quite high.

Have an appointment late next week but want to start on diet before then but have read so much confusing and conflicting advice online.

Anyone have any good tips or recipe plans?

Check out the Gestational Diabetes UK website. Great diet ideas and following it kept me off insulin

The best piece of advice I can give you is not to expect anything. You will find that your body reacts differently to different foods - and that it gets harder to control as you get more pregnant. So don't go into it with massive expectations!

Personally I find the recommended amounts of carbs way too high, and my body doesn't care at all whether it's white rice or whole grain rice - it's all off the menu. I tend to eat a lot of:

Eggs - omelettes; scrambled without toast 😭 etc
Nuts - replace crisps and chocolate with nuts, if you have no allergies
Cheese - thank god for cheese
Stir fried veg - sauces can spike you, but pesto is very low carb
Fish - the Leon cookbook has a fabulous recipe for spicy (it's not hot!) cod with cashew nuts and red onions
Pizza - made with either the bbc cauliflower crust recipe or the fathead cheese crust pizza recipe (both online)

Eating out is harder; you'll need to check the menus online and prepare.

Mostly it's just really really boring! I couldn't find anything for lunch today, so ended up pulling the filling out of a pret wrap and chucking the wrap 🙄

Also exercise - a 20 min walk after eating can bring glucose levels down.

Test, test, test. That's how you'll find your own tolerances. Eg I can manage chips, but haven't touched mashed potato since I had it the first time around 2 years ago; I can have a bit of pasta, but just looking at rice is a no-go, etc.

There's a good facebook group and also a website - gestationaldiabetes.co.uk; you'll get lots of recipes on there!

Thanks so much both.

I've just had scrambled eggs for lunch and assumed that's all I could eat for the next 12 weeks.

Good tip about the pesto, was thinking of making a stirfry tonight but so boring without any sauce!

I've had it twice. Ended with insulin both times but it was fine. Beware of cereal, spiked my sugars badly. Avocado and Skyr/protein yogurts (unsweetened) are great and keep you full, also granary bread worked for me and was a bit more exciting than plain brown. Check out Michael Mosley Blood sugar diet recipes for inspiration.

Hii

I'v got GD but only just past the borderline! I controlled mine with diet and I'm now 37+2 and my readings have been within limit give and take a few.
I'll mention a few changes I made in my diet..

1. I stopped adding sugar to tea/coffee.
2. Stopped cake/chocolate - apart from a few odd times
3. Stopped sugary drinks altogether.. coke, 7UP etc
4. I also didn't over do carbs.. so like rice - I'v been having smaller portions.

It hasn't been easy because I'v got a real sweet tooth! But I really did not want to be induced and I think that motivated me more than GD itself! I know alot of people who have been induced because of GD and not been able to control it!

Some of these people didn't change their diet at all and carried on with the sugary stuff so it was kind of expected..

You will be fine.. keep a conscious eye on your diet. Plus at your appointment when they give you the kit to check your sugar levels.. you'll start to understand what kind of foods trigger you levels to be higher than normal.

Thank you.

I've just read the complications section of the gestational diabetes website and I'm in absolute bits. I feel so awful for having done this to my baby and I'm terrified of things going wrong

Nooo, don't do that to yourself. Honestly.

First you haven't done anything wrong. Your placenta is just being a dick to your pancreas. That's all. It's a combination of bad luck and bad genes that make you prone to it.

Secondly, the vast majority of babies born to women with GD are totally fine. The vast majority of babies born to women with type 1 and 2, which are harder to control, are fine.

You know about it now; you can control it. You and the baby will be fine. Problems are caused when sugars are wildly out of control. And yours would have been picked up way before now if they were. Eg:

If you were dangerously high, your urine samples would have shown glucose and the midwife would have spotted it

You would have noticed constant thirst and peeing

The scan would have shown up issues

So don't worry. Yes you do need to take control of it, and yes that's going to bore the tits off you and you'd give your a for chips and a mars bar - but you can do it!

Another good eggy breakfast - just do a massive scrambled egg/omelette mash up, ie eggs with spinach, mushrooms, onions, peppers, cheese and pesto. You'll be full for hours and racing through your 5 a day.

Thank you.

I'm just so gutted about it. I HAVE been really thirsty for a while but didn't really think anything of it and because it's my second, no one has checked my urine since 16 weeks...thats a long time ago.

I was diagnosed with GD just before Xmas and was initially devastated and felt guilty for the rubbish I was eating before. I have my first clinic meeting tomorrow so not sure what to expect from that. I've kept my readings in check (except for a couple of 8's on Xmas day and boxing day). It's not been as hard as I thought, i have a lot of salad at lunch with chicken, couscous, humous etc. I've even found for dinner I can still have a curry but I swap the rice for cauliflower rice. Instead of pasta and meatballs i'll swap the pasta for courgette-spaghetti. It's easier for me to have 3 good size meals so i don't get tempted to snack between meals. I've found I can have an occasional sweet treat but more like 2-3 mouthfuls compared to a bowl of ice cream that i would of had before.

Be reassured that it's not your fault. And also remember that there will be more eyes on you and baby and one bonus is you get more scans so more opportunity to see baby too.
My friend is a marathon runner, super healthy, slim and she got GD at the same time I did. Yet another friend gained 6 stone in pregnancy, lived on junk and was pretty much bed bound and didn't develop it. There's nothing to feel guilty about, it happens to the best of us!

Birth defects are generally caused by high sugars before conception and in the first 12 weeks. You'd have to be very high all the time to cause those sorts of problems. And even if there were to be anything major, your 12 and 20 week scans would have shown it. Honestly, google and the internet are not your friends here!

If you hadn't found out, you could have ended up with a massive baby and possible birth complications. But you have found out, so you won't let that happen!

I know it's not what you want. I sobbed for hours the night I found out, and left a perfectly nice dish of cod and lentils that DP had paid a lot of money for in a fancy restaurant. The waitress didn't dare ask if we were enjoying our meal! But once the shock has gone, you realise you can do this.

Also Frank's diabetic ice cream is ok for a treat and tastes pretty good!

Thank you lovelies. Feeling very sorry for myself....

I think it's normal to feel sad at first. Then:

Get yourself a cracking playlist and wrap up warmly and go for a walk. It will cheer you up and help with the fitness/blood sugar!

Look up whatever you like that's low carb - steak if you like meat; fancy fish if you're a fish eater (good for the baby's brain!); lots of yummy veggies and start planning some tasty meals. Another favourite of mine:

Salmon fillet
Spread the top with a smear of cream cheese
Top with spinach, mushroom, tomato
Sprinkle cheddar over the top
Wrap in foil
Bake

One massive plus is that you will probably lose a bit of weight and will be back at your pre baby weight much more quickly than if you hadn't been diagnosed!

You're all so lovely, thank you.

I'll get my big girls pants on tomorrow. Just a small (low-sugar, low-carb) wallow today.

Oh Lulu you probably have seen my responses on other threads but I had gd. I was called the morning after my test and was told to come straight in to hospital mw. They basically thought I had cheated as it was soo high (I hadn't). I had 3 days to try and control on diet alone and although I brought it down it was not enough and I was out straight on insulin. Insulin is not a failure, I was still getting high sugar levels from a small salad so sometimes the 'i managed to control by diet' is not helpful as I think it can sound as if you can't it's your failure iyswim. I ended up in hospital through trying to low carb ( due to keytones)

In my trust induction is required for gd, diet or insulin based. I don't mean to scare you but want you to have eyes open.

I say had, I have been given the all clear it didn't morph into type 2 (very thankful) and this is my beautiful baby girl

@Trytowin she's gorgeous, thank you for sharing.
How high was your reading?
And how early did you have to be induced?

I was similar to Trytowin and agree with every word of her post. You simply cannot control it sometimes, insulin is not a failure. I had high readings from the outset, though I can't remember what my initial GT reading was. My readings were constantly 10+ no matter what I did or didnt eat so insulin was brought in rapidly both times, though we tried metformin and insulin with dc2 first. My 1st was induced at 38 weeks and my 2nd was induced at 37 weeks. Both great births, healthy babies discharged same day and no lasting diabetes for me

Lulu thanks she's the best thing I have ever done :-) I can't remember my sugar levels now as notes are given back but they are very high as the phone call was at 8 am telling to come in to the hospital that morning so I did, others had a while until appointments so I assume they bumped me up the list due to results.

I was scheduled for induction at 38 weeks but was induced 37 and 4 due to reduced movement. I had fast acting insulin before every meal and slow over night,these increased in doses every week/ few days at the end.

My induction was no different really but I did have to test every hour in established labour and was hooked to a sugar/insulin machine (the machine was only for insulin controlled, in my trust if you had sugar under 7 and diet only, you could forgo the machine).

I had 24 hours in hospital after birth as we both had to clear sugar tests for 24 hours

Thank you.

Hello

I have GD and have been managing on diet alone - cutting things like rice and potatoes has helped massively. Carbs are a problem for me which is unfortunate as toast is my absolute fave! Really missing toast but it’s worth it!
I have found a treat that works for me are these dairy free chocolate pots from Tesco made with coconut milk! They are AMAZING and don’t spike my blood sugar. Finding them has cheered me up no end. I’ll find the name for you!

Please relax and don’t feel so sad, you can do it! Xx

Choco pots attached!

Aldi sugar fee sweets helped me! In a little box at the tills. Loved the caramel and the strawberry and cream. They also do a rhubarb and custard and. Coffee one. Only one we didn't like is the mixed fruit ones

Limited useful input but wanted to show some empathy as I had to be tested for it recently after my baby's abdominal circumference was found to only just be within the normal range at my 32 week scan. Whilst it turns out I don't have it, whilst I was waiting to be tested I went through a lot of the same guilt that you are experiencing so I now how it feels.

Everyone on this board was so lovely in reassuring me that it wasn't my fault and not to blame myself. :)

Husband and I have decided to make sure all our meals are GI balanced now in case it turns out I'm borderline but just on the right side of okay. The main tips seem to be - always go for wholemeal/wholewheat versions of carbs (wholewheat pasta for e.g. rather than white), make sure all meals include some protein. When we do our own pasta sauces we are going to increase the amount of veg in there and chicken so they outweigh the pasta in there....things like that.

I've also read that oats are good as they are slow release energy, and agave nectar is lower than you'd expect, so you can make low GI flapjacks by using agave nectar instead of golden syrup and chucking in healthy low GI nuts and seeds too. I'm definitely going to give that a go - hopefully if they work they will be my labour snack! :)

Good luck to you either way - hope you are able to control it through your diet and that it doesn't stress you out to the point where you can no longer enjoy the last few weeks of your pregnancy.

Xxxxxxx

Thank you all.

What do people have for breakfast? I'm always in a rush and am also a toast fiend.

I'm having extra guilt now as I turned dowm an appointment tomorrow due to work commitments and my DM asked me why I have prioritised work over my health