Gestational Diabetes - What can I eat?

[GreenMeerkat]

So I may be jumping the gun a bit here but have been referred for GTT test due to larger than average abdominal circumference measurement on a growth scan today. I am 29+3.

Test should be early next week. Am just wondering what changes I need to make to my diet if it's positive? I'm going to start now just in case so need a lot of information on what I can eat and what I should avoid.

Anyone have any top tips?

Low carb, high protein and fat is the basic gist.

For me a general day looked like:
Breakfast - scrambled egg with 1 slice of wholegrain toast
L unch - chicken salad
Dinner - lots of veg with meat.

Snacks would be cheese, meat, apple or celery with peanut butter, nuts, full fat greek yoghurt

Anything processed or with added sugar was out, so things l ike chocolate, white bread, cakes, fat free yoghurts

Thank you @Katescurios

Is Skye yoghurt allowed? It's high protein but not sure if too high in sugar.

Skyr*

Just eat clean

Have a look at the nutritional table for it. My worst sugar reading was after a muller light, turned out theres over a table spoon of sugar in each pot.

So 4.2g is a teaspoon, skyr single serve pots have 11.2g of suga r, just over 2 teaspoons.

You would have to see whether the extra protein content is enough to bqlance it out but that is quite high

www.gestationaldiabetes.co.uk/carbs/

FF greek yoghurt was better than skyr for me.
I couldn't have any carbs with breakfast. Made my blood sugar spike. As a PP said lowish carb, high fat and protein. Any carbs need to be low GI.
I found for sweet things sweet potato brownies, almond butter fudge was fine (Google for recipes)

She I can replace potatoes with sweet potatoes for example?

Yes, but mashed/boiled not roasted as that changes the GI.
It's all very individual. All carbs are sugar eventually, and each woman has a different sensitivity. A lot of it is careful monitoring and trail and error. Remember as pregnancy goes on it gets worse so carb tolerance reduces

Thanks everyone for replies and tips!

I found sweet potatoes spike my sugars. Try not to eat any roots that come from below the ground. Carrots, parsnips potatoes etc...
I’ve found almonds helpful as a snack. Brown rice at lunch is good because it keeps you full.

There are a few things that are forbidden but for many foods its how much you eat, when you eat them and what you combine them with. You can find a lot of meal plans on-line.

I'm still getting used to it, but I have found that potatoes are fine for me, but cereal ( weetabix) sent my blood sugars high, as do most fruits and yoghurt. Burgen bread has been fine too.

I got diagnosed with gestational diabetes at 12 weeks. You are so lucky if it was later cause it was a nightmare!! I changed my diet to start with but then slipped back to eating what I wanted. I did make some healthier choices such as water instead of juice, and unfortunately one of my cravings ended up being chocolate lol Checked my glucose 4 times a day and my levels were never that bad!! Avereaged 6.4, highest was 8.9 or something but I had just eaten a dairy milk 😌 My daughter was perfectly fine when she was born. No health concerns at all and although I was told her abdominal circumference was higher than normal that turned out to be rubbish when she arrived. She was 6lb 4 (born 1 month early cause I had pre-eclampsia) and in perfect proportion. I was told GD is really only a big worry if you go all your pregnancy without any management or treatment so I wouldn't panic. You are aware now and making changes so everything will be fine! 😊 Btw, if you are going low carb daft, asda sells lovely protein bread which tastes like normal brown bread and won't spike your glucose x

Hi - I had GD, now postpartum. Recommend the GD support group on FAcebook. It’s mostly Americans but quite a few from UK. Loads of Q and A, advice and support and loads of food ideas. Helped me greatly bc the official advice was honestly confusing. Good luck!

Thanks all!

I'm off out to eat tonight. Italian, which is a carb feast. Typical. What would you recommend from this menu?

I was thinking of tomato and mozerella salad starter and an omelette main?

foursquare.com/v/italian-job/4c31c8c2a0ced13a7813146e/menu

I don’t know if those choices have enough carbs in them (hard to tell from a menu though as you don’t know how much cheese etc.). It sometimes seems easier to cut out carbs completely but the baby still needs them and not having enough carbs in the evening can ruin your fasting value the next morning.
I often eat half a pizza or half a portion of pasta or rice.
If you explain the situation or call ahead the restaurant might be able to adjust the proportions of one of their dishes. Or just take half the pizza home for the next day.

Argh it's so hard!

Maybe they will let me order from the kids menu

I know its too late now but from that menu i wo uld have chosen any of the following:

Omelettes, meat & veal, chicken or fish menus. It says served with potatoes and veg, so i would have said no potatoes please, can i have double veg instead.

alternatively just smaller portions of te pasta/pi zza and bulked out with salad.