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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Things to eat in gestational diabetes

10 replies

NaughtyLittlePassport · 14/05/2019 13:03

Gestational diabetes is awful, just at the time you want carbs the most, you can't have them! I was hoping to start a thread on what we can have!
(That is not bloody nuts and bloody cheese)
Things I have found:
Oppo ice cream (low carb, from waitrose)
Skyr yogurts (high protein, but check the carb count!)
Kvarg, a quark based dessert-also high protein.
Chick pea puffs- aldis are the cheapest and nicest.
Kallo rice cakes- are whole grain and seem to affect my blood sugar the least
Oatcakes of all kinds, nairns cheese ones are the least carby.
Most 70% or darker chocolate
Fake bounty bars- you have to make them (adapted from Anna Jones)
Put skin in almonds and an equal ish amount of desiccated coconut into a food processor, add 2-4 tbsp agave nectar, 2 tbsp coconut oil and a pinch of salt. Grind until you can see bits of almond butter emerging, tip out. Roll into rectangle and chill for 30 mins. Cut into bars, melt 70% chocolate and coat bars, allow to set. Most people, even the very carb intolerant will be ok with this. Agave is fructose- which is preferentially metabolized to fat and has less effect on blood sugar. This recipe though low carb is very high calorie.

For pasta/ rice/ bread

Keep bread in the freezer
If you can cook pasta/ rice then chill in fridge for 24 hours before reheating - this increases the insoluble starch (fibre) and lessens the effect of blood sugar (this allowed me to have a small mac and cheese and come in the 5's) same for frozen bread.

Always combine your foods. Fat and protein slow the uptake of carbs and therefore the blood sugar spike!

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Thunderwing · 14/05/2019 13:08

I used to make whipped cream and melt in a couple of squares of dark chocolate, and then load the whole lot up onto digestive biscuits!

Breakfast is the hardest meal though - one day I was eating bloody chicken thighs at 6:30 am Confused

I'm currently 16 weeks with my third DC, and will be getting my GTT soon. I had GD with my second pregnancy but not my first so I'm not sure if I will have it again. I've been slowly moving back to a more GD friendly diet and been checking my sugars regularly but not seen any high numbers yet, although there's still time!

Thunderwing · 14/05/2019 13:10

Ooh I've also just remembered that I was able to enjoy tortilla wrap 'pizzas' for quite a long time, only struggled in the last 4 weeks. You basically us a tortilla wrap as the pizza base (get them crispy in the oven first!) and load them up with lots of GD friendly toppings Smile

NaughtyLittlePassport · 14/05/2019 13:13

Both excellent suggestions, thanksThunderwing!

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NaughtyLittlePassport · 14/05/2019 13:13

Bold fail!

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Teddybear45 · 14/05/2019 13:53

The advice for gestational diabetes isn’t to avoid carbs though (that is for diabetics). You just need them just find better wholegrain sources.

www.diabetes.org.uk/Diabetes-the-basics/Food-and-diabetes/I-have-gestational-diabetes

NaughtyLittlePassport · 14/05/2019 14:36

Teddybear that's true, however depending on your level of carb sensitivity that can be problematic. No one is advocating keto- there's evidence it's bad for a developing nervous system (in mice but still). Many of us find the wholegrain versions raise blood sugar too much, so ways need to be found around it!

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NaughtyLittlePassport · 14/05/2019 14:39

I forgot to put in the OP- walk after meals! Even 10 minutes increases glucose uptake by muscles

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CloudRusting · 14/05/2019 14:40

There is an excellent Facebook group on GD which has tonnes of info.

Thunderwing · 14/05/2019 16:05

YY to the Facebook group - they were invaluable to me.

While I agree that we do need some carbs in the diet (ketosis is definitely not recommended!) I was still amazed at the amount of carbs I was unable to tolerate during the most difficult weeks of pregnancy.

Some of the NHS advice was also incredibly contradictory, one lady in my group was told she had to eat cereal for breakfast.... ladies with GD will know that very few people can tolerate cereals, and it's more likely to be GD kryptonite!

Towards the end of my pregnancy I could hardly tolerate carbs at all, and even had to cut down on tomatoes as they always gave me a high reading.

So, TL:DR, yes eat carbs but know what you can tolerate will change from day to day and be prepared to cut down to the barest minimum!

NaughtyLittlePassport · 14/05/2019 17:01

Ooh thanks for the Facebook heads up, join request in!

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