Reading labels

I've been a label reader for years. It's a habit my husband got me into. We avoid high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and pretty much added sugar in anything that doesn't need it - potato chips, pasta sauce, etc. If you don't read labels, you'd be surprised how many processed foods have unnecessary sugar or HFCS. I also avoid partially hydrogenated anything and pretty much any ingredients that don't sound like food - like mono- and diglycerides.

With gestational diabetes, I'm still reading labels, but now I'm checking carb content, not just sugar. For example, the whole wheat bread I was eating when I started the diet had 21 g of carbs in one slice. Switching to a different whole grain bread by the same company (Milton's one of the few that doesn't put HFCS or partially hydrogenated oils in their wheat bread) that has only 16 g of carbs has helped keep my post-breakfast glucose readings down.

I had looked for "light" bread which I heard would allow me to have 2 slices for 15 g of carbs. I found one brand at Vons. Part of the solution is that their slices are very small. But I decided against getting the "light" bread because of the mono- and diglycerides in it along with some other ingredients I questioned. I'd rather stick with a single slice of bread with natural ingredients.

Even before this diet, I was buying graham crackers for my son from the health food store rather than getting the standard Honey Maid. These are the graham crackers I've been eating, too. They have 21 g of carbs in 2 full sheets, so I eat 1 1/2 sheets for my (approximately) 15 g of carbs. 2 sheets have 6 g of sugar. There is no HFCS or any saturated fat in them. They are also organic, but that isn't strictly important to me - it's just that organic labels tend to use better ingredients. I later started getting the cinnamon graham crackers when I discovered they had no more sugar or carbs than the regular ones.

I just looked up the nutritional content of Honey Maid cinammon graham crackers. In contrast to the ones I get, they have 25 g of carbs in 2 sheets and 10 g of sugar (that is 2 g more than their regular honey graham crackers). They have HFCS plus saturated fat from partially hydrogenated oils.

By reading labels on cookies at Trader Joe's I found some mini biscotti's that allow me 2 for an afternoon snack with another carb and some protein. There are some cookies that have 15 g of carbs in a single cookie, or in 2 much smaller cookies. By reading labels and not just getting my favorite cookies, I'm able to have more cookie for the amount of carbs so I still feel full after my snack, but my blood sugar doesn't skyrocket.

Changing my night time snack

After having fasting blood glucose readings of 96 several times in one week, I e-mailed the dietitian to see if I should change anything. I had been having a night time snack of 3 graham cracker halves with peanut butter and a glass of milk. She recommended changing that snack to have whole wheat bread or wheat crackers instead of graham crackers. Since switching to a snack of 1/2 peanut butter sandwich on whole grain bread with just a smidgen of reduced sugar jam and a glass of milk, my fasting glucose readings have been 95 and under, although usually just slightly - around 94. If it tips back up over 95, I'll try cutting out the jam, but that is my one snack that I pretend is dessert so it's nice to have that little bit of sweetness.

Take out; Take two

I mentioned having success with Daphne's take out a few weeks ago. I haven't been in the mood for Greek again and I've pretty much been eating all my meals at home. But on Wednesday, I was running errands in the morning and really didn't feel like trying to make something at home for lunch, so I thought I'd try Chinese. There was a Pei Wei near where I was. I'd never been to Pei Wei, which is run by P.F. Chang's. I ordered my meal with brown rice and chicken. Although it was supposed to be a spicy entree, it tasted sweet and I worried that there was sugar in it and made sure to eat a lot of the chicken even though I couldn't finish the meal. I just looked up the nutritional info on their website and that entree does have 12 g of sugar and 26 total grams of carbs.

If I had planned ahead, I should have looked this information up before going. It's really helpful that most chain restaurants provide this info online. Even though my glucose level was under 130 after lunch, it was just barely, and the next day, when I was feeling lazy and not very hungry, I ate the leftovers, even though there probably wasn't 3 oz of chicken left and the remaining rice had a lot of the sugary sauce. My glucose after lunch yesterday was the highest I've ever seen it: 167. I didn't feel different physically from the high blood sugar, but I did feel disappointed in myself since I suspected it wasn't enough protein and potentially too many carbs and I didn't supplement the meal with anything else. But I didn't expect it to be that high.

I guess the key to eating take out successfully is to research the food first. What's sad is that I didn't really enjoy the entree very much anyway. It would be one thing to have a high glucose reading after enjoying a piece of chocolate or some homemade ice cream, but it was doubly disappointing to have a high reading after eating mediocre take out.

Sample Day #4

Here is my menu and glucose readings for 7/29:

Fasting BS: 94

Breakfast (7:40am):
1/2 peanut butter sandwich on Milton's Whole Wheat Plus bread
coffee w/cream and 1/2 tsp of turbinado sugar

20 minute walk

BS 1 hour after breakfast: 116

Snack (10:15am):
2 Rye Crisp crackers
1 oz cheese

Lunch (12:20pm):
Take out from Pei Wei:
brown rice, and Spicy Korean chicken
milk

BS 1 hour after lunch: 129

Snack (4:20pm):
Cottage cheese
fresh peach (chopped and mixed with the cottage cheese)
1 1/2 graham cracker sheets

Dinner (6:45pm)
Salad with tomatoes
deviled eggs
garlic flatbread (1/4 of flatbread from Trader Joe's freezer section has 25 g carbs)
milk

20 minute walk

BS 1 hour after dinner: 101

Snack (9:30pm)
peanut butter on 1 slice whole wheat with tsp of reduced sugar jam
milk

This was one of the few days I didn't have any high readings. Usually my fasting or post-breakfast or post-lunch glucose reading is high.

Sample Day #3

Gazpacho soup (part of dinner)

Here is my menu and glucose readings for 7/27:

Fasting BS: 96

Breakfast (7:10am):
1/2 peanut butter sandwich on Milton's Whole Wheat Plus bread
1/4 cup cottage cheese (with less than a tsp of low sugar strawberry jam)
coffee w/cream


BS 1 hour after breakfast: 114

Snack (10:20am):
2 Rye Crisp crackers
1 oz cheese

Lunch (1:00pm):
Turkey, cheese, and avo sandwich on wheat bread
milk
1/2 diet Hansen's ginger ale

BS 1 hour after lunch: 117

Snack (4:00pm):
Cottage cheese
12 cherries (chopped and mixed with the cottage cheese)
2 mini chocolate biscotti from Trader Joe's (12 g carbs)

Dinner (6:30pm):
Homemade gazpacho soup
2 pork ribs (take out from the night before)
leftover pasta
milk

BS 1 hour after dinner: 93

I went for a 20 minute walk after breakfast and another after dinner. Since the morning walks have helped me keep my morning blood sugar in check, I have started putting a small dollop of reduced sugar strawberry jam in my cottage cheese at breakfast. 1 Tbsp of the jam has less than 5 g of carbs, so I thought that a tsp or less would be pretty insignificant while making it easier to eat.

I've settled into a pattern of having the same breakfast every morning. At first I didn't. But I'm generally too hungry and/or groggy to make something more advanced than peanut butter on bread with cottage cheese. My afternoon snack is pretty consistent, too. Cottage cheese with some kind of fresh fruit mixed in. Lately that has been peaches or cherries.

And then I was having 3 graham cracker halves for the other carb. But I discovered some chocolate and hazelnut mini biscotti at Trader Joe's that have only 6 g of carbs per biscotti. I know my guidelines said not to eat cookies, but I found out last Tuesday that I could have angel food cake with fresh (unsweetened) fruit and homemade whipped cream (no sugar), so I thought if some sugar in the AFC is OK, why not in something chocolate if it is less than my prescribed number of carbs? Not every day, but I thought I would try it out and see how it affected my blood sugar. I seemed to do OK with it. But I do plan to ask the dietitian if it is OK. It makes it a little more enjoyable to have a little treat now and then.

Parties

As I discovered Friday evening when we went to a get-together at a neighbor's house, eating at parties can be a challenge. The hostess knew I have gestational diabetes, but I told her not to worry about making anything special for me. I was still learning the diet at that point and just figured I'd work something out.

I figured there would be plenty of carbs in the form of crackers since it was an appetizer kind of event, and that there would be cheese for my protein. But I needed carbs from either milk or fruit and I didn't know if there would be fruit (and I was pretty sure they wouldn't be serving milk), so I just took some milk along with me in one of my son's thermos straw cups.

But when I got there, I looked at the crackers and pita chips and realized I had no idea how much I could have. I asked the hostess if she had the package from the pita chips, and she did find the nutrition info for me. I had about 6 pita chips which was under 30 g of carbs, and added a couple of Triskets. Then I loaded up on cheese and veggies and dip. I also found some little smokies, but just had 3 since I figured there was sugar in the sauce on them. There were jalapeno poppers that looked good, but I didn't know how many carbs were in the breading, so I just had one. I skipped the spanakopita, even though I figured the filo dough probably didn't have too many carbs.

I took my timer and my glucose monitor with me and tested after one hour. I was well under 130, so I apparently made good choices even without knowing all the nutritional information. I tried to err on the side of having more protein that required since I thought that would help if I had too many carbs unintentionally.

Aside from the milk I brought with me, I just drank ice water, which was fine with me. One neighbor who knew I was pregnant said she had meant to bring sparkling cider for me. I said that was OK because I couldn't have juice anyway. Later the hostess worried about finding something for me to drink besides water and even checked if they had diet soda around when she found out I couldn't have juice. I don't much care for artificial sweeteners and rarely drink diet soda, but I do get tired of only drinking water, milk and tea and will have diet soda if I want something sweet and carbonated.

The other issue that I find at parties is that I need to load up my plate at the start to control what I'm eating. I can't estimate my carbs and protein if I don't see it all on the plate at once and it's too easy to overeat if I keep going back for more. I'm used to grazing when I'm at social gatherings, so it's challenging to pack my plate at the start and then stop eating when I'm done. I know when we had a get-together here last weekend with some friends, I loaded up my plate at the beginning and after testing my glucose, I limited my snacking to low carb goodies like meats and cheeses and just very little bread until close to my nighttime snack.

I had thought on my way over to my neighbors' house the other night that surely it's OK to be more relaxed at a party, that it's unreasonable to follow the diet strictly all the time. But it's summer and there are going to be more social gatherings. I can't let my blood sugar spike every weekend just because we are going to a party. But I found it's not too hard to make good choices at a party, even without being able to read nutritional labels.

Exercise REALLY matters

So this morning, I went on a walk and took Aaron in the stroller. We were out for 25 minutes versus my 12 minute walk yesterday. My 1 hour glucose reading? 104. Again, I had the same breakfast as the 2 prior days when my readings had been 132 then 120. Keep in mind that at 6 1/2 months pregnant and pushing a heavy jog stroller with a 30-odd pound toddler, I'm not exactly power-walking. And we were even pausing to read numbers on mailboxes on the way back.

Last night, we took a longer walk than normal, by just a few minutes. Not only was my post-dinner reading lower, but my fasting blood sugar this morning was under 90, the first time in awhile.

I knew exercise was important to avoiding or delaying developing Type II diabetes, but I thought it was just because it helps you keep your weight down and generally makes you healthier. Until I started testing my blood sugar, I had no idea the dramatic effect it has on helping your body deal with glucose.

Exercise matters

The dietitian had told us to try to exercise 10-20 minutes after each meal. I really didn't exercise at all until Sunday evening. In the mornings I had no energy, at lunch it was too hot, and evenings are tricky because by the time we are done with dinner, it was time to get Aaron ready for bed.

But I started to make an effort to have dinner in time for us to go for a walk together as a family in the evening. I didn't notice a huge difference the first two nights. But last night and the night before, my post-dinner glucose readings were in the high 90s - the first time they've been under 100 after a meal. And more importantly, I had rice for dinner, something that tends to drive blood sugar up.

One thing the dietitian pointed out on Tuesday was that my post-breakfast readings were high more often than after other meals. Usually by just a few points. But this is probably due to higher insulin resistance in the morning. So this morning after breakfast and before my 1 hour glucose test, I went out for a short walk, only about 12 minutes. My blood sugar 1 hour after breakfast? 120. The day before, it was 132 and I had the same breakfast both days - peanut butter on wheat bread with a side of cottage cheese, along with coffee and cream.

So I guess even a short walk can really make a difference. I'm going to try to keep up with the short morning walks since that is when I seem to need it the most. And it's actually nice outside at 7:30 in the morning.

Take out

One of my biggest fears was that I wouldn't be able to eat out or get take-out much on this diet. Not that we do either very often, but being pregnant and having a toddler means there are some nights when I just plain don't want to cook.

For example, my first day on this new diet, I was so hungry and weak in the morning (probably from not having enough protein the day before) that I barely had energy to make lunch. I didn't want to deal with making dinner. So I had Thom bring home Daphne's Greek Cafe. I got the chicken kabob plate. It comes with rice, which I measured to make sure I only had 2/3 of a cup and it turned out that is exactly how much was included. I ate the rice, the chicken and veggies that were on the skewers, and the Greek salad, but gave the pita to my son. And I ate a peach with it to get my 3rd carb serving. Post dinner blood sugar level was 110! So my first non-home cooked meal worked out great.

We had been going to In-N-Out about twice a month recently. I ordered a cheeseburger and fries and Thom, Aaron and I split a milkshake. I'm still trying to figure out how to make that work since it is our favorite place to eat out as a family. I'm thinking I can order my burger protein style which reduces the carbs from 39g to 11g (oddly it also reduces the sodium by over 300 mg - who knew the buns were so salty?), skip my share of the milkshake, and just steal some of Thom's fries or only eat half an order (one serving has 54 g of carbs). And then I can either order milk (maybe pretend it is a milkshake) or bring some fresh fruit for my other carbs. Too bad a strawberry milkshake wouldn't count as my milk and/or fruit carbs.

Eating together

Since I work from home, I typically make dinner for my husband and myself (and oftentimes my son, but more often he wants dinner before Thom gets home from work). One challenge I face is trying to come up with meals that we both can enjoy. I don't expect Thom to follow a GD diet just because I am, but I also don't want to make separate meals. So for example, last night, we both had BLTs, but mine was made with whole wheat toast while his was made with rosemary olive oil toast. I also supplemented my meal with extra protein which he was content without.

Some meals are easier to accommodate. Stir fry - we both just eat brown rice now instead of white. Summer pasta (pasta with fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic and olive oil) - I just reduce my amount of pasta and increase my tomatoes and add a protein on the side, his meal stays the same.

Prior to being on this diet, I had little appetite and had trouble finding something I wanted to eat. Some nights, I just couldn't make up my mind, so I told Thom he was on his own and I would eventually put something together for myself, although it was often a PB&J sandwich on whole wheat bread, or a bowl of cereal. But now that I have to force myself to eat real food in proper proportions, it takes planning, so I'm pretty much always making meals for both of us. I still don't have my appetite back, though, but that has become irrelevant. I can no longer put off eating until I'm starving and just have to eat whether I feel like it or not. Most of the time, though, as long as I keep it varied, it's not too bad.

Sample Day #2

Lunch

Here is my menu and glucose readings for 7/21:

Fasting BS: 98 (3 points high)

Breakfast (7:10am):
1/2 peanut butter sandwhich on Milton's Whole Wheat Plus bread
1/4 cup cottage cheese
coffee w/cream

BS 1 hour after breakfast: 127

Snack (11:00am):
2 Rye Crisp crackers
1 oz cheese

Lunch (1:30pm):
pasta (about 1/4 of package of Basil & Garlic fettuccine from Trader Joe's)
1 small zucchini, sliced, mushrooms, bell pepper, green onions
18 small, pre-cooked frozen shrimp (from Trader Joe's)
oliveoil
milk
Prep: I chopped all the veggies and sauteed them in olive oil until soft, then added the pasta (which was cold leftovers from the night before), then added thawed shrimp

BS 1 hour after lunch: 128

Snack (4:00pm)
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 medium peach

Dinner (7:00pm):
BLT - whole wheat toast, mayo, lettuce, tomato, 2 slices bacon
hard boiled egg
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 cup raspberries

Excercise (7:50pm): 10 min walk

BS 1 hour after dinner: 98

Snack (9:30pm):
3 graham cracker halves
peanut butter
milk

I'm not sure why my morning blood sugar level was elevated. That is the first time I've been over 95 when fasting. I've pretty much had the same snack every night before bed, too.

I was pretty full from lunch and didn't feel like eating a bigger afternoon snack than I did, but I should have included another carb. I wonder if this is why my post dinner reading was lower than usual. I usually have the same afternoon snack - cottage cheese with some kind of fruit. For my extra 15 g of carbs I add either graham crackers or milk.

For dinner, BLT's with tomatoes from our garden sounded really good, but since bacon doesn't count as protein, I needed to add 3 oz of protein to my plate. I had one hard-boiled egg left and used cottage cheese for the rest. Also, rather than using the leftover rosemary and olive oil bread we had from the weekend, I made mine BLT on Milton's Whole Wheat Plus bread. It wasn't the same, but at least I didn't feel guilty about eating it.

Sample Day #1

Caprese salad (see dinner)

Here is my menu and glucose readings for 7/19:

Fasting BS: 84

Breakfast (7:10am):

2 hard boiled eggs

mini croissant (16 g carbs - from Trader Joe's freezer section)

BS 1 hour after lunch: 136 (6 points over)

Snack (9:30am):

1 slice Milton's Whole Wheat Plus bread

peanut butter

Extra snack due to hunger (10:30am):

1 rib celery

peanut butter

Lunch (12:20pm):

croissant sandwhich w/2 slices smoked turkey, 1 oz cheese, avocado

grapes

milk

carrot & zucchini sticks w/ranch dip

BS 1 hour after lunch: 108

Snack (3:30pm)

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1 cup raspberries

graham cracker

Dinner (6:45pm):

caprese salad (tomatoes, bufala mozzarella (about 3.5 oz), & basil)

1/6 of Trader Joe's seeded baguette (36g carbs)

milk

Excercise (7:15pm): 20 min walk

BS 1 hour after dinner: 115

Snack (9:30pm):
3 graham cracker halves
peanut butter
milk

We made croissants this Sunday morning because we had overnight guests. Due to the low carb count on them, I decided to have this for my breakfast carbs. I ended up a little high. The dietitian thinks it may be because they are mostly fat (from butter). But I had another one for lunch without a high reading, so she said it could also be that I'm just more insulin resistant in the morning.

Since caprese salad is one of my favorite summertime meals (we use tomatoes from our garden), I was excited to see that it didn't have a bad impact on my blood sugar. Although the walk may have helped, too.

Check-in with Dietitian

I had a follow up appointment with the dietitian this morning. There was also a registered nurse there as well. The good news is that I haven't gained any weight in the last week - I had previously been gaining a pound a week or more.

Although I had a few high post-breakfast and post-dinner glucose readings, she said my averages for the week were under 130. And none of my post-lunch readings were high. She said I was doing a good job with the diet and was pleased I am eating a variety of foods, as well as drinking plenty of milk. I don't need to go back for a month unless I find a pattern of high readings.

I asked if she thought I would have a harder time later in the pregnancy, since I've heard that increased hormones later in the pregnancy can make it even more difficult to keep blood sugar within normal ranges. But she didn't think I'd have any trouble given what I'm eating and how my numbers are. And given the fact that I'm already at 28 weeks.

Unexpected consequences

When I started the gestational diabetes diet, I expected certain changes, such as reduced weight gain, feeling deprived of chocolate, hopefully feeling better as I controlled my blood sugar. But I've also noticed some unexpected changes.

Dairy - I'm eating much more dairy than I used to. Because of the way the diet is structured, I end up having 2-3 glasses of milk per day. I used to drink 1-2 glasses of milk before, just when I was in the mood for it. But now, since I need 3 servings of carbohydrates at lunch and dinner, and 2 servings at each snack after lunch, and not all of those can come from starches, I have to either drink milk (or eat yogurt) or eat fruit. But I'm limited to 2 servings of fruit per day, meaning that I'm forced to have milk at least twice per day. And since my favorite afternoon snack has become cottage cheese and fruit, I'm getting extra dairy there, too. In the long run it is good for me. And I'm just glad I no longer have a problem with lactose intolerance.

No more sharing - I used to happily give Aaron anything from my plate that he showed interest in. He eats pretty well and I like to expose him to a variety of foods. But now, I feel like hungry, snarling animal, protecting my plate of measured portions and snapping at anyone who comes close. OK, maybe it's not that bad, but I definitely don't give up food easily. If I have something I know Aaron will want, I'll try to put extra on my plate to account for what he might eat. But typically it is only veggies that I will give up willingly. My carbs are measured out more precisely, as well as my protein, so I make him go to his dad's plate for those things (if we are all eating together).

Planning - I used to just have to plan my days around Aaron's nap - something too valuable to me to skip or interfere with. Now, I have to plan around meals and snacks. I have to eat every 2-3 hours and I have to test my blood sugar 1 hour after each meal. On Friday, I had a haircut scheduled for noon. I suddenly realized I'd have to carefully plan my morning so I had breakfast, snack and lunch 2 hours apart and was finished with lunch in time for my appointment. But it wasn't until I sat down to eat that I realized I was going to have to take my glucose monitor with me to test my blood sugar during my haircut. It's not a big deal, but it just takes some getting used to.

Focus on the numbers - I find that I focus on my glucose numbers like some people focus on their weight when they have a scale in their house (I don't have one for this reason). I feel a little depressed when my blood sugar is up over 130 after a meal (although it's never been over 140). I even feel a little bad when it is close, but not over, like I could have done better. And I give myself a silent cheer when it is closer to 100 than 130, or when my fasting level is well under 95 in the morning. Although I know it is important to keep my blood sugar in check, I know I shouldn't focus on it so much. I can't seem to help it, though. When I go over my numbers with the dietitian tomorrow, I'm hoping she will convince me that the slight amount I've gone over isn't so bad. I expect that most women with gestational diabetes have a few really high readings and that I don't need to feel bad about a few slightly elevated ones.

Another thing that surprised me was how quickly I have become used to the new diet. I thought I'd feel more deprived that I do. Of course I miss the sweets I can't have, but I find that I have been able to adjust my mindset so that I don't focus too much on what I can't have and instead focus on what I can. I definitely enjoy fruit a lot more than I used to.

My GD Diet

Here are the basics of what I learned in my class on managing gestational diabetes.

Basically it is all about counting carbs, and eating protein at every meal/snack. A serving of carbs is 15 grams. Foods fall into the following categories:

Milk/Yogurt
Starches (bread, pasta, potatoes, corn, beans, etc)
Fruit
Vegetables
Protein (meats, peanut butter, eggs, cheese, etc)
Fats

The first three categories comprise "carbs". But all carbs are not created equal. Before noon, I cannot have anything from the Milk or Fruit categories. Apparently this has to do with how pregnancy hormones affect you in the AM. I guess they supress insulin's effectiveness more in the morning, making glucose spikes more common. (Your body treats lactose in milk and fructose in fruit the same as any kind of sugar.)

I need to eat 3 meals and 3 snacks a day, spaced out 2-3 hours apart. The guidelines are as follows:

Breakfast
15 g of carbs (from the Starch group only)
1-2 servings of vegetables
1-2 oz of protein
1-2 servings of fats

Example: 1/2 english muffin with egg and melted cheese and tomato, coffee with cream (cream is a fat - there are no carbs in cream, so cream is OK in coffee while milk in the AM is not allowed).

AM Snack
15 g of carbs (from Starch group only)
1 oz protein

Example: slice of whole wheat toast with peanut butter

Lunch
45 g of carbs (3 servings from at least 2 of the carb categories)
1-2+ servings of vegetables
3 oz of protein
1-2 servings of fats

Afternoon Snack
30 g of carbs (2 servings from the carb categories)
1 oz protein

Dinner
45 g of carbs (3 servings from at least 2 of the carb categories)
1-2+ servings of vegetables
3 oz of protein
1-2 servings of fats

Bedtime Snack
30 g of carbs (2 servings from the carb categories)
1 oz protein

In addition to the individual meal guidelines, I am not supposed to have more than 2 servings of fruit a day or more than 3 servings of milk/yogurt. Also, no more than 2 portions of starch at lunch or dinner or more than one portion for snack.

The following are forbidden altogether:
Fruit juice and all sweetened drinks (i.e. soda, lemonade, etc)
Sugar, honey, jam, jelly, pie, cake, etc

Artificial sweeteners are allowed (no more than 3 servings a day), but I don't like them anyway.

Oh, there are also some "free" foods. These are foods where one serving is less than 20 calories and less than 5g total carbs so you don't have to worry about them. They include:

bouillon
broth
cilantro & parsley & herbs
decaf coffee and tea
garlic
lettuce
lemon
mustard
salsa
soy sauce
vinegar
diet soda, sugar free gelatin, sugar free drink mix

Nothing you can really fill up on.

I asked the dietician what would be the best way to deal with cheating - knowing that at some point I'll have to have a cookie or birthday cake. I wanted to know if it was better to do it after eating a lot of protein or something. She said to walk. Walking right after eating helps with glucose absorbtion. I'm supposed to walk 10-20 minutes after each meal, before checking my blood sugar anyway. Maybe a longer walk is warranted if I eat some ice cream with dinner.

Diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes

After failing my 1 hour glucose tolerance test at 24 weeks, I had to schedule a fasting 3 hour glucose test. I'm 35 and have a family history of Type II diabetes and gestatinal diabetes (my sister had it and my mom believes she had an undiagnosed case when she was pregnant with me). The 3 hour test was miserable, but I got through it.


When my OB called later that afternoon, I knew it wasn't good news. He told me my fasting level was fine, but 3 of the other tests were elevated, although 2 were only slightly so. He said it was a mild case which he thought I could easily control it through diet. He enrolled me in the medical group's gestational diabetes program and said someone would call with details. There was a class to attend, then follow up sessions, and of course monitoring my blood sugar with a glucose monitor.


I searched online for sample GD diets so I could start to watch what I eat before the first class. I could only find a few, and the ones I found contradicted what my sister had told me about her diet. They even included 100% juice with breakfast, when I have since learned that any juice is a no-no, not just at breakfast.


I've been following the dietary restrictions I was given by the dietician on Monday and have been able to keep my glucose levels in check. The first day was the worst. I felt weak and tired all morning and depressed that I would have to forgo all sweets for 3 months. But each day is easier. I decided to record my meals and corresponding blood sugar levels online as a resource for others diagnosed with gestational diabetes and looking for meal ideas.