Pregnancy and Diet

lauchu1

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this thing and the reason why I joined is so I can track my pregnancy diet. I am currently at 26-27 weeks pregnant and my OBGYN noticed that my sugar levels have elevated. I think this was caused by a mixture of a few factors: a sugary diet before my sugar test, my recent trip abroad, and a history of diabetes on my mother's side.

I want to lower my sugar and sodium levels without risking anything big for the baby. My other challenge is not eating enough vegetables. I'm not to fond of eating them entirely (maybe it's because of texture and flavor) but I want to eat more of it.

Any tips for eating more vegetables and ideas for low-sugary/sodium diets?

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lauchu1

Well I do want to keep my sodium levels at bay since it’s one of the main causes of pregnancy swelling

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brw828

I would suggest smoothies to get in more veggies. Drinking your vegetables might be easier for you if you don't really love them to begin with. I have a green smoothie every morning and pack it with kale, spinach, frozen riced cauliflower, about a 1/2 cup of frozen mixed berries, and just some water for liquid. I used to add a splash of orange juice to add some sweetness, but I cut it out to reduce the sugar and now I'm used to the "green" taste. You can get 4 servings of vegetables in first thing in the morning and be off to a great start! There are a ton of great green smoothie recipes out there. Good luck with your pregnancy!

julie_broadhead

I was in a similar situation during my last pregnancy. My glucose test came back high and I chose to do two weeks of blood glucose monitoring instead of the really long glucola screening. Based on my blood sugar readings, I wasn't gestational diabetic but they put me on the diet as a precaution.

Does your OB want you on something close to a gestational diabetes diet? Controlling your blood sugar is about controlling your carbohydrate intake. I would highly recommend that you ask for a referral to a registered dietician and ask your doc about how you can control your blood sugar through diet and blood glucose monitoring.

My husband isn't fond of veggies so I hide them:-) Chili, pasta sauce, lasagna, and taco meat are my favorite hiding places. I would chose low carb pasta for now. My concern about the smoothie idea is that it could really spike your blood sugar. I also like hiding veggies in muffins:-) Here are some recipies I really like:
https://amyshealthybaking.com/blog/2017/08/06/healthy-double-chocolate-zucchini-muffins/
https://amyshealthybaking.com/blog/2015/04/19/carrot-cake-bran-muffins/
The zucchini muffing recipe got my husband who absolutely hates zucchini to eat zucchini. As far as sodium is concerned, skipping or choosing low sodium pre packaged food will lower your sodium intake significantly. By the way both of those muffin recipes are low sugar. Good luck and congrats on your baby!

shaumom

smoothies help me get more veggies too.

HOWEVER - they can be problematic during pregnancy if you do it wrong. Many vegetables have some components that, while okay in the amount we would usually eat, may be present in too high levels if we make a smoothie using more than we usually would eat. You run into this when making your own baby food, too, actually, where some veggies are not recommended for the exact same reason.

So if you DO make any smoothies, just make sure not to add any more veggies than you'd eat in a sitting at a meal, normally, you know what I mean?

Adding in veggies that are shredded fine and added to any foods that are mixed up helps, too. Like, I grate yellow squash or zucchini and add it to ground meat. It is pretty much tasteless but adds some juiciness.

concordancia

Have you ever tried roasting your veggies? I find that often even veggie resistent kids can enjoy roasted cauliflower or asparagus or green beans.

My husband eats a salad every day. For a few years, it was spring mix, but now it is kale mix. I cannot eat either every day, nor even more than a couple of times a week. Two days in a row and it just tastes like sadness. However, I recently learned that I can eat red cabbage more consistently than any other salad vegetable. You just need to keep trying new vegetables and new ways of preparing them until you find your thing.