Have you talked to a dietician??

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I had GD with my first pregnancy, was put on medication and gained like 60 lbs in the process. I'm hoping to not do a repeat with this one so my OB had me talk to a dietician to get things started on the right foot. My appointment was Tuesday and quite frankly I didn't agree with what she told me. She gave me guidelines for breakfast and lunch/dinner.

For breakfast I'm supposed to stick to:

1 serving of healthy carbs
1 serving of fruit
1 serving of protein

For protein I can choose 1 of the following:
1 egg
1 cup of milk
1 serving of cheese
1 serving of breakfast sausage
1 serving of yogurt

For lunch/dinner:
3-4 servings of carbs
1 serving of fruit
1 serving of protein

The serving of protein is the same as above but includes 4oz of some sort of meat

My argument is if I stick to eating egg and meat for protein where am I supposed to get my calcium??? I realize some veggies have calcium but I tried eating my carbs and protein for dinner and I was way too stuffed to eat any veggies.

She didn't tell me to eat any more food if I exercise and if I needed snacks to save my fruit for later. IDK the guidelines just seem weird to me. Right now just tracking what I eat, including 3-4 servings of milk/cheese/yogurt, I'm eating about 1700-2000 calories a day and i feel fine. I feel if I stick to her guidelines I'll be eating much less and will not be getting my calcium needs. I'm giving her guidelines a try for today to see how it pans out.

What do you think? Has anyone else talked to a dietician?

Replies

  • cmaxmor
    cmaxmor Posts: 231 Member
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    Hm. That just doesn't seem like enough to me. No calcium? Weird. I would contact my dr office and ask their opinion. I have been told to have several small meals throughout the day and eat when I'm hungry.
  • cmaxmor
    cmaxmor Posts: 231 Member
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    Also, 'if you need snacks'? She does know you are pregnant, right? Snacks should be a given. And fruit as a snack just sounds like a sugar spike and not very filling.
  • america_c
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    She does know you are pregnant, right?

    LOL I think so, I mean I told her exactly what I posted...gained 60 lbs with first pregnancy..want to avoid doing the same thing...had GD, want to keep it at bay....yadda yadda yadda.

    So it's 10 am, and I've eaten just under 300 calories and I've burned just over 300 and I'm hungry....so I'm kicking her guidelines to the curb and having me a snack dammit!
  • blink1021
    blink1021 Posts: 1,118 Member
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    I will be speaking to a dietician on Friday but from my research the guidelines seem accurate except that my doctor said to eat 6 small meals throughout the day and I choose to eat right now less protein and focus more on the cheese, milk and yogurt. I will report back what I find out from my and see if it differs. Although my doctor told me to skip the fruit at breakfast time and eat it later in the day because it can make your sugar spike in the morning also that the dietician he is sending me to follows a 2000 cal diet and I think that is a whole lot of food, plus I was told I could eat as much of the non starchy veges as I desired if I was hungry
  • america_c
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    I forgot to note, I guess I was too worked up about the protein/calcium thing, I was also told to eat unlimited veggies for lunch/dinner.
  • lilchino4af
    lilchino4af Posts: 1,292 Member
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    I would think you'd need lots of calcium to help the baby in forming his/her own bones because otherwise to get those nutrients they're going to be taken from you. I've heard that lack of calcium during pregnancy leads to dental issues and potential future osteoporsis (sp?). If you can't get enough calcium from foods, what about a calcium supplement?
  • Pepper2185
    Pepper2185 Posts: 994 Member
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    HI, I'm a fellow GD mom-to-be.

    My dietitian has me eating three meals a day, and three snacks.

    I'm getting my calcium from some of my protein sources - yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese, milk.

    She told me to start building each meal with a carb base (30g for breakfast and up to 60g for lunch and dinner). Then add enough protein to balance the carbs out. Veggies are unlimited as long as they aren't starchy.

    My snacks are supposed to be a good balance of carbs and protein, too (apple and peanut butter, cheese and crackers, almonds, cottage cheese).

    As long as I make good healthy choices, my calorie intake ends up being 2000 - 2200 per day. I'm not gaining extra weight and my sugar numbers are excellent.

    Wishing you lots of luck, figuring out how your body responds to sugar is really trial and error. And calcium is important!
  • america_c
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    I would think you'd need lots of calcium to help the baby in forming his/her own bones because otherwise to get those nutrients they're going to be taken from you. I've heard that lack of calcium during pregnancy leads to dental issues and potential future osteoporsis (sp?). If you can't get enough calcium from foods, what about a calcium supplement?

    Exactly! So I think milk/cheese/yogurt should be required and the meat optional or 2nd choice for protein...no?
  • blink1021
    blink1021 Posts: 1,118 Member
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    checking back in after my visit with a dietician. This is what mine told me and you can go from there. I hope it helps. I was told to follow a 2000-2200 cal diet. Now that to me is a ton of food. I was told if I couldn't eat that much not to worry but it is allowed.

    I was told to eat 15 carb choices, 8-10 meat choices (includes cheese and eggs) and 7-9 fat choices per day.

    Have to be careful because milk is considered a carb so you have to include it as your carb choice. In fact my dietician told me to drink a glass at lunch and dinner (depending on the fat content of your milk depends on how much you can drink).

    That breaks down to at breakfast 2 carbs, 0-1 meat and 2 fat choices
    lunch 3 carbs, 3 meats and 2 fat choices
    dinner 3 carb, 5 meats and 2 fat choices.
    3 snacks / snack 1 2 carb choices and 1 fat
    snack 2 - 2-3carb and 1-2 meat
    snack 3 - 2 carb and 2 fat.

    I was told absolutely no fruit or fruit juice for breakfast at all and to try to stay away from fruit juice and eat the fruit because fruit has higher fiber.

    for my morning snack I can easily have 8oz of skim milk to cover my carb choices and a small snack and in the afternoon I can have my fruit and cheese and crackers (for the 1-2 servings of meat).

    I hope this helps and you can easily get your calcium. I was upset by how much meat they wanted me to eat until I saw that I could eat other things to satisfy these meats instead of just beef, chicken, poultry and fish.

    I was even told that I didn't need to give up ice cream either just go to light ice cream lower the portion and it satisfies 2 of my carb requirements for the day.
  • Amanda421
    Amanda421 Posts: 261 Member
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    Hi. This is my 3rd preg and the 3rd time i have had GD. the guidlines given to me were along the lines of this:
    15-30 g (carbs) @breakfast
    15g snack
    45-60g lunch
    15g snack
    45-60g dinner.
    15 g snack

    i went 2 a class. they instructed us to count milk and yogurt as a carb not a protein. fruit was not unlimited. it was allowed but it had to fit your carb allotment. we were told to count 1 med sized piece of fruit as 15g/ 1 carb serving. they said always pair carbs w protein. so a little different as expected. as far as calcium- with this pregnancy i am taking a calcium chewable tablet, which was ok'ed by my ob doc. i take viactin calc. with d. good luck. i found as long as i ate with in the guidelines my blood sugars were controlled. they wanted <100 fasting and <120 2 hours af eating.