Managing Gestational Diabetes

Hi I had it with both my pregnancies. Basically when she said stop eating sugar she meant brownies and crap like that lol. You are basically going to start counting carbs at each meal now now instead of calories. For me I had goals of 30 carbs for breakfast 15 for snack 45 for lunch 15 for snack and 45 for dinner. You are going to want to try and make these carbs come from fruits and whole grains and a little dairy. Eat lots of protein and veggies to fill up. Everybody's body is different though and you may find you can or can't tolerate certain food depending on what your blood sugar does...I did fine with whole grain bread the first 5 weeks and then it started pushing my sugars too high so I stuck to fruit. I also would recommend Holly Cleggs Diabetic Cookbook. It is amazing! It save my life both pregnancies with trying to cook for a family and stay on track. I use it all the time even though I am no longer pregnant or diabetic. Hope that helps!

I had gestational diabetes with my 1st pregnancy, but not my second. The doctor monitored my weight gain closely (I only gained 15 pounds with that pregnancy). I did not have to change my diet, but was eating fairly healthy to begin with.
Because I was concerned about weight gain and having a huge baby, I was careful not to eat extra sweets etc.
I was induced on my due date and had an 8 lb 4oz healthy boy. My second pregnancy, I was induced 1 day after my due date and had another 8 lb 4 oz healthy boy.
Call their office if you have specific questions to be sure you know what the goal is.
Best of luck!

I also had it. Weird things that caused sugar spikes were cheese and bread together (seperate they were fine. But if I put cheese on my scrambled egg sandwich, I had a spike). I tried to eat veggies with every meal. I snacked two to three times per day, usually a half peanut butter sandwich or an ounce of cheese. My blood sugar wasn't diet controlled though. Doc put me on Glyburide after a month of my sugars being too high despite my best efforts. However, once I was on that, I was pretty stable. My baby wasn't even all that big, which I've heard is a possible complication

Edited to add: I also ate avocado a few times a week. My sugar would always be borderline high after, but I have gallstones and had to maintain a pretty low fat diet. Giving the baby good fats is important and that was one way I did it

I had it for both pregnancies, and was fortunate enough to have been able to control it by watching my diet. Seemed like I was testing constantly, but after a while I got used to it and it became reassuring when the ##s were in the right range. This was long enough ago that there was no resource like MFP to help!!

The most helpful practical advice I got from the nutritionist was to "give the sugar something to land on." (My sister got married that summer so there were lots of parties and goodies.) The idea is to digest the sugar over as long a time period as possible to avoid spikes/valleys, so if you combine it with protein/fiber that takes longer to digest you'll absorb the sugar more slowly. Obviously you won't want to be eating massive amounts of it anyway, but you may not have to give it up altogether. If you have an apple, put peanut butter on it or combine it with some cheese. I used to have a big glass of milk right before going somewhere that I wasn't sure I would have a lot of healthy options - don't know if it helped the sugar absorbtion per se, but at least when I arrived at a shower or a party I wasn't starving, so probably ate less anyway. As someone pointed out, you'll start to get a handle on what your particular foods are to avoid, based on your blood tests, and probably even be able to tell from the way your body feels whether you've overdone it a little. And when you meet with the nutritionist s/he will be able to help you with your choices - I remember being told to avoid watermelon and bananas if I wanted fruit and to pick an apple or berries with more fiber.

Good luck - however annoying this is for now, once that beautiful baby arrives it will have been worth every bit!

I've got gestational diabetes, and I'm 8 weeks up the duff. I am still waiting to be booked in to see the doctors at the hospital
( Public = long waiting!!). So my GP sent me off to get a glucometer straight away and urged me to go see a dietician, which helped ease my worrying. This is my 4th day testing my sugar levels, and they are all over the place. I found out fast that pasta is a huge no no! got a reading of 9.8 after that meal.
I have to test at waking ( fasting) and 2 hrs after every meal. My dietician said to move within that 2 hour period to help with my glucose levels. I havent told my workplace that I am pregnant yet, so I am ducking off to the toilet to do my exercises! LOL All I do is stand up, and sit down repeatingly for about 15 times, every now and then. It's really difficult for me, because I am soooooo tired all the time, it's hard to find any motivation to move my butt.

The thing that is confusing me is, do I not eat anything after my meal in that two hour frame while I wait to test?????