Gestational Diabetes - Menu Ideas

Hi I was diagnosed with GD when I was pregnant with my 2 year old girl. Being that I was working and had two chldren under the age of 4 and a husband with similar schedule, it was clear that I was going to look for prepared meals. Although expensive, I was on Seattle Sutton for a few months. We were both healthy and continue to be. If you opt to order it for shorter period and follow their diet ideas.

Wish you the best and congrats!

Congrats on your pregnancy! So sorry this has happened to you. I'd suggest you check out the cookbook section of your library, South Beach Diet has some great cookbooks for low-carb living. Be careful not to eat too much fruit, even natural sugars add up. Little things we'd not think of can add to that, ketchup (or catsup whatever you call it lol), syrup, drinks, etc.

I highly recommend Saving Dinner the Low Carb Way, a cookbook by Leanne Eli. It's great, particularly for moms, because it has a menu for a week, shopping lists & even suggestions for side dishes. They're categorized by season so you can go by what is in season and are pretty tasty and definitely healthy as she's a nutritionist. You can find it at her website: www.savingdinner.com or amazon.

Good luck!
D.

Try to relax, GD can be a wake-up call for eating better and exercising more, but is very common in pregnancy, even with people who do eat and exercise well, and doesn't have to be a big deal. Just follow a regular diabetic diet, there are lots of resources out there for menus. Eating three small meals and three snacks is a great way to eat. You should be fine after the baby is born.

Hi M. S!

If you google search "paleo recipes" you'll find a whole bunch of recipes that won't have a negative impact on your insulin levels. Here's a sample of what you could eat in a day:

Breakfast:
3 eggs (any way you like 'em)
4 slices of bacon
1 cup of blueberries or other berry

Lunch:
Big Salad with a chicken breast on it, avocado, tomato, black olives, and some oil & balsamic vinegar for your dressing

Dinner:
Meatloaf - as much as you want
Asparagus - as much as you want

Almond butter is good for snacking on; have it by the spoonful along with a piece of fruit as a snack. Raw nut are a great snack too!

Hopefully that helps. I'm glad to hear you're making efforts to change your diet. It can be tough at first, but I think you agree that it's worth the sacrifice to keep yourself and your baby healthy.

Hi I had GD. It was diet controlled and I had to stick myself three times a day to check my levels. That was the worse part for me. Basically the idea was little to no carbs and no sugar. I ate three meals and three snacks a day. They were small servings but I actually felt like I was eating too much! I would be like, geez it's time for a snack already? lol My blood sugar was always the highest in the morning but if I ate my snack right before I went to bed, I would have a normal reading in the morning.

Here's a sample of what I would eat:
Breakfast: 1 egg, 1 slice of low carb bread with a little butter, and a small piece of fruit.
Snack: cubes of cheese with a small piece of fruit or veggie
Lunch: grilled chicken with veggies and maybe a little pasta
Snack: a sugar free jello chocolate pudding cup (those saved me!)
Dinner: Another grilled meat - steak, pork chop, chicken with veggies or a salad and a small serving of mashed potatoes or rice
Snack: about 5 wheat thins crackers, 5 cubes of cheese and about 12 grapes.
Don't starve yourself, if your hungry eat a piece of meat or cheese or low carb veggies.

You'll get a list from the nutritionist of what fruits and veggies are high in carbs. Corn was the big one. The ones that are no carb, you can eat as much as you want! Also your diet will say maybe 3 or 4 oz servings of meat but I would eat a whole chicken breast and be fine. You can experiment with different amounts and see what raises your sugar and what doesn't.
I have a sweet tooth so I would eat the sugar free jello cups and once in a while eat a small piece of sugar free apple pie from Baker's Square or a couple of sugar free cookies or frozen yogurt. You just have to read every label and not over do it. Oh and I think Splenda was OK but the other artificial sweeteners like sweet n low, were not.
And the cool thing was, I would go in for my Dr.'s appointments and sometimes I would weigh the same. But what was happening was I was losing weight and the baby was getting bigger. I gained 19 pounds during my pregnancy and my daughter was born 6 pounds 8 oz and she was perfect!

After I gave birth I ate normally and the GD was gone. But now we have a higher risk of developing diabetes so if you're overweight, like me, losing weight is the best thing to lower your risk.
I know it's scary but if you stick to the diet and monitor your blood sugar you'll be fine. If you don't control it with diet they will make you do the insulin shots. I wanted no part of that so I watched myself carefully. Search online for a GD diet to do until you see the nutrtionist.
Exercise helps too. Just light exercise like walking and get a pregnancy yoga DVD. That helps ease the stress too. Good luck! If you have any more questions you can send me a message.

I have GD right now as well. my dietician has me on 60-75 carbs per meal and then 20 carbs for a snack (but i usually sneak in 30 bc that's what i was allowed my 1st preg.) Breakfast will usually consist of eggs/eggs beaters with cheese and chicken sausage or yogurt. lunch and dinners---i always start my meal with a big salad, plenty of veggies, sometimes i'll eat a small bread roll or parmesan crisp. you can usually eat any kind of dressing, but stay away from thousand island/french. and then i'll do sandwiches (just regular white or wheat bread) and pile on the meat and condiments and cheese and eat with a lunch bag size chips, or grill a meat with a few oven baked fries or small potato. my snacks range from a starbucks soy latte with a small bag of animal crackers, or laughing cow cheese on crackers, granola bars. i usually avoid fruit bc of the sugar content, but in small amounts its probably ok.
and truth be told, very occasionally after eating all the safe stuff, i will eat a "real" cookie (not the gluten free stuff) or take a couple bites of cake or have a piece of chocolate. and after birth, i ate absolutely anything and everything i wanted. i'm compiling a list right now of what i want after birth.
good luck!

I didn't have GD, but wad diagnosed with type 1 diabetes about 8 months before I got pregnant so was still in the learning phase of eating especially as pregnancy adds a stress to your body and consequently increases blood sugar. I found low carb bread at Meijer called Aunt Millie's Light - it's only 5 - 6 carbs per slice - many others are 15, 20 or more a slice. When you see the carb count you subtract the fiber to get the net carb.Sometimes quantity is good. Nuts are a good snack and cottage cheese is a good source of protein without too many carbs. Blue bunny yogurt and activia light are both good low carb yogurts. 1/2 cup of pasta is a 15g serving and 1/3 of a cup of rice. You want to aim for no more than 45 - 60 carbs at a meal. You want to try to have the slower digesting more complex carbs like beans. Good luck

Good luck