Gestational Diabetes--help with food ideas?

[BeachBum]

I'm 30 weeks pregnant with twins and was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. My OB gave me a hand out and sent me on my merry way to be tested again in a week. :rolleyes:
I'm testing my blood sugar 4x per day and eating off of the 2200 calorie American Diabetes Association exchange diet program.

So for lunch (and dinner) for example my chart says:
3 meat/ protein (3 oz)
2 starch
1 veggie (1/2 c cooked or 1 c raw)
1 fruit
2 fats
free food (salad)

I'm having a hard time coming up with recipes that work. I mean eating 3 oz of roasted chicken or pork, with a side of green beans, and rice is going to get old really fast.
I need flavor! I need combos! and if that weren't bad enough I need something my husband can cook because I'm on modified bed rest.

Can anyone help?

[wallycat]

I would use the low glycemic or South Beach recipes.
Most of them would fit the bill.
Are you on insulin at this point or just watching your meals?

[pharmarepgirl]

check your PM's.;)

[Home Chef]

You might want to try the magazine Light and Tasty, it gives exchanges. A friend used it when she was pregnant and liked it.

[BeachBum]

I would use the low glycemic or South Beach recipes.
Most of them would fit the bill.
Are you on insulin at this point or just watching your meals?

At this point just watching my meals. Then we will re-evaluate on Wed to see if I need to be on insulin.
I just feel pretty annoyed with my Dr. because while we obviously want to get it under control--fast-- but everyone's body works a little differently and I would really like to get this solved with diet alone. I'm surprised I wasn't referred to a nutritionist/ dietition to help me find my "trigger" foods this week and give me more info than what his hand out provided.

Will do pharmarepgirl :)
and thanks for the idea Home Chef.

[katygirl]

Been there done that! I didn't have to go the insulin route, I just religiously checked my levels and learned what I could or couldn't eat. As Ana mentioned (and she is my go-to girl when it comes to medical questions! :)) I would stick to South Beach type recipes. I just really really really low-carbed it and it worked for me. I ate a LOT of eggs, a lot of meat, low carb bread and made sure if I did have bread, even if it WAS low carb I paired it was a protein like peanut butter or chicken or beef. My pizza place does a syrian bread pizza, and I found eating one with hamburger didn't negatively effect my numbers. For breakfast I Bran Flakes did the trick and filled me up too. Cheese sticks are a great snack and again, kept my numbers low. Chicken Parmsean was a "treat" that didn't raise my sugar at all. The little bit of bread coating was fine and I would order it with a steamed veggie instead of a pasta side dish.

I am a carb lover, so it wasn't easy for me, but knowing I was keeping my little one safe in me made it easier.

Let me know if you need more food ideas, I'll keep thinking for you!

[lbd]

Different practices handle GD different ways. I had it for both of my pregnancies. The first time I was referred to an endocrinologist who did all the monitoring (mainly the "diabetes educator" nurse); the 2nd time (different OB) I saw a nutritionist at the very beginning but then the OB's office monitored my sugars.

Did your OB tell you to keep track of what you ate? Figuring out your problem foods is very hit-or-miss so having several days' record of foods you ate will be really helpful in evaluating your glucose scores. If you do get referred to a nutritionist, that's likely to be the first thing they ask you to do. Even if you don't, it should be useful for your own tracking. I kept a detailed food diary throughout the first but only the beginning of the second.

Hopefully you'll be able to control it with diet alone but if you do need insulin, it's not the end of the world. And hey, you've only got maybe ten weeks to go. Good luck!

[LHBryan]

Hi BeachBum,

Congrats on the twins! Sorry about the GD diagnosis. I had GD while pregnant with DD. If I had to pick a complication, this would definitely be it, but it was still very frustrating. I'm surprised your OB didn't refer you to a nutritionist. My nutritionist helped me w/ understanding portions, meal plans, timing of meals and snacks, and menu ideas when I was in a rut. Thankfully, I was able to control it through diet and had no complications. As others have said, it's important to find out problem areas/times of day/trigger foods, so a food journal would help. I kept a food journal for about 14 weeks and would be happy to PM you some sample days from my journal to give you ideas. When are you testing?

Yes, it was a lot of grilled chicken or pork w/ a whole grain carb (or we did roasted sweet potato wedges or roasted red potatoes a lot) and veg, but I did try to mix it up a bit. Food pairings are really important, mainly balancing carbs and fruit (natural sugars) with protein, and also eating small, frequent meals and snacks. If I remember correctly, I could eat a combo food (pasta dish, medium slice of pizza, etc.) for dinner as long as I regarded it as a component of the meal rather than as a main dish. Not necessarily as small as a normal side dish, but definitely not as big a portion as pre-GD.:o For example, a slice of pizza w/ a big spinach salad and a small dish of pineapple. Since I was feeling sorry for myself about limiting carbs and sweets--and since I was trying to up the protein in my diet--I'd up the "goodies" in my salads by adding yummy cheeses, nuts, and a few bacon crumbles. One night we'd grill chicken (try to get your flavor fixes through your marinades or rubs), then use leftovers the next night for a big grilled chicken salad w/ avocado, more yummy cheeses, nuts, roasted red peppers, balsamic vinegar, etc. Just make sure you find (or make) a salad dressing that's low in sugar. I think we also did quessadillas w/ low-carb whole wheat tortillas and loaded them up w/ filling b/c that's very diabetes friendly (onions, peppers, cheese, meat, spinach) and then a side of black beans. Same goes for the occasional stir fry--heavy on the veg and meat and lower on the brown rice and sauce (if it's sugary). If you eat red meat, you could also do a more upscale meal w/ a good, small steak w/ gorgonzola sauce, a few garlic roasted red potatoes, and roasted asparagus or salad.

For lunches I'd often toast a slice of whole wheat bread (or use a low-carb wrap), then use it for an open-faced sandwich with: cheese and a veggie burger, ham and cheese, turkey and cheese, hummous and veggies, basic tuna salad (sometimes w/ chickpeas and lemon juice added), chicken salad, etc. I'd then add another veg and fruit or milk. My nutrionist had me eating 6 times/day--6ish breakfast, 10ish snack, noon lunch, 3ish snack, 6ish dinner, bedtime snack. Morning snack was often fruit (pear or 1/2 a banana) w/ peanut butter and milk, and afternoon snack was often Dannon light and fit vanilla yogurt (w/ Splenda) with berries and almonds. I think my bedtime snack was usually 2 graham cracker sheets w/ peanut butter and milk.

I'm not sure how your body handles GD, but I had lots of issues in the morning (not uncommon). I couldn't eat cold cereal or my #s would be sky high. I could eat a small bowl of oatmeal w/ cranberries, walnuts, milk, and splenda, but only if I exercised for 1/2 an hour immediately after eating. Otherwise, breakfast needed more protein--an open-faced breakfast sandwich w/ whole wheat toast topped with a slice of cheddar, an egg, and sometimes turkey bacon or a Boca breakfast link on the side. Oh, and if my timing of meals and snacks were off (i.e. an 8pm dinner), then it strangely wreaked havoc on my numbers.

I hope I haven't made this sound too complicated. Once you get into a system that works for you, you can almost instantly look at your plate and determine what it needs to be more GD friendly. On a positive note, both DH and I felt terrific eating this way. All of my heartburn issues and aching vanished. DH often says he never felt better than when we were eating this way and actually requests that we get back into it. That was much easier for me when I was looking out for DD in the womb!:rolleyes: I'm such a carb addict!

OK, sorry for the dissertation, but I hope this helps!

-Laura