Help! Gestational diabetes

Hi ladies,


Just got a call from my doctor that i failed my gestational diabetes test, normal is 8.1, i'm at 8.8. He seems not so worried yet, told me to go on a diet, avoid all sugar now. And maybe carbs later if it is still high on my next blood test.


Anyone had this? i'm so worried now, i'm at 31w. i'm not overweight, been trying to eat healthy stuff. Maybe it's the grape juice that i drink everyday, but it says no sugar added. Doc says to eat apple and orange only for my fruits avoid cherries, grapes, etc. I also put raisins in my quaker every morning.....what else can i eat and should avoid, any suggestions? thanks.

Grape juice, even with no sugar added is incredibly high in "natural" sugars. I would avoid juices in general, as they are easy to "swallow" and so you don't feel the effects of satisfaction as well.


Another thing that will help, if you can manage it, is 30 minutes of some sort of light exercise after meals. No matter how small, walking around the office, your desk will help metabolize the sugar in your system.


Gestational diabetes is not a matter of your weight - another friend of mine who started out her pregnancy very lean, and has only gained the minimum amount of weight is also going throught his in her 32nd week. Take it easy - see how it goes

I didn't have full-blown gestational diabetes but I was diagnosed with glucose intolerance in my 32nd week. The dietician put me on a diet of 1800 calories per day and made me cut out all the sugar from my diet. Like you, I was pretty shocked as I thought I had pretty healthy eating habits and hardly ever eat junk food, but once I started the diet, I noticed how much sugar I inadvertantly ate, mainly because I was chasing each meal with a piece of fruit. I had rasins and a piece of fruit in my muesli; a spoon of honey in my yoghurt; and i was drinking a lot of chocolate milk for calcium because I couldn't stomach just milk on it's own. Cutting out all of these things was TOUGH -- the first diet I have ever been on im my life! The good news is that risks to your baby are very slim if you manage to reduce your sugar intake. Gestational diabetes is very manageable. Cutting down on sugar also made me feel a whole lot better physically -- my arms and legs got slimmer, I had a lot more energy and after my baby was born, I could fit into my pre-preg. clothes within a week of giving birth!

I had GD for BOTH pregnancies. It's not your fault, and it's not your diet, and it's not anything you did to cause it. It's completely inherited. You definitely do have to watch what you eat, and I disagree on no carbs at all b/c I felt dizzy when I cut all the carbs.


The point is to eat slow absorbing sugars, and high fiber diet, and eat carbs like brown rice, or wild rice. No white starch.


Breakfast cereals and oatmeals are the fastest sugars for your blood.... DON'T eat those. The breakfast I had everyday was 2 eggs, and all the meat you want. Vegetables are unlimited too.

Watch your fruits, and no juices. I drank only Perrier and water. Also, many of the sauces/condiments for flavor are high in sugar. No ketchup. The portion of fruit you are allowed are very little.


My diet plan was: 6 meals a day. Breakfast-protein only, no milk. Just soy milk.

Then at 11:00am, a fruit like half a banana, half a apple OR 1 small orange. No grapes or cherries. they have very high sugars.

Lunch- 1 serving of carbs,( rice, 1 slice of bread, or a small bowl of pasta), all the vegetables you want, and protein. then afternoon snack, you can have popcorn (nonsweet), 2 crackers(soda biscuits), or a piece of fruit. Then Dinner, same rules. Then before sleeping, make sure you eat before your sleep or your sugars in the morning will be very high.

Drink lots of water, and exercise 20-30 minutes (brisk walking ) after each main meal.


I had to prick my finger 7 times a day, go to GD clinic in Canada every other day, and last month of my pregnancy, I had to inject insulin. Both pregnancies. Luckily, I am fine the moment the baby came out, and babies are both fine.


It DOES have to do with how much weight you put on during the pregnancy, and how fast, but not entirely due to this.


In HK, doctors seemed LESS experience with this, increasingly more aware, but definitely not like in N. America, where the support is much better and information is much better.


Buying insulin in HK was a pain, as the shelf life is short, most places didn't carry it.


If you want more information how to control GD, or you need someone to talk to, PM me, I know how frustrating it is. The Gd gets worse towards the end of your pregnancy b/c the hormones and placenta are bigger ... blocks off your insulin.

When I gave birth, I weighed 55kg. My before pregnancy weight was 44kg and I had mild gestational diabetes. I was told it is optional but I could see a dietitian to plan my diet. I did. Yes, I agree that it is completely hereditary. You can also do finger pricks daily to make sure that your diabetes is under control.

It usually disappears once you've delivered your baby.

Don't be too worried... a lot of people get them.

But make sure you change your diet. I made minor changes like eating brown bread rather than white bread, the dietitian said I could eat grapes but had to limit to 6-8? Wasn't too bad. A dietitian will try to modify your diet as little as possible but everything in controlled proportions.

I had a complicated pregnancy (placenta previa) and they kept me in hospital two weeks prior to my baby's birth. Controlled my diet until I got really hungry but they kept telling me it was adequate for me and my baby.

My meal plans were very similar to Kate's but takes into account my craving for Marmite! All meals have to be 2 hours after you finished your last meal.


Breakfast:


Boiled egg and a slice of toastwith Flora and Marmite (be sure to check sugar content in the bread you buy -- lots of breads in HK contain sugar)or a small bowl of Quaker's Oats porridge made with skim milk.


Mid-morning snack:


One slice of low fat, pasturized cheese with a pack of saltine crackers (check the labels for sugar content -- buy crackers with no sugar in them); Or a bag of snack-size Twiglets.


Lunch: Like Kate, one serving of protein, one of carbs and unlimited veggies. I ate a lot of Pret-a-Manger egg salad sandwichs and Tuna Nicoise Salads.


Mid-Afternoon Snack:


One piece of fruit. I stuck to apples and oranges, but I was told that if I wanted berries or grapes, that I could have 10 (!) small ones.


Dinner:


One serving of protein, one of carbs and unlimited veggies. This is actually a lot more versatile than it appears. I had no problems ordering when I was eating out. Just make sure you stay away from sugar-laden sauces like sweet and sour.


Evening snack:

Same as mid-morning snack.


You don't have so very long to stay on the wagon, so hang in there -- good luck!

THANK YOU so much for your replies, i'll follow your menu and suggestions. I realized that it must be the fruits that i eat, strawberry shakes with sweetened yoghurt, have to stick to natural one. And the dried raisins, apricots, figs, that i've been eating. I only eat brown rice and brown bread, so i thought everything is okay.


Like mayafox, this is the first diet in my life, it's not in my vocabulary as i'm a small frame. Not to mention that i'm not a meat eater, have to eat more protein.

You can also use the glycemic index. GI describes the difference between carbs by ranking them according to their effect on our blood glucose levels. You can choose low GI carbs that produce only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels.


This database of GI foods is part of the University of Sydney's Human Nutrition Unit:

http://www.glycemicindex.com/


For a bit of extra protein, you can add TVP (textured vegetable protein) to your diet. For 120 calories you get 21g of protein and hardly any fat. Get the unflavoured as it doesn't have oil added.

You can try this one, ZSweet 100% Natural ZERO Sweeteners. Recently I found it in HK from importer Wholesome Living www.wholesome-living.com. I bought one for my relatives who got gestational diabetes. This product doesn't not affect blood sugar level i.e. ZERO GI. It is all natural and can heated without and metallic aftertaste.......Cheers...

Hi, it may be worth getting your vitamin D levels checked. The following information is from the Vitamin D Council website.

Pregnancy and gestational vitamin D deficiency


In the last 3 years, an increasing amount of research suggests that some of the damage done by Vitamin D deficiency is done in-utero, while the fetus is developing. Much of that damage may be permanent, that is, it can not be fully reversed by taking Vitamin D after birth. This research indicates Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy endangers the mother's life and health, and is the origin for a host of future perils for the child, especially for the child's brain and immune system. Some of the damage done by maternal Vitamin D deficiency may not show up for 30 years. Let's start with the mother.



Incidence of Gestational Vitamin D Deficiency



Dr. Joyce Lee and her colleagues at the University of Michigan studied 40 pregnant women, the majority taking prenatal vitamins. Only two had blood levels >50 ng/mL and only three had levels >40 ng/mL. That is, 37 of 40 pregnant women had levels below 40 ng/mL, and the majority had levels below 20 ng/mL. More than 25% had levels below 10 ng/mL.


Dr. Lisa Bodnar, a prolific Vitamin D researcher, and her colleagues at the University of Pittsburg studied 400 pregnant Pennsylvania women; 63% had levels below 30 ng/mL and 44% of the black women in the study had levels below 15 ng/mL. Prenatal vitamins had little effect on the incidence of deficiency.


Dr. Dijkstra and colleagues studied 70 pregnant women in the Netherlands, none had levels above 40 ng/mL and 50% had levels below 10 ng/mL. Again, prenatal vitamins appeared to have little effect on 25(OH)D levels, as you might expect since prenatal vitamins only contain 400 IU of Vitamin D.


Thus, more than 95% of pregnant women have 25(OH)D levels below 50 ng/mL, the level that may indicate chronic substrate starvation. That is, they are using up any Vitamin D they have very quickly and do not have enough to store for future use. Pretty scary.



Effects on the Mother



Caesarean section



The rate of Caesarean section in American women has increased from 5% in 1970 to 30% today. Dr. Anne Merewood and her colleagues at Boston University School of Medicine found women with levels below 15 ng/mL were four times more likely to have a Cesarean section than were women with higher levels. Among the few women with levels above 50 ng/mL, the Caesarean section rate was the same as it was in 1970, about 5%.


Pregnant and lactating women are advised to take 5000iu's per day, although if your vitamin D levels are very low you will need higher levels for a time.