Just diagnosed with gestational diabetes can anyone help me please?

[plasticstarsxx]

Hi all, I was diagnosed yesterday at 32 weeks pregnant. I am not seeing the diabetes team until tuesday.

I am just at a bit of a wits end at what to eat and worrying about baby.

Does this seem about right?

Breakfast:
2 oatabix
skimmed milk
handful of raisins

Lunch:
2 slices of wholemeal (wholegrain) toast
2 hard boiled eggs
2 rashers of bacon
low fat spreat
10 mini tomoatoes (fried in a little extra virgin oil)

Dinner:
Wholemeal pasta
pesto
mushroom
tomato
feta cheese on top

snacks:
- Black pepper and sea salt oat cakes
- clemetines
- Oranges
- carrot and pepper slices with hummous

Other than that i have no idea what to eat or even if this is correct, anyone?

thanks

 

[Northerner]

Hi plasticstarsxx, welcome to the forum 🙂 Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. Have you been put on any medication, or are you just managing with diet?

What you have described sounds pretty good overall to me - the only thing I would leave out are the raisins as these are relatively high sugar. If you want a bit of fruit then berries would be a better option. Not too sure about the oatibix either - many people find that, although otherwise healthy, they can impact their blood sugar levels quite a bit. Do you like porridge? The proper stuff, that is, not the instant type. This is lower GI (Glycaemic Index) than cereals so has a steadier release of energy as it digests. Burgen Soya and Linseed bread is better than ordinary wholemeal, and is very tasty too!

You might be interested in getting hold of a copy of The GL Diet for Dummies which describes a method of combining foods that will have a slow and steady release of energy and therefore better for your blood sugar levels 🙂

I hope everything goes well for you, please ask if you have any other questions! 🙂

 

[plasticstarsxx]

thanks for your fast reply 🙂

I am just diet managed unless they deem i need meds on tuesday
I do like porridge, the only issue I have is that i have to get breakfast quite fast in the morning as i have to get to work (not on maternity leave yet)

i am very used to having things like sugary cereal for breakfast im a bit arghhhh about what to eat lol

 

[Northerner]

thanks for your fast reply 🙂

I am just diet managed unless they deem i need meds on tuesday
I do like porridge, the only issue I have is that i have to get breakfast quite fast in the morning as i have to get to work (not on maternity leave yet)

i am very used to having things like sugary cereal for breakfast im a bit arghhhh about what to eat lol

Have you been giving a blood testing meter? Ideally, you should test before and one or two hours after your meal to see if it is something your can tolerate well or if it's something you need to ditch - at least for now until baby is born. A lot of people have problems with cereals in the morning as they are relatively high carbohydrate and mornings tend to be the time of day when most people are more insulin resistant, meaning it is harder for your body to keep your blood sugar levels within normal range.

Have a look through the following, you might find some suggestions:

http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=29864

 

[plasticstarsxx]

il be getting my meter on tuesday

 

[Northerner]

il be getting my meter on tuesday

Ah, that's good news 🙂

 

[trophywench]

Thing is at this stage of pregnancy, diabetic mums need shedloads of food of all sorts and usually, comparatively high amounts of insulin to cope with em, bearing in mind the sheer amount of growth that your baby does in the second 20-ish weeks, esp at the end. (From the size of a jelly bean at 10 weeks to a fully grown human baby at 42 weeks.)

Between now and your appointment, if you start to feel nauseous and giddy after eating - or if you get an unquentiable thirst (eg drink a litre of liquid straight off and feel as thirsty after you've just drunk it as you did immediately before) please PLEASE ring the maternity unit or get to any doctor/A&E dept pronto. Those are both URGENT signals that your body's own insulin production simply isn't coping.

The fact they didn't wheel you immediately into the diabetes consultant's office indicates to me that it hasn't got desperate yet and they believe you should be OK next week, but if there is ANY doubt AT ALL in your mind, don't just leave it - check.

Personally I'd rather be told off for worrying over nothing, than let something go that I'm just not sure about.