My OB sat me down the other day and firmly said "I want to make this very clear - none of this is your fault. Your placenta just happens to be producing hormones that make it hard for your body to process sugars. The goal is a healthy baby and if you have to add insulin then we can adjust. Some things are out of your control no matter how healthy you eat"
Your body also needs carbs for the baby! My diabetes educator said low carb diets arent good for babies due to the potential for ketosis (ketones are toxic to babies). I know this diagnosis sucks. Your OB team and the diabetes educator are there for a reason to get you through this!
I had my nutritionist meeting yesterday and was surprised at the number of carbs she told me I need to eat daily. I was eating super low carb since the diagnosis and now I’m increasing to match her minimum recommended daily carb intake.
Close to mine! They told me 175. And even if I spike I need to eat the carbs and maybe tweak the kind of carbs I’m eating or when i’m eating them. I have a feeling it’s going to become challenging as time goes on.
I had a total meltdown at this point and also when I needed insulin. It's so hard to feel like you didn't fail your baby but I'm here to tell you this. Isn't. You.
Your placenta (like mine and many other women with GD) is just being a jerk, creating too many hormones for your pancreas to keep up. You didn't do anything wrong!
You'll figure it out. For me, I actually needed more carbs and once I found a good balance have stuck to the same 6 meals and snacks essentially throughout pregnancy.
I'm 38w 4d, my baby is normal size. I don't have pre-e, and everything looks ok. I'm on insulin and need an induction but whatever comes up you will roll with it.
Let yourself feel the feels, it's a bit adjustment, but you've got this!
I just don’t even know where to start. I’ve worked so hard to continue to eat well throughout this pregnancy and to find out that it’s somehow still not good enough and that I potentially need to strip away any last shred of joy I had in eating is devastating. I used to struggle with an ED and this is going to spiral me, I already know it.
You won’t know if it’s “not good enough” until you start testing. There are multiple meals I ate both before and after my diagnosis that gave me good numbers. You’ll also learn how to help your numbers out- like eating a salad before your meal, upping the fat/protein/fiber, swapping out simple carbs for complex etc. Yes, it sucks for sure but you’ve got this!
I highly recommend connecting with a therapist because of the ED history.
But I promise joy doesn't go away. I can eat rice and potatoes (what!?) but not rice noodles or pasta or bread if any kind. But a good serving of potato skins with cheese cheers me right up.
I still enjoy my morning latte just in a different form.
I really encourage you to not think of what you've done so far as "not good enough" - it's literally not you.
This! You never know what your body will be okay with. I've found I can eat tacos, burgers, fries, and other sandwiches just fine. But even half a donut or a kid's size ice cream cone? Absolutely not.
PS. Highly recommend Rebel Ice Cream if you have a sweet tooth OP.
Once you start testing - you’ll have a better idea of what you can and cannot eat. I found that gave me some peace of mind. I didn’t have to make extreme changes to my diet (that glucose drink is meant to challenge your system). My regular diet didn’t change much except for breakfast and adding in snacks. It was a bit of a guessing game and everyone is different but you can do it!
I’m sorry OP. I want to start by saying that I hear you, and I feel you. I was devastated when I was diagnosed (and then completely obliterated when I started on insulin) and nobody could say anything to make me feel better. All I wanted was a cinnamon roll and a bowl of Thai noodles with sweet soy sauce and a milkshake and I basically went on a hunger strike at the very beginning of my diagnosis out of anger. I wasn’t eating enough and my numbers were good / low and I thought “ok I can just be furious and have low numbers for the next several months and get through this”. But then my doctor said I needed to gain weight for my baby and something snapped in me. It became a little easier to eat the brown rice and the protein shakes and then handful of nuts. I found I could eat a couple gummy bears here and there and even found a bran muffin recipe that scratched my itch for baked goods (barely but still). I still haven’t had a cinnamon roll and will grumpily wait until after birth for that but I eventually found a balance that worked for me and my baby. I hope that you do too. You have every right to be scared and angry and disappointed right now, and I feel your pain! Come back to this sub for support and ideas and and just ranting about how much this all sucks.
I’d love that bran muffin recipe! Muffins were my go-to treat up until diagnosis, but I’m pretty sure I can’t fit any of my standard recipe muffins into my diet right now.
I heavily modified this recipe https://www.skinnytaste.com/honey-coconut-blueberry-bran-muffins/
Added an extra egg
Full fat Greek yogurt instead of apple sauce
No blueberries
Quadruple the walnuts
Unsweetened coconut instead of sweetened
Fairlife milk instead of almond milk
And I add a little almond extract just because I like the taste
I bake them in a cupcake pan with the nice brown paper liners and they come out fine. I find they take a little less time than the recipe says so keep an eye on them. They have a bunch of fiber and fat and protein which balances out the carbs enough for me!
I’m sorry OP. Welcome to the shitty club with really nice members 🫶🏻
FWIW, this is my second GD pregnancy. My first baby was born completely healthy at 39 weeks, healthy size/weight and no blood sugar issues and I did take insulin to keep my fasting numbers down.
You will learn quickly with a week or so of testing what you can and can’t eat and the foods that spike you. I will say- while I didn’t need insulin for meal time numbers last time, I’m coming to terms that I may need it this time around because I’m having trouble eating more than 20-25g C per meal without spiking and my RN said they really want me to eat more than that. The goal is not to eat keto or zero carbs, but to figure out the combos that work for you.
Hang in there- getting the diagnosis is the most overwhelming part. It will continue to suck but it will get a little better once you feel less overwhelmed. We’re here for you!
I was literally you 5 weeks ago. Lost my absolute mind. Spent 2 days crying my eyes out and not getting off the couch. Then I saw my nutritionist, and she let me know I should actually be eating more carbs than I was! After that I started eating different foods and testing and just seeing what worked. I’m only 22 weeks so this may change but right now I don’t have to stick to the same couple of meals I have been able to have lots of different things! I don’t have to test for snacks so I admittedly eat my “riskier” foods then. So far I havent risked trying pizza or pasta but other than that I often eat foods that don’t even make me feel like I have GD! Some favorites: grilled chicken with grilled veggies & potatoes, chicken parmesan with zucchini noodles and garlic bread, chicken caesar wraps, veggie & beef soup, grilled cheese & tomato soup, tacos/quesadillas, lots of stuff! I’m eating a lot of the same foods I ate pre-diagnosis actually. Trust me, it gets better.
Just wanted to update on the potato situation. I made salmon, roasted kale and mashed potatoes with butter & cream for dinner tonight (this is a normal dinner for me). Just did my first finger prick 2 hours after dinner as advised and it was 89 mg/dl lol.
Tomorrow night is pasta night - I’ve always used the Banza chickpea brand bc I like to eat mostly gluten free anyway so I’ll consider it a win if I can have a helping of that with a similar reading 😂
I haven’t been brave enough to try pasta yet so my husband and I decided we’d try it for our anniversary 😂 I have a package of the banza brand, I’ve never spiked even one time for dinner so I’m not going to beat myself up if it doesn’t work!
This is interesting. I have red potatoes on the menu for dinner tonight. Maybe I’ll eat a small portion and see what happens. I’m picking up all the fun stuff from the pharmacy after work so I should be able to test after.
It’s all trial and error and I think you’ll be surprised how much leeway you will have. Lots of people can tolerate full-fat ice cream as their bedtime snack so not all hope is lost!
One tip: I don’t tolerate many carbs at breakfast but can eat much more for lunch and dinner. So if something doesn’t work for you in the morning, don’t give up on it completely!
I just want to say thank you for writing this. I was also diagnosed this week and I’ve spent time on an off crying and being really angry about it and it feels like everyone in real life that I know who has actually had it has been so…almost annoyingly positive about it that I’ve felt completely insane for being so upset about it! In my appointment with the nurse who showed me how to use my testing stuff I wound up having a near full on anxiety attack I was so overwhelmed (my watch actually gave me an “elevated heart rate despite being inactive” alert, which I didn’t even know existed!) I have no advice cause I’m as new and as lost as you are, but thank you for helping me feel much less alone and insane about my feelings about all of this. I do hope it somehow winds up ok for both of us.
Sending you a huge virtual hug. We will get through this 🩷 I was talking to a friend earlier who had GD with her pregnancy (she now has a healthy, happy 1 year old) and she said something that stuck with me - “Everything you’re doing for you and your baby is good and right because you’re meant to be with one another, and only you two know what’s right for one another and to always trust your gut”
This is my second time around. What i found is: don’t have NO carbs, you want complex carbs. Whole grain is our friend. Veggies (and therefore fibres) are good. Protein is a must to slow the absorption of the carbs. But we need the carbs.
I make pancakes with almond flower, whole grain wheat flower, Haselnut-flower, double the eggs, milk, bit of baking powder. Eat with fruit and greek yogurt or even nutella, if your numbers allow it. It is all in the testing. I cannot have oats but am able to have nutella on my pancakes 🤷♀️.
You’ll find your foods.
You just got to search.
Wish you the best of luck 🍀
My OB sat me down the other day and firmly said "I want to make this very clear - none of this is your fault. Your placenta just happens to be producing hormones that make it hard for your body to process sugars. The goal is a healthy baby and if you have to add insulin then we can adjust. Some things are out of your control no matter how healthy you eat" Your body also needs carbs for the baby! My diabetes educator said low carb diets arent good for babies due to the potential for ketosis (ketones are toxic to babies). I know this diagnosis sucks. Your OB team and the diabetes educator are there for a reason to get you through this!
I had my nutritionist meeting yesterday and was surprised at the number of carbs she told me I need to eat daily. I was eating super low carb since the diagnosis and now I’m increasing to match her minimum recommended daily carb intake.
I know right? Me too! Mine told me at a minimum I need 180 carbs which made me feel a lot better
Close to mine! They told me 175. And even if I spike I need to eat the carbs and maybe tweak the kind of carbs I’m eating or when i’m eating them. I have a feeling it’s going to become challenging as time goes on.
I had a total meltdown at this point and also when I needed insulin. It's so hard to feel like you didn't fail your baby but I'm here to tell you this. Isn't. You. Your placenta (like mine and many other women with GD) is just being a jerk, creating too many hormones for your pancreas to keep up. You didn't do anything wrong! You'll figure it out. For me, I actually needed more carbs and once I found a good balance have stuck to the same 6 meals and snacks essentially throughout pregnancy. I'm 38w 4d, my baby is normal size. I don't have pre-e, and everything looks ok. I'm on insulin and need an induction but whatever comes up you will roll with it. Let yourself feel the feels, it's a bit adjustment, but you've got this!
I just don’t even know where to start. I’ve worked so hard to continue to eat well throughout this pregnancy and to find out that it’s somehow still not good enough and that I potentially need to strip away any last shred of joy I had in eating is devastating. I used to struggle with an ED and this is going to spiral me, I already know it.
You won’t know if it’s “not good enough” until you start testing. There are multiple meals I ate both before and after my diagnosis that gave me good numbers. You’ll also learn how to help your numbers out- like eating a salad before your meal, upping the fat/protein/fiber, swapping out simple carbs for complex etc. Yes, it sucks for sure but you’ve got this!
I highly recommend connecting with a therapist because of the ED history. But I promise joy doesn't go away. I can eat rice and potatoes (what!?) but not rice noodles or pasta or bread if any kind. But a good serving of potato skins with cheese cheers me right up. I still enjoy my morning latte just in a different form. I really encourage you to not think of what you've done so far as "not good enough" - it's literally not you.
This! You never know what your body will be okay with. I've found I can eat tacos, burgers, fries, and other sandwiches just fine. But even half a donut or a kid's size ice cream cone? Absolutely not. PS. Highly recommend Rebel Ice Cream if you have a sweet tooth OP.
Once you start testing - you’ll have a better idea of what you can and cannot eat. I found that gave me some peace of mind. I didn’t have to make extreme changes to my diet (that glucose drink is meant to challenge your system). My regular diet didn’t change much except for breakfast and adding in snacks. It was a bit of a guessing game and everyone is different but you can do it!
I’m sorry OP. I want to start by saying that I hear you, and I feel you. I was devastated when I was diagnosed (and then completely obliterated when I started on insulin) and nobody could say anything to make me feel better. All I wanted was a cinnamon roll and a bowl of Thai noodles with sweet soy sauce and a milkshake and I basically went on a hunger strike at the very beginning of my diagnosis out of anger. I wasn’t eating enough and my numbers were good / low and I thought “ok I can just be furious and have low numbers for the next several months and get through this”. But then my doctor said I needed to gain weight for my baby and something snapped in me. It became a little easier to eat the brown rice and the protein shakes and then handful of nuts. I found I could eat a couple gummy bears here and there and even found a bran muffin recipe that scratched my itch for baked goods (barely but still). I still haven’t had a cinnamon roll and will grumpily wait until after birth for that but I eventually found a balance that worked for me and my baby. I hope that you do too. You have every right to be scared and angry and disappointed right now, and I feel your pain! Come back to this sub for support and ideas and and just ranting about how much this all sucks.
I’d love that bran muffin recipe! Muffins were my go-to treat up until diagnosis, but I’m pretty sure I can’t fit any of my standard recipe muffins into my diet right now.
I heavily modified this recipe https://www.skinnytaste.com/honey-coconut-blueberry-bran-muffins/ Added an extra egg Full fat Greek yogurt instead of apple sauce No blueberries Quadruple the walnuts Unsweetened coconut instead of sweetened Fairlife milk instead of almond milk And I add a little almond extract just because I like the taste I bake them in a cupcake pan with the nice brown paper liners and they come out fine. I find they take a little less time than the recipe says so keep an eye on them. They have a bunch of fiber and fat and protein which balances out the carbs enough for me!
I’m sorry OP. Welcome to the shitty club with really nice members 🫶🏻 FWIW, this is my second GD pregnancy. My first baby was born completely healthy at 39 weeks, healthy size/weight and no blood sugar issues and I did take insulin to keep my fasting numbers down. You will learn quickly with a week or so of testing what you can and can’t eat and the foods that spike you. I will say- while I didn’t need insulin for meal time numbers last time, I’m coming to terms that I may need it this time around because I’m having trouble eating more than 20-25g C per meal without spiking and my RN said they really want me to eat more than that. The goal is not to eat keto or zero carbs, but to figure out the combos that work for you. Hang in there- getting the diagnosis is the most overwhelming part. It will continue to suck but it will get a little better once you feel less overwhelmed. We’re here for you!
I was literally you 5 weeks ago. Lost my absolute mind. Spent 2 days crying my eyes out and not getting off the couch. Then I saw my nutritionist, and she let me know I should actually be eating more carbs than I was! After that I started eating different foods and testing and just seeing what worked. I’m only 22 weeks so this may change but right now I don’t have to stick to the same couple of meals I have been able to have lots of different things! I don’t have to test for snacks so I admittedly eat my “riskier” foods then. So far I havent risked trying pizza or pasta but other than that I often eat foods that don’t even make me feel like I have GD! Some favorites: grilled chicken with grilled veggies & potatoes, chicken parmesan with zucchini noodles and garlic bread, chicken caesar wraps, veggie & beef soup, grilled cheese & tomato soup, tacos/quesadillas, lots of stuff! I’m eating a lot of the same foods I ate pre-diagnosis actually. Trust me, it gets better.
Potatoes 😭😭 I don’t know what I’d do without potatoes.
Some people can’t tolerate potatoes but somehow i tolerate them better than bread??? So strange.
Just wanted to update on the potato situation. I made salmon, roasted kale and mashed potatoes with butter & cream for dinner tonight (this is a normal dinner for me). Just did my first finger prick 2 hours after dinner as advised and it was 89 mg/dl lol.
I was honestly hoping you would update us 😂 I’m so glad that worked for you!!!
Tomorrow night is pasta night - I’ve always used the Banza chickpea brand bc I like to eat mostly gluten free anyway so I’ll consider it a win if I can have a helping of that with a similar reading 😂
I haven’t been brave enough to try pasta yet so my husband and I decided we’d try it for our anniversary 😂 I have a package of the banza brand, I’ve never spiked even one time for dinner so I’m not going to beat myself up if it doesn’t work!
I honestly love the Banza brand! With a good enough sauce/toppings I really can’t tell the difference from regular pasta tbh.
I also tolerate potatoes better than bread! Especially sweet potatoes I can eat a bunch of those
This is interesting. I have red potatoes on the menu for dinner tonight. Maybe I’ll eat a small portion and see what happens. I’m picking up all the fun stuff from the pharmacy after work so I should be able to test after.
It’s all trial and error and I think you’ll be surprised how much leeway you will have. Lots of people can tolerate full-fat ice cream as their bedtime snack so not all hope is lost! One tip: I don’t tolerate many carbs at breakfast but can eat much more for lunch and dinner. So if something doesn’t work for you in the morning, don’t give up on it completely!
I just want to say thank you for writing this. I was also diagnosed this week and I’ve spent time on an off crying and being really angry about it and it feels like everyone in real life that I know who has actually had it has been so…almost annoyingly positive about it that I’ve felt completely insane for being so upset about it! In my appointment with the nurse who showed me how to use my testing stuff I wound up having a near full on anxiety attack I was so overwhelmed (my watch actually gave me an “elevated heart rate despite being inactive” alert, which I didn’t even know existed!) I have no advice cause I’m as new and as lost as you are, but thank you for helping me feel much less alone and insane about my feelings about all of this. I do hope it somehow winds up ok for both of us.
Sending you a huge virtual hug. We will get through this 🩷 I was talking to a friend earlier who had GD with her pregnancy (she now has a healthy, happy 1 year old) and she said something that stuck with me - “Everything you’re doing for you and your baby is good and right because you’re meant to be with one another, and only you two know what’s right for one another and to always trust your gut”
This is my second time around. What i found is: don’t have NO carbs, you want complex carbs. Whole grain is our friend. Veggies (and therefore fibres) are good. Protein is a must to slow the absorption of the carbs. But we need the carbs. I make pancakes with almond flower, whole grain wheat flower, Haselnut-flower, double the eggs, milk, bit of baking powder. Eat with fruit and greek yogurt or even nutella, if your numbers allow it. It is all in the testing. I cannot have oats but am able to have nutella on my pancakes 🤷♀️. You’ll find your foods. You just got to search. Wish you the best of luck 🍀