Gestational Diabetes - Downers Grove,IL

I had GD two years ago with my first and will be finding out within the next couple of weeks if I have with my second now. Everyone said it well. You need to do portion control and eat several smaller meals a day. It is a good diet to continue after you give birth as well. My little girl was born at 8lbs 5oz. I was told to expect a 10 lb baby. Boy were they off, lol. I had gained about 35 lbs with her and lost just about all of it after I gave birth to her. Like someone else said, it isn't the end of the world. I thought it was, and it wasn't.

I specialize in pre and postnatal health and wellness, nutrition, etc. Yes, you need to eat a balance of protein, carbs and fat at each meal. Eat within the first hour of waking and then eat every 2-3hrs after until bed. Good snack ideas is 2T of a nut butter with a piece of fruit, so almond butter and an apple, anything after 2T becomes a fat or goes in your fat category, same thing goes for hummus, so 2T of hummus with unlimited veggies as an afternoon snack is great. If you go onto the Bradley Method Birth website, they have a great ideas on what types of foods you need to eat, and there is a reason for it, it will give you all the vitamins and minerals you need for you and your baby. For example, they recommend you eat a baked potato at least twice per week, a baked potato has more potassium than a banana, more magnesium and 4g of fiber. If you add some salsa on it with 2T of avocado, you really do have the perfect snack, well balanced etc. If your dietitian gives you some boring ideas, feel free to email me. I have a list of snack and small meal ideas for you to use. Fun ones and ideal ones too.

Good Luck,
J. W. MPH
Wellness Educator and Lifestyle and Wellness Coach
Master Trainer with Healthy Moms(R) Fitness
www.healthymomsfitness.com

I had GD during my preg. This is what I ate
Breakfast: 1 serving each of protein, fruit, fat and starch

2 hours later: a serving of fruit (15g of carb)

lunch 3 serving of protein, 1 serving fruit, 2 servings of carbs and a couple of vegetables and 1 serving dairy

snack 2 hours after lunch serving of fruit, starch and protein

dinner 4 servings protein, 2 starch, 2 veggies, 1 fat, 1 dairy.

1 hour before bed 1 protein, 2 starches.

hope that helps and you can control it with the diet. Just keep telling yourself that you only have to wait until delivery day.

K.

No carbs or low carbs. Atkins had the best idea. My husband has diabetes. This works.

It all depends on your exact dietary needs, prescribed by your doctor that your dietician will follow. My plan was that I could eat no more than 45g of carbs at each meal and 30g at two snacks and fill the rest with vegetables and lean meats (be careful, though, some vegetables like corn and peas and potatoes are high in carbs). You can go on Kraft Foods.com and they have a meal planner for diabetes that I found helpful. Good luck, it seems scary now but once you get the hang of it, you'll find that there are plenty of foods that you can eat that you'll enjoy.

I had GD 13 years ago, its not that bad. I lost 20 pounds the last four months of my pregancy. My daughter was perfectly fine. My dietitian just asked what I eat regulary and then suggested how to change types, preperation of food and qty. I would suggest Weight Watches at this point before appt. It is balanced and get all required things needed. Good Luck J.

I had 2 pregnancies and had GD with the 2nd pregnancy. My 1st was born at 9 lbs 6 oz & my 2nd was 7 lbs 7 oz. I went one day early on my own with the 1st and was induced 2 weeks early with the 2nd. I ate a lot of salad ... (w/cheese, lunch meat, egg, carrots) I was borderline and almost had to self inject. For bread, I ate "healthy life" bread ... and I ate a lot of fruit and veggies ... watched carbs .... GOOD LUCK !! I know I thought it was the end of the world when I was diagnosed with GD !

I gained 65 lbs w/ the 1st preg and 35 w/ the 2nd ... I think I may have had it with my first and it wasn't detected ... He is now 12 yrs ... and my baby just turned 1 .....

It's not as scary as it seems. I was borderline with my first, and full on GD with my second. Make sure to have lots of protein and become an avid label reader. I have always been a healthy eater and label reader but was shocked at the number of things that are high in sugar once I had to look for sugar.

My best advice:
* have some sort of protein for breakfast. Likewise, steer clear of juice. The endocrinologist told me that I could have fruit but not juice. Juice does not have the skin/fiber to help absorb the sugar.
* snack on nuts
* I would have a PBJ sandwhich midway through the morning
* String cheese seemed to do the trick, too
* You're probably already on the decaf kick but stick with it... I was told that diabetics process caffeine like they do sugar.
* Ease up on pasta and rice

Good luck!

I had GD and simply put, low carb diet. Make sure you eat a protein if you have a carb. It's not just sugars you have to look at, that is where I was mistaken. You also need some carbs, but don't over do it. They will teach you portion size and how to spread your eating over the whole day. I had to eat breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and an evening snack. I was afraid I'd be hungry all the time, but it was the opposite. In fact, it was a great diet. AFter I had my daughter I could fit in my pre-pregnancy clothes in 3 weeks! It is a very healthy life-style diet and after the initial adjustment period it was pretty easy to do. I had a healthy baby (8lb 12oz) and neither of us have diabetes now. Good luck!

I had GD with both my pregnancies. My first son was born at 6lbs 12oz and my second at 9lbs 3oz.

The best advice I can give is high protein and fiber foods are great. Try and stay away from high fat as well. With the fiber you can subtract the amount of fiber from the amount of carbs to lower the carb amount. Try and stay away from carrots and bananas because they both are high in sugar. Exercise is also a good way to keep your sugars under control. Just try and eat 5 or 6 mini meals a day to keep a steady sugar level.

I hope this helps and good luck!!

Don't worry about it, it's really not as bad as it sounds. If you are good about controlling your diet, then you will be just fine. I know there are different level of GD but with me I had to just eat sensibly. I ate about every 2-3 hours. I was told not to eat fruit first thing in the morning; you haven't eaten all night and your system will treat it more as a sugar. I would eat my fruit mid-morning. Another thing i liked was ritz crackers with peanut butter. It was tasty and very filling. I read labels and ate home made stuff so I knew what I was eating. I had to check my sugar level 4 times a day, which wasn't bad at all. What I constantly kept in mind was that I was doing all this for my baby. If you're not careful, you can pretty much end up giving your baby diabetes and that's the last thing you want to do. On the plus side, because I did have to watch my diet, I only gained 19 pounds. Good luck and congratulations!

Always eat a protein when you eat a carbohydrate. REsearch shows that riding a stationary bike 20 minutes a day - every day is the best way to prevent GD. Now that you have it, it will lower your BS.