5 Days In

Woohoo!  Five days in on this gestational diabetes diet and the world hasn't stopped spinning.  I will be the first to admit that I overreacted to this diagnosis.  It hasn't been as terrible as I thought it would be.  Of course, I am only five days in so I guess there's still some time for the proverbial shit to hit the fan. 

Anyway, for any gestational diabetes mamas who find this blog in a panic, here is my schedule/meal plan:

• Wake up and take blood sugar before eating/drinking (Fasting Number)
• Breakfast - 30g of carbs (approx. 2 servings) and 1 protein serving
• Blood Sugar - 2 Hours after Breakfast
• Snack 1 - 15g of carbs and 1 protein.  [Nature Valley Protein Bar has exactly what I need]
• Lunch - 45g of carbs (approx. 3 servings) and 1 protein serving. 
• Blood Sugar - 2 Hours after Lunch
• Snack 2  (same as snack 1)
• Dinner (same as Lunch) 
• Snack 3 - 30g of carbs and 1 protein  

It works out to be way more than I can eat.  I have not yet been able to eat the third snack.  The idea behind is that your body will work overtime during the night and so your sugar levels will be out of control when you wake up.  But so far, my fasting level has been great.  So I'm not stressing about eating the third snack.

I am struggling with getting enough protein. Especially at breakfast.  I don't eat eggs or cheese. And a girl can only eat so much peanut butter.  The carbs aren't a problem. :)  The idea behind the protein is that by pairing it with a carb, it slows down your body's digestion of the carb so you don't get a huge blood sugar rush.  But even with only eating carbs, my sugar levels have been okay.

I can't say enough how much the exercise seems to help. They recommended 30 minutes of walking 4-5x a week. I haven't been super diligent.  But today, I realized its effect.  Last night, I had a big salad and slice of homemade lasagna for dinner. Then I went for a 2 mile, 30 minute walk.  My sugar level was 78. Today, for lunch, I had another slice of lasagna and a small salad, but I couldn't take 30 minutes to go for a walk in the middle of the work day.  My sugar was 85.   So a 7 point difference even though my portion at lunch today was smaller and I used a healthier, carb-free dressing too. 

The Beginning

  I have my GD class this Friday morning.  In the meantime, I'm supposed to eat as low carb as possible and avoid sugar. I need to stay away from Dr. Google. The idea of not being able to control my sugar through diet scares me.  The idea of eating every 2-3 hours and measuring portions and making sure I eat enough of a protein/carb combination completely overwhelms me.  Maybe the class will ease some of my anxiety.  But right now, all I can think is: "How am I going to do this?"  I can't help but let my mind go to the worst case scenario. 

  I obviously can't track my sugar just yet, but I'm going to list my food from today anyway.  In three months, I'll probably look at back at this list and laugh at how silly I was thinking that these are "good" foods.  But for today, I'm not quite educated yet so I'll take it. 

Breakfast (7:30 AM):

• Handful of grapes while driving to work. This was not a good breakfast option per Dr. Google. I should have had some protein and some carbs

AM Snack (10:00 AM):

• 1 oz of Honey Roasted Peanuts
• 1 plum

Lunch (12:15 PM):

• Two chicken breast tenderloins (leftovers from dinner last night)
• 1 cucumber salad with vinegar

Afternoon Snack (3:30 PM):

• 1 plum
• 1 peach

Dinner (6:30 PM):

• 1 Flank Steak Fajita with sauteed onions and red peppers (including 1 medium sized tortilla wrap)
• Salad - lettuce, tomatoes, carrots with vinegar

Full disclosure - I also had two diet Dr. Peppers and 1 large cup of pink lemonade (Crystal Light so it's SF) throughout the day. 

  Looking at this laid out, I can see that I definitely avoided carbs.  But my research is now saying that I should have a mixture of carbs and protein.   If the goal is to avoid carbs, then I did well.  If the goal is to have a balanced meal, then I failed because I had zero protein/carbs at breakfast and afternoon snack.  And I'm stuffed from dinner so I didn't bother to eat an evening snack, which will probably bite me in the ass blood sugar-wise.

  I did a Back on Pointe dumbbell workout after dinner.   Everything I've read mentions walking for 10 minutes as a way to combat high blood sugar.  But I figure exercise is exercise at this point.  It's something I'll be sure to ask the diabetes dietician this Friday.

Gestational Diabetes

I got the news today.  Gestational Diabetes.  Womp, womp.  Not going to lie -- I'm pretty upset right now. Dr. Google has not been my friend:  More likely to develop Type 2 diabetes later in life; huge baby; c-section; NICU; preemie.  

I'm waiting on the dietician to call me so I can get started.  In the meantime, I'm supposed to avoid carbs and sugar.  So basically, anything that tastes delicious. Mr. Dougie has offered to do my insulin shots, should I need them.  Which, of course, made me bawl like the hormonal, pregnant woman that I am.

In the meantime, BabyDougie2.0 is doing well.  I'm 28w,2 days today.  He's kicking up a storm. We still don't have a name. Although A says we should name him after her little friend, Jolene.  Somehow, I don't think a boy named Jolene would really work.

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with this blog yet.  Part of me is starting it so I have a space to record my GD-approved meals.  But it would also be nice to have a space to track my babies as they grow. It's a work in progress.