Week 1: Gestational Diabetes

This week has been a real eye opener for me. In a good way actually. 

When my doctor called last week and told me that I needed to go on a low-carb diet, I panicked and thought my diet for would have to be bland chicken and soggy veggies for the foreseeable future. I thought that having to check my blood sugar would be really uncomfortable and a huge hassle. 

But going a full week being really meticulous with my food and checking my blood sugar has showed me that gestational diabetes is not going to ruin my life. 

What I learned and experienced this week:

Tracking my food and blood sugar levels are only minor changes to my life.

I have never been afraid of needles. I know lots of people who are though, and I can understand why shots or getting blood drawn can be nerve-wracking experiences. 

Despite not being afraid of needles, I wan’t jumping for joy knowing that I would have to prick my finger 4 times a day for several weeks. I worried that I would have bruises on my fingers like the bruises I get on my arms after getting my blood drawn.

Turns out, the people in the diabetes community have already though of this. The finger pricks are less intrusive than accidentally touching a thorn on a flower. I have a glucose meter with single-use test strips to check my blood sugar, and I record those glucose readings on a spreadsheet in my phone so that I can go over my results with my doctor later.

Though my doctor did not ask me to do this, I also started tracking my meals and snacks. I use the free version of MyFitnessPal because I can see how much fat, carbs, and protein are in each thing that I eat. If I have a blood sugar reading that comes back high, I want to be able to go back and look at what caused my blood sugar to jump. Then, I can adjust what or how much I eat for the future to avoid a significant blood sugar spike. 

Starting from ground zero with food

My focus on the first day of my low-carb diet was establishing how my blood sugar levels would be affected if I ate only protein, fruits, and veggies. 

It was super interesting to see that my blood sugar stayed fairly constant when I stuck to those foods. I ate things like scrambled eggs with bacon, berries, green salad with chicken and veggies, and grilled chicken with green beans. I felt like I was becoming more in-tune with how my body actually works, and I was pleasantly surprised with how empowered that made me feel. 

After getting a feel for how my body reacts to no carbs and establishing a baseline for myself, I decided to introduce one food from a different food group into each meal. I wanted to see how much freedom I could actually have with my food without raising my blood sugar levels above the prescribed threshold.

For example, for breakfast, I introduced flavored Greek yogurt to see how my body would react to the sweeteners. When Greek yogurt didn’t significantly spike my blood sugar, I added in whole grain granola the next morning. 

Turns out, there are A LOT of things that I can still eat as long as I am mindful of the portion sizes and the carbs in each serving size.

I was even able to eat protein pasta this week! I measured out my portions and stuck to the serving size, but it was a HUGE comfort to know that I don’t have to completely give up on foods that I love. 

There are some things that are off the table for now, like a big ice cream sundae or a package of candy. But I’ve been able to substitute normal ice cream with healthier ice cream like Halo Top, and I have been able to fill my chocolate cravings with sugar free Jello chocolate pudding and those Brookside dark chocolate açaí things from Costco.

Eating healthier is much easier when someone else’s life is on the line.

I would be lying if I said that this week has been a total breeze. Eating healthy takes planning and will-power that I wasn’t sure I had when I started this week.

Before this past week, the idea of having restrictions on my diet really made me nervous. Within the last couple years, I have made an effort to workout and eat more healthy foods, but the idea of cutting out ice cream and cookies and candy, even in small portions, was a stressful and miserable notion for me. 

And there have been multiple moments this week when I craved something sugary or greasy from a drive-thru window. But it is interesting to me that my mindset toward a strict diet has completely changed in this circumstance. Knowing that what I eat directly affects my baby’s health has made it so much easier to say no to cravings and to even replace those cravings with healthier options. 

Before gestational diabetes, I didn’t think that I would ever be able to be strict with myself in what I ate. 

Now I know I have the willpower and self-control to make smart decisions about my health, even if it means sacrificing foods that I love for the time being. 

In the mean time, eat something yummy for me 😉

Love, Molly
Go Forth. Go North. 

RELATED: Gestational Diabetes: My Initial Thoughts

Gestational Diabetes: My Initial Thoughts