GD & timing of meals/snacks

[hillarywhitney]

For those of you who have been diagnosed with gestational diabetes--what does an average day look like for you (in regards to the time between meals/snacks). Do you find it you go too long it has a negative impact on your bs? I'm assuming yes. I think some of my high numbers may be due to going too long between meals/snacks. 

I'm meeting with the diabetes educator today, so I will ask her. But wanted feedback from you guys as well  

[robyn]

I have found that the work week is so much easier than the weekend. During the work week I aim for the following:

7:30 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. breakfast 30 G carbs(I try to eat breakfast within an hour of taking my fasting number. Sometimes it works out, sometimes I'm off)
10:15 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. morning snack, 30 G carbs
12:00 p.m.-12:20 p.m. lunch, 60 G carbs
3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. afternoon snack, 30 G carbs
7:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. dinner, 60 G carbs
10:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. bedtime snack, 30 G carbs, then immediately to bed

I've noticed that if I mess up spacing I get some messed up numbers. Yesterday I accidentally missed my afternoon snack because my dr. appointment was right at that time, and I had a high dinner number. I'm not sure if there is a correlation there or not. The nutritionist I met with advised to be eating every 2-3 hours. I try to aim for that, and usually do pretty well. She didn't like that I eat dinner so late, but I don't even get home from work until 6 so eating by 7 is usually a miracle. The only thing I have found that has been consistent throughout the last month I've been on the diet, is that nothing is ever the same! I got a great fasting number every night this week with the same bedtime snack and approximately same bedtime, last night didn't change a thing and it was 104. WTF?! 17 more weeks sometimes seems like nothing, but on days when I just want to go home and eat dinner and crawl right in to bed it seems like forever away. Hope this helps some. We need a weekly GD freaking sucks check in!

[hillarywhitney]

robyn Thank you so much for your reply! I think a weekly GD freaking sucks check in would be awesome!

Are you taking any medication? Have you had a growth scan?

On average what percentage of your numbers are high? I'm finding about 20% of mine are high. My ob wants 15% or less. The diabetes educator said 25% or less.

This whole thing can be so frustrating at times. I was eating about 30g of carbs at meals and they wanted me to up that to 45. So I did, and walked after dinner and my number was 156! Ah! I'm doing some research on the gylcemic index now. I need to figure out some meals. I wish someone could just say "eat this and this and you will be fine" but of course it's all trial and error.

[statlerwaldorf]

I have been struggling since I'm not a big breakfast person. I usually eat breakfast at 9, lunch at noon, snack at 3, dinner at 5, and another snack at 8. My numbers are usually good. I might average 2 highs a week. I am not taking a medication now.

I have noticed if I eat dinner too late that I get a higher number than usual. I also have to be really careful about breakfast. I've been doing well with either a Jimmy Dean Breakfast D-Light sandwich or eggs with whole grain toast. I can't eat cereal for breakfast.

[hillarywhitney]

Apr 3, 2014 22:02:47 GMT -5 statlerwaldorf said:

I have been struggling since I'm not a big breakfast person. I usually eat breakfast at 9, lunch at noon, snack at 3, dinner at 5, and another snack at 8. My numbers are usually good. I might average 2 highs a week. I am not taking a medication now.

I have noticed if I eat dinner too late that I get a higher number than usual. I also have to be really careful about breakfast. I've been doing well with either a Jimmy Dean Breakfast D-Light sandwich or eggs with whole grain toast. I can't eat cereal for breakfast.

I'm not a big breakfast person either. And I'm not use to eating so often throughout the day. 

I'll have to check out those breakfast sandwiches. 

[jewel]

Apr 3, 2014 21:52:17 GMT -5 hillarywhitney said:

robyn Thank you so much for your reply! I think a weekly GD freaking sucks check in would be awesome!

Are you taking any medication? Have you had a growth scan?

On average what percentage of your numbers are high? I'm finding about 20% of mine are high. My ob wants 15% or less. The diabetes educator said 25% or less.

This whole thing can be so frustrating at times. I was eating about 30g of carbs at meals and they wanted me to up that to 45. So I did, and walked after dinner and my number was 156! Ah! I'm doing some research on the gylcemic index now. I need to figure out some meals. I wish someone could just say "eat this and this and you will be fine" but of course it's all trial and error.

I don't have any experience with GD, but I do have experience with a LGI diet, and I was going to check in to see if that might help. I don't know how much you've already researched and know, so I apologize if I'm making suggestions that are already obvious.

Get a good GI food list. I have some good lists on paper, but I'm sure you could find some good GI lists online as well. I've found that if you do you best to stick to foods with a GI of under 50, your numbers will stay more stable. If you're going to eat something with a higher index, I'd pair it with protein and/or fat (good additions are PB, cheese, high fat meats, high fat dairy, etc). If you pair the higher carbs with more fat, it's more likely that your numbers will stay stable, as well.

For example, if you want oatmeal for breakfast, I'd add some whole milk, or even heavy whipping cream. Higher fat products almost always have less sugar, and a lower GI. Berries are better than starchier fruits like bananas. More fiber lowers the carb count as well, so adding something like bran helps.

I'm no pro, just have a lot of personal experience. I could go on and on with ideas.... Good luck!

[hillarywhitney]

Apr 3, 2014 22:38:44 GMT -5 jewel said:

Apr 3, 2014 21:52:17 GMT -5 hillarywhitney said:

robyn Thank you so much for your reply! I think a weekly GD freaking sucks check in would be awesome!

Are you taking any medication? Have you had a growth scan?

On average what percentage of your numbers are high? I'm finding about 20% of mine are high. My ob wants 15% or less. The diabetes educator said 25% or less.

This whole thing can be so frustrating at times. I was eating about 30g of carbs at meals and they wanted me to up that to 45. So I did, and walked after dinner and my number was 156! Ah! I'm doing some research on the gylcemic index now. I need to figure out some meals. I wish someone could just say "eat this and this and you will be fine" but of course it's all trial and error.

I don't have any experience with GD, but I do have experience with a LGI diet, and I was going to check in to see if that might help. I don't know how much you've already researched and know, so I apologize if I'm making suggestions that are already obvious.

Get a good GI food list. I have some good lists on paper, but I'm sure you could find some good GI lists online as well. I've found that if you do you best to stick to foods with a GI of under 50, your numbers will stay more stable. If you're going to eat something with a higher index, I'd pair it with protein and/or fat (good additions are PB, cheese, high fat meats, high fat dairy, etc). If you pair the higher carbs with more fat, it's more likely that your numbers will stay stable, as well.

For example, if you want oatmeal for breakfast, I'd add some whole milk, or even heavy whipping cream. Higher fat products almost always have less sugar, and a lower GI. Berries are better than starchier fruits like bananas. More fiber lowers the carb count as well, so adding something like bran helps.

I'm no pro, just have a lot of personal experience. I could go on and on with ideas.... Good luck!

Thank you!! I've just started researching the glycemic index, so it's all still very new to me. 

Thank you for the suggestions Do you know of any online resources that you've found helpful? Any recipes/meal ideas that have worked well for you? I'm open to any and all advice/ideas! 

[robyn]

Apr 3, 2014 21:52:17 GMT -5 hillarywhitney said:

robyn Thank you so much for your reply! I think a weekly GD freaking sucks check in would be awesome!

Are you taking any medication? Have you had a growth scan?

On average what percentage of your numbers are high? I'm finding about 20% of mine are high. My ob wants 15% or less. The diabetes educator said 25% or less.

This whole thing can be so frustrating at times. I was eating about 30g of carbs at meals and they wanted me to up that to 45. So I did, and walked after dinner and my number was 156! Ah! I'm doing some research on the gylcemic index now. I need to figure out some meals. I wish someone could just say "eat this and this and you will be fine" but of course it's all trial and error.

Hey girl! Sorry I didn't get a chance to reply last night, we are in remodeling hell and were meeting with the contractor until late. I'm not on medication (yet, as my dr. is always so kind to point out), but I'm sure it's coming at some point. I haven't had any growth scans. I had my anatomy scan at 20 weeks and she was measuring 11 oz which is actually a bit small. My dr. said it was fine though. When I go next week I am going to ask the dr. when things like growth scans, NST, etc. start. I'm sure the answer depends on a few things including if I can continue to be strictly diet and exercise controlled or not.

When I met with the dietician after I was diagnosed, she said I had to have 30 G of carbs at breakfast and snacks, and 60 at lunch and dinner. I have had one bad breakfast number in the month since I started testing, probably 5 or 6 bad dinner numbers, and maybe 4 or 5 bad lunch numbers. If I don't get up right after the meal is over and move around quite a bit, or if we eat out and I don't do a good enough job of balancing proteins I'm guaranteed a bad number.

What did you have for dinner the night you got the 156? I haven't had a number quite that high, but I had a 148 after a very poorly picked lunch at a Mexican place. I have found that some carb choices just flat out do not work for me. The ones that I have had the most trouble with are too many sweet potatoes (I can do 1/2 cup, but not a whole cup), too much rice (again, a 1/3 cup is fine but I can't double it), and for some reason the sugar free pudding cups really seem to spike me. Which makes me sad but oh well.

I have used the glycemic index diet and lost about 30 lbs a few years ago. I used this guys books and website gidiet.com/us/ and enjoyed quite a bit of it. If you use the library mine had a few of the books there. The thing I'm struggling most with is my fasting number. I was so sure I was going to be able to use ice cream like all of the girls on baby center, but it just didn't happen. I switched to greek yogurt and cheese sticks and got three nights of great numbers. Then Thursday night got a 104. Last night I did cottage cheese with pineapple and a cheese stick and got 99. The same thing got me 93 and 94 earlier this week. I just don't' understand it. It truly sets the tone for the whole day if I get a bad fasting number. I know that one is going to be the one that lands me on meds, probably sooner rather than later unfortunately. What is working for your fasting number wise?

My dr. has warned that one of the things about being diagnosed so early is that it's pretty hard to stay diet and exercise controlled the whole time. Which freaking sucks, but not much I can really do about it. Some days it's not a big deal at all. But other days, when I feel like crap or I just want to indulge it sucks. It really soured pregnancy for me for a couple of weeks after I was diagnosed, there were a lot of tears. But I feel like I'm getting better each day about it. It's by far not the worst pregnancy complication I could have, and my little girl seems to be healthy, and judging from how hard she's kicking me right now, strong.

Would you maybe want to have a meal plan exchange? I would be happy to PM or even post here what I eat. I am supposed to get about 15 G more carbs than you, so you would have to adjust for that. But I feel like I'm running out of ideas a lot of the time too.  Let me know if I can do anything else to help.

[hillarywhitney]

robyn



Hey! No worries about not responding last night. I hope things get worked out with your remodel! What are you guys doing?  

I currently take Glyburide with my night time snack and an hour before breakfast. It is definitely helping. I was having high fasting numbers, and so they initially put me on just a pm dose. Now that I take the pm dose I can have chocolate at night (with some kind of protein, usually string cheese) and have good fasting numbers. So that's nice Chocolate is my one splurge/treat these days. Of course I have to be careful about how much/what kind. But it's nice to know I can have a little each night.

Also, making sure I didn't go longer than 8-10 hours between my night snack and taking my fasting number helped. I set so many alarms these days it's crazy (one to take my fasting number, then one about an hour later to take my morning dose, then an hour after that to get up for breakfast). It's pretty absurd, but I love sleep and since I'm not working right now I'm trying to soak up as much as I can!

My dr. added the am dose about a week or so ago. Since I was diagnosed early, I wasn't all that surprised that I needed medication. Really really hoping to avoid insulin.

I've had one growth scan so far (yesterday). He was measuring about 25 weeks (I'm 23w3d). So a little on the big side. Though the dr. noted that his body is proportionate, so that's good. He said it may just be that I make bigger babies. He said babies that are measuring ahead due to GD tend to have disproportionatly sized bellies (compared to the rest of their bodies). So it's a good sign the baby was proportionate. I'm definitely going to make an even stronger effort now (not that I wasn't before). But plan out meals (stick to low glycemic index carbs) and make sure I walk as much as possible after each meal.

Last night I had 45 grams of carbs instead of my usual 30 grams (I was told to up my carbs). I had eggs with cheese and ham (the no sugar added/non honey glazed kind), toast and a few crackers with cheese to get to 45 grams of carbs. I walked for about 10 mins after dinner. But apparently that wasn't enough. It wasn't the most balanced/well thought out meal, so maybe that  had an impact? I'm thinking I need to check out some of the lower glycemic index carbs. Or walk more? Or both?

Thanks for the link! I'm definitely going to check it out.

I completely understand about being upset with the diagnoses. It was pretty hard for me at first as well. I felt really guilty and worried and scared. I still struggle with it at times. But, the more time goes on the more I've come to accept that I just have to deal with it. And I just keep reminding myself that it's controllable, I am receiving good medical care, and I could have much worse complications.

And like you, I remind myself that the baby seems healthy, and I've got quite the kicker as well

I'd love to do meal plan exchanges. Maybe I'll post on the board to see who else may be interested, and then we can go from there.

[jewel]

hillarywhitney - what are you eating now, or what do you like to eat? I can give you some good ideas to work with from there.

I'll try to find some good links for you tonight. I'm at work, on my phone now. The U of Sydney is the leading researcher right now, and has good info available.

The best way to improve on the LGI diet is to add fat/protein. Don't ever eat an apple alone, but an apple with PB would be ok. Or wheat toast, add cream cheese/butter/pb. Once you have a general idea of which carbs keep you stable (everyone is different - whole grains, fruits, veggies, etc), you can expand on that.

Some good foods, in general - omelets, quiche, spaghetti squash as a pasta replacement, higher fat cheese and yogurt, cream cheese or PB on veggies, 'just cheese' snacks, canned chicken with mayo, avocados, non-tropical fruits, bunless cheeseburgers, lettuce wraps, almond milk. Some packed food will label 'low glycemic impact' or something similar, which are also good options, especially for grain or snack options.

[starlily]

When I had it, they wanted me to eat approx every three hours, so a typical day during the work week was:

7:45 - breakfast
10:30 - snack
12:15 - lunch
4:00 - snack
7:00 - dinner
10:00 - bedtime snack

[hillarywhitney]

Apr 4, 2014 10:46:27 GMT -5 jewel said:

hillarywhitney - what are you eating now, or what do you like to eat? I can give you some good ideas to work with from there.

I'll try to find some good links for you tonight. I'm at work, on my phone now. The U of Sydney is the leading researcher right now, and has good info available.

The best way to improve on the LGI diet is to add fat/protein. Don't ever eat an apple alone, but an apple with PB would be ok. Or wheat toast, add cream cheese/butter/pb. Once you have a general idea of which carbs keep you stable (everyone is different - whole grains, fruits, veggies, etc), you can expand on that.

Some good foods, in general - omelets, quiche, spaghetti squash as a pasta replacement, higher fat cheese and yogurt, cream cheese or PB on veggies, 'just cheese' snacks, canned chicken with mayo, avocados, non-tropical fruits, bunless cheeseburgers, lettuce wraps, almond milk. Some packed food will label 'low glycemic impact' or something similar, which are also good options, especially for grain or snack options.

Thank you so much! 

I am eating a lot of chicken, salad, tofu, cheese, eggs, veggie chips, whole wheat bread, peanut butter etc... right now. I need to add in more vegetables. I'm not really a picky eater. Though, I do HATE water chestnuts and capers. And I'm not really loving fish or mushrooms these days. But other than that I'm pretty open. 

I really appreciate your feedback  

[robyn]

Apr 4, 2014 10:28:48 GMT -5 hillarywhitney said:

robyn



Hey! No worries about not responding last night. I hope things get worked out with your remodel! What are you guys doing?  

I currently take Glyburide with my night time snack and an hour before breakfast. It is definitely helping. I was having high fasting numbers, and so they initially put me on just a pm dose. Now that I take the pm dose I can have chocolate at night (with some kind of protein, usually string cheese) and have good fasting numbers. So that's nice Chocolate is my one splurge/treat these days. Of course I have to be careful about how much/what kind. But it's nice to know I can have a little each night.

Also, making sure I didn't go longer than 8-10 hours between my night snack and taking my fasting number helped. I set so many alarms these days it's crazy (one to take my fasting number, then one about an hour later to take my morning dose, then an hour after that to get up for breakfast). It's pretty absurd, but I love sleep and since I'm not working right now I'm trying to soak up as much as I can!

My dr. added the am dose about a week or so ago. Since I was diagnosed early, I wasn't all that surprised that I needed medication. Really really hoping to avoid insulin.

I've had one growth scan so far (yesterday). He was measuring about 25 weeks (I'm 23w3d). So a little on the big side. Though the dr. noted that his body is proportionate, so that's good. He said it may just be that I make bigger babies. He said babies that are measuring ahead due to GD tend to have disproportionatly sized bellies (compared to the rest of their bodies). So it's a good sign the baby was proportionate. I'm definitely going to make an even stronger effort now (not that I wasn't before). But plan out meals (stick to low glycemic index carbs) and make sure I walk as much as possible after each meal.

Last night I had 45 grams of carbs instead of my usual 30 grams (I was told to up my carbs). I had eggs with cheese and ham (the no sugar added/non honey glazed kind), toast and a few crackers with cheese to get to 45 grams of carbs. I walked for about 10 mins after dinner. But apparently that wasn't enough. It wasn't the most balanced/well thought out meal, so maybe that  had an impact? I'm thinking I need to check out some of the lower glycemic index carbs. Or walk more? Or both?

Thanks for the link! I'm definitely going to check it out.

I completely understand about being upset with the diagnoses. It was pretty hard for me at first as well. I felt really guilty and worried and scared. I still struggle with it at times. But, the more time goes on the more I've come to accept that I just have to deal with it. And I just keep reminding myself that it's controllable, I am receiving good medical care, and I could have much worse complications.

And like you, I remind myself that the baby seems healthy, and I've got quite the kicker as well

I'd love to do meal plan exchanges. Maybe I'll post on the board to see who else may be interested, and then we can go from there.

We are remodeling our basement to finish it and be able to use it as a second family room. Our house is tiny and we will need the additional living space once the baby comes. DH procrastinated a bit too much and now we are kind of scrambling. It will hopefully work out though, thanks

I usually go about 8 hours between my night snack and testing. Then on the weekends I go back to sleep for a bit during the week I'm up for the day. I really miss just being able to go to bed at like 9:00. Honestly, even more than the diet, worry, etc. that's the hardest thing for me. That and not being able to just sit around and watch tv or read after I finish eating dinner. On the weekends I try to take a nap between my afternoon snack and eating dinner. I have learned the hard way no naps between eating and testing.

What I typically try to do as far as exercise is this: my lunch hour is from 12-1, so I eat from 12 ish to 12:30, then I walk around the neighborhood my office is in from 12:30 to 12:50 or so. Depending on the weather and how I'm feeling it could be a little shorter or a little longer. Never less than 15 minutes though. That's the minimum. I make sure I'm walking at a brisk pace, swinging my arms, really getting the blood flowing. Then when I'm back to work at 1 I try to make sure I'm moving around as opposed to just sitting in my office staring at the computer. After dinner I try to make sure that from when I finish eating until an hour after I started eating, I'm not sitting down. So I'm doing the dishes, walking to the mailbox at the end of our long driveway, starting and folding laundry, picking up the house, cleaning out our spare bedroom/office that's going to be the baby's room, or even just walking in place in the living room while watching tv. When the days start to get longer I plan to walk around our neighborhood after dinner and then clean up. But for now I usually stay in the house. I also try to plan my "lots of walking" errands for after meals, like Costco, the grocery store or Target, etc. As far as breakfast, I've been lucky in that so far I haven't had any trouble getting good breakfast numbers even with minimum work. But I do eat my breakfast and then immediately start getting ready for the day, or for work. So I go in and do my hair and make up, let the dogs out, sometimes have to run downstairs to the laundry room, back up to our room to get dressed, in to the kitchen to make my lunch and snacks for the day and possibly do some dinner prep, get my stuff together and drive to work, climb the stairs to work, etc. I don't think the exercise has to be dedicated exercise, like just walking. For me I have found it can be doing those household/day prep things. There just has to be enough of it. I would try and up the amount of activity to more like 25 or 30 minutes. You will probably see a difference.

The other thing that for me is true is that I'm guaranteed to get a bad number if there are no veggies incorporated into my meal (except for breakfast, but my breakfast numbers have not been an issue). The meal you listed where you got the 156 had none. I would say a side salad with pretty much any dressing would have helped, or some steamed or roasted broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, etc, some sauteed spinach with garlic and red pepper flakes, pretty much any veggie but carrots. They have a higher sugar content even though they aren't listed as a starchy veg like potatoes, corn and peas are. Another thing food wise, is if for instance your bread for your toast or the crackers you had were just white bread or regular white crackers, it would maybe help if they were whole grains/whole wheat. Those whole grains help the absorption of the starch and are more complex carbs than the overly processed white bread/crackers.

I have always been a weekly meal planner, so that part for me didn't take any adjustment other than just having to think about carbs vs. proteins for the meals, rather than what I wanted to cook. For the first couple of weeks I meal planned every meal and snack. Then I realized I was spending a ridiculous amount of money that we couldn't afford at the store, so I scaled it down. Usually on a Thursday or Friday afternoon if it's quiet at work I'll make my meal plan and grocery list for the week. It makes it so much easier to know that my meals will be balanced when I have it all planned out.

Okay, I've written a freaking novel and I've got a client meeting in a few minutes. Let me know how this stuff sounds/works!

[hillarywhitney]

robyn

Thanks again for all the feedback/advice. It's so helpful. When I was first diagnosed I felt like I googled for hours. But I think over the past few weeks I've forgotten a lot of what I read and/or I never really retained it. So it's so helpful to hear all these tips. I walked after each meal today (at least 15 mins, 25 after lunch) and all my numbers were good! Even with upping my carbs at meals. I feel really good about that. I have some recipes I want to try for next week, need to gather some more.

[robyn]

Apr 4, 2014 22:25:49 GMT -5 hillarywhitney said:

robyn

Thanks again for all the feedback/advice. It's so helpful. When I was first diagnosed I felt like I googled for hours. But I think over the past few weeks I've forgotten a lot of what I read and/or I never really retained it. So it's so helpful to hear all these tips. I walked after each meal today (at least 15 mins, 25 after lunch) and all my numbers were good! Even with upping my carbs at meals. I feel really good about that. I have some recipes I want to try for next week, need to gather some more.

I'm so glad to hear you got good numbers!! We are gonna kick GD butt! I finally got a good fasting # after two bad ones, yippee!

[hillarywhitney]

Apr 5, 2014 10:50:50 GMT -5 robyn said:

Apr 4, 2014 22:25:49 GMT -5 hillarywhitney said:

robyn

Thanks again for all the feedback/advice. It's so helpful. When I was first diagnosed I felt like I googled for hours. But I think over the past few weeks I've forgotten a lot of what I read and/or I never really retained it. So it's so helpful to hear all these tips. I walked after each meal today (at least 15 mins, 25 after lunch) and all my numbers were good! Even with upping my carbs at meals. I feel really good about that. I have some recipes I want to try for next week, need to gather some more.

I'm so glad to hear you got good numbers!! We are gonna kick GD butt! I finally got a good fasting # after two bad ones, yippee!

Thanks

Yay for a good fasting number! That's awesome!

Today hasn't been the best. Fasting was a big high (I think they need to put me back to my initial dose in the pm. They lowered it b/c I was getting a few low fasting numbers). And then after lunch was a little high (even with a half an hour walk!). So...who knows. My body does not seem to like more than 35ish carbs at a time. I had probably just under 45 with lunch. 

I need to add in more vegetables, but other than that I know I'm doing everything I can be doing (though I'm still bummed/worried).