Wednesday, December 19, 2007

GD Diet - Need Help!

OK, I finally have something I want to blog about... It may be the topic I'm on for a WHILE too. Gestational Diabetes! Fun, Fun!

I am totally OK with being careful with what I eat. I am OK with the amount of food I can have - I am certainly not going to starve. I am NOT OK with coming up with foods to eat that meet the guidelines. It is like all of the creativity with food has fallen right out of my head, and I can't imagine how to satisfy the program's requirements.

I am calling on ALL those with experience with Gestational Diabetes to help me here... I really, really need you guys to help me plan so I can stay on track!

Specifically I need help with SNACKS!!!!! I have to have 3 snacks a day... Yeah, I know, you pitty me. However, each snack has to have a specific number of carbs vs. protein. Yeah, I can get the carb part, no prob, but I'm not getting enough protein and I can't imagine combos that would do the trick. Here's an example:

For my snack that is after Lunch, I need 2 carb exchanges (30 g carbs) and 1 or more protein exchanges. So far, I've come up with the following:
1/2 PB&J - heavy on the peanut butter
2 graham crackers with peanut butter and cream cheese
grilled cheese sandwich
1/2 tuna salad sandwich (only 1/2 because I make it with pickles)

Please, please, anyone that has snack ideas - help out a poor GD woman! LOL

Some personal limitations make this harder - I don't eat cheese raw - so no string cheese or "apple and piece of cheese" snacks will work. I like peanut butter and nuts OK, but I would prefer they not be involved in every single snack, as it will get real old by the end of 12 weeks. So, you get double points for ideas that don't use PB or nuts as the protein. :)

Other than that, I am fine with most protein choices, eggs, chicken, tuna, beef, etc in most of their available forms. One note, for those that haven't done a GD diet before - milk and yogurt count as carbs not as protein, but cheeses count as protein (except for cream cheese).

BTW - everytime I abbreviate Gestational Diabetes I get a bit of a giggle... I'm tempted to make some very bad puns in the future if I can't lick this diet issue.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

GD is not fun, sorry to hear that it as knocked on your door.

How about getting a pack of skinless bonless chicken breasts. Cook them up how you like then cut into strips then freeze them divided into serving size baggies. Then when you need a protien snack pop a baggie into the microwave and done :) Serve with a few crackers.

Hardboiled eggs are easy to have in the fridge to grab and go.

I also used to eat high protein bars and shakes. The kind for athletes. They do have some artificial sweeteners but the total carbs match up well. They also can make you feel like you are having something chocolately, but still within "the diet"

I began to hate peanutbutter by the end of my pregnancy!

Good Luck!
-annette

HereWeGoAJen said...

I can't help too much, but my husband has diabetes and things that have been really helpful for him are those 100 calorie packs. The calories don't matter, but the snacks are dealt out in nice little packages that don't have too many carbs in them. They are really easy to count too, since you don't have to do it by weight or quantity from larger packs. His favorite are rice crispy treats.

I am having an egg salad sandwich right now, have you thought of that one yet? Or veggies and dip with enough dip to get your protein? Sorry I wasn't more help.

Liza said...

Sorry to hear of your GD diagnosis. I was diagnosed with GD myself in August and just had my LO in November. I really struggled as well but found a few things that helped...

1. Dannon Light and Fit is the lowest carb yogurt out there. I liked it a lot- it has sweetner though but I figured oh well, the diet was hard enough!

2. Thomas Light Multi-Grain English muffins (I made my own form of McD's Egg McMuffin using an egg and a slice of american cheese).

3. Aunt Millies Fiber for Life Whole Grain light bread has half the carbs and allows for an extra carb choice! We were taught you can subtract the carbs when fiber is over 6g.

I am so sorry. I know that the GD diagnosis is no fun. It really did work for me though. I was a borderline GD patient and had to go on insulin due to high fasting scores that couldn't be controlled by diet. My baby ended up weighing 6lbs. 12.8oz. Good luck to you. :)

Bea said...

I haven't been officially diagnosed with GD but had glucose tests at 16wks and ordered to adjust my diet. I was getting headaches, nausea and unable to sleep through the night due to hunger, and a strict diet has settled it down so I'm thinking there's a good chance I'm headed that way. Plus if I stray from my new, diabetic diet I end up really sick. Mighty suspicious.

I am using a diabetes cookbook. Snacks are the biggest PIA. My advice: buy herbs and spices. The protein stays the same, but the flavour changes.

1. Grilled haloumi with wholegrain crackers, +/- a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkling of thyme, and a slice of tomato.

2. Chicken - dust with ground chili and cinnamon (yum). +/- wrap in wholegrain flat bread with lettuce, otherwise eat on its own.

3. In fact - last night's leftovers - wrapped in flat bread. Good for lamb casseroles, which can be eaten with fetta and lettuce, but also stir-fries which can be eaten straight or curries which can be eaten with added lettuce etc etc. Wraps can be upsized to meal portion-sizes or downsized to snack sizes. I have this as a first snack, as I don't like the idea of leaving leftovers too long before eating in pregnancy.

4. Soups - make a big batch of some sort of soup that fits the diet requirements (eg curry lentil) and freeze in snack-sized portions. Eat a couple of portions at once for a meal.

6. Grilled lamb chops with rosemary, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, mint, parsley. Put in to marindade as you're making dinner, take out one or two to cook for a snack the next day. Freeze as appropriate. In fact, you can use this trick with a lot of things, like fish pieces - smear with pesto (my fav for this is aubergine pesto) and grill. Takes less than 10mins to prepare.

I hope this helps. Like I said, it's from diabetes cookbooks, but not advice specifically related to pregnancy.

I did find I struggled a lot for a good few weeks, and then my cooking creativity magically kicked in. Especially when it became clear the new diet was making me feel a lot better. But buying a couple of pretty new cook books with a hefty "snack" section definitely helped a lot.

Bea

Bea said...

P.S. The chicken in #2 can be used as a microwave recipe. You use sliced chicken breast, just have to make sure it's cooked through. Can also coat with any flavour of pesto.

Bea

badinger said...

South Beach chocolate cereal bars -140 calories, a lot of protein (10g) and I think 15 carbs. I had one almost every day after being diagnosed with GD. Try them and you will either grow to love them or think they are extremely gross. :)

Rachel said...

I don't know much about GD, but I think nuts might be a good snack -- maybe you could mix them with something?

ultimatejourney said...

Sorry about the GD. I don't have any first-hand knowledge, but how do they count things like hummus and cottage cheese? What about soy-based products? I've had soy crisps, which are pretty high in protein and pretty tasty. Perhaps you could work those in somehow?

GibsonTwins said...

Maybe BLTs in mini-version or even as part of a meal. Or add ham/turkey to your grilled cheese to add more protein. One of my all time favorites during pregnancy was boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked in the oven in pasta sauce. I used to make a whole bunch and put them in little gladware containers in the fridge so they could be put into the microwave anytime. To add more carbs, add a little angel hair pasta and make it a meal. Chicken/Turkey/Ham/Egg salad sandwiches are great on crossaints too. Okay well am going to stop before I get hungry. Good luck to you!

Stacie said...

Hope all is well on your end! Congrats on making it to 30 weeks! WooHoo!!!

How is the GD going?

Madam Crunchypants said...

Aww. I wish you'd found me sooner so I would have found you sooner. I was diagnosed with GD at 28 weeks. It SUCKED. As you know, the learning curve is... well not so much a curve as a cliff. I struggled with being in a small town with...erm.... bad assistance, and really had to train myself. I could have helped you!!!

Let me tell you, there is nothing more exciting than having the baby and not being diabetic anymore. What a blessing and relief - and you'll be there soon!

I just instantly love you to bits because of this (common battle, I guess). Best wishes!