High risk of Gestational Diabetes - Any advice would be great

[*Belle*]

In all my pregnancies I am classed as high risk to get GD. My first pregnancy I was the strictest and did Low GI diet from 7 weeks onwards. 2nd Pregnancy bit slack, this pregnancy am trying to be good but sometimes a bit slack havent had the GD test yet will in 2 weeks time.

With both my pregnancies before this one I avoided GD by eating low gi most importantly was:
Breakfast
Sourdough or wholegrain bread/toast (wholemeal or white bread is too high GI)
milk or yogurt
piece of fruit
was my daily breakfast
or bacon and eggs without bread is best too.

Lunch
Salads (made by myself)
add a protein (fish you can only eat 2 days a week) so add chicken or cooked ham or bacon
again sourdough or wholegrain bread only

Dinners
Are the hardest, yoiu can have a medium or high GI food in your dinner however you must have mostly Low GI food in it to lower the high GI.
Measure your rice or pasta to be 1/2 cup uncooked at most (San remo pasta is the lowest GI) and Basmati rice is the lowest GI
I made lots of casseroles with veges in the slow cooker or curries with veges added on the side and fruit as desert

Snacks - yogurt, cheese, fruit (low gi ones such as strawberries, apple etc, depends on what you like), crackers (vita weets but not many of them), nuts but I am allergic but some are good to snack on if you like them.

I recommend also the book Mel recommends. It helps with recipes and the GI foods.

Ohh in Woolies you can get Low GI potatoes now special brand cant remember what they are called (cause all white potatoes are high gi) or you can eat sweet potato. Pumpkin is not classified as a GI some people say medium GI some say high depends what you read.

Hope this helps

[~mamaspice~]

Seeing a dietician would probably be a really beneficial thing to do right now. Plus try to get your hands on a Gi diet book that has a comprehensive list of foods and their GI values in it. Good luck with it all

[JennaJayen]

I have GD this pregnancy, and they recommend you see a dietician if you are at risk of it - they wanted me to see a dietician at 14 weeks because I was also classified as obese, although ironically I was eating healthy and low GI foods for the first 22 weeks of this pregnancy.

Basically anything that has a higher fat content than sugar content is classed as low GI (so yes, chocolate & ice cream are actually low GI lol).

Stick to 5 or 6 regular meals a day - breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and an after dinner snack, and also keep servings smaller, though you can eat unlimited vegetables.

The dietician will give you a basic outline of how many serves you are allowed to eat, which is usually as follows:
Breakfast: 3-4 serves of carbs
Morning Tea: 1-2 serves of carbs
Lunch: 3-4 serves of carbs
Afternoon Tea: 1-2 serves of carbs
Dinner: 3-4 serves of carbs
Supper: 1-2 serves of carbs (Supper is only if needed though)

Eat high carb foods with sugar levels below 5g per serving, and try to limit how many servings of carbs you have - potato's are considered bad carbs and your intake would need to be kept limited, and rice is a big no no as it puts your glucose levels through the roof and is high GI.

I don't have my information pack on me, but that is what I can remember from my first appointment with the dietician and the diabete's educator.

Hope it helps a bit

And also, don't be hard on yourself if you are unable to manage it or avoid it by diet alone - I tried so hard, limiting everything and only eating a very bland diet of vegemite, peanut butter, wheat bix and baked beans with salad, and I ended up needing insulin.
It's just the hormones associated with pregnancy and they really do wreak havock with your body and play up with the glucose levels.